WORCESTER—Luis Ojeda said he believes he was able to win the race for District 4 city councilor because he’s been a resident of Worcester his whole life and people have grown to know him as an honest and respectful person who is going to work hard for everyone.
Ojeda has been an educator for 20 years and currently serves as assistant principal of the University Park Campus School. In addition, he and his wife established TLK Sports to give children access to sports, training and education.
He has served on the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center Board, attends Beacon Brightly Neighborhood meetings, and said he’s attended occasional others and will continue to attend more. He said he intends to expand on community meeting options.
“I think our residents are almighty,” Ojeda told the Worcester Guardian. “I would rather it be I’m coming to see them than them coming to see me. I want them to understand we’re going to work together. I really want them to be more involved, empower them in their communities and neighborhoods to do more.”
Ojeda edged out opponent Katia Norford for the seat, with 916 votes, or over 51 percent of the vote, to Norford’s 835 votes, or nearly 48 percent of the vote. Incumbent Councilor Sarai Rivera chose not to run for reelection.
Ojeda said the only “hardship” he faced during the campaign wasn’t necessarily a hardship, but that he would’ve liked to have met with everyone. He’s going to work during his two years as councilor connecting with as many constituents as possible, he added.
When asked what he thought about the overall municipal election results, he remarked that he’s been mostly focused on District 4 throughout the campaign season and didn’t want to take away from that time needed to win the race.
While Ojeda does consider himself a part of Worcester’s progressive block, he said he also recognizes that some things need to stay the same.
“No one likes change, but sometimes change needs to happen, and as long as everybody’s transparent, everybody has a voice in the change, they feel comfortable being a part of it, then that’s what I’m really about,” Ojeda said.
As a councilor, Ojeda said he wants to be more proactive than reactive. He is, for instance, critical of the city’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, pondering that it perhaps contributed to an escalation of violence in the city.
“I don’t think there was any place for people to be outside and enjoy the outdoors,” he said. “Not to say this was the only reason why this happened, but we witnessed a lot of violence.” Agencies and people could have worked together to provide youth with more engagement and opportunities, according to Ojeda.
During the campaign, Ojeda said he discovered residents are concerned about similar issues throughout the district from “Highland Street all the way up to pretty much Green Island and Cambridge Street.”
Some of the bigger issues residents raised include housing, the unsheltered population, and safety issues when it comes to drugs and violence. On the latter issue, Ojeda said residents told him they wanted street lights and more of a police presence to feel safe and secure.
Parking and trash are also issues Ojeda noticed when he was walking around campaigning. He said he has already been a part of community cleanups and plans to continue that. He said he also wants to be active in making sure new development projects in the city have an appropriate amount of parking.
“I think that’s crucial,” he said. “I think that’s essential when it comes to housing, to make sure parking is addressed.”
Ojeda said he will be meeting with Rivera to learn more about the issues she’s worked on as councilor in the coming weeks.
Worcester has a lot of good going on within it, Ojeda maintained, from education to sports to jobs to people who come in and are able to establish their own career or are able to open up their own business.
“There’s a lot of people that are doing really well for themselves,” Ojeda said, highlighting the comedians, athletes, and entertainers who got their start in Worcester. He said he wants to help build on that and help youth to develop to achieve whatever dream they may have.
He said he knows there will be a learning curve to becoming councilor, but he is willing to learn from the process and work with everyone.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford and Antigua and Barbuda. She’s been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
