PEABODY — William Aylward wants the same Peabody for his kids that he experienced growing up.
His concern that the city is headed in the wrong direction motivated him to run for the City Council.
"The city has overdevelopment problems," Aylward said. "It's ruining the integrity of neighborhoods and creating quality-of-life issues."
The solution downtown isn't making changes to the zoning to encourage more development but promoting "responsible" development under the existing regulations, according to Aylward. He highlighted Rose's Bakery and the new CVS at the corner of Main and Howley as positive examples.
Aylward is making his first bid for elected office in Peabody. He is one of seven candidates in a contest for five at-large seats. A 1989 graduate of Peabody High School, Aylward is the executive chef of Bellevue Golf Club in Melrose.
The school system "isn't what is used to be" in Aylward's eyes. The father of two young sons, Aylward said he has a "vested interest" in the schools' performance and would work with the School Committee to address the system's problems.
Flooding is also a priority, and Aylward said it is the first thing that needs to be dealt with downtown.
"I won't finish the basement in my house because I know there's a possibility that I might get flooding again," he said. "If I owned a business downtown, why would I dump tens of thousands of dollars into it just to have it ruined?"
His past experience running restaurants, including Legal Sea Foods at the Prudential Center, will help him keep the city's budget in line, Aylward said. He does support tapping some of the city's reserve funds to defray the cost of school fees for parents and making improvements, such as sidewalk repairs, to the city's infrastructure.
Aylward has been knocking on voters' doors since July.
"It's been very, very exciting," he said. "I can't say anything negative about it. It's because I want to do this, and I want to be able to give back to the city."
WILLIAM AYLWARD
Address: 3 Bradford Road
Age: 38
Occupation: Executive chef, Bellevue Golf Club in Melrose
Education: Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, 1989; Tad Technical Institute, 1991
Elected office: None
Family: Wife, Leslie; sons, William, 9, Christopher, 7
Will you accept the city's health insurance coverage? No
Grade the mayor's performance: C+
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