John Chaimanis is an at-large candidate for City Council from Ward 4. Having grown up in Bayside, Queens, New York, Chaimanis first moved to Newton in 2001 and became a Newton (Auburndale) homeowner in 2014. His wife Gina’s family roots are in Newton.
Chaimanis is Managing Director at Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure, an investment firm focused on renewable energy and other sustainable infrastructure projects. Before attending business school, Chaimanis taught in Roxbury, then ran operations for a Dorchester school.
If elected, Chaimanis expressed a strong preference to serve on the City Council’s Finance Committee. He said that one reason he is running is because he has a finance background, has used it for his entire career, and believes his financial skill would benefit the Council.
With respect to housing policies, Chaimanis says his reading and analysis argues that Newton cannot build its way to affordability, as supply (limited available land) and demand (desirability of Newton) factors will continue to push prices up. He does not think the City would necessarily benefit from a significant increase in rental units, as he believes that homeowners tend to get more involved in building long-term community. He does favor adding income diversity through a variety of house sizes.
One area in which he advocates for change is economic development. Chaimanis says that because the City has one person in the economic development office, it is essentially as if Newton, a city with a $500-$600 million budget, has only one person in sales. He added, “We need to be better at serving our local businesses, at encouraging attractive businesses, and marketing to attract new businesses.” Chaimanis favors more emphasis on grant writing and development, saying, “A dollar spent on a grant writer that brings in two dollars is a good dollar spent.”
Responding to a question about Newton’s strengths, Chaimanis highlighted the 13 villages, the City’s safety, and the schools. He said the village structure “allows people to maintain identities – cultural and traditional, and non-traditional. We are one city, with a variety of locally created cultures.” He continued, “Anytime you give ownership to a population, you have people that are going to care about where they live, and when you care about where you live, you look to make it better. Whether there’s a tax dollar paying for it or your neighbor, your neighborhood association, you’re going to make things happen. And I think that’s probably one of the most beautiful things about Newton.”
In response to a question about parks and green spaces, Chaimanis spoke about the preservation of green spaces. ”That’s one of the most important things to me. When we look at development and we look at changes, making sure that we protect the green spaces is really important, and hopefully maybe we can add to them.”
Summing up his approach, Chaimanis said, “I try to look at the facts. I like data, and I think gathering data, analyzing the data, challenging the original assumptions that went into a decision, and then pivoting is a really important way that our city can make forward progress. We need to shed ideology and labels in our conversations and decision-making process, and focus on the facts and the future implications. That’s an important part of what I hope to bring to the City Council as an independent thinker.”