Hall Hopes To Provide a Voice

Robert L. Hall wants to give his community a voice on the City Council.

Hall lives in Rindge Towers, a public housing project near Alewife and far removed, residents say, from the centers of power in Cambridge.

The three buildings of Rindge Towers, where the City Council candidate has lived for a decade, hold just under two dozen red-bricked floors of what Hall describes as a “global community,” with residents from Asia, Mexico and the Middle East.

Those who live in the lower Rindge Avenue community have difficulty getting their views acknowledged by the council, Hall says. And neighborhood residents say electing Hall would make getting involved in Cambridge politics easier for everyone.

It is a community with many needs, says Hall, including protection from crime, employment and even food in some cases.

Hall’s efforts to help his neighbors—such as watching neighborhood kids to make sure they aren’t getting in trouble, and on occasion providing Christmas presents to a family that has no toys—make him popular with Rindge residents.

“He’s a wonderful man,” says neighborhood resident Melissa Lee, 14. “He always wants to cheer you up.”

Hall is the executive director of the Fresh Pond Action Committee, a volunteer community service organization founded in August 1996, which provides help to 1,200 families in Hall’s community.

“Many people in this area are not knowledgable about the voting process or proportional representation,” Hall says, so one way the organization tries to aid the community is by bringing public figures in to discuss issues such as public safety, youth services, health services and crime.

“The Fresh Pond Action Committee holds forums so that our community can make positive and informed decisions when the time comes to vote,” Hall says.

The issue of his community’s involvement in and understanding of politics has long been an important one for Hall, and he hopes to make a much greater difference for his community if elected to office.

He says many of the neighborhood’s needs are overlooked, in part because there are no city councillors from Rindge Towers.

“There has never been a city councillor from this community,” Hall says, pointing out that there has never been more than one black council member at one time in the last 10 to 15 years. This year, four black candidates are running for City Council—incumbent Kenneth E. Reeves ’72, longtime School Committee member E. Denise Simmons, political newcomer Ethridge King and Hall.

The diverse residents of lower Rindge Avenue, Hall’s neighbors say, are not fairly represented on the council.

“We need to fill seats with people who represent the working class and the poor people of the community, not just the people on Brattle Street,” says Patricia A.

Casola, director of the Fresh Pond Tenants Association. “Mr. Hall is the type of candidate that would bring

a lot to the community. We need a candidate that is sensitive not only to the

diversity of community but the different issues that arise.”

The Common Man

Hall, 51, graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1983.

Running for the council for a second time, Hall is campaigning as a member of the Republican Party, the party he says “offers the message of everyday men and women.”

From the T-shirt and New York Fire Department baseball cap he sometimes wears, to the name of his local television show, “Common Perspective,” Hall’s campaign embodies that philosophy. Hall describes his run for the council as a grassroots campaign, one not affiliated with traditional political associations. For that reason, Hall has not sought political endorsements.

Now a business consultant and event organizer, Hall says he hopes to convince more businesses to set up shop in Cambridge.

“There’s a lot of talented business folk in these apartments,” he says. “But there isn’t enough business for them in Cambridge.”

A former employee of the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Development, which oversaw development in the North Shore area, Hall says he is a “fiscal conservative.”

“I want to prioritize money where it’s supposed to go—make sure it’s

being spent right,” he says.

Hall also says he wants to see a greater link with local universities.

“I want Harvard University and MIT professors to share with the community and give up time” by meeting with local cultural associations, he says. “It only takes 20, 30 minutes to talk to people, and then I could record it and show it on my TV show.”

But while Hall faces an uphill fight against more established candidates such as Brian Murphy ’86-’87 and Simmons—the two challengers considered the most likely to be elected to the council—Hall says his campaign will have been worthwhile in any case, because political representation for Rindge residents does not seem so far away now.

“Even if I don’t get a seat, I’ve already won,” he says. “Whether we win or lose, we know we’re in the game now.”