Ned Melanson

Quick Facts

Current Position: Challenger
Candidate Status: Declared
Website: http://www.ned4cambridge.com/
Committee Registration: OCPF ID 19132

From the Candidate

I was born in Holyoke, MA., went to high school in Cape Elizabeth, ME, college in Pittsburgh, PA, then returned to New England to attend Boston College Law School. I come from a family of lawyers and teachers who emphasized public service (and dinner table debates). My late grandfather was a WWII intelligence officer and Hampden County Commissioner who helped stop a highway from cutting through downtown Holyoke (not unlike the efforts to stop the Inner Belt highway in Cambridge). He inspired me to not only serve my community but also use the government’s tools to make it a better place.

I believe, now more than ever, we need an effective government that is willing to stand up to both forces of tyranny and the many challenges of our time–whether it’s environmental, economic, or social. Cambridge stands as a beacon of progressive leadership, and I want to help it progress towards an even brighter future. To do this, we need to end the decades of stagnation that left us with a scarcity of homes and a defective transportation system. We need to build more homes, more affordable homes, and enhance tenants’ rights. We need to build more protected bike lanes, improve pedestrian crossings, and establish a transit system operated by the City of Cambridge!

In my law practice, I serve people living with disabilities, helping them get government or insurance benefits they’ve earned, and at Cambridge District Court as a public defender (or “bar advocate”). The problems they face are often tied to broader societal and economic forces–forces that government can and must step in to ameliorate. I’ve also developed a great respect and admiration for the Constitution, the document that underlies our entire legal and political system. Undoubtedly, it is under attack by the Trump Administration. We need leaders who understand our constitutional system and who will do what is necessary to protect it.

The teachers in my family (mother, high school English, and grandmother, vocational) instilled in me a love of learning and an appreciation and humility for the unknown. Maybe it’s cliche, but I truly believe anything is possible through education, whether that’s reading the classics or learning to weld. While we have great schools in Cambridge, we can always improve. If elected, I would particularly focus on expanding vocational opportunities for both high school students and for adults, and those pushed to the side of the modern labor force, such as the disabled or the formerly incarcerated. We must grow our economy and build the future, but we also must ensure that everyone in society benefits from this growth and progress.

Finally, although I am one of the younger candidates, I believe it’s time for the newer generations to enter public service. What we lack in experience, we make up for in new, bold ideas, and a vast supply of enthusiasm and energy–energy that will be necessary to take on the many challenges Cambridge faces and to lead it into a prosperous and dynamic tomorrow.

Thank you!

Other Work and Positions

Cofounder, Melanson Law Group
Bar Advocate / Public Defender at Cambridge and Malden District Courts
A Better Cambridge, volunteer and newsletter writer
Abundant Housing Massachusetts, member
Harlem Lacrosse, volunteer middle school lacrosse coach in East Boston and Roxbury
Associate, Foley Hoag LLP
Commercial Territory Manager, Tenable