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By Mark E. Vogler
Zosia VanMeter, Lynn’s Inspectional Division Director, recently became the second Democrat from that city to officially declare her candidacy for the 9th Essex District House seat that state Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) has comfortably held since 2011. VanMeter, a 39-year-old immigrant from the Philippines who has lived most of her life on the North Shore, hopes to oust Wong, who will seek his ninth two-year term in the Nov. 3 state election. But, first, she must prevail in the Sept. 1 Democratic Primary over Lynn Ward One Councilor Pete Meaney, who won his second two-year term last November.
VanMeter, who has worked the last four and a half years in Lynn city government, including the last three years as acting and later permanent director of the Inspectional Division, told The Saugus Advocate this week that she decided to run for the State House last fall because she didn’t like the way constituents of the 9th Essex House District were being represented. “I think the current representation we get from Donald Wong is nonexistent and nonresponsive,” VanMeter said in an interview.
“His attention to performative politics rather than working to get substantive results doesn’t fit well with me. The people of the 9th District deserve better than that. I felt compelled to become part of what fixes this,” she said.
“The biggest issue that I want to focus on is affordability – something that affects everyone around the district in Lynn, Saugus and Wakefield – affordability, especially with the housing crisis. My daughter is 19 and she can’t afford an apartment. It’s about helping young adults. It’s also about helping our older residents,” she said.
VanMeter said she believes the concept of affordability clashes with what Wong’s family is attempting to do with the Kowloon Restaurant property – “developing it into luxury apartments, which is in opposition to the housing needs of constituents, while contributing to the overdevelopment of Route 1.”
Future policies affecting WIN Waste Innovations’ trash-to-energy plant on Route 107 in Saugus and its adjacent ash landfill are of great concern to the 9th Essex House District. But VanMeter said she doesn’t think that Wong is representing his constituents well on that issue. She said she opposes farther expansion of the ash landfill and wants to see it closed when it reaches its capacity. “I support and will continue to support policy changes and legislation to bring the Wheelabrator plant in line with current compliance,” she said.
She advocates creating a committee of stakeholders who are well-versed to talk about issues related to the plant. “I don’t know what the ideal solution is,” VanMeter said.
“It’s going to take a lot of conversation and a lot of planning. This would be a big undertaking – something that would need to be done in phases,” she said.
She considers Lynn her hometown
VanMeter was born in the Philippines in 1986. She was adopted and later moved to the United States when she was about two years old. “I settled down in Lynn and consider it my hometown,” said VanMeter, a 2004 graduate of Lynn English High School.
VanMeter graduated from North Shore Community College in August 2022 with an associate’s degree in liberal arts. She has been working on her bachelor’s degree at Salem State University, in Political Science with a concentration in American Government, Law and Policy.
She moved to other parts of the North Shore, living in Beverly for one year and in Danvers for five years. But she moved back to Lynn, where she became very involved in the community through her volunteer work and work with nonprofit organizations.
VanMeter has a 19-year-old daughter, Laura, from her first marriage. She graduated last year from Lynn English High School and is currently a student at UMass Lowell. VanMeter is married to Jacob VanMeter, a real estate agent with The Drumlin Group of Salem.
On her campaign website (https://www.electzvm.com/meet-zosia), VanMeter recalls growing up on the North Shore in a poor family. “We were dependent upon the generosity of neighbors and charities at the start of every school year, needed oil assistance every winter, and my summers were spent at my mother’s hair salon rather than on playdates or camping trips,” she recalled.
“For my entire young childhood, I saw the struggles of a single mother, up close and personal, doing her best to hold her family together with scarred hands and tired eyes; and when my daughter reached school age, I knew I wanted a better childhood for her and children like her,” she said. “And that’s why community matters – it’s not just where we live, but it’s where we make memories and the people we make them with. It’s where we should feel safe and supported so that no child worries about their next meal and no adult feels like an island. I have spent the past decade working with nonprofits and other groups in the North Shore area to make that vision a reality – from bringing safe, fun community events for families to enjoy; to providing winter jackets to those with the most need; to delivering meals to home-bound seniors; to running confidence-building workshops for women in recovery; and so much more.”
A commitment to community engagement
Volunteerism with various organizations for a number of causes has been an integral part of VanMeter’s adult life. “What separates me from my opponents is the amount of community engagement that I do,” VanMeter said.
“I sit on three nonprofit boards. Community service work is important. Every other Thursday, I take lunch break at a sober home to conduct a workplace readiness program for women in recovery. On Thursdays, I do literacy tutoring at Girls, Inc. Outside of that, food security is a big issue for me,” she said.
VanMeter and her daughter have a longstanding tradition of either delivering food or serving food on Thanksgiving. “This is something we’ve been doing for nearly two decades. I want to instill in my daughter a sense of community responsibility,” she said.
A “people-driven” campaign
Since organizing last September, VanMeter has been running a low-budget campaign compared to her opponents. She had $1,369 available in her campaign war chest, as of Wednesday, while having raised $2,150.77 overall, according to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF). Meanwhile, Meaney had had $92,550.45 available in his campaign money and Wong had $23,846.48 in cash on hand, according to the OCPF.
“They’re financial titans. There’s no disputing that,” VanMeter said.
“Donald Wong and his family own the Kowloon Restaurant while Peter Meaney, who’s a dentist, brags about making $3 million a year. They’re reaching into deep pockets, getting donations of thousands of dollars,” she said.
“I’m reaching out to people. I don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars. My campaign is going to be people-driven,” she said.
