Powers Returns to Ward 5 Council Seat in Special Election Win

  It wasn’t a very long time away from the City Council for John Powers. The former Ward 5 Councillor easily topped the ticket in a three-way Special Election to fill out the term of Al Fiore. Fiore defeated Powers for the Ward 5 seat in 2021, but earlier this year stepped down from office due to medical reasons.

  Powers, who served as the ward councillor for more than two decades before losing to Fiore, garnered 464 votes on Tuesday. Former Councillor-at-Large Linda Santos Rosa and former Ward 5 challenger Ron Clark each received 260 votes. There was no primary in the race, and the top vote getter was declared the winner. Unofficially, 987 of the 5,572 registered voters in Ward 5 cast ballots, for a turnout of just under 18 percent.

  “I thought it was excellent, it was a good win and I doubled my vote, more or less,” said Powers, who will get to jump back in as a full-time councillor, one of his calling cards in recent years.

  “Mayor Curley wrote a book called ‘I’d Do It Again,’ I’d write a book called ‘I Did It Again,’” said Powers. “I’m happy, but now it is time to get on with my agenda and get some positive work done.”

  There are several big projects happening in Ward 5 that Powers had a major hand in before his loss to Fiore last year, and he said work is continuing apace on those. Land is being cleared for the new Point of Pines fire station, and Powers said work should begin soon and that it will be a major accomplishment for the ward.

  “There’s also the boatyard at Mills Avenue; for years residents were worried about apartments coming to the boatyard,” said Powers.

  Now, the city has purchased the boatyard and is in the process of developing a community boating and rowing center with programs for students. “There’s a lot of scholarship money from universities and colleges for crew and rowing programs, and now [Revere students] may be able to obtain some of those scholarships when they see they were able to participate in a rowing program,” said Powers.