LYNN — Incumbent Councilor at Large Gordon “Buzzy” Barton would like to continue working on the City Council to help more people and keep an eye on the safety of the city.
“Politics stinks, but you get to help a lot of people,” said Barton.
Barton was elected to serve on the council five times since 2011. He said he ran for office for the first time because of the positive effect he had seen his mother have on many people in the community.
“If I could accomplish one-tenth of what she did when it comes to helping others, I will have done well,” said Barton, whose mother Virginia worked as a parent’s coordinator for the Lynn School Department, ran a credit union, founded a community minority cultural center, and was the president of the local chapter of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 25 years.
Barton was born in Lynn in 1952. He and his seven sisters grew up with his single mother between East and West Lynn. They were the first Black family to live in the Chestnut Street projects after their house burned down in 1965.
His sisters kept calling Barton “brother” instead of using his first name so his mother came up with an easier nickname: “Buzzy.”
Barton grew up playing sports and attending various clubs, including the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and a mountain-climbing club.
The fire from his childhood inspired Barton to become a firefighter, although he first worked for the Parks Department doing maintenance. He joined the Lynn Fire Department in 1976.
He was named firefighter of the year in 1990, the firefighters union man of the year in 1991, and was a recipient of the Box 41 Award in 1998. He served on the executive board for Lynn Firefighters Local 739 for 22 years, including four years as president.
Since he spent 28 years working for the Lynn Fire Department before retiring in 2004, public safety continues to be Barton’s priority. He chairs the City Council’s Public Safety and Public Health Committee.
“If people don’t feel safe in the city, they won’t want to live here,” said Barton.
Barton believes that the city’s fire and police departments do a tremendous job, but are both currently inadequately staffed.
“Attrition is not good for the city,” Barton said.
Barton said that the Fire Department needs more firefighters and paramedic firefighters on staff, an additional ambulance, new fire engines and a fire house on the Lynnway.
“The closest fire station is on Western Avenue and that is too far away,” Barton said.
The Lynn Police Department needs new cruisers, the latest means of communication, more police officers and a station on Lynnway, too.
Barton would like to see more minority hiring at the departments, as well as at City Hall. He would like to bring back police on bikes and encourage more patrolling of the neighborhoods on foot.
“It develops relationships in the community,” said Barton, pointing out that when he was growing up, police officers knew youth by name.
The closing of Union Hospital was the worst thing that happened to the city, Barton said. He will advocate for a new hospital in Lynn with the new mayor’s office.
The condition of Lynn’s public schools worries Barton, too.
“As a city we made a mistake with Pickering Middle School and a second middle school downtown,” said Barton, referring to the proposed location and what he described as flawed communication during the whole process.
He said the city needs to come up with a comprehensive plan to create modern facilities that students and teachers deserve.
He commended the admirable job the school district did together with the Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of getting students set up with computers, keeping children and teachers safe and regularly notifying parents about the development of the situation and the response.
Barton would also like Lynn’s youth to have a community center with a gym, arts-and-crafts classes, and more programs for children to get out of their houses and socialize.
“We need more of good people to reach out to kids,” said Barton. “Kids need positive role models.”
Barton himself coached girls and boys basketball at Lynn English High School for 11 years. He donates to youth sports in Lynn and goes to the high-school games across the city regularly.
He is also hopeful that the city’s seniors will get a new senior center soon.
“Cause I could end up there,” joked Barton, saying that the pandemic slowed things down but the City Council is working on it behind the scenes.
Senior housing is an important issue for Barton as well, he said. He is glad to see some senior-housing projects starting to take off at Porter Street and at the old Union Hospital site.
Currently, Barton lives on a quiet street near the Thurgood Marshall Middle School, raising his teenage great-nephew Alexander and his fifth German shepherd pup, Zenda.
“I just like helping people,” Barton said of being a city councilor. “It just puts me in a position where I can help a lot of people on a big scale … a lot of seniors and a lot of people of color. And just everybody in the city; I treat everybody the same.”
Barton said he will continue working hard for all the Lynn’s residents.