by Audrey Resutek
President John F. Kennedy question to Americans to ask what they could do for their country had a profound effect on Alewife columnist Sam Seidel.
“Kennedy brought to national politics this notion that there was a call to serve—that there was a noble aspect to public service,” Seidel said. “ I feel that still.”
Seidel has seen firsthand how important politics is to people’s lives. Before working in Washington himself he was a student at The University of California at Berkeley.
“Activism was a real theme in the Bay Area,” he said.
After earning a bachelors in classics from Berkeley in 1988 Seidel traveled to Berlin to learn German. Although he was physically in Italy when the Berlin Wall came down, he was able to comprehend the “It was euphoric for Germans,” he said.
“As an observer it was a very exciting moment in history. Everything was so loaded with symbolism.”
Seidel said he returned to America to begin a career in public policy. He worked in Washington at congressional agency that assessed the impact of technology on people’s day-to-day lives. His unit specifically dealt with people with disabilities.
“I was amazed that you could collect this group of people who are all passionate and committed about an issue,” he said.
Seidel went on to work in the Clinton Administration in the Executive Office of Science and Technology Policy, he said.
“It was exciting, because essentially, your boss’s boss is the president of the United States,” he said.
Seidel came to Cambridge in 1996 to join John Kerry’s Senate campaign, he said.
“Cambridge has a lot that’s great about it.”
Seidel chose to stay in Cambridge after earning a master’s degree in urban planning from
Harvard. He also holds a public policy master’s degree from Georgetown.
In 2005, Seidel ran for Cambridge city council, and came in 10th in the election for nine seats.
He said his run was a valuable learning experience. “I do think that everybody should run for office once in their life.”
Seidel wrote about that experience in his first columns in The Alewife. He now uses his column to explore ideas and concepts relevant to Cambridge government.
“I try to put down facts that might not be reported elsewhere,” he said.
Seidel is running hard to win the seat on the City Council that aluded him two years ago on the same platform of reform and bringing a fresher approach to the city’s challenges, he said.
The city is lucky to have the tax revenues to actually do what other communities dream about, he said. “Cambridge has a lot of resources,” he said. “Resources help, but they are not the whole picture. Patterns of inequalities persist even in circumstances where there are a lot of well-intentioned smart energetic people and money.
Seidel said the main topics he would like to address are schools, housing, supporting children and families, and continuing the conversation about the future of Cambridge.
As an avid environmentalist and urban planner, Seidel said he is dedicated to serving the city of Cambridge. Above all he said, “We need to be responsible stewards of where we live.”
