Aimee Smith '02
Aimee Smith Campaign for Cambridge City Council



Aimee Smith with husband and fellow activist, Anton Van der Ven

On Wednesday September 24th, 2003 at 12:00 PM, on the steps of City Hall in Cambridge, Aimee Smith, PhD, declared her candidacy for City Councilor in the Cambridge Elections of Nov. 4, 2003.

A well respected and longtime activist, Aimee Smith, is entering the elections on behalf of Cambridge residents who care about civil liberties, immigrant rights, and rent control. She has decided to focus on these issues as a result of city officials failure to address them.

Aimee Smith is a Cambridge tenant and a member of the Green-Rainbow Party. She is committed to the values of grassroots democracy and social justice.

She believes that the people have a right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and communities. Therefore, she commits to holding open monthly community discussions, putting resident proposals on the city council agenda, using science -- not politics -- to explain technical issues in plain English, and working for the interest of all Cambridge residents regardless of party affiliation or citizenship status.

Aimee Smith holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT. She serves as the Membership Director of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts. She and her husband have been very involved in anti-war and immigrant rights organizing. On the MIT campus, she has been involved in successful campaigns to get MIT to include rape awareness programming in new student orientation, extend its availability and coverage of mental health services, and reverse a suspension of an employee who participated in leafleting against Shell Oil Corporation.

Cambridge residents are all tired of politicians being heavy on talk and light on action. Aimees campaign is about a different way of doing politics. The Green-Rainbow Party has taken an active role in getting the rent control initiative onto the ballot and Aimee Smith will continue to fight to strengthen the diverse social fabric that makes Cambridge a living city.

See also Aimee's article in this issue of the Thistle.