WALTHAM—This years municipal elections will be contentious, will all 15 seats in the Waltham City Council up for election on Nov. 7. Patch is taking a look at the Ward 9 race, between incumbent Robert Logan, and challenger Consuelo Valdes, former chair of the Waltham Cultural Council.

Valdes, 28, currently works as a user experience designer for biotech company Confer Health. At her day job, Valdes works to "democratize healthcare," in hopes to make diagnostic products accessible to consumers. She told Patch, "Imagine a world where you have the ability to test yourself for STDs or cancer without the stigma of going to the doctor." Valdes is passionate about her work in preventative care, and says she wants to bring that to the City Council. During a conversation with Patch, Valdes outlined her platform on multiple issues, ranging from government transparency, to small business improvements, and housing affordability.

TRANSPARENCY Valdes referenced her time as a user experience designer when talking about what Waltham's government could be doing online to improve transparency for constituents. "I think information needs to be more accessible," she said. Although Valdes said that the website has improved, she believes it needs "an overhaul."

"As a user experience designer, I can see the flaws that the website has for the needs our community has. Finding meeting minutes and projects that are happening— none of this is easily accessible on our government website." She thinks that Waltham could stand to utilize designers that other cities, like Boston, have used in their recent investments to government websites. Additionally Valdes talked about transparency in project management. She referenced the creation of a local bike lane, and said that although there were public meetings for the project, community members took to Reddit and Facebook to complain about how the bike lane was introduced its first day, because a stop light caused traffic issues. She explained, "They just didn't feel involved."

SMALL BUSINESSES



When asked what changes she would want to bring to local businesses, Valdes cited the empty storefronts on Moody Street. "We have a lot of businesses, but we also have a lot of empty storefronts. When you speak to people in community, they don't know why there can't be something for their kids to do on Moody Street." Valdes thinks that local regulations are at fault for the stagnation on Moody Street.

She said, "According to some of the research I've done- regulations are tough for small business owners to get their businesses off ground. I would like to address that to help them. We just lost More than Words when the Moody Street shop relocated." For experience, Valdes referenced her time with the Cultural Council, and working with the Waltham Downtown Partnership on events. "We have a steampunk festival, and it's one of the biggest in New England. We get people from New Hampshire and Maine. It helps the merchants and craftspeople."