February 7, 2021
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Dana Depelteau is looking for work and one of the jobs he plans to apply for is Mayor of Boston.
The 36-year-old New Hampshire native hopes to take his 15 years of hotel management experience to City Hall. He lost his most recent job managing a Boston hotel, he says, due to the pandemic.
“Mayor is the general manager of the city,” Depelteau said last week. “I feel strongly convicted to run for mayor. This is one job I’m applying for.”
Depelteau recently filed paperwork with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance that allows him to raise funds and report spending. But he told the Reporter that he does not plan on accepting any campaign donations. Instead, he plans to encourage any supporters to donate to organizations in the community, he said.
Depelteau settled in Boston with his husband in 2013. The couple searched for homes in Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury before finding their current home on Claybourne Street in Dorchester.
Depelteau, who is white, acknowledges that he struggled to feel comfortable in the neighborhood.
“That fear of living in a Black neighborhood is longstanding,” he said. However, he said after some time, “We eventually began to love our neighborhood.”
He adds: “Although I am white, I want to be an accomplice in helping to raise the level of awareness of that community and bring them to a seat at the table.”
Depelteau, at present, is the only male who has stated his intent to run. Three other candidates who have launched candidacies— Michelle Wu, Andrea Campbell and Annissa Essaibi George — are all city councillors with siginificant advantages in funds, experience and name recognition. All three are women of color.
Depelteau, who has never run for office before, will need to gather at least 3,000 certified signatures to get his name on the ballot for the September primary. Nomination papers won't be available for any city candidates until April 13.
“I love our city," he said. "I want to have conversations and have people not afraid of speaking their minds."
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