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Catherine Vitale
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Catherine Vitale ran for election for an at-large seat of the Boston City Council in Massachusetts. She lost in the general election on November 7, 2023.
Vitale completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Catherine Vitale was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her career experience includes working in customer service and working as an activist, restaurant manager, office manager, and scheduling manager.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: City elections in Boston, Massachusetts (2023)
General election
General election for Boston City Council At-large (4 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Boston City Council At-large on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ruthzee Louijeune (Nonpartisan) | 20.3 | 44,641 |
| ✔ |  | Erin Murphy (Nonpartisan) | 19.8 | 43,548 |
| ✔ |  | Julia Mejia (Nonpartisan) | 18.1 | 39,817 |
| ✔ | Henry Santana (Nonpartisan) | 15.5 | 34,151 | |
| Bridget Nee-Walsh (Nonpartisan) | 12.2 | 26,775 | ||
 | Shawn Nelson (Nonpartisan) | 4.8 | 10,512 | |
 | Clifton Braithwaite (Nonpartisan) | 4.7 | 10,299 | |
 | Catherine Vitale (Nonpartisan)  | 3.9 | 8,560 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 1,662 | ||
| Total votes: 219,965 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Vitale in this election.
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Catherine Vitale completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Vitale's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a hardworking mother of two. Born and raised in the St. Mark's Parish of Dorchester, Massachusetts, I grew up an only child, and started working when I was 16. I spent most of the next 14 years as a manager at Dunkin' Donuts. I've also worked as a door-to-door sales rep, selling auto-glass in Arizona, a customer service rep at Home Depot, and an office manager for a property management company in Worcester, MA. Due to rising cost of living and the opioid crisis, my family has struggled with homelessness multiple times over the past 10 years. While living in a homeless shelter with my two children in 2020, I was working as a scheduling manager for a home health agency Monday though Friday, and on the weekends I was working at a local coffee shop. I lost both of those jobs due to the pandemic, and decided I wanted to find a way to be a voice for change for people who were dealing with the same struggles and hardships that were keeping me from getting ahead and building a stable life and home for my children. I started networking and advocating against covid restrictions, lockdowns, and mandates, and eventually I was organizing and leading many effective direct public actions and demonstrations. Every time I've shown up to advocate for a cause, I learn about other issues and I'm compelled to turn my focus in another direction. I'm a passionate person, and when I see a problem, my instinct is to fix it.
- It's most important that constituents feel LISTENED TO, and not just HEARD. I will always listen to the concerns of constituents and work my hardest to find the best possible resolutions in every situation.
- Boston schools are failing in every aspect. We need renovations, an elected school committee, more parent engagement, and no new sex ed curricula.
- We need to stop overdevelopment and traffic congestion. This means finding housing for our homeless residents before building new units for new residents and putting an end to bus and bike lanes.
Community Question Featured local question
Yes, it did. I saw how much power and control the government has on the people, and I saw how they are instilling their own policies and ideologies into our children via public schools. Government is supposed to work for the people, not hold power over the people.
Community Question Featured local question
This is the most important part of being an elected official, in my opinion. The residents/constituents are our bosses - they pay us to serve them. If a government body is not involving constituents in their decision making then they are not doing their jobs. I plan on having weekly town hall meetings in all of Boston's neighborhoods. I also plan on having a public comment section in the City Council's weekly meeting.
Community Question Featured local question
They should be answered within 7-10 business days, and they should be thorough. If we don't have employees designated to only answer public records request, we need to. There should be one central location for public records, that has access to every government entity's public records. Each department should not handle their own public records. There should also be monthly audits of public records, to insure transparency and rule out corruption.
Community Question Featured local question
Teen outreach programs, gang mediation programs, and city-funded firearms training and stop the bleed training for ages 16+. Eliminating school buses and sending children to schools closer to home means neighbors will know each other again and each neighborhood will be better able to police itself.
Community Question Featured local question
No new development contracts with big corporations. No new developments over 6 units/3 stories. Prioritize housing and homeownership for residents before building units for new people to move in from outside of Boston.
Community Question Featured local question
I will do nothing without having input from constituents. I will not assume their values and goals, but rather ask them what their values and goals are and what expectations they have of me as their representation.
Community Question Featured local question
Overdevelopment needs to stop. We don't have enough room for the amount of people we're building to accommodate. With overdevelopment comes traffic congestion. There's already too much traffic in Boston, so I oppose and will actively work against all bus and bike lanes. I would also make a proposal to eliminate school buses. This will help with city budgeting, air quality, traffic congestion, and public health and safety. Children can attend their neighborhood schools, or parents can transport if preferred.
Community Question Featured local question
All police officers should be trained on the Constitution, and proper execution of authority.
Community Question Featured local question
None. An individual's health is their own responsibility. The government has no authority to violate any person's bodily autonomy or ability to work and provide for their family.
I grew up in Boston and I'm raising my children here. Boston used to be family-oriented, but it's not so much anymore. We are seeing more and more single parent households due to rising crime and the opioid crisis. We have our own tent city at Mass and Cass, where you can drive through at any time of day and see open drug use, drug deals, and sex acts happening right in front of the police, and nobody is doing anything about it. I am truly passionate about helping the residents of Mass and Cass find sustainable treatment options and stable housing, and cleaning/restoring the nearby South End/Roxbury neighborhoods being affected by it. Children should be able to play in the parks without having to step over needles, crack pipes, and other trash.
This office is on the governing body of the City of Boston.
The Autobiography of Malcom X, as told to Alex Haley
To be accountable to the people they serve, and to stay true to their word
Fast learner
Hard worker
Openminded
Honesty
Integrity
Wholeheartedness
To uphold the Constitution, and to listen to their constituents.
I would like to be a part of the governing body that made Boston feel like home again for all Bostonians.
September 11th. I was 11 years old.
Cashier at Lambert's Marketplace. 3 months
The Autobiography of Malcom X, because it taught me many things. It taught me that what we've been told in school about the civil rights movement is not the truth, and that we are repeating history.
All I Do Is Win Remix, DJ Khaled
No. I think it can sometimes be dangerous to keep electing career-politicians, because they can become corrupted and lose sight of what their job is. I believe regular life experiences qualify any person to work in government, because government works best when we come at it from different angles. If every person we elect has only worked in public service, they may not have a grasp on what regular, private-sector, working people are dealing with.
Open-mindedness, patience, organization, time and people management skills, problem solving, brainstorming, and real-life experiences.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 10, 2023
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