Zuhair Syed, a Community Organizer with the Merrimack Valley Project, is entering the race to replace Danny Rourke as Lowell’s District 1 (Pawtucketville) City Councilor.
Syed, a 2018 Lowell High grad, declared his candidacy in a statement sent to InsideLowell Tuesday night.
“As a proud Lowell native, I’ve always believed in the potential of our city and the people who call it home,” Syed wrote. “Lowell has shaped who I am, and now I want to give back to the community that has given me so much.”
Syed holds aBachelor’s degree in Political Science and Sociology from UMass Amherst, along with completing his Master’s in Public Affairs in 2023. His LinkedIn profile lists his prior work experience as Assistant Canvassing Director for WGBH, Debate and Public Speaking Coach at the Boston Institute of Education, and as a substitute teacher for Lowell Public Schools during the 2025-2026 school year.
“Through my work in the community, I’ve seen the power of bringing people together and ensuring residents have a voice in shaping their future,” Syed’s statement continued. “I’m running because I believe in Pawtucketville, it’s people, and the future we can build together. I’m excited to uplift our strengths and take on our challenges with you.”
Syed’s entry into the race brings the list of declared candidates back to two, following Rodney Elliott’s decision to not seek the office after previously declaring he would run. Local realtor and former Greater Lowell Regional Technical High School School Committee member, Ray Boutin, is also vying for the seat.
21 responses to “New Name Emerges in District 1”
A community organizer means he’s unemployed. How about getting a career before entering politics……
He’s employed full time by the MVP, dumbass.
Yes! Lowell needs new names and exactly this kind of energy. Exciting for the city.
He will be a great asset to lowell community and the lowell council.We need young leaders.He has experience and an enthusiasm.I congratulate on his leadership.
Go get him elected.
It is good for the Democratic process. It is so refreshing to see engagement from our younger community members! It should never be limited to the elite in our city.
I believe a “woman” getting into the race would really shake up the ballot!!!
Zuhair is a very well spoken, highly educated, who knows Lowell,and works full time at the Merrimack Valley Project!
I went to high school with Zuhair! So exciting to see such a kind and knowledgeable individual enter the race.
It’s nice to see young people getting involved in community politics. The young people are our future.
Yes, absolutely agree, ALL young people are the future, but guess what, Lowell needs leadership for the PRESENT! There is a massive difference between organizing protests from the outside and actually managing a $400M city budget from the inside.
Right now, Lowell is facing a serious fiscal crises, like a $1 million public safety overtime burn. So the city needs more than just well-spoken, they need someone that has actual experience on a public board where you voted on real municipal budgets and negotiated labor contracts, a proven administrator, not an outside activist and community advocate.
Looking at this fairly and logically, because we are living in very serious fiscal times, one has experience advocating for policy from the spectator stands, while the other has actually sat at the table and done the job of public fiscal management.
According to the official IRS tax filings for the Merrimack Valley Project Inc. on ProPublica, the organization qualifies for and files a Form 990-EZ, which the IRS specifically reserves for smaller nonprofits that bring in less than $200,000 a year.
Their latest verified public filings break down the exact annual revenues as follows:
• FY 2024: $152,000
• FY 2023: $99,000
• FY 2022: $117,000
So while running a lean grassroots operation is valuable community work, managing a multi-hundred-million-dollar city enterprise requires a completely different level of institutional knowledge, skillset and oversight. At this specific time and moment of severe fiscal strain, Pawtucketville needs a tested administrator with a proven track record in public fiscal management.
Keep up with inflation – city budget now about $650 million.
Hey Joe, You are 100% right on that correction, thank you for pointing out the updated figures! With inflation pushing Lowell’s total operating budget closer to that $600M+ mark, it actually underscores my point even further.
The financial leap from managing a grassroots advocacy budget of $99K to under $200K a year to overseeing a $600 million municipal enterprise is astronomical, especially considering the advocacy group he works for is headquartered over in Lawrence, not even here in Lowell.
Managing a lean, out-of-town grassroots operation is valuable community work in Lawrence, but running a multi-hundred-million-dollar city government budget here in Lowell requires a completely different scale of experience, institutional knowledge and oversight. In these very serious fiscal times, that massive difference in scale is exactly why Pawtucketville needs a tested administrator with a proven track record on a public municipal board budget.
With an undergrad degree in politics and and masters degree, and with active full time job, this youth eould be a valuable asset, in balancing the budget.
With all those experienced congressmen snd congresswomen and sitting there with decades of experience, the federal budget has ballooned to 40 trillion and counting, with 2027 projected deficit of 2.2 trillion
Besides, not a single state or big city and town is debt free.
So what the very experienced people sitting on the city council are doing about the balancing the budget?
New blood, with new perspectives, with zeal to serve the community need to be encouraged and elected, so that the oldies sitting there with decades experience failing to manage the budget may make way for young people with fresh perspectives to have the opportunity to deal with the problem.
Thats a very clever pivot, Azmath, but it completely falls apart under basic municipal law because the federal government and the city government operate under completely different legal and financial universes. But, you do make a good point about people’s frustration with the gridlock of national politics, the war, unemployment, etc. However, using the national debt to evaluate a local city council race is like comparing apples to oranges.
This is the big reason why pure academic degrees are not enough. The Federal Government can print money, the City of Lowell cannot. The reason Congress can run a $40 trillion debt is because the federal government has the power to print currency and run massive deficits. Lowell on the other hand is legally mandated to balance their budget. Under Massachusetts General Laws, every single city and town is legally required to pass a strictly balanced budget every single year.
If a city councilor doesn’t understand or have the experience with the technicalities of municipal revenue, state tax caps (like Proposition 2½), Chapter 70 school funding formulas, and union labor contracts, the state will literally step in and take over the city’s finances. Just like they did with the school system in Lawrence, remember? BTW, is the Lawrence school system still in receivership?
Anyway, local government is about actual hands on experiences, not just textbook theory. A political science degree (I have one too) is excellent for discussing macroeconomics or national policy, but it doesn’t teach you how to audit and manage a real time municipal fire department burning through $1 million in overtime, or how to manage complex municipal line items. That comes with real world life experiences.
Yes, we absolutely need to encourage young people to bring their “fresh perspectives” to civic life, but a local city council seat during a very severe current and future fiscal strain isn’t an entry-level training ground, sorry, it just isn’t. Pawtucketville and the city of Lowell needs someone who already knows how to calmly, collaboratively and professionally sit at the table and balance the budget through “teamwork” and act like a respectful grownup who doesn’t call people names, because that my friend, will get you nowhere fast and basically reveals your maturity and education level.
Have a wonderful Columbus & Indigenous People’s Day!
“The Federal Government can print money, the City of Lowell cannot.” Really? Have you seen your tax bill?
The Federal government prints money, Lowell collects taxes. So a tax bill isn’t a blank check. The state sets a legal limit on how much Lowell can tax, and the data shows the city voluntarily leaves $12M to $14M of that limit uncollected every year to protect residents by keeping current tax bills lower for right now.
Full disclosure, I live a stone’s throw from the Lowell/Pawtucketville line in Dracut. My tax bill is $5,572.
Believe me I get people worrying about their tax bills. But looking at the actual city budget data, believe it or not, Lowell taxes its residents LESS than what state law allows.
Under Proposition 2½, Lowell leaves a massive $12 million to $14 million in “excess capacity” on the table every year. Simply put, think of Prop 2½ like a credit card limit set by the state.
Most neighboring cities and towns max out their tax cards every year because they have smaller commercial tax bases (like Dracut) and high costs. But Lowell’s management and leadership voluntarily chooses not to max out the card, leaving that $12M to $14M in spending power untouched to protect taxpayers’ wallets for now.
So on top of leaving all that cash on the table, Lowell uses a split tax rate meaning big corporations and commercial businesses pay a tax rate that is much higher than residents. Lowell management recently and current bringing in these massive commercial taxpayers like the Markley data center, the LINC Project, Draper Labs, etc., the city requires and leverages these big businesses to shoulder a much higher tax rate.
Because these big commercial entities pay a tax rate nearly double that of the residents, Lowell double protects its residential homeowners from getting hit with the maximum legal tax bill by keeping its tax levy under control, and making big businesses shoulder more of the tax hit.
Problem with people like Jeanne, who have nothing valuable to say, is that they have so say so much
Mohammed, when you cannot dispute the actual numbers, resorting to petty, personal jabs about me and others, “saying too much” is the only option you have left. The problem with “people like you” is that when you are completely confronted with verified public facts, like Lowell’s $12M to $14M in excess levy capacity under Proposition 2½, the split tax rate that makes large corporations shoulder nearly double the residential rate, and massive commercial taxpayers like Markley and Draper Labs, “people like you” resort to personal insults instead of arguing the math, because you “ain’t got nothin”.
I tend to write a lot because I ground my perspectives in real-world fiscal data and state law, rather than empty and shallow political slogans. If providing transparent, researched facts to help the hardworking taxpayers understand how a complex $600 million municipal budget and a $1 million public safety overtime crisis affects their wallets is a problem, then it’s a problem I’m proud to have.
Because the hardworking taxpayers of Pawtucketville and the city of Lowell deserve real answers about who is actually qualified to balance the ledger, and who is an immature and childish “nothing burger”!
BTW, this is AMERICA, and WOMEN have every right in the world to say as much or as little as they want, our CHOICE! Have a nice day!
So what you’re are saying is that he a Bullcrap degree and no real job. Sounds like a leader to me
Just an FYI to ALL:
To find out exactly how long ANY and ALL potential candidates have lived in ANY district or city wide, all one has to do is to request official voting history and registration timeline from the Lowell Election and Census Department at City Hall (Room 5).
The Lowell City Charter mandates that you must have legally and continuously lived in a District for a year. The only database that carries legal weight for the election is the city’s official voter registry at Lowell City Hall, which documents exactly when ANYONE’s residency occurred.
The Records Access Officer (RAO) is Mr. John Pyers
Direct Email Address: RAO@LowellMA.gov
Mailing Address: City Hall Law Department, Attn: RAO, 375 Merrimack Street 3rd Floor, Lowell, MA 01852
Phone Number: 978-674-4050
The official Lowell Public Records Portal explicitly notes that emailing the RAO is the most efficient way to submit a request and receive electronic records directly.
Just state: A Public Records Request – Voter Registration History & Domicile Timeline of WHOMEVER you want to verify, to the Records Access Officer / Election Commission.
Because under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (G.L. c. 66, section 10) copies of public records are maintained by the City of Lowell Election and Census Department.
ANYONE can request the official voter registration history, internal voter file log, and certificate of residency timeline for ANY individual, who is a declared candidate in city elections.
Also, there are “Redactions for Privacy” meaning that while voter history is public, certain highly sensitive “Personal Identifiable Information” contained in the internal voter logs such as full dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, or Social Security numbers, will be redacted by the RAO before the records are sent to you.
Once you send the email, the RAO has 10 business days under Massachusetts law to respond. Municipalities are generally expected to produce the records within 25 business days.
The law allows municipalities with a population over 20,000 to charge a fee for employee time spent searching for and redacting files after the first 2 hours of work (capped at $25 per hour). For a standard request, it usually rarely exceeds this threshold, but the city will notify you if a fee applies.