Growing up in Newton, Marc Laredo never had a free moment.
“I had a paper route,” Laredo said. “I worked at a local restaurant as a dishwasher, busboy, short-order cook, night manager, waiter. I worked for the Newton Parks and Rec Department for several summers. I was one of the captains of the cross-country team. I ran indoor and outdoor track. I wrote for the school paper.”
When he moved back to the city after graduating from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, he took on a similarly rigorous schedule as a father, a founding partner at a Boston law firm, and a Newton School Committee member. In 2012, he exchanged the school committee for a seat on the Newton City Council, then he was upgraded to city council president in 2023.
Now, with the help of several calendars and some caffeine, he’s campaigning, unopposed so far, for mayor.
“I’m drinking lots of coffee,” Laredo said.
While Laredo has spent his life wearing many hats, he feels he’s ready to let the rest go—committing to stepping down at his firm and in the city council—in order to take on the biggest job in the city: mayor.
“I’m at a point in life and financially and otherwise, and not having any young kids at home anymore, where I can afford for all those factors to do this,” Laredo said. “And that’s really important because I think the mayor’s job is beyond full-time.”
Part of the reason why Laredo is running for mayor is that he’s lived in Newton his whole life—he loves it.
“I grew up in a great community,” Laredo said. “I got a really excellent education. There’s a lot to offer here. It’s a vibrant community, which I think is really important.”
Laredo is a founding partner at Laredo & Smith, a Boston-based law firm that deals with business litigation, employment law, and white-collar criminal defense. Laredo said much of his work focuses on helping businesses to prevent legal issues before they arise.
“Try to get your clients up front to do the right thing, to treat each other, to treat people fairly, and if they do those things, try to protect them so they don’t get themselves into trouble,” Laredo said. “But sometimes people come to us after the fact they’ve done whatever they’re going to do. We can’t, we can’t fix it that way. All you can try to do is minimize their troubles as best you can.”
Laredo said his experience helping businesses navigate the law would directly apply to the job of mayor.
“I know how to analyze issues, I know how to deal with organizations, both problem-solving and management aspects, and so I think I’m coming into city hall, hopefully, really well-equipped in that regard,” Laredo said.
Laredo first met Mark Smith, Laredo’s firm partner since 1999, while working together in the criminal bureau of the Massachusetts attorney general’s office in the late 1980s. Their first collaboration was on a securities fraud case against a man who was scamming Haitian immigrants, according to Smith.
“This fascinating case was a huge undertaking about this kind of con man who had focused on the Haitian community and had ripped off a number of his clients for hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Smith said. “Marc put the case together, and then I tried the case to finish it off. That was our first real comprehensive dealing with each other.”
Laredo’s long career straddling the private and public sectors has made him a valuable legal partner, Smith said.
“Having a very broad background helps me bounce ideas off of him, even in areas that aren’t his specific areas of specialization,” Smith said. “Marc is always a good partner to be able to kick ideas around with.”
Laredo’s specialty is family businesses, and Smith said this work involves resolving difficult interpersonal conflicts.
“When you’re dealing with some emotional issues and disputes involving large amounts of money, you have to have good interpersonal skills to kind of keep people focused on what’s in their best interests,” Smith said.
Laredo has brought this expertise into his role as city council president, where he said he’s fostered cooperation by promoting councilors with different beliefs from him.
“I made a point of appointing committee chairs who did not necessarily agree with me or vote for me,” Laredo said. “In fact, I think of the seven committee chairs I appointed, I think five had supported someone else to be president, and I’m fine with that. To me, it’s very healthy in leadership to bring people into the tent. And as a mayor, I’m going to have a large tent.”
Ward 7 Newton City Councilor Lisle Baker said Laredo has been a strong communicator in the 13 years he’s worked with him.
“I found him responsive and thoughtful and very concerned about the welfare of the city,” Baker said.
If elected mayor, Laredo says he wants to focus on nurturing economic development in the city, which he sees as key to resolving the city’s budgetary and housing problems.
“It’s actually very important for the state of the city’s fiscal health that we improve our commercial base here, or at least not let it decline further,” Laredo said. “So that’s something I’m gonna be very focused on as mayor. How do we encourage businesses to stay here and move here and grow here?”
Laredo said that the city has already made inroads in housing by complying with the MBTA Communities Act, a state law mandating upzoning in areas close to public transport. According to Laredo, the city should wait to see what is built from those zoning changes before adopting any new and significant reforms.
“We have now made it, in numerous village centers, easier for developers to come in and build as of right now,” Laredo said. “I think it’s going to take them, frankly, some time to start acquiring land, getting plans in place, and then getting shovels in the ground, but that’s coming.”
But beyond any one political issue, Laredo said he wants to focus on effectively delivering the city services residents rely on.
“To me, being mayor is really, in some ways, very straightforward,” Laredo said. “It’s about schools, roads, and sidewalks. It’s about public safety, it’s about parks and recreation and culture. It’s a very core job about delivering services effectively and efficiently, and I think I’m going to be well suited to do that.”
Leave a Reply