For longtime Newton resident Sean Roche, running for Newton City Council wasn’t a sudden decision, but rather the culmination of years spent advocating for better housing, safer streets, and more sustainable city planning. 

“I’ve been very active in civic life on transportation and housing issues,” Roche said. “The action on the issues that matter to me happens in the city council. If you want to see things happen, that’s the place to be.” 

Roche’s roots in Newton’s civic life began when he moved to Newton and commuted by bike to and from Boston and Cambridge, rain, shine, or snow. What started as a personal routine quickly evolved into something bigger—a drive to create safer infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

After joining the Newton Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force, where he worked on local safety improvements, Roche later expanded his advocacy work to broader initiatives connecting transportation, housing, and climate action.

“I came at it from these two small apertures—biking and neighborhood traffic—but those apertures widened,” Roche said. “I saw how land use, transportation, and the climate are all connected.”

Roche describes himself as a housing advocate, and he wants to expand affordable and diverse housing options within Newton. Specifically, he is focusing on how rising housing prices and the city’s increasingly homogenous wealth distribution signal an urgent need for more inclusive development.

“We need more housing options at different levels of the economic ladder,” Roche said. “Our population is becoming increasingly skewed toward the most wealthy.”

Personally, Roche’s background is just as widespread as his civic interests. He characterizes himself as being on “Act Four” of his career. 

Roche served as an assistant district attorney in Bronx County, where he prosecuted sex crimes against children. He later transitioned into corporate law, then to healthcare technology as a software product manager, and most recently to operations at a Newton-based nonprofit that runs group homes for developmentally challenged adults. 

He’s also an avid quilter, as well as a husband and father.

Each aspect of his professional life has taught him different ways to approach and solve problems. 

“As a lawyer, you look at things through issues and implications,” Roche said. “As a product manager, you think in terms of problems and solutions and incremental change. All of those things will help me address the challenges and opportunities that the city faces.”

Over the past several years, Roche has left his mark on Newton through small yet meaningful acts of advocacy. 

He was a member of the mayor’s appointed Transportation Advisory Committee, which became the Transportation Advisory Group. He worked with various departments within city hall and the mayor’s office, as well as with city councilors and state legislators. 

“I’ve got a bunch of things around Newton that I can take credit for,” Roche said. “They’re small changes to sidewalks in Newton Center that I identified, bike lines that I was either the primary driver for or part of a group, the Needham Street Green Line, and a bridge across the Charles in Lower Falls.” 

While Roche sees himself as a values-driven leader who wants to understand where other people are coming from, there are some issues on which he will not waver.

“We can compromise on how we address the issues, but not on recognizing the climate crisis or the housing shortage,” Roche said.

If elected, Roche hopes to make environmental accountability a significant part of his tenure, proposing that the city council evaluate every decision through the lens of climate impact.

“I want to be known as the guy who says, ‘What is the environmental impact?’” Roche said. “It’s not always explicit. We need to be talking about that when we make decisions now.”

Another emerging issue in the nonpartisan council that Roche hopes to address is growing polarization. 

“We are very clearly aligning along an axis that doesn’t fit neatly into our political organization,” Roche said. “It’s more about municipal progressives against municipal conservatives.” 

Roche also plans to implement new media to share city information in a more transparent and accessible way. 

“I don’t think volume is the answer,” Roche said. “Being targeted and thoughtful is.”

Ultimately, Roche hopes voters remember him as direct, transparent, and grounded in his principles.

“I’d say I’m frank, value-driven, and with a sense of humor,” Roche said.