Cambridge City Council hopeful Carrie E. Pasquarello is campaigning on government transparency and improving public safety – but her run has gotten a lot of attention lately because of transphobic and Islamophobic tweets she liked.
Pasquarello, who started Global Secure Resources Inc., a company that deals with risk reduction and threat evaluation, highlights her background in protecting people from harm as part of her sometimes heated campaign for the Council.
“On my small business that I run, I focus on preventing victimization,” Pasquarello said in an interview with The Crimson. “A lot of skill sets that I’ll be able to bring are related to my crime prevention or trying to protect victims.”
She’s worked overseas for the U. S. State Department as well as locally through her firm and other advocacy groups around Boston.
“All of these experiences really developed my passion for helping other people,” Pasquarello said. “I was with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center for a number of years, working on a 24-hour hotline, doing community awareness and prevention programs and also facilitating survivor speakers.”
Her platform also puts a strong focus on making government more open and accountable. She told The Crimson the city website isn’t easy to use – especially for older residents – and needs improvement.
“If people go to find out about policy orders [or] they look for what’s happening in Cambridge – it’s so discombobulated,” Pasquarello said.
When it comes to the hot topic changes proposed for the city’s 100%-Affordable Housing Zoning Overlay-which would let affordable housing projects go taller-Pasquarello said locals were “left out of the conversation.”
“They felt unsupported. They felt unheard,” Pasquarello added. “Instead of passing something really quickly, to try to just get the heights and the density, we really should be focused on how livable our community is.”
She breaks down public safety challenges into three main areas: overdoses, homelessness, and mental health struggles within Cambridge.
“We need to make sure that we’re working together collaboratively with the police department, with the other social services,” Pasquarello said.
She mentioned Cambridge reflects a bigger national problem where fentanyl “is seeping into the country.”
“We need to pull in regional support, and because all of these issues are just not a Cambridge issue,” Pasquarello said. “It’s a state issue. It’s a national issue.”
Pasquarello feels like she hasn’t seen enough effort from the Council tackling violent crime locally; she wants to grow special investigations within CPD plus boost cybercrime training.
Lately though, she’s been under fire alongside fellow candidate Robert Winters after many transphobic and Islamophobic posts connected to their social media came up recently.
Demos by Boston Democratic Socialists of America at an event supporting candidates backed by Cambridge Citizens Coalition-where Pasquarello was included-called on them Sunday to withdraw endorsements due to those posts. One protest sign read “Drop Winters & Pasquarello.”
The protesters handed out flyers listing what they called “a slew of transphobic, homophobic, white supremacist, and openly secessionist posts publicly liked by Pasquarello.”
A flyer quoted one tweet liked by Pasquarello saying: “We’ve been told that teachers talking to kids about sex (fantasies, orientation) doesn’t lead to grooming!” Other tweets referenced “anti-white sentiment,” criticized drag shows, or objected against “forcing your pronouns upon others.”
A June 2023 tweet from her reads that laws letting transgender people use bathrooms matching their gender identity have predators happy because some folks “R supporting them by giving access.. changing rooms, bathrooms,& private spaces.” That same month she also liked another tweet showing violence linked negatively toward an “Islamized France.”
Taking questions Monday from The Crimson about this backlash , Pasquarello said opponents are targeting her unfairly online , and claims these accusations aren’t true at all.
“As a victim advocate who has not only worked in support services and strategized safety for the LGBTQ+ and members of the Islamic community , but I have also developed a program for student online safety to spotlight mental health issues from social media and cyberbullying,”” Pasquarello wrote.
No matter what , she says she’ll keep going with her campaign.
“I will continue to focus on transparency , accountability , public safety , and other issues of our city because I care for Cambridge,”” she added.
-Staff writer Muskaan Arshad can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @Muskaan Arshad or on Threads @muskarshad.
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