Democratic state Sen. Julian Cyr, who often says he got his start in politics by waiting tables at his parents’ restaurant in North Truro, says he is focused on two issues the Cape is racing against the clock to address: housing and coastal resilience.
A “seasonal community” designation that Cyr authored made it into the final version of the state’s $5.1-billion Affordable Homes Act this year, and that provision will help create a series of programs that can respond to the Cape’s spiraling housing crisis, Cyr says.
Every town on the Outer and Lower Cape will automatically get that designation under the law, which includes tools to help towns secure middle-income housing for year-round residents. Nonetheless, his agenda is still “housing, housing, and more housing,” he says.
Cyr was born and raised in Truro and attended Nauset Regional High School, where he organized student-led efforts at town meetings in Brewster, Eastham, Orleans, and Wellfleet on measures that affected the school. He earned a degree in public policy and community health at New York University, then worked on policy at the state Dept. of Public Health. He became the department’s deputy director for government affairs under Gov. Deval Patrick.
Cyr was elected to the Senate in 2016 and is running for his fifth two-year term.
He has been chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health and serves on various other committees. Cyr is also the assistant majority whip in the heavily Democratic Senate.
“I’ve been able to get twice as much done as I thought I could by telling the stories of the people who make up this special place,” Cyr says. “I work really hard to convey the challenges we face.”
Cyr says he has advanced new policies on housing, water quality, harm reduction, and public health. He helped write the Mental Health ABC Act that became law in 2022. He also helped establish the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund, which is funded by a 2.75-percent surcharge on bookings in hotels and short-term rentals and has raised $204 million since 2019 to help pay for wastewater and pollution-control projects.
Cyr says he will keep pushing next year to give towns the right to impose a real estate transfer fee, which voters in Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, and Chatham have endorsed in home-rule petitions.
He says that sea level rise and coastal flooding are also on his mind for his next term. “I’m really eager to sink my teeth into coastal resilience policy,” he says.
Gov. Maura Healey will likely file an environmental bond bill soon that should include a number of new policies related to coastal resilience, including several that have been discussed by a statewide task force on which he serves, Cyr says.
Cyr says he strongly supports offshore wind. “Massachusetts has had a bipartisan commitment to the development of offshore wind from Gov. Deval Patrick to Gov. Charlie Baker and now to Gov. Maura Healey,” he says. “I don’t see us moving away from offshore wind.”
He says that the Vineyard Wind turbine blade malfunction that washed debris onto the shore of Nantucket in July should not overshadow the benefits of wind power.
“I have made it clear in no uncertain terms my displeasure with the blade failure and its aftermath,” Cyr says. “We need offshore wind developers to be good neighbors to the communities that host these projects.” He adds that “if we are going to continue to make a life here on Cape Cod, we need to continue to responsibly pursue renewable energy.”
Cyr says that because of his work and that of state Rep. Sarah Peake, who served in the legislature for almost 18 years before resigning her seat in late September to become a senior adviser to Gov. Healey, the Outer Cape has had outsized political influence on Beacon Hill in recent years.
Their work in office has meant that “a whole lot of resources and attention is directed at advancing policy that is relevant and specific to Outer Cape Codders,” Cyr says.
That is part of why he says he is running for reelection: “I’ve really been able to punch above my weight.”
