LAWRENCE — Ten years ago, the deplorable condition of local ball fields drove Patrick Blanchette to run for City Council.
Now, a decade and five terms later, Blanchette says the threat of his neighborhood firehouse closing pushed him to run again.
"I still have more to offer the city," he said. "The people of Prospect Hill have asked me to stay on."
Despite the bumper stickers you still might see around the city, Blanchette is not running for mayor, but for his current District A (Prospect Hill) council seat. He declared his candidacy for mayor last November, but bowed out four months later, citing "personal family commitments and health considerations."
Blanchette, 31, publicly revealed at that time that he has Crohn's disease, a chronic disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. Flare-ups of the illness can be triggered by stress, although he reports he's doing well and recently received a clean bill of health.
His decision to drop out of the mayor's race also came after a lien was placed against him for failing to pay nearly $9,000 in federal taxes and penalties from 2005 to 2007.
Around the same time, it was revealed that the Internal Revenue Service had tried to garnish his $17,000 annual City Council wages. That never happened because the paperwork didn't get to the right office at City Hall. Despite an internal investigation by the city, it still isn't clear what happened to the paperwork.
Over the past several months, Blanchette said, he has been working to pay off his tax debt.
"I still think it's a personal matter, but I'm on a payment plan," he said. "I pay a good amount every month, and I hope to have this rectified soon."
Blanchette, who works at the Department of Industrial Accidents in Boston, acknowledged that the wording of a public statement he released last March when he left the mayor's race may have made it sound like he was walking away from politics altogether.
But even as he was opting out, he said, his phone kept ringing. At events, meetings and even his ritual Sunday 7:15 a.m. trips to Market Basket, he said, he found support and encouragement from voters.
"There are people out there that would still like me to get back into the mayor's race," Blanchette said. "I had a lot of support — widespread support — and there are still people out there that have not made a decision."
It wasn't until late this spring, when there was talk of closing the Tower and Prospect Hill firehouses to balance the city budget, that Blanchette said he knew he should run for the council again. He has served as council president for the past six years.
He said he briefly considered running for an at-large seat, but decided against it because "I'm happy to represent the district." His family roots are deeply entrenched in Prospect Hill, he said.
Blanchette has a race on his hands, though. Several others are also interested in the District A seat, including Blanchette's former girlfriend, April Lyskowsky, of 178 East Haverhill St., Joseph Armano, of 245 Howard St., and Sandy Almonte, of 33 Woodland St.
But Blanchette said he's ready for the challenge and is already pounding the pavement and knocking on Prospect Hill doors.
Already, he's heard what he calls "meat and potatoes" requests from his neighbors. What they want from the city are plowed and paved streets, clean ball fields, neighborhoods free from litter and top notch police and fire response. And, like him, they want the Prospect Hill firehouse to stay open.
"People really want to see the basics being addressed," Blanchette said.
He said the residents' concerns remind him of the reason he started in politics in the first place.
"Parks are forever an issue in this community," he said. "There's a large population in the city and they want to take their families out of the neighborhood park. But they don't want that park filled with graffiti and trash."
As for whether he'll ever run for mayor in the future, Blanchette said he's not thinking any further than this fall's race.
However, a red and white sticker is still prominently displayed on the back window of his Volvo that reads "Patrick Blanchette Mayor."
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