This winter, when Cintron visited the Tremont West Development Corporation's annual meeting, to unveil plans for a new development of houses in the area, the Tremont crowd's applause was more polite than enthusiastic. Some voters saw the project was too little, too late. So this cluster of Tremont voters pledging this fall to support one of their own. Joe Santiago is a nutritionist and decorated Navy veteran who's built a name for himself working on safety and traffic issues. Currently there's no recreation in ward 14.
Recreation is a very big issue in the entire ward.
Also, I would like to assure that first and second generations still can be residents and not be displaced in our neighborhoods, people came to Ward 14 because it was affordable. But Santiago also says he wants to ensure the neighborhoods don't miss out on development grant money - money he says Nelson Cintron failed to deliver. It hit us so hard in some places that some residents are still suffering from that. The feud between Tremont and Cintron is a complicated one. There's bad blood over Cintron's proposal last year to open a restaurant with full bar where some residents said alcohol wasn't wanted.