The preliminary election in New Bedford is less than a month away and one of the contested races will be for a seat representing Ward 4 on the City Council.

Among those seeking the seat is Joshua Fernandes, a New Bedford Police Officer, who shared some of his thoughts with WBSM's Brian Thomas Tuesday morning.

One of the first issues discusses was taxes with Fernandes saying that taxes are too high for businesses that want to operate in New Bedford.

He says that if you businesses in the city you have to make it more affordable for them.

"How can you court businesses in if they can't afford their first month's rent?" said Fernandes "Given that the business tax is high, or commercial tax rather, if it were lowered you could court the businesses in, you could get them to get settled in to cover their costs, instead of having empty store windows."
On the issue of panhandling, Fernandes says that while police have a role to play, there also needs to be outreach made to help the city's homeless population.

"Say 'listen we have these things available, there's a homeless shelter or home we can bring you to so you can maybe hop back on your feet' that way when people are coming off the highway or Route 6...they're not seeing that," said Fernandes "is it a police issue? yes, but at the same time it's a public issue we need to help these people and get them focused elsewhere."
Fernandes also expressed support for Southcoast Rail saying it would provide an economic boost for the region and could potentially be a population boost for New Bedford.

"I think that economically it would benefit us, it would bring alot more people from the Metro Boston area, that can't afford the rents, down this way," said Fernandes "I like to travel but if I could travel to Boston by train, instead of getting stuck in vehicular traffic, I'll take that chance."

Fernandes opponents in the race are former Ward 4 City Councilors Jjoseph "JoJo" Fortes, Bruce Duarte Jr., and Ramona Silva, and Incumbent Dana Rebeiro.

The preliminary election is October 6th.

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