Jacob Silber, who is seeking a Ward 8 at-large seat on the city council, said economic development is key to Newton’s success. But he wants to prioritize “development that doesn’t overwhelm our city.”

Silber, who turns 51 on Friday, has lived in Newton for nine years and is one of two candidates running for two Ward 8 at-large seats, so he is virtually guaranteed to win a seat.

He grew up in Maine, but he was born in Massachusetts—and he couldn’t stay away. He moved back to attend Harvard College and later the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a dual MBA and master’s in civil and environmental engineering. He lived in Cambridge, then Somerville, with some traveling and a year in Washington, D.C., in between.

After living in big cities for the majority of his adult life, Silber said he and his family “found everything we need here in Newton.”

In 2016, Silber and his wife, Jessica, bought a house in Newton, where they now live with their two children. Silber said the pandemic a few years later made it hard to meet neighbors, but his involvement in community organizing had an added benefit: getting to know people in the area, though which village he lives in isn’t clear cut.

“It’s not really Newton Centre. It’s not really Oak Hill. Ward 8 is funny that way,” he said. “Thompsonville is probably the closest.”

Having previously worked in technology, renewable energy and finance, Silber is a newcomer to local politics. He works in digital marketing as the CEO of Hermes Ventures Group.

His first foray into local politics was in 2022, when luxury home builder Toll Brothers proposed the 528 Boylston St. project, a 244-unit, seven-story apartment complex on Route 9. Silber said he believes the project wasn’t a good fit for the neighborhood because it used state statute Chapter 40B to override single-family residential zoning regulations, and its location on a residential flood plain risked flooding.

In response, Silber and other concerned community members formed Newton MA Impact, a community group that advocates to reduce harmful impacts of development projects. For 528 Boylston, the group is petitioning the builders to submit an independent traffic study, reduce the building height and mitigate pollution impacts, among other requests.

Silber said his background in business and environmental studies inform his view of local development projects.

“We have to start thinking about these things realistically as we design our built environment and our infrastructure,” he said.

Overriding Proposition 2½, which limits how much the city can collect through property taxes, is a hot-button issue leading up to Newton’s election on Nov. 4. It prohibits Massachusetts cities and towns from increasing property taxes by more than 2.5% unless voters override it. A 2023 override attempt in Newton failed.

Silber said he’d rather not override Proposition 2½ and would rather balance the city budget.

“If we’re managing our city correctly, we figure out how to pay for our city budgets without asking for an override,” he said, though he added that it’s harder with rising inflation and housing costs. “There are a lot of people on fixed incomes, so a Prop. 2½ override basically says, ‘Let’s increase housing costs for everybody’.”

For Silber, addressing housing cost growth starts with building affordable housing. Most new housing developments are primarily luxury buildings with only one-bedroom apartments, which don’t work for families.

Working in business, Silber said he’s spent a lot of time thinking about how to boost revenue. As city councilor, he’ll translate that to Newton’s budget: “You can increase taxes, you can lower costs, and you can increase revenue.”

To increase the city’s revenue, he said, he wants to encourage more businesses to set up shop in Newton and make it a destination for working, shopping and dining.

“I’ve learned a lot of things in business that have ended up being good lessons on how to be successful,” Silber said. At the forefront is “listening to people, whether those people are constituents or employees.”

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This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism.