Jim Davis/Globe Staff

Bill Linehan: dedicated to services

DEVELOPERS ARE descending on buildable land on the South Boston waterfront while convention center officials contemplate expansion and the Menino administration pitches the area to venture capital-backed firms. It’s going to be a busy period in South Boston, and voters in District 2 will need a city councilor who understands the balance between economic development and livable neighborhoods.

Incumbent district councilor Bill Linehan, 60, is well suited to this challenge. As chairman of the council’s economic development committee, Linehan focuses on the creation of new construction and permanent jobs. And as a former Boston parks official, he understands the need for a respite from urban bustle. This balanced approach is reflected in the three-term councilor’s efforts to create a buffer zone between residential uses and industrial development along First Street in South Boston.

Challenger Suzanne Lee, 61, made an impressive showing in the September primary, especially in the Chinatown and South End portions of the district. A founder of the Chinese Progressive Association, Lee has fought many good fights over the decades to keep commercial developers from overrunning Chinatown, where she now lives. She is an impressive leader, well-suited to public service. But in seeking to appeal to South Boston voters, she runs the risk of turning reflexively anti-development, overlooking important sources of new jobs in construction and industry.

Linehan has a blind spot of his own. The South Boston resident’s instinctive support for municipal unions, including the city’s overreaching firefighters, should give some voters pause when they go to the polls on Nov. 8. Lee, who sometimes sparred with the Boston Teachers Union while serving as principal of the Josiah Quincy School, would be more independent when weighing the impacts of labor contracts on the city’s coffers.

Voters face a tough choice. Lee would bring the perspective of a talented educator and community activist to the council. And if she wins, Lee would be the first Asian woman to serve on the council. But Linehan is a solid counselor whose knowledge of economic development and dedication to constituent services argue for another term.

On balance, Linehan deserves to retain his council seat. Though rooted in South Boston, his ability to find the right equilibrium between new development and quality of life issues pertains to every part of District 2.