Welcome to Paradise – Part 2
During last week’s press conference on “Pavegate”, Mayor Dan Rivera said the following:
“Today I am calling on those investigating this matter or those who should be investigating this; to prioritize it and bring some closure to it. It is very important that people are held responsible for this. Over $600,000 has been wasted, and it appears that bidding rules were broken. Where is the legal process in this? They should be all over this, or at the very least let the public know where they are in this investigation. Currently we are in the dark.” said Mayor Dan Rivera. “The longer they wait to hold someone responsible, and the longer the public good is ignored, means that justice is denied to the taxpayer and the sentiment that government waste is not only tolerated but ignored will fester in the minds of taxpayers,” said Mayor Dan Rivera.
I support any leader who takes strong action in defense of our community. It is refreshing to hear demands like what the mayor expressed. Lawrence is not the state’s ugly duckling and someone should look after our interests.
Then, I remembered that the previous administration discovered that $9.7 million were stolen by the Information Technology Department during the last four years of the Sullivan Administration, falling on deaf ears. Almost four years later, Brian Cahoon was accused of stealing about $250,000 from a federal grant (part of the $9.7M) and rather than going through a trial, he pled guilty and was sentenced to two years in jail. There was no mention of the rest of the money stolen.
And, during those four years, Dan Rivera was a member of the City Council in charge of the Budget Committee. He never said anything publicly – let alone demanded an investigation.
The media was so busy trying to pin anything wrong with the city to Mayor William Lantigua that such a violation to the public trust was unimportant.
Discrimination suit
Officer William Green has filed a discrimination suit against the Police Department and the City of Lawrence. I have been following this issue since he was arrested at his home back in June finding roadblocks everywhere and some people even advised me to give it up.
This may not be of interest to the Boston media but I think that arresting a police officer because someone else believed it was his voice on telephone messages to 911 affects all of us. To top it off, while Officer Green was being booked, one hour after being taken from his house in handcuffs, the real culprit was arrested and he was sent back home. The 911 calls were made by Luis Ortiz from Winter Street, Lawrence. That is the Daybreak Shelter and they said of knowing no one by that name.
I need to continue looking into this because it can happen to any of us.
Lawrence has long been challenged by racial tension could and this could be a Ferguson in the making?
If you talk to community insiders the answer may be yes! For many years Lawrence Police Department has been ridiculed with police excessive force against its Latino citizenry.
Rumbo has published throughout the years the many lawsuits that have been awarded which arise to millions of dollars against the City of Lawrence Police Department. Lawrence is a predominately Latino community, while the police force has remained mostly white. Past Mayors have tried to tackle the issue some reaching out for diversity and unity while some have not.
The Latino community has been calling for transparent investigations of police excessive force for many years. Lawrence Police as a department has not equipped itself with data search software-providing information on the number of officer’s complaints or motor vehicle stops.
Tensions between the city’s mostly white police force and predominantly Latino residents have been building for years. Although some strides where made with a mayor who promoted two Latino officers from rank and file to Sergeants, bringing the departments superior officials just 10% Latinos while Rank and File is 28% Latinos in a 80% predominantly Latino Community.
Officer Green, an African American Police Officer an active member of the Lawrence Police Department, alleges that the Lawrence Police Department has widespread racial discrimination from top to bottom. Officer Green was later arrested on false allegations and has since filed a complaint with the Commission Against Discrimination.
It is imperative that Mayor Rivera, who has been making strides to correct the issues he inherited in the police department, remembers that the Latino community is watching. Mayor Rivera is a diligent man; a man of integrity who has the upmost best at heart for the City of Lawrence has stated publicly that he is working hard to diversify the police department.
Mayor Rivera failed to demonstrate his diversity when he hired seven police officers with only two of them being minorities who are at the academy right now. Let’s hope the Mayor gets it right the second time around.
In the near future, Mayor Rivera will be selecting a new Police Chief to replace Interim Police Chief James Fitzpatrick. There are many rumors going around and I heard several times that he wants to appoint Captain Roy Vasque to that post. He is now heading the Lawrence drug unit and special operations.
Big mistake! If he thinks that appointing a Latino as Police Chief in order to alleviate the distrust in this community, Captain Vasque is not the right man. In fact, it will be a catastrophic error. Captain Vasque changed his name from Vasques to avoid being considered Hispanic.
Is that a good role model?
Safety study announcement
During the “Pavegate” press conference last week, it became very obvious that this was just a charade to benefit a candidate because the whole thing was to bad-mouth William Lantigua.
At the press conference in front of the police station to make the announcement of $400,000 from the state for a study on safety, the same happened. I contacted State Representatives Frank Moran and Diana DiZoglio the day before and they had no knowledge of this. They had not been invited to a press conference where the state is giving money to our city. I received an email from Rep. DiZoglio’s office that morning telling that she had scheduled a series of meetings and events for the day and could not be there but I was glad to see that she made some time and showed up.
But yes, Marcos Devers was there and he was thanked several times for his participation in getting this grant from the state.
When I asked the mayor’s office, Senator Barry Finegold’s office, Scott Jordan’s office what he had done on this, they all had a big puzzle in their faces saying they didn’t know. Only Mayor Rivera said that it was “as much as all of the other representatives of the area.”
I really hate to see state funds being used to play politics.
Speaking of that study…
The media advisory that was sent out was not specific. It said, “For a study to help assess and improve public safety, training, and educations needs in the City of Lawrence and the region, and identify options to meet those needs.” However, what we heard was that this is the first step to acquire a new police station. At the end of that study, they will have selected the land, drawn the plans and come up with a method to have a new building.
I wonder if I was the only one there who didn’t know the real meaning of that meeting.
