Keeping Lawrence clean
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a truck from Lawrence Housing Authority driving the wrong way on Common St. from Union St. to Jackson St. They were setting up the lights in preparation for the Feast of the Three Saints celebrated this past Labor Day weekend.
I called the police station to find out why wasn’t there an officer to protect the traffic since cars could come in contact with an unexpected truck coming in the wrong direction. The officer said he didn’t know if that was a requirement and he would check on it. A few days later, a member of the St. Alfio Society called me to find out about my concern which was just about public safety. The police never sent an officer but made sure to notify St. Alfio that Rumbo had called.
Well, now that the festivities are over, I am posting this picture of the Housing truck along with a picture of brand new trash barrels clearly marked DPW that were used this weekend. The city paid DPW workers 4 hours each night to clean up.
By contrast, the morning after the Dominican Parade, officers of the immigration building on Mill St. and Methuen St. called City Hall to complain about the trash left by the celebrants the night before and they were told to go back and clean it up. They even cleaned around the building including trash that was not related to the festival.
Recall petition
Last Wednesday, September 2, 2015, members of the Foundation for Transparency in Government presented the necessary signatures to the City Clerk in Lawrence for verification and certification. 136 of them are now pending certification. This Foundation is not only involved in Lawrence issues but questionable governmental practices in surrounding cities and towns.
The day before, we received an announcement from the mayor’s office that he will be holding “office hours” in front of Market Basket on Essex St. on Thursday from 3 to 6 pm. I went to City Hall and asked his assistant Kate Reilly if that move was as a result of the upcoming recall petition and she told me that it had been planned for a couple of weeks.
We are reprinting the Recall Petition on page 5 so that you can see the reasons expressed for said action. Thus far, Mayor Rivera has not acknowledged any of these charges. Instead, he appeared on Benny Espaillat’s radio show Friday at 7 am to speak about his achievements referring to the people behind the Foundation as disgruntled former employees. He casted a blanket regarding the employees he fired as bad employees and mentioned people who owe taxes to the city without calling anyone by name.
Unfortunately, Benny is adamant to having any controversies on his program and allowed the mayor to say whatever he made no effort to bring him to task. I believe that he should address each of the ten issues brought as reasons for his destitution. One of them is the hiring and protection of Theodoro Rosario and all he said Friday morning was that now we have a city engineer who can answer our questions in Spanish. (Only if he knew what the heck he’s talking about!)
Very few people are aware that David Camasso has not returned to his job as comptroller after a judge ruled against the city. He is supposed to get back pay and benefits, as well. Instead, Mayor Rivera insists on keeping him out and we are paying $300 each day as a penalty for his stubbornness.
I met Mr. Camasso this weekend during the Feast and he told me how many people have been congratulating him on getting his job back. The media has been quiet regarding his plight and the public takes it for granted that the mayor obeyed the court’s ruling. We deserve an answer from Mayor Rivera on this issue.
We have a huge drug problem with drugs in the entire region; what does the mayor do? He is not taking the problem seriously enough and instead goes on television and announces that people come to buy drugs in Lawrence. It really sounded like he was marketing our city as a city where you can buy drug easily. That’s like saying, “Come on down!”
Another point on the petition is that the mayor was in opposition to the Trust Act recently passed. According to the Foundation members, he wanted to use the threat of immigration as a coercive instrument to instill fear in people. As it is, he is using the Inspectional Services Department for that purpose. Last week, he ordered them to inspect a three-family building owned by Council President Modesto Maldonado, even though he had approved occupancy permits for all of them.
By the way, if you go into the webpage www.OCPF.com and look up the mayor’s financial reports and bank reports, you will see very interesting things. For example, He just bought a membership at the LANAM Club for $2,000 on July 23rd. He will say that it is to rub shoulders with important businesspeople and it will benefit the city in the long run. I am not sure how legit it is using his campaign donations for that.
You will also find that all his dinner expenses are marked “Volunteer Dinner”; every time he goes to CVS, Target, Walmart, Market Basket, etc. the charges appear as “Supplies”; and he is very generous with his constituents. There are many purchases at different liquor stores and they are always marked “Constituent Gift.” But the most egregious of all is paying for parking fines. I wonder if these expenses are allowable from his campaign funds.
Cultural differences
If you ask someone what a singer does prior to coming on to stage, they probably would say “practice or vocalize.” If you ask a Latino, the answer is “The sign of the cross.”
