The truth about GLCAC
A few days ago, there was a demonstration in front of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council offices protesting what has been said about eliminating programs destined to the poor in this community. About 25 people participated contrary to what has been said on the radio. You may count them on the many videos found on Facebook.
For those of you that don’t know, let me give you a little history of how the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Inc. started. It was under the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and in Jan 1966 the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council was established as a means of fighting the war on poverty. Then the Latino community was the real minority.
Their mission is to encourage and promote the improvement of community life in Greater Lawrence with special emphasis on, but not limited to, the initiation of programs in education, social services, child care, health, housing, youth employment and related fields. Not for the Spanish-speaking poor only, but for all the poor in the communities that represent Greater Lawrence. When the Spanish office was established very few Latinos lived here and it was fitting to have an office to serve them. The former director claimed that she worked there for 39 years. However, when asked on the radio how the board is assembled, she didn’t know.
Federal regulations require that Community Action Agencies have a tripartite board. One third of the members being elected officials or their representatives; one third being representatives of the private sector/business; and one third being representatives of low-income residents, mainly clients of GLCAC. Is really sad that in 39 years she never bothered to learn and place people on this board.
Upon contacting Evelyn Friedman, executive director of GLCAC, I found out that the employees and programs previously housed within the Spanish program have been moved inside the agency. The housing stabilization program has been expanded; an ESL program and a child care program have been created. There are 825 children being served in the Head Start and child care programs. And the worker who handled immigration on a part-time basis while doing other work for the Community Services Department, is now working full-time doing immigration work and he has been given an assistant to cover the high volume of work.
The Fuel Assistance Program remains the same because that is a federal program and nothing has been eliminated.
During 2015, the agency served 29,000 clients and in 2016 it went up by 2,000 to 31,000 clients. We understand that Lawrence being mostly Latino and most of the employees of GLCAC being Latinos, we no longer need a Spanish Office. In fact, when our Latino families need services, they simply go to that department because 80% of the employees are Spanish-speakers throughout the agency.
Some of the complaints are that Ms. Friedman doesn’t live in Lawrence, but in Boston. I would like to see a survey of directors of local social services agencies to find out how many of them live here. Be real, people! That’s not a job requirement.
If Luzon were a Lantiguista!
If Wendy Luzon had been a Lantiguista, today her scandal would have been different. Already she would have been unemployed for two months for lying on her application of employment with the city. An investigation would have been started by the Ethics Committee and maybe a criminal police investigation.
She would have spent thousands of dollars trying to clear her name. She would have sent several resumes without being called for a single interview because her reputation has been shattered. Her cell phone would have stop ringing. Her friends had abandoned her, liked it happened to many Lantiguistas when they were dismissed by our Mayor.
And like others, she would have been labeled a Corrupt Employee. But no; she is not a Lantiguista, therefore still enjoys her $50,000.00 salary to be the goffer and photographer of the Mayor. This is how our city’s money is being spent.
Our mayoral candidates
I have been forcing myself to listen to some radio programs because I need to learn who our candidates are and what makes them tick. The things I hear could make anyone sick.
One candidate was asked about the Wendy Luzón situation lying on her resume for a job she is not qualified to do and his answer was that he has no idea what Gilda’s or Wendy’s job description consist of.
One who supposedly wants to unseat Dan Rivera, excused him when asked about the Wendy Luzon issue, John Pica, Jessica Valentin and Theodoro Rosario not having the educational background for the positions they held, blaming the personnel director for not checking their credentials. Doesn’t he know that they were hand-picked by the mayor? The personnel director had nothing to do with that and I am sure he wouldn’t dare question Danny’s judgment.
Another one proposes creating a vocational school for Lawrence and a school of medicine. First of all, we already have a regional vocational school where 1,100 students from Lawrence are attending and the other promise… is too stupid for me to repeat it!
No one has a plan to combat the common problems affecting our city such as the drugs situation, homelessness, crime, etc.
We need a proposal, as a way to combat crime in Lawrence, that the sun never sets over our city and as long as we have daylight, there will not be any crimes committed. That is as senseless as the comments above. Don’t be surprised if now one of the candidates will suggest it. Even more frightening is that some people will still give them their vote.
Together in Harmony – NOT!
I know I am persona non-grata in the inner sanctum of Hispanic Week because they don’t want to hear truths and, what’s even worse, they don’t learn.
This has been the worst year I’ve seen them preparing for the festivities. I usually hold my criticisms for after the event so no one would think that I am trying to boycott them, but I have never seen so much infighting as now. They have turned away not only volunteers but contributors, as well.
As we mentioned in our editorial, we lost the participation of El Salvador and Haiti and it was just announced that Guatemala will not have its night, either.
This year’s leadership has been a total disaster making enemies and creating controversies.
At the pageant to select the Dominican Night Queen, Denis Peguero acted as mistress of ceremonies and, while encouraging the audience to participate in the celebration at the Campagnone Common, she repeated 17 times “the squirrels park” (el parque de las ardillas) with complete absence of education, good manners, sensitivity and respect for the Campagnone family who still live in this area. That park was named after three brothers who died during World War II of the five siblings who went to war. We owe them reverence. She demonstrated her ignorance!
To top it off, her boyfriend is Kendrys Vasquez, city council president, who was present and didn’t even try to correct her.
Gilda Duran’s trial
For those interested in how it is coming along, the trial about political persecution was scheduled for August 4th but Mayor Dan Rivera requested it be postponed until November. He said that he needs to work on his reelection campaign during this time. The new date is November 8th.
