Surprises at council meeting
Last Wednesday, the Council on the Whole met at 7:00 pm to discuss (again) the reorganization at the Senior Center… I mean “The Center” which has become a hodgepodge of people and services and providing only anger among the elderly.
“Everything is changed,” a regular at the Senior Center told me recently. “It doesn’t feel the same with so many people coming in and out.” That is what we hear from them.
There is an explanation for that. In the process, we found out that the Council on Aging has not met in over a year. There is no record of agendas or minutes and when questioned about it, the answer from Frank Bonet, personnel director was the lack of quorum because they don’t have enough members.
Upon checking some of the Boards and Commissions, I found out that the Human Rights Commission is still listed on the City’s website with the most recent list of members and Asdrovel Tejeda as president even when it has been years of inactivity.
The same goes for the Americans with Disabilities Act board. Since the mayor fired Attorney Richard Rodriguez there were a few meetings but it has been a long time of silence as if there are no needs in this city among the disabled.
These are some of the bodies representing the needy in Lawrence and if they have no quorum is because the mayor has not named replacements and they cannot function adequately.
Do you remember when he criticized mercilessly former Mayor Lantigua for not appointing board members? He has managed to do everything he complained about Lantigua and lots more!
I almost forgot that the reason why I started talking about the council was because at that meeting of the Council on the Whole they also did not have quorum. There were five councilors but Estela Reyes, Maria De La Cruz, Brian De Peña and Ana Levy were absent. Ana was excused in my book because she was recovering from a procedure at home.
And Brian made an entrance at 8:30. The meeting ended at 9 o’clock.
Hispanic Business Federation
While all politicians were in Lawrence attending the September 13th activities, they stopped by Appleton Way, next to City Hall to deliver a $20,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the Federación de Comerciantes.
Many local organizations, particularly non-profits, look forward to the annual giveaway from our legislators, most of them deserving every penny to function. The danger is that others have become comfortable waiting for grants and are not performing at their peak. Often we see they don’t have their priorities defined and the monies are wasted.
And sometimes, we question the politicians’ judgment when giving away taxpayers’ funds to a private organization that doesn’t perform any benefit for the general public or non-members. For this, let’s have a little background on the Federación Hispana de Comerciantes, Inc. (Hispanic Business Federation.)
They were organized on August 7, 2018 as a non-profit, “Dedicated to promote, represent, and defend the business interests of the Hispanic Community in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
Article 3 also states that, “The membership is open to any entity doing business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Membership is subject to approval by the board of directors.” It is safe to assume that applicants for membership could be rejected by their board. It does not say that non-business owners could become members yet, that is a fact.
One month later, we had the gas explosions and they now claim to have been involved in the assistance to local businesses. If so, they did what so many people volunteered to do for the families and businesses suffering losses. Anyhow, Senator Barry Finegold promised them $20,000 and that’s how the circus began.
Mind you, I have a great respect for Senator Finegold but I believe he should do a little more research regarding the worthiness of the grantees.
The first thing he would find is that members of the board of directors Joel Chalas and Franklin Miguel are city employees and attached to the mayor’s waist. Vice President Antonio Amable Batista and Treasurer Johanne Batista are big contributors to the mayor’s campaign even holding fundraisers in their home.
But wait! There’s more!
We decided not to attend knowing that it would turn into a circus although never expecting what the mayor did next.
You may see the video made by Pastor Luis Piñeyro of the Templo Bíblico in Lawrence; it is on Facebook. In it, after Finegold did his presentation of $20,000, the mayor said he would match it with another $20,000 from the Columbia Gas funds.
My thoughts were immediately that he has no right to dispose of this money at will. Those funds were meant for the people who are still suffering the consequences of the gas explosions from a year ago. Who is to say that this organization will not be using it to pay for dinner at their regular meetings or contribute to other non-profits they approve and who had nothing to do with the explosions. Remember: they created this federation state-wide, not just for Lawrence so technically, Columbia Gas funds could very well be going out to the rest of the state – just because the mayor controls it.
The funny part about it was that some board members didn’t know about the mayor’s promise. They insisted that there was no second check. There was no check like the one Senator Finegold brought. It was a verbal promise which tells me that they are visual people or don’t understand English. Perhaps they are the kind that applauds anything the mayor says; it goes through one ear… and you know the rest.
