Kendrys Vasquez has the answer: more meetings!
After an emotionally packed City Council meeting where victims’ relatives and community members complained about the rise of violence in the city and police lack of action, Council President Kendrys Vasquez tried fruitlessly to be the savior. He not only proposed a series of measures that may never materialize and referred to the Public Safety Committee as a “phantom committee.”
The Public Safety Committee has been deemed useless because it was created to meet four times a year or as needed. Apparently, there has been no “need” to meet because in recent years, I remember they met only once. His proposal is to make the Public Safety Committee a “standing committee” or like the others (personnel, ordinance, housing, etc.) that meets twice a month on a regular basis.
That’s it, Kendrys; more meetings! He is now saying that two councilors did not support his idea when a vote was never taken. Kendrys lies!
Kendrys is putting the Band-Aid treatment to people’s concerns because in order to make the Public Safety Committee a standing committee of the council, it is required to change the City Charter.
Mayor Rivera and Police Chief Fitzpatrick were scolded a few times by speakers at the podium for not showing their faces when a tragedy occurs as in other cities. Just saying that crime and violence are on the rise all over the country is no excuse. For a city of just six and a half square miles, we could be approaching the levels of New York or Chicago by comparison of size and number of residents.
The mayor was present but the police chief was nowhere in sight. The city is extremely concerned and they are playing hide-and-seek.
We don’t have the answers of how to stop it but they are in charge of finding the solutions.
Chief Fitzpatrick lies, too
On Tuesday morning, Police Chief James Fitzpatrick appeared on Santiago Matías’ program on La Mega and I called in to ask why wasn’t the local press (Jose Ayala, Matias, Carmen Chalas and Rumbo) made aware that he would be holding a press conference at the police station on Monday. His response was that the Boston media came to ask about the recent happenings but he didn’t call a press conference. What a coincidence: they all showed up at the same time! Later I heard on WBZ Radio that they referred to it as a “press conference called by the chief of police.”
I also asked him about an email I sent on Saturday to him and Fire Chief Brian Moriarty asking for help on an article I am working on but I need additional information. They both ignored me and Chief Fitzpatrick made it clear that he will not be responding.
Crime prevention
My email to Chief Fitzpatrick and Chief Moriarty on Saturday was about a visit to the fire department dispatch center and the police 911 area to learn how they operate. The reason for that is to put an end to asinine comments I often hear, particularly from a mayoral candidate who claims that putting live cameras all over the city is the answer.
Just based on common sense since I was not allowed to educate myself on the topic, this is not a matter of placing cameras like the ones used to catch illegal dumpers. Pat Ruiz, Inspectional Services director explained to me that they have a program called the “candid camera initiative” in conjunction with MassDEP. They have deployed approximately 30 cameras all over the city working with the police and fire departments to combat illegal dumping.
The problem is that those cameras are not “live” and only when there is a violation, someone goes to remove the memory card to gather the information and find the culprit. This could take days; not a way to prevent anything when is happening.
Again, my common sense tells me that this idea would require creating a new department in the city budget to account for the cost of the equipment and hire a minimum of ten employees to man the cameras at a dispatch center 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and be on the alert when something happens to notify the police department. I say a minimum of 10 employees with a calculation of 2 per shift, 3 shifts per day including weekends. The cost will be astronomical.
So, before a candidate makes suggestions of how to make the city better, he or she should study the feasibility of the idea before duping people. Most of us are swept by pretty words that sometimes accompany irrational proposals just because they sound good.
Advice to the City Council
Please change the screen sign “Executive Section” to “Executive Session” with two Ss. They are two different words. I wonder if anybody else has noticed it.
Temporary workers to clean the streets
Do you remember when Mayor Rivera asked the city council for $200,000 to hire 25 temporary workers for 90 days to focus solely on cleaning up our streets? Well, they worked four weeks and were laid off again. They were told that the city ran out of money. Which brings me to these questions: What did the mayor do with the money? Does he usually requests money for projects that are not fulfilled?
I wonder if the other $200,000 for 25 temporary workers to remove graffiti and $100,000 to replace street signs citywide for public safety are becoming a reality. If anyone knows, please let me know.
‘Take Back the Night’ Event
Can you believe that Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera and Chief of Police James Fitzpatrick will participate in the annual Take Back the Night event to raise awareness of sexual assault?
The event on April 25 starts at 4:15 in front of YWCA Fina House, will feature a march, comments by the mayor and the police chief, and will culminate in an open mic session at El Taller, 275 Essex Street.
Hispanic Week and beer
I attended the Licensing Board meeting on Wednesday night because they were to approve the liquor license for Hispanic Week at the park. After hanging around for one hour, they were called and no one showed up so I left.
Like good Latinos, they showed up nearing the end of the meeting only to hear that the permit was denied but they did approve the sale of beer at the Senior Center parking lot, as in previous years.
