Councilor De La Cruz strikes again!
We are used to María De La Cruz absurdities during the City Council meetings and feel sorry for those who must deal with her. Sometimes, out of ignorance, she votes for the wrong things or expresses shocking views expecting respect from her peers and complains that they don’t want to work with her.
Well, María did it again, not so much for being something stupid but for provoking fear in the community. We have enough to be fearful without instilling hatred through lies.
The Councilor for District A wrote a few days ago on her Facebook page, “Even though COVID 19 was created to save money killing our grand and great- parents and steal their retirement $$, these generations had civic and moral education; even though, some of them couldn’t afford to go to college.”
She had posted a video in Spanish that readers didn’t understand and were wondering what his message was, perhaps the inspiration she had for writing such ridiculous verbiage. So, I checked into it and explained that it is Dante Gebel, an Argentinian actor and comedian who has a nightly TV show. That clip has nothing to do with what Maria De La Cruz wrote.
He’s saying (in good humor) that we are indeed the best generation (those over fifty) because we showed respect for our elders, families, teachers, etc. and the younger generation should learn from us. This woman has always been an embarrassment as a city councilor. Now we have to believe that her irrational behavior posting this dangerous message should be taken into consideration with every vote she takes.
She immediately received several comments asking her to remove that message that’s only good to create more anxiety among readers. María “is spreading lies about this very real pandemic. As an elected official you need to do much better than posting garbage like this,” wrote Martha Leavitt.
Not surprisingly, she responded, “Thank God I live in a country which it’s constitution highlight (sic) Freedom of Speech.”
“Freedom of speech doesn’t give you the right to pass along false misguided information,” said Ms. Leavitt. “Use science and data and please keep what amounts to your opinion out of any post about COVID-19. You’re doing a huge disservice to your constituents, many of whom depend upon you for factual, data-based information.”
This is not Freedom of Speech but equivalent to yelling FIRE! in a crowded theatre.
Then, Susan St. Marie chimed in with “Freedom of speech is one thing but for a city councilor to post something like this is absolutely irresponsible and shows a lack of intelligence.”
Ouch!
Nevertheless, she had a few fans who sided with her.
Moratorium on Evictions
Here’s the wisdom of the people in charge of running the city – or so we think.
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, one topic placed by Mayor Dan Rivera was a Moratorium on Evictions. It was discussed at length and when it was time to vote on it, it passed by a narrow margin with Pavel Payano and Marc Laplante voting “NO,” Ana Levy voting “present” and Jeovanny Rodríguez abstaining. At that point, Councilor Rodríguez said, “this is a circus” and left the meeting.
The landlord-tenant relationship is a civil relationship and a municipality cannot enact private or civil law governing civil relationships. City Attorney Raquel Ruano was asked previously to give an opinion regarding an ordinance and she clarified to the council that it will be in violation of the Massachusetts Constitution.
Still, they requested a written ordinance despite her advice and she delivered but not without a warning. I’m told that she told them again that this ordinance is unconstitutional.
But, that’s not all. The council also approved $150,000 for a law firm that will represent any potential case of eviction. If that’s what the mayor wants, the mayor gets it and they are not about to ask questions, let alone object.
No money for the homeless
Any time someone asks for help for the homeless, the answer is the same: “There are no resources for that,” according to the mayor. Last week we published information from Congresswoman Lori Trahan $1,052,697 for services to the homeless and another $1,011,509 for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
We visited the House of Mercy to make Roger Farah aware of the news and he informed us that he participates in conference calls every Tuesday and Dan has been very firm about not being able to do anything for them. In fact, the only time the administration has been by his Bay State Rd. shelter has been when someone from Inspectional Services came to tell him he must close his doors to his clients.
As a result, Mr. Farah placed a refrigerator outside and people come by during the day to pick up pre-packaged sandwiches, drinks and other goodies on a small table.
“People continue sending contributions of clothing, food and even money to help keep this place vibrant,” he told us proudly.
The mayor had discussed the possibility of setting up some tents and Roger offered the land he owns across the street from House of Mercy but the answer was negative. Apparently, Danny fears that the public will credit that effort to Mr. Farah and that’s not allowed. Take a look at what the City of Springfield has done on page 5.
On Wednesday, he offered an extensive interview in Spanish to Telemundo and Univision talking about the situation we are going through with this pandemic. He confirmed a rumor I had been hearing about helping financially undocumented residents who may have lost their jobs without the benefit of collecting unemployment compensation.
Imagine that if we are going through so much anxiety, worry and uncertainty, losing your job and not being able to collect unemployment only adds to the desperation of any family. I make that clear because I don’t want to see anyone suffer like that but I must question where is that money coming from and how can he justify it?
If the city is receiving $1 million for the homeless, I want to see it spent there. Where are the city councilors, the people who supposedly hold the purse strings that are not asking the same questions?
