SALSA press conference
Mayor Dan Rivera announced last Monday the newest effort from the Mayor’s Health Task Force. S.A.L.S.A. stands for Supporting Active LifeStyles for All and it has been in the making for over a year.
It brings together several health-related organizations such as the Lawrence YWCA, Merrimack Valley YMCA, Lawrence General Hospital and Holy Family Hospital. After Mayor Rivera addressed the audience of some 30 people which included politicians and City Hall employees, Vilma Lora, coordinator of the Mayor’s Health Task Force and Co-Director of Women’s Services for the Greater Lawrence YWCA went into details of the cooperation that has taken place among all of the groups.
While most of the audience will remember that Mayor Rivera promised that he will lose 50 pounds by the end of the year, I was very impressed hearing how Vilma praised the efforts of the YMCA. I am a big fan of the work the Merrimack Valley YMCA does and it filled me with pride that I have been involved with them for so long.
Street cleaning
The City of Lawrence rehired some of the employees laid off when Mayor Rivera entered City Hall and they are now cleaning streets for the next 90 days at a cost of almost one quarter million dollars.
I’m happy to see them back to work but I wonder if that was necessary. An education campaign is what the city needs. As long as people continue their usual behavior, the streets will look the same.
Do you remember what former mayor William Lantigua said for four years with no results? “If we are 75% of the population, 75% of the trash is ours and we have to learn to pick up after ourselves.”
Also, the radio campaign says: “The cleanest city is not the one that gets cleaned the most, but the one messed up the least.”
