Preliminary Elections
The City of Lawrence has scheduled the Preliminary Elections for September 22 which has created a strong reaction from Mayor Dan Rivera because he believes that the City Clerk was insensitive to religious needs of the Jewish community. Yom Kippur Day, the day of atonement in the Jewish New Year is on Wednesday, September 23 beginning on the evening of the 22nd.
The hours of the election on September 22nd do affect Jews who are attending the evening service called Kol Nidrei which starts just before sundown. So it is unfortunate that the city scheduled the election on this date as observant Jews will be with family or in the synagogue prior to nightfall.
Mayor Rivera says that the City Clerk did not take these issues of religious observance into consideration and was not in touch with state officials. Some cities and towns changed their Elections Day to September 15 although others will have them on the 22nd.
Preliminary Elections are to be held six weeks prior to the November elections. Counting backwards from November 2nd, the date falls on September 22. Unfortunately, it is too late to change the date and an added expense.
Meanwhile, our Jewish residents can vote by Absentee Ballot, vote the day before or early on that day. Hopefully, in the future, the city’s election dates will be more cognizant of religious observances in our diverse city.
The Human Rights Commission
On page 6 on this edition, you will find a list of the members of the Human Rights Commission along with their duties within that organization. According to that, this group has the power to demand from the Justice Department that immediate changes are made within the Lawrence Police Department and hire more Spanish-speaking officers to prevent issues like the 911 call taker that made news.
Library lawsuit
The Lawrence Public Library is being sued by a Florida group called Liberty Counsel which, according to the Complaint presented to the courts, “Conducts lectures throughout the country in which its employees, volunteers, or affiliates teach on various topics, including but not limited to: cultural issues, current issues regarding family matters and religious freedom, church-state matters, the judicial system, American history, constitutional and civil rights issues, and the role of religion and Christianity in American government. In particular, Liberty Counsel promotes a Christian view of the founding of the United States of America. Liberty Counsel also provides legal defense for individuals and groups who suffer civil liberties violations.”
Liberty Counsel planned to use the City’s library meeting rooms on August 28, 2013, from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., to host an educational and civic program on the founding and founders of America from a Christian perspective.
The Policy expressly prohibits religious groups from using Library meeting rooms if their program includes expression of a religious viewpoint: “Political and religious groups may use the Library’s meeting rooms for administrative purposes but shall not be allowed use for the sake of proselytizing, campaigning, or otherwise influencing people to a particular belief or point of view.” The Policy also expressly prohibits “religious services.”
On July 16, 2013, they received a call from Maureen Nimmo, Director of the Library stating that the Library’s Board of Trustees had established certain policies and practices that would prohibit Liberty Counsel from presenting its educational and civic program on the founding era from a Christian viewpoint. Also, that political and religious groups are permitted to use the meeting rooms solely for administrative meetings but not those meetings that espouse a particular religious viewpoint.
On January 6, 2015, hoping that the City might have altered its position on use of its Library meeting rooms, Liberty Counsel again sent another request and it was again denied.
Liberty Counsel believes the city violated their right to free speech by adopting and enforcing the Policy which prohibits organizations from presenting religious viewpoints on otherwise permissible subject matter in the City’s library meeting rooms, which are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment which guarantees citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws.
A library is a place that promotes learning of all kinds, including world religions so, on June 22 we published an interview with Kemal Bozkurt, assistant director at the Lawrence Public Library on the beginning of Ramadan. Kemal was available to talk to library patrons interested in learning more about his religion and also had an exhibit of Muslim books available for all ages.
This is a very confusing issue and I am planning to follow its development.
Kudos to Aquino
In all the years Oneida Aquino has been District D Councilor, I never expected that one day I would be praising her performance at a City Council meeting.
I wish we had more public officials with the courage to tell State Representative Marcos Devers what he deserves, right to his face and in public. She ridiculed his actions at the State House bringing forth a Home Rule Petition on illegal dumping in the city for which District F Councilor Marc Laplante has been fighting for five years.
Councilor Aquino asked Representative Devers the reasons why this has not been approved by the Legislature and he wiggled his way around the question, unable to give an answer that would exonerate him. Part of that reason was his inability to speak clearly (in any language) and he should have had an interpreter there to get him off the hook.
The usual readers of this column might remember that I have said before that Rep. Devers is an embarrassment to our community; he is hardly ever at the State House because he is taking care of his construction business. Bills die in his drawer for lack of attention and he is totally unprepared at the meetings he does attend because his legislative aide has been too busy serving as his chauffeur and photographer which leaves him no time to do the research that will make his boss look good.
Some friends are better than others
Do you remember when Jose Alfonso Garcia was nominated twice for different boards, how the city councilors refused to appoint him “because he is a friend of the mayor’s”?
At the City Council meeting held on August 11, the councilors sent to the Personnel Committee the appointment of Brenda Rozzi for a 5-year term in the Planning Board and William Mackland-Rivera for a 3-year term in the Zoning Board of Appeals. Let’s see if anyone during the September 18 Personnel Committee meeting has the courage to say something similar.
There was another significant appointment made last year that few people know about and I had not mentioned. Amanda Wall, an attorney was placed at the Police Department and she is now writing grants, among other things. What’s interesting about this is that she is a personal friend of the mayor’s wife and was in the bridal party. By the way, she is not unionized but received a $5,000 raise in the new budget.
As you can see, choose your friends carefully because some are better than others.
