Mayor Rivera on CrossOver
The news that Mayor Daniel Rivera was driving a city car has been reason of radio attacks and misunderstandings. He went back on his word of not taking a car when I asked him that question during the mayoral debate at Lawrence High School. Last Tuesday he was able to call into the show for a few minutes and I asked him about that and other issues.
Since it went public, we’ve heard three different excuses for accepting a car from the Water Department: 1) That it had been purchased by Mayor Lantigua for his personal use, confident that he would win a second term. 2) That it was purchased for the Commissioner of the Water Department but he retired (unexpectedly) and his last day on the job was Friday, January 17th. Since it was not being used, he took it. And, 3) He explained on a radio program that he needs a new car because his old unreliable car has a broken window and a flat tire.
On number 1, I doubt Lantigua was planning to use it after he spent 4 years using his own vehicle and I know how fiercely he felt about that issue.
I don’t have a problem with the mayor having a city car. I would like to see it done “legally.” Nothing says that he is entitled to an automobile like the police chief, fire chief or school superintendent. Those are city employees with a contract that is specific regarding to benefits. He is an elected official and the City Charter does not provide for that. One way to make it legal is for the City Council to pass an ordinance stating such use or changing the City Charter in order to permit it. Problem solved!
But I am more concerned with the use of funds from the Water Department. This is an Enterprise Fund like the cemetery and the airport, meaning that the money they produce has to remain for the use of those departments only. Remember Mark Andrews? He was always “finding” money and the end result was a huge deficit because he would transfer funds (without going through the council) whenever he needed to cover something else. If we allow the Water Department to make purchases for other departments, we run the risk that they may end up in the red and raise the water rates on us.
I just want him to do things the right way. Refund the cost of the car to the Water Department from the surplus Lantigua left.
While he was on the telephone, we talked about the final report issued by his Transition Team. That looks more like a wish list of a very idealistic group. Most things mentioned require money, for example, $50,000 to hire a consultant to study the housing needs, building a museum to bring the paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts back to Lawrence, hiring a director for the Art Center to be created to promote the arts in the city, broadcasting the city council meetings with Spanish subtitles, and extending the public library hours. Just give Maureen Nimmo more money and she’ll increase the hours because they were reduced when the budget was cut.
How about hiring a director for the Human Rights Commission? Someone was supposed to have been hired seven or eight years ago. His response was that the art center is more important that human rights.
The report has lots of ideas regarding keeping the community informed: the neighborhood associations, weekly address on radio and television, neighborhood liaison, youth going door to door filling out surveys, booths on corners passing out information. Which one is more ridiculous?
We have several radio stations covering Lawrence that could broadcast an emergency announcement or schedule an interview at any time. I made sure to remind him that he has his own Government Access Channel, and do not use the Public Access Channel that belongs to us. Can you see the fight brewing?
I also reminded him that we are very late revising the Comcast cable contract which is due in just a few months. For this, he should reinstate the Cable Advisory Commission which could handle the revision of the current contract and the negotiations for the next 10-year contract. He had no idea of what I was talking about. I insisted to Mayor Lantigua for two years that he should have appointed the members but he never did. When Lou Blasi suggested that I should be part of it, I refused because I have been too involved through the years and I am prejudiced on the issue of our cable system. I did mention Bill Collins as a potential member when I realized that he was recently fired from his part-time position in the Veterans’ Services office and he probably would refuse, too. To that, the mayor said that there were reasons that of course, he could not discuss on the radio. Having worked 800 hours as a volunteer in that office, I cannot fathom what reasons he would have.
The Transition Team didn’t think of any of these problems.
That 76-page final report could be cut by two dozen pages of menial suggestions such as supporting urban agriculture. Groundwork Lawrence has done a good job with the city and schools gardens but they cannot be depended on to feed a family all year long. It also intends to interfere with private businesses in the way local stores function in order to lower food prices. That suggestion and the one about dispersing information through the neighborhood associations remind me of a system I thought I ran away from 51 years ago.
Strengthening animal control laws (I would say, just enforce the ones we have). Putting a desk on the first floor at City Hall for constituent services is something that was tried a couple of years ago and lasted a few months. The plan is to offer homeowners who volunteer a reduction on their taxes. That might require a paid position for a volunteer coordinator to keep track of the senior citizens, veterans and high school students in charge of manning that desk, as well as the hours to be credited.
Mayor Rivera also talked about public safety and the police as well as the state of the schools, which are his two top subjects of interest. I doubt that he will get bogged down with all the trivia suggested in that report when he has very important issues to deal with and we have major needs in the city.
I congratulated him on the decision of reserving the former mayor’s parking space for the Employee of the Month. When municipal employees excel at their duties, it should be noted. This month it was Lynn Tran in the Comptroller’s Office. I asked him how they will be selected each month and why Ms. Tran earned it. Mayor Rivera praised her performance since we have an opening in that department and she has been doing extra work. In the future, he will consult with department heads to select a deserving employee.
Allow me to recommend Reading the report at http://makelawrencebetter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TransitionReport-FINAL.pdf
I also scolded him for his comments last Friday during the Chamber of Commerce’s Mayors Breakfast when he referred to the previous administration as “There will be no more shakedowns.”
Rumbo was widely criticized for not echoing the rumors and empty accusations against Lantigua. I always said that I needed examples, details of the charges and specifics. Mayor Rivera has fallen in the same pit by claiming that businesses were victims of threats or corruption by local officials. When asked to explain, he just said that his “administration is above board” which I understood as a way of taking back his accusation.
Educational opportunities for youth
Last week I invited Blaine Gann, case worker with YouthBuild to appear on CrossOver because we believe that this is a great organization working with the young people of our community.
We recognize that not everyone is interested in a college education. Thank goodness for that because we need competent people going into trades of all kinds – carpentry is one of them. Students receive a stipend while participating in the program but the best advantage they offer is a close working relationship with unions which makes it possible to get those jobs. Union officials know these students will be entering their ranks with better preparation and skills.
We were taken by surprise learning that they have space available for new students. Apparently, since the introduction of Phoenix Academy as part of the public schools system, at-risk students within 18 and 24 years of age have found new educational options, not necessarily in a trade but a more formal environment.
Anyone interested in participating in this training program should contact Blaine Gann at YouthBuild, at (978) 681-0548, ext. 711, or stop by their office at 355 Haverhill St., Lawrence to get more information.
Working hard or hardly working?
When the Secretary of Education came to Northern Essex Community College, I wanted to use the picture above but Franklin Fernandez ruined it for me. Instead of sitting away from the cameras (like I did), he is smack in the middle.
That brings me to something else. As legislative aide for State Representative Devers, his job is at the State House doing research that will make the representative’s job easier, researching laws that the representative can use as basis for arguments, answering calls from constituent and solving their problems. Instead, he has become his personal photographer at all public events and chauffer – in short, secretarial duties. I know that those are vestige of his culture but in this country politicians do not have private chauffer paid for by the voters.
It’s very simple to say that I am attacking Rep. Marcos Devers but I ask you to read what I am writing without prejudice. I certainly don’t have any.
