Meeting before the Board of Registrars
This is clarification for those who don’t know the difference between reporting news and an opinion piece. This is my column, it is about my opinion. If you want news, read the rest of the paper. We publish all kinds of news and events without editorializing because that would be immoral in my book. We stick to facts and if I disagree, that’s what my column is for.
I was recently told by a department head at City Hall that Rumbo seems to be the mayor’s newsletter because every event he attends is covered faithfully and every press release coming from the mayor’s office is dutifully translated by me and published as is, free of charge to the city.
On page 2 of this edition, I wrote about the meeting before the Board of Registrars last Saturday – just the facts without editorializing.
Now, here I go with what I think:
On February 15th I wrote about my request for a copy of the Activity Report Changes on the voters list from November 3, 2015 through December 9, 2015 only to be told that it cannot be done. Richard Reyes, of the Elections Department said that it is impossible so I spoke to Rafael Tejeda, former bilingual elections coordinator who told me how it is possible to get it.
At that time, I doubted if Richard Reyes doesn’t know the system or he has been ordered not to issue any reports. How refreshing it was to hear him answer that the report I have been asking for is indeed, possible to produce from that system! Who’s the liar here?
Attorney Farrah asked many details now that he was under oath to which he responded promptly with lots of details. Now, let’s see the Activity Report Changes that I have been asking for.
The new School Committee member
The City Council voted to appoint a new member to the School Committee, Emmanuel Castañeda to the District A seat vacated by Kemal Bozkurt upon his resignation.
Mr. Castañeda is a senior at UMass/Lowell studying finance where he will graduate this year with a bachelor’s degree. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in 2012.
During the Personnel Committee meeting a couple of weeks ago, and again during the council meeting, District A Councilor Sandy Almonte gave a passionate speech about his qualifications and why we should support our young people getting involved in politics and public life. “He will have good rapport with other students, not as a father figure but someone who can relate to them.”
Considering that the School Committee has very little responsibilities, I also think that this is a great training ground. He will learn to socialize at that level and most importantly, he will be getting practice in the Robert’s Rules of Order, something many current politicians and board members are lacking.
The other candidate for the position was Donna Bertolino, Assistant Dean for Academic Support Services at Northern Essex Community College. She has a Master’s in Education.
The vote in his favor was Sandy Almonte, Estela Reyes, Kendrys Vasquez, Brian De Peña and Modesto Maldonado. Voting against were Marc Laplante and David Abdoo. Nilka Alvarez-Rodriguez was absent.
