Broken promises
During December 2016, when this entire city was demanding answers from Mayor Rivera related to the Police Department’s handling of the death of Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino, it was promised by this administration that an investigation would take place into the handling of his disappearance and failed search. No investigation took place.
Unfortunately for all of Lawrence, Mayor Rivera was just buying time and eventually stated that the District Attorney’s office had contacted him to state that they would not assist the city with an investigation.
Well the time has come to put your talk to your walk Mayor! With the court having found Matthew Borges guilty of first degree murder, the DA can no longer prevent the city from conducting an independent investigation into the handling of Lee’s disappearance.
All we know that Mayor Rivera did was create the Director of Police & Community Relations and appointed a campaign worker, Sandy Almonte to that position. The job was supposed to “plan and implement the Lawrence Police Department’s efforts to prevent, deter, and investigate domestic violence; missing, run-away and exploited children, and directs and manage community outreach initiatives within the Lawrence Police Department.” Instead, Mayor Rivera hired his friend into this position, to soften the blow that was coming from the community but no real changes have occurred to the process or police department’s practices.
“We disagreed with the investigation of the police at the beginning,” said Viloria-Paulino’s grandfather, Gustavo Paulino in 2016.
“Police treated this as a runaway case, even though from day one we told them it was not,” said Ivelisse Cornielle, the grandmother of Viloria-Paulino in 2016.
Mayor Rivera said that he created a review panel to examine the Lawrence Police Department’s response to the disappearance and decapitation death of Viloria-Paulino. The panel was supposed to begin work within a week and continue for “as long as it takes” Mayor Rivera said in 2016. Rivera also said that calls for his resignation in the wake of the investigation were a “political move.” “I want to be clear, I stand behind Chief Fitzpatrick and the Lawrence Police Department,” said Rivera. But we know that Chief Fitzpatrick’s contract was no longer extended and this had to be one of the reasons.
Rivera’s, independent review, panel was supposedly made up of four members. On the panel was Boston Police Deputy Superintendent Norma Ayala-Leong, Boston’s first female homicide detective; former Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Angel Taveras; defense attorney Mark Berthiaume; and private investigator W. Dennis Aiken. All of these individuals are his friends, acquaintances and some have even done work for the city. Do you think that the Paulino’s would have received a proper independent investigation? Nope!
No changes will occur when you have two individuals with egos so big that they won’t allow people to do their jobs correctly. Mayor Rivera and Chief Vasque both are so controlling that the Director of Police & Community Relations feels she is just sitting and earning free money because they won’t allow her to the job properly.
Well, let’s put it this way. Have we heard of her work? Has she done something outstanding in her work? Has she found any lost or missing children? Has she trained the LPD on domestic violence with children? No, no, no, and no.
Waiting Until You Leave
The hypocrisy of Mayor Rivera continues. Back in 2013, when he was city councilor, he and a number of city councilors voted and demanded that employees not be part of any city boards, commissions, school committee, etc.
A local or state employee may be in any of these committees, boards, and commissions as is authorized by state law. However, Councilor Rivera and others voted an ordinance to restrict employees from serving on those boards.
Several employees, while Rivera was a city councilor and while he has been Mayor, have had their membership stripped away forcefully because he believes in that principle, although perfectly legal by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As Mayor, some of his choices have everyone doing a head scratching.
However, he only wants those employees he dislikes or does not give a damn about them, to follow his order or he makes their lives miserable. Take the former Acting Library Director Kemal Bozkurt who had won a seat as school committee member and was forced to resign. Some employees on other autonomous boards are being watched closely. Some of these employees have had to drop their interest in serving on boards or watched as they received letters stating their time on these boards expired and the mayor was not renewing their membership.
His Chief of Staff Eileen O’Connor Bernal (an employee of the City) is on the library board of trustees. She is now the Director of Support Services in the Lawrence Police Department, as she has been selected by her buddy Mayor Rivera and that she still serves in a board. Why she is not treated the same as others? Was it race, educations, favor, or something else?
One thing we can all be grateful for is that she will not be in the City Attorney’s Office, although Mayor Rivera has indicated that only an attorney should be in the Director of Support Services position at the police station. He tells himself much stuff just like Trump, so he can believe it and maybe have the people he serves this non-sense lies to believe it, too.
It does not matter what positions she is in, he should follow his own principle and either have her release from the board of trustees or resign as an employee. These were the same options Mayor Rivera has given other employees. It’s like a pirate kind of saying “Walk the plank”!
Restricting the employees to be on any boards, commission, or committee is a way of pressing down on democracy. Some of these politicians only believe their craps while they are running for office and once they achieve their goal of getting into office they become the tyrants and self-serving devils that they hid so well during their campaigns, and while his circle gets their share, no one makes a fuss.
Restricting employees to do only their jobs is even more of a tyrant’s rule than his policy. Take his position when he fired a former Weights and Measures Inspector Santiago Matías for not having a license and compare that to the four newly hired building inspectors in the Inspectional Services Department without license.
Mayor Rivera, as a democrat who verbally has advocated for unions but behind their back abuses his power, has demanded that three firefighters cross union lines and work the duties of other unions. I cannot understand how the firefighters union does not cease this taboo. How would firefighters like if a mayor sent police or laborers to fight fires? Yeah, they would be complaining very loudly. Hey firefighter’s union, respect your fellow unions and let them do their jobs. Hey inspectors union, pull yourself by your pants and demand from your fellow firefighters union to back off. Supervisors union if you are not going to do your job then you should get out of the way because you are useless or Mayor Rivera has really restricted your butts. Either way, file complaints in Boston.
With Mayor Rivera’s disdain for fundamental elements of democratic practice and the continued support he receives from a significant minority of voters are themselves symptoms of weaknesses which seem to be inherent in this city’s democracy itself. Therefore the continued loss of its people is not leading themselves but instead being thrown overseers and receivership boards.
Many of those voters that are ignorant about the news which swirls around us every day are those very same people who once, in their countries were ruined by the same tyrants, rules or way of governing. How can they not see this or be part of the same group of people who restrict democracy with their reasoning of “the people are ignorant”.
