Abuse of power
On Sunday, October 25th, there was a choral competition at Lawrence Memorial Stadium. The admission was $15 per person. The car that you see in these pictures belongs to Laiza Lizardo St. Onge, asset manager for the City of Lawrence.
Laiza parked her car in front of the stadium gate right on the corner where an orange cone and a police officer indicated to her that it was not a legal parking space. She told the officer that she works for the city and was there to check on the concession stand; then, she proceeded to remove the orange cone but not before securing a plaque on the dashboard with the city seal showing her title at the Planning Department where she works as Asset Officer.
She ignored the order from the police officer and went into the stadium – by the way, accompanied by her two children. To make it more daring, she refused to pay at the entrance continuing to the concessions stand and later sitting on the bleachers to watch the show.
This is the same person who has mayoral permission to park on the street all day long without the risk of getting a ticket. Theodoro Rosario is another one with street parking privileges.
Mayor Rivera had the courage to use Laiza as a role model for his stance on residency. He has said on Spanish radio how competent she is, she is from Lawrence and her family still lives here but she fell in love with a man from Salem, NH and that’s why she lives out of state now – as her plate shows.
Every time the mayor goes on the radio, he talks about eliminating the corruption from the past yet, we keep hearing about things like this coming out from City Hall. This is the real corruption when special rights are granted to preferred people and Ms. St. Onge is so overconfident in her position and her friendship with Mayor Rivera that she has become as arrogant as he is. The way she acted with the police officer demonstrates it.
This pattern will continue until we are willing to come forth to denounce it instead of covering it up. Laiza’s car should have been towed by the police and a hefty fine given but we are all enablers. Next time we see her car illegally parked, insist to those ambassadors giving out tickets for overtime on the meters to give her one. Then, let’s see who’s going to fix them.
Veterans’ Day
We celebrated Veterans’ Day last week on November 11 proving once again, how much we miss Francisco Ureña. In the past, Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day activities were his passion. He was well-organized and created a list of hundreds of volunteers. Those dates were a big event in the Veterans’ Services Department while he managed to provide services to his constituency.
Since Francisco left Lawrence, we have seen the decline. Jaime Melendez has been a total failure from the beginning. This latest Veterans’ Day celebration at South Lawrence East School was a disgrace! There were not even 100 people in the auditorium and that’s counting guests, the JROTC, singers, the high school step dancers and seven veterans. People didn’t know that was to take place. The only reason why Rumbo was there is because we found out the day before during a similar program at the Guilmette School which was astounding! We have told Jaime that Rumbo is available to promote any event and he chooses not to use our free services thus depriving the community from learning and participating in these worthwhile events.
One more thing: Francisco didn’t have assistance; he was all alone. Jaime fired a part-time assistant who was a veteran in order to hire Dawna Mackland and her job turned into a full-time position. Her husband was Dan Rivera’s campaign manager. Talk about political favors!
Human Rights Commission
The Human Rights Commission attempted to meet on the second Monday of the month (November 9th) and again, there was no quorum. I am getting tired of writing about the same thing over and over again so let’s take it upon ourselves to embarrass them into resigning for not doing their jobs.
The worst part about it is that the recording secretary in charge of writing the minutes of the meeting gets $100 anyway because she did her part by showing up.
I believe that Asdrovel Tejeda should have a serious conversation with Mayor Rivera and ask him to appoint people who truly care and those with poor attendance should be kicked out.
Wendy wasting time
If you suffer from low blood pressure, I have a treatment for you: Go into Wendy Luzón’s Facebook page. I guarantee you that it will raise it to the point of needing meds. It is amazing how she spends all day long entering news from the Dominican Republic and anything having to do with domestic abuse.
Last Wednesday, her guest on the radio program La Alcaldía Informa (Mayor’s Office Informs) was Theodoro Rosario. He was bragging about all the streets that are being repaired, as we speak.
Wait a minute! Isn’t it too late in the season to be doing that?
John Isensee’s retirement
The Director of the Department of Public Works, John Isensee will be retiring in a few weeks after more than 30 years working for the City of Lawrence. He went through many disappointing city council meetings having been nominated for the job by the last two mayors until he was approved early in 2014.
Although Isensee was lacking the civil engineer degree required for that position, his years of experience within that department earned him the title. Through the years holding that job, John Isensee has been a very reputable, attentive, conscientious employee who has performed admirably for the city and he deserves a peaceful and joyful retirement.
Now, we have the opportunity to search for someone with the right qualifications and degree to get the city moving the right direction with the appropriate leadership in place. We should look no further that the department itself. Brian Peña, the Commissioner of the Water Department is a civil engineer, a Lawrence resident and homeowner, he has proven himself in that position because of his intelligence, gets along with everyone because he possesses a jovial, even tempered attitude and is bilingual in Spanish. Why go anywhere else?
