Polling places changes
On page 12 we are publishing the changes of polling places in the City of Lawrence, as a result of not being ADA compliant sites. It is unfortunate that this change was done so close to the elections without providing sufficient time for the members of the community that are being affected to find out where to vote on that day.
Let’s hope that voters in The Ministerio Cristiano Jesucristo es el Señor Church, 96 East Haverhill Street, (A-4) now know they are voting at the Parthum School. Voters who usually went to The Lawlor School, 44 Lexington Street (B-2), will now be voting at the Leahy School. The former South Congregational Church, 198 South Broadway (E-3), will be going to the Frost School. And, voters who went to The Firefighter’s Relief’s In, One Market Street (F-4), will now have to go to the South Lawrence East School.
If there’s something unfortunate that came out of this decision is the unceremoniously way in which the Firefighter’ Relief’s In was portrayed in all of this. While it is true that there is a bar in the place, it doesn’t mean that voters were tempted to spend any time there. It is a comfortable place with plenty of parking and a separate entrance could have been designated, blocking access to the bar to appease the critics.
The Firefighter’s Relief’s In should be thanked for the years of providing voters in Lawrence a place to cast ballots “free of charge.”
Twitter conflict?
Hillary Clinton is being investigated on the use of her personal emails for State matters and this could lead to serious problems for her. Well, we have our own version of misuse right here in Lawrence.
Representative Marcos Devers’ official twitter account is being used to advertise his business.
Rep_Marcos Devers@MarcosDevers_MA Aug 22
Practicing my first vocation -Engineering & Construction- with MDJ Incorporated Engineering & Construction. http://fb.me/3LP2ee9N0
It contains lots of videos from a construction site, the Patriots Parade, Red Sox and Bruins events which make it very personal in nature. I contacted other legislators and they all told me that either, they have only the official one for State House business, or two separate ones to avoid mixing duty and pleasure.
Another interesting point is that he says it is “my first vocation” when he has said through the years that politics is his life. HMMM!
Lawrence is NOT a sanctuary city
There seems to be some confusion in the media referring to Lawrence as being a sanctuary city with the passing of the Trust Act. A few weeks ago Police Chief James Fitzpatrick was a guest on my radio show CrossOver and he explained how this Act would work. He said it would only give police officers the opportunity to do their jobs. Still, seeing that the Boston media and even Mayor Rivera insist on calling it that way, I wrote to the Chief requesting his thoughts on that, making it clear that I wanted to publish his response. Here is what he said:
“I support anything that will foster a sense of trust in public safety. The Lawrence Police Department is not here to enforce immigration laws, we are here to serve and protect the people in Lawrence. All of them. If someone is a victim of crime we do not want them to think twice before interacting with us. I think that the use of the phrase ‘Sanctuary City’ is a misnomer that confuses the issue.
Respectfully,
Jim Fitzpatrick (Chief of Police)”
Sanctuary cities refuse to assist ICE during investigations, arrests or raids thus sheltering illegal immigrants. There is talk about eliminating federal funds that sanctuary cities receive for refusing to enforce federal immigration laws, but that is not the case in Lawrence.
Police review board
Here we go again creating another committee! City Council President Modesto Maldonado has proposed the idea of forming this group to oversee complaints against the police department. The City Council has a Public Safety Subcommittee that I believe has met only once and probably that will be a suitable venue to air such grievances.
If they involve residents, we have an inactive and useless Human Rights Commission. They are supposed to meet on a monthly basis but, due to lack of quorum they get together four or five times a year and the last time they issued an annual report was in 1986.
Now, Council President Maldonado, are you sure a police review board will be the answer to Lawrence’s problems?
Eileen Bernal’s appointment
Even with the bit of controversy that Eileen O’Connor Bernal’s appointment has created, it will pass as expected, whether it is deemed legal by the City Council or the Legislature, if it must go through a Home Rule petition. It will happen because the mayor wants it that way and the mayor always gets what he wants.
Besides that, I don’t have any strong opinions on this subject. I have great admiration for Eileen, as a person and as a city councilor. She has always been judicious and fair in her decisions for which she has my respect. It is also a very smart choice for Mayor Rivera. She will bring sensibility and calmness to that office that I have heard needs it.
Eileen might be able to control the mayor’s actions and impetus responding to negative criticisms. He is so accustomed to be worshiped by the media believing everything he says that he cannot deal with negativity. I should know: he locked me out of important events and news only allowing me to learn about the trivial community events in which he participates.
The Eagle-Tribune published an article by Keith Eddings on August 26, mentioning several hot issues pinpointing the mayor’s mistakes handling the David Camasso lawsuit, the police chief’s appointment, the appointment of Jon Pina as Treasurer, the firing of city employees as political persecution, the granting of the ambulances contract to Lawrence General Hospital, etc. and it was not very flattering.
It also contained a quote by Robert McNulty, director of programs at Bentley University’s Center for Business Ethics, who advised the mayor to keep a distance from David Torrisi because having his sister as his chief of staff could give the appearance of impropriety or conflict of interests.
Mayor Rivera found it necessary to rush a letter to the editor in his own defense. The mayor said that his work and actions have been mischaracterized by the press and took issue with the inference of conflict of interests and endorsing the service provided by Lisa Torrisi, but overlooked the rest of the criticisms the article states.
