Devers’ court case
In the summer of 2014 I had a conversation with Keith Eddings of the Eagle-Tribune regarding Marcos Devers’ building permits. He told me that he had the same information and was planning to write about it. I waited; spoke to him a couple more times and there was always some excuse for not getting it done.
I am going to give you a synopsis of the article Devers hit with judgment over deck design, by Keith Eddings published on August 29, 2016.
On November 20, 2014, Eduardo Sierra filed a lawsuit in Superior Court for failing to answer his complaint about shoddy work in his house, yet it took almost two years for the Eagle-Tribune to publish anything on this. The contractor Clemente Hernandez of Lawrence was also named on the suit. The judge ruled in favor of Mr. Sierra.
When Gilda Duran’s attorney filed her case against the City of Lawrence in court on January 11, 2016, it only took three days for the news to be on the front page on January 13. Similarly, when David Camasso and Lorenza Ortega filed their cases, the Eagle-Tribune wasted no time to let us know.
Mr. Sierra’s project consisted on building a three-story deck in his home at 198 Prospect St. that was substandard from the beginning. Inspectional Services now says that former inspector Greg Arvanitis approved the plans which did not meet building codes. The construction went on to completion without receiving any inspections.
Greg Arvanitis was out of work for about a year and was eventually fired by Mayor Rivera. Now, the City is pinning everything on him.
Four months after the project began, an electrical inspector was checking on the property only to find that the walls had been covered and there was no way to inspect the wiring, plumbing and framing so he ordered the drywall to be removed.
On October 24, 2014, Commissioner Peter Blanchette hired a consultant and went to the home to assess what should be done. He recommended demolishing the deck because they were not structurally sound mainly because they should have been built over a full concrete foundation not just wooden columns over concrete pilings. His report called the framing “precarious and substandard.”
As a result, Mr. Arvanitis ordered Devers to demolish the deck and redesign it to include a full concrete foundation and remove the drywall to allow for inspections. The fact that the job was finished without waiting for the proper inspectors to come by and approve the work while it was being done tells me that they were confident that no one would come around.
The original contract was for $40,000 and now the cost involved in the demolition and rebuilding is $83,500 so Mr. Sierra is suing for $100,000. Representative Devers is asking the court to throw out the decision and allow him to explain his case.
But I wonder why Representative Devers is being treated differently from Jorge De Jesus. In Jorge’s case, all of the food certificates he had issued were canceled and those businesses had to take the exam again before being issued a new certificate. Who knows how many plans designed by MDJ Construction (namely Marcos Devers) are equally substandard putting in jeopardy the lives and properties in Lawrence.
Elections emergency
We have a crisis in the Elections Department with the lack of personnel and brains. I believe that Mayor Dan Rivera should realize the seriousness of the situation and bring Rafael Tejeda back for a couple of weeks to run the office and protect the purity of that department.
We have lost all confidence that the upcoming elections will be clean mainly because of the failure to have qualified people in that department.
Mayor Rivera, this will not be admitting any past wrongs; you owe the citizens of this city not to undermine our votes by allowing the process to be as honest as possible.
Haverhill School Committee meeting
The meeting of August 25 was a surprise to many city officials and I was very impressed with the participation of parents of children in the English Learner Education (ELE) Program. The room was full and parents were well-behaved but forceful demanding to know why Dr. Graciela Trilla, district supervisor of the ELE Program had been suspended with pay and given no reason for the suspension. She was the bastion for those families who cannot communicate in English and feel lost with no one in the system able to help them.
They also complained about the lack of communications coming from the administration so close to the start of the school year, particularly answers pertaining to the students in the ELE Program and the future of said program.
We received the school schedule the next day which we posted on our website but parents have not received any information on the ELE questions or Dr. Trilla’s issue.
Please take a look at the article on page 6 explaining what went on at that meeting.
Ciclovia
I have been giving a lot of thought to the poor attendance at Ciclovia while listening to some suggestions from others. For one, during the month of August lots of families are on vacation or enjoying the beaches and lakes. They will not trade one of those for four hours of bicycling on the main streets of Lawrence.
Among the ideas I have heard, how about holding it in September after families are back and children are in school? The weather is still warm and it will make more sense.
If they want to do it twice in the year, the end of May is equally good and the bikes could be checked and be ready for summer enjoyment.
This is a huge effort on the part of the organizers and contributors. We want to see it have the best results and if you have any ideas, I am sure they’ll be listening.
