Five murders and counting
Mayor Dan Rivera is very concerned that over the weekend we had another homicide, making it five thus far this year.
Mayoral promises
Do you remember how Mayor Dan Rivera insisted during the residency law arguments that he wants the best qualified people to work for the city? He also said that he wants to see local residents being hired for jobs available with the city.
Well, there are several new people working for the city who are neither, qualified or city residents. With the reorganization of Community Development, Inspectional Services, Planning and Economic Development, I wondered how many positions would be created and who would fill those positions.
Abel Vargas has a new administrative assistant and he is Felix Garcia, a Lawrence resident. Meanwhile, the position held by Richard Burke in the Planning Department, had a title change with the reorganization and now it belongs to Laiza Lizardo St. Onge.
Ms. St. Onge began working for the city on September 2 of this year. I did my routine of looking her up on Facebook and searching on the internet and upon seeing pictures of her children on the first day of school not wearing a uniform, it was clear that they were not Lawrence students.
My hunt brought up lots of information including her Salem, NH address and telephone number and I later found out that she comes to work with a NH plate in her car. It is unbelievable the amount of personal information people post and is available online!
Let’s not get into qualifications because I could not find evidence of formal education but I do call to everyone’s attention the fact that these jobs were not advertised to allow local residents an equal opportunity to apply and compete.
What the mayor is doing lately is “posting” positions at City Hall. What are job seekers supposed to do? They are expected to go there on a regular basis to see what’s new as if that fulfills his obligation of providing equality for all.
Blame the council members
While the City Council members are busy with stop signs, permits to use the Campagnone, housing violations, etc. the mayor is unstoppable in his decision-making. He is outsmarting them at every turn and we don’t hear a word from them.
