By James O’Donoghue
Since I wrote my article that was published in Rumbo last week someone has suggested that “Making Lawrence Better” does not start with the police but it starts with the parents not caring about what their kids are doing and who they are hanging out with.
It is always a lot easier to judge people too quickly than to actually take the time to look into the depths of their problems.
Many of Lawrence’s parents struggle between having to work to support their children and needing to spend more time with them.
Often the parents without jobs are worse off at parenting because they live in a world of depression that is harmful to developing their children’s perspective. Poverty from joblessness is a killer of more than just spirits.
During Mayor Rivera’s three years as the mayor: Lawrence has been not only stagnant but moving in reverse against its economic gains. Mayor Rivera and his appointees have made no real effort to provide jobs for the jobless parents and residents of Lawrence.
Most of the job growth within Lawrence seems to employ people from outside of the City that in turn spend little of their income here. The closing of Polartec, Lawrence Pumps, Voltek and other companies has become a trend during this administration’s brief tenure.
We have seen higher taxes and the worst unnecessary expenditures that I can ever recall by any other Mayor. Raising the tax rate will not attract the industries that can provide our residents with the living wage jobs that they need.
The economic forecast does not look good. It will now become more difficult for a new Mayor to straighten out Lawrence due to the heavy debt and growing problems.
With the advent of a possible recession on the horizon a new Mayor will have to deal with the City bleeding jobs and tax revenue while trying to fight the increase in crime.
This is serious business and Lawrence needs a serious mayor in order to turn things around
