Mr. William Lantigua
Former Mayor of the City of Lawrence
Dear William,
Those closest to you call you “Willy” but I don’t believe I have the right to call you that, although I admit that the first time I met you it was as authentic as surreal. Fresh from Minnesota, I was walking along Essex St. where you parked at the curb, greeted several people and immediately removed from the trunk of your vehicle a table of dominoes and placed it on the sidewalk. Without knowledge of who I was, you asked me if I play domino; I responded that I only know how to place the pieces and as if we were “old fronts” we played against all who came by during those hours placing double sixes and saying “domino”.
Through our conversation in between “shuffled chips”, I learned that you were the state representative for the 16th district, and in turn I introduced myself as the priest who had come to work with the Hispanic community in Grace Church. I remember inviting you to Mass and your response was that of a genuine politician, “Yes, whenever there’s something special, invite me and I’ll come.” The message was direct, without language codes, you were a pragmatic man front where ontic truths succumb to everyday realities. Friend of the religious, but not of religion and since then his pragmatism has not surprised me.
When you decided to run for mayor, you broke some molds which undoubtedly caused stinging by refusing to participate on radio or television interviews. Your absence was obvious at the debates between candidates of the time, developing a door to door campaign. With no “time limits”, it was no surprise to see you at five o’clock in the morning just as at five in the afternoon canvassing for votes.
You appeared at the precise moment that a portion of society wanted, suggested and craved for a transition; but on the other hand there was a segment of the community who feared that change, not necessarily because you embody it, but for the dialectic struggle between social classes, which is represented here as ethnicities, economic classes and different hopes and different dreams. And that longing was felt through the unity among most Hispanic candidates at the time, which revolved around you.
Some hoped that the circumstantial unity among Hispanic leadership of the city was crystallized by the observation of a tacit political agreement that would allow not only the governance of the city, but allow space for emerging leaders so that the transition period would be relatively short. But the antagonistic struggles occurred between north and south, as if I were emulating the American Civil War.
Your administration overflowed in a rare pragmatism, but novel, which you developed as bravely as determined when facing some snow removal companies caught throwing snow collected in other cities into the Merrimack River, thus polluting the Merrimack. Such boldness was an affront, and revealed that we were facing a Spanish administration, but not a subservient one.
Your administration had an open door policy as well as was traveling since people could talk to you even in the parking lot at City Hall. The lower and middle City Council posts were held by Hispanics, crime reportedly went down. Tax collection was increased and a city whose claim was being deficient, ended up being a city which cleaned up its budget. This was in contrast with the lifestyle that many Lawrencians wanted to see in their mayor.
In all honesty, it must be noted the respect your administration dispensed to various pastors and religious leaders of the city, all church leaders who were interested to submit a concern, were well considered. It is known the apprehensions of some evangelical pastors to be involved in any actions that are politically tinged, but in your case, some will come to pray for you and show true signs of admiration.
But the Mayor was peppered with “mud” of sorts, was under the scrutiny of an investigation and as expected, the popular rumor fabricated all kinds of guesses and charges against you and your closest collaborators, such as embezzlement of funds, corruption, influence peddling, bribery, delivering to the State our education system, among others, and while all of this was on going, in many cases, your response was silence. Your voice was heard thundering only against the Recall Movement which was “calling for your head” through a popular plebiscite for you to vacate the mayor’s office.
For some your silence on the atrocities, accusations and voices full of evil complaints that were going on against you was motivated by a spirit of arrogance, shrouded in vanity. I believe that there were misconceptions; it really was a true democratic spirit little understood that you showed. So the obvious question that arises is, how a man with leadership qualities and a faithful following that political scientists call the “tough votes” and a powerful electoral machine loses the election? This will be discussed in the final part of this letter next week.
