By Alberto Suris
The day after the publication of the provisional results of the election held November 5th, the candidate Daniel Rivera called a press conference outside City Hall where surrounded by press and members of his campaign reaffirmed his victory over the incumbent. Rivera, a two-term councilor has declared his victory based on unofficial numbers which shows that he has beaten Mayor William Lantigua by 60 votes. Rivera received 7,625 to Lantigua’s 7,565.
At the press conference Rivera read this statement: “I have called us together for two reasons. First, to tell all the citizens of Lawrence that I will work tirelessly to truly unite this city. We have great challenges to face here in Lawrence. I am ready. We also have the benefit of many assets – our people first among them. I will properly and professionally get to work. “This brings me to the second thing I wish to relate. I will be assembling a transition team to help heal and help this city. We cannot wait until Inauguration Day in January. The work starts today. Tomorrow I will be announcing the Chair of my transition team and will work with that person to craft the right team – and the right tone- as we enter a new day for the City of Lawrence – a city that, under my administration, will simply be better. I invite Mayor Lantigua to join me in cooperating in that transition for a city that I know he too loves. “And most importantly, the majority who believed I would be the right Mayor of Lawrence in this, it’s most desperate and needy time there is one other number that counts: 76,000. To every single resident of the City of Lawrence I promise that I will get up every day to diligently and professionally work to improve their lives and our city’s future. This election was about the future of our city, and today we begin the job of making Lawrence better. “This is a beautifully sunny fall day. I’m sorry we could not hold this conference inside City Hall. I will make you one other promise – in the midst of winter, at the beginning of a new year, we will be bringing true sunshine into City Hall.”
