Recently we attended the launching of Viva Lawrence!, a partnership between the City of Lawrence, Eastern Bank and the Spanish language newspaper El Mundo, aiming to raise the city’s image so deeply damaged by public opinion.
The idea sounds like music to our ears!
For years, since Rumbo’s inception eighteen years ago, we promised ourselves that our paper will promote the good happenings city wide. Many times we were criticized for not echoing other publications that insist in throwing dirt over and over to a city that once was characterized as “City of the Damned” by writer Jay Atkinson in Boston Magazine as “the most godforsaken place in Massachusetts.”
That was the worst blow ever thrown to honest Lawrencians that live, go to school, pay taxes, have businesses and work hard to make ends meet.
Due to robust debates on social media and the passionate response received from their readers, Boston Magazine’s editor invited then Lawrence City Councilor Daniel Rivera to respond to the story.
Rivera ended his comments like this: “I say that your piece is no more than another negative link in our Google search — another blow to our image, but not to our resolve. Many of us will continue to work to make Lawrence better — and damn anyone that thinks they can stop us.”
Today, Daniel Rivera is at the city’s helm and part of this partnership that we welcome with open arms.
We need and welcome the help. We can’t continue being the only publication that spreads the good news around.
