From My Corner

Lawrence deficit remains at $9.5M

Please take the time to read DOR’s letter regarding the administration’s lies.  We still have a $9.5M deficit.

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Favor de leer la carta de DOR sobre las mentiras de esta administración.  Todavía tenemos un déficit de $9.5M.

What’s good for the goose…

I was listening to a radio show Saturday at noon “El Programa de los Comerciantes” (The Merchants’ Show) hosted by Brian DePeña, among others.  That it is a "propaganda" program since it is only once sided. There is nothing wrong with that, but that's the way it was for Pedro Payano and is now for William Lantigua.  Well, they were criticizing the Sullivan Administration as being corrupt and several issues were mentioned in the process which caught my attention because of their inaccuracies.

The biggest point of contention is the assistance given to Sal Lupoli’s business. Michael Sullivan has not done anything illegal by helping Sal’s business grow – although he went out of his way to accommodate him. He did what Mayor James Fiorentini has been doing in Haverhill to attract companies – large and small – to his city. In fact, several companies made the move from Lawrence to Haverhill because that city opened its arms to welcome them, namely Southwick. With their move, we lost employment in Lawrence but Sullivan did next to nothing to get them to stay.

True economic development would have meant preventing businesses from moving out of Lawrence and anyone taking a ride through the Industrial Park in South Lawrence will be saddened to see building after building shut down or abandoned; companies that had to shut down or move out of Lawrence.

If Essex St. and Broadway are not dead and deserted, it is not through the city government’s efforts. Latino businesses continue to struggle without any City Hall assistance, keeping the area vibrant. All of the efforts from the Economic Development Department seemed to have been focused on The Riverwalk.

Then, the conversation briefly touched the issue of the In-Town Mall where Northern Essex Community College is to build a new technology center. I wish that before people start talking on the radio about things they know little about, would find appropriate information. For example, Brian DePeña referred to the “high position that the mayor’s brother holds at Northern Essex.” Tom Sullivan was a member of the Board of Trustees, just like me, and he was gone before I left so he is no longer there.

They started accusing NECC of lingering on and nothing has been done in a few years since they have owned the In-Town Mall. Having spent 12 years as trustee of that institution, I know a little about what has been going on, after all, I lived through the construction of the technology center of Haverhill from its inception to the present and it was a smooth process throughout, particularly in their dealings with the City of Haverhill.

In Lawrence it was another story; the city has been very slow about everything whether it was moving the previous tenants, cleaning the site, responding to requests, etc. Also, NECC cannot own any property, the site has to go to the state before the college can begin to build and now they are waiting for another vote by the City Council because the original vote was flawed and the Commonwealth cannot take ownership of the In-Town Mall until that is done.

Then, Brian mentioned that the In-Town Mall should have been “given” to Benny Espaillat, being a local businessman instead of NECC. Benny is in the same position as Sal Lupoli: someone who lives out-of-town (Andover and Florida), who owns buildings in Methuen. Why should we expect favors to be granted for Benny when we complain about what’s being done for Lupoli?

Lo que es bueno para uno…

Estaba escuchando el programa radial “El Programa de los Comerciantes” el sábado al mediodía el cual es animado por Brian DePeña, entre otros.  Este es un programa de "propaganda" ya que presenta un lado solamente.  Eso no tiene nada de malo pero así fue con Pedro Payano y ahora es con William Lantinua.  Pues, estaban criticando a la administración de Sullivan por ser corrupta y varios asuntos fueron mencionados en el proceso lo cual captó mi atención por no ser correctas.

El mayor punto de discordia es la asistencia prestada a las empresas de Sal Lupoli. Michael Sullivan no ha hecho nada ilegal por ayudar a las empresas de Sal para que crezcan - a pesar de que hizo más de la cuenta para complacerle. Él hizo lo que el Alcalde James Fiorentini ha estado haciendo en Haverhill para atraer a las empresas - grandes y pequeñas - a su ciudad. De hecho, varias empresas se trasladaron de Lawrence a Haverhill porque esta ciudad abrió sus brazos para darles la bienvenida, entre ellos Southwick. Con su mudanza, hemos perdido empleos en Lawrence y Sullivan no hizo nada para que se quedaran.
El verdadero desarrollo económico habría significado la prevención para que las empresas no se fueran de Lawrence y cualquier persona que se da un paseo por la zona industrial en el sur de Lawrence se entristece al ver edificio tras edificio cerrado o abandonado; compañías que tuvieron que cerrar o mudarse de Lawrence.
Si Essex St. y Broadway, no están muertos y abandonados, no es a través de los esfuerzos del gobierno municipal. Empresas latinas siguen luchando sin ninguna ayuda del ayuntamiento, manteniendo la zona animada. Todos los esfuerzos del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico parecían haberse centrado en The Riverwalk.
Luego, la conversación tocó brevemente el tema del In-Town Mall donde Northern Essex Community College ha de construir un centro tecnológico. Me gustaría que antes que alguien comience a hablar en la radio sobre las cosas que desconocen, que busquen la información adecuada. Por ejemplo, Brian DePeña se refiere a la posición de "alto nivel que el hermano del alcalde tiene en Northern Essex." Tom Sullivan fue miembro de la Junta Fiduciaria igual que yo, y su término finalizó antes del mío de modo que ya no es miembro.
Empezaron a acusar a NECC por no haber hecho nada con la propiedad en los años que han sido dueños del In-Town Mall. Después de haber pasado 12 años como miembro de esa junta directiva en esa institución, sé un poco sobre lo que ha estado sucediendo, después de todo, fui testigo de la construcción del centro de tecnología de Haverhill desde su creación hasta el presente y que fue un proceso uniforme en todo, en particular en sus relaciones con la Ciudad de Haverhill.
En Lawrence fue otra historia, la ciudad ha actuado con mucha lentitud ya sea mudando a los inquilinos anteriores, la limpieza del lugar, responder a las solicitudes, etc. Además, NECC no pueden poseer propiedades, el sitio tiene que pasar al estado antes de que la universidad pueda empezar a construir y ahora están esperando que el concilio tome otro voto debido a que el voto original fue erróneo y el estado no puede tomar posesión del In-Town Mall, hasta que se haga.
Entonces, Brian mencionó que debieron “darle” el In-Town Mall a Benny Espaillat, por ser un hombre de negocios local en lugar de NECC. Benny está en la misma posición que Sal Lupoli: alguien que vive fuera de la ciudad (Andover y Florida), que tiene edificios en Methuen. ¿Por qué debemos esperar que concedan favores a Benny, cuando nos quejamos de lo que hacen por Lupoli?
Eso es hipocresía y lo que muchos votantes temen - que el péndulo se vaya del otro lado.

Public participation at City Council

Another election is coming up and I am always amazed that the residents of Lawrence keep falling in the same trap.

Why bother electing anyone for any position if there is always going to be a selected group in charge of destroying the city.

The City Council seems to have absolutely no power, pretends not to have authority or simply put, plays dumb.

The Budget and Finance Director transfers money at will, no one checks where the money came from and then we get hit with surprises.

We have ordinances that are not respected.

How can we tell our young people to stay out of trouble when someone fired TWICE for using drugs during his workday gets his big job back? (In my judgment, illegally.)

Can you take legal action against contracts being signed illegally?

City employees’ civil rights are being violated when they are intimidated for supporting the wrong candidate.

I call upon the residents of Lawrence to stay home on Election Day. No matter what you do, nothing will change.

The corruption is built in.

Participación pública ante el Concilio

Otra vez vienen las elecciones y me enfada ver cómo los residentes de Lawrence siempre caen en la misma trampa.

¿Por qué hemos de preocuparnos en elegir a alguien para alguna posición si siempre ha de haber un grupo selecto al cargo de destruir la ciudad?

El Concilio siempre parece no tener ningún poder, pretende que no tiene autoridad o simplemente, se hacen los tontos.

El Director de Presupuesto y Finanzas hace transferencias de dinero a su antojo y nadie chequea para ver de dónde vino y después vienen las sorpresas.

Tenemos ordenanzas que no son respetadas.

¿Cómo podemos decirle a nuestros jóvenes que no se metan en problemas cuando alguien despedido DOS VECES por usar drogas durante horas de trabajo recupera su empleo? (En mi opinión, ilegalmente.)

¿No pueden ustedes tomar acción legal contra esos contratos firmados ilegalmente?

Los derechos civiles de los empleados municipales están siendo violados cuando son intimidados por apoyar al candidato contrario.

Le pido a los residentes de Lawrence que se queden en sus casas el Día de las Elecciones. Hagan lo que hagan, nada va a cambiar.

La corrupción es profunda dentro del sistema.

Lawrence Economic Development (or The Big Lie)

Last Wednesday, September 30^th, people gathered at Salvatore’s for drinks and free pizzas to view what they thought was a news segment produced by CNN; a few came out of there laughing at the mediocre production but most did not pay attention to details.

It was not until The Eagle-Tribune article of Saturday that I saw the 5-minute video that was nothing more than an infomercial and I was able to confirm the reason for the laughter but came up with convictions of my own which left me fuming.

Lie #1 The City of Lawrence paid $20,000 for the production of an infomercial that is only good as part of Tom Schiavone’s resume, pretending that he was indeed a knowledgeable and capable Director of Economic Development, never mentioning on the video that he’s been in an “acting” capacity for the past eight years.

Lie #2 The 737 commercial plane taking off when the narrator mentioned the Lawrence Airport was a dead giveaway. This production company could not even stop by the airport for a brief shoot or perhaps they purposely wanted to leave the audiences of the United States with the impression that this is a full service regional airport.

Lie #3 The view of the train station lasts no more than two seconds but we could clearly see that it was not our train station. Some people who saw it at Sal’s swear it was a station in a subway line someplace else.

Lie #4 When they said that Lawrence is close to Rt. 93 and Rt. 495, they showed a trailer truck traveling on a two-lane highway. Didn’t look like Lawrence’s surroundings!

Lie #5 There’s an overpass in an open space like a parking lot that for some reason, it reminds me more of Florida than New England. There are no overpasses like that one in Lawrence.

Lie #6 There was no such businessman looking for information at the mayor’s office being interviewed by Tom Schiavone and Nora Carroll. That was Methuen resident John Collie Ryan, former owner of The Claddagh Pub (he has not been associated with the Claddagh since 2006), acting his part for the benefit of this farce.

Lie #7 In fact, this travesty began back in March when it was reported by the Eagle-Tribune on March 19, 2009 (Lawrence successes chronicled in national TV report, by Jill Harmacinski) that a mock meeting had taken place at the mayor’s office with Senator Sue Tucker, June Black from Congresswoman Niki Tsongas’ office, the police and fire chiefs, Joe Bevilacqua, president of the Chamber of Commerce, School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy, Methuen resident John Collie Ryan, former owner of The Claddagh Pub again, and people from Community Development, while Tom Schiavone was doing a presentation using an easel with some aerial views of Lawrence.

Lie #8 The video claims that Lawrence has shown a sharp decrease in unemployment and crime. Just weeks ago, Police Chief John J. Romero said that crime is at the highest level in his 11 years here. And while the unemployment rate for Massachusetts is 8.9%, in Lawrence it reaches 17.8%.

Lie #9 Sal Lupoli takes credit for creating 1,600 local jobs. He may have hired a few kitchen helpers from Lawrence but every company that has moved into the Riverwalk brought its employees from wherever they were before. The proof is that I work at one of those buildings and while I turn to the right at 5 o’clock, everyone else is turning to the left leaving the city.

Lie #10 Had they gone to the Industrial Park by Glenn St. in South Lawrence, the producers would have seen the number of empty buildings and companies gone out of business in that area alone. Instead, they concentrated the taping in Sal Lupoli’s buildings and he had as much on-camera time as Schiavone, and certainly less than the mayor. By the way, Mayor Michael Sullivan has not memorized enough about the history of Lawrence and had to read from cue cards.

What benefit did this commercial have for the rest of the city? Did other businesses have the chance to be part of it?

In a city of 72,000, with more than 70% of the population of Hispanic descent, where in these infomercial were the Latinos? Why did the infomercial say nothing about Benny Espaillat or the Yepez brothers? Why did we not see the Latino-owned businesses on Essex Street and Broadway? Is it because the mayor who promised in 2002 to give a larger role to Hispanics is, in his final year, showing his true colors?

How do the city workers who were forced to take 10 furlough days last year, and are expected to take 12 furlough days this year, feel about the fact that the city wasted $20,000 dollars on an infomercial which, because it is at the center of major litigation, will never be aired on CNN or anywhere else? Do they appreciate the money coming out of their salaries to pay for this and other wastes?

Congratulations to the taxpayers of Lawrence. You have lost two firehouses, and gained a 5-minute, wasteful, $20,000 infomercial. Perhaps Mayor Sullivan can take his infomercial roadshow to the neighborhoods and show it in the closed firehouses.

We were shocked at the fraud perpetrated upon the taxpayers by city officials in the School Department and now we learn that the Mayor’s Office is just as bad. For months they have told us that Greg Gumble was coming to Lawrence to interview them, that this show was being produced for a news broadcast, and that Lawrence had been selected because of the local economy stimulated by Sal Lupoli and the administration. Now we learn that from Tom Schiavone and the Mayor through Mark Andrews, they all knew that this was not part of a newscast. The largest audience to see this show was at the Premiere at Salvatore’s in Lawrence.

Tom Schiavone, who has been complaining that he did not get appointed as permanent Economic Development Director, has been proclaiming that the Council made a bad move, after all, who has brought Greg Gumble to Lawrence, and focused national attention here for our economic progress? Who has showcased our community to the nation? Well, apparently no one has, and the economic stimulus he will be remembered for is the $20,000 Lawrence sent to a video studio in Florida and out of the taxpayers and workers pockets.

And, in the video, did Sal say that there was 100 million dollars of public investment in his project? Does that include the free police substation, even though the MVRTA just built a police substation down the street that looks deserted? 100 million dollars? Just imagine how good Essex Street would look if we invested that money there? Why has the Sullivan administration focused so much money and energy on the Riverwalk, and not focused more attention on the business districts which are largely Latino? There has to be more to it than just Laboy’s pizza franchise at a premium price.

My take on this is that Mayor Sullivan and Tom Schiavone should reimburse the city the $20,000 because it was more a commercial about Sal than the city itself. And most importantly, Tom Schiavone should be fired immediately for squandering city funds for his own benefit. He knows that his days at the spout are numbered and must fool somebody else into believing that he deserves a salary of close to $100,000. That 5-minute video is nothing more than an addendum to his resume and employers all over the country should know that it is full of lies.

Job security at City Hall

Last Thursday, September 25^th, some employees were treated to a show of force coming from the Mayor’s office when Tom Schiavone called Ruth McGrath, a clerk from the water department into his office along with Nora Carroll.

They began to berate and yell at her because her husband had made a contribution to Patrick Blanchette’s campaign. They told her to get on board with David Abdoo so that they could keep all of their jobs and nothing would happen to the mayor’s key people, questioning her allegiance.

This is a total abuse of power!

La seguridad del empleo en el Ayuntamiento

El pasado jueves, 25 de septiembre, algunos empleados participaron en una demostración de fuerza que salió de la oficina del alcalde cuando Tom Schiavone llamó a su oficina a Ruth McGrath, una empleada del departamento de agua, junto con Nora Carroll.

Ellos empezaron a criticarla y gritarle porque su esposo había hecho una contribución a la campaña de Patrick Blanchette. Le dijeron que tiene que apoyar a David Abdoo a fin de que todos puedan mantener sus empleos y no pase nada a las personas claves de la alcaldía, cuestionando su lealtad.

¡Esto es un abuso total del poder!

¿Dónde está Judy Perkins?

Yo preferiría decir, ¿dónde está el alcalde? ¿Dónde está el Director de Personal? ¿Dónde están los concejales al respecto?

Judy se queja del estrés del ayuntamiento y los artículos de prensa publicados recientemente, solicitó protección del seguro de trabajadores y contrató a un abogado. Ella ha estado fuera de su trabajo recibiendo su salario durante varias semanas. ¿Suena familiar? Bueno, ella tiene el manual escrito por Andrea Traficanti. Una manera de detener a los periódicos para que no escriban sobre ella es regresar a su empleo y hacer su trabajo como Coordinadora de Beneficios.

Hablando de hacer su trabajo, me preguntaba cómo se están haciendo las cosas y si los empleados de la ciudad están siendo atendidos. Me enteré de que ella tiene una asistente a tiempo parcial haciendo todo el trabajo. De hecho, ella ha estado haciendo todo el trabajo de Judy durante mucho tiempo mientras que ella socializaba por todo el ayuntamiento haciendo trabajos adicionales para Mark Andrews - por lo que recibe un estipendio de $250 semanales.

Si el Concilio está encargado de vigilar el presupuesto de la ciudad, ¿por qué no se ponen firmes para detener este derroche de fondos? Hay una buena excusa si alegan inocencia, pero el asunto de los estipendios es muy conocido y las ocurrencias de Judy son aún más, sin embargo, siguen mirando hacia otro lado.

El problema de los estipendios no es el único. Los supervisores tienen la autoridad, a su discreción, para dar un dólar extra por hora a ciertos empleados. ¿Cuál es el propósito de contar con descripciones de puestos, contratos sindicales y las normas en vigor cuando se pueden eludir a voluntad. Frank McCann hacía esto con algunos de sus empleados en el Departamento de Obras Públicas.

Where’s Judy Perkins?

I rather say, where’s the mayor? Where’s the Personnel Director? Where are the councilors on this?

She claimed stress from City Hall and the newspaper articles published recently and applied for worker’s comp and hired an attorney. She has been out collecting her pay for several weeks. Sounds familiar? Well, she has the instructions book written by Andrea Traficanti. One way to stop newspapers writing about her is by getting back to work and doing her job as Benefits Coordinator.

Speaking of doing her job, I was wondering how things are getting done and if city employees are being served. I found out that she has a part-time assistant doing ALL the work. In fact, she has been doing Judy’s work for a long time while she socializes all over City Hall and does additional work for Mark Andrews – for which she gets a $250 weekly stipend.

If the council is in charge of watching the city budget, how come they don’t put their foot down to stop this miscarriage of funds? There’s a good excuse if they plead innocence but the stipends issue is well known and Judy’s antics are even more, yet they keep looking the other way.

The stipends problem is not the only one. Supervisors have the authority, at their own discretion, to give an extra dollar per hour to certain employees. What is the purpose of having job descriptions, union contracts and rules in place when they can circumvent them at will. Frank McCann has been known for doing this with a few of his people at the Department of Public Works.