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.

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.

An update on Judy Perkins

She is complaining that everyone is talking about her and the working conditions are hostile and unbearable. On Wednesday, she left her job early saying that she was having chest pains. In her position, she has become familiar with the symptoms that work, the right lingo to use and what laws are there to protect her.

Do you see another permanent disability claim in the horizon, collecting full pay forever?

By the way, she only worked four days in the entire month of August. The rest was unaccounted for. People at City Hall are wondering who signs her timesheet.

Al día con Judy Perkins

Se está quejando porque todo el mundo está hablando de ella y de las condiciones de trabajo que están hostil e inaguantable. El miércoles se fue a casa temprano diciendo que tenía dolores en el pecho. En su posición, ella se ha familiarizado con los síntomas que dan resultado, el vocabulario apropiado y qué leyes la pueden proteger.

¿Podemos ver otro reclamo de incapacidad permanente en el horizonte, cobrando su pago entero para siempre?

Otra cosa, ella trabajó solamente cuatro días durante el mes de agosto. El resto no ha sido justificado. La gente en el ayuntamiento se pregunta quién firma su hoja de asistencia.