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Lori
Member
96 Posts |
 Posted - 09/17/2006 : 07:06:11 AM
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Good job Mike on the boston globe today. I just need you to know I am not in the 60/70 age group, I am in my 40's.
Keep up the good work
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bbpolitical
Forum Admin
265 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2006 : 08:54:03 AM
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Thanks a lot!
I would like everyone to know that the age group comment was not a major theme in my conversation with Ms. Lazar, but when she asked me about the demographics of the people who use my site, I made an educated guess. I knew at the very least that most of the people in my age group (30) are less interested in what is going on around town than the elder citizens are.
I am an average resident of Everett who would like to see more communication about anything and everything to do with Everett |
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richie
Senior Member
139 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2006 : 07:09:50 AM
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EVERETT
Openings may spur reshuffle
Council hopefuls await Smith move
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | November 19, 2006
Everett city councilors will fill at least one of two vacant positions following the resignation of a common councilor and the election of an alderman to a state representative position.
Ward 6 Common Councilor Anthony F. Ranieri resigned Nov. 8 to take on a full-time position in the City Services Department. Ward 3 Alderman Stephen "Stat" Smith was elected Nov. 7 to the 28th Middlesex District seat.
The 18-member Common Council can still function with the absence of one member as they go through the process of appointing someone, said City Clerk Michael Matarazzo, adding that there is no urgency to fill the seat. The seven-member Board of Aldermen may not have to go through the appointment process, as Smith considers serving in both posts.
Traditionally, an alderman's seat is filled with the appointment of the most senior common councilor in the same ward. Of the three Ward 3 common councilors, Stephanie V. Smith , Stephen Smith's daughter, is the most senior member, Matarazzo said. Vacant Common Council seats traditionally have gone to the candidate who finished fourth in the three-seat race, Matarazzo said. In Ranieri's Ward 6, the fourth candidate is Stephen Faia .
But tradition is not obligation.
"Anyone can call and say they're interested in the seat," said Matarazzo, a former councilor, adding that appointments are made by a majority vote of both bodies. If residents want to be on the board of aldermen or common council, he said, they should just call all of the members and see if they would support them.
Both seats have one year left in their two-year terms.
Meanwhile, Smith has hinted that he would like to finish his term as alderman, but has not made an official announcement.
"George Keverian was an alderman who finished his term," Smith said, referring to a Everett native son who went on to become House speaker on Beacon Hill. Smith added that his family and supporters "feel it would be a terrific benefit to the residents of Everett. I certainly have the ability to do both, and the work ethic."
Dual-office holding is permitted in the state, though some communities have banned the practice. As state representative, Smith is slated to receive a base salary of $55,570 . As alderman, Smith receives a stipend of $7,200 . Smith will also represent a portion of Malden in his state office.
Keverian said it was commonplace for legislators to keep their local seats back when he served his last year as an Everett alderman, with his first year as state representative, in 1967 . He added his decision to hold dual offices was advantageous for Everett.
"When I was elected, it was common for mayors to be state representatives and for selectmen to be state representatives," said Keverian, who is now an Everett assessor. "The same kind of requests are being made of you, the same people call you. You're not holding two city jobs, so it's no conflict. The City Council is always requesting a state representative to do something. If you have someone sitting right among you, he could help you much better."
Gerald E. Frug , professor of law at Harvard Law School, said dual office-holding has a very strong tradition in France, but added that many of the politicians in those positions were transformed into "national celebrities, and wore their national hats, not their local hats." However, Frug added, such a move may work here so long as the person holding dual seats keeps a local focus.
"So now we have simultaneously that the mayor of Worcester becomes the lieutenant governor," he said, pointing to Democrat Tim Murray's election win with Deval Patrick. "Is this going to bring a local perspective to the state? I hope so," Frug said. "In the state of Massachusetts, localities put together don't talk to each other as one. The cities are like their own little countries sometimes. But if you have a bunch of state officials talking to each other as local officials, maybe it will help with things like local aid."
Daniel Marien , assistant professor of political science at Salem State College , said serving in two elected positions is a "mixed bag and there are pluses and minuses." Among the positives is being able to discuss specifics about how local aid is affecting the community, Marien said. Cons include the possibility of sweetheart deals for the community being dually served.
But he adds that overlapping offices for one year is likely not going to be a "big deal" as far as effectiveness is concerned.
Matarazzo said he had already heard of several people expressing interest in the seats, but more so for Ranieri's. Residents are waiting word from Smith, who doesn't have to make a decision soon.
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
 Posted - 11/19/2006 : 12:52:16 PM
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I am in my 30's 
Sally |
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lisa
Senior Member
143 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2006 : 11:59:45 AM
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Everett fire leaves 10 people homeless
By Herald staff
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Ten people were displaced from their homes yesterday - just two days after Thanksgiving - after a kitchen fire caused heavy damage to the addition of an Everett triple-decker.
“The people have alternative accommodations for tonight,” Everett Deputy Fire Chief John Berghello said yesterday.
“All evidence points to a cooking fire,” Berghello said. “The main body of the house didn’t face any damage.”
Those displaced by the fire may have to wait six to eight weeks before they can return to their home, fire officials said. No one was injured.
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Jane
Senior Member
102 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 06:28:29 AM
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You could be paid to recycle
Pa. firm offers cash incentive
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | January 21, 2007
Everett could be one of the first communities in the state to implement a program that would pay residents to recycle.
If introduced, the program could increase the city's dismal recycling percentage rates and cut the more than $1 million spent in annual trash collection costs, said Everett recycling coordinator Jon E. Norton .
RecycleBank , a Philadelphia-based private company, has been in talks with Norton to launch the program in Everett, in an attempt to begin expanding its services to New England.
Launched in Pennsylvania just a year and a half ago, RecycleBank's high-tech concept involves implanting a computer chip in wheeled totes that contain the homeowner's information, including a RecycleBank online account number. Collection trucks equipped with special computers scan the barcode, calculate the weight of the recycled material, store the information in a databank, then credit the home with "RecycleBank Dollars."
On average, people earn $8 a week, said RecycleBank CEO and cofounder Ron Gonen . Residents can check their RecycleBank Dollars balance online, where they can also find out the environmental impact of their recycling efforts with a tally of how many trees and gallons of oil they've helped conserve.
Residents may use their RecycleBank Dollars at participating national retailers, such as Target, Starbucks, and Whole Foods Market, or at participating local businesses. Residents may also donate their RecycleBank Dollars to a participating local environmental organization, Gonen said.
"There's a significant economic development component when you can provide families with an additional $400 a year," Gonen said. "If you take all the households we serve, we're talking millions and millions [of dollars] in economic development."
Norton contacted RecycleBank after attending one of their seminars at a Massachusetts Municipal Association meeting and trade show last year. Company officials invited Norton to Clayton, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., where he witnessed the program firsthand in those communities.
"I was very impressed, especially in Wilmington," said Norton, who also chairs the city's Conservation Commission. "It was a low-income community and they were all recycling. It most resembled Everett."
Everett's low-income neighborhoods, as well as its high numbers of multifamily housing, are some of the reasons Norton has been hesitant to propose that the city increase its recycling rate by adopting programs such as the state-advocated Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT), where individual households would pay for each container of trash placed at the curb. PAYT, which has been implemented in about 115 communities in the state, entices residents to recycle more so they may pay less for the amount of trash they produce.
According to the latest figures from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection , Everett went from a 6 percent recycling rate 10 years ago to 15 percent in 2004 , and 18 percent in 2005 . The state average is 22 percent . But Norton, who is still putting together 2006 figures, said 18 percent "sounds high." He said he has been in contact with MassDEP officials, adding that they are interested in Everett's potential partnership with RecycleBank. MassDEP has set a master plan goal to reduce waste in the state by 70 percent by 2010 .
Norton is waiting for the city's contracted trash and recyclables hauler, Capitol Waste Services , to look at RecycleBank's rough draft proposal for the city before setting up another meeting with RecycleBank and making an official proposal to city officials. Norton said RecycleBank has indicated they would cover the approximately $70,000 per truck it would take to retrofit two of Capitol's trucks with the computer that would read the barcode in the totes.
"We have decided that if we go with this, we'd place it in one of the five daily trash routes first, before we go citywide," Norton said. "We want to see the final figures as to what the city will be saving on this."
Everett residents currently use 18-gallon curbside bins for plastics, glass, and cans, but they have to separate paper products and cardboard and place them in paper bags. With RecycleBank, Everett would go to single-stream recycling, which may be yet another incentive for residents who can't be bothered with sorting, Norton said.
Though currently serving 15 communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, RecycleBank is expanding and is getting ready to launch in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, Gonen said. He said the company is in discussions with Somerville officials, and that the program could launch in Worcester by spring.
RecycleBank makes a profit by collecting a percentage of the landfill fee savings the program helps generates in each community. Gonen said he could not discuss what percentage of the savings the company keeps because "it's proprietary information that changes, depending on which community we're in." Depending on the savings, Everett could end up paying RecycleBank half of the total saved on fees, Norton said.
Jen Baker , an environmental advocate with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group , said RecycleBank's economic incentive will probably make it easier for people to recycle, and could increase the statewide recycling rate.
"From our perspective, any time the free market can come in and provide a service that's good for the environment at no additional cost to the taxpayer or the state, then that seems like a good idea moving forward," Baker said. "The more cities and towns can do to expand the opportunities for recycling . . . the more recycling we'll have in the state."
Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 08:19:34 AM
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Great idea. I would really have to guard my trash from the garbage pickers if this program is implemented. :)
Sally |
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H1ghCh4r1ty
Advanced Member
967 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 09:49:12 AM
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Hello lisa,
Bye the way the fire that left ten people homeless was caused by the occupants cooking food to selling it commercially to Brazilian restaurants in Everett and in surrounding communities. That is a violation of State Law and the occupants should be prosecuted.
If my house was next door, I would not be very happy to know my home was placed in jeopardy due to more wrongdoings by illegal immigrants.
Emile Schoeffhausen |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2007 : 10:03:50 AM
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| Right on, Emile. |
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Lori
Member
96 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2007 : 06:51:04 AM
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EVERETT
Residents clamor for tax relief
Mayor takes the heat for halting exemption
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | January 28, 2007
Glenn Crenshaw is on a fixed income.
The Everett resident has been on Social Security disability for several years due to back and knee injuries. He also cares for a child who requires ongoing medication following open heart surgery.
While his disability income has increased by $51 a month, his property taxes have shot up by about $100 per month this year.
"I don't know how I'm going to pay it," Crenshaw told his local representatives and Mayor John Hanlon at a Ward 3 neighborhood meeting Wednesday night.
Crenshaw is one of many Everett residents whose tax bills have ballooned by an average of 27 percent -- the top percentage increase in the state -- from what they were last year, when owner-occupied homes were benefiting from a 20 percent property tax exemption initiated by then-mayor David Ragucci . Hanlon, who took over for Ragucci a year ago, opted not to renew the exemption program this year.
"My taxes a few years ago were $1,400 a year. They're now either $3,300 or $3,400 , and it's just ridiculous," Crenshaw told officials. "And the decision to not renew that exemption affects families like mine in ways that you can't even imagine."
Hanlon is starting the last year of his two-year term under a cloud of criticism, even from some supporters, for dropping the exemption program. Hanlon, who said he plans to run for reelection in the fall, vehemently defends his decision to end the tax break, which he called "unfair," and credits the change for allowing the city to reduce its residential tax rate from $9.01 per $1,000 of assessed value to $8.34 .
"For every penny that you give somebody off their taxes, someone else's got to pay for it," said Hanlon. "So while their taxes went down, someone else's taxes went up. I felt that it was unfair to an awful lot of people.
"If we had kept that in, instead of the tax rate going down, it would've gone up to $9.85, and my assessors are saying $10. That would've been a jump that no one could've taken."
Hanlon, who acknowledges having started his term "on the wrong foot" with the City Council after he accused members of violating the Open Meeting Law last year, said he hasn't accomplished everything he set out to do as mayor, but that he is confident in his decisions.
A former alderman and Everett city clerk, Hanlon ran for election three times before finally unseating Ragucci in 2005. Since becoming mayor, Hanlon has been criticized for hiring 35 people , some for newly created positions, and proposing a $7 million budget increase over last year.
Hanlon said the previous years' budgets did not reflect an accurate total because money from reserves was being used at the end of the year to balance the budget.
As he promised in his campaign, Hanlon also began a $60,000 independent audit of several city departments where he suspected fiscal mismanagement. He said the audit has been completed and expects the results in the next couple of weeks.
"We have such a mess of things here that we've had to straighten out. We had a budget that never worked, and we have budgets that are now working," Hanlon said. "We have what we consider a real, true budget."
Most glaring, Hanlon said, was the amount of unpaid debt he found when he took office. Hanlon said the city had yet to start paying its $11 million share in new school construction projects, as well as a five-year-old $400,000 bill from lawyers used during the schools building process. Hanlon said he also worked out a $397,000 settlement agreement on a $1.2 million lawsuit against the city from a Keverian School contractor who walked away from the job after a disagreement with the School Building Commission.
Adding to the city's bills is the recent discovery of at least $1 million in unaccounted expenses within the schools construction project, Hanlon said.
"We've put the city back in a solid financial basis, with plans to grow, plans to keep our numbers above board all the time. If this was done a long time ago, I don't think our taxes would be anywhere near where they are now," Hanlon said. "This [residential] exemption . . . was absolutely, positively, a political ploy [by the previous administration] to get back in office."
Hanlon said he is not making decisions based on how many votes he'll get, but on what's best for the city.
"If I'm not here next year, I know that I've done every single thing I could do for this city without having my own thoughts in mind," he said.
For residents like Gerald Kelley , who said at the Wednesday meeting that his taxes have increased by $1,700 , the exemption was much needed.
"It's about time that we grab ourselves by the bootstraps and take a serious look at the way this city spends money. . . . This isn't Weston and it's not Wellesley," Kelley said. "How much money do we spend on our football team? . . . Do we really need 24 representatives, councilors, and aldermen, for a 3.5-square-mile city?"
Common Council president Sal DiDomenico who said he is a friend of Hanlon's, said there are a lot of important matters he hopes the council and mayor get accomplished this year, including the redevelopment of the high school and Devens school buildings, and continuing to keep crime rates low. However, he added that in his 3 1/2 years as councilor, he has never received as many calls from constituents on any issue as he has had for the tax exemption, which he hopes gets reinstated next year.
"It's not an easy job running the city, and no matter what decisions you make, you're not going to make all your constituents happy," DiDomenico said.
Board of Aldermen president Joseph W. McGonagle , a vocal critic of Hanlon who plans to run for mayor this year, said Hanlon should have presented fresh ideas and solutions instead of focusing on mistakes from the previous administration.
"It's easy to blame the last guy, it really is, but that's a cop-out," McGonagle said. "He eliminated the homeowners exemption to keep the tax rate lower than it was. You can't create 34 newly funded positions, give every department head a 6 to 18 percent increase in salaries, and then expect not to raise taxes. It was absurd that he did that."
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Lori
Member
96 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2007 : 06:53:10 AM
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| I was watching the meeting of ward three last nite, it was on channel 16 around 9ish I wish I had seen the beginning but I didn't, I need to catch this again it was very interesting espically with a man name Mr. Kelly who has some wonderful ideas but, I know, the unions will not go for it. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2007 : 08:44:09 AM
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| Thanks for the post. It was very interesting. So, it now seems official, Hanlon and McGonagle are running for Mayor in the Fall. Lets see who else jumps in. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2007 : 1:09:06 PM
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Just what we need, another inevitable tax hike.
*
The Boston Globe
Governor weighing deal on pay hikes
Lawmakers' raises tied to support, sources say
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | January 28, 2007
Governor Deval Patrick, in a significant departure from former governor Mitt Romney, is contemplating a deal with Democratic legislative leaders that would grant significant pay raises to their top lieutenants in return for their support in implementing his plans for sweeping government changes, according to sources involved in the discussions.
No agreement has been struck, but in behind-the-scenes conversations, sources said, Patrick has signaled that he may be willing to take the inevitable public criticism about the pay raises, but he wants significant payback: broad cooperation on his proposals to overhaul the state's quasi-public authorities. |
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Fran
Senior Member
250 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 11:26:33 AM
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Thursday, February 8, 2007
Everett fire displaces two families
By Amanda I. Bergeron, Globe Staff
A two-alarm fire tore through a three-story, wood-frame home this morning on Montrose Street in Everett, destroying the upper floor, a fire official said.
The blaze displaced two families, but caused no serious injuries, according to Deputy Fire Chief Michael Ragucci.
Below freezing temperature challenged firefighters as they battled the flames, with a hydrant freezing and a hose breaking.
The fire began shortly after 1 a.m. and took four hours to extinguish, Ragucci said. Firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading to other nearby homes.
A local chapter of the Red Cross was on the scene to help the displaced families.
Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 09:47 AM |
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Lori
Member
96 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2007 : 07:03:38 AM
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I saw in today's globe that former mayor ragucci's mother-in-law passed away
May she rest in peace. |
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EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2007 : 08:35:41 AM
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Yes, I heard that from my daughter.
Sally |
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today's globe
