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niceknowingyou
Member
22 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2011 : 11:56:07 AM
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| wouldn't that be great, but I am with you Massdee on this one never happen, he has no b)))s to do it. Peter would put in under the mic with no problem |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2011 : 12:32:19 PM
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| I'll be little kinder; I don't think that it will happen because the Mayor has nothing to gain by agreeing to a debate with Councilor Napolitano. Hope that I'm wrong though. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2011 : 09:32:46 AM
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I think the mayor has the advantage of a debate. After all, he’s been in office for almost four years now. We need a debate because our local news rags print one sided facts.
The mayor has a lot going on, from streets, to stadium, etc and then his “master plan.”
I’d like to see the two talk, and see who can sell the best plan. I also feel that viewers should be able to send in questions to candidates.
The mayor gets upset when people ask him about the fiscal condition of the city. This is his chance to defend himself. If the mayor refuses a debate, then he has something to hide. It does not take a lot of time, one hour or so, and make everybody happy. The mayor will only alienate more people if he refuses.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2011 : 12:18:10 AM
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I've been following Councilor Napolitano's almost weekly Op-Eds/Letters to the Editor that have been running in the Independent. While I think that they have succeeded in getting his points across, I think that a lot of them could have been more focused in that they seem to try to accomplish too much in each piece. From what I hear, Councilor Napolitano is totally responsible for writing these pieces himself, for which I have to give him credit. That said, I wish he had someone to do a bit of editing, not for content but to work with him on the focus issue.
However, I think Councilor Napolitano's piece in this Wednesday's Independent was probably his best work to date with a laser sharp focus. When I was speaking to someone over the weekend about last week's infamous Advocate commentary, I suggested that what Councilor Napolitano needed to do was to turn this perceived negative into a positive. I believe that he accomplished that and hit a home run with this latest piece.
While I'm sure that some parts of the piece will be considered controversial by some, I believe that you have respect him for saying what he truly believes and feels.
While I think that it's admirable for The Independent to be running these pieces and others pieces that criticize the paper, it's too bad that, for the second week in a row, the paper has seemingly left out a key part of Councilor Napolitano's pieces.
I doubt that this will be the last salvo in the war of words with the papers. While I don't expect or want to see Councilor Napolitano back down from any of the papers, I hope that the councilor doesn't get too distracted by these negative pieces that the papers will run. He needs to remember that he is running against the Mayor and not the papers. While some may argue, maybe rightfully so, that at least some of the papers are nothing more than an extension of the current administration, those that don't see it or agree with it need to see Napolitano running against the Mayor. |
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Baby Huey
Member
95 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2012 : 10:20:59 PM
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Nothing is Hidden, the Problem is Apparent
February 15, 2012
By Independent Staff
We agree it’s good for an elected city official to ask questions regarding city expenditures on behalf of his or her constituents. Unfortunately Councillor Rosemary Miller in her Letter to the Editor (Independent Forum, 02/08/12) only complains about events that have already happened and ducks the issues that need solutions.
She reminds us of the dairy farmer who remembered to shut the barn door after he saw all the cows had run away.
In spite of Herculean efforts by members of the School Department, the School Committee, and various city officials to explain the complexity of issues involved, Mrs. Miller prefers to ignore them and complains about why budgets are not being met and the need for full disclosure.
Full disclosure is the school budget in all its parts. The schools’ budget contains no secret funds, no secret expenditures – in fact – no secrets at all.
Mrs. Miller complains about this newspaper’s reporting, saying that it should bring her information and suggestions on how to make things better. We believe the newspaper’s role is to report the news and to comment editorially about it – and we have made recommendations about how this city needs to meet the schools underfunded budget/overpopulation challenge.
We have been dealing with hundreds of new students every year for the past 6 years. And we have been asking for more funding consistently to meet the challenge. This is not a new crisis.
Fueling the crisis is the fact that Everett is a rapidly changing community – a gateway city, so to speak – for larger families working hard to achieve the American Dream.
Perhaps 1000 new families and as many as 2000 school children have moved here in the past 4 years. Space must be provided for them. Their education here must be of a high standard. Educating 2000 new students costs more money than is appropriated because our public school population is growing by as much as 500 students in one year and funding is always based on the year before. That is the problem in a nutshell.
Everett can no longer fund its public schools at the minimum mandated level and still provide a quality education for the city’s 6,500 plus children. Mayor DeMaria and Senator DeDomenico have pledged to work with members of the School Committee, the Superintendent, and the School Department to secure more funding for Everett schools from state and federal sources. We regret that Rep. Stat Smith has not risen to give a hand to the others in this effort and we frankly don’t understand why.
That being said, Everett’s public schools are going to be in chronic need of more money than what is appropriated as long as new students keep flowing into the system in large numbers.
There is no way around this new reality. |
Edited by - Baby Huey on 02/15/2012 10:21:17 PM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2012 : 08:34:53 AM
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Baby Huey,
While you are perfectly free to post most things to this board, may I ask what the point was of posting this particular piece from the Independent? To be fair, let's also look at the actual letter in question as well:
Letter to the Editor
We are grateful for all the help, support and prayers
To the Editor:
I want to respond to the Editorial in last week’s paper about the $1.5M transfer request from the School Department. One of the roles of the City Council is to act as overseers of the taxpayers’ money whether spent on the schools or elsewhere. We have the right to ask questions and get clarification on why budgets are not being met.
I have a degree in Education from Salem State and have many family members and friends who are or have been teachers, department heads or principals in Everett schools. I have a great respect for the education provided to our students. I do, however, have legitimate concerns with what is happening in our city and its schools.
When education reform changed the way city budgets were handled, they fixed some issues and created others. I don’t profess to be a financial wiz or understand all the formulas used to create a school budget. What I do understand is that this city is in a financial crisis and its residents are hurting. We need to have full disclosure on why things are happening to be able to make valid decisions. At the Joint Convention, I asked three simple questions: 1) When did this shortage first come about and why weren’t we kept abreast of it? 2) What do you think the reason our enrollment is growing more than other communities? And 3) What percentage of preschoolers to on to complete school in Everett?
I don’t see where those questions justify the person who wrote the editorial to write: “The Sal Sachetta’s, Mike Marcheses, and Rosemary Millers of this city don’t seem to understand that with all the additional students and the mandates that are forced upon the school system require absolute funding of those mandates or our public school system will lose its accreditation and all the goodwill that comes with it.” I do understand that mandates are forced on us. What I want to understand is why we are suddenly so attractive to people. Having been elected by the people of Ward 3 to represent them and their interests, I believe I have the right to understand how things got to be so bad. I never had a negative comment, just asked for clarification.
I see this, once again, as an individual/newspaper trying to shut down those of us that are willing to question what is happening. Instead of trying to quiet us, why not try to work with us in resolving some of the issues. Why not come to us with information and suggestions on how to make things better.
Rosemary Miller, Councilor Ward 3
Personally, I find very little problem with the Councilor's letter. The only possible issue that I have with it is that I'm not sure that an out-of-town newspaper should be involved in a discussion of how to the fix the city's problems. If I had to guess though, I'd say that the Councilor probably would have preferred to have been a little (a lot?) more blunt and would have liked to have told the paper to be more constructive than to just parrot the positions of their advertising patron saint; but that wouldn't have been the politically correct thing to do.
Again, what is wrong with asking questions and gathering information so that you can make an informed decision before you just accept someone else's definition and solution to an issue, especially before you just throw money at it? Sure, there is an escalating enrollment issue. But isn't there a solution for that pending for that at the state level, i.e., to have the account funded that was supposed to address that very issue in the first place? But do you need to have a back-up plan in case the state doesn't come thru though? Of course you do.
As I've said before, I believe that this latest push from the School Department to get more money from the city is just as much about the fact that the School Department's other sources of funding (grants, Medicaid reimbursements) are drying up and they are looking to replace them. I've also said before that it is a shame that the city can only afford to fund the schools at the minimum required level. But just where is the additional money going to come from? Even if taxpayers could afford it, the truth is the city is running very near the tax levy limit every year and is there is only a minimum amount available to increase the limit each year. The Mayor seems to have his own priority list of where he wants to spend that additional money every year and I have never seen more money to the schools anywhere near the top of that list (or on that list at all, truth be told). Unless the Mayor is willing to compromise on the use of those additional funds, whose side is the paper going to come down on if that compromise can't be reached? I'd bet on the guy who takes out the full page ads almost every week. Will you be posting those editorials as well? |
Edited by - tetris on 02/16/2012 08:47:26 AM |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2012 : 1:27:26 PM
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Tetris, you couldn't be more right. This has the potential of becoming a cat and dog fight between the City's Administration and the School Administration.
I, for one, am tired of the disrespect the school administrators show towards our city council. If the mayor had not been receptive to the school departments request, he would have received the same treatment. We elect our city council to ask questions and make the most informed decisions possible.
This coming to the city council at the last hour for a bailout is getting very old. I never remember it being done as often as it has over the past four or five years. The Administration of both the city and the schools can see what trend their budgets are going. There is no need to wait until the last moment.
If a CEO of a business continually used these practices they would have been fired.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2012 : 1:48:59 PM
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I think that the disrepect goes both ways between some members of the City Council and some members of the School Department/Committee and it is very counterproductive. I don't think that we'd want any of the school children to act the way that they do.
Again, the new charter could help out on the last minute stuff. No business of piece could be put before the City Council for "immediate" action without an emergency preamble that they'd have to vote on separately. I'm not sure that anyone would want that that type of admitted stigma attached to these pieces as often as it occus now or to run the risk that the City Council might not be willing to declare it an emergency. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2012 : 3:26:37 PM
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You must be logged in to see this link.
Everett Schools Have Little Impact on Everett Tax Rate, Superintendent Says
April 18, 2012
By Independent Staff
At the budget hearing on Tuesday evening, April 17th, Superintendent Frederick F. Foresteire demonstrated that with the present school budget for fiscal year 2013, Everett schools will have little impact on the tax rate in Everett.
“Everett’s funding of the school budget has been kept at the minimum the law allows the city to pay for the last five years,” Mr. Foresteire said. “That works out to be 34% in fiscal year 2013.”
In actual money, Everett’s funding of our school budget increased by $251,703 in fiscal year 2013,” Mr. Foresteire said.
“At that level of funding, no one with any degree of honesty can say that the Everett Public Schools will have much of an impact on the city’s tax rate,” Mr. Foresteire said.
In fact, Everett’s per pupil expenditure, of just over $12,040 per student in FY 2011, remains $1,007/pupil below the state average. When compared to surrounding communities such as Cambridge ($26,305/pupil), Somerville ($16,108/pupil), Chelsea (13,708/pupil), Revere ($13,347/pupil) or Malden ($12,368/pupil), Everett still remains at the bottom in per pupil expenditure at $12,040/pupil.
Reductions at the state level have been harsh on municipalities, and the Patrick administration again has warned that further budget cuts are unavoidable. As municipalities like Everett struggle to balance their own budgets while maintaining their city services to the voting public, schools and quality of education they have provided become an unfortunate bargaining chip in the process.
“In fiscal year 2013 we will receive more than half of our school budget, or 66% from the state’s Chapter 70 funds to spend on our children’s education, and that amount is almost double what the city provides” said Mr. Foresteire.
“But I want to remind the taxpayers of Everett that this 66%, or $49,289,407 in Chapter 70 aid does NOT come from this city’s taxes. This aid comes from the state of Massachusetts and is mandated by law,” Superintendent Foresteire said.
“The money that Everett gets from the state’s Chapter 70 aid is set according to a special formula designed to give inner-city taxpayers like us a break” Superintendent Foresteire explained. “It was set up so that inner city school districts in Massachusetts would be able to provide an education for their students closer to the education level that the more wealthy suburbs were offering their students.”
“Furthermore, as we have demonstrated, the net increase in Chapter 70 funding, or the money we actually wind up with to run our schools, isn’t anywhere near $6.3 million.” Mr. Foresteire said.
“By the time the loss of grant payments; the loss of federal Medicaid money due to cutbacks in Washington D.C.; what we have to give back to City Hall, which has increased to almost $17 million; and some of the increased fixed costs are all factored in the net increase in Chapter 70 aid for Everett Public Schools comes to just $350,000.
“That’s it….$350,000 is all we will have to work with out of that $6.3 million increase in state aid for fiscal year 2013.” Mr Foresteire said.
“Unfortunately this hit comes at a time when we are expecting another record-breaking student enrollment” Mr. Foresteire pointed out.
The law requires that any school-age child with a legal Everett address cannot be turned away from any public school in Everett. That means that just this year alone, Everett is obligated to provide a record-breaking number of 6,600 students with an education, and must continue to do so until those students graduate or move to another school district.
“The law says that we will have to continue to provide education for a portion of these students every year for up to as much as 12 more years, if they meet the qualifications to stay in our public schools” Mr. Foresteire said. “But because our student enrollment increases every year, that portion of students we have to educate until they graduate also increases and that increases our costs of operation.”
At present, the school administration directs 71% of all general school expenditures to the students. More than half of that, or 57%, falls in the category of Special Education. Athletics accounts for only 3%, according to Superintendent Foresteire’s presentation, and central administration for only 4%.
“There simply isn’t any ‘wiggle room’ left” Mr. Foresteire said. “Everett is not legally allowed to drop any further in the amount the city funds our schools. Federal grants have all but disappeared, and not much is left at the state level that my administration hasn’t already tapped.”
“With severe losses at the federal and state levels in fiscal year 2013 and with little help from the city in the fiscal year 2013 budget, its anyone’s guess how much longer we can keep saying that “Everett Schools are Everett’s Pride” Mr. Foresteire said. “But we will do the job to the best of our ability and we will do it with a balanced school budget.” |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 7:41:38 PM
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| Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the Independent seems to be a little less kind to the Administration lately? |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 06/14/2012 : 06:48:56 AM
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They certainly weren't as kind usual to them this week, Massdee.
I really don't think that anybody from the paper edits (or even reads) Sasha Mishkin's stuff before they print it. Her articles just seem to go along with however she perceived that the meeting went that week. That could be a good thing; if her grasp on the facts sometimes was a lot less tenuous, it would be a much better thing.
I'm fully expecting a make-up editorial about water shut-offs next week as that piece seemed to contain a number of inaccuracies after reading last week's press release. The paper had to do that the last time that they went against the administration too; but it actually might be a bit more warranted this time. |
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Wildfire132
Member
31 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2012 : 10:17:30 PM
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Everett Independent Guest Op-Ed 08/15/2012
Summer Actions from the City Government
by Peter A. Napolitano
There are some very interesting things happening this summer in the City of Everett while most of us are distracted by the beautiful weather or away on vacations. Aside from record spending and hiring that continues to drive the City Budget to its highest levels, the Mayor plans to borrow an additional $14 million dollars. It has been presented as an interest free loan which will not cost the taxpayers any money. This may be an interest free loan, but it is still a loan and will be added to the City’s debt obligation and be paid back by raising our taxes again next year. Some projects like repairs to the Parlin School are essential while others like the Glendale Park reconstruction are pure hubris designed to give the Mayor another project he can hang his name on. Where is the tax relief for the people who are paying the bills?
When you have work that needs to be done, you prioritize your projects and determine what has to be done and what can wait until better times. If you keep borrowing against the future you run the risk of over extending yourself. You would hope that the administration has learned from the recent problems that many of us have endured with homes that are worth less than we owe but to the Mayor, the taxpayers are a bottomless bucket of cash and these loans are just a drop in the bucket. You fill a bucket one drop at a time and eventually it will overflow. That is where we are heading if we do not watch closer and say no.
A recent comment by a multimillion dollar company looking to come to Everett confirms what it takes to attract new business. Knife & Sons which is looking to purchase a major piece of property in Everett has requested a four year tax break to ease their transition to Everett. They stated that without the break they would not be coming here because of the high taxes. As opposed as I am to cutting taxes to attract business while businesses that have been here for decades get no relief, Knife and Sons will be a good solid addition to the Everett business community and even though they will not be paying property taxes the first year here in Everett, there are other considerations like excise taxes and licenses that will bring in money, a few more Everett jobs and other long term benefits. Do not forget, relief from Everett’s obsessively high tax rate is the condition for them to come here and anything else was a deal breaker.
Lastly, I sincerely hope that the Common Council steps up at next weeks meeting and amends the Order regarding the salaries for the New City Council. I do not know what the Board of Aldermen was thinking by passing a $25,000. a year salary but Charter Reform was designed to save the taxpayers money. A reasonable salary which would be in line with not only our Budget but the surrounding communities would be closer to $15,000. a year. I know that to some even this is high but keep in mind that this is not a raise, but a new salary for a smaller group of 11 called on to do the same job currently being done by 25 individuals. Regardless, I salute the responsible leadership of Alderman Van Campen for having the courage to stand up and admit he made a mistake on his vote. It is now in the capable hands of the Common Council to do the right thing and roll back this proposed salary. I wish everyone a great summer and thank you for your attention.
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charm
Senior Member
264 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2012 : 07:26:29 AM
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| If you haven't rec'd your paper on wednesday there is a list of stores you can pick it up now in the paper, I heard they are stopping home delivery. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2012 : 2:26:50 PM
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Pickup locations for the Everett Independent:
Elm Street Bakery - 173 Elm Street
Melos Bakery - 179 Elm Street
Elm Street Market - 184 Elm Street
Fine Mart - 201 Elm Street
Eagle Bank - 293 Ferry
Lavaderia Laundry - 719 Broadway
Everett Credit Union - 650 Broadway
Everett City Hall - 484 Broadway
Everett Chamber of Commerce - 467 Broadway
Eagle Bank - 464 Broadway
Sovereign Bank - 457 Broadway
Tasty Garden - 448 Broadway
Dempsey's - 438 Broadway
Everett Co-Op Bank - 419 Broadway
The Square Deli - 421A Broadway
Guys Smoke Shop - 423 Broadway
Everett Square Sporting Goods - 427 Broadway
Common Ground - 1727 Revere Beach Pkwy
Rite Aid - 405 Broadway |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2012 : 3:35:39 PM
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| I'll make sure to run down to the Sporting Goods Store to pick one up... |
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Everett Independent
