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waterboy
Senior Member
101 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2012 : 06:12:14 AM
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Everett Results
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Maria Curtatone Dem 507 34%
Robert Antonelli Dem 370 25%
Tiziano Doto Dem 170 12%
Frank Ciano Dem 164 11%
Maryann Heuston Dem 163 11%
Thomas Concannon Dem 99 7%
U.S. Senate (Primary)
0 precincts reporting [town-by-town]
Updated on 09/07/12 at 1:38 am
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Elizabeth Warren (winner) Dem 0
State Senate - Middlesex & Suffolk (Primary)
0 precincts reporting [town-by-town]
Updated on 09/07/12 at 1:38 am
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Sal DiDomenico (winner) Dem 0
State House - 28th Middlesex (Primary)
0 precincts reporting [town-by-town]
Updated on 09/07/12 at 1:38 am
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Stat Smith (winner) Dem 0
U.S. House - District 7 (Primary)
0 precincts reporting [town-by-town]
Updated on 09/07/12 at 1:38 am
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Mike Capuano (winner) Dem 0
Governor's Council - District 6 (Primary)
12 precincts reporting [town-by-town]
Updated on 09/07/12 at 1:38 am
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Terrence Kennedy (winner) Dem 1,177 77%
Francis Flaherty Dem 359 23%
U.S. Senate (Primary)
0 precincts reporting [town-by-town]
Updated on 09/07/12 at 1:38 am
Candidate Party Total Votes Percentage
Scott Brown (winner) GOP 0
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2012 : 09:44:18 AM
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Everett authorizes $2.6m loan for Glendale Park renovations
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent
September 09, 2012
Everett is preparing to begin work on a major upgrade of one of its prize recreational assets.
The City Council recently authorized the city to borrow $2.6 million to renovate Glendale Park, including rebuilding the athletic fields and perimeter walking path.
Nesra Engineering, LLC
A rendering of the future Glendale Park.
The project, funded in part through a $500,000 state grant, is targeted to begin this fall, with the new fields to be ready in April and the overall work completed by next summer or fall.
Melissa Murphy, chief of staff to Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr., said the park, at Elm and Ferry streets, is part of an area “that we now refer to as the center of the city,” noting that it also includes the new high school, the city recreation center, and the Allied Veterans Memorial rink and pool.
“Kids and families use the park for sports, both organized and unorganized, and for walking on the track. It’s important for us to maintain the integrity of the park,” she said.
The project is part of $16.2 million in capital improvements that DeMaria proposed for this fiscal year. Final approval of the remaining items is pending before the City Council, which comprises the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council.
The Common Council on Aug. 20 approved DeMaria’s request to authorize bonding for the whole package, including $7 million for the Glendale Park project and other improvements, and $9.2 million for water system improvements.
But aldermen on Aug. 27 approved only the Glendale Park upgrade and $500,000 to repair the façade of the Parlin School. The board referred the other items from that $7 million request — including $3 million in road and sidewalk work — and the entire $9.2 million water bond to the Finance Committee for more discussion.
At its meeting last week, the Finance Committee voted to recommend approval of the remainder of the $7 million bond request after amending it to cut $100,000 from the $200,000 proposed for crosswalks. It also voted to recommend the full $9.2 million water bond.
Aldermen on Monday are set to take up the recommendations. If they vote favorably, the bonds will have been authorized since the Common Council earlier approved the two bonds in full.
All the projects included in the bond requests are part of a $50 million long-term capital spending plan proposed by DeMaria and approved by the City Council in May. The new city charter required the mayor to submit a long-term capital plan to the council this year and then to submit annual updates.
Murphy said the $7 million bond would be repaid within the existing tax rate. The water bond would be repaid through the city’s water revenues, with $4 million from zero-interest loans provided through the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
Built in the early 1900s, the approximately 4.5-acre Glendale Park is one of Everett’s largest and most heavily used open spaces, according to James Errickson, director of planning and development. He said it also provides playing fields — a baseball diamond and two softball fields — that serve the new high school, which opened in 2007.
When the new high school was built on what were then the park’s terraces, the project did not involve renovation to the fields or other remaining park spaces, Errickson noted.
“When you have the primary park in your city starting to show some of its age, with this brand new building behind it, there is a sense of community pride” to restore the park as well, he said. “People are still proud of the park; they call it a gem of the city. But they have a desire to have it shine even more.”
Errickson said the project calls for installing a new irrigation system, improving drainage, and reseeding the grass on the playing fields. New fencing also will be placed around the field and new lighting installed.
The walking path around the perimeter of the park will be rebuilt and period lighting installed. Errickson said the lighting will improve safety and be an aesthetic enhancement.
Other project features include replacing the current tot lot with one twice its size, adding entranceways to the park, and installing a new fence around the park.
There also will be new landscaping, benches, and trash receptacles.
“Essentially, the entire park is being completely upgraded,” Errickson said.
The proposed road projects would involve repaving streets, repairing sidewalks, and adding crosswalks. The work would be in addition to the projects the city is carrying out this year with its $660,000 allotment of state road improvement funds.
The city also would repair the entrance of the city’s emergency management center and the interior of the police stations, and design repairs to its Central and Hancock fire stations.
The water projects include installing 8,800 electronic water meters at homes across the city, purchasing new Water Department vehicles, and replacing water mains in various neighborhoods.
John Laidler can be reached at laidler@globe.com.
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2012 : 3:21:42 PM
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Another Boston Globe Article. What are these articles costing to put in the Globe?
EVERETT
Soper appointed as director of inspectional services
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent / September 9, 2012
Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. recently appointed James Soper of Winthrop as the city’s new director of inspectional services. Soper, whose appointment was confirmed by the Board of Aldermen on Aug. 27, replaced John Field, who left to become building inspector in Weston. Field was the first person appointed to the position after it was created about a year ago through a consolidation of the city’s inspection-related departments. Soper comes to Everett after serving as building inspector in Winthrop for the past five years. He will be responsible for completing the consolidation of the Inspectional Services Department and will work on revamping and expanding the code enforcement task force and overseeing plans to enable city departments to share the city’s computerized mapping and inspections database systems. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2012 : 10:04:24 AM
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Everett landscaper charged with trying to poison dogs
Man fed them antifreeze-soaked hot dogs
By Brian Ballou
Globe Staff
September 24, 2012
Kenneth Hyland
A landscaper from Everett was arraigned Monday on charges that he attempted to poison dogs by dropping antifreeze-soaked hot dog pieces on a lawn he had just cut in Charlestown on Sept. 16.
It is unclear whether dogs ingested any hot dogs that Kenneth M. Hyland, 53, allegedly scattered over the triangular-shaped lawn of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen Union building at 550 Medford St., officials said.
Residents say they have observed Hyland in the past leaving pieces of hot dogs on the lawn.
Judge Robert J. McKenna ordered Hyland held on $5,000 cash bail and his bail was also revoked for two open cases out of Woburn and Lynn. He was charged with leaving the scene of property damage and assault and battery in those cases.
Peter Pasciucco, a Suffolk assistant district attorney, said during Monday’s arraignment in Charlestown District Court that Hyland was seen on Sept. 16 carrying a 5-gallon bucket containing hotdogs soaking in a liquid that appeared to be antifreeze.
The solution in the bucket was bluish-green and the hot dogs were cut up.
Hyland was spreading the hot dogs over the newly cut grass, and when a concerned resident asked him if he was trying to poison dogs, Hyland allegedly responded “Yes,” according to a police report.
A brief argument ensued between Hyland and the resident and after Hyland left, the witness picked up the hot dogs and, along with other neighbors, took them to the police station.
The witness said he had also observed Hyland in the past leaving hot dogs on the lawn.
In court Monday, the prosecutor said Hyland has an 11-page record that includes 30 convictions.
According to court records, Hyland has served several years in jail. In the mid 1990s he was arrested dozens of times on charges including assault with a deadly weapon and assault and battery on a police officer.
Hyland’s driving history also includes numerous offenses, ranging from operating under the influence of alcohol to failure to stop.
If convicted of this latest charge — exposing poison with intent that it should be taken or swallowed by an animal — Hyland faces up to 5 years in prison.
Investigators called Hyland on Friday, and he arrived at the police station that day and was arrested.
He posted $1,000 cash bail and was released and instructed to appear in Charlestown District Court Monday.
Markus Chambly, the defendant’s attorney, said his client “vehemently denies” the latest charges. Chambly entered a plea of not guilty on his client’s behalf. Judge McKenna scheduled Hyland to return to court Oct. 19 for a pretrial hearing.
“There are no allegations that any dog was poisoned in any way, or that any dog had access to the lawn,” Chambly told Judge McKenna.
In Charlestown, residents often walk their dogs in the area. As details of the alleged incident traveled through the neighborhood, some dog owners expressed outrage.
One man who watched Hyland as he was escorted out of court into a Sheriff’s Department vehicle suggested that the defendant drink an antifreeze cocktail himself.
“Maybe he ought to work with animals for awhile,” said the onlooker, who only gave his first name, Bill, and said he owns a schnauzer and poodle mix.
Stephanie Hall, a 26-year-old dog walker from Somerville, said she passes the lawn at least once a day with several dogs in tow.
“I love animals and I can’t imagine what kind of disgusting person would do something so cruel, especially just for the sake of a lawn,” she said as she walked a Labrador retriever on Medford Street.
Chambly said the case arises from an ongoing dispute between neighbors. “As the evidence comes out, you will find here an ongoing disagreement between parties here about allowing dogs to . . . defecate on this lawn,” he said.
Brian Ballou can be reached at bballou@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeBallou.
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kittycat
Member
66 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2012 : 10:49:11 PM
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Shea, Robert J.
Formerly of Haverhill and Everett, age 62, Oct. 26. Brother of Madilyn "Lynne" Raftery of Millbury, uncle of Kate Raftery of Salem, longtime friend to Judy Kelley of Saugus. Mr. Shea was retired from the Everett School District, and devoted his life as a basketball coach. He proudly served as a US Marine and was a Viet Nam veteran. There will be a military funeral on Friday, Nov. 2 at 12:45pm at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne. Visiting hours will be held at the Campbell - Lee, Moody, Russell Funeral Home, 525 Cabot Street, Beverly, Friday from 9AM- 10:30 AM. Relatives & friends invited. A memorial gathering will be held Friday at 5PM at the Veteran's Outreach Center at 10 Reed St. Haverhill, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Youth Basketball c/o Madilyn Raftery, 25 McCracken Rd. Millbury, MA 01527. Information, directions and condolences at
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2012 : 10:02:25 AM
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Nice story about a former Everett resident.
Voter, 106, can’t be kept from polls
Elizabeth Hinton adheres to a few simple rules in her life.
Her clothes must be fashionable and well-fitted, she never eats seconds, and when it comes to voting, she does it in person.
And Tuesday was no different for the 106-year-old, who slowly pushed her walker into the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School auditorium in Dorchester to vote in her 22nd presidential election.
With the help of her niece, Helen Robinson, Hinton navigated the two-page ballot Tuesday, smiling and nodding when Robinson asked whether she wanted to vote for Barack Obama.
Slight and barely 4 feet 8 inches tall, Hinton has some hearing loss, and her speech has slowed, but Robinson, who is also her caretaker, could tell that her aunt was proud to vote again for Obama.
“She’s from a different generation. . . . She was just amazed,” Robinson said of Hinton’s excitement about voting for Obama in 2008 and again Tuesday. “She wanted to get out here and vote. She’s a true citizen in that way.”
Hinton, who grew up in Plainfield, N.J., participated in her first election when she was 21, seven years after the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote was passed, Robinson said. That made Hinton eligible to participate in the 1928 presidential election between Republican Herbert Hoover and Democrat Al Smith.
Hinton, known to most as Aunt Bessie, moved to Everett in the 1950s, where she met her husband, Richard, a World War II veteran. Robinson remembers the couple used to walk to their polling place.
“It was like, ‘Of course I’m going to vote.’ It wasn’t a question,” Robinson said. “There was no question in either of their minds that voting was the thing to do.”
Having lived through wars, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights Movement, Hinton has managed to remain optimistic about everyday life.
“She always believed in not holding on to things, so that she never worries,” Robinson said, as Hinton nodded from her couch. “She just doesn’t worry.”
The second oldest of five children, and the only girl, Hinton defied the sensibilities of her generation and adopted a confidence that Robinson described like this: She may have cooked dinner, but her husband did the dishes.
In the 1950s and 1960s, she worked as a seamstress at Boylston Street dress shops frequented by wealthy women. Hinton always had an eye for style and well-tailored clothes, and that can make it challenging to select outfits for her, Robinson said.
At home with Robinson, Hinton passes time reading old cards and letters her friends and late husband sent her throughout the years. Hinton also reads the newspaper every day, especially stories featuring Obama and Governor Deval Patrick.
Where absentee voting may be an option for some, Robinson said she knows it is not for Hinton.
“I’ve never asked her because I just knew that she wanted to go to vote,” Robinson said. “We’ve taken her out in the snow to go vote. If people only knew if someone who’s 106 gets out there and votes, everybody should think they can do it.”
As for her secret to longevity, Hinton gave a smirk before signaling to her grand-niece, Maria Robinson, that it was OK to reveal another of her simple rules.
“She has a gin and tonic every day,” Maria Robinson said.
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2012 : 10:56:55 AM
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| A great story and a lesson to be learned for all of us. |
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justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
 Posted - 11/07/2012 : 10:59:21 AM
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Yes it is & I'm all for a gin & tonic daily!!  |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2012 : 09:27:46 AM
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Mass. tax revenues decline; budget trims loom
Looks for ways to curb spending; automatic cut in taxes ruled out
By Stephanie Ebbert
Globe Staff
November 26, 2012
Facing weaker than expected state tax revenues, Governor Deval Patrick’s administration has curbed state hiring, halted an automatic income tax reduction, and begun identifying cuts in spending that may be necessary to balance the budget.
Recent tax collections have been unexpectedly disappointing, failing to measure up to last year’s levels. In October, revenues were $162 million short of budgetary estimates and $48 million below the level reached in October 2011.
State revenues are running $256 million behind budget and $33 million behind last year’s actual collection, officials said.
Together the numbers add to the picture of a slow economic recovery and portend a daunting start to the new year for a governor already struggling with a state drug lab crisis and a fatal meningitis outbreak traced to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy.
The news is consistent with reports showing that the recovery, which had been on its way in Massachusetts, is slowing down. In recent months, the Massachusetts unemployment rate has climbed slightly and the state’s economic growth, which had been outpacing the nation, fell behind.
The dropoff in tax revenues is not dramatic, compared to the recent recession, but it is a disheartening trend in the wrong direction. After years of belt-tightening, fiscal observers were hoping to have more room to breathe in the coming year’s budget and to begin restoring some of the spending cuts that had been made to programs. Now they see no relief in sight.
“If this were happening at the beginning of a recession, it would be seen as . . . not a dramatic shortfall,” said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “But when it comes in year five of this extended fiscal crisis, it’s a serious issue.”
As a result, Patrick’s budget chief has imposed constraints on discretionary spending and asked agency heads to start identifying spending cuts.
“I think there’s a strong likelihood that we will very soon be revising the budget estimates downward and make some budgetary reductions,” said Jay Gonzalez, secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance.
“We’re in a position to act quickly,” if cuts become necessary, said Gonzalez, noting that his office is analyzing potential cuts and developing recommendations. He also contacted non-executive agencies, such as the judiciary, to ask them to identify spending reductions.
Some tax-control advocates suspect that Patrick is preparing to raise taxes in the budget he unveils in the new year.
“They’re going to be looking at a tax increase,” said Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation.
After last week’s report on the gaping deficit in funding for the state’s transportation system, Anderson predicted the Patrick administration would propose boosting not only the gas tax but also the income tax to manage the rest of the budget.
“If there is a deficit, that’s what they’ll look at. It’s the quickest, easiest, fastest money,” she said. “The voters just voted in the same people who would be inclined to raise taxes and against those who had taken pledges not to raise taxes. I won’t be surprised.”
Ironically, the state had expected to issue an income tax reduction in January, which would have been triggered automatically by sustained growth. For only the second time in recent years, the state was expected to shave the income tax by .05 percent, but the disappointing tax collections of the fall canceled that plan.
Had the tax cut been implemented, revenues would have dipped by another $57 million. That was one of the concerns Gonzalez reported to the governor last month, when he instituted immediate financial controls to curb state spending.
Other uncertainties still remain.
The so-called “fiscal cliff” — the spending cuts and tax increases that would kick in if the president and Congress fail to reach consensus on federal debt reduction — threatens to send the nation into another recession and Massachusetts into a deeper problem.
If the federal standoff is not resolved, Massachusetts is estimated to lose another $300 million in tax revenue this year and $1 billion next year, as well as $200 million in direct federal funding, Gonzalez said.
The spending cuts that would take effect in the new year would also disproportionately hurt Massachusetts, since some of the state’s top industries rely on funding from the federal government. Defense dollars in Massachusetts would drop $1.2 billion andNational Institutes of Health funding would drop almost $200 million, Gonzalez said.
The state has some cushion, because it has built up its so-called rainy day fund, to $1.65 billion, the third highest in the country, Gonzalez said. Budget officials will not rely on that fund to sustain much of the budget, but could tap it for some relief, he said.
Initial revenue numbers for November suggest a somewhat brighter outlook. The numbers for the first half of the month were up 6.3 percent over the same period a year earlier. But Gonzalez cautioned that midmonth results can be deceiving.
Taxpayers recently weathered a 25 percent rise in the sales tax and new taxes on alcohol; the Patrick administration also gave cities and towns the right to boost meals taxes and local hotel taxes and unsuccessfully called for boosting gas taxes and taxing candy and soda.
The administration intends to release a plan in early January to close the transportation finance gap.
Asked about the possibility of a gas tax increase, Gonzalez said, “There are some people out there arguing that’s what we should do. The governor proposed that a few years ago. And that didn’t go very well.”
Gonzalez said it would be “premature” to conclude that the administration would seek additional broad-based tax increases.
“We’re in the middle of budgetary planning process for fiscal year. Certainly the slowdown in economic growth is projected to last for a while, so we need to take that into account in developing a revenue estimate for the next fiscal year, and there’s no doubt we’ll have challenges for the next fiscal year.”
Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieebbert.
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socks
Member
39 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2012 : 7:11:51 PM
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| I'm sure there would be ample funds available on both State and City levels if there was a cutback in entitlement programs to deadbeats and illegals. |
Edited by - socks on 11/26/2012 7:17:23 PM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 11/29/2012 : 8:18:11 PM
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From boston.com:
Curtatone: Somerville casino? 'Over my dead body'
By Jarret Bencks, Town Correspondent
As Everett considers a new casino just across the Mystic River, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone on Thursday flatly ruled out building a gambling palace in his city.
"Over my dead body would a casino come to Assembly Square or any part of Somerville," Curtatone said in a phone interview Thursday.
He also said if any new ramps to I-93 in Somerville were proposed as part of a potential casino development in Everett, he would oppose that, too.
"I will exercise all our rights under the law to oppose that," Curtatone said.
Assembly Square -- across the Mystic River from the Monsanto Chemical site in Everett, where casino mogul Steve Wynn is considering a possible development -- has received over $130 million in public infrastructure investment, Curtatone said, and he aims to develop it into a long term economic driver for the region. A casino isn't part of that, he said.
"You don't put them where there's already an economic base," Curtatone said of casinos. "The Boston region has a strong economic base."
Curtatone said he has received several calls from developers in the last few months about the possibility of a casino at Assembly Square, but he quickly turned them down.
Developers have apparently been reaching out to municipal leaders north of Boston. Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn said he heard from a developer within the last month who was interested in looking into building a casino in the air space above Wellington Station, which is controlled by the city.
"They said the location intrigued them," McGlynn said.
McGlynn said he told them would not decide on a casino development in Medford on his own, and that any development would have to gain approval from residents and business owners without his support.
He has not heard back from the prospective developer, whom he declined to name.
"The discussion is dead," he said Thursday.
Curtatone criticized the process of choosing potential casino development sites as being too disorganized.
"The debate is a free-for-all," he said. "For all these purported guidelines and parameters, you really have a set of rules without any orders here."
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lisa
Senior Member
143 Posts |
Posted - 11/29/2012 : 9:30:39 PM
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| someone needs to put out here marjorie egan article @ boston hearld it was so funny, and the one about Joe O'donnell too. |
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card
Senior Member
117 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2012 : 07:00:48 AM
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City son: Let chips fall where they may
By Frank Quaratiello
Thursday, November 29, 2012 - Updated 1 day ago
Et tu, Everett?
Joe O’Donnell, an Everett success story who wants to build a billion-dollar Caesars resort casino down the road at Suffolk Downs, must have felt a bit like Caesar as his hometown mayor Carlo DeMaria rolled out the welcome mat yesterday for Vegas mogul Steve Wynn.
O’Donnell grew up in Everett and still visits his 94-year-old mother on Spring Street. Over the years, the Harvard-educated, self-made gazillionaire has been one of the city’s most generous benefactors.
So it’s cruel irony that an Everett gaming palace could become the latest obstacle in O’Donnell’s bid for a casino license for Suffolk Downs, which he co-owns.
Reached by phone yesterday, O’Donnell took the high road.
“I love the city of Everett and I love the people of Everett,” he said.
Do you feel betrayed?
“No. Carlo is doing the best he can. He’s doing his job,” O’Donnell said.
What about Steve Wynn?
“I think he’s a terrific guy,” O’Donnell said. “He’s great at what he does.”
“I don’t expect any special consideration,” O’Donnell added. “Everett should do what’s best for Everett. If this is the competition that everybody wants, that’s fine. Let’s get it going.”
Everett school Superintendent Fred Foresteire said O’Donnell has contributed to his hometown for decades.
From bankrolling Everett High stadium renovations — even though he went to Malden Catholic — to helping the Boys & Girls Club, O’Donnell “hasn’t forgotten where he came from,” Foresteire said.
He added that O’Donnell “has a right to be upset. ... He is one of our great success stories. He wasn’t born into what he has. He earned it.”
O’Donnell has also contributed millions to Malden Catholic and Harvard and to fight cystic fibrosis, which claimed his son Joey.
Calling O’Donnell a friend, DeMaria said: “When the prospect of thousands of new jobs to Everett comes up, it’s not only my goal to listen, it’s my responsibility.”
-— frankq@bostonherald.com |
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card
Senior Member
117 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2012 : 07:03:46 AM
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Not exactly a luxury setting
By Margery Eagan | Thursday, November 29, 2012
Photo by Mark Garfinkel
I just don’t get why you’d choose to vacation in ... an industrial waste dump.
“Honey, let’s take our destination gambling trip this year on Chemical Lane, where the LNG tankers roam!”
Chemical Lane used to be the address of the old Monsanto plant going back to 1868.
That’s where super-dev-eloper Steve Wynn has proposed a luxurious new resort casino with nightclubs and top-flight restaurants, shows and shops — the whole nine yards here on the Mystic River, where arrivals of the aforementioned tankers give half the town the jitters.
Wisely, town fathers approved the change of Chemical Lane’s name to Horizon Lane, ignoring local wise guys’ suggestions of Hydraulic Oil Leak Lane, Sulfuric Acid Avenue and Erin Brockovich Boulevard.
“It’s been proven that it’s not volatile,” Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. said yesterday at the Wynn press conference, hoping to defuse fears that one of those LNG tankers could one day vaporize Everett and big chunks of Boston, not to mention Steve Wynn’s gleaming new resort with its pools and fountains and Buddha statues in the state-of-the-art spa.
Will TripAdvisor mention hazardous waste and exploding tankers in its online reviews of a possible Wynn-Wynn on the Mystic?
Will fears of Love Canal send gamblers back to a less posh but middle-of-nowhere Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun — or New Hampshire, if it gets in the gambling parlor next year?
Wynn and Everett make for an odd couple for the ages.
Yesterday he looked tanned and fit. His gorgeous blond wife flashed a blinding diamond ring.
Wynn just bought a $70 million condo in Central Park South with an $18,057 monthly maintenance fee. He’s got empires in Vegas and Macau, China.
But yesterday he drove past enough aluminum siding to wrap around every home in Foxboro, where townspeople rejected his last casino attempt.
The best you can say about his proposed wasteland of an Everett site: Target and Home Depot are nearby.
“They are destinations unto themselves,” Wynn said yesterday of his resorts, perhaps explaining his seemingly bizarre choice.
Still, this particular destination requires passing a ratty old car wash and taking a hard right just after a worn-out McDonald’s.
Is this really the ticket for success?
With visions of plum jobs dancing in his head, Everett’s mayor seemed cautiously optimistic yesterday.
Would-be staffers must decide if a good job at a good wage is worth the risk of a second little head suddenly sprouting from their shoulders.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 12/02/2012 : 4:15:51 PM
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Everett firefighters picket, accuse city of law violations in contract talks
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent / December 2, 2012
While squiring developer Steve Wynn around the potential site of a casino in the city, Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. has been taking heat from the firefighters’ union over accusations that the city violated state labor law through its conduct in contract negotiations.
The dispute intensified last Monday when about 150 union members and supporters held informational picketing outside City Hall.
The picketing came as the state Department of Labor Relations prepares to hold a hearing Dec. 13-14 on seven charges the union has filed.
Kerry Bonner, an investigator from the Department of Labor Relations, examined the union’s allegations and on Oct. 22 found probable cause that the city had committed five violations of state law during negotiations.
Another Department of Labor Relations investigator, Erica Crystal, examined a subsequent set of union allegations and on Tuesday found probable cause that the city had committed two other violations, according to department documents.
The city and the 94-member union, Local 143 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, have been negotiating since June on a contract to replace one that expired at the end of that month.
“This picket is about the total lack of respect the mayor has for Everett firefighters and the state law,” Craig Hardy, the union’s president, said in a prepared statement. “This picket is not about money or any financial proposals the city has offered during current negotiations. Rather, it is about Mayor DeMaria’s tactics during negotiations.”
“During the negotiation period, my administration has been working diligently and in good faith with representatives of Firefighters Local 143 in the effort to modernize the current firefighter contract,” DeMaria said in a statement responding to the union charges and the picketing. “It is my goal to find an equitable and balanced solution to our shared challenges while maintaining the high level of public safety services to the residents of the city of Everett.
“I am confident that with Local 143 returning to the negotiating table, both sides will be able to achieve their respective goals,” DeMaria added.
Hardy said the union on Aug. 21 filed for arbitration before the state’s Joint Labor Management Committee. He said no arbitration hearings have been scheduled.
Hardy said that on Aug. 23, the city notified the union that it was terminating the current contract. The union questions the legality of that action, and believes there was no need for it.
One of the union allegations for which Bonner found probable cause concerned a comment that Albert Mason, the city’s legal counsel, allegedly made at an Aug. 1 bargaining session. The union said that Hardy told Mason he had attended a meeting with the mayor and his chief of staff on or about July 12 in which they discussed contract negotiations. The union alleges that Mason “advised Hardy that if Hardy had spoken to the mayor or spoke to the mayor in the future, he would file an unfair labor practice charge against the union.”
In another of the incidents, the union alleges that on or about July 11 and July 17, the city advised the union that if it filed for contract mediation with the Joint Labor Management Committee, that “the union would be going to the [Joint Labor Management Committee] without a contract, or words to that effect.”
The union also alleged that at an Aug. 21 bargaining session, the city told the union that if it filed the petition for mediation “the city’s funding authority would not fund, and the mayor would not support, a JLMC award that differed from the city’s current proposal.”
The union contended that in all those cases, the city “interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the free exercise of their rights” under the law, and in its July 11 and 17 comments, the city “has failed to bargain in good faith with the union by threatening to terminate [the contract] if the union filed a petition with the JLMC.”
One of the charges for which Crystal found probable cause concerns a discussion that the union alleges DeMaria had at the Ferry Street Fire Station on or about Oct. 12 with six union members and without any representatives of the bargaining committee present.
The union said that through statements the mayor allegedly made to those union members — including that “the union leadership is unreasonable, especially Hardy” — the city had “interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the free exercise of their rights” and had “bypassed the union by dealing directly with unit members over wages,” also in violation of the law.
John Laidler can be reached at laidler@globe.com.
© Copyright 2012 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Boston Globe 2012
