| Author |
 Topic  |
|
massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2007 : 10:27:22 AM
|
| I am not a DiMaria supporter, but I do know that he is almost always at the budget hearings since he was first elected to office. Carlo is an okay guy, just don't feel he is mayor material. |
 |
|
|
massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2007 : 9:50:39 PM
|
| I was told Mayor Hanlon walked my street last week while I was away. It was him and four supporters. Is that the normal amount of people walking with him or was it just an off night? |
|
|
|
EverettsPride
Advanced Member
1140 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2007 : 08:17:56 AM
|
No, he only has four supporters. I bet it was Jerry Sheehan and his kids.
Sally |
|
|
|
massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2007 : 1:58:29 PM
|
| Good one, Sally. Made me smile. |
|
|
|
massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 10:32:29 AM
|
| Todays Independent has a list of some of the candidates. There will only be two races in the Primary, Mayor and Alderman at Large. I hope there will be enough interest so that the voter turnout will be high. From looking at the list, there will be few changes with the City Council and School Committee. Most of the School Committee is running unopposed, I guess paying them didn't spark any interest. Ward 6 is the only Alderman's race, the rest are unopposed. I don't know what's up with the Common Council, the list was incomplete. |
|
|
|
Lynda
Advanced Member
1282 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 10:38:50 AM
|
| I think that with the way the Mayor has been people will take the time out to vote at the Primary. Unless some are afraid that if he is knocked out in the Primary he will make our lives even more of a hell until January! |
|
|
|
justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
 Posted - 08/01/2007 : 12:08:02 PM
|
What he'll do after he loses the primary is a valid concern, but I doubt that it will keep anybody home.
I was hoping to see some new names and faces running this year. We certainly need some changes. |
|
|
|
tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 12:27:06 PM
|
Has anyone read the Mayor's letter to the editor in today's Independent in response to Alderman McGonagle's letter to the editor in last week's Leader Herald? Interesting reading, but I have some questions.
1. Why was there ever an issue with the city living up to the Local 25 contractual obligations in the first place? No matter what the outcome of the budget process, the city negotiated a contract in good faith that should have been lived up to and implemented on the specified date. If the results of the budget process necessitated adjustments down the line, so be it. I don't think anyone on the BOA or the CC would try to say that there weren't any mistakes made during the budget process and I believe that they would have done the right thing and corrected their mistakes to the best of their ability. There may have been the need for layoffs, which is sad. but also a part of life.
2. When did Alderman McGonagle say that the unions didn't deserve their raises? I believe I remember him saying things like he didn't believe that the contracts weren't negotiated in the best interest of the taxpayers or the city's ability to afford them. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
3. When did McGonagle say that the unions would do better under him? I'm pretty sure that this wouldn't be something that he would say for public consumption, so how would the mayor know this? Again, if I'm wrong, please let me know.
4. When did McGonagle say that he would cut $10,000,000 from the budget? If he knew where this amount could be cut from the budget, why didn't he propose it during the process? In prior posts, I have been very critical of those members of the BOA & CC who didn't offer much in the way of cuts during the budget process. I was very disappointed in McGonagle for not proposing more the way of cuts and then voting against the budget as amended. Granted that during the Alderman only meetings, he was chairing the meetings and shouldn't have been speaking from the chair but he could always leave that position if he had something that he needed to propose. Again, if the alderman said that he would cut $10,000,000 from the budget, where is the proof of that? |
|
|
|
massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 12:34:22 PM
|
| tetris, I was away last week and did not read McGonagle's piece in the Leader Herald. What did he have to say? |
|
|
|
tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 12:55:26 PM
|
| It's been almost a week since I read it, so this just my recollection of it. The jist of it was similiar to question 1 from my prior post. But also, the tone of it was very slanted towards the Mayor playing politics with the issue. The letter was printed with a picture of McGongale so, some eyebrows have been raised, especially on the other board, that it was nothing more than an unpaid political ad. |
|
|
|
GlassHouses
Member
6 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 8:20:38 PM
|
| It was blatant campaigning. Very obvious. |
|
|
|
GlassHouses
Member
6 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 8:21:40 PM
|
| I mean Joe M's letter. |
|
|
|
massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 9:11:40 PM
|
| I didn't read Joe's letter last week, but I did read the mayors letter today, and I thought that was also campaigning. |
|
|
|
justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 9:58:15 PM
|
It was campaigning with a few lies thrown in for good measure! The audacity of that man will never cease to amaze me. i especially liked the line that the CC & BOA "deliberately and intentionally cut monies for this union population." What crap. They didn't earmark the union and he knows it. They were trying to cut the new, unnecessary, overpaid, jobs he created. HE decided it would be Local 25 because that's where he could get the most publicity.
Then he takes McGonagle to task for wanting to cut the budget by 10 million? McGonagle did make the statement but that was when they were just starting the process. After the hit we took last year, did anyone expect an increase of 13 million? (I think that's the right figure) Does anyone, except hanlon and his handful of supporters, really believe it was necessary? My first thought was yeah, right, we need to cut 10 million off that!
I'm not convinced the budget couldn't have been cut by 5 or 6 million, if the process had been done right. That is to say with the administration working with the CC & BOA. Of course, I have never believed an increase that size was necessary to begin with......... We have all learned to manage our spending based on income. If that means driving less, turning the heat down, or having hamburg instead of steak, we do it. It seems pretty simple to put those same limitations on city employees. Many of them do it at home, why not at work? |
|
|
|
Citizen Kane
Advanced Member
1082 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2007 : 10:39:41 PM
|
Hanlon's letter is just another example of his unwillingness to take responsibility for his job. Anyone who has paid attention to this process knows that the city council has no power to cut particular jobs . . . all they can do is cut salaries within a given department. It is then up to the mayor to make the decision about which specific salaries are cut. He's playing a game, and he's not playing it well. People can see right through his foolishness for what it is . . . desperate, uninformed attempts to save his own butt. No one is buying it.
Having said that . . . does the city oouncil plan to take any action regarding this latest round of nonsense? It's time that they pooled their resources and did something.
|
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Mayoral Election
