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charm
Senior Member
264 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2008 : 04:49:55 AM
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SAUGUS
HOOTERS SIGN - The Zoning Board tonight will hold a public hearing on a special permit request to allow a Hooters restaurant sign at its new location on Route 1 south. The sign would be smaller than the Famous Dave's sign that is still up. Hooters is due to open at 1143 Broadway by the end of the summer. Other items on the agenda include a request to add a two-story addition at 23 Juniper Drive; add an open deck at 5 Mountain Ave.; and allow a special event in the parking lot of Dick's Sporting Goods on Aug. 30. The board will meet at 7 p.m. at the Saugus Public Library. - Kathy McCabe |
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Lynda
Advanced Member
1282 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2008 : 08:23:51 AM
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| A little confused... If indeed the restaurant "Hooters" is going there why would they not be allowed to put a sign on it? It was obviously approved to got there, so what exactly is the problem? Do they pay their taxes? Fees? Are they doing something unlawful? What? |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2008 : 09:01:29 AM
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For politicians, fear of attack is unwelcome part of the job
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff | June 26, 2008
Holding public office comes with certain expectations: late-night meetings, strange voice mails on your home phone, and the occasional verbal disagreement with a constituent.
Getting punched in the face and landing in a hospital's trauma unit is not part of the package, said several area politicians, who expressed shock after that happened to Revere City Councilor Ira Novoselsky on June 10.
"I've been in public life for 50 years and I've never experienced that sort of situation," said George Colella, president of the Revere City Council and former mayor.
Novoselsky, 61, was doing City Council work on Beach Street when he was attacked by Andrew Alves, 19, according to Revere police. Novoselsky later said he was looking into complaints about trash outside the house next door to Alves's residence.
Novoselsky, who was released from the hospital on June 12, said Alves yelled at him to stop taking pictures of his home and knocked Novoselsky's camera to the ground. As Novoselsky went to pick up the camera, he said, Alves hit him, "and I went down and I hit my head on the wall and blood was pouring out all over my jersey and all over my pants."
Alves pleaded not guilty on June 12 to a charge of assault and battery on a person over the age of 60. Novoselsky said he has a sore jaw and shoulders and sustained a skull fracture and a concussion.
Public officials know verbal confrontations are part of being a politician. But while there may be a lot of shouting, and even some umpire-style forehead-to-forehead arguing, they said no one ends up in the hospital.
"Verbally, it is almost a day-to-day situation, but if you take it too seriously, it's time to get out," Colella said.
Verbal disagreements are so prevalent, some politicians hardly consider them out of the ordinary. When asked whether he'd ever been physically threatened while in office, former Salem mayor Stanley Usovicz thought about it, then replied, "Just one death threat."
Usovicz, Salem's mayor from 1988 to 2005, said the threat came in 2000 from a man he had rejected for a city job because of the man's criminal background.
"It unnerved me, but I think it comes with the turf," Usovicz said. "The physical issue [in Revere], I'm shocked by that. I think anybody would be. But I think you do get a number of complaints and they can be kind of emotional at times. . . . When it comes to private property or property issues, people become very emotional about that, but still, I have never seen or heard anything like this poor city councilor is really experiencing."
Usovicz said his basement windows were once smashed with a bat, but it turned out to be a group of kids doing the same to others in his neighborhood. Although he wasn't home, Usovicz said his wife was there and overheard one of the kids say, "Hey! We got the mayor's house!"
More recently, a man with a history of mental illness was charged with malicious damage to city property after throwing two large rocks through a window in the City Hall office of Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, who was not there because it was a Sunday.
Vandalism, not physical violence, may be the preferred method by which some people choose to communicate their frustrations with a politician or candidate. Several politicians in the cities of Everett and Revere, where politics are often described, without irony, as a full-contact sport, said their cars have been vandalized during the discussion of hot-button issues or campaigns.
Former Everett mayoral candidate Joseph McGonagle alleged his tires were slashed and a campaign worker's windshield smashed shortly before last November's election. In Revere, before and after the municipal elections last November, Victoria Laws, a City Council candidate, alleged that her car was vandalized multiple times, that fliers with her picture and an offensive adjective were peppered around the city, and that her Social Security number, as well as her father's, were posted on a MySpace page.
Colella said he never had any problems in his 20 years as mayor of Revere, but his vehicle's tires were once slashed during a council meeting he was attending. He said he's had verbal exchanges and one time witnessed some pushing and shoving between a resident and a councilor outside council chambers. Colella said he hopes that what happened to Novoselsky "doesn't deter anybody who has aspirations and an inclination to be a public servant."
"If people didn't run, then who would serve? We'd have anarchy," said Revere City Councilor George Rotondo. "I've had my tires flattened, my car window broken, I've had my car keyed, death threats made to me directly and indirectly.
"I expected to be, at some degree, heckled or ridiculed about my position, but not in such a blatant way that I felt the security of my family was in jeopardy," Rotondo said. "I didn't sign up for that."
For some, political life is a little more peaceful. Jackie Belf-Becker, chairwoman of the Marblehead Board of Selectmen, said she doesn't know of anyone in her time as a public official who has been physically assaulted. Though there have been some lively discussions on issues, Belf-Becker said she has "never been verbally abused at a meeting," in her decade as a politician.
Novoselsky said the ordeal has been difficult on his family.
This incident "knocked me for a loop," he said. "I'm very much stunned."
Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2008 : 08:22:47 AM
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| NEW COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR - Mayor Carlo DeMaria recently appointed Matt Laidlaw to fill the newly created position of communications director. A lifelong Everett resident, Laidlaw formerly served as director of Everett Community TV from 1999 to 2002. Following that stint, until he started his new job last Monday, Laidlaw worked for Rule Broadcast Systems of Watertown, primarily as an account manager, and did television production work for companies and nonprofits. According to Erin Deveney, DeMaria's chief of staff, the mayor brought Laidlaw back to city government to strengthen internal communications among city employees and elected officials and to help the city do a better job communicating about what is going on in Everett. He will also oversee production at ECTV, whose budget is funding the position. "I live in the city and I want to see the city grow and prosper," said Laidlaw, 35. "So I'm very happy to be back." - John Laidler |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2008 : 06:01:15 AM
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EVERETT - As she sat on the porch of her relative's house and watched police search her house, Theresa Capone talked about the pain she was feeling after her son was killed in the family home on Sunday.
Her cousin, Marianne Bruder, said Capone told her: "A child should not die before the parents. I don't want to live."
Capone was grieving for Phillip Capone, her 47-year-old son who neighbors said was devoted to his mother. He was stabbed to death inside the family's Lewis Street house.
"He was the doting son," said one neighbor who provided her name to the Globe but asked that it not be published because Capone's killer has not been caught.
It was the devotion to his mother that led authorities to make the grisly discovery that shocked Capone's neighbors on this street of well-tended single- and two-family houses.
Theresa Capone had gone to the South Shore to visit with her daughter, Lisa, Bruder said. When Phillip Capone failed to pick her up, Theresa Capone alerted a neighbor, who discovered that a front window was broken at the Capone home and that Phillip was not answering his shouts.
At about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, family members asked Everett police to check. Police forced their way into the red home with white shutters and found Capone's body. He died of multiple stab wounds, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.
Corey Welford, a Leone spokesman, said no motive has been established for the slaying and no arrests had yet been made.
Capone's mother and other relatives could not be reached for comment. Neighbors stood outside the Capone family home yesterday, mourning the loss of a mainstay of their neighborhood. They said Phillip Capone knew everyone on the street.
He was once extremely heavy, but after he was diagnosed with diabetes, he began a regular physical regimen that included a 3-mile walk each day, residents said. He shed more than 100 pounds in the past two years, neighbors said.
Those who saw him over the past several days said he showed no signs of stress, nor did they see a man in fear of his life.
"It was just normal," said one neighbor, who saw him on Saturday. "Nothing different."
They said he has worked, in some fashion, behind the wheel of a car, for most of his adult life. With his father, also named Phillip, he delivered groceries from a now-closed small supermarket in Malden. His dad died earlier this year.
Currently, he was working for Optima Shipping, a Woburn-based package delivery and courier company, a company official confirmed yesterday while declining to comment further.
"It's a sad thing." said Wayne A. Matewsky, a Lewis street resident and an alderman at large.
"It's a nice neighborhood and a very nice family," he said. "I'm in shock."
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2008 : 09:54:43 AM
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| What a shock and God bless the family and the victim. I can’t even imagine how anyone can commit a hideous crime of such violent nature. The grieving Mother’s comment that “A child should not die before the parents” is so true and I can’t imagine that pain. |
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Lynda
Advanced Member
1282 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2008 : 10:53:49 AM
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| God Bless this family. His sister, Lisa, and I were close friends in the high school days. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2008 : 06:37:52 AM
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Mayoral spenders at a loss
Study: Cash can't always buy victory
By John M. Guilfoil
Globe Correspondent / July 17, 2008
Several mayoral candidates statewide learned last year the true meaning of "money can't buy happiness," when they lost their election bids despite wildly outspending their opponents.
A third of all candidates who outspent their opponents in the state's 28 contested elections last year lost their races, up from about 20 percent in 2001, according to a study by the state.
"It's a twist on conventional political wisdom," said Jason Tait , spokesman for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, which published the study.
Gloucester hopeful James Destino raised and spent $54,000, but was handily defeated by Carolyn A. Kirk, who spent just $26,000 to win the open seat in the mayor's office by a vote of 5,486-3,629.
John Bell, on the other hand, the former three-term mayor of Gloucester, outspent his challengers in 2003 and 2005. His 2005 challenger put up the bigger fight. Jeff Worthley spent $21,021, gained about 3,300 votes, and lost to Bell's $42,900 and 4,800 votes. In 2003, Daniel Ruberti didn't put up a fight, spending just $70 to lose to Bell. Bell decided not to seek a fourth term last year.
In Quincy, incumbent William Phelan spent $442,000, but fell to Thomas Koch, who spent $282,000 in the upset.
The same scenario played out in Fitchburg, Gloucester, Springfield, Taunton, Westfield, and West Springfield. The big spender in mayoral races statewide last year won in 18 contested elections and lost in 10.
Turnout has been key. Voter participation has dropped by almost half over the past decade. That, in turn, means that politicians end up spending more for every vote.
In 1997, candidates spent $3,835,055 on mayoral elections. In 2007, the figure was $3,914,462, a modest gain over 10 years. But over the same number of years, the number of votes cast slid from 578,000 to 320,000. That meant that while spending didn't change much, average spending per vote nearly doubled, from $6.63 to $12.23 last year.
Mayoral elections have been a departure from other recent statewide elections. In the 2004 and 2006 state Legislature elections, 90 and 89 percent of top spenders won.
Last year, 38 of the state's 46 cities held mayoral elections, with 28 having more than one candidate. Sixty-nine candidates in all appeared on the ballots. There were 19 incumbents running, and four were upset.
The Office of Campaign and Political Finance study also looked at lopsided spending in elections. Of note: Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone spent $271,000 to make sure he defeated Suzanne Bremer, who spent just $2,500. Curtatone won, 8,012 to 1,832.
"The numbers show that outspending an opponent certainly helps, but as several mayoral candidates found out, money does not guarantee victory," Tait said.
The average candidate raised $29,000 and spent $25,300. Fourteen candidates spent more than $100,000. Almost $4 million was raised and spent in mayoral elections last year.
The Office of Campaign and Political Finance is an independent state agency that administers Chapter 55 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which provides for disclosure and regulation of campaign finance activity at the state and local levels.
The record for spending in a mayoral election in Massachusetts was set in 2005 when Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and challenger Maura Hennigan spent $2.36 million in the race for the top seat in the city.
John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2008 : 08:02:37 AM
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The Boston Globe
Residents find recycling has its just reward
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent / July 27, 2008
Everett has found a new way to spur its citizens to recycle: Reward them for doing it.
Under a new city program, residents earn discount coupons at participating local and national stores based on how much they recycle.
The city is offering the incentive through a contract with RecycleBank, a four-year-old New York-based firm that created and administers the system.
Everett officials said the program could offer a solution to a problem they have struggled with for years: how to boost the city's meager recycling rate and cut trash disposal costs. Until now, only 4 to 5 percent of Everett households recycle, according to Jon E. Norton, the city's recycling coordinator. The city picks up curbside recyclables every other week as part of its trash collection service.
When he learned about the RecycleBank program at a conference in 2006, Norton said he was convinced it was just what Everett needed.
"I was at my wit's end trying to figure out how to get our recycling rate up. I couldn't go to pay-as-you-throw because it drives people crazy when you tell them they have to buy trash bags. When I saw this, I knew it was for us," he said.
With the RecycleBank program, the city also is offering residents the convenience of being able to deposit all recyclables in one bin, rather than having to sort them. RecycleBank requires such a "single stream" feature for all its communities, and Everett was able to comply because the Charlestown facility that receives its recyclables recently began accepting them that way.
Everett pays $76 per ton to dispose of its trash at the RESCO trash-to-energy plant in Saugus. The city receives $10 per ton for its recyclables.
In RecycleBank communities, customers receive rolling containers with embedded computer chips that identify the household. Trucks collecting the curbside containers are equipped to scan and weigh them. Company computers in Philadelphia track the total weight of recyclables for each customer, and convert it to reward points redeemable as discounts at participating businesses.
"We've educated them, we've rewarded them, and we've given them better tools to do it," Anthony Casali, RecycleBank's regional manager for the New England area, said of the company's customers. "Ultimately, that works out to great recycling numbers. And you sustain that."
Everett, which began the RecycleBank program on a trial basis in one neighborhood in March and expanded it citywide this month, became the 11th Massachusetts municipality served by the company, and the first city. It is also the first in the state to contract directly with RecycleBank - in other places, the company dealt with haulers.
Revere recently became the 12th RecycleBank community in the state when it contracted to implement the program on a trial basis one day a week for six months starting in August. If it works out, Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino said he would look to implement the program citywide.
"Our recycling rates are pathetic. So I'm trying anything to increase them," he said, estimating only about 3 percent of Revere residents recycle. "This seemed like a way to do it without imposing a trash fee or a pay-as-you-go program. We'll see how it works."
Casali said RecycleBank is in active discussions with Boston, Chelsea, Melrose, Medford, Salem, Somerville, and Winthrop about starting the program to those communities.
Norton said that the services provided by RecycleBank in Everett involve no cost to the city or residents.
RecycleBank footed the full cost of outfitting the trucks used by the city's trash hauler, Capital Waste, with the equipment needed for the program. It also paid for nearly 15,000 recyclable containers and informational kits distributed to residential and business customers. In all, it invested just over $1 million, Casali said.
The company's earnings will come through receiving a percentage of the savings Everett generates from reducing the amount of trash disposal.
Norton said the results of the trial program were encouraging. Until now, city households on average recycled about 83 pounds a year. In the pilot neighborhood, that rate climbed to 830 pounds. The participation rate, meanwhile, rose to about 50 percent.
Because the trial run was going so well, the city opted to implement the program citywide five months ahead of schedule.
In spite of the educational campaign, Norton said he has had to handle numerous queries from residents confused about how the system works. But he said the response has been positive.
"Most of the calls are from people telling me how much they appreciate the program," he said. "A lot of people are asking for a second cart because they are doing so much recycling. They can't wait two weeks." |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2008 : 08:15:02 AM
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ROUTE 99 PROJECT - Mayor Carlo DeMaria recently held a meeting with state Highway Department officials along Route 99 to discuss plans to reconstruct the road. The city has been working with the state agency to meet the federal requirements needed to get the long-awaited project underway. State officials said the project is not likely to begin before spring 2010. City officials used the morning meeting as an opportunity to provide state officials a firsthand look at heavy traffic on the roadway during rush hour. "Thousands of people come through Everett on a daily basis," DeMaria said in a statement. "The road is taking a beating, and we're using up our resources to repair it." - John Laidler
OLD CITY YARD A TOUGH SELL - At its meeting tomorrow, the Planning Board will consider its recommendation on a proposal to discontinue a portion of 4th Street as a public way. Mayor Carlo DeMaria has proposed the change to help facilitate the sale of the old city yard site, which has been vacant since Everett's new city services building opened in 2001. The proposed discontinuation of a portion of 4th Street would allow future developers of the yard site direct access to Route 16. DeMaria recently led Planning Board members, city councilors, and others on a tour of the street. "The city has been holding onto, and paying for this property, and it's an eyesore," DeMaria said in a statement. 'We need to get this property off our books, and work on getting some serious development back into the city." Tomorrow's meeting will be held in the Speaker George Keverian Room at 7 p.m. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2008 : 08:22:30 AM
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| Could someone explain to me where 4th Street intersects with the Parkway? Woody's Tire is on Garden Street, so that can't be it. |
Edited by - massdee on 07/27/2008 08:28:34 AM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2008 : 08:40:15 AM
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It's a little hard to believe that the number of households recycling was so low before the new program; most homes in my neighborhood usually had their green totes full to overflowing every two weeks. I will admit that though that the new program has spurred additional recycling as a number of us in my neighborhood were able to fill up our 96 gallon totes at least for the first pick-up on the new program.
If the city and RecycleBank want the program numbers to get even better, they're going to have to work on the rewards program a little bit though. Some of the offerings seem to require a great deal of points to get the rewards (1225 points to get a $10 Friday's Gift Card); others offers have restrictions (i.e., the $5 off Target offer is for online purchases only and requires a $50 purchase) that some people won't be able to meet. Don't get me wrong; I think the program is great. I just think that it needs some tweaking to maximize its potential. |
Edited by - tetris on 07/27/2008 08:48:29 AM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2008 : 09:10:13 AM
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Massdee,
Since you can't find Fourth Street on any of the online map tools, it's hard to say what the basis of this claim is. Even if the full length of Fourth Street were to be discontinued, I still believe that its access to the parkway would be via Garden Street. The access from Garden Street to the Parkway is minimal at best. The information in the Globe article is almost identical to the information in an Advocate article, so draw your own conclusions.
Let me say it again; I'm all for the current discontinuance that is being proposed. The city needs to live up to the deals that it has already made as best as they can, no matter who the deal is with. As I said in my comments on the Advocate article, I hope that the discussion at the planning board is not so narrow that it can't include some discussion on how adequate access to the old City Yard parcel will be ultimately provided. I'm not expecting to get all of the details, just some idea of where it is headed. I wouldn't be a great fan of adding an additional traffic signal on the Parkway but that may be what's required. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2008 : 10:50:30 AM
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I don't have a problem with it either, it's time for the city to move forward with this. Do I wish it was a different buyer? Sure, I do, but it's not and the sale needs to happen.
I was down by there the other day and it looked to me that 4th Street runs parallel to the Parkway. That is why I asked about it. I can't figure out how it gives access from the Parkway. Just curious! |
Edited by - massdee on 07/27/2008 2:38:42 PM |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
 Posted - 07/27/2008 : 5:16:41 PM
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I too do not see why the discontinuance of fourth street is so vital for this deal to go through. I do know about the issues with the abutters concerning fourth street, and then all of a sudden "No parking signs" were put up. There may be a business reason for wanting this (and I understand it was in the original purchase and sale) but I also feel it's kind of like saying to the abutters....."Ha, I got it"
Sorry, I just do not see the reason to hold up the sale of the city yards "because" of fourth street. Hopefully that will come out in the planning board meeting. |
Edited by - Tails on 07/27/2008 5:18:21 PM |
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BOSTON GLOBE
