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Fedup
Member
86 Posts |
 Posted - 08/13/2008 : 4:28:46 PM
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On page 4 of today's Independent is an announcement about a Town Meeting, hosted by Mayor DeMaria, on August 27th at 7:00 p.m. at the Schiavo Club. With recent happenings regarding the City Yards, Wood Waste, lower Broadway, crime, taxes, etc., this meeting should provide us with a wealth of information. I sincerely hope that the meeting is well attended. Perhaps this meeting will offer us residents some positive hope for the future of our City and will lead the way to future dialogue between City Government and the residents.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2008 : 6:21:57 PM
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| I agree with you, Fedup. I sincerely hope all those who can possibly attend will. It is important to let City Government know that we care about our City. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2008 : 6:39:14 PM
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Will everyone be allowed to speak on all issues or only the Mayors initiatives?
Also, the notice says for more info call the Mayor's office, then it says for additional information contact Matt Laidlaw.
Does anyone know which one it is? |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2008 : 9:06:52 PM
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| Does anyone know if the Town Meeting will be televised? |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2008 : 10:02:58 AM
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| Is the Schiavo Club the right place to hold a town meeting? I think I remember only ever being in there once a long time ago and I don't remember it as being very large. I don't frequent that area of town very often, but isn't parking a problem down there as well? |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2008 : 10:51:38 AM
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| Parking in this area is atrocious. Not to mention, if the Eagles have a practice, or worse, a scrimmage game, you will have to park a mile away. I don’t think this was the best location for a Town Meeting, City Hall or the Old High School may have been more suitable. |
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Paul
Senior Member
158 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2008 : 10:09:53 PM
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| How many people on this forum intend on showing up ? |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2008 : 10:28:49 PM
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See, for me that would depend.
This meeting is city wide and being held in a small hall and in an area with very little parking and the Everett Eagles playing right down the street. I can walk, but many others can not. It's just not the "type" of place to hold a town meeting. Maybe they got the hall for free and that's why they are using it.
I thought the city owned the old high school? Couldn’t that be used for a town meeting? Other than not paying to hold a meeting at the Schiavo Club, I don’t understand the reason to have it there of all places. Even City Hall would be better.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2008 : 10:34:34 PM
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| Have every intention to try to. However, the logistics of it make it a little difficult if you don't live in the area. Never know what may be come up in life between now and then either. So, I can't say with complete certainity at this time. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2008 : 11:40:28 PM
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I just got back from the town meeting a while ago and thought I would share some of what I observed. ECTV was there to record the meeting so I'm assuming that the meeting will probably show up on ECTV at some point, possibly as soon as this weekend. Therefore, I'll only hit some highlights as you'll be able to see all of it for yourselves.
First, the room was an adequate size for the number of people that showed up. I'd estimate 60 to 80 in attendance total. I don't know if the location kept some people from attending but the room seemed to work. I can't comment on parking as I walked even though I live in a different part of the city.
The Mayor was joined at the head table by Ms. Deveney, Chief Mazzie and Mr. Zaniboni. Matt Laidlaw was there as well. Perhaps one of the guys from the mayor's office was there too but I couldn't tell as I don't know either of them. Mr. Champi was in the audience along with Sgt. Strong and Sgt. Bova. Representing the city council were DiPerri, Sachetta, Simonelli, DiDomenico, Bruno, DiFlorio, Ranieri, Hicks and Sarnie. Matewsky was outside campaigning but didn't come in to the meeting. There didn't seem to be any members of the local media there.
The Mayor was introduced by Laidlaw and made some brief opening remarks. The floor was then opened to questions. A lot of the questions were typical of this type of meeting, i.e., personnel issues/problems that residents are having. They definitely had a Ward 6 slant to them, which was fine given the location of the meeting. However, there were some questions asked that reflected issues that we discuss on this board. Of course, the main one was Wood Waste.
The issue of Wood Waste came up three separate times. The reason that it came up so many times was because the issue first came up early on and not everyone was there yet. The information discussed didn't change much each time. There is some new Wood Waste information. The mayor believed that Mr. Thibeault was to have closed on the Modern Continental property on August 22. The mayor also stated that Mr. Thibeault has come to him with a new plan for getting the piles off the Boston Street site. That plan involves reactivating the railroad spur on the three acre site off the old Chemical Lane, transferring the piles to that site and then having them shipped off by rail. Before anyone asks, the mayor really didn't provide any more detail of the plan other than that. However, what the mayor did say is that he would be bring this plan before the city council for their approval.
The mayor also stated a couple of other interesting things about Wood Waste. First, he said that the piles are no longer growing; any of the new material coming in are processed and shipped out immediately. Second, the mayor said that the city has very little control over what Wood Waste does; that control lies at the state and federal level. Even if the city did have authority over Wood Waste, the city would be hard pressed to deal with Mr. Thibeault's high powered (and high priced) legal team.
Other issues of general interest that were discussed included illegal rooming houses and crime. Nothing really new on either of these. There was some mention of ordinance changes to deal with the illegally rooming house and code enforcement issues but nothing really concrete or that we haven't heard before.
The last question asked was from Councillor Simonelli, who was the only member of the City Council to speak. He asked the Mayor about some of the changes that have happened at City Hall recently and asked if the Mayor was comfortable with them. The mayor stated that the city is still in good hands. The mayor confirmed that we now longer have a budget director. He stated that he didn't feel that the budget director position was a true full time position and if a new person were hired full-time that they would probably be given some additional responsibilities such as grant writing. For the time being, the city still has a personnel director but he would be let go some time in the near future. The city also has a new, temporary (for 90 days I believe he said) purchasing agent in Jill Barringer.
I've tried to be as factually as possible in this post and keep my opinions to myself, for now. I think I'd like to watch the replay on ECTV before I offer any opinions on any of this. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2008 : 09:13:34 AM
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| Today's Leader-Herald has verified that the Town Meeting will indeed be broadcast on ECTV-16 beginning this weekend at 2 PM and 10 PM on Saturday and Sunday. |
Edited by - tetris on 08/28/2008 09:14:29 AM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 11:57:31 PM
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Has anyone had a chance to watch the town meeting yet? Any thoughts? I'll get the ball rolling.
I was a little taken aback by the fact that the Mayor did not mention that the city benefits from quarterly tax bills in that it has improved the city's cash flow so that short-term borrowing is no longer required to keep the city running between tax bills. I believe that a study was done before the change was implemented that showed the cost of the extra mailings was more than offset by the interest that was paid on these short term loans. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2008 : 1:44:14 PM
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| According to today's Independent, the Mayor is going to hold another community meeting. This one will be held at the Rec Center on Tuesday December 2nd from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2008 : 1:46:01 PM
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| Is it about anything and everything? |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2008 : 1:58:39 PM
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| I believe that's what was implied. |
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Town Meeting
