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Lynda
Advanced Member
1270 Posts |
 Posted - 09/07/2007 : 08:17:35 AM
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From the Advocate webpage:
The Sounds of Everett
Politics is Politics
I spotted Hanlon in the post office on Saturday. Naturally, we didn’t swap greetings. He knows where we stand, and I know where he’s coming from. He took our share of the city’s legals away, but, he forgets when he was city clerk, that we bailed him out before one election – when he forgot to put a mandatory “notice of polling places” legal advertisement in the paper. Hanlon knows The Advocate was with Ragucci to the end. At least we are loyal – unlike a Ravanesi, when he was head of city services, who jumps ship at a whim like he did with Ragucci.
But, politics is politics. Hanlon would rather run with the coyotes from Revere who do not spend 10 cents in Everett. It’s typical Hanlon. Two years ago, the ice man cometh. Now, it’s time for the ice man to goeth! It’s only a matter of time. And then at age 74, he can migrate in the winter to Florida with “Judas” Ravansesi. That is, unless Ravanesi has already made plans to jump ship. He’ll be with anyone, as long as he keeps his do-nothing job. I hear he’s really good at parking tickets and fundraisers. Hold your nose, folks.
Here we are, a week before the primary election, and, there’s Hanlon with a full page advertisement in his Wednesday “Dependent” still blaming Mayor Ragucci for his fiscal reign of terror. He says he’s cleaning up the financial mess. Sure, he is! Before the last election, honest John promised to freeze hiring city workers. He added 71 of his political hacks to the city payroll. Hanlon criticized Ragucci when he hired one part-time secretary. The 71 Hanlon payroll patriots cost the taxpayers over a million dollars.
Hanlon also promised he’d control spending. Ragucci left $5 million in surplus monies – Hanlon increased two budgets by $24 million. Boy, what self control!
Hanlon says he put a freeze on hiring outside law firms. Sure, he did! How come he added Ravanesi’s lawyer buddy as an asst. city solicitor? Guess why?
David Ravanesi is now Hanlon’s asst. to the mayor. Has anyone seen Judas lately? We hear, he was told to lay low until after the election. Don’t look under any rocks, folks! He’s probably in Florida at his condo counting the big bucks he takes from the city coffers while the taxpayers pay Hanlon’s obscene tax bills. Ravanesi and Hanlon could care less about the taxpayers just as long as they get their share of the city treasury.
Hanlon says he’s not responsible for Everett’s money problems. At 74, you’d think Hanlon would retire. If he retired as city clerk instead of mayor – the city council would probably have a street or park named after him. After his two year reign of fiscal terror as mayor I’m sure they wouldn’t name a telephone pole after him. He’s been a disaster as mayor and deserves the door on primary day.
And, how about Red Doyle. In case you didn’t know – Red is the city’s archivist. In other words he’s Hanlon’s chauffer. When Red’s around city hall he’s usually spotted sitting on someone’s desk talking to one of Hanlon’s hacks. Red’s paid $700 a week for doing nothing. Doyle and Ravanesi - separated at birth.
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Head
Senior Member
107 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2007 : 10:39:07 AM
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| your waiting for keanu arn't you |
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HereForTheParty
Member
13 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2007 : 2:40:41 PM
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| He is on the mirror blog where he fits right in. |
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massdee
Moderator
3500 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2007 : 11:59:26 AM
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| I haven't seen todays Advocate, is there anything worth reading? |
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keanu
Member
45 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2007 : 12:57:06 PM
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| none of the papers are worth reading but the Advocate? Mitchell? Who believes a word printed from a disgruntled con ex chelsea mayor jailbird. Get the enquirer they tell more of the truth. |
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Head
Senior Member
107 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2007 : 12:03:28 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by massdee
I haven't seen todays Advocate, is there anything worth reading?
No I did not see anything worth while.
that dude keanu didn't answer your question so I thought I would. |
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tetris
Advanced Member
977 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2008 : 5:40:38 PM
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I know that most people have trouble finding a copy of the Advocate every week; I've been able to find a copy most weeks lately. When I do find it, I will try to point out any stories that may be of general interest to the readers of this board.
The lead story in this week's Advocate was something a little bit different than what we have seen in any of the papers lately. Unlike last week when they chose not to post their lead story on their website, it can be found at this link, saving me some work:
http://www.advocatenews.net/Friday_s_Top_Stories.html
When this article ran in the paper, it ran with a secondary headline of "Increase in delinquent taxes a serious major problem for city". From the numbers provided in the article, it was clear that water and sewer delinquencies have skyrocketed from 2006 to 2007 but, if the numbers in the article are accurate, actual real estate tax delinquencies from 2006 to 2007 have dropped by more than 50%. If true, I find that to be surprising, in a good way, especially given the number of foreclosure sale notices that appear in the Leader-Herald every week.
Most of the rest of the articles in the paper were the Advocate standard, i.e., take an item from the City Council agenda and turn it into a story. Nothing new of note in any of these. The only opinion piece in the paper was a letter to the editor (I seem to be fixated on these this week) that ran under the headline "Reader urges Stat to grow-up". It was a typical, one-sided account of the events of the last school committee meeting. Nothing could point out how one-sided it was than the last sentence of the letter which read as follows.
After the board returned to discuss the remaining points of business, Mr. MacLaughlin, with a comment directed directly at Smith, said " If I am going to be the Chairman of this board, people are going to behave and act as elected officials and administrators."
That statement might have been aimed at Smith but, it was also aimed at others as well. Last time I checked, Smith wasn't an administrator for the school department. The letter was signed "Name withheld upon request". |
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tetris
Advanced Member
977 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 7:35:12 PM
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A few nuggets from this week's Advocate:
In a short article on page 2, the Advocate rips the Independent for their coverage of the Matewsky/Smith situation. Not having commented on the Independent's coverage this week, let me say this. The Independent was exactly that right that Matewsky should have not have filed a complaint about the situation. The Advocate is also right that the alleged threats should never have been made by Smith. It's too bad that these two points of view couldn't be found in the same article; they're not mutually exclusive. This race will probably do nothing but get uglier. Just another opportunity for the city to cover itself in glory. Ugh!
There are three legal ads in the paper this week for the city's procurement office that are "signed" as follows:
Mayor Carlo DeMaria, Jr.
Chief Procurement Officer
They did not contain the word "acting" anywhere. Take that for what you will.
Lastly, there is a legal notice for a public hearing to be held by the Everett Planning Board on July 28, 2008 at 7:30 PM in the Speaker George Keverian Room, third floor, City Hall, Everett, MA. The subject matter is the discontinuance of a portion of Fourth Street. This notice looks like it may have been published last week as well but I didn't get a copy of the Advocate last week. |
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Tails
Advanced Member
1073 Posts |
Posted - 07/17/2008 : 8:59:56 PM
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| I wonder what happened to the public hearing we were all promised at the beginning of June concerning all issues with Wood Waste? This public hearing was supposed to take place before anything else and Simonelli asked for it ASAP and the Mayor said okay..... |
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Tails
Advanced Member
1073 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2008 : 10:43:53 PM
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I was told today that the planning board is the same thing as a public hearing. I completely disagree. Many people may feel intimidated with Thibeault and his high priced attorneys there to rebut anything we have to say at a planning board meeting. This is not fair, we were promised a public hearing BEFORE any of this happened.
The Everett Planning Board will conduct a public hearing on Monday, July 28 at 7:30pm in the Keverian Room, 3rd floor, City Hall on whether or not to recommend to the City Council that part of Fourth Street be discontinued.
The part of Fourth Street to be discontinued 551.92 feet long by 50 feet wide, containing 27,596 square feet. |
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massdee
Moderator
3500 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2008 : 08:11:21 AM
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| Was the notice for the Planning Board's public hearing only advertised in the Advocate, the one paper not delivered to our homes? I didn't notice it in the Independent or the Leader Herald but I could have missed it. |
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tetris
Advanced Member
977 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2008 : 09:09:11 AM
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| The Advocate was the only place that I saw it Massdee. For some reason, the Advocate seems to be the city's current paper of choice to run legal advertisements; I didn't see the procurement ads that I mentioned in any of the other papers either. As I said, the meeting notice was dated so that it probably ran last week in the Advocate as well but, since I didn't get the paper last week, I didn't see it until this week. |
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tetris
Advanced Member
977 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2008 : 10:02:58 AM
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Tails,
I know that you are disappointed that the mayor has not scheduled the "public hearing" that he promised Councilor Simonelli that he would back in June. But from reading your post of last night, I'm not sure what you were expecting this meeting to be. Below is the original text from the Common Council agenda of Councilor Simonelli's request:
"To request the Mayor to set up and hold an open public hearing concerning all issues dealing with Woodwaste of Boston, like at the present location, the purchase of the old city yards and the proposed new location on lower Broadway. To invite all parties concerned. Also, when hearing is set up to advertise in all local papers and on ECTV to let, most importantly, the people know about this very important hearing."
From reading the text of this request, I would assume that Mr. Thibeault would be invited to this "hearing" and he'd be crazy to attend without legal representation. So, no matter what the forum, if we want to take this issue on, we will be facing Thibeault and his lawyer(s).
With that said, in no way do I believe that the mayor is going to be able to get away with declaring that the public hearing being held by the planning board is the same "public hearing" that he promised Councilor Simonelli. He may try but I don't really believe that would be advisable. The public hearing at the planning board is likely to have a very narrow focus, i.e., the discontinuance of Fourth Street only. There may be other issues that the planning board should consider in regards to the sale of the old city yards that may not even get heard at this hearing. If the administration doesn't schedule its promised "public hearing" by the time when the next Common Council agenda is being prepared, I'm sure that Councilor Simonelli will put a piece on the agenda to address the issue. |
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Tails
Advanced Member
1073 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2008 : 1:15:15 PM
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I’m very disappointed especially because once again, a promise/word to the people was not kept. We needed the public hearing to air out all issues BEFORE the planning board’s meeting on Fourth Street.
Some people may have information that they may not be able to speak of at the planning board meeting however, the information they have can affect the discontinuance of Fourth Street. It’s all tied together with the old city yards and lower Broadway.
We were also promised this announcement would be in ALL the papers and ECTV. A lot of people do not get the Advocate. I only happen to get it if I am in a store and guess what…..I just came back from two stores and they are gone. Only 1% of the city actually reads blogs that is a statistic and that’s exactly what the Mayor is hoping for. He’s trying to sneak this through so not too many people will be aware and then the deal is done.
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massdee
Moderator
3500 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2008 : 3:45:41 PM
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| I believe this will have to come out of the planning board with a recommendation and go back before the city council. The city council can accept or reject the recommendation. I think the ball will be back in the city council's court when they meet in August. |
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Tails
Advanced Member
1073 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2008 : 5:05:57 PM
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What about the public hearing for the people?
I honestly don’t know how I feel about it going back to the city council. We have the Alderman at Large, running for State Rep that tells everyone what they want to hear, but does nothing on these important matters. This is the same man looking for Rocketstall at the DCR and I knew for a month that Christina Doctoroff was transferred so he was not looking too hard! We are supposed to trust someone like that with the Wood Waste issue?? I know there are plenty that do good work up there but there are a lot that do nothing, dont show up, say nothing, and does not offer any help or input and that ONE vote can screw everything up.
The Mayor gave his word we would have a public hearing. I’m going to hold him to that because there have been too many broken promises just to help *his* buddies.
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Everett Advocate Newspaper
