I humbly ask for forgiveness for the subject I am about to
broach. Now it is no secret that I like RICK and consider him a friend. Heck I
even get rides from him. I wouldn’t do that with just any LSC member or those
in the high level LPS administration unless and until I have a DEATH WISH from
the pain I am experiencing. After all, accidents happen. (I grew up in a MOB
town in little’ol Clarksburg, WV where the Mayor’s brother was gunned down in
the city streets and a former Asst State Attorney General told me she was in
fear for her life prosecuting a local drug king pin. Then there were the urban
(given where it was maybe [RURAL] legend!).
Something just has been bothering me. Can anyone give me a
decent EXPLANATION as to why someone who was so VESTED in THE MARSHALL PLAN not
want to stick around until at least the WOTRING WING (I keep trying) was
finished. RICK was also passionate about the development of a CAPITAL PLAN for
the replacement of the THREE other CONDEMABLE school buildings in the LPS
system. Perhaps the realization of the practical futility of the future plans
was just too much for him. I know RICK is a REPUBLICAN in MA but it seems
thinks are looking better for that party HERE in years.
lets assume all the candidates are in it for the money now.
ReplyDeletenext - which ones care about lynners ?
it's also a power thing! Not all political candidates have a powerful BLOG!
ReplyDeleteyou can measure that by questioning which candidates like to give choices to the people. power mongers don't like people having voices.
DeleteThe building of a new school was and is a city wide issue, not just a LPS issue. A person does not have to be on the school committee, city council or hold any other elected position in order to have a vested interest in the Marshall project. Rick is a resident, homeowner and taxpayer in Lynn. Therefore, I would hope he has a vested interest in the Marshall project, as well as any other new schools that may and hopefully will be built in this city.
ReplyDeleteYou are RIGHT. It is a CITYWIDE issue! Conversations I have had with RICK confirm my suspisions. In fact the TERRIBLE state of the physical state of our schools and it will continue to get worse until the NET SCHOOL SPENDING SAGA is addressed and he felt he could do a better job on the COUNCIL. He agreed with me that the CITY COUNCILMEN don't show the interest in the schools they should.
DeletePerhaps I was using my license again and putting words in RICK'S mouth. For the record he did not exactly say that CITY COUNCILORS did not care instead HE SAID THAT IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT THEY DO CARE!
DeleteI decided to run for council for a couple of reasons. First, there is an open seat. I would probably not have jumped into this race if all of the incumbents were seeking re-election. Secondly, I decided to make the move from SC to council because we as a city find ourselves in a dilemma of balancing Net School Spending along with public safety and public works funding. If we cannot properly fund these three very important segments of city services, how can we expect to afford to continue on with a plan to replace our aging schools? Net School Spending is a mandate, period. For the city to try to maintain mandated funding levels for schools we have to balance it on the backs of other departments unless we grow the pot of available funds. The only way that we are going to be able to grow the pot is to stimulate growth. I think that I have the knowledge, business experience as well as educational experience to help stimulate growth in a manner that is beneficial to residents and businesses alike.
ReplyDeleteI have always said that Lynn seems to catch the economic waves near the crest. The economy booms, folks begin to look towards Lynn as property values rise elsewhere for development and once the process and projects begin, the economy crashes and we never reap the benefits as they were planned. I believe that this is what happened to Lynn during the last two economic cycles. I truly feel that Lynn is finally poised to catch the next wave closer to the beginning than at the top. Part of the reason for this is that the city began setting the stage while the economy was in the tank. Regardless of how we may feel about how the chips fell on the casino decision, we can finally move on from that decision. We need to strategically look at how we develop our available space as we are only going to get one bite at the apple. As a commercial property owner in Revere and longtime business owner, I understand how important a strong commercial tax base is to a community and I want to be part of growing the commercial tax base in Lynn. The growth and funding of our city depends on it and the decisions made by our leaders during the next few years will have implications that will follow us for many years to come.
If I am fortunate enough to be elected to the city council, schools and particularly new school building will always remain a priority of mine. In order to succeed in that effort we need to address our funding issues city wide and we must do it immediately. I have also had lengthy discussions with Mike Heffernan who is the Republican candidate for Treasurer. I asked Mike what his thoughts were if he were elected Treasurer and found himself heading up the MSBA regarding his views on the issues of aging schools in urban districts. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much he knew about the challenges that we face in Lynn. He was very well versed in our NSS problems, the growth in our school populations, our aging buildings and our struggles to fund our portions of new school building if we were granted another even at the highest MSBA rate. He feels that while everyone should have “skin in the game”, the state should be funding urban districts like Lynn at a higher percentage of 90-95 percent for at least a couple of schools to help jump start modernization of school buildings in our cities. I will be bringing him around to a few of our schools, hopefully next week so that he can see firsthand how badly we need new schools. If Mike is not successful, I hope that whoever is in that position feels the same way as Mr. Heffernan.
Those are GOOD reasons. I am glad to see someone who agrees with me thatt EDUCATION is a VITAL interest to the overall health of the city and will not isolate oneself ffffor the sake of political soverignty. I think yours along with the canndidcy of BRIAN LAPIRRE'S can change the educational culture of the city. However, still expect me to BUST YOUR #$%& ON OCCASION!
Deleteplease don't focus on rick or brian. we need to replace buzzy who has done nothing for the city. that's 2 seats.
DeleteYOU NEVER KNOW WHEN WE ARE GOING TO FORM A city council BASKETBALL TEAM. I BET WE COULD WIPE UP THE FLOOR WITH SALEM.
Delete