“Done Deals” How Insiders benefit from secret planning board meetings

One morning in 2005, I heard a noise outside my front door and here is a manila envelope on my doorstep. I looked around to see where it came from, but whoever it was,was making a fast getaway. A green Subaru with a Smith sticker on it was just turning down King Street. I saw a friendly-type wave from some one as he drove out of sight, just like Santa Claus.

I think my Santa Claus worked for Smith College and wanted to get the truth out about Smith College’s long term plans. In the envelope were two copies of an interesting map. Click to read this story

On not meeting Whitey Bulger

I began telling one of my war stories to my wife this morning, about how I met Whitey Bulger back in the early seventies, and caught myself. I was fairly solid on remembering killing a half an hour or so in a little bar just off Broadway in the Winter Hill section of Somerville, waiting to see the guy, but did I get into the back room and actually talk to him? I don’t think so. I'd have remembered it if I had actually got through that well-guarded door. I think he sent one of his boys out to see me and tell me that Diane was okay, and we shouldn’t worry about her. She was up in New Hampshire with her mother.

read the story by clicking here

Probe by City Clerk substantiates possible violation of state laws.

Materials promoting Narkewicz candidacy distributed on school premises

Mayoral Candidate Michael Bardsley today filed a complaint with the city clerk that there was an apparent violation of a state law prohibiting the use of city buildings for political purposes when leaflets advertising an jnformal meeting with David Narkewicz, City Council President and Mayoral Candidate, were distributed through the use of teachers' boxes at the JFK Middle School, and perhaps other schools as well. The topic of the meeting was "issues affecting Northampton Public Schools." A number of parents who asked that their names not be used complained about the leaflets and the use of the public address system at JFK by a teacher to promote the meeting at a close of the day last Monday, at a time when there were still students in the building. One mother characterized the teacher that made the announcement over the loudspeaker " as someone who is involved with the Narkewicz campaign." The leaflet promotes a meeting with Narkewicz at the Florence Civic Center this past Tuesday, June 21 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm "to discuss issues affecting Northampton Public Schools." The people inviting their fellow teachers to this meeting were Andrea Eglito, a teacher at the Ryan Road School, Nancy Cheevers, a reading specialist at JFK, and Karen Schiaffo , a nurse at JFK. City Clerk Wendy Mazza, notified of the complaint, called the principal at JFK, Lesley Wilson. She was initially unaware of this activity, but investigated, and told the City Clerk today the allegations by the parents seemed to be based on fact. The teachers' boxes were used for the leaflets, and the public address system was used to promote the event, and that this was improper.

A former school administrator confirmed that this prohibition is well known, and in other years the first order of business in the fall of an election year is to inform all school principals of the law, and the necessity of making their teachers aware of it. The City Clerk has forwarded Bardsley's complaint to the General Counsel of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF), and has forwarded to David Narkewicz a list of questions about the incident.

I contacted him this afternoon, and he acknowledges that the meeting was an official campaign event, and he paid for the facilities. He denies that Eglito,Schiaffo and Cheevers were volunteers for his campaign. He says that they approached him at the Pride March, and broached the idea of meeting with their friends. He acknowledges that using the JFK loudspeaker was a bad idea and schools are properly off limits for political activities. As of this afternoon, none of the teachers have returned my phone call.

This is David Narkewicz's fourth campaign, the topic was education, the volunteers were teachers, and an obvious question for these three teachers was how were they were planning to promote the event. They should have been briefed on the State law. Deploring what happened after the fact is not enough.

A last word.

I snapped this picture from the YouTube video of Lisa Fusco's announcement, using some of the semi-magical aspects of the "Preview" program in my computer. It's the poster behind her when she was making her announcement speech that bugs me. The graphics and design of the poster are stylish, and they look expensive and professional. Her committee had only been operating for two weeks.

One of the mayor's most reliable supporters and deep-pocketed backers, Lisa Baskin, was effusively thanked for her support. "Trailergate" was launched. All of the mayor's "yes" people were there from the City Council. The candidate was an owner of the airport, corporately linked to the Three County Redevelopment Corporation; the planning department had let her participate and/or vote on conscom issues sponsored by her corporations. My gut feeling was that it was all too professional, and much of the impetus for this candidacy came from city hall and principals in Three County Redevelopment. They wanted a team player.

But it fits into the essence of politics in this town, where the city council is becoming more of an affinity group of like-minded people who support the mayor and focus on city-wide issues. The idea that the city councilor is there to focus on ward issues, the little and not-so-little problems that bedevil us day to day, is on the wane. Money seems more important in campaigns. When I was on the council I had the pleasure of sitting next to the dean of Ward Three councilors, the late Leonard Budgar. Leonard sat there through the long hours of speeches and citations every night, never getting aggravated, always magisterial. Many nights he wasn't really awake, yet he wasn't asleep either. His eyes might be closed, but if something came up that affected his ward, you had only to slightly raise your voice and say "Ward Three" and he would come to attention, turning to me or whoever was talking, asking us to recapitulate the question. He represented his people well.

P.S. This blogger is now in new quarters, more fitting to apartment life, and oddly enough, more conducive to working on one project at a time, and dealing ruthlessly with old drafts and reference materials. With 12 square feet to operate in, you have to be ruthless. Check Lu's blog for pictures

You got to be patient

An undated letter was taped up on the elevator door at Salvo about three weeks ago. One of the two elevators was going to be shut down for a week or so for repairs. OK. The weeks go by, and the 220 tenants learned to wait, learned to take the stairs when they were able, learned to mutter. Many of them are disabled, some with walkers, some with wheelchairs. They can’t take the stairs. Now the week of downtime is turning into a month. One of the tenants went over the Gazette to ask them to do a story, and they weren't interested. More important fish to fry.

And then some time in the last couple weeks the head of the tenant union quit. Maybe the elevator was the final straw. Read the story on Salvo House here