Shown above is Steven Pinto, local man about town, observer of the goings on in city government and occasional commentator in the Leader Herald. He has lived in Everett since 1996.
By Josh Resnek
During the past 6 months, Everett resident Steven Pinto has published a number of thoughtful and incisive op-ed pieces in the Leader Herald.
All the pieces drew a large response from readers, from some local officials and from an abundance of taxpayers.
For an Everett guy who claims not to be a writer, who finds writing hard and something not done whimsically, when he puts his pen to the paper he says something, it is noticed, and it is talked about.
He has written about city spending, taxes, burdens, and local politics.
He lives comfortably, as he described it, in the Park Plaza condominium just off Everett Square.
He arrived here during the David Ragucci era, as he recalled it the other day in our offices on Church Street.
He moved into a residence on Hamilton Street. The flooding down there after every rain storm was a sorry thing for all of us living in the immediate area,” he recalled.
So he called city hall, the mayor’s office and asked for an appointment to meet with the mayor after explain the problem to him.
“Come up and see me,” Ragucci told him.
He did just that.
“I didn’t know David Ragucci from a hole in the wall. But he listened to me, and more than this, he did something about the problem. Within 2 years, the flooding on Hamilton Street was history,” he added.
“I didn’t know him. He didn’t know me. He got this done. That has always impressed me,” he recalled.
Pinto watches every meeting of the city council and all other city government meetings broadcast on Everett Cable. He isn’t just a junkie, rather, he studies the nuances of government here.
“Taxes and spending here by the city are ridiculous at this point,” he said. “All the spending that leaves the city without money hurts people. Its wrong.”
Pinto came here during his 40’s. Now this place is his home. “I want the city to be as good as it can be. If I can contribute to the political and economic dialogue, well, that’s important to me.”
Watch for the next op-ed piece from Steven Pinto. He is an Everett guy with a heart and soul who understands government and what he is talking about.