A Dream
By Josh Resnek
I was in a deep sleep Monday night. I had a dream.
The mayor resigned his position and took a job at Encore for $300,000 a year as a greeter.
I had a dream.
The mayor became the highest paid casino greeter in the history of Las Vegas inspired gaming.
Dreams can be eerily real or eerily unreal.
This one was real.
It was almost like I was in the dream, watching the
mayor greet people as they arrived at the main casino on Lower Broadway.
There he was, dressed in his light blue suit, hair slicked back, reaching out to gamblers every two or three seconds as they arrived to do their thing at the Encore Casino.
I had a dream.
The casino was open for business and mobbed, and there was the mayor in the thick of it, greeting happy gamblers their pockets filled with money as they arrived to do their thing.
Dream sequences according to Freud reveal a close resemblance to our psychic lives when we are awake.
In other words this dream showed me things crystal clear, like they may actually unfold once the casino is up and running.
At one point the mayor got tired greeting people in this dream. He had shaken so many hands his fingers hurt.
By midnight, he needed a caffeine rush.
What did he do?
He walked over to the food court, and ordered up a coffee at – you guessed it – at Honey Dew Donut location right there inside the casino which he owned!
Dreams are so real, so crazy and real.
In my dream the moment the mayor announced he was leaving public office in Everett, there was a frenzy of public outbursts by 11 members of the city council.
Each one of them announced they wanted to be mayor – even Rosa DeFlorio!
Wayne Matewsky said he should be the mayor because he knows how to top the ticket.
John Hanlon said he wanted in because he was mayor before.
Leo McKinnon said he wanted the position because he had been a prison guard and he knew more about law enforcement than everyone else.
Sergio Cornelio said he wanted to be the mayor because the salary was better and he wouldn’t have to work as much.
This was in the dream. So amazing. So real.
In the dream Mayor Richie Dell Isola stunned everyone by announcing his first act as mayor was to order a casino day for all public employees in Everett.
In addition, he said that each employee would receive $500 in cash to go down to the casino to gamble it all away. He said he thought this would be a good way for everyone to enhance their retirement accounts because there is so much money to be won at the casino.
Again, it is amazing how dreams have such craziness in them, how they seem so real.
I watched Mayor Dell Isola put his $500 on black at the roulette table – and he won!
Then he let it ride. He won again!
He let it ride again and he won again. That’s when he cashed in his chips.
He was so happy. He was high fiving everyone.
The former mayor was cheering and laughing, sipping his Honey Dew coffee. Then Encore vice-president Rob DeSalvio came along and saw the former mayor standing by the roulette table. “You have to get back to the entrance,” he told the former mayor.
“That’s what we pay you for.”
It was just like I was there.
I watched the mayor’s smile turn into a scowl.
Right at that moment I awakened in a sweat.
It all seemed so real in the dream.
I had a dream.
Attorney Galvin
Enter onto the local political scene the lawyer Mr. Robert Galvin, a Duxbury native, a BC High, BC grad, New England College of Law grad, whose father was a Triple Eagle – that is – BC High, BC and BC Law School.
In the absence of a lawyer representing the School Committee two weeks ago, he was chosen to take over, at least temporarily, until he can be legally appointed as the School Department’s attorney.
He is 51, father of two sons, at BC High. I talked with him for a while.
I thought he was a cool guy (for a lawyer).
He’s been around, in Stoneham and near to where he lives representing four or five municipalities with their various and sundry school issues.
He told the story of growing up in Duxbury at a time when everyone in Duxbury did not grow up rich and privileged, as it is today in that small seaside community.
In other words, he did not grow up rich and privileged. He has worked hard to be who he is and frankly, he seems like a really good guy as choice for the school committee lawyer.
He told me he remains a devout Catholic, attending Mass every Sunday.
If he is appointed permanently it probably will be a good move.
He stands up straight and tall.
He was trained as a boxer as a younger man.
He knows how to dip and how to weave -and if necessary, I’d bet he knows how to deliver a good punch.
Good luck to Attorney Robert Galvin.
Squeezed Out
At least Mayor Walsh is trying. Can’t say the same of Everett.
We know the Boston suburbs are out of reach for the elderly and low income. What happens to these people when the cities are out of reach. We can’t expect everyone to be wealthy it’s just not realistic. Everett needs to get with it before it’s too late.
I feel the administration is willing to kick these people to the curb. They are not wanted in Everett unless they can pay the outrageous rents. Everett is going in the wrong direction when it comes to affordable housing.
This takes real leadership and caring enough about people to work hard to make this a reality. At a time when new affordable housing units are needed the most, Everett is in the dark.
For more information, visit https://www.boston25news.com/ news/massachusetts/boston-mayor- unveils-housing-security-legislative- package/900628576
School Committee Acts Independently
The School Committee Monday night showed courage it will be its own body without interference from anyone else when it appointed to the SC presidency longtime member Tom Abruzzese.
Without much rancor, the surprise appointment declared loudly and clearly, that the SC is setting out its own path in these days of great change.
The appointment of Abruzzese as president, David Ela as Vice-President and interim Superintendent of Schools Janet Gauthier as Secretary, put in place a talented, respectful, honest and intelligent leadership group.
School Committeeman Lester McLaughlin’s surprise nomination of Abruzzese proved to be a significant moment and one which his colleagues on the SC agreed with.
All three of the leadership team were appointed with 9-0 votes.
In the days and weeks to come, this team will allow things to settle down just a bit, and to forge ahead with the business at hand, which is to run the public schools and to nd a permanent superintendent.
As President Abruzzese told his colleagues after being confirmed: “What we do is all about the kids, and the school children. No one person is responsible for our success. Our success is about the teachers, the kids, the administration and the SC all working together.”
With those words, the next year has been laid out rather neatly by the SC.
Nice work. Well done.