Flew to Aruba as city shut down
By Josh Resnek
Everyone knew the closure of the city was imminent last week.
What did the mayor do?
He went on vacation.
“It was an inopportune time for him to take a vacation,” said Councilor at Large Gerly Adrien. “Plain and simple – he should have been here directing emergency measures. He wasn’t.”
Councilor Mike McLaughlin said he was stunned by the mayor’s action.
“Can you imagine the leader of the city taking a vacation when a virus is shutting down the entire place? I can’t. The mayor heading to Aruba for a vacation when the city is burning down is something he will never live down. If I were running against him, his Aruba vacation would dominate the campaign,” McLaughlin told the Leader Herald.
“Can you imagine this mayor, any mayor, taking a vacation when the city is shutting down? I can’t. His actions tell quite a story about him and what kind of person he is.”
Councilor Mike Marches said the mayor’s vacation to Aruba was a slap in the face to everyone in this city fearful about what comes next with the virus and the city’s response to it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. No mayor should leave the city for it to fend on its own when a potentially deadly virus has broken out. If you can’t rely on the mayor, who can you rely on?” Marchese asked.
“Going on vacation when the city is experiencing the worst crisis since the flu outbreak in 1918 is all wrong. He should be run out of office,” Marchese added.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going…to Aruba,” he said.
During his absence, the mayor’s chief of staff Kevin O’Donnell was apparently running the show.
Several city press releases were issued with the mayor’s OK coming from his hotel room or the beach in Aruba.
The mayor has said it doesn’t matter where he is, he can run the city with his cell phone.
However, when almost 60,000 Everett residences are scared about the unknown effects of the virus, his presence was required and his absence, noted.
City hall was closed in his absence.
The schools were closed.
The libraries and every other public facility were either drastically curtailed or entirely closed in his absence.
Very little in the way of public policy has indicated the mayor has a handle on what the city’s first responders – firefighters and police officers- are expected to do, or how they are planning to cope if they become infected, as predicted.
He has provided no guidance to the city’s ambulance service and he has apparently not yet met with officials from the Whidden Hospital to plot out a plan for the city’s response to what is expected to be a crush of virus infected, sick patients all seeking entry to the hospital.
While the mayor was vacationing and the public schools closed, he was not present to direct efforts to feed several thousand children breakfast and lunch, an absolute necessity for the children living in lower income homes.
No public directives of any kind indicated the mayor’s interest in the well being of the city’s large elderly population.
Doctors and researchers all agree, data shows convincingly that the elderly – and all those over 60 are especially susceptible to the coronavirus.