By STEPHEN PINTO
Our mayor has his campaign ads running early.
The full-page ad in the Independent paid for by taxpayers last week is just the start of many more to follow.
Self-promoting ads and city business become easily blurred. When the mayor took his entourage to Italy on taxpayer money, who really believed that was city business?
Some of the items listed in his full-page taxpayer paid for ad campaign are things you expect our tax dollars to be spent on…
You would expect city government to at least be doing basic things with our tax money. Isn’t that why we elect them in the first place?
Yet there are some things listed that had nothing to do with the mayor and could hardly be considered his achievements. Some of these advertised items were a decade overdue. Corey and Victoria St lots needed repaving ten years ago. The Victoria St lot is now what every taxpayer would expect it to be.
For many years it resembled a crater on the moon.
It was an extremely dangerous surface to walk on and impossible to plow in the winter. The sidewalk area is still in disrepair.
The overall final Market Street culvert repair is being paid for by the new property owner. Not by the city.
Central Fire Station was finally brought up to date. But it took a very long time once the project began.
City Council had several items on several agendas complain- ing about the length of time it was taking.
Nearly all the park renovations had to be redone more than once.
Clearly over the top.
And it’s going to take a good chunk of money to maintain them.
Pothole repairs, repaving, and sidewalk repairs are all basic items every taxpayer should expect from the city government.
This isn’t something the mayor is giving to us as a present.
I was under the impression that new buses can be lowered for easy accessibility. If this is true, then why do we need these platforms?
Instead of building these ugly and unsafe platforms the city should have just gradually raised the grading of the sidewalk in order to make it level with the bus.
City Services work again is something we should all expect to receive with our tax dollars.
We could have skipped over the $200,000 of decorative lights.
Raised crosswalks?
Reminds me of the brick crosswalks a few years ago that failed after installed. I believe the cost was 2k per crosswalk back then.
The meal deliveries are great. I’m sure many people behind the scenes need a well deserved shout out.
The donations, volunteers, delivery drivers, and establishments that provide the food are the real heroes.
The 1.5 million for mortgage and rental relief. That’s too little too late.
The mayor has done some good things for Everett. But they get overshadowed when he tries to steal the glory all for himself or when he tries to step on people in order to assert his control.
He’s taken over the library system and made it ineffectual.
He is now trying to take control of the schools and do the same there.
We all foot the bill for everything the mayor does.
Some of us believe we foot the bill for his trips to Aruba in one way or another.
When Everett is forced to take taxpayer money from free cash in order to keep taxes down, this is a clear sign of imprudence and overspending.
Advertising his achievements with taxpayer money is a waste.
Stephen Pinto writes about politics and city government. He is a longtime Everett resident.