By JOSH RESNEK
Fourteen years is a long time to do anything, let alone to be the mayor of the city of Everett.
In fourteen years, the city has changed more than several times and this includes people in leadership positions, the population, the entire demographic has been turned upside down.
In fact, like most urban places, Everett almost entirely remakes itself in one way or another every five years. That’s just the nature of life in the United States.
People come and go like the wind. Politicians come and go.
Carlo DeMaria has not come and gone. He is hanging on.
Many people believe this time around could be his last, that his time has come, that he cannot win another term.
His closest supporters and even the mayor himself have boasted Carlo will be the mayor forever, that no one can beat him, that he stands alone at the top of the mountain in Everett politics.
No one in this city knows better than the mayor what the primary meant.
The primary indicates the mayor has a popularity problem. Mind you, it wasn’t just the competition that brought his vote down.
It was the rejection of the majority of voters that his leadership is in question and that his days are numbered.
Can he be the mayor forever?
Nature indulges in no such fantasies.
No one is the mayor forever.
More people came out to vote against Carlo DeMaria in the primary than voted for him.
This is problematic for the mayor.
Now comes the last two weeks before the election and minds are changing.
Are people leaving Fred Capone to go with the mayor?
Are voters who gave their ballot choice to Gerly Adrien going to cast a ballot for the mayor?
Now that Adrien has decided to campaign for Capone, and Guerline Alcy and Mike Marchese are doing the same, well, the times they are a-changing.
Can the mayor hold on? This is certainly possible. Some people believe it is likely.
The numbers tell a different story.
No one knows the numbers better than the mayor.
The numbers in the primary were worrisome.
Let’s see what happens – and let’s see what happens in the next two weeks to solidify the final outcome or to alter it.