We urge the new city council to act responsibly with the city government and the people who elected them instead of becoming the mayor’s rubber stamps.
The first order of business for the new city council is to suspend, delete or to drastically reduce the mayor’s $40,000 a year longevity payment and to make him pay back what he has received at interest.
Let law enforcement do the rest.
The new city council must assert itself.
Ticket topper Mike Marchese needs more than his own voice to lead the council away from its subservience to the mayor. The council must not and cannot follow the mayor’s lead through his de facto city councilor and chief, his cousin Anthony DiPierro.
DiPierro would jump off a 20 story building head first for his cousin the mayor. He would do better to show the same kind of blind dedication to the residents and the taxpayers of this city. His absolute allegiance to the mayor is all about conflict of interest. Don’t let him fool you claiming it isn’t.
He and Stephanie Martins are connected at the hip these days. We hope she can remain partially independent.
It is high time for new leaders to step to the plate, for Jimmy Le, Vivian Nguyen, Irene Cardillo and Stephanie Smith to rise up and to be heard.
It also the moment for former mayor, former city clerk and councilor John Hanlon to show the others what to do and how to do it, while at the same time distancing himself from the mayor.
Wayne Matewsky needs to remain who he is and to allow no one to own him.
There is frankly not much that can be done with Richard Dell Isola. He’s a nice guy but he’s owned by the mayor. The same is exactly, exquisitely true of Al Lattanzi. These two exult in being the mayor’s votes. There is not an ounce of independence in either of these two councilors.