All – Page 384 – Everett Leader Herald

Everett only in partial compliance to state’s open meeting laws

Only six sets of minutes out of 25 posted, some missing information

By JOSH RESNEK

Boston has been called “the Cradle of Liberty.” I think that label is a bit narrow.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord, during which “the shot heard ‘round the world” was actually fired, didn’t occur within the geographic confines of the City of Boston. Massachusetts is the actual Cradle of Liberty. From the Revolution of 1689 – which lead to the Governor of the New England Dominion, Sir Edmund Andros, being ousted from office to Shays’ Rebellion (whose leaders became President George Washington’s first use of the federal pardon) to being ground zero for the abolitionist movement to Romney Care – the progenitor of the Affordable Care Act – Massachusetts has always been at the forefront of political thought and good government practices.

In 2020, we can count on Everett under the DeMaria administration not doing the legal and right thing, but rather, the politically charged thing.

A pall, like a dark and brooding storm cloud, hangs over Everett.

Is there an effort made to keep people in the dark?

It appears that way.

In Massachusetts, we have something called the Open Meeting Law, which is designed “to ensure transparency in the deliberations on which public policy is based.”

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City 13th most infected on ‘Red’ list

Keeping Everett safe by wearing masks and social distancing is urged. (File photo by Jim Mahoney)

Rate high and growing, Chelsea, Revere worse

By JOSH RESNEK

Another 420 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been reported in Everett during the past seven days according to the State Department of Public Health.

Everett is listed 13th by the DPH on its “red” list of 150 cities and towns that are hot and brimming with the virus as the new week dawned upon the city.

The state has placed increased restrictions on gatherings and is emphasizing, again and again, the volatility of this virus and the need to socially distance, stay away from larger groups, and to wear facemasks, and to wash hands repeatedly if you want to stay virus-free.

State figures revealed that 4,968 new cases of the virus were reported last week.

Forty-seven new confirmed deaths were also added to the toll in Massachusetts.

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Vaccine has arrived in MA

Medical staff, elderly first to get shots, early spring for the general population

By JOSH RESNEK

The first truck and airplane load of vaccine have been shipped as of early this week.

On Wednesday, most hospitals throughout the nation were expecting deliveries of the vaccine.

The first round of doses exceeding 1 million or so will be distributed to hospitals, to doctors and nurses and hospital staff and to old age home employees as well as to first responders.

It is not known exactly when the vaccines will be made available to Cambridge Health Alliance Hospital employees (CHA) (formerly the Whidden) and to senior citizens living in local old age homes but that prospect is believed to be sometime this week for hospital employees and next week for the elderly shut inside nursing homes, according to the spokesperson for the CHA.

Federal officials have been telling the nation that the vaccine doses in the many millions will be made available to Americans by March or with some luck, by the end of February.

However, the vaccines arriving against a backdrop of the virus reaching true epidemic proportions in the United States, makes it unlikely that the early dosing of the vaccines for doctors and nurse, et cetera, will do much to tamp down the effects of the runaway virus.

Another difficulty is that about 50% of Americans polled say they will not take the vaccine for an abundance of reasons, which will defeat the true power of vaccination to wipe out the virus in the years to come.

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Council meeting postponed, ECTV tech issues continue

By JOSH RESNEK

For the fourth time out of the last six ZOOM meetings, ECTV technicians have been unable to properly broadcast the meeting to the public.

Monday night’s disaster, heaped atop all the others, is becoming an embarrassment and making a mockery out the City Council’s effort to conform to new standards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City Council meeting scheduled for Monday night has been rescheduled for Wednesday night.

However, viewers are losing faith in ECTV’s ability to broadcast while the City Council has done nothing to voice its concern that management at ECTV, in addition to guidance from the City Council, is woefully lacking.

The mayor’s office, the de facto chief of operations and hiring for ECTV, has remained mum about the situation.

Monday’s meeting was typical of those that have been fumbled during the past two months.

The meeting began late, with those awaiting the broadcast confused when the ECTV screen remained black after the 7:00 pm start time.

At about 7:15 pm the broadcast began.

Mind you, a ZOOM televised hearing does not require much technology but whatever little is required, needs an experienced technician to broadcast to the public.

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Wynn ouster, pandemic turned tide on Encore

By JOSH RESNEK

The casino gambling business is all about the ability to generate enormous amounts of cash from gambling and benefiting from the travel business with hotels.

It is a simple, time-worn, tried, and true matrix.

Wynn Resorts is the world’s leading champion of casino gaming.

It’s five-star hotels are truly among the world’s great travel industry wonders.

The five-star hotel and casino in Everett has never lived up to the early expectations that Wynn founder Steve Wynn had for the site.

Wynn believed Encore in Everett would be his piece de resistance, the crowning touch to his spreading gambling empire, as well as another rung on his high-end hotel ladder.

The problem with gangster interests in the land site caused a great deal of negative chatter about the project.

The license not delivered to Encore until it had paid a $35 million fine to the state for “wrongdoing” several days before the place opened hurt the integrity of the project and affected as well the integrity of the state’s gaming commission and everyone involved. – lawyers, investigators, the State Police, and the FBI.

A series of lawsuits are now ongoing and very much active and related directly to the Encore license award as the suitable party by MGC.

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