Editorials – Page 2 – Everett Leader Herald

The Pope John Question

The city has paid 10.5 million for the former Pope John High School assemblage in North Everett.

Now the city is giving it away to developers promising 140 affordable housing units in return.

This, at a time when the School Department is nearly out of viable options for added classroom space.

The administration has made its decision.

More affordable housing is more important than more classroom space for the city’s public school system.

Any way one chooses to weigh and measure this decision, it is wrong.

Providing an education and making space available for the children of this city to be educated is critical to the city’s well-being.

The city can get along without another 140 units of affordable housing.

It cannot get along if public school students do not have classrooms to be educated in.

Pope John was an educational institution for decades. The assemblage of buildings includes classroom space sufficient to meet the needs of Everett’s public school system.

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Returning to Yesterday

The Supreme Court’s decision last week overturning Roe v Wade is a reminder to us of the power of the political and legal system by which we have lived since 1789 to assert control over our lives.

The right to abortion has been compromised by the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to allow states to decide whether or not abortion is allowed.

The perception among Americans who favored Roe v Wade is that the Supreme Court made a political decision.

The Supreme Court has not always stood for the rights of Americans.

In this instance, it has rejected the former legal judgment that stood for 50 years that women have the right to control their lives and to do with themselves and their bodies what they determine as free Americans.

Millions of women across the nation feel deserted by the Supreme Court’s decision.

Abortion is a topic that pits men and women who favor it over those who deplore it.

The Supreme Court did not make its ruling determined by who is for it and who is against.

Had it done this, Roe v Wade would have remained standing as far more Americans support abortion than are opposed to it.

From 1789 until 1954, the Supreme Court was notoriously segregationist, upholding the separate but equal doctrines that perpetuated second class citizenship for the nation’s Black men, women and children.

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The Jimmy Le Case

Councilor Jimmy Le has been out of action as a city councilor since he was accused of sexual harassment by his colleague, Councilor Stephanie Martins several months back.

Le has not attended a council meeting since being accused by Martins.

It appears likely Le will not be attending city council meetings anytime soon as the law is not a short dash type race.

Rather, the law moves at the pace of a long marathon.

Le, therefor, is a councilor without a council to attend.

This is a situation that cannot be allowed to go on without end. The city charter provides for a councilor who does not attend a certain number of hearings to be ousted from his or her elected position.

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Outdoor Dining

The outdoor dining venues that have popped up all over the city and especially in and around Everett Square give the city’s downtown environment a badly needed entertainment style boost.

The outdoor dining areas operated by Oliveiras, the 8/10 Restaurant on Norwood Street, and the Everett Square Deli, are exactly the type of new dining possibilities outside that give added life and a panache to a city now welcoming thousands of new residents in the many modern apartment houses that have been built and which are now going up.

We have noted some complaints by those who question the efficacy of the outside dining venues as though they are mismanaged efforts at clogging up the streets and sidewalks and ruining the bus lanes now stretching throughout the city’s main thorough-fares.

We urge those people offended or even disturbed by the presence of outdoor dining to embrace this as part of the new Everett going up all around us.

Eating outdoors during the late spring, summer and fall months gives the city an entirely different look and feel.

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Costa Replaces DiPierro

Former Ward 3 Councilor Anthony DiPierro, who resigned in disgrace, was replaced Monday night with Darren Costa, the runner-up in Ward 3 in the November election.

Costa made his debut into the fractious Everett political arena at city hall with a memorable opening speech and with actions that befit someone who had been serving for quite some time rather than being a novice newcomer feeling uncomfortable or shy.

Costa was assertive, businesslike, and to the point.

He speaks with clarity and his booming voice resonates with his authority.

He has quite a presence. It was obvious from the moment he opened his mouth.

He participated throughout Monday night’s erratic and inconclusive session.

In his own way, he let it be known he will be his own man. He will not be badgered about by his colleagues, and he pledged that he will treat everyone with respect, and that he will not suffer fools at all.

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