Category: Editorials

Tom Brady leaving; Say its not true

At a moment in history when a virus looks to disassemble our society, now we must endure a terrible moment in our life and times as New England sports fans, with news that Tom Brady is leaving the Patriots.

Brady leaving us, leaving the Patriots, leaving our Sunday football matinees as New England Patriot fans is all about an extraordinary moment in our sports lives.

It is a solemn moment. It is a moment with terrorizing qualities.

Above all, it marks a dramatic circumstance at a time when everything about the New England Patriots is about to change.

It is incomprehensible for many of us who have spent the past two decades watching Brady and the patriots go to the Super Bowl nine times and win six times, to now realize the party is over.

The king is leaving.

Continue reading Tom Brady leaving; Say its not true

The public schools

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(Photo by Jim Mahoney)

Unless we have been entirely misled about the difficulties the virus is going to impose upon us as we try to head into the future, the closure of the Everett Public Schools is likely to last longer than at first considered.

Superintendent Priya Tahiliani chose to act with an abundance of caution when she announced Everett’s schools would be shut for 30 days.

Not only did she do the right thing but she was here, in and out of her office on Vine Street, meeting with her staff and making judgments about what to do on the scene.

She didn’t need the mayor’s advice.

She didn’t leave the city for a vacation.

She understood the importance of being available during a difficult time.

What’s more, it appears more likely than not, that the EPS will be closed longer than 30 days, bringing to the fore the likelihood that the school year might already have been compromised by the coronavirus.

It was impossible to imagine just three weeks ago that our world was going to be profoundly reshaped by the virus.

Continue reading The public schools

Mayor shows no work ethic; Aruba vacation a black eye

The mayor heading out for a vacation to Aruba about ten days ago as our world was getting set to collapse is a telling moment about the mayor not lost on the residents and the voters of this city.

By leaving Everett instead of serving Everett during a moment of great stress when his leadership was needed, he showed most of us what he thinks of us. He showed as well what he thinks about his job and the oath he took to honor the position.

It was as though the mayor saw the disaster coming and he made his decision to head to Aruba, rather than to stick around and to act the way the leader of a city should act during a time like this.

Deserting the city during a dramatic moment, when so much appeared to be hanging in the balance about the future, the mayor revealed who he is, how he thinks, and what, in the last analysis, is most important to him.

What is that?

Most important to the mayor is himself.

Continue reading Mayor shows no work ethic; Aruba vacation a black eye

Friendly Sons cancelled

The $100 per person and $900 per table Friendly Sons of St. Patrick affair scheduled for next week at the Encore Hotel and Casino has been cancelled.

The tendency right now is for large affairs of that kind to be put off or cancelled entirely because of the rising fear of the possible spread of the coronavirus.

In Boston, that city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been called off, as well as many of the typical St. Paddy’s Days celebrations.

Also called off are large gatherings of all kinds from medical symposiums to some high school sporting events.

Friendly Sons event organizers had appeared to be stumbling along, somewhat paralyzed by the poor prospects for a big turnout or of a turnout of any kind worth noting because of the potential coronavirus implications.

Continue reading Friendly Sons cancelled

Coronavirus sends mayor to Aruba

The part-time mayor has left the city to vacation in Aruba at a moment when the coronavirus may likely be impacting the city.

In what has been described as the most potentially destructive and deadly pandemic outbreak in 100 years, the mayor, your mayor, our mayor, has chosen to fly away from the city for a vacation.

As on old and wise friend used to say to me when I would tell him I am going on a vacation, he’d say: ”Son, how are you going on vacation when you’re on vacation?”

The same applies to the part-time mayor.

Maybe he will tell us that it really isn’t a vacation at all, but that he needed to be at the Aruba mayoral office he keeps there and that he is working hard every hour of everyday – on his cell phone.

Or maybe he went to Arizona to hang out and then maybe tale a flight to Vegas for a stop in at Wynn Resorts or the Encore there.

He has told us that he needs only his cellphone in his hand to be considered in charge of the city and its well-being.

Continue reading Coronavirus sends mayor to Aruba