The mayor’s threats are hollow

Last week, the mayor informed the city that he will no longer be paying his own legal bills.

He informed the city that because of what some people say about him as well as publish about him, he is now charging the city to have a former US Attorney A. John Pappalardo to read everything said about him and written about him locally that has somehow tarnished his reputation. We do not know if this includes the Boston Globe and Herald, who have both published exquisitely detailed news reports of his difficulties with sexual harassment and of the FBI’s investigation into municipal corruption in Everett which includes the land sale to Wynn Resorts.

He has threatened to have this attorney, at city cost, sue city officials and or the Leader Herald for defaming him, libeling him or casting aspersions on his style of leadership.

As a public figure, he should know better. His lawyer should know better as well. But at $750 an hour, Pappalardo very likely plans to be spending many hours of his valuable time furnishing the mayor with a proper road map for the success of his political future.

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Deadly force and the police

During the past decade, nearly every relevant police statistic that is kept in this city has seen a marked decline across the board.

Under the able, enlightened and intelligent leadership of Police Chief Steven Mazzie, the city boasts a responsive, loyal to the job, effective police force.

We call. They come. No matter what it is – a fact made especially obvious during the pandemic, when responding to your danger puts the police in greater danger as well.

Civil rights law suits and violations have been almost non-existent as have been claims of police violence against residents during the past decade.

Training and education for police officers on the force has never been more vigorous.

The police budget is where it ought to be for a community of Everett’s size and varied needs – and for public emergencies that pop up from time to time.

Defunding the Everett Police Department budget would be a mistake.

Why?

Because policing this city requires a certain amount of respect, force, compassion and understanding. This does not include defunding or putting the EPD out of business as we know it today.

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It’s obscene the mayor charges city for his legal expenses

The mayor revealed Monday evening that the city is now paying legal bills generated by A. John Pappalardo, of the law firm Greenburg Traurig, who the mayor hired to protect his political future and to defend the city against mischaracterizations about the mayor allegedly appearing in the local press and those uttered by city councilors and other individuals.

This news, coming at a time when the city is in need of money to meet the demands of a budget coming up that cannot be met, was met with amazement by several councilors, among them Councilors Fred Capone, Mike McLaughlin and Gerly Adrien.

Capone and McLaughlin said without equivocation that they would not sign off on paying Pappalardo’s bills, especially the bill for his appearance before the board several months back.

He came at the mayor’s request.

“You should pay him. I won’t pay him a cent,” said Capone. McLaughlin agreed.

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Mayor drags feet on integration of city’s workforce

Last week, some of us listened to the online vigil for George Floyd carried on Zoom and put on by the mayor and Councilor at Large Gerly Adrien.

Adrien’s remarks, as expected, were stunning.

She said things that we do not believe we have heard ever from anyone in public office in Everett in its modern era.

In essence, she did something the US Attorney has failed to do.

She indicted the mayor, claiming the city’s employees in nearly every department, are mostly white, with very few Black and brown skinned people as well as very few Hispanics.

She included all the departments – and what is terrible about this – she is right.

The mayor plays lip service to the city’s minorities.

He praises minorities on the one hand.

He does not like minorities. He does not hire minorities on the other.

But who in the city government other than Adrien is going to stand up and be heard against the mayor’s racist hiring practice?

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Councilor Gerly Adrien acting boldly

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Everett City Councilor Gerly Adrien seen smiling at her election celebration party at Braza Bar And Grill in January. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso)

There is right now one elected member of the city government making the tough calls and requests of a city government that is blind to the needs of minorities.

That is Councilor at Large Gerly Adrien.

There is a strong undercurrent against her efforts to awaken the city to its inequities when it comes to doing the right thing for its black and brown population.

However, she proved in the last election when she topped the ticket that black and brown people cannot be held down in this city any longer.

Her power is her popularity with the voters of this city.

No one should underestimate having such power in a place like this because it reveals that voters here are more a reflection of the modern world than some of the people leading the city, chief among them, the mayor.

Adrien is met with opposition at every step by the mayor, who refuses to allow her to join with him in anything but preserving the status quo.

She has already proven she is not willing to perpetuate an Everett city government that excludes black and brown people and nearly all the city’s minorities.

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