‘Out of the woods’ but still has long road to full health
By LEADER STAFF
Council President Wayne Matewsky has successfully survived open-heart surgery and is apparently “out of the woods”, according to the councilor’s dear friend, Stat Smith.
“The operation was a success. Wayne is responding favorably. He still faces the long hurdle of recovery, but it looks like he will come through this,” Smith told the Leader Herald.
Smith is at the Holy Cross Hosptal in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
I met the Blue Suit Tuesday afternoon at the Elm Street Bakery. He was buying cupcakes. I purchased a Scali bread. It was windy, crazy windy. We fought the wind. The cold was brutal. The Blue Suit sank into the passenger seat. I started the car up. We drove off into the Everett afternoon.
“Why do you drive such a dump of a car?” the Blue Suit asked me. I felt just a bit insulted. I wondered what was wrong with my banged-up red 2007 Honda Fit. The front end is held together with Gorilla Glue. Other than that, I don’t believe there is anything classless about driving around Everett in it. But then, I’m not Carlo DeMaria. He needs a Mercedes or a Cadillac. He measures some of his self-importance by the car he drives. In my family experience, self-importance and stature were about how smart you were, or how large your bank account was.
Back to my Honda Fit.
“What’s the matter with my Honda?” I shot back. “My car isn’t good enough for you?”
“Carlo would never drive a piece of junk like this. He would consider it below his class.”
We were joking about the mayor’s “class” when driving through Glendale Square. I interrupted the Blue Suit.
“Look over there,” I said. “That’s where the mayor gasses up for free.”
2007 HONDA FIT
The Blue Suit looked at me like I was an idiot.
“Do you think you’re telling me something I don’t know?” he responded with mock amazement.
“Forgive me,” I said. “I forgot you know everything about Carlo.”
“Damn right,” the Blue Suit said with self-approval. There’s a bit of the mayor in all of us, I thought to myself.
In a recent Boston Globe Op-Ed and during a radio appearance on the Jim Braude and Margery Egan news show on National Public Radio, Adrien addressed how she is being treated by her colleagues and the mayor since she was elected.
She was invited to appear on the radio show based on the revelations she made in the Globe Op-Ed.
Her appearance last week on NPR caused the mayor to demand equal time on the Braude and Egan Show, a request they granted to him late last week.
During his radio appearance, the mayor said Adrien was “rude and ignorant.”
Adrien had detailed her poor treatment by her council colleagues and the mayor since her election during her earlier appearance on the Braude, Egan Show.
She described being taunted, being threatened, and being asked to resign by several of her colleagues.
She also gave substance and detail to her belief that the mayor is out to get her and isn’t exactly trying to hide the animus he holds for her.
Since we raised the question some months back, there has been no answer from city hall or from the mayor’s money manager, Eric Demas, about whether or not the casino has paid the city what it is owed.
We believe this is a good question for the city government to answer.
If the casino has paid its tab to the city under the Host Agreement on time and in full, well, that’s great.
The city council might even consider a resolution thanking Encore for paying its tab in full during such a difficult time when it cannot run at full steam.
Right from the start, the casino was late with its payments to the city – months late – and then it changed how it paid the city from directly paying the city to directly paying the state which then sends the money to the city.
Where exactly are we in this dance is what the voters and taxpayers of this city need to know.
City Councilor Gerly Adrien at her election celebration party. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso)
“Adrien’s transparency disturbs the old order, with its penchant for secrets and backroom deals.”
By JOSH RESNEK
When Gerly Adrien was elected a city councilor it signaled a new day in Everett politics.
Rather than welcome Adrien, a number of her colleagues resented her appearance on the council.
They didn’t hesitate to act out against her and whatever she tried to do.
What they didn’t like and found hard to accept about Adrien is that she is Black. She is aggressive. She will not play their games – which is to support the mayor en masse in nearly everything he asks for.
Adrien’s transparency disturbs the old order, with its penchant for secrets and backroom deals.
Fast forward to last week.
Adrien’s op-ed piece in the Boston Globe detailed the reception she has been given and the efforts that have been made to put her in her place by many of her colleagues and the mayor.
This was followed by her appearance on the Jim Braude Show on NPR.
