Everett MA – Page 2 – Everett Leader Herald

— Eye on Everett —

“What do you think? Can the mayor be beaten?.”
– Josh Resnek asking a question to the mayor’s Blue Suit

By JOSH RESNEK

In Everett political circles, there’s one major question about the upcoming September 21 primary and the following election November 7.

Can the mayor be beaten?

This is the major Everett political question until the evening of September 21.

For the sake of my sanity and to show I really want to

know what folks believe, I put the question to my buddy, the mayor’s Blue Suit on Monday morning.

I met him at the corner store in Everett Square where he was buying cigarettes and scratch tickets. I know. I know. How low can the Blue Suit go? But then, he does live with the mayor inside the polished marble mansion on Abbott Avenue. He can’t help but be a bit like his boss, the man who has enslaved him for years wearing him around and abusing him.

Inside my car, I put it to him.

“Can Carlo be beaten?”

“Jes… Josh, don’t you think about anything else? Is Carlo all that’s on your mind? Cause if he is, I can show you how to get to you to check in to a padded room and get you some medication to take the edge off your paranoid existence,” the Blue Suit answered.

We shared a laugh as we drove down Broadway past the Parlin Library, past Central Station.

Political signs should be banned

Political signs stand tall on Everett homefronts. (Photo by Jim Mahoney)

Many communities who regard political signage with disdain have banned outdoor political signage.

Everett ought to seriously think about doing the same.

The city is coming to take on the look and feel of a political sign receptacle.

The mayor’s over-the-top outdoor signage is typical of his arrogant and outlandish behavior. He’d like to see a DeMaria sign on every home and apartment house in the city.

Capone and Adrien have intensified their outdoor signage efforts, so they don’t appear outdistanced by the mayor.

The sign wars are a waste of time and energy.

Over-development

There isn’t a homeowner in the city or an apartment dweller who isn’t inconvenienced in their lives by the over-development now taking place in every neighborhood in the city.

Capone spoke about this during a campaign rally Saturday.

He said the over-development needs to be controlled.

He is spot on about this.

If it cannot be controlled, then it needs to be guided by the mayor, or better yet, by someone interested in the well-being and the future of the city rather than an elected public official looking for quid pro quos at every corner, and on every street from developers looking to make a buck off the back of the city and its quality of life.

Development is important.

City hall employees deserve a break

Since Carlo DeMaria became the mayor, city hall employees have been required to hold signs for him, to wear his bumper stickers on their automobile biles, to plant his signs in front of their homes, and to make contributions once or twice a year.

For what?

To keep the mayor from firing them, demoting them, castigating them, and making their work lives miserable.

If you don’t work at Everett City Hall it is difficult to imagine the requirements that must be met to keep the may- or from taking their jobs away from them and ruining their lives.

City hall employees have already received their marching orders.

When they are ordered to hold signs, there is no way out.

Doesn’t matter if you have something to do with your kids or your parents, or a summer activity, you must show up to hold a sign or go door to door handing out literature or you could be fired or disciplined.

This is a way of life that has come to pass here that is not just against all the rules of civility but is against the law.

Donating to the mayor’s campaigns because you hold a city job is a requirement here. It has been for 14 years.

Pietrantonio rushing for Ward 6 council score

City council candidate and Everett High assistant football coach Ross Pietrantonio is taking on Al Lattanzi for the open Ward 6 seat. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso)

Assistant EHS football battles local businessman for open spot in city government

By LORENZO RECUPERO

Lifelong Everett resident and standout athlete Ross Pietrantonio knows what it feels like to win for Everett, having been part of three championship Crimson Tide football teams. He plans to reprise the winning sentiment this fall, as a candidate for the open Ward 6 City Council seat.

A 2004 Everett High School graduate, Pietrantonio hasn’t felt pressure from anyone but himself to run for city council, stating he’s not a politician, just a guy from the city who wants to help.

He is resolute and his motive for running is clear: Everett kids deserve more.

Youth development is at the forefront of Pietrantonio’s campaign platform. The city’s lack of such programs has been a source of major frustration for him.

“The city’s missing active role models for our youth and I want to fill one of those roles,” said Pietrantonio, who plans, win or lose, to live by his campaign slogan: “Change starts with you”.

“[The slogan] is pretty simple. If you want to help change something, you can’t wait for someone else to do it, you need to be first,” he said.