Everett News – Everett Leader Herald

Around the city…

Waiting for the bus. (Photo by Joe Resnek)

Primary comes and goes

Like a fast moving weather front with a bit of rain, the 2023 municipal primary has come and gone, just like that, like with the snap of a finger.

The low voter turnout is a sign of the times. The lack of interest in voting for lesser election venues is nationwide.

Everett is no different from a host of cities all over the nation.

Now it is a short rush to the November finale.

Hopefully, and more likely than not, many thousands more will vote in the election.

This is the hope in a democracy where we face many hurdles with our national government, leadership in general, and the wide- spread belief held by so many Americans, that we do not know the way.

The nation has been split for quite some time along ethnic, color and voting lines.

It seems as though men are against women. Women are against men. Whites are against Blacks and Browns. Blacks and Browns are against whites. The rich are in their own space and don’t want to give away any status to the poor. There is no end to this wearying declension.

In November we will find out who the most popular municipal elected officials are in this city.

The voters are the ultimate jury. The vote is the ultimate decision.

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Political signage

We are publishing a letter to the editor from Jon Puopolo requesting that the city do something to curb the use of political signage or to do away with it entirely.

In a city where politics rules and where awakening is considered a political activity, the suggestion of stopping the placement of political signage all over the city is a very bold suggestion indeed.

We don’t know if residents and politicians would go for such an order against political signage.

After all, the signage only stays up for months and months as political campaigns wind down to election day.

Then, like magic, the signage disappears.

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A new high school

The mayor continues to advocate for a new high school.

This is sound judgment.

However a new high school, by his own admission Monday night at the city council meeting where he appeared, will likely cost “north of $500 million.”

A new high school, even if approved by the state at some point in the future, will take longer than ten years to become a reality.

There is a movement underway right now at the State House to redo the percentages in funding that cities like Everett could depend on if given the OK by the state to move forward on a new high school.

That might be as much as 50% reimbursement under a new plan or even higher.

This would be a good thing for a Gateway City like ours.

However, even if the reimbursement is much higher, the cost remains almost prohibitive.

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Garcia and Le in virtual tie in Ward 4; 2 votes separate them, Garcia on top

**Kit Bridge (right photo) is out of it but her votes might make the difference against incumbent Jimmy Tri Le (center photo) in the final if they go to Holly Garcia (left photo).**

By Josh Resnek

Councilor Jimmy Tri Le was bested by 2 votes by Holly Garcia, a political newcomer who is a lawyer and activist.

This was not exactly a landslide.

Rather, it revealed just how close voting will likely be in the November finale between these two candidates.

Garcia’s finish was a surprise, and no one was more surprised than Le.

He finished out the pre-primary period with hanging many signs and working his base, which is substantial.

Garcia, on the other hand, worked the ward with a grassroots effort, meeting residents and voters, and making great gains doing so.

The result – a 2 vote difference between the two. Garcia’s repeated appearances on city council broadcasts by ECTV as a public speaker had to have aided in her effort for recognition.

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Primary night felt like old home week at city hall as balloting results tabulated

By Josh Resnek

A small crowd began collecting inside city hall on the first floor in front of the city clerk’s office a few minutes before balloting stations in the wards and precincts closed their books on the 2023 Primary.

By 8:30 p.m., as a succession of Everett police wheeled their ballot boxers down the hall before disappearing into the city clerk’s office, a crowd of about 25 men and women were engaged in full political discussions about the results that were to be released – which did not occur until 9:45 p.m.

Behind the wall of windows, inside the clerk’s office, where the Election Commission operates out of, Danielle Pietrantonio and her staff rushed about to collect the figures and with the aid of City Clerk Sergio Cornelio and several other election officials.

In the corridor, Councilor at Large Stephanie Smith had already collected preliminary figures, without early voting numbers, which she shared with nearly everyone hoping to know who won and who lost at the earliest time possible.

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