Eye on Everett – Everett Leader Herald

— Eye on Everett —

THE BLUE SUIT

“I’m wondering about that picture you used on the front p
age showing the mayor at a Little League opening holding a baseball and smiling. Is Carlo’s re-entry into Everett life after a long absence about happiness…or is it about misery?“

– The Blue Suit speaking to Josh Resnek Tuesday.

That’s a good question, isn’t it, I thought to myself. The Blue Suit and I were eating lunch at Oliveira’s in Everett Square. We love Oliveira’s. The Blue Suit eats like there is no tomorrow – a bit like his boss Carlo when he’s nervous and tending to deal with his nervousness by eating.

At Oliveira’s, your food is weighed. The buffet of everything salad and eggs, potatoes and rice, olives and tomatoes is out of this world. However the next step up to the grill area where lamb, beef, chicken and sausage are being grilled on skewers…well…when it is cut from the skewers and placed on our plates, now that’s what I call an outstanding Everett treat.

We sat down with our plates at a table for two. Giant flat screens showing soccer games provided entertainment. The Brazilian waitresses dressed in black gave us great service. We ate and talked.

“Is the mayor happy and pleased with himself? Is he liking getting around doing the things he must do? Or is he tired of it all and ready for a change?” I asked the Blue Suit.

The Blue Suit finished chewing a mouthful of rare sirloin, rice and salad. Then he replied.

“I’ve got a surprise for you, Josh,” he said to me.

“What is that?” I asked. “I love surprises, especially if they’re about Carlo.”

“He’s going into the real estate business,” the Blue Suit said before shoveling another mound of sirloin, sausage and chicken into his mouth.

“What do you mean?” I asked in response.

Spitting his food and slurping it and then letting out a burb followed a deep sigh he began anew.

“I mean he got his real estate salespersons license in February,” the Blue Suit told me.

“Wow. That’s something, isn’t it. Don’t you have to go to school for that license or something like that?” I asked.

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— Eye on Everett —

“I don’t usually lecture you about any- thing. I don’t pretend to be a lawyer or a member of the American Civil Liberties Union but I want to make a prediction to you about what is surely coming… that is…the official planned suspension of the public speaking portion of the city council meetings. You can bet on it.”
– The mayor’s Blue Suit speaking to Josh Resnek Tuesday afternoon

In a city where the mayor makes every attempt to control public discourse to his own political advantage, residents speaking out in droves as they have been doing before the city council for the past month is a situation he cannot and will not tolerate. The public speaking portion of the city council meetings cannot be eliminated with the snap of a finger. It can be toyed with as Council President John Hanlon has been trying to do – and I understand it’s because he’s been under pressure from the corner office to put a cap on public speaking – to lock out the public from having their say.

The more Hanlon tries to crack the idiot Everett whip, the more that he insists going over the ten minutes allowed for public speaking is illegal, the greater the effort of those wishing to speak becomes.

In fact, the public speaking portion of the city council meetings have become the talk of the city. Why? Because the speakers are honest about what they have to say. They are not scripted like the councilors or married for better or worse to the whims of the mayor. When Maria Bussell spoke Monday night about councilors needing to act independently and to think honestly and to act with courage, she finished up her remarks saying this: “I want to note that I should not be retaliated against (by the mayor) nor should retribution be taken against me because I am a city employee who has spoken out.” Therein is a key that unlocks the door to the mayor’s base of power. It is not a base of power rooted in freedom of speech. It is a base of power that relies on free speech being denied and free speech being controlled and orchestrated by his city solicitor and his CFO Eric Demas. The mayor’s power can be used to attempt to dismiss someone like Maria Bussell who has worked for the city for 30 years, or anyone for that matter who is a city employee and who refuses to play the Carlo DeMaria political game.

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— Eye on Everett —

THE BLUE SUIT

Frank and honest discussions between two good friends and confidants, the mayor’s Blue Suit and Josh Resnek

“Did you watch that city council meeting Monday night? What a thing it was! Did you hear the open mike gaffe?”

– The Blue Suit speaking with Josh Resnek

“Let’s start with Al Lattanzi. You’ve got to love Al Lattanzi,” the Blue suit said to me. He was all bundled up. It was very cold. We walked side by side in a snow covered Woodlawn Cemetery, closer to the Revere side. There the older granite markers and monuments are stunningly beautiful with that weathered darker gray of the granite juxtaposed against the perfect white of the snow.

“What’s your problem with Al Lattanzi?” I asked.

“Did you hear what he proposed?”

“Yeah. I heard it,” I answered. “It was kind of a weird first legislative proposal for a newcomer to the board.”

“Weird indeed,” I added.

“What’s with him wanting to increase the number of liquor licenses in Everett?” I asked the Blue Suit.

We continued walking in the cemetery. I used to love cemeteries. Now I don’t really like being around them. I don’t want to be buried. I have a terrible fear of being in a casket six feet under the ground. In fact, I’ve informed my wife and kids when I take my last breath, I want to be dragged out of wherever I died by the ankles, stuffed into a car and taken immediately to a crematorium. That will be that. I will be pleased. Everyone can then get on with their lives. I don’t want or care about an obituary. I don’t want a service anywhere. Please allow me to be totally gone when I die, I’ve told my wife and kids.

“Isn’t that a bit harsh, Josh?” the Blue Suit wondered.

“Not at all.”

Back to Al Lattanzi.

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— Eye on Everett —

“Carlo is taking over the public schools. Everything is set in motion. He’s got 8 votes on the School Committee. This is his piece de resistance, the takeover, control and the manipulation of the school department. He’s smacking his lips, smoking a victory cigar and the fight hasn’t even begun.”

– The mayor’s Blue Suit Speaking with Josh Resnek

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

I picked up the Blue suit at the end of Elm Street Tuesday afternoon.

“Hey, let’s get out of town for an hour and talk,” the Blue Suit suggested.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked him.

“There’s a place over in Malden where Carlo goes for private meetings when he doesn’t want to be seen.”

“What is it called and where is it located?” I asked.

“It’s called the Bistro. It’s on Exchange Street,” the Blue Suit answered.

So we drove over to Malden in my red Honda.

We ended up at the Bistro. I parked. We got out of the car. We walked inside.

‘I’d like a table in the back room if it isn’t being used,” the Blue Suit asked the concierge. “We’re looking for some privacy,” her added.

“Of course. Right this way,” the concierge answered.

I thought I caught him looking at the Blue Suit strangely. “May I have your name, sir,”
he asked the Blue Suit.

“I am the Blue Suit,” he told the concierge.

The concierge looked a bit taken aback.

“Are you Carlo DerMaria’s Blue Suit?” the concierge asked. “Yes, I am.”

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— Eye on Everett —

“I think I’ve been blocked from the mayor’s Facebook account. Can you imagine him taking that away from me?”

– Josh Resnek speaking with the mayor’s Blue Suit Tuesday

By JOSH RESNEK with THE BLUE SUIT

“Did he really do that to you, Josh. You know it takes a lot of guts to block someone from coming on to your Facebook site,” the Blue said. He couldn’t stop laughing at his own joke.

“Yeah. It’s a bit like landing at Normandy Beach on D-Day. Takes real guts,” I added.

“Why would the mayor do something like that?” I asked the Blue Suit.

“Maybe he doesn’t like you looking at his Facebook site. Did you ever think about that, Josh” the Blue Suit suggested. “He didn’t do it,” I said. “I suspect he doesn’t know how to block anyone from a Facebook site. You want to know, I don’t know how to do it either. Don’t forget, I’ve got about 3,000 friends on my Leader Herald Facebook site. We’ve never blocked anyone. Friends and foes alike are welcome on the Leader Herald Facebook site. You have something to say, you can write it on the Leader Herald site. You like Carlo, you can have your say. You don’t like Carlo, you can have your say. You support Carlo, go ahead, write your heart out. And on and on.”

“If Carlo didn’t block me, then who did?” I asked the Blue Suit.

“Probably his chief of staff or his media person did it. They are pretty good at strategizing that way.”

“I understand,” I answered. “But how do you think I feel not being able to access the mayor’s Facebook site? What a thing to do to a person. It just isn’t fair and it isn’t right. I used to go to his site every day to find all those valuable golden nuggets of information about all the good Carlo is doing for the people of the city.”

The Blue Suit yawned. He squashed nearly an entire piece of pizza in his mouth with a push of his fingers. What followed next is almost indescribable – the Blue Suit chewing that slice of pizza and devouring it the way a garbage disposal reduces whole food to bits and pieces before sloshing down the drain into oblivion.

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