Josh Resnek – Everett Leader Herald

Adrien launches citywide Listening Tour de Force

By Josh Resnek

City Councilor at-Large elect Gerly Adrien is sprinting out of the starter’s box announcing she is going on a citywide “Listening Tour.”

In one of the most unusual and creative political efforts intended to help gain insight into what residents want out of her as their councilor at-large, she will be launching a citywide tour beginning November 18 – December 18.

A series of meet and greet events will be held in all six wards of the city, and she is making herself available for possible appearances inside the public schools, as well as holding meetings with minority business owners.

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— Eye on Everett —

City Hall Shakeup

By Josh Resnek

The talk of the city is the outcome of last week’s municipal election.

If you are the mayor, you can think of nothing else even though he tells the yes men surrounding him that the election didn’t mean anything.

The election meant everything.

The results are mind numbing.

For the mayor, they are, frankly, incomprehensible, a disaster of the first order.

It is as if everyone he told to vote his way voted another way and the outcome was like handwriting on the wall – and this isn’t just me writing hyperbole – it is Everett voters understanding exactly what they did.

No one likes being told by the mayor who to vote for because they work for the city.

City employees showed their independence of him voting for their hearts rather than letting him pull their strings.

For the likes of his cousin Councilor Anthony DiPierro and his paid lackey and comrade in arms Gerry Navarro, last week’s outcomes across the board went against the mayor.

Navarro once told me recently the mayor could never be beaten. “He’ll be the mayor forever,” he said to me.

“That’s a bad bet, Gerry, following the outcome of this election,” I’d tell him.

“He’s not going to be the mayor forever and this election proved it.”

Let’s start at the top of the list of those the mayor supported who all lost and work downward.

Continue reading — Eye on Everett —

Who is the ticket topper? Gerly or Matewsky?

By Josh Resnek

The city’s Election Commission is awaiting final determinations about ten votes from the Registry of Motor Vehicles to determine who topped the ticket in the councilor at large race.

Although Councilor at Large elect Gerly Adrien topped the voting in unofficial returns released by the Election Commission on Election night – she scored two more votes than Councilor at Large Wayne Matewsky – as provisional votes were approved in the aftermath, the two became locked in a top the ticket battle.

As of Wednesday morning, Adrien and Matewsky were tied at 1973 votes each, quite an unbelievable coincidence of votes for the two at- large councilors.

Continue reading Who is the ticket topper? Gerly or Matewsky?

School chair demands allegiance; orders colleagues; my way or Highway

Calls for his resignation Follow

By Josh Resnek

An agitated, and visibly angry, School Chair Thomas Abruzzese ordered his colleagues in the school department and on the school committee to be with him or to resign in a stunning blaze of harsh and sometime incoherent comments and threats that ended the Monday night School Committee meeting at the high school.

This angry and aggressive outburst, apparently fueled by a personal matter and disputes growing out of Abruzzese’s heavy handed leadership of the superintendent search committee, brought calls for his immediate resignation from a slew of officials, administrators and school department employees, none of whom wished to be identified for fear of his retribution.

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Exelon tax fight with city makes it to Superior Court

By Josh Resnek

Arguments were supposed to be heard Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court between the City of Everett and Exelon, the owners of the power station on the Everett shoreline of the Mystic River across from the casino. However, by mutual agreement, the hearing was postponed until a date to be set for December, according to Exelon officials.

At contention is whether or not the city can assess the property for a much higher value and collect much greater tax payments than the $15 million a year that has been paid for the past 20 years.

The city is using an ex post facto type defense claiming Exelon artificially estimated the true value of the land and structures when the TIF was voted on 20 years ago.

The mayor has indicated he believes the TIF, which he voted for when he was councilor, gave Exelon all the advantages and robbed the city of what it is truly due.

Continue reading Exelon tax fight with city makes it to Superior Court