Mayor Carlo DeMaria – Everett Leader Herald

City government criminally absent of diversity

The near absence of diversity at Everett City Hall in 2021 is shocking, painful, and proof of the disingenuous the mayor is about changing the course of racial history here.

The mayor stands against diversity.

He has been a detriment, indeed, a roadblock against diversity for twelve years.

The figures prove this.

The situation warrants a Justice Department investigation and intervention.

Everett City Hall and the nearly all-white city workforce and administration leadership look more like the all-white pre-Nelson Mandela South Africa than a modern American city that is largely non-white.

The racial inequality in this city is an indictment of the mayor’s incapacity and unwillingness to see beyond color.

It is also indicative of the pejorative beliefs he carries about Blacks and browns and immigrants as second-rate people who should not be given a chance to run the city of Everett, let alone to have a role in how the government is managed.

Everett, today, remains a segregated city.

The situation is shameful.

The city government’s workforce is a bastion of segregation and overt racism.

— Eye on Everett —

“Carlo doesn’t understand what diversity is.”

– The Mayor’s Blue Suit talking with Josh Resnek

By JOSH RESNEK

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.”

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.

Questions and answers with School Committee member Dana Murray

Question: If it is true that the mayor is now planning to stack the School Committee with members more likely to do his bidding, what is your response to such a thing, i.e., the stacking of the School Committee here or the stacking of a school committee anywhere by a mayor?

— I will be running again. While I believe that I have a very necessary set of expertise for my role, I have personally never suggested that I am the only person suited to my seat. I can only say that I am doing my very best for all of our children every day. This was my promise getting onto the SC, and continues to be my promise. If the voters make another choice, so be it.

School committee members shocked, not surprised, denounce mayor’s “packing”

By JOSH RESNEK

The mayor’s plan to “pack” the Everett School Committee (ESC) has met with strong statements of condemnation by ESC members and several city councilors put off by the revelation made in last week’s Leader Herald.

“I am horrified by the suggestion if it is true,” said School Committeewoman Dana Murray.

Murray is one of those the mayor would would like to see replaced.

“I have concerns about this,” School Committeeman Frank Parker told the Leader Herald.

He said the voters would determine who serves and that it would be difficult for the mayor to elect a slate of his own choosing.

Parker may pay the price of the mayor’s derision and non-support for such honest remarks in November.

EFD rescue person from Lewis St. fire, manpower shortage still a problem for city

February 21: A two-alarm fire at 40 Lewis Street. EFD rescued one person from the second floor. (Photo by Patrick Johnston)

By JOSH RESNEK

A Monday night fire on Lewis Street led to the over the ladder rescue of a person trapped inside the burning home.

That fire came at a prophetic moment as the firefighter’s union, the mayor, and others in the administration are having talks about what to do about the dwindling number of Everett firefighters.

According to those familiar with the ongoing talks, the mayor is not now prepared to hire any firefighters despite the department being down 20 firefighters mainly due to retirements.

“The department’s morale is as low as I can recall in a lifetime,” said retired Deputy Chief Michael Ragucci.

“The men and women of the EFD deserve better. The mayor knows this. He has failed to act. He says there aren’t enough fires anymore to justify the hires. The people of the city rely on us. We are all that exist between professionally manned and managed public safety efforts and chaos. The mayor needs to choose, and soon,” Ragucci added.