Reminder Notice

From time to time, we need to reminder our readers and posters about the proper use of language. Foul language is not to be used when posting comments on this blog.

We generally will edit posts containing any foul language, but the policy of The Everett Mirror going forward will be to completely delete any comments posted that use foul language, and the ISP of the poster will be blocked from the site.

We're sorry to have to take this extreme measure.

Thank you for your consideration.

A SECOND REMINDER!!

We posted a reminder back in November concerning comments about the family members of elected officials. Remember . . . family members are not public figures and, therefore, should not be subjected to public scrutiny in the way that elected officials and other public figures are. We asked back in November that you all be mindful of this when posting comments and refrain from involving these family members in the discussion on this blog.

Once again this evening, a comment was posted that was inappropriate, and comments that followed only served to escalate commentary that was already out of line. These comments have been removed, and comments of this type that are hurtful or potentially libelous in this way will continue to be removed.

We thank you for your understanding.

Sludge Meeting Update-by Chris Keohan

We had another tremendous meeting last night. Over 40 people showed up to take on leadership roles within our ever-expanding group. Paul from Toxics Action Center showed us the steps that we need to take to become a fully organized group that can help us Stop the Sludge! It is also a pleasure to welcome Carrie Dancy of East Somerville Main Streets. She will be instrumental in getting our group to expand into the Somerville area. Mayor Curtatone sent 2 representatives from his office and they are eager to help in any way they can. We will also continue to reach out to other active groups in order to continue to grow and expand our reach. I hope that everyone can continue to forward these emails out and tell people that Boston's project is definitely not a done deal.

While I will continue to help organize the overall campaign, we have decided to have 5 "Team Leaders" that will take the lead on specific tasks for the group. The leaders are:

MEDIA: Pat Johnston
The media group will organize people that are willing to write letters to the editor, editorials, etc. They will also help coordinate events that we expect to get press at, and organize people to call media outlets in order to get our project more air time.

POLITICAL PRESSURE: Peter Napolitano
The political pressure group will organize people to write letters to elected officials and decision makers. They will also organize people to make phone calls, send faxes, etc.

COALITION RECRUITMENT: TBD
We currently have many people working to expand the group, as well as bring in other organized groups to expand our reach. Groups like East Somerville Main Streets and Toxics Action Center will be integral to reaching out to the other cities involved in fighting this project. I will spend most of my time working with this group, but would love to have someone take it on as the Team Leader.

The coalition recruitment group will work to contact other activist groups, recruit businesses to allow signs, pamphlets and petitions, and expand the amount of people working to collect signatures, make calls, and go door to door to educate people.

*This group will eventually be able to filter all newly signed up volunteers to the other working groups based on what each volunteer agrees to do. Members will have to work closely with the other groups in order to educate, expand, and evaluate our progress.

Experts/Information Research: Peter Aliberti
The experts/info research group will work to gather as much information on the project as possible. Their other responsibility will be to seek out experts on Environmental Justice, Rivers, land management, etc. that would be willing to help out our cause pro bono.

FUNDRAISING: TBD
We recently applied for a grant from the Grassroots Environment Fund and are waiting to hear back. To further our efforts we must reach out to other groups that give grants, ask members to help, find donors, and solicit local businesses/others that will be affected by this project. By raising money we will be able to produce pamphlets, make signs, advertise, etc. Although this will not be very expensive, any amount of money raised will help us to fight Boston. *Remember, anytime we make copies or print something out it costs someone money.

Thank you all for all of the work that you have done, are doing, and will do in the future. Together we will stop Boston and put everyone on notice that the people of Everett, Somerville, and Charlestown will not be the dumping ground for Greater Boston any longer. We have taken our fair share of the pollution. Now is the time for everyone in this area to realize the benefits of clean air, water, and land.

Keep up what you are doing; if you're interesting in participating in any of the above groups, please contact me, and I'll forward your name to the appropriate team leader.

I will be in touch soon about a major meeting for all of the surrounding communities in the next month or so to gain major press for our cause.

Chris
(617) 892-2765

Dear Mayor Hanlon

We've been reading through some old newspapers lately, Mayor Hanlon, and we came across the 12 point plan that you used during your campaign in 2005 to outline what the Hanlon administration would look like. We'd like to ask you . . . what happened?

Your 12 point plan to stop tax increases was to start the day after inauguration, beginning with an immediate authorization of a “fraud” audit of all city transactions over the past 4 years. Didn't it take you almost nine months to come before city government to get the funding for this audit, even though you said you had begun the audit before the funding was approved?

Continuing on with what you said in your plan -- until the audit is completed, you were going to institute the following emergency measures:

1. A freeze on the number of city employees – no increase in staff. This was the first point in your plan, and the first promise you broke. What happened?

2. A freeze on the hiring of outside law firms. How has this one been working out, with a part time City Solicitor who has neither the respect nor the trust of city government, let alone the capacity to adequately represent the city?

3. Settle all pending legal cases to avoid additional fees. How is this going? We hope you've settled all pending legal cases, because you've added a few to the docket since you took office.

4. Eliminate unnecessary city positions and department heads who are unqualified for their positions. So tell us, Mr. Mayor -- what positions have you eliminated? We know you brought back quite a few that had been eliminated by the previous administration. The archivist position, for instance. How's that working out? All important city documents now properly catalogued and archived? And don't get us started on "unqualified department heads."

5. An immediate freeze on all new building and zoning changes in residential areas. Hmmmm . . . wonder how the people down in the Miller Street area feel about this one?

6. Put more police officers back in uniform and back on the streets, visible to potential wrong doers. This is an interesting one. Now that you've decided to “civilianize” the overnight parking program, what has happened to the police officers who were doing the job up until now -- one could argue that having the police do that job keeps them out on the street where they can be visible to "potential wrong doers."

7. Audit city water department to identify and eliminate excessive abatements for political reasons. Tell us, how many "excessive abatements" have you found that can be tied back to political connections.

8. Create “citizen audit” to establish fair prices for all city property sold. Honestly -- we have no idea what this particular piece of rhetoric is all about. The high school is ready for the block, and there's no citizen audit committee in place.

9.Institute tighter controls over handling taxpayers’ cash at City Hall. Great -- maybe you should've instituted the same controls at the Recreation Department.

10. Tighter controls over “rainy day” and “stabilization” fund. Tell us . . . what exactly do we have in our "rainy day" and "stablization" funds? What about those "controlled" transfers from the free cash account to fund all those new hires?

11. Freeze on the use of outside contractors when City employees can do the job. There must have been an early thaw on this one. Contracts are still going out to bid, contractors are getting contracts and we have at least 40 new hires.

12. >“Clerk of the Works” to supervise contractors on jobs over $10,000 on a daily basis to avoid lawsuits later on. This one sounded like a good idea, but the phantom clerk hasn't been announced as yet.

Public Notice: Stop the Sludge Meeting

Stop the Sludge will be having a meeting on Thursday, January 18th at 7 P.M. in the Meeting Room of the Parlin Memorial Library. We are asking anyone that would like to help take a leadership role in the group to attend.

We received terrific news on Friday that Toxics Action Center, an environmental group with extensive community involvement history, has decided to help us in our efforts to take on Boston and stop their proposed handling facility on Lower Broadway. The meeting this Thursday will serve as an introduction to Toxics Action, as well as to have people sign up for specific tasks to stop the sludge. This group has graciously offered to draw up a plan of action based on our "4 prong plan" that will allow us to reach both short and long-term goals that can get Everett, Somerville and Charlestown moving in the right direction.

We have done a terrific job to this point gathering signatures and spreading the word. We must now take our efforts to the next level and assemble an organization that can reach out to more people each day. It is my hope that after this meeting we will have people signed up to help with Media outreach, Signature collection, Business community outreach, Constituency calls to elected officials, and a number of other projects that will develop our group further.

Please forward this on to anyone that I may have missed. We would like to get as many people as possible who will consider themselves regulars at meetings and events to Stop the Sludge!

If you have any questions feel free to email me or call at (617) 892-2765. Chris Keohane

'Nuff Said! From the Boston Globe

There's been a lot of discussion about our tax bills. Let there be no doubt that it was, indeed, a tax increase - the largest in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

From today's Boston Globe, 01/02/07:

The Globe's analysis examined the tax bills for single-family homes, which make up the largest portion of property tax bills and are generally used to gauge tax trends.

According to the Globe's examination, the state's largest percentage tax increase was a 26.9 percent hike in Everett, where the average homeowner's bill in 2007 will be $2,836.

You may read the full article at: http://www.boston.com/