Well honey bunch, the kiddies are outta school for the summer. Classes ended last week in these parts, and yew can see the happiness on the youngsters in these foist few days of vacation. Of course, we’re not so sure the moms are that happy.
As expected, meanwhile, the number o’ candidates for sitting on the thoid floor of the Actors Colony rose to five. Michele Gregorio announced her run for the Republican nomination for mayor in a gala last week. So, for those keepin’ score, we have on the Demmie side: Herronner Nancy Rossi and City Clerk Deborah Collins. On the GOP side we have Steve Mullins, who announced a few weeks back, and Gregorio. Meanwhile, former Mayor Ed O’Brien is running as an independent in November, bypassing the primaries and saving his kopecks for the general election.
It’s interesting that Mullins and Gregorio announced. I don’t remember the last time there was a primary in the GOP. With only 3,000-plus registered with the party, there is usually only one person looking for the nod. Now with two there is the plus of putting the party’s platform out there early, and giving it some early publicity.
As far as we’re concerned we like primaries. Primaries are generators of good copy and advertising. So, what ‘s not to like?
Sammy Bluejay, who happened by the Gregorio announcement said that one thing she said harkened him back to the late 1980s. Gregorio said that the city had to be run “like a business.” We’ve hoid that mantra before, and it didn’t go very well.
Those of us old enuff to remember can hear former Mayor Clem Evangeliste using those exact words in his run up to defeating Azelio “Sal” Guerra back in 1989. Evangeliste, of course, didn’t run the city like a business, and had trouble making ends meet.
Sammy hoped that setch a memory would not hurt Gregorio, who has a background in business. There’s many ways to say something, but methinks when some old-timers heard or read that a shudder when up their spines.
Sammy said, too, that Steve Mullins is taking the high road and saying he will enjoy the intramural fight betwixt himself and Gregorio. I don’t know how that’s gonna turn out, but Cobina will make one prediction.
The GOP fight toward the nod will be a lot more civil than will the fight betwixt Rossi and Collins. Yew can bet the mortgage on it. There is too much baggage there between the factions, and they jest don’t like each other. The GOP fight will be a tea party whilst the Demmies will have a cage match.
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The interesting thing about all the announcements so far – and this is brought to you by the wag who keeps tabs on setch things – is that they have been almost all the same. Every one, Republican or Demmie, has said the city needs to be a friend to business, expand the tax base, development, etc.
What is missing from all o’ them – and what we hope to hear come the middle o’ the summer – is jest how they plan on doing same. Development in town has been a problem for more than two decades. And, here it is the middle o’ June already, and nothing has happened at the Haven. And few are expecting anything to happen there at least in the short term.
Everyone talks comprehensive development, but there are no real plans. Herroner put out a statement last week I guess after she had got criticized by her new opponent, marking out her territory as far as development is concerned. We shall see how that all plays out.
What we’re waiting to see is what, specifically, they have planned for the city, and what they hope will happen within those specifics. The last specific plan was Rich Borer’s “Gateway” plan from the late 1990s and that didn’t exactly come out the way everyone had hoped.
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Nelly Nuthatch tells me that it’s coming down to crunch time for the Charter Revision Commish. With the deadline coming up sometime after July 4, the committee is scrambling to make sure they schedule the requisite public hearings on the proposals they’ve come up with that have passed muster by the legal eagles for the city.
Last week, you’ll remember, the barristers finally came in with their vetting of the proposals after weeks and weeks of delay. It was a note to Cobina that I shared with yew two weeks ago, that seemed to prompt the members of the bar to get their backsides in gear and git the work done so that the process could continue.
This is gonna be an interesting process, hon. The public will git its first look-see at the proposals. And they should be something. We know that the commish determined the city should go in different directions on some things and those directions will be quite different that we around here are used to seeing.
Still, the City Council gits the final say on what gits put on the ballot or not, and that has some on the commish in a dither. Charter revision has failed over the last two or three times cuz the politicos got involved and put the kibosh on them There is hope that a public airing of the proposals will cut down on the chicanery that so characterizes our little corner of the universe. We shall see.
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As Iyam scribing this week’s missive, the tax bills still had not come out, but were expected any time now. Maybe by the time yew read this they will have been delivered. As yew remember the MARB determined that Herroner’s Recommended Budget didn’t comply with the agreement of the five-year plan, witch calls for tax increases over the length of it to 40 mills.
With that in mind, they upped the ante .46 mills over the flat increase that Mrs. Rossi had in her document. That maneuver slowed up the process a bit, and tax bills were being processed a little behind schedule cuz of it. Still, don’t be surprised effen we see more For Sale signs go up in the coming weeks. This is the time o’ year when people sell property, but it’s gonna be exacerbated by the tax increase. Bet on it.
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Whilst all that is going on, we commend to yore reading the editorial in today’s papyrus. We stand behind the idea of a look-out, or belvedere, on the new Savin Rock. And, we note that Mayor Rossi has come out in favor of the idea provided it’s a private effort. The Carousel Committee is advocating for it.
What we’re all worried about is that the idea will fail for lack of a second, so to speak. Whilst it’s a good one, like the Carousel that the committee has been trying for years to get here, the belvedere might just be another flash in the pan. We certainly hope the carousel is brought here and a pavilion constructed like we hope this look-out could be constructed.
There is a big step betwixt the idea and its concrete application in the form of a project. We hope that whoever helps with this matter, including Mike Mercuriano, gets to move the thing along. Like developments in this town, they sound good, and give people hope, only to wither on the vine.
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With that bit o ‘ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,