Thanksgiving is over for another year, and now we move onto the Christmas season. No, not holiday season, Felicia Navalance: Christmas. Season. We don’t say Happy Holidays for any other season, and we shouldn’t do it here. If people feel like they’re being treated as “second-class citizens,” I’d say they have more problems than whether it’s Christmas or not. In fact, I’d say it’s their problem, not anyone else’s.
Tennyrate, here in the berg the fack that Thanksgiving was about the latest it could be, it butted up against the biennial rite of passage that this city has every odd year: inauguration of the new administration. The charter calls for the inaugural to be the foist Sunday in December. That happened to be Dec. 1. By the by, did you say “rabbit!” on Sunday. Nope? Neither did Cobina.
And the activities of the weekend were setch that not only was it Turkey Day, the tree-lighting took place on the Green on Saturday night as well.
That was a big success by the looks of it. Gabby Murrillo did the honors in lighting the tree, and there was an afternoon-long festival on the Green until the honors were done. Cobina happened by there Saturday night and there was quite a throng out there, with most of the Green cordoned off for the hayrides and other features. So, that was checked off the box of things to do.
Sunday, at the new WHHS auditorium, the new administration was sworn in during the only event that even comes close to pomp and circumstance around here, with the exception of graduation. With all the color and ceremony we could muster, the new administration was sworn in.
Sammy Bluejay was perched near the dais, and had a few pernted commints to make.
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Sammy noted that this year’s crop o’ council people had that look of excitement that he sees all the time. That gleam will probably turn to glaze once the tedium of the job begins to set in on them. The City Council does some interesting things, but, really, most of what it does is perty humdrum. The job has its share of late nights and there’s always the fun of dealing with John and Jane Q. They can be nice neighbors or real terrors, depending on the issues.
Of course, the foist thing the council will set out to do is elect a chairman. Ron Quagliani is, at this writing, expected to be tabbed for the title. He had it last term, and as chairmen go, he was known for being rather fair and easy going. There was little of the in-fighting that one has seen over the years, where the chairmen hafta be boxing referees and gameshow emcees at the same time. Ask some former chairmen, they’ll tell you.
One of the biggest and most interesting thing that has happened is the fack that the GOP will have two, count ‘em, two, members of the council outta the 13 on the list. They elected Barry Lee Cohen in the Tenth Districk, and Colleen O’Connor – the former GOP Town Chairman – as the at-large. One at-large seat goes to the minority under the current charter, and Cohen was able to get by Louise Martone in that districk by sacrificing the soles of his shoes. He won the old-fashioned way, hard work.
In fack, Cohen is gonna be an interesting individual to watch on this panel. To say he doesn’t “suffer fools gladly” is an understatement. He’s smart, cagey and analytical. At least that is the impression Cobina has. And a bit of caginess is not a bad thing when working with the other members.
Sooooo, over the next two years it’s gonna be very interesting to see jest whot transpires on the council and how it reacts or interacts with the new GOP reality. In the past the GOP had one seat, and that perty much meant the member had to sit down and twiddle his or her thumbs whilst the Demmies fought. Sometimes it was comical. The minority member would be sitting all alone at the table whilst a caucus was called, and there was screaming in the back room.
Now the GOP can have its own caucus. It’ll be interesting effen they call a caucus and leave the Demmies out in the big room. We shall see. But keep yore eyes on Cohen. He could provide the grist for our ever-grinding mill.
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Of course, the GOP is a bit of a topic of conversation, regardless. Iva Lootey sez that the wounds that occurred during the election betwixt those working for Steven Mullins and those working for Michele Gregorio have yet to be sutured. In fack, there is still a bit of suspicion betwixt the two factions…factions, would’ve thunk it.
Whatever happens, the GOP did some good work during the last election, and shouldn’t let what should be friendly opposition turn to difficulties. The story writ last week by our own Josh LaBella perty much pernted out the problems the party has to overcome before it could begin to get back into the city’s mainstream.
We’ve been sayin’ it for years. The party has to do an outreach, get rid of dead wood and then move toward being an opposition organization. Some of us are old enuff to remember that Larry Minichino, who eventually became a Repubican mayor, built an entire organization of young folks that led the party to victory.
There were some problems later on, but for the most part, the New Turks, as they were called, did a perty good job, and helped the city during some boom years. The only thing the party needs is a leader it can rally around. The old-timers had the late Ted Adams. They need another.
We’ll keep watchin’ to see what transpires. The ball is in the GOP’s court and what they do with it is important.
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Herrronner, meanwhile, will certainly have a more friendly City Council this go-round. Nelly Nuthatch pernted that out when she visited here the other day. Gone are the hold-overs from the Ed O’Brien ticket, and certainly, the Morrissey faction is only represented by one or two. This means that for the most part the mayor should be able to have more cooperation and less opposition – but we don’t wanna see the council become a rubber stamp.
That is one of the reasons it’s good to have to GOP-ers. With the GOP and the one or two opposition in the Demmie camp, there should be some very interesting debates about issues. The mayor will have the votes should she need them, of course, but the combination of Republican votes and a couple of opposition Demmies will help spur some real debate and real action, not just an easy vote. That’s a good thing, we think.
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Finally, ole Cobina wanted to note that the generosity of our fellow citizens is one o’ the things that makes this berg so special, despite its politics. Several churches, organizations and groups made the holiday special for many from turkey distributions, to the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, to what we know will be special toy collections toward Christmas. It’s a nice thing to see.
Finally, we forgot a bit name in last week’s list o’ turkeys: Patrick Morrissey. Pat has been named in that colyume just for fun for almost 20 years. We somehow forgot – old age, probably. Don’t worry, there’s still Christmas gifts to be given out.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this week till next, mitt luff und kizzez,