I haven’t written in a while.  I think the amount of stuff that has been going on had me a little over frustrated.  The MBTA’s debt needs to be addressed though. They have been talking about the need to cut services and raise rates. What has not been mentioned is the reason why they are in the red. No one seems to mention the fact that about 5 billion dollars of the Big Dig debt was transferred over to them. Never mind the fact that we are on the bottom of the list for most federal funds for this state, causing our already over congested roads to continue to detioriate.

The fact that they are planning on cutting both the Lowell commuter rail service nights and weekends and the 350 bus from Burlington is going to be an economic hardship for many. The MBTA officials seem not to realize that not everyone that rides public transportation has a car. Their solution to Greater Lowell is to DRIVE to a subway station and ride from there. If you live in Lowell with no car, getting to Alewife is no easy task.  They are also debating cutting out 101 bus lines throughout the metro boston area.

All I’ve heard for the last two years from politicians has been how good the casinos will be for the area. I fail to see that as studies show that for every dollar a community brings in from gambling, they pay out three in community services related to problems stemming from gambling. Nothing from any politician in this area defending the need for our citizens to use public transportation only how good casinos will be. Its been over a decade or more in the making and we will now lay in our own stew. Funny how the government will promote one vice like gambling but something like cigarettes, a selective tax, as studies have proven that 1 in 5 smokers basically aren’t gonna quit and we’re down to about 20% of the population. Unfortunately the answer is always follow the money. Same with whats going on with the demise of the the redemption centers. Guess who gets the money if they’re not redeemed?

I have used the 350 for over the past decade.  I did not drive out of personal choice for a long time and while I am not currently dependent on public transportation I understand the value of it.  Same with the Yankee Doodle Bike Path. In this day and age, why are we not supporting alternative transportation methods? Its better for the environment, better for our health and better for the economy. Its things like this that make me really think about moving out of state. Though it just goes to prove to the old adage, and North Dakota, one of the few states in the red can attest to this ” If you want something done right, keep the government out of it.”

It goes back to the whole purpose of the great debates the founding fathers had over the purpose of government and the scope of power. At this point, if you wanted to repave a road that a town owns, you’d be fined and most likely arrested even though you could probably do a better job and cheaper. Benedetti. I learned about this guy and his machine from “Whats America Worth” a tv special. Basically his machine will repair a road in day, recycling the asphalt in the machine itself. He was in such demand that he started to have his machines available for purchase. They are around a million dollars, but the amount of money they could save in time and labor not to mention keeping our roads in good condition in a timely fashion would be worth it. Imagine what this state could be like and this country if people in the government just did and honest days pay for an honest days work. It really isn’t that hard

Transparency in…

Transparency in government is something long sought for but seldom found. The Lowell Sun leads the number of requests in this area through the Freedom of Information Act, and even then, they don’t always get the full set of papers. Lately though, both Chelmsford and Lowell have made strides in the right direction.

Chelmsford has changed the way that their town meeting votes. Its now electronic which is more accurate and leads to a voting record of the members. This is an incredible and efficient way to make what can be a somewhat time consuming task. If we did that in Billerica, the amount of time could be up to twenty minutes saved easy. As much as I respect Gil, there have been some close calls and a couple counts were taken to be found for the other side. He is a great moderator and this would help take the pressure of him in that sense as well as save us from having to count actual people.

We have some very talented technical people involved in Town Meeting. The presentations we have seen over the last few years have been impressive. I’m sure we could make something like that happen here. The best part of it all was that it only cost 10,000. I should truly hope that we can find it in our budget to fund that.

In Lowell, after information about the school’s union contracts were leaked, they agreed to have their contract negotiations more public. They reasoned that others did and the whole state of Texas does so why not them. With the way the contracts are set up around here and the fact they’re only released to town meeting a week before the vote and basically threaten you with Union retaliation, it would be refreshing to see the talks in progress. After all, they may be union, but they still work for the town, and as taxpayers we are the ones who ultimately sign their checks so to say. I think it makes total sense for transparency in issues like this. After all, like they always say, if you have nothing to hide, what are you afraid of?

Oh and in comparison, Billerica just got 2 scanners, paid for I believe by a federal grant, they are the scanners that are currently being held up as to their consitutionality in court. The scanners have the capability of scanning up to 5000 cars in an 8 hour shift. The main concern with this is that if every police station had this, then you could be tracked from city to city, violating your right to privacy. The only notice I saw was a small basically one paragraph blurb in the paper.

Between the Sherrif’s Department and the Police Department, we have I don’t know how many deputies in and out of town with the house of corrections and the 76 or so cops. The Sherrif’s Department has the million dollar “Bear” command center. We live in Billerica, and aside from producing a lot of juvenile delinquents and alcoholics, we don’t really have that much crime.

All I can say is, at least this year coming up will be interesting with Town Meeting. Every single one has to run again. I still would love to see who in there works or is related to someone who works in town. Its very convenient how the new school construction contracts we passed this fall went to Chris Duggan, Bernie Duggans son. It was considered not a conflict of interest since Bernie himself won’t be working on the project. Selectman Correnti received funds for his campaign from Linda Calabrese, American Federation of Teachers as well as quite a few unions. No other selectmen received funds from any union. I know it isn’t illegal, but it does seem a conflict of interest as he’s a main voter on things that concern all those. I don’t know why, but in the back of my head, it seems the only way to fix things is a Rico Act. Maybe just wishful thinking.

I’ve been trying to do research and figure out ways to get a bike path through Billerica. It has been talked about for years and a design proposal was recently shut down at this past Town Meeting by a measly 3 votes. It was the one thing that I had no problem on them spending money on. It has so many positive attributes that you would be foolish not to want it.

I recently learned that North Andover got their design from North Eastern, whose students did it as a class project. How many colleges are around here that we could propose to? We could even name benches or do something else to honor them as well as allow them to  see their work come to life in the real world. To be honest, I had only learned about the idea of a bike path in Billerica at this town meeting. The idea that its been in limbo for 10 years is disgusting. Its time to do it one way or another, even if it’s just the citizens themselves that do it.

I need to get in touch with Marc Lomabardo and set up another meeting with the Town manager and Accountant. They were actually very polite and professional when I met with them a few weeks ago, which, no offense to them, compared to what I’ve seen at some town meetings was somewhat shocking but also reassuring. It made me see them more as people, which is exactly what I needed to do. It gave me hope that maybe with the combined efforts of concerned citizens we could actually get things done. If I can get the bike path, then hopefully turning Ditson into a community education center, from preschool to nursing homes and get the lakes and ponds cleaned.

This used to be a resort town back in the 50′s. There’s still a lot of beauty in this town as well as history. We are now basically known, as Jamn94 said back in the 90′s, “If we wanna see some ugly people go down to Billerica.” We are known for our drunks, our bickering politicians, our “wiggas”, our town has become a joke. When I tell people I’m from Billerica, they talk about the jail or seeing it on the way to Lowell.

I love the antisect lyrics” There is no us and them, there’s only you and me”. If we can get past that, then we can learn to just work together and get things done. There was an old saying in war “Divide and Conquer.” The problem is that we’ve turned that on ourselves and when that happens, we all lose.

This is an extremely interesting article about public versus private sector pay and benefits. http://reason.org/news/show/public-sector-private-sector-salary        My father once told me that about 55% of the people in this country are supported by the government either through salary, welfare, social security etc. That always worried me cause as simple mathematical logic tells you that 45% cannot sufficiently support 55% as well as support themselves at the same time. We constantly hear from our politicians that we want the best people for the position. I understand that logic, but also understand the logic that in private sectors and private lives, if you need a service and have x amount of dollars, you can only spend x amount of dollars, which most people in the government don’t seem to understand.

I agree that teachers, firemen and policemen are a vital part of our society, but so is the garbage man, the health care workers, the artists, the construction workers, etc. The mothers, the fathers, the children, all individuals are a vital part of this society. This should not be 1984, where all pigs are equal, some are just more equal than others. The last jobs bill along with this new proposed jobs bill is nothing more than a way to prop up institutions that can no longer support themselves. Yes, I think we should be paying adequate salaries to our public workers for the jobs they provide and have no problem paying taxes for those luxuries such as paved roads, plumbing, electricity, etc. However the exorbitant pay for the lack of service that we get is another matter all together. We constantly hear how underpaid the public workers are, yet we don’t see them flocking to private industry. No other place offers the job security, the outrageous benefits along with an overly generous salary and guaranteed pension plan.

I recently mentioned to local officials when talking about the 12 holidays that the town workers get versus the 6 or so that most in the private industry get if that. They countered with well some municipalities get 14, which told me that neither of them had ever worked in the private sector, which nowadays is a very common trend. Our founding fathers did not expect people to be in politics as a career. It was set up so that each citizen would take his or her turn and then return back to the masses so that they would be effected as much as the next person and would have no desire to make special favors or groups. If everyone in this country did 2-6 years of government service, and went back to the private sector after, we wouldn’t hear about the “low wages” because it would be something that everyone would be doing. If we paid people 40-60k across the board, which to me is still a very adequate salary, then we could save hundreds of thousands if not millions, while being more productive. We would have qualified people who actually care about what they’re doing and know why they are there. They can go back to the private sector with the experience and references and make more money if they so chose. But to blame their choice to go into the private sector on us for not giving them enough money is a slap in the face.

We live in a country that was founded on the ideals of freedom and liberty. We were free to choose how and where we would make our living, how to raise our children, how to prosper both as an individual and as a nation. There is a lot of American History that I do not respect, but as an American citizen I am thankful for the ability to have the right to say so.  This country has fallen under the CTA spell, Cover Thine Ass. Nobody takes responsibilities for their actions anymore. It’s always put on the other person. It goes from the government straight down to the individual, and I myself have been in that group, I admit. It’s always easier to play the blame game. Its a lot harder to sit down, have a logical discussion, figure out what direction to go in and what things need to be done in order to improve the situation.

Last nights Republican Debate was the saddest thing I have seen in a long time. I had thought that local politics were bad enough, but this, this debacle is our face to the rest of the world.  We are in a serious crisis. We have taken one of the greatest experiments and gifts of history and turned it into a shame. I think Johnny Hickman said it best in the song the Great Decline ” God bless you, god bless me, but god help the children of this century.” What are we leaving to the next generation and the next generation. Maybe the Seneca tradition of looking at what the actions would effect the next 7 generation wasn’t so crazy after all.

I have been meaning to write about Sister Mary Scullion of Philadelphia as she has been a true example of how a dedicated individual along  with the community, rather than government intervention is the way to go. She has been working with Philadelphia’s homeless population for the last 30 years. She used a clear cut logical way to solve a problem and unlike many of the procedures and laws I’ve been seeing enacted across the country, her ideas and efforts actually worked in helping to solve the problem, not by hiding them or shunning them, but by giving them a chance to become part of society and to better themselves. In essence, like what the veterans have been asking for years for, she gave them a hand up instead of a hand out.

 

People have been relying too much on their government. We saw this during the Obama campaign and victory. People thought that since he won, they wouldn’t have to worry about anything. While there are many things I don’t care for about Obama, I do have to admit, even he himself said that we would all have to take part and make an effort to change things.  The state of this country is a disgrace. The education system, the corruption in government, the disparity between the rich and the poor, our foreign policies, our reputation, our children’s future, our environment, the list goes on. We have all heard the rhetoric that America is supposed to be the world leader. We come off as spoiled toddlers. I heard that term in reference to my own local politics, and find it sadly but aptly appropriate.

 

The petty bickering in my town of Billerica seems bad enough, but when you start putting the pieces from across the country together it begins to paint a sad picture. The fact that state elected officials all went into hiding rather than vote on a bill, can’t remember if it was Michigan or what state at the moment, the fact that our credit rating went down over what basically boiled down to a pissing competition with John Boehner proving that by being the biggest dick of all, you’ll always win. I know America is not perfect, I know we have a tarnished history and reputation, but I’ve always admired the ideals and aspirations that our forefathers had. I’m not just talking about Thomas Jefferson, George Washington or Ben Franklin, but the average person who helped make possible one of the greatest experiments of human kind. As great of a leader and as brilliant as a man can be, it is still up to the individual what type of society he truly lives in.

 

 

United we stand, divided we fall

After this last session of town meeting, I am more ashamed of my town then ever before. I wish I had been more outspoken at town meeting, though sometimes it feels it just falls on deaf ears. I was severely disappointed in the fact that the bike path wasn’t funded, the one thing that I actually felt would be worth spending free cash on. It would have been nice to have something that everyone in town from ages 0-99 could enjoy, instead of putting more money into a seemingly broke education system and finishing the sewers.

I met with Mr. Curran and Mr. Watson recently to ask some questions that have been on my mind. They definitely seem to be concerned with the whole MEC/SMEC investigation, but don’t really seem to be pursuing it any further. I also mentioned it to Mary McBride, who was very helpful in providing me the link for the state audit. Perhaps my saying that mulitple high ranking officials were involved was a bit loaded, but when 3 people are in public record as being associated with this, to me that clearly indicates that an audit would be the best way to double check, find out either way and then move beyond it and focus on bettering the town. I wanna talk to them again and press the audit issue before going over their heads, but at this point, the proof is in the pudding. Something was happening and either people were involved or weren’t doing their jobs correctly, and either way we don’t need them here.

Marc Lombardo had a wonderful presentation for the Yankee Doodle Bike Path that would connect to the beginning of the Minuteman Trail in Bedford, leading all the way Cambridge. He was only asking for $125,000 for the design. When you think about us spending over 2 million on the schools, using our tax levy to raise salaries and 16.5 million on a sewer expansion project that didn’t even make use of the sewer expansion fund, it really isn’t a lot of money. It was a small investment to make when you consider the rewards. We would have healthier citizens, a safe place for people to exercise, we could encourage more business from the influx of people using the trail.  I personally do not ride a bike, but realize the importance of this issue. It was sickening to see the way town meeting handled this from Mr. Gagliardi’s committee of one using documents from 99, to Mr. Correnti’s predictable arguments against Marc out of personal reasons. You’re elected to do what is best for the citizens, not to stroke your ego.

This was the closest vote I have seen at town meeting in the 3 years that I have been, it lost by just 3 votes. This is one of the reasons why people from surrounding towns look at us like we are backwards hicks.  I have an inherent distrust of the government around here, mostly from just living here and seeing what actually has gone on, from a million missing at town hall and no one punished, to coke being missing from the evidence locker leading to god knows how many cases being thrown out to the feds coming after Ruth Bozzi, our old building inspector. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of passionate, wonderful people who have Billerica’s best interest at heart, but it only takes one bad apple to spoil the lot.

The most disappointing thing I learned from meeting with Mr. Watson and Mr. Curran was that they are planning on coming up with a capital article in the spring for 10 million to redo town center. Now, as a walker, I can tell you that that is the ONE area of town where sidewalks and crosswalks are not an issue. This, if brought to town, will be one of the most emotionally charged debates we have seen in a long time. Up until the 90s we had a quaint downtown, until Purity Supreme wanted to build a market here. We moved houses, changed the center from an old colonial type to what it is today. Purity stayed in that plaza for 3 years until it closed. Luckily O’Connors hardware moved in and salvaged it. So while I know neither was around for that, many people in town were. It is a slap in the face to say that 125k is too much for a bike path but 10 mill for the center isn’t.  I need to set up another meeting and explain calmly what they are getting themselves into.

The whole issue with the bike path is very frustrating. It is one of maybe 2 positive items I’ve seen since I joined Town Meeting. Since the town doesn’t seem to want to “support it” though they say its a good idea, maybe the citizens will have to do it on our own. That seems to be the only way that things end up getting done in a reasonable and timely fashion. I read an article that North Andover received their design from Northeastern as part of a class project. Why can’t we do something like that? If the design is what is holding us back from easements and grants, that would be a no-brainer than to try and see if one of the multiple universities in this area would be willing. Fundraising is another way, though it would take time and alot of effort. People need to realize to stop depending on their gov’t so much.  It has never proved to be the best course.  I really hope that the citizens of Billerica can learn to get over the simple differences, band together and take back our town. If we don’t, who will.

I started this a while ago with the intent to write more often. I’ve decided to try to highlight the positives as well as the negatives as there are so many of both at this time. It truly is an interesting time that we are living in. The world is totally connected via internet, phone, airplanes, etc.  The technology that we are now capable of is astounding. What scares me the most at this point, is whether we will use this for the benefit of humanity or for its destruction. To be honest, when I was younger, I did not have much faith in the human species. I saw us  as a plague on this planet, destroying it and each other. The depths of human depravity at the time were beyond comprehension. That is the problem when you look at things in black and white or in generals which you tend to when your younger and learning the ways of the world.  You also learn that the counter to the depravity is the truly good and beautiful that we as humans are all capable of.  It always works both ways and there will always be some grey areas.

first post

I really don’t know what I expect out of this blog. I feel very passionate about a lot of issues and even if no one reads this, it will at least be a medium to convey them somewhere.  This may just be a rant blog at the end, but then again, there are a lot of messed up things in the world. I know nothing can be perfect, but I am sick and tired of hearing, well that’s just the way it is. Slavery was just the way it was before the civil war, a womans place being the home and the kitchen was just the way it was before the suffragette movement, children working in coal mines was just the way it was before child labor laws came into place.  We as a society are built on fighting injustices and making it better for future generations, ensuring them more rights and opportunities then the present. Unfortunately, we seem to be on the downward trend in the us and other places with  a lot  of whats going on. Recently reading some of the laws being passed and the legal cases involving the homeless has made me disheartened and concerned. They are limiting the amount of times charities can give out free meals and where they can do it, making panhandling illegal in many places, making it a crime to sleep outside amongst others.  The fact that a police officer, who had picked up a homeless women and dragged her cart with him beside the cop car, as it was all her possessions in the world, was supsended for a month is insane.

Showing compassion to a fellow human being is considered wrong but pumping 41 rounds in to an unarmed man doesn’t merit any discipline. The fact that superintendents funneled millions, 11 and half to be exact, into a private non-profit, that they all received perks such as 6 figure jobs, or that 48 people spent 57,000 on diner, isn’t cause for alarm. The fact that there is not one but two trash islands the size of texas floating in the ocean and no one is concerned. The fact that bees and bats are dying off from weird diseases in record numbers and no one seems to bat an eye. There is a very delicate balance to our ecosystem, that has been pushed to its brink for the last 100 years or more. Never in history has this many people been alive on the face of the earth at once, neither has their consumption rates ever been this high. Sadly, it does seem that the more technologically advanced we have become, the more we’ve regressed in our morality. Knowledge does not equal wisdom, and knowledge, without the proper understanding of its application may be used as one of the biggest weapons against us in the end.

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