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Lungo-Koehn, Penta, Marks need to spearhead immediate Charter Change
"The weakness of Medford’s City Council is an exception to a general rule. Most legislative bodies operate on a far more equal plane to their executive branches. On the federal and state levels, Congress and the Legislature have clout when it comes to determining annual budgets. Other cities — New York and Washington, D.C., for instance — also give their councils far more authority." The above is not from the Medford Transcript, nor is it from the Medford Mercury or Inside Medford. The above is from today's Boston Sunday Globe, paraphrased by inserting "Medford" where the original article says "Boston"
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/11/24/easy-theory-strengthen-city-council/5n0qP8mak6X3PmQlS5L3jI/story.html
Former member of the Boston City Council, Tom Keane, has an excellent OpEd in the Boston Sunday Globe today, More council power? Change city charter (Page K-6, Nov. 24, 2013) and if the similarities weren't so chillingly obvious to my essays here on Patch one would think there was plagiarism afoot. There isn't. What citizens are confronted with a Mayor of 20 years in Boston and 26 going on 28 years in Medford, you have identical problems that present themselves. It's not ironic that Boston and Medford are both in need of charter change, it's logical. By watching how Boston handles itself will be key in how Medford evolves now that we will have a new council president and with Robert A. Maiocco heading off into political retirement.
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SOUND FAMILIAR? DEPARTMENT
Keane writes * (italics and bold mine)
City councilors are accustomed to seeing themselves dismissed and derided. It is not that they individually lack merit. Many are smart, full of good ideas, and committed to Boston’s (Medford's) betterment. (How could I write otherwise? I was once a member of that august body.) But the council itself is structurally weak, at best (or worst, depending on one’s perspective) a minor nuisance for the mayor. The weakness is intentional, the product of a series of state laws that collectively make up what is sometimes called the city’s “charter.” As a result, mayors rule with near dictatorial power. They answer to the people in quadrennial elections, true, but once in office they essentially have the run of the place for the next four years.
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Tom Keane could be Mark Arena or William Carr if Arena and Carr weren't so involved with the current Administration. But you get the point. A former city councilor of Boston is saying what Dr. Storella in Medford, what Anthony D'Antonio, what I have been saying. Change the charter. Keane goes on to tell us how!
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Keane writes:
Doing so in Boston would be a straightforward proposition. The council would pass what’s known as a home-rule petition, proposing a state law to give itself line-item authority. The mayor would sign it and then the city would send it to the state. If the Legislature and governor approved, the city charter would be amended. Suddenly, Mayor Walsh would have the partnership he said he wanted.
Sounds like a good formula for Medford to investigate. I will be calling upon some Medford notables to discuss this prior to the council meeting on Tuesday, November 26.
For a city - our city - to juggle funds while throwing away Fifteen Thousand Dollars on an audit and evaluation of a now-defunct non-profit without the citizens given ANY information on what the city used taxpayer funds to pay for; tens of thousands of dollars in the time of the City Solicitor to fight what you could consider a frivolous lawsuit thrown by MCC TV3 against the city (not to mention the tens of thousands of dollars spent in the "emotional distress" case the president of TV3 filed - and lost, as well as the suits by the two station managers which they filed - and lost (the last one actually defaulting on the case) - before we even talk about the squander at Pop Warner and West Medford Hillside Little League - for a city juggling funds to have this kind of malarkey going on as well as approximately $75,000.00 a year spent on Jack Dempsey's foolishness at Medford High School (if he has his own video company, let him run that, not get paid by our P/E/G monies as an alleged "teacher" when he's seen around town videotaping a politician, allegedly with city-owned equipment) - for a city juggling funds to THEN spend $200,000.00 on a toothless city council, well, we residents need to get our 200K worth out of SOMETHING in this municipality. Councilor Paul A. Camuso's sleight-of=hand with taxi cab licenses to make it look like he is actually working for us is not what I want to spend approximately $3,740.00 a week on, an average of what this council costs per week.
Soon-to-be-Former Council President Bob Maiocco (boy does THAT sound good!) would often point to the corner office. Passing the buck is not why we elect officials. We elect politicians - ostensibly - to get results.
Rick Caraviello must be using sandpaper on his hands instead of a soothing soap as he appears more raw and thin-skinned these days than the ultra-sensitive City Solicitor. With Maiocco gone the Administration has Fred Dello Russo Jr. and the aforementioned Camuso as Santa's Elves 12 months out of the year, but Caraviello and Adam McGknight-0 (kind of like the villain in the X-Men comic, Magneto) have to stop sliding into the Den of O's ("Hey, Joe, I'm a paisano from the North End" McGknight0 quipped to this writer as he ran off with the four "o's" on November 19 after the council meeting.
It is totally up to Lungo-Koehn, Penta and Marks to initiate the drive for charter change, and to succeed in that endeavor. Look, they took my advice to go after MCC TV3 when all of them were reticent and backing off in February and March of 2013. Because of this writer's persistence and logical presentations, Lungo-Koehn, Penta, Caraviello and Marks now have the upper hand. They defeated TV3 and rid themselves of that bully pulpit that had harassed the council for over a decade. They now blow away the gun smoke from the pistol with glee, like Ashley Judd after she shot her husband's Jacek Kaczynski paintings telling Tommy Lee Jones (and the soon to be deceased husband played by Bruce Greenwood) "I haven't felt this good in years." Almost as telling as what Judd's character said to the dress-seller: Libby: "I haven't felt this good since the day my husband died."
Lungo-Koehn said in the 11/13/13 Medford Transcript: “I think the last year or two years, I’ve fought pretty strong and been pretty vocal with regards to the winter parking ban, TV3 and the Medford Housing Authority scandal,” said Lungo-Koehn. “I’m not afraid to say how I feel about things I feel are for the betterment of the city and the voters.”
It was this writer who took the slings and arrows for boldly demanding the shut down of that boondoggle at 32 Riverside Ave. Lungo-Koehn, Penta, and one-time TV3 friend Michael Marks all backed away from the suggestion until this writer kept pressing for change. When they worked with me, they all were re-elected.
Now a constituent is telling them that changing the charter is our next objective. They reaped the rewards of disposing of TV3. Now these elected officials can really show their strength, courage and integrity by taking on charter change.
Here's the El Dorado charter as an example for citizens unaware of how the darn thing works
https://www.edcgov.us/Government/BOS/Charter/County_Charter_-_Table_of_Contents.aspx
As National Geographic wrote: Europeans believed that somewhere in the New World there was a place of immense wealth known as El Dorado
Charter change is the Holy Grail for improving life in Medford. Every bold new beginning has risk involved. But look at how elected officials are basking in the rewards of a defeated TV3.
