Government transparency

At the April 15, 2009 City Council meeting, I was very excited to hear a proposal by Councilor Steve Camara that would require the posting of schedules, agendas, and minutes, on the city website for ALL open meetings of Fall River governmental bodies (full text at the bottom). Almost every surrounding town offers this notice to their residents. What is our government afraid of? After Steve Camara's proposal was read, there was an awkward silence. Not one councilor moved to accept the resolution. It went a little something like this -



It is UNACCEPTABLE that Fall River does not offer this information online. Some councilors indicated they are waiting for Mayor Correia's magic new website, that has been under construction for way too long, to provide information on minutes, agendas, and notice of meetings. Do they seriously expect Bob Correia to create or allow a website that offers governmental transparency?

This information NEEDS to be online! And it can be done with minimal effort from the people we are paying at city hall.

A RESOLUTION PROMOTING OPEN GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE REQUISITE POSTING, ON THE CITY WEBSITE, OF ALL SCHEDULES, AGENDAS, AND MINUTES, OF ALL FALL RIVER GOVERNMENTAL BODIES’ MEETINGS, SUBJECT TO OPEN MEETING LAW, M.G.L. c.30A s.11A ½

WHEREAS the residents of Fall River and others should be able to obtain important information about local government via the internet; and

WHEREAS a growing number of Massachusetts municipalities have made it easy for their citizens to obtain access to key government records online. This simple and inexpensive action opens local government to more people and greatly improves their ability to be responsible, informed citizens; and

RECOGNIZING the purpose of the state Open Meeting Law is to eliminate much of the secrecy surrounding the deliberations and decisions on which public policy is based and that the democratic process depends on the public having knowledge about the considerations underlying governmental action, for without that knowledge, people are not able to judge the merits of actions taken by their representatives;

NOW THEREFORE, it is hereby RESOLVED by the Fall River City Council as follows:

1.) The Office of the Fall River City Clerk shall post all schedules and agendas of all Fall River governmental bodies’ meetings, subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law on the City website, no less than 48 hours in advance of the meetings; and

2.) The Office of the Fall River City Clerk shall post the minutes of all Fall River governmental bodies’ meetings, subject to Massachusetts Open Meeting Law on the City website no later than 72 hours after all said meetings.

VIDEO: SAVE OUR ARTS OVERLAY DISTRICT RALLY

"Winston Churchill said that, 'Americans can be counted on to do the right thing after they have exhausted all the alternatives' and it seems like the [Fall River] city government right now, is working on the Churchill plan"

Jeff Carpenter, Arts United

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SAVE OUR ARTS OVERLAY DISTRICT RALLY

The Truth by City Councilor Steve Camara

SAVE THE DATE/TIME
Friday, 2/27/09 @ 3:30pm on WSAR 1480am

In the interest of TRUTH, I ask you to tune in on Friday, 2/27/09 @ 3:30pm on WSAR 1480am when I will be a guest of Mike Herren's Talk Show. Some of you know me well and others hardly at all. I want you to know me better. As I consider my political future and as I recognize that my possible candidacy for higher office is perceived by some to be a threat to the status quo, I want to assure you that I am willing and able to move forward and do what I can to change the political climate of our City to allow it to move in a direction that will be better for all who live, work and visit here.

Mike Herren announced on Wednesday that he had "Breaking News" which turned out to be that he "uncovered" "public information" that exposes my "hypocrisy" concerning 64 Durfee Street, The Durfee College of Technology Building, which is in the process of being sold to Peabody Properties for a development that most, if not all, of us opposed. The short of it is that Mike Herren has discovered that I own residential property which houses people and some of these people are "subsidized". I have stated that three (3) of my twenty-seven (27) Downtown (Pine and Purchase Street) apartments [approximately ten percent (10%)] have Section 8 certificates. Mike claims I have many more people with "subsidies". Moreover, Mike claims that because I received CDA loans and grants to reconstruct/rehabilitate/restore two (2) of my houses (286-292 Pine Street and 214-216 Purchase Street) that these loans constitute "subsidized tenancies".

This is the beginning of what will be continuing attacks on my character and integrity to assure I will not be a candidate for higher office. It is an attempt to silence my advocacy for the kind of development that will create a better Downtown and Lower Highlands neighborhood. My properties provide decent and affordable housing for people of varying income levels, integrated into the neighborhood rather than "warehoused" in a single building.

The facts are simple. Since 1979, I have purchased five (5) properties and I have spent a whole lot of money buying and reconstructing these properties to improve the character and integrity of a neighborhood that was on the verge of both physical and social decay. Earlier this decade, I spent approximately one million dollars ($1,000,000) to buy and reconstruct two (2) of my houses, creating nine (9) units, three (3) of which are handicapped-accessible and all of which are de-leaded and asbestos-free. Also, I was required to provide a sprinkler system, a fire-prevention requirement of the building and fire codes for multi-family houses of four (4) or more units (286-292 Pine Street is a six (6) unit building). Approximately six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) was a CDA low-interest (3 or 4%) loan with a small grant [approx. seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000)] for creating handicapped-accessible housing and de-leading the units. This money is available to any property owner who can demonstrate that the investment will enhance the neighborhood in which the property is located. The balance, approximately four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000.00), came from other personal sources, mostly equity accounts from my other properties.

Clearly, this million dollar investment is significant for a six-family house and a three-family house; however, I chose to undertake this for several reasons including my desire to "bring back" these houses from the verge of decay and to protect the investment I had made in my other houses that are abutters to and surround these two (2) houses. Assuredly, if I sold these two (2) houses I doubt that I would recoup my purchase price and reconstruction investment at this time. However, I know that I share with other investors of historical properties the desire and the satisfaction of "saving" a piece of history and the hope that someday there will be a return on the investment.

If you want more information, please feel free to question me. If you do listen to the program and are inclined to call (the "talk show" number is 508-673-1480) and your participation is appreciated.

Mike Herren is presenting the effort we put into the 64 Durfee Street issue as a means to attack personally The Fiolas, Alan Amaral, John Almeida, Nick Christ, Dave Raymondo and the integrity of the "power structure" of Fall River. My focus is to develop a new "power structure" that is both democratic and visionary.

Finally, while I understand that some of you feel that the WSAR talk shows should be ignored, I know that all forms of media and other forms of outreach must be used in order to advance support from the public for both causes and candidacies.

Steve Camara

Redevelopment Authority, FROED, and Councilor Casey Play Hooky

The City Council Subcommittee for Economic Development and Tourism Committee chaired by Councilor Steve Camara met tonight to discuss ....economic development, of course, but with a particular emphasis on the future of 64 Durfee Street.

It is nice, and encouraging, to have so many like minded, enthusiastic, people anxious to revitalize the city in many ways, including the development of a 'creative economy.' It is, however, highly discouraging, yet not surprising, that the Fall River Office of Economic Development didn't bother to show up at the economic development meeting. As far as I am concerned, FROED needs all the help they can get and should be going to these meetings. No one from the Redevelopment Authority was there nor was committee member Casey....apparently the hierarchy isn't serious about Fall River's revitalization.

Mayor Correia's Naughty and Nice List

From the Sept 2, 2008 City Council Meeting:

In case you missed the cocktail party reference read the Herald News article "Not All Councilors Invited to Correia Fundraiser"