Tom Kozak's Abuse of Power

I love watching city council meetings for many reasons but at the top of that long list is watching Tom Kozak trying to stay awake for the duration. Based on his desire to nap through meetings, he clearly isn't on the Council because of his love for public service.

So why is he on the Council? Former Mayor Lambert and the Herald News seem to indicate that Kozak is on the Council to use his position to get things done to further his own self interest. Referring to Tom Kozak, Mayor Lambert in 2003 said, "I don’t think elected officials should try to use their positions to get things outside the rules, and when that fails, use their position to make threats," said Lambert.

This Herald News article from 2003 (it is actually a good article) tells the tale of Tom Kozak's attempts to muscle his request to get granite curbing installed on Langley street, shortly after he built his new McMansion there, through city hall. When Kozak was told by then director of municipal services Jim Smith that he would have to get on the request list like everyone else, Kozak began threatening Smith's job. Smith wrote that Kozak told him he "used to be able to call up and get sidewalks and other things done" when former City Administrator Robert Connors worked at City Hall prior to Smith’s arrival.

Best quote I have read this month ----

"Unfortunately this has been a pattern of behavior from Councilor Kozak," said Lambert. "I know for a fact at least two or three times when the councilor called and asked for something to be done, and when he was told it could not be done, that department head was told they would pay in appearances before the City Council. That is just not correct," he said.

Perhaps Tom didn't learn a lesson about his wrongdoing in 2003 because he started with his personal demands again in 2006. According to this 2006 Herald News article, "Instead of going through the normal procedure for getting a stop sign installed on his street, City Councilor Thomas Kozak attempted to fast-track the process Tuesday."

Can we PLEASE get him out of office? He never does very well - usually comes in 7th 8th or 9th so it wont take much.....who's with me?!



(please note the second picture in the post below this, it appears as though Kozak got his granite curbing)

Beautiful Pavement

I will preface this blog post by saying that, despite my upcoming criticism, I am very appreciative that Councilor Pelletier called attention to the pothole problem in Fall River. I don't always agree with him but he definitely listens to and advocates for his constituents.

I have been witness to this sight many times and perhaps the explanation is an urban legend but I have always heard that shoes hanging from utility wires indicate that there is a drug dealer nearby.

It seems that the Fall River equivalent to shoes on a utility wire indicating that a drug dealer lives nearby, are the streets in Fall River without potholes indicating that a city councilor is living nearby.

Using the addresses the councilors provided for the last election (insert Lund joke here) I sought out to investigate --

Of the 9 councilors - only one had a pothole

The NICEST pothole free pavement (&traffic controls) of them all!! TOM KOZAK

Please note - NO Potholes! Other fun facts *Kozak recently got new sidewalks on his street - with matching new walkway up to his house (it would be very interesting to see if he could provide a receipt for his walkway construction) *Kozak had crosswalks installed to his house crossing Madison St. *Kozak insisted on a 4 way stop sign at his intersection of Langley and Madison - when the traffic dept. informed him of the waiting list for traffic controls he accepted the existing 2 way stop signs but procured further signs to warn of the 2 way stop as a consolation prize.

Please also note the deliniation between his newly paved street and Madison St. (also very nice but not freshly paved because no city councilor lives there).

NEXT -Pat Casey's street = no potholes



Linda Pereira's street = No potholes




Leo's Street = No potholes




Lund and Cathy Ann Viveiros's (Fall River) street = no potholes



Ray Hague's street = no potholes

Joe Camara's street = No potholes

Finally a councilor with potholes! Steve Camara's street

In conclusion - if you want to live on a nicely paved street in Fall River - you may want to move in next to a city councilor.

Fall River stories that you may have missed while you were reading the Herald News

1. Ric Oliveira's article in O Jornal, "Buried," discusses the politics behind the state representative race Dave Sullivan v. Pereira. He also discusses Mayor Correia's policy that everyone must rise when he enters a room.
2. The Boston Herald's "Chief Injustice" by Dave Wedge in his column, Just double-checking. This article (2nd topic) discusses the Fall River fire chief issue and the accusation that Correia was "ramming through a measure to override Civil Service requirements to handpick his own fire chief." It isn't anything we don't already know, but I love it when Bob's foolishness reaches the Boston media radar.
3. The Boston Herald's Holly Robichaud in, "No, thank you Mr. Speaker" comments on the short list of freshman democrats invited to a very special event being hosted by Sal DiMasi. At the top of the short list = Kevin Aguiar (although it appears that alphabetical order did play a role in his being at the top of the list). As Robichaud says in the article, "You can also figure that these freshmen Democrats will now be even more obligated to voting with Speaker DiMasi."
4. This article, "Fall River Politician Ready for Local Office," about City Councilor Cathy Ann Viveiros in Southcoast Today is from 2004 but I just read it and found it very interesting. It discusses her arrest, her $1,000,000 lottery win, but not about her bankruptcy as blogged by Inquire Fall River.

Robert Correia: Responsible for Bringing More Criminals to Fall River

WARNING BEFORE YOU SCROLL DOWN - THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS A GRATUITOUS PICTURE OF BOB

Not recommended for expecting mothers, people with heart conditions, small children, people who frighten easily, and those with easily triggered incontinence.




















Remember when mayoral candidate, Bob Correia, boasted about being the one-man machine behind securing the $70 million in funding to bring the new courthouse to Fall River? If not, click here (I expect this link not to work in the near future but I saved a copy of the page in anticipation - I will update when the courthouse info disappears from his campaign site - Let me know if the court funding info disappears).

So why isn't Bob bragging about his accomplishment now that it has been brought to light that his courthouse will primarily house criminal cases as reported in this article by SouthCoastToday.

As I see it, in his mere 6 months in office, Bob has already decreased safety budgets and increased the criminal element.....YAY!!! Go BOB!!!

The Fall River Herald "News"

I have long held the belief that the Fall River Herald News is being put to best use when lining the cage of a puppy. I hesitate to kick them when they are down (Gatehouse media stock went from a $19.00 per share 52 week high to .99 cents as of the time of this post) but they are doing a disservice to their readers and it needs to be addressed.

Wednesday's Herald News reported in a lengthy and detailed article that the Tuesday night city council meeting held a wind turbine project presentation. I understand that there are deadlines but if the reporter had not left the meeting at 9:00 (2 1/2 hours before it ended) he would have noted that, although the issue was on the agenda, the presentation never occurred. After a commenter on the Herald News website called them out for reporting a story that never happened, they updated the article on their website. The update didn't do much good for the people that actually pay for the hard copy of the paper.

Now we have today's errant Herald News report that Governor Patrick signed the Home Rule petition based solely on Bob Correia's word.

Commenter "Adv" in the Herald News comment section online, said it best (i would offer a link to it but it isn't very flattering to the Herald and they will certainly flex their censorship muscle and remove it from their site):

"Good job, The Herald News. Way to source your information. Did you even bother calling the Governor's office for confirmation, or did you just take it from the collective horses' mouths (e.g. Menard & Correia)?

Just one more example that this paper is a joke when it comes to real journalism. Usually one could expect a sentence, 'as confirmed by a representative of the Governor,' or in this case above, maybe an asterix...'due to our collective laziness, The Herald News could not have been bothered to verify the alleged facts stated in this article. In fact, our heads are so far up Mayor Correia & Senator Menard's butts, that we're not even sure when it's daytime.'

I believe that this paper gets its journalistic ideals from the film Tommy Boy: 'You can take a good look at a T-bone by sticking your head up a bull's ass, but wouldn't you rather take the butcher's word for it?'

Yes we would, says the Herald News. Why dig?..."

And the Award for the Biggest Waste of A Wooden Box Goes To...............

THE CITY HALL SUGGESTION BOX!!! CONGRATULATIONS

I saw this at City Hall and had to take a picture. I wasn't aware that Bob Correia wanted public input. In fact, I am quite sure "his honor" does not.

Any suggestions on what Bob can do with his suggestion box?

Seel Kontest Part 2

To Recap:

Mayor Correia decided, on his own, to change the Fall River city seal and motto to "Pride City Wide." The funny part is that the seal/motto is misspelled and should be "Pride Citywide" as pointed out by UpandOut in Seel Kontest 1 .

I solicited alternate city seals from blog readers...I have 3 total - here they are:





and of course 'UpAndOut's' original "Pride City WIDE"