Herald News Endorsements

While I was very pleased to see the Herald News endorse 7 newcomers for the city council, I was incredibly annoyed that they chose to endorse Marilyn Roderick for School Committee but not Joe Martins...Marilyn is terrible.

City Council Endorsements:

Kris Bartley
Don Berube
Michael Canuel
Dave Dennis
Brian Dias
Mike Miozza
Eric Poulin

and recycled candidates, Brad Kilby and Ray Mitchell

"Fuzzy Math"

I was listening to today's debates on WSAR just now and was taken aback by Will Flanagan's monumental misundertanding of the retirement system. He is under the errant impression that by encouraging older people to retire, we will save money on healthcare because the older person's younger replacement will require less medical care. The flaw in this plan, as Cathy Ann Viveiros had to explain to him, is that we pay for the health care of retirees. New employee getting healthcare + Retiree getting healthcare = 2 healthcare payments.



"THINK ABOUT IT"

FROED sucks

Could this explain Peabody's difficulty funding the 64 Durfee proposal they made? Peabody pays $2.275 million to settle a state investigation of Peabody's violation of state affordable housing laws.

Well done FROED/RDA! Way to research proposing parties.

Substance over Cliche

"Politicians indulge in excessive cliche because they are playing it safe. Something not always consistent with real leadership." John Keller wbz news

Let me preface by saying that I firmly believe Cathy Ann Viveiros made the wrong decision when she opted to ignore the will of the 7,000+ voters who signed the referendum petition to keep the fire chief a civil service position. I am still bothered by her decision but I do know that it was her own. She researches issues and comes to her own conclusions. So, while I think she made the wrong decision, I know it was her own. I am still holding a bit of a grudge over this, but I am not a one issue voter, and I think she is the better choice in this mayoral election.

Although I did not vote for Cathy Ann in the preliminary, she handily demonstrates a strong command of the issues needing to be addressed in Fall River. She is well researched and has tangible suggestions on solutions. She has a platform on low income housing, a platform on education, budget plans, etc. Her opponent has not shown me the same level of preparedness and qualification for the job of mayor.

I congratulate Will Flanagan on making it this far in the race. However, I am bothered by his lack of substance and his cliche's in lieu of substantive answers. While Flanagan's lack of specificity could be intentional, it leads me to think that he doesn't know the answers to the questions asked. I really really really wanted to be able to vote for him, but he hasn't convinced me he is capable.

LIVESTRONG for Gus Suneson

Click HERE for Gus's page

My apologies to the people whose names have been carelessly thrown about. This all seemed to come about when (upon being asked) I, in the comment section, answered that I was voting for Cathy Ann Viveiros. Trying to out me will not silence me. I don't respond well to bullies. I have been very quiet on the subject of the mayoral race up until now. I think this set me off which is probably the opposite reaction of what the witch hunters intended. Good Work!

PLEASE NOTE - I do not want to moderate comments but I will be deleting any names that are carelessly thrown out in the comment section.

Short Sea Shipping Not Coming to Fall River

I have long heard of Fall River's desire to host a short sea shipping port. In May 2008, Lt. Governor Tim Murray visited Fall River to discuss short sea shipping with Mayor Robert Correia. At that time, Mayor Correia expressed an interest in short sea shipping. Short sea shipping would be highly beneficial to the city and would likely bring hundreds of jobs to Fall River. Therefore, it was rather unsettling to learn that Fall River will not be in the running for federal stimulus money to develop a short sea shipping port. According to the Providence Journal, Providence, RI; Quonset, RI; and New Bedford, MA have applied for the federal stimulus money under the America’s Marine Highway program. According to the three proposals, the jobs created are estimated from 500 in Quonset to over 1,000 in Providence and New Bedford.

Fall River needs jobs.

Fall River needs Jobs for Fall River, Inc. (aka Fall River Office of Economic Development) to succeed in attracting jobs for Fall River!

While Rhode Island submitted both of its proposals to the federal Department for Transportation for consideration, Massachusetts chose to only submit one proposal. The Projo article does not state who made the decision to drop the Fall River proposal from consideration.

We elected a 30 year State Representative as Mayor for his promise that his experience would provide “Leadership that gets things done.” How can Fall River’s proposal for short sea shipping be eliminated at the state level and not even submitted to the federal government?

Once Fall River’s proposal was submitted to the state agency, did either Mayor Correia or Ken Fiola follow-up the proposal with a call to determine whether the proposal would be submitted to the federal government?

So, since Fall River’s proposal for short sea shipping was not submitted, there will be no federal stimulus funds for Fall River to develop its port. The residents of Fall River are owed an explanation regarding what happened with the city’s proposal. All we are left with is this quote from Ken Fiola, “It’s a shame. The state should have applied for both and let the feds pick and choose.”

Fall River is out of contention to receive stimulus funds for short sea shipping. Hundreds of short sea shipping jobs won’t come to Fall River.

…. It’s a shame, indeed.