Superintendent Budget Proposal

This week Dr. Levine proposed a potentially very hefty budget for the schools in the coming year. He is attempting to raise the bar of the current status quo budget that we have seen year over year with the previous school and city leadership. How does everyone feel about this. Should Peabody be pouring this much money into a new school budget or is it too soon with the way the economy is going? This in conjunction with the Higgens Project and Regional Voc is demonstrating a lot of the taxpayer money will be earmarked for the schools...Levine is in a unique position because he proposes this knowing he is leaving. Is he just grandstanding for his consulting gig?

Bettencourt on WFNX

So Bettencourt is starting to get out there and promote Peabody. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think he could really be taking this city in a new direction or do you think he should not participate in these type of attempts of a little attention and stay in town and start to figure you the problems of the city.

Higgins-New or Old

So it sounds like the city of Peabody will be making some potentially very expensive decisions in the next week. It sounds as though they may vote to put a brand new Higgins on the athletic fields and tear down the existing school. What is everyone's thinking of this? Could there be other alternatives like looking at the school system as a whole first and make longer term strategic decisions so that the city of Peabody may not need this size of a middle-school. I do not think we should feel proud that we have the largest. What are your thoughts?

Looks like the perfect family AKA the School Committee is not so perfect after all...

Tonights school committee meeting ended with a big surprise. Hochman blasts the interview process as tainted...Everyone in the committee lashes back at him and said that Mastercola is the best man for the job. I was not happy with Hochman with his over the top tone with the candidates but I do agree that there is not enough evidence that this gentleman coming back to Peabody will have any success. Here are my thoughts.

I would like to know if he was in the first batch of candidates that did not turn up any viable candidates to interview. If not, why did it take a second attempt IF he really wanted to come back to Peabody...If he was such a great employee of the schools, why didn't they do something to keep him here...? In business if they eliminate positions but they really respect and love the employee then they find another position that would keep them. Never give up your assets...So this must mean he was never seen as an asset of Peabody.

The other issue that is really bothering me with this candidate is his actual length of experience as a superintendent. He has been in that role for two years. Lets look at this in sports terms. You have a rookie pitcher (AKA DICE K)that has a great first two years in a ball club that is in AAA. You decide to sign him to a longterm multi-million contract in the majors for those two great years he had in the minor leagues. You have no idea if the player has any endurance or staying power... Why would you put all your eggs in the basket and take such a huge risk at such a critical time for your schools? As always we learn history so that we do not repeat the mistakes of others. I am sure there are many more examples of this and the leaders of our education should have honestly taken a step back and have a much more in-depth conversation like Mrs. Dunn indicated...

During his interview on tv the other night he spoke more about money than he did about education. It could have been to the very weak questions that were being asked by the school committee but I also think most of them had already made their decision on him. This entire school committee had worked with him prior to him leaving and I have a feeling they asked him to come into the process knowing that they could not find someone else. The fact that Kelleher stepped down tells you a lot of the lack of respect for our school district. He did not want to deal with this so called dream team because they did not represent the school district well with how they asked questions and acted during the interview process.

So what does everyone think of the new superintendent?

Who's Bright Idea Was This?

So what are your thoughts on the gem of a movie depicting our hometown...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfy75PGYmkg

Update to the Ice Rink

Is it really worth our money to invest 1.2 million dollars in the Ice Rink? Does everyone think the Mayor is making the right decision? I think he has come forward very quickly and has demonstrated that the infrastructure in this city has been neglected for a very long time and it appears that the City of Peabody will be creating a lot more job opportunities than the President of the United States. Ice Rink, flood mitigation, new higgins, library repairs as well as other projects that will need to get done in the next couple of years. I think it is kind of exciting at the opportunities that Peabody has but what do you think?

Levine vs. Burke Parents

It appears that there is going to be a meeting this week to discuss the test results of the PCB's at the Burke. This appears to be the first of the many messes that Bettencourt is going to have to deal with. The twist to this one is that it is his children's school. Which will he side with with, the superintendent that decided not to divulge earlier results or the parents that supported him with his campaign.

At the end of the day this is a train wreck caused by the outgoing Mayor and current superintendent. Information was not released or released last minute so the parents ware not able to get to meetings to speak from what I have been told. It also appears the most recent results were available three days ago but there was not a communication until last night. What a great way to end the year...

As a parent that has had children in the school system, I would be careful about switching your child to another school. All of these schools were built around the same time period and the only newer ones are the Brown and Carroll. Based on the recent MCAS scores those would be the last place to want your children to attend to have confidence in air quality. There will be very little confidence that you child's MCAS scores will be strong.

I have also heard via multiple sources that Dave M. has been somewhat hostile to the Burke Parents. We know he was to Barry Sinewitz at the School Committee meeting. I just hope that Bettencourt finally distances himself from that hack and find the right people that will make an honest effort in this city. To have a guy not run for a position knowing he could not stand up to the challenge of a new comer and to also make the argument to get into the vocational school to protect the kids from the school committee is a person that should have stepped down years ago. I find it very amusing that they call in the Vocational School leadership to the committee when the reality is that the City Council is now the bosses of that school district. The peabody school committee have zero power now thanks to people like Dave McGenney.

People will have to let us know how the meeting turns out because this is a big mess that the new mayor will have to show some pretty strong leadership skills. Best of luck to him!

James Rice RIP

Our hearts go out to James Rice's family. He served Peabody heroically and will be very missed. I ask everyone take a moment of silence tomorrow with your families and remember what Christmas truly represents.

Crime in the City

I have noticed that everyone was saying that we are turning into Lynn due in part to the two youths that decided it would be fun to shoot each other, investigation is obviously still out. We all know that the washington Aborn section of the town has typically produced the most crime. Also I might add that this occurring in someones residence where there was NOTHING the police could have done to prevent it. If this was out on public streets or sidewalks then you may be able to argue a little bit more. Kind of like the mugger in West Peabody at 3am stabbing the guy for his money. That is more alarming than this.

The recent drug bust I would say is huge for Peabody. It shows the are being very proactive and attempting to send a message to all the transients taking advantage of the highways and hotels that we are not a safe stopping ground for illegal traffic. I respect the Police Department very highly and hope that everyone knows and believes that they are putting themselves in harms way everyday no matter what their roles are. Look at the officer that got struck on route one recently. He was working a detail and attempting to help someone.

I would like to see the future Mayor add more patrol cars. I feel like I barely see any police presence in the city and it could be that I just seem to miss them but it is a nice feeling when you see them come down your street knowing that it may just deter the person wanting to break into your house....

Delay of the Bond for the Flood Mitigation

It appears there was some debate at the finance meeting. New vs old. At the end it appears that the new beat out the old. It sounds like that Bettencourt will be more of a planner than a reactor and this could demonstrate some positive change to the city. As of tomorrow, the mayor only has a few short weeks left and I would be curious to see what he might try to pull before he steps down...What are you thoughts on this?

Grass or Turf

Should the city spend a million dollars to upgrade the athletics field? They are attempting to raise have of the money through a grant and who knows where they will get the other half but if the city has to pay $500,000 to get it built then I believe it is worth the money. The city could start renting the field and re-coop some of the funds and maybe get some better advertising opportunities to offset the actual cost to the field. If you have ever been over to BF then you will realize how nice it would be....Lets here what you have to say as taxpayers of this city.

All is Quiet in our city

There has not been much to blog about...Is this the quiet before the storm?

Peabody In the News

Mayor Mikey will be honored with the Ankeles Award and Teddy was given a thumbs up for his decision to hire a chief of Staff when he steps in as Mayor. In other states news, Sean appears to not have gone back to a very warm welcome based on the comments in the Plaistow news via the Eagle Tribune...Guess two out of three aint bad.....

Also, looking at the upcoming city council meeting, am I seeing this right, is Spanos asking the city council to reappoint him for another two years? If so, do you think they will pull the trigger or wait for Bettencourt to step in...I am sure there are a lot of people wondering what is going to happen to their jobs in the coming year...

Congrats to Ted Bettencourt and the other candidates

What a great day for an election yesterday. It almost felt like summer with the trees still green. It was great to see all the sign holding and volume of people hitting the polls. It would have been great to have more but we know it will never happen.

So everyone...Today is a new day. We have a Mayor coming in that is young and full of energy. Will this be the beginning of a new era for Peabody? Or will he fail since he supposedly has no experience....

Based on what I read in the paper this morning, Sean showed up to his party last night and the Mayor left him a message and we still do not know the details of that message.

So will Sean return to Plaistow quietly or do we think he will take a renewed interest in Peabody....

Lets here what you think.

One Week to GO!!!

Time has flown quickly this year. Feels like just yesterday we started hearing the announcements for Mayor...So Peabody Citizens....Who is going to win come next Tuesday? Let us hear your thoughts.

Salem News Mayoral Debate

Okay so who went and who watched it??? I showed up early to hear from all the other candidates of elected offices and the downtown area was being overrun with Bettencourt signs. You almost couldn't see any signs for Sean. Does he have any supporters? At the debate there was not much cheer for him either. You would think that it was a rally for Bettencourt.

With regards to the debate. Sean did not have a chance. I think he attempted to take a play from Bettencourt and release another PR statement to the Patch and it read like someone was kicking and screaming for attention yet again. It also sounded like he continued on with his tantrum into tonight attempting to make attacks at Bettencourts ability to make decisions even though he was giving plenty of examples.

One area Sean harped on was the city zoning from years back. About 5 to be exact. He dinged Bettencourt for voting against and wasting 5 years to move the city forward. Bettencourt answered back that the plan was much different than the zoning plan that they recently approved. The old plan called for much higher structures and would have have a negative impact on how the city could look if it was approved.

He also attempted to ding Bettencourt on the Regional Voc school. Is it going to be a great school? Yes but if you can't afford the luxury car that the payments can change at anytime even though it is reliable is not a reliable investment when you are on a fixed budget. Sean attempted to slam Bettencourt that it was the wrong decision and that there was no way Bettencourt would be making a strong effort to support it if he was Mayor. This was after Bettencourt said that he will do whatever it takes for Peabody to get the most out of this investment. The reality is that Sean did not have any strong retorts on what Bettencourt was saying. I caught him many times nodding his head in agreement when Bettencourt spoke.

There were many cheap crack shots that had no merit towards Bettencourt. Bettencourt was above them and stuck to the questions and did a great job answering them. Watching this debate, I am not sure how someone would feel comfortable having a personality like Fitzgerald in the Mayors seat. I saw way to much immaturity tonight and have seen it through the campaign with all these attack Press real eases. This is not what I want to see in our next leader.

So I am sure that I will hear people against me which is fine, but I say with all honesty that Bettencourt is the right person for the job. He will wield the power with respect and honor.

Sean is on the Attack Again...

Sean shows up in the Patch today criticizing Bettencourts record...One should wonder if he should be throwing rocks in glass houses...

http://peabody.patch.com/articles/fitzgerald-blasts-bettencourt-for-exaggerating-his-role-in-firm-city-council

So what are everyone's thoughts on this??? Lets make sure there are no accusations on either side that may be seen as potentially Libelous...or they will need to be deleted.

Sean's Crew is at it again...

The Peabody Patch is starting to blow up with comments and there appears to be a new Peabody Mayor Race blog that is 100% support Sean. Sounds like his website peabodymayor. Only three weeks to go and it looks like there is some desperation to manipulate perception of his like ability. It also appears the new blogger is a college student based on the comments. Who know's people, but it is starting to smell fishy in the dark city. Looks like Seans pit bull has a little competition for his masters attention...

Dave McGenney Must GO!!!!

I watched the School Committee Meeting which I typically do not do because they are such a happy family...Or least that is what they portray publicly while they all run for re-election. So big Dave got to pretend to be the Mayor tonight since he was not able to chair this evening. Dave attempted to shut the meeting down as soon as he could. As though he really needed to go to the bathroom. He attempted to overlook a item that Beverly wanted to discuss and that had to do with the salary of the Regional's Superintendent. We are writing a blank check folks and we are not going to have the control on this school district. Beverly is someone that knows her stuff and then you have Hochman a 2 yr member disagreeing with her. He doesn't have a clue. She should have smacked him around. Oh ya, Hochman voted for the school and Bev didn't...hmmm Anyways, while this was going on Dave just wanted out of there.

So let me get this straight Dave....You are not campaigning, not walking or holding signs and you want to get the hell out of the meeting as fast as you can??? So why would I want to vote for you?

As of right now there is only one candidate that has the experience and knowledge to be on the ticket and it is the new kid Russell. I hope everyone takes a hard look at him and gives him a vote. Peabody would be doing a real disservice if he doesn't make it on the school committee. Mcgenney is definitely not getting my vote. He is miserable and he thinks his reputation will get him re-elected. That is arrogance that I will not tolerate and I am calling him out!!!

Week 1 of the Debates-Schools vs Business

This is going to be a very interesting week for the candidates. Their first debate is going to be centered around the Peabody Schools...It is being hosted by the City Wide PTO. It appears the parents are beginning to formalize and form a stronger voice. For them to get the first debate is a pretty big deal. What are peoples opinion on the winner?

Then on Thursday, we have the business organizations have a all you can eat buffet and listen to the two candidates go at it. I am sure all the city's finest will be at this one to hear how they are going to solve Peabody's issues with being business friendly. Any guess of a winner of this contest?

The downtown update seems to be a little too late. There were two restaurants that have closed their doors...Will this be a continued trend before we spend all this money or will businesses get in now before all the work and demand for the area increases. IF I was a betting person I actually think I would try to take over a space like Firebull and hope the city of Peabody is going to make good change for once.

This is going to be an interesting month and there are rumors flying around with the mayors race as well as strings being pulled in the city councilors race...There is a puppet master hard at work to make sure there are black eyes with anyone that has crossed him in the past and to ensure victory for the people they want...