It seems to me like the Peabody Weekly News is becoming a better source of good reporting than any other newspaper around. Here is an update from them regarding the Westside Restaurant special permit and the ensuing controversies
The Peabody & Lynnfield Weekly News:
Council postpones vote on alcohol license for Westside
Note: PLWN articles are only available for approximately one week
I sincerely appreciate Councilor Bettencourt informing the public as to the nature of the emergency that led to the recess of the City Council meeting that evening. I am especially glad to hear that everyone is now fine and that his family is safe.
I stand by my previous comments that the meeting should not have been stopped. The fact that one councilor was not able to be present for the meeting (even though he did attend part of it) is irrelevant.
A quorum is the minimum number of meeting members that need to be present in order for official business to take place. For the City Council that number is 6.
Now a special permit needs to have a super majority (in this case 8 votes) in order to be approved. Thus, with Councilor Manning choosing to vote no the die was cast for the special permit to fail.
This is why I called into question the shenanigans that went on with Councilor Bettencourt's emergency call. It was not that he was responding to a family emergency - of course any good parent would have left to take care of his family - it was the closing of the meeting to prevent the special permit from failing.
Aside: I have reviewed all my comments made concerning this matter. I find that I have consistently sought WHY the meeting was postponed instead of continuing and I questioned the legitimacy of such actions. I also stated that IF the entire emergency was a concoction used to postpone the proceedings, that such actions would have been reprehensible. And because of the actions by the Council AFTER the departure of Councilor Bettencout, I felt it was important that it be reported what actually happened.
And while this apparently angered a few readers, it seems Councilor Bettencourt also felt the need to share the reasons for his departure with the press.
Farewell Dark City....
11 years ago
4 comments:
Maybe he felt the need because of jerks like you posting if it was really an emergency.
Put the blame where it belongs on the councilors who voted yes. There was no need to question councilor Bettencourt's decision to leave. You simply posted to create news.
Incorrect. I posted it BECAUSE it was news and it was unresolved and unknown.
When I posted the original questions it was based on comments made at the Peabody Patriot from folks watching the proceedings on cable.
I made an honest inquiry and I clearly stated that I wished to know IF it was legitimate or a ploy.
And it is ALL THE MORE SUSPICIOUS precisely because of the actions of the Council immediately afterwards.
Think what you wish, but I feel no need to apologize for asking WHY something fishy happened and thinking through some possible causes.
I think the City Council was correct to postpone the vote on the matter. This was the only fair solution to both the Westside and the councilor forced to leave due to an emergency.
The councilor was present for the preceedings, but was unable to provide a vote either for or against the measure. What if Bettencourt was the deciding vote for approval of the special permit? Would this be fair to the Westside if the council proceeded with the vote and it failed because they lost a vote based upon Bettencourt not being there?
Your contention is that the special permit was going down, so it was irrelevant whether he was present or not. But, we're not sure either way. Personally, I think was a situation where city government actually acted responsibly and like adults.
While I appreciate your thoughtfullness on this and many posts, overall I found your comments distasteful. To insinuate, without cause, that he would use a "family emergency" as a way to assist with the approval of special permit is shameful.
In these times its easy to be cynical, but we're all neighbors and I just wish we would act more like it.
I actually did not insinuate that he DID it... I simply proposed the question of was it a true emergency or not.
This was especially suspicious precisely because the Council then voted to recess the meeting - and in effect waste everyone's time to what end? What if Councilor Bettencourt had not been present that evening at all... should the meeting have been canceled? Or any of the other Councilors?
What about all the other items on that agenda that were simply told to go away and come back next meeting.
If I were Councilor Bettencourt and I heard a family member was in distress... I would have been gone in a minute.
And I didn't question the emergency until after hearing of the shenanigans that followed by the remaining Council members.
It was the actions after the fact that were troubling to me.
Post a Comment