Tuesday, September 21, 2010

How to get a FREE HOUSE in Peabody AND make $23,000 in the deal... All because of your position as a City Board Member??

Well I have sat on my hands for more than a week about this. I have now heard some very disturbing information from more than 5 different sources. While I usually do not broadcast rumors, this one has too many verifiable facts to be very far from the truth.

According to people who really should know, Peabody Zoning Board Vice Chairman Paul Ruocco has been asked to resign from the Peabody Zoning Board after a rather disturbing series of events.

He purchased a property, had it subdivided based on incorrect information and ended up getting a FREE HOUSE and $23,000 - all because he was granted favors as a standing Peabody Board member.

It has also been suggested to me that other board members might be involved as well but I have not been able to verify any of these accusations.

This is what I have been able to find out:

Paul Ruocco is (was) the Vice Chairperson of the Peabody Zoning Board.

Paul and Eleftheria Ruocco purchased 98 Bartholomew St. from the estate of William Farwell on March 18, 2010 for $127,000


Now here I am relying on 2nd hand information as the records are not available online (as far as I can find out.) Mr. Ruocco went to the Peabody Planning Board to request a variance to build a "pork-chop" subdivision. It is important to note here that the Planning Board has been rather reluctant to approve these types of lot-splitting schemes as it adds congestion and traffic into already crowded areas and is against the rule for required frontage for a new residence.

A pork chop subdivision is where you divide up a single property into a front and back (in a pork chop looking manner) so you can get two properties out of one lot. Here is an image of one possible layout for these two new lots as I have no access to the actual plan and the current City of Peabody GIS does not show it split yet.

It has been reported that Mr. Ruocco made a rather impassioned and moving case for himself stating (again this is 2nd hand) that he was planning on building a second home for aged relatives and additional family members to care for these relatives. I was told that while the board was reluctant to approve such an obvious violation of the code, there was a certain sympathy for the plight of the elderly relatives as well as a feeling of obligation to approve a fellow Peabody Board Members request.

The subdivision was approved and the single lot officially became two lots.


Then on June 25, 2010 the new extra lot (now called 98 Bartholomew Lot 2a) was sold to Dimitra Mihalakakis, which is the former last name of Mrs. Ruocco (and perhaps the elderly relative referred to in the Planning Board meeting.) The price of this new lot was $90,000 to Mr. & Mrs. Ruocco.
HOWEVER... in the exact same transaction the property was then sold to Roger Barile, a trustee of the Roger and Avery Realty Trust. Mr. Barile appears to be a developer and he paid Ms. Mihalakakis $150,000 for this new property.
So Mr. Ruocco was able to purchase a property for $127,000 in March and then ask for special permission, based on questionable statements and his position as a City Board member, to subdivide his new property. Then 3 months later he DOES sell the property to his relative, only to then have it pass onto a developer who was never mentioned in his special requests for breaking the rules.

In all Mr Ruocco and family were able to buy low and sell high, getting a "free" house and property AND netting a $23,000 profit!

No wonder Mr. Ruocco is a Certified Financial Planner... he seems to have a special knack for making money. Even if it violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Sadly, I am told that this gets worse. That this may involve other people on the Zoning Board as well - however I have not yet corroborated that information and I have heard conflicting accounts.

It has been told to me that this is being HUSH-HUSHED all through City Hall. Mayor Bonfanti supposedly asked for Mr. Ruocco's resignation and received it. But this also has been shielded in secrecy. Government should act in the open and be held accountable for its errors. Hiding information is no way to run a City. This is really yet another failure on the part of this administration.

So, while Mr. Ruocco is still listed on the City of Peabody website as being a member of the Zoning Board, I have heard he has indeed resigned.

We need a higher level of integrity in our government. This City can not move forward if forces within are working this hard to pull us back down.

I can only hope that more formal news organisations will get wind of this and look into this matter thoroughly. The citizens of Peabody deserve a full airing of our dirty laundry yet again.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

School fees, vacation daze, Peabody 100k Club and an interesting blog...


Peabody was actually in the Boston Globe's Globe North section for something besides murder, transgender bashing or being the lowest whatever for a change.

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First, the annual listing of salaries must have made its way to the 'slow week' section of the Globe news desk. Peabody: Pay list shows 40 top $100K We are yearly given a listing of the highest paid employees - not surprisingly which are managers, several light plant senior folks, high ranking school officials and police officers who do detail work.

This is usually followed by a litany of average folks being outraged at how much money is paid for so little work being done. This isn't really true, of course - it is just that EVERYONE thinks someone else's job is simple and overpaying.

I am of the opinion that almost everyone on this list is probably deserving of their pay. Where I take exception is to the public safety officers and the use of detail pay. I have discussed this issue MANY TIMES here and on the blogs and this isn't the intent of this post. We can, of course, discuss this in the comments if folks desire.

I was actually a little surprised to see this published in the Globe. It is usually a 'higher intellectual' newspaper and this is more of a Salem News article - as they have never met a government employee worth ANYTHING.

Of course, unlike the Salem News, the Globe goes into some detail giving some reasons for this high pay - most which made sense to me.

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The next article didn't really concern itself with Peabody... which was good considering the focus. Pressure to Pay looked at North Shore communities and the fees to participate on high school sports teams. It seems that while a few decreased fees, a few more increased fees. But Peabody was not one of these. Our sports fee structure stayed the same at $150 per sport with a $300 cap.

The list of communities with fees shows Peabody to be on the lower end of fees charged with only Dracut having lower fees (Gloucester also has a lower starting range, but goes up to $380 per sport.) I am the first to admit that I don't like fees for school activities. But when the schools are in such dire financial straits, I can not see spending precious academic funds on extra-curricular sports or activities. So I was glad to see that while still trying to recoup expenses, Peabody is trying to maintain a minimal impact on parents and student athletes.

It is only fair to also point out that 19 communities (or regional schools) in the area DO NOT have any fees for sports.

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Ah summer! The time when everyone deserves to spend a little quality time away from their jobs and spend it with family and friends! Unless you are school superintendent Milton Burnett. Seems that because of the budget cuts, staffing reductions and major turnovers of key people (think principals here) he has been playing catch-up all summer trying to get ready for the coming school year.

If you read the article in the Salem News, Superintendent's bid to carry over vacation is denied, and read the excepts from his letter to the school committee... it is hard to imagine them denying him a one-time exception to the rule concerning the number of days one can 'carry over' into the next year.

While I am not a fan or a foe of Mr. Burnett, I think he is totally correct on this one. It was the Mayor and the school committee who placed his department in the position where much more work than normal was required to be done (all without an assistant super) and this resulted in the necessity of missing one of the best perks of being employed - vacation time.

I wouldn't blame him if he simply didn't show up for the next 10 days and let the schools suffer... well actually I WOULD blame him and I wouldn't stand for it. BUT this is ultimately the "fault" of the Mayor and the school committee and they should have allowed this as being FAIR and not played the political game of denying it in the hopes of appearing to be on the side of fiscal responsibility after the Salem News has been trying to stir up trouble with the Annemarie DuBois pension "issue."

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I found this link to a blog run by the MAPC (Metropolitan Area Planning Council.) The Salem-Peabody Corridor Project is a new initiative that, I think, is focusing on the Rt. 128 - Main St. - Boston St. corridor and seeks to find improvements to facilitate improvements in traffic and community along the route. This was recently in the news when a group of planners, business people, city officials and citizens walked along the route (twice?) to get an 'on the ground' understanding of the project.

The link to the blog is Salem-Peabody Blog and the homepage of the project is Salem-Peabody Corridor Project.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Main Street Rising

Call me a cockeyed optimist (no one who knows me IRL would do that, btw) but things might be looking up downtown.

That veterinary clinic next to the fire station is pretty professional-looking, and seems to be doing a good business. Next door, the old law office is being rehabbed in a substantial and attractive way. Tuscan red? - why the heck not?

Up the street, the new sushi place, Maki Sushi, is getting quite the media buzz (no, I don't mean the Salem Evening News, which is owned by a conglomerate in flyover land that thinks that sushi = bait). I would never have believed that ol' Peabody could handle sushi, but there it is. The restaurant is simple and beautiful, the staff is super-attentive (NC stopped in for a meal a couple of days ago), and the food is innovative and could attract a much wider crowd than locals, in this writer's opinion.

NC likes a beer with his nigiri though - and wishes that Maki had a beer/wine license. How sad that every dive/fight bar has got one, and hip, up-and-coming restaurants have access to none.

Nevertheless, I strongly recommend Maki. Fresh, delicious, and so good-for-you. I have no connections to the restaurant people or the industry - so this is as unbiased as it gets. Go. Eat fish.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Bettencourt wins, Niz loses, Peabody needs to be spending less time in courtrooms


First of all, hello to the folks who sometimes read this blog.

I have been VERY inattentive to this space and can't promise I will do any better in the near future. All I can say is when I have something to say I will try and find the time to say it.

A few stories of late have me thinking about Peabody...

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Bettencourt winning his pension is a terrible miscarriage of justice. The idea that he was not going to be able to somehow profit from his illegal activities is really besides the point. He broke the law and he did it at work... using work computers... and knowledge he could only illegally obtain through his position as a police officer. The fact that he simply was doing it to be a giant snoop and a big-shot know-it-all is really of no concern to me. This simply smacks of one public servant helping another one. Seriously can you even begin to say that what he did has no connection to his job? And THAT is the legal stance of whether or not someone should be allowed to keep their pension after they commit such a crime.

And spare me your comments about 'his poor family' and 'all his good deeds' because I'm sure that many of the people he had arrested in his career were equally 'good citizens' who happened to also be criminals. Just like he is.

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The good news is that even when the City does some REALLY STUPID STUFF... such as having the City Solicitor advising public employees to NOT TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH IN A DEPOSITION (what the heck was he thinking?) the TRUTH of the matter comes out and an idiot like Niz loses BIG TIME.

I would say that in a normal world NOT telling the whole truth to the general public concerning the 'transition' (read FIRING) of an employee - under the thought that the employee might salvage a little of his good(?) name - I would say this was a thoughtful thing to do. It happens everyday in the private sector. Someone gets called into the bosses office and is given 2 or 3 weeks to find a new position and 'move on' in good standing... or be let go if he/she decided not to go.

So here the administration of the schools tried to protect the long storied career of a man some hold in high esteem by NOT acknowledging serious misdeeds and just saying it was time for a change.

But being the type of person he is, Coach Niz couldn't do the right thing and instead of accepting responsibility for his poor choices and bad actions... decided to blame everybody but himself. And at the trial the truth came out and it looks like his reputation will never be the same.

At least he lost. Maybe he will quit politics completely and do us all a favor.

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Is anyone else tired of the same old Salem News rant about EVERYONE WHO WORKS IN PUBLIC SERVICE IS PAID TOO MUCH AND DOES NOTHING!!! The latest "outrage" is a woman who has been working for the teachers union for many years and yet is allowed to maintain her standing as a public school teacher (since she is representing them.) The idea is that she can still log the time as if she was working AS a teacher when it comes to her pension. The Salem News is typically in a giant snit about how unfair this is to the public.

Except that this is part of a contract that was agreed to by both the union and the administration (representing the public) many years ago. The idea that people today are not happy with it is, frankly, too bad. I can't sign a contract with someone and then change the rules after the fact.

Suppose I signed a year long lease for $1000/month. But after the first month the landlord calls and tells me he isn't making enough profit and wants me to pay $2000... SORRY MAC! A contract is a contract. I don't know why it was scene as a good idea to allow this 20+ years ago, but both sides felt it was good and they agreed to it.

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I will try and be a little more active on the blog. I may or may not be successful. Leave a comment or not. If you have an idea, add it as a comment and I'll try to get to it.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The future of Downtown: Medical Hub?

I have been trying to find out more information about the plan for a "Medical Hub" for Downtown Peabody that Councilor Bettencourt brought to the City Council several weeks back. I was not at that meeting and I do not have cable so I, like so very many Peabody residents, did not get the opportunity to see this plan as presented.

I do not like to critique plans I have never seem, nor would I wish to point out flaws that might have been addressed in some fashion during the presentation by Councilor Bettencourt. And so I asked (via facebook email) if he would share a copy of this powerpoint presentation either with me, or in some online venue, so that everyone might have the opportunity to see this much talked about plan for Peabody's future.

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, I received no response, nor did any such public presentation become available (to my knowledge - and I have been looking for it).

So I am going to give my response to this plan based entirely on the reports of the presentation made to the City Council which appeared in local media.


In general... bringing new businesses into the downtown area is a good idea for Peabody. We should be looking for a wide array of activities to populate our downtown.

We have some very old and decrepit industrial areas that are mostly underused and in some cases abandoned as this type of activity is not going to be done in places like Peabody for the foreseeable future (despite what many of the previous Ward 3 councilors have hoped and wished for... it ain't coming back.)

We have some areas that have been newly renovated - for better or worse - mostly in the southern area of downtown. We have a rather eclectic (bizarre?) mix of uses along the real Main St. area - some that seem to be serving limited populations (specialty toy train stores, fofo's, Brazillian fashions) while others are serving the community at large (drug stores, grocery stores, restaurants, services, etc.).

In general the more consumer oriented enterprises occur on Main Street and in the Square, while the more business oriented activities are on the Walnut Street side. This might have worked well in the days of bustling industry here in Peabody... but those days are gone, and good riddance to them in my opinion. It is time to stop looking to the PAST to try and find some hope for Peabody's future. But that is a rant for a different time and place.

So this brings us to the idea put forth by Councilor Bettencourt. My take on this is that he would like to see downtown become a 'medical hub' of businesses that are ancillary to the more comprehensive and brand new or newly renovated facilities that surround our area.

New facilities at Centennial Park and MGH North and mostly renovated facilities at Lahey Clinic, North Shore Medical Center and more. Councilor Bettencourt is correct that we have already become a medical hub of sorts for the North Shore region.

But lets examine why these places are where they are... and specifically NOT in downtown Peabody. All these new or renovated facilities are located where there is excellent access via the highway for patient, and business, convenience as well as tons of free parking . They are not locating in downtown Salem or Peabody precisely because access into and out of these areas is very difficult, if not impossible, at certain times of the day and space (thus parking) is at a premium.

So if I am a Doctor or an HMO and I am looking to locate my offices/out patient service centers... I am NOT looking to move into a decrepit, industry waste strewn, impossible to access, flood prone area in Peabody with little to no parking and no real connection to the facilities I am currently visiting (NSMC, MGH, Lahey, etc.) Why in the world would these types of higher end medical facilities look to move into downtown Peabody when much better locations adjacent to these main facilities already exists? They wouldn't.

So if the primary (hospitals) and the secondary (Doctor offices and HMO Centers - think MRI, CAT Scan, etc.) are not really going to be interested in Peabody as it is today... what medical uses might be of interest? Frankly, the only businesses that I can think of that would be interested in a location which is equidistant from these major hospitals is medical warehousing and medical reclamation (waste disposal). This seems like the most logical usage for the area if we are going to focus on 'medical hub' services.

And of course that would be a HORRIBLE IDEA for Peabody and the future of Downtown.

You know what... I actually LIKE people who are willing to think outside the box on issues. They often throw out outlandish ideas that may contain a little nugget of a great ideas at times! They also might be completely full of it! Councilor Bettencourt has made two of these VERY PUBLIC, very outlandish and very self promoting pronouncements in the recent past. I recall the idea that the Dearborn affordable housing funds be used to pay for low income folks energy bills as one of these ideas, and this is yet another.

Here is the RIGHT WAY to serve the People of Peabody when you get a GREAT IDEA but have no real clue if it is actually worth anything...

Step 1: Go to the City's Experts on these subjects
We are paying planners, engineers, assessors, lawyers, construction professionals, etc. to be part of the City's management team! Why would you a) work without consultation with these expert people and 2) in some cases work against their recommendations?

Step 2: Seek other inputs from outside City Hall
Arthur Gordon is (was?) the largest landowner in the Downtown area, but he is not the only owner who would need to "buy into" this idea in order to a) get it passed and ultimately to b) make it actually happen.

Step 3: Talk about your ideas to the people most affected by them to gauge their opinions, input and ideas
This is so important. People really do not like to see a brand new idea brought out in a venue like the City Council meeting as a Final and Complete Deal! It makes people nervous that deals were made and that few were considered in the thought process. I am not saying this is actually happening, but it is the perception. And in reality, it is the people who live and work and own businesses and drive through and visit and shop and eat, etc. in Downtown who will be the ones who will make this ultimately become a thriving community again... or just have this be yet another failed 'gee whiz' idea with no real foresight or long term plan.

Step 4: Present your ideas to the government body most appropriate to look into the matter and seek to begin the process of thoughtful public discussion
And this is why I was hoping that Councilor Bettencourt would release his plan... so we could all see it and think about the consequences of his ideas and then allow each of us to make our judgement of the idea on the merits, and not the rhetoric we will be sure to hear in the local media.

So, I for one, think this is NOT a good idea for the future of Downtown Peabody.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Flooding Fan or Foe?? We need to get this fix STARTED NOW!

Note: I have emailed Councilor Bettencourt and requested a copy of his Downtown Medical Hub presentation. I have not yet heard back (3 days) and will make a post (without having seen it) in 2 more if I don't hear back from him. I also requested that he publish this presentation online for everyone to see and offered to post it here if need be.

FLOODING!
Love it or hate it - it simply makes sense to start this project as soon as humanly possible to relieve the number one issue that is impacting both the people who live, work and travel through Peabody Square
and is holding up the discussions and actions needed to remake Downtown Peabody into a place we can all be (more?) proud to have as our own!

Salem News: City seeks input on flood plan

I can't really think of a good reason to delay this project from being undertaken. This is not a brand new area where work was never done before - so one would expect few, if any, surprises to be uncovered. In fact, this area has been worked on repeatedly for the past 20+ years all in an attempt to try and find CHEAP solutions to the flooding problem. This is NOT a cheap solution, but instead is probably the best chance we have (in the current economic/political environment) to get a project of this magnitude underway here in Peabody.

All images from Life.com

Friday, May 7, 2010

Return to the Roundtable

Dear Readers:

I would like to easily explain my absence by claiming some major catastrophe prevented my blogging, but it did not. Instead, it was more the case of many smaller important issues that needed addressing (work, family, health, computer) which conspired to keep me away from here.

But that is not entirely true either.

Truly, it as all of these things, but it was also the disillusionment of watching the Peabody blogs, and the political climate in general, descend into baseless accusations and childish name calling.

Unless you have tried your hand at starting and operating a blog, you really don't understand that it takes quite a lot of time. And during the past 4 months I have had many important demands on my time. Especially considering these troubling economic times - a devotion to work related matters was essential.

I am certainly NOT complaining... but it was both frustrating and sad to see well reasoned discussions being overtaken by bluster, blather and bad manners. It simply became to easy to put off a post for a day... then a week... then a month.

I had hoped some of the other posters here might fill in some slack, but only Needham Corner rose to the occasion. My thanks go to NC.

So why am I back? Well I have been reading the other blogs and was at least satisfied that there was somewhere to carry on the Peabody discussions. But then they both stopped posting as well.

I had decided to begin some limited posts on May 1st... and then both the Twisted Tanner and Peabody Elections also posted right around that time.

The conspiracy minded (and you know you're out there) might conclude that we are all in this together... or we are all the same person... but we certainly are NOT.

I will continue reading the Salem News, the Item and the Peabody Weekly News and trying to offer both opinions and a place to discuss the important articles of the week.
I do not promise to post more than about twice a week, but I will try to increase this if something important needs to be said.

I said that this would be a LAME explanation for my absence, and it is. But it is honest and I felt I owed it to you.

Bottom line is I felt like I was accomplishing little to nothing here… and all the time and effort required to continue this blog became too burdensome as I felt I was not making a difference. And I want to make a difference.

Peabody is a pretty good place.
Peabody can be a better place.
And I would like to help make it better.

That's why I'm back.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Major Water Break for MWRA does NOT appear to be affecting Peabody

There was a catastrophic water main break in the pipe from the Quabbin Reservoir new the Rt.128/Mass Pike interchange Saturday.


They are NOT listing Peabody as an affected area and so Peabody does NOT have a water emergency related to this event.

I do know that several parts of South Peabody do, AT TIMES, connect to the MWRA, but this does not seem to be the case at this moment.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Once a tidal marsh, always a tidal marsh

Spent the early evening strolling around downtown (encountering several family groups enjoying the natural disaster scene) and taking photos of flooding (and the abandoned cars of the morons who thought - "oh, that police warning doesn't apply to ME; I can get through it!" Ha, ha, joke's on you, suckah. I hold photos of numerous abandoned cars, water to the engine block, as evidence.)

But seriously folks. The political scientist Halford Mackinder wrote in 1904, "Man initiates, but nature controls." He was thinking of Eurasia, but the same idea applies locally: we have natural watercourses, and they will prevail - and if humans have tried to manipulate them, well, then let's hope they REALLY understand what's going on.

For example: I stood on Sawyer St and watched the WAVES of water cascade over the st. It looked like the man-made granite-block channel of Proctor Brook wasn't even full, but the water found its way, over the street and through the Leather City Park.

(Which suggests: wouldn't it be smart to create other relief valves or bowls of topography in which the water could pool, without harm to traffic or business? The proposed park on Walnut St could be such a relief valve, and a much more "natural" approach to our flooding problem.) Or, we could just trust the engineers. Yeah, that'll work.

Any human solution is a manmade solution by definition, but some are more respectful of natural processes than others.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

reduce re-use recycle

Now that spring is in the air, this blogger is trying to lose the pounds gained over the winter while pounding the QUERTY keys instead of the pavements or the treadmill. (In short, I've been walking in the 'hood again.)

What I've noticed: people in my (downtown) neighborhood do not recycle in large numbers. Estimating, I'd say that one in 5 houses has a bin out on recycling day.

What is up with that? Are people trying to make a philosophical statement about the inefficiency of reuse (and its markets), when reduction of waste ought to be the main solution? Or are they just not convinced that a quick separation of wastes will be worthwhile for our community? Or what?

I am, as always, interested in your thoughts...



Thursday, February 11, 2010

Jeeves, bring me my fishnets and eyeliner. Stat!

So the civil rights of transgendered folks may well be tested in Peabody. At the Roundtable, we have been following this story underground for a week or so, waiting to see if it surfaced in the mainstream media, which it finally has.

Salem News: Transgender club alleges discrimination
Salem News: Transgender group, restaurant agree to mediation
Peabody Weekly News: Transgender club, Capone's enter talks


Predictably, there's the usual round of redneck misogynistic commentary at the local rag. So sad: we like to think we live in a more enlightened Commonwealth, but of course (as the recent senate elections tell us) some of us live in a Roundtable fantasy world. The symbolism of "mah gud ol' pick-up truck" trumps high-end college degrees any day of the week. Apparently we prefer (collectively) to be governed by the less-educated.

Nevertheless: Do people have the right to enter and buy food/beverages at public establishments, regardless of their dress? That is, to what degree is dress (as a means of establishing conformance with gender norms) a criterion for admittance?

Discuss amongst yourselves. I'll check back...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Govt for the 21st century

Thanks for all the great comments in the last post! It's terrific to see some serious discussion of downtown issues.

PI is still around town, but as I understand, he's pretty busy with work stuff. I hope he'll be back on the keyboards soon.

I've been scratching my head over here, trying to figure out what the heck has been going on all these years with the Essex Retirement Board. (And all the city retirement boards, for that matter.) Would it not make sense for all the cities and towns to band together and manage their funds cooperatively?

As I see it, there is some clerical/accounting work to be done to take applications, issue checks, keep records and the like. Then, at a higher level, there are investment decisions to make about how to balance reasonable returns with moderate risk. Peabody has a retirement board (volunteer?) and a couple of bookkeeper-types (paid staff). I don't think investment decisions are made locally, although I may be incorrect. Then, there's a whole administrative apparatus in Boston (state-level) that oversees all the local stuff to some degree too.

Not that everything is always better if centralized (my experience with state bureaucrats hasn't been too impressive), but still....Shouldn't we be looking for ways to consolidate and share services wherever possible? A lot of our government structure is "because it's always been that way." Now might be a good time to take a fresh look at what is truly necessary in the 21st century.



Wednesday, January 27, 2010

New leaf? Or the same old leaf litter? (ie compost)

Tomorrow night, Jan 28, the new director of Comm Devt (she's damned impressive; don't believe the usual carping over at always-good-for-the-cheap-shot TwistedTanners (sorry, TT, your commentship is pretty lame) until you check her out for yourselves) has been invited to talk about the update to the zoning ordinance that has languished several years in City Council committees. (fyi: if you are just now joining the party, the CC doesn't have much of a track record in proactive legislation; they prefer to shoot down other people's ideas rather than standing behind and enacting any of their own. Naysaying being easier than doing real work, as so many bloggers know...)

I don't know what the substance is of the proposed zoning for downtown Peabody. I don't see a lot of chat about zoning substance on Peabody blogs. Here's what this downtowner would be looking for:

  • Will the zoning create lively, attractive, exciting streets, with commercial land uses that generate pedestrian traffic and SALES?
  • Will it be possible to create streets that are pleasant to walk along, instead of 4-lane "car sewers" that are just carrying through traffic to Salem and M'head? (oh, hi, GP, didn't see you there!)
Tell me why, in these economic "tough times," the downtowns of Salem and Beverly (for example) are chock-full of upscale restaurant patrons and shoppers, while Peabody (which has much better roadway access) has dollar stores, check-cashing establishments, Bingo, and insurance office storefronts (hello? don't we all buy insurance online now??). We have every advantage - wide streets, good access, reasonably atttractive buildings, plenty of parking.

Here's what we do NOT have: interesting restaurants; crowd-drawing cultural events (sorry, Peabody Institute Library); art galleries; one-of-a-kind shops; coffee shops with wifi (hey, bloggers!); did I already say interesting restaurants? C'mon City Council - stop hiding behind boring special permits and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

 
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