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.

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.

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.