Huge Red Monkey Ass See, Huge Red Monkey Ass Do (over and over and over)

The Legendary

Fall River Mandrill

Divided City Council passes
 $232.7M municipal budget

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By Michael Holtzman
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jun 29, 2010 @ 11:19 PM
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FALL RIVER — The City Council adopted a $232.7 million budget Tuesday night that included dropping sewer rates the equivalent of $2.25 million, approving the municipal side of the budget 5-4 and the water and sewer enterprise funds by the same slim margin.

The level-service $84.3 million school budget passed 9-0 without comment.

The council majority adopting the $127 million municipal budget side were councilors Brian Bigelow, Pat Casey, Michael Lund, Raymond Mitchell and Eric Poulin.

President Joseph Camara, Vice President Linda Pereira, Leo Pelletier and Brad Kilby opposed it on a night with upwards of a dozen votes.

The fiscal 2011 budget, increasing 2.4 percent, goes into effect Thursday.

Taxes will increase the maximum 2.5 percent, and there will be increases in meals taxes, a range of fees from parking tickets to burial expenses and water rates will increase $28 a year for the average single-family home under Mayor Will Flanagan’s first budget he mostly had approved.

City Administrator Shawn Cadime said that two large unions — firefighters and Government Center workers — voted to accept equivalents of 8 percent pay concessions to narrow the gap between revenues and expenses starting July 1.

Local 1314 of the International Association of Firefighters voted contract approval 116-49 — although Kilby and Lund said they’ve heard the city agreed to huge increases in future years.

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees at city hall voted 79-17 for a contract, while its units among matrons, civilian dispatchers and water department waters refused to take a cut, officials said.

The city remains short of the $2.3 million Flanagan was seeking in budget concessions.


One budget area Administrator of Public Utilities Terrance Sullivan will need to wrestle with is the reduction in the current sewer rate of $5.40 per ccf to $4.50 per ccf, while the stormwater fee remains $35 a quarter.

It will save a typical single-family homeowner $90 a year to $590, and costs of a three-family would fall an average of $270 to $1,490, Sullivan said.

“Looking at all the figures, it’s something we can live with,” Mitchell said, who like most councilors noted the relief citizens need in this economy.


Kilby, who said he could not support the overall budget, said he was satisfied Sullivan will work to cut his $18.5 million budget that increased nearly $3 million, he said.


The new rate, which differed from any a task force recommended formula the past two months, was approved on a 6-3 vote, with Casey, Lund and Pereira opposed.

Some councilors said they were happy to get the rate down, others said it should drop more.

Camara, who backed the $4.50 rate, compared it with the $2.54 of a year ago to refute Sullivan’s comments the state Department of Revenue said it won’t certify the city’s revenues without a higher rate.

“Something is wrong when you say they can’t certify that amount,” Camara said.


“I will reduce the (sewer) budget as much as I can,” Sullivan said. He also said he would try to convince the DOR he can meet the lower revenue projections.


On the overall sewer enterprise budget, Camara joined the other three councilors voting against it.

It was the same 5-4 margin to approve the $8.16 million water enterprise budget, with the two other enterprise funds for sanitation ($6 million) and emergency medical services ($3.5 million) both passing 8-1.

Pelletier opposed those also on general principals, he said.


“There’s got to be another way,” Pelletier said.


When the ordinance committee, meeting earlier in the night, recommended 4-1 to increase the water rates from 1.92 to $2.20 per ccf, Pelletier voted no, saying, “I just can’t support this. It’s just another added fee to the people.”

Sullivan said $263,000 in new debt fees required the increase.

The council agreed with a Lund amendment not to limit out-of-town water rates to the traditional 70 percent more than city users pay. He’s repeatedly stated those amounts are below market rates and should be changed. Those rates will go from $3.26 to $3.74.

On the municipal budget, Kilby maintained he was not supporting it because of union contract concessions that remain unclear and “massive increases” he heard the firefighters are receiving.

“I have major concerns if what I’m being told is what the contract is about,” echoed Pereira.


“I can say we have a contract that is on par with the police department,” Cadime said of the firefighters’ approved pact.


He said a few small union groups are ready to vote and public works employees with the Teamsters union remain bargaining.

Flanagan sounded satisfied with the approvals he received from the council.

“It allows us to maintain level services,” he said.

He noted there will be more street police — although the total number of the force is dropping through attrition — the fire department is greatly enhanced through federal grants and the DPW remains level funded.

“It’s a budget of survival in difficult financial times,” Flanagan said. “We’ll be able to focus on other issues affecting our city.”

“It’s a difficult budget,” Camara agreed, “but I just can’t support a lot of what’s in it.”

Camara disagreed with Sullivan’s sewer revenue projections. “He’s going to have more money than he’s going to know what to do with.”
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.

The striking and regal simian face of the Mandrill (above) who sits serene and poised
is truly something to admire. See how he holds hids head high! However, after the votes passing the Fall River FY2011 Operating Budget, I'm afraid we will be looking at the OTHER end of the Mandrill. There simply is way too much shame in these
human's game after last night. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the collective being of our entire crew of elected officials in Fall River - THE BIG RED MONKEY ASSES!

I love the symbolism of the big red monkey ass! Just look at the one above...it's even shaped like a heart, a big red valentine's heart. Ohhhhhh, how sweet! Yes, I guess we all love the big red monkey ass because we like to have it thrust out at us every year, 24/7, 365 , in all of it's mocking majesty, and it certainly looks like it loves us back! Just see what our collection of big red monkey asses produced last night!

So much to rip apart, and so much big red monkey ass to mock us.

Let's start with the fact that this really ISN'T a budget. It's an out of balance mess that will require a miracle or two between now and, at the earliest, December, before it's balanced and when another round of mid year cuts across the board will probably be required to balance this tragedy of irresponsibility and political posturing. There is no way the DOR will allow us to print actual, as opposed to estimated, tax bills for FY2011 before it's completely balanced.

The  City's accounts will not be reconciled, nor, do I fear ,will cash be reconciled, which is just as critical after the disaster in the Tax Collector's Office. You actually have to start to ask whether this continuing mismanagement of the City's cash and payment collections is being done on purpose, since we haven't been informed whether or not the well known cash imbalance from all other previous years, the whopping sum of approximately $1.5 million, has ever been found reconciled. Various Mayor's have been promising to solve this mess for YEARS. As the old accounting saying goes, "cash is cash is cash", it has to be accounted for TO THE PENNY! It's really the only item that does! All this monkey ass knows is that it's never a good thing when the "missing cash" was an issue right around the time the City had to install video cameras at the station in the Tax Collector's Office where daily cash drawers were cashed out and counted each day. The lack of any timely recording of payments against accounts receivable ledger accounts most likely went on in epidemic fashion for over a decade. That, and knowing how many old timers and immigrant families pay their tax bills and fees in CASH! The past truly is prologue even where big red monkey asses are concerned (Especially where our big red monkey asses are concerned, apparently!)

Monkey ass Cadime flat out states that the budget is out of whack by  $2.3 million due to unmet salary concessions from bargaining units who seem unwilling to budge and accept an 8% cut in pay. The City has no City Accountant, no Tax Collector, and a Finance Director/Treasurer who has never been a Treasurer before coming to Fall River and is still learning where the men's room is, being here in the City going on four months. God only knows if ANY of the accounting schedules for the audit firm have been started. I'd almost be willing to bet that purchase orders  (PO's) have been kept open. I swear, this gets worse and worse each year! (Most communities cut PO's off by June 1st to avoid departments wasting money by spending for things they do not need JUST TO SHOW THEY REQUIRED EVERY PENNY AWARDED IN THE BUDGET!)

A Veritable Cornucopia of

Big Red Money Asses

Yes, and we also have the utter irresponsibility displayed by President big red monkey ass Camara. All for politics and none for making sure things are adequately funded!.

Hero Camara refused to accept, and was supported by a majority of the other big red monkey asses, the revenue figure Supt. Sullivan said was needed to meet budgeted sewer operations within the Sewer Enterprise Fund. He was quite pointed about it as well, sticking that huge red monkey ass right in every citizens face, and wanting you to be happy about it! And I quote:

" Camara, who backed the $4.50 rate, compared it with the $2.54 of a year ago to refute Sullivan’s comments the state Department of Revenue said it won’t certify the city’s revenues without a higher rate.

Something is wrong when you say they can’t certify that amount,” Camara said.

“I will reduce the (sewer) budget as much as I can,” Sullivan said. He also said he would try to convince the DOR he can meet the lower revenue projections."

Sorry, huge red  monkey ass Camara, DOR is on record stating it will NOT certify the City's FY 2011 Tax Rate if there are not sufficient funds to cover the carryover from the FY 2010 Sewer Enterprise Fund deficit (I believe approx. $ 600,000) and funds sufficient to both cover Federally mandated CSO direct and indirect  costs and operations and additional operating capital, which was probably never adequately funded when the Sewer/CSO Enterprise was initially set up .

How quickly huge red monkey ass Camara has become such an expert on Enterprise Fund revenues in one year's time. HA! He was ready to swallow Correia's recommendations hook, line and sinker last year and now he's an expert? I don't think so. Nothing but pure politics on display, accepting a sewer rate they know will never satisfy the need for fear the voters will be upset by a vastly higher rate. That's called doing your job and making tough decisions, and being able to explain the need in a way most people can accept  even if they can hardly afford it. Remember folks, this CSO federal mandate was brought about because generations of Fall River politicians refused to make these kind of tough decisions and allowed tons of rainwater runoff  to pollute Mount Hope Bay. We are simply paying the bills now for what we did years ago. And the feds will never let that bill not be paid, and it will be paid on their timetable. Huge red monkey ass Camara knows this. This enterprise fund discussion is nothing but politics in it's most cynical and irresponsible fashion. So I guess that means it's a normal Fall River budgeting process! Look at that beaming, in your face, huge red monkey ass now!

Ah yes....the annual budget message to Fall River taxpayers

from the huge red monkey asses we voted for,

yet again

BUT, enough from me.

This monkey ass is going to write a few nice words having nothing to do with Fall River.

Signing off for now.

Ahhhh...yuh!

Mayor's tour of Fall River
neighborhoods stops at
Watuppa Heights

Mayor Will Flanagan, left, and neighborhood outreach coordinator
 Perry Long walk through an empty courtyard at the nearly vacant
 Watuppa Heights.
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By Grant Welker
Herald News Staff  Propagandist Reporter
Posted Jun 28, 2010 @ 09:25 PM
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FALL RIVER — Mayor Will Flanagan walked through the nearly empty Watuppa Heights housing complex, talked with nearby store owners and listened to a neighborhood group’s concerns while spending an hour Monday morning touring Niagara.

It was the latest stop on the mayor’s plan to tour every neighborhood of the city during his first year in office. Some issues raised Monday echo those heard during other tours, like crime or absentee landlords.

The Niagara neighborhood also includes one of Flanagan’s top priorities in the demolition and redevelopment of Watuppa Heights, a complex of 100 units in 28 two-story buildings, most of which are boarded up. Flanagan walked through the empty courtyard with Perry Long, the city’s neighborhood outreach coordinator.

“It’s like a war zone,” Flanagan said. Around him, windows were covered with plywood. There were no signs of anyone living at the complex, though about a handful of families remain there.

“This is something I need to put on the fast track,” Flanagan said, referring to plans for razing the complex and developing the site with new housing. It is important, he said, that whatever is built at the site doesn’t simply include more low-income housing.

Neighbors of Watuppa Heights, which is at the intersection of Rodman and Warren streets, “deserve something better,” Flanagan said.

Across Rodman Street, next to an abandoned laundromat, an environmentally friendly home is under construction in a partnership with YouthBuild.

Flanagan and Long were led on the tour by Niagara Neighborhood Association members Dino Bissaro and Helen Rego. Walking across Dover Street, Rego pointed out where the pavement was stained from some kind of spill. “This is where we need the street sweepers,” she said.

At Foster and Niagara streets, Bissaro and Rego pointed out a backyard where a neighbor routinely leaves household junk and another where a resident wants to add a garage, despite tightly bordering other homes.

“They pass out (building) permits like candy bars,” Rego said of the city.


The major also stopped by unannounced to a few neighborhood markets and later said he found it “remarkable” that the mom-and-pop stores were able to survive with much larger supermarkets close by.

The owner of one market told Flanagan that she was concerned about “drug activity,” that the store has been tagged with graffiti and that someone had recently broken into cars in the neighborhood.

“We’ve been robbed so many times,” she said, giving a few examples of brazen thefts.


Flanagan and Long said they would pass her concerns on to the right people within the police department. “Hang in there, OK?” Flanagan said, shaking hands before leaving.

E-mail Grant Welker at gwelker@heraldnews.com.

By all means, please "Hang in there, OK?". That's because you've most likely gotten your one and only chance to communicate with Willy Stark Willy Flanagan in your lifetime. Just like the character in the novel "All The King's Men", here's an elected official who tried to be "the people's" man, and turned out to be  the citizen's worst nightmare, making his office an open bazaar to ensure himself a shot at further elective office down the road, all with YOUR money and YOUR votes. And to think, he was barely able to speak a word of truth while doing so.

Is this guy serious about not knowing what Watuppa Heights has looked like the whole time he was running for Mayor? Are you kidding me? I think this character is pouring it on a bit thick, don't you? Nobody who claims to know Fall River as well as he said he did while running for Mayor could possibly be THAT out of touch and stu.....On second thought, I'll let you be the judge.

Watuppa Heights -  Optical illusion or just a vicious rumor? Neither. Rather, it is a well reported on story and controversy for many years in Fall River. I'd call this story by the HN just that, a manufactured puff piece, complete with sympathetic "art" (staged picture) of two lone Argonauts sailing on the roiling seas of urban desolation. They even manage to slip in there a well placed quote reflecting widely held popular sentiment "that whatever is built at the site doesn’t simply include more low-income housing". Good lord, could a situation comedy on TV be any more contrived? I doubt it.

Is this article for real ? I'm afraid so. You couldn't scrape up more dog mess from the gutters of Calcutta than what's being printed in the pages of the HN these days.  And frankly, the dog mess would stink less. That odor is the smell of rancid propaganda, of bald faced favoritism. There is absolutely no coincidence that the editor's boyfriend was on the Mayor's transition team. That's just about the only transparent thing in the Flanagan administration up to this point. Remember that when you SMILE! (ARRRGGGHHHH)


"It's like a war zone" Sure it is, Mr. Mayor. That's how the local mom and pop stores in the area survived this whole time: selling cigs and lighters and rolling papers and scratch tickets to scores of drug dealers and doers. The poor honest citizens of this area have been living through this for years. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MR. CONCERNED? Oh yeah, right, on your "walking tour/photo ops", or meeting behind closed doors making deals in the name of the people of Fall River, deals that should have been at least discussed with members of the City Council. You ever heard of calling up the President of the City Council to arrange for an Executive Session? You folks on the School Committee, which you chair, call them all the time? And don't BS me Mr. Mayor, I've sat in on many an executive session in my time, don't EVEN try telling the people of Fall River that you ALWAYS only talk about a specific subject when IN executive session! As Willy Stark would have said "That dog won't hunt". And the people of Fall River are beginning to see just what has been going on since you've been Mayor. I don't think they like what they see.
 
But maybe you could make that the next walking tour.....talking to all those blades of grass up on the 300 acres originally set aside for the Bio-Park. I have this feeling it's going to be one long, lonely walkabout for you up there. But the photo's should be spectacular!

Nattering Nabobs of Negativity

Ladies and gentlemen , I am back!

What allows me to come back to this place is that I have made several changes recently that will insulate those I care for from harassment and insults from the new collection of political fiefdoms under the rule of Little Willy Nilly, aka, Mayor Will Flanagan.

I don't care if you know my real name. I know one thing, it surely won't be posted on this site. But will I stand by and watch the titticut follies that has long been government in Fall River continue without comment if I can help it? NO WAY!

A very troubling pattern has emerged in Fall River. Suddenly, in what is clearly a concerted effort by backers of the the ex- bag boy Mayor of ours, any comments not aligned with the idea of kissing his arse publicly are met with a combination of cries of negativity towards that person or flat out suggesting the person bringing forth actual facts is delusional, or both! I call it the great "DON"T WORRY, BE HAPPY" propaganda campaign. Their only objective is that of silencing any and all opposition to Mayor Doneky's rule. Even a display of concrete facts are met with the strange, orchestrated response of "you're too negative", or "knock of the negativity". The last elected official to treat "naysayers" this way was George W. Bush. The last semi-elected official to do it before Dubya was Adolf Hitler. Nice company you're keeping there Bag Boy. It's all about getting your message out no matter what the facts are, right?

What negativity? Facts are facts. If you don't have a reasonable response based on facts, find them. Do more work than Little Willy Nilly is doing. If Mayor Flanagan spent as much time solving the City's long term and well known problems rather than trying to build political coalitions for some future race for a higher office, both he and the City would be better off. And by the way, that last little tidbit of future higher office was told to me by a member of his transition team. Honestly, based on his gaunt accomplishments so far in office, I just don't see it. The State House and the Congress are chock full of not too bright lawyers who aren't good enough lawyers to be real litigators and far better public ahh..ahh.. speakahss..ah..than..ahh..he ..ahh..is.  An  expectant  woman could complete childbirth faster than Mayor Flanagan could ask "Good morning, where is my coffee and muffin?

He has accomplished nothing. Turnover the Finance Department? Are you serious? He could have done that at a more propitious time when he was handed the opportunity on a platter by the last administration when Correia's  finance team lied to the City about the existence and size of a sewer deficit. They all should have been let go then, right after the tax rate was set and the first actual tax bills were sent out. Now there is no one to close the City's financial books and get ready for the tax rate certification by DOR for Fiscal 2011. Enjoy this one Fall River.

The Casino you say! What casino? Did I miss something here? When did we get the approval?. Oh , you mean the casino for which there will be beaucoup competition for the three likely spots, NONE of which will be a site dedicated to an Indian Tribe, especially one backed by Malaysian money? Yeah, I thought so! Cedric Cromwell, who has told so many lies in is life he thinks they are the  truth, is the Chief of the Mashpees, who may not be Chief much longer if word out of the tribe is to be believed. And numerous United States based gaming concerns want these locations...what do you think the likelihood is that a truly objective selection panel is going to give a license to a firm outside the United States?

Oh and let's not forget the displacement of the Bio-Tech Park from it's location as a result of the Casino enterprise. Fall River could end up losing BOTH, thanks to the combined talents or Flanagan, the underwhelming Ken Fiola and Fall River's edition of Ratzo Rizzo, Steve Torres. Now that's a winning team. HA!

Illegal stormwater "tax"? Promise reneged, they knew the fee wasn't illegal, they just made up the lawsuit crap and lied to everyone. Now they are trying to push the decision off on the City Council, but since it's a strong Mayor form of government, the Mayor has to propose the rate. Of course, as is the case whenever he makes a huge mistake, he cannot admit error. Gutless is what I call it!

Strip Joints? Once again, these two, Bag Boy and Ratzo Rizzo knew this was settled law when they once again threw together a legal opinion of very dubious scholarship and legal reasoning and LIED to Fall Riverites hungry to stave off the City's first strip joint. When this is over all Fall River will see from this administration is a pile of legal bills. Oh yes, and this from an administration that said it would cut both the number of lawyers and legal expenses appropriation because the Mayor and Steve Torres stated many times during the campaign they would personally handle much of the litigation. Now we have more lawyers than the Correia administration with a higher amount of legal expenses. And they want to add yet ANOTHER ATTORNEY DURING FY2011.

So many broken promises. But plenty of photo-op "walk arounds". Horse twaddle is what they are. Politics over policy, anecdote over analysis. That's not what the people of Fall River voted for. What ever happened to that "super" municipal management software Willy wanted to employ? You heard about it during the election like it would make every municipal employee a paragon of efficiency. What happened to it Willy? Yet another broken promise. In fact, I don't know of one promise he's actually kept.

But don't point those things out in public at all. Don't have a contrary opinion because that would make you a negative person, a naysayer, a lunatic. Next thing you know they'll be attempting to out more commenters on the pages of the Herald News. Oh yes, wasn't that what Correia tried a few times?

Yes...it was.