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under City Council’s watch, not Crowley’s
By TED GAY
GateHouse News Service
Posted Sep 19, 2010 @ 11:42 PM
Taunton —
Charles Crowley makes the point that he wasn’t mayor when the City Council switched in mid-stream consultants for a trash-to-energy plant.
In an e-mail, he said there were individuals on the state level who could share the blame, as well as those on the local level.
Crowley noted that the council embraced the project the night councilors unexpectedly switched consultants from Camp, Dresser and McGee to Alternative Resources, Inc. That was about five years ago.The subcommittee, then chaired by Tom Hoye, followed by Dan Barbour, and A. J. Marsall, heard the recommendation of then City Solicitor Steve Torres for making the change and approved sending it to the full council for endorsement. That vote was unanimous. So was the vote of the full council that night.
It remained that way in the years that followed with the public being kept in the dark.
“The council likes to blame me for everything and yet take credit for everything,” Crowley wrote.
He cited the cost of the fire watch for the Star Theater when the councilors knew only the fire chief could order the watch, as well as the councilors claiming that passage of the local meals tax enabled the city to rehire laid off workers. The tax did not provide enough revenue for that.
(separated at birth)
Another in a long line of great jobs completed by our very own modern day Ratso Rizzo (From Midnight Cowboy), City Corporation Counsel Steve Torres. I don't think this person can do ANYTHING right!
We all know there were some shady goings on with the "trash -to-energy" project in Taunton when he was the City Attorney there with cries of outrage from members of the Taunton City Council after they found out about Mr. Torres' travel to France to check out a facility along with consultants for a specific product. Nice going there Steve, the way you and your partner in "crime" work, your then assistant legal errand boy, our very own Mayor Sylvanagan, being layed out for the honest world to see. You folks NEVER change your modus operandi because you are pretentious attorneys for cripes sake, masters of the universe and more knowledgeable than anyone you meet, right?
You guys went way past Arrogance Street and set up house in an apartment on Hubris Circle. And I thought you loved Fall River so much you would have at least bought a home on Sincere Avenue. Nope, not Fall River loving Mayor Sylvanagan. It just wouldn't fit the profile. Grifters like you two need to stay free of putting down roots. You never know when you'll have to move on quickly. It's one deal at a time for you two, right?
And maybe we found one of the latest deals. Just because you two have been on a continuous losing steak since landing in Fall River doesn't mean you can't soak SOMEONE for a bundle, right?
Well, meet "JOHN DOE #2", as the FBI affidavit against several North Providence City Councilmen calls him, aka (as far as we know) Mr. Baccari. Around these parts Mr. "Doe" (aptly named, I might add) is the gentleman who we think owns the land in Freetown near the Rt. 24 cutoff originally planned as an access way to the 300 acres for the Bio-Park. The land he owns is the very same land on which Messers Sylvanagan , Torres and Fiola want FROED to buy to entice UMASS/Dartmouth to build the Bio-Park. And as we all know, Sylvanagan, Torres Fiola and FROED are trying to soak the Wampanoags and are trying to sell them the same 300 acres intended for the Bio-Park so they can build a destination casino. In either situation, Mr DOE #2's land in Freetown will be much, much more valuable now that he has that nice Rt. 24 access way built right next to his Freetown property. Who is soaking who is really the actual issue, but let the grifters do their thing.
Reading the actual FBI affidavit of MR. DOE #2's handiwork is amazing. You can find it right here:
It is truly an exercise in the worst aspects of local government graft and corruption, and the open willingness of a monied business interest to spread the wealth to get precisely what they want, and screw John Q Public!
One of my favorite passages is one that talks about the mechanics of the scheme, the actual payoff for Council votes, and the extremely vulgar, yet cliched way the offer was put to the miscreants involved:
CS#1 asked ZAMBARANO if the others involved in the bribery scheme were BURCHFIELD and DOUGLAS. ZAMBARANO said "Yeah." ZAMBARANO continued "They don‟t even want to talk to you about it...in other words... they agreed. Now its gonna be four of us. So... You come tomorrow night... if you go along with the show and go along with everything we‟ll give you $4,000 ... and I‟m gonna tell you it was twenty five divided by three. So we‟re not getting much more than you are. But I mean I negotiated the deal. I mean... and they were in on it from the beginning...so I came up with that figure." CS#1 asked "Twenty five hundred?" to which ZAMBARANO replied "Twenty five thousand." ZAMBARANO stated to CS#1 that JOHN DOE #2 told ZAMBARANO "You deliver four votes and I‟ll give you twenty-five thousand dollars."
Right from an episode of The Sopranos! But it happened right next door in Rhode Island.
Now why bring up Steven Torres and the Taunton Project? Whether a City Corporate Counsel , Fall River Mayor who worked under him, an attorney representing FROED or a monied property developer who will stop at nothing to get things done HIS WAY, we are discussing a collection of arrogant individuals who will not change the way they do business. These leopards will not change their spots. Doing things in the dark, out of every one's eye shot, keeping things secret and quiet, are the hallmark of these folks. It's frightening to see these individuals in on the same deal in any form or fashion. One has a legitimate reason for concern that things are not being done on the up and up, or that some type of valuable considerations are being traded between these particular parties.
I'm not saying there are quid pro quos going on, or that cash is changing hands under the table . No, I'd never do that. But I am saying by their past activity you shall know them. They will never change. Grifters never do.
One last frightening thought to consider. JOHN DOE #2's daughter is married to the son of the would be Governor of Rhode Island. I'm so glad I live in the Bay State.
Ahhh...Trash!
ReplyDeleteOut of sight out of mind, until you have to pay for it.
Setting aside all of the questionable practices that such a profitable business invites, the DEP Hearings were truly enlightening about what goes on in Fall River.
Several speakers from communities surrounding Fall River whose communities have PAYT (Pay as You Throw - they pay for their trash disposal by the bag) testified that their neighbors have no trash because they take it over the line into Fall River - where it's disposed of for free.
It would seem that means that Fall River's failure to adopt a PAYT program supports trash collection for others.
There are many possibilities to reduce Fall River's trash production before supporting a polluting incinerator.
Incidentally, the "Trash to Energy" scam is a loophole created to evade the incinerator moratorium.
Burning trash is not a solution and we need to do better. Only sensible solutions will get us there.
It should be noted that Nantucket recycles 91% of their trash for obvious reasons. They also mandated that 'trash' be collected in clear plastic bags to prevent 'banned' items from being included.
It seems that many of Fall River's problems can and should be solved with sensible solutions. Trash being only one of them.
Dear Mid. Review:
ReplyDeletePAYT (Pay as you Throw) has been the standard in all well run communities for eons! Prop. 2 1/2 made this the case, forcing MA municipalities to adopt such methods of local "revenue enhancements" (ie, FEES)to solidify their tax base revenues as the primary source of monies used to fund basic operations and make those operations that can pay for themselves based on amount of well defined services provided do so. It conforms with basic public finance theory of making users of a certain service pay for that service whenever possible.
And note the use of the term "basic public finance theory". It's important in this instance because the current Sylvanagan administration has no clue about basic public finance theory. So they would have no knowledge of what, in basic public finance theory, is called the "free rider" problem with the provision of such services as trash collection. Because of this, surrounding communities are basically riding on the backs of Fall River tax payers because of the basic ignorance, and to my way of thinking, STUPIDITY, of the current Bag Boy Deluxe Sylvanagan administration.
Maybe if his silly smiling faced Honor was able to get a photo op showing him trying to shred a plastic recycling barrel he might go the way of PAYT......NAWWWWWWWWW!
Fall River is a beautiful city that I've always loved and has a great deal in its favor.
ReplyDeleteBeing a City, I realize that its problems are up-sized from town government with which I am familiar, but Fall River's failure to address your trash problem in a reasonable manner, will effect MY air.
I only target TRASH because there are solutions that don't include burning that would remove the cost from the municipal budget.
Flanagan may make a good target, certainly has his faults, but from this distance, he merely seems to be perpetuating a long line of blunders that are costing the City dearly.
Maybe PAYT would save enough to provide breathing room to avoid the next round of budget cuts. Maybe it would allow a restoration of services that are important like Public Safety personnel and teachers.
I'm often reminded that Democracy is not a spectator sport. It does work when you get involved, as I would hope others would.
From an outsider's perspective, it's baffling that more hasn't been accomplished with your beautiful waterfront that has such great potential.
I agree completely with your sense of things in Fall River. Whether a city or town anywhere in the USA, good management and smart management is the only true way to go. For many decades in Fall River, I am very sad to say, the City has been largely "urposefully ignorant"of modern, widely accepted standards of public policy development and management, particularly in financial areas. It is my strong personal belief it arises from a hyper-political atmosphere and local politicians who for far too long have been more concerned about generational reelection and raiding the public treasury at every turn than in improving the lives of the people who they swore an oath to protect and serve. And yes, that phrase "to protect and serve" refers as much to elected officials as it does to public safety officers.
ReplyDeleteshould have read "Purposely ignorant"...sorry!
ReplyDelete