Happy Nueve de Mayo !!!!

HAPPY CINCO de MAYO !!!!

My dear friends, today is Cinco de Mayo, a great celebration of the Mexican culture, much like St. Patrick's Day celebrates Irish Culture. It is to honor the unexpected defeat of French forces " at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. It is celebrated primarily in the Mexican state of Puebla and in the United States. While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. "

Yes, this date is celebrated all over the world by those of Mexican decent as a mark of pride in their culture and their achievements. But we here in Fall River have a need to celebrate a date that also honors the basic pride felt by citizens of this once great City. It's a date which need be remembered only for a scant four more days, if everyone's collective A.D.D. can be controlled for a short while. I'm talking about the most important in Fall River's recent momory, or at least since the Great Destroyer was voted out of office. It"s Nueve de mayo, or the 9th of May! On that day, the contract this City has with the Fall River Office of Economic Development (FROED) ends and it can only be renewed by a vote of approval of the Fall River City Council!

                     

I positively urge every citizen of Fall River to bombard the Fall River Mayor's office and each member of the City Council with the demand that there is a public session, with public input, to investigate the success that FROED and it's Executive Vice President, Ken "The Weeper" Fiola, has been able to attain since the last contract was signed before any new agreement is approved. More over, I think it's time for the City Council to examine just what has been done by Fiola and FROED to solve the downtown/Courthouse related parking solution, and the TIGER grants that were suppossedly filed by Mr. Fiola, but whose existence cannot be found by a research of pertinent records online. The question becomes, did he file an application or not? He said he did, but there is no evidence! Is he lying in public about this? If he is, what do our esteemed elected officials plan to do about it. Or are we always to be the home of lying public servants who'll be protected because they know way too many insiders to ever have to worry about their jobs ending? Casting out the occassional sacrificial lamb, like the ex treasurer, when other co-conspirators remain on the payroll,  does not clean the reputation of an entire City!

And it goes beyond FROED. I have discussed of late the extended "Family of Influence" that has long been the controlling cabal here in Fall River, the various political factions, bankers, insurance and real estate owners who set the tone of all things in this City. It extends like a huge "good ol' boys and girls" club, where winning elective office gains entree' to the club and acts as a substitute for wealth. It's all about power and control through political influence . And it's REAL. Let's look at a blatant example.

Turn your eyes to the Southeast Regional Transit Authority (SRTA). Here are the primary actors controlling what goes on there on a daily basis:

Agency Name / Title / Standard Hours / Annual Rate / 2008 / Earnings / Contract

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority / Arthur D. Frank/ Legal Counsel / N/A /$36,000.00 / $36,000.00 /Yes(contract)

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority/ Christine C. Comeau /Senior Clerk /35.00 $34,161.40/ $33,853.24 / No(contract)

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority/ Hague & Sahady Auditor / N/A / $27,500.00 / $26,500.00 / Yes(contract)

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority / Jane T Kirby / Executive Secretary / 35.00 / $75,220.60 / $71,367.42 / No(contract)

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority / Joseph L. Cosentino / Administrator /35.00 /$97,850.00 / $95,000.00 / No(contract)

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority / Meyer Regan & Wilner Accountants/ N/A/ $38,000.00 / $36,507.00 /Yes (contract)

Southeastern Regional Transit Authority / Sylvia Insurance Insurance / Consultant / N/A / N/A / $7,200.00 / Yes(contract)

Seems like the same old same old , the same names making money off YOU, the Fall River taxpayer, with absolutely nothing but worsening performance each year they "grace" us with their talents. WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET SICK ENOUGH OF BEING FOOLS ABOUT THIS! THESE PEOPLE TAKE YOUR MONEY AND LAUGH AT EVERYONE IN THIS CITY! WE, THE CITIZENS OF FALL RIVER , ARE ALLOWING WHAT AMOUNTS TO NOTHING MORE THAN A GLORIFIED "THREE-CARD MONTY " GAME TO CONTINUE YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR ON THE STEPS OF CITY HALL!

 

Take control of this situation by contacting your City Councilors and the Mayor's Office and demand there be an investigation into why there is no offical record at the state DOT for the TIGER grant application Fiola claimed he filed related to the Downtown Parking Garage . Demand a public review of FROED's performance since the last contract was approved, a meeting to be in public, broadcast on cable TV, and allowing public input. Do it before it's too late and the ruling cabal wins yet again!

 

After all, it's only your money!

 

HAPPY CINCO de MAYO...HAPPY NUEVE de MAYO!!!!!!

The Quiet Before the Storm

Something is troubling me. It's so quiet in this City right now.

Sure we have the same tidal wave of crime and stupidity that has been Fall River's hallmark for many years now. And yes, we've witnessed the several comings and goings on our government's personnel merry-go-round where the same person seems to be appointed to the same job year after year after year, regardless of position and regardless of who is making the appointment. It tends to give the illusion(?) that things have changed when they really haven't, and anyone who has been in the City for as little as a year can predict which political group or groups are behind which appointments. Yes that's cynical, but, yes, that's true!

WE have a newspaper covering stories whose reporters cannot make a distinction between the words "two" and "to", where citizens wait for the weekend when nameless rookies write hilarious tripe that is always factually incorrect, and whose editor waste's our time and hers writing self serving editorials of the most common sense kind while letting the Herald News'( HN) journalism standards steadily deteriorate at the same time and seeing it get  increasingly worse month by month. Please, Horace Greeley, head back east, the HN needs you!

 And do you think the HN could cut down it's cutesy public interest stories to no more than 25% of it's output...PLEASE? I'm sure Buddha doesn't mind having his likeness purloind very much so why should we. You think the readers who live in Fall River don't know there's a serious crime problem ? You think this theft surprises them, or will shock them? Let the lady file a police report. This was the latest in a long line of non stories by the HN. And please take that picture of Shawn Cadime off your front page....you make the poor guy look like a nervous beaver.

But all this is par for the Fall River couse. It's familiar noise that almost becomes like "white sound", a soft tumult in the background so ever present  we forget it's there, like veterans of battles who know by the sound of incoming shells whether or not to seek shelter as FNG's grab the dirt.

No, Im disturbed by the REAL quiet coming from City Hall related to the FY11 Budget. Oh, the picture is there among the scattered little bits laying on the table like a puzzle. Let's see, we've got things like:

     *Cuts in MA Cherry Sheet Chap. 70  (State aid to Education) of any where from 2 to 5% from what we are receiving right now. (And we all know how well are schools are functioning, don't we!)

     *Cherry Sheet Local Aid reductions from this years funding by another 3-4%

     *Deficits  within this years general government accounts that the current administration plans on carrying forward into the FY11 Cherry Sheet charges, where prying eyes (yours and mine and everyone else's) hopefully won't notice. Oh we'll pay for it in the tax rate alright, but the untrained eye will have to look for it with an electron microscope unless you know exactly what you're looking for. It's effect will be that of yet another cut in available funds for the FY 11 budget.

     * Thought your sewer bills were too high this year? There was a specific plan to carry old deficits into FY 11's sewer rate by DOR and Mayor Flanagan as a condition of balancing the FY 10 Budget and approving the FY10 Tax Rate.

     * Fire and Police departments are facing a tough year yet again with grants and other federal funds starting to dry up as the election year takes it's toll due to National Debt concerns nationwide. Most democrats will have to be on the "cheap" or they will loose their seat!

What of the administration? We hear nothing more than what I've listed. In fact, I think this is the first semi-comprehensive list of all the hurdles facing the City and it's FY11 budget, and I'm certain I have missed a few. Why? Why all the silence a mere 60 days before this budget has to be passed and balanced. Why? The school budget process in under the " Fall River Screwup Cone of Silence " as well. Why?

I will venture a wild assed guess. I think Mayor Flanagan will offer the same REAL budget control Herr Correia exercised last year. THESE OPEN BUDGET MEETINGS ARE HOGWASH. I think the discussion of this issue was laid out pretty well by Lefty on the "View from Battleship Cove" blog a a few days ago. Make the old timers and the half heads among us happy and let them tell Will Flanagan what a great job he's doing, and hang everyone on Section 8 on the spot, and we're better than New Bedford, and blah, blah, blah.....Then he'll go about directing the budget process from HIS office. The bodies have changed, but the process is closed, as it always has been.

The calm before the storm. That's what all this silence says to me. We're all in the calm before the storm. Hold onto your hats kids....it's going to be a bad storm indeed.

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Hey all, I'M BACK!!!!!!

Be Right Back...I Hope!

Folks I am sorry to say that because of circumstances beyond my control, I will be off the net until sometime Monday afternoon. I will also be changing my Comcast IP address. I will endeavor to get back online ASAP! I'm sure you'll survive until then!
 Take care Y'all!

New City Motto : What, Me Worry?

(Click on City Seal to see enlarged size)

Fall River Votes New KING

 and New City Motto

***************

By S.O. Facile

Herald News Staff

Nov, 5, 2015

***************

After a long and hard fought campaign, the forces of sloth, illiteracy and ignominious defeat overcame a late rally by newcomer Ivana Gamble and elected to change the City Charter and elevate long time Fall Riverite Alfred E. Neuman to the post of the City's first King.

After holding court at his post election victory rally at City Councilor Leo Pelletier's locally famous basement kitchen area, King Alfred announced that as his first official act he was changing the official City Seal to include the new city motto, "What, Me Worry?" in order to inspire his "subjects" to roll with the punches and just accept their fate, which he claimed during the election was his greatest managerial talent.

"Let's face it" said the King, "We're not good at very much! The state gives us almost 80% of our entire budget, our unemployment rate is still 14.5% even though the state's has sunk to 3.8% due to the new economic boom, almost 60% of our kids haven't graduated with their high school class or at all, and we now have the highest rates of murder, drug addiciton and gang activity in the entire state, and #2 in New England. We just can't suck enough!" At that point the crowd of largely political hack relatives who worked on the campaign roared with approval, breaking into the well known campaign slogan "Loser, Loser, Loser, Loser!".

His Majesty Alfred E Neuman

King Neuman was a surprise candidate when ex-Mayor Will Flanagan moved on to a  tenured teaching position at the new Bristol Community College Law School after the obligatory disasterous three terms as the City's Mayor. The upswell in support of the newcomer Neuman came when he beat senseless a well known man who had acosted him with a beer mug at Club Flaunt (pronounced "fluan-eh") , a man who deleriously claimed over and over that he made the City the best on the planet and that one day he would be the owner of a semi-pro basketball team. The person in question had just been let go by a local radio station for a station record 12th time , a station that could be heard as far north as Westport and as far south as the Swansea Motel, his oft time residence.

Riding that wave of dubious accomoplishment into the primary and being seen as a common sense and desireable candidate by the mass of Fall River voters, Alfred E. Neuman easily finished first and headed into the final election against the Casino backed candidate, Ivana Gamble.

Ivana Gamble

Fall River voters came to love the common sense approach to issues that were spoken with a dull, but stupid syntax, and opened up the City to the "can't argue with that" simple honesty in what he had to say. He thrilled enthusiastic crowds with comments like:

"In retrospect it becomes clear that hindsight is definitely overrated!"

"Most people are so lazy, they don't even exercise good judgement!"


"If opera is entertainment, then falling off a roof is transportation!"


"A college jock is someone who minds his build instead of vice versa!"

"The only advantage to living in the past is that the rents are much cheaper!"


"Getting old is when a narrow waist and a broad mind change places!"

"Medical insurance is what allows people to be ill at ease!"


"Prison inmates are treated to cable TV, hot meals and a college education, while on the outside some people can only afford these things through a life of crime!"

Over time the voters of Fall River came to rely on this less hectic view of the world and started to live according to the example shown by the soon-to-be King Neuman.
"Why worry about things you don't want to control", he would say. "If I wanted to make things better, I'd do something, but that takes time and effort, so why worry, the state's gonna pay for us anyways, like it already does. Why expect more than we deserve, right?"

 It was at moments like that he would then say "You can be on the right track and still get hit by a train!" Who in Fall River wanted to argue with flawless
logic like that, logic that spoke loudly to the lowest common denominator of voters in Fall River?  When asked if that was part of his campaign strategy he answered, "I've always stated that we want to appeal to the lowest person possible. In Fall River, it was easy to do because there were so many of them! What, Me Worry?"

Ivana Gamble nearly came from behind to capture the crown. She was fronting for the Gaming Industry to open a new mega casino and resort complex all along the Fall River Waterfront area. She cited a gaurentee of union waged jobs for every man, woman and teenager in the City regardless of level of education,  court record or ability to speak english. This would be assurred by a contract between the City and International Gaming Giant "BUCKS R US", with the first years salaries to be paid upfront!

Alfred E. Neuman's response was as you would expect. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, it might bite your nose off". A majority of voters reacted to this simple statement by giving back to Gamble's campaign workers the crisp $100 bills they had received to vote in support of Gamble. Neuman convinced Fall River voters that the no effort way was the way to go, you could accept the state's money, make the same mistakes you had made before, not be involved in any activity what-so-ever, "so why go to work and ruin a perfectly acceptable way of life?"

In the final weeks of the campaign King Neuman's speeches were electrically bland, the way they were when he was at his simple best. Some of the real crowd pleasers towards the end were:

"How come stealing from one book is plagiarism, but stealing from many is research?"

"It takes one to know one -- and vice versa!"


"Nowadays, a balanced diet is when every McNugget weighs the same!"


"Teenagers are people who act like babies if they're not treated like adults!"


"A teacher is someone who talks in our sleep!"

"How  come we choose from just two people for President, and fifty for Miss America?"


"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!"

"Blood is thicker than water... but it makes lousy lemonade!"

"What, Me Worry?" Campaign poster

From such simple, sleepy,  yet stupid sentiment did this unassumming McDonald's french fry bag filler win the hearts and minds of the voters of Fall River, the downtrodden and clueless thousands he knew he could relate to.

And so it was, this day, a King was elected.

(Editor's Note: During the preparation of this news article much "'research" was completed)

HEY THERE...Our City Is A Classic CLUSTER F*&K

Flanagan taps Cadime to
take over as city administrator

Shawn Cadime will take over

 as the city administrator.

***************
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Apr 28, 2010 @ 09:55 PM
***************
FALL RIVER — Mayor Will Flanagan has hired School Committee Vice Chairman Shawn Cadime to be the next city administrator.

Cadime, 29, has been a program financial analyst with General Dynamics in Taunton for the past seven years.

“I am looking forward to working with Shawn. He is energetic and dynamic. … He will be an asset to the sixth floor,” Flanagan said.


“He brings with him skills in finance, in collective bargaining and qualities of intergovernmental relations. He has a good working relationship with City Council, the School Committee and other elected officials at the county and state levels,” he said.


Cadime begins May 17.

He’s expected to sign today a two-year contract at a salary of $95,000. His pay will be adjusted to $87,400 after he accepted the 8 percent pay reduction consistent with cutbacks by other administrators, Flanagan said Wednesday.

He replaces Adam Chapdelaine, who held the job the past 1½ years until mid-April. His salary was $91,800 before the 8 percent cut.


Cadime’s hiring does not require City Council ratification. It requires resigning from the School Committee.

He plans to resign that seat after signing his contract.


Flanagan, who by city ordinance serves as School Committee chairman, said he will support Mark Costa as vice chairman. Costa lost that post this year in a split election, with Flanagan casting the decisive vote for Cadime.


Cadime, like Chapdelaine, is a lifelong city resident with a business background.


He graduated Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and concentration in finance and marketing. He’s enrolled for an MBA at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

For the past four years, Cadime has served as School Committee vice chairman and chaired its finance committee.


Thanking Flanagan and his administration for their support, Cadime said, “This is a tremendous opportunity for me to fully utilize my skills and my financial experience to better serve the community... I consider it a great opportunity and honor to work for the city that I was born, raised and continue to live in,” Cadime said.


He also thanked those that gave him the opportunity to serve on the School Committee.
Flanagan began the city administrator search a month ago, and stressed that his choice bring strong administrative and business experience/education to the post.


The job entails managing the daily operations of the municipality, oversight of city departments and implementing the mayor’s policies.

Flanagan declined to name the other three administrator finalists, culled from 58 applicants and 15 whom he and his top administrators interviewed the past 2½ weeks.


“It’s because they currently have full-time positions or are seeking other positions,” Human Resources Director Madeline Coelho said.

She and Flanagan gave limited background about the three other finalists.


They included a SouthCoast lawyer with experience in fiscal and legislative affairs; a Connecticut man who’d been a selectman and town manager, working in business sales; and a 20-year municipal manager from the southern part of the state.


Of the latter candidate, Flanagan said, “He has the experience in government being a manager and administrator. However, he did not have the experience in Fall River with knowledge of inner workings in Fall River.”


Flanagan said it was important to him the person hired “followed the budget of the last several years, and knew about the prior decisions affecting today’s budget process to see what past mistakes had been made … to ensure not making the same mistakes in the future.”


He emphasized wanting an administrator that “would hit the ground running.”


“I look forward to working with the mayor, City Council, School Committee and all of the citizens of Fall River to weather this financial storm, and I look forward to better days in the future,” Cadime said in his brief prepared statement.


Working at General Dynamics, a Fortune 100 company, Cadime said he managed financial programs of about $150 million. He also “interacts with presidents and directors of the company as well as various government agencies,” he wrote in a letter applying for the job.


Flanagan added that Cadime “has earned respect of people of Fall River. He has earned their confidence and trust, and he is leaving a secure job to join the city at its most difficult financial time in its history.”

He called Cadime a “no-nonsense person. … He will hold people accountable.”


Until beginning the job May 17 he will work nights meeting with department heads and helping form the next budget with the financial team, Flanagan said.


He must submit the mayor’s fiscal 2011 budget to the City Council by June 1.


Prior to his current work, Cadime held one-year jobs as a corporate action specialist for State Street in Quincy and as a technical administrator for Putham Investments in Norwood. He held short-term paid internships at Government Center as a college student, in the treasurer’s office and mayor’s office, the latter while Edward Lambert Jr. was mayor in 2000.
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.


Ladies and gentlemen there is an old colloquial Army term that describes what this City's politics and administrative governance has become. If you are squeemish at all, please look away. The term is:

Fall River Today!

(I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know!)

Yes it is!

This annoucement is nothing but a sad joke. I just finished watching the last School Committee Meeting on cable TV and was  amazed how relatively silent this new "financial genus" was when questions related to budget line items and grants were being discussed by two other Committee members, Pavao and Martins. An amazing performance with not one utterance of helpful explanation.

And where was this beacon of good management, financial acumen and all around accountability last year when he, like everyone on the Committee except Joe Martins,  layed down for The Great Destroyer Correia on vote after vote after vote. That was especially true for the budget. Should we even bring up the sad state of past grant accounts and why they haven't been audited? Would not the oversight of this issue be his primary Committee responsibility to see solved? I think the loud answer to that question is a resounding YES!

This is a man who has worked as a financial analyst for a Fortune 100 company. You know what the equivalent position is in municipal management? It's called a "budget analyst", the workhorse you hire right out of grad school to enter financial data  on spreadsheets and have perform perfunctory analysis of basic figures. That's how they learn about the municipal financial management business, by learning the timing and volume of the flow of funds over time. Basically, it boils down to how much gets spent, when, why and by who. But it's not "management" of actual operations. And in the private sector, especially at a "Fortune 100" company, which means mega money, $150 million is relative peanuts. Folks don't take my word for it, do some research and check it yourselves. I'd call the comments made by the Mayor and included by Cadime in his letter of application a serious case of resume inflation. But hey, he's the City's savior. This budget turns out to be no damn good, Mayor Flanagan has TWO scapegoats now; the Finance Director and little Shawny Cadime, the MBA student.

By the way, doing interships while Mayor Lambert was in office doesn't count as REAL experience. It might seem so to unemployed folk without a high school diploma. Yes, they would be impressed enough after reading this pile of crud doled out by Mayor Flanagan and his people, but this one smells like walking into Seabra's when that grotesque salted cod hits your olfactory system like a ball peen hammer.

Why do I suspect this was more of the same old same old, politics as usual in Fall River? Mr. Cadime obviously knows Mr. Lambert. Mr. Cadime served on the School Committee while Mr. Lambert was Mayor. Mr. Lambert moved heaven and earth to see Mayor Flanagan elected. Hence, this is a decision of hiring someone with their own political base (VOTES!) to support the plans of Mayor Flanagan for the price of a new job, all under the watchful eyes of Ed Lambert. And I'll bet you dollars to donuts Mr. Cadime is making a good sized pay raise. Most "budget analysts" in MA municipalities with a budget the size of Fall River make a salary around $70 - $75 K per year after a few years of service. Just saying!

This person may be a great guy, might be a really bright guy, and might be a dedicated public servant. Even if all those things are true, he still isn't qualified to run a City the size of Fall River. Neither was Mr. Chapdelaine but he's head and shoulders beyond Mr. Cadime, and I never thought I'd be saying that, but it's true. And now Mr. Chadelaine finds employment for a well run community as an assistant Town Manager at a higher salary than what he was paid here. The selection committee for that job was made up of two professional MA municipal managers FROM OTHER COMMUNITIES, plus a professional talent evaluator with vast municipal job rating and preformance experience. What does that tell you? At least Mr. Chapdelaine already had his MBA. And he's still not qualified to run a well run community! But he ran Fall River. Oh yeah, it was run by the Mayor. HA!

More of the same old same old. It wasn't who I thought it would be, but I'm sorry now, because either one of those men would have made far better candidates.

Best City Councilor (so far this year)

File this one under giving credit where credit is due department.

I am sure that those who claim to know my mind better than I might be taken aback somewhat by who I think has done the best job overall on the City Council so far in 2010. I tell you folks out there that I have my own opinions and don't drink anyone's Kool-Aid. So get a grip of your hats because here it comes:

To date this year, the best City Council performance has been turned in by........

Council Vice President Linda Pereira

I have always said that Councilor  Linda Pereira has been a consistent defender of her constituents and has provided great service to those individuals having  issues with government and problems getting responses. She returns phone calls. She researches solutions. Yes, she has strong opinions, but isn't that what each of the Councilors are suppossed to do on every issue that comes before the Council? Sure, they need to be able to compromise whenever their beliefs allow them to do so, and I think she's done that.

Frankly, no one in the City works harder than she does to tackle pertinent issues facing Fall River. You know where she stands. She's not a "B.S. er", she's as direct as the rays of the sun  in the middle of a July day. She's a leader on the Council where in many years since I've been here there was only lip service paid to the term, or was only evident on devisive issues where blatant political sides were being taken. She's willing to take unpopular positions when she thinks it's the right thing to do, but you know her reasons, and you have to respect that. She speaks clearly and plainly and you know where she stands. You cannot say that about any other Councilor currently serving. Thank God there is at least one independant voice on the City Council unafraid to represent her constituents or fight for the positions on issues she thinks are critical to the welfare of the citizens of Fall River. In short, whether you like her or do not, you have to respect who she is and what she does. That's just being fair.

Sometimes in politics, fair is a thoroughly acceptable concept. It is in this case.

Thank you Councilor  Linda Pereira for your strong constituent service and leadership on issues of importance to the citizens of Fall River. Like your positions or not, you lead, which among this City's politicians is as rare as hen's teeth. It is by taking real stands on issues that policy compromise is possible, not by laying in the weeds waiting for an opportunity to LOOK like a statesman. You never stay in the weeds. You stand in the clear light of day.

Thank you!