It cannot be argued that the 3 men quoted, below, were determined to bend the arc, here in Lowell. Inclusion brings justice.
"Lowell is at its best when everyone sets aside short-term political considerations and rallies together for broad community benefit. When this happens, Lowell has proven its capacity to achieve major economic and community development goals to the envy of most of its peers." - Adam Baacke (A Sun Special Insert, Offline)
“I know everyone talks about the finances of the city, and I am proud of that,” Lowell’s outgoing city manager said in one of his final weeks in office. “But that kind of lays us out all up here as being these green-eyeshade type people, and there’s been so much more to what we’re trying to do.”
###“There were no reserves in place, so it was really kind of a bad situation we had to grapple with,” he said. “And we did that, and so I sit here seven-and-a-half years later, and we’ve got $15 million in reserves. ... Our bond rating has gone up a couple times, so the finances have come a long way.”
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“At the end of it all, we just really wanted to be a good, responsive open government that thinks long-term, that thinks ethically,” he said.
###“And that doesn’t mean impersonal,” he said. “That just means treating everyone well and trying to help people. It isn’t a case anymore where you just help the people you know. You try to help everybody.” - Bernie Lynch (A Sun Special Insert, Offline)
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From September 2011, I wrote: The City Manager’s Blind Side (Link)
The ‘ Tin Man ‘ talking point is particularly nefarious. On it’s face, you figure that the criticism is leveled at the City Manager’s sense of humanity, compassion or “heart.” Whatever you want to call it. The talking point will build in a discussion of layoffs or firings of long time city workers or public servants, as they are called in this context. (Only bullies hurt the servants.) Further, there will be questions about the use of statistics and data in policy making. How Dept heads will be forced to report and budget based on metrics.
What could be more heartless than metrics, huh?
While I can understand the place for compassion in governing, I’ll suggest these talking points are not at all about bolstering the City Manager’s sense of stewardship. What it is about, is preserving a severly flawed approach to governing and the culture within the public sector that protects it. After decades of abuses in city hiring practices, there are pockets of laziness and poor practices enbedded in the system. There is a culture that embraces the “Townie Turnstyle.” Meaning, if they have known you all your life, you get the EZ Pass down at City Hall. Meaning, that there is not a level playing field for those attempting to conduct routine business with the City.
The City Manager has systematically diminished such bogus practices. That, my friends, puts many a nose out of joint.
So, when you hear the sobbing, wails and righteous indignation leveled in defense of some ‘victim.’ When the culprits in these aggressions are branded as, ‘heartless, data wielding, bureaucrats.” When one is coddled as a ‘public servant’ and the other a ‘public menace.’ Please consider that the source is potentially pulling at your heartstrings, with the intent of playing you for a chump.
Update, 9/19/11 I said, “Townie Turnstyle.”
* The office maintained a practice of providing selected persons with free copies of certified records for employees/family/friends, “elected officials and those who are politically connected.” (Link)
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As Lowell goes forward in the process of selecting our next City Manager, please bear in mind the intangible heartbeat of this diary. If you are willing to stretch above your head, and grab the arc; we just may be able to keep it from flexing back, the wrong way.
Please call or write your City Councilors. Here is a (Link) to the City website that allows you to write to the Councilors, as a group or individually.
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You never know what you have until you lose it, and once you lose it, you can never get it back.
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