Focus on the issues
To the Editor:
On Monday, September 10, was the City Council’s first meeting back since being on summer break. There seemed to be a full house, which is rare for a Council meeting, but concerned people along with residents came out to voice their opinion on converting Broadway into a two-way street and concern about safety issues due to the National Grid lockout.
During the public speaking portion, resident Barbara Richards went to the podium and started to address the Council, but instead of addressing the Council on an issue she began attacking me with nasty comments of how her City Councillor wasn’t around and made a sarcastic remark about me be being away from the City while on family business.
When someone attacks you because you must fly out of the country to check on an ill family member, all gloves are off.
How would you like it if your mother or father or any other family member was on their dying bed and someone attacked you because you didn’t show up for a meeting?
One thing that really bothers me is that the Council President did not step up and stop this.
As a Council President, I would have used my gavel and told Barbara to stick to the issue as there is a time and a place for everything.
Just to set the record straight, Councillors may not be seen everywhere or be able to attend every city meeting but we as Councilors try to do our best and are doing things behind the scenes that you as residents may not know about.
People need to remember that we all have busy lives and unforeseen things do come up. We have no power over those events.
I stood in the pouring rain with another Councillor and met with the developers from Forbes Park before any other meeting was held, and I attended another meeting last Saturday, September 9, so I already knew what was about to take place.
I also had met four times with the people working with TND on the old Midas Muffler site on the corner of Clinton and Broadway – not to mention meeting with the developers of the Old Irish Club.
You may not know it, but these are just some of the issues I am concerned about and focus a lot of my time on.
There are too many things to mention that are going on in Chelsea right now and we as residents need to move on and focus on the current and upcoming issues that concern our fine City.
Councilor Joe Perlatonda