The Mayor Strikes Back

Mayor Dan Mylott goes after the report ripping school spending, saying things aren't all that bad and that the state agency questioning the spending made things look worse than they really are.

If you can past the agendas, it seems like both sides agree the city is moving away from some of this ridiculous spending, and that's a good thing. The fact that the art museum funding is gone this fall is probably a good thing. However, there are still a couple of things that bug us about this story.

One is the ever-fluctuating cost of the FSC lease. One day it's $900,000, the next day it's almost $1 million, now the Sentinel pegs it at $880,000. Which is right? Why can't that be definitively nailed down?

Two is Mylott's insistence that the nurses in private schools are appropriate expenditures. He calls it a public health issue. Really? We don't want to be too stereotypical here, but it would seem that kids in private schools probably have better access to health care than Fitchburg public schools kids. Generally. Also, as we pointed out before, nurses in private schools should take a back seat to, you know, important stuff, like maybe, perhaps, textbooks.

It appears as if this whole thing has dropped the spotlight on school spending, and with budget time right around the corner, in the long run this is probably a good process for the city to go through.

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Quite a conversation in the comments section this weekend on a wide variety of issues. There's way to much to get into (82 comments as of this writing), but we find it interesting that most of the conversation was started by our wondering if a casino was good for Fitchburg. Love it or hate it, but it's pretty clear gambling is a major issue that everyone has a strong opinion on. It's pretty clear, however, that the Legislature (the House, really), is pretty anti-gambling, so for now it's really a non-issue.

Interestingly, throughout the discussion there was no talk of housing if the airport were to close. Quality housing is always a must not just for Fitchburg but the region and the state. We're not in favor of closing the airport, but imagine the community you could put there -- mixed housing, open space, quality retail and restaurants, a community within the community -- with all that space. Fitchburg isn't going to win the big retail battle with the mall in Leominster and the Target et al Retail Mansion on the Hill, so the goal needs to be getting more people to live in the city and giving them the (non-chain) restaurants and shops they want.