Following the Cronin Story

So, as you may have heard, police Chief Edward Cronin is on his way out (forget today's Sentinel, the deal is at the Fitchburg Pride website). He may not be "resigning," technically, but he is leaving the job.

Press conference is today at 10 a.m. We'll be updating the Fitchburg Pride website as soon as possible, and throughout the morning and early afternoon with quotes and information from the press conference. Yes, the website is acting weird this morning, but we've been assured all the kinks will be worked out well before we need to really update things.

UPDATE: New story at Fitchburgpride.com (10:49 a.m.).

Cronin to Resign

A source confirmed today that Police Chief Edward Cronin will resign. The announcement is expected at tomorrow's mayor's press conference. To read a little bit more -- but there's not much to report right now -- visit the Fitchburg Pride website.

The Chief's Decision

The rumblings started last week that Police Chief Edward Cronin was displeased with how the budget stuff went down, but he is unsure what he will do. I talked to him on Friday, and he didn't say much different than has been rumored and printed in the last few days.

There's two ways of looking at this:

The City Council took a look at the budget, and realized it could keep police officers but it would mean losing the dispatchers. They swallowed hard and made a tough decision, which they think is best for the city.

Or, the union went to the council, and said, "Hey, we want to protect our membership. Why not take a look at the dispatchers. Here's the numbers. See, you save nine cops, and you don't spend a ton of dough." Said or unsaid: It's an election year. Make sure you do the right thing. We have a strong and active union in the city.

So, the council, either taking the righteous road of the first scenario, or the political road of the second, cut the dispatchers.

Cronin was out of town until the end-game machinations went down. I'm torn on this issue. I think it's important for top officials to be around at important times, and that probably includes budget time, especially this budget season. However, I look at it personally, and my family life is my top priority. I'm allowed to take vacations, and so is the chief. It might have been the best time for his family for any dozens of reasons. I don't think you blame him too much. And hell, a cell phone and a computer, and you should be all set at this point.

Anyway, Cronin pretty obviously feels the union ran an end-around by going to the council. It's not so much that the council chose dispatchers over officers, but that the union went to the council and the council made a move to cater to the union.

So, what's Cronin going to do? I don't think he really knows at this point. I don't him all that well, but I think he's a smart guy who won't make a spur-of-the-moment decision. He'll think this over, let the emotions on all sides settle a bit, and then make up his mind. But one thing he's pretty much already decided -- the union has more juice than he does.

The View from Ward 4

So this is the infamous Ward 4. Worst crack house in the city at one time. What a fine old Victorian girl she is now with her grand stairway and polished wood floors. A few scattered burn marks from crack pipes remind one of the darkest days in her provenance, now an interesting detail to relate to visitors. This old gal stands as a flagship of the vision and hard work of the folks who rehabbed and restored her four years ago - long before the current Ward 4 councilor came upon the scene and into this neighborhood. If he had only seen it before the turnaround efforts began his mindset might have been far more positive.

From a cozy spot I look out on a panorama many don't realize exists here - the view begins at the South, and from here one can see the city on the South and countryside to the West . The former high school, now Academy, was built during the WPA days, what a blessing those work projects were to unemployed skilled craftsmen, and what a legacy they gave us in return. I am reminded by this tremendous stonework and masonry that Fitchburg has seen tough times before, and like then, she will rise again to shine as only this unique, diverse city can.

The historic churches with green tarnished steeples that have married and buried friends, loved ones and ancestors ... the hustle and bustle of downtown... It must have been something to see the first motorcars sharing the streets with the trolleys ... To the Southwest and due West are Laurel Hill, Rollstone Hill, Mount Wachusett in the distance, and finally the long straight ridge of Alpine Hill that seems to go on forever until it's out of my view.

The twinkling lights of the radio towers on Alpine Hill bring a rush of memories of my first days in New England, pulling transmitter duty babysitting and maintaining the huge AM and FM transmitters that were not just a primary source of entertainment, but of vital news, fire alerts so dreaded in those days when the mills and factories were in full operation, neighbors swapping personal goods long before Craig's List was a concept or possibility. Those towers and keeping those transmitters on the air - that was our lifeline in those days. Watergate and Hank Aaron, Gene LaVerne. Funny the memories that can be triggered by blinking red lights.

It's after 11 PM and other than an occasional car driving by and the ticking of the mantle clock, there isn't a sound.

Some days I hear kids laughing and talking when they sit on the stone wall out front, and in the melodic tinkle of their laughter I return briefly to those twelve year old days with Rosemary, giggling while discussing schoolgirl (and boy) "crushes", and I smile, comforted that life is indeed a circle, L'dor V'dor - generation to generation.

Some Saturdays or Sundays there is loud music for a couple of hours, and it's rhythmic, melodious, and musical ... not the foul obscene offensive racket that came from the cars in the FSC neighborhood. Accompanying the music are laughter and happy shouts of loud, demonstrative families celebrating another birthday or just celebrating the day. It smells and sounds delicious, this blending of cultures.

There are brown people in this neighborhood, and tan ones, and pale ones like me. There are languages I do not understand, and languages I speak. Color and flavor, scent and music, and the joy of living each day to its fullest ... that's all present up here in Ward 4.

What I haven't heard is a gunshot or a fight or obscene boom boom "music." What I haven't seen are drug deals or hookers or anything or anyone that has made me feel threatened or uncomfortable.

This neighborhood stands as a testament - an example of what happens when one person at a time takes on the challenge of revitalization and rehabilitation. And it stands as a testament to the turnaround that's possible with the cooperation of residents and a caring police department.

Chief Cronin should come visit sometime just to share the view from the top of Ward 4. It's a good place with lots of promise and potential. The turnaround has already begun. The time to tear down has ended. The time to build is at hand.

Shalom

Chief Cronin is on the right track

What do we want for the long term - to live in a city with police on every corner, or to live in a city where kids are educated, stimulated, encouraged and too busy to engage in the activities that lead to habitual crime?

This writer's personal experience of living briefly in a Central American country under a feared military dictator, with "La Guardia" on every street corner, recalls the confidence of one's personal physical safety from street crime being more than offset by the anxiety of being watched and potentially targeted. There are many people in our community who can share similar experiences.

Contrast that to an upbringing where school was an integral part of social and community life along with the Three Rs. Kids were so busy with after school activities as an extension of classes - drama, sports, music, art, civic organizations for teens - that other than the occasional Friday or Saturday night "cruising" the local dairy bar, they had little time to get into trouble.

Almost every cultural or ethical philosophy or religious group has as part of their foundation a version of the tenet "Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it."

If all of our kids are not our top priority now, many of them will become our worst problem later.

We need

• Clean, well maintained school buildings
  
• Proper meals for every student regardless of family income - sell bananas, apples, milk and bottled water throughout the school day and get all vending machines out of the schools
  
• Better equipped schools - buy books, not guns; buy computers, not police cars
  
• Qualified teachers certified in their subjects, paid at a competitive level, commensurate with equally trained and experienced police officers and firefighters
  
• Fully funded athletic, art, and music programs as part of the curriculum. We must educate the whole student, body and mind, including the "right brain." Encourage creativity.

Communities with great schools and interested parents have little need for a huge police force.

We must set long term priorities now for short term budgets.

We have a choice:

• Underpaid, underqualified, transient teachers putting in their time with unstimulated, unmotivated, underchallenged students in unpleasant, unclean, unsafe classrooms - resulting in an ever increasing need for developing a paramilitary police force and more and more jails and prisons, or
  
• Professional teachers competitively compensated, who are teaching nourished, involved students in clean, safe classrooms; students who graduate prepared to continue their educations in an academic or vocational environment; tomorrow's leaders who are too busy with their lives and futures to become involved with anti-social behavior.
  

We can spend it on our schools and kids now, or on police and prisons later.

Perhaps Chief Cronin hasn't expressed his prevention efforts exactly this way, but I dare say his intention of early intervention of at-risk groups is a step in the right direction.

We need to apply the concept of prevention and early intervention to the whole of the city, not just a few high profile neighborhoods, and we need to extend diversion and prevention programs to every student, every family, of every ethnic, social and economic level.

As we citizens encourage our elected officials to develop a long term plan for Fitchburg, we must insist that that long term financial plan include investing in our most valuable resource - our children.

We hold tomorrow in our hands.

Shalom