Layoffs? Layoffs?

So, it appears some layoffs in city government are in the cards. Not necessarily good news.

A couple of things:

I still think the union settlements last year were a good thing. Yes, I know, that was a lot of money. But at the end of the day, retroactive raises were off the table. Take the raises that were given out, and add a couple hundred grand. Happy now? Plain and simple, spending some money on raises saved at least as much on the retros. Long-term vision, people. That said, I still don't under stand the department head raises (sorry, department heads). That doesn't make as much long-term sense, unless you want to argue morale and keeping people on board. But...

I like Joe Solomito's work, and I'm not trying to pick on him here (although he did bring it up). But it might be time to stop thinking about back taxes as a way to fix some of this problem. Clearly, that money won't be easy to get. Why not target it for the rainy day fund, and then money that you budgeted for stabilization can be redirected when tax money comes in? First, it's one-time revenue, so you can't build a budget on it. Second, it's just not coming enough to be reliable. Go ahead, argue the city isn't pursuing hard enough, but what aren't they doing that they should be?

Here might be the most interesting thing about this long-term: What will the unions do? Will they make concessions to save members, or will the long-timers throw the young'uns overboard? You go to some other spots and see city employees argue for layoffs. Will there be a universal movement on that, or will different unions do it differently? Will there be furloughs?

Someone said four-day weeks should be instituted at City Hall. The Pride editorialized for that last year. It should be done.

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Two more things: I'm befuddled by the Mylott situation. I really like the guy personally, and I think his political skills would make him a good city councilor. And then I look at his track as mayor. It will be very interesting to see how his summer and fall goes. Veeerrrrry interesting.

Part of my "sticking around" plan includes a monthly column in the Fitchburg Pride. The first one is in the paper this week. Check it out, won't you? And yes, I'll ask the editor to keep my face off the cover from now on. I'd steal Shaq's twitter term of "sugly," but it's more "ugly" than "s."

Not a Secret

A bizarre letter in the Fitchburg Pride today, from the president of the utility workers' union. Bizarre in that, I don't really know anyone who thought the workers were the problem. He's right, there's plenty of anger at Unitil and its management, but people seemed supportive of the actual guys hanging off poles. He's trying to drum up support for more workers, which is fine, but he also kind makes it sound like Fitchburg turned on these guys, which I don't think happened. Did I miss something?

Let the Yelling Begin

The hooting and hollering over Unitil starts this afternoon (like it ever really ended) with the City Council's public hearing on their response to the Ice Storm of 2008. If you can't be there, you can follow along with live, blog-style updates at the Fitchburg Pride website. Yes, I don't work there anymore, but I can still pimp it out.

Audio of Unitil Interview

If you're totally into it, you can listen to the entire Fitchburg Pride interview with Unitil CEO Robert Schoenberger and VP George Gantz now. Head over to iTunes, find the Pride's "Two Good Minutes" podcast, and you can listen from there. Or, you can wait until Friday and listen to it here. Or, you can ignore it all together. It might not exactly be riveting listening, but it's out there if you wanna check it out.

CoCo Key Opens on ...

Although it seems like there's been an endless list of bad news regarding the economy in general and Fitchburg in particular, there is some good news. CoCo Key is opening up soon. The indoor water park may even offer some kind of discount for Fitchburg residents. You can find out when the park is scheduled to open, see some photos, and more by going here. Did you really think I was going to tell you here?

And while I'm pimping the website, it's worth noting, again, that you really should sign up for e-mail news alert updates. You're missing so, so much. Go to the link above, click on "Get News Updates," and you'll start getting notices when we're doing stuff not in the paper. I won't use your e-mail address for other stuff. Promise.

Override Question Plans Ditched

Mayor Lisa Wong said today the plans to place a bunch of non-binding override questions on this November's ballot are not happening. You can get some background through the story at the Fitchburg Pride website. In fact, I'd say read that short story first, and then read on here.

Let's just say this situation is kind of confusing, in that there's different deadlines for different types of questions. It took two calls to the Secretary of State's office for me to get it all straight, and in the second call, we weren't sure if the non-binding part of the situation or the override part took precedence (it was the non-binding), and that was an important distinction because there were two separate deadlines.

Anyway, as of last week, city officials were saying they were aware of the deadline, and expected to move forward. But early this week, a new curveball popped up (which I found out in my second call to SOS) in the form of the need for special legislation. That, really, was the deal killer.

The SOS needs stuff by Sept. 5. If it was simply local approval, the council could have passed the questions on Sept. 2 and walked the questions to the secretary's office in plenty of time for the 9/5 deadline. However, the special legislation could only move forward after the council approval. Or, it would have to be filed, passed, and signed in three days. During informal session. On what might be precedent-setting legislation in that no one is sure if a community has offered non-binding override questions before.

Before yesterday's meeting at City Hall, Council President Tom Conry said in an e-mail "I suppose" the deadline could be met. Rep. Steven DiNatale was also talking like a guy who thought things were moving forward -- but honestly said he wasn't sure it was possible.

But the reality of the situation is that the three-day window between the Sept. 2 council meeting and the deadline was probably too small. For this to have gotten done, the council probably needed to see and approve the questions before the August recess. I'm not sure when everyone figured all this out, but the result is the deadline and the window are going to be missed.

Two Minutes to Paradise

Let's all let out a groan together... it's time for some Fitchburg Pride pimping.

If you frequent the website regularly (and you really should. And while there, sign up for the e-mail updates through the button at the top of the home page), you've probably noticed we've started an audio feature called "Two Good Minutes." Two Good Minutes is an interview of a specific length with someone connected to a story that's in the news. It's generally a bit lighter and sometimes actually gets toward amusing, and is not simply a rehash of a story you've read or an interview we've done.

Anyway, you can go to the website to check them out (there's four so far), or you can go to iTunes and subscribe to the podcast. The second is an option I heartily recommend. You can go directly to the podcast page by clicking here and opening up iTunes. That way, subsequent podcasts will dropped right on your iTunes. Isn't life easy?

Thanks for listening. Now go.

A Day at the Library

The budget situation at the Fitchburg Public Library is pretty well-known at this point. But what happens throughout the day at the library? We've sent Pride reporter Karen Mann down to the FPL to spend the day and observe an average day at the library. She'll be writing a story for next Friday's paper, but she'll be filing updates throughout the day over at the Fitchburg Pride website. So, check it out randomly during the day when you get a chance.

Note: If you've subscribed to the Fitchburg Pride e-mail update list (and if you haven't, a tsk-tsk dear reader), you've gotten an update that Karen has started posting. I promise we won't be sending e-mails every time she updates. You're aware of the situation, and I'm not going to harass you about it.

Big Turnout for Trash Fee

If the trash fee has a majority approval from the City Council (as Rachel reported here today), that might have to be reconsidered after tonight. About 100 people showed up tonight to protest the fee, an unheard of number for a word-of-mouth campaign. Big doings for the opponents of the fee, for sure, and it certainly got councilors' attention.

Hey, read more at the Fitchburg Pride website. And while you're there, take advantage of a new feature and click the "get news updates" button at the very top left corner of the page. Pop in your e-mail address, and you'll get updates in your inbox when the paper is online on Fridays, and when we update the site with big news like this.

Live from the Library

Pride reporter Karen Mann will be covering tonight's trash fee public hearing as it happens, right here at good old Save Fitchburg. Join her, won't you.

Also, later tonight at some point, there will be a story at the Fitchburg Pride website regarding the prospect for an override in the city. Good reading, indeed.

You've been updated.

Here's Your "Trash Fee"

It's not a straight out trash fee, but Mayor Lisa Wong is proposing a pay-as-you-throw program for the city. Public hearing May 14. Details are at the Fitchburg Pride website. The down-and-dirty: You'd have to buy special bags at the grocery store and elsewhere (75 cents for small bags, $1.50 for big ones) for your trash. The idea if you're paying for the bags, you're going to cram a lot of stuff in there, and put more stuff in your recycling bin.

I'll say this, for now. If this is going to happen, the city is going to need to get their hands on a lot of recycling bins, and get them out there, fast. I'm not talking hundreds, I'm talking thousands. If we're supposed to get serious about recycling, we'd need double our current two bins at the Save Fitchburg Mansion. Probably even more than that. Someone in the Pride office lives in an apartment, and has no bins. I'm sure he's not alone. If you're going to want people to recycle and save money, you have to give them the means to do it. Wong says she will, but the more I think about it the more it seems like a big task.

Wong also said the budget won't include money for raises. That public acknowledgement isn't going to go over well.

A Busy, Busy Friday

A day off has turned very busy.

The Fitchburg Police Department announced this afternoon that it has made an arrest in last night's shooting death. Sadly, it's the first murder of the year. If there's a silver lining in this kind of thing, it's that the police caught the guy in less than 24 hours. Very well done. More on this later at Fitchburgpride.com.

There was a groundbreaking today at the TD Banknorth building. Big doings. There will probably something on that later today at Fitchburgpride.com.

I know what you're thinking, what IS at Fitchburgpride.com? Right now, a little Pride exclusive on MOC and Meals on Wheels cutting back daily hot meals to three days a week (with frozen meals dropped off for off days) due to budget constraints. Meals on Wheels does 900 meals a day in the area, so that's a significant change.

Finally, don't forget, 4:30 on Main Street today. We'll be there eventually. Little boys are having naps (sadly, big boys aren't)

Look Out, Carlo

As tipped here earlier today, Denis Meunier is out as commissioner of the Department of Public Works, Lisa Wong said this afternoon. You can read about it at, yes, the Fitchburg Pride website. And as of this writing, nowhere else.

Wong said she wants a DPW commissioner with an engineering degree, which Meunier doesn't have. If nothing else this week, we've learned that Wong is clearly now in charge of city government, as she takes care of all family business. If she books a trip to Havana in the near future, we'll have a real problem.

Back to Connecticut, Dirty Gamblers

The House, as expected, but the stake through Gov. Deval Patrick's casino plans yesterday, dismissing it easily, 108-46.

While Patrick's plan was flawed in many ways -- three casinos seem too many, and the in-town Boston idea was just a bad, bad idea -- the idea of casinos in Massachusetts just make too much sense. But instead of moving forward with plans here, hundred of millions of dollars will continue to go over the boarder into the Connecticut. But that's not important now, because industries that can generate nine figures for the state are all over the place.

Enough of the sour grapes. Interestingly, local House guy Steve DiNatale manned up and voted for casinos, probably earning him some measure of scorn out of the Speaker's Office. And he wasn't alone locally. Flanagan, Rice, Evangelidis, Naughton, and a bunch of others from Central Mass bucked the speaker and voted for a casino. 10 in all from Central and North Central Mass. The only region with more was the South Shore, where they understand this was chance to make the state some money, and not just have the Mashpee Wampanoags keep it all (OK, maybe some more sour grapes, whatever).

To read more about this little phenomenon, and to check out a Google map that show's where all the pro-casino votes came from, head on over too... the Fitchburg Pride website. As if you had to guess.

DeMoura Speaks

A question-and-answer with prospective police chief Robert DeMoura is available at the Fitchburg Pride website. It includes his thoughts on plans for the department (nothing too new if you've been following this), and his thoughts on coming into the department as an outsider ("Truly, I am no outsider, I am a police officer.")

DeMoura Named Police Chief

It was here earlier through comments, but the press release is in: Lowell Deputy Robert DeMoura was named police chief today. Read all about it the Fitchburg Pride website. And for now, nowhere else.

UPDATE (4:23 p.m.): There's a Q-and-A with the mayor on the Fitchburg Pride website, talking about why DeMoura, and a few other chief-related things. Go check it out.

While we're on the topic, the grumbling is already starting, which shouldn't be a surprise. But should this result really be a surprise? On paper, and from what we know of the mayor, DeMoura was a far more attractive candidate to her. I actually got into this a little bit last month, which you can read here if you want a refresher. But because DeMoura seemed to be the obvious choice, that doesn't mean this was a bag job, set up by someone else, or anything else. It's already getting around out there, but I'll wait for some pretty solid facts to back it up. I also haven't had anyone explain to me very well how the outsider rigged a bag job. Usually that's the insider's deal. So anyway, simply, not a huge surprise, and not exactly a sign of egregious backroom dealing, either.

Here Comes 'Chronicle'

Channel 5's legendary newsmagazine, "Chronicle," is coming to town next week. Just another big-media outlet checking out the city and its rebound. Good times. Read more at the Fitchburg Pride website.

No DiNatale for Senate

State Rep. Steve DiNatale said today he won't be running for state Senate this fall. You can read about it a little bit at the Fitchburg Pride website.

Who's going to run from Fitchburg?

More Suspects

Go to the Fitchburg Pride website, and see who is considering running for Bob Antonioni's Senate seat. And say hello to an old friend who is on the list of potentials.

UPDATE, 7:12 P.M.: The names keep trickling in. You can add Dean Mazzarella and former Rep. Brian Knuuttila to the mix. They'll continue to trickle in, too, one would imagine.

It Really Is a Busy Day

OK, on top of everything else, Sen. Robert Antonioni said today he's not running for re-election this fall. Holy crap, what a day.

So, who's running this fall? It's going to be a crowded field, for sure. It's been 16 years since the seat was open. Put on your best "Casablanca" voice, and round up the usual suspects. To get some names, go to the Fitchburg Pride website (which includes quotes from at least two of the potential suspects, and we're working on more this evening, so look again later. And yes, this is a tease to get you over there).

More on this tomorrow, but for now, we're wicked busy. Again.