It's All Over

Lisa Wong was officially sworn in as mayor this morning, and Tom Conry was selected president of the City Council.

Two months after the election, all the celebrations and pomp are over (well, except for the inaugural ball this Friday). Now, the real work begins.

If you missed some of the fun over the last few days, or just want to relive it, check out the Fitchburg Pride website. There are stories, photos and videos covering a big chunk of the last two days.

Ready for Change

Jan. 7 can't really get here fast enough.

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's is traditionally a slow one, but throw in the upcoming change in administrations, and it is really pretty quiet right now.

Sure, the mayor and the City Council continue to squabble and point fingers over financial issues, but quite honestly, I'm pretty bored of all that at this point, and it's as much grandstanding as substance right now. It's also kind of reactive and loose-end tying at this point -- not much in terms of proactive or building momentum at this point.

In the meantime, Lisa Wong sits on the sidelines, waiting to get into the game. She faces sky-high expectations, but also has with her the promise of a New Fitchburg. Change won't happen overnight, but consider what's ahead: A new police chief (which might happen before Jan. 7), getting a handle on city finances, butting heads with the union, maybe cutting some jobs, getting the '09 budget ready, drum up some business downtown, figure out how to get windmills into the city (and, hand-in-hand, take on Unitil), keep CoCo Key moving, figure out whether or not fast-track permitting is a good idea (and get some industrial development into the city), jam a trash fee into the city (her plan on this is a good one), try to find a way to upgrade the schools quickly, and continue the drumbeat that Fitchburg is a city on the rise. There's probably somewhere between 2 and 2,002 other important things that I'm leaving off this list.

The problem is, it's tough for Wong to start really working on any of these things, or at least publicly start laying out her plans. She doesn't have the bully pulpit of the Mayor's Office yet. She doesn't have the job and the resources that come with it. She's meeting with tons of people, and starting to figure it all out. But the fact of the matter is she isn't mayor yet, and can't really start doing the job. In the meantime, Mylott might try to go out with a few nice victories, but he can't make too many major decisions without at least consulting Wong. Big decisions he makes now will be owned by her, really.

So, we're in a little bit of a no-man's land right now. The current mayor is certainly a lame duck, and the incoming mayor can't really spread her wings just yet. This coming on the heels of a year's worth of fantastic electoral politics is kind of a downer. But at least the council presidency is still out there to discuss. Sort of. Kind of. Jan. 7 can't get here fast enough.

El Presidente

Looks like Tom Conry and Dean Tran are the leaders for the City Council presidency, a job that is traffic cop, mediator, and consensus builder, amongst other things.

It'll be interesting to see which way this goes. Conry was solid as a first-termer, was the top vote-getter. He was on top of the financial issues, but rarely made big waves.

Tran, on the other hand, did make some waves. He was the proactive member of the council, and when things went south on occassion, he wasn't afraid to punch back. All of which are admireable traits in a councilor. But do they translate to the presidency? Tran gets along with all his colleagues, but remember those dust-ups with DeSalvatore? How does that play in the selection -- if at all.

Also, Tran had ideas, and moved on them. For example, the sex criminal petition and the landlord petition. Does he get distracted from proactive moves if he's running the council? In short, is council president the best spot for Tran to do his work?

All the above are questions that need a few answers before the council gets around to choosing a new leader. The selection process has certainly already started with phone calls, e-mails, and discussions. It will be interesting to see if this is a quick process, or if Conry and Tran -- and perhaps a mystery Councilor X (no ideas here, just saying) need time to find their six votes.

One more thing: Another indication of Wong's ridiculous victory. She got 5,863 votes. The next highest vote total on the ballot ws Conry's 4,303. She topped Conry by 1,500, and Conry was eligible to scoop up one of five votes, Wong one of one (obviously). Wow.