Here are the candidates

lifted from Source:

There are three candidates for the two 4-year terms as an at-large City Councilor.

George P. King, Framingham Housing Authority member Janet Leombruno, and District 8 School Committee member Gloria Pascual.

Two of the current City Councilors are running unopposed for re-election. They are District 4 City Councilor Michael Cannon and District 3 City Councilor Adam Steiner.

Current District 7 City Councilor Margareth Shepard  is being challenged for her seat by Bill Lynch.
In District 6, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Phil Ottaviani Jr. is running for the 2-year seat unopposed. He lost to current Councilor Rossi by less than two dozen votes in 2017.

In District 1, the candidates on the September ballot will be Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals member Joseph Norton, former Town Meeting member Gerry Bloomfield, and Planning Board chair  Christine Long.

In District 2, School Committee member Rick Finlay and Cesar Stewart-Morales will be on the November ballot.

Candidate Michael Joseph Fritz submitted signatures but he did not have the required 50 to be on the ballot, said City Clerk Lisa Ferguson.

In District 5, Former School Committee member Cheryl Gordon,  District 5 School Committee member Noval Alexander and Robert Case  will be on the September ballot. The two individuals with the most votes will appear on the November ballot.

In District 8 (15 & 18) former Mayoral candidate, and former State Representative and Selectman John Stefanini and Mario Alvarez will appear on the November ballot for the seat to be vacated by Grove.

And in District 9 School Committee member Tracey Bryant and Neidy L. Cuellar will be on the November ballot for the seat to be vacated by Torres.

It's much worse than we thought at the RMV

 What got this whole sorry story going (before the 7 bikers in NH) was an internal auditor who first alerted the RMV. Not only did this problem surface in 2016, an alleged memo to Gov Baker from the RMV specifically detailing the backlog of out-of-state citations without describing it's size. The draft
e mail was sent to Baker's legal counsel as well as the DOT's legal office. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack  claims the RMV registrar Deveney never sent it to the intended recipients. The number of unprocessed notices from out-of-state stands at 12,829. RMV Board Member Thomas Bowes testified that his staff was adjusting to the new software and that his request for more people was ignored by Deveney. The acting registrar James Tesler has suspended 1,600 licenses so far.
I heard on the news last night, another room full of unprocessed citations (going back to 2013) was found.
The death of the 7 bikers killed in New Hampshire weeks ago is on the Baker Administration. And I wonder how many others have died in accidents caused by drivers who should have had the license  taken away.  Or, how many have died in car accidents where the State Cops didn't show up for the shifts targeting bad drivers.

 From MassterList:

Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles officials were told months before the recent fatal crash in New Hampshire that the agency’s driver violation records were a complete mess and not even close to being updated, according to testimony at yesterday’s RMV oversight hearing, as reported by Steph Solis at MassLive, Matt Stout and Danny McDonald at the Globe, and Andy Metzger and Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine.
Other damning headlines from yesterday’s legislative hearing: “Testimony shows disarray within RMV over driver violations” (SHNS –pay wall) and “Understaffing and new software blamed for RMV failings" (SHNS - pay wall)
And, oh, the Herald’s Howie Carr notices that Gov. Charlie Baker was conveniently in Washington D.C. again yesterday, apparently talking to federal officials about the Cape Cod Canal bridges, as reported at SHNS (pay wall).

Now we know how they get away with it.. the Auditor has failed us

Many have written and asked on this blog about the various State agencies and their employee's, who have been committing all types of fraud and theft for long periods of time without getting caught. This piece by Colman M Herman from Commonwealth Magazine clearly points to the lack of oversight by the Auditors office. Much of the OT scandal makes sense now that I know the State Cops were not audited. 

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/bump-lagging-on-required-audits/

Colman M. Herman Jul 28, 2019
AUDITOR SUZANNE BUMP is way behind in conducting legally mandated audits of state agencies.

The auditor is required by state law to audit 210 state agencies every three years to verify they are using taxpayer dollars properly. Currently, the audits of 51 agencies, or 24 percent, have not been completed within the three-year time limit.

The problem appears to be getting worse, not better. Last October, CommonWealth reported that 29 agencies were past due for audits — many by substantial periods of time. Bump spokesman Michael Wessler said at the time that the audits had been rescheduled for fiscal year 2019, which just ended on June 30, 2019. But the audits of only 4 of the 29 agencies have been completed, and another 26 agencies that were supposed to be audited by the end of fiscal 2019 haven’t been audited yet.

Three cabinet-level agencies — the Executive Offices of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Housing and Economic Development, and Labor and Workforce Development — were all supposed to be audited over three years ago, but they still have yet to be done. Wessler said a few of the agencies within these cabinet-level offices have been audited.
Other agencies whose audit deadlines are long past due include the Office of the State Comptroller (February 2017 deadline date), UMass Boston and UMass Medical School (May 2017), the Board of Registration in Medicine (July 2017), and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (December 2017).

Agencies that were due to be audited by June 2018, but which still have not been completed, include the Department of Revenue, the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission, the Department of Youth Services, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, and the Appeals Court.

Wessler said that a number of the past due audits are in progress.

The 26 most recent audits to become due include the offices of the governor, the treasurer, and the inspector general; the probation department; the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination; the Supreme Judicial Court; the offices of a number of district attorneys; the State 911 Department; and the State Ethics Commission.

An audit of the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, which was released on June 26 – almost 1.5 years after it was supposed to be done – found the agency overstated the number of jobs it has created or saved and the dollar value of the loans it facilitated.

Bump, who has been state auditor for over eight years, declined interview requests and instead issued a statement through her spokesman saying her office “works every day to meet both the quality and frequency aspects of our statutory mandate.” Bump’s statement said the agency’s audits meet standards set by the US Government Accountability Office, which is why her office has received the highest rating in our two most recent peer reviews from the National State Auditors Association.

The highest rating given by the auditors association is a “pass,” and every one of the 48 state auditors who has retained the organization to evaluate their operations has received a pass most recently

Meet the Author

Colman M. Herman
Guest Contributor

Jim Stergios, the executive director of the Pioneer Institute in Boston, believes that the auditor’s missed deadlines may help explain why problems in state government go undetected for such long periods of time.
“Without state audits being conducted on a regular basis as required by the law, we should not be surprised by the problems that arise like the failure of the Department of Children and Families to perform home-safety reviews, the State Police overtime scandal, the abuse of sick time and overtime by some MBTA workers, and most recently the failure of the Registry of Motor Vehicles to act on reports of drunk driving license suspensions received from other states,” Stergios said.

David Tuerck, the president of The Beacon Hill Institute in Medfield, said Bump should comply with the audit timelines by either making her office more efficient or hiring more people. “It almost seems that someone here needs to audit the auditor,” he said.

FYI: Volunteer for a Board

The City of Framingham believes that volunteers are the backbone of a community. We encourage and promote involvement by residents in the decision making process through participation on Boards and Commissions.

Approximately one-third of board and commission seats expire annually. To ensure a fair equitable process, and enhance community participation, seats with terms expiring in 2019 will be open to all residents.

For more information, please contact Alaa Abusalah at ama@framinghamma.gov or 508-532-5510. Application to serve on the boards and commissions listed below is available at Framinghamma.gov/SERVE or by clicking HERE.


[Under Article II, Section 10 of the Charter, the mayor shall submit to the council the name of each person the mayor desires to appoint to any office as a division head, the citizen participation officer, or as a member of a multiple-member body. The council shall refer each name that is submitted to it to a standing committee of the council which may investigate each candidate for appointment and may make a report, with recommendations, to the full council not less than seven (7) nor more than twenty-one (21) days after the referral. The committee may require any person whose name has been referred to it to appear before the committee, or before the council, to give any information relevant to the appointment as such committee, or the council, may require.]


Available Opportunities:

Agricultural Advisory Committee: The Agricultural Advisory Committee serves as the primary advocate for farming and agriculture in Framingham. The committee is charged with administration of the City's Right-to-Farm bylaw.

Community Development Committee: The Community Development Committee works in cooperation with the Community and Economic Development Department to work to complete the following: hold public hearings to obtain views of citizens on community development and housing needs. Provide citizens with adequate opportunities to participate in the development, implementation and evaluation of the Community Development Program.

Cultural Council: The Cultural Council awards grants to support a broad range of cultural activities including. The funds are awarded to a school, a city department, an organization, or an individual. The Framingham Cultural Council is responsible for making the final decisions on how to best serve the cultural needs of Framingham in selecting grant recipients and the amount of each grant.

Council on Aging: The Council on Aging assists older adults to remain independent at home for as long as possible, while providing for choices and opportunities. This includes identifying unmet needs and developing and implementing programs and services that help to meet those needs.

Disability Commission: The Disability Commission is comprised of a majority of people with various disabilities. The Commission works with City Officials, in Particular the ADA Coordinator and the Access Compliance Inspector, to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of community life.

Economic Development Industrial Corporation: The Economic Development and Industrial Corporation works with the City to plan for and carry out economic development where it is most critically needed. The committee encourages investment that will in turn attract other investments and ultimately enhance long-term economic vitality and improve the quality of life for residents and the climate for businesses.

Elderly and Disabled Tax Fund Committee: The City of Framingham accepted the provisions of Acts 1998 C. 166 whereby taxpayers may voluntarily check off, donate and pledge an amount to aid in defraying real estate taxes of elderly and disabled persons of low income.

Fair Housing Committee: The Fair Housing Committee works to promote access to decent, safe and affordable housing for all segments of the community to the maximum extent feasible.

Framingham Housing Authority: Housing Authority Commissioners are responsible for hiring, evaluating, and if necessary discharging of Executive Director, making policy required by law, monitoring the performance of the agency, approving budget, five year and annual plan, seeking community support and partnerships for agency initiatives, approving modernization plans, contracts, grant applications, ethics and more.

Historical Commission: The Historical Commissions’ mission is to work alongside the Massachusetts Historical Commission to promote preservation, protection, and development of the City’s historically and archaeologically important assets.

Historic District Commission: The Historic District Commission preserves the character of designated historic districts in Framingham through a review/advisory process. The commission duties include review and approval/rejection or modification to external changes that are viewable from a public way in structures located in designated historic districts in Framingham.

Human Relations Commission: The purpose of the Commission shall be to deal with the causes of inter group disunity which underlie the urban crisis, including: the elimination of conditions of bias discrimination and prejudice against minority groups, and to establish affirmative action programs to insure equal enforcement of law, and equal protection of law, for all groups regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, genetics, status as an active member of the armed forces of the United States, or any other protected class recognized under state or federal law (“protected class status”).

Loring Arena Advisory Committee: The Loring Arena Advisory Committee is comprised of members of the skating community representing the various user groups in Framingham including youth through adult hockey, figure skating, hockey operations and municipal government.

Park and Recreation Commission: Parks and Recreation Commissioners generally represent the community and typically have expertise in the areas of parks (landscaping or athletic fields, recreation (activities, leagues, or cultural events), youth sports (organized and pick-up), natural resources, public health, and construction.

Police Advisory Committee: The Police Advisory Committee envisions Framingham having a safe environment for the community; made possible by a strong, positive and trusting relationship between the community-at-large and the Framingham Police Department. The effective delivery of public safety services requires the police partnering with its citizens to ensure the safety of residents and visitors in the community.

Registrar of Voters: Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 51 § 15 require that there shall be in every city or town, other than one having a board of election commissioners or an election commission, a Board of Registrars of Voters.

South Middlesex Regional Voke School (Keefe Tech): The Regional Vocational School Committee's primary responsibility is to establish those purposes, programs, policies and procedures that will best produce the educational achievement needed by students. The Committee is responsible for wise management of resources available to the school system, functions primarily as a legislative body to formulate and adopt policy.

Team Framingham Steering Committee: The Team Framingham Steering Committee plans and administers all aspects of the Team Framingham Boston Marathon program on behalf of the City of Framingham.

Veterans Council: The Veterans Council focuses on addressing current issues related to veteran memorials, the review and development of policies pertaining to City of Framingham veterans along with future projects and plans to promote Arlington and their veterans.

Zoning Board of Appeals: The Zoning Board of Appeals is a quasi-judicial board whose role is to interpret the Framingham Zoning Bylaw in appeals of denied building permits or other determinations of the Building Commissioner; and to hear petitions for Special Permits and Variances subject to the requirements of Mass. General Laws Chapter 40A.

One more reason to avoid bottled water

 I've railed on the bottle water issue for more than a decade and the same things found in some bottled water years ago are the same as today. Here in the Ham we get water from the Quabbin Reservoir and I've not heard of this chemical in that water way.

From GBH: The problem isn't just at Whole Foods. Spring water from Spring Hill Farm Dairy in Haverhill, Massachusetts is sold across New England under a variety of brand names, including CVS’s Ice Canyon Spring Water, Stop & Shop’s Acadia Spring Water, Cumberland Farms Spring Water and Market Basket Spring Water — to name a few. None of these supermarket chains responded to requests for comment.
Spring water from this Haverhill company has been shown to have high levels of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, man-made chemicals that are used in everything from carpets to nonstick pans. PFAS chemicals became widely used about 60 years ago.
“They’re used in a lot of outdoor gear, in dental floss, in pizza boxes,” said Elsie Sunderland, a professor of engineering and public health at Harvard. “You name it, we can pretty much find PFAS in it.”
Manufacturers like PFAS because they are good at repelling water, grease and stains. And, as result, they’ve become so common that basically everyone has some level of exposure.
“We can find these compounds in 98 or 99 percent of Americans,” said Sunderland. “We can detect these compounds in polar bears in the Arctic.”
PFAS has been associated with health concerns, adversely impacting people’s immune systems, thyroids and metabolism.
“Diabetes, risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease,” said Sunderland, ticking off a long list. “There’s a whole suite of things that they’ve been linked to.”
The federal government has not set a legally enforceable limit for PFAS in drinking water. The U.S. Evironmental Protection Agency does have a health advisory level of 70 nanograms per liter (ng/L) for two PFAS compounds, but Sunderland said it’s not legally binding, and many see it as too lenient.
That’s where states are stepping in, especially in the Northeast.
Massachusetts is in the process of coming up with a PFAS drinking water standard. And last week, New Hampshire’s legislature officially approved new standards for their state’s tap water.







https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/07/23/state-officials-warn-infants-pregnant-and-breastfeeding-women-to-avoid-some-bottled-water-brands

Making matter worse at the RMV

By Laura Crimaldi and Matt Stout Globe Staff,
The Globe did a good piece on the ramifications of the RMV not doing what the law (and the Legislature) told them to do, enforce Haley's Law. It appears now that as soon as this new system went on-line, the notifications to local police departments stopped. Haley's Law specifically called for the registry provide written notice to locals cops when someone has been charged with certain major offenses and are deemed to be an immediate threat. It's also mandated that local cops hand deliver the notice to the offending driver.
Baker has left Pollack to do her job in front of a legislative panel this week on the Hill. Funny how the RMV gets a hearing, but the State police don't. 
I wonder if FPD is participating in this.

Convicted felon and former House Speaker Sal DiMasi lobbies for pot

Those who remember when Sal was convicted and sent to prison might have thought that was the last time you would read his name in Boston politics. But the guy has nine lives and is now lobbying City Hall on behalf of a pot company wanting to set up shop on Newbury Street.  Sec of State Galvin has already said Sal can't Lobby Beacon Hill, but new rules allow him to lobby at City Hall. Unbelievable.

 From the Globe:

A fledgling medical marijuana operation has tapped former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi to lobby on its behalf at City Hall, making the convicted felon the latest ex-politician to edge into the growing industry.

Geoffrey Reilinger, the founder of Compassionate Organics, hired DiMasi to help in the “siting and establishment” of its proposed dispensary on Newbury Street, according to a disclosure DiMasi filed this month under the city’s new lobbying rules.

Meredith G. Fierro, DiMasi’s attorney, cited his hand in helping build the state’s landmark 2006 health care law and his own battle with throat and prostate cancer, saying he has an “acute understanding of a patient’s need for access to treatments that can help relieve nausea and cancer-associated pain.”

 “He brings a demonstrated commitment to expanding health care options for all the residents of the Commonwealth,” she said.

Compassionate Organics has tried for a years to open an operation in Boston, first in Allston, where it faced opposition from a local city councilor, before seeking one in the Back Bay, where it won approval from city zoning officials in 2017. The company has a provisional state license, but it still must clear several steps — including completing a host community agreement — before it can open, according to spokeswoman Dot Joyce.

DiMasi, who is locked in a separate fight to lobby at the state level, has “extensive expertise and personal knowledge of medical marijuana, the law, and policy that surround our efforts,” said Joyce, who is also a registered city lobbyist.

Both she and DiMasi are working on a month-to-month basis for Reilinger, and have been paid $7,500 apiece since April, Joyce said.

DiMasi first registered with City Hall on April 23 — a week after Boston’s newly passed lobbying ordinance took effect and just a day after he appealed a decision by Secretary of State William F. Galvin to deny his application at the state level based on his 2011 public corruption conviction.