When I was growing up (boy, don’t I sound like an old fart), the “Column” was probably the most popular item in the Sun. It was used to point out political people and events, it would “highlight” (take a shot at or embarrass) items that, unless you were in the political “bubble,” most wouldn’t know about.
After Chris Scott left the Sun, the Column became more of an editorial opportunity for the few remaining “reporters” to express their personal viewpoints on social / political issues and community events. It lost many readers.
That personal viewpoint was more obvious than ever with last week’s pathetic headline “The Column: Let them eat cake!” and the column item by my pal Melanie Gilbert.
Using the federal cuts in human services to take a shot at the Lowell elected Councilors and Administration who are heading to Geneva for the Frontrunner City formal agreement ceremony was straight out of the progressive playbook.
First, she focuses not on the cuts at the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, which subsidies most of the smaller area food pantries, but a smaller organization, Open Pantry on Hurd Street, that relies on the Greater Boston Food Bank.
“Open Pantry, on Hurd Street, is located in one of the areas proposed as a Frontrunner City development site, and they sent The Sun a picture of the organization’s bare shelves.
Board President Rebecca Wisniewski said she can’t sleep at night thinking about how to get food to her neighbors.
In March, $2.5 million was cut from the Greater Boston Food Bank, causing immense hardship to the pantries and clients that rely on them. The Open Pantry food distribution went from 6,000 pounds of food each week to between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds at double the cost.”
Then takes a shot at the Manager; “City Manager Tom Golden’s entourage” and “While city officials are being wined and dined on a project that is at least three to five years out, more of their constituents are going hungry today.”
She does try to play both sides by including this; “The Frontrunner Initiative is no boondoggle, and the potential to revitalize the city is promising.”
But this part of the column which ends with “It’s an alarming dynamic being played out across the city and across social service provider agencies such as Eliot Church, Community Teamwork and Coalition for a Better Acre as drastic cuts to human services and programming is being dismantled by the Trump administration. Bon voyage, public officials,” clearly shows it is the Trump, not the Golden administration that is cutting funding.
It also doesn’t mention that if you go to the Open Pantry Website, under the about tab is shows that The Open Pantry is a proud member of the following community groups. The first one listed is the City of Lowell, complete with the city seal and logo. Not the community of Lowell, but the City of Lowell.
I like Melanie and she was a regular Friday guest of mine on WCAP. She never backed down from what she wrote, it was great, fun radio, but as some of the elected officials and others have stated, she often lets her personal progressive idealistic viewpoint slant her writing. Sunday’s Column made that clear.
When she sticks to the facts. she is correct: I do have to agree with her on her 2nd column item, Public misinformation: I don’t know David Prestipino and did not even catch his name when he went up to speak, but listening to him at the last City Council meeting, I was under the impression he was a retired police officer or federal officer or first responder who has seen the issues at Bishop Markham, South Common and Eliot Church up-close in the last few years.
Turns out he is an Automotive Business Manager!
He was, as he said, on the front lines, but that was in 2010 -2014 with Patriot Ambulance, which at that time had a limited role in Lowell.
Accusing a church, which is by its shear existence a social service organization, of “giving out needles” without any fact or proof immediately lessens his credibility. Turns out he was, as Melanie pointed out, 100 % factually incorrect: “Charly Ott, the director of operations for the Eliot Church Day Center, which provides outreach to Lowell’s homeless community, responded to The Sun’s request for comment with a fierce rebuttal. By text, Ott stated, “Our church is opposed to needle distribution and requests the needle vendors in the city not be on our church property or near our property.”
Mr. Prestipino was very passionate, seemed genuine and certainly was a Pro-Council and Administration supporter, which is probably why he was given much more than the 3-minute time limit! But he wasn’t a factual speaker or as much of an authority on the subject as he presented himself to be.
I forgot I signed up! How many times have you signed up for a “free 90-day trial” and then forget about it until the 90 days runs out and you find a $25 unexpected charge. Or you started to book a hotel room, only to find out after entering all your information, that the great deal comes with a “convenience fee,” “administrative fee,” or “handling fee.” And that great deal isn’t really so great? A new Massachusetts law that goes into effect September 2nd is designed to limit this type of unexpected charges. This Boston Globe story highlights some of the new protections.
