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It's been a tumultuous time if you're involved in the political scene up in Lowell Massachusetts. The city that can't get out of their own way has wrecked their attempt at a new high school by voting to renovate the current shack students occupy. Then they bungled their attempt to move forward with a respectable renovation of the same high school.
Stay with me.......
The city council has followed all of this up with a WWE worthy televised city council meeting that included an uncontrolled emotional outburst from city councilor Jim Milinazzo directed at city manager Kevin Murphy. The gripe was also related to the high school issues. During Milinazzo's outburst, recorded audio caught a reaction from fellow councilor Rita Mercier exclaiming "DONT EVEN TOUCH ME." Reports indicated that during the outburst by Milinazzo, he allegedly smacked the arm of Mercier as she attempted to calm the outraged councilor.
Jim Milinazzo did state that he "placed his hand on Mercier's upper arm" during the discussion, but claims it was only once. Now Mercier has hired the ethically questionable local attorney Robert LeBlanc who has previously been accussed of stalking and propositioning a high school student, assaulting a fellow lawyer, and was quoted stating the poor people of Lawrence “love being poor.”
Now the city of Lowell awaits the outcome of this personal battle, which as taken the focus over the legitimate issues that need to be addressed in the city. The problem within the current city council reside in inane motions like bike path protection guards, which costs money and provides new obstacles during the winter months. Not to mention the fact that senseless motions and personal scraps have completely divided the group already. The newly elected 1,000 year old mayor Bill Samaras has done nothing to calm this fued, and the fellow councilors have almost seemingly become blind to the fact that there is a looming legal fight coming. With the arrival of the #MeToo and Times Up movement, the issue between these two councilors may become legitimate news.