To the editor:
It is the season for political epiphanies in Newburyport. The latest submission is the abolition of the Civil Service process for police and fire positions. The reasons: According to The Daily News account of Councilor Cameron's proposal, "We have a much stricter accountability around ethics and corruption. I think for these two positions (police and fire chief), it would be worth taking a look at pulling these out of Civil Service."
The recommendation to bring us into the enlightened age includes — wait for it — a committee, that's right a committee. It is a hypocrisy of local politicians that would question local hiring to address an atmosphere of ethics and corruption. In reality the environment of duplicity is caused by their brethren state politicians who enjoy a bacchanalia of patronage to the sour music of front-page indictments.
Instead of Civil Service issues, why not picture this: class after class of elementary school-age children educated in trailers for 20-plus years, and the only solace, the talented teachers who endure the insult. In Newburyport one could actually imagine a child educated in a trailer becomes the elderly resident without a senior center, sitting along the boardwalk bound by dirt parking lots, reading a newspaper article about the 101st parking garage study, while reminiscing about the days when the air was free of the landfill stench, carefully nursing an injury caused by tripping over an A-frame sign, which happened as they ran to replenish the meter in the NRA lot.
Think of city of Newburyport issues you have known about for at least 10 years; I would expect everyone could come up with at least five. I would venture that Civil Service is not one of those issues.
Now I have only one question: Can we actually focus on the crucial issues that are decades old and solve them before fabricating new ones?
William Scott
Newburyport
