Dear friends,
It would be dishonest for me to tell you that I am not incredibly disappointed, both as a mayor and as a parent, in the results of yesterday's election. All of the emotions that follow a very hard fought campaign are natural and real, and they need to be acknowledged. It would also be dishonest to tell you that everything is going to be OK and that we will be able to work together to accomplish all our mutual goals that we have set out together.
However, I am very sincere in saying the following: I am 100% committed to this position and to you and your children, as Mayor of the City of Melrose. I will give everything I have to continue to move our city forward. I also want to say what an absolute pleasure it has been to work with and to meet so many of you. I have learned so much from each one of you. It is OK to be discouraged but I implore you to stay involved in this community.
I need your help.
I ask you to not lose hope, and to know that we can still move our city forward. I need your help to hold our government officials accountable. I need your help to answer the questions of how and why we are going to solve some of the complex issues we face. The rhetoric of the campaign is over. It is now time to govern, and although our position has been rejected, the problems have not gone away, and they need to be addressed by those who opposed our position yet did not offer any alternative solutions.
If we do not hold our public officials accountable, we have lost yet again. And the second loss would be even more devastating to our children and to our community. We must stay engaged, we must remain positive, and we must believe in Melrose.
I want to personally thank Jen McAndrew. She ran a masterful campaign with each of you by her side, and in no way does our loss reflect the message or the positive manner in which we conducted ourselves. That is something to be proud of.
I remain proud to be Mayor of the city of Melrose and proud to work with each one of you as neighbors and friends.
Your friend,
Rob
How many ways can you spell "Wrong"?!
What an immature drama queen!
"It would be dishonest for me to tell you..." Since when did he ever worry about what is honest?
"However, I am very sincere in saying..." Sure, whatever you say, Rob. Sincere!
"It would also be dishonest to tell you that everything is going to be OK"
Now he's directly contradicting his own words about the override. Which was it, Rob, or is everything just a formula for political expediency to you?
Talk about whining, putridly sour grapes, from an "incredibly" poor loser!!!!
"I will give everything I have to..." vengeance! That's the real deal here. He is just trying to get his little army of MEF marms to organize their march from Mordor so that they can thrash and vanquish all who dared vote against "Jen's masterful campaign" (LOL). Instead of pink flamingos we'll be seeing all the orks and trolls and tangles of venomous creatures descending onto the yards of any who dared having a "No" sign. It's gonna be Real Halloween in Melrose from now on.
"It is now time to govern, and although our position has been rejected, the problems have not gone away, and they need to be addressed by those who opposed our position yet did not offer any alternative solutions." Sentence construction?
"they need to be addressed by those who opposed our position yet did not offer any alternative solutions" What a piece of work this man is! He was and is incapable of hearing any "alternative solutions" because as far as he is and was concerned, it was and is only His Way or the Highway.
"If we do not hold our public officials accountable, we have lost yet again. "
WTF? How about holding HIMSELF accountable? Or demanding that all who serve are required to remember that they serve the public, that the public is the Boss, that the public is entitled to truthful and transparent conduct from public officials. How about it, Rob?
How about making it your first priority to get competent legal counsel and require the immediate abolishing of those "Norms" you so heartily approved for the suppression of all discussions on the SC around "alternative solutions"? How about calling for the resignation of all who have caused shame and disgrace, and more importantly deep harm to the culture in Melrose with their failure to deal appropriately with racist behavior in school staff? Yeah, right, "accountable"!
"in no way does our loss reflect the message or the positive manner in which we conducted ourselves." Oh really! This juvenile rant (very thinly disguised as a "sincere" thank-you to his supporters) lays out the vindictive gauntlet that this man intends to wreak upon our community now, hardly anything "positive" to gloat about from the man who openly calls anyone who disagrees with him "haters."
No, what is reflected is that this man only surrounds himself with those who'll tell him what he wants to hear, which is why he was so "shocked" not only that the override failed but by an enormous margin at that.
So apparently everything is not "going to be OK," meaning all those promises given to those Birth to Five and MEF parents are going to be met, but the secondary families are even more screwed than they've been for the entire time this man has been mayor, since according to him, things are great at MHS now compared to when he was a student there. He is out for blood, and punishing any and all who have caused him to be "incredibly disappointed" (translation for in a total rage). It means that if any SC or BOA member dares to challenge him about absolutely anything, they had better be wearing full chainmail.
It is quite sad that simple humility and graciousness is not in this man's vocabulary. He has set the tone for a community that will continue to be even more divided than it was already. That is directly on him.
Jesus Christ Bobby. You just gave yourself and your minions a raise (Taymore). Taxes are at an all time high. Your school system is out of touch. Stop your ******** and do the job we elected you to do. Stop putting it on us you big baby.
Sometimes I think that I live in another world from our Mayor. Didn't the schools end the year with a surplus budget of about $700K? Didn't the Mayor pull out of his rabbit hat several years ago about 2 million dollars for the last teachers contract, and hasn't the city taken out bonds over the past year or two in the multiple millions of dollars to do the high school upgrades, the new STEM labs, and the acquisition of new books and computers? And now because he and the schools didn't get a few extra positions - the school system is going to go into a tailspin?
Mr. Mayor - it's never been about money - it's all about leadership at the top or the lack of it!
May I respectively suggest that you do yourself a favor and take the next month and half off to get a better grip on life before starting the new year in 2016!
What city officials does he want to be held accountable? I don't understand. The firemen? Policemen? It sure isn't the school administrators he so loves that he keeps giving raises too.
What a simpering windbag. Listen up, Mr. Mayor - put on the big boy pants and do the job you were elected to do. You work for us, not the other way around, and we just told you what we want. Now get off your fat a$$ and do what we tell you.
"I need your help to hold our government officials accountable. It is now time to govern, and although our position has been rejected, the problems have not gone away, and they need to be addressed by those who opposed our position yet did not offer any alternative solutions. If we do not hold our public officials accountable, we have lost yet again."
The only government officials that need to be held accountable are the Mayor and that gaggle of morons running the school department. Can you believe this guy? Apparently no one proof read this drivel, or someone would have told him how self-serving it sounds. He's essentially having a little hissy fit, throwing up his hands and saying "You didn't do what I wanted so I'm taking my ball and going home." The guy gets 125K a year and wants someone else to do his job for him.
The phrase "hold our public officials accountable" is in that e-mail twice. Twice.
Me thinks that the mayor and the yes people see that as why they lost the override vote. That the public didn't think the officials are "accountable."
So, the revamped strategy is going to be paying lip service to "accountability."
Problem is that the mayor himself is one of the biggest offenders in the lack of accountability dept. All of the recently elected favored the override except for Monica M & she is truly one of the most accountable officials that Melrose has.
So, it's another situation where a bill of goods is attempting to be sold. Doesn't make sense but if it's repeated enough times, maybe the public will believe it.
The part of the e-mail where he talks about the goals "we" set out together. That's him & the yes cabal ONLY. He is supposed to represent the city. Not a special interest group.
My exact words to my husband, "it's like he is taking his ball and going home" Honestly, isn't his job to represent the "people". The "people" have spoken, we are the silent majority. So, those of us who didn't buy into this crazy override need to be held accountable. I would hate to be Monica Medeiros right now. So basically, if we don't do as he says we will suffer. These people are bullies, we disagree so we must pay......I am sooooo disappointed in how he has responded. I used to be a big supporter, I am appalled at his response, it is immature and childish.
Here we go again with the anti-Dolan mewling cowards who whine every time they don't get their way. Get with it, morons, the people of Melrose have spoken! This string absolutely takes the prize for the dumbest rantings ever on this site.
Why don't you all climb into your clown car, drive down to City Hall, get out and waddle around honking your noses in protest at the tax increases.
Wait, what?! Robbie's plan was rejected by a landslide? And he in fact was publically whining and complaining because he didn't get his way? This is embarrassing. I'll keep my mouth shut from now on.
MUST BE GREAT TO BE INFALLIBLE
The part of the e-mail where he talks about the goals "we" set out together. That's him & the yes cabal ONLY. He is supposed to represent the city. Not a special interest group. [/quote]
Does anyone in the real world use the word "CABAL"???? Is it more than one person who uses it on here, under different names? Or do you all use it?
If I'm ever out in public and hear someone say "cabal", I will KNOW it was said by a MM devotee!!!
I love, love, love that word! (thanks MD).. because it describes the MEF/Vote Yes crowd so perfectly.
Cabal: A secretive political clique.
Clique: A small group of people, with shared interests in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others or those with different views to join them.
All of us no voters use it. It was explained to us at our monthly vote no secret meetings. So secret that all you yes voters actually thought you were leading in votes. 😂
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. It also means "the practice of making unfair allegations in order to restrict dissent or political criticism."
"Are you now, or have you ever read or posted on Melrose Messages?"
Are you now, or have you ever had opinions contrary to Mayor Dolan?
Then you must be a Melrose hater!! Treason I say!![:D]
Yes it did involve the middle finger and it was aimed right at city hall. Our theme song was "we're not gonna take it, no we ain't gonna take it, we're not gonna take it anymore".
Is there a class called How To Be A Democrat 101, at these liberal universities. Rob and Obama seem to act the same way when things don't go their way.
This whining bullying letter shows the true character of this man. He is small, he is incapable of seeing beyond his political and ego motivations, he is vindictive, he is without a moral compass. He is now obviously trying to gather his forces to rally around him as he seeks to punish those who stood tall against his foolishness. He continues to play upon the gullibility of the many young parents who haven't taken the time to learn about the bigger issues and are eager to believe the fairy tales told by RD and the MEF cabal. He told all of them that his override was a slam-dunk (and they were foolish enough to believe him). Now he has to cover for his very obvious failures, and he has the gall to think that he can continue to mow over the will of his city's voters and over anything that is in the way of his vendetta. He's a big baby but quite a dangerous one. He's harmed his community in many ways, starting with his actions regarding the schools (both before and during his SC reign), dividing the community with this ballot measure, and harming everyone with his administration's callous and inequitable water/sewer policies/practices. Enough! The voters put him in his place, and now they need to go further and correct the reasons this has all happened. This abuse of power must be corrected. The city charter needs to be fixed, and this man needs to be held accountable.
Agree with previous poster. This man has caused incalculable harm to the community and intends to continue abusing and consolidating power. Many (including those in my family) who once supported him wholeheartedly will line up to help do whatever we can to bring back a balance of power and fix the highly flawed city charter. The school administration as a whole needs to be replaced across the board, and that is likely to keep happening, first because of the kinds of unqualified carpet-baggers who keep getting hired, but also because those who spend 2-3 years here making a mess typically leave before they have to be held accountable (like the recent science chair departure, and huge exodus 3+ years ago of nearly every administrator). With all the colossal disasters of this superintendent and administrative team, not just the multiple federal civil rights cases but so many other serious messes as well, most of these administrators will probably start leaving for "personal reasons" pretty soon (if they're smart), and others will need to be forced out. Sadly the good and best educators are flocking away as well. It takes so little time to destroy things and so much time to rebuild and fix them.
If the man had just limited himself to actually doing the job he was elected to do, he, and we, would have been immeasurably better off. Instead his monumental arrogance and unrestrained ego makes him think that he is smarter than everyone else. Consequently, by forcing his way into making school policy (he's an education expert - his own words), he's proven that he's not too bright at all, because the smart move would have been to keep his distance from the schools. Now he's in the position of being held accountable for this still-unfolding disaster, and less than a week later, he's telling department heads that they're the ones responsible for stepping up and fixing this mess. Scapegoat 101. No character, and even less guts.