Mayor is tossing some vote-getting goodies to the Horace Mann by committing at least $1.5 million in "renovations" for that school in this new bonding bundle (only the first $400,000 for the "design" work bonded so far--what a boondoggle for this patronage fake-bid "process"). That Horace Mann project was never included in what the "public hearing" last May (you know, that trumped-up 8 am Margaret Driscoll/MEF special, with only canned questions/answers allowed). There has been zero public process around this newly proposed and quickie approved Horace Mann boondoggle, just another bunch of hooey (amplified by the power-abusing, restraining-order principal who insisted that "security" is the big issue there, so that new entryways simply had to be created immediately--probably jealous of Jenny Corduck's newly fashioned Hoover digs to match her miniskirts and window treatments). Can't worry about those silly members of the public seeking a legitimate public process when "security" is at stake. Denise Gaffney (city planner) admitted under questioning that the Horace Mann part of this new bond is at least (!) a third of the cost. That was absolutely never part of what was proposed last spring, and it should not have been allowed in this current bonding quickie vote that just went down (if the BOA had any backbone in their oversight role, which it obviously does not have, since they're more worried about politics than their fiduciary responsibilities).

The Franklin would have been the other totally sensible solution, since there is only one classroom's worth of students needing services according to Title 1. They could have been moved into the Beebe (that currently houses special needs students from SEEM). Instead, Taymore has converted the whole ECC into an "inclusive" school which means that basically every pre-school student is in a program designed for those with special needs, with far more staff and expensive accommodations than is required for a population of general students. The taxpayers are only obligated to be paying for that handful of students, and yet now the whole thing has become a Boutique Preschool, with ridiculous tuition for parents and using fancy renovated space that is needed for the regular population, making it ideal for a kindergarten overflow space. Instead of using the space we already have for this vague and probably temporary elementary enrollment bubble, we are now going to have to pay $4.5 million (and up, since they don't really know the upward limits of this boondoggle project), once again screwing secondary education and focusing resources in the wrong place. The ECC used to be a district money-maker, but not any more.

Bottom Line: RD and MEF are in the business of buying votes from the gullible Birth to Five group, meaning that the Designer ECC matters a whole lot more than accountability to the taxpaying public who must now foot the bill for yet another stupidly conceived many-million-dollar project, once again catering to the parents of the "babies" and leaving the high school without appropriate staff, cutting key department chair positions, etc. (RD threw some vote-getting crumbs at the MHS parents with the "Learning Commons" boondoggle, a stupidly conceived $5.3 million-dollar boondoggle. As anyone who looks beyond the surface will find, those $6.6-million-dollar Science Labs did absolutely nothing to improve the district's Science scores, speaking of badly conceived and executed boondoggles.) This newest scheme will eat up another 4-5 million, and Melrose will still have a crappy district with only the lowest quality (and too few) educators, with the crappiest of administrators, with a bunch of poorly maintained crappy buildings, some of which will have been gerry-rigged with ugly additions that will only last 10-20 years and cost more to remove than they cost to put in place. Great plan, Melrose!

You need an editor.

You need to read more than sound bites.

I'll summarize the parts that disturb me.

The Horace Mann is undergoing renovations, that were never mentioned to or discussed by the public as part of the school overflow plan.

The Horace Mann isn't adding any more seats, it's just getting partially renovated but is costing 1/3 of the cost of the overflow "more seats" bond. This was admitted by city planner Denise Gaffney.

The Beebe school, which had it's lease up last summer so free from obligation to SEEM, and/or the boutique ECC Franklin school could have been used for the elementary school overflow but were not considered due to special interests such as trying to appease the birth to five crowd in Melrose.

I'm adding that it was revealed last summer that the Melrose tax payers were subsidising the ECC which is heinous when you consider all the lies Driscoll spews on the SC.

The Horace Mann upgrade is yet another example of sneakily wasting tax dollars without public participation to benefit only a small segment of the city population. Slipped in at the last minute but will cost the city for years.

Why isn't the police station getting redone? Or moved and given a fresh start such as Malden's?

Police officers work for all of our citizens. Not only a few families who attend Horace Mann.

That's an easy one. New police stations don't buy votes.

Have you been in that $hithole lately? Shameful.

It's awful & should be considered completely unacceptable. Wasn't there talk of building a new station on the Deering Lumber site? Too late for that now but the officers deserve a much better workplace.

I don't know how the call box gets them around the ADA indefinitely. Short term maybe but when is enough enough?

What do they do with handicapped prisoners? It's going to take a prisoner lawsuit to make changes. Ironic but even short term prisoners are entitled to certain amenities and this may be the way for the cops to upgrade. Mass judges love prisoners rights so someone should be subtly encouraged to file. Dry snitching.

Police station is awful and is considered completely unacceptable Mayor Dolan. The mayor is only out for what's good for him and not for the men in BLUE. Also, ALL LIVES MATTER.

Any word on what the mayor's handpicked committee on public safety buildings thought of their police station tour the other day.

Yea...they said it would be a great place to have the city Halloween haunted house - that's because they could save on decorations!!!!!!

Don't tell me this is news to you? Where have you been hiding? In the sand?