Did anybody find it odd the way things went down at the Brazil St hearing about JLB. They mentioned her by title. They never mentioned her name. It was clear that she was deeply involved. She was essantially in charge. We now know that, now that GI has told us she was in the hospital when all this went down. So, JLB is in charge and we have a total failure of communcation. When it comes time for the aldermen to get to the bottom of what happened, JLB isn't there and nobody mentions her by name. It's like everybody in GIs world is working behind the scenes to get JLB elected. But GI was supposed to be neutral so we could elect our next mayor from an open field of candidates. So much for that.

I learned all I needed when Patch asked her opinion about Brazil Street. She siad

"Brazil Street is such a challenging situation. I know the affected residents are really struggling. As insurance companies and clean up teams continue to work, I hope the impact on the residents can continue to be minimized."

No responsibility. Just "hope".

Jackie’s Mayoral Campaign blew up like the sewers on Brazil Street. She was in charge when GI was in the hospital. Her priority was announcing her event at ELL Pond. Check out the date and time of her press release for her kickoff. It happened at the same time she should have been on Brazil Street. JLB has no chance of being elected Mayor of Melrose now because she failed the leadership test.

What Cyndy wants Cyndy gets!

JLB’s only interest and goal was to pass the Override. It passed. She didn’t.

I am disappointed 😞 because this could have been her opportunity to show leadership and she did a horrendous job. JLB. She doesn't have what it takes to be mayor.

My understanding is that nobody was actually in charge, which was the problem. GI was on medical leave. Scenna was out of the office. The solicitor for some unknown reason was named Deputy Mayor, so presumably he was in charge, but the city’s lawyer was probably the least prepared to handle a situation that resulted in multiple families being displaced.

When the mayor is on leave, the charter states that the president of the aldermen is acting mayor. Lemmerman wasn’t told about this until the next night. That’s the biggest problem here, IMO. There was a severe breakdown in the system, and nobody seems to understand that.

Yes, there was a severe breakdown in the system and understanding how much they failed is dawning on them now. However, none of them will admit their mistakes beyond saying there were “glitches”. Protecting their own reputations is more of a concern than the residents of Brazil Street. Sad but true!

The prior poster is correct. The President of the Board is the acting Mayor by charter when the Mayor is unable to perform her duty or is away. As far as I know JLB is nowhere in the line of succession, and I'm still waiting for someone to show me where a Deputy Mayor is authorized. So, who's responsible for contacting whoever the Mayor is at the time? The Department Head, and that would be Scenna, or whoever covers for him when he's unavailable. There was a total and complete breakdown, not a "glitch".

The One Melrose group are front and center in her campaign. They do not care about anything but the schools. JLB has failed to show any ideas but replacing nail salons and pizza shops with bookstores and brew pubs. She is not ready to solve the real issues in Melrose.

This is the kind of thing that was almost bound to happen when you dump every available dollar into the school department and neglect departments like DPW. There is no way in this day and age that the DPW should not have had a camera system used to examine a pipe's interior and some type of big snake to try to clear a blockage before they blast it with high pressure water. Yes, I know there's a camera on order. Too little, too late.

Last night MacMaster said that he sent an email on June 25th and the Mayor’s office did not reply. JLB was on the Mayoral Staff until June 28th. Neither she nor anyone else did their jobs. Spending a year in her role ended very badly. We will not vote for Jackie to be our next Mayor. She is not up to the job.