I was happy to see someone bring accountability to the table but now I hear it’s all for political gain.. is Liz running for alderman at large where Menisha was?

I fear that's exactly the case, as was the appearance of both MB and MM at the last SC meeting. It's a shame that kind of cynicism seems to be necessary.

What results?

Whatever happened to doing something simply because it is the right thing to do..I agree what results, she still falls right in line with this garbage. Glad we handed over even more money to the worse managers a town can have. You should run, the more options the better. Everyone is sick of everything being a stepping stone to something else. That is not transparency. Transparency would have been hello folk as your new alderman at large I will ensure you have oversight the hard earned money you just handed over to the reckless and careless Taymore. Instead it is done with smoke and mirors. Liz if you are running just say so. Thats all. Just say I am running and I will hold them accountable and then go and do it. I think it is funny the One Melrose cheerleaders now are saying Oh my what is going on...If people can't see through that then god help us all!

No, it is perfectly fine for Lizbeth to begin demanding for accountability and I hope it continues. It is also fine to point out how blatantly transparent it is. Not once did she sincerely question the 1M decrease in school offsets. When they show school rentals dropping from 465k to 300, or school choice dropping from $120k to zero despite the grandfathering, where was her inquisition? If it is/was a function of declining revolving accounts, where was her push to show these fund balances to the public rather than taking Ed O'Connell's "trust me" as gospel as we saw in public forums. Where was her demand for an itemization of the $3M deficit which was the entire rationale behind the override and was never provided? There was none,because if she had she would have alienated her base at the time, and I suspect demanding a true account of the answers would not have served her well.

Final question, outside of contract negotiations, do you think the insiders/elected officials should be privy to ANY financial information the general public isn't? We are light years away from that in Melrose, and I wish residents would begin demanding it on the whole instead of turning a blind eye in favor of their own interests.

Thank you, JMA. LD's call for accountability is fine and dandy, something all should be demanding and should have been doing all along. It is also a crass, cynical, and perfectly typical political move by a now-seasoned Melrose politician totally in synch with the sick Melrose culture that has become normalized. Whether she's planning to run for a different political position is beside the point. We're supposed to give LD awards for doing the simple things that all of them should have been doing all along. LD is a fervent shill for everything they have all agreed to "stand for" in advance, and an enthusiastic fan of the superintendent and all she has managed to do (or NOT do) in her overpaid, underqualified (in fact grossly incompetent) regime. LD has been fine with the school system and city government operating without accountability or transparency. In fact she has enthusiastically voted for the administrative raises and the oppressive "Norms," and the other regressive actions taken. Her votes are almost always in line with the OnlyOne political platform. This OnlyOne (no other views welcome) regime is not only just fine for LD (and MB, and JL and that window-dressing Women's Commission of sycophants), but she is a cheerful supporter of the whole tamale. LD is a prime beneficiary of this OnlyOne Melrose agenda. She bandies her "rebel" causes only when it's safe and when she thinks it will net her support personally. She's every bit the political bully and sycophant the rest of the time (as her votes prove), just like most of her peers in the Melrose political sphere. She's gotten into trouble the couple of times when she's ventured away from the OnlyOne Script, and one time even had to apologize to the teacher's union (stupidly for an entirely stupid incident), but that's because she's a clumsy and insincere person without actual integrity, not because she had or has ethical principles. Anyone with real principles would have stood up to the awfulness consistently and legitimately via the votes and policies, and LD most certainly has not. But let's not forget her siren pronouncements that she's "A Real Scientist"! Geez.

Melrose politicians are a well-trained chorus of the OnlyOne agenda, where actual facts and actual advocacy are unwelcome, and where you must either submit to their ugly unification or be treated to their comprehensive shunning, and all the lying and varieties of bullying that go with it. Really and truly, Trumpites could take lessons from Melrose Dems in how to shut out all but One voice and stay on their truly unprogressive and irresponsible (fiscally and otherwise) path. For gawd's sake this is a place where a disbarred felon now gets to control the gavel and total flow of information to and from that debauched excuse for a school committee that by extension gets to call for and control the lion's share of city tax dollars! The sheeple of Melrose should be ashamed if only they were capable of enough self-reflection to experience humility, which they are clearly not.

Yeah LD. Let's allocate some tax dollars for a LD banner or trophy for "daring" to pretend to be fiscally responsible.

I appreciate that LD spoke out. There is a lack of courage in the SC and with the BOA so any small gesture needs to be applauded. If you speak up then you are marginalized.

Can't understand trusting an embezzler with the majority of the city's budget.

I agree with the suggestion above that the city finances should be completely open. There should be no secrets. The money 💰 is our money. Paid locally or through the state from OUR tax contributions.

And therein lies a UGE part of the problem, in that once the $$ is transferred from our wallets into the City coffers, it suddenly becomes none of our business, or at best an insult if we ask about it!

Such a low bar for accountability we have in Melrose!

So where were and are all of you pearl-clutchers when Rob Dolan was around? He and all of his cronies only did things designed to advance themselves and their power. If the pols are doing something right for accountability and transparency, pointing out that they are doing it because xyz reason just means that they are politically savvy. That's the way it works. Why go harder on LD, MM and MB for stuff that other pols have been doing for centuries. Find something better to focus on.

You must be new. Rob Dolan was discussed here frequently. It was mentioned once or twice that he is self serving.

You must be one of the great Defenders of the Female Lot here. No one is singling out LD because of her gender (or MM or MB), and in fact I doubt the posters talking about her in this string even care. LD is just another phony Melrose politician, who made one good call in questioning the lack of an actual full budget proposal prior to approval. Good for her. But that does not negate her many very bad votes that will hurt students and taxpayers, nor her full sycophantic support of the school administration and all it doesn't stand for but should!

Go back to your OneMilitia Melrose Ed Fembot Flock and don't come back unless you are interested in discussing the actual issues.

The SC need to resign from office. This committee gave CT an excellent report card with a bonus. Need good people to run for office not enough on board. Not sure of gender and the SC all voted to keep CT...disgrace!

LD is no boss to Cindy she is her friend and plays the good politician. It matters how this person votes and it is musty.

As Liz's wife, I can assure that she is not planning to run for Manisha's seat.

Don't give this cesspool the pleasure of knowing that candidates and electeds (or their families) are reading the inane drivel that is espoused here.

Nice to see you show up and defend your spouse. She does good work and doesn't deserve all the anonymous hate this place is always happy to dole out. You of all people know exactly how much time and effort she puts into a thankless job for no money and very little reward. You also have to shoulder some of that burden so you should be commended as well.

james p indeed does NOT speak for all we "townies"!

I have had posts deleted for calling people "babies" before. Granted not my finest posts but still better than this garbage.

If this post is still here by noon today, I will take that as a tacit admission that the administrator of this site supports homophobic and transphobic content.

This is disgusting.

This site is pretty much unmonitored. There is a link at the top of the home page where you can report offensive posts, which this one clearly is. Report it to the admins and I guarantee it will be removed.

I just did exactly that. Give them a bit to see a it and take action.

You are right. I didn't see that button up there or I'd have done it myself. Thanks for doing it. Let's see what happens.

Nice job getting rid of that. Looks like he got banned too since all his posts are gone in other threads as well. Good riddance

No problem. My pleasure.

While I do not disagree with what has taken place (the removal), it should be noted that there is indeed quite a difference between accepting free speech, and 'supporting homophobic and transphobic content'.

I don't think that's exactly what he really meant. While that post certainly was offensive, and is "free speech", it violated the "rules of decency" imposed by the owner of the site. Another example of so-called "free speech" that would be considered removably offensive would be the use of the N word.

This site is pretty much self-policed. The admins do not regularly monitor it. Instead they depend on us as posters to point out incidences of speech that is unacceptably offensive. Where exactly is that line? It's different for everybody, but we at least agree that this particular post crossed that line, wherever you choose to locate it. Let's face it - some people are predisposed to be offensive from the time they roll out of bed in the morning to the time they hit the hay at night.

Well said, and indeed the “line” is difficult to draw, and sometimes ends up wiggling around once in a while! :)

This is a FAKE thread. Melrose Care has been notified of the residents name and address in the city. Most of the threads are the same address.

Hmmmmmm, that term “fake ____” sounds familiar. Oh yeah, now I recall where I’ve heard it, to the point of absurdity!

just look at you not good.