Mayor Larry Gilbert

Mayor’s Corner: Ten years later, has 9/11 made us better or worse as a nation?

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #196

Ten years ago, our nation suffered one of the most significant tragedies in our history.  On this important anniversary of that sad day, we remember the nearly 3,000 people who left their homes that morning ready to go about their work.  In an instant they were torn from their loved ones forever.  Their families still carry losses that will never in this life be filled; and our country was forever changed.
 
I remember that morning well.  I was in Auburn and in a place of business there I saw on television the buildings of the World Trade Center ablaze with heavy smoke emitting from several floors. I immediately called my wife, Pat, and told her about it. I then called my daughter Karla as she worked in Boston for United Airlines.  I told her that I had heard that American Airlines Flight # 11 had originated from Boston around 8:00 A.M. and had hit the first tower. She said, “Yes dad, and we have two planes that left here around the same time that are unaccounted for.” She said “one of them was United Flight # 175”.  I said “United 175, that’s our flight to Los Angeles on Friday morning” (September 14).  She and her husband, my wife and I were scheduled to fly Los Angeles on United Flight #175 that Friday morning and then from L.A. on to Honolulu, Hawaii.
 
Karla then told me that she had two co-workers on 175 that morning. They were heading to Las Vegas via Los Angeles as they had received a special promotion at the Venetian Hotel/Casino. She said they had asked her to go with them as at times she would fly somewhere for the day or a couple of days with co-workers. She told them she couldn’t go with them as she was scheduled to go to Hawaii with her husband and her parents that Friday. I was drawn to tears as I navigated the Maine Turnpike back to the federal courthouse in Portland where my office was located.
 
Such a tragic event will somehow haunt all of us Americans for as long as we live.
 
Yet despite the horrors of that day, we remain moved by the way people throughout the United States put aside their differences in the aftermath of the attacks and came together in empathy, love, and support. We remember the many firefighters, police officers and ordinary citizens who searched for survivors and so generously gave of themselves to help the families of the deceased.

Mayor’s Corner: L-A supports victims of Famine in Somalia & Kenya

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #195

On August 11, 2011 as I entered the Lost Valley Ski Area building to attend the monthly Androscoggin Chamber Breakfast I spoke with Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed, Executive Director of Atlantic Global Aid (AGA) and Mr. Hussein Ahmed, owner of the Barwaqo Halal Store at the corner of Lisbon & Chestnut Streets where Dube Travel use to be located.
 
Chip Morrison, Executive Director of the Chamber, provided them with a spotlight location at the entrance where the breakfast was being held.  They displayed photos of Somali children and families suffering from the draught and famine in Somalia who were now in overflowing refugee camps in Kenya. They also provided pamphlets that explain the mission of Atlantic Global Aid which is supporting a health care lifeline to Africa.
 
The pledge of Atlantic Global Aid, located right here in Auburn, is to “collaborate with state and local Governments, civic nonprofit and international non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) to improve the lives of the poor, help teach the youth to prepare for future leadership roles, and save children from the ravages of famine and drought.”  The L-A outreach is to get medical supplies and nutritional supplements to Somalia and Kenya.
 
At the breakfast, Morrison introduced them to the attendees. After the breakfast, both Ahmed’s asked to meet with me.  This past week, we held our second meeting at city hall. Those in attendance at last week’s meeting were Dr. Adifatah Ahmed who is a pharmacist who runs the Rite Aid Pharmacy in Topsham, owns a five unit apartment building on upper Pine Street near St. Mary’s Hospital and serves on the board of directors of St. Mary’s Hospital. Mr. Hussein Ahmed, as mentioned previously, owns the Barwaqo Halal Store and Professor Ali Aden Mohamed owner of the Gateway Tutor Academy dba: Aden Relief Services at 145 Lisbon Street.
 
Also attending with those above was Leslie Manning, Vice-President of the Maine Council of Churches and Fowsia Muse and Hinda Abukar, both from the United Somali Women of Maine organization located above Ahmed’s Halal Store.
 

Mayor’s Corner: A progressive approach to a “New Deal” should be Obama’s Plan

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #194

In my column last week entitled “It is high time for another ‘New Deal’ to create jobs.”  I pointed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” that brought us out of the “Great Depression” as a means of putting people back to work by creating jobs that built a number of projects that are still in use today. People who were poor and had lost hope began to regain their dignity that they felt they had lost.
 
Last week, I also pointed out the infrastructure needs of Lewiston which are mirrored all over the country. Certainly we have the needs; all we need is a bold effort to work to satisfy those needs. Of course it won’t be cheap. Anything worthwhile never is. As I mentioned last week, it takes money to make money. Once people begin to work at jobs that pay a decent living wage, they will spend it thus circulating those dollars for the benefit of all.
 
So how do we begin with a progressive approach to a “New Deal” that I believe President Barack Hussein Obama should employ.
 
Being one who is a firm believer in the fact that the union movement created the middle class that we use to know but may no longer exist, I tend to look at what unions may be proposing to create jobs. After all, they represent America’s workers in spite of the fact that after being demonized for so long that they represent an ever decreasing membership.
 
I now wish to share with you the “Jobs Agenda” of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations which is more commonly known as the AFL-CIO.
 

Mayor’s Corner: It is high time for another “New Deal” to create jobs!

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #193

When we encounter a problem in our lives and we are in search of ways and means to solve it, we look for what has been tried and true in solving it. The same holds true in government; when we encounter an economic and jobs problem like we are in with our current recession, we need to look at our history for a means of solving it. 
 
I firmly believe that we need another “New Deal” type of problem solving. With the current unemployment rate and our infrastructure needs in our country we need a jobs creating new deal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt with his “New Deal” brought us out of the “Great Depression.”  We need bold leadership such as his to bring us out of our current depressed economic situation by creating a jobs recovery program. We also must not go back to what got us in this mess to begin with.
 
The infrastructure of our country is in dire need of help. Below, I will demonstrate the deplorable state of Lewiston’s infrastructure and we may even be in better shape than many major cities in our country.  How then do we fix our infrastructure before it completely falls apart? Well, in my opinion, there is no better time than the present. You might say, we can’t afford it and I say we can’t afford not to do it. Americans need jobs; we have a dire need for infrastructure improvement, therefore, it can be a win/win which will get our dollars circulating again for the good of all.  You might say it is naïve, but hey, it worked before and it can work again.
 
As I was contemplating this column for this week and knowing of the infrastructure needs of our city which is replicated all over America, I asked City Administrator Ed Barrett and through him our Public Works Director, Dave Jones to lay out our infrastructure needs and the length of time it would take to satisfy those needs at the current rate of our repair or replacement. Here is their response:
 

Mayor’s Corner: "The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform"

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #192

Last week I traveled, at no cost to the city, to Washington, D.C. at the invitation of Senator Charles Schumer of New York who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security

Below is the written testimony that was submitted for the committee’s review. I delivered a shorter verbal version as we were limited to only five minutes for our verbal remarks.

There were two panels who testified. The first panelists included Robert Greifeld, CEO of NASDAQ OMX Group; David J. Skorton, President of Cornell University; Brad Smith, General Counsel and Vice-President for Microsoft: Dr. Puneet S. Arora, Vice-President of Immigration Voice; Dr.Ronil Hira, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The second panelists included me, Mayor David Roefaro of Utica, New York and Mayor Paul Bridges of Uvalda, Georgia.

To view the webcast of the entire hearing, go to the following link: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3d9031b47812de2592c3baeba62beeb0

Mayor’s Corner: It is high time for another “New Deal” to create jobs!

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #191

When we encounter a problem in our lives and we are in search of ways and means to solve it, we look for what has been tried and true in solving it. The same holds true in government; when we encounter an economic and jobs problem like we are in with our current recession, we need to look at our history for a means of solving it. 
 
I firmly believe that we need another “New Deal” type of problem solving. With the current unemployment rate and our infrastructure needs in our country we need a jobs creating new deal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt with his “New Deal” brought us out of the “Great Depression.”  We need bold leadership such as his to bring us out of our current depressed economic situation by creating a jobs recovery program. We also must not go back to what got us in this mess to begin with.
 
The infrastructure of our country is in dire need of help. Below, I will demonstrate the deplorable state of Lewiston’s infrastructure and we may even be in better shape than many major cities in our country.  How then do we fix our infrastructure before it completely falls apart? Well, in my opinion, there is no better time than the present. You might say, we can’t afford it and I say we can’t afford not to do it. Americans need jobs; we have a dire need for infrastructure improvement, therefore, it can be a win/win which will get our dollars circulating again for the good of all.  You might say it is naïve, but hey, it worked before and it can work again.
 
As I was contemplating this column for this week and knowing of the infrastructure needs of our city which is replicated all over America, I asked City Administrator Ed Barrett and through him our Public Works Director, Dave Jones to lay out our infrastructure needs and the length of time it would take to satisfy those needs at the current rate of our repair or replacement. Here is their response:
 

Mayor Gilbert Testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on Immigration

Lewiston Mayor Gilbert testified on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 to U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee about immigration.

[Sun Journal]

[Portland Press Herald]

Mayor’s Corner: Why would a local mayor support Gay Marriage?

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #190

Firstly and most importantly, when I took my oath of office, I swore to uphold the constitutions of both the State of Maine and the United States Constitution where everyone would be treated equally and that I would represent all of my constituency, be they black, white, brown, yellow, red, straight, gay, lesbian, transgendered, documented or undocumented, refugee or immigrant as well as natural born citizens. I promised to serve all of the people of my community. I have been and continue doing just that.  Some may have a problem doing that and I would suggest that they not serve in elective office as in the United States of America that is what is required of elective office. Otherwise, one starts to create judgments and is not serving all of the people they swore to represent, for you see America is truly made up of an amalgamation of peoples from all races, gender, orientation, religious beliefs, etc., etc.

I remember back in 1984 as a union representative serving on the Democratic Platform Committee for the Maine Democratic Party in preparation for the party convention in Lewiston, I voted to keep planks out of the party’s platform that dealt with equal rights for gays and lesbians. At that time, I figured we all enjoyed the same rights.  When we got to the convention, and we had a platform committee meeting, all the planks we had knocked out all got put back in. That hit me like a ton of bricks. There wasn’t much I could do, it was a done deal.

Then while serving as Chief of the Lewiston Police Department, one night there were as there had been gay bashings where some young guys thought it was fun to group together and beat up gay men. One particular night this happened on Bates Street outside a gay bar in the parking lot across the street. Our officers responded and although the attacks didn’t occur in their presence as a result of the testimony that was presented to them they issued summonses to appear in court to answer to those charges.

The very next day, members of the gay and lesbian community, picketed outside the police station and the television media covered the event. When the cameras went away, we invited the picketers into the police station to inquire as to their concerns. They felt that nothing had been done by the police when in fact summonses had been issued and no physical arrests had been made due to the fact that the assaults hadn’t occurred in the officers’ presence. The gay and lesbian community hadn’t been made aware of that. Once they were informed, they were O.K. with it.

As chief of police, this told me that we had to improve our communication with various members of our minority communities. I then worked to develop a Hate/Bias Crimes Task Force where we invited members of various minority communities to come together to meet with us the management staff of the police department where we would address any issues they may have, ongoing investigations that they needed some feedback from and so on. These monthly meetings were very productive in establishing trust and a sense of working in partnership with the police department who was there to serve and protect them.

Mayor's Corner: Community Engagement is necessary for Community Beautification

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #189

As this headline reads it takes community engagement to beautify a community. This is an effort that the city council, city staff and I and kicking off in order to engage our community in working to eliminate blight and improve the appearance of our All-America City and in particular in our downtown district.

The group called the “Visible Community” representing tenants in our downtown tenement buildings approached the city council asking that the council hire additional code enforcement officers.  As the city council has struggled with its budget, it decided to use Community Development Block Grant Funding to hire an additional code enforcement officer. The city council listened. It also heard from landlords who had complaints about tenants destroying their buildings.

At times, I wonder where the “Visible Community” is as the areas in downtown neighborhoods are the areas that this organization represents. It needs to not be an “Invisible Community” when the work in their neighborhoods needs to be done. You can’t simply advocate for city services and not become a participant. It needs to work in partnership with the city. Together much can be accomplished.

The bottom line is that blight is clearly evident with buildings in disrepair.  It is also evident that many of the tenement buildings are so old and have not been maintained that they have outlived their life span and need to be condemned. Certainly, life-safety issues come into play.

As a firm believer of “management by walking around” (MBWA), I recommended that the city council and city staff take a walk through our downtown neighborhood streets. One day last week members of the city council, city administrator, Director of Planning & Code Enforcement, the Police and Fire Chiefs and I toured various downtown neighborhoods.

Mayor's Corner: It is high time for a dust storm to hit Lewiston-Auburn

Twin City Times-
Mayor's Corner #188

That’s right! It is high time for a storm to blow off all the accumulated dust on the many reports dealing with consolidation of Lewiston-Auburn municipal services.

Back in 1996 we had the report of a joint commission of the cities of Lewiston-Auburn, more commonly known as the L-A Together Report. Back in the early 2000’s, we had the LA Excels Report. Then in 2004, Mayor Lionel Guay of Lewiston and his brother Mayor Normand Guay of Auburn created the Lewiston-Auburn Commission on Joint Services. This was followed by the Citizens’ Commission on Lewiston and Auburn Cooperation.

These reports involved an abundant number of hours that can be measured accumulatively in thousands by dedicated citizens of both cities, all with the goal of seeing the fruits of their labor. All were basically “dead on arrival” when presented to the city councils. They lacked the foresight that our economic situation in this country and in our state and municipalities would dictate that it is necessary to work together to consolidate the services we provide for the benefit of those who work hard to pay taxes in order to receive these necessary services. They also lacked the intestinal fortitude and political will to make the recommendations in these reports become a reality.

It is my firm opinion that until and unless city councilors are involved in the initial process of moving these initiatives forward, continued efforts will meet the same fate.

Mayor John Jenkins and I both tried to advance a Joint Downtown Planning Advisory Committee where meetings were to begin early in 2008. That also died with city councils choosing to go it alone.