Mayor Larry Gilbert

L/A Mayors Photographed for United Way's "Live United" Ad Campaign

Mayor Larry Gilbert of Lewiston and Mayor John Jenkins of Auburn were photographed recently for  the United Way's "Live United" ad campaign. The first ad which feature Mayor's Gilbert and Jenkins wearing a white 'Live Untied' T-Shirt with the caption, "Give. Advocate. Volunteer.

Another ad features Mayor Gilbert alone with the caption, "How to live United. Invest in the building block for a good life. Education, Income, & Health.

The photos were taken by Kip Elliott.

“Visible Silence” Press Event- In Honor of Lewiston Native Marsden Hartley

 
From L to R:  Mark Bessire (director Bates College Museum of Art), Andrea Quaid (district representative Congressman Michael Michaud), Donna McNeil (director Maine Arts Commission), Dottie Perham-Whittier (community relations coordinator City of Lewiston), Terry Templeton (217 Films), Michael Maglaras (217 Films), Mayor Laurent Gilbert.

Mayor Gilbert took part in festivities focused around "Marsden Hartly Day" at Bates College Museum of Art. The Mayor introduced the documentary film about Marsden Hartly's life entitled "Visible Silence." Read Mayor Gilbert's full speech after the jump.

Mayor's Corner: L-A's Consolidation and Joint Downtown Plan Died Last Week

Twin City Times- Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Mayor's Corner #53

Yes, that’s right, Lewiston-Auburn’s Consolidation of City Services and Lewiston-Auburn’s Joint Downtown Planning died last week.

The death knoll came when Auburn City Councilor Dan Herrick was quoted by the Sun-journal as saying “I feel this chapter of the book needs to be closed, and then the cover needs to be nailed shut.”

The Citizens Commission on Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation (CCLAC) had just presented a case for joining the Assessing Departments of the two cities by demonstrating that the two cities could save $70,000.  In all, the CCLAC has presented to the two councils a report that shows that $2.7 million dollars (yes, real money; your money) a year can be saved by combining services five years from the starting point. Of course we have to start in order to accomplish that. 

When Councilor Herrick ran for office in October of last year, he was asked in a survey by the Sun-Journal if he favored consolidating services with Lewiston.  He responded by saying “I favor consolidation only if it is going to save taxpayers in both cities money. At this point, the citizens of the state of Maine have spent roughly $170,000 in consolidation between the two cities.  The group of people that have sat on the committees have done a lot of work and brought to the citizens absolutely, positively nothing except an idea here or there that might or might not save us money.”  I wish to differ vehemently, I served on a couple of these committees and we reported that at the very least $2 million dollars could be saved if the recommendations were adopted.  What is lacking is the political will by elected officials like Herrick to implement the recommendations.  

To Councilor Herrick, I say you won’t save a penny if you won’t act.  If responsible citizens of both cities are demonstrating for you how you can save $2.7 million dollars, then I believe you are not living up to your own words when you say you “favor consolidation only if it is going to save taxpayers of both cities money.”  On the other hand, if you refuse to save such an amount, you, in effect, are perpetuating taxes that equal that amount on the citizens who can no longer afford those taxes.

National Dollar Wi$e Celebration at Montello Elementary

 
Money and using it wisely was the topic this morning in Marc Lavoie's 3rd grade class at Montello Elementary School, Lewiston.  Mayor Larry GIlbert and Dustin Tyler Joyce, Dollar Wi$e Manager for the United States Conference of Mayors, D.C., spoke with students about the importance of savings.
 
They visited the school in observance of National Dollar Wi$e Week, which provides communities with an opportunity to focus on the importance of personal and family financial literacy.  This year's theme is "Savings for Kids & Families."
 
As Mayor Gilbert completed two interactive worksheets with the students, one student--Logan--said he was going to be Dollar Smart and save his money to buy his own store.  

Mayor's Corner: A Gala Honoring an Extraordinary Man

Twin City Times- Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Mayor's Corner #52

 
L to R. Larry Gilbert, Kitty Dukakis, Governor Michael Dukakis, Dr. Bernard Lown

 
L to R. Larry Gilbert, Pat Gilbert, Alan Dershowitz, Al Harvie

I write about an extraordinary man who was honored Saturday night at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. This man is none other than Dr. Bernard Lown, an internationally renowned cardiologist who graduated from Lewiston High School in 1938 and went on to develop the direct current (DC) defibrillator that has saved thousands upon thousands of lives worldwide.

Dr. Lown has been and continues to be, even though he recently retired, a people’s doctor.  He is quoted as saying “Medicine is the art of engagement with the human condition rather than with the disease.”  I am currently reading his book entitled The Lost Art of Healing, Practicing Compassion in Medicine.  I would highly recommend it to anyone and most especially physicians.  As one doctor has said; “It should be required reading by everyone in medical school.”

In 1985, Dr. Lown and his Soviet counterpart Dr. Yevgeni Chazov, a Russian Cardiologist, won the Nobel Peace Prize, not for medicine, but for peace.  Together they founded the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.  This worldwide organization, made up of thousands of physicians, was able to gather enough data to demonstrate that the world could not survive a nuclear war. There simply weren’t enough hospitals and physicians to treat those afflicted by such an attack, the result being death.   

My wife, Pat, is currently reading his newly released book Prescription for Survival, a Doctor’s Journey to End Nuclear Madness.  I cannot wait to delve into that book. Periodically, my wife will present me with tidbits from the book written by this most extraordinary man.

Over a year ago while I was volunteering as an indoor track official at Bates College, Al Harvie, a Bates alumnus and retired teacher who has taught at Edward Little High School and Leavitt Area High School was serving as the announcer of the track meet.  During a break, he started telling me about this most extraordinary man, Dr. Bernard Lown.  He also told me that he was a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and had graduated from Lewiston High School. He said that nowhere in Lewiston-Auburn had he ever been recognized for his achievements.  Harvie suggested to me that the South Bridge that connects Lewiston’s Little Canada to New Auburn be named in Lown’s Honor.

Lewiston Mayor to Introduce World Premiere of Marsden Hartley Documentary

Marsden Hartley is surely a name familiar to Lewiston, as the renown Lewiston-born artist is the namesake of the Cultural Center at the Lewiston Public Library.
 
As such, Mayor Larry Gilbert, will be introducing the "world premiere" of a new Maine-made documentary entitled "Visible Silence:  Marsden Hartley, Painter & Poet" on September 25, 2008.  Gilbert will kick-off the 7PM showing at the Bates College Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell Street, Lewiston.  There will also be a 9PM showing.  
 
Connecticut-based independent film makers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films produced the film.  Written, narrated, and directed by Maglaras, the premiere of this hour-long documentary will be hosted by the Bates College Museum of Art.  Interestingly, in May of this year, a painting by Lewiston native Hartley sold for $6.31 million, setting an auction record at Christie's in New York for an American modernist work, overtaking a record previously held by the work of Georgia O'Keeffe.  
 
Marsden Hartley, who was born in Lewiston on January 4, 1877, was deeply attached to his hometown of Lewiston and the Androscoggin River, and locations in and around those areas play a key role in the film.  Hartley traveled extensively during his career but always returned to Maine, and at the end of his life, he considered himself "Maine's Painter."  Prior to his death, he requested that his ashes be strewn along the Androscoggin River, and this poignant moment is dramatized within "Visible Silence."
 
Admission to the September 25th world premiere is free, but tickets are required.  For reservations or more information, individuals may call (207) 786-6135 or e-mail olinarts@bates.edu.
 
The world premiere of 217 Films' first Maine-made movie, "Cleophas & His Own," based on a narrative by Hartley, was held in Lewiston in 2005.

Mayor Gilbert, A Mystery Guest Reader At Martel School

Mayor Larry Gilbert was a "Mystery Guest Reader" at Martel School on Friday, September 12th, and children received five (5) clues as to who he was before he entered the room.  Gilbert read and visited with two classes of fourth-graders and their teachers, Andrea Bail and Sharon Pattershall.

Mayor Gilbert Seeking Financial Donations For Bernard Lown Peace Bridge Monument

Mayor Gilbert is seeking financial support from businesses and private individuals who would like to help support the funding of the monument that will be placed near the South Bridge in honor of renaming the bridge to the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge.

From Sun Journal, 9/7/08:

On Oct. 17, Lewiston-Auburn will officially rename the South Bridge the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge in his honor. Lown immigrated to the United States as a teenager and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1938. The cardiologist went on to invent the defibrillator and win a Nobel Peace Prize for his work against nuclear war.

The dedication is set to start at 9:30 a.m. at the Franco-American Heritage Center, then go outdoors for a monument unveiling and ribbon-cutting.

A committee formed for the event has ordered and made preliminary designs for a pair of 5-foot-tall granite monuments, one for each side of the bridge. The monuments would feature Lown's picture, a pair of city seals and text. The pair cost $15,000. So far, $800 has been raised.

"We've talked to a lot of people. We have some definite commitments; we just don't know what the amounts are," Mayor Larry Gilbert said.

"The mayor and I have been going door to door," said Al Harvie. He got news of a coming donation that he couldn't yet discuss, he said Friday, but "after today, I'm more optimistic. ... I'm going to start blitzing next week. I think we're going to get there."

Gilbert set Oct. 1 as the date he'd like to complete fundraising. He said the question of what would happen if the money wasn't raised by then had not been discussed.

In addition to the monuments, the Maine Department of Transportation will erect a new road sign on the Lewiston side, also to be unveiled on Oct. 17. Plans call for both cities' high school marching bands to lead a procession across the bridge and for a chorus to sing. Lown will speak for about 20 minutes, indoors.

"We want this to be a community recognition of the accomplishments of this great man," Gilbert said.

Donations to the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge Monument Fund can be made to City Hall, in care of the Mayor's Office, Lewiston City Hall, 27 Pine St., Lewiston, ME, 04240-7242.

If you have any questions about the monument fund please contact Mayor Gilbert at Lewiston City Hall at: (207) 513-3121 ext. 3202

Mayor's Corner: Mayor and City Council Rides With Lewiston P.D.

Twin City Times- Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Mayor's Corner #51

 
(L. to R.: Officer Ryan Guay, Councilors Larry Poulin, Denis Theriault, Mayor Larry Gilbert, Counccilors Nelson Peters, Tom Peters.  Councilors Tina Bailey and Betty Dube had just left the police vehicle compound when the photo was taken.)

Can you imagine your city councilor and your mayor as a co-pilot patrolling your streets? Well, that’s exactly what happened this past Friday evening.  This unprecedented move was initiated by Ward 4 City Councilor Denis Theriault.  He approached Chief Bill Welch with the idea so as to give the city council a better perspective of how our police department works. Chief Welch welcomed the idea and so it happened. 

The entire city council and I all enthusiastically agreed to go forward with the suggestion. Although Ward 7 Councilor Robert Reed wanted to do it, recovering from a recent surgery prevented him from participating. 

Having served thirty-three years as a law enforcement officer and another five years as a law enforcement trainer didn’t prevent me from wanting to participate.  The last time I rode in a patrol car patrolling streets was in 1992 in Los Angeles when I rode along with a Sergeant shortly after the riots.  The devastation was still very evident. Prior to that, I was last a patrol officer in 1974 before working up through the ranks.

Ward 2 Councilor Nelson Peters, who is currently serving as a detective with the Androscoggin County Sheriffs Office and a former Lewiston Police Officer, didn’t let that fact prevent him from riding along as well.

Having heard that we were going to do this, television station WMTW Channel 8 received permission to come along with us.  News reporter Will Lewis with videographer Dick Gosselin spent the evening with us to report it on both the early and late evening news.
 

Mayor Gilbert Receives Pie In The Face For Kennedy Park Playground Equipment Fundraiser

(Mayor Gilbert gets hit in the face with a pie by Mack as Councilor Bailey looks on)

On Saturday, August 23rd community residents joined together under sunny skies for a time of music, fun, and laughter at Kennedy Park in downtown Lewiston.  The event was a fundraiser to acquire additional playground equipment for the park, and over $300 was raised.  Highlights of the evening were entertainment by local musicians, balloon making by Shriner Klowns Ginjo and Dusty, and pie throwing with Mayor Larry Gilbert, as the recipient. 

The event was planned by Project Neighborhood.  Lewiston City Councilor Tina Bailey, who is part of that group, noted, ''I thought it was an incredible event that brought people from the neighborhood out to enjoy the music, and it was very generous of the Mayor to allow people to put pie in his face.  Two ladies I saw later in the evening expressed their appreciation for the neighborhood event."