Mayor Larry Gilbert

Mayor Gilbert Presents Lewiston Mayoral VIBE Award To Keith Pray

On the evening of October 23rd, Keith Pray became the third recipient of the Lewiston Mayoral VIBE Award (Volunteers Inspire By Example).  With members of the Healthy Androscoggin (HA) smoking cessation support group that he leads looking on, Mr. Pray was presented with a certificate and pin by Mayor Larry Gilbert and Councilor Robert Reed. He also received a donated certificate to Fuel Restaurant.  Also on hand to commend Pray was Healthy Androscoggin Tobacco Coordinator Sarah Mayberry and Wendy Tardif, former HA colleague.

Mayor Gilbert stated, "Thank you for your outstanding leadership in encouraging individuals to quit smoking.  When you personally stopped smoking through 'Quit and Win,' you wanted to 'give back,' and what a difference you've made! Your support group is a tremendous asset to this community, and your contributions were certainly held in high esteem in 2007 when you were selected as the Healthy Androscoggin Coalition Member of the Year!  We also applaud your commitment to providing anti-smoking education to local fifth graders through the Tar Wars Program.  Indeed, the healthy example that you provide for others is one of excellence, and you remind all of us that one person can make a huge impact on the lives of others."

Pray responded that he was "honored to receive the award and finds it to be very humbling."

The local volunteer recognition initiative was collaboratively developed by Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert and City Councilor Robert Reed in July to recognize individuals who are stellar examples of selfless civic engagement.

Nominations for the November award are due by no later than November 7th, and the nomination form may be found online at http://www.ci.lewiston.me.us/vibe.htm. Forms are also located at service windows at Lewiston City Hall.

Full Speech From Dr. Bernard Lown at Renaming Ceremony of The South Bridge To Bernard Lown Peace Bridge

Bridge Naming Ceremony
Lewiston, Maine                             
Bernard Lown, MD

October 17, 2008

I left Lewiston precisely 70 years ago. Since departing for the University of Maine in 1938, I visited Lewiston only three times: once to give a commencement address at Bates College, once to talk about the nuclear threat and today for this festive Bridge ceremony. Yet Lewiston has left a far deeper and more enduring impact on me than Baltimore, New York city or Boston, where I had lived far longer.

It is here in Lewiston that I gained initial exposure to the remarkable American experience and learned the English language. Learning English was not a completely happy undertaking. High School sophomore English was especially traumatic. The teacher regarded me a bumbling idiot.  I could not distinguish the proper pronunciation of certain words. When I was called in English class to read some passages out loud there was commotion. The class went into hilarious uproar when I read “I was lying on the bitch.”

I was kept back after class and got an F for the year. As a result I was not accepted to any college except the University of Maine and there only on trial. I was informed by the dean that if I worked hard, I was a potential “C” student. When graduating with the highest of honors, I proved the inadequacy of pedagogy in assessing individual potential.

However because of the tough love as a sophomore in Lewiston High, I concentrated on mastering the English language by studying Webster’s dictionary as well as prodigious reading of literature. It helped me hone a sensibility of the power and beauty of English. Without this traumatic experience I would probably not have been an effective communicator nor successful organizer. So thank you Lewiston High School.

It is here, in Lewiston that I fell in love and courted Louise. She was my first tutor in the basics of English. A few months hence, Louise and I will celebrate our 62nd wedding anniversary. This enduring compact is testimony of Louise’s forbearing character. I don’t know about Louise, but I am certain that this was the wisest choice I have ever made. I have never encountered a more exceptional human being, kind and forgiving, always on the lookout to be of help to others, a wise mother, a solicitous grandmother, a healer, an interesting companion, a comrade in common struggle, and above all a spiritual mate. So thanks again Lewiston.

Local #785 IAFF & Mayor Gilbert Honored MDA Ambassador Derek Vintinner

Local #785 IAFF members recently paid special tribute to their friend Derek Vintinner, Muscular Dystrophy Association Goodwill Ambassador who is an honoree member.  Mayor Larry Gilbert, was on hand to present Vintinner with an authentic "New Yorker," a traditional style handmade leather firefighter helmet donated by IPS, a fire safety distributor out of Massachusetts. 

In addition, Local #785 wishes to thank Chief Paul LeClair and the Lewiston Fire Department for including the entire Vintinner Family in the annual Fire Prevention Open House.  The MDA Ambassador also received a Lewiston firefighter job shirt provided by the union, a fire department hat from LeClair, and an All-America City pin, a Lewiston Police Department hat, and a MAINEiacs poster from Mayor Gilbert.

Merrill Lynch Holds Open House of New Office at The Business Service Center at KeyBank Plaza

Photo courtesy: Jose Leiva/Sun Journal

Merrill Lynch manager Marc Pellerin left, and Patsy Roy chat with Lewiston mayor Laurent F. Gilbert right, during an open house for Merrill Lynch the Business Service Center at KeyBank Plaza's newest tenant.

Related news article from the Sun Journal after the jump.

[Sun Journal]

Mayor's Corner: Bernard Lown Peace Bridge Connects Lewiston-Auburn

Twin City Times- Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Mayor's Corner #56

Tomorrow, Friday, October 17 at 9:30 A.M. a bridge dedication ceremony will be held at the Franco-American Heritage Center in honor of Dr. Bernard Lown, formerly of Lewiston. The former South Bridge connecting Lewiston and Auburn has been re-named the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge as the result of an act of the Maine Legislature and signed into law by Governor John Baldacci.

This bridge honoring Dr. Lown has become reality primarily as a result of the efforts of Mr. Allen N. Harvie, a former Edward Little teacher who is a graduate of Bates College. He is the one who learned of this extraordinary man, Dr. Bernard Lown, and worked tirelessly to insure that the rest of us in this community of Lewiston-Auburn learn about Dr. Lown and recognize him for his many accomplishments. 

That’s correct; Dr. Lown has accomplished much in his 87 years of life.  He is best known for having developed the heart defibrillator and for being awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize with his Russian counterpart, Dr. Evgueni Chazov.  Together they founded the organization International Physicians for the Prevention of War.  They grew the organization to 150,000 plus physicians throughout the world.  They were able to gather enough data to demonstrate that the world could not survive a nuclear war. There weren’t enough physicians and hospitals to care for those who might survive the attack and as a result all would die. Aside from this invention and this organization, Dr. Lown has developed other inventions to assist cardiologists worldwide and he has formed other organizations to care for people worldwide.

I wish to first refer you to various means of learning more about this man. First, I would encourage everyone to conduct a Google search on him as there is a wealth of information about him and his accomplishments on line.

He is the author of two books, the first is entitled The Lost Art of Healing: Practicing Compassion in Medicine and the other was just released in July of this year and is entitled Prescription for Survival: A Doctors Journey to End Nuclear Madness. I would highly encourage anyone to read these two books. In doing so, you will come to know this extraordinary man as much as one can by reading his books.

Mayor’s Corner: The Silence on Consolidation in L-A Is Deafening

Twin City Times- Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Mayor's Corner #55

The last two weeks I have written about the death of Consolidation of Services between Lewiston and Auburn. The silence about the issue has been deafening. 

I have heard nothing publicly from taxpayers or former and present members of commissions who have worked tirelessly on consolidation efforts. Editorials on the issue have been mediocre at best when they appeared at sparse intervals. I suspect they will be strong when the ill effects of inaction are realized.  My response will be to the “watch dogs,” where were you when we needed you?

Strangely enough, I got an e-mail from Thomas J. Christoffel, AICP, Editor of Regional Community Development News, Regional Intelligence-Regional Communities, LLC out of Front Royal, Virginia.  He informed me that Google’s Blog alert had sent him to the post on my blog, www.LarryGilbertMayor.com, because of the term “regionalization.” 

Christoffel said my article of last week should be useful to subscribers of Regional Community Development News, so he will include a link to it in the October 10, issue. It can be found at http://regional-communities.blogspot.com/  He said that in the past five years he has included many clips of news articles about regionalization in Maine, other states and other countries.  He professes the following: “Acknowledge boundaries. Work across them. Think local planet, act regionally.”  

Our cities work across our boundaries on a daily basis.  For example we have the Auburn-Lewiston Airport Committee, Cable TV Advisory Committee, Community Forestry Board, Joint Downtown Planning Advisory Committee, L-A Transit Committee, Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission, Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority, 9-1-1 Committee and of course the Citizen Commission on Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation.  Why is it that when them come together from both communities, they work well together towards one goal?  I suspect that it is because they see themselves as one for the common good.

Mayor's Corner: A Lazarus Moment Needed to Revive Consolidation

Twin City Times- Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Mayor's Corner #54

I write as a follow up to my column of last week entitled Consolidation, Joint Downtown Plan died last week.  It is evident to me that it will take a moment like the biblical story in John 11:17-27; 38-44 in which Jesus raises Lazarus, the brother of Mary & Martha, who had been dead and buried for four days before Jesus raised him from the dead.  It came at the request of Martha.  Consolidation will only be raised from the dead at the demand of the citizenry in both cities. Without it, it will remain dead!

I wish to share with you two letters that I believe you will find interesting.  The first letter is dated September 15, 2008 sent to the Mayors and City Councilors of Lewiston and Auburn.  It is from the Citizens Commission on Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation and signed by the Co-Chairs, Peter M. Garcia of Auburn and Bette Swett-Thibeault of Lewiston.  The letter reads as follows:

“In the report delivered to you last January by our former Coordinator Stephen Eldridge, our Commission concluded that if consolidation of municipal services as outlined by senior managers from the two cities were implemented, eventual savings of approximately $2.6 million per year could be expected if the plan presented had been adopted last fall. It was suggested by Councilors that the report contained errors in computation of the savings.

Our job is to study and make recommendations of ways to make municipal government more efficient and less costly. In order to ensure that our study is based on accurate facts, we formed a committee of the Commission to review the extensive data and computations used in Mr. Eldridge’s report.  The committee was composed of Mark Carrier, CPA, Ronald Farris, Lee Jay Feldman and Lucien Gosselin.  The committee reviewed the data and computations.  They found some errors, in particular some double counting of police department data. It also found some inconsistencies in calculation of savings. Some of those errors decreased and others increased the estimated savings. A copy of the spreadsheet showing the figures as reviewed and corrected is enclosed.

The committee concluded that the correct estimate of annual savings is $2.7 million per year.  The committee and the Commission believe the estimate to be conservative, if the councils make a firm commitment to consolidating services.

L/A Mayors Announce Combine Library Usage

The Twin Cities' Mayors Larry Gilbert and John Jenkins joined LPL/APL Board members & staff, along with members of the public, on October 1st to unveil "The Library Card" for community residents' use.  Three area children were also on hand at the Lewiston Public Library for the event--Kyle, Jason, and Scotty Almquist--and were presented with a new card from Gilbert & Jenkins.  The joint card will enable Twin Cities' residents to acquire one card which will be accepted at either library. The design for the card was developed by Jake Paris, LPL Library Technician/Lewiston's 2008 Employee of the Year. The new joint card is available in both a credit card size and in a smaller keytag size, and the cost for printing was underwritten by the Lewiston Sun Journal and T.D. Banknorth.