The Patron Alderman of Firefighters
As most of you well know last Tuesday was the city elections in which voters approved the spending cap and its chief sponsor, Ward 10 Alderman Phil Greazzo, along with the hardest working man in Manchester - Ted Gatsas. It also brought a few newcomers such as myself in, where I won the Ward 2 School Board position.
I spent from 6AM to 7PM outside Hillside Middle School along with Ron Ludwig, Bob O'Sullivan, and occasionally, Ted Gatsas, Kathy Kelly, and Dan O'Neil. Dan was out there for almost three hours joining the several Manchester firefighters who where holding his sign in support of their patron.
During this period I overheard the most fascinating discussions between our incumbent at-large Alderman and his firefighting supporters. This man was incredible. He knew every detail about their personal and professional life. He knew about the station they worked in, what the issues were at that station, who their captain was, where they were in their EMT and other training; the list just went on. It is little wonder why we in Manchester have such a happy, functional, and effective fire department with an advocate and friend like Dan O'Neil on the Board of Mayor and Alderman.
So I asked him. “Dan, when is the last time you had such an intimate conversation with an elementary school principal?”. No answer. “When is the last time you sat down with a teacher to go over her career and her work environment?”. Blank stares. “When is the last time that you met with a PTO group to discuss the disruption in elementary schools caused by the budget cuts that you approved?”. A shrug. “Dan, did you speak with any Manchester parents about education this election - because most of our firefighters live in Hooksett or Bedford because they are worried about their kid's education?”. He responds with “Well, I probably do need to spend some more time in the schools.”. Damn right you do.
I was rude and aggressive and he didn't deserve my attitude. For that I apologize.
The fact is that I was envious. I didn't want what he had but rather his ability to get it. Where is education's Dan O'Neil?
If those of us in this city who want their kids to grow up, get good jobs and create new technologies and businesses right here in Manchester had such a patron as Dan O'Neil, then we might actually be experiencing a better economy today, and we wouldn't be so concerned about using union labor to clean our streets and man our firetrucks.
We have completely lost sight of the fact that good parks and good fire stations and good police force's and good homes follow good jobs. And good jobs follow good education, innovation, and speculation. That's right - education is the single greatest priority because it is ultimately responsible for our economic stability. And for that we need a Dan O'Neil.
Who among us does not have more faith in the ten-year-old down the street than any politician that appeared on our ballot? If we want good leaders in Manchester we have to start making them in elementary school. If we want new industries and high paying jobs and someone to take care of us when we are old then we need to go no further than the 2nd grade class at Smyth Rd. School. Every engineer that we produce out of US FIRST will be responsible for keeping at least one hundred union workers busy. Let's not loose sight of that.
We have to be a lot more concerned with producing doctors and scientist and engineers than we are with fireman and police. These will come. These will take care of themselves. But where we are when we come out of this long, dark, economic recession of a tunnel will depend on where we invest today.
My money is on the ten year-old. I just wish we had a Patron Alderman of Education such as Dan O'Neil behind him.
