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New Bedford Police Need to Step It Up at Pocket Parks [OPINION] New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is opposed to closing two so-called pocket parks on Acushnet Avenue despite calls from several members of the city council to shut them down. The parks, one at Nye Street and the other at Phillips Avenue, are hot spots for crime, prompting Ward 2 Councilor Maria Giesta to seek out alternative uses for the property. Giesta and At-Large Councilor Deb Coelho, who lives near the Nye Street park, said drug dealing, sex acts, prostitution, and all sorts of illicit behavior are rampant in the parks after d...

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell still plans to remove Engine 8 from service, even after a series of large fires that rocked the city since Thanksgiving when three multi-family houses burned on Washburn Street. Mitchell said on my program Wednesday that he plans to replace Engine 8 with a hybrid vehicle known as a "quint" that is both an engine and a ladder truck. His critics say there is no comparison between the two pieces of apparatus. Veteran City Councilor Brian Gomes, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee, also called into the program to inform us that the quint Mitchell has ...

New Bedford needs to keep Engine 8 in service. Applying for the grant is a wise idea, and I am glad the administration has chosen to pursue it.

The New Bedford City Council plans to vote on Thursday night on the first phase of a proposal that would convert a portion of the Whaling City Golf Course into an Advanced Manufacturing Campus. A unanimous vote in the affirmative could make a big difference. A "yes" vote asks the Massachusetts Legislature to approve a "home rule petition" that permits the Mitchell Administration to use protected parkland at the golf course while converting city-owned land in Dartmouth to recreational use. It really does require an act of the legislature to get it done. The vote to report the measure to the fu...

New Bedford Gun Violence Must Be Confronted [OPINION] Two shooting incidents in New Bedford broke the early morning still on Saturday, further shattering the myth that violent crime is under control here. The shootings occurred as the ongoing feud between the news media and the secretive Mitchell Administration has reached a fever pitch over the administration's refusal to make information about crime available to the public in a timely manner. Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro defended his decision not to notify the public that a gunman had fired eight rounds at a police officer's home. Unfortun...