Rant, part 552 (at least it feels that way)

Nobody I spoke with during last year's election season - and I mean nobody - was more thrilled that Katie Ives was running for City Council than her now-fellow on the council, Tom Jones.

Jones, who is a native of Newburyport, is a ward councillor. That means he is supposed to serve in the best interest of the whole city, not just a ward. He seems to be doing that in his own special way.

The fact that he so exuberantly embraced Katie Ives says something about the man, I think. Of course, Jones is often exuberant - but he was particularly so in this case.

Ives decided to run for City Council after, as I have said, living here for only a few months. Newburyport, you see, is the kind of place that you can move to and immediately feel a part of.

Anyway, the point is that there has to be a way for the old and the new to come together, like Jones and Ives have, to make this city work. Jones's mother's family has been around here since the 1800s.

Calling people names does not work. Labelling people who are trying to go about their business (Fremont-Smith) - in a rather thoughtful manner, I might add - with vile names does not help. And shouting people down is a definite step in the wrong direction.

Just because you're young and have some bucks does not make you an expert on everything.

A few years back, there was a tavern in Newburyport called The Wolfe Tavern. When it was torn down in 1953 (by the owner), it had stood on the corner of Temple and State Street for a century and a half. Read more about it on comity.org.

Is this the Newburyport we are supposed to be mourning? Or is it the pre-urban renewal Newburyport where there were dilapidated buildings along the waterfront? Or is it the pre-Lagasse Newburyport?

(These are questions pretty much that Ari has already posed to someone, but he posed them on Mr. X's blog and I'm still in 'boycott' mode. If you want to read it, go to Ari's blog and then click the link to Newburyport According to X.)

If you need to blame someone, why not blame the Lagasses. Aren't they are the ones who made Newburyport a place that was appealing to the young urban professional?

Or was it the state, that extended the commuter rail to Newburyport and I-95 so it ran by Newburyport? And then there's Boston, the proximity of which makes it a relatively easy commute into that city. Blame Boston.

I know the people in western Mass. blame Boston for every little thing, including using all their water.

And then there's urban sprawl. Why not?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: why do people always need to assign blame? Some shit just happens.

And I think the series is now complete. Amen.