News from the Reservation ~ Kathy Runge

News from the Reservation ~ Kathy Runge

By: Kathy Runge – December, 2015 Merry Christmas and greetings from Apache territory! In a pre-election article published at editorialweek.com, Jose Alfonso Garica’s website, South Lawrence was referred to as Apache territory. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be offensive to Apaches, Anglos, or both. This man works for the school department. It’s been […]

Political Campaign Season Begins in Lawrence

Political Campaign Season Begins in Lawrence

By: Kathy Runge – August 2015 We’re starting campaign season and I’m already preparing myself for the onslaught of robo-calls and junk mail we’ll be receiving in a couple of months. Please don’t vote for candidates that spend thousands of dollars trying to impress you. The more money a local candidate receives in donations, the […]

Will Lawrence Treat Illegals Better Than People From Lowell?

Will Lawrence Treat Illegals Better Than People From Lowell?

By: Kathy Runge, July, 2015 The City Council, led by Council President Maldonado, a.k.a. Lawrence’s Ambassador to the UN, has been busy in the last month. The FY16 budget got approved with Maldonado providing the only dissenting vote. He proposed a series of potential cuts and argued for them while acting as president of the […]

Kathy’s Lawrence Notebook – Myra Ortiz, Charlie Boddy and Nagging Questions

Kathy’s Lawrence Notebook – Myra Ortiz, Charlie Boddy and Nagging Questions

By: Kathy Runge – June, 2015 Myra Ortiz, Candidate for District A Councilor I recently spoke with Myra Ortiz, who will be running against incumbent Sandy Almonte. Myra has made Lawrence her home for 15 years and currently represents District A on the School Committee. Although the school system is under receivership, Ms. Ortiz has […]

City Councilors Behaving Badly

City Councilors Behaving Badly

By Kathy Runge – April, 2015 Council meetings in February and March were a train wreck, but everyone got their vacations in. Councilor Maldonado opened the meeting of March 3 by saying that he hoped meetings would be regular now and they wouldn’t get snowed out anymore, as if that’s the reason their meetings haven’t […]

A Tale of Three Cities – Lawrence, Haverhill and Methuen: Comparing Voter Registration Lists by the Numbers

A Tale of Three Cities – Lawrence, Haverhill  and Methuen: Comparing Voter Registration Lists by the Numbers

By: Kathy Runge – November, 2014 I’ve been writing programs to look for duplicate registrations on the voter registration list in Lawrence for a few years. This list can be searched using many criteria; in this article I have used three of my algorithms. These programs can’t really tell if two registrations correspond to the […]

The Never Ending Saga of the Residency Requirement and November’s Election

The Never Ending Saga of the Residency Requirement and November’s Election

By: Kathy Runge – October, 2014 Once upon a time, a city council suspended the rules and had a redo vote on the proposed residency requirement. They waited and waited until they had a meeting with the right councilors in attendance. Finally it passed. Since the mayor wouldn’t sign the measure, it had little chance […]

Kathy’s Lawrence Notebook

Kathy Runge – June, 2014 Hi guys! The Valley Patriot decided to suspend the rules and I’m writing the column this month. Yes folks, it’s as easy as that; suspend the rules and anything goes. More on suspending the rules later. First up is important news affecting all renters and landlords in Lawrence. Renters and […]