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Community Preservation Act on Ballot at Town Election – May 2

The Annual Election is on May 2.

Positions on the ballot:

  • Town Moderator – one 1 year term
  • Select Board member – one 3 year term
  • Housing authority – one 1 year term
  • School Committee – two
  • Library Trustees – three 3 year term
  • Town Meeting member for all eight precincts – six – 3 year term
  • Town Meeting member Precinct 4 – one – 2 year term (in addition to six)
  • Town Meeting member Precinct 4 – one – 1 year term (in addition to six)

Community Preservation Act

The DDTC supports the CPA

VOTE YES for the Quality of Life in Danvers.

The Trustees of the Society voted to support what is likely the most important historic preservation effort that the Town of Danvers has undertaken in the past century.

By accepting the Community Preservation Act , the Town of Danvers would create a grant program to fund historic preservation, open space preservation, and veterans and senior housing programs. This fund would mean that the Rebecca Nurse Homestead Museum, the Danvers Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution (Samuel Holten House), and other Danvers history organizations would be able to apply for a share of more than $1.2 million in grants each year.

The Community Preservation Fund is partly paid by fees collected by the Registry of Deeds. Currently, this money paid by Danvers residents is going to other towns’ historic sites each year instead of funding historic preservation here in Danvers. In addition to state money, the fund would be financed by a local charge of 1% of your current property tax bill. (Not the assessed value.) The average Danvers home owner would pay about $6.00 per month.

With CPA historic preservation grant funds, the Town of Danvers Preservation Commission would be able to:

Restore the dozens of veteran’s graves that have fallen into disrepair and dishonor in the town-owned cemeteries (such as on High St.) or the abandoned cemeteries the town maintains.

Ensure preservation of the 1681 Salem Village Parsonage site on Centre St.,1892 Peabody Institute Library, 1855 Town Hall, 1832 Putnamville School, façade of the 1923 Holten-Richmond Middle School, 1870 Civil War memorial and other veterans memorials, the Salem Village Witch-Hunt Victims Memorial on Hobart St., and numerous other historic sites.

Web ask all members to vote YES on May 2nd, 2023

For any questions, please contact President, David McKenna at 508-328-2790

The Community Preservation Act is on the ballot also. For more information, go to https://www.danvershistory.org/collecting-signatures-for-cpa-2/

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Community Preservation Act on Ballot at Town Election – May 2 Read More »

MassDems select Steve Kerrigan as new chair

Former lieutenant governor nominee Steve Kerrigan cruised to the top post at the Massachusetts Democratic Party with no opposition Monday night.

A majority of the party’s state committee members elected Kerrigan as the next party chair on a voice vote. He was the only nominee and ran with support from top power players including Gov. Maura Healey.

Kerrigan succeeds Gus Bickford, who stepped down after a more than six-year tenure as party chair that saw Democrats expand their supermajorities in both legislative chambers.

Kerrigan, a veteran party operative who is currently CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, previously worked for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. He ran the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In a statement, Kerrigan called his new role “the honor of a lifetime.”

“I inherit a strong foundation thanks to Gus Bickford’s terrific leadership. Senator Kennedy always reminded us that you never rest on your laurels. You can always get better,” Kerrigan said. “My goal is to make the Massachusetts Democratic Party the gold standard for state parties across the country. We will do that by harnessing the tremendous energy at our grassroots, by representing all our people and being accessible to all, and by building an infrastructure that elects and supports Democratic leaders up and down the ballot. I cannot wait to get to work.”

MassDems select Steve Kerrigan as new chair Read More »

Fox News settles with Dominion Voting – Cost of lies is $787.5 Million

Fox and Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787 million settlement Tuesday in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit, averting a trial in a case that exposed how the top-rated network chased viewers by promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequences.

The resolution in Delaware Superior Court follows a recent ruling by Judge Eric Davis in which he allowed the case to go to trial while emphasizing it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations about Dominion aired on Fox by Trump allies was true.

Many of us hoped that this would go to trial to expose Murdoch and the Fox anchors. This is unlikely to sway the Fox audience as they live in the alternative reality of Fox and most don’t know of this case. It is a step forward as it is the second time that right wing liars have lost in court, the first being Alex Jones. This is not the end as Smart-Matic is suing Fox for $2.7 billion.

Fox News settles with Dominion Voting – Cost of lies is $787.5 Million Read More »

Trump charged with 34 Felonies in Hush Money Case

Trump was accused by Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday April 4 of orchestrating a hush-money scheme to to silence a porn star, a mistress and a Trump doorman in order mislead the voters two weeks before the election and then covering it up from the Oval Office of the White House.

Trump was fingerprinted but not placed in handcuffs and no mug shot was taken, although the Trump campaign was selling mug shot tee shirts on line during the arraignment.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case that opens a perilous chapter in the long public life of the real estate mogul/game show host and now faces the embarrassing prospect of a criminal trial.

Trump was indicted on 34 felony charges and stands accused of covering up a potential sex scandal with a porn star during the last days of the 2016 presidential election campaign. Trump made an extraordinary appearance at the Criminal Courts Building in lower Manhattan , his home town, to face charges. Relatively few Trump supporters (estimated at 350) and anti-Trump protestors (estimated at 150) raged outside as the former president sat quietly while prosectors laid out the case against him.

As a common ordinary person, Trump replied “not guilty” in the pin-drop silent courtroom.

“Everyone stands equal under the law”, Alan Bragg, the Manhattan DA said at a news conference after the arraignment.

The prosecutors addressed the threatening posts made by Trump against the DA, his wife and his daughter, against the Judge and his wife and including” death and destruction” would follow if he was charged.

The judge, Juan Merchan, addressed Trump’s lawyers telling them ” please speak to your client and anybody else you need to, and remind them to please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.”

Trump held a rally at Mar-a-Lago and immediately ignored the judges instruction.

Next hearing is scheduled for December 4.

Trump charged with 34 Felonies in Hush Money Case Read More »

April DDTC Meeting

The DDTC meeting was held on April 27 @ 7:00 PM via Zoom due to no availability for the Gordon Room at the library.

Louis George spoke to us about the Community Preservation Act on the ballot at the May 2 Town Election. Louis explained in detail the benefits for the town of the program, how it is funded and teh state contribution. The DDTC members support the CPA and ask all members to vote for it on May 2.

We will be having a Meet the DDTC event on Saturday May 20 in the Gordon Room. The purpose of this event is to invite Dems in the town come talk with us and possibly join the committee. We will be working on the event to generate the invitation and prepare for a mailing. We will be inviting local officials to join us. We invite all members to join us.

Next DDTC meeting will be on May 25. This meeting will also be the caucus to elect delegates to the MassDems convention. This will be a policy convention. We will be working in the coming week to set this meeting as a hybrid meeting being held at the library but also on line. This will be our first time setting up the hybrid meeting which could be used for future meetings.

April DDTC Meeting Read More »

DDTC March 23 Meeting

The Danvers Dems Committee meeting was held on March 23 in the Gordon Room at the Danvers Peabody Institute Library on Sylvan St.

The guest speaker was Library Director Noelle Boc. Noelle presented a quite interesting presentation on the Danvers Library, the services provided and the challenges encountered. If you have not been to the library for awhile, Noelle described the many services the library provides that you may not have been aware of. There was some discussion concerning the recent actions by the Republican Party to have certain books from libraries across the country. We thank Noelle for joining us.

Julie Curtis distributed the minutes from February’s meeting. See below.

Topics of interest:

  1. The Scholarship Committee is forming. The committee reviews application for the annual DDTC scholarship to a Danvers High School student. Julie Curtis chairs the committee and is inviting committee members to join. If interested, contact Julie or via Contact Us.
  2. Committee formed to address inviting new members to join the DDTC is planning a Meet and Greet on May 25 at the Danvers Library Gordon Room. Plans are in the initial phase. Purpose is to provide an opportunity for people who would like to get involved to meet the committee members and also to invite some of the local representatives. In formative phase, more to come on this.
  3. The Danvers Town Caucus to elect members to attend the MassDems Convention will be held on May 25 in the Gordon Room at the Danvers Library. This will be a hybrid meeting with people meeting at the library but also access via Zoom. This will be our first hybrid meeting so we have a little work to prepare.
  4. The Danvers Annual Town Clean Up Day is April 22. The DDTC is planning to form a team to take part in this town effort. Anyone interested in joining the team can contact Marilyn or via Contact Us.
  5. Next meeting will be April 27. The Gordon Room is booked so we will be looking at the Polish Club on Cheever St as an alternate site for this meeting.

DDTC March 23 Meeting Read More »

Gus Bickford to step down as state Democratic Party chair

Gus Bickford, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairmen since 2016, plans to step down this spring, ending a 6½-year run in which the party flipped nearly 20 seats statewide — including the governor’s office — and grew its supermajority in the state Legislature.

Bickford announced his decision to party activists at a Democratic State Committee meeting Saturday, and will remain chairman until its next meeting on April 24, when it will hold a special election to replace him. Bickford also endorsed a successor in Steve Kerrigan, a former lieutenant governor nominee and Democratic National Convention Committee executive, telling activists that Kerrigan has both his and Governor Maura Healey’s support.

Gus Bickford to step down as state Democratic Party chair Read More »

TRUMP INDICTED!

A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime.

The indictment was sealed, which means the specific charge or charges are not publicly known. But the grand jury had been hearing evidence about money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, allegedly to keep her from saying she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump is expected to turn himself in and appear in court on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m., said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been publicly announced.

Today is a sad day for the country. There is no joy about this but it was necessary. No person, even a former President, is above the law. He is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He will have the opportunity to defend his actions in court, like you or me, and if he is proved innocent of breaking any law, he will go free.

TRUMP INDICTED! Read More »