A few days ago, I reported that the Cambridge City Council would be considering a motion last night, December 5, to get key details about the case of Malvina Monteiro v. City of Cambridge. The report may be viewed at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/civil-rights-retaliation-case.html. The order may be viewed at http://www2.cambridgema.gov/cityClerk/PolicyOrder.cfm?item_id=33584.
Cambridge City Councilor Kenneth Reaves was the only councilor to speak on the matter last night.
He said that he filed the order because a lot of people are wondering about the details of the payment. He pointed out that this was a repeated motion, that the Cambridge City Council needs to know this sort of matter. He felt disrespected by the City Manager in that the City Manager is failing to provide this information.
This is a councilor who is a lawyer and has had at least two very strong judicial opinions come down on Monteiro. The Appeals Court treated Cambridge’s appeal with disgust and refused to dignify it with a formal opinion. They commented “ample evidence [of] outrageous actions.” The trial judge described the behavior as “reprehensible.” The jury multiplied their $1.1 award of damages with $3.5 million PENAL damages.
This is a councilor who just cannot understand why the city manager should be fired. After all, all the city manager did was destroy the life of a woman in retaliation for her filing a civil rights complaint. The councilor is fully capable of reading those opinions. The opinions justify firing and, in fact, strongly direct the firing of the Cambridge without his golden parachute and possibly without pension. But this lawyer just cannot understand.
This is a councilor who just destroyed the magnificent core Alewife reservation in a bizarre project which will not and cannot achieve its stated objectives, meaningful flood control, while the stated objectives can be achieved by taking the massive parking lot across the street to put flood control underground without destroying the magnificent core Alewife reservation. Perhaps thousands of excellent animals were killed as part of this outrage.
This is a councilor who has been party to years of outrageous destruction at Fresh Pond. Hawks are nesting on office buildings because of the destruction of their habitat.
This is a councilor has been part of the outrages on the Charles River as part of those bizarre projects since they began. He has been part of the heartless animal abuse, the dumping of poisons on the banks, the walling off of the banks from the river, the massive destruction of habitat.
This is a councilor who loudly proclaims his sainthood on environmental and civil rights matters.
This is a councilor who would have contempt and disgust for people with contempt for civil rights and for people with contempt for the environment and for beautiful, valuable animals.
The city manager is treating this city councilor and the Cambridge City Council exactly the way decent people should treat this city councilor and the Cambridge City Council, with disgust and contempt.
This councilor has earned this treatment, with a vengeance.
