Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Heard in Beverly

One of the features of the new high school is a proposal to provide all 1200 students with a laptop computer that can be used anywhere in the building because it will be equipped with a wireless Internet connection. That plan is not so certain now.
The problem arose when the Massachusetts School Building Authority approved $1.07 million less than Beverly had budgeted for the “furniture, fixtures and equipment” category, which includes technology.
Ward 6 City Councilor Judith Cronin asked Mayor Bill Scanlon if that cut will prevent the school from providing laptops for every student.
“I don’t know the full answer,” Scanlon said.
One possible solution, the mayor said, is to bring some of the furniture in the current school into the new school, thus saving money that could be spent on computers.

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A judge this morning denied a request by the low bidder for the high school construction project to stop the city from awarding the contract to another company. City Solicitor Roy Gelineau said that Brait Builders’ request for a preliminary injunction was rejected this morning in Suffolk Superior Court.
Brait was the low bidder on the high school project, but the Attorney General’s Office disqualified Brait and the state de-certified the company for exaggerating its qualifications. Brait wanted the judge to put the Beverly project on hold while it appealed the state’s decision, but the judge said no.
The bottom line is that Beverly can award the construction contract to CTA Ventures once the City Council approves the project, which is expected to happen tonight at City Hall. Mayor Scanlon has said construction could begin next month. We’ll have the full story on tonight’s City Council meeting in tomorrow’s Salem News.

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Ward 3 City Councilor John Burke is trying to find a solution for the lack of visitor parking at the Montserrat condominiums at the corner of Heather and Herrick streets. At last night’s City Council Legal Affairs Committee meeting, Burke said Heather Street is only street in the city that has a no-parking restriction from Dec. 1 to April 1. That restriction is now “antiquated,” he said, because the city has a “blue light” system that bans on-street parking only when a snowstorm is on the way.
“This neighborhood wants to be treated like every other neighborhood,” he said.
Councilors seemed agreeable to Burke’s changes but wanted to hear from the Parking and Traffic Commission before taking a vote. Burke has criticized the commission for taking too long to review matters referred to them by the council. Council President Tim Flaherty agreed the process needs to be improved but said councilors benefit by listening to the experts on the commission before making their decisions.

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The Registry of Motor Vehicles has closed all 35 of its branches, including Beverly’s, due to an electrical power outage caused by a manhole explosion near the State Transportation Building in Boston, according to the Registry’s Web site. The explosion affected the computer systems that support the branches, the Registry said. The notice says they hope to fix the computer “as soon as possible.”

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The School Committee of the Whole will meet Wednesday night at 7:30 at the Memorial Building, not tonight as we erroneously reported in today’s paper. Superintendent Hayes is scheduled talk about next year’s school budget.

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Here’s a link to a story in The Union Leader about Sister Irene Turgeon, a Beverly native who died Thursday.

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According to the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting at City Hall, Mayor Scanlon will talk about the upcoming North Beverly Brook drainage project. The work is designed to alleviate flooding in a 1,000-acre section of the city that includes about 1,250 homes around the North Beverly Brook. The area ranges from the Cummings Center north past Route 128 and up to Dodge Street.
The city has received bids from 13 companies to do the work. Here’s a look at those bids. The city is obligated to take the lowest qualified bidder:

Albanese Bros. Inc. $2,274,768
Albanese D&S, Inc. $2,721,999
Aqualine Utility, Inc. $3,350,743
D’Alleseandro Corp. $2,606,201
Grove Construction Inc. $2,670,726
G.V.W. Inc. $3,606,015
J. Tropeann, Inc. $2,996850
J.J Phelan & Sons $2,931,536
Cardillo & Sons Inc. $2,769,119
L. Perrina Construction $2,956,047
P. Gioiso & Sons, Inc. $3,192,901
Revoli Construction $3,079,303
RJV Construction Corp. $2,683,157

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Leftover notes from last night’s eventful Licensing Board meeting regarding The Press Box:
– Police said there have been 122 police calls about the Press Box this year — more than the rest of the bars in the city combined. Panther Pub was second with 24, followed by Fibber McGees (20), The Pickled Onion (18), Kitty O’Shea’s (9), Lucky Dog (9), The Sports Page (6) and Overtime (1).
Press Box lawyer Jack Altshuler argued that the 122 calls was deceptive because it included a number of innocent calls for things such as for broken water pipes.
– After Press Box assistant manager Michael Wilson spoke about the bar’s efforts to control its clientele, police Lt. John Roccio handed board members a folder that he said included dockets from Salem District Court regarding Wilson. Altshuler objected to the move and wondered what the information had to do with the hearing.
“Maybe it goes toward credibility,” Roccio said.
Wilson wanted to speak but board chairman Richard Kelley wouldn’t let him. In an interview with The Salem News in July, Wilson said he’s a recovering addict who wants to open a sober house in Beverly.

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The fate of The Press Box could be decided tonight. The Licensing Board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers. Police have responded to more than 60 incidents in and around the Park Street bar this year. We’ll have a story on the meeting in tomorrow’s paper.

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The City Council plans to look into whether it makes sense to put the Police Department in charge of school crossing guards rather than the School Department. The issue came up at Monday night’s council meeting during a discussion over the need for a crossing guard to help students from the Shingleville neighborhood cross Elliott Street to get to Ayers Ryal Side School.
Ward 2 Councilor Wes Slate said the council was not informed of the changes in crossing guard assignments following the closing of the McKeown School.
“There seemed to be a lot of confusion and a number of players in this decision that weren’t necessarily communicating with each other,” Slate said.
Ward 3 Councilor John Burke said police should have authority over the crossing guards, as they did years ago.
“I really believe we need to put it on our side of the ledger,” he said.
Council President Tim Flaherty said he will talk to the mayor and police chief about the idea and report back to the council.

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