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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=C_i8zx43U_8

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Greetings everybody. Greetings from beautiful Ria Beach. My name is Carol Thai and I it is my privilege to have a conversation with the mayor of our city, Mayor Keefe. He is um he is one of the

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best in a long line of good mayors and uh I am particularly grateful for him uh for a new high school >> and I think that's probably the greatest source of my pride in the city. I think

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it might be of yours too or at least one of the greatest. Uh you have many many things to be proud of. uh your administration has been um certainly conscious of what the needs of the city are and you even though we you don't

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always have enough money to meet them. However, you did meet them on the new high school and I know that that was difficult because um you know when money is tight it's really hard to do all of

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that but somehow or other you waved your magic wand and uh did it and I am so proud of you personally. I'm proud of the city council and the school committee. I'm I'm proud of the school administration and uh all of the teachers in the school

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all of whom have the same pride that we share uh and that old rea shares with all of us. >> Well uh you know good great things are usually very challenging especially overcoming but it took courage but you

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know I can't sit there and say that the courage was all mine. I was able to be courageous because of people like you being able to support me in those decisions, but also getting that over the finish line. Uh well, really the starting line, but it took a lot of people

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>> to be able to help support me and to raise that voice and to raise that um initiative to make sure that we we got the project approved. Uh which it now has been approved for a few years and we're in the first phase of construction. You're seeing concrete come out of the ground. Next week, steel

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is being delivered and steel is going to begin to be erected. So, we're uh we're going to come up about uh two and a half years out before we get students into the building. But uh I thank you and you know those accolades coming from someone like yourself, Carol, Miss Tai, and I'm

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going to say Miss Ty because it's respect to me, but means a heck of a lot. You gave me some goosebumps for a second because you know we look up to you like you know people like myself we look up to you and we look up to what you've done in the history of RIA what

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you've done in our school system but what you've done just as a as a resident in the Beachbot neighborhood. So I love hearing your stories and I'm looking forward to hearing a little bit more today and the re >> the the re-engagement reactivation the networks picked it up

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[laughter] conversations with Mrs. Tai. So, I'm happy to be your fir first guest in a long time. [laughter] >> That's wonderful. That's wonderful. But you know what? I remember the night that we got the final vote of approval. And I remember that it was very difficult and

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we no one everyone wanted to respect everyone else's opinion. We we wanted to deal with it in an adult uh way, but we also wanted to pass that vote. And we could not have done that without your

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leadership. That was very clear and with Diane Kelly's um leadership on her side of it too. So and you know when I say that you know it's was the whole school committee. It's the current school committee. It's the whole city council.

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It's everybody who says listen I love Riviera. I I add I love Beachmont but I love Riviera. We love >> I want to do what's best for Revier. I want to do what's best for our kids. I want our kids to continue having the

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successful careers and lives that they've had. I want them to stay in this city. I want them to buy a home here. I have great pride in River. I know you do. I have always had that. Um I was born in the house that I still live in.

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Uh, my grandparents came here from South Boston and they wanted to be near the water. They wanted to be um they wanted to have a home that they could buy. They could afford it and uh and they stayed

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there until they passed. My parents were there and now I'm there. >> And and your parents and my parents and and me as a parent, we work harder for our next generation. We work harder for our families. We work harder for our kids. And it was important to you, it

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was important to myself. It was important to other leaders in the city, on the city council, on the school committee, in the school administration. Well, we're going to work a little harder because this investment in our students, in our educational system as a whole, in our legacy as a as a as a as a

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place to live is important on the invest on investing in that future. So getting the school uh underway that that kind of final piece of our multi-chool project was something that I was willing to work harder for and I know a lot of residents are willing to work a little harder for.

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Yes. >> To put that investment in the next generation of reeer. >> You built seven No, you built almost seven schools in your tenure. >> Right. >> Well, I can't say I did. >> Well, you were part of those processes, right? I was lucky enough to be in a

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leadership position then and um they were I mean my first school was the Garfield although I came in after it had already started but let's see the Hill >> the Hill >> the Lincoln uh >> Paul Reier >> Garfield Paul Rivier >> Romney

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>> Rum >> Susan B >> Susan B Oh, how could I forget that two high school >> because I so wanted her that school named after Susan B. Anthony, the champion of women's rights. [laughter] >> And and you know, again, we talk about standing the test of time. I think that that name and the legacy of Susan B has

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stood the test of time. >> Yes. >> Uh young women today look up to that um her her fight for woman suffrage and uh what she did for civilization, especially in the United States. Oh, yeah. >> And think about o over a hundred years ago,

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>> right? So, you know, we tal we were just talking about that at a city council meeting about, you know, just understanding legacies and understanding what it really takes to be, >> you know, kind of an icon for years to come and so that it it flushes out any,

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you know, any potential unknowns. >> Yes. >> And time does sometimes flush that out because, as you know, we're we have an imperfect history. Yes. And that's okay. >> Yes. People remember things differently, but most people remember the best. And that's I mean and you certainly are an

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optimist that way. You have that pride and that optimism that well no I'm I'm not going to be like some people in other cities and um not that I know any but I have heard other teachers when I was active in the mass teachers union um

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say that you know they oh they couldn't get really any support. We have been so lucky. I mean all the way back to George Kella um who was a fierce advocate for education. Uh I think his wife June had

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a little to do with that too, you know. >> Right. Probably. [laughter] >> Uh but all of the >> dinner was served cold if he didn't uh take care of the educational [laughter] system, you know, or if if even served at all. >> Yes.

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So I mean these are the things that make re I mean I know when I was a child and would visit you know my grandmother in the my grandmother who lived in Medford um Medford did not think much of Rivia

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actually I whenever I said oh you mean you never go to Riviera Beach oh yes but you know that's there there are some things that are in Rivia. Yeah. Great things in Rivia. That's

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that's what it is. And uh and they soon came to the came to the realization that especially when they came they enjoyed all of the things here. So and generations of us who have enjoyed everything here. your your generation of

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children >> your own generation your children's generation which we hope will be better than it was for say mine when I started >> right and that that's our that's one of our largest priorities but river has always been fighting to uplift their

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reputation to get people to really understand and see it and I'd say it all the time you know come see rea again for the first time yeah >> because um there's been a lot of uh reinvestment in the But you know there was a period of time where just fighting off some of that stigma and every community faces it. You

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know Medford faces it like you said every community faces a stigma that people have an an interpretation of what they think it is and then you come here and you're like whoa this is different and more I I would say a majority a vast vast majority of people that travel here

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or people that live here are really grateful for what the city offers but also just what nature offers. you know what God has given us. >> So, um I'm I'm blessed obviously as the mayor to be able to help lead that charge to make sure that people are aware, but I'm also I hold the

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responsibility of making sure that >> I uphold that and I move it forward to Yes. >> where it is in good hands and and we we just like just like working in a school, you always want to, you know, leave it better than you found it. And I don't

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plan on leaving anytime soon, but I want to make sure that I I pass it off into good hands when that time does come. That's a that's my major goal. >> I think that is a wonderful goal in any occupation in any place. If you take pride in it, you want to see that it

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gets a little better for the next generation and certainly you have made so many improvements in the city. Um if you had to pick one big one, would it be the high school? that that's that is like you got all of

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the all these really good ones and then you know 10 steps ahead of course is the high school. So sometimes I often just push that off and say >> that was a a milestone. That's a monumental event that I don't think that there's anything in my life that I'll be able to do that is as great of a an

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accomplishment for a municipality. It'll certainly be a legacy. >> Wait a minute. You could be governor. >> Well, no, but but I >> don't rule that out. This was this was a this was a legacy project and I don't not for me it was for the city. A legacy project for you a legacy project for the

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kid that isn't even born yet. >> Yes. >> But there are a lot of other projects that we have underway and accomplishments that we hope to uh accomplish in the next couple years or in the next 10 years. Certainly McMack and Field is one of the smaller ones but one of the most impactful.

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>> Oh absolutely. >> And it is driving people absolutely wild. They're loving it. They're excited and it's it's going to happen before the end of this year. >> Yes. Some of my friends who are have been working on that project for a long time don't even live in River anymore

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but come back to help that project uh to come to fruition. And I think that's that's a just a wonderful >> So we put out a call to action to the community uh to ask for video archives anything that we can help uh do a little

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bit of a uh when we do our grand opening at McMack and Field in September. We wanted to do a tribute video uh to memorialize all of the goods that happened there and talk about the past generations that have had success there. The legacy of Charles McMacken uh the

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legacy of the the first players that played on the field in what 1951, the championship teams, the teams that went all the way to the finals uh for the Little League World Series. And we want to be able to sum that all up in a you know three to five minute video. So, in

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the last week and a half, we've been inundated with photos and in documentary uh uh events in people's lives, and you just see people that are in their 70s or 80s, you know, reaching out and saying, "I coached there in the 60s. My kid played there in the 70s. My brother, my

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sister, whoever it may be." So just the amount of people that have come out of the woodwork from rever but also people that have moved on and that parcel that that that the history of that field is so meaningful to so many that we're

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>> we knew it was going to be special and we haven't we haven't uh finished it yet. We knew it was going to be a special project and I think that it's coming to reality at how much it means to so many and we're happy to be able to do that. >> Oh yeah. I listen to them. We go to

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lunch often with people who are on that committee and trying to get it done and have fallen along and they brag about it constantly and I say well you know it is in rea [laughter] it is and that's where people you know

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you I I wouldn't not to minimize how we're getting it done because it's been a lot of work but we're doing it on I wouldn't say a shoe we're doing it moderately inexpensively but we're doing it so that it's going to you know it's going to last a a long time where we built it up over almost 10 ft. Uh so

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that you know it was notoriously uh had a problem dealing with flooding concerns and and water infiltrating the field. So bringing it up was a major milestone for us and then now we're seeing the the uh the structure being erected and uh the the turf is going to be laid down at the

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beginning of August. But >> um being able to do it in such a short time frame and remember we didn't own that field five years ago. >> Yes, I know. >> City did not own I know >> it was it was it was told me >> it was privately owned and operated. Um it was a city use but you know it was a

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little league field so we the city didn't have ownership of the field so we weren't able to make the conditional improvements but getting the field which was prior administration was instrumental in making sure that they worked it out with the old uh group and then getting the funding to get the

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project uh on on track was all this last year and a half that doesn't happen by accident. That happens because people want to put the investment. We've been fortunate. People People always say, "Well, all this development in the city, what does it do for us?" Well, that's

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>> that's $5 million that we wouldn't we're going to be able to utilize towards restoring an iconic ball. >> And that's also housing for our children and grandchildren, right? >> We'd like them to be here, you know, and great grandchildren. I'm coming up with that, you know, great grand nieces and

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nephews. It would be wonderful if they could come here. And we've been fortunate to have people in investing in our community, staying here, investing in their homes, you know, make making them larger homes. You know, you see people take turning their old in-law apartments into uh into multifamilies or

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ADUs. That all affects us >> um >> with with growth and and certainly with revenues, you know. Yes. Is there a demand? Of course there is. We know that and you you as an educator know that firsthand. But we have not seen uh what people have tried to fear us out of

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being a nimi community. We have not seen massive enrollment shifts in this in the school where actually we've been uh we've actually seen slightly reduction in our enrollment and over the last 10 years there's there's a reduction. >> The birth rate has something to do with

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>> that's exactly what it is. It's it's mostly been people are having less kids. Right. Yeah. >> So and a lot of the newer residents are not really um family oriented. They're more uh young professionals. Yes. >> Or or even retirees. >> Yeah. Uhhuh. >> And uh we you know one other thing you know we we track and this is important

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to track because we we pay you know waste water that leaves the city goes out to deer islands. I mean >> it's it's it's something that believe it or not because of the infrastructure improvements that we've made over the last decade. We send less less waste

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water to Dair Island today than we did 15 years ago. Less. Well, that is remarkable. >> It's because there was so much infiltration from uh porous wastewater uh pipes. Storm water would go in them. We were paying we were paying as a city

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>> to you and as a taxpayer we were paying to to put storm water into the drains and send it out to be treated. Storm water is supposed to go into catch basins and culverts and things like that. Waste water is supposed to go out to Deer Island. Yes. >> And we're doing more of just sending out waste water to Deer Island. I know that

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this is not Congratulations. >> The best business to talk about, but it's important. >> Oh, no. It's extremely important. [laughter] Uh extremely important. So, I mean, the sewer system, uh we've had meetings, citywide meetings where people have talked about how important that is and what we're doing.

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>> Well, look behind us. And you, you know, when you're not dealing with those problems, >> and I'm not criticizing communities north of us, but you have communities that are constantly having CSOS flowing into their rivers, flowing into their their their their oceans, and then affecting the quality of their

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their their sea life, affecting the quality of their swimming and and recreational space >> where we've been good stewards of our environment. I'm very proud of that. That's that makes me as proud as anything else is we're good stewards of our environment. We're doing the right thing. We are spending, we have to spend

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money to to make it work, right? And we're doing it, but we're doing it responsibly. >> Well, you know, and it's not just Riviera Beach, uh, Riviera. I mean, it's wonderful that we've had improvements down at Rocky Beach, uh, down at, um,

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all the way to Short Beach. uh the all of these things are so important because we all live off each other's um I don't want to say the word garbage but sometimes that is what happens and so we have to be sure that we take care of our

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own and encourage other people around us. I know you've been a leader in that to encourage other people uh other cities. Well, my and my next plight our next our next plight because I'm going to be asking the community to engage is, you know, the state has done a really good job in investing um and they've

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done, you know, whether it's housing investment or even economic development bond bills, transportation bond bills, and we know that just this last two years with new leadership at the MBTA, we've seen improvements. But I I really want to see um environmental a largecale

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environmental bond bill uh impact the upgrades and the um improvements needed to bring the beach uh infrastructure back up to its glory. And I know that it's you know it's lots of money. We know that that's that's a state level uh

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uh state funding. >> All right. Somebody has to start it. It might as well be you. and and and it's going to be it's going to be not a fight, but it's going to be getting loud, getting courageous, >> and being vocal to the leaders that will help make those decisions. >> But that is that's definitely high on the priority list for our administration

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right now is to >> vocalize what's needed, >> help work on getting the state funding uh to the DCR properties, mainly the Rea Beach Reservation, and making sure that we restore the areas that need improvement from the entire three and a

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half mile coastline. >> Yes. Well, I should think that our experience with the soccer matches and all of that that brought to the city people who had never known anything about Riviera, they came. It's wonderful

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that they came and spent their money. Uh it's wonderful that we had such a welcoming atmosphere that everything went through so without any problems and I hear nothing but joyous comments about all of the all of the things that the

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river has done. >> We're going to have another vibrant weekend with sand sculpting and uh we're excited to welcome people from all over the world. The sculptors specifically from all over the world but we know it it reaches international travelers. uh the hotels get fully occupied. You see

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uh the people that are are frequenting the beach and the restaurants, they're from they're from the UK, they're from uh they're from the the southeast parts of the of the world. They're from, you know, Russia, they're from Alaska, they're from Minnesota, they're from Rhode Island,

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>> they're from Chelsea, they're from Mand, you know. So, we see it all. We're excited to welcome them. >> But, you know, you talked about the World Cup matches which really took the state by storm, but took the country. I I saw a huge embracing uh and that's the theme of this u international sand

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sculpting is Boston welcomes the world but I made I don't bet right I'm not a gambler I mean if I do it's just goofing around with some friends or whatnot but I had a resident a very close friend of mine and I hope you're watching that said oh you're crazy for doing all these uh World Cup match events there's going

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to be a lot of trouble and I I looked at them and I said you know I'm very confident in our abilities to host large gatherings and have them safe and it's going to be a joyous environment. This is not going to be a contentious environment. >> We take soccer seriously, but this isn't

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going to be like my team versus your team, >> right? >> We saw we saw fans hugging. We saw a lot of enjoyment. And as mentioned, >> no issues thankfully. Thankfully, because everyone was really well behaved, but we also put the proper uh checks in place to make sure that we

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didn't. And uh she she bet me. She said, "You know, you're going to buy me a beverage." [laughter] and I said, "Gladly, but I look forward to July 19th, you you you bringing me out for a nice adult beverage." [laughter] So, she messaged me the other day and said, "Uh,

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you know, looks like I'm going to have to eat my words." I said, "Yep." And we're going to drink them, too. [laughter] >> Isn't that wonder? >> But she was impressed and she was thankful. >> Oh, yes. Oh, that's wonderful. And it's really nice when you can end it on that note. >> Totally. [laughter] Yeah. you know. So,

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>> so well I mean I think that will be wonderful particularly if we get the little league park up and running again that will bring other people in people young families many of whom might decide that this was would be be a great place to relocate

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uh which would be very nice and I'm looking for the next generation of of grandchildren uh your grandchildren u coming >> that's not that's the hope too soon I do have kids of age But uh >> no you can wait to be a grandfather but

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there's such glory in being uh one of the grands. So you can spoil them and I'm sure you will. >> I I I intend on it and I I've told my daughter who's um softball player as you know and she's going to school to be an educator. Uh she has one year left.

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She'll be in uh and she's doing some of her practicum at Riviera public schools next year. >> Excellent. But I said to her, I said, you know, I coached a lot of softball and football and baseball. And I to looked at her and I said, I don't know if I'm it's going to be you or Patrick, but one of you going to get me back into

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coaching. And you know what that means? And uh so uh she's she loves softball. She she does intend on coaching softball potentially in Riviera when she's uh and she's helped with the high school team. >> Yes, I've seen her. >> I love it. I want to get back into it. So that would be the joy of being a

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grandparent is getting that glove back out. Oh. >> Uh, or the the whistle and getting back out onto the field with the kids. >> Yeah, you I know. As a grand aunt, I know you can spoil them and they and then they go home to mom and dad to get the rules. >> Amen. [laughter]

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And and being an educator is great, too. So, >> Oh, it's wonderful. I hope she's planning on coming to Ri. >> She she she very much would like to. She is a homer at heart total. uh she's at Salem State now, but she wants to be she's very proud of her community and does want to be part of the Revia public

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school community um if afforded that opportunity. And of course, she was in Malden last year. She enjoyed that internship and she and uh she has an also an opportunity in Salem this year. So, she has plenty of uh math, right? Middle school math. So, they're in high demand. So, she feels confident that

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that there'll be there'll be a demand. And Dr. Kelly has been a little bit of a mentor to her as well. >> Wonderful. >> So, is she is such an admirable leader. Uh she can she can take any situation and figure out how she can um deal with

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whatever it is. So if Dr. Kelly is her mentor, she'll not only how to deal with Whoops, little Sandy. She'll not only learn how to deal with students in the classroom, but she'll learn how to deal with peers and superiors and everything

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else. So, uh, but I'm sure she has your personality and your wife's personality. She's, I'm sure, a winner from day one. >> I think she has more of my wife's personality, which is probably more important than in the >> Oh, spoken like a good husband. Good. [laughter]

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>> You know, uh, not everyone. She She's great. I obviously very proud. You can tell of both my children. Uh, but you it's like you you're proud of all the students you educated. I'm proud of my students. I'm proud of the kids that I see, you know, every year crossing the stage at graduation, shaking their hand,

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looking at them and saying, you know, remember remembering them when they were eight or 10 or 12 years old. >> And I get so happy to see them and what what their next >> uh the next phase in their life's going to be. Boston College, University of Massachusetts, trades, military, you name it. We're excited. Yeah, it it is

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it it's just such a wonderful feeling that graduation because I it's not only um that each one of them is going on as individuals but there is a a camaraderie among all of them people from different

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backgrounds, people of different colors, people who have so many different experiences, parents have different experiences and everybody there is everybody who was there is there to celebr celebrate education in Rivia and you have been one

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of the major leaders. I mean I'll go back to my old friend George Kella uh and everybody who followed him you everyone has said it's all about the kids >> and that's our that's our pride. There's no doubt and I look at all the past

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leaders that I've been uh able to meet in the city of Rivier and going back to you know Bob I didn't have the fortune of spending any time with George Kella uh but I I knew him but I didn't know him but I I had a chance to work and talk with you know from Hass on

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>> and uh all of those great mayors and I say all of them because every one of them had an impact not one not one mayor from and I I you can go back to Kala every one of them really prioritized our educational uh system and the foundations we had every one of them unequivocally. So those were easy

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footsteps for me to follow. And I appreciate them because it it made it, you know, obviously everything's funding, right? You can can you afford to do what you want to do. And if you prioritize where you want to put that money in and the resources, that's what that's what makes it difficult. But

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also, when everyone knows that we're going to we're going to support our educational system, we're going to support our public safety. Uh and and and we go we go we start with that. >> Yeah. and and that's really been a simple foundation and kind of the way that we've we've we've really led and I

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think that the residents have been okay with that. So, they've been good. Uh I don't have to fight >> too much. I think that's true. But I think it's because people apprec appreciate good leadership. They know that if we don't move on, well, we'll fall behind. You can can never stay the

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same. You have to keep improving or uh you're losing. And we don't want our children to be losing out. We don't want any of that to happen. Um, you know, I can remember Bobby Haz when I had to go to him. Uh,

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I used to babysit for Bobby Haz. So, and the has family. So, but people finally come to listen, we have to do what's best for our city. you came on board knowing that and um right from the

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beginning and I am very grateful to you for all the support you have given to our administrators. Um I maybe shouldn't say this so much but you do not interfere in the workings of the school committee. We have a very reliable

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school committee. You serve on it as one member and express your opinions beautifully. offer your help from the rest of the city uh of whatever department it might be that we need at the time. If we're flooded, if the high

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school is flooded and everybody comes, you are there all the time. And I hope you are proud of all of that that you have accomplished because >> uh I'll say in your old age, but you're [laughter] >> you're a long way from your old age, but

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you will have a legacy that you can look back on that will make you and your family and everybody in the city very proud. >> Thank you. and and I I feel very strongly about complimentary leadership where if you sit in a table with seven

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people, there should be seven people contributing to whatever the solutions to the problem might be. Uh and understanding everyone's roles and and background. So if I'm at a table talking about education, you're sitting at that table with me, your voice naturally should be louder and your your input

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should be stronger. So, and I'm going to I'm going to leave I'm going to let that happen because >> who am I when it comes to, you know, comparing notes with with Carol Thai or >> you're right up there. Don't worry about it because you are a quick learner.

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Well, I think we're running out of time a bit and um it's been actually I could go on another hour with you, but they are and they certainly know it, the people from the TV because I am a talker, but it's so wonderful to listen

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to your perspective. Uh I've seen you of course of the school committee and been very very proud of what you have done. I have been happy when I have been able to be part of it and even just as a private citizen now I am proud of the mayor that

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we have. I'm proud of what you have done. I thank you very much for caring so much for the school department uh and for every other department. I don't want to let that go either. When when somebody has a flooded basement, you're always there for that, too. So, those

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are important. And you're always there for my home neighborhood, Beachmont. And I I am assured that you are also there for the others. The beach months is uh particular has some particular problems and you never let them slide. You always

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come and deal with them as soon as you can. I remember one time when I said my neighbor's house my neighbor's cellar is flooding. Do you think you could? It was a Sunday too. Do you think you could do something about it? You came running out and there and uh it so happened it was

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the Haz family house. the place where the grandmother and grandfather came and made a life for themselves, you know, just just wonderful city and uh it's just always been a wonderful city. I'm so prejudiced.

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>> Well, I don't play favorites, but when you or Kathleen call, I run and I'll never not answer that call, but having me on today and kind of re uh revitalizing conversation with Mrs. Hi, I'm excited to be back and uh I hope to

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I hope you'll have me again. >> Okay, be my pleasure. Thank you so much. It would be so wonderful. >> Thank you so much, Cara. Thank you.