Around Town
Ka-BAM-ba
By Lorenzo Recupero
Everett’s Broadway Boxing has a ring full of heavy hitters. Sitting somewhere around the top of the list: Gilbert Kabamba, the 2024 New England Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion.
Kabamba, a native of Congo and 2019 Everett High School grad, has been training and boxing out of the Everett boxing club under the tutelage of longtime Broadway Boxing trainers Joe Ricciardi and Dennis Willcox since 2021, working his way to a 18-2 amateur record, including stops at the Colorado Nationals and Olympic Trials.
In May, Gilbert will travel to Detroit for a 5-day Tournament of Champions slate that will pin him against other Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champions from across the nation.
For Gilbert, it’s his chance to avenge the only losses to his amateur record. Both defeats were decided by one point.
“I made it [to Olympic Trials] to lose by one point. I’ve battled with that in my mind so my goal is to knockout everyone standing in my way next and not leave it up to the judges anymore,” said Kabamba, who also won the New England Golden Gloves title in 2022.Continue Reading
Encore casino in major league month; hits over $70 million
By Josh Resnek
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission March revenue report for March revealed that Encore casino did more than $70 million dollars for the month.
That is the largest monthly revenue total for the Everett casino since opening in 2019, and dwarfs MGM Springfield and the Plainfield Park Casino.
Encore Boston Harbor casino brought in $70,417,586. If that total is annualized, that’s a cool $840 million a year.
Encore casino had been tallying $62-$67 million months.
The $70 million month is not a plateau.
Encore’s numbers are steadily rising as Wynn Resorts has come to understand the clientele, the geography, and what makes the casino tick in this marketplace.
The time is not too far away from the Boston Harbor Casino and Hotel likely grossing $1 billion a year in Everett.
In fact, the casino itself will be grossing $1 billion in or within another two years if past growth trajectories extend into the future.Continue Reading
Follow renowned local authors Arnie Jarmak and Josh Resnek as they recount life in Chelsea, Ma in the ’70s & ’80s
Rugged takes the reader on a tour of Chelsea through a first person narrative that details the truth about the city and the trials and tribulations of its people and their leaders. Rugged captures the city’s true essence in all its gritty glory and tragic history with Jarmak’s photographs cleverly woven into the sublime narrative. Volume 2 of this multi-volume series is a continuation of Jarmak and Resnek unveiling the hardscrabble city they encountered and loved when they were much younger men with their lives spread before them like an endless dream.
Click the photo above to purchase your copy of Rugged today!
City Council rejects $11.4 M new roof for old high school
By Josh Resnek
An $11.4M appropriation sought by the mayor from the city council to place a new roof on the old high school on Broadway failed by a 6-5 vote Monday night at city hall.
The vote was taken at 9:35p.m. following almost two hours of sometimes heated debate and angry exchanges with Mayor Carlo Demaria.
An earlier vote to postpone the mayor’s request for another two weeks failed by an 8-3 vote.
That led to the ultimate vote rejecting the roof measure.
Council President Robert Van Campen, and Councilor’s Stephanie Smith, Katie Rogers, Guerline Alcy Joboin, Peter Pietrantonio, Michael Marchese voted against the measure, sending the mayor back to the drawing board.
Van Campen questioned the mayor’s objective.
Rogers said she could not vote for the new roof unless the overcrowding issue was dealt with.Continue Reading
Opinion
Rejection of mayor’s new roof plan for old high school signals major moment
By Josh Resnek
The city council’s ire against the mayor’s plan for a new roof became more an effort about solving the overcrowding issue in the public schools than allowing the administration’s business as usual stance to move forward about a new roof for an old building.
The council’s rejection of the mayor’s motion for the $11.4 M new roof to save four operations going on inside the former 400,000 square foot 1922 building was not so much
aimed at the mayor as it was intended to be coupled with a commitment from the mayor to use the second floor of the former high school for classroom space.
It was a commitment the mayor declined to make Monday night, insisting he needed to talk to Superintendent of Schools William Hart before he could act.
The mayor insisted he could do nothing unless Hart was in favor it.
The city council charted its own course Monday night – that is– at least 6 members were adamantly opposed to moving forward with the new roof unless the former school property was to be used for classroom space to reduce overcrowding.Continue Reading
EHS Artists Showcase Work at the State House
‘Envision’ Exhibit Launched on Monday, April 8th
A group of talented Everett High School (EHS) artists were featured at a special exhibition inside the Massachusetts State House. Called “Envision,” the exhibition showcased a wide range of mediums and artistic visions.
Thanks to State Senator Sal DiDomenico for extending the invitation to our students, and to art teachers Briana Pierce and Josephine Dougan for coordinating the effort at EHS.
The works on display ranged from ethereal spirit animal paintings to observational still-life paintings, landscapes, crochet tapestry, imaginative paintings, three-dimensional sculptures, and hand-stitched embroidery.Continue Reading
Around the city. . .
Being Senator DiDomenico
Does it get any better than being the number 2 man in charge of the Massachusetts State Senate for Senator Sal DiDomenico?
No. It doesn’t really get any better than that unless he becomes the State Senate President – and what a day that will be for DiDomenico.
That day is coming.
DiDomenico’s transparent and completely above the board support for the professional soccer stadium to locate in Everett is right now the capstone of his leadership effort for this community.
There is not another city in Massachusetts right now looking at the potential of a $500 million major league soccer stadium with all the fixings but Everett.
To miss out on an opportunity like this would be criminal, quite frankly.
As we said last week, everyone has a right to express how they feel about such a project coming to Everett. Environmentalists can tell us they are opposed because a water based business on the waterfront would conform with zoning. Well, that’s environmental insanity.Continue Reading
— Eye on Everett —
I know a woman for the past 25 years who has become a great friend.
Eleven years ago, I was seated in her kitchen speaking with her when she received a call from her doctor at the Mass General.
She had recently taken a full round of blood tests, and an MRI as part of full physical. She was 56 at the time, and in good health.
As she talked to her doctor she seemed to recoil just a bit and then asked her doctor: “Are you sure?”
So what’s up?” I asked her after she got off the phone.
“I have ovarian cancer,” she said.
A long moment of silence generated a great deal of uncertainty and some fear.
“I have to go in next week and be further examined. Then the doctor said he’d determine a course of action,” she added.
One moment we were talking as though nothing in the world mattered very much.
A moment later, after a phone call from her doctor, she had become inextricably involved in a fight against cancer, indeed, in a fight for her life.
My friend was a stewardess for many years and then became a teacher. She speaks four languages. She’s very bright, very attractive, and for her, life was all about travel and adventure…until that call eleven years ago.
At the time she was married but about to be divorced, the mother of a young daughter who had just entered high school.
Her daughter was my daughter’s best friend.Continue Reading
Big celebrity doings on the red carpet at Encore Boston Harbor last week
Leader Herald Staff
The grand opening of Seamark Seafood & Cocktails and Old Wives Tale took place in Everett at the casino last weekend.It was quite a kick off bash done Encore style!
Supermodel and actress Emily Ratajkowski headlined a number of celebrities and VIPs who attended the opening to mark the arrival of the new restaurant and speakeasy put together by the acclaimed international chef Michale Schlow.
All kinds of celebs made this a showstopper, including Patriots great and three-time Super Bowl winner Ty Law, former Bruins greats Ken Hodge and Bruce Crowder and Revolution soccer star Brandon Bye.
In addition, Melissa Gorga, the Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her husband Joe Gorga added panache to the event.
Melissa went behind the bar and poured a few drinks for the crowd to everyone’s delight.
Noted members of the vibrant Boston culinary scene also turned out.Continue Reading
Music, On a Grand Scale
String Concerts Set for April 30 and May 2
Everett Public Schools (EPS) music educators and their students are tuning up for the district’s annual String Night performances, a two-night extravaganza featuring more than 470 musicians in grades K-12.
This year’s show is called “Heroes and Villains: An Adventure Around the Globe.” Students in grades K-3 will take the stage on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, while 4-12 graders will perform on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Both shows begin at 6 p.m. in the Everett High School Center for the Performing Arts.
“Our music program is thriving at all levels, and these concerts illustrate that fact in a manner that brings great joy to our students, families, and community,” said Superintendent William Hart.Continue Reading
Kraft soccer stadium debate heightens interest in project
By Josh Resnek
Recent public efforts to expand the debate about whether or not the Kraft Family should be allowed to place a professional soccer stadium in Everett by the shore of the Mystic River has not produced the type of widespread, angry, negative response necessary to derail this proposed project.
A public meeting sponsored by the legislature last week failed to produce a blow out against the project, although a number of speakers, including residents and experts seemingly opposed to the project, complained vociferously that traffic among other issues needed to be scrutinized carefully before allowing the professional soccer stadium to be built.Continue Reading
Letter to the Editor
What about the rest of Everett?
Letter to Editor:
We’re having huge debates about the Commercial Triangle and Lower Broadway, as if the rest of the city doesn’t exist.
Well, some people are aware that it does and they care about it. There are quiet heroes (“guys” meaning both men and women) who are out and about in the whole city making the lives of us ordinary citizens a little better. They’re doing the job they’re getting paid for.
Thank you.
Some of them we see, like the guys who empty the city’s trash barrels. Some of them we may not even notice. Lead pipe replacement gets done every construction season. I have a document from the city showing the addresses where work was done in past years, yet we don’t even seem to notice those workers making our drinking water safer.Hi guys!
A couple of years ago, I had a problem with my landlord not being responsive to what seemed to be an infestation of fungus gnats. I didn’t have to wait weeks or even days for ISD to come out and check it out.Continue Reading
Editorials
Housing and paying for immigrants
Many immigrants come to the United States and especially to Massachusetts because the state provides generously to the have nots in our society.
There are reasons so many millions want to come here – and not all the reasons are to find work and to climb up the ladder.
Many come here to suck off the system, to be taken care of, to avoid working at all costs because receiving subsidies is better than working.
That is the thinking of many other immigrants who came here to find jobs, to struggle to move up, to gain economic independence, to educate themselves and to make better lives for their children.
Many of those former immigrants, now residents, claim the nation and the state have made it so easy to survive that many recent immigrants coming here do so understanding they just need to get on the social welfare and subsidy lists and that they are all set.
We believe there is something more than a vague complaint about the social welfare system than the tendency for many to take the support and to let others work, ie, to be taken care of by the system.Continue Reading
Enhancing a better look
Millions of dollars of road and sidewalk enhancements intended to speed traffic flow and to give the city a more modern look have done just that, to our way of thinking.
A great deal more of the planned improvements still need to be finished off, and this will take some time because of the grand scope of the work being completed.
If we look at Glendale Square and its environs as an example of the positive enhancements being made, the improvements are striking.
The new sidewalks, expanded and curved in some places, with areas for plantings contained within granite islands and with new granite borders looking crisp, clean and strong… well…Glendale Square when the job is completed, will look as good as it has ever looked in its long history.
The same can be said for the brick, granite and cement roundabout at the corner of Chelsea and Ferry Streets.
The roundabout has removed the need for traffic lights.Continue Reading
Please help out Antonio Amayo
Antonio needs help after doing a lifetime of good for others
Special to the Leader Herald
Some of you know may already know that our dear friend and colleague Antonio Amaya and his family received, a few months ago, the unfortunate news that he has been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of Stage 4 cancer.
Since the diagnosis he has been admitted to the hospital several times for 3 extremely delicate surgeries and to undergo lifesaving chemotherapy and other treatments and is facing a long road to fight the most important battle of his life. The fight has not been easy: the chemo is rough, the pain of the cancer has caused physical suffering, and the emotional toll and tears have been devastating on his wife Sugelin and 2 children Mateo and Iliana. Despite this, Antonio’s resilience has continued to shine through his battle, but the financial strain on his family has been immense.
We urge our readers, and many of you who know Antonio and of La Comunidad, to consider making a contribution to the GO FUND ME page (link above) which has been set up in his behalf to give him the ability to do what must be done to fight the cancer that is afflicting him.
HTTPS://GOFUND.ME/B41AF374
Get out your plastic cards, go to the site and make a contribution.
He has given to the struggling people of Everett all his adult life.
Now it is time to give back, and to say, thank you.
Antonio has selflessly dedicated endless hours to the community as the leader of La Comunidad Inc. one of the leading Latino immigrant rights organizations in Everett, Massachusetts. He has touched so many of our lives and made such a positive impact. Now it’s our turn to show our love and support to help his family through this very difficult, stressful, and frankly heart-wrenching time. Any donation is appreciated and please keep Antonio and his family in your prayers.Continue Reading
More from Eclipse Day
Whittier School students, who viewed the solar eclipse following dismissal on Monday, April 8, 2024. The students, who used special sunglasses to view the eclipse, made observations and discussed what they witnessed.
