Graham, Donna
I a
From: Laurie Ortolano Qa
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2022 9:02 AM
To: Board of Aldermen
Cec: Graham, Donna; Cummings, Tim; Sullivan, Matthew; Rourke, Kevin (Police); Buxton,
Steve
Subject: Alderman Thibeault’s comments at the Task Force Meeting
CAUTION: This email came from outside of the organization. Do not click links/open attachments if source is
unknown.
Ms. Graham - Please place this email in the next BOA packet.
Good Morning Honorable Board Members;
I listened to the Task Force barrier meeting on Wednesday evening March 23, 2022. Mr.
Thibeault comes across uninformed, prejudicial, and curt. One wonders why he chose
public service. He is not my Alderman and therefore I will not be addressing him
personally.
His comments regarding safety were beyond ignorant. Comparing Main St to Amherst
St. and DW Highway is misguided and misapprehended. The location of the hospital is
an important factor here. Also DW Highway and Amherst St have pulled over space to
open a lane during traffic when emergency vehicles must pass. With the barriers up on
Main Street, there are stretches that there is no place for cars to move over.
What is astonishing to me is that Mr. Thieault has no understanding of risk assessments.
These are important studies performed when personal and public safety are being
questioned. I don't believe the City has been willing to perform a risk assessment and it
should have.
Additionally, lumping people opposed to masks as the one who appear to be opposed to
barriers is simply ludicrous and lacks logic. This is a prejudicial, broad brush statement
that shouldn't be expressed by an elected official in a public meeting. While this does
provide us a view of the officials thought process, the statement is ill conceived,
unintelligible, and offensive.
I supported wearing masks; I don't support downtown barriers. Mr. Thibeault has stated
that his Ward largely consists of Senior Citizens. My general observation is that Seniors
were concerned about covid safety and complied with mask wearing. I see no evidence
or parallel that all senior citizens want barriers.
This is an apples and oranges comparison and more importantly, destructive because it
allows Mr. Thibeault to cast aside the views of people and undervalue their public
comment because Mr. Thibeault inextricably links masks and barriers.
