Board of Aldermen 03-08-2022 Page 31
say that | wrote down here is “wow”. She is quite impressive and her Dad was amazing by saying that he wasn’t going to
speak for her. | absolutely loved that, but | have to address the shameful behavior.
One of the things | noticed right off the fact was when Miss Saige was told her time was up, she didn’t finish her sentence.
She stopped speaking unlike many of the adults in this room. Chief Rourke did the same thing. He stopped talking
because he was being respectful. We talk about being respectful. Respect works both ways and | know my colleague
here beside me said he’s not worn down. | don’t feel like I’m worn down, but I’ve experienced it. I’ve experienced the
yelling, the screaming, and sometimes foul language. It doesn't wear you down, but it kind of says you want respect, you
have to give respect and | mean that from the bottom of my heart. | tell all my constituents | will do anything | can for you,
but you need to respect me. You need to treat me, you need to ask me questions, and not yell questions to me.
Now to the barriers. Comments were made about the Mayor’s letter being kind of deceitful. | didn’t read it. | can’t answer
to it, but if he did put what was said down there how is that any different than people on the horseshoe here or any other
elected officials that are putting out surveys, questions in a way that elicits the answers they want. I’ve asked that
question, what’s the difference? Why don’t we call them out? Just putting it out there on the table.
As far as replying to questions, e-mails - | reply to a lot of them. Each one | asked the same question didn’t matter what
side they were on - “have you seen the new proposal?” The majority of them on both sides said “no”. So my feeling is
that | appreciate everybody’s answers. | appreciated everybody's response. | appreciate every single person who has
come out here. | appreciate every e-mail and we’ve gotten probably close to 400 e-mails. | commend you for having read
every single one. We have gotten a lot which | referred to as “for me notes” that state | am so and so and you look at it
and we probably got 30 or 40 that are exactly the same. | suggest strongly to my constituents they write their own letters.
They write for what they mean and not because someone asked them to do it or because there is a survey. | think if we’re
going to attack these issues, we need to do it really from our own heart. I’m sorry I’m getting a little overheated here. |
think my radiation treatments are starting to get to me so.
| want to talk about the Ukraine issue. | think everybody here has said the same thing. It’s horrible what’s happening over
there. | am impressed when men and women are standing in front of tanks and saying they are not going to go any
further. I’m impressed with the President who’s not 57 feet underground and he’s standing there and he’s speaking to his
people. I’m impressed with the countries that have opened their borders and | hope we do the same thing here in this
country. I’ve spoken to people who have said they want to work to get home families that are willing to share. |
mentioned to Alderwoman Timmons that | suggested that they go to the Cultural Connection to see if maybe they can get
some support there and so on.
| wanted to also circle back to Miss Saige. You are an extraordinarily, impressive woman and | believe that Alderman
Thibeault said that you're probably smarter than he is. | can tell you that you are definitely smarter than | am by leaps and
bounds. | hope someday that you’re not sitting in this horseshoe, but | hope someday you are sitting in Washington, D.C.
in one of those seats. You may be too smart for that seat too, | don’t know.
But putting all of that aside, | also want to thank President Wilshire as well as Alderwoman Kelly for taking the time to
have a moment of silence for our dear friend. I’m going to try to get through this, so | apologize. I’ve been a State Rep.
for 6 years. Renny has been by my side for those 6 years. Last term | was the Chair. Two years in and | become a Chair
of a committee with a very contentious member. Renny taught me to remember the words that my mother said “you learn
more from the people who disagree with you, than people who agree with you”. | took that to heart and my mother used
to say it all the time and Renny used it all the time. He said if you talk to the people on the other side, and | did, | got more
respect from my committee on both sides of the aisle. They treated me with respect. They were kind and even the
person who was contentious at the beginning, he taught me a lot.
The day he died was the anniversary of the day that we had passed the revoking of the death penalty. Renny had been
fighting for that for 26+ years. He finally got it through. He died on that anniversary. After that vote, and it was an
emotional vote, | was walking down from the State House to the LOB. | was walking in the tunnel and at the top of the
stairs was Renny. | walked over to Renny and | said to him “you’re an amazing man”. He talked about how his father had
been murdered point blank shot. There is a book about it. He talked about a few years after that his brother-in-law shot
much in the same style and yet he still didn’t feel for the death penalty. He actually fought for kindness for the man who
had taken his father’s life. | was blown away and then | told them about my husband’s sister who was shot multiple times
- eighteen year old outside a Boston nursing college. He was at the time 7 years old and it turned his life upside down.
My husband, too, is against the death penalty even though this affected his life. | shared that story with Renny and | could
barely get the words out. He hugged me, and he told me, and he said another thing that will always stay with me “when
you work and talk with your heart and kindness you will find love all around you and that positive energy will bring you to
the best possible”. | hope we can all do that. Thank you.
