By Mayor Carlo DeMaria
Clean neighborhoods, timely trash pickup, extrodinary snow removal, and addressing basic City needs are signs of a City Hall that cares about its residents. As you drive through the City of Everett, you will see newly paved roads with freshly poured concrete sidewalks, coupled with an abundance of newly planted trees. As Mayor, I take great pride in this City, its residents, and the services we provide.
The investments that have been made in our community have laid the foundation for Everett’s future. The complete overhaul of our parks and fields we have conducted over the past few years allows Everett’s children to have pride and feel safe in their community. Speaking of pride, I encourage you to drive down Broadway after sunset. The new LED streetlights brighten the entire area and show us many reasons why we all can be proud to live here.
We created our 311-Constituent Service Office because of how important it is for residents to be able to get the help they need. Residents can make one call to City Hall for all their needs – from potholes to tree trimming, sidewalk repair to street sign updates, as well as numerous requests for food deliveries, COVID-19 testing, and vaccination appointments stemming from the recent pandemic. Unlike other cities and towns, anyone dialing 311 in Everett will speak directly with a staff member, not an answering service. To ensure that we are as accessible as possible, we have contracted with Lionbridge to provide live-translation services in over 80 languages. These services made it possible for us to vaccinate over 10,000 Everett seniors and our most vulnerable residents using City resources to ensure comfort and convenience. It is these types of efforts to directly assist our residents that separates this Administration from others. The small things truly make a huge difference.
The next time you are walking, driving, or bicycling down one of our streets, I encourage you to take a minute and pause; look at the progress our City has made. Take a minute to see the makeover that our rotaries and islands have undergone. Stop by Wehrner Park and take in the beautiful landscape. Visit the beautiful Rivergreen Park waterfront that now has a brand new athletic field, tennis courts, playground, street hockey rink, a new kayak and canoe launch, as well as plans being developed for the implementation of fishing piers and a boathouse.
No City is perfect. We always need to keep working, to make more progress and be able to adapt our services as the needs of our residents change. If you look around our City, you will see very real examples of how my Administration has been able to provide all the basic services that our residents deserve while at the same time laying the foundation for our future. We have made important progress over the past few years along with lowering the tax rate. We need to keep up this momentum to keep improving the lives of all our residents. For as long as I am your Mayor, I will continue Everett’s progress and increase the pride that we all have for our City.
Carlo DeMaria is the Mayor of Everett.