Kennedy touts enhanced public safety

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy told Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce members Friday morning that the city’s community policing program will return this summer.Kennedy, speaking at the chamber’s breakfast meeting on the deck at Gannon Municipal Golf Course, noted in her 18 months as mayor she has hired 18 additional police officers and stressed that public safety remains her top priority.”If people don’t feel safe ? then no matter what we do on improving the economic climate, then we’ve failed in our mission,” she said.The community police program “was a huge success” last summer, Kennedy said, and reported there will be foot patrols again this summer in the downtown, Commons and Highlands.The patrols will cover two shifts, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.”You should be seeing those police officers hitting the streets soon,” she said.In a wide-ranging address, Kennedy also said school resource officers will be restored by the middle of next school year and within a year air conditioning will be installed at Lynn Auditorium, allowing it to remain open throughout the year.Kennedy said the school resource officers, or SROs – four police officers assigned to the schools – should be in place by December or January, restoring positions lost to budget cuts several years ago.”The officers will be sharing school responsibilities, so the SRO going over to Marshall Middle School will be responsible for Lynn English High School; The SRO going to Lynn Tech will be responsible for Pickering; and the one assigned to Breed (Middle School) will be responsible for Lynn Classical,” Kennedy said. “This will allow them to get to know the kids over a period of six or seven years as they transition from middle school into high school, to catch when something is going amiss and intervene, hopefully at an early stage, to help that child from going down the wrong path.”Kennedy also noted the police department has two new cruisers and that all other cruisers are being painted back and white instead of the “non-descript blue.”Meanwhile, she said the Fire Department is in the final stage of hiring 18 additional firefighters, and a new ladder truck has been purchased to replace the 16-year-old and often broken down Ladder 2. The new ladders should be in service next month, she said.Lastly on public safety, Kennedy commented, “I’ve received the 2010 report on crime and I’m happy to report most of the major categories of crimes – rapes and robberies – are all down pretty substantially, due in large part to preventative measures police have been using.”Information TechnologyKennedy said installation of a new fiber optic loop to connect schools and municipal buildings is now in place and that her office is undertaking a telephone audit to eliminate phone lines that are no longer needed. She said the city has been paying for many lines, citing examples as the former Lynn Convalescent Home and the former O’Keefe School, that were never discontinued.”When the phone audit is done it should result in savings of tens of thousands of dollars,” she said.The mayor also touted continuing improvements to the city website. She said not only is the city budget online, but as of this month, proposed city and school budgets are also posted, allowing the public to examine the proposals.”We want to be as transparent as possible,” she said.She also noted the final preparations are being made for LynnCam to begin covering and taping Lynn School Committee meetings.Capital ImprovementsKennedy touted improvements that are either planned or under way at various city properties, including new steps leading up to High Rock Tower funded with a $740,000 grant; new splash pad, fountain, gazebo and tennis court at Flax Pond funded with a $700,000 grant; the elimination of non-indigenous invasive weeds at Sluice Pond, $11,500 funded jointly by her office and the Community Development Department; and a bus drop off and parking area at Fraser Field, where the team trailers and of