Phelan pledges pay cut

LYNN – Crime prevention and attracting new businesses to the city dominated sharp exchanges between Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and City Council President Timothy Phelan during Monday?s Knights of Columbus debate.Kennedy drew applause from more than 200 audience members when she said she has worked to learn first-hand about the city?s gang problem, but Phelan said early childhood education and youth jobs are keys to long-term crime prevention.Kennedy said relations between her administration and the City Council have been mixed, citing work with Ward 5 Councilor Brendan Crighton to approve $4 million in city improvements. She said other councilors launched “an eleventh hour ploy” last December to delay council passage of that spending.?There have been a lot of times when certain members of the council want to thwart what I want to do,” she said.The pair made no reference to their clash this week over a council computer.Council-mayor communicationBut Phelan called communication between the mayor?s office and the council “a disgrace.” He said the council-created Disability Commission led to a 15-month wait for Kennedy to name members to the body.?I tell people the mayor hasn?t called me in two years,” he said.Kennedy won applause when she defended her efforts to get city chief assessor Peter Caron appointed chief financial officer. The council rejected that proposal during the summer and Phelan said Caron?s lack of a college degree was a factor in the rejection.?To deny someone because they don?t have a college degree is not good for the city of Lynn,” Kennedy said.Phelan said tax incentives passed by the council helped bring businesses like Rossetti?s restaurant to the city, but noted Lynn has lost longtime businesses like Lynn Lumber. He promised to unfold a plan called “Invest Lynn” aimed at, among other things, smartly investing money in the city?s quarter-billion dollar budget.He said mixing low-level loans to potential new businesses and encouraging local hiring makes sense.?Whatever we?re doing now is not working,” he said.He warned the audience that Union Hospital is gradually pushing its services outside the city and said the hospital could become a long-term psychiatric facility. It?s time, he said, for city officials to meet with top hospital executives.?It?s time to do something about it, not talk about,” he said.Kennedy called Phelan?s worries a rumor and said she is working to keep the hospital a stable presence in the city. Kennedy, under questioning by Phelan, said the most important issue facing the city is the Wyoma Square redevelopment.Sparring over GannonThe pair sparred over Gannon Municipal Golf Course?s future with Kennedy saying she wants to gauge the city?s lead development agency?s interest in being a partner in Gannon?s operation. That?s a bad idea, said her opponent.?The Economic Development and Industrial Corporation should be focusing on the waterfront instead of running a golf course,” he said.Kennedy said a potential casino at Suffolk Downs is great news for Lynn and said the city “is ripe for putting a hotel on the Lynnway.” But Phelan said the city should be much more proactive in landing future casino-related opportunities for the city.Phelan called for finding a new location for the Lynn shelter to help boost downtown?s economic revival. He also said Veterans Memorial Auditorium?s success dates back to former Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr.?s administration.But Kennedy said during her tenure the auditorium?s operation professionalized leading up to this year?s air conditioning installation.Kennedy said decisions by former city officials saddled current leaders with the shelter?s location.?Federal restrictions and the lease end next year,” countered Phelan.The two mayoral candidates agreed on one point: They share long family histories in the city. Phelan stressed family roots dating back two centuries and his local involvement, including crime watch participation.?Part of who we are and what we l