From present to Costin and Marino, goals remain same

LYNN – Tucked in a drawer in City Hall are copies of inaugural addresses that are a perfect example of French journalist Alphonse Karr’s saying, “the more things change the more they stay the same.”In his 1976 speech, the late Antonio Marino called for unity, and 16 years before that, Mayor Thomas Costin made a similar plea for everyone, residents and officials, to work together, which is not unlike what Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy is looking for in her second term.Kennedy was sworn in Monday, along with city councilors and school committee members. She wrote her own speech, but much of what Marino and Costin wrote in theirs still resonates.According to Marino, the chief concerns among voters in 1976 were rising property taxes, economic development, unemployment, corruption and public safety. And not unlike today’s Lynn United for Change, Marino also called for the removal of “financial hardships on homeowners and tenants particularly during this time of high inflation and unemployment.”Costin set his table with similar issues, calling taxation of paramount importance.”Let not the taxpayer be the forgotten man,” Costin wrote.Both men also focused heavily on economic development. Costin peppered his speech with words like “modernization” and “revitalization,” the latter of which Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Executive Director James Cowdell still likes to use today.”Lynn’s future economic position depends primarily on two things,” Costin stated.He wrote that the city needed to improve its status as one of the principal retail trading centers in the eastern part of the state and “we must not only retain the industry we have now but we must retrieve some of the industry we have lost.”He called for bold and drastic actions to bring in development because “people want a modern, up-to-date mercantile district with shopping facilities inferior to none.”Marino focused on stimulating the renovation of old structures and building new homes. He also pledged to provide funding for a city planner and an industrial development director, two areas he thought had been neglected. And according to Cowdell he kept his promise.Cowdell said Marino formed what was essentially the EDIC the very next year in 1977 and hired Kevin Geaney as the city planner.Costin also spoke about hands being tied by an outdated City Charter, and Marino proposed forming a charter commission. It’s an idea that Kennedy would echo 36 years later but has yet to see take shape.In a speech made during the January 2012 inauguration of the city council, Kennedy challenged councilors to update the city’s charter and get rid of outdated ordinances and help forge a new future for the city. It’s a gauntlet that has yet to be picked up.And just as Kennedy spoke of purpose and unity, Costin and Marino spoke before her.”Our every effort should be to promote the economic and spiritual strengthening of life and our city to the end that it may be considered by everyone a modern and attractive place,” wrote Costin.”I propose that the mayor and city council work very closely together sharing their powers to act in a collective manner so as to more effectively cope with problems,” stated Marino 16 years later.And 38 years later, the beat still goes on.