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O’Neill and Geomelos to meet in November
Mark O’Neill
Michael Geomelos
By Christopher Roberson
cinct 3 where he captured 137 votes. Geomelos’ top finish was in Precinct 1 where he garnered 104 votes. Going into the general election, Geomelos said his plan is to “redouble my efforts and work twice as hard.” Although he commended O’Neill on a job well done, Geomelos said the 106 votes separating them are not “terribly significant.” “More than 75 percent of Ward 6 voters did not participate,” he said. “Those are the voters I need to seek out; those are the voters I intend to win over.” Geomelos and O’Neill are both vying to fill the seat that has been occupied by outgoing Ward 6 City Councillor Barry Sinewitz for the past 10 years. According to City Clerk Timothy Spanos, the Ward 6 prima-
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s the votes for the Ward 6 City Council primary were counted, it became clear that candidate Mark O’Neill won overwhelmingly with 348 votes – 45 percent of the 765 ballots that were cast. “We are very pleased with the results. I was the last candidate to enter the race and we had a lot of ground to make up in a short amount of time,” said O’Neill. “We did well based on a lot of hard work and a dedicated group of supporters. We plan on continuing our doorto-door campaign to get our message directly to Ward 6.” O’Neill will meet Michael Geomelos in November, who finished with 242 votes. Margaret Tierney finished with 170 votes and will not be moving forward in this year’s election. O’Neill’s best showing in the Sept. 12 primary was in Pre-
ELECTION | SEE PAGE 11
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Friday, September 15, 2017
Mayor, city and state officials celebrate Peabody Square & Main Street renovations
Mayor Edward Bettencourt, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash, State Sen. Joan Lovely, State Rep. Thomas Walsh, as well as other state and city officials gathered on Sept. 7 to celebrate the completion of the Main Street Corridor Realignment and Peabody Square Reconfiguration projects.
By Christopher Roberson
W
ith the revitalization of Peabody Square and Main Street now in the rearview mirror, Mayor Edward Bettencourt has fulfilled the vision of his predecessor, former Mayor Michael Bonfanti. Bettencourt said those two areas left much to be desired when he took office in 2011. “People described downtown as little more than a cut-through to Route 128, Beverly and Marblehead,” he said during the
Sept. 7 dedication ceremony at the base of the city’s 40-foot Civil War monument. The tide began to turn when Peabody received a $1.8 million grant in 2013 from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program. Bettencourt said the Main Street Corridor Realignment Project was completed in 2015 and the Peabody Square Reconfiguration Project was finished earlier this year for a combined total of $6 million. The city’s downtown area now has improved
lighting, safer crosswalks, improved traffic flow and outdoor dining space for restaurants. City officials were also able to create a flood mitigation plan and lock in approximately $18 million in federal bonds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s my pleasure to thank all of you,” said Bettencourt. “I really believe we’re on the upswing.”
BETTENCOURT | SEE PAGE 12
Peabody Education Foundation receives $100k from Lyon-Waugh By Christopher Roberson
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s he has done in prior years, Warren Waugh, managing par tner of Lyon-Waugh Auto Group, reaffirmed his support once again this year for the Peabody Education Foundation (PEF) with a donation of $100,000 to help fund Best Bet, the foundation’s flagship program. “It’s perfect, this is unbelievable,” said PEF Executive Board Chairman David Gravel following the Sept. 11 donation ceremony. He said as many as 100 teachers apply for grants from
Shown from left to right are Mayor Edward Bettencourt, Warren Waugh, managing partner of Lyon-Waugh Auto Group, and David Gravel, chairman of the Peabody Education Foundation’s Executive Board, with a novelty-style check from Waugh to the foundation for $100,000. (Advocate photos by Christopher Roberson)
the foundation each year, usually totaling “$30,000$50,000.” “Without this money, they wouldn’t be able to do that,” Gravel said of the applicants. Waugh said it is always a pleasure to provide assistance to the foundation. “It’s an ongoing generosity on the part of the company,” he said. For his continued acts of philanthropy for the Peabody Public Schools, Waugh received the George Peabody Legacy Award in 2016. Since its inception in 1985,
FOUNDATION | SEE PAGE 2