A quick note to our readers: JCI‘s offices will be closed on Monday, May 28, for Memorial Day. We will resume publishing on Tuesday, May 29.

In the meantime, enjoy your holiday, Jersey City! Check out This Weekend’s Best Bets for arts and entertainment events.

According to a recent update on their official Facebook page, Torico’s Premium Homemade Ice Cream Parlor will reopen on June 1.

The popular ice cream parlor, located at 20 Erie St., has been closed for renovations since October 2010. Since then, Torico’s fans have been posting to their Facebook page almost every month, wondering when the eatery would reopen.

Today, Torico’s announced that the reopening will be Friday, June 1, from 11 am to 11 pm.

If you thought you knew everything about Jersey City artist Robert Piersanti’s work, you’ll be in for a surprise when his new solo exhibit, “Model Citizen,” opens at LITM on June 5.

Piersanti is best known as the painter behind modern pinups that and reference rock ‘n’ roll and pop culture. These works are drawn from photos of local women who model for Piersanti. He then uses black acrylic to transfer the designs onto canvases and adds colors with flat brushes to create a trademark printed look.

While Piersanti’s work has been popular with local crowds, he says he has frequently been challenged by fans and critics. “A lot of people would ask me, ‘How come you never paint guys?’” says the artist.

“For this show, I thought I would do a little series of additional portraits showing male people from the community. Naturally, the males are not pin-ups, but they’re portraits in my style of painting,” he says, adding that “Model Citizen” will also include his classic female portraits.

For his male paintings, Piersanti also turned to locals for inspiration.

“I go through my archives of photos that I usually use for reference in my paintings and a lot of the images are from people who attend art openings, just candid shots taken at local events…(there are) a lot of interesting characters around our community, so (the men) provide for good subject matter also” he says, adding that response has been positive. “I’ve been floating some of the images out on Facebook and everybody seems excited to see another side of my work.”

“I still find women most interesting, though,” he adds. “They come down, do a couple outfit changes and we have conversation on a great level. I spend a couple hours with them, which helps inspire the backgrounds and secondary subject matter of the pieces…I like to use old pop-culture references as a secondary subject matter.”

The exhibit will also feature his rarely-seen figure drawings from live drawing sessions at PVS Gallery in Hoboken and Jersey City Art School.

“The life drawings have a different flavor than my paintings,” he says. “It continues to be a challenge to work from life…(the sessions help me) keep developing my drawing skills.”

He described his upcoming show as a “tribute” to Jersey City and its people.

“It’s a ‘Thank you’ to all local people who show up in my paintings…I’ve really concentrated on using local people as subjects and now that I’ve built up a big body of work, I can approach new galleries with new confidence.” he says, adding that he hopes to get out of his Hudson County comfort zone in the coming year and promote his work in New York City and perhaps even the West Coast.

“It’s been a prolific five years for me in Jersey City and I feel confident that I can move on and approach galleries in different locations,” he says.

“Model Citizen” opens at LITM, located at 140 Newark Ave., on June 5 with a reception at 7 pm. For more information, visit PiersantiStudios.com.

The other day I was at a playground watching my friend’s son gather a swat team of boys while he shared his collection of toy guns and rifles. The team was assembled; the boys hashed-out the game rules and began their dramatic enactment of a siege or coup that I didn’t bother to understand.

What sparked my interest was when a dad of two involved boys came over with fire in his eyes. He firmly scolded the boys for touching the toy guns and demanded they put them down and leave the game. Not so surprising — I’ve seen that before in the playgrounds of Jersey City; we’re a pretty liberal, peace-loving group of progressive parents for the most part. Yet, what was noteworthy to me was seeing those boys’ heads hang so low with disappointment they nearly scraped their chins on the wood chips. “Oh, you don’t allow them to play with guns?” I asked, stating the obvious. He tersely shook his head with an emphatic and silent “No.” And within that tacit response I felt a wave of judgment roll its way toward me for my assumed involvement.

“Does this happen to you a lot?” I asked the ring-leader’s dad once the coast was clear.

“In fact, it does,” he sighed. “Mostly in New York and Jersey City playgrounds where parents are more liberal-leaning politically, I get some push-back when we bring our arsenal to the park,” he explained. What does politics have to do with it, I wondered. Can you be “politically correct” and let your child play with toy guns? Does anyone even strive to be “politically correct” anymore? How do OUR political and social leanings filter through to child’s play?

For these answers I went directly to the best source: parents themselves. Using my coterie of parental comrades via the Jersey City Family Initiative, I polled parents of boys, asking what their feelings were on gun play.

What I heard was a very similar refrain, essentially paraphrased by: “We were opposed at first, then realized there was little we could do to stop it.” In case after case, it appeared that most little boys shared what one mom called the “gun gene” whereby any protruding object could be transformed into a weapon of sorts. For example, a bitten sandwich, a hand, a stick, a pretzel, even a 3-D peace sign could make an acceptable makeshift rifle.

One mom who has worked in the school system for years said conclusively, “My experience is this: if a young male child can make a gun, he will.” She went on to use her students as an example, “In my high school art studio I have to hide the staple guns -– guess why? A student will literally walk up to the basket where they are stored, pick it up and immediately hold it like a gun in the air and shoot.”

Another mom pointed out that though swords and light sabers are more socially acceptable than guns, they actually do more physical harm as kids tend to hit each other with them. But swords alone did not satisfy her son. She added that he “would shoot with his fingers if he had nothing else. I found that as soon as I gave him a toy gun his interest in guns and shooting decreased dramatically.”

This comment made me wonder about the two brothers who had to stop their game in mid-delight. Will that act (and many before and after) unwittingly create a lust for the forbidden – and how might that father respond to such a notion? You could say that he was justified in being annoyed; perhaps public spaces are not the place for such activities. One parent offered that she never brought guns to the playground for just that reason “they were meant for home use.” Good idea, but the dad in this story says that organized team gun play is his son’s absolute favorite recreational pastime. “And I would rather have him running around creating survival strategies than playing a video game,” he reasoned. “Guns were demystified in my house. I know for a fact that I would have obsessed over them had they been forbidden.”

Regarding “gun deprivation,” one mom of a now-adult child reported that she and her son’s extended family were all adamantly against gun play. “He would make his own guns out of whatever he had on hand, but we all discouraged it,” she explained. “This same boy just finished his first year at West Point and we are all scratching our heads trying to figure out how this happened.”

A psychologist mom in the group weighed-in with some more philosophical points. “There may very well be an instinct (whether hormonal or early evolutionary-survival) to be able to hunt and be the defender/protector/aggressor. Alternatively, it may be a way to defend against feelings of vulnerability, especially given the messages in our culture about wars and fighting. So it seems that gun play may be linked to competition and aggression in a very deep-seated and complex way.”

She continues, “Otherwise, I think it is harmless, or may even serve some purpose for the child, especially if the gun play is folded into a story line rather than used with no context, if it is just one of many forms of play, and if the investment in gun play is mild to moderate.”

So there’s a vote for moderation with a possible anthropological explanation. But does that appease a parent who considers banning gun play just part of an enlightened behavioral lifestyle? It’s kind of like saying, “We compost, we recycle, we are civil libertarians, we don’t support war –- and as a result, we don’t approve of gun play.”

I think what’s interesting to note is that nature vs. nurture creates an inner parental conflict sometimes. It reminds me of when artist Art Spiegelman and his wife gave their daughter trucks and trains to play with, so as not to foster sexist forms of assumed gender play. They threw their arms up in exasperation when they noticed she had wrapped a fire engine up in a blankie and was giving it a bottle.

There are many parents who have had to grapple with their own leanings in order to yield to their child’s needs and forms of expression. “When my firstborn was a toddler,” one mom recalls, “I used to be super judgmental of the older boys on the playground whose parents let them play guns or weapons, thinking the parents just weren’t ‘progressive.’ Yeah, I was that parent.”

And though she observes that there is a lot of social pressure to discourage gun play now, she too concedes that, “Male children just have the need to shoot stuff out of oblong objects.”

I think it’s understood and widely accepted that there is no evidence that links toy gun play to homicidal behavior, or that it leads down a slippery slope to shooting spree rampages. I’ll let this dad offer his seemingly accurate observation, “Shooting guns is satisfying for many. Boys like toy guns beyond belief; perhaps it satisfies some primal urge for noise and action. When I was young, the more real the gun, the better it was. Many people who played with guns managed to avoid being mass murderers.”

I think most rational parents understand that playing cops and robbers with toy pistols does not lead to nefarious and anti-social adult behaviors, yet there is a sense that the parents polled have all learned something from their children: We are wired in a particular way that defies logic and up-bringing, including all the good intentions you may have for us.

While there are many nuances in the gun play arena (“Nerf only — not assault rifles,” “Okay to get as gift — not okay to buy,” “Don’t shoot at someone not in the game,” “Home-only — not public play,” etc.,) ultimately the choice is highly personal and I’m not sure we can apply a “right or wrong” edict to this example. If your child is a reflection of you and you’re a dyed-in-the-wool pacifist, you may dismiss the “gun gene” theory and instill a kinder, gentler type of play despite your son’s protestations. The examples presented here offer wisdom that comes from the older parent, perhaps saving you the trouble of finding out for yourself, or giving you further inspiration to stick to your guns on this topic.

Fire Director Armando Roman is blasting the school district for sending students into Ferris High School under “dangerous conditions” Monday during a planned half-day session it arranged after a boiler room water pipe burst. The damage from the pipe caused water to seep into the electric paneling, blacking out the Colgate Street complex and leaving students largely in the dark.

Further, Roman said two fire department employees who conferred with district officials upon visiting the site Monday adamantly denied claims, from board president Suzanne Mack and district facilities director Kevin O’Reilly, that they deemed the building usable under prevailing conditions.

In fact, interim superintendent Franklin Walker, during a report at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, said conditions were deemed severe enough to cancel classes Tuesday and Wednesday. Keeping the school open Monday, while closing on the two other days, enabled the district to maintain the school’s state-mandated minimum 180-day schedule.

“There were a number of problems and it was a very difficult situation for the staff to deal with,” said Walker, commending district personnel for their efforts.

Walker said the decision to open the one day was his call based on the best available information he received then, after conferring with various district officials.

The school reopened Thursday after repairs were enacted costing “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” based on an insurance estimate, said Mack. She attributed the cause of the rupture to “the age” of the pipe.

Yet the district directed the school to open for instruction at a time when none of the classrooms had lighting and when there was only scattered emergency lighting in the hallways, Roman said.

According to the initial JCI report, students were first sent to the auditorium, which had lighting, before being led into classrooms that were only illuminated by the dank natural daylight available that rainy and overcast morning.

“No one in my department has indicated to me that we went there and OK’d it, though I am aware some from the district have made statements indicating that,” said Roman. “There’s no way I could have supported holding classes under such hazardous conditions.”

Roman added that it is his understanding that the city’s fire code enforcement officer and another fire inspector arrived at the site around 12:30 p.m., some four hours after students were let into the building. A source in the building initially alerted JCI of the situation around 8:30 a.m. via cellphone, and anxious students could be heard inside. Mack placed the time of the fire department meeting, involving O’Reilly, at about 10:30 a.m. Yet in either scenario, approximately 1,500 students were admitted into the facility before any meeting with fire officials took place. Students were dismissed at 12:45 p.m.

Roman said that, in his opinion, conditions were chaotic enough to cause student agitation to the point where it could have complicated an emergency evacuation/response if necessary.

“I’m not sure what type of learning could have been accomplished in that environment,” Roman said. “The classrooms had no lights. The emergency exit lights were out, though there was dim emergency lighting in some bulbs scattered throughout the hallways.”

“I just don’t understand how anyone could have concluded that would be a safe environment for the students to be in,” Roman said.

Mack said she was first contacted, as president and under district emergency protocol, Sunday by deputy superintendent Flavio Rubano and stayed on top of the situation throughout the crisis. She added that Rubano and other district personnel began an immediate on-scene assessment.

“The final decision to open the school Monday was strictly superintendent Walker’s call,” said Mack, who promised to have the board follow up on the incident and review procedures employed. “He would not make that call if he thought he was putting the students or staff in danger.”

Despite Roman’s denials, Mack insisted, “Our director of facilities (O’Reilly) told me the fire inspectors who arrived on scene agreed the students were not in danger.”

Walker could not be reached for further comment by deadline. Yet Ferris teacher Hector Gonzalez, a shop steward for the Jersey City Education Association who is running for the union presidency next month, agreed with the fire director. Gonzalez told Walker and school board members Tuesday the doors should never have opened.

“You put the kids safety in danger,” Gonzalez alleged, citing a chaotic state of affairs in the building from the start of the day. “It was one of the most devastating things I’ve ever been a part of, and I’ve seen some bad things.”

“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” the teacher told board members, who made no effort to rebut the comments. “Every single one of you.”

During Tuesday’s board meeting, trustees and two representatives of AFSCME Local 2262, president Bill Murawski and executive board member John L. Conte, cited the dedication of Ferris nighttime maintenance worker Wayman Davis for his speedy actions in greatly reducing the damage caused by the crisis. They presented a citation to Davis’ wife, Dolly (Davis was on duty at the time of the presentation).

“At 12 o’clock (midnight) on Sunday morning my husband received a call asking him to go down to Ferris,” Dolly Davis recalled.

They noted that Davis, in bed around midnight early Sunday morning, raced from his house to shut off the gushing water – which had risen to about three feet by the time he arrived.

Murawski said of Davis, “He was one of the employees who put himself in harm’s way to make sure that water valve was shut off so it didn’t do more damage to the school.”

For full listings, check out the Cultural Calendar.

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TODAY

Jersey City opens its outdoor pools and turns on park sprinklers in time for Memorial Day weekend.

New exhibit “Got Power?” at The Liberty Science Center explores energy and power.

Sirelo Entertainment takes over Creative Grove with DJ Purple Stuff, a community drum circle, tap dancing and more (3 pm).

The Winard Harper Septet plays at Moore’s Lounge (6 pm).

JC Slam presents Nerd Slam with poems inspired by video games, cartoons, comic books and more.

TOMORROW:

New exhibit “In The Dark” at The Liberty Science Center explores cool, dark and mysterious ecosystems. Also opening are weekend exhibits “Bubbling Lamp,” which explores glowing objects, and “Instant Glow,” which explores how animals navigate at night and how chemical luminescence works.

The Queen of Hearts boat will host a fund raiser for the Puerto Rican Parade (7:30 pm, $20).

SUNDAY

The 34th annual Santacruzan Mass, procession and street fair will celebrate Filipino and Catholic culture (10 am).

Woolpunk Studios, which is celebrating its first anniversary soon, will host a Memorial Weekend Brunch with the Underground Supper Club (11 am, $25).

Grassroots Community Space hosts performance/jam hybrid EXCHANGE (4 pm class, $15; 5 pm show, $5).

MONDAY/MEMORIAL DAY

The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery honors heroes with a military and musical tribute (1 pm).

Newly-opened Italian restaurant VB3 in Newport offers up some good eats for National Burger Day.

The Liberty Science Center, located at 251 Philip St. in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, is hosting new exhibits, activities and events for the summer.

Their new “Got Power?” exhibit opens today just in time for Memorial Day weekend. In the exhibition, suitable for kids ages 8 and up, the whole family can learn about recent advances in solar and wind energy technologies that make it even easier to create power at home. They can also learn more about energy conservation, test their own energy use profile and jump on an exercise machine to create your own power — perhaps even enough to set off a celebratory LED fireworks display.

Tomorrow, another new exhibit, “In the Dark,” will let families explore cool, dark and mysterious ecosystems like caves, forests, the ocean floor and their own backyard at night. Kids can learn more about nocturnal animals and shade-loving plants and journey to the deepest part of the ocean to see fish that use glowing lures to hunt and to the treetops with insects that advertise their fitness with light. The exhibit, which is suitable for kids older than 3, includes hands-on activities and dioramas. “In the Dark” is a traveling exhibit organized by Cincinnati Museum Center and is open through September 3.

Also starting tomorrow are weekend exhibits “Bubbling Lamp,” which explores glowing objects, and “Instant Glow,” which explores how animals navigate at night and how chemical luminescence works. Both are for kids ages 7 and up and run from 11 am to 3 pm through September 2.

All aforementioned exhibits are free with paid admission or membership. For more information, visit LSC.org.

Jersey City Observes Memorial Day: Jersey City will suspend alternate-side and metered parking and close City Hall for Memorial Day on Monday. There will be regular pickup for garbage and recycling.

New Company Provides ‘Moms’ Choice’: A Jersey City resident has opened an in-home service provider that places child, adult, and senior caregivers with a launch party in Greenville.

Crowd Favorite at Everything Jersey City Festival Opens Park in Secaucus: Guests who enjoyed the baby Tyrannosaurus rex at the festival on Central Avenue can visit the entire Field Station: Dinosaurs educational theme park in Secaucus.

Crime Blotter: Police say a Jersey City man was walking toward his Wegman Parkway home early when he was pistol-whipped and robbed by a group of men. Also, Bayonne police say a Jersey City man brandished a knife at a Bayonne park.

In Statewide News:

Mayor and Son Face Federal Charges of Hacking Opposition Website: West New York Mayor Felix Roque and his son were charged with hacking a website that aimed to recall Roque.

NJ to Implement Sports Betting, Defying Federal Ban: Gov. Chris Christie said the state will defy a federal ban and let people bet on the outcomes of various sports.

Report Critical of How NJ Oversees Charter Schools: In response to a report criticizing the state’s oversight of charter schools, the state noted its recent moves to close schools like Jersey City’s Schomburg Charter School and place others, like Liberty Academy Charter School, on probation.

Assembly Votes to Increase Minimum Wage to $8.50: After two hours of debate, the state Assembly voted to increase the minimum wage. The bill is still pending in the state Senate. If it goes through and then wins Christie’s signature, the law would take effect on July 1.

Former Police Chief Robert Troy writes in regard to a lawsuit brought by the widow of a slain police detective who claims the city is hiding the details of her husband’s death

To the Editor:

I can`t imagine being Chief of the Jersey City Police Department and holding back any information from the wife of an officer killed on duty.

Clearly, Chief Comey had his priorities in order, worrying about himself being sued, according to Mrs DiNardo`s attorney. Holding back information only victimizes the DiNardo family again and again.

Now that the federal Judge has dismissed the case against Chief Tom Comey, I would hope that Mrs. DiNardo is given all the facts, a complete timeline, and the answers she deserves.

I hope that when the DiNardo children ask, “What happened to dad?”, the answer is not, “The chief won`t tell us.”

Disgraceful.

Dinardo was not killed in Iraq where information may be sketchy, he was murdered on Reed Street in Jersey City, following orders under the command of Chief Comey and Deputy Chief Peter Nalbach.

I would not want to be a police officer under Chief Comey. I would be very concerned based on his history that if I were killed, my wife and children would have to sue to find out what happened to me and may still not be told.

I was faced with many challenges as Chief of the JCPD. Two young, great, heroic police officers lost their lives in the performance of their duty on Christmas night 2005, driving off of the Lincoln Highway.

I wanted to know what happened, why it happened, and whether we can we make sure this never happens again. I was given permission by the Hudson County Prosecutor to begin the investigation that night. These were our guys and no one could get to the truth better.

My heart broke as I told two mothers that their sons were gone. I remember telling them that I did not know what happened, but that I would find out and they would know everything. I assigned our Major Case unit to begin investigating.

About 1 month later we held a press conference. A Power Point presentation with a timeline consisting of all information was released to the families and the press. Nothing was held back.

In the interest of safety any police operation resulting in the loss of life, especially a police officer’s life, what happened must be critiqued by a competent command, a separate third-party, the unions, and the public. We need to ensure that we do all we can to keep our officers as safe as possible.

We need to always remember that it is the families of all law enforcement officers that pay the price when an officer is killed.

All law enforcement officers should take exception to the treatment the widow of Detective DiNardo received from Chief Comey — she could be your wife.

Stay Safe.

-Former Chief Robert Troy

With Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s decision to appoint Budget Officer Robert Kakoleski as acting Police Director earlier this week, another schism has opened between the Healy Administration and an independent-minded faction of the City Council that says the public — and the Council — have been cut out of the process.

Kakoleski, who served as the police department’s fiscal officer prior to becoming the city’s budget officer, is the third candidate considered by the Healy Administration. Lavarro says this runs contrary to the law – an opinion rejected by Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis.

After the Council voted down the permanent appointment of Police Chief Tom Comey earlier in May, Lavarro argues that in his reading of the Faulkner Act the city has exceeded the number of temporary appointments permitted without Council approval. Comey had been appointed as Acting Director following former director Sam Jefferson’s retirement in May.

The law explaining the process reads as follows: “Any such appointment of an Acting Director shall terminate not later than 90 days after the date of the appointment, unless the Council shall, by resolution, authorize one or more extensions thereof.”

However, according to a legal memo written by Matsikoudis, Lavarro’s interpretation could potentially leave the position vacant if there is an impasse between the Council and the Mayor on the appointment. Matsikoudis argues the result of such an impasse “would be a violation of the Faulkner Act and undermine the operation of the police department.”

When the Council rejected the permanent appointment of Comey at a 5-4 vote earlier in May, they were largely respectful of the work done by Comey, but cited inherent problems with someone holding both Chief and Director positions.

Specifically, it was noted that the director has oversight of the chief, a distinction in authority that would cease to exist if the positions were to be combined. It was a sentiment that was echoed by former Police Chief Robert Troy, who wrote that “When an officer is facing administrative charges that could result in negative discipline, the Chief signs the complaint. If found guilty at a hearing, the Police Director applies the punishment (e.g. suspension, termination, etc).”

In fact, Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez says police officers called her office to complain about the appointment, making the exact same argument.

Next, the city looked to appoint deputy police chief Peter Nalbach, which itself posed a legal problem because Nalbach would then be serving in both a superior and subordinate capacity to Comey in his roles as director and deputy chief, respectively. Instead, the City selected Kakoleski, citing his knowledge of the administrative side of the police department.

Lavarro, who rejects Matsikoudis’s memo, says he was asked to “go along” with whomever the mayor chose, a request he denied. The Council, he said, should have input in such an important position.

“There was an election in November,” said Lavarro at Wednesday night’s Council meeting, referring to the special election in which he won his seat away from Healy-appointed Council members.

Lavarro maintained the city was looking for “rubber-stamp approval” when they “reached out to [him] for cooperation” on the appointment process. This he refused, citing what he says is “lip-service” to crime problems in the city.

Following a public rally again crime held in February in City Hall, Lavarro says “all the people have gotten is a public safety tour and political gamesmanship.”

Lavarro further argued that Matsikoudis’s memo outlined that the Council should be involved in the process.

“Even if what [Matsikoudis] cites is correct regarding the appointment process,” said Lavarro, “it cuts both ways.”

Drawing from Newark v. James, Matsikoudis highlights the applicable section: “The Faulkner Act places a heavy burden on both the Mayor and City Council: they must work cooperatively for the ultimate benefit of all of the citizens. That is the bedrock on which interactions between the Mayor and City Council must develop. There are and will continue to be instances when either the Mayor or City Council should subordinate their respective authority as a matter of simple social harmony and proper statesmanship.”

Lavarro says he takes issue with the lack of respect for the Council’s point-of-view regarding police stewardship.

In particular, Lavarro disagrees with some of Comey’s operational tactics. Instead, a police director with fresh ideas more in line with residents’ request for foot patrols and community policing is needed, he said.

“I would like to have an independent person who will work with the administration and chief to push the goals as we see fit as a city,” he said. “I want to see more focus on preventing crime rather than reducing the public’s perception of crime.”

Lavarro rejects Comey’s insistence that the police department is not big enough to handle foot patrols. In fact, former police lieutenant and former county Freeholder William Braker made the same point at numerous public safety meetings.

The at-large councilman added he wanted more quality of life issues addressed, and said the Broken Window theory – which maintains that taking care of the little things, like replacing broken windows, will have a ripple effect on fixing more violent crimes – should be better incorporated into the city’s police activities.

Finally, he says there is a law on the books requiring an operational study at the third year of each administration and that, as “far as [he] can tell,” has never happened.

As per the law, “Jersey City shall… within the first three years of each new administration prepare or cause to be prepared a thorough and comprehensive study of all operations of the municipal Police Department. The study shall consider the efficiency of police operations, personnel matters, budgetary matters, patrol operations, investigative operations, administrative operations, planning and development and overall administration of the Police Department.”

A request for comment from the city was not returned in time for this posting.

Further, Lavarro says that a renewed effort is needed to incorporate minority and under-represented groups into higher positions in the police department.

“That doesn’t mean appointing someone to fill that position, it’s about having someone who recognizes that fact and has the best ideas of how to address this problem going forward.”

And while the city has touted the savings of $200,000 that comes with appointing someone within the city to act as the police director role at no extra compensation, Lavarro argues “it’s worth the investment” to “have that check and balance” between governmental branches.

“There will be more autonomy and independence if we hire someone who will maintain a buffer between the city and the department,” he said. “Someone who can represent the Council and not just the singular point-of-view of the mayor’s office.”