I’m writing about the article about Mayor Mitchell’s travel. I am a co-founder and enthusiastic supporter of The New Bedford Light. I was mayor of New Bedford from 1986 to 1992. I think this story is some of the worst reporting and editing I have ever seen.
It starts with the false and unsubstantiated assumption that travel is bad and builds a malicious business around that unfounded assumption. My political opponents accused me of traveling too much. I responded that my job was to solve New Bedford’s problems and to look for opportunities and to know the answers to the problems, the resources to solve the problems, the people to help us, the examples to learn from, the companies to attract, all of those things existed beyond the city limits. You cannot do the mayor’s job by sitting within its borders. You have to travel.
Like Mayor Mitchell, I was very active in the US Conference of Mayors because you could learn the latest ideas from what other cities were doing to solve problems in New Bedford. Like Mayor Mitchell, I went to Jerusalem because we have a large Jewish population, and Teddy Kollek was the best mayor in the world. I wanted to learn from him. Like Mayor Mitchell, I went to the Sister Cities because I wanted to learn what I could from the immigrant experience: what it’s like to leave the familiar and search for the American dream in New Bedford.
If you look at the hundreds of millions of dollars transforming the Port of New Bedford, you see the results of relationships built over time through Mayor Mitchell’s journeys. I have reported on plans to convert all our old schools and build hundreds of housing units. I also reported on the city’s investment in the arts and how it impacts our economy, and you should realize that is the result of a vision born of the leadership of our mayor who is constantly learning from others and taking the best ideas to apply to our city. It is also the result of relationships built over time by spending many nights away from family as you move from office to office with plans, schedules and summaries explaining what the city of New Bedford needs.
People who don’t travel for a living think it’s a trip. I’ve spent a lot of time in hotel rooms, taxis, airports, and other people’s offices. It’s a grind. And all the time you miss your family and dinner with your kids. But you do it for your city or the business that represents your mission.
New Bedford Light We learned what an incredibly complex city New Bedford is. You are much better than this.
It was John K. Bullard was a three-term mayor of New Bedford, head of NOAA’s first federal Office of Sustainability, and then served as NOAA’s Regional Director of Fisheries for the Northeast. He is the president of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster and is also one of the founders of The New Bedford Light.
Editor’s Note: The New Bedford Light’s newsroom is completely independent. Only editors decide what to cover and what to publish. The founders, funders and board members have no influence on editorial content.
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