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LAWRENCE, Mass. — The new mayor of Lawrence will give his inaugural address Monday in English and Spanish. The majority Hispanic city made history this fall when it elected the state’s first Latino mayor, but Dominican-born William Lantigua is also controversial. Many residents say they are willing to overlook Lantigua’s idiosyncrasies, hoping he can fix this troubled city.

For the last six years, Willy Lantigua has served as a state representative from Lawrence, one of the state’s poorest cities. He took the unusual step of opening an office away from the State House, in downtown Lawrence.

He and his staff helped people there with constituent services, and he was surprised to find that most of their problems were local.

“[They had] problems that have to do with the office of the mayor and the city council, but yet they come to me,” Lantigua says. “So, if 90 percent of the issues that I deal with have to do with city hall, and I have to call so many people who sometimes don’t even answer, why not be the mayor? Why not be the boss and make those issues go away?”

Read More https://www.wbur.org/2010/01/04/lawrence-mayor-2

The new mayor, Willy Lantigua, is inheriting a fiscal mess that apparently could have been avoided.  The Massachusetts Department of Revenue issued warnings as far back as 2008  that if the city didn’t cut costs it would go bankrupt.. Whon made Lawrence mess Lantigua or Sullivan-.pdf (215,6 kB)