Greg Earls is a terrific Newburyport City Councilor.

Greg Earls is the City Councilor for Ward 2, the most progressive, “liberal” ward in the city.

And Greg works really hard and represents his Ward really well, and I cannot imagine why anyone would not want to see him re-elect. Just my opinion.

I was talking to Greg, this was quite a while back, about how hard I thought it must be to be a Newburyport City Councilor. Difficult choices to be made on complex issues, would keep me up at night.

Greg Earls said a very interesting thing. He said that he thought the hardest thing for him was the bad feeling stuff that happened between neighbors in his ward.

And an issue came up in our neighborhood that could have turned neighbor against neighbor and destroyed friendships for life (I’ve seen stuff like this happen all over the city.)

And Greg Earls was wonderful.

I talked to him about what my concerns would be. Other neighbors talked to him about what their concerns might be.

Greg came and had a neighborhood meeting. He listened to everyone, he was involved, thoughtful and just downright kind. And reassuring that there was a solution that everyone would be comfortable with.

And I felt really relieved, because here was someone who understood how things worked on a municipal level, and clearly has a real gift for working with folks and mediating and defusing what could be damaging situations.

What I witnessed and experienced was Greg Earls serving his community and his Ward, in this particular instance.

And the other thing that I like so much about Greg is that when I have questions about stuff, a) he always gets back to me and b) I never feel as if I am intruding or silly with whatever questions I might have.

And if Greg is not there, his wife, Nancy, is always warm and gracious. And for me, this is huge.

And I am proud to have Greg Earls representing me on the Newburyport City Council. And I hope that he would be representing me come January 1, 2008.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport