Rick Mariano is angry!!!

I’m not quite sure how I missed this last week during my Thursday perusal of the Northeast Times, but I just noticed it now: Indicted City Councilman Rick Mariano wrote a letter to the Times. In it, he alludes to his, uhm, indictment on 26-counts of corruption but doesn’t quite mention it.

Some excerpts are below:

During the last several weeks, I’ve been blessed to receive many encouraging notes and phone calls urging me to “keep the faith.”

My life has been complicated by an appendectomy, knee surgery and follow-up rehabilitation of that knee. But, I’ll be “100 percent” before long.

In the meantime, my faith in God and the support of my neighborhood will see me through all troubled waters. And, I will “keep the faith.”

As a first step in keeping the faith, I have hired a former deputy managing director to be my new chief of staff and a young fellow with a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania to be my director of legislative affairs. These new hires will make my office the most professional of all the City Council offices.

• Community values: My office appears before the zoning board six to eight times per week and always opposes nuisance bars and any other applicant who lacks community support. [...]

• Scanlon ice rink: As one of only five ice rinks in the city, Scanlon is a vital resource for the city of Philadelphia as well as our own neighborhood. I fought the Recreation Department when Scanlon was on their “hit list.” Now, through poor planning and poor maintenance, the Recreation Department has allowed Scanlon to close. This is totally unacceptable!!! [...]

• Keeping the faith: For 10 years, I have been blessed to serve my neighborhood as a member of City Council. Together with community groups, I have brought money, housing development and the demolition of dangerous buildings to our area. [...]
Rick Mariano
Councilman, 7th District
Editor’s note: A federal grand jury in October handed Councilman Mariano a 26-count indictment on corruption charges. He is free on bail. A trial is set for March.

Extra exclamation points most certainly not added by me. Go check; I’m serious. Ricky Mariano — or his aide, perhaps — is quite the typer.

Councilman Mariano: I’m keeping the faith [Northeast Times]