By Roger Chartier

Local New Bedford, Ma. History 2011

Above L to R
Jaime Rego, Mayor Scott Lang and Normand Chartier at flag ceremony for Exercize Tiger Memorial

2011
Feb. 26 Was the New Bedford Whaling Museum's dedication day for the small park at the corner of Johnny Cake Hill and Union Street dedicated to Paul Cuffee the son of a freed slave and an Aquinah Indian.
Paul was hugely successful as a whaling master, ship builder and owner of a shipping company that did business between the area and West Indies, etc.

He had a store on the corners of Water and Union streets in New Bedford with his sons-in-law, farms in Dartmouth and Westport and docks and a shipyard in Westport. More on Paul Cuffe.

U.S. Census figures released March 22, 2011 showed that New Bedford's population grew by 1.39 % in in the last 10 years.

As of that March 22, 2011 there were 95,072 residents. This might not account for a number of illegal aliens who are reluctant to show that they are here.
This put the city in 6th place for population in Massachusetts.

By March of 2011, the unemployment rate dropped to 16% from 2010.

The Elisha Thornton Jr. house, on "Abolitionist Row" had a hole in its roof, water damage and rotted out walls and beams. It was demolished.

This was another historic home where runaway slaves were given shelter and were able to hide from those who were sent to capture them.

It is across the street from the Nathan and Polly Johnson house which was at 21 Seventh street and also across the street from New Bedford's first Quaker meeting house at 17 - 19 Seventh Street.

2011 New Bedford Salaries
Mayor Scott Lang earns $98,735.79 a year while the Police Chief Ron Teachman who retired in this year was earning a $127,289.82 for 2011.

In the School Dept. Portia Bonner earned $168,302.12 while Ronald Souza who was no longer employed at some point during 2011 earned $184,043.77.
The school department shows a large disparity in salaries from top to bottom.

The New Bedford Standard Times published the total list of employees and their yearly salaries from the city.

Perhaps the link will still work Standard Times List of 2010 City of New Bedford Salaries.

Here is the list from the Standard Times of 2011 salaries for New Bedford.

August 28, 2011
Hurricane Irene found it's way up the coast to New Bedford but ended up being less than predicted.
The New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge was closed for three hours because 4 of the at least 11 boats that got loose crashed into the bridge and the mast of one snapped and became an obstruction on the roadway.

Tugboats worked feverishly to get a hold of boats that were loose and careening across the harbor.

One sailboat got loose and tangled up with three others and all four ended up crashing into Captain Leroy's docks.
North of the bridge there was less damage, and the waters were slightly calmer.
The bigger boats were slamming into docks, and there was damage to the docks as well is some places.
Electrical power was out in various spots throughout the city.

Around 12:30 the Olympia Towers suffered external damage when some of the foam-board-stucco tiles got loose and fell off.

The entire building was evacuated, and people were sheltered by the Salvation Army.
At that time, city hall had lost NStar power. It was on generator power for Mayor Lang's press conference.

NStar had set up staging areas in advance of the storm so as to be able to react more efficiently.
The utility company brought in all 3,000 employees.
They also called in tree specialists and outside contract employees in advance to be best able to get the predicted outages repaired.
Here are some videos of the storm.

Here are several photos of damage from the storm

The Mayor Lang estimated that about $1 million dollars in damage from fallen trees and other damage on land and in the harbor as well as overtime costs were incurred by the city and he would seek federal compensation.

September 24, 2011
Was the date for the grand premiere of the movie "Whaling City".
New Bedford's own Zeiterion Theater got the honor. The show was sold out with rave reviews from the audience coming out of the theater.

A one time local resident Geno (Eugene) Monteiro had a substantial and very well acted role as a crew member on the featured fishing boat.
The audience broke out into heavy applause when he appeared on the screen.
He is a successful actor and now lives in Los Angeles.

Marc Bergeron owner of Bergie's Seafood in New Bedford had some memorable parts in the film that featured him in a real life type situation playing himself in his fish house dealing with business.
His role came across particularly well.

The whole cast were good actors. Having lived in New Bedford for 60 years the author noticed that one actor who was not a native had an only slightly strange accent that was supposed to be a "New Bedford" accent but was a bit more like John F Kennedy's or a Maine accent.
I think only the locals would notice that.
There were other local people with parts as extras in the film, as well.

The acting on the whole was top notch, and as of September 2011 we await the prepaid DVD release.
We haven't got one yet in 2013 so...
Read about the cast and crew of the movie "Whaling City".
See more about the movie and cast etc., as well as a short clip on the 2010 page.

October 2011. The tall ship Schooner Ernestina returned to city pier in New Bedford after 4 months of repair in a Fairhaven boat yard.

The work cost $180,000 and the estimate for any future work to make her coast guard certified to sail are around $2 million. Most of the year she can be seen in her full glory. In winter, she gets partially covered.

Sunday October 23, 2011
Army Pfc. Nathan Medeiros a member of Bravo Company 25th Infantry Division was wounded in Afghanistan on September 14, 2011. He was 28 years old at the time.
An IED exploded less than 2 feet away from him.

He received a hero's welcome on Sunday, October 23, from about 125 people including friends, family and well wishers during a reception given to honor him at the Seaport Inn.

He received a purple heart for the shrapnel injuries and burns to his right leg, as well as the scarring on his face, neck and both hands.

U.S. Representative Barney Frank, Representative Antonio Cabral, and Mayor Lang gave citations.

Pfc. Nathan Medeiros was also given a framed copy of the Congressional Record that mentioned U.S Rep. Barney Franks' comments and the community's plans to honor him.