Sarah and Grace, the Friendly Ghosts

“if you have further questions you can speak directly with the building department.”

Rye recently lost one of its most valued employees because of a heart attack as he was on the job inspecting flood conditions at Highland Hall in Rye.
Vinnie Tamburro was one of the most honest, hard working and highly skilled public employees Rye has ever had. In all my years of dealing with Building Departments, it amazed me how Vinnie maintained a personality that screamed “I want to help you get this done but it has to be done in the right way.”
The community embraced him for that.

After an inspection in 2007 of Hen Island, Vinnie was in the process of issuing violations until he was stopped in his tracks by the Rye City administration and elected officials. Vinnie’s choice was to do either A) as his bosses dictated and keep his job in good standing or B) issue the violations and risk losing his job and not be able to support his family.
Vinnie did what he had to do but I know he didn’t like it, he told me so, on several occasions. And I know the pressure of this weighed on him tremendously.

Now yet again Mayor French is going to ask city employees to lie in an effort to protect someone or some group. But in this case, that someone is himself. This is politics at its lowest level.