It was a somber event as friends, family and Lawrence community members gathered to commemorate the life of one of their own, one year after a series of gas fires and explosions ripped through the Merrimack Valley.
On September 13, 2018, 18-year-old Leonel Rondon was in a car parked in a driveway at the time of the explosions. When the chimney of that home collapsed due to the explosions, it fell on the car with Ronden inside. He was later pronounced dead.
One year later, the city of Lawrence is making sure that Rondon's name will live on through a new landmark in the city — Leonel A. Rondon Square — which is located just across the street from where he lived. A blue sign with Rondon's photo on it marks the space.
Speaking at the ceremony dedicating the square, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera reflected on Rondon's life, and how it didn't need to come to such an early end.
"We hope this will be the last time we have to put the sign up [for] something like this," he said. "It should be the last time that we name a street, a corner, anything after a child who lost his life for some uselessness — for recklessness."
Rivera has been very public with his criticism of Columbia Gas for its part in the explosions, and he expressed his frustration to reporters after the ceremony. The company announced yesterday that it will have to re-inspect hundreds of inactive gas lines that may not be compliant with state regulations.
"You know, unless you punish someone for doing something wrong, they're going to continue to act as if their acts are not, you know, aren't punishable," he said. "And so I think it's appropriate to review the license and whether or not they should keep it. At the very least, they should be fined for the amount of time it took them to come forward with this information."
Despite the pain of the moment, Rivera and other local and state officials made sure to remark on Rondon's life, vowing that they'll do their best to ensure this sort of accident doesn't happen again.
"I think that it's critically important for all of us to understand and appreciate that for [Rondon] and his family, it's important that his life matters," said Gov. Charlie Baker. "And that his time here mattered. And that it's critical for us to show our respect to him and to his family by showing up at moments like this. By recognizing and understanding that anything we can do to make sure this never happens again should be done with his memory, and in his honor."
Sen. Ed Markey spoke about the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act that he and Sen. Elizabeth Warren sponsored in the Senate and was supported with companion legislation in the House by Rep. Lori Trahan.
The legislation aims to close regulatory loopholes and increase safety standards in pipeline safety.
"When it passes the House and Senate, and it will, when it becomes a law ... all those whose lives are saved will have been saved in the future because of the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Saftey Act," Markey said.
Throughout the ceremony, the Rondon family did their best to hold back tears. Speaking with reporters afterwards, Lucianny Rondon, Leonel's sister, said it was hard to put into words what the family was feeling on such a difficult anniversary.
"We feel this emptiness, this sadness, this pain that is killing us inside," she said. "So we're trying to just remember all the happy thoughts that we have about him."
She said the square will ensure that he is never forgotten.
