AI-generated transcript of MA Lt. Governor Karyn Polito in Medford March 10, 2016

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[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Hello, welcome to the City of Medford. We're very pleased to have Lieutenant Governor Polito with us today to announce the community compact agreement that we've reached, as well as our representative, Christine Barber. We have City Councilor Rick Caraviello, and we have School Committee woman Kathy Kreatz here as well. So thank you all for coming. This certainly is a great day for the City of Medford. As you know, we apply in the month of January for three different compacts. One having to do with financial accountability in our city. We currently use multiple programs to do our treasury and our financial packages as well as over on the school side. We're looking to create efficiencies by looking at the compact to look into one software program that can do everything, and leading to transparency with the public in an open checkbook system. So it's a high goal. It's close to my heart. I have worked with all the programs as my prior career as budget director, so I know firsthand the efficiencies that can be garnered by this compact agreement. Secondly, we have our Complete Streets initiative that we have talked about a great deal over the last several months. We're very eager to get that off the ground. We want to include all of our bike-ped people in the process, and our art people as well, so that when we talk complete streets, we mean complete streets. But I'm going to introduce Cassandra Kudalidis, our city engineer, up to the podium to just say a few words on that.

[fRTeqEogCEI_SPEAKER_39]: Thank you, Mary Burke, and good morning, everybody. I'm excited to be part of this program for Complete Streets. Taking it on is one of our best practices. The objective is to enhance all the movements from any place that you can imagine going, from home to work, from home to school, from school to retail, and likewise. We recognize that this program is for all uses of all ages and all abilities, and that's very important. The policy will call for all roadway projects that are within our control to look at complete streets, whether it's routine maintenance, reconstruction, and any type of garden overlay or any type of other system. I want to be able to use this program, along with my colleagues and anyone else involved in the city, to look at a network approach. So we're thinking about not just advancing projects on a street-by-street basis, taking a zoom-out look at them and looking at bike routes and walking routes and transit routes, have an overlay and see where the gaps are and how we can figure out to close those gaps and make it more attractive and pleasing for everyone to use. Also, I think that Bedford is a great city to walk or to bike as well as to drive. We're not discounting motorists freight operators and public safety personnel, but we want to be able to create safe facilities. We want to have locations where people can come and sit and take in their surroundings, maybe benches along certain paths, and we're going to be looking at things like that. And we all recognize that there's no one-size-fits-all approach. Everything has to be looked at in context. and connectivity. And to that we'll also be talking to private developers and other people in other cities and towns that link up with Medford. There's Winchester is now planning to use a bike path in Solomon Winthrop Street that wants to connect to ours. So that's another way of connectivity from community to community. So I just want to say that we're all excited about this. We sent our letter of intent into the state to become a complete streets community, has been accepted, and we're now finishing our policy and working on the prioritization plan. And thank you for allowing me to sit today. Wonderful.

[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: Sandra has worked a great deal on this project along with Alicia Hunt and I believe Lauren DiLorenzo. So a lot of the staff has been involved in this process. So we're very happy for your hard work on this and reaching this initiative. The last item has to do with Medford Square. I think Over the course of the last eight months, if I heard Medford Square revitalization once, I've heard it a thousand times. It is a key component to our city's future, to our economic development, and it needs the attention. And this will enable us to have planning dollars put to the table so that we can reach our potential. I think that we all realize that Medford's a great community, a third of it open space. We're very lucky to live here, but we have so much potential that we can reach. And this initiative, in particular, is going to be a fabulous add-on to our community already. So I'd like to introduce Lauren DiLorenzo, who's our Community Development Director, to say a few words on this topic.

[Laurel Siegel]: Thank you, Mayor Burke. I'm Lauren DiLorenzo, the Director of Community Development. I'd like to welcome Lieutenant Governor here to Medford. It's good to see you. And Representative Barber, thank you very much. And also Linda Gary, who's on the Mayor's Economic Development Transition Committee, who's been working very hard on the various economic development initiatives in Medford Square. I think Linda and I have worked on Medford Square probably for 20 years. When Mayor Burr came in, she has asked that we prioritize, in each of our departments, really take a fresh look at things and to move forward objectives and goals and initiatives that have been stalled or haven't been properly funded or haven't had really the resources to move ahead. Really, the Baker and Polito administration has worked hard with cities to work on helping support them to implement current best practices. Best practices really are current initiatives, policies, procedures, goals, objectives, designs, all these array of resources that are available and have been shown to work and succeed in other communities. So the Community Compact is really that pledge that the mayor's taking to commit to the various efforts to improve and bring the city of Medford current. So our department, which does housing and community development, will be part of that, and that's what this portion of the Community Compact is. I'd also like to recognize Nick Downing, who's from MAPC, who's here. So MAPC working also with the governor's office has refocused some of their programming to support the community compact efforts and best practice efforts. So the city of Medford applied for a direct local technical assistance grant And we were told by MNPC, and I believe the governor probably mentioned this, that we will be getting some resources, funding, about $40,000 worth of planning resources to assist the Community Development Office to conduct the Medford Square Economic Development Strategy. that Mayor Burke was speaking about. So what we will do is, we've done a master plan before, and again, as I said before, because of limited resources, changes in economics, some things haven't been implemented that really need and would succeed in having a vibrant downtown area. So we'll work with MAPZ, and we will partner, and we will have a process, have some civic engagement. I think people are very interested in speaking what their ideas are and what their concerns are. So that will happen. And we will look at really things like physical space, what needs to be improved physically in Medford Square. We've talked about improving the retail positioning. A lot of people want more retail diversity in Medford Square, we'll look at that. Always we look for opportunities for new housing and to look at zoning and permitting. Medford has been pro-development, but not at the cost of neighborhood character or impacts in neighborhoods. So I think that in zoning and permitting, we're pretty good at it, but again, we want to bring the current best practices to make sure that we are supporting business development in a timely manner, which will also increase tax bases and improve our schools and all those other things that are necessary for tax bases. So I just want to thank you and look forward to working with you. Thank you.

[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: One piece Lauren feels to mention is we want to create a hug to our river. We're a community that has a mystic river running through it. And we need to bring attention to that asset because it really is one of our greatest assets, the London Fells. So we really want to create an environment that is open to the river. And we just want to acknowledge Mohammed Chaudhry, who's also on the transition team for economic development, who's worked hard as well on the various open meetings that we've had over the course of the last several months. I'd also like Representative Barber to say a few words. She's our partner. She's part of our state delegation. She goes to bat for us on a number of issues, and we appreciate having her in our community. So please, ma'am.

[jsdIPdqDPt8_SPEAKER_12]: First and foremost, I want to congratulate the mayor and the city of Medford for the announcement of the Community Compact today. This is a great step in three things that we hear all the time from constituents and community members in Medford. Transparency in government. greater mobility to get around various forms of transportation, and economic development that is improving the community and really benefiting the community. These are things that we've been talking about for a long time, and this compact agreement is taking some really important steps in moving forward on all three of those, and it's a great thing, so I'm glad that it's being announced today. We are also stronger when we work together. So I'm so pleased to have Lieutenant Governor here today to announce this compact. It's great to have her and the Governor's support here in Medford. The Speaker of the House as well as the Senate President has been trying to work closely with the Governor because we all do need to work together to address some of the issues that are facing our cities. It's wonderful to have this announcement today and I want to thank you all for being here. Thank you.

[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: As you've just heard, both the complete streets and the revitalization of Medford Square go hand in hand. So we're looking to look at things from a global perspective to bring the best we can to Medford. And without further ado, I need to introduce our Lieutenant Governor, who's been instrumental in this entire process with communities. She's worked so hard over the last year plus to open up the dialogue between the cities and towns and the State House. So we really appreciate all her hard work, and we are very lucky to have her in our city today.

[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Burke, and Representative Barber, and to the councilors, school committee members, and your leadership team, which I take note, there's a lot of strong women leaders right here in this room, and leading the charge here in Medford, so congratulations to you. And it's great to be in this room. I did visit Mayor McGlynn in coming to the Mayor's office, and he did an incredible job for many years with his team, and we thank him for his leadership for Medford, And when there's a change in administration, there's an opportunity to just assess where the community is and then really engage in conversation with your transition team and your leadership team about What can you build on and do better with? And that's exactly where we found ourselves a little more than a year ago when Governor Baker and I came into office. And it's a really great moment, so I'm glad that you have embraced it and you're doing things with it. I feel a lot of good energy in the building today. One of the first things we did when coming into office was to figure out how do we build on the campaign message that we had. Let's make Massachusetts great from one end of the state to the other. And I said to the governor, soon after being sworn in, now we have 351 cities and towns to assist and figure out how to make every community great. You know, good schools, safe neighborhoods, opportunity, jobs, and economic prosperity. And so we figured that this should be a program around a partnership, that as former local officials ourselves, we served as selectmen in our respective hometown areas. And we knew that this should be a partnership. We knew also that it should be voluntary. We shouldn't be the state government telling the cities and towns, this is what you shall do. It should be an organic, voluntary sort of movement of municipal leaders choosing to find a way to do things better in their community. We all realize that success is never final. And so it's a voluntary program of best practices. And then second of all, we also knew from our days as local officials that it has to be funded. We cannot have an unfunded mandate of sorts. It needs to be a funded program. Resources have to tie directly into the best practices so you can actually get them done. And so that's how we formed the program. And it's meant to serve all the communities, whether you're rural, suburban, or an urban area like Medford that has a blend of residential neighborhoods, open spaces, and an urban feel in some places. You've got a really great community that offers an awful lot. So the compact program is perfect for you in terms of the transition time that you're in. And I love that you were able to engage your team, and you decided that these were the three areas that you wanted to focus on, and that you chose three. You didn't have to.

[fRTeqEogCEI_SPEAKER_39]: I know.

[SPEAKER_04]: You being high achievers here, I chose three to really embrace. And it gives you the sense, if I'm taking that snapshot in particular, you know, Mecklen Square, and wondering, you know, where do we go from here? So I'm thrilled that MAPC, through the DLTA funds can assist you in achieving the Medford Square plan. Complete Streets is fantastic as you're looking to make this a more walkable and accessible community. And then just really using technology to streamline your financial system here to one financial unit is really terrific. So thank you, all of you. It's not just your mayor leading the charge, it's all of you taking a part in this community compact. So just to give you some perspective, this is a program that's really taken off. You are the 156th community to actually sign a compact in less than a year of this program. So apparently there's been a strong desire to have a really good partner with the state in a program like this. And one more point is it gives you bonus points for wanting to do better in your community. And those bonus points are really important. When it comes time for you, you may decide or learn from your study that you'll need infrastructure funds. And you may decide to apply for a MassWorks grant. Along the scoring sheet for the MassWorks grant, you will get scoring points, extra points, for having joined the Community Compact Program. Or you may, through your Complete Streets initiative here, be prepared for a project. We have $12.5 million that we've added to the Complete Streets Fund, so you may seek to apply to that program for project funds. So you're doing all the right things, that's why I wanted to physically be here on behalf of the Baker and Pulido administration to say thank you for what you do and that we'll continue to partner through this program and others. Let me just say a profound thank you to our friends in the legislature. Representative Barber is someone that brings a lot of energy to her work and her advocacy for this community. First and foremost, the vote that the House of Representatives took yesterday and the Senate will take today, relative to the opioid bill, is profound. It's historic in Massachusetts and historic nationwide that we are a commonwealth that knows we need to take stronger steps forward to reduce the amount of exposure and addiction in our commonwealth relative to opioids and heroin. And Representative Barber was a big part of that vote yesterday. I also want to thank her and her colleagues in the legislature for their work on local aid and school aid and providing you the resources you need to do your jobs. You're in the thick of your financial budgeting and all of the work you do at council and you need to be able to rely on the state resources to be there for you as you plan your budget for the next fiscal year. We don't do that alone in the executive branch, we do that in concert with the state legislature and it's another example of how we're working together. And I think that's an important thing to point out, that when government works together, putting the political partisan thinking aside and really looking to collaborate to get things done is very impactful. And that's another thing that we can embrace and celebrate today. So congratulations, Bayer Burke, and to all of you for signing up the compact today. It's a pleasure and honor to be here with you. And I know that MAPC and members of our staff will continue to work with you in the months ahead to see the fulfillment of the best practices you have chosen today. Congratulations.

[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: I'm a little remiss if I didn't mention the Municipal Modernization Bill that the Governor's Office and Lieutenant Governor Pulido spearheaded. I know personally the City of Medford submitted maybe seven pages of suggestions of things that we thought could modernize the way that we do business in our city and throughout the Commonwealth. And it was through her leadership that the bill was offered to the House and Senate. So we look forward to working on one package. Hopefully it goes through swiftly so that we're able to enact some of these key money-saving opportunities in public bidding and in reform for our alcohol licenses, et cetera. So thank you for all your hard work that you've done on behalf of the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Well, now we get to get it done, right?

[SPEAKER_04]: I'm sure you will.

[Stephanie Muccini Burke]: And at this point, we'd like to sign the contract. Sign together? Sure. Thank you. Congratulations. Wonderful. Thank you.

[Unidentified]: And now we can take a group picture holding up...

Stephanie Muccini Burke

total time: 4.54 minutes
total words: 501
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