[Fred Dello Russo]: The 32nd regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Present. Councilor Falco? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Vice President Langer-Kern? Present. Councilor Marks? Present. Councilor Scarpelli? Present. President Del Russo?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Present. Seven members present, none absent. Please rise and join us in saluting the flag. Aye.
[Richard Caraviello]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Chair recognizes Councilor Lungo-Koehn for suspension of the rules. Is that resolved?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. If we could just take resolution 16-723 for announcement from Director Deborah Fallon, Portal to Hope.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Vice President Lungo-Koehn to take 16-723 out of order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. 16-723 offered by Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council invite Deborah Fallon, the Director of Portal to Hope, to the podium to make an announcement regarding a candlelight vigil that is to be held on October 26, 2016 at 5 p.m. at the Andrews School in Medford. Be it further resolved that Director Fallon update the City Council on the services that Portal to Hope provides to victims of domestic violence. Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. We do have Deborah Fallon, who's the director of Portal to Hope before us tonight, as well as I believe two people that also volunteer and work for Portable Hope on a number of different events, and whether it be fundraising or helping victims of domestic violence, this organization serves a number of communities and does great work for people in need of services, whether that be emergency shelter, to public assistance, to legal assistance, There's a number of things that this organization does and does well, and they've been doing for many years, thanks to Director Fallon. And I would like her to make a few announcements, let us know what she's doing in the community and how she's there to help.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Welcome Councilor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And I have to apologize. We're, I didn't realize we're missing a candle for you, so we'll have to make sure that you, that you receive one. I, as I mentioned to, um, uh, some of your colleagues earlier, we've set the ambience for tonight. I'm here for good purpose. I'll be it. I'm here on a matter that remains an epidemic problem in Medford. So firstly, I want to start off by thanking you very much, Councilor Lango-Kern, for having me to come here tonight. It's been six years since I've been before this council last, so I'm happy to be back here, especially to see some new faces since then. And I want to thank you for all the great work that you do. I especially want to thank you, Attorney Lungo-Koehn, for all your work with our organization over the last—well, we're celebrating our 20th birthday this month, but certainly over the last 16 years. where you've been involved helping victims of domestic violence. And I'm sure many of you are aware, I know Councilor Cornelio, from way back when, that Attorney Lungo-Koehn, as you had helped to support us, along with your other colleague, now mayor of the city of Bedford, whom we met with, Mayor Burke, and her predecessor, Mayor McGlynn, former Mayor McGlynn. But, Councilor Cornelio, you know that... Caraviello. Oh, Caraviello. I'm sorry. I've called him that for a number of years. Sorry. Even at the Hallmark Health meeting. So, I apologize. but you know, you've been a terrific support to us and we really appreciate that. So while I'm here to mention about the candlelight vigil that we're hoping that you'll all attend and we invite the public to attend this event as well. Next Wednesday with mayor Burke and a city government, that meaning you all, um, and other community leaders, including leader Donato, we're going to be hosting a candlelight vigil outside of Medford city hall at 5 p.m. That vigil, is taking place because October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And in this month, where there are 11 women and two men who were murdered at the hands of people that they loved here in Massachusetts since January, we remember their plight and we also remember the 347 Medford residents that Portal to Hope has served since that same time frame. Those are women Children and men as well, because domestic violence does not discriminate. Because Medford has actually creeped up a bit over the years with the number of domestic violence cases that we've been seeing, We're dedicating this next year to re-energizing the Medford community and calling for a public activism in the cause to end domestic violence. And we're really reliant on you all to help us out with that. And we hope that you do. Because those Medford residents are a portion of the 900 people that we see and serve every year. And as some of you already know, Councilor Marks as well, you as well, we have been providing comprehensive services, whether as Attorney Lango-Kern had mentioned, and President Capone, you've been involved in the past where you know that We do the emergency shelter, which is safe housing. We provide free legal aid and consultation. We're providing job and housing search and placement assistance, youth programs and the like. And this year in Medford, because we received a grant, thanks to the support of the members of this community, we received a grant from VOCA, the Victims of Crime Act, which is administered through the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance. And that grant is helping us to enhance our services in Medford, whereby we met with Superintendent Belson, and we're going to be looking at doing for the first time in 20 years some educational programs that will be helpful up at the high school. And in addition, providing all those other services. So in front of you, you have a candle. Please remember, and I'll make sure you get one, I apologize. Please make sure that you remember to you know, remember the victims of domestic violence whom we are working with, not just in this community, but in the Commonwealth. On the informational cards that I've given you all tonight, on the back of them are the actual services that we provide, and they're numerous. Thank you. There's another invitation that's being sent out to Medford residents for the candlelight vigil, which is taking place again next Wednesday. And we hope that if you can join us at that time, we know five o'clock is a tough time for people getting out of work, but whoever can join us, we would greatly appreciate it and look forward to working with you all on some new activities and new ventures over the next year. So I want to thank you again for allowing me the time to speak with you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Debbie, thank you for your leadership and your advocacy for people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much. Have a great night and keep up the great work. Bye bye.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilor Knight.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I just want to, Oh, you'll say, I just want to point out my, my resolution was just inaccurate. I believe they're at the Andrews middle school this weekend for the community day. but October 26th, which is next Wednesday, five o'clock, we'll be here at city hall. So I just wanted to point that out a second time and all are welcome to attend. And I want to thank Deb for coming forward tonight.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Caffiello. Mr. President, Mr. President, you know, I've been a supporter of Pueblo's Hope both personally and through my work at the Kiwanis for many years, along with Councilor Falco, with both Kiwanis members. And we've been long-term supporters of your group and we will continue to support your group. going forward. And thank you for your work in the community.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you all. On the motion of vice-president Lungo-Koehn that the paper be received and placed on file. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. On the motion of vice-president Lungo-Koehn to return to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries 60-271. Offered by councilor Marks. Be resolved that South Medford resident permit parking be discussed. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I was approached by SMARTO, which is South Medford Residents Together, an organization that was established some many years ago by Jim Silver and a number of South Medford residents to have a group that discusses issues in the South Medford neighborhood. And they've done yeoman's work on bringing up many public safety issues. many quality of life issues within the South Method neighborhood and have extended their tentacles to not only South Method but to also help other parts of the community. There has been an issue in South Medford for a number of years now. As we all know, parking is very tight and congested in the South Medford neighborhood as well as other parts of the city. And the way that we currently do our resident permit parking is outdated and antiquated to say the very least. In order to get resident permit parking in the city, you have to get a majority of the residents to sign a petition that petition then needs to go to the traffic commission, uh, for approval. And, uh, in my opinion, what's currently happening now is you have some streets that being approved other streets that aren't moving forward a petition or have been denied resident permit parking. And all we're doing is pushing a problem from one street to another. Uh, I did a little research. There's currently, I believe, uh, 133, resident permit parking streets, which is roughly 20% of the 655 streets in this community. So as you can see, there are a fair number of permit parking streets, uh, throughout scattered throughout our community. And, uh, it's long overdue in my opinion to create a citywide permit system that will look at citywide or possibly zoned, uh, permit parking. And it works in other communities. It's quite successful in other communities. It serves dual purpose to not only make sure that when a resident comes home from a busy day at work or comes home from picking up their kids at school that they should be able to find a spot on their street and not worry about people that are coming from other communities parking on our street for eight to 10 hours and going into town, Mr. President. So, with that being said, I'd like to invite Jim Silver up to the podium. I know there's a lot of other issues involved with permit parking. And how do we create permit parking citywide? But, uh, I don't think we have to recreate the wheel here. And, uh, I'm hoping that we as a community can move forward with a sensible approach to a permit parking citywide. Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor. And I just want to announce that, um, After some deliberation between the Mayor, the Director of the Office of Community Development, and myself, the linkage committee voted to allot a sum of money, which I uh, has escaped my mind. Was it 20,000, 20,000, 25, uh, to, um, uh, to begin 20 to begin the, uh, study process on, uh, implementing this, which is, as you've rightly pointed out, Councilor, uh, been a longstanding issue and, uh, one that we've advocated for a solution, uh, quite a long time.
[Michael Marks]: Just, just if I could on that, Mr. President, And I appreciate the linkage committee. A lot of people might not know what the linkage committee is, but, uh, in this city, if businesses want to do a business within this community and their project, uh, is over a certain size, um, they are required to pay the city a linkage money. And that linkage money can be used for a number of particular purposes. Uh, in this case, uh, the committee, which consists of the president of the council, The mayor and also the head of community development.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Actually, it's the auditor. Excuse me. The auditor met on Monday, October 17th to take $20,000 from the road trust, which is part of
[Michael Marks]: the linkage money that's available. And although I'm not opposed to studies, Mr. President, I would just caution my fellow colleagues, even though it doesn't require approval from us, the previous history with studies in this community is one of three studies from 2005 to revitalize Method Square. that costed a couple of hundred thousand dollars for three studies to revitalize Medford Square, and we're no closer in revitalizing our square from 2005 to current. Governor Zav's feasibility study for the garage that fell down. A study was done for the Governor Zav garage. We don't have a garage now. The Mystic River Water Taxi Service, a feasibility study to study taxi service from the Mystic River. Not quite sure when it freezes over in the winter, unless they're gonna have an ice cutter in front of the taxi, how it's gonna get down the Mystic River, but that was a study that was commissioned by the city. The Wellington Circle Traffic Improvement Study. Now, anyone that's been in the city for a lot of years will realize Wellington Circle's been that way for 75 years. And there's been a lot of talk and discussion, a lot of lip service, but, you know, overpass, underpass, but nothing has been done to improve pedestrian safety. Take it from someone that lives 30 yards from Wellington Circle. Nothing has been done to improve pedestrian safety at Wellington Circle, even after the study was commissioned. Then we also had the police station feasibility study back in 2013. So that was three years ago. Nothing has been done to date with that particular study. I'm not opposed to studies. Studies could be very helpful. But in this case, Mr. President, I have an article from February 2015 where Chief Sacco stated on several occasions that Uh, this is his quote by as early as next year. And this was again, February of 2015 by early of next year, which is January of 2016 police Sacco said the city plans to adopt a new system for residential parking. So that leads me to believe, although he's not timely, he's working on something. And that's what we've been told by the chief. Another quote, the street by street enforcement as it's done now is age old. Sacco said during a January, Medford City Council meeting, we either will go to zone or citywide residential permits, but I don't see that happening before next year. And again, this was January, February of 2015. And then it goes on to say, Sacco said the traffic commission would likely meet in June to develop a new residential parking system with the intent of implementing it at the start of next year, which would be January of this year. So we have Chief Sacco and the Traffic Commission, by the way, which is responsible for the oversight of parking in this community, saying they're working on the issue unless they recommended that The mayor commissioned a study for $20,000, which they might have. I'm not privy to that. Why would we issue a $20,000 study when we have our own traffic commission, our own chief of police looking into an issue? And why do we need to spend $20,000, Mr. President, on a report that you can get three sensible people to sit around a table for two nights and figure out. I don't understand that. It really makes no sense. But again, it's what this city does. You know, if there's an issue, commission a study. If there's an issue with the square being dead for 20 years, issue a study. If that doesn't work, issue a second one. If that doesn't work, issue a third one. And just keep on issuing studies, and maybe the people will forget. So I'm not sold on this $20,000, Mr. President. I'd like to hear from Chief Sacco about where he stands with permit parking in this community. And I would like to hear from the Chief Law Enforcement Officer. not just from a bureaucrat saying that we need to have another study in this community. Another study. It just doesn't sit well with me, Mr. President. And, you know, I'd like to hear from Jim Silva from SMARTO on the issue, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The Press Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Silva. Please state your name and address for the record. And welcome. Mr. Silva Thank you.
[Jim Silva]: Jim Silva, 115 Yale Street. As Councilor Marks alluded to, our request is for area-wide resident parking in South Metro specifically. But we do have four very important topics that are impacting people in the community currently and some suggestions we wanted to present to the city. Number one, the small street resident parking. Too many cars, not enough spaces, streets like Wheeler, Shapely, Killsite, Berwick, Bradford, Benton, Hale. They have more residents, stickers, and visitor passes than spaces. There's a 48-hour street parking limits, and they're not being enforced. There's an overuse of visitor parking placards. And living on a corner allows you to park on adjoining streets, but you have to go to the Traffic Commission to actually get that approval. What we're recommending is, going forward, these small streets are allowed to park on adjoining streets going forward, all of the streets, based on the number of stickers on the side of the street. So it doesn't require people to come down to the Traffic Commission and have to advocate for themselves to get parking. The reality is they pay for this parking. They should be able to park in those adjoining streets. There are streets that have overnight street cleaning, Harvard Street and Boston Avenue, and they don't have alternative side parking. So all the streets that surround those streets are residents. They're not allowed to resident parking because they don't have resident parking on their particular street. What we're suggesting is we allow people to use the overnight public parking lot on Neal Street as well as Tufts University during the summer months as a temporary measure until area wide resident parking comes into play. That will be probably 20 nights a year where people would park in the public parking lot. So it shouldn't cause too much of a problem in the neighborhoods, but it really is something that needs to be looked at because people are getting tickets. There's no place for people to park on those street cleaning nights and somebody needs to stand up and sort of advocate for you. So if you can take this and run with it to the traffic commission or whomever, and just speak for us, because you do represent us. We really need some assistance. The other is the snow removal on a snow emergency on Maine, Harvard, Medford, Warner, and Boston Avenue. They again don't have resident parking. So on those nights when there's an emergency, and last year there was 4.5 weeks of emergency snow removal, snow emergency, those people were getting tickets. They were parking on streets surrounding them in their resident parking. What we're suggesting is the city maybe should set up an alternative satellite parking location or have some type of snow temporary emergency pass that people can put in their window. They pay their excise tax bill and emergency passes given to them because they don't have the luxury of resident parking, but they should be able to park on the surrounding streets in those situations. Number three, the enforcement of the 48-hour parking limit on non-resident parking streets. Winchester, Medford, Maine, Boston Ave from the Somerville line and Hicks Avenue all have cars that are parked there from out of state and coming over from the Somerville line for weeks, days and weeks at a time. People drop their car off, go into the city, and people can't possibly park on those streets. We need to enforce the 48-hour parking limit Streets under construction is number four. Boston Avenue is currently under construction from the Somerville line to Harvard Street. These people during the day have no alternative parking, so if people work nights and they're home during the day, they can't park on Warner, St. Clements, or Bristol Road, because those are resident parking. Again, we would suggest to the city to do some type of emergency parking pass for those people to allow them to be there, or maybe suspend during the day the resident parking criteria on the three streets that surround them. We understand this issue is difficult to walk with. We've had these conversations amongst us, but these are some of the suggestions that we have come to, and it really does work for a community. We need to make sure that when we build our community, we're building it for everybody, and that's what we're trying to do here. I invite any of you to come down any time and speak with us. I do suggest that you take public transportation because parking's tight. Thank you. I have some people here from Shapely that would like to speak on this issue.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Welcome to come up. Please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_05]: Hello. Good evening. My name is Chris Coughlin, C-O-U-G-H-L-I-N. I live at 28 Shapely Ave. here in Medford. I'm a veteran of the Iraqi War. very grateful for law enforcement. I was a human intelligence collector over there. Now I'm on a tougher mission. I'm actually a public high school teacher. But so yeah, parking's tight, as everyone here knows. We've had a few interactions with Park Medford people. And like someone mentioned, we just want to be able to come home from work and park. and feel comfortable, continue to feel comfortable in our neighborhood. So we do have a few questions, though. We're very curious as to the, we heard that Park Medford was recently purchased by someone else. We know the company comes from Tennessee. I was shocked to hear about that, but anyway, that's another story. So we wanna know questions like, who is Park Medford accountable to? We would love to know the question, the answer to the question, what is the relationship between Medford Park, I'm sorry, Park Medford and the Medford Police? You know, what's the relationship there? We'd like to know more about that. We'd also like to know a very important question. What percentage of revenue does this company take from Medford parking tickets? So what percentage of revenue does Park Medford take You know, the exact numbers would be great. How much revenue does Medford acquire from Park Medford? How much does the city of Medford take from Park Medford? We would like to know that. We would also know that if the city has received some revenue from Park Medford, what is the money being used for? But we would love something like, you know, we're thinking the zone parking, like South Medford permit, something like that. But thank you for your work. We know you guys are taking serious consideration. And thank you. It's an honor to be here tonight. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Chair awaits a motion.
[Clerk]: Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor.
[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, um, if, if we can have the, uh, the gentleman that just spoke last, if he can leave us a list of the questions, I think those questions should be answered by the city administration. So if you can leave a list of the questions with the city messenger, uh, we'll make sure that it's read into the report and we get those questions answered. Um, also, Mr. President, Mr. Silver and his group have done a lot of work in compiling a lot of information that I believe the administration as well as Park Method should find very useful. And what better to have residents that get together with a common cause and present not only a gripe, but how to resolve an issue. And if you heard from Mr. Silva, he's laying out how they can resolve some of the issues that are confronting residents in particular in Salt Method. And, um, if we could, uh, by a vote of this council, uh, pass that along to the traffic commission for, uh, for their next meeting, um, that would be very helpful, Mr. President. And if we can also, um, have a park method, which Councilor Caraviello was called for a number of times now, uh, come to a council meeting to discuss some of the issues that we've had, uh, on the program itself. Uh, I think we should reiterate that. So if we can have, uh, everything that was stated by Jim Silver and Mr. Clark, did you get any of that? You didn't Jim, Jim, would you mind when your mind just coming up to the podium one more time? And, um, cause I wrote down some, I don't know if I captured all of them. I wrote down, uh,
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, uh, council before we have that, uh, may I point out to you that, uh, a Councilor, a member of this body is the one who, uh, adds, uh, pieces to a motion. Councilor. Right. Councilor Knight point of information.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, point of information would be if in fact, we're looking for the exact verbiage. Um, I know that the council is in the past, always accepted written testimony as well. Um, we can accept the written testimony and save Mr. Silver the trouble of reiterating it three or four times and going through the process. And, uh, you can submit the written testimony to the city clerk to be forwarded to the traffic commission if that's a suitable to the council.
[Michael Marks]: Well, that, well, that's, I don't know what his written testimony looks like, but, um, I think it's always helpful with, would it be helpful to give bullet points or the written testimony to, uh, I believe we all received an email some weeks ago. Did you have a list of the bullet points? Okay. So Mr. President, if we can accept the bullet points, uh, and I have the bullet points forwarded to traffic commission for review and, uh, answer the questions also that were presented, uh, regarding, um, uh, park method would be helpful. Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor chair recognizes vice president Lungel Kern.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. President Dello Russo. I just, I think it's great that we did appropriate some money or the city, the linkage committee did appropriates 20,000 to review parking in the area at the South method is an area where we get a lot of complaints and Mr. Silva's right. There's, there's more permits that are given out than their actual parking spaces, which does cause a problem. Um, in, in, I think we should be hopeful and hope that this $20,000 will go to be spent in a reasonable amount of time to come up with some resolution to the issue. But I think Mr. Silva gives a number of great recommendations that really should be implemented on an immediate basis. I think allowing the public lot to be used during street sweeping nights is a extremely good point. And I think there's little things that can be done to alleviate some of the congestion and some of the problems that are taking place. So I really hope that the Traffic Commission reviews the bullet points and takes them into account and potentially votes on them at the next meeting. I'm not sure if Jim knows when the next meeting is, so maybe we could get this on the agenda and maybe a few Councilors could come and support you and the neighbors who are having the problem.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'm just asking when the next traffic meeting is. Do you know? I think they're the second Tuesday of every month. Second Tuesday. So November, second Tuesday in November.
[Jim Silva]: I think it's maybe the following week. But I will definitely get on the agenda.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: If you could let us know when the next meeting is and if we could request that this be on the agenda for that meeting in November.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The Traffic Commission actually notifies us a week before every meeting in our packets.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Correct. And if we could ask the Traffic Commission to put this on the agenda specifically, that congestion and parking in South Medford be discussed. with the recommendations from the city council and Mr. Silva to be addressed and voted on. I think that making that request is something that we can do. It's in our purview. We can make requests and recommendations, and I think it's something that will go a long way in helping Mr. Silva's cause and the citizens of South Medford who are having a great deal of problems in that area.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. All set.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you. Councilor Marks for bringing this issue forward. Uh, I've been a firm advocate for examining citywide permit parking since my election some years ago. Um, and I think that that's really the best approach would be to taking, taking a look at this in a citywide perspective. Mr. President, um, the piecemeal approach isn't working as we're going street by street by petition. All it is is pushing the problem over to the next block. I think the only fair and equitable way to really address this would be to take a look at the whole entire city, because the problems that the individuals are having in South Medford aren't much different than the problems that the individuals in the hillside are having. And they're not much different than the problems that the individuals down on First, Second, Third, and Fourth Street are having. So I think that the only fair and equitable approach, Mr. President, would be to examine it in a citywide basis. That's the position that I've had for a number of years, and that's the position that I'm going to maintain, Mr. President. I certainly also would support a study. And I think that as we look at the best practices of municipal government, best practices would show that data-driven decision-making is the way to go. And you can't make data-driven decision-making without collecting data. And the way to collect the data would be through a study. So I can certainly sympathize with the issues that are going on down in South Medford, because I quite frequently spend a lot of time there. And I, too, have issues with parking. And as I think about it right now, I have a $100 ticket that I have to pay for being a little too close to a bus stop down there. So I, too, have been victimized and victimized myself, I guess, by trying to do the best I can to squeeze in down in that neighborhood, Mr. President. So I certainly understand the frustrations. And ultimately, it is a quality-of-life issue. And I think that this is something that can be addressed. I think that it's also taken too long for the Traffic Commission to make a determination as to whether or not citywide permit parking is the way to go. So with that being said, Mr. President, I think that looking at this in the only fair and equitable way would be to do it on a citywide basis.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Councilor. Chair recognizes the citizen of East Medford. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you, Councilor Dello Russo. Andrew P. Castagnetti, Cushion Street, Medford, Mass. I don't have much to add to the pains in Salt and Method for the parking. I do feel that pain, however, because although I've been out of there for 36 years, I used to live in Mystic Avenue. That was the old Route 93 to Boston before they built Route 93 in 1960. It wasn't a picnic back then when there's more cars, obviously, these days. I would like to advise to a word of caution for future excavations of the problems for future parking. It may become even more of a nightmare if the board of appeals allows developers to not meet their 2.1 parking spots per residential unit. I would find it hard to issue an invariance to not require the 2.1, which maybe we could even increase the three or whatever. Just a word of caution. Thank you for listening.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, citizen. Chair awaits a motion.
[Michael Marks]: Motion for approval, roll call, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: A motion for approval by Councilor Marks as amended. Roll call has been requested. We have it. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Calviano? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? No. Vice President O'Kerry? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Scott Valley? Yes. President Dello Russo?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. The vote is six in the affirmative, one in the negative. Motion passes. Did I count that right? Thank you very much. 16-722 off the council of Falco, whereas route 28 Felsway West is a state road and one of the most heavily traveled roads in the city of Medford. And whereas many residents cross route 28 Felsway West at the intersection of Fulton street, be it resolved that the city of Metro requested DCR, the department of conservation and recreation, to adjust the pedestrian timing signal to allow pedestrians more time to cross route 28 Felsway West at the intersection of Fulton Street. Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I brought this, uh, resolution up for tonight. I've received a number of calls from, uh, residents in the heights and, uh, also in down in the lower Fulton street area, uh, people crossing the Felsway right down near St. Francis. And, um, One of the biggest problems down there is when you press the button to actually cross the Fellsway, there's not enough time to cross. So it counts down. And when you get halfway across, you have to sprint the rest of the way. And it's, it's definitely a public safety issue. Um, in fact, uh, on the way to the meeting tonight, I was the first car on line down by St. Francis stop. The couple was walking and they hit the button, they crossed, they made it to the island in the middle, and then they had to sprint to get to the other side. And that's, you know, you have traffic coming off of 93. It's a very busy roadway and it's a public safety issue. So I'd appreciate it if we could have, um, uh, someone from the mayor's office reached out to the DCR and see what we can do to have the, um, more time added to that crossing signal so people can cross the street safely.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a,
[John Falco]: It's a very busy intersection. A lot of people cross that intersection in the morning, walk across there to catch the bus to go into Boston, or to go to Wellington Station. Some kids cross to get to baseball in the summer and whatnot. have someone contact the DCR to increase the time to cross the street, the walking signals. I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. On the motion for approval by Councilor Falco, Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. Um, I just want to second the paper. I drive down Fulton street on my way to drop off my kids every day. And this is a problem. You see pedestrians that don't have enough time. Um, I also want to see if you wouldn't mind amending the paper if, if, DCR is amenable to changing those lights, maybe giving a few extra seconds to people coming down Fulton Street, because we are getting a backup all the way past Jim's Market on some days. Today was right at Jim's Market, and it took 20 minutes to get down Fulton Street. So that's what, kids are being late for school, so we have a pedestrian issue, and we have, if we could just adjust those, that time as well, or request it, I think that would be helpful for the traffic that's backing up Um, because you definitely can give them an extra 10 seconds, each green signal and still have the Fells wake free and clear. Absolutely.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good on that motion as amended. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Uh, Mr. President, I'd also like to further amend the paper and request that the DCI provide us with a listing of all of the DCI controlled crosswalks and, um, cross signals in the community so that we can take a look and make sure that we're all operational and, uh, meeting their intended purpose on that motion as amended again.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those in favor? All those, oh, welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez. I live at 281 Park Street. The intersection that we're talking about is actually six lanes across with the island. So it's, yeah, it's a jaunt. A lot of the kids that live in Fulton Heights do attend the Roberts Elementary. We do have walking Wednesdays two months out of the year, which encourages the children from Fulton Heights to walk there. And even though there are adults, they definitely can't make it through. We'd love to have a crossing guard there. And it also should be noted that from Salem Street to that point, it's .7 miles with no slow down, no stop. A crosswalk at the intersection of Park and Felsway could probably slow them down some as well, because I know that's considered a dragway. Anyone who lives near there has witnessed the sprint trying to get from Salem through to the highway without having to stop. So it's a really dangerous intersection. Hopefully we can address that. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for approval as amended. All those in favor. All those opposed. Motion passes. Petition. Motion for suspension of the rules. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Motion to take papers in the hands of the clerk, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion to take papers in the hands of the clerk and papers under suspension. All those in favor. All those opposed. Carries. 16-725 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council send its condolences to the family of Anthony Silva, longtime resident of Medford. Anthony Silva served his country as an Army veteran of the Green War. His presence in our community will be missed. Councilor.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I just want to send the condolences to the Silva family and their, his wife and their three children. They're longtime residents. his presence will be missed in our community. Good people. Please stand for a moment of silence for this deceased Metro resident.
[Fred Dello Russo]: 16-726 offered by Councilor Caraviello will be resolved that the Medford City Council request an answer to why there was no crossing guard at the Brooks School on Monday morning. be it further resolved that a job description for the crossing guards be provided, if possible, request that the Medford police attend. Councilor Carfiolo.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I know we've been having a lot of problems in that corner there, and I was dismayed when I got a call at 8 o'clock in the morning. about no crossing guards there. I immediately went to the school, I spoke with the Principal Galusi, she informed me of the situation, and I was made aware that an officer was there within a few minutes after them being called, and to take care of the situation along with someone else. And I did have the opportunity to get out to the police station, and Captain Clementi, gave me a description of what happened over there and why there was no officer, no crossing guy there. But the fact remains that I don't know how this fell through the cracks, that at 8 o'clock on a Monday morning, nobody was there. So I think that's something that either the reporting system didn't work or something didn't work. And also, Mr. President, these crossing guards are doing more than crossing children. They're directing traffic. And I don't know if that's part of their job description. Do we have a job description? If we do, could it be provided? Because as I say, these women and men are doing more than I think they're supposed to be doing. I say, especially at these busy schools and intersections. I say, you know, crossing the kids is dangerous enough. Nevermind with them having to direct traffic with all these cars on these side streets. So.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, thank you, uh, consular Caraviello for bringing this forward tonight. I also did receive calls, um, uh, the other day about this issue. And, um, we talked a lot about this at our last police community meeting. And, uh, one of these, they talked about the various solutions, uh, um, that they were going to implement in that, at that intersection and crosswalk. And, uh, one of them I believe was to, uh, set up like a, um, a flashing sign that would slow down cars. And, um, that hasn't arrived yet. If you could just, uh, get, we'll find out from the mayor's office as to when, um, that sign is going to be, um, uh, set up and installed. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Clerk has that, uh, madam vice president.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, president Dello Russo. I too got a number of emails and two phone calls with regards to, what happened yesterday, and it is sad that that fell through the cracks. There was also, I believe, a gentleman in the audience posted on Facebook, so you actually see pictures of the principal, who obviously should be directing her students accordingly in the school, was out doing her due diligence and stopping traffic and allowing the children to cross. I mean, we know we've had a couple near misses in the last few weeks at that location, so everybody is concerned about it, we do need to make sure that that intersection and all our intersections near all of our schools are manned on a daily basis. If a crossing guard is out, we need to make sure somebody fills in to cross the students. I know I did reach out to the mayor's office and the mayor's office was very responsive and has asked a reserve crossing guard to remain at the post as well as a sector car for the remainder of the time that that crossing guard who is normally there will be out. So I thank the mayor's office for doing that. And hopefully we can keep on top of this through the mayor's office and through the chief of police. We can make sure that each and every one of our crossing locations for the schools is manned every day, morning and afternoon, so that we can prevent anything or do our best to prevent anything from happening to one of our children.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Chair recognizes Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I think it's safe to say that We here in the community ask a lot of our educators. But asking them to be crossing guards is a bit much. I'd like to publicly commend Principal Suzanne Buckley-Galusi on her efforts and her work in taking this situation as seriously as it is and getting out there and actually taking action. So I think she was a great hire and a great selection for principal of the Brooks School. And she's really living up to expectations. And this is evident, Mr. President. But with that being said, we have a representative here from the police department. Mr. Barry Clemente here, and maybe he can shed some light on the situation as to what happened and explain to us exactly what was going on on Monday morning and how we got to that situation and what steps have been taken to prevent it from happening again.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We hear his voice all the time.
[Adam Knight]: Now before us live, the man behind the phone calls, right?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Behind the phone calls. Captain Barry Clemente.
[Barry Clemente]: Good evening. Um, as far as what happened Monday, um, the traffic supervisor did call in, um, That information was not relayed to the commanding officer, which in turn wasn't relayed to the assignment office. As a result, there was nobody there at the pole, not the pole, but the traffic spot post. Um, we took immediate, uh, action to rectify it. We did put a, um, a mock unit down there with an officer when it became clear to us what had happened. And, um, What we've done to prevent this from happening in the future is, you know, we've reestablished the policy and put it out to all the offices on our digital headquarters board. And so all the offices know the importance of, uh, relaying that information to the commanding officer, which in turn will make it to the, uh, the assignment office. Um, the offices are genuinely concerned about the safety of the children and, uh, We've senses, uh, council long goes, uh, mentioned, we do have cruises down there, mock units with lights on, um, both on both ends of the, um, the assignment, which is the AM and PM, um, at the Brooks school, along with the reserve officer that has been there to fill for the engine traffic supervisor. So we don't anticipate on this happening again. It's unfortunate though. It did happen on Monday. Well, we thank you for the ethics of the police department and straightening this out. Yeah, it's, it's definitely been straightened out. And, um, Councilor, I know you mentioned, um, something about the, um, the future system that's going to be down there. Uh, they're, they are looking to actually change the configuration and infrastructure that's down there right now. Uh, I do have, uh, some paperwork here. I do believe everyone's been briefed on everything that's going to be going on down there. Um, that system that you were talking about, um, actually has an 80 to 90% yield rate when it's implemented. So I think that that's going to help immensely down there. Uh, they're going to be straightening out the crosswalks down there as well. Um, which, and adding curbing, which will actually shorten the length of the crosswalk, which makes it a little bit safer. And I think with all that implementation, I think with the addition of the police officers being on scene, I don't anticipate any problems. That device is actually called a Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon. That's a mouthful. But we actually have the locations where that's going to go in. And Chief Sacco and Officer Brooks have been working constantly with that. I don't have a time frame for that, but I'm hoping that very soon that that's going to start. And that should, you know, you know, alleviate some of the problems that have been occurring down there. Uh, the congestion all over the city is, is just amazing. Uh, you can see it in the square. If I don't leave my house at six 30 in the morning, um, it can take 30, 40 minutes for me to get down here and I'm not far away at all. There's an increase in traffic all over the city. I think the office is doing a good job, um, you know, with the enforcement. And, uh, again, they're generally concerned about the welfare of the children in the schools. And, um, and we're going to have offices down there on the AM and PM shifts along with the reserve officer. So I don't anticipate, uh, any lack of coverage in the future.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Awesome.
[Barry Clemente]: Thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: My pleasure. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you very much. Uh, captain appreciate the work you do.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Uh, I know captain Clemente doesn't oversee the crossing guides, correct? You don't oversee them.
[Barry Clemente]: I do not know. Our assignment office will assign accordingly if there is a traffic supervisor on vacation or if one does call in sick. We have a list of reserve offices, right now we have three. And if there's a situation where there aren't enough of reserve offices, we do put a unit down there. We take a unit from the shift, whether it be a traffic unit or a sector car to help cross the students and the parents.
[Michael Marks]: Does that number seem a little low, three reserves?
[Barry Clemente]: It does.
[Michael Marks]: Remember in previous years we used to have maybe a dozen.
[Barry Clemente]: I'd love, I'd love to see a dozen. I've seen situations where we've had, um, we've had to deplete the shift pretty much, uh, covering traffic posts. And I think that's a safety problem in and of itself, uh, as they're answering calls for service. So we definitely need more reserves.
[Michael Marks]: So what happens if a police officer is acting as a crossing guy and they receive a public safety call?
[Barry Clemente]: Well, we take another unit in that area. We have two units in each, each sector, um, on good days and, um, we'll assign accordingly. Um, I've seen situations where the shifts have been pretty much depleted. Right. If, if there are a lot of situations or a lot of traffic supervisors out, um, I've seen it happen.
[Michael Marks]: Now do our traffic supervisors have a way of communicating with the police department when they're out on the streets?
[Barry Clemente]: Uh, phone, they don't have radios.
[Michael Marks]: So their own personal phone, right? Is there a reason why we don't give them some type of walkie talkie or communication directly?
[Barry Clemente]: Something, something to be looked at. Yeah. Definitely down the road to improve things.
[Michael Marks]: That's that's what I was told by the chief a couple of years ago that that that was going to happen. Well, they'd look into it.
[Barry Clemente]: Right.
[Michael Marks]: And I think at the time you were getting an upgrade on your walkie talkies. And it was mentioned that maybe some of the older ones could be used, because I've had crossing guards come up to me and say, you know, we have cars that aren't stopping. And I'm able to get a license plate, but, you know, by the time I pull out my phone or do what I have to do, you know, it's easier just to let the car go by. But I think if we had quicker communication, you know, with some of these people that are disregarding kids in the crosswalk, disregarding a traffic supervisor that's out there with their hand up saying stop, You probably hear the stories. I'd like to see greater communication in cracking down on these people that are paying no attention to traffic supervisors.
[Barry Clemente]: I'll speak to the chief about that. Today, everyone's texting. There's so many distractions out there. There's less attention as a result of those texting or being on the phone. It's a problem. It's definitely a problem. Um, but we do have a reserve officer in place for the book school, um, from here on in. So further notice along with the police officer lights, cruiser, and so further notice, both shifts morning and afternoon. Thank you, captain. All right. Thank you. Councilor Knight again?
[Adam Knight]: Yes, Captain, when you say reserve officer, are you referring to a reserve officer on the reserve list that could be eligible for hire if in fact a position became available?
[Barry Clemente]: Yes, we have three right now on the list that if a traffic supervisor calls in sick or takes a vacation, we can pull off of that reserve list. Like I said, there's three people there.
[Adam Knight]: Do you have an auxiliary as well?
[Barry Clemente]: No, we just have the original. Original list for the traffic supervisors and then the reserve.
[Adam Knight]: Okay, so there's no auxiliary, please.
[Barry Clemente]: There's no auxiliary. We need more we need more Thank you, thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: I was this. I'm sorry. Thank you. Mr. President. Thank you captain appreciate all you do I know that on the school committee we received many a calls when you're driving into school, there's no crossing guard. When we say reserves, do we have, for instance, substitute crossing guards that come in that could be called in when someone's not able?
[Barry Clemente]: We have those three on the reserve. Right, so those are the only three? Those are the only three right now. If it goes past that, we use our officers.
[George Scarpelli]: OK, so is it possible if we can put an amendment on that to ask the mayor? I think this would be a great opportunity to maybe get the seniors involved in part of the tax break, looking to train our volunteers and getting volunteers, even different school systems, different areas. And maybe even asking the PTGs and the PTOs if there are parents that are in the area that if you wanted to volunteer and be trained in case of emergency, I mean, that'll help. I think anything would help right now. So maybe if we look into that and asking maybe the superintendent to look and talking to the chief and maybe the mayor about, um, asking us to school volunteers, if there are any, you know, uh, parents that are in the, in the area that want to be trained and used for emergency situations like this, maybe that could be something we can look at. So that can alleviate the issue.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So, so your, your amendment is that the mayor, investigate the possibility of implementing volunteers, either seniors or parents to be able to step in in the event of a lack of crossing guards.
[Barry Clemente]: Correct. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor. Yeah, I'm very excited that with these, um, with this infrastructure change here, I can see immediately that it will help down there at the book school. And I think the chief addressed the parents down there at the book school at the last community meeting. Um, and you get a good reception from them as a result of this. Thank you. I just don't have the timetable on it, but I know it's in the works. Well, thank you very much. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And I know a couple of citizens wanted to address the council on this as well.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hello, uh, Frank O'Leary, 85 Rollington street. First, I'd like to thank the City Council, Mayor's Office, and Medford Police Department for taking on this issue and acting as quickly as you have been. There have been great strides over at the Brooks, at the Alston Street and High Street corner. The street markings are in. You can see that visually the road is getting smaller. The incident with the miscommunication was definitely unfortunate. It shows that there's definitely still a lot more work that needs to be done. I'm kind of curious, when you said that there was going to be officers in place there indefinitely, is that until Nicole comes back? Or is that going to be ongoing? Because Nicole's wonderful. She's incredibly brave for being out there. But she's not there now, because she was either struck or almost struck. Yeah, she was almost struck last Wednesday.
[Barry Clemente]: And as a result of getting out of the way of a motor vehicle, she actually twisted, moved awkwardly and twisted something. She did manage to, it was 7 in the morning, she did manage to go to her afternoon shift. And then at 4 p.m., we moved inside to her, and she didn't seem to have a lot of attention. Whoever played in the car, she did speak to the driver. The car did stop. Right now, I'm on track to investigate that. But she's out indefinitely right now. And for right now, until further notice, we're going to have officers down there, as well as a reserve officer. as long as the push is going to continue. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_04]: There's clearly a disregard for the crosswalk and for the crossing guards. I've seen her almost get struck several times personally. And the other day with Susan Galussi going out there, it put her in danger of not having the experience of crossing children. And the other thing is that the meeting that we had with the chief, the DPW, made it sound like instated that the flashing, I'm not even gonna try to pronounce that, whatever, rectangular rabbit flash thing, that they would be in place within 10 days, that after the meeting, they're gonna order them and they'll be in place. So I'm wondering what the delay is on that because that's the band-aid fix that everybody's looking for. We understand that it's gonna be after January into the spring before a lot of things happening gets developed. And another thing I would point out is that on the social media, there have been a number of reports that Brooks isn't the only school where this is happening at. There are other schools where principals are crossing kids. So this is not just a West Medford, this is a Medford issue. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Mr. Miller. Thank you, Captain. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President. Yes. Um, I had a recent conversation with, um, personnel in the DPW that did inform me that some signage is in stock or has arrived relative to pedestrian crossings. I don't know if it's the rectangular rapid flashing beacon, but I know that they have some stock that has arrived and I can clarify that for Mr. O'Leary as to whether or not, um, that is the material that has come in, uh, that's in stock and ready to go, Mr. President. But ultimately I'd like to amend the paper and, um, include Councilor Marksley's recommendation that our traffic super and supervisors be outfitted with communication equipment that will allow them to dispatch either the main office of the school that they're working at or to the Metro police department. Um, I think that, like I, as I said, we ask a lot of our educators, Mr. President, but they're always willing to rise to the top and rise to the occasion. And if they're being, dispatched by the crossing got into the main office that there's a problem out there than the main office has some personnel that can handle some of the phone calls and stuff like that. Well, the crossing traffic supervisor continues to cross kids and make sure that they get to school. So I think that's an excellent recommendation, Mr. President. I think it should be added to part of the resolution. I thank you for bringing it up.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor, ma'am. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Jeanne Martin]: Gene Martin, 10 coming street. And I hope, uh, I just hope that the mayor is going to listen to me and I'm not being antagonistic at all. The city needs, and I'm trying really not to be antagonistic, I'm not yelling at her, I'm not doing anything. When the city doesn't look at it from a city perspective, it's gonna cost money, it's gonna be painful to people, not everybody's gonna like it, but I agree with Mr. Knight tonight, I agree with Mr. Falco, and Mr. Marks is always talking about traffic calming measures. It's all the same theme all night. And unless you look at the whole city and you look at the flow patterns and you get a professional in here to do the traffic calming measures, get the traffic engineer, and the parking needs to be done at a city level. It does. Otherwise, you're going to have this constant drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. And I'm not trying to be, I'm not yelling at her. I just, I really want her to look at the whole overview, hire somebody, take the political hits because you're going to irritate people. when you tell them that they can't park there anymore or whatever, it's going to cost. But in the long run, if you don't take care of it, it comes down on the bottom, and I have talked to some of the safety people that cross, and they see the sun in the eyes because it's certain times of day, and the people don't respect the guards. You're right. They don't respect the crossing guards. not considered really, you know, they gotta get to work, or they gotta get their kid off to school, or whatever, and the mindset has changed. And so they don't respect it. So if we don't have a slower moving system, and yeah, it's gonna back up, and yeah, there's gonna be complaints, but yeah, you have to do something about it because somebody's gonna get hurt. One of the traffic people, a kid, and who can't feel sorry for kids getting hit? I mean, there's, you know, I mean, there's no, and the other thing is elderly. Because when you're talking about the Felsway, I know some elderly ladies that go to St. Francis and they walk down there, and they go down to the senior citizen center, and they walk, some of them actually walk down there. So it's very, very dangerous for seniors as well, because they can't scoot. So I'm begging the mayor to really take a good look at the overview of the city, because otherwise it comes down to the bottom, and those people at the bottom get crushed. And if we need to hire more, auxiliary for the crossing guards, then we have to find the money to do it. So that when there's a sick call or something, that there's a replacement for that person, because you can't use the police, unless you're going to use the police for crossing guards, period. But you can't use the police, it doesn't make sense. There's a reason why we have the police, why we have the crossing guards. The crossing guards are there to cross the children. And so if you pull them, we don't have enough to pull off the police. Because what if there's an actual emergency? Now you've got to catch 22. It's one thing when they're on a site for National Grid, they can be pulled away because, you know, but how can you leave, abandon a site where it's a crossing guard for an hour when you have a robbery or something or something more important? Now you have to, the cop has to make that decision. And he shouldn't have to or she shouldn't have to be in that position. So I really, really, really, I hope that she looks at the whole thing. You need a city engineer, you need to do this, and it's not gonna get any easier. Thank you so much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, Ms. Martin. Good evening, please state your name and address for the record, welcome.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez. I live at 281 Park Street, which is the street that the Roberts Elementary School is on. Our principal is one of the principals who is out in the parking lot. Our traffic configuration was changed so that the drop-off loop is now parking because our teachers, our school has expanded to the point that we don't have enough parking for our teachers. They double parked in the parking lot and that overflowed and now they're parked in the the drop-off loop, so our kids are further away from the school when they get dropped off. We have a problem with parents and commuters who've decided that the drop-off loop is a great way to bypass all the cars that are backed up on Park Street down to the Felsway, so they'll buzz through as the children are trying to cross. So, our principal has taken to standing at the end of the driveway with his arms crossed in an effort to stop people because my child has been one of the children that has almost been mowed down by someone just whipping through. either from Court Street all the way across through the loop and out Park Street or through the loop from Park Street to Park Street. So that's a dangerous situation and I'm sure that if you talk to people at the Columbus, if you talk to people at the Andrews, I had a daughter at the McGlynn, there were issues there. So I just think we need to look at all the schools. I know that the Brooks is having emergent problems right now and I'm happy that they're being addressed. I just hope that the rest of the schools are involved in the conversation. I know that Mr. Johnson has asked the school committee they announced last night that he had asked for an additional crossing guard to help at the loop area. I'm not sure what the status of that is. I also spoke to Chief Sacco at the community meeting and asked him to look again at our traffic configuration. And he said he would get back to me. I'm not sure what the status is on that either. So I just want to inject that in the conversation. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci is 71 Evans street. Uh, I don't know how feasible it is, is for the city, but if an extra set of eyes is, is needed, I know neighboring communities like Cambridge, they have cameras at intersections and such. And if people are, I mean, I've never personally seen anybody blow off a crossing guard, but if people are, I mean, that's a very serious issue that drastic measures have to definitely be taken. And on the matter of hiring auxiliary, last Tuesday night when I presented that humble suggestion, the next day actually, I walk my dog at the park. I spoke to a guy who used to be an auxiliary police officer and, um, they're, they're invaluable in terms of the service that they provide. If they're only working 20 hours a week. I mean, this guy personally actually, uh, caught down and tracked a, a, uh, an offender. I won't say of what nature, but, uh, um, I wonder if the city knows when, We did get rid of the auxiliary police we used to have. I know growing up in the 70s and 80s, we used to call them parkies. There used to be a cop at every park. But we've got rid of that program, and I'm wondering why, just if it was budgeted. If you can find out, that would be great. And look into it, whatever you can do for public safety. It's really government's first issue is protection of the citizens. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You're absolutely right. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Citizen. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you. Castagnetti, Cushing street. Um, I don't know much about this auxiliary enforcement police business. However, if I recollect years back when we took away the parking meters in Medford square and then I believe the city installed signs saying two hour parking only. And for whatever reason or reasons, it wasn't enforced very well, especially after my buddy Vinnie the cop left the department. And all they had to do was show, in my estimation, five orange tickets on a daily basis in each square, including the middle square, all five squares, and other squares, if they exist. And I think people would have, saw the orange and said, maybe I should stay in Winchester and Stoneham, Melrose, et cetera, or Somerville, and find other alternate transportation to work. I'm just assuming all this. I don't really know. And I think, I believe, actually, that some citizen brought up a point, well, why can't we hire since the police staff might be understaffed in this community. Why can't we hire, I believe the term was auxiliary police, in order to give out tickets and maybe pay them 10, 12, $15 an hour, instead of what the going rate is in pension for police officers. And I believe the police, not to get involved with unions, but there was some comment made from a department or entity of government here that it's not allowed. However, I believe down the road there was sort of some sort of an agreement between the city and the police union of Medford that they would allow the city to hire auxiliary police. Um, But of course, the city had to give in to some sort of perks, I think, for the union, for the officers. I believe it was something to do with extra education monies, things of that nature. I'm not sure. My recollection's not that good.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: And I don't know what happened thereafter, but maybe there's something to that that might be of some help for the, across industries for these children. if they could hire them. Thank you for listening.
[John Falco]: Thank you, citizen. Thank you, Councilor. And we're going to take our vote. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be brief. I just wanted to touch upon the topic of the Roberts Elementary School that came up earlier. I was involved a few years ago with the police department and a number of parents as well, just to redesign the loop system down there. And it has worked well for a little while. But if we could just have Officer Brooks, because Officer Brooks was very instrumental in changing the system down there. If you could just have him follow up directly with Mr. Johnson to see what's working and what's not working, because I know some things have changed and it sounds like it's not working, but Officer Brooks was definitely instrumental in making that change. And if he could work directly with Principal Johnson, that would be greatly appreciated.
[Fred Dello Russo]: As amended by Councilor Falco. On the motion for approval by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Falco, as amended. All those in favor? All those opposed? Carried. 16-727 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the Mayor instruct the Chief to increase its police presence in Medford Square. Calls are continuing relating to loitering, public drinking of alcoholic beverages, panhandling, and bothering of merchants and patrons in Medford Square, Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I brought this up two weeks ago, and I'm gonna continue to bring it up until the Chief puts somebody in the square, either walking or some type of presence there. There's people there that are, they hang in front of Century Bank in that garden there, drinking alcohol, beverages, smoking, harassing the people, foul language, they're panhandled. They're down in between the alley by the optical store, drinking alcoholic beverages there, smoking pot. Again, and it goes on all day, and the merchants are perturbed about it, and they're not happy with the answer they're getting is they're not bothering anybody. Well, they are bothering somebody. They're bothering the residents, and they're bothering the merchants. We keep talking about revitalizing the square, Well, this isn't how we revitalize the square by having people sitting down there doing this and begging for money. It continues. And I'm telling you, I'm going to bring it up every two weeks until it stops.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President's motion for approval by council Caraviello, seconded by councilor Falco councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor Caraviello for bringing this forward. I received a number of calls about this as well. Um, this is, uh, definitely an issue that needs to be addressed sooner than later. I received a call the other day from a neighbor. She had gone down to the square. I think to get her nails done. And she was approached several times by people looking for money while she was on the way to her car. She felt intimidated. And, you know, we don't want our residents feeling that way when they're coming into the downtown business district. It's wrong. I mean, here we are, we're trying to, you know, revitalize the square. We keep talking about it. You know, you want economic development, but if you want economic development, you don't want to scare away people that are kind of coming here to spend their money. So this needs to be addressed, it needs to be addressed right away. It's been going on far too long and I definitely support this resolution and I second the motion.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion, seconded. Roll call has been requested.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. I certainly appreciate the resolution as well, Mr. President. I think it's a good idea to increase the police presence in Medford Square. We're in a catch-22. We want to create a vibrant square with places for people to congregate and for people to relax and for people to reflect like at the Peace Garden. But at the same time, we want to be sure that we're policing the individuals that are there so that we're providing a strong quality life and a nice environment for those to utilize and enjoy these spaces, Mr. President. So I'm wholeheartedly in support of this resolution and I, too, move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caviolo? Yes. Councilor Felico? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Langer-Kern? Yes. Councilor Marksley? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Dela Cruz?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With the vote of the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion carries. Papers in the hands of the clerk, be it resolved, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved the city administration update the council on the status of noise complaints by Terrace Road residents relative to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Councilor?
[Adam Knight]: Yes, Mr. President. This has been a lingering issue for a couple of years now. There's been some complaints from residents on Terrace Road that there is a ongoing humming or buzzing sound that is coming potentially from the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. There's been some investigation into the matter and meetings with the city administration. And I'm just asking for an update as to where we are in that process, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: be it resolved that the Director of Veterans Services provide the Council with the following. One, a list of applicants awaiting the addition of their names to Honor Roll Park. Two, a timeline as to when those names will be added to Honor Roll Park. Councilor?
[Adam Knight]: Yes, Mr. President. With Veterans Day fast approaching, I've received a number of calls of some individuals who have applied. to have their name added to Honor Roll Park. As we all know, Honor Roll Park is the monument on Winthrop Street at the foot of Steve Miller Way leading up to the high school that would honor those combat veterans that have served in our community. And it's been brought to my attention that the list is expanding and growing. I think we have potentially enough applicants right now, Mr. President, where we could move to add the names to one row park and it would be cost effective and I just would like this information so that I can cross-reference that and see how much it will cost and then maybe make a recommendation to the mayor to appropriate funds. Veterans Day is fast approaching on November 11th and I think if we get this information before then maybe by Memorial Day we'll be able to have some money appropriated and get the names added to the list.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that motion all those in favor? All those opposed? Carries. We have two papers that We have two papers eligible for a second reading.
[Unidentified]: Motion to revert back to the regular order of business.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of the Council of the Vice President, Langa Kern, to revert back to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. 16-724, petition by Cheryl Rodriguez, 281 Park Street, Medgar, Mass., to speak on the rules of city council meetings. In my experience, speaking about and at the community meeting.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez, 281 Park street. Um, I spoke at the podium last week about the issue that I, I started to speak about the issue that I had at the community meeting and I was interrupted and everyone that I ran into from Medford this week said, wow, I can't believe that that happened at the city council meeting. So I did some research and found out that in the Roberts Rules of Order, I shouldn't have been interrupted because I had the right to speak. I wasn't speaking, saying anything inflammatory. I was sharing my experience from having gone to that meeting. And so I wanted to come up and say that. And I also wanted to share the information that I had from the meeting because I felt that I didn't really get to share it last time because of that. One other interesting thing I found out when I was researching the Roberts Rules of Order was that a point of information is when you have a question for the speaker. It's not actually to give information. I was pretty surprised about that, but when I spoke to my 20-year-old college student who is on the student government at her college, she said, of course, mom, everybody knows that, because she had to take a crash course in Roberts Rules of Law in order to be on student government. I was pretty thrown off when I was interrupted for several minutes, so I just wanted to go back. When I saw the Facebook post about the meeting being in the neighborhoods, I wanted to attend. I came straight from the South Medford Economic Transition meeting to that meeting, so I missed the five-minute introduction. I was sitting in the back of the room. The Brooks parents had a very large showing, and I sat for the first hour and heard them discuss their issues on High Street. After that point, I raised my hand so that I could have an opportunity to speak as everyone else in the room was doing. I had my hand up for several minutes. I swapped my hands back and forth as my arms got tired from being held up. Someone came up behind me and told me to stand up. Perhaps he couldn't see me. I did stand up. Someone I knew across the room waved at me. I waved my arm. I still wasn't called on. Three people around me, I actually leaned over and said to Councilor Falco, I think that perhaps they don't want to call on me. And I kept my hand up. Three people around me raised their hands. They were each called on fairly quickly. Each said, I just raised my hand so that she could have a turn to speak. So I did not feel welcome at that meeting. It's pretty known that I live in East Medford. Maybe that was or was not the reason that I wasn't called on. The only thing that I wished to say at that meeting was what I say when I come here, is that traffic is an issue everywhere in the city. There are dangerous conditions in other parts of the city. What they were stressing at that meeting was calling in the mass DOT to meet about High Street, and I wanted to interject that if we were going to have them come down, they would only come down once. And we should identify all the other mass DOT streets that we have within Medford that have issues and have them all tour those streets at the same time. Because if you go to any school and talk to the parents, they'll all tell you a horror story about a street nearby. If you go to the senior center, they'll tell you a similar story. So I wanted to make sure that we got the best that we could for all of Medford, and that was my point speaking then. At that meeting, we were instructed if we wanted to see accidents, I'm almost done, that we could go on the Mass Highway website and find traffic data. So the latest data that I could find was from 2014. I didn't include any Wellington Circle 93 or the Rotary that's right out here, I'm not sure the name of it, just because those are things we really can't fix. But the big winner, or maybe the loser, depending on how you want to look at it, was Main Street. Main Street had the most accidents, by far, of any other street in our city in 2014. They had 87 accidents, which I thought was wow. I haven't heard anybody come in and complain about accidents on Main Street. Salem Street was at 62. High Street was at 50. I included the entirety of these streets. The Felsway was at 34. Riverside, 32. Boston Ave, 27. Middlesex Ave, 24. The Winthrop Circle, the infamous Winthrop Circle, was at 17. And Locust Street, where we want to put 490 units as well as Wegman, had 14 accidents. That's a very short strip of street to have 14 accidents in one year. Central lab at the intersection of spring also had 10 accidents that year So I just wanted to point out that there's a lot of issues in the city I know that the police are short-staffed and I know that we're looking to make changes to the infrastructure and that we want to hire someone but Sometimes if you just look at the data and you talk to everyone then you can find out I hope that a lot of people will come to the meeting. I'm not sure the date of the meeting I The first Wednesday of the month, November 5th, according to Councilor Falco, and that will be at St. Francis. So I encourage everyone to attend and make sure that the city knows everything that's going on because there are a lot of issues and we can't just be quiet and hope that someone will notice and fix them. So that's all that I can say. Thank you for your time.
[Adam Knight]: Um, pursuant to our rules, Mr. President, a similar matter was disposed of last week and, uh, the paper should not have reached the table for 90 days. Um, if we're going to be looking at the rules and Robert's rules of order, I think it's also important to point out that the rules of the Medford city council would indicate that that paper was disposed of and then, uh, substantial and like matters cannot be brought to the table for 90 days.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Um, but with that being said, motion to receive in place on file on that motion, all those in favor, all those, uh, succeeds. We have two papers that are eligible for a third reading.
[Adam Knight]: Paper 16667 from the table for third reading.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Council Knight to take paper 16-667. All those in favor? All those opposed? Legal age of 21 to purchase tobacco in Medford. Eligible for the third reading. Chair awaits motion.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, this was a piece of legislation that I put forward to increase the legal age to purchase tobacco in the city of Medford from 18 to 21 years of age. It was recommended by way of our tobacco prevention grant coordinator. uh, supported by the administration verbally. I'm in discussions with the administration. Uh, it was also passed unanimously here at the city council. Um, at its first reading, it was advertised duly in the Medford transcript on October 6th, 2016. It is eligible for third reading today. Mr. President, I would ask that this matter be approved this evening. Um, by doing so, we'll be addressing a public health concern.
[Fred Dello Russo]: That's not only in the region, in the area, but also in the state and across the country on the motion of council night for approval, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Lambert-Kern? Yes. Councilor Matz? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President De La Ruza? Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: With a vote of seven, the affirmative, none in the negative. The motion is ordered. 16-674, loan order of $1,800,000, City Hall roof and facade, which is already under process, is eligible for its third reading. Chair awaits motion. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello for approval. Seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Scarpelli? Yes. President Dello Russo? Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: With a vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes and is ordered. And according to the provisions of said motion, there'll be a paper coming to us that this is approved for rescinding the allotment for free cash, which allowed the project to get underway so that valuable time wouldn't be lost. The records of the meeting of October 11th, 2016 were passed to Councilor Knight. And before we take those records, we're going to receive an announcement from the Vice President of the Medicine Council, Attorney Breanna Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I just wanted to make an announcement about an event that's taking place, multiple events that are taking place this weekend. And I don't probably have all the facts in my head because there's a large flyer that goes along with it that I didn't bring. A Medford resident who suffered a spinal cord injury months ago and who has gone through over 30 surgeries obviously has some medical bills that are in need to be paid. So on Saturday there is a blood drive, which is a good sentiment. And then there is a golf tournament at Mount Hood that begins at noon. And there is a event Saturday night at the Irish American where there will be a over 50 raffles and silent auctions. There'll be a band and a comedian and all money raised goes to pay the medical bills. Um, for his name is TJ Scanlon. He's actually the brother of our assistant city solicitor, Kim Scanlon, who has suffered a tough few months and hopefully anybody is welcome to come and buy a ticket and get some raffles and have a good time.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Knight, how did you find those records?
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, upon review of the records, I find them in order and would move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for approval of records, all those in favor? All those opposed? The records are approved. The clerk has just reminded me that the general election for this year is November 8, 2016. Polls are open 7 to 8 in the evening. And you can vote early at the city Register on City Hall. On October 24th, 830 to 430, the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, October 31st, November 1st, All Saints, November 2nd, All Souls, November 3rd and 4th, from 830 to 430 some days, to 1230 some days, and to 1 p.m. some days. This is posted on the city website and is posted in the clerk's office and in the office of the registrar and voters. Also keep in mind citizens that all of you should have received A booklet from the Secretary of State in the mail several weeks ago, a red covered booklet. That will give you a pro and con discourse on all the many ballot options, the ballot questions that are before the citizens for referendum. And those have a binding effect. So do your research and study well. It covers everything from marijuana to veal. So on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli for adjournment. Oh, Councilor Falco has an announcement.
[John Falco]: If I may really quick, I need to make a quick correction. I had mentioned that the next police community meeting is on the 5th. It's actually November 2nd. It's at St. Francis, and while we're at it, December 7th is at the Andrews Middle School, and January 4th is at the South Benford Fire Station.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor, for your leadership in this matter and bringing it out to the people. Thank you very much. Good work. And tomorrow is the last day to register to vote. Meeting adjourned.
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