[Richard Caraviello]: Good evening. 17th regular meeting of the Medford City Council, May 2nd, 2017. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo. Councilor Falco. Present. Councilor Knight. Present. Councilor Warren Kern. Present. Vice President Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Present.
[Clerk]: Councilor Scarpelli. Present. President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Present. Please rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag Motion by Councilor Knight to suspend the rules. Seconded by? By Councilor Falco. Councilor Knight. Mr. President, I'd like to take a paper from the table. Paper from the table.
[Adam Knight]: Communications from the mayor, 17414, please. 17414, one second, please.
[Richard Caraviello]: 17414 to the Honorable President and members of the Medford City Council. Dear Mr. President, City Council, I respectfully request to recommend that your honorable body approve the following transfer of funds. Amount $22,400 from account 010-102-5110-1112. Account 010-151-5110. The purpose of this transfer is to appropriate the funds for the assistant city solicitor position as classification was changed from CAF 10, CAF 12 per request of the city council during the fiscal 17 budget deliberations. In addition, solicitor Romley had a request in this budget narrative that the law office assistant position be reclassified from CAF 3, to CF4. Solicitor Rumley will be here to answer any questions that we may have. Councilor Dello Russo. Move approval. On the motion by Councilor Dello Russo. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, this appears to be housekeeping to me. The council had voted to approve a change in the classification of the Assistant City Solicitor during last year's budget debates. And this looks like it's housekeeping to make sure that the accounts line up. I'm hoping that the city solicitor will be able to come up here and confirm that. And then I'd be happy to second council Dello Russo's motion. Mr. Solicitor.
[Mark Rumley]: I'm sorry. I was distracted. Mr. President.
[Adam Knight]: Oh, I am Mr. Solicitor.
[Mark Rumley]: I'm fine. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Um, the question that I would like to have it back, um, would be, This is just a housekeeping matter. During the budget debates last year, we voted to approve an increase in the salary of the Assistant City Solicitor, and this is just a- Yes, this is the appropriation which would take care of the increase.
[Mark Rumley]: Okay. That's really the long and short of it. It would have been nice if this had been done concurrently with the reclassification, but it wasn't, so this is necessary in order for us to be able to finish the fiscal year, everything square.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, based on that explanation, I would second Councilor Dello Russo's motion for approval.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. Solicitor, is this not in change of classification?
[Mark Rumley]: No, it is not. It's to fund the change in classification that was presented by Councilor Lungo-Koehn back last year at the beginning of the budgetary year, dealing with the Assistant City Solicitor. And no, it is not a classification change. It's to fund the change that was made.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Dello Russo. All those in favor? Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor DelaRosso? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Naik? Yes. Councilor Locker? Yes. Vice President Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caravielloli?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Solis.
[Mark Rumley]: On behalf of the law department, we thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: While we're in suspension, 17351. Dear Mr. President, city councilors, I respectfully request and recommend that your Honorable Body approve the combining of the Water Enterprise Fund and the Sewer Enterprise Fund into one enterprise fund per Mass General Law Chapter 44, Section 53, F12. To that end, I recommend your approval of the following resolution be it resolved that the City of Medford accepts the provisions of Chapter 44, Section 53F12 of the Massachusetts General Laws and combines the Water Enterprise Fund and the Sewer Enterprise Fund into one enterprise fund effective fiscal year 2018. Attached is the combined Water and Sewer Enterprise Funds Memorandum that was provided to the Water and Sewer Commission highlighting benefits of consolidating two enterprise funds into one enterprise fund. A letter from the Water and Sewer Commission is provided which demonstrates their support. Finance Director Aleesha Nunley is present to answer any of the council's questions regarding this matter sincerely. Mayor Stephanie Burke. Councilor Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: As this paper was tabled some weeks ago, we've had sufficient time to review, inquire, and be involved. As I did several weeks ago, I would like to, this week, move approval. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Yes, Mr. President, it's my understanding that this matter was brought forward by the administration in an effort to reduce the duplication of efforts and to streamline some of the accounting principles and practices that they have in the office downstairs. We have a finance director here, and maybe she can confirm that and talk a little bit about how this is going to work, and then I'll be happy to second Councilor de la Rousseau's motion, provided that the questions are answered appropriately. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Name and address of the director, please.
[Aleesha Nunley-Benjamin]: Good evening, Honourable Councilors. Aleesha Nunley, Finance Director for the City of Medford, and through the Chair to Councilor Knight. Yes, this would be streamlining the whole accounting. It would be a lot easier. We would still have two revenue streams to account for the sewer and water, but all expenses would be shared between the two.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you. Mr. President, I'm satisfied with the explanation that the finance director gave a couple weeks ago. This couple, but the committee of the whole meeting that we had and the reinforcement of such and her statement again this evening would lead me to believe that this is something that I can support and I would second Councilor Dello Russo's motion for approval.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Dello Russo, seconded by Councilor Knight.
[Robert Penta]: Name and address of the record, please. Robert Penza, Zero Summit Road, Miffin, Mass., former member of the Saugus party. I can appreciate the fact that you folks want to incorporate the water and sewer count together. And as Ms. Nutley just indicated, you got permission from the Department of Revenue, from my understanding. Is that correct? Yes. But with that being said, the water and sewer rate does have a section in there that talks about any surplus that's in there for a period of time. And if, in fact, the surplus is not being used for a project that will begin within a 90-day period of time, and they're sitting on approximately $8 million, that those monies should be returned back to the Medford taxpayers. Now, you just had a committee of the whole meeting tonight to talk about a new connectivity charge that is being proposed by the Water and Sewer Department. But there was no discussion as it related to what's going to happen to the $8.5 million that's out there. And I would like to make a strong suggestion that the council amend your vote or make it a B paper asking either for the city solicitor, I mean for the city engineer and or the water and sewer department to have a plan presented to folks ready to go within 90 days or that those monies are revert back to the Metro taxpayers. I think it's just fair. We keep talking, and we keep hearing over and beyond, over and over, that we have money in this surplus account. And as it was explained to us.
[Adam Knight]: Point of information. Councilor Knight. Am I correct that the paper before us is as to whether or not we want to combine the accounts, not whether or not we're really looking at how the accounts are utilized, but whether or not we're really just allowing the finance director to combine the two accounts for accounting purposes and to eliminate duplication of efforts? Thank you. That is the purpose of the paper. Thank you.
[Robert Penta]: And besides having it for accounting purposes, there is a usage factor in there by emerging the two, which also has a surplus of eight and a half or thereabouts millions of dollars. Again, if the city has no intention of using that money for a project ready to go within 90 days, the money, according to the law, needs to be returned back to the taxpayers. So what I respectfully ask any one of my colleagues or is on a joint motion that the city sit down immediately to find out if there is going to be a project within 90 days that's going to be operational. Don't forget, you've had it for For years, this money's been sitting there. So as a result of that, it's either use it or give it back. It's unfortunate that you've accumulated that kind of an account with that kind of money, but not any ongoing projects ready to go for that money to be utilized. And I think that just fits into the parameters of the way the law was written.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Dello Russo, seconded by Councilor Knight. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Kerr? Yes. Vice President Moxley? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Motion passes. While we're under suspension, Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Can we take paper 17412 off the presentations petition for similar matters?
[Richard Caraviello]: 17412 petition for a common eviction is licensed by Moomin B. Perez, 10 Dixon Street, No. 2, Dorchester, Mass. For Pinky's Famous Pizza, 10165 Main Street, Medford. Chairman Scarpelli of the Licensing Committee.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. If we can, if you can approach the rail, come on up.
[Mumin Parvez]: Name and address for the record, sir. Yes, Pinky's Pizza, we just brought a new. Your name is? Mumin Parvez. And your address? 10 Dixon Street, apartment number two, Dorchester, Mass 0212. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Okay, so I do everything, all the departments, everybody, everything looks in order. A few questions, do you understand our city ordinances on what time of business operations? What would your business?
[Mumin Parvez]: My partner actually is running this business and he's here, if you'd like to talk to him. Could you please? Yeah, come on up. He actually run this business. Name and address of the record, sir.
[Shah Jahan Chowdhury]: Shah Jahan Chowdhury. Address? 243 Columbia Street, Apartment 1, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Auto 139. Okay, what are the business of operations, your hours? 11 to 11, sir. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. 11 to 11? Yes, sir. Okay.
[George Scarpelli]: Now, again, I think that everything seems in order. So this is just a purchase of pinkies, and I think that everything seems in order, and in place, and move for approval.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Chairman Scarpelli, Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, through the Chair, will you be keeping the same name and selling the same food?
[Shah Jahan Chowdhury]: Yes, ma'am, everything will be the same.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Everything will be the same, same type of pizza. Okay, good luck.
[Shah Jahan Chowdhury]: Thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Chairman Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Falco, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Long-Term? Yes. Vice President Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. Congratulations. We got one more, Mike. We got one more. 17-413, petition for a common eviction license by Asha Mayer, Daz Minovara for Terra Inc. Doing Businesses, Helen's Roast Beef and Pizzeria, 321 Boston Avenue, Medford. Is there a petition of presence? Please step to the rail. Name and address for the record, please.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Asmar Dashtamirova. I'm the majority of the company, and the address is 100 3rd Street, unit 348.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Scott Tilley.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Chairman of the Licensing Committee.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you. Again, you're just taking over an existing business, purchased the existing business? Yes, that's correct. And your business hours?
[SPEAKER_02]: Our business hours starts from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. 3 a.m.? 3 a.m. Is that... No.
[Richard Caraviello]: Do they have a special permit? Okay. Is that cited? It is, okay.
[George Scarpelli]: Okay. So I see that all the departments have signed off on it. Again, I appreciate the clarification on the 3M hour and move for approval.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Scarpelli for approval, seconded by By Councilor Dello Russo. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Councilor Montgomery. Yes. Vice President Marks. Yes. Councilor Stappelli. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative and none in the negative. Congratulations. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you very much.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Good luck in your new business. Motion by Councilor Marks to revert back to regular business. 17-407 offered by Vice President Marks, whereas the West Medford parking lot, which consists of 35 customer parking spots, will be closed for an extended period of time due to the treatment of underground contaminants. Be it resolved that the bus stop in front of 440 High Street at Bargain Spot Liquors be temporarily located between Brookline Bank and 422 High Street in the interest of adding additional parking for the West Medford businesses. Vice President Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I had the opportunity last week to attend a business neighborhood meeting regarding the proposed work that's gonna be done at Bogginsport Liquors, the West Medford parking lot. It has been mentioned before this council on a number of occasions. There has been contamination found underground and the city is in the process of removing the contaminants through a high water injection, multiple injections into the ground over a sustained period of time. While this takes place, Mr. President, we were told by the city engineer, as well as the chief of police, and as well as the consultant that was hired by the city that this parking lot will not be able to have any parking accommodations for a three-phased approach. The first phase, I believe, will last at least I think it was 21 to 30 days, that was mentioned, of injections, followed by a phase two process, depending on how successful they are with phase one, that could range anywhere from five to 10 days, depending on what's left over, and then an eventual phase three. The reason why I offer this resolution, Mr. President, is the parking lot behind the Bargain Spot Liquors is a place where many patron's park to frequent the West Method businesses. And actually many businesses will also use that as a place where deliveries can be had, a place where people can come and do some temporary parking to run in and do deliveries and other things in the area. And when we remove these 35 spots, it's going to become increasingly difficult for people to come in and traverse this area. There is a plan by the police department to relax some of the parking restrictions in the area for a period of time. There's discussion about also using the tip of Playstead Park for some additional parking. And this resolution actually was from business owners that approached me after the meeting asking that if we could temporarily relocate the bus stop in front of Bargain Spot Liquors, they could pick up four spots in the heart of West Medford Square. And we took a walk along the area. We took a walk up to 422 High Street, and also in front of Brookline Bank. And I think we found a perfect location, temporary location, that's handicap accessible, because that'll be the first thing the MBTA requires of the city if we move the spot. And indeed, we did see accessibility ramps on the corner of Canal and High Street. And I would ask at this time, Mr. President, in the interest of providing more parking at a time that it's needed in West Medford Square, that this council vote tonight to request immediately that the MBTA go out there and move the spot between Brookline Bank and 422 High Street in the interest of adding additional parking spots in West Medford Square. We also have a number of the business owners, Mr. President, that would like I think one or two would like to come up and say a few words regarding how important this is to business and the general vicinity. And at this time, if we can allow business owners to get up, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Would anyone like to speak in this matter? Good evening. Name and address of the record, please.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ginny Roach, 64 Bower Street, Manfred. I own CB Scoops. I've been asking, actually, for this bus stop to be moved quite a bit for quite a few years. Just the location, the liquor store, there's a bench there. A lot of people tend to hang there. They go get whatever they get, come and sit. I see elderly. I see children. I see all kinds of people just trying to navigate away from that. It's just a bad location. You shouldn't be able to bring your kids in front of a liquor store to get on a bus. It should be moved permanently. I agree with definitely temporary, and I appreciate that first step, but I would like you also to consider talking to the MBTA about moving it permanently.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Second, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Would anyone else like to speak on this matter?
[Michael Marks]: They're all shy now, the business owners. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: You did such a good job, Councilor.
[Michael Marks]: Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, I certainly support this paper wholeheartedly. And I also think that in light of the fact that the majority of these business owners in West Medford do purchase business permits, and this is the business permit law, that there should be a pro-ratio abatement to the business permit holder for the period of time equivalent to the amount of days that the law is closed. So I'd like to include that as part of the paper, that the Traffic Commission provide a pro-ratio abatement to the cost of a business permit in the equivalent of the number of days that the individuals that are in possession of the business permit are unable to access the lot.
[Steven Pompeo]: Thank you. Name and address of the wreckage. Stephen Pompeo, 18 Newton Road, Medford. Thank you to Councilor Marks for bringing this up. This is going to be very helpful during this process where they're taking away the 35 parking spots in the parking lot for that period of 30 days. It'll also give an opportunity to test out that spot temporarily to see if it is potentially a long-term solution for moving that bus stop. But at least temporarily for the short term, I'd like the council to support that motion. This is a project I've been involved in since 2009 when it became a problem. And I know a lot of the business owners can't be here tonight because most of them in West Medford are still open and working. But during the meeting that Councilor Mark spoke about and at other meetings we've had, the consensus has generally been that moving that bus stop temporarily would be great to providing more spots right in the heart during this process. There's been a number of other suggestions made to help with this situation as well. One of them would be to step up the enforcement of High Street during this, rather than, there's been some suggestions to, and they're in good faith, to eliminate paid parking during this process. And if that discussion comes up, I'd just like to say that most of the businesses in West Medford would prefer to have the enforcement stepped up during this process because the businesses want to leave High Street itself for the customers and try to find alternative places for the business owners. The tip of Placedead Park was one that's going to come up in front of the Park Commission. And that's a great suggestion on where to put the business owners. But if it does come up, we'd like to also have support to double the parking enforcement on high street so that the traffic gets moved. Thank you. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_17]: Name and address of the record. DJ Dabbingo, 470 High Street, West Medford. I own Dabbs Lark. Thank you for Councilor Marks for bringing this up and Councilor Knight for your suggestion on that. I brought this actually up to Park Medford back in January. When we were initially talking about this, I stood at this podium and asked why the work couldn't be done at night, what they were going to do about parking. And I asked, when I was giving over my $100 for the parking permit, I said, is there going to be any kind of leeway given where they're going to be shutting our lot down for probably close to a quarter of the year? So we should be getting a quarter of that money back. I mean, as business owners, we already spend in taxes. We already spend for utilities. Now we have to spend for an unguaranteed parking spot, which now, for upwards of 30 days, We're just going to be at our own mercy to try to hopefully get a spot on the street. And then the other issue is the bus stop being moved. It's a great thing, but I think it should be permanently over in front of the bank, where it's more ADA and compliant accessible by wheelchairs, people on crutches, where it's not so much in front of the liquor store. Because the next project they're going to do after the parking lot is they're going to be putting curb bump outs there to narrow high street to increase pedestrian safety, traffic flow kind of thing. And when talking with the city engineer, I said, if you put the bump out where you're putting it, and the bus now has to go around it to get into the bus stop, now you're going to have the buses back in, sticking onto High Street, thus causing more traffic jams than there already are on High Street during the rush hours. So I think a permanent solution is permanently putting the bus down in front of Brookline Bank. They have their own small parking lot behind the bank for their customers. And I think it's a way to go. So, thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. I think there is a proposal to maybe use some land on a place to park, which has been proposed also.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank my colleague, Michael Marks, for bringing this forward, and I appreciate all the business owners. I think that as the chairperson of transportation, I think that I wholeheartedly support the temporary movement, but call for a subcommittee meeting and request the powers to be from the T to make this a full-time change. So I'll be looking for a meeting relatively soon. I think that we still haven't heard anything back about the resolution we put in about the Main Street and High Street issues again this week. There were work trucks again in front of that location, that T stuff. And again, it left the buses out onto High Street and off the curb. So I know they told us last meeting pretty arrogantly that that doesn't happen, and no one's called them. But some people are calling me again. And I think that we need to move quickly on these issues. I know we've talked to the director of ADA, and I know that we've heard some concerns. But there are other issues on the other side why people aren't speaking up. So we need to enforce that, and hopefully the clerk reach out again to the department of transportation and the T to get a meeting as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scott Billy. Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this forward. I think it's a good common sense solution that makes sense for the business owners and for the community in general. I would definitely be in favor of moving the bus stop full time, especially away from the liquor store. I'm glad you brought that forward. I'm also glad that the business owners came down tonight. I think it's important to hear from them. They experience this every day, and it's good to get their opinions, and it's nice that they came down, so thank you for coming down tonight. But I am in favor of this resolution, so thank you. Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Do we know how many parking spaces we'll be able to capture if we move the stop? Four. Four? With regards to Brookline Bank, are they in compliance? Are they okay with this, do we know?
[Richard Caraviello]: I don't think we've done, I don't know if anyone's talked to Brookline Bank yet. They do have a parking lot on the rail.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: They have a parking lot on the rail, okay. So they're not losing, what are they losing? They're not losing any spots if we move.
[Richard Caraviello]: No, it's city parking.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: How many spots will we be losing?
[Richard Caraviello]: Probably two, maybe three. I know there's a mailbox there that might have to be moved.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. If I could, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Vice President Max.
[Michael Marks]: The benefit is that we're picking up the spots more in the heart of the square, where this is a little further out. So it accommodates more business where it is. So that's what we're hoping to do. And eventually, I agree. I think, as my colleagues agree, we'd like to see it permanent. And this may be a great way of just getting it in and then saying it's been working, it's successful, and let's stick with it. Mr. President, I just want to thank the businesses for showing up tonight. You know, it's amazing when you sit down with business owners and people in the community. what great suggestions you can get, Mr. President, and move forward with it. I just want to thank the business owners. Thank you.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And if I may, through the chair, with regards to everything that's been discussed tonight, proposals, I hear there's a lot of proposals out there. When will the, I know this is starting fairly quickly and there are a lot of concerns from the business owners down in West Medford. So when will these proposals be more set in stone so that the business owners can comment and maybe make additional suggestions and recommendations to alleviate some concerns because as a business owner, I would not want to be put out like this for 30 days, 40 days. So I just, through the chair, if I could recommend that the mayor's office work with the business owners, maybe whether that be another meeting once their proposals are, you know, kind of set in stone so that we can make sure everybody's happy and we can do whatever we can for the business owners. This is just one step in the many that probably need to be done in the next couple of months. But whatever we have to do, we want to make sure the doors stay open and moving. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Yes, Mr. President. I'm wondering if maybe someone in the business community can answer this question for me. But we also have a bus stop on the corner of Warren coming, I guess that would be West, into West Medford. And we have a bus stop at the corner of Placedead Road at Irving Street. Have those also been looked at as potential bus stops to move further away from the square to create some more parking on the opposite side of the street?
[Richard Caraviello]: There's a spot on Warren and High.
[Adam Knight]: The bus stop right in front of the spot.
[Richard Caraviello]: That's the only other spot.
[Adam Knight]: And then there's a bus stop on the corner of Irving Street in place of the road.
[Richard Caraviello]: I think that's got to stay there. There's nowhere else to go over there.
[Adam Knight]: And even if they move it.
[Richard Caraviello]: Nowhere to move there. But I think the proposal was to talk to the Park Commission and take that small section of Placid Park where they... Well, I'm well aware what the proposal is.
[Adam Knight]: The question is whether or not those locations have been examined. So hopefully that'll be an area for them to park. If I can amend the paper to request that those two locations be examined, the corner of High Street and Warren Street, and the corner of Placid Road and Irving Street. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Vice President Marx, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Roll call vote has been requested, Mr. Clerk.
[Michael Marks]: That will immediately be sent to the MBTA.
[Richard Caraviello]: That will immediately be sent to the MBTA.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dela Ruccio. Yes. Councilor Falco.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor McCurran?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Vice President Marks?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Caraviello?
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative. Motion passes. 17-408 offered by Vice President Marks. Be it resolved that Mitchell Avenue be resurfaced in the interest of public safety and that all potholes and road depressions be repaired in the meantime. Vice President Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. There's portions of Mitchell Ave that you can actually see the dirt pavement. And it's about time the city moves forward on repaving Mitchell Ave. I also want to bring up on Salem Street, which I've brought up in the past, you can see the old railroad tracks coming through the road. And on Riverside Ave, the same thing. Not too far from the fire station on Riverside Ave. You can see the old railroad tracks appearing through the road, Mr. President. So I'd ask that Mitchell Ave be resurfaced in the interest of public safety, and that Salem Street and Riverside Ave be looked at for the railroad tracks that need to be covered up. Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, this is a great resolution. I think Mitchell Ave's been in rough shape since Testis was opened. It's been long overdue that the street needs to be repaved, piggybacking on some of Councilor Mock's concerns. Between Route 16 at Winthrop Street and South Street, due to the detour that's in place with the closure of the Craddock Bridge, we're seeing an increased volume of cars that are being detoured down to the Winthrop Street and South Street, Winthrop to High and Winthrop to South. And in front of the baseball park, we're seeing the street fall apart as well. And we're seeing the exposed red rip rock like we're seeing on Evans Street. And we know that that's not something that we can just patch. I think this is something that may require a little bit of help from our friends at the state delegation in relation to the Craddock Bridge project and the request that we made last week for mitigation, Mr. President. So I'd ask that this matter be put on a B paper and request that we receive some help in repaving and resurfacing the roadway between Route 16 and South Street as a result of the increased traffic volume on the roadway due to the detour that's in place because of the ramp closure. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. President. If we could just ask for an update on the Evans and Parris Street. I think that was been mentioned, just an update on those locations, too. We can update on Evans and Parris Street.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Through the chair, thank you. If we could also, while we're at it, I know this is a good time if we're going to talk about streets. South Street's been brought up. We did, I believe, talk about traffic calming approaches on that, getting a lot of Mack trucks driving down South, especially since they're deterred from driving down Harvard now, and they're banging potholes, shaking homes, keeping people up at night. I've got multiple complaints on the speed on South Street. So we did discuss this months ago with regards to working to curve the speeding somehow, whether it be the speed monitoring signs, speed bumps, something needs to be done on South Street because It's really disrupting peace and enjoyment of the residents there. So if we could add this to the agenda as well.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Locker. And if I could add something to that paper, if we could ask why the raised crosswalk on Boston Avenue, where Tufts was doing construction, was taken down by the city of Medford.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Yes, Mr. President. I actually had a conversation with Commissioner Kerins before the Committee of the Whole today, and he informed me that Paris Street would be going underneath, I'm sorry, Evans Street, not Paris Street, would have the ground broken in the next two weeks for that project to start up. So I'm looking forward to seeing that happen to answer Councilor Scarpelli's question. And also on your question, I spoke with Rocco DiRico from- I spoke with Rocco myself today. Tufts University relative to the speed bump. And that was a temporary speed bump that was put up during the construction. The construction is nearing an end. So they've taken the temporary speed bump down and they're going to move forward with the striping and safety markers and so on.
[Richard Caraviello]: We're always fighting for raised crosswalks. And we had one there that they put in for free and we took it away. On the motion by Councilor Marks as amended by Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Caraviello-Viello, Councilor Lungo-Koehn, Councilor Ney. Councilor Haynes. Motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Dello Russo. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Dello Russo. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Councilor Ney. Yes. Councilor Malauulu-Curran.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes.
[Clerk]: Vice President Marks. Yes. Councilor Scott Beally. Yes. President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Yes. 17 in the affirmative and none in the negative. Motion passes. 17-417 offered by Vice President Marks. Be it resolved that the proposed erection of cell phone towers at 63 Tyler Ave and 59 Charnwood Road be discussed. Vice President Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I offer this resolution tonight, Mr. President, to hopefully go back and have the city solicitor look into a resolution that was offered by this council and debated back in 2011. And the reason why I offer this resolution is, Mr. President, there's a proposal by a company called In Motion Wireless and Corp. And they just actually put, an announcement in the transcript recently. It appeared in the April 20th edition of the transcript. There was a legal notice, and the legal notice stated that they were going to erect two 70-foot cell phone towers, proposed, and when I saw the addresses, I said, you gotta be kidding me. The first address, Mr. President, was 63 Tyler Ave, which we all know is a residential area that abuts train tracks, and also 59 Charnwood Road, which is another residential area that abuts train tracks, Mr. President. Both towers would be located in smack dab in neighborhoods and, in my opinion, would create a major visual impact in the area. Currently, there is no city ordinance that governs the placement of cell phone towers. The current ordinance only regulates TV and radio antennas. And it was back in 2008, believe it or not, I offered a resolution, paper 08-510, that would put into our city ordinance cell phone towers. And what it would do is it would prohibit cell phone towers in residential areas. And I'll talk about that a little bit later on, but that paper went through a lot of debate back and forth. National Grid spoke on the paper. The paper was sent to the Office of Community Development, which all ordinances need to be sent to dealing with zoning. And the paper trail kind of dies off after that. But the reason why I offer this tonight, Mr. President, is, as I stated, there is no ordinance right now that prohibits towers in residential areas. And there was a resolution to amend ordinances only allowing cell towers in industrial and commercial zones and also by special permit. The matter was tabled by the council when a representative from National Grid raised an issue that was at least two state statutes allow wireless communication companies to attach antennas and amplifiers on utility poles. And at the time we were prohibiting any cell towers within neighborhoods. And they said that was in direct conflict with state statute, which allows these utility companies to put them on top of telephone poles. Needless to say, this is not the request that was put in the transcript recently. I'm asking tonight, Mr. President, that This paper be looked at by the city solicitor, Mark Rumley, and the building commissioner, and provide the input that the Community Development Board already gave us, and the input language that National Grid gave us, which came out with, I believe, was a great city ordinance back in 2011 that would address the issue of erecting cell phone towers in residential neighborhoods. And so that's my first motion that the city solicitor and the building commissioner look into the 2011 city ordinance draft that was proposed. And also, Mr. President, the legal notice that was posted deals strictly with locating a cell tower near an historical preservation, national historic preservation. And it's the acts of 1966 and the 2005 nationwide programmatic agreement that allows for public comment when you're putting a cell phone tower within a half mile of a historic preservation. And they're looking for input right now. And I would ask the city solicitor what legal Maneuvers can be done to, first of all, look at the Royal House, which is probably within, I'd say, a half a mile or very close to Charnwood Road to see if there's anything we can do on possibly putting a halt to this. And secondly, Mr. President, it's vital now that we act. I had some people come to me and say, well, there's a lot of areas in the city where they're considered dead zones and you can't get cell phone connections and so forth. That may not even be the case. These may not even be phone cell towers. They may be cell towers for use of the railways. And I don't have that information, but I know that City Solicitor Rumley did reach out to the attorneys that were on the notice I received just tonight from the Federal Communication Commission, Washington, D.C. It's called Information Notice of Section 106 Filings. They list both addresses and who the petitioner is for both and the consultant. And I think Solicitor Rumley reached out. I'm not sure if he got a response. But I would ask at this time if the city solicitor can get up, Mr. President. He was involved in 2011 crafting the language and working on this with the council, and I'd like to hear from him. Thank you.
[Mark Rumley]: Name and address of the record, please. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Mark Rumley. I'm the city solicitor and I reside at 50 Woodrow Avenue in Medford. There's a lot of different things going on with this particular issue. So if we start and put to the side just for a second, although I appreciate it, the ordinance that was proposed a few years back, that really should be revived because procedurally It did reach some type of a death procedurally years ago for different reasons, none of which really are easy to ascertain, but nonetheless, it should be revived and it should be revived because it was a good idea that it's a good idea now, even if these notices didn't come forward right now, dealing with, uh, uh, Charnwood and Tyler now. to go according to what I've come across in the last few days. I received from the city clerk two very vanilla notices under 106, and I really didn't know what they were. And it did say Tyler, it did say Charnwood on it, it did say something about cell phone towers and that sort of thing. After I received it, and almost concurrently with that, Councilor Marks called me and said, do you know anything about it? And honestly, I didn't know anything more than those two simple notices. So I called the consultant who were in Wisconsin this morning. They called me back this afternoon. And this notification under chapter, under 106, which is a federal regulation, begins a comment period during which time a municipality, in this case, could comment on this particular proposal. And it is, as Councilor Marks had stated, to put up these two towers at this particular address. Now, the consultants were hired, of course, and they were hired by the entity that's serving the MTA, MBTA, excuse me, for these two towers, because ostensibly, the use of the towers would be to serve the ridership on the trains. It may not simply be a cell tower like servicing our cell phones. It could be to provide Wi-Fi services to the people on the train. And it is for the MBTA that this was planned. So the person on the other end was very informative, a very professional gentleman named Andrew Rice. And I said, is this going to service the MBTA only? Because I wanted to know that. And he said, well, yes, of course. Well, of course, over the years, we all learned a little bit about cell towers. And a cell tower is not necessarily just for the one use, which is on that tower. Because there's a whole industry, a billion dollar industry in cell towers, where the spots on that tower are sold. So I asked Mr. Rice today, is it the intention of the MBTA to sell any other spaces on this tower, on these towers, if they build them for commercial use? And the reason that I asked that is, Mr. Rice indicated, well, for many purposes, although he didn't enumerate the purposes, For many purposes, the MBTA is exempt from local rule, and there's something to say about that. There is some validity to that, depending upon the use. But I said, if you're going to sell or you're going to rent out any of the spots on that tower, then you're not just simply using it for MBTA uses, you're using it for commercial uses, for a for-profit use, and that brings things out of many areas of exemption. Now, of course, that's the first time we talked about it, so there's a little bit of, I would say silence for a few seconds after that. I was just lifted at that. So, the second thing is, when this notice went in the transcript, that began what under 106 is a 30-day comment period. A 30-day comment period for everyone to send in their sentiments, concerns, and questions. Now, I believe that the direct communication to the city was sent to the city clerk, the historic commission, I believe, and also it said generically the city of Medford. Well, we can all say it was sent to the city of Medford, but you need to have a little bit of meat on the bones when you use that particular term. So to make sure the city of Medford received it, I asked Mr. Rice to send me the full packet this afternoon, which he did by email, and I flipped it out to nine or 10 department heads, and I shared it with the council. But I think you might have had it anyway. I didn't know, but I wanted to make sure that you had it. So where does that leave us? That leaves us, one, with an ordinance that probably needs a little bit of shaping and a little bit of polish for present day, which is a good idea anyway, should look at that. And two, it puts us smack dab in the middle of a comment period where the city, its departments, its executive branch, and all other entities that have been notified should give their concern into the FCC under this notice. Third, it puts us in the position of examining what the exact use would be by the MBTA and whether or not, if they do have any exemptions, whether or not those exemptions are waived or in any other way altered because of any intended commercial use of the cell tower. Finally, if the ordinance which was not passed a few years back is enacted in some way, shape, or form right now, then the question could be, and there is no definitive answer to this, what effect a newly passed ordinance would be on this particular project. Because the effective date or the notice date for the world, for the general public, so to speak, and you should always keep this in mind with a zoning enactment, is the date of publication before the planning board. For example, about 20 years ago or 25 years ago, there was a moratorium put in place for certain uses in the city of Medford. that became effective when it was advertised before the planning board. So if this ordinance went forth and was advertised before the planning board, that may well have some effect on this particular project, but that also would beg some other questions, like what exactly will the MBTA be using this tower for outside of serving its ridership? I know that sounds like a lot, but everything has to be broken down to its simplest elements, and we have to begin at the beginning. So the first domino to fall, and there are two concurrently, would be for the council to revive a look at that older ordinance that was proposed because procedurally it's not alive. And secondly, for all of the entities in the city of Medford, the various departments, et cetera, to craft carefully their concerns and to submit them under this notice period. And the very last thing I'd say before I yield to my good friend, is that the purpose of this notice period is, under the NEPA, to make certain determinations as to historical uses in the area, which is why the Royal House is a pertinent, in its distance away from this particular proposed cell tower, is pertinent. And that comes up under the National Environmental Policy Act. So there are the various elements of this matter. and the various nuances that were presented with.
[Tom Lincoln]: Thank you. Name and address of the record, please. Tom Lincoln, I'm an executive director of the Royal House and Slave Quarters at 15 George Street. I live at 27 Gleason Street in Medford. I'd like to thank Councilor Marks and also the city solicitor and Ken Kraus, who actually brought this in front of some of us in the community. The Royal House and Slave Quarters, as we can best figure it, is about 2,000 feet away. One thing that I think needs clarification, as I understand it, is that these are legal addresses, but the cell phone towers are actually proposed on the railroad right away. I think you probably have to give the closest street address to there. But that said, the Royal House and Slave Quarters is a National Historic Landmark, which is the highest category of historic sites right here in Medford. We certainly preceded these cell phones by about 287 years. And we're concerned, as I've talked to some of my colleagues and people on the board at the Royal House and Slave Quarters, about the visual impact. 74 feet, I'm not an expert on visual impacts, but 74 feet is 65, 75, 74 feet, whatever it is, is pretty high. I think it's higher than any building in the neighborhood. It's certainly higher than our, than the 1737 house that we have, as well as the Slave Quarters. It's also not clear, and I think it will be good to know, exactly what the consequences are of commenting. If it's just a comment period just to gather information, and if you don't have any statutory rights, et cetera, I'm not sure how much good that would do. So we're certainly, at the Royal House of Slave Hoarders, are concerned about this. We're certainly going to comment, along with the city departments, One thing, if you haven't been on a tour at the Royal House Slave Quarters recently, one thing we try to convey with our one acre left of 500 historic acres is the extent of the property. And so we do talk about the surrounding landscape and people certainly get a view of the neighborhood. And I'm trying to imagine what it might look like with the cell phone tower sticking up above every other house off of George Street and back in that adjacent neighborhood. The second place, which I wear several hats here, but the second place which may be affected, although I think visually may be not affected, is the Brooks Estate, which I believe is about a half a mile from the Tyler Avenue location. 63, is it 63 Tyler? Is very close to Grove Street, up on the north end of Tyler there. The last point I would make, and I think this is certainly in the back of people's minds, if there are two towers being proposed today, what's in the future here? There are clearly some interesting and perhaps difficult jurisdictional issues in terms of the MBTA, et cetera, but the demand for bandwidth, as I understand it, the demand for services is certainly not going down. Going back to the cell phone side, there are certainly dead spots. In fact, the Royal House, if you're inside the Royal House, it's very hard to get cell phone service for some reason. And I think that precedent is a thing to worry about here in terms of. And these are really, any way you look at it, these are really tall structures. In the past, in fact, this has happened in West Bedford, cell phone transmitters or whatever they are, or amplifiers, I guess. Cell phone service have been placed atop buildings. They've been disguised. There's no disguising these towers. So we look forward to learning more about this, and we look forward both to an effective ordinance and to a resolution of some of these issues. Thank you.
[Doug Carr]: Thank you. Name and address of the record. Doug Carr, 124 Boston Avenue in West Medford. I, like Mr. Lincoln, I wear several hats here. I'm on the Medford Historic Commission. I'm a director of the Brooks City Land Trust, and I've also served as the former chair of the Green Line Extension Design and Working Group, which is currently dormant, but this is affected by the Green Line because of the property on Charnwood, which is directly abuts the future Green Line extension to Tufts. I want to echo what was said before. I think there's a, these are insanely large, very disruptive visually. They lower property values, frankly, for anyone within sight of them. Certainly the backyards of the people along Charnwood are not going to be enhanced by them. On the Medford Historic Commission, we have reviewed at least a half a dozen cell tower proposals in the last few years. They've all been penthouses. They've all been on the sides of buildings, buried amongst mechanical equipment. They've never been freestanding because it's insane to even propose that in a dense city like the city of Medford. It's too disruptive. We've approved them because, well we didn't actually approve them, but we commented on them and we sometimes were able to guide them on things like paint colors or maybe shifting their location to be less visually intrusive. But we They've always been rather intelligently proposed, and these are not. These are obviously in smack dab in the navel of the West Medford and the Hillside neighborhoods, and they're going to cause immeasurable damage. So there are plenty of buildings that are about 70 feet tall all along the railway, not far from these locations. We just need to push them a little bit to come up with a better design rather than the plain, simple drop. It's 75 feet to the top of equipment is what the drawings say that we all received today. basically go back to the drawing board and try again, try a better way to do it. Think of the Cummings building on Boston Ave, the U-Haul building. Think of several buildings along Tufts, not too far from Charnwood. Those are perfectly logical places we could put these towers and nobody would ever see them. We just need to work better and start a dialogue, but tell them this is simply unacceptable. I mean, the Grove Street slave wall is probably within 700 feet of the one in Playstead. This would be looming over the ball fields on Playstead. I believe the royal house is within, I know the Brooks Estate, at least a portion with the ponds is within that half mile. So there's clearly some historic resources that the documents say there's no negative effect on in the 33 page document you all received today, which is simply not true. So we just need to basically pause and come up with a better solution. I'm convinced there is a good one here. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. It should not be put in these residential neighborhoods. We do need to revise our zoning. I completely agree with the council on that. And I look forward to helping that make, make that occur in the very near future. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Carr.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. Thank you, Mr. President. I know that back in the day when this resolution that council Mark's talking about was directly involved in the field of dreams committee and One of the biggest issues we had was that cell phone tower and the operation being built behind the high school. And one of the biggest benefits for that American cell phone tower company at the time was how quickly and how much money they would make off of selling parts of that tower. What would be interesting to me is to see where else on the line that the T would be looking to put other towers. Because if you can, I think that would be a direct correlation. If you see it just, you know, not just Medford, but you see it down the line, I think it might help us in really understanding that they're using, I mean, let's all, you know, state the facts, the T's in huge financial difficulties. So I'd like to see that maybe if there's a way to ask them in our conversations, are we just looking in Medford or are they looking all the way down the line? Because if I think they, if they are doing that, I think this would be just a clear punch in the face that shows that they're using this for a revenue stream rather than what might be just discussed. So that'd be interesting to see if we can reach out and ask that question. If it's just Medford, are they putting those towers elsewhere? It would be an interesting information. So thank you. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.
[Michael Marks]: Vice President Max. Thank you, Mr. President. Just if I could, in addition to what was mentioned about the legal notice regarding the public input on national registered or historic places, I did speak to Paul Mulkey, the building commissioner, and he stated that the only requirement that he is aware of as building commissioner, if someone wants to erect a cell phone tower, is a building permit and an electrical permit. There's no other, there's no special permit, There's no other hoops that you have to jump through. And there may be a question regarding zoning setbacks, and that's something that's being looked at currently right now. So at this point, Mr. President, I would ask that the original paper, 11-477, be sent to Solicitor Rumley, and that is the paper that includes The recommendations from the Community Development Board, which recommended that wireless towers only be constructed in the two most industrial zoning districts in the city, and that also, the board recommended the city council be the granting authority for special permits for towers in those zones. So those were the two recommendations that came out. National Grid also, to be in compliance with the two state statutes, a recommended language that would still allow them to put cell towers on their telephone poles. And I won't speak for the city solicitor, but I think that's something that we're obligated to do. We want to adhere to whatever state statute is. And this paper, Mr. President, I believe addresses all those concerns. And it's a combination of all that input. I would also ask that my paper be referred to the committee of the whole. So paper 17-1. 417 be referred to the Committee of the Whole. Once we get a response back from the city solicitor on paper 11-477 on the language, we can meet in the Committee of the Whole and hopefully we can push this ordinance through after three readings, Mr. President, and give the neighborhood the safeguards and the peace of mind that they deserve that these towers won't be popping up, Mr. President, in places that they're not welcomed.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Councilor Knight. Mr. President, I feel as though the course of action that Councilor Marks just laid out makes perfect sense, and I would second the motion. Move approved.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Marks, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. We will do our best to get a Council of the Whole within the next two weeks, seeing that our Council of the Whole's a little on the full side right now, Hopefully we can get it in before budget season. Yes, I'm sure the city solicitor will work diligently on it. Am I correct? Thank you. 17-409 offered by Councilor Falco. Whereas the Medford City Council will soon be reviewing the proposed city budget, be it resolved that the city administration send summarized seed clicks fixed data to the Medford City Council to help aid budget decision making.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, Mr. President. As we all know, budget season is upon us, and we will be meeting hopefully sooner than later with regard to the city budget. But I know during the budget deliberations, there's always plenty of questions as to what the different departments do and whatnot and what's being accomplished. So I just wanted to be proactive here and see if we could get a report. a C-Click Fix report with regard to the items that are being reported. So I guess the issues that are being reported, the date they're being reported, the department that the issue is being assigned to, and the duration that it's taking for these issues to get fixed. I think it would be good to actually have that information when we go into budget deliberations. Data-driven decision-making I don't think is a bad thing. I think it's good to actually have that information when we're negotiating the budget, I think it would benefit all of us to get a true picture as to, you know, what different departments are doing on a daily basis and to see what, you know, different problems are occurring throughout the city and, you know, how long it's taking to get these fixed. So I would ask for some support and move approval. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, this is a great resolution, and I don't think anybody behind this rail is going to vote against it, especially based on the fact that when C-Click Fix was rolled out, we've asked for quarterly reports, and those quarterly reports were not forthcoming. I thank Councilor Falco for putting this resolution on. I also thank him for his foresight in starting to think about the budget at this early time, not really early, but earlier than usual. So I certainly wholeheartedly support this request, Mr. President, and I would like to add a B paper. uh, requesting that the council reiterate its request to receive quarterly reports from C-Click fix.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Falco, seconded by Councilor Dello Russo as amended by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Motion passes. 17 4 1 0 offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city council discuss signage located on public lands. Councilor Scarpelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. This is multifaceted, but I think that a few of the concerns that I'd like to address that we like answered from the Department of Public Works is looking at our ordinances and what we're asking our constituents to follow at our local ball fields and looking at the signs that are there now and making sure they're They're updated and the graffiti is removed from some of them or replaced if we can. And second, that we look at, I've had a few phone calls that the private entities are using public land to advertise. One constituent called and mentioned that there was a painting company that was putting their signage in front of their public land in front of their home. And they thought the question was the city approving that. Is that something that I have to keep there? So, um, I'd like to get, uh, you know what, if we can look into what department can answer that for us. And if there is no such go to the code enforcement officer, if you look at the code enforcement officer and ask that, that they then remove all the signs located on islands and in front of homes that have patches of grass that they're just putting down these lawn signs of private entities for advertising. So, other than the Scarpelli for Council, I think that we should definitely look into that.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. If I could amend that, that the building department also look at all the A-frames that are littering our sidewalks, which aren't supposed to be there either.
[Clerk]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Falco. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. 17-411 offered by Councilor Knight. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council thank Heidi Riccio for her four years of service to Medford Public Schools as vocational school principal and be it further resolved that the Medford City Council wish her all the best of luck in her new position at of Career and Technical Education Director at Essex Technical High School. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I think I might need a box of tissues for this one. A couple of weeks ago we saw Director Riccio here and she put in a great presentation concerning the capital needs and a request for authorizing a grant proposal to go up to the Department of Education. And we all commented about the work that she's done in her short time here in Medford and how she's moved the vocational school eons and eons ahead of where it was. She's broke down the invisible wall between the high school and the vocational school. She's added programming. The programming that's been added has had a great impact on our bottom line. It's had an ability to prevent kids from transferring out of district to go to other schools that provide programming that we didn't provide. So, Mr. President, it's with great sadness, but also great pleasure to see Heidi moving on to something that is really worthwhile. And it's an opportunity that she can't say no to. But it's with great sadness to see her to go because she's done great things in the city of Medford. And it's really just too bad that we have to see her go. I wish we could have done more to recruit and keep her here, but we can't make people move closer to Medford, Mr. President. She had quite a commute coming in there every day. With that being said, I'd ask my colleagues to support this resolution and wish her the best of luck and thank her for her service to the city. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. If I can, when the news broke, I did contact Ms. Riccio and as she wept over the phone and the decisions she had to make, I think the key decision to make her in this move was that her family, needed to come first. She had two children that she was commuting up to four hours a day and her commute is now, would be 20 minutes. Her commitment to finishing the projects that she envisioned and she shared with us in the last month. She has already told her future employer that she would make sure that she needs to finish those jobs and make sure they're completed before she moves on. That's typical Heidi Riccio. Again, being one of the school committee members that brought her to Medford and to see her vision come to fruition was amazing. So I'm going to miss her in many different ways. She's been a great example how you can use different avenues to grow a major part of our community. That's our vocational school. So thank you, Councilor Knight, for bringing this forward. And we also wish her luck. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you, President Calvillo. And also thank you to Councilor Knight for bringing this forward. I had the opportunity, along with Councilor Scarpelli, when we were on the school committee, to hire Heidi Riccio. And hands down, I think one of the best moves that we made when we were on the school committee. Heidi was just, I mean, her commitment is unquestionable. I mean, the work that she did in four years, to really turn that school around and to just bring vocational education back to life is amazing. I mean, the programs that she brought to the school, just the passion that she brings to the job is amazing. And she just did a phenomenal job over four years. She's going to definitely be missed, but she did a fabulous job while she was here. So I just want to say good luck. And I think, you know, I mean, It's hard to see her go, but family comes first, and I understand that completely. And I just want to wish her well. Thank you. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I just want to thank Councilman Lanai for bringing this forward. I thank Ms. Riccio for all the work she's done. It goes to show how much she has done when you have parents calling you upset that a director is leaving. So it goes to show all the hard work that she's put into the program, which she explained to us in part. a few weeks ago, and she really impressed me before the council that night, and then a week later, she is now leaving. But I wish her the best of luck, and I hope that we are able to find somebody as enthusiastic and hardworking as her to keep the programs alive and going strong, and create more opportunities for our younger generation. So I want to thank her for that, and hope that we can fill her shoes to the best of our ability.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Councilwoman O'Connor. Again, to that point, again, Mr. President, I know I forgot, but I wanted to make sure that when I talked to Ms. Riccio, one of the things she was so proud of was the fact that when we as a school committee years ago looked for a new director, I believe we classified the three finalists as used car salesmen, and then coming across Heidi Riccio, what she mentioned to me that four years ago, Medford wasn't even, in the world of vocational education wasn't even on the map. And the interest gathered already from phone calls that vocational experts have been contacting her to apply for this job is astonishing. So I can't wait to see what happens, but I know she's definitely helping with that piece, moving it forward. So I want to let our parents know that It's definitely different than it was four years ago. There'll be a line at the superintendent's door waiting to pass in their resumes for an opportunity to be the director of that program, so thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Very big shoes to fill there, and I wish her well on her new endeavor. On the motion by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Motion by Councilor Knight to take papers in the hands of the clerk. seconded by Councilor Dello Russo. All those in favor? Aye. 17415, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council wish lifelong resident, Mary O'Sullivan, a very happy 90th birthday. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Yes, Mr. President, hopefully Mary's still at home watching this evening. I know we had a few things we had to take care of at the beginning of the meeting, and we couldn't take this up under suspension. But Mary was born and raised in the city of Medford, has been a lifelong resident. She raised her four children, Maureen, Paul, John, and Julie here in the community. Her sister Anne still resides in Medford with her husband. And she has three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. So we'd like to join me in wishing Ms. O'Sullivan, a very happy 90th birthday, Mr. President, and many more to come.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Knight, and happy birthday. Offered by Councilor Marks, be it resolved that Mae Marbrek, founder of Friends of Cheval Auditorium and GMAC gym, be recognized for her 25 years of distinguished service. Vice President Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. It's my honor to stand up for such a tremendous person in this community. We all know May Makibrecht very well for her passion and her commitment to this community. You know, May was the founder of the Friends of Chevalier Auditorium in Gene Mack Gym, and she served for the past 25 years as a board member. I think that speaks volumes on her commitment, not only to Chevalier Auditorium, but also to the Method Boys and Girls Club, which she was very passionate about, Mr. President. May also served as a board member on the Brooks Estates Land Trust. I believe for, is still serving, close to 18 or 19 years, a member of CACHE, and also the Method Arts Council, and numerous other activities in the community. May has been there, she's someone that you can count on, someone that will always listen, Mr. President, and try to assist, and never look for anything in return. And I just wanna really wish her well, and honor her before the Medford City Council for her many years of community service through a citation of this council, Mr. President. And I would ask that that be done within the next week or so to get May up here and congratulate her for not only being the founding member of the Friends of Chevalier Auditorium, but also for her commitment to the community at large, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: She is going to be honored at the next board meeting of the Friends of Chevalier, if anyone wants to go to that. Councilor Knights.
[Adam Knight]: I second the resolution, Mr. President, move for approval. I think it's also important to point out she is a member of the Medford Mustang Hall of Fame.
[Richard Caraviello]: Former Citizen of the Year, also. Former Citizen of the Year. Councilor Lococoon.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. I was gonna mention that, former Citizen of the Year. done so much for this city on a volunteer basis, which is the reason why she was the citizen of the year a few years back. And I want to thank her for her service. She is being honored on May 18 at 7 PM at Maple Park Condominiums Community Room, 65 Valley Street in Medford. So whether we give her a citation here or at that meeting, I just want to thank her for all her service. Tremendous.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor. An outstanding woman, and not only has she been a mentor to me, but she's been a good friend for many years.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you. I just want to say thank you to Maya. She's been an amazing citizen, been involved in so many organizations through the years, and her commitment is fabulous. She's done a great job, and I just want to say thank you for all your years of service to our community.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Marks that we have May Marbrick come up here for a citation, seconded by Councilor Dello Russo. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Offered by Vice President Mox be it resolved that the tree stumps located at 51 Woods Road, 56 Woods Road and 18 Wellington Road be removed.
[Michael Marks]: Vice President Mox. Thank you, Mr. President. There are still a number of stumps, Mr. President, throughout this community that appear to be on the stump list, but for whatever reason are taking forever to remove from in front of residents' homes. These are three that were brought to my attention just recently over the weekend, and I know there are literally tens and tens more, Mr. President. I would ask that these be removed immediately in the interest of public safety. And also, Mr. President, that we receive an updated list. We were asked, I believe it was eight months ago, maybe a year, for monies to do sidewalk and stump removal. If we can get an updated list on where we stand with that, and the age of the stumps, as we've talked about, Mr. President, ad nauseum before this council, and that we get a report back from the Commissioner, Brian Kerentz. Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Caraviello. Thank you for bringing this up, Councilor Marks. I also have been getting repeated emails if we could add 17, 48, and 61 Doonan Street. Those stumps have been there for a very long time, and I did request through an email to Mr. Cairns that they would be removed if we could get a status on that and vote in favor of removing those stumps. People get sick and tired of stumps in their neighborhoods and on their streets. And it's understandable. It's an eyesore. So if we could get those removed. It's also a public safety issue. So thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Councilor Marksley, for bringing this resolution forward. I, too, had a conversation with Public Works Director Cairns this afternoon. And he's informed me that there will be two sidewalk crews that will be out in the coming weeks. One of the crews is a city crew. One of the crews is a National Grid crew. The National Grid crew will be dealing with sidewalk panels that they've disturbed during their construction over the last year, and the city crew will be working on the stump and sidewalk money that we appropriated some months back, Mr. President. But I appreciate the resolution going forward. I support it wholeheartedly, and I move for approval.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello. I just want to thank Councilor Marksley for bringing this forward. If we could also add 23 Fulton Street to the list. I got a call about that recently, and I'm glad, and actually, I believe the list that Councilor Marks had mentioned was supposed to be forwarded to us a while ago, so I'm glad that you mentioned that as well, because we should get an updated list to see what kind of progress is being made. A lot of money has gone into this, so.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you.
[John Falco]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: On the motion by Councilor, by Vice President Mox, as amended by Councilor Lungo-Koehn and Councilor Falco, and seconded by Councilor Lungo-Koehn. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the city administration provide a copy of the city's affordable housing plan and be it further resolved that the city report back to the council that the percentage of housing units in the city that are considered affordable. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. There's been much discussion about development in the community, much discussion about zoning. One thing that we all need to be wary of is Chapter 40B of the General Laws, which allows developers to bypass the local zoning laws if the city of Medford is not at its threshold established by the state standard for affordable housing. So I'd ask that the administration provide those reports to us so that we can take a look at them as we prepare our discussions.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by Councilor Naife, seconded by Councilor Dela Rousseau, All those in favour? Motion passes. If I can set a reminder out, Saturday is Clippership Day in the city of Medford. If everyone can come out and attend, it's something that's been brought back, that's been gone for a while, and I hope everybody can attend. Councilor Longo-Kearns.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, I just had a feeling you were going to maybe forget the details by the way you were ending that. 12 to, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. right in the center of Medford Square, there's going to be a cornhole tournament, a number of activities for the children, beer and wine, a stage, you may know better more of what's going on on the stage, I forget, but it's going to be a great family event. The street's going to be closed off, hopefully parking won't, I don't think parking's gonna be an issue if that issue is cleared up, but it's gonna be a great day, a lot of family fun, and great community day.
[Richard Caraviello]: Good community fun. Thank you.
[Michael Marks]: Vice President Mox. Just if I could, Mr. President, I had the opportunity this past Saturday to attend the community cleanup, which we refer to as Earth Day. We had cleanups in Haines Square, West Medford Square, right here in the heart of Medford Square, The Brooks Estates held a cleanup, McDonnell Park, along the Mystic River. And there were many, many volunteers out that day. It was a beautiful day. The Mystic River Watershed Association had many volunteers. Medford Community Coalition organized their group, and they did a tremendous job here in Medford Square. The Chamber of Commerce also was very instrumental. Members of MBELT helped at the Brooks Estates. DPW, I just want to thank personally Steve Tanaglia, who did a tremendous job, Mr. President, in making sure that there were brooms and rakes and bags and things were picked up after all this trash was picked up. So I want to thank everyone in the community for a great cleanup day. And secondly, Mr. President, I think it's only appropriate that the Farmer's Market will be moving. We all know it's been in Medford Square for a number of years, and they have a new location, which will be the Condon Shell on Mystic Valley Parkway. And the first Farmer's Market will be June 8th, and it's gonna run until October 12th. It's gonna be from three to seven p.m. every Thursday from June 8th to October 12th. And there's plenty of parking there, running water and electricity, and supposedly it's gonna be a great location for the market itself. Also, Mr. President, I just wanna bring up Circle the Square. We all know that for several weeks during the June, July months, I believe up until August, they run Circle the Square. This year, they're only gonna run it once. There's gonna be one Circle the Square date, that is Thursday, June 15th from 3.30 to 7.30. And the reasoning they're only gonna have one is because there is exciting renovations being made on Riverside Plaza, on Riverside Ave. And I guess for that reason, Circle the Square will only have one date this year, which I'm not sure why they can't use other parts of the square, but that's the notice that went out. Also, Mr. President, if I could,
[Richard Caraviello]: I've got a wealth of knowledge tonight.
[Michael Marks]: What's that? Wealth of knowledge tonight. Well, it's important, Mr. President. Upcoming events. Cachet has an arts and cultural calendar. Back pocket dances. I think Councilor Scarpelli. I've heard people say you're in the back pocket. Is it not dances? Oh, it's dance, okay. Back Pocket Dance is Saturday, May 6th from 3 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. at the Medford Senior Center, 101 Riverside Ave, and then Bluegrass and Beyond, I think Councilor De La Russa likes Bluegrass, a night of American music, and that's gonna be Saturday, May 13th at Chevalier Theater at 8 p.m. Mr. President, all welcomed. and the Friends of the Medford Public Library book sale, Saturday, May 20th, and Sunday, the 21st, at all various times. And that's all for today, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, I'm very surprised that Councilor Marks missed one. The airplane noise meeting. That's right. Monday.
[Richard Caraviello]: Monday night.
[Adam Knight]: 7 p.m. in the council chambers, and representatives from the Massport CLC will be there.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilor Layton.
[John Falco]: Councilor Falco. Thank you, President Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: You have more information for us.
[John Falco]: I actually, I am surprised that everyone missed this one, but tomorrow night is the Medford Police Community Meeting. It is at the Medford Senior Center, and it starts at 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Thank you, Councilor Falco. Oh, and if I may really quick, I was also at the cleanup this weekend in the square, so thank you to the Medford Community Coalition and to the DPW department as well. Everybody did a fine job.
[Richard Caraviello]: Many of our city councilors were there. Would you like to speak? Name and address for the record, please.
[SPEAKER_14]: Valerie Geiselman, Medford, Massachusetts. I wanted to thank Councilor Marks for just giving a list of all those dates, and I wondered if there's a place where we can easily find all the dates of the events that are happening in Medford, and I'll tell you my reason why. On the way here to the meeting, I stopped in at this new restaurant, and I think it's pronounced Zam Zam, and they have Pakistani and Indian Cuisine, it's the second time I've stopped in there, and they seem like a lovely place. I asked them if they knew about participating in the June 4th event, Medford Day, they didn't even know about it. And I mentioned a few other things to them. And when the new petitioners, we're also speaking tonight, the ones that are, let's see, taking over the, I'm trying to see.
[Richard Caraviello]: Picky's Pizza and Helen's Roast Beef.
[SPEAKER_14]: What'd you say?
[Richard Caraviello]: Picky's Pizza and Helen's Roast Beef.
[SPEAKER_14]: Yes, Pinky's Pizza and Helen's Roast Beef. And I went out to speak to them and welcomed them to Medford, and I was so happy some of these are in my neighborhood, and I'd be happy when they're opening up and the places aren't empty anymore. And I asked them about June 4th, if they would be interested in participating, and they didn't even know about it. And they didn't know about the events that happen up at Tufts College, where they might be able to participate. And I just wonder if there's any way we could have some ambassadors to welcome these new businesses in Medford. It's so wonderful to have them coming in, and we know what a risk it is for, especially young people or anybody, any age, to start a new business in Medford.
[Richard Caraviello]: That would be you.
[SPEAKER_14]: Thank you. How about the high school kids? I mean, this is a wonderful thing.
[Richard Caraviello]: We have a chamber of commerce. There's Facebook. There's multiple outlets for these people uh, multiple resources for them to find out.
[SPEAKER_14]: They don't know about them. And I think we need to reach out.
[Richard Caraviello]: If they were good business people, they would, they would know.
[SPEAKER_14]: We want them to be good business people. So if we have to help educate them so they can have a successful business of Medford, I think it would be good to have some ambassadors to do that.
[Adam Knight]: Thank you. Councilor knife. Mr. President motion to request that the administration examined the feasibility of allowing the senior citizen Abatement program to work as ambassadors between new businesses in the community in City Hall Thank you on the motion by councillor night seconded by councillor.
[Richard Caraviello]: I'll go all those in favor. All right motion passes the records were passed to Vice-president mocks, but mr. Vice president. How did you find those records? I thank you seconded by night Motion to adjourn by Councilor Falco, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? Motion passes.
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