[John McLaughlin]: 它是。
[Clerk]: 谢谢。 谢谢。 是的。 好的。
[Lungo-Koehn]: 我的检查一个，两个，我的检查一，两个，一，两个。
[Clerk]: 我认为这是一个很好的问题。 看起来那样。
[Lungo-Koehn]: 晚上好，大家。 随意坐下。 我们将准时开始，因为我们希望每个人都能在天气中安全地回家。 而且，我们正在尝试使该程序不到一个小时。 因此，感谢大家在这里。 首先，我想宣布，我们有一位非常特别的客人来今晚开始我们。 我们有有史以来第一位诗人桂冠特里·卡特（Terry Carter），他将读我们一首诗。 特里（Terry）是五本书的出版作者。 目前正在写他的第六本，这将很快打印出来。 他是我们社区，学校，西梅德福社区中心以及整个社区的巨大资产，他的诗歌等等。 因此，没有进一步的ADO，特里·卡特（Terry Carter）。
[John McLaughlin]: 必须是欢迎委员会。
[Carter]: 梅德福的心态。 我敢肯定，您一直在关注这一点。 请知道我们的意图是脾气暴躁的。 我们正在寻求使我们的城市从市长办公室到城市文员。 我们希望您看到住宿，自行车道，公园和地铁站。 我们希望您看到艺术，非营利组织和公司基础的合作。 我们希望您观看小型企业蓬勃发展，公共卫生使人们活着。 随着公民解决问题并取代愤怒的喊叫，渐进的动作可以使引擎的点火启动。 对种族和理性的真实讨论，也没有对腐败叛国的恐惧，新的学校，有数据和证据，旧学校的常识承诺。 这仍然是我们对经验丰富的范围的治理最大的希望，它满足了每个灵魂的需求，这使我们整体强大，这并不是将投票归于理所当然的，而是为我们的前辈种植的种子而尊重。 通过明智和公正的解决方案，这阐明了公众信任。 这些简单的押韵通过插图使这座城市的宣言。 共同努力，齐头并进，就像梅德福野马的游行乐队一样。 工人可以谈判并赢得他的信仰，而没有仇恨。 在第一响应者获得尊重的地方，是的，他们总是服务和保护。 建筑商会谨慎地停下来阅读合同的条款，以外的是他们的演习和锯子，以听到共同原因的声音。 骄傲的彩虹完全逃脱，差异并没有害怕。 教会崇拜亲切的和平与忠实的追随者。 善良的释放，黑人生活的重要性是基本的，我们将所有人都视为善良而温柔，我们用睁大眼睛和教训不仅仅是消毒，老师可以教的，而孩子们可以学习，而且没有巫婆或燃烧的书，我们欢迎来自每个国家，孟加拉语，拉丁裔和海地的新人， 在创新法院传统以形成新的改善状况和遗产的情况下，转变的大胆进步可以使奇妙的舞蹈。 这是城市内心的哭泣。 在这个新季节，这是我们开始的地方。 为了瞄准，理智和聪明的进步，而不是分开。 社会正义引起共鸣的地方，人们进行了健康的辩论，当邻居穿过敞开的大门时，美味的食物充满了每个家庭的盘子。 现在是时候让所有人都听到一条统一的信息大声而清晰的信息，而其他人可能会主张愤怒和分歧，并尽最大努力激发紧张局势。 值得信赖的政府的目标是清晰透明的沟通。 在这一时代，我们仍然必须要求领导者安全卸下面具。 城市简单的事实是人们希望看到更多的证据。 那个有能力的领导人引导了这艘船，并拥有强大而稳定的抓地力。 当智慧从历史上的深层和发酵铸件中发酵时，在进步提出进步时会倾泻出智慧。 什么是导致完美执行的正确和声音解决方案，导致迫害的迫害，这阻碍了报应的潮流？ 通过确认，这些简单的押韵承认了我们对激活的渴望，承认我们寻求恢复梅德福的最佳合作。 因此，诗人在透明的玻璃罐中读了像萤火虫一样的星星，以提示2023年有希望的2023年。 神秘的潮汐会扭曲和弯曲。 但这是梅德福（Medford）在我们的公民楼梯上修补破碎的铁轨的时候了，这是对我们公共事务的磨难。 这仍然是我们对经验丰富的范围领导才能满足每个灵魂的需求的最大希望，这使我们整个人都变得更加强大。 这是我的请求，好的梅德福特。 现在这位诗人说了晚安。 谢谢。 谢谢。 谢谢。 现在这是我的荣幸。 谢谢。 现在，我很荣幸介绍学校委员会副主席珍妮·格雷厄姆（Jenny Graham）。
[Graham]: 晚上好，大家。 谢谢您Lungo-Koehn市长要求我今晚讲话。 我很荣幸能在这里并成为学校委员会的副主席，也许更荣幸的是，梅德福的公民已经对我赋予了我近四年的信仰。 在过去的四年中，这确实感觉就像一生。 当我考虑一年的评论年份时，自从加入学校委员会以来，每年都会想到每年的评论。 因此，每年，学校委员会在我们的学校管理方面都非常努力地取得进步。 而且，每年也很清楚，我们的学生应得的进展如此之多。 因此，当我考虑到这一点时，我经常不知所措，但我会从一些亮点开始。 因此，在过去的一年中，我们为学生们在高质量的课程上投资了很多课程。 早就应该了。 这包括许多高中课程的教科书。 它包括为我们的中学生提供的新数学课程，其中包括我们小学的新数学课程。 我们还继续在基础级别，将基于语音的课程融入我们的节目中，并在我们追求时识字节目中 更全面地替代了我们的扫盲课程。 基于语音的方法很清楚，科学告诉我们的是支持所有读者并改变生活的方法。 因此，我真的很感谢学校政府的坚韧性，因为他们确实在谈论最根本的事情时，在我们的小学一级发生教学和学习的方式发生了巨大的转变，这就是学习阅读。 当我们期待的时候，我也很高兴看到我们已经组建了一群梅德福居民来看看我们的健康课程，并确保将来，我们的健康课程是全面的努力防止我们的学生团体欺凌和暴力。 我们组装的团队真的很棒。 他们是如此认证。 我只是不敢相信所有这些才能正确 在我们称之为梅德福的这个小小的空间中保重。 除了我们在课程方面所做的所有出色工作之外，我们花了很多时间工作的另一件事是我们为加强心理健康支持的工作而感到自豪如此清楚，就像我们所有人一样，仍在考虑摆脱大流行以及影响他们的所有方式。 所以我很高兴我们能够加强这些支持以及我们在那里所做的工作 很艰巨，非常重要。 在过去的一年中，我们与11个谈判合作伙伴进行了谈判。 我们在梅德福公立学校内有11个工会。 通过这项工作，我们感谢我们的老师在大流行期间及其之后的努力工作，并肯定会在此工作。 我们解决了最有利的合同 在我们的老师几十年中，也许永远。 我们还承诺，我们在梅德福公立学校的员工应有生活工资，我们找到了一种方法来确保我们的专业人士获得赔偿，这不仅是一种生活工资，而且对我们的员工和他们应得的学生迈出了不可思议的一步。 我们还与护士，学校秘书和木匠建立了联系。 而且我们仍然有要做的工作来解决剩余的合同，但是我们致力于确保我们的员工为他们为学生提供的服务提供生活工资。 我要感谢社区保护委员会对梅德福公立学校的持续支持。 最近，我们能够组建一个咨询委员会，以支持他们的支持来替换麦格林小学的游乐场。 设计令人惊叹。 它认识到游戏是学习，这太神奇了。 它是梅德福市第一个真正包容性的游乐场，或者将是。 咨询委员会非常努力地工作，以确保我们从各种利益相关者那里听到。 我们从孩子那里听到了，我们从建筑物的老师那里听到了，我们从社区那里听到了，因为该空间也将是一个社区空间。 我们能够提出一种以可持续性，包容性和乐趣为中心的设计。 感谢CPC的持续支持。 我们承诺为建设和市长提供资金，以专门为ARPA资金 使该游乐场成为现实。 我很荣幸能与学校委员会委员会的女性Melanie McLaughlin一起在该委员会任职。 而且我认为可以肯定地说，整个学校委员会迫不及待地想在完成的操场上剪彩。 去年提出了挑战。 我确定您已经听说了所有这些。 而且我认为可以肯定地说，没有任何学校建设比梅德福高中更具挑战性。 在过去的几个月中，我们采取了措施，以确保我们的高中安全且有利于所有学生学习。 创造一种应有的气候和文化值得梅德福的骄傲，这无疑是一项正在进行的工作，这是我们都致力于的。 我的内心和我的工作向那些感受到我们历史痛苦的家庭献出了重要的是，需要改变什么。 我致力于进行这些更改，无论它们有多困难，因为我们的学生应得的。 最后，我们的高中生还应该得到一栋可以支持现代，尖端教育的建筑，并为我们的职业学生提供足够的空间。 我为我们在过去一年提交给马萨诸塞州教学局的申请而感到自豪，并沮丧地得知我们没有邀请下一步，这主要是由于建筑项目的成本飞涨，跨整个学校建设项目状态。 我呼吁我们的州代表团竭尽所能，以确保我们在明年和未来几年内将国家一级的资金增加到MSBA。 我很高兴地宣布，我们将在四月重新提交我们的申请 借助建筑管理局概述和推荐的添加，我们还将开始讨论我们可能拥有哪些其他选择，并开始探索我们如何在重建或替换梅德福高中的过程中前进。 我还期待与市长合作，使重新想象的梅德福高中成为现实。 我将对观众的所有百万富翁和亿万富翁说这句话来结束 如果您想知道如何对周围人的生活产生影响，请给我打电话。 我们可以谈论重新构想的梅德福高中对我们的学生和我们的城市产生的影响。 因此，我很高兴介绍我的朋友妮可·莫雷尔（Nicole Morell），他是市议会主席。 谢谢。
[Morell]: 感谢副主席格雷厄姆（Graham）的介绍以及您同事过去几年所做的工作。 我知道有人说学校委员会实际上是政治上最艰难的工作，我正在与大家聊天。 我会同意。 感谢Longo Cohn市长邀请我今晚发言，分享市议会的一些亮点。 如果有一个孩子在尖叫的情况下，那是我的孩子。 所以很好。 我很荣幸担任梅德福市议会主席。 我为自2022年1月以来举行的100多次会议上所做的工作感到自豪。 我们制定了新的条例，投票赞成宪章审查，批准了一些变革性项目的资金，并完成了我们的分区代码的重新调查，以支持更宜居，充满活力和可持续的梅德福。 我们作为理事会所做的很多事情都是在进行的工作，因为良好的工作需要时间。 是时候与彼此合作，像议员卡尔巴罗这样的议员，我今晚在这里见到他， 是时候与居民收听并合作，平衡竞争观点的时间以及时间来应对我们城市部门，董事会和委员会的巨大努力。 在过去的一年中，理事会一直专注于住房，继续建立负担得起的住房信托基金的工作，为城市的全面计划提供建议，投票支持住房生产计划，并努力建立住房通知条例，所有这些旨在为居民提供住房机会和支持。 去年年初，理事会完成并投票赞成分区重新编码，这是几十年来贝德福德分区的首次全面审查和改革。 更新的分区清晰简洁，为可持续发展和住房机会奠定了基础。 我期待分区工作的第二阶段，并感谢市长为此分配资金，在这项工作中，我们可以再次与城市部门合作，以更新我们的分区，以支持居民并与全面计划合作。为城市。 除我们的分区工作外，该理事会还致力于将围绕户外用餐和餐饮卡车的法令和政策现代化，对我们的商业社区和我们的居民做出回应，以支持繁华的梅德福。 我们通过了城市内的聚苯乙烯禁令，首先由公民和社会责任中心的学生带头。 因此，梅德福（Medford）加入了该州各地的社区，认真对待这种污染和我们对可持续性的承诺的有害影响。 理事会还投票通过将高级财产税延期限制与高级断路器税收抵免联系起来，该税收抵免额每年自动扩大该计划的资格，并帮助老年人留在家中。 去年，我们更新了降雪条例，并向政府提出了许多政策建议，以简化降雪指导，并希望有一天在梅德福（Medford）进行城市跑步人行道清算计划。 我们在居民的帮助下完成了所有这些工作，重要的是，城市委员会和委员会以及该建筑物的工作人员。 他们是这项工作的合作伙伴，并提供了宝贵的专业知识和洞察力。 我感谢那些市政府工作人员的时间来支持这项工作。 我们仍然有很多工作要完成，我有信心我们可以作为市政厅共同努力，以进行分区更新，以更具可持续性和韧性的梅德福（Medford）前进，并审查我们的城市宪章以确保它反映我们今天的城市。 我要感谢大家的时间，并允许我分享我们作为一个机构共同努力并与这座建筑中的人们合作的一些亮点。 因此，我想介绍梅德福市市长Brianna Lundekarp。
[Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you so much. First, I wanna start by thanking Steve. I wanna start by thanking Steve Smerity, the director of communications and Emma Tombley for helping me write this speech you're gonna hear tonight. I think Steve and I had a tougher job the last week cutting it down from 25 pages to nine. So you can thank me for that later, but there's so much that has been accomplished in this city that I wanna speak about. So I'm gonna do that tonight. And I'm not gonna rush, usually I rush, I feel so bad, I'm long-winded, but I'm not gonna rush because this work that everybody's doing on a daily basis is worth taking my time for. And just before I start, please know that just because something's written on a sign doesn't mean it's true. And I'm sorry that the horns are beeping. And I'm sorry to Terry, but the horns were beeping. Thank you for those joining us here tonight. Thank you, if you're watching from home or on Zoom, I do know that we have many elected officials here, Representative Donato, School Committee woman, Kathy Kreatz, Member Ruseau, and City Councilor Rick Caravielloa, and Member Hays. Thank you. And former member, Paulette Van der Kloots. Thank you for joining us. Thank you to Terry Carter, our poet laureate, member Jenny Graham, and President Nicole Morell for kicking off the event. Before I begin, I must thank the tireless work of our department heads, city staff, and volunteers who have committed to doing amazing things under the difficult and ongoing conditions caused by the pandemic. You're all integral to the success that I will be highlighting here tonight. You're the reason why we're here tonight. I stood before you last January and outlined my vision for Medford, listing many long-term goals, including numerous projects that are currently underway, and laid out our roadmap for the next two years and beyond. Now, as we begin this fourth year of growth and progress, I want to give an update on how things are going, what challenges lie ahead, and how we continue to deliver on the promises we made, the vision we shared, and the future we've imagined. Walking through the city, visiting places I frequented as a child, young adult, and city councilor, what struck me in many instances was how infrequently some places change. A community that does not grow does not thrive. And here in Medford, because we have done the planning the last three years, we now are about to see growth mode. We've been able to make this transition and kickstart our economic engine because of a key goal, tapping into the unrealized potential of our squares, our green spaces, and our city-owned properties. The most obvious opportunity to begin our next generation of development is at Wellington Station. The untapped 28 acres of land has been in city control for over half a century. Since 1969, and in our community was completely missing out. not only on the potential revenue streams, but also the exciting opportunities that could be realized with diverse transit oriented mixed use development designed to attract new families, workers, and students. Since we issued the request for information in September, we have spent the past few months reviewing proposals from eight highly qualified developers and released those to the public earlier this month. Each plan had a unique vision for the area's potential and suggested bringing much needed housing options and other mixed use features, such as retail, office, hospitality, and green space. We will take you through these proposals and use them to help inform a future RFP in 2023 that fits the needs of our community and brings about generational change to the Wellington area. In addition to Wellington, we're also attempting to reimagine a few underused city-owned lots in Medford Square. with the help of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council working to develop priorities and criteria for future redevelopment through a community-driven analysis and visioning process that will incorporate the needs of residents and stakeholders. We will finally see progress on this project in the coming year and get out an RFP for Medford Square in 2023. We have an opportunity with these lots to implement smart resident-focused development that aligns with our community's priorities and vision. If we do this the right way, it will benefit our downtown square by creating a more sustainable and accessible future for the area. But as I said, we can't do this in a silo. We must engage and work with our seniors in the neighborhood, our local small businesses, Chevalier Theater, and residents to access their needs, assess their needs, and implement a strategy that recognizes their importance to building a more vibrant and thriving downtown area. One of the three 40B projects we are negotiating on Mystic Ave has been a topic that has garnered much debate, controversy, and discussion over the years. There's an opportunity for meaningful, lasting development on this strip that we can't afford to miss. Director Alicia Hunt, Economic Development Director Victor Schrader, now part-time, and I would not settle for thousands of luxury apartments at this site. and have been working with the developer on a different vision, one that can bring innovation and lasting possibilities to Mystic Avenue, a $1 billion life science development equipped with open space and first floor retail. As we look to strengthen our commercial corridors, we must not lose sight of ensuring that people who will use these new developments also have the ability to continue to live in our city. It's no secret that there's a housing crunch in the region, Cities across the Commonwealth are feeling the pressure to create lasting solutions to this problem and Medford is no different. Our city, however, is finding solutions that will bring more housing, especially affordable housing to Medford. We'll have a comprehensive master plan, which is being released very soon, will help guide our housing policy in the future. We currently have two other 40B projects that my administration is negotiating and working on. We worked with the developers on the project on Mystic Valley Parkway to resubmit plans to the Zoning Board of Appeals that includes 350 units, 25% of which are affordable housing units. We're committed to using ARPA funds to support and assist with affordable housing projects, like the ones at our Housing Authority complexes at 121 Riverside Ave and Walkland Court. We've allocated 400,000 to help offset permitting costs of renovations, thanks to the help of Bill 40, for upgrades and renovations to new affordable units at 121 Riverside Ave just this past week. Using existing funding sources like ARPA are helpful and allow us to make immediate expenditures to ease the burden on partners, but we're doing so knowing that we need a long-term plan for additional revenue sources. ARPA will end in 2025 and we don't want our partners left holding the bag. That's why establishing affordable housing trust is so important and will help allow us to fund new projects in the absence of ARPA. We've done the work, communicated with stakeholders, and are ready to move forward. The next step in the process is working with the council, who I know is supportive and understands the value of the trust. Those are just a few of the over 30 development investments we are working on. A special thanks again to our planning team led by Director Hunt and our now part-time economic development administrator. Thank you. Thanks to the work of our police chief, Jack Buckley, Medford PD is setting an example for how to operate as a diverse professional police force that continually engages with the community, builds new lasting partnerships and promotes inclusion and empathy with the way each of our officers conduct themselves. Aiding in that mission is the remarkable facility that the MPD calls home. And I have made it a priority to see that the fire department has a headquarters that is just as dynamic and meets the current needs of our firefighters and emergency personnel. Also, one of the ongoing initiatives that has been moving forward over the past year is upgrades to all six of our stations. We have already spent over $1.3 million on over 20 projects to upgrade each of our stations, including lighting projects in each substation, roof repairs or replacements, kitchen upgrades, and one final one to go. And we will continue to ensure these are the best working environments to keep Medford safe. Since day one, bringing our fire stations up to the standards of the 21st century department have been a priority of mine and my chief of staff, Nina Nazarian and chief John Friedman have been working tirelessly to get an owner's project manager hired and an architect contract signed. We are happy to announce that we do have an owner's project manager that we have hired and are very close to signing a contract with an architect firm for the design of the fire head quarter building. A special thank you to Medford residents, Luke McNeely and Paul Holian Jr. who have also done a lot of work, a lot of reading as it relates to this project. Please know that these things take time, but there is a committed group pushing these projects as fast as they can with me nagging them every step of the way. In addition to the efforts underway for the fire headquarters, our fire substation, engine three on Salem Street, is going to have the garage floors replaced this year. Thanks to the work of this team, as well as the dedicated help of our chief officer, Fiona Maxwell, and her team, and available community block grant funding, we can move forward on this project exponentially. Finally, this year, we'll begin IT work of over 500,000 and are designing window repairs or replacements at all the substations too. That's an additional over $2.2 million investment in new projects at the fire stations with a potential over $20 million bond after that for the headquarters. And in order to help fund these infrastructure improvements, I spent months negotiating to have cannabis dispensaries in Medford that would benefit our community. Our terms were eventually met and in addition to receiving the maximum 3% gross revenue coming back to the city, which will be used towards roads and sidewalks. We were also able to secure funding for our library, fire stations, DPW vehicles, cruisers for the police department, local nonprofit aid, veteran aid, and so much more. With all of these new projects coming online and countless more already completed, it's critical that we have sufficient transportation infrastructure in place to handle the demand and allow people to get to move about the city safely. That's why we commissioned a street and sidewalk infrastructure assessment early in my first term and showed the city, and the city has 200 million in backlog of road and sidewalk work that needs to be fixed due to the decades of neglect. This is a huge task, and although the city does not have the funding or capacity to complete this work in a year or two, we are not shying away from planning and implementation. We have been diligently working to complete our most critical roadways. In the past few months, With the help of our city engineer, Owen Hortella, we outlined a pavement strategy for Freedom Way. The road was in dire need of repair and was used regularly to access schools and city facilities. I'm happy to report that we have done the initial repaving with plans in place. Owen, there's more work to do. For a complete road rebuild in about two years. We've made a significant investment in upgrades to our sidewalks as well. This past year, we bonded a million dollars and we'll be going to the city council for an additional bond of 1.5 million that will include equipment. So even more work can be done in-house by our DPW team. Thank you to treasurer Judy Johnson for always helping us whenever we need her, when it relates to bonds. We've also identified more cost-friendly options for some road repair. Recently, 94 streets were identified in our assessment as prime candidates for a process called crack sailing. Over 30 streets have been completed with roughly 60 more to finish this spring. We are also working on a comprehensive patchwork plan that will be finalized and released to further repair our roads. Engineering and our Department of Public Works Commissioner Tim McGivern have been instrumental in this planning. With an eye on maintaining and improving the structural integrity of our streets and sidewalks, we've made tree stump removal and tree planting a priority. Working with our tree warden, Aggie Tudin, over the past year, we've secured over a half million dollars in funding for this work. And we'll continue to invest our resources towards this over the course of the year. I want to thank our state delegation, Rep Donato, Rep Garbally, Rep Barber, for providing some of that funding for this project and many, many others. Thank you. As we upgrade infrastructure, we additionally want to continue investing in our local businesses that are so important to the fabric of community. A few weeks ago, the city awarded $75,000 to 23 local businesses for storefront improvements. With this second round of funding completed, we have awarded over 100,000 through small business facade improvement grants. I spoke about revitalizing Medford Square in my inauguration speech last year, and I'm proud to say we are working towards that goal with programs like this that inject funding and create opportunity for local businesses to thrive. I can't mention local services without mentioning directors, Pam Kelly, Kevin Bailey, and Barbara Kerr, who have done an excellent job running our senior center, recreation department, and library through the last few years of the pandemic. And of course, without the leadership and expertise of our board of health director, Marianne O'Connor, and the staff in the health department, we would not have been able to navigate our way through the early days of the pandemic. Marianne and the team, including Board of Health Nurse Sarah Harris, provided clarity and calm during a truly chaotic and scary situation. So thank you to all, including our volunteers who helped administer over 2,800 COVID vaccines and 600 flu vaccines just in 2022, including close to 190 homebound vaccinations. Vaccines were administered throughout the city with the help of our community liaisons. who connect the community to city resources and expand communications and accessibility to our non-native English speakers in Medford. Expanding opportunities to showcase Medford's growing diversity and culture offerings has been a key part of our development strategy. Our parks and recreation spaces have also been upgraded with new murals. And just today I was at Wright's Pond working on the next with a local artist and Kevin Bailey. Chevalier Theater additionally renewed a five-year contract with the city back in September, bringing world-class entertainment to our hidden gem for years to come. We have signed a contract with a cannabis dispensary company, Theory Wellness, to construct our first-ever art center on Mystic Ave. They have broken ground, and we cannot wait to see this become a reality. Medford's waterfront will also become a new place for residents to enjoy, with plans in the works to create more recreation areas and beautify the area with murals and other art from the community. We hope to release the initial design for community feedback late this winter. Our city services and facilities are not the only community driven spaces that deserve our investments. We've also been able to prioritize our local nonprofits that have been instrumental to providing critical services and resources to our community. In addition to CDBG funding, we awarded over 230,000 to 25 nonprofits through the Community Fund Committee earlier this month. Included in this round of funding was the American Legion, Temple Shalom, the Medford Chamber of Commerce, and all four of our elementary PTOs, just to name a few. We expect to open up the second round of funding of grants later this year. We've talked a lot now about our progress and excitement for future projects, but we have also been met with some challenges this year, especially in our high school. Our schools, especially the high school, have needed to make change to better address the growing issues stemming from the pandemic. And I've spent, thankfully spent a lot of time over the last month with our superintendent, Dr. Maurice-Edouard-Vincent, as well as other district leaders, pushing for plans that are sustainable, adaptable, and work in the best interest of students. We have two newly trained student resource offices, a revised bathroom plan, and are engaging with students on a much more personal level. But most importantly, we have heard the students' concerns and listened to their lived experiences. We must strengthen our relationships and trust with both the students and caregivers and ensure that our school system is safe and an inviting place for all. As Jenny stated, we're still looking to obtain an MSBA loan to build a new high school. The building we have now is not amenable to quality education, and we believe we have a strong case for the next round of loans due in April to rebuild a state-of-the-art flagship school that our students and faculty deserve. I thank the school committee, the superintendent of schools, Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent and Mr. Dave Murphy for all their work on that application and we will be resubmitting. As our community continues to grow as a destination for families and professionals, there is a significant opportunity to expand accessible and efficient public transportation options. As I'm sure you've all seen and hopefully written, the Green Line Extension finally opened in December after many challenges, delays and questions. That was probably the happiest I've seen people at 5 a.m. on a Monday morning cramming in line to get a spot on the T. That just proves that the extension is a turning point for Medford. And I want to thank the community group that advocated and worked on this project for years. I will never stop pushing for better public transportation in and around our community as I did with the MBTA new better bus redesign and the closure of the orange line over the summer. I thank director Todd director of traffic and transportation, Todd Blake, for being the expert this city needs, advocating with us, working with us, and advising us along the way. Thank you. With his help and many others, we've also increased the scope of blue bikes around the city this year with three new docking stations at Tufts Square, Brooks Park, and Medford Square. We are working to expand this network further as alternative green transportation options support our climate action and adaptation plan, including efforts to provide residents with clean, sustainable, and affordable alternatives. I'm happy to announce that we have secured funding for seven additional Blue Bike locations, with the next three coming online later this year at Hormel Stadium, Harris Park, and Spring Street. For the four remaining, we're tentatively exploring Riverbend Park, Haines Square, West Medford, and the Hillside. As outlined in our Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, we have lofty goals of reducing our emissions by 50% by the end of this decade and have been working to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. To do this, we've taken a series of steps aimed at making our city operations, facilities, and policies more conducive and adaptable to climate resiliency. The last time I spoke at this podium to you all, I mentioned that we were in the process of securing funding for two additional electric charging stations with the hope of installation this year. Thanks to the work of the Planning, Development and Sustainability Office, especially the work of Planner Yvette Niwa, we've delivered on the promise and have two new stations, one at Hormel and one at Carr Park. And I'm happy to announce that we're expanding on that growth with two more, one at the Missittuck School and one at Tufts Park, coming online this summer with an additional seven being planned over the next year or so. But to implement real changes in the way we conduct our operations, we must commit to reversing our reliance on fossil fuels internally as well. This is also a priority of our city council and school committee. I'm happy to announce that we have secured $230,000 grant Diesel Emissions Reduction Act from the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act from the state with the help of Mike Wentzel from DPW to assist with the purchasing of an all electric commercial grade sweeper, which will replace our diesel engine vehicle. We also made concerted efforts to transition our other vehicles in our fleet to more green friendly options. The police department has purchased new hybrid vehicles and is patiently waiting for their arrival, hopefully in June, which will make their daily operations much more efficient, cleaner, and adaptable to challenges. We also thank director Faye Morrison, who will also be transitioning her fleet in the near future. The city is additionally enhancing its climate resiliency and emergency preparedness efforts through our MedFit Connects program led by our office of prevention and outreach manager, Penny Fanioli. This program seeks to expand and strengthen resources for our underserved community members. And we recently secured a grant, another grant for over 400,000 from the state to accomplish this work. An important part, I'm almost done, I'm sorry. An important part of our commitment to expanding resources and programming for residents is our investment in our green spaces. Medford's many parks are a source of pride for the city. and we have plans for upgrading the construction in many of them, close to 50, actually. I engaged an internal team who have been meeting close to monthly for three years to plan, gain community input and secure funding. In projects scheduled to start this spring and summer alone, we have secured over $5 million for renovations. One of our largest upcoming projects is Carr Park. Carr Park's vision plan was released the end of 21, and we are proud to say that phase one is fully funded and in design and expected to start this spring. Carr Park recently secured additional funding for phase two, which is on the horizon as well. In phase two, we can get excited for new basketball courts, one which will be covered by solar panels, a new playground and much more. Car's solar infrastructure will be funded by $1.5 million earmark in the federal 2023 budget. I wanna thank our federal delegation, including Congresswoman Clark, Senator Markey, Senator Warren, for their work in passing this budget and helping fund community projects here in Medford. Our planning office has been instrumental in this work. Thanks to their work, especially again, Director Hunt and Planner Amanda Centrella, we have not only secured opera funding, but a match of $1 million from another grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for phase one. Awesome job. Upper funds have made a huge impact on our community in the work we are able to do throughout the city. Unlike other communities that set specific funding amounts for various sectors, Medford has taken a needs-based approach, allowing us to invest funding where it is needed most. The data we collected from the community focus survey released this past summer helped inform many of the projects I've mentioned already tonight, with many others that I don't have time for. With the help of our amazing federal funds manager, Lorena Escalero, We will be continuing to invest in areas like affordable housing, public health and infrastructure, as well as plan for the future while being transparent with the work we're doing. Throughout our opera planning process, we have been open and transparent about our financial outlook and the need to allocate a percentage of funding to revenue replacement. Like many other cities and towns in the Commonwealth, the economic effects of the pandemic left a sizable gap in several revenue streams that we traditionally have counted on. For the past two years, the years we have reduced our reliance on ARPA dollars and expect the trend to continue in fiscal year 24 and 25. It's no secret that the city has incurred a structural deficit. And though we have several dynamic development opportunities on the horizon that will inject revenue into our bottom line, thanks to our assessing team, especially, I see Jim O'Brien and Ellen as well have been great. We are analyzing the potential need to come to a solution as to how to fill and address the gap. especially when ARPA is gone. We are closely monitoring and reviewing the need for an override in the future to ensure we keep performing work at this level. These decisions are not easy and we must balance the need and the ability to pay while taking into account that we will need a debt exclusion to build a new high school in the not too distant future. Since hiring CFO Bob Dickinson and budget manager Courtney Cordello, We are back to our baseline staffing levels in the finance department, and my office and the finance team have been hard at work with department heads, collecting information early in the process for the formulation of the fiscal year 2024 budget, especially given the global economic issues that persist, such as inflation and supply chain, in addition to recovering from the structural deficit of the pandemic. Fiscal year 24 is expected to be another difficult year. However, we continue to work hard to get the city's revenue stream to the needed levels to sustain the city's needs. Again, I want to thank everyone at City Hall that made all this work possible. While we're still working to optimize our staffing levels, the strength of the team that I have put together over the last three years in office has completely changed the culture of City Hall. and other places and helped usher in much needed modernization and efficiency updates in city hall operations and policies. Together, we are building the groundwork to professionalize Medford like never before and create a more meaningful and welcome experience for our residents. We have so many new hires that have been instrumental to that change. Those that I've already mentioned, as well as Jeremy Johns, our director of veteran services, Melissa Ripley, our elections manager, Jim Silver, our special projects coordinator, Bill Forty, our building commissioner, Paul Riggi, the city's first ever facilities director, a position the council and I advocated in favor for for the last 10 years. And thank you to HR and our director, Neil Osborne, and the efforts of so many others for keeping this process moving forward and helping fill roles. Accountability has been key to transforming the way our city works and serves our residents. Without accountability, it's impossible to get a professionalized government that the city needs and the people deserve. Part of accountability is ensuring every city employee and resident is aware of the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and has the means and support to actively promote equity and accessibility. It's part of our social justice roadmap. And with the help, amazing help of our director of diversity and equity inclusion, Francis Waje, The city has and will continue to expand DEI training for all staff, city, fire, and police, including implicit bias and cultural competency training. I've said it before, there are things I will not tolerate and no one will discourage me from doing this hard work. We can do hard things. We can transform this city and rid ourselves of the antiquated, outdated, and inefficient policies. But it takes time, it takes focus, and it takes trust. So I'm asking you to trust me. Trust me to do this work. Trust me to make decisions that are in your best interests. And trust me to lead this city to where we all know that it should be. Because there is much more to do. It is often not comfortable or fun having to make these hard choices and do the necessary work. But I've seen and heard about governments run without accountability and they quickly become chaotic and corrupt. And I will not let that happen here. I am committed to a transparent ethical administration for the city and thus will not tolerate city employees who do not share that same work ethic. That said, to be clear, the vast majority of our city employees come to work every day and try their best to move the city forward. many of whom I've mentioned tonight and all of whom I just don't don't don't have all the time. I do and I will continue to do all I can to support them in every way I can. To conclude, please know that so much work has been put work has been put in over the last year to find creative solutions to any roadblocks the city faces. When searching for funding, we find grants and secure them. When presented with differing When we say we are going to do something, we do it. I am dedicated to keeping my promises to Medford and delivering on projects, no matter the challenges we face along the way. And finally, and thankfully, we have the personnel to make it happen. Thank you. I'm the emcee, too. So I want to just thank you all so very much for coming tonight. Those who are watching from home or on Zoom, past and present employees of Medford, we just, again, appreciate all your hard work. Thank you so much. We have a reception outside, so please stay, have a bite to eat, and get home safely. Thank you.
[Clerk]: 好的。