[Falco]: The second regular meeting of the Medford City Council will now come to order. Clerk Hurtubise, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears? Here. Present. Vice President Caraviello? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Councilor Marks? Councilor Morell? Present. Councilor Scarpelli? Present. President Falco?
[Falco]: Present. Seven present. Could everyone please rise to salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Motions, orders, and resolutions. 2-0-011 offered by Vice President Caraviello. Council citation for gold medal winner, Max Stephens, Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Mr. President, if we could table this item. Young Max had school commitments, and I'll get you another date when he's able to come.
[Falco]: Absolutely. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. A motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Knight to table this matter. All those in favor? All those opposed? The matter is tabled. The clerk has notified me that 20-018, offered by Councilor Knight, has been withdrawn. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: I'm just getting ready for the next one, Mr. President.
[Falco]: OK. 2-0-019, offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city administration work with National Grid to establish a five-year plan to address level 2 and level 3 gas leaks in the city of Medford. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Last term, this council put forward a resolution that ultimately turned into an ordinance relative to reporting of gas leaks in our community. Through that discussion and debate, it was brought to this council's attention that we have an inordinate number of level 2 and level 3 gas leaks here in the community. The national grid or the public utility in the city have been working on a case-by-case basis to address these, but there's really no five-year plan that's going to say, over this amount of period of time, we're going to tackle X amount of gas leaks that are in the community. Pursuant to state law, level two gas leaks have to be repaired in a certain amount of time after being reported. And level three gas leaks also have to be repaired in a certain amount of time after being reported, which is a little bit more expedient. But right now, we're seeing that these time frames aren't being hit, Mr. President. We've had a number of issues on Boston Avenue, for example, with a gas leak that's going on there in front of number 81 Boston Ave, resulting in the gentleman's pre-dying, his lawn dying, the bushes in front of his house dying because the natural gas is being leaked into the air and It's really a quality of life issue, but it's also a safety issue, Mr. President. If we're really going to be serious about climate change and moving away from our reliance on fossil fuels, one of the things we can do, I think, is repair the infrastructure that we have in place so that we're not wasting it. So I bring this resolution forward asking the administration to begin discussions, talking with National Grid to develop a five-year plan. I know sitting next to Councilor Lungo for the past six years, this was something that she was very passionate about. So as mayor, I'm certain to see some action there. But I just wanted to let the mayor know that we support this endeavor. and I hope that we can get behind her and get a five-year plan in place so that we can improve our gas infrastructure here in the community.
[Falco]: Thank you, Council Knight. On the motion of Council Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-020 offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Medford City Council move forward on the food truck ordinance. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Yes, Mr. President, this was an item that was brought up in the 2017 term, then again in the 2019 term. Here we are in 2020, so I'm hoping that this is an item that we can act on. I think that Medford is a little bit behind the times, prehistoric, if you may, when it comes to food trucks. This case-by-case basis that we approve one-day food truck licenses I don't think is in the best interest of the community. And I think by adopting the ordinance that we've been discussing, we'll be in better positions to be a little bit more reflective of the times that are before us and the wants and desires of the community relative to food truck needs.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-020-021 offered by Council of Beers. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the city solicitor provide the framework of a draft ordinance enabling the establishment of payments in lieu of taxes pilot commission for council debate and discussion.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. So, as many Medford residents know, some non-profit organizations are, well, all non-profit organizations are tax-exempt and some of them pay what are called payments in lieu of taxes, commonly known as pilots, to the city. The largest, well, not the largest one, but a major one that we discuss is Tufts. There's also River's Edge. And these are typically paid out at least for Tufts in cash payments and in community benefits. We currently don't define community benefits. And essentially what this would be is starting a discussion where the council and the mayor and residents of the city can kind of figure out how do we want to deal with pilots going forward. The proposal for a commission would be a way for the mayor to include other residents whether it be neighbors of Tufts or People with a vested interest or whatever it may be on a commission to negotiate with these nonprofits to talk about what community benefits mean to the city create a definition. And then allow us to perhaps have multiple people negotiating these agreements and historically they've been negotiated by the mayor. and also people who could distribute the cash payments and define and relay what community benefits are coming through pilots. The intention of this is to start a discussion, see what an ordinance could look like. I think we'd be doing something differently than we've done in the past and that many neighboring communities do, although there are some examples of things in the past with Boston. So really, just asking to start the conversation about how we address pilots going forward. I know it's a big topic for Tufts and also for many residents in the city who have been working very hard trying to make sure that we're getting what the city is due. So that is the intent of the resolution.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. The pilot, in lieu of taxes, has been an issue on my plate since I got on the council. And actually, when I first got on the council, the city of Medford didn't have a program at all. And it was at my urging that the mayor back then, Mayor McGlynn, signed the first pilot program, and it was a 10-year program. And you're absolutely right. There was actually no input from the public at all. It was an agreement between the president of Tufts and the mayor of Medford and nothing else. So I look forward to the establishment, to be quite honest, of a commission that would be involved, would get public input, and not only in the payment end of it, but also as the city of Boston. The city of Boston has, as you may know, has a full-fledged pilot program. And they actively go out and solicit, because you can't make it mandatory. Pilot payment is voluntary. And they go out and they actively solicit non-profits. And depending on the size of the non-profit, they have all different criteria on what they seek out. And we really don't have any of that in this community. We have a number of small ones. I believe Harvard Vanguard pays a pilot in the community, as well as Tufts. But there are other organizations, Mr. President, that may be able to assist. the community when asked. And you don't know unless you have a program set up and you don't know unless you ask. So I agree with this endeavor and I hope that we can establish, I'm not sure, I think we as a council could meet and committee the whole subcommittee and try to put something together as well as having the city solicitor draft an ordinance. But I think it could be under our purview, Mr. President, to create something that works for not only the nonprofits in the city and the residents, but also the city as a whole. So I support this.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Bears for introducing this. I think beyond the conversations that can happen, this can also probably go a long way in Absolving some of the friction that can sometimes happen between you know people in the city and Tufts because when you don't have when things happen behind closed doors People tend to fill in the blanks and make up their own stories So I think having open conversations as this, you know, if this does move along is really a good thing So I look forward to this coming to fruition. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you console morale Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Yeah, and I just want to add thank you to Councilors Marks and Morell that have also talked a little bit with the mayor's office. They're interested, and I think if we want to go to Committee of the Whole, draft something. If we want to do something in the short term with the mayor's office and then take time on an ordinance, I think all of those avenues are open to us, which is great.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. On the motion of Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-022 offered by Councilor Bears and Councilor Morell. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council request that the City solicitor provide the framework of a draft ordinance enabling the City of Medford to regulate short-term rentals using the authority granted to municipalities pursuant to Chapter 337 of the 2018 Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts. Council appears we'll speak first council appears.
[Bears]: Thank you again Mr. President. So before or in previous meetings we discussed the local option and that has passed through the short term rental act also gives the municipality authority around. the existence and location of operators, licensing, making sure that operators aren't facing code enforcement, and also making sure that they're inspected for health and safety. And we also are allowed to assess a small fee to make sure that we can enforce those regulations. So we'll be funded. And turn it over to Councilor Morell, but I think this is something we need to add to the local option.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. So yeah, the idea behind introducing something like this is to use those powers that are given to us by the state. Laws and to beyond, you know actual codes whether it's in these Short-term rentals posting things like parking practices like trash pickups so that as these are in the neighborhoods They have as little impact on surrounding neighbors as possible while people guests can still go in there And beyond that the idea one of the stronger things that Medford can do is publishing a public registry of these short-term rental accommodations that are throughout the city This is done with considerations to privacy, and we can determine what type of relevant information should be listed relevant to where stuff is located. So, again, the idea of safety and really just minimizing the impact that these rentals have on surrounding neighbors. Thank you. Councilman Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I commend my colleagues for bringing this paper forward. I'd like to amend the paper to add paper 15307 and paper 16705, which are two papers that this council and previous councils had discussed relative to regulating short-term rentals in the community. This is a discussion that we've been having for a number of years and with the acts and resolves, of chapter 337 of 2018, the state legislature had addressed a number of concerns the communities were raising. They addressed the big picture concerns, but left local options available. I think this is the right approach, Mr. President. If we're going to have short-term rentals in our community, and we know that they have an impact on quality of life in neighborhoods, and also an impact on affordable housing stock in our community, I think it makes sense that we regulate them. As Councilor Behr said, we had adopted the local option at the last meeting. of the previous session, which would allow us to capture the revenues that are generated through Airbnbs. And this is just the next logical step in further regulation of the situation. So I commend my colleagues for bringing the issue forward. I ask that the paper be amended to include those other items that have been previously discussed by this body, so that we can wrap them all up in one nice pretty package and put a bow on it.
[Falco]: Sounds good. Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, if I may, could you please repeat the two previous papers?
[Knight]: 16-705. 16-705. And 15-307.
[Falco]: 15307. Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilors Morell and Councilors Behr, seconded by Councilor Knight, as amended by Councilor Knight, all those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. 20-025 offered by Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the Health Department and Code Enforcement Officer look into the storage containers that are collecting clothing and furniture in the Felsway Shopping Area parking lot Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. I've had a few phone calls from butters. I know that although it's a shopping center, the people across the street are noticing various unhealthy issues pertaining to the donation bins. I'm all for the donation bin. I think it's very positive, but there's got to be a better way to locate it. Maybe if we can look into maybe moving it to the side of the building where the Sherman Williams painting store is, where it's not A, so congested, and B, it abuts sides of other buildings, but still has access to that. I think where it sits right now, it was just clothing. But now people coming all of the night just throwing it over the fence and leaving broken furniture. It looks like a dump. So I know the intent is well met, but I think that the execution of it has to be done with a little bit more respect for the abutters and for the people that are that will be using the second hand clothing and such, that it be handled in a more humane way, I should say. It's just disgusting. So if we can look into that, I'd appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. This is something that the Council has talked about in the past as well. I do believe, if it wasn't three short months ago, the same resolution was brought up relative to the same collection boxes. In the past, we've talked about the collection boxes at the former site of Meadow Glen Mall, which is now Wegmans. I think it's time, Mr. President, that we take a long, hard look at whether or not we want to regulate these type of donation drop boxes in the community through a permitting process, just so that we can protect the interest in neighborhoods and the quality of life in neighborhoods. I know Councilor Marks, I don't want to steal his thunder, but he's going to talk about certain communities that have ordinances and regulations that require these drop boxes be manned and staffed. And he's said this a number of occasions in the past. And I think it's a good idea that we take a look at this, Mr. President. So I would also suggest that as we move forward and have our health department and our code enforcement officer go and take a look at the site, that we also take a look at developing some controls by way of regulation to better manage these type of entities in our community.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, are you making a formal amendment to the resolution?
[Knight]: We already have a paper in committee.
[Falco]: Okay.
[Caraviello]: So, no.
[Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Kavialt.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, while we're discussing on the Fells Way, the planted aid one on Mystic Avenue by the old state sign shop is overrun with things hanging on there, and there's probably four or five feet on both sides of it all, just all full of stuff. Again, it's been snowed on, and anything there now is pretty much garbage now. If you want to donate, it's pretty much worth it. So if you could amend that, you also have the board help. Look at that one too. Mr. Gav, where the old sign shop was. It's the yellow planted aid box.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate Councilor Scarpelli offering this. It was Councilor Knight, I think you mentioned two or three months ago, that brought up this similar resolution. And prior to that, I happened to live just right across the street and received a number of complaints over the last several years, Mr. President. I tried to reach out to the owner of the property. I had little success. I don't remember receiving, three months ago we asked for an update from code enforcement, as well as the Board of Health. Mr. Clerk, if I am mistaken, I haven't seen any response regarding the bin on the Felsway, Mr. President. Many cities and towns that regulate them, which we do not, will require on the side of the bin that the owner operator's name be listed, a contact number, the size of the bin. These could be very dangerous in nature, these bins, Mr. President. It sounds harmless, but that Fells Plaza has seen a number of bins that have just been dropped off. So you'll have an entity that just drops off a bin, they don't ask for approval, and all of a sudden they're in business. The one in the Fellsway is manned at least six days a week. They have staffing there. It's a full-fledged business that they're running out of the parking lot. So we really have to regulate this, Mr. President. I think that's where it starts. We have to regulate these particular bins. We have to know who the contact is. If it's not the owner of the property, Mr. President, as far as I'm concerned, that bin shouldn't be there. So these are the things I think we have to have discussions regarding, and you're right. It's not just clothing, it's old computers, it's furniture. You have to see what's left out there. It's a disgrace, and no one should have to live across the street from that. It attracts rodents and everything else. So I would ask, Mr. President, that if we don't receive a response from our administration, that we as a council put a cease and desist, even though it's not a legitimate business, because I don't think it's registered in this community, but we put a cease and desist on that particular bin, Mr. President, at that plaza. And then maybe we'll get some answers. So that would be my motion, Mr. President. If we haven't received any correspondence from the Board of Health or the Building Commissioner, their office, that we send a message to the building department today, tonight, that a cease and desist order be put on that particular bin that's out in the Fells Park parking lot.
[Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Marks. So is that an amendment to the Councilor Scarpelli's original motion?
[Marks]: If he doesn't mind amending it. If not, we'll... Okay. So if we don't...
[Falco]: Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: No, I applaud the amendment, but I really think we should move on this either committee of the whole or subcommittee meeting on ordinances and that we write something up immediately and follow what our neighbors are doing to make sure that there is somebody watching these organizations because it's terrible. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. So there, so console, I mentioned previously that there is a paper in committee right now.
[Scarpelli]: Let's move on that.
[Falco]: So, and I'm sure we can move on that sooner than later. So, so you want to make sure I get this clear. So you want to offer an amendment to the original resolution that would, Mr. President, if I could, sure.
[Marks]: Counsel marks. I don't recall seeing, I believe you offered that what, two months, three months ago. Oh, was it two months ago? Yes.
[Falco]: Uh,
[Knight]: The draft ordinance regulating drop boxes I think was introduced quite a bit of time ago. Yeah, I mean this was probably the 2018 was when that was introduced. He's met with some opposition and is going through the subcommittee process and just failed to move. A lot of it had to do with the donation drop boxes that we have at our public schools for the clothing. Created some opposition to regulating the drop boxes and then the idea didn't make its way back into the final product of ordinance stages, I guess would be the best way to put it. It died on the vine. But there is language that is out there that is available and in committee.
[Marks]: Right, but just recently you also offered that it was your resolution that those bins be reviewed by billing department and also the Board of Health. And I don't recall seeing a response. Do we get a response?
[SPEAKER_17]: No, I had a conversation with John Beluso, though, when he did explain to me that he was going to go speak with the property owner.
[Marks]: Right, but we never got a formal communication. Mr. President, and this has been an item for I can't tell you how long, so I would say that we as a council should send a message that we'd like to see a cease and desist until we can find out, Mr. President, what's happening down at that location. Why are things being left and strewn all over the place down there? Why is there a full-time staff six days a week? I mean, what's going on? Is it a regulated business that has staff? I mean, go down there any time, you'll see. They man it. They have someone that sits inside the bin itself. It's open for business. It's a legit business.
[Falco]: Believe it or not, too long ago, it was on fire.
[Marks]: It may have been on fire.
[SPEAKER_18]: It was.
[Falco]: And I think that's what may have prompted the resolution. Because I remember at one point.
[SPEAKER_18]: Well, actually, it was the mess that prompted it. The fire was just a byproduct of that mess.
[Falco]: OK.
[Marks]: Thank you, Council Knight.
[Unidentified]: Do you have more?
[Marks]: And is the owner of the property going to take responsibility if something happens there, Mr. President? These are all questions that need to be answered. Absolutely.
[Falco]: And I believe that we should probably take a look or revisit the ordinance that is currently being drafted in the ordinance subcommittee. I mean, we have a priorities meeting tomorrow night. Maybe this should be one of those. If the council agrees, maybe this should be a priority moving forward for this session to actually draft an ordinance and pass an ordinance that would regulate these.
[Marks]: Regular, I'm not I'm not asking to ban. I'm asking to regulate absolutely So so they're above board if you as a homeowner doing home improvement And you want to get a bin to empty your waste in that's heavily regulated in this community Heavily regulated and you charge for it as a homeowner But if you all of a sudden want to throw a bin in a parking lot and have it manned six days a week There's no regulations at all Doesn't make sense Thank You console marks
[Falco]: Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: I just want to throw my hat in the ring that I haven't seen that it's manned six days a week. And that's surprising to me because it seems to get bigger every time I see it. So I don't know if they're actually getting stuff out of there. But I was in the parking lot 10 days ago and I was incredibly surprised at the size of the pile and the condition of it. I agree with this motion. I think we should draft an ordinance. I think that one specifically maybe we should try to do something. If there's a snowstorm that goes on a bunch of couches, I think that's an issue that somebody needs to deal with. And I think if it's before us that we should maybe move on the Felsway one a little bit quicker, but I'm open to whatever folks think on that.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Okay, on the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Marks, to issue a cease and desist if we do not receive a response from the building department? On that motion.
[Hurtubise]: In the plan 8 on Mr. Gabner.
[Falco]: On that motion, Clerk Cardavis, please call the roll.
[Hurtubise]: Councilor Bears?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Hurtubise]: Vice President Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Morell? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes. President Falco? Yes.
[Falco]: Seven in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the motion passes. 2-0-026. Offered by Councilor Scarpelli. Be it resolved that the city administration report back to the city council on a timeline of when the message board located on Main Street will be removed. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: I tell you what, Mr. President, the new chief of staff really works pretty quick because that's already moved. So I think that, uh, things are happening fast. So, um, I got a phone call today from the neighbor. It was nice. They tried to treat it as a Christmas ornament. But once Christmas, the lights still bothered them. So it's nice to see that it's finally gone. It's a message board that read this traffic changes ahead, which everybody knows now. So I'm glad to see they moved that. So thank you, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. On the motion of Council Knight to receive and place on file, all those in favor? All those opposed? The paper is received and placed on file. 20-027 offered by Councilor Scarpelli, be it resolved that the City Council request that the state entity that oversees the Felsway look into lighting improvements in the area, in the Felsway and Bradbury Street area in regard to public safety concerns. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm just, you know, I know Council Marks always is the sounding board for the Middlesex area of the Felsway. But again, we have an area that neighbors have tried to call different entities and we're getting nowhere. And again, I did And State Representative Donato is working very hard to finalize the date with DOT and other state agencies on the meeting with Fountain Street, with the meeting with South and Main. And the list keeps growing, so I'm just adding this along the residents in that area. Especially with the winter months, the visibility and some of the sidewalks in that area really pose a real hazard. So they really want to see if there's, I know you've seen it in a few different areas. On Elm Street, I know that they just finally lit the underpass of 93 with new LED lights, so it's you know that they're capable so If we can get the word out to see who we can if we can ask the city Engineer or see if we can see who's who can look at that. Mr. Randazzo. Maybe see if we can get that done.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. Thank You council sky Pelli On the motion of console, Scarpelli, seconded by console of Carly yellow. All those in favor, all those opposed. The motion passes petitions, presentations and similar papers. Two zero dash zero two eight petition by Elizabeth Barber, 72 ravine road, Medford, Massachusetts, zero two one five zero two one five five to discuss the flashing signs. Stop and slope. Hi. Can we please have your name and address for the record?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes. Elizabeth Barber, Ravine Road. Thank you for having let me speak tonight. I'm here to talk about the flashing signs that are going up, be installed. And apparently at the, when I say, you know, registered for this, I didn't realize the name, RRFBs, rectangular flashing beacons. Basically they're strobe lights. Strobe light is a flashing or flickering light. That's what these are. And I understand the intended purpose of these is safety, but they're bright and they're flashing. So I want to bring to your attention some of the effects that these lights can bring, you know, bring to people, cause people. With that, keep in mind that, you know, everyone is affected with, they're very sensitive to flashing lights in a different way. Some people more than others, some it doesn't bother, some it affects in multiple ways. And also the timing and intensity of these lights can affect people differently as well. Exposure to these could trigger migraines, which can be debilitating if you've ever had a migraine, as well as seizures in people that are epileptic. And exposure to these can also cause someone to feel uncomfortable, anxious, disoriented, nauseous, dizzy, headaches, have vertigo, it's called a flicker form of vertigo, which is an imbalance in the brain cell activity caused by these flashing lights. It could also disrupt sleep patterns. If someone's not getting enough sleep because the disease is in their neighborhoods, it's in their windows, they're not rested, they're not going to function or focus as they should be. There are also people out there that can be affected by these and don't realize it. And they won't realize it until they have a seizure. This is called photosensitive epilepsy. So you're not epileptic, but these type of flashing strobe lights can bring on a seizure, which can be more common in children and adolescents. And meeting that, that was very disturbing to me because I thought children, as you know, when they don't feel well, they really don't know what's wrong with them and they can't explain it or say why. And something like this, if it's bothering them, they don't, they don't, they're not going to know what's going on with them or why they feel the way they do. And so their parents aren't going to know. So they can't, it's not going to be alleviated this, you know, this problem. So I just think, All of these are going up and around the neighborhoods and around schools. It's going to be affecting many people that you probably never thought about. And I didn't deal until I was exposed to one and I thought, you know, what is this? So I asked each of you, I gave up, you know, I had a packet for you to, I'm sorry, read, you know, to look at and just realize there is some true, you know, harmful effects here with these lights. and not just to put them up so lightly. And I understand the attention to safety, but we also want to take care of the well-being and health of the people in the city, families, whatever. So I ask each of you to look into this seriously and to consider the negative health and wellness that these can cause. And I'm also asking because I suffer from migraines. And the first two that I saw, they bothered me. It wasn't just like, oh, I don't like them. It's like, oh, my God. This is bothering. And I mentioned to a friend of mine who's a nurse, and she said it's the strobe light effect that will do that. And it can also cause people to have seizures, whether they're epileptic or not. And that's how I thought, oh, my God, something's got to be done. Because I just heard today that there are more going up right around the Brooke School. So people will say that doesn't bother me. Maybe not you, but other people will be affected by these. So I ask that you seriously look into this, read these other information you might, you know, you think you need to deal with this. I'd appreciate it. And I'm sure other people would too. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Ms. Barber, thank you very much for coming forward tonight, and thank you for all the materials. It's always good to have some backup information, so we appreciate that. There are a number of councilors, I believe, that want to comment on this. We'll start off with Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: I just want to thank you for bringing this forward. I'm kind of an interesting position on this. My before I was born my aunt passed away from epilepsy. So we have that. But I've also had a very close friend who passed away in a pedestrian accident. So kind of trying to think that through. But I really appreciate you bringing this. I want to take a hard look at it. It's meaningful to me on all fronts. And And I think just having the research, doing the research, having the conversation is really important. So thank you for bringing it forward.
[SPEAKER_07]: You're very welcome. I appreciate that. And you know, another thing I didn't mention, and I don't know the politically correct term as my daughter was saying, that's not the correct, children are people on the spectrum. Autism, I guess this whole blank thing, they're greatly affected by They're very sensitive to things, more so than any of us, and these things could just really, you know, affect them, trigger them into a behavior that will just spiral. So, I mean, there's so much more out there than just, you know, the safety. You've got to look at health-wise as well as, you know, just people crossing in cars and slowing down. There's more to it as well.
[Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Bears.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. When Ms. Barber called me last week on this, I did a little bit of work on it. And I never knew about the issue until you brought it to my attention. I thank you for that. But it says that people that have problems usually get lights that flash between three and 30 flashes per second. I don't know. how many flashes our lights flash in the same method. But I think that'd be something maybe our traffic engineer could look at to see what the flashes per second is. But it also says that Christmas lights and lights that don't cause a problem, They do one flash per second, which is very low, and it poses a very little risk for people that have issues. So like I said, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_07]: No, and I realize that, and I thought that too, because I thought Christmas lights, I thought. Those bother me. I couldn't have lights that flicker. Thank God my neighbors don't, because that would put me over the edge.
[Caraviello]: But I say, I don't know what our speed is and our lights.
[SPEAKER_07]: But at least, I mean, with Christmas, you know they're up and they're done. And you can try to protect yourself or your child. But these that are going up and around, it's like you can't drive here, you can't go there if you're in the bedroom. And I mean, this just adds to it. You've got Christmas lights, you've got the police lights, you've got the fire trucks, you've got the lights at railroad tracking. So it's like there are already so many flashing lights that can trigger problems for people. Why add to it? I know we can, there are other safety alternatives for crosswalks and for things for people to slow down and be aware of pedestrians that I just think we're putting, why put more harmful things out there. And there was one article here that, this one about the college in Alabama, and they mentioned you know, the flashing and how many, but it says it doesn't matter because these affect people in different ways at different levels and strengths. So, you know, they might say the study, yeah, but it still does affect people. So, you know, I take the risk of affecting someone's health when I believe there's other alternatives to safety.
[Caraviello]: But in the meantime, if we could have either the electrical department or the traffic engineer look into how fast the eyes are flashing. And if they are flashing more than that one per second, if they can lower it to at least get it down until the meantime, until we figure out what we want to do with these lights.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, because it really bothered me. I was like, this isn't just like I don't like it. It's like, this is bothering me. I thought, oh my god. This is going up all over. I'm going to have, you know, I get a migraine. I'm in bed for three days. And I mean, it's debilitating. Other people get sick and vomit. And that's just headache, migraines. I mean, there's so many other issues it could cause. So I just wanted you all to be aware of that, because I know more are going up every day. And I walk a lot. And I see them. I'm like, yo.
[Caraviello]: Again, I thank you for bringing this to my attention. Like I said, I never knew about till you called me. Thank you.
[Falco]: Appreciate it. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: So, Councilor Caraviello, your motion is that the traffic engineer- Or the electrical department find out what rate our lights are flickering at. And if they are at that high, until we figure out what the city's going to do with them, if they can at least get it down to that one flash per second, which the Epilepsy Foundation says is probably the lowest it could be without causing the least amount of harm to somebody.
[SPEAKER_07]: Well, no, it's a start. I mean, I just think it's very difficult. Very difficult to have these up and, you know, you get to drive through the city, you can't avoid them.
[Falco]: On the motion of council, Caraviello is seconded by Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. And Ms. Barber, thank you for bringing this up. We appreciate you coming up here this evening, taking time out of your busy schedule. Mr. President, all signage on any roadway needs to be in compliance with the federal standard that's established through the manual and uniform traffic control devices. So I think, first and foremost, what we should do is take a look and make sure that these rapid flashing beacon lights that we have here in the community comply. with the manual. So I'd ask that the paper be referred to the city engineer for a report back as to whether or not these rapid flashing beacons are in compliance with the manual and uniform traffic control devices. If they're not, then we have an answer right there. They're not in compliance, they have to come down.
[Morell]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Morell. Thank you miss Barbara for for raising this to us something I hadn't even thought of before and I echo Councilors caraballo and night and just understanding Whether we're in compliance and and even just seeing checking with the traffic engineer what kind of control we have over these lights as far as the how fast they flash and I'm a big proponent of pedestrian safety, and I do wholly support other measures like raised crosswalks and things like that. But in the efforts of just getting this done and getting this up faster, I understand that these flashing lights are really what we can do now and what we can get out for pedestrian safety. So just thank you for raising that and understanding the balance we have to play as far as considering all aspects in something like this. So thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: You're welcome. But, you know, I think my concern is they're going to go up and it's going to be like, all right, they're up and we're going to have to deal with these and suffer, you know, physical consequences. And, um, you know, I don't think that we should have to, you know, just because we have them and they're up. So it would be nice to see that something's actually done if they're up temporarily or whatever. But, um, I would hate to think that these, you know, because they're up, they're up and they've got to stay put because we all know that doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
[Falco]: Thank you, Council Member Earle. Your question, sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we could just have your name and address for the record, please. Lauren Boudreau, and I live in Winchester, but my mother lives in Medford. And I happen to be walking near the senior center because I bring my mother there often. And the ring road has installed two of these flashing lights. And what I've observed is they alternate. So one sign might be that under the number that you were epilepsy. Foundation recommends. But the other sign is going in opposition to it. And so I just stood there and watched, because knowing that this issue was going to come before you, I just observed like 10 cars go through. And nine out of the 12, I think there were eight, nine cars. And eight of the nine cars didn't slow down at all. So it's right here at the ring road. You can stand there and look at it. And so it made me wonder whether this is the most efficient way to get driver's attention to slow down at pedestrian crosswalks. I know in Winchester we have blinking signs, which I think are, I'm not sure if they're in compliance with the epilepsy guidelines, but they inform you of your speed, and that gets me to slow down, so I hope that less lesser measures might have been considered. Like also the crosswalk here on the ring road with the two signs on opposite sides that are kind of going alternating light patterns. The crosswalk could just be repainted because it's really faded. So that's to me a very low budget way of addressing the situation. just my observation. And of course, that caused me to go home and look at the literature. And there's lots of literature. There's a nationwide study that's available. I think it was the 2017 study. And I didn't get to read it. It's like over 191 pages. So page 148 and 191, I can send it to you if you're interested, specifically discuss the issue of the pattern of the lights and how it can be not only a distraction, but a trigger for epilepsy, migraines, people that are on the spectrum that might have hypersensitivity to stimulation.
[Falco]: Thank you very much.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Falco]: Councilor Caraviello offered a resolution. Councilor Knight, did you want to move the original petition or did you want to move the Councilor Caraviello's Okay, so on the original petition that it be referred to the traffic engineer, city engineer, my apologies. On that motion, seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Reports of committees 1 9-6 5 9 December 17 2019 committee the whole report that was See there was a committee the whole report on Tuesday December 17 2019 at 6 p.m. That was the The report was basically a presentation by City Solicitor Rumley to give an overview of the efforts to date regarding crafting an ordinance regarding marijuana. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello to take papers in the hands of the clerk. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Okay, 20-029. Offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the City Administration provide the Medford City Council with a cost estimate for the resurfacing of Golden Avenue between Willis Avenue and Main Street. It be it further resolved that the City Administration issue an RFP to complete this project. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. The patching Along Golden Ave is no longer effective. This roadway is probably one of the busier thoroughfares in the community. It's a very well known cut through street. If we had a traffic study up on Murray Hill Road that said 28,000 cars a week travel up that street, then I'm going to say that 90,000 travel up Golden Avenue. It's a notorious cut through for Mystic Avenue, Mr. President. We all know everybody goes up Golden Avenue to avoid the lights at Harvard Street. But what's happened is due to the high volume of traffic on the roadway and years and years of neglected mismaintenance on the road, we're now at a spot where any time a snowplow goes up and down the street, the street gets torn to shreds. Then the crew will come in, and the crew will come in and patch it, and the patch will last for a little while. Next snowstorm comes, street gets torn to shreds again. It's very similar to the situation that we saw down on Paris Street a couple of years ago. The rip rock is coming up. When cars drive up the street and this rip rock is exposed, it shoots all over the place. It damages vehicles. It's just time that the roadway be resurfaced, Mr. President.
[Falco]: So with that being said I'd ask my council colleagues to support the resolution and hopefully we can move forward and get Golden Avenue resurfaced for the residents Thank You console night on the motion of Council night seconded by Council beers all those in favor I suppose the motion passes While we're under suspension to 0-0 3-0 offered by console night be it resolved at the Medford City Council request that the Zamboni and Makati ranked be replaced Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. The Zamboni at La Conte Rink has been named in memory of my dear friend, I dear friend, the late John Welch. And the Zamboni has seen better days, Mr. President. I might have to put it out there. I might be the only councilor who knows how to drive a Zamboni. I don't know. We'll have to have a contest. But having worked out at the hockey rink, having driven that Zamboni that's down there now, having worked alongside John Welch, it's safe to say that this Zamboni has seen better days. In certain instances, it is inoperational. And when the Zamboni is inoperational, then what the city does is we call the DCR and we beg, can you please send us a Zamboni? The one that we have doesn't work. And if that doesn't work, then we go to neighboring communities and we ask to borrow theirs. I think I saw Councilor Scarpelli driving down Mystic Ave and Somerville Zamboni actually two years ago to drop it off when ours was inoperational. So what I'm thinking, Mr. President, is we make the investment now in a new Zamboni. We keep the old Zamboni and we use that as a spare. And when we come into a circumstance where the current one we're using doesn't work, we have a spare. And if other communities need help, we have one to loan out. I think it's a very minor investment to make but the impact when the Zamboni goes down is devastating you know, everyone knows what hockey is like in the city of Medford and if there's a Cancellation of ice time because the Zamboni is not working I think that that's a problem with us and that's something that we can avoid by making the small investment So I'd ask my council colleagues to support it
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. Falco. Just to shed a little light, I know this is part of my job duties and what people don't realize is that if there isn't a contingency plan in place, it takes up to three years to build a Zamboni. And what we had to do in the neighborhood community that I work in, you don't realize the trickle down effect. It costs a lot of money to run rinks. And it's vital that every minute that you can sell that ice so our youth programs can use that facility is important. So the idea of not having the Zamboni, I know that Councilor Knight, there's a rental, there's an emergency one that DCR has, but that's usually, either taken by another community and it's tough to find. So I know that in the past what we've done is we actually reach out to the Boston Bruins and it's something that we might look into that every two years they turn over, they have three Zambonis. So they turn over their three every two years. So it might be prudent to look into reaching out to the Boston Bruins in the garden to ask them if one is going to be available soon. Because it is an expensive piece, but you can't trade off The idea of Zamboni goes down for a month. What you lose, not just in your participation for your kids and the residents in the community, but the lack of revenue that is vital to make sure that you have the funding to keep that rink alive. So it's a very tricky combination. So I support Councilor Knight's recommendation with the Zamboni. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Scarapelli. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you Mr. President.
[Caraviello]: Being involved with Medford Hockey for many years, this is probably the second most important piece of equipment in the building besides the refrigeration unit. And if that goes down, nothing happens in that building. I've been there at times where the thing's gone down for days at a time and it causes havoc. you know, rescheduling, planning to put teams and high school teams, other teams that, you know, to find places until back in those days, the MDC got us one from another rink. So this is something that should be done quicker than later. If we have to maybe, if we search the market, maybe we can find a decent used one. I guess from the Bruins or some, maybe one of the, a lot of the universities all have rinks. So again, this is something that can't be let go because This is a very, very busy entity and to lose a week because of no Zamboni would be treacherous. So I support Councilor Knight's motion and see if we can't buy a new one. Maybe we can find a good used one from one of the universities or anything.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. And more of a point of information than anything else, but I'm strongly supportive of this. I know how important La Conte is to so many families and people in the city. Just for my edification, since you guys seem like experts, do you know how long the current Zamboni's been? We've had that one a while. OK, so like double my life. Okay.
[Falco]: Okay.
[Bears]: Um, and then, uh, any estimate, you know, used or new, how much a new one might cost? No idea. It's close between 80 and 120,000. Depends what you want to add to it.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_18]: Yeah.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: If I can, if you just, if we can amend that, I know that I think the contract is found the ground that works for the rank that oversees the Zamboni. Maybe if we can ask him to do an assessment to really show us. how much time we have left on this yet morning to give us an estimate. So, you know, he says we can survive using bits and pieces. And, you know, maybe the last three years it might be something we can take a little bit later. But I highly doubt that. But at least that will give us the information needed to make a sound decision if it does come in front of us.
[Falco]: So thank you. Consul Scarpelli, do you know the name of the person, the name of the person you just mentioned, I believe?
[Scarpelli]: The company is called Farmer Brown.
[Falco]: Farmer Brown.
[Scarpelli]: Don't laugh. He monopolizes Zamboni's Council night. I rest my case, Mr. President.
[Morell]: Thank you. Council night. Council of Morell. Thank you, Mr. President. Just another question about Zamboni's as far as what the lifeline lifetime is on these.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, what the manufacturer might say.
[Knight]: Point of information, it's based on hours too, how many hours the machine works.
[Scarpelli]: That's why it works. And then it also depends on, our first issue was the batteries. The batteries went on our first Zamboni, that cost the city $25,000. We had to pay that instead of buying the used one that we ended up buying for $60,000. So it was sort of a waste. So that's why thinking ahead is a great idea. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: I think it's also important to point out that these cell batteries that we use in the Zamboni, when they've reached the end of their shelf life, they need to be disposed of properly. They are hazardous material. And as we see the Zamboni age, we are seeing the shelf life of the batteries become shorter and the exposure of these hazardous materials in the ring become a greater increase.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight. On the motion of Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, as amended by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion passes.
[Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. I know we have two more items, but I know we have a constituent that wanted to speak about a concern.
[Falco]: Okay on the motion of contest Scarpelli to suspend the rules to have a citizen speak seconded by concert caviello all those in favor All those opposed the rules are suspended if we could please have your name and address for the record
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, I'm Chris lamb. I live at 69 South Street. I understand that a resolution was passed last week to push the state to have the intersection at South Street and main have more information on lights there. I would like to again raise concerns about the amount of traffic and the speed of traffic. on South Street and I would like to that we have cars going by 50 60 miles an hour at night sometimes and during the day it's thousands of cars most of them going over 30 sometimes 40 miles an hour whenever the speed limit is 25 and I'd like to request again. maybe not speed bumps, I know there was a problem for snow plows, but stop signs at Toro Avenue and at Walnut to slow down that traffic, maybe encourage some of the traffic to instead of going down our neighborhood street, go down Mystic Valley Parkway instead where it belongs. The second concern I have is the amount of trucking. I understand this is the trucking zone through our neighborhood, which is not ideal. This is a neighborhood street. The trucks are loud. They shake our foundations of our houses, literally. and they really don't belong on neighborhood streets. I believe personally that these trucks go down South Street to the intersection in question and then go through it to get on 16 and 95. These trucks belong on Mystic Valley Parkway. I know there's probably a problem with the state on that too where it has to be gone through the proper channels, but if at all possible, I would really like to push for that, having the truck route re-routed. Even when they go slow, they're very disturbing to the neighborhood and a lot of times these vehicles go quite fast, especially like the city buses that blow through our neighborhood very fast. They make a lot of noise, they're dangerous, and they're very disruptive to our neighborhood. So thank you for following up with the state, but the stoplight at the end of the road, there's other problems as well with the traffic itself. Thank you very much.
[Falco]: Thank you for coming down tonight. We appreciate it. Councilor Scarpelli.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you. I know that to be honest, I was so naive when I became the chairperson of transportation and we had the state in to discuss this and it was so positive. And I came back and I said, everything's going to be taken care of within a month. That was eight months ago. And I can tell you something, I've gotten more phone calls and more issues with that area than anything I've dealt with in four years as a city councilor. It is so dangerous, not only for the people that live in the area, the pedestrians. I told you, it's like when we were kids, we played Frogger. That's exactly, it's a video game. People go across that and your life is in your hands. So I know that there are some things that we said we will wait for the state, but I think that, I know that Council Marks brought it up last week. There was a major accident. And what I'd like to do, I know that if we can, I'd like to send a report over to Chief Buckley and the mayor. Some of the things they said were low-hanging fruit. were those stop signs on Toro, Butler, and the raised sidewalk on that side. I think that if we can do that right now, that's something we can control as a city. So I think we should move on that as soon as possible. And I recommend that we direct the chief and we offer the mayor to please push that along to make sure that that issue is at least being heard. I think one of the biggest things is if you see some change, at least residents feel like, okay, that they're being supported. And I think that the other piece is the people that are driving those routes or walking those routes or riding their bikes in those routes are saying that it's more of a comfortable area and they have to slow down. So I think it's important, it's imperative. And I know, listen, Representative Donato, I've talked to him in the last 10 days, a hundred times, and he has been pushing. It's been very frustrating for him, especially as a state delegate, The conversation was the new year, was the holidays. So I think that he's really pushing for a meeting relatively soon. And as soon as we get that meeting up and running, I think it's going to be a very interesting meeting to see who shows up. Because I think this isn't just a South Street issue. I think the whole community's had it. people don't want to see those accidents because again I know that we said that when someone gets killed is when there's an uproar and then all of a sudden you see flashing lights and you see cones and paint. I don't want it to get to that level. So if we can move that along, Mr. President, I appreciate it.
[Falco]: Your motion is basically to get an update from the administration and from the chief of police with regards to some of the traffic changes, some of the things that we can do locally.
[Scarpelli]: Right, and I believe what was mentioned was the painting of the roadway to minimize to one lane, to look at the raised sidewalk, and the stop signs further up South Street, especially in Truro.
[Falco]: Yeah, in a minute, you can amend anything you want. Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Caraviello.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I don't know if you attended the meeting Wednesday night at the Tufts with the Chief, and I was a little amazed that they gave us some stats of how many cars go down South Street, but if I heard him right, 85,000 cars. a day going down that street. And I was mortified that he had that number that he came up with. When they had the traffic thing, they're monitoring the speed, he said the speed wasn't as big an issue as they thought. He said as many cars come down. The average speed at, what did he say, it was like 28 miles an hour or something like that? Something like that. Yeah, he said the cars, it looked like they were going faster because there was so many. But it wasn't the speed, it was 85,000 cars going down that road every day. And it was just amazing how there hasn't been more accidents there. But he's on board with us trying to get the state there as quick as we can. to do something. And I know he's at his wit's end on getting something done there too. Even if it's just a stop sign up there. So I know everyone is trying hard on this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate it. The trucking route through the neighborhood is also a giant issue. Yeah.
[Caraviello]: And you're right, because trucks aren't allowed on Mystic Valley Parkway. And they always have the truck unit down there pulling them over when they go on there. They're parked in the shell there. And they pull the guys over. And that's a contiguous road that goes away. So I don't know if you can just allow trucks to get on that part, but not on the other. So that'd be another question for the state to answer.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. Councilor Bears.
[Bears]: Thank you for bringing this up. I think we definitely need to look at the Toro and Walnut stop signs. Residents of that neighborhood mentioned that to me a lot when I was down there in the fall. The other thing, I think residents on Curtis Street, they're a two-way street. It's the first street parallel to Winthrop coming down South Street towards the square. That's currently two-way. The residents would like that to be a one-way. It's becoming a cut-through and it's also to the residents' concerns. They think it's endangering children on the street. There's no sidewalks. So that's something I'd like to add to the list. And I think it'd be good to look at trucking somehow. I don't know what the answer is there, because they are banned on Mystic Valley Parkway. And I don't know that High Street is the option either. But we should definitely look at it.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Bears. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. I'd like to further amend the paper to request that we have random rush hour directed patrols by the traffic division. I think that Chief Buckley has been a vocal proponent for addressing concerns down in this area. And I think that this is something that his administration over at the police department will support to address some of the speeding vehicles, some of the, what do they call it, skipping or lane skipping across from South Street to Route 16. and the like, some of the traffic control devices that are in place right now that aren't being enforced, I think with enforcement will certainly provide a benefit to the quality of life of the residents in the neighborhood. I also would be remiss if I didn't point out that life on South Street will change. very soon when the Eversource Pipeline project begins. And I'm hoping, Mr. President, that we can coordinate our efforts so that when the construction of the Eversource Pipeline is complete, that our concerns are addressed with the intersection of South and Main as well, so that when the intersection or the roadway opens, It opens up with a nice new road for the residents in the neighborhood and some nice new traffic control devices for the residents in the neighborhood as well. And I think that one of the things that we can use to leverage our ability to get these lights would be the fact that we do have a mitigation agreement in place for the Eversource Pipeline Project. And we may be able to go back in and open that back up and talk about some other items that need to be addressed and put on the table as we move forward.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[Marks]: Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, it was several months back when we had 200 residents from that area, the South Street area, come up when the may was looking to change the direction of South Street. And this is a two-part issue. The corner of Main and South is state property, and we understand that. And we've been going back and forth with the state regarding signalization and signage. But what Mr. Lamb is talking about is South Street, which is under the purview of the city of Medford. And that night, this council voted unanimously on several, like Councilor Scarpelli mentioned, several traffic calming initiatives, some being additional striping, some being signage, raised crosswalk. There were a number of things that were offered that night with the chief, Chief Buckley, that was in the room, Mr. President, and heard the discussion, heard the residents, heard this council. I can't say how disappointed I am, many months later, Not that the state didn't act, but that the city has not acted, Mr. President. And it's even more troubling when I drive around the city and see signs popping up everywhere, Mr. President, stop signs, pedestrian crossing signs, and that's great. But this area we've been talking about for years, Mr. President, for years, and we still couldn't get a sign erected after having 200 people come up here discussing the issue. What is it going to take? I don't understand what it takes to get something done. And we received no correspondence back. That's even more troubling, Mr. President. We can put out resolution after resolution after resolution. And if there's no follow through with this council, then what good is it? Really, we're spinning our wheels. We're going to be in here a year from now talking about the same issue. Mr. President, someone needs to dig up that vote that the council took and resend it to the Chief of Police and the Traffic Commission immediately, asking why hasn't this been done? Why hasn't it been done? The traffic commission has met several times since the residents came down. Is there an issue? Is there a problem that we should be concerned about? If not, these signs should have gone up. The weather has been permitting for the last couple of months. There's no excuses, Mr. President. Really, enough's enough. And this, you know, as Councilor Scarpelli mentioned, I'm tired of talking about the same problems over and over and over again. We're wasting our time. We really are. And regarding the trucking route, really, it's the traffic commission that can do something about the trucking route. And it's an act of Congress to get it changed, just so you know, because you've got to go to the state and so forth. And they did it on Harvard and Salt Method. They changed that. It's no longer a trucking route. But that took, I think, about three and a half to four years of actively pursuing it and so forth and coming out with alternatives. And that was a real act. But that's really who would be responsible, the Traffic Commission. and you can get put on their agenda and so forth and speak on it. But I would just hate to see, Mr. President, when people come up here, They expect to get results and answers. That's why they come to the city council. And if we're just going to rubber stamp something and send it off to a department and no follow through to make sure things are actually getting done, then what good are we? Really? I'm part of it too. I'm not pointing the finger at anyone. What good are we if we can't get these basic things done? It makes no sense, Mr. President. So that should be sent out immediately. I don't know if it should come from you as the president of the council to reach out to the chief, or if the city clerk should send a correspondence first thing tomorrow. But I want to know what happened to all those votes. We spent three hours here, Mr. President, talking to residents. We heard 100 people testify, and then nothing got done. And we can't turn the finger at the state. This is a city problem. It's a city street. It's our traffic commission.
[Falco]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilmarks. Councilmarks, I share your frustrations as well as the frustrations of everyone here. What I'll do is I will actually, the city clerk and I will talk to see you know, when the resolution went out, making sure it went out and actually see if anything came back. It sounds like maybe nothing came back, but I will personally follow up with the chief to make sure we have something in writing, you know, basically responding to the votes that were taken that night, because there were quite a few votes and there were quite a few recommendations that this council made that can be done at the local level. So I will, I'll make sure that that gets resolved. Thank you. Councilor Knight.
[Knight]: Mr. President, a motion to authorize the clerk to write the letter to the chief of police making inquiry.
[Falco]: On the motion of Councilor Knight to draft a letter and to send that letter to the chief of police to get a response from our previous resolutions that were offered with regard to South Street traffic. Seconded by Councilor Bears. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes. Councilor Bears, did you have additional comments?
[Bears]: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I just wonder if it's worth putting a time limit. I know we just voted on it, but some sort of time frame that we'd like a response by X sooner rather than later. I don't want to define the time limit, but I think follow through requires a deadline. We should set the deadline and expect them to follow through.
[Falco]: The chief does have 10 days to respond.
[Bears]: 10 days. Great. Thank you.
[Falco]: Thank you. If we could please have your name and address for the record.
[Castagnetti]: Andrew Castagnetti, uh, Cushman street, East Method, Massachusetts. Um, definitely I'm in agreement that South and main street is most dangerous intersection probably in all the city. And as Councilor mocks has had said at the last meeting that, uh, It's not the only intersection that we should be looking into to make it safer, such as Mystic Ave and Hancock Street near Atlas Liquors, Park Street and Riverside Avenue with that high fence that's hard to see coming onto Riverside from Park. in other locations, I'm sure, but this south of Maine has been a major problem since before I got my license, 50 years ago even. And it seems that it's getting worse with more congestion and cars trying to get into Boston. I would think, at the risk of repeating myself from last meeting, Why can't we, as they say, the low-hanging fruit, erect two signs at the end of South Street before the end of Main Street, which becomes our city street? That you take a right turn only. I understand it would be a change, but it would eliminate people going across, which is already illegal, towards 93, but they do it regardless. and they want to enter the center of Main Street, they want to take a left underneath Route 16, going to Medford Square. That's where a lot of the accidents happen. So if it was right turn only, I understand it's a change. However, why not just try it on a three-month trial basis? and just see what happens, because some action would be better than zero action, instead of talking about a pie dream, about $5 million light travel signal systems from here to Malden Square. That sounds absurd to me. It's just, it's sad, because there's a lot of injuries, and there's been deaths there. I just hope that they could try a simple solution, a right to an only. Thank you for listening.
[Falco]: Thank you very much. While we're under suspension, offered by Councilor Marks, 20-031, be it resolved that a moment of silence be held for long-time Medford firefighter, Robert Minichiello, on his recent passing. Thank you, Mr. President. Councilor Marks.
[Marks]: Thank you Mr. President. Bob was a tremendous firefighter. I was just getting on the council when he was actually retiring, but he served with distinction this community and its residents for over 29 years, Mr. President. He served in engine two and engine six. And from what I hear from some of the firefighters that served with him, he was always there for an encouraging word. He was like the gatekeeper of every engine he was part of and was really the glue that held it together. And he will be sorely missed, Mr. President.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. At this time, I'd ask everyone to please rise for a brief moment of silence. On the motion of Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Knight to revert back to the regular order of business. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion passes.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. 2-0-0-2-3 offered by President Falco, be it resolved that the Medford City Council congratulate Kevin Wright from the Boy Scouts Troop 416 on earning the rank of Eagle Scout, be it further resolved that Kevin Wright be invited to a future meeting to be recognized by the Medford City Council. President Falco.
[Falco]: There you go. Yes, I do. Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. I'd like to congratulate Kevin Wright on earning his Eagle Scout. As we all know, Earning the rank of Eagle is not easy. And it's hard and takes a lot of commitment and dedication. I've known Kevin for a long time. He goes to Bedford Public Schools. He's dedicated to our community. His Eagle Scout project was to build a park bench. He built a park bench and a lending library for the senior center. And so he worked hard on that. And he's been volunteering for many years throughout the community along with his parents. And I'd like to invite him to a future council meeting to be recognized by the Medford City Council and congratulate him on earning the rank of Eagle. Thank you.
[Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilor Falcon for bringing this forward. Kevin's a wonderful young man, great family, and anything Kevin puts his mind to, he accomplishes, which is an amazing feat. If you know Kevin, Kevin's a big kid and loves giving back to the community. So I know just recently he just started coaching Little League and he takes that same type of passion to like what's what he does with the Eagles with the scouts. So I I second Council Falco's resolve and congratulate Kevin on a well-earned Eagle Scout. Thank you.
[Bears]: 7. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank President Falco for bringing this forward. I was never a scout myself, but I was on the service projects of many of my friends who were, and becoming an Eagle Scout is certainly no easy task. So I think it's something to be congratulated.
[Caraviello]: On the motion of President Falco, seconded by Councilor Knight, all in favor?
[SPEAKER_11]: Aye.
[Caraviello]: Motion passes. 2-0-0-2-4 offered by President Falco, whereas the City of Medford is only five miles north of Austin and is a very desirable place to live in, and whereas housing prices have been rapidly increasing throughout the City of Medford, therefore be it resolved that the City of Medford, excuse me, that the Medford City Council develop and establish an affordable housing trust.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello.
[Scarpelli]: Interesting. Interesting. We'll be here all night now. This is great. Good job.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello. As we all know, you know, Our fine city has become a very popular place to rent, buy a home, or raise a family. Being only five miles north of Boston, Medford is a very desirable location with great schools, direct access to Boston, and access to a lot of green space. We also know that to buy a home in our community, it takes a lot of money. Homes that once sold for $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 are now selling for $600,000, $700,000, $800,000, if not higher. And I know as I walk and see people throughout the community, this always comes up as an issue. And a lot of people ask, well, where will the kids that are growing up today in our city, will they be able to afford to buy a home here in our city, a city that we all love? And that really becomes a really tough question to answer. And if you go online, you'll see many articles regarding the housing crisis, not only in Boston, but also in the greater Boston area, but here in Medford. Tonight, I ask my colleagues to support this resolution that I offer tonight. I firmly believe that it's time that we establish an affordable housing trust. Although the concept is not new, there are many communities throughout the Commonwealth that have shown increased interest in forming their own municipal housing trust funds. In 2005, the state legislature passed the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund law to simplify the process of establishing local housing trust funds. Since the law passed, 98 communities in Massachusetts have established Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts, raising the overall total number of communities with housing trust to approximately 109. Examples of what a local affordable housing trust can do include provide financial support for the construction of affordable homes by private developers, both for-profit and not-for-profit, rehabilitate existing homes to convert to affordable housing, increase affordability in new housing development projects, develop service municipal land or buildings, preserve properties faced with expiring affordability restrictions, and support rent assistance for low and moderate income households. What funds can local housing trusts use? The sources of funding can vary. You can use community preservation CPA funds. They can use inclusionary zoning payments, negotiating development fees. developer fees, the municipality's general fund, tax titles and sales, payments from special bylaws and ordinances, cell tower lease payments, private donations, that's to name a few. But it seems like in most communities, CPA funds are definitely, you know, what's used I think most of the time. So in your package tonight, I included a boil plate template of some draft language that we could use to establish a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Ordinance. Now this is an extant stone. I mean, what I'd like to see is us as a committee meet to actually work through this ordinance and actually develop something that's gonna benefit our community. There are many resources that we can use to do this. So this is just a boilerplate template of what we need to do and what one would look like. So at this point, I would ask my council colleagues to support this resolution. And I would ask that we move this to the committee the whole and the reason why I don't want it to go to ordinance committee or I wish for it to go to committee the whole as I think this is a great learning opportunity for all of us over the next you know I think during this term there's going to be a lot of issues that come before us with regard to zoning with regard to housing and I think it's important that we all work on this together because I think this is going to benefit our community we should all have a say in this so at this point I would ask my council colleagues to support this, and if you could move this to Committee of the Whole for further review and debate. Thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Bears]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say I thought it was fantastic that it was on the agenda. This is something that I've talked to a lot of people about, that I campaigned for this office on, that Councilor Morell and I have written up some language as well, so we'd love to share it with the whole group and see where we can get to the best place. And I think another opportunity is Airbnb funding as well. You know, this short-term rental money could go to this. And I've spoken to people on the CPC, Community Preservation Committee, who think this is a great opportunity for them to use the affordable housing funds from the CPA. I was just at the Statehouse today testifying in favor of a bill that would give us the right to consider a transfer fee, which is another way that we could fund this if we want to really ramp this up, which I think You know, we would be the 110th community, right? There are a lot of communities that have had years and decades to put money into these funds. We are not there, but we need to be there quickly. So I think we need to really consider linkage and if this transfer fee goes through or even if it doesn't, maybe considering a home rule to make sure that we can fund this and really make sure that we build affordable units. You said, you know, I'm not sure if kids can live here. I'm the kid who can't live here. Right. I live with my parents. I'm 26 and I do that because I love this city and I want to represent the city and I'm honored to. But I'd love to live in an apartment. You know I'd love to do that. But in Medford that's not an option for me right now. So. You know, it's not, to me, a hard question to answer. We need this. We need it immediately. And I think also looking, you know, big developers are coming in, that we have very valuable land. I think we should look at linkage fees and stuff like that to fund something like this as well. So I really, really, really want to have this conversation. I'm really glad that it's starting.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Councilman Vance.
[Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much, and I thank Councilor Falco for bringing this resolution forward, or this draft ordinance forward. One thing that did stand out in his speech was using inclusionary zoning payments to fund an affordable housing trust, and this is something I cannot support. I know that it's just a basic launch pad right now for the start of a discussion. However, I don't feel as though allowing developers to buy their way out of the inclusionary zoning ordinance that we have in place is the answer. Ultimately, the way that this would work, Mr. President, if we're allowing inclusionary zoning payments to fund our affordable housing trust fund would be that instead of developing the affordable housing on site, they would be making a payment to the affordable housing trust and not creating affordable housing on site. I think that all that does is promote gentrification in these type of developments and I think it really takes the developers off the hook. If we're really serious about creating affordable housing in the community, we can't let the developers buy their way out of it. I thank Councilor Falco for bringing it up, but that's something that I'm very passionate about. I don't feel as though we should allow these developers the opportunity to just pay their way out of their obligation to help us meet our obligations for affordable housing in this community so that the people that made this community a great community can continue to live here.
[Caraviello]: President Falco.
[Falco]: Thank you, Councilor Caraviello, and thank you, Councilor Knight. Those are just options. I'm not recommending that we do that. Like I said, this is a boil plate. It's something to look at to get the conversation started. That's why it would go to committee of the whole to actually go through those list of options of what's available to us, not holding us to anything here. Nothing's etched in stone here. This is just some of what other communities have used. I just literally went through a list of things that I saw in the research that I did. But I'm not saying we have to do this. I completely understand your concern and it's valid, but I was just laying it out there as options of what other communities have done. But by no means am I saying that anything is final here. This is boilerplate, sample language, sample ideas, that's all it is. My goal tonight is basically just to get everyone on board of You know moving this to committee the whole so we can talk about it and work through and build an ordinance of our own That's basically the goal for tonight. There's no specifics as to what I want to do here with regard to You know how we would spend the funds or obtain the funds or anything like that So, thank you.
[Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President Councilor Morell
[Morell]: Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Councilor Falco, for introducing this. I'm really excited to see this come up so early in session. As Councilor Bears mentioned, it's something that we were really kind of working on behind the scenes. I'm excited to see it come up. Something worth noting is that beyond kind of the power of the purse that something has like this, which I'm really excited about, is The trustees can really play a role in policy, be advocates for policy, and a lot of times when you build this board in the right way, you have people that are experts in these areas of affordable housing, of development, and you get a diversity of ideas and people that can really help. Steward the city along as we make these decisions and I know we've got some great housing advocacy advocacy groups that already exist in the city And I think this would be something really powerful to kind of to codify some of the work that's already being done So I look forward to this coming to fruition.
[Caraviello]: So, thank you Thank you for the discussion One second
[9sF78fOJr5I_SPEAKER_27]: Can you hear me? I can hear you now. Okay, great. So I'd like the City Council, while this issue is being discussed, to also consider regulating the amount and the cost of affordable housing, not just adding a trust that would supplement for people who, like most of us, can't afford the rates that are currently available for market rates in Medford. I wanted to just give a quick example. So if you look at someone, a couple earning $4,000 on a fixed income, anyone on fixed income actually, a couple earning $4,000 in Social Security, which is quite a bit, for social security, even if they could get, if they were eligible for public housing, they would be getting a 30% rate, which means that they would be paying $1,333 a month for housing. And that would leave them with $2,667 a month for everything else, including medical expenses and food, which I think in this area is not, it's, I mean, it's basically living below the poverty level. And that's, I believe that the current guideline for affordable housing, to be eligible for affordable housing, a couple has to earn less than $2,250. So, um, it basically excludes everybody in the middle range who, um, can't afford rent market rates. So I would suggest that we look at ways of, um, regulating the percentage of affordable housing and also raising the, um, the threshold so that, because there's plenty of housing in Medford, it's just not affordable. There's lots of development across the street from me. It was gentrified, that building was a one-story building that had people who were obviously paying relatively low rent. They were kicked out, the building was, they added a story, another story to the building. That building's been in construction for, in renovation for over a year. And I bet the rents there are gonna be astronomical. So I'm just saying there's plenty of housing if we can tap into it. And I think that even within the ability of, to construct the developers and the owners to make a profit. There's still lots of leeway there to raise the, I think for anyone earning under 4,000, they should actually be paying 20% of their income as, for housing, not 30%, because 30% leaves you with not enough to live on, and that's just a fact of life. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Bez.
[Bears]: I just want to thank you for speaking. I do think we need to have this conversation because there are people in our community who are paying over 50% of their income for their housing, and it's a growing number. I think, and I just, again, I was at the State House talking about some state-level solutions to this housing problem, but we need to have a serious conversation, whether it's through the zoning review, or whether it's a separate conversation about what affordable means to Medford, and setting our affordable guidelines based on that, because I completely agree, what's there now isn't working, what is in existence in the affordable realm doesn't really apply to middle-income people, and again, We're talking about our home valuations in some cases quadrupling in the last 20 years. I mean, we need to really think about what we're doing. And quite frankly, we need to try to adjust the market rate. That needs to be an intent of this body. We can do that. That's what happens if you build 100 affordable units, it changes the market rate in your city, right? So we need to have that as an intent, really think it through, because market rate housing isn't working for people. In my opinion, and I think the opinion of many people, let's build more market rate housing is just kind of a giveaway to big developers to want to build luxury condos. And I don't think people in Medford really want that. So I think we need to have a broader conversation about what affordability means for us, who we want to live in Medford. I don't think we can do it now, but I think it's something that we need to consider as we're considering the entire zoning review and what we're doing with development going forward. So thank you for bringing that up.
[Caraviello]: Thank you. On the motion by President Falco, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. And this will be referred to a committee of the whole.
[Falco]: Records. The records of the meeting of January 7th were passed to Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, how did you find the records?
[SPEAKER_03]: Mr. President, I'm going to say that these were the most accurate meeting minutes that I've seen all year. I move for approval.
[Falco]: I'll motion to Councilor Knight to approve the records seconded by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The records are approved. Motion to adjourn. On the motion of Council night to adjourn the meeting seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. All those in favor? All those opposed? Meeting adjourned.
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