[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Today is Tuesday, January 9th, 2024. So Happy New Year to everybody. And I'm Sergeant Canava. I'm also with Sergeant Rogers. And Chief Secretary Alva is here as well, Erickson. And the Chief will be with us shortly. He's just in a meeting, so we should be popping in here very shortly. So we will start with approving last month's minutes.
[SPEAKER_04]: Move to approve.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, move to approve by Commissioner McKibbin. Second. Second. Did we come out of a screen?
[Alicia Hunt]: Somebody started screen sharing. I'm going to stop that because nobody should be screen sharing right now. Continue. I'm trying to figure out how to stop it. I did it. I got it.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, thank you. Okay, Tim, Commissioner McGibbon.
[Alicia Hunt]: Do you need to start with a roll call?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Sorry, yeah, roll call, Alba.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Present. Or Sergeant Canava will be present and his designee.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Present.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt. Present. Commissioner Brzezinski.
[Tim McGivern]: Present.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Villescaz, she is absent. She is a little under the weather.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay.
[Alicia Hunt]: Sergeant Canava, can I make a motion to take all the Sherbourne Court items out of order and together and to have Jim Silva from the city present the issue on behalf of the residents?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes. If anybody would like to second that, we would take that out of order. Can we finish up the approval of the minutes?
[Alicia Hunt]: Sorry. I apologize, I'm sick.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: That's all right. Okay, so. Motion by Commissioner McGiven, seconded by? That was me. Sorry, Commissioner Brzezinski. Okay, roll call, Alba.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley, Sergeant Canava?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes, 4-0 vote. We approved minutes from last month.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: So we will- Second on Alicia's out of order.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Second for Alicia's out of order. For Sherman Court, we'll have Mr. Silva speak on it. I'll second that motion. Great, so roll call, Alba?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Cannava?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes, 4-0 vote. So we are going to take this all at once for the residents of Sherbourne Court. Mr. Snowbrook from the City of Bedford will speak on this and he will kind of talk as best as they can about a situation that we have going on. And Jim, the floor is yours and you can share your screen. I may be your co-host if you need to.
[Jim Silva]: Sure. I don't have anything to share at this point, but I'm Jim Silva, Special Project Coordinator in the office of Mount Longo Karn. It's come to our attention during this transition of passes to 2024 that the residence location of Shorebourne Court does not exist in our database. So you know when you've received a variance in the past, you have been able to receive resident parking on the surrounding streets. There has been a problem with our data at this point, and we're looking into seeing how and what we can do to fix and mitigate this for you. We have a number of areas that we're looking at. We're working with our engineering team, but we're also looking to ensure that in the time being, there is a temporary measure put into place based on the Traffic Commission's recommendations this evening to help you navigate through this. And again, we just need some additional time. It's just come to our attention at the end of December. It wasn't earlier in the year. So I think there was in the past when a variance was issued, there may have been a conversation from the parking department presented to some of the folks on Sherborn Court. But as we went through this process, we realized that your utilities, your lease payments, your registration, everything is Sherborn Court, which in our street database in the city of Medford does not exist. So we have some work to do on our end, and the Traffic Commission is looking at this for you, and we'll work with you to ensure that we are able to have you park in the process while we come up with a solution to this migration.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So from a police side of this, Bow Street is probably the most logistics for the commissioners. If they are going to park, Bow Street would be The most accommodating and if we, I think we've already spoken with the traffic division on our end, but also in the. City hall, so that way they can have some leniency for this period of time. The commissioners are okay with that on the street would be the most ideal. Street for parking and situation wise. For the amount of spots they have.
[Tim McGivern]: It looks like, Jordan, that all the ones that are on the agenda, their variance was for Bow Street. Yeah. Okay. All right.
[Alicia Hunt]: I just think we should put on the record that all of these on the agenda have had previous variances for Bow Street. None of this is a new request for something new that's not existing. So if there's other people parking on Bow Street, this is not us adding any additional vehicles. There has been a problem with the renewal this year.
[Jim Silva]: There's one other person that I have been in touch with who's provided me all of their documentation that I believe everyone else has, and that's Corey Adams. He also is on Sherborne Court. So his name needs to be needed for that.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay. Corey Adams, do we have him, Alba, or? Yeah, I have the paperwork on it, too. Okay. We'll add him to the list. I will set up an email, and I'll Send out an email to everybody that we have, and obviously speak to them so they can be I can be the point of contact or Sergeant Rogers, whoever it may be. So that way we can kind of keep them updated on what the process is.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: What are they doing about.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Temporary permit would the temporary permit. Would there be 1 for both street or. for the renewal? Yes. I thought we were going to just not do enforcement and they would be allowed to park on Bow Street.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Are you guys okay with that as a commission that we would allow them to park on Bow Street and the enforcement there for City Hall and the City of Police Department would be non-resident. We wouldn't do the resident parking if that is okay by the commission.
[Tim McGivern]: Any issues with illegal parking there or abusing existing rules or anything like that, Jordan?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Bow Street has been a street that has been, you know, we've worked on it over the past and Sergeant Rogers would probably attest to this. It's pretty wide and there's a lot of spaces to accommodate this, so we haven't had many issues.
[Jim Silva]: I will also say that Medford Street heading towards Medford towards Tufts Park on the right hand side is open parking Dexter Street in front of the stores is open parking as well up by the Broadway and also Main Street. just residents have to be concerned about street sweeping, there's signage when you do park. There's some alternatives to Bow Street. If you don't find yourself on Bow Street, again, Dexter by the stores up by Broadway, the right side of Medford Street as you head down is open parking, as well as Main Street. I know it's a little bit further, but again, this is a temporary situation until we're able to mitigate this.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: The other thing to piggyback off that, if we do occur a snow emergency, it is odd side parking. No parking on main arteries. We'll list that out as a city has. So just so everybody knows and it's clear. We do have some, sorry, go ahead, Jim.
[Jim Silva]: In snow emergency as well, resident parking rules are not in effect. So you can basically park on that odd side. Yep.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So we do have some hands raised. So if you guys are okay with that, I'll go to them. I know you guys have questions. We're trying to move forward with it. It's not easy. So I'm going to start with Kelsey, and I'll ask you to unmute and you can speak on this.
[Tim McGivern]: Jordan, before we do that, can I just see if there's anybody here who represents the management or ownership of the condominiums building?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah. So I don't know if it's a Sherborn Court LLC. I don't know if there's a property manager that may have come on here. If there is, just raise your hand or type in the chat, and we'll ask you to unmute and you can speak on it.
[Tim McGivern]: Okay, so it's fair to say that the folks on the call are residents of the condominium but not part of the management.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Go to Megan. All right. We'll go Kelsey and then Chris. Chris, go to Megan now and see if I can get the information from her. You want me to email what?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Just the owner.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, the owner.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So Megan, we're going to email you because I know you've been in correspondence with us, Megan Brown, so I'll ask you to unmute so that way we can deal with you first.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Hi, how are you? Good evening. So I know we've been in contact, we've left you a message and I know you've kind of gone back and forth, but we'll try and email you and or get in touch with you with what we have been talking about for your registration on the lease and things like that.
[SPEAKER_13]: Okay. So I just wanted to ask because I have the same license plate, but I have a different car because it's a new lease. So I traded in a new lease. So does that mean that I can still park? I've parked on Bow Street for two years. So I just want to make sure, should I go to City Hall and get another parking permit or should I just keep parking on Bow Street? It's the same license plate.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: We're going to, for the next six months, we're going to We understand that you are going through this for this transition. We're not going to enforce resident permit parking on Bow Street all the way around.
[Alicia Hunt]: To be clear, if you went to City Hall, they wouldn't give you a permit right now because of the problem that everybody else has right now.
[SPEAKER_13]: Right. Yeah, that's what happened like in the past when I've gone. So I just wanted to check.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I will try and send out an email and get everybody on it. So I can be, me and Sarge Rodgers can be the liaison for this. And we can let everybody know any updates that we have and walk you guys through everything that we're going through. But we'll set that up. And I'm going to go to Kelsey now. Hold on.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Megan, can you get a hold of me at some point and let me know the management name, address of the buildings?
[SPEAKER_13]: Yeah. It's called Sene, S-E-N-E management.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Can you just email me at so? I'll send an email. We can get on the email. We're on it.
[SPEAKER_13]: OK.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_13]: Yep.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: And then Kelsey, I'll ask you to unmute and speak on this.
[SPEAKER_14]: Hi, I would just confirm that we have been in contact with our property manager at 6 Sherborne Court. I'm not sure if it's the same property manager for all the buildings. He was forwarded the Zoom information, but it does not look like he is here, but he is aware of this as an issue as a whole.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Try and send an email if you could CC him or let him know and we can have his correspondence and information as well on there.
[SPEAKER_14]: Great. I just wanted to bring up that we've also parked on Boyd Street for two years and we've never had to go get an official variance before. The parking department would just see our registration, give us both street parking and that was it. We never had to appeal for a variance. That was also new this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right. I'm also living at Stratford Court, might be living in the same apartment. The thing we just wanted to confirm was when we were at the parking department, the parking clerk, we asked this explicit question because we thought it could be an issue. We said, given the situation, are you still gonna ticket us? And he said, yes, we are going to ticket you. And I know that you just said that it's not gonna be enforced, but he seemed adamant that they're gonna, unless they are specifically told by you guys. I just wanted to confirm like that message is going to the parking department, right?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: This will be, has already been gone over to the parking department. This issue has already been talked about and we will make sure that the issues like we said there will be no permit parking for both streets so that'll be no issue on our end and no issue on the parking issue and if there is a citation that is received you can appeal it and let us know but we will make sure that both lines is covered.
[Alicia Hunt]: I just I wanted to be clear on that if you do receive a citation during this window of time. You should go through the appeal process, but also email sergeant, the sergeants, the traffic sergeants, so that they're aware of it so they can also follow up on the back end. parking.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So the appeal does not go to the sergeants correct appeal goes for city also if you do receive it let us if there is a one off and you do receive a citation for resident parking. That doesn't mean that you can't receive a citation for other. You know violations of your vehicle or snow
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: They have to pay $275 to file an appeal. Can I clarify the appeal process? So the first, when you appeal, it does not cost you $275.
[Jim Silva]: It's only when you, if you lose the appeal, then you file, and that's when it's the second appeal, basically. And one other thing about the resident parking, you've always had a variance because Medford's parking is street by street and Broadway does not, we don't, that's summable. So to park in the area, you had to have a variance at that particular address to park on Bow Street, only Bow Street, not Yale Street, not any of the streets around. So that's the variance, it's always been in place.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, so to make this easier, if they receive a citation, they can bring the citation through us and basically walk this through us and we'll handle it on our end. Because we have the same system as the parking department does. So we can handle this on our end. If any resident receives a resident permit parking citation, that is not any other thing. If there's a expired registration or things like that, they can still cite you for that. This is just specifically speaking on resident permit parking that for Sherman Court to be on Bow Street. If you receive a ticket, we will be on an email chain. You can either email myself or Sergeant Rogers. We'll get everybody together, and we'll walk you guys through everything else for the appeal process. We don't need to do that. We can handle it. We don't need you to appeal it. We will handle the citations ourselves. So Kristen and Jack, I understand you guys have your hands up. If it's something we've kind of covered here, we're going to last year on mute, and I'm going to start with you, Kristen, and then we'll kind of go there. But we're trying to walk this and make this easy enough for everybody.
[SPEAKER_18]: Hi there, thank you. I'm also a resident of 6 Sherborn Court, but I've been in and out of town for the past couple of weeks, and so I had missed the petition that was signed, and so I just wanted to clarify, will this be for all residents of the building, or will I have to separately go through this? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Okay, thank you so much.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Jack.
[SPEAKER_17]: Thank you for your time. So it sounds like you were aware of the issue ahead of time and you're working it, and that's great. With the temporary lift on resident parking on Bow Street, it sounds like we'll be in an email chain. Will this email chain also notify us if resident parking is reinstated on Bow Street? And how should we know?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Any updates that we have going forward here, we will let everyone know in this email chain immediately and if we can get everybody on one email chain obviously I we can work with everybody to kind of even get the landlords or property managers on there so we can all kind of be in the loop and if there's somebody that knows everybody's email chain that would be helpful if we can get that process started so that way make this simple and easy so that way not 50 emails are going out each individually there'll just be one at the time if one person can represent it.
[SPEAKER_17]: Great. I also just wanted to point out, I did put it in the meeting chat, but the Sugar and Quart Apartments are also managed by Sene. Okay. So we'll work on getting there.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, if there's a representative that does the property management, other than just the company name, then we can hopefully handle it with that. Great, thank you. Sorry, Alicia, I muted you. Okay, so we'll. I'm not even sure that we need a motion for this, but. I would think we could go for a motion for it. I don't know. This is a traffic.
[Alicia Hunt]: I think that we might make a motion that we're referring this. So, it's Tim and Jim. Tim, where do you recommend?
[Tim McGivern]: The owner and the engineering office need to work this out from an address assignment standpoint. Okay, so we're right away standpoint.
[Alicia Hunt]: So the city's referring this to the engineering office. And I just I just feel like I should be clear. We're not kicking the ball down the road. The engineering office reports to you. Therefore, you are aware that this is being referred to a division in your department. So I'll make a motion that we're referring this issue to the engineering office for final resolution.
[Bob Dickinson]: Second. Okay. Can we just clarify the motion, all of the numbers that are associated with the motion?
[Alicia Hunt]: I have that it's 2402, 0407, and 08. Yep, that's what I have. Okay, great. So those items are being referred to the engineering office, along with any other, for a full resolution of Sherbourne Court address issues.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: And then we will handle this offline and stay.
[Alicia Hunt]: And that the sergeants will follow up as needed.
[Tim McGivern]: Jordan, can you put me on that email? Just copy me on correspondence, the relevant stuff.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I'll set up this email. I'm working tomorrow and this week, and I'll have it by the end of week. And I'll have everybody as many people as we can get on it. No problem. OK. Okay, so I think Alicia brought the motion, so roll call, Alba.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Second. Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Tim McGivern]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Canaba? Yes.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Chief Sacco, about six years old. Almost. Okay, we'll pass 4-0 and vote. And you guys don't need to stay online anymore for Shervard Court. If you guys would like to step off, you can. I will be in contact with you myself or Sergeant Rodgers will handle this, so thank you. Okay, we'll go back to the regular business.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, 2023-63.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: You want to take it or you want me to keep going? Oh, sorry. Chief Buckley's here. So he's, we kind of threw him in the mix here and he got the curve ball. So we took it out of motion. So then I think it's 2024-2.
[Jack Buckley]: Stop by apologizing for my late arrival. Things get in the way sometimes, but I'm here now. New business 2023-63, request for permit parking variance from Tomzid Chudhuri, 18 Salem Street, 4 Forest Street. He is present. You wanna just take this? Yep, sorry. We're gonna unmute you, ask you to present your petition. Yes, hi. Hi, welcome.
[SPEAKER_22]: So I am requesting for a permit parking, various parking for Forest Street. I live on 18 Salem Street on Medford Square. It's right above the Modern Pastry Shop, and this street, we don't really get a resident parking permit. That's why I requested for a variance parking on Forest Street, because that is the closest street from my address.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you. I appreciate it. was that good? Yeah, sure. All right. Uh, commissioners, uh, questions, concerns that we've dealt with this issue in the past for the same address, 18 Salem Street. We have granted variances, uh, through there. But any, uh, comments or questions of the petitioner?
[Tim McGivern]: I presume petitioner that you don't have any parking space that you lease with your apartment.
[SPEAKER_22]: No, the apartment building does not offer any spaces. So it's the window right above the Modern Pastry Shop. That's where I'm living right now. And on the street, it's all metered parkings from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m.
[Tim McGivern]: Sargents, any issue with capacity and parking that we know of?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I would say not for us.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: No, Tim, just if we could reiterate during a snow emergency, you'll not be able to park on Salem or Forest Street, both major outages.
[Tim McGivern]: Yep. Well, with those two pieces of information, I think I'm okay on this one.
[Jack Buckley]: Commissioner Hunt, Commissioner Brzezinski, questions, concerns?
[Bob Dickinson]: I don't have any per se. I think we visited with this a little bit last meeting about capacity. So as long as it's not a capacity issue, of course, I have a problem.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah. And again, to repeat traffic, capacity seems... Yeah, FAR 3 can handle it.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, that's right.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Jack Buckley]: There's one on Ashland and the rest are on Forest Street. At this time, we feel I have a motion to approve. Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. A 4-0 vote. The motion is approved. Mr. Chaudhuri, thank you very much. We will enter the variance information into the system. It should take a day or two. I thank you for your participation and your patience. 2023-64 permit parking variance for Dave Beeman, 357 Riverside Avenue for Ross Street. We're gonna unmute you and if you could please present your petition to the commissioners.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, I have no parking. I live in a single family house, but there's no driveway and there's no, It's 357 Riverside. I live between two houses, and I've never had parking. I've always had a variance on Ross Street, and I would like it again. I've been living there for 35 years, and I've always gotten a variance. And otherwise, I have to move because I don't have a parking space.
[Jack Buckley]: Mr. Beeman. Thank you. Mr. Beeman has had a parking variance for Ross Street for the past. have to come back in the future as it relates to this. So I asked of the commissioners, do they have any questions, concerns for the petitioner?
[Bob Dickinson]: And some of it is permanent parking?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, the east side of Broad Street is not resident parking. And I was actually parked there the other day and I got ticketed anyway. But that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to get a, you know, what you can see right here, I have no place to park, okay?
[Alicia Hunt]: So, because we actually heard from somebody who hasn't had a variance, they just park on the east side of Ross Street and they always have because there's no, there shouldn't be enforcement on the right, on the one side of it. It sounds like though that you have been getting an annual parking permit, resident parking permit, is that correct?
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_17]: That's correct.
[Alicia Hunt]: So it's just that this year when you went to renew it, you got, you did not,
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_17]: I was denied. The other thing is during a snow emergency, I have to park on one side of the street or the other. So I need the variance despite the fact that one side of the street is non-resident. Second. I heard a motion.
[Bob Dickinson]: I agree with Leach. I do want to make a point. Why are we continuing to put parking tickets on the street that's not permit parking?
[Alicia Hunt]: It can somebody follow up on that. In addition, twice you've been getting a variance for 35 years. He should continue to be able and that allows him to park everywhere. I have a concern that there may be an increased need for parking on this street in the near future, and since he's been getting the variance for years, he should keep getting it. But is there somebody who can follow up and find out why they've started ticketing again on the side that is not marked resident permit only?
[Jim Silva]: Alicia, I have followed up with the parking department and, in fact, his appeal has been approved and the ticket has been dismissed. He will receive a notification from the parking director within the next couple of days. Mr. Beaman and I spoke to each other or emailed. He came into the office and actually I emailed him Friday night in regards to this mistake. As far as the street is concerned, Mr. Beaman, if there is a snow emergency, resident parking isn't enforced. It's open at that point for the duration of the snow emergency. So you will not be ticketed if you parked in a resident parking during a snow emergency.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_17]: Right. Okay.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Tim, I thought we had talked about this. There's one sign at the bend saying resident parking on the right side, and that's it.
[Jim Silva]: It says no dumping. That's on that side of Ross Street towards Spring Street, but not from here on to Riverside Avenue. So as the street turns, you have two signs on the left, and they both say no dumping. If you zoom in.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: I thought there was one sign saying resident parking on the right side.
[Jim Silva]: On the right side there is, if you go to beyond the hydrant, you should see it there. So I wonder if you could maybe another sign further down. And there's one, but it's on only the right side of the street and it doesn't start. I confirmed it with Alva. And if you look in the variance list, it does specifically state it's only on one side of the street in this block along Boston Retail.
[MCM00001767_SPEAKER_17]: If I may, the eastern side of the street, sometimes it's filled with cars, and then in that case, I would need the variance anyway, so I have a place to park, you know?
[Jim Silva]: It looks like it's an overflow for Boston retail often, or anybody else who comes to visit. So I agree with Mr. Beaman. I've been down there personally, and the street is filled with cars within the last couple of days since we've been talking to each other.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you, John. OK. Anything else from the commissioners or do we entertain a motion to consider for consideration?
[Bob Dickinson]: I think Tim already made a motion. Did Alicia second it, did you?
[Jack Buckley]: No, all the way around. Okay, on the motion of Commissioner Hunt, seconded by Commissioner McGiven, I'll have a roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. On a vote of four to nothing, the motion is approved for a permit parking variance for Ross Street for Mr. Beeman. Mr. Beeman, just give us a day or so to just enter this into the system, and then you should be fine with heading out to get your variance to the parking department. I appreciate your patience this evening and for your participation in the process. of the new calendar year, the announcement of the regular scheduled meetings for the traffic commission and a motion to approve these. We continue to keep it as the second Tuesday of the month. So January 9th, 2024, February 13th, 2024, March 12th, 2024, April 9th, 2024, May 14th, 2024, June 11th, 2024, July and August, we will continue to hold no meetings, September 10th, 2024, October 8th, 2024, November 12th, 2024, and December 10th, 2024. Do the commissioners have any issues or concerns with those dates? If not, I would entertain a motion to accept and move those into the record.
[Alicia Hunt]: Move approval. I think we should consider that we may want to meet during the summer, but other than that, move approval.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay so on the motion of Commissioner Hunt and I have a second but for some reason tonight I cannot distinguish between I'm disguising my voice as Tim today so a second I usually don't have that problem but tonight I'm just it's it's like three times uh seconded by Commissioner Bozinski I'll have a roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbons.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Chief Buckley?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. On a point of nothing, the calendar of our meetings is approved and into the records. 2024-03. permit parking variance for Wright Avenue from Ms. Bonazita Sena, 372 Main Street. This is another issue where apparently she's been getting permits for quite some time, or the petitioner has been getting permits for quite some time. We're gonna unmute you, present your petition, please.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, my name is Bonazita Sena. I live on 372 Main Street. which is corner with the right F, and as you can see my utility bills over here, which is number 374. That's the same landlord, the same property, and we don't have no parking. So my utility bills is 374, and the apartment bill is on the top of 372. My registration is 372. Okay, we just wanna- Before it's- I don't know. It's the same property on the corner.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: I don't want a Main Street parking.
[Jack Buckley]: I just want to make sure we pull your address up here just to see for the commission. That's it there, right? Yep.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then my utility bill is $374, which is just this barbershop right on the corner. See? There is no parking.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep. And for purposes of the variance, because it will relate to your, where you register your motor vehicle, where is that, what's that address? 372, okay, so we wanna make sure it's accurate, 372 for any potential variance. And have you had this permit yourself, or has the prior residence had the permit in the past, the variance?
[SPEAKER_04]: I've been having the permit for 11 years now. I even sent some picture to Jim Silver, And when we move on, the ink mark stays on the windshield from previous years. We'll be parking on Main Street forever.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: We can't park on Main Street. We can park on Main Street, that's right.
[Jack Buckley]: All right, any questions from the commissioners of the petitioner?
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, I just got one, I'm curious. What about the driveway off of Wright Ave? Do you have any rights there or not? No, we don't. No? What is that used for, do you know?
[SPEAKER_04]: That's a restaurant.
[Tim McGivern]: Bocelli's? Yes. Got it.
[SPEAKER_04]: That's Bocelli's, we can't park there. Unfortunately, I wish we could.
[SPEAKER_05]: Do they let you pass by foot? I'm sorry? Do they let you pass by foot?
[SPEAKER_04]: Sometimes if I cannot find a parking on a wide ave, I just wait over there and see once I'm going to leave, then I move over there because I don't want to get told.
[Tim McGivern]: Well, I guess my question is, do they allow you to walk through their property to access your home?
[SPEAKER_04]: That's a back entrance over there for the building. That white door over there, that goes to the building.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, that's why I'm asking the question. So it sounds like they allow you to go across their property to access your back door.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yep.
[Tim McGivern]: Okay. Thanks. I don't have any issues with this.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay. Move approval.
[Jack Buckley]: Second. Motion of Commissioner Hunt, seconded by Commissioner McGibbon. Alva, roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. Chief Buckley? Yes. On a vote of 4-0, the petition is approved. I want to thank you for your participation, your patience, and we will get this entered into the system and you should be eligible once again. And you will not have to come back in future years because this will be codified for you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you very much.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, thank you. 2024-05, John Bolognese, 194 College Ave. Renewal of visitor passes for Stearns Ave. We're gonna unmute you and present your petition, please.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: John, I'm just asking you to unmute, you're not on mute.
[jJ8nibzobNI_SPEAKER_12]: Okay, am I unmuted now?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yep, we got you, welcome.
[jJ8nibzobNI_SPEAKER_12]: Okay, cool, cool, thank you. I've had, I have permits. I live on the corner. He can show a picture. I live on the corner of Stearns and College. Actually most, I actually went out there with a measuring tape and I'm 43 feet on College, but 72 feet on Stearns. So most of my property is facing Stearns out. And I do have permits for the cars, but I have visitors permits. I've had, here's one here. You can't see it, but this one goes back to, 2014, I got a 2014 cast right here in front of me. So I've been getting them since 2014. Although this year, they told me that they couldn't give them to me for Stern's Ab, that they have to give them to me for College Ab. So they issued me for College Ab. Yeah, College Ab ones. But College Ab has no parking. There's no parking signs, I've taken pictures. You can see my father's car over there, right there. I'm right on that corner. And it's a very dangerous place. There's no parking on College Ave. So what I want to have is my visitor's permits like I've had for the last 14 years for Stearns Ave. Stearns Ave is a little different than Stanley. I've been living there for 60 years. Unfortunately, I don't like Zoom because it makes me look too old. But I've been living there for 60 years. And it's not like Stanley and Pearl. It's a wider street. There's a lot more single family homes on Stearns Ave. So there is no capacity issue. I've actually taken pictures. I have them here someplace. I've actually gone out there. You can't see them, but I've taken pictures of the streets. And there's plenty of room on the street. There has been for the last 14 years or 60 years. So I don't think that's an issue. So it's sort of like what you said before. I want to just memorialize it. that I'm able to get those because I'm getting kind of older, you know, not that I want to bring that up. I'm going to leave that out. But I may need a cleaner. I may, you know, need somebody coming over to help out. I do have a few relatives that visit me. I'm not married. I'm all alone. So there's only me. So definitely, I do not have a driveway if you're looking at my property. So really, I need those visitors permits for starts. Where's my house? Right there. Oh yeah, take a good look at that Stearns Ave. You can see there's plenty of spaces on Stearns Ave. Nice street, it's a beautiful street. That's my house right there on the right. That's it. And if you go to College Ave, you'll see, I took pictures of the signs, clearly say no parking. There's only parking way up by Tufts College, way up the hill by the station. You see way, way up there. There's a sign right there to the right. You can see it. Yeah, no parking. Beautiful picture. A beautiful street.
[Jack Buckley]: All right. Thank you for presenting. Commissioners, questions, concerns of the petitioner?
[Tim McGivern]: We haven't know why, and I guess this is to to you guys and not to the petitioner, but why it was issued to College Avenue and not Stearns? Seems odd.
[Jim Silva]: Impact on College, yeah. I do believe the other side from George Street to Summer is probably where they were suggesting. Again, that's three blocks down. It's a little further away, and I'm sure that's why they said College Avenue. Here we are.
[jJ8nibzobNI_SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, I could add something to that if you want me to, because I've been there a few times. Surely, you know, there's a new train station, you know, there's a new train station up there. And there was an ordinance that said all streets within a certain distance of that train station will automatically permit parking. So when I went there the first time, they showed me a list. And it says there it is parking. Boston to George, I think that was because that list was created. because of the station. Because when I went back the second time, the same guy said, you can't park on college. Well, why did you tell me I could park on college three days ago?
[Tim McGivern]: We're talking about a visitor's pass, right? Yes. Do you have a regular parking permit for Stearns?
[jJ8nibzobNI_SPEAKER_12]: Yes. Because I'm on a corner, I am entitled to a permit parking. We're just talking about visitor's passes. You're right.
[Alicia Hunt]: I'm actually remember something isn't there something that says if you live on a corner, you can get your parking permit for either street on the either street. However, you can only get your visitors passes for the street that your house faces on, which is one of these really these one of the many rules in our traffic rules that I'd like to see reviewed so that we can change because I would like to appeal that one. That's why he's here.
[Jack Buckley]: So we just worked this, again, this is because I was late for this meeting, but I have this written somewhere and I'm just trying to find it. Let me see if I can just take one minute on my desk if you want to, the commission is still up for the questions to discuss.
[Alicia Hunt]: I'm ready to repeal that rule.
[Tim McGivern]: I'd like to thank the petitioner for calling Stearns Ave a beautiful street because as the commission of public works.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Yeah.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Alicia, I was just speaking to Alba. Because there's no parking in College Ave, he should get the visitor passes.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right. Yeah. I mean, it's obvious to us I can't actually imagine a situation where somebody would live on a corner street, want their permit parking to be on one street, but there be a rational reason why their visitor parking should be on the other street. It goes down to the idea that people think they own the curb that they live on and they don't. But right, it goes back to those. Those days of people saying, I live on this street and I don't want somebody else's guests parking on the street that I live on. Those days are over.
[Tim McGivern]: Transitioning out, for sure. My neighbor kind of acts like that. He owns the space in front of his house. Good to talk.
[Alicia Hunt]: I live in a private way. I actually legally do. I think.
[Tim McGivern]: You do legally do, yes, you do, yeah. We can talk a lot about that, it's a shared right.
[Alicia Hunt]: But we share the parking in front of our houses.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, that's what I mean, so you all have rights to the way.
[Jack Buckley]: So here's the, I apologize for that, but I usually have my folder here, but corner residential homes, and this is the Traffic Commission rule, it's essentially, there's three rules. Legal residence is on a permanent parking street. There's two rules, and if your legal residential address is not on a permanent parking street, which in this case would be College Ave, and your property sits on the corner of a permitted parking street, the owner is entitled to automatically receive permit for the residential parking street without any visitor passes. Now, that is the rule. This rule does take into consideration the fact that you would be allowed to, in other words, you don't get visitor passes because you already reside on a perm a. non-permanent parking street where you could park as much as you wanted to without regulation. It does not and has not ever taken into consideration if you have no available parking in front of your house, which is what the petitioner is looking for a variance. So the standard rule would be on a corner house, there's no residential permanent parking in front of your house, meaning they could park there all day long without any regulations by the city. They could also seek to have a resident permanent parking on the side, but they get no variances. In this particular instance, there is no parking in front of his house, so a variance could be granted if we felt compelled to, to grant him visitor passes to the side street because he is not afforded any extra, say, luxuries of residing on a non-permanent parking street. Does that make sense?
[Bob Dickinson]: Yes.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay. Perfect. So I just wanted to clarify what the rules were. We have quoted them recently. Again, we reaffirmed them, but it is open for a variance. It would be just contrary to the rules, and there would have to be an exception as to why we would grant additional parking for visitors. And I think in this case, he's making his argument is that I can't have anyone park in front of my home. So having clarified that, I put it back to the commissioners if there's a question related to that.
[Alicia Hunt]: Did you just say we recently reaffirmed the parking rules?
[Jack Buckley]: Not the parking rules, the resident permit parking. I'm sorry, the corner parking variances.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay. And I think you should get the variances, I don't see what the problem is.
[Tim McGivern]: Is that a motion?
[Alicia Hunt]: I move to approve, sure.
[Tim McGivern]: All right, who seconded that? That was me.
[Alicia Hunt]: Tim.
[Tim McGivern]: Oh, we sound alike, that's right. Oh, shit. I might change my voice.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'm using my New England accent today.
[Jack Buckley]: You guys are playing with me. It's because I'm off my game getting here late. Motion by Commissioner Hunt to approve 2024-05, which would allow for two visitor passes for 94 College Ave. Seconded by Commissioner McGiven. Alba, roll call.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt. Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski.
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. Chief Buckley. Yes. On a 4-0 approval, 2024-05 has been approved. Mr. Bolognese, give us a day or so to just enter this variance into the system, and you should be fine. It'll be no issues getting your resident permit parking passes. Thank you for participating.
[jJ8nibzobNI_SPEAKER_12]: Oh, Stearns. That would be for Stearns?
[Jack Buckley]: Stearns, yes.
[jJ8nibzobNI_SPEAKER_12]: Okay, cool.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, thank you. Yep, thank you very, very much. 2024-06, two-hour parking, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., except by permit. Permit parking only 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., excluding Sunday and holidays. On Bonner Ave, Southside, from Pierce Ave to Mystic Ave. On Bonner Ave, Northside, from 40 feet west of Mystic Ave, extending 140 feet westerly. On Alexander Ave, Northside, from Pierce Ave to Mystic Ave. Who is here to present? I believe it is. Welcome, Lily. I think you can either unmute or we'll ask you to unmute.
[SPEAKER_16]: Thanks very much everyone I'm really worth I work with both Todd and Alicia in the city of Medford and as Todd is absent, I will be presenting this proposal based on work that both he and Jim and I did. Is it possible for me to share my screen? I made a bit of a graphic to show the area.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So it makes a little more sense.
[SPEAKER_16]: Great. All right. Okay, if everyone can see that this is the area in question. So, the North side of Alexander have from Pierce to mystic have and on Bonner have both the South side from Pierce to mystic as well as a very small section of the North side. So these are both areas that are currently unregulated both Alexander have a resident permit streets for just in front of the houses. But we received some feedback and complaints from residents and businesses that there were some parking issues in this area people leaving their cars for long periods of time. And we want to be able to regulate this much in the way that other business areas are regulated, where there might be a time restriction to both encourage turnover for people who might be visiting or patronizing the businesses, but also sort of preserving access for people who have permits. So the proposal here would be to have two-hour parking during the daytime from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with the exception for anybody who had a permit, and that could be a resident permit or a business permit, but then have permit parking only at night, excluding Sundays and holidays. We think this would help. Currently, things being unregulated, things aren't really working. This is something that we think will help the situation generally, make sure that people can park, but that people aren't leaving cars for long periods of time. Um, it's definitely better than the status quo and we're kind of thinking, you know, if this should solve the problems that are occurring in this area, if for any reason, it doesn't solve everything perfectly. It is definitely an iterative process. So we can further dial in this proposal. If something doesn't work.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you. And before I turn it over to the other commissioners, can I just, this is, are the businesses contributing to sort of this taking up of resident spaces or is it more of a commuter type issue? I'm gonna guess business where it's located.
[SPEAKER_16]: I have heard both and the fact that it is unregulated right now means that really anybody can believe a car. We've had a couple of reports of people parking and then taking the bus and we don't really know who they are or where they've come from. I do want to mention, I forgot to include this earlier, but we did have a good amount of outreach for this area. Jim Silva from the mayor's office has had many conversations with residents and businesses. and we also made sure that this area was robocalled in advance of this meeting so that anybody who might not have had a conversation will have heard about it.
[Jack Buckley]: Excellent. We will open this up a little bit to public comment. Let's hear from the commissioners first. Any questions or concerns or comments as it relates to the petition?
[Tim McGivern]: I just got one. Thank you, Lily. The reason sounds like it's just one reason we're talking about here and folks are parking here, but the residents want to be able to have some access here. Is that what I'm hearing? I mean, I don't know if the restriction is gonna solve that particular problem.
[SPEAKER_16]: I think the main issue is really people parking here for long periods of time leaving their cars overnight and this is a way to make sure that that can't happen that there's turnover during the day if there's that 2 hour restriction for anybody that doesn't have a permit. And also I think it does sort of contribute overall citywide, we seem to be moving towards wanting to make sure that we don't have these gaps, places where there's unregulated parking, people tend to find out about them. We wanna move towards a system where we really have managed the curb everywhere and it's one of those spots where this is an opportunity to kind of clean that up and make sure that we do have a regulation.
[Tim McGivern]: Sure, agreed. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, that point was clear, right? Because the residents that live here, if they're thinking that, oh, you know, those are my spaces, or I wanna be able to park there, but these out-of-towners are parking there all day and getting on the bus, well, this isn't the case if we're heading down this solution. But I see what you're saying, and I'm for this. So, anyway, thank you.
[Jack Buckley]: Commissioner Sahat, Commissioner Brzezinski.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, I guess I actually really like the idea of people parking their cars and taking the buses. That's actually good for the environment that they park somewhere. But I understand that it's a problem for people who are trying to go about their lives and suddenly they can no longer park at their homes the way they always have been. I also have a concern significantly, though, about businesses, because what I had heard more of was if there are businesses who are using our curbs as storage for vehicles, that they should really, it should be part of the cost of doing business, and they should have lots on their property, or they should have systems to manage the vehicles that does not involve putting them on city streets. To to handle their their businesses that I actually have a lot of concern about. And I've been on the impression that that's some of the issue over here. Can you confirm is this an area that people have been notified that there were robo calls about this.
[SPEAKER_16]: And there have been robocalls about this. And to answer your other point, we have had questions and concerns about automotive businesses leaving things long-term, which you will hear me talk about a little bit when we talk about Mystic Ave.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay, that's the other motion that's on the agenda here. Yes, the other item.
[Tim McGivern]: This is also customer parking, right? So that's another factor. So these businesses that may be, you know, one business may be using these parking spots for storage, and then that's at the expense of another one where a customer might park there.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right, where the two-hour parking during the day means that the customers will be allowed to park.
[Unidentified]: Yep.
[Alicia Hunt]: go about their business and move on, and that's all fine. That would still be allowed.
[SPEAKER_16]: Right. I'll also add that if you are a business owner in the area who wants to park longer term in this spot, this proposal would allow that if they wanted to get a business permit and park in the same way as a resident with a resident permit would be able to park.
[Alicia Hunt]: You can leave your vehicle, but you couldn't store a vehicle that you're working on. Correct.
[Jack Buckley]: I'll defer my time to public comment. I'll defer my time to public comment. Thank you. Good. Your comments, please.
[SPEAKER_11]: So we actually own the building where the Dunkin' Donuts is with edible arrangements and Harrows. And we've always used that side street parking as trying to put employees out there. But over the past year or two, it's just become overtaken by people commuting into Boston, getting picked up and carpooling I don't know what they're doing, but also the auto body on Alexander is parking roughly 30 cars on the street that they're working on that don't move for days, including several on Bonner, because there's no room on Alexander anymore because they took up all the parking.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, and I think that's a large part of what we were hearing on the police side of things, and we're hoping that that's what this plan would alleviate.
[SPEAKER_11]: I mean, it's been an ongoing issue with the commercial parking because they come out and they ticket cars that are parked in the commercial zone, even though it's commercial and they're saying it's residential because there's the three houses and they say that it's where the sign is, is where it starts. But it's only on that side of the street is how I understood it a long time ago. But it doesn't say that.
[Jack Buckley]: Well, we'll take a look at that sign for you and make sure that it's clearly marked regardless of how we vote tonight on this.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yeah. Is there a way to make it longer than 2 hour parking though?
[Alicia Hunt]: Chief, can we clarify, actually, so for each of his employees, they could get a business permit for $100 a year, and then they'd be allowed to park there all day, correct?
[Jack Buckley]: Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's for employees as opposed to, like, say, customers, right? Like, you couldn't get a car, or when we mention auto body shops, they can't park a car out there under a business permit, but yes, they would be eligible.
[Tim McGivern]: And no overnight fleet vehicles, correct? So if he owns a vehicle, that wouldn't be good for leaving his vehicle overnight. Correct. We wouldn't be doing that. Get everything out on the table.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yep. Yeah, I mean, I agree with everything you guys are saying. I think it's good. I mean, I was just the only thing I would say is maybe if it was a little longer, you know, three hours or but two hours will work.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, well, I appreciate the comments and the position. When we get back to commissioners, they can debate that issue. The standard is generally two hours. It's pretty consistent throughout the city and other cities. So I think that's where we land up, but we'll see what we get back to it. Thanks for the comments.
[Alicia Hunt]: Chief, can I just ask about that? I was just, what businesses, like, because I was seeing you have like edible arrangements and Dunkin' Donuts, like, do you have businesses that people would be at for more than an hour? in that building? Like why three hours?
[SPEAKER_11]: Um, I mean, the physical therapy has people there for more than an hour. I'm not really sure. But okay. I mean, it's not really that necessary. I was just trying to see if if our employees did park there, you know, sometimes they have like a four hour shift, you know, they could park there. We're trying to keep people employees out of the lot. But if we have to buy a business pass, for all of our employees, you're talking a lot of money.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_11]: Because there's a lot of businesses there, and if everyone parked their car in the lot, then there would be no place for our customers to park.
[Jack Buckley]: Yep, correct. Okay, thank you very much. I do appreciate the comments. Sergeant, you want to go to the next public comment? Victor, we're going to ask you on mute.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, can you hear me? Yes, welcome. Right. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I wasn't going to. I'm a longtime associate of Jim Silva's. I know about his group and he's a pillar of the community. And he asked me to attend tonight for this. to hear the ordinance proposal here. Wasn't prepared to speak, but I'm hearing things that I really want my voice to be heard on this. So while I understand the business perspective and the commercial perspective, certainly understand that, and I certainly appreciate that, you know, Rocco's business, Rocco's building, I'm a patron of the businesses, you know, in that location, that's great. However, I live in this neighborhood, all right? So I'm speaking as a resident now. I'm on the corner of Willis and Alexander. I'm in a corner lot, single family house, further up the street from what we're talking about effectively the corner of Mystic Avenue and Alexander or Bonner, depending upon how you look at it if you go further that way. And so I'm in this neighborhood every day. I walk in this neighborhood every day. This issue is largely, you know, I hear the comments about folks taking the bus into town. I can't speak to that. What I can speak to from firsthand witnessing it myself is the auto body shop putting cars on this street. I just counted the other day and I sent a photo to Jim. I counted 25 cars. How am I certain that they're from the auto body shop? Because they're all in various states of disrepair, missing front ends, missing tires, missing rear ends, missing lights, turn signals, et cetera. So clearly, and I don't want to finger anybody here, but we have to because people live in this neighborhood, right? And if you hear frustration in my voice, it's because I am frustrated. There's 25 to 30 cars from the auto body shop. Whoever owns the auto body shop is using this as an extension of their business. They're using the street which the taxpayers fund as effectively a lot to run the business. That has to stop, right? There are people who live in this neighborhood. I have a three-year-old. My neighbors have seven and nine-year-olds. There are kids on this street. Granted, they're not on the mystic at. They're not on that side of the street, but it is a family neighborhood in South Medford. So as a resident speaking on behalf of myself, certainly in my family and my neighbors, this has to stop. These cars are a danger. The fact that they're in that they need repair is also a danger. He's moving them. The guy is moving the cars in and out of the shop every day. I've witnessed this myself. Why taking video of it? right? So again, these are unscripted comments. You're hearing this raw because I wasn't prepared to speak tonight, but I would implore the police department. I would implore the, you know, the ordinance. I'm all for this ordinance, but it also has to be enforced because this, this is just, it's absolute chaos. What's happening at the end of the street and it has to stop. It's not fair to the taxpayers. It's not fair to the residents. Thank you very much.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you very much for your comments and your participation in the process. Any other comments from the public? Sajid Kanava, can we, I don't believe we had any, but I just, before I turn it back to the commissioners, I just want to look real quick. It does not appear to be, so commissioners, you've heard what two of the a business owner and a resident of the area have said I will say from the police aspect it's not just this area but we've heard a number of places around the city now where specifically auto body shops parking their customers cars on the streets and well we don't we don't have an ordinance Citywide ordinance preventing that. It's something I think that maybe we're going to have to start looking forward. That's separate from the traffic commission. But, you know, in most of the cases, it's based on the parking rules related around these businesses. And I don't think, I think in some cases they're being, we're just trying to catch up with regulating the parking around these business areas. So, questions or concerns? I'll start with you, Commissioner Brzezinski. You deferred.
[Bob Dickinson]: Has anyone talked I mean, it looks like this South Medford auto body. Has anyone spoken to that? I have to sergeant.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: I have spoken to her. Um, I believe a young lady owns it and she's been advised several times to get the cars off the street as long as she moves them every 48 hours. That's not in violation.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, currently apparently the similar issue on Mr. Gav. We're having that we're going to talk about is same issue that is occurring here as well. And we spoke to them, the auto body shops, and I think City Hall, Dennis McDonough has spoken with them as well multiple times. They've all been advised.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think it's a good fix. I mean, I just, you know, again, I hate for one person to kind of spoil the pot for everybody, but if nothing else, it's a nice start to trying to fix this situation. with this group and let them know that we've got to find a better alternative. I don't know what that alternative is. I think it's indicative of many businesses in Medford. They're in places where they shouldn't be, but there's nothing you can do about that. And I usually always know that Todd's proposals are very well thought out, and I appreciate Jillian and her presentation on it, so I'd be willing to support a motion on this.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you, Commissioner Brzezinski. And 25 cars, it's almost obscene in that small area. Commissioner Hunt, Commissioner McGiven?
[Tim McGivern]: I'm in support of this, but I just wanted to make the following comment. This is the correct solution for this is some sort of an ordinance that prevents auto body shops from using the public street as storage. But this is the right thing to do for a block off of a commercial corridor. So from that regard, it should be for customers. It should be for active business use. So that's the lens that I have on this. So anyway, and it may provide some relief for the auto body shop issue. However, like I said, they could still park one of their cars here for two hours that they're working on according to the solution. So I just wanna make that clear, but I would support a motion.
[Alicia Hunt]: Um, so, yeah, Sergeant to make some good comments that we should consider and look into. I think that. If we were to recommend an ordinance to the city council, they would be open to that because at the same time. My concern is if a business, I don't know anything about this business, that it's this particular business. I don't know. I'm not making a disparaging comment on this business owner. But if this application were to be applied around the city where we have this problem in other locations as well, in theory, if the tickets went on the cars, The tickets would be the problem of the vehicle owners and a disreputable business owner or somebody could put those tickets back on the car owners, who hopefully would not bring their business there anymore, might be a self-selecting problem. But the penalty goes with the vehicle owner and not with the person who put the vehicle there. So that is actually a good thing for us to recognize. At the same time, this is the only way to deal with this. This is the only tool we have at this time. So I'm in favor and I'll move approval unless there's more discussion or somebody else wants to comment.
[Jack Buckley]: I don't see any other discussion. Just to add to that comment, I would hope, though, that if we did get an ordinance, it would lead code enforcement to have a little bit more power and authority as far as it relates to their business permits, et cetera. But that's not my expertise.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Just to reiterate that, if a vehicle isn't being repaired or in disarray, if it's a safety hazard, we can tow the vehicle off the street. So if the vehicle is you know, leaking any substances from the car and things like that, we have a little bit of right there. But if it's a perfectly registered vehicle that they're just maybe doing breaks or something like that, just for example, we don't have much power on the floor. Yeah, thanks. Clarified.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, on the motion to approve by Commissioner Hunt for two-hour parking, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., except by permit, permit parking only 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., excluding Sunday and holidays, on Bonner Ave. Southside from Pierce Ave. to Mystic Ave., on Bonner Ave. Northside from 40 feet west of Mystic Ave. extending 140 feet westerly, and on Alexander Ave. Northside from Pierce Ave. to Mystic Ave. Do I have a second? I'll second. Seconded by Commissioner McGiven. Now the roll call.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. Chief Buckley? Yes. On a vote of four to nothing, the motion is approved, or the petition is approved. Thank you, Lindy, for the presentation. 2024-09, Mystic Avenue, both sides, no parking, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., except by permit, excluding Sundays and holidays. All other existing restrictions still apply, i.e., bus stops, bus lanes, no parking near corners, hydrants in crosswalks, et cetera. Who is presented? That's not you again, is it?
[SPEAKER_16]: Actually, that would be me again. I didn't realize this would be back-to-back, but that's perfect.
[Jack Buckley]: Welcome back.
[SPEAKER_16]: I made another little graphic here just to kind of show the area we're talking about. So this is basically both sides of mystic have the entire length of the part that Medford control. So it goes up to, I believe it's Crescent street. And after that, the rest of mystic have is mass. So this was again in response to largely businesses reaching out to the city about vehicles being left long-term along Mystic Ave, where aside from the time restrictions for the inbound bus lane, which is 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., aside from that time restriction, there are no restrictions for parking. on this street so anybody just as with the previous area anybody can park there and leave their vehicle for however long they want. They don't need to be a Medford resident or business so we would kind of like to clean that up a bit and have it be no overnight parking Unless you are a permit holder, so again, a resident or a business could get a permit, and then they would be able to park overnight. So this is to again, ensure that there aren't people leaving vehicles, taking up parking spaces, making it more difficult for residents or customers that are visiting businesses to park. And in terms of outreach, so we actually taught and I proposed, maybe also including some kind of time restriction and we ended up doing a robo call to all of the businesses. And residents in the area in early December, we also included some of the adjacent streets. And we held a community meeting in mid-December to talk to some of the business owners about this. And that is how we arrived at this particular proposal, just to try to use the tools that we have in our toolbox, as Alicia alluded to, to deal with the problem of long-term cars that are being worked on, left on Mystic Ave. So this was definitely a result of the conversations we had with the community. and we got some good feedback. We also robocalled the entire area late last week in advance of this meeting so that people know what's going on.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you for the presentation and for the outreach. I think that outreach, you know, separate from the Traffic Commission is hugely valuable in getting to where we are today. I kind of highly encourage a lot more of that. I don't You had mentioned that there was a public hearing, but a lot of the businesses were there, and I believe one of the sergeants was there, but businesses kind of understand what this proposal is tonight and are aware that this would be here today. And what were your thoughts on their, what were their thoughts as it relates to the public hearing? And then I'll open it up to public and we can talk to the public.
[SPEAKER_16]: Sure, yeah, I actually also had personal conversations with a lot of these businesses by flyering as we were preparing to sort of have a community meeting. So I got to hear from them firsthand. And they generally kind of echoed the same concerns, which was cars being left long term that were in various states of disrepair and not moving. So we wanted to respond to that and still provide for access for customers, turnover, And we didn't at this time want to propose additional regulations other than the no overnight parking. We figured this is, again, an improvement over the status quo, and it will hopefully make a difference and help the problem. And if it doesn't, we can iterate and try to dial this in a little bit more.
[Jack Buckley]: Excellent, thank you. Thank you. And we do have some public comment, but before I open up the commissioners, any questions of the petitioner.
[Alicia Hunt]: I appreciate all the outreach in advance. It's really helpful. I'm mildly curious. You said that this hearing from people in advance changed the proposal that you were thinking about significantly, or you just knew you had to do something and it was those meetings that helped understand that no overnight parking would fix it? Because I noticed that you're not suggesting two-hour parking in this area.
[SPEAKER_16]: Correct, we initially thought to possibly include some sort of a time restriction, but we approached it as we want to hear from people 1st, and we want to respond to the concerns of businesses and residents before proposing something. And this was kind of a result of those conversations. We think this. can solve the problem, and if we can do it by simply restricting overnight parking the way I believe it was last month that Commercial Street had the same type of restriction. So if this will solve the problem, great, we may not need to go further. If it does not solve the problem, we might have to go back to the drawing board and figure out is there something else that we can dial in to get the result that we want, but to still be fair to everybody who uses Mystic Ave.
[Jack Buckley]: Excellent, thanks. Commissioner Brzezinski, Commissioner McGiven, and I can open up, I see at least one hand up.
[Bob Dickinson]: How does, didn't Todd have a present, didn't we do something on Mystic in this area recently?
[Jack Buckley]: Is this timing? We did bus lanes recently and some other no parking restrictions. I think that's why it says that all other existing restrictions will still apply.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: We removed no parking between the VFW.
[Jack Buckley]: There was no parking at the VFW area. We applied for seven to 10 spaces. We pushed back in there. There's been a couple on Mystic Avenue in the areas.
[Bob Dickinson]: Does this overlay on top of that? per se, I guess, is that what we're trying to do? Kind of addition.
[SPEAKER_16]: Yeah, it means that all the existing so currently the only restrictions on Mystic Ave in terms of like who can park and how long they can park are the spaces on the South side that are temporal bus lanes. So in the morning from 6 AM to 9 AM, the legal spaces on the South side are no parking during that time, while the bus lane is in effect, but parking at all other times and as. Alva and the chief mentioned, I think it was a few months ago, parking was re-legalized on a block outside the VFW on the north side, which frees up additional spaces for people to use. But the rest of the north side, there aren't any parking restrictions, anybody can park. What we want to do is basically make sure that we have no overnight parking except by resident or business permit for both sides of the street.
[Bob Dickinson]: I seem to remember there being a homeowner in this area who needed some help. on parking and I believe we granted him or her a parking spot. I think I'm speaking correctly on that. But I just want to make sure that those types of situations, the person would be protected if they do have the proper permit. It sounds like they would. That's correct.
[Jack Buckley]: There's an exception for permits in all of this.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think it's a good thing. I think unfortunately, yet again, we're in an area where the businesses really don't fit the land. But I think it's a good start.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So Maxwell. We have been over here once again. We have towed over probably ticketed and towed over 100 cars. First it was unregistered vehicles and et cetera. And then we've spoken to every business owner. We've let them know the rules. We've let them know the city ordinance. And then they just continue to do it. And then they move the vehicles in and out. And they switch the 48 hour violation on along with Parking on the Route 16 off ramp there is also kind of the issue. I know it's a state road, but we towed off there as well, and there were multiple, I mean, I think we towed 80 cars in one sitting, so. This has definitely been an issue, but they've been notified, and Dennis McDonnell from the city has been really helpful, and he's even notified them with what the, I think that's a good point. I think that's the number of vehicles that they're supposed to be allotted in their lot.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you, Sergeant. Commissioner McGibbon, before I go to public comment, anything?
[SPEAKER_21]: Hey, how you doing? Yeah, I live on Columbia Road, which is the only cut through between Main Street and Mystic there. And I thought I was gonna have to explain the issue on our street more, but as it turns out, we are bombed with cars from the dealerships and the auto body shops on Mystic. I am pretty concerned that we're gonna be the only game in town, especially coming right off on Main Street to get to Mystic. We're a pretty choice location for parking derelict cars, as it turns out. I don't know whether there are any plans for us to go permit only. I haven't heard anything. We got an email that said, hey, you might want to show up and comment on this.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, so the question will be, will these restrictions just force them up onto, it's 16 in Columbia, yeah. So, we're going to have to, I mean, I'm not so sure I can address that fully tonight, but we are going to, I do. Appreciate what you're saying, because we're going to have to pay attention to that Columbia road more specifically. It is not a whole lot of parking on that street anyway. So.
[Alicia Hunt]: Chief that's another argument for why we might need the ordinance we talked about briefly before if I'd like to encourage the resident to email this so to be 100% clear. We do tap traffic rules, something that says business owners can't, you know, they can't store cars on the street autobody. I mean, my concern is even beyond the businesses. I mean, we've been.
[SPEAKER_21]: We're so close to getting on a route 16 and getting on a 93 that we've been partial airport parking on Columbia road. And so I can only imagine if you can't park overnight on mystic, it's. It's going to get worse or people taking the T, going up to the green line. We have a lot of. We're very busy little road with very few houses on it. You know.
[Alicia Hunt]: Right, you'll want to petition for permit parking. I mean, we've talked about regional permit parking, which I think is the right solution, not street by street. You could ask for it. The more residents who are in favor of regional permit parking, the easier it would be for us to pass it. There are, oddly enough, a lot of residents against regional permit parking. They prefer it street by street. Those tend to be residents who live on streets with lots of parking.
[SPEAKER_21]: Gotcha see last time I feel like last I heard we were doing. Just a gradual rollout in waves from the new green line station and I didn't know where we fell on that or if we did. Right sounds like then we would need to apply for permit only for our street specific. Right.
[Alicia Hunt]: We were doing regional and then we got the we basically got a lot of pushback from the outer areas that they don't need it. They don't think they're going to get green line parking. So we said, well, let's wait and see. And if the residents start saying, hey, hey, we need resident only parking, then we'll readdress it. So it's it's kind of tabled until people like you tell us otherwise.
[SPEAKER_21]: I mean, in the interim, though, it sounds like. We've just become overnight mystic parking until we go permit, if we go permit.
[Jack Buckley]: Well, I mean, the hope is not, but I agree. I'm actually very happy you came here tonight because we may not have. I think we eventually would have got to that. It would have been compliance, but now we can be on top of it. We can maybe offer some clear advisements to these business owners has been clearly advised.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah. Obviously, you know, we're on here. So I have my email and you can email me offline. And if anything is to come up, please will be this is definitely a street that we've paid attention to as well. But if there's anything that you see that's alarming, there's a vehicle there, please call the direct line and we can get a traffic unit over there. Gotcha. move on to Ryan.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, thank you for attending and advising us about that. I appreciate it. Move on to Ryan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, my name is Ryan. I live currently at 71 Mystic, which is right across the street from the Portland group. And we, at my house specifically, which I think is one of maybe two or three houses on Misty Calf proper, have been having a lot of issues with parking for the lack of availability on the side that we can park constantly, which is the side that the Portland group is on. Because the other side, we have the temporal bus lane, which we can't park from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. And on the other side, I have constantly seen. A bunch of the auto repair shops that are up and down on mystic. Particularly towards more to the North. Um. We've been seeing them leave cars here for like, 3 to 4 weeks at a time again, as it was mentioned earlier from another. Another matter that was discussed, and I think that with the permit parking that that will kind of be addressed and the other benefit of it. would be from the business goers that come to do business in this area would actually have places to park because the cars being left on the street have been being left there for days and weeks at a time. And that takes up the usable parking spaces which business goers can use to go to business and do business in the area.
[Jack Buckley]: I think there is a lot to do with why we are trying to address this. I do appreciate your participation this evening. Any other public comment?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Seeing none, I turn back to the commissioners.
[Tim McGivern]: Good floor is yours. Alright, thanks. Well, I think. First of all, um. This is good for sweeping, so if we have no overnight parking, that's good for street sweeping, so the street would be cleaner. But similar to what I was saying before, it's kind of the wrong solution for the problem, I feel like, because we should be doing no overnight parking because we need to have no overnight parking, not because shops are using the free public parking lane. I think ordinance is the correct solution here. And I think some of my other comments will kind of express that nothing I'm against this. It's just, I want to make sure that that's the direction we go here. The man on Columbia said it best. I mean, you know, there's going to be overflow from this. So Columbia, maybe, you know, James Street, Swan, but I think those are kind of packed with the same issue anyway. I know at least James Street is, and I think Swan Street is too. The businesses just basically use the public parking lane at their will for their business. And then my last comment is if we're doing this for Mystic right here, shouldn't we also do it for Swan and James? and any other commercial heavy street that goes off there. So those are my comments.
[SPEAKER_16]: Thanks, Tim. Those are great questions. The 1st, 1, I can answer. So, right off the bat, we were hoping to include union Swan and James in this proposal and to have some kind of restriction. The feedback we got from the businesses that were directly on those streets was overwhelmingly against having additional restrictions. So we decided not to propose that at this time. I agree with you that. This is not necessarily the best tool to address the situation of long term. Automotive parking on mystic have, I guess it's my opinion that regulation on mystic have is needed in some form and this may represent a step towards that. We may end up. Further introducing something else that may include those other streets and that may include a time restriction. There are some other competing interests here, including businesses that actually have customers. So most of these businesses are sort of more. Auto oriented and may not have, you know, people coming and parking to to drop off things or to kind of go in for an hour or so, but some of them are. So we do have businesses concerned about availability of parking. So, I guess I would say. We should treat this as a step towards a better solution. 1 that I think will. probably solve some of these problems, and if not, we can use that as a basis for which to tailor a better solution that may also help other problems.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, well, I like the overnight solution, you know, just in general for a road like this, with these types of characteristics, because street sweeping, I mentioned one, but also we can't just have cars abandoned or derelicts in the free public parking lane. And then the other thing is that square footage is valuable, and there should be turnover. And even if it's once a day, then that's fine. Just, you know, it's public space, so not storage space for someone.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you, Commissioner McGiven. Commissioner Hugg, Commissioner Bezinski.
[Bob Dickinson]: I think Tim raises some good points. I think whatever's in our control, I'd much rather try to do something. I do think until something is done, it's always going to be a continued problem in these businesses that don't really fit in the area, so I'll continue to harp on that. But again, I think it's a good start. But I do think, Looking at some of these other side streets, and I do think these issues are probably just going to be pushed up those other side streets. So I would encourage Jillian and Todd and that group to continue to think about these side streets and what we're going to do for these other side streets and what we're going to do for them as a result. Yeah.
[Jack Buckley]: I certainly think we need to be very much aware of displacement, right? I mean, we don't want to solve the problem in one and displace it to another area. So we will, I think we're really going to have to focus on an ordinance to the city to get this resolved. Commissioner Hunt?
[Alicia Hunt]: I'm in favor of this. I want to follow up on the ordinance issue, so.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah. I got something, chief. Any opposition to having some sort of a condition on how to monitor the side streets after implementation for a period of time, say 30 days?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I will be in full force if any resident or anything like that. Me and myself inside of Rogers will be all over.
[Tim McGivern]: I just want to see if we get some of that overflow that we're talking about here. And if the competition for free space on those streets gets, you know, gets competitive.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: We've got to probably, sorry, I shouldn't, their businesses will probably move down until we're 16 years to run off, but they're probably going to try.
[Tim McGivern]: All right, let's see what happens. So I'll make a motion to approve with that condition, monitor for 30 days, side streets.
[Jack Buckley]: Okay, so on the motion approved by Commissioner McGiven, 2024-09, Mr. Gabb, both sides no parking 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. except by permit, excluding Sunday and holidays. All other existing restrictions still apply and the police department will monitor the side streets for any additional or displaced parkings that are caused by these restrictions. Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Brzezinski. I have a roll call, please.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt?
[Alicia Hunt]: Sorry, I didn't realize I was muted. Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Jack Buckley]: Yes. Chief Buckley? Yes. On the vote of four to nothing, the petition is approved. Thanks, you're a great substitution for Todd.
[SPEAKER_16]: Thank you all very much.
[Jack Buckley]: That's it for new business. Commissioners, anything you'd like to bring up before we take a motion to adjourn? Jim Silver, I want to thank for your participation too. Good meeting tonight. Is there someone with their hand raised still? I think that's just left over. He spoke. All right.
[Tim McGivern]: Move to adjourn.
[Jack Buckley]: All right, I just want to thank everybody. We started January off with a bang, and we'll see each other in the February on the motion of Commissioner McGibbon to adjourn, seconded by? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Brzezinski. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Approved. Enjoy your evenings. Thank you, everyone.
[Tim McGivern]: Thanks, guys. See you next time.