[Petrella]: Hello, everyone, and welcome to your show, Method Happenings. I am John Petrella, and this is a show far and about the city of Medford. And the purpose of our program is to give Medford citizens facts and information that will help you make informed decisions. Today, we have a very special guest, Cheryl Rodriguez. Cheryl will be speaking on facts you need to know about the Salem Street Project. Welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us on Method Happenings. Thanks for having me. All right, we're going to get right into the questions with Cheryl. The first question is, as you know, Cheryl, the city made a significant investment in the comprehensive plan, which was completed in 2023. I believe we have a graphic of that development area. And I guess my first question is, what exactly is the vision for Salem Street as part of the comprehensive plan?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: The vision for Salem Street seems to be to transform the area into a corridor that will be filled with dense, tall apartment buildings.
[Petrella]: So, what studies? I mean, if they're just going to do dense, tall apartment buildings on Salem Street, it's already congested, as we all know. Anyone who travels, anyone who lives in the area, knows that. So what studies? I mean, did they do studies? Is there a developer in charge? You know, what about oversight on a project this big?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Anything about that? Unfortunately for us, even though the comprehensive plan calls for clear studies about traffic, parking, infrastructure, none of those studies have happened, and we're being informed by an urgency for developers who are waiting to pull permits and build on that corridor and want to build the most that they can.
[Petrella]: Okay. Now, I think we also have a graphic map of the corridor. and a map of the intersection we're discussing. So I guess my next question, is there any way, I mean, can you speak to the amount of investment the city will be required to make in the Salem Street corridor? And why is it being made attractive to the developer? What's being done, basically?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, the incentive that the city is offering is that they're reducing the lot size to build an apartment building by 70%. So for what half of the land required for a single or two-family home will now be able to hold up to a six-story apartment building without the need for any variances, setbacks, and they're going to require or hope that the developer will allow them to build a 12-foot sidewalk using a piece of their land.
[Petrella]: So, okay. So, who's in charge, I guess? Who's in charge? Who's making these decisions? Did they go to the neighborhood? Did they inform the neighborhood of what exactly is going to take place here? Does the neighborhood have any say? I know the city council's involved. I know this committee's involved. Meetings. Are they getting announcements out? I mean, what exactly are they doing to let people know? I mean, people live there. I'm sure they want to know what's going to happen, what's going on in the area.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Unfortunately, the community has not been given the benefit of any community meetings. In fact, the meetings that the planning committee is having usually have the agenda item of update from Innes Associates. And the meetings themselves seem to be driven by the director of our planning department, Alicia Hunt, who is intent on making sure that the developers don't go ahead and build something that they may find too small.
[Petrella]: Too small. I'm going to say that again. You're saying too small. Too small.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: They've decided 35 feet is not enough height for Salem Street and the surrounding side streets.
[Petrella]: The other thing I read, I'm going to read it right here. I guess I'm gonna ask you can I know this the traffic there now you got the school there it's a busy street a very busy street because I get out at sometimes and I sit in traffic. I mean, it's Kind of crazy by Park Street the beginning after the rotary So they're gonna build all these buildings and I'm looking at this, and I'm reading it right off. This is from them. It says 0.8 autos per unit. What is 0.8 auto? An automobile, 0.8.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, in 2022, a developer did a traffic study there, and they found around 18,000 cars go down Salem Street a day, close to 2,000 on Park Street. And they're going to build 0.8 parking spaces per unit as an incentive to bring in developers without having conducted a parking or a traffic study in that area at all. They're going to leave it up to the individual buildings.
[Petrella]: So we know how tough it is to park there now. You don't have to live there to understand that. So they're going to bring in all these buildings. We're going to have zero. They're going to allow them, I guess for every unit, you can have 0.8 car. What are they going to do in the winter?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: I mean, where are people going to park? Well, interestingly enough, if you bring up the graphic for the Salem Street neighborhood known that just focuses on the Salem and Park intersection, you'll see that right in that area, they are primed to add probably 350 plus apartments. So the Medford average is two cars per unit. and they're planning 0.8. So conservatively, we're talking about 350 new cars coming onto that small area with restricted parking already.
[Petrella]: Okay. And I know, I don't see many buses. I mean, are they trying to get people to take the bus over there?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, the most frequent bus you'll see on Salem Street is the non-in-service because they're on their way back to the T-Garage. But we do have one bus that will be changing its route. And the MBTA has already informed the city that that bus will not run on time unless a bus lane is added. But physically, the street is not wide enough to hold a bus lane and two-way traffic.
[Petrella]: No, absolutely not. I can't picture the way it is now, a bus lane. I mean, they can't be serious. I mean, I'm lost. Why is there the need for a bus, I guess it's going to Tufts College, or what's the need for that? Why change the bus? I don't get it.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, the MBTA is doing a consolidation plan, so they're trying to shift some of the bus routes. So now instead of the bus going from Malden Center to Sullivan Station, when the new change comes in, it'll go from Revere to Union Square, so it's going to pass by Tufts, which is going to harm a lot of people who currently work at Assembly Row and will no longer have access to that area from Salem Street.
[Petrella]: Right, and there are a lot of people that work at Assembly Row. I know a couple of them myself. So that bus that they normally take is just going away.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Going away, the same thing that happened to the commuter bus. we're no longer going to have access to those transportation options, but we're going to have less parking too.
[Petrella]: Yeah. So I guess what, what is this doing for the city? What's the incentive for the people that live there? What's the incentive? I think we have a graphic, uh, on the incentives as well, but I mean, the bottom line is, What's the incentive? What is the city getting from this? What is the neighborhood getting? Are we getting anything out of this? Aside from congestion, I mean, the bus lane, we know that's going to be going away. And not the bus lane, the bus itself is changing routes. So there's got to be some positive somewhere. There's got to be something they're giving us.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, they feel that it's a positive that they're giving us dense housing with limited parking to discourage people from owning vehicles. Unfortunately, the transportation options available for this area are so limited that I think people who now live there without cars are probably going to find themselves needing a car. And the incentives that they're asking for to increase height on a building, a fountain, a park bench, are not actually incentives for the community and are just an excuse to allow them to build higher buildings.
[Petrella]: And that's it. The zoning, everything's just going to change and they're going to let them go up four stories, five stories? What's the situation on the height of the buildings?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, currently, buildings are allowed to go up to 35 feet. And with this new zoning, the minimum will now be 40, can be 42 feet. We can go up to 54 feet or even as high as 78 feet without needing any kind of variances. This is all going to be site plan review. So they just go in and they say what they want and hopefully for them, they just get granted it without any community notification needed.
[Petrella]: So you could be living in a house, your family could be in a house on one of those streets and the next thing you know there's going to be a six story or a five story building. And they don't have to, no variances, no nothing, just smack it up.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Unfortunately for two residents that live next to the vacant hole at 290 Salem Street, those single family homes. The only buffer that they require for those small homes is a 5-foot landscaped buffer and an 8-foot tall fence, and there are no further setbacks on the sides or the rear required for these buildings, which can now occupy 80 percent of the lot. From 40 to 50 percent, they're now allowed 80 percent. This is a huge change for people living in that area.
[Petrella]: Of course it is. So five feet. I mean, if you're at home, get it. I mean, I wish I brought my tape measure, but five feet. That's it. Five feet's nothing. It's less than the length of a folding table. Right. It's five feet. It's just, it's, that's incredible. It really is. It really is incredible. So I guess, you know, the next question, um, comes across in my mind is, you know, besides the emphasis on housing, does the project identify, you know, how it will generate, I guess, economic growth? increase city revenues in the future. Is any of that in the plan? Okay, the neighbors aren't gonna get too much out of this, unless they make some drastic changes, which doesn't look like it's gonna happen, but we'll discuss that later. What about the economic growth? We just went through the override, so what benefit is the city, the entire city, going to get out? What's the revenue increase? Is there any discussion on that or what we're going to see?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, they're calling these mixed-use districts, so they're wanting there to be first floor commercial. But when you read the zoning, you find that you don't actually have to provide any commercial. You can, by right, just build a straight-up apartment building with zero economic development. at all in the whole building.
[Petrella]: So that's getting back to something you said earlier. They're not going to require them. If they're going to go up four stories on Salem Street, they're not going to require a business to be on the first floor. There is no requirement.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: And even to call it mixed use, if you put in a lobby that's just for the residents of the building, they're calling that mixed use.
[Petrella]: That's just wonderful. So, you know, the other thing, another subject you hear about it all the time, you know, what other elements, you know, of this comprehensive plan, you know, public services, mobility, open spaces, history, culture, you hear that brought up All the time. What's going on with that?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, unfortunately, uh, the planning committee has decided that rezoning urgently for developers is more important than heat islands, so, which is why they're requiring 12-foot sidewalks and 80% lot coverage in an area that already suffers from heat islands. They're also not pausing to make any kind of affordability plan for this corridor because the need for any housing is more urgent than the need to take the time to plan to make sure we gain affordable housing on these already extremely small lots that will not naturally produce affordable housing.
[Petrella]: So it's not. We know we need it. We need affordable housing. So they're going to let them, whoever, I don't know who the developers are and developers, you know, God, God bless them. You know, they got to earn a living and, and that's fine. But, I don't understand how they're just going to, they're going to allow them to basically walk in and just, you know, four, five, six stories. I just don't understand the basic simple premise. Before, you know, this is the city of Medford. You allow someone or whoever it is, I don't know, to come in and they're going to, they're going to basically change a neighborhood, this comprehensive plan, okay? I don't know how much, it sounds like the neighborhood did not have, or the people that lived there did not have much input. Sounded like they didn't have a lot of meetings. And I just don't understand, I can't find benefits, I can't find incentives for the people. If you're gonna do something in the city, the neighbors, whatever, it's gotta benefit the city. They haven't even discussed anything, the benefits, the amount, you know, tax dollars, I don't know, something. Is there anything that they're discussing?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, even just the name of this zoning, the Salem Street Corridor District, it takes away the fact that there are neighborhoods here. These are very dense neighborhoods. This is an environmental justice neighborhood with a large amount of people who are not citizens, their residents who may not speak English, a lot of lower income people live here, people who don't have time to scour the city website to look and see what is actually happening. And the bulk of this happened during the month of December, which is a very busy month for most people, and people are not listening to four-hour planning committee meetings to see if the street near their home is being mentioned and being changed in such a dramatic way because there's a fundamental belief that if they're going to do something this dramatic to my neighborhood, surely they will notify us. They'll let us know. They'll come out to the community. They'll meet with us. They'll take in our input and then inform the zoning. But unfortunately, that's not what happened. So none of that took place? No, the meetings happened with one to two people in the room and they just kept moving forward and saying that they had all the community input they needed in 2022 and they were working on the comprehensive plan.
[Petrella]: So that was their answer. They had all the community input. So in other words, they're moving ahead with the input they had from 2022.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Yes. Interestingly enough, the input from 2022 on Salem Street was, the traffic is terrible here. This street is a nightmare. Alicia Hunt herself said, even when I had children in the Roberts, I refused to drive on Salem Street because Salem Street is terrible. So I don't know where they got, you know, that'd be a great place to put a couple thousand apartments.
[Petrella]: Right. Yeah. And you know, that's back in 2022. And I, I honestly, um, it's a lot worse to traffic there now. I mean, it really is. It's tough getting up and down Salem street. And I just, you know, my mind doesn't see how you can add all this housing or whatever you want to call it apartments. And, I mean, there's just so much involved here. The traffic, the fire department, I mean, do they have the equipment to handle another 20, 30 buildings or 10 buildings or two buildings up there?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: From a brief conversation I had with the fire department, they do not have the equipment nor the manpower to handle a corridor full of 42 to 78 foot skinny, no space between apartment buildings.
[Petrella]: Right. Yeah. And that's what the plan is. And you, you spoke to the fire department, I take it, or someone from the fire department.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: I did speak to a member of the fire department and they said they didn't know why they were not brought into this conversation.
[Petrella]: Yeah. I mean, that doesn't make sense. I mean, did they have enough fire hydrants? It just, I don't know. It seems like this is a project that wasn't well thought out, put it that way. I mean, it seems like they're just moving forward with it because it's, uh, I mean, for no other reason. I mean, they're just going to move forward with something that the neighborhood, I would think the neighborhood doesn't want this. I mean, I know you're very involved with this, and the city should be thankful for that, because you take the time, you went through, you got your facts straight, you got your information, and I see a lot of your information, facts are posted. I do read them on different, various sites. So, I mean, thank you for doing all this, But it just seems like, I mean, they're just gonna like plow through with this regardless. Is that the way you feel?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: I feel like I've definitely been thrust into the role of the town crier, like, look over here, this something big is happening and, and you're gonna miss it. And it feels like I'm coming against a city council that seems to be run by activists. They're using the mindset of we need housing now with without hesitation, without pause for study. And that's not what our government should be writing. Our government should be saying, we do in fact need housing, but we need to do studies and inform the housing that we build so that we don't overwhelm an area or create the wrong type of housing. Does Medford need this much more luxury housing? If every one of those buildings only has nine units in it, that will be a net of zero affordable units. Will that benefit a community where we have thousands of families that need an affordable unit and we're only creating luxury units?
[Petrella]: And I got to be honest, I don't see too many families moving into these units, put it that way. And if they did, I mean, if you have someone move in with a kid or two, what about the school? How is the school gonna, is that in the plan? What the results are gonna be if you add so many students in a year or two?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Well, if you do research on these units, you'll find that about 25% of these units have one or more schoolchildren. This is not something that was presented by the city council. This is something that if you do research into the type of housing that's being built and the fact that there aren't homes for all of these families to live in, so they're living in apartments. which is not the same as has always been and the schools that they're planning to feed these children into are already very full. They're high five hundreds and they're only made for 600 children.
[Petrella]: Yeah. And I, you know, not to get into anything else, another thing, but I drive by Mr. Gav every day and I just, you know, there's so many empty, um, Spots over there put it that way the fouls way. I mean Commercial areas. That's what I call them. I Just don't understand Why they're pushing this on Salem Street. I really don't And it's great that yeah, you know, you're doing something about it but uh You know listening to you it appears the city. I mean will not get what was promised And I guess, is there anything to modify the direction of Salem Street? Is there any meetings? Are the residents trying it? Is anything going on to try and get the city council or whoever this planning committee is I mean, I don't believe they're listening. I'm not sure why they wouldn't listen, but is there anything planned or going on that might get them to modify this? And we also, I think we have a graphic, you know, of Park and Salem Street, but back to the question, is there anything you think going on that might modify or change their opinion or get a second look or? You know, maybe the whole community can get together and, you know, decide what they want.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Unfortunately for us, this plan is on the urgent track and moving very quickly. There are two meetings. They've already advertised the final meeting when they plan to vote this through, so there's a meeting on February 5th, which is the continuation of the Community Development Board meeting, and that is being held on Zoom only. The final vote is set to be taken on February 11th at the City Council meeting at 7 o'clock at City Hall, and people need to speak up. They need to start emailing Councilors. They need to email the mayor. They need to email the Community Development Board. And they need to tell them to pause and appropriately study this zoning before they push it through. The consequences for the neighborhood if they don't could be significant.
[Petrella]: It sounds like, you know, I'm going to remind the people watching the show that February 5th, it's a Zoom meeting only, and on February 11th, I take it that's City Council meeting? Yes. And that's going to be the final vote? That will be the final vote. February 11th. That's pretty close. I mean, it's too close.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: And I can guarantee you there are permits ready to be submitted as soon as that zoning is live. We have an open pit at 290 Salem Street. In the Park Street graphic, there are five parcels that are owned by one developer. So that's six parcels that could be ready to go by spring.
[Petrella]: You know, it just sounds like the City Council, to me anyhow, and this is, you know, my opinion, but it just seems like they're, you know, the mayor, the city council, this planning board, I mean, it just seems like they're rushing to implement policies like quickly, you know, rather than, I guess the word is properly.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: There is a rush to add housing, but we're not doing it strategically. If we go back to the comprehensive plan, there are specific studies that are called for. There's guidelines and things that you're supposed to do to try to prevent displacement. This is an environmental justice neighborhood, and it's not the only neighborhood they're planning to go to. They're planning to go to Boston Ave. They're planning to go to Main Street, which are also environmental justice areas, and push more density on them. Why are only the environmental justice neighborhoods that are already very dense being targeted for such increased density while other neighborhoods are preserved at low density, untouched.
[Petrella]: This is going to be going to other high-density areas in the city?
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Absolutely. Boston Ave and Main Street have already been identified as corridors by the planning committee.
[Petrella]: Boston Ave, of all places.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Wow. That's all I can say to that. Anyone that's been down Boston Ave knows it's a parking lot most of the time.
[Petrella]: It is. Absolutely. I mean, I've lived... Main Street's not much better. I grew up in South Method, and I tell you, it's pretty... It's an extremely different neighborhood, which is fine. Nothing wrong with that, but I just can't see, you know, bad enough Salem Street, but now they're going to try and do it down in South Method. I just hope the whole city, you know, you've done a lot of work on this. You've done a lot of good work. It's facts. It's solid information. And I know you're sort of being made out to be the bad guy, but we know you can take it. So, you know, good for you that you're doing this. And once again, remember, there's two meetings coming up, okay? I think it was February 5th. And the other one, which I guess is the final, February 11th, City Hall, the Council, they're going to vote on it, and that's it. So once they vote on it, there's no fighting it, there's no nothing.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: We know there's six members that are in favor, and they're ready to go. They want their housing on Sale Street, and they want to move on to the next street.
[Petrella]: You know, if it was affordable housing, I can see, you know, doing something for affordable housing, but, you know, I just don't see what the city of Medford, what is the benefit? What are we getting out of it? That's the question that my mind, that's how my mind works. business welcome, great, you want to open a business, we love you, come to Method, you know, anything that will help, you know, we just had overrides, we got people, all kinds of problems, you know, with, you know, with this, it is a tax burden, they don't want to use those words, but, I mean, the override is affecting people. So I just, You know, if this was going to benefit Medford, it just doesn't seem to be doing anything financially for the neighborhood, for the city.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: It's doing something. Unfortunately, what it's doing is rapidly gentrifying the area. It's going to price people out. People are not going to be able to live here. People are not going to be able to get to work because the bus is changing. People are going to need places to park. You're going to be touring the area looking for a parking space when you get home from work. It's going to be a mess. And this is not a it could happen, this is we have developers who are ready to build, according to Alicia Hunt, they are ready to pull permits, and if they don't urgently pass this zoning, then the buildings may be smaller than the planning committee and the planning department would like. So there's no regard for current residents. There's little regard for future residents as they're not planning any huge infrastructure or parking upgrades for them. There's just an assumption that people won't have children and won't have cars, which is not a realistic assumption to base zoning an entire area on. We need studies. We need them now, before this is passed.
[Petrella]: Well, you know, I could talk to you for another two hours on this subject, and I'm hoping that the people that are listening, that are watching the show, you know, you gained something out of this. You know, we're putting forth very important information. We're putting out, it's factual. Cheryl has done her homework, and she's been a, a leader in this and, you know, thank God for her. I mean, you know, she's fighting for us and that's always a great thing. You know, we'll probably have you back on the show again, Cheryl. Not that you want to be, but can't thank you enough for joining us. It was a pleasure having you on. I see we're running late on time. So I want to thank you, Cheryl, for sharing information and facts that people need to understand on this Salem Street Corridor project. You will be able to see replays of this show on Method Community Media, YouTube, Method Happenings. For more information about our future program, you can visit either the Method Community Network at mcno2155.com or allmethod.com. For Method Happenings, I'm John Petrella. Once again, thank you, Cheryl, and please stay informed.