[Petrella]: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Medford Happenings, a show for and about the city of Medford. I am John Petrella. The purpose of this program is to give Medford citizens facts and information to help you make informed choices. Today, we have a very special guest, Trish Schiapelle. who will be speaking on things you really need to know about issues currently affecting Method. So we're gonna get right into the questions, and Trish, the first question is, tell us, what were the reasons you became involved with all the issues facing the city of Medford?
[Trish Schiapelli]: Well, thank you for having me, John. It's a pleasure to be here. I think in May of 2024, I found some information from some neighbors that there was a methadone dispensary that was going to be going in on Salem Street. As an abutter, I had never been notified. And when I started talking to many of my neighbors and people in the neighborhood, they had not been notified either that this methadone dispensary was coming in. And so through looking at where they were going to place the methadone dispensary, it was .2 miles from an elementary school. So I contacted the Attorney General's office and said, this is crazy. How can you let a methadone dispensary be .2 miles from an elementary school? You can't even put, and as he said to me, you can't even put a liquor store that close to an elementary school. I said, or a cannabis shop. He said, exactly. So, that's really what started and was the impetus to me gathering some neighbors together. What do you think of this? Are you concerned? What are we going to do about it?
[Petrella]: Okay. Good answer. So, the follow-up to that would be, I guess, why don't you think the city is doing the right things? Why wouldn't they want to do the right things?
[Trish Schiapelli]: Well, I think it's probably a couple of possibilities and maybe a combination, a little bit of everything. I think that the administration has their own agenda from the mayor all the way down to the city council members, the community development board, zoning, and just the list goes on. None of them in particular seem to have significant business experience, which is really there's processes involved. You get experience with how things should be managed. And their experience really for the city council consists of someone with a theater major. someone that couldn't get elected in Somerville, so they moved to Medford, and then they were elected to the City Council. You have someone on the City Council that has worked with some nonprofits and managed to bankrupt one of them. And you have a lot of career students. with very limited life experience and no business experience as it stands. They think of the people of Medford are not paying attention. And up until some of the recent things that have been happening throughout the city, that is probably very true. People became complacent. And look at the meetings. Our city council meetings are consumed with they all vote in a pack. They look at their historical trend of how they vote. There's only one outlier on the city council, and that's George Scarpelli. Other than that, you have six members. They all seem to vote alike. And you and I both know you can walk out there on the street. You're not going to get five people that agree on the color of the sky, what the temperature is. And yet, sadly enough, they all vote together. And they ran on a slate. I think they agreed behind closed doors, from what I've heard, that they all vote in a pact. And so that's what they're doing. And unfortunately, what that causes is we have lost democracy on our city council. This is not the democratic way. You should be having discussions. You should be having three and four people against and for something and arguing and having in-depth conversations. And we just don't have it. And one of the city councilors, just a few weeks ago, Collins said, we are elected to make decisions for you. No, that is not correct. You are elected to represent us and vote how we as constituents and taxpayers would want the vote to go.
[Petrella]: You know, excellent answers. Really. I mean, that's like it was perfect. I mean, the truth. Love it, and thank you for that response. I think it's something people need to hear, that people need to understand. So thank you for that response. Well spoken. So now I want to get into what can be done to correct the problems Method is having, and what are your suggestions? What's some of the solutions maybe, or what are your suggestions?
[Trish Schiapelli]: So initially we went old school with standouts and this and that and the other thing and trying to go to the city council meetings and voice our opinions and it became very apparent that that isn't what they wanted to hear. So I think right now we are in the throes of legal action. I started reaching out to attorneys that I know to have conversations to start to figure out what are our legal options? Do we have legal options? And sadly, through the methadone experience, I quickly learned that they don't care what you think. And so, you know, people were completely blindsided with the fact that we were going to get a methadone dispensary. We gathered 550 signatures against the methadone dispensary. And that was gathered quickly. That was gathered quickly in weeks. We were running behind the eight ball with everything on that one. We were working weekends. And then it came time to show up to the final city council meeting. And we sent out emails and all the people that had been at the standouts, which was very obvious. People were pulling their cars over going, where is this methadone dispensary going? Right here. Well, there's a school 0.2 miles away. They couldn't believe it. How come we haven't heard of this? We even had people on West Medford signing our petition. And I said to one woman, I said, why are you signing our petition? This doesn't really affect you. She goes, it's Medford. We're all Medford. It affects all of us, right, for the city and how we are perceived. And so Everyone showed up at that city council meeting. Everyone was ready to voice. We had filled that gallery and we were shut down. The city council president, Zach Baer, said we will not be taking public comment. People were in outrage. I was worried somebody was going to go actually over the rails. It was that bad. And so George Scarpelli got a break, and they went in the back. And I think he said, you know, this is not going to be good for any of us if we don't let the people that came here to speak. Sadly, the majority of people had already left because they were just so frustrated. And I felt bad because I said, listen, if you really feel this strongly about the methadone dispensary in the neighborhood that close to a school, then please, show up. Tell them, I can't be the only voice. Ten of us can't be the only voice. Anyway, you know, they were just outraged. And George eventually got them to, who was left in the gallery, be able to come up and speak and things like that. And the reason I think people felt so strongly is that this Habit OpCo is really a company of bad actors. They have a long, long list of complaints. Every city that they have gone into. and every city that they manage from Lynn to Springfield, they're up in arms. And because they purchase the buildings, they really, they have, they're property owners. So there isn't anything that the city is going to do except ask them and they very vehemently say, you know, too bad we own the building. This same company recently, had an article written in the New York Times that there's a federal investigation going against them because they also own inpatient clinics for mental health and bipolar and things like that. And they were found, even the employees are testifying against them in the federal investigation and the federal lawsuit, that they hold people against their will. If you have the right kind of insurance, they're able to figure out that they're going to get paid, so they hold you against your will. I think that's really sad, and I think that fortunately we dodged a bullet by not letting that company into the parameters of our city. And one of the things that was so interesting in a lot of the research, our government, the Health and Human Services Division, went on to say and has done research around the methadone dispensaries, and there's a huge increase in human trafficking and things like that, and sex trafficking of children around those areas, which, you know, so close to an elementary school, it just makes me shudder to think that. And it was then that I decided, after all of that, that really legal action was the only course that we could have where we were going to get the results that we needed immediately.
[Petrella]: Sounds great. I agree with what you're saying, makes sense. I guess one of the things I think people listening would love to know about is, and I don't know how specific can you be, but can you be more specific on the legal actions being taken on behalf of the people in Method?
[Trish Schiapelli]: So legal actions, unfortunately, did not just end with the methadone dispensary. Legal action and having a legal guidance, if you will, and an attorney on retainer is something that we continue with to this day. We believe that is our only avenue currently with this administration to really push back around if there's large numbers of people that are seeing things that they don't want. And the reason we have to do that is, think about it, the mayor hasn't had a solicitor in this town for three years, I believe. It's because the people have no legal guidance. Typically, you would be able to go to the city solicitor and say, this is what's happening. What do you think? But because we don't have that, we have no guidance for the community and for independent people to ask questions and confirm. She has then engaged a law firm that has allegiance to her because she's paying them, rightfully so, and now she can do whatever she wants, wherever she wants, and we are forced to live with it. Basically, she has carte blanche. And she's banking on the fact, and I believe, my opinion, that we don't have the wherewithal and we don't have the financial capacity to hire a law firm, a good law firm, a big Boston law firm that will represent us. We do. And we have. And while we do have the same law firm that represented us with the methadone dispensary, we have a different attorney. And we did that intentionally because the attorney that we now have has a municipality expertise and specialty, which is, we feel, something that we really needed going forward with some of the things that are going on in Medford currently. And he's gone up against KP Law. Our newest fight, as I'm sure you're aware, is the Salem Street debacle that's going on. And so he was able to put together and pen a very nice but strong legal letter as to why this shouldn't be taking place on Salem Street.
[Petrella]: Yeah, we know all about Salem Street. We did a previous show with Shelma Rodriguez.
[Trish Schiapelli]: Oh, right, yes.
[Petrella]: She opened up everyone's eyes.
[Trish Schiapelli]: Exactly, yes. She's really dug in and learned a lot about that. Yes, she has.
[Petrella]: A lot of facts and a lot of good information was put out. That was the last show we did, actually. So, you know, another question. How do you know, as far as the rezoning, how do you know there was a large number of people against it? What gets you to believe that?
[Trish Schiapelli]: Well, obviously, all of my neighbors are concerned. But then Sheryl Rodriguez, who we were just talking about, started a change.org petition online. And actually, as of last week, we had 980 verified signatures against the rezoning and against what the administration in this town wants to do. I think that's a strong number. There has, and it isn't, there just hasn't been any community outreach. And there was a meeting we were sitting in when they had just started talking about this and Kit Collins said, oh, if we could have knocked on every door in the Salem Street area, I would have wanted to talk to every neighbor and hear what they had to say and whether they were behind this. Well, you know, put that in an RFP then and have this Innis company, if they're the be all end all to community design and planning, they should be doing that. Put that in the RFP. That is your job to take care of the people in this area of your city and make sure that they are heard. The one thing that they're overlooking is that we are an environmental justice neighborhood. And that means, and this was put in the letter from our attorney at Richmond APC, and that is we are a racially diverse neighborhood. We are an economically diverse neighborhood. We are a multilingual neighborhood. And no notice or community outreach has been done in English let alone other languages for those that don't speak English. And that's not right. And this Salem Street rezoning has been in place since, I believe, July of last year. And the residents are just learning about it. And I find that crazy. And the first community engagement didn't happen until after they received our letter from the law firm. So that tells you that all of the people that raised concerns, many people say, oh, we brought it up. We wrote a letter. We called the Community Development Board. No action was going to be done until they got that our environmentally justice neighborhood is unhappy and the people need to be represented. So I think at the end of the day, we can all agree Salem needs a little facelift. It needs some love, right? But they have not followed processes set forth in their own procedures. They haven't done that. Therefore, by law, if you haven't notified abutters and if you haven't had community engagement, and it's not just one community engagement, one time at the elementary school, six months, seven months after you've already started the process, no. They have to go all the way back and start over from the beginning, and that is what we intend to make them do. There have been no traffic studies, no studies on the effect to the school enrollments. How is that going to affect it? No studies for safety, just our own safety in the neighborhood around fire and police. They're saying you can go four to six stories high and with eight foot between the buildings. Now, does that make common sense? Our streets are old. We are an older neighborhood. Very narrow. Sometimes if, on my street, if you have two cars parked on either side, the fire truck really has to finagle. And I'm like, I hope that guy's a good driver.
[Petrella]: Difficult time getting down to Longstreet.
[Trish Schiapelli]: Exactly. And there are just so many other problems around Salem Street area. We are fortunate enough to have a trained engineer working with us, and we found out many, many things that need to take place. are not, and so we are bringing those all up together, and there will probably be another legal letter. But ultimately, we are interviewing attorneys for a class-action lawsuit regarding the Salem Street lack of process as defined by the law. It constitutes, from a couple of attorneys, a taking of land, if you will. And ultimately, above all other items, there's discrimination, right? We are an environmental justice neighborhood. We have certain rights. This isn't taking place in West Medford. Why is that, right? Why is nothing like this taking? So that is discrimination, and we intend, you know, to see where that can go, so.
[Petrella]: Very good answer. I mean, all good stuff. Facts, once again. You know, the past few days, I keep hearing about, I'm reading about, it just seems like everything is moving so fast. You talk about the processes and what should be done, what needs to be done. Well, now I'm hearing about Wellington area, I'm hearing about South Medford, I mean, you know, It just seems like everything is going on and it's all going on fast. And I mean, what do you know about any of these other projects? Because it just seems like it's all happening.
[Trish Schiapelli]: Yeah, yeah. So that's really a loaded question, because there is so much going on. We could be here just for its own show, just on that, what's going on. But I do know that there is a 10-story dorm going in with Tufts in South Medford. The neighbors were very upset about that, and rightfully so. There's going to be 670-some people in that dorm. And as one of the neighbors said, I don't want 670 people staring at me when I'm in my backyard on a Saturday or Sunday morning. And that's not even the biggest part of it. The biggest part of it is they're losing sunlight. We already in New England don't have a lot of sunlight. There's sunlight studies. seem questionable at best, if you will. And, you know, so that's an issue. In fact, they are using our same attorney at Richmond. Those people in that neighborhood have banned together. Mystic Avenue is In the process of being rezoned, I hear 20 stories on the side that's near the water, which is crazy. You know, they want to put in all of this communal living and all of these dorms and all of this, and it's not really the neighborhood environment that people and that the homeowners, the taxpayers and the voters want to live in. There's St. Clair going up where we don't even know really what's going in there. It's supposed to be, it was originally supposed to be a domestic violence shelter then, but they referred to it in their business plan as recidivism, so recidivism and domestic violence. domestic violence victims shouldn't really be used in the same sentence, in my opinion. So there's a lot going on there. But again, all of these projects are going on all at the same time. And this, again, speaks to my point where the city lacks the experience and this administration lacks the experience because there isn't a business out there unless they are a staunch, sophisticated business that has done this for years and learned their lessons and made their mistakes and learned that would do this many projects at once. And so I would say, let's pick one project, do that one project, do it well, experience it, learn from a few mistakes, and then move on to the second project, not six projects. I hear you. Do it.
[Petrella]: you know, one thing at a time, do it right. Correct. And go on from there, you know, learn from your mistakes, as you say. And we all know there's going to be mistakes made. And I, you know, honestly, I don't think anyone doesn't want to see some kind of development, especially the Mystic Ave area. I mean, what's down there now and down in the Wellington area? You know, I call it the parkway, whatever, but it's just nothing there anymore. I mean, so it could use some updating, some development, but it's gotta be the right kind. And I think that's basically what we're asking for. And instead of just rushing in and, I mean, that's what it seems like to me. You know, the other thing is, You know, I look around the city, I drive around the city, I'm all over the city, and I ask myself, and I'll ask you, what is this administration, the people currently running this city, I include the council, the school committee, the mayor, I mean, what do you see being done in the last, I don't know, six, seven, eight years? I mean, what's going on, what are they doing?
[Trish Schiapelli]: Well, I think that's the driving force behind all of these projects taking place. I think that that's a great question. And I think most people living in Medford would say, when you look around and you drive around, not much, not a lot. And it's as if the administration has had this epiphany that, oh my gosh, we've been in office X amount of years, and we haven't really done. People are still complaining about the streets. There's still lead in the water. There's still problems at the school. And so they're trying now to overcompensate for that because there's another election coming up. You know, the roads are awful and the schools are not being run efficiently, to your point, and the list just goes on. There's still no city solicitor, right? Why can't that be fixed in three years? And there's nothing but lawsuits. Nothing but lawsuits. And as someone that's, you know, run a business and run profit centers. If you're getting sued that often, someone should be figuring out why. You need to be having conversations. Who's getting all of the lawsuits? Is it one specific department? Is it one specific manager? Is it a group? Where is it coming from? And what is the impetus to that? And how do we stop it? How do we quell that from happening? But, you know, what they have accomplished is they've increased taxes. They've offered to give themselves salary increases. There's complete chaos in every single neighborhood except West Medford. Isn't that interesting? And I just think that there's a lot of reasons for many homeowners, taxpayers, voters, and citizens to have concern, a lot of concern.
[Petrella]: And I think people do, I really do.
[Trish Schiapelli]: I think people... They're starting to... And you know, that's the good thing, right? We were all very sleepy and I used to say, oh, ignorance was blessed. When I didn't know any of this stuff was going on, it was great. Now my whole life is consumed with it when I'm not at work. So, I think, and this is the benefit, they have woken up tens of thousands of people, taxpayers and voters, that are really ticked off and fed up. I hear it day in and day out.
[Petrella]: As do I. I agree with that. I really do. You know, you look to the future of method. I mean, what do you perceive? What do you think is going to go on? What do we need to do moving forward?
[Trish Schiapelli]: I love Medford. I bought my home here in 2013, and I've lived here. I love being in a diverse neighborhood. I love its location to Cambridge, and you can be in and out of Boston very quickly. But it's not going to get better in Medford and keep the neighborhood feel until there's a change at the next election. I mean, that has to happen. And there are certain things that we need desperately to happen that this administration just will not allow. And one of the things is an audit, right? And we had asked Can we have an audit? Can we vote on that? And unfortunately, it's Massachusetts state law. It's the only state in the country that in order for a municipality to pull an audit, you need to have all 100% vote by the city council and the mayor has to agree to it. So, and it isn't that there's any necessarily wrongdoing. It's just that what we see even in business is dealing with the same vendors, if you will, which is what an audit firm is, they get a little complacent. and don't look as hard as they should. And then what can we ask for from them, right? We don't get line items. We should have line items. Was that department, so without having line items for departments with specific expenses, you have the ability to move funds around. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that, as long as at the end of the day your dollars and cents balance out and you know technically where everything is. But the perfect example of not having a line item is they left $9 million in a checking account for a year. And they said, oops, we found a checking account. How do you leave $9 million in a checking account in an interest rate environment that hasn't existed in decades? Correct. And so $9 million at a 5% interest rate 100% collateralized, because you would never take a risk with public funds, right? Lost us $450,000 in one year, and if it had been there for two years, well, let's do the math, right? That's a lot of money. But again, You don't know that because you don't have line items, right? When you have line items, you know every single penny, where it is, and you list all of the financial institutions. And we need to have an ethics committee. I feel really very, very strong. The state has an ethics committee. We can model it after what the state does for an ethics committee. and set the rules of the road that everyone has to adhere to, whether you're a developer in the city, whether you're a business owner, whether you're a taxpayer, whether you're a city councilor, whether you're the mayor. Let's say here's the line in the sand, and this is where we don't go over it. And it has to happen. It just has to happen. And if not, my concern and my fear is that this administration is on the way to bankrupting the city of Medford. That's my greatest fear.
[Petrella]: Not good hearing that, but... Just the lawsuits alone.
[Trish Schiapelli]: I mean, how many lawsuits can you take? Especially if we start a class action and especially if we do. I mean, you have 947, 980 people in And a class action lawsuit, that's going to be expensive.
[Petrella]: I know there's a lot of lawsuits against the city right now. Unfortunately, unfortunately. And a lot of them shouldn't be. And I definitely, I agree with you on the audit, I mean the line items, that is like so important, and we all know the council voted no, except for George Scarpelli.
[Trish Schiapelli]: Right, right, right. They didn't want to spend the money. They don't want to spend the money on that, but they'll spend the money on the lawsuits. They don't want to spend the money on hiring the right planning company that's going to do an RFP that's going to include going out. their comment to us when we said, well, you haven't even done traffic studies on Salem Street. Their comment to us is, well, when the businesses come in, they'll do their traffic study. When what they want to build comes into play, why do we have to do 10 different traffic studies that we, you know, we do one traffic study, then you know where you go, right? And they do it a little bit backwards. It's almost like you need to run the city with a business plan. What do we need for money and where are we going to get it? And how are we going to divide that money up that we want to get between the homeowners and the taxpayers and the businesses and the new businesses coming in and how can we attract people here that are going to help that?
[Petrella]: Yeah, no, you know, great answers. And I see, I guess I'm being told we're coming to the end of the show.
[Trish Schiapelli]: Okay.
[Petrella]: I want to thank you so much. I mean, this was a great show, very informative. You obviously know your stuff, and I appreciate candid answers and honesty, and wonderful. Great job, Tricia, thank you. Thank you again for having me. Gonna have you back. We gotta have you back. Okay. So you will be able to see replays of this show on Method Community Media and YouTube Method Happenings. For more information about our future program, please visit us either on the Method Community Network at mcno2155.com or allmethod.com. For Method Happenings, I'm John Petrella. And stay informed. And once again, thank you, Trish. Great. Great show. Thank you, everyone. Stay informed.