[Fred Dello Russo]: The 29th regular meeting of the Medford City Council will come to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Present. Councilor Falco? Present. Councilor Knight?
[SPEAKER_17]: Present.
[Clerk]: Vice President Lungo-Koehn? Present. Councilor Marks? Councilor Scarpelli?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Present. President Del Russo? Present. Seven members present, none absent. Please join us in rising to salute the flag. I, most deligently, Thank you, we have a couple of presentations tonight at the beginning and a response from the office of the mayor. 16-594, commendation for Cosmo Volpe. At this time, I invite Councilor Knight, who presented this commendation forward. And we also ask Mr. Volpe to come up if you would. Come on right in.
[Adam Knight]: Well, Mr. President, thank you very much for providing me with the opportunity to come up here this evening, because it's with a heavy heart I present this citation tonight to my friend Cosmo Volpe. Cosmo has served diligently as a member of our Hormel Stadium Commission for a number of years. Just recently, he announced his retirement from the board. And it's my honor and privilege this evening to present to Cosmo with this Medford City Council citation, which reads, the Medford City Council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Cosmo Volpe in recognition of Your years of community service as the City Council appointee commissioner to the Hormel Stadium Commission. Best wishes, good health, and thank you on behalf of the city of Medford. Signed Frederick N. Dello Russo Jr., Adam Knight, Michael Mox, City Council. Take a moment to turn the microphone over to Councilor Marks. Cosmo first, Cosmo first.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, I just want to say a few words and thank the council for giving me this accommodation. And it was a pleasure and an honor to work with Mr. Buckley and the late, uh, Wally, Wally, Wally, uh, yeah, Wally, you know, Wally. And, uh, and we worked together and we got what we wanted and we worked hard for it to get the artificial turf for the boys and girls of Medford. And that's, that's one accomplishment that I'm proud of. And I want to thank Mr. Knight and Mr. Mack for putting this on the agenda tonight. Thank you very much.
[Michael Marks]: Just if I could, I bumped into Cosmo at my weekly stop and shop Saturday. food. And, um, you know, here, here's a gentleman that, uh, served this community with distinction for many, many years, was unselfish and gave of his time, uh, no matter what it took. And, um, the one thing he said to me that stuck with me is I asked him why he got involved with, uh, Hormel. And if anyone realizes Hormel back some years ago, uh, wasn't the type of field you want to play on. Uh, there were rocks coming through the, uh, the field itself. Um, and, um, you know, teams didn't want to even venture on the field. And, uh, Cosmo, what really caught me, uh, stated his one goal was to make sure there was a field within our community that we can be, first of all, proud of. And secondly, a field that would be safe for our students to play on. And I'm proud to say because of his dedication, uh, and commitment, uh, that was accomplished. And I am so proud to call, as well as Consul Knight, Cosmo, our friend. And I wish him well, and I'm sure we'll see you around, Cosmo. Everyone, one, two.
[Unidentified]: And another one.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Now we have item 16.688 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be resolved that the Medford City Council give commendations and congratulations to the individuals and companies who donated over $125,000 worth of goods and services to help rehabilitate the home of a Medford veteran. Tony Negro, Kevin Pike, Dominic Marcelino, Richie Bazanga, the family of Eva Weiner, Anawash Dagar, Disabled and Limbless Veterans, Incorporated, and Lou Sirignano. So all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Councilor Caraviello, come on up and tell us about these fine people.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight, I've got a bunch of people here that have done some great work for this community. I was here not too long ago with another group of people who donated some time and services to the city of Medford and another veteran's family. And it's my pleasure, again tonight, to introduce some people here. You guys are all gonna come up? Dominic? Rick? I wanna introduce some people tonight who've done a great job and there's some people here that aren't here tonight who have also done a lot of work. About five years ago, when I first came on the council, President Mayorkas said to me one night, I'm gonna make you the Veterans Subcommittee Chairman. I says, I'm not a veteran, I don't know anything about veterans things. He said, oh trust me, he says, you can do it, you'll do a good job. Well, my first week I went down there, I introduced myself to Ernest, and since then we've started some programs, and this is one of the volunteer programs that I'm proud to say I started. So tonight, I want to thank some people. Before I introduce her, I want to thank Mayor Burke for having the confidence in me to proceed with the second major veterans project within the last months and for her constant support of the Veterans Services Department and its director, Ernest Lindsay. The mayor also worked with the management of Hyatt Hotel and was able to obtain a rate of under $100 for the family to stay in while their house was being renovated. Before we got started, before this started, Rick Bazinga, he's from Haines Square, he has a business there, came to me and said, I have a gentleman who would like to do something in the city of Medford. If you know of anything, let me know. A few months had gone by. The mayor got a letter, gave it to Ernest, Ernest gave it to me. I said, Rick, I've got this family that needs something. Rick introduced me to Tony Nigro. Tony Nigro. Medford High School, class of 86, doesn't live here anymore, but he felt he had to give something back to the community. He came down, we did a walkthrough. I was a little nervous if he was gonna keep on walking, but he said, no. He says, I'm gonna help this family. And from there, Tony brought in a crew from Mill Creek. And I'm gonna announce some of them, even though they're not here. Kevin Pike was the supervisor of the job, and Dominic Lusso, a Methodist resident, class of 88. These are the guys who were there every day during those times to get this family in and out of there as quick as possible, and they supervised the bulk of the project. But I just want to mention a few of the companies that did donate some time and service, Cube 3, R.W. Sullivan, Turnkey Lumber, Force Corporation, MCS Draperies, Northeast Recycling, Boston Roofing, Quest Construction and Painting, Renewable Energy, Metro Drywall, TJ Angel Flooring, Lawton's Welding, Master Millwork, Martin Hardware, and Devontree Construction. Also, the family had a van, a handicapped van that needed some work. Valsa Automotive stepped in and said, I'll do the work. And then we had, through my good friend, where's Dominic? Where's Dominic? Come up here. This guy is a veteran's veteran, I'm telling you. He's my resource for everything. Anytime I get something, he's like the first guy I call. He knows everything about everything. Yeah, I'm sorry, he does. I'm glad to say he's my friend, and he's helped me tremendously in anything I've done with the veterans. He's been my mentor, and I wanna thank him. Jeff Fargo from the building department. We talked to him in the beginning, said, listen, we're on a time schedule here. When we call you, can you come right down? Jeff came down, got all the permits done in a quick fashion. Dominick introduced us to a family who had a hospital bed, because the family had a daughter that was also handicapped. And the family was, her name was Eva Weiner, and her husband had passed away last year, and he had a hospital bed. And he also had a lift, with some things that we offered up to the family, that they needed a bed for the daughter, everything worked out great. Also, among with that, There was some, it was a wheelchair. Dominic and I donated the wheelchair to the Masons for Veterans out of Woburn. And we also made a donation to Doctors Without Borders from the supplies that Mrs. Weiner gave to us. Dominic again, came in again, helped us with the funding. We thought we were gonna get this bed out of the apartment by ourselves, and all of a sudden, Dominic comes in and says, we're not doing this ourselves. Dominic helped arrange, along with the Weiner family, to get the bed, moved out of the apartment and over to Spring Street. Dominic again, he introduced me to Anoush Dadgar. Anoush donated 11 nights of hotel stay at the Hyatt for the family. And along with Tony Nigro, who put seven nights of stay out of his own pocket. So again, a lot of work. And then once we got to the hotel, we had a couple more issues with, they were supposed to have a handicapped room They were doing construction, they didn't have a handicap room. Dominic again comes to the rescue. He brings in Lou Sirignano to help out with the bathing and getting the family in and out together. These people did a lot of work and I personally want to thank them and I think Tony might want to say something about all the great work he did with his team.
[SPEAKER_17]: Thanks. I just want to say thank you for letting this group really do something that made us feel good. We enjoyed thoroughly meeting your family and making a difference. And we're thrilled that your new grandparents and that you get to share your new old house built in, what, 1870? You get to share that with another generation. This is what Metrod is. You know, if he didn't know a guy and he didn't know a guy and he didn't know a guy, we wouldn't have been able to do this. It was our absolute pleasure.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, and at this point, I'd like to make some commendations. Medford City Council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Tony Nigro in recognition of your donation of goods and services to help rehabilitate the home of a Method veteran. Tony, this is for you. We have another one. Dominic Masolino. Dominic's got these all over his house. Rick Bazinga. Rick's the guy that started the whole game going. And Dominic is going to take this from the disabled and limber veterans for all their help. Kevin Pike. Kevin for all his services. Eva Weiner. She's not here this evening, but Dominic will take that one. Anush Delga, Dominic will take that one also. And last, Lucia Rigdale. We thank you. And again, I want to thank all these gentlemen for making this project come through. And I think you'll see some other people back here in another couple of months with maybe something else that we have in the works. And I think the gentlemen might want to say a couple of words. Ma'am, you want to say something? This is Mrs. Nelson. OK.
[SPEAKER_00]: Carol Nelson, Spring Street, Medford. And I came up here to say thank you, but I don't know how a simple thank you can convey the amount of effort and work that all these fine gentlemen and more have done for us. They have made my house so welcoming for my daughter. She uses a wheelchair. And it took all these people and more to put it together. And I have to say thank you to Kevin and Tony. They have done a remarkable job. My heart is just filled with gratitude for what they have done. Thank you, everybody.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President, can we take a picture?
[Unidentified]: Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes, we're going to take suspension of the rules to receive the Delegate of the Mayor. All those in favour? All those opposed? We're just going to have a brief response from the Mayor. Thank you Jennifer Deverwood, Chief of Staff of the Mayor.
[Jennifer Dever]: Thank you Mr. President. Good evening City Council. How are you tonight? Just as a point of information relative to last week and a resident who spoke on behalf of issue he was having with his excise tax, Mr. Croyer, um, he had spoken to multiple people in the mayor's office, myself included. And we are aware that, um, the council liaison had worked with specifically two Councilors in general to, try to, um, research his problem and have a remedy for his problem. With that being said, um, I just wanted to let everybody know that he will be meeting with, um, Mr. O'Neill tomorrow, and hopefully there'll be some sort of, um, remedy to, uh, his issues at hand. So I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention. So thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much for your good work. Chair recognizes, uh, vice president Lungo-Koehn, uh, who also had a matter on the suspension 16, 16-687 offered by Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that the Medford City Council discuss the results of enforcement of city ordinances and health regulations resulting from complaints posted on C-Click Fix. Be it further resolved that the city figure out a better strategy before closing out complaints as many residents are complaining that complaints are being closed out too quickly with little or no remedy. Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. C-Click Fix was implemented a number of months ago, and I think it's something that this council repeatedly asked for. And I think there is some good that is coming out of it, but I know there are kinks that need to be worked out, and I think there's just a little bit more effort that needs to be put into it. Because time and time again, we either have somebody at the podium or we're getting an email or a phone call with regards to a complaint that was closed out prematurely or closed out with no resolve, although it says it has been resolved. And I think there are a few people who would like to speak up with regards to maybe specific issues. But I think we need, whether it be the council and the mayor's office and the administration together, we need to come up with some better ways of handling the problems. Now, I know that a lot of this comes with regards to the enforcement. enforcement has been lacking in this city for many years, I think on a number of levels, and it's something that has been spoken about time and time again. And I think that's something that we still need to improve on with regards to enforcement and taking complaints seriously. So I'd like to leave some time to allow residents that would like to talk specifics, give them the podium. But I think in the future, we do need to sit down and meet and go over this again. I know we got an update in June with the budget and kinks were being worked out, but I still am hearing the complaints and would like to figure out a way to better resolve issues that come through C-Click Fix so we can use it as a tool that is obviously getting better results than we are now.
[Richard Caraviello]: Chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. I've gotten the same calls that the Vice President has gotten, but in my one comment that I'd like to make on the C-Click Fix is I'd like to keep the comments limited to The person who made the original complaint, I don't think we need to have people weighing in on the complaint that was made. It's not a commentary period. The person who makes the complaint reports the problem. The only response that they should be getting is from the city, whatever department is handling it. Other people shouldn't be commenting on it because now it turns into a Facebook and we get comment to comment and I don't think that's the right way to handle this. That would be my only suggestion that the comment be limited to the person who made the comment and no further discussion other than with the city officials.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Council chair recognizes the citizen at the podium. Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[IQQM4nQO9UA_SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. My name is Angela Ferrari. I live at two 15 Harvard street and I'm in unit 19. I'm in the Lincoln-Kennedy complex, and I am on the Harvard Street side. My condo is on the Harvard Street side. The reason I've come this evening is a bit out of frustration regarding the click fix issue. I'm up very early in the morning, and I guess I've had the luxury, or I'm not sure it is a luxury, of seeing things at 5.15 AM that shouldn't be happening in the neighborhood. And on more than one occasion, I saw right down the street from me on the Harvard Street side in the corner of Harvard and Maine in front of the Oasis restaurant, or actually next to it, Barriers of the flowerpots that had originally been right around the corners, which would have made sure that no vehicles drove on top of the sidewalk, had been moved. And on two occasions, I saw a very large truck edge in between the flowerpots onto the sidewalk. And this was at 5.15 a.m., and I took photos on both occasions and reported it. What seems to have happened is basically Nothing. The issue is that, number one, it's 5.15 in the morning and no truck should be doing anything like that. I believe there's a city ordinance that says that nothing like that should be occurring until at least 7 a.m. in the morning. But more importantly, they've moved the flower pots, which actually is a safety hazard, in addition to ruining the sidewalks because big trucks have made large holes in the sidewalks. So it's a safety issue for people passing by, the pedestrians. me included. So it's a bit of frustration on both of those issues that I've been personally involved in. But in addition, I noticed that the C-Click Fix matters don't even really get acknowledged or are closed out with any sort of resolution. So, it's really frustrating, and being a taxpayer in a pretty expensive condo, I expect a little bit more from the city. I also have called in a manhole cover that's directly in front of my condo. that makes a very large banging noise when traffic goes over it. As you probably know, Harvard Street is a very busy street with cars and trucks. And it has continued to bang. And the last four weeks, three weeks in a row, I called the mayor's office and specifically said my name, my address, exactly where the manhole cover was. The first time I was told, they would report it to DPW. The following week, I called again. They said they thought it had been fixed. They'd call again down to DPW. The third time I called the mayor's office, and I spoke specifically to Linda, to Lauren, and to Linda again the third time. The third time I called, I was told that had been fixed. And I said, if it had been fixed, then they clearly didn't do a good job because it continues to bang. And I'm up in the middle of the night because of it. Two hours later, I got a call from Brian of DPW who asked me, which manhole cover are you talking about? There are a lot of manhole covers on Harvard Street. And I said, OK, well, it's, as I said three times before, it's directly in front of my unit on Harvard Street. You can't miss it. So he did come out. And I met with him at 10 o'clock in the morning on Sunday morning, which was very nice of him to come out. But I took the time to physically go to the manhole cover. And he sprayed it and said he would immediately have it fixed. That was on Sunday two days ago. As of tonight, when I got home from work, the issue still had not been fixed. I just don't know what else citizens can do to try to help maintain the city. And as a taxpayer, I just find it really, really frustrating. And I guess I'm looking to all of you to assist and see what we can do both about the see, click, fix issue that doesn't seem to get responded to or resolved, and also when we call the mayor's office and have an honest complaint asking for help, what can be done to make things proceed a little bit better for us? And I thank you for your time for considering my, my, my opinion.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[IQQM4nQO9UA_SPEAKER_01]: Okay. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci of, uh, 71 Evans street. Uh, a bunch of weeks ago, a fellow, uh, resident who lives on Evans street with me in mind, we came down to talk about the bad, very bad condition of, of Evans street. And, uh, A C click fix item had been posted the Wednesday, I think, uh, before the Tuesday night we came here to speak and that Thursday it was, it was taken down and put, uh, resolved when, when it wasn't, uh, what I think the city needs to do is instead of just like one word, in closing it out resolved, put the fixes that were made, the time, and try to be a little bit more specific and transparent. With regards to making comments on it, I understand what Councilor Caraviello is trying to convey by that sentiment, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to see anybody silenced or any ideas that might be offered that might help a situation. as well. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, sir. Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Ann Fretts]: Ann Marie Fretz, 215 Harvard street. And I want to say thank you for listening to me for the past, um, five or six years regarding the public safety and health and safety in our neighborhood. I'm addressing the Council again this evening about the C-Click Fix, being a victim of a bit of bullying and some slanderous comments on C-Click Fix for merely pointing out and reopening an issue that Angela addressed. I did have to reach out to C-Click Fix in their corporate offices and wanted to let everyone know that should you find some comments that are not pleasing or not flattering or perhaps slanderous towards you, you can contact them via email, and it's based on their regular website, and ask them to look at their standard of performance and reporting, because they do have standards that they keep comments on across their board to protect the people that report. They said that the report themselves should be addressed by a citizen with an issue, resolved or addressed by a person of authority and then issue either closed or resolved and have a report of what is being resolved and how it's being resolved. That didn't happen in our case and it's unfortunate that my experience was devastating to me personally and an embarrassment. The comments have since been taken down by C-Click Fix headquarters, and they have said that they would be reaching out to the city of Medford to ask their contact here to perhaps educate the people that are in the roles of administrators that respond to citizens that have issues. Moreover, the issues that we still have open, and I have perhaps 50% of the issues that I've reported, whether it be anonymously or under my own name, for other people in the area all relate to health and safety issues. 50% of them are open and they'll either be closed by me with no resolution or just left behind. But what I'm most concerned about is that as a citizen, asking that trash be taken care of, we keep the streets free of rats, and we do have a rat problem here in Medford, that we are allowed to have the freedom to speak without being intimidated, without being bullied by administrators or shut down or treated rudely as in the case that I've experienced during the past six years. I recently supported someone else in another town for something they were trying to do for the good of all people. And I get a lovely letter back from them saying, thank you for your support. This was absolutely neat. I've never had anything like that from the city of Medford except for my neighbors who have been here to support. But I want to thank the council for their support. Um, as a resident of Lincoln Kennedy condos, I've tried to keep our area neat, clean, free rats. And we work with the city and the health department to do so. Thank you all for your help. I appreciate it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor Scarpelli. If I can, um, I, my, I'm sorry to hear that this has been such, um, such a negative experience, but, uh, in regards to the, the trash truck and moving those plants, as I believe, we took in the city, took an active stance to making sure that one of the biggest reasons having a child living very close, a newborn being very close in proximity to that, that, uh, dumpster. And, um, them, the idea of moving that is totally against what we, what we, why we put that there. So, and made sure that, that those plants were put in place. So if we can please ask for a, an update from the health department, and, and reaching out to the trash company to see that never happens again. I think that, um, or if not, that there are penalties and fines to that, that case. And then also look at the time when they are, um, picking up their trash because of the, uh, the ordinance and, and, and get back to us with the report on that. Appreciate that. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez. I live at 221 Park Street, and C-Click Fix likes to notify you, so I was notified of this thread because of something I had posted. Some of the comments from the responding city person were that they knew that the person was making these pickups at 515 in the morning for the oil, but that he didn't have a long enough hose, and they felt badly, so they were letting him pick up at 515 so he could climb on the sidewalk and move the planter. because it was a financial hardship for him to buy a longer hose. So that was one of the things that they posted. So it seems like Cclick fix is kind of exposing that some of the rules are a little shaky. I know I've gotten responses of well It's easier for him to park on the sidewalk and now that I made one post about parking someone parking on the sidewalk I'm constantly getting email notifications every time someone else does and I noticed that those people are getting similar responses from the city so I Maybe we just need to realize these are overwhelmed. Do we need to change the rules? But there was some harassment going on on that particular thread about neighbors were picking on people and things like that. So Oasis has been an issue for a long time, and maybe we need to just figure out what's going on with that. And if C-Click fixes something that we're just not ready to handle.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thanks. Thank you. On the motion of vice president Lungo-Koehn as amended by councilor Scarpelli, a chair recognizes Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. And, um, if we can just get the address of the manhole, uh, on Harvard so we can report it as well. I know it's been reported. Uh, maybe if you could pass it off to the, uh, city messenger. so we can ask that Brian Cairns address that issue immediately. I agree with Councilor Scarpelli and the speakers that spoke in particular regarding the flower pots. And that was a major issue for a long period of time. And I thought we had a resolve on that. Just when you think you're safe and something happened that was positive, it seems to go back again. It seems to reverse. And so I'm very disappointed to hear that uh, the city is allowing these parts to be moved. They're not little small flower pots that you buy at a corner store. Um, you know, these are giant flower pots and, uh, they're concrete and they're very heavy flower pots. And to have them manually moved like that, uh, to me, uh, is not, uh, appropriate. Uh, the second thing, Mr. President was about, six months ago, we received an update, uh, from C click fix. And I think we all received a report on, I think it was from Lauren felts from the administration on the, uh, number of, uh, requests that were put in, uh, between a certain timeframe, the number that were open, the number that were resolved, the number that were closed. And I really think, uh, hearing from residents that, uh, this may require a committee, the whole meeting, to sit down and discuss with the city administration on how these issues are handled. Uh, it appears that things may be closed, uh, quicker than any results taking place. And that's a concern because, um, Once you, in my opinion, file a C-click fix, what should happen immediately is there should be a response from someone from the city administration saying this was delegated to whatever department or head or whatever department that handles it. And then secondly, you should get a response within a certain amount of time stating what the appropriate action is going to be. And I realize not everything is going to require an action. Sometimes people may call up on something that can't be resolved. but at the very least residents deserve to know what's going on and to leave people out in the lurch and not respond back in a timely fashion or close things out saying it'll be addressed in my opinion is not the way to handle it. I think what should happen is once a similar to the previous speaker when she called about the manhole cover, once the issue was resolved, then maybe someone from the city should be picking up the phone saying, Uh, you know, the issue was resolved. Thank you very much for reporting it. It's all set. Uh, but not just to put a blanket open or closed, uh, to me is not the way to go about it. And, uh, so I would ask Mr. President, we have a committee, the whole meeting, uh, to meet with the city administration to discuss some of the issues on C click fix, and also to get, uh, an additional update on the reporting of C click fix from its inception. uh, on the number of requests filed by this community, uh, the number of requests that were closed, the number of requests that were addressed, the number of requests that were left open and the reasons why it was left open. Uh, you know, we put a lot of time and effort into making sure this was going to be a way that residents can contact the city and get results. And if residents are contacting the city and getting angry about it and getting upset about it, that's not what I bought into. Uh, this was supposed to be an easy way of communication and transparency. And if that's not the case, we have to immediately address that with the administration as the president. So that would be, I would ask that, uh, that'd be part of the roll call.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. President. Thank you. Councilmarks chair recognizes vice president Lugo current.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Uh, thank you, president Dello Russo. I, along the same lines as Councilor Marks. Um, we did get a report back in March and I think from go live date until March 31st, I have some numbers. So, just share them, and I, too, would like to see the current numbers as of the—go live date to March 31st. There were 745 posts. Sixty were open in March, 213 were acknowledged, 145 were closed, and 327 were archived. So I, too, would like to see the current numbers from March going forward, or maybe the numbers in their entirety. And I, too, think Rob Capucci made a good point. I mean, that, I think, would do a lot of good having not only something say it's closed, but what was done, who did it, and if it was referred to another department, that other department then needs to say what they've done and how it's been fixed or why they cannot fix it. I think that would be huge and definitely help the residents and give them a little bit more sense of relief and less frustration. If there's something that can't be done, it can't be done, and that's when something should be closed. And I do feel there's a problem with following our ordinances and enforcement. And if this is just, I don't think it's just an issue in South Medford, although South Medford does have some issues that need to be worked on. I think we need to follow our ordinances and be uniform throughout this entire, the entire city. If it's safe to park on some sidewalks, you know, and not safe to park on others, we need to figure that all out. And I would think the administration is in process of trying to get a little tighter on our enforcement of our ordinances, but that takes manpower and people and more time. And we need to put more time into resolving issues on C-Click Fix, because it's the one avenue besides coming to a city council meeting or giving a call to a Councilor or the mayor, it's the one avenue the people, the residents of this city have to report a whole host of number of issues. And they'd like to see a resolve or an answer in some fashion or form. And the complaints that are coming my way are more than I expected. And I'd like to see, you know, us do a little bit of a job in trying to educate and give a closure to people's concerns and questions and complaints.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Chair recognizes the citizen at the podium. Good evening.
[Ann Fretts]: Anne Fretz, 215 Harvard Street. I think one of the issues that has been plaguing C-Click Fix is the inordinate amount of issues that have been piled onto the DPW department and I believe it was Councilman Knight who suggested back a long time ago and also Councilman Scarpelli and Falco who also suggested that the staffing levels at the DPW department did not match what was going to be coming in from C-Click Fix and that's there as well. And the same thing holds true for the police department as well. One particular officer is doing three different jobs at this point and It has an impact on everyone. But one of the reasons I wanted to come back up to speak was because it is now two years since, it will be two years on October 17th, that we did the Chief Sacco safety walk through South Medford when 40 of us stood on the sidewalk and watched Oasis cars driving through the sidewalk and parking on the sidewalk while we were on the sidewalk, all in a mass group. And my neighbors can remember that. There have been improvements. but different situations are now arising around that area. And as the police have said, we fix one thing and another one pops up. It's nothing we're doing. It's a business trying to survive in an area. And we've just heard that the three MBTA bus stops are not going to be moved. And that means that someone needs to go again before the traffic commission. And once again, asked as Jim Silva and I have asked for designated parking spaces for Oasis to be put for their drivers and for their deliveries and time spaces in front. Someone else is going to have to do it. I can't do this anymore. It's, it's far too much of a risk for me personally to take and have ramifications coming at me as they have with this past week. Thanks again.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. So on the motion of vice president, local current amended by council Scarpelli and marks Councilor Marks, just if I could, uh, another issue that I brought up before would see click fix.
[Michael Marks]: and I'm still seeing it when I go on to C-Click Fix, is the fact that residents are writing down they have a pedestrian safety concern. The one I saw was on Elm Street. And Elm Street happens to be a state road. And I realize it's not under the jurisdiction of the city of Medford, but residents may not know that. And when they go on to C-Click Fix, they expect that whatever their concern is will be addressed by the city. and the city should be reaching out to the state police or state highway or someone. They shouldn't be turning around and see click fix saying, here's a number to call the state. You know, these are our streets, these are our residents, and we have the concern. So if someone brings it to the attention of a public safety official, they should be addressing it, not turning it back. Also, Mr. President, there's a number of streetlights that are out. Residents are calling, say, at the corner of Riverside Ave and Spring Street, the light's out. I see a posting back from the city, what's the poll number? I mean, this is not what we should be doing, Mr. President. Someone from the city, if they need the poll number, which I know they do, should be taking a ride out there and getting the poll number, not asking the resident to go back and get the poll number. And some of these polls have multiple numbers on them and so forth. That's not the intent. The intent isn't to see, click, and then transfer someone else. It's see, click, and do something about it. And that's what we're supposed to be doing, Mr. President. And I'm a little alarmed by the number of issues that are really being brushed off. We have a lot of state roads in this city. In my opinion, I think they all should be city roads. Because how do you tell a taxpayer that lives on Middlesex Ave or Elm Street or any other state road, sorry, you're paying taxes to the city of Medford, but we're not going to touch your sidewalk if there's a crack. We're not going to trim your tree if there's a crack. We're not going to do road repairs. We're not going to touch anything on your road, but we'll touch your taxes. We'll make sure we get your taxes. In my opinion, anything should be addressed by this community. And if they feel that they can't address an issue because it's not our road, they should take the issue over. They should take ownership of the issue. So these are the things I'm hoping to discuss at the Committee of the Whole meeting, Mr. President, because this is a very worthy system, but it has to be functioning properly to work to its fullest potential, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much, councillors. So on the motion as amended. Please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_04]: Rachel Tannenhaus, 26 Pearl Street. So I kind of feel like also if you're going to make the commitment to use C-Click Fix, that part of what you have to do, and I realize that there are departments that are understaffed, is I agree with Councilor Marks, is that you have to make the commitment to the customer service that goes along with it. I've been doing technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act for 16 years. I get a lot of calls and a lot of emails and a lot of, hey, Rachel, can you stop in here for a second, that have nothing whatsoever to do with the ADA because people don't really have, I mean, through no fault of their own, they don't really have a handle on what it covers. If it involves disability, I often get asked about it. My response is not, whoops, not my circus, not my monkeys. My response is, that actually is not where that applies, but let me look up where you need to go. That's at my job, that's on the Disability Commission, because that's what you do. So if somebody is reporting, and I'm looking at you Main Street and South Street, if somebody is reporting something that is not safe or is not you know, that happens to not be a Medford City issue, then yeah, that is what you do. Because A, you're going to waste more time when 57 other people ask the same question because it wasn't referred to them. So you're going to get 97 more calls because that thing ain't going to paint itself or whatever. But if you tell people, if you take the 30 seconds or whatever to tell people this is where you go with it, especially if you're calling that number yourself on a regular basis, because I bet that the state and the city traffic folks talk to each other every now and then. That's got to be part of what we commit to when we commit to doing C-Click Fix, because otherwise we can't do it. We're going to make more work for ourselves. The city's going to make more work for itself, and plus it gets all the fabulous you know, bonus features of having internet and social media things happen and people getting all prickly at each other. So I feel like if you're going to do it, do it right. If not, take it down and do like 311 like Somerville does or whatever where you actually have to talk to a human being and they actually have to tell you something and not just hang up on you and go, not my problem. Thanks.
[Joe Viglione]: Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record. Good evening. Joe Villione, 59 Garfield Ave. I want to pick up on what Councilor Mark said. Residents contacting City Hall and expecting to get results. Now, I read the residents' situation with this click fix and it was harrowing. It is harrowing that a citizen wants to ask for help from this city and gets abuse instead. You know, we have public records requests. We can file them along with quick fix. We can try to get answers, but the city sometimes just likes to hide things, doesn't want transparency, and that is the job of the city council. They say the city council has no teeth. I disagree. You're elected officials. You can flex your muscles. No citizen should go through what that citizen went through, and I've read the report on it, and it is harrowing. So we really need to have solutions in the city. Councilor Marks, I thank you for your excellent essay on this.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion by Vice President Lungo-Koehn as amended by Councilor Scarpelli to.
[Clerk]: Councilor Scarpelli, okay. Looking for an update from the health department on the. On the rubbish pickups. Yeah, on the rubbish pickups. And other services. Who moved it, moved the planter and all that. Yeah. For the fall in the ordinance, uh, we are looking for an address on the, uh, manhole to be fixed that by DPW on amended by Councilor Marks. You got it now. Okay.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Um, amended by Councilor Marks for committee of the whole up to discuss with these, uh, city administration and have a detailed, uh, implementation to date report on, um, the type of, uh, calls that are received, the number that are resolved, the number that are, uh, uh, deferred. number responded to, and number archived. And then finally, amended by Vice President Lungo-Koehn for, remind me again, madam?
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: That we request that the city administration give more specific updates with regards to each instance.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Each, uh, reported instance be given a more specific updates, uh, to the complaint. And if it's closed out, why so on that, all those in favor, I, all those opposed guys have it brief announcement from Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to recognize, uh, method resident, uh, on behalf of, uh, council one go current and consulate caviello. Um, we had, uh, uh, had a heroic event take place on, uh, Whittier road. Uh, just recently there was a garage fire and the next door neighbor, uh, Fred Roach, anyone that knows Fred knows he's an outstanding person. Um, went, knocked on his neighbor's door, got the neighbors out of the house, uh, called the fire department, went back with his own, uh, uh, house, uh, yard hose, and contain the fire. And, uh, you know, the house is in close proximity and he did a great job keeping this fire contained until the fire department got there. And I just want to, uh, thank him for his heroic efforts, uh, Mr. President, and, uh, ask that a council accommodation, uh, be sent to Mr. Fred Roach.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Caraviello has the same resolution under suspension. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: And again, you know, I think councilor Mark said it all. I've known Fred for some years now, and when I found out about it, I said I wasn't expecting any more from Fred. He's out there all the time. I see him every week, and that's what good neighbors do, is they watch out for each other. And I want to thank Fred for his heroic duty. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President De La Rousseau. I just want to echo the sentiments of my council colleagues. I also have known Fred for a long time, he's a great guy, and this week he's a hero, so thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So that on the motion of councillors, Marx, Caraviello, and Vice President Lugle-Kern, that Mr. Frederick Roach be commended for his acts of heroism in neighborliness. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. On the motion, while we're under suspension, Councilor Knight. Off the table, 16677. 676. Approach to creation of $1,200,000 in free cash for the city hall roof. The council reported favorably out of committee conversations on these two matters earlier this evening and met with the mayor members of her staff, Mr. Moki, the Commissioner of Buildings, and the representative from the contractor, and Mrs. Khan, who is our new Director of Budget and Finance and Purchasing, to take these, to address these matters. So on the motion of Council tonight to take them off the table, all those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. So before us is 16-676, Uh, the appropriation from free cash chair waits motion Councilor Marks before the motion was called first.
[Michael Marks]: I'd like to, uh, cause this appeared last week on the council floor, uh, for the first time. And I want to thank my colleagues, uh, for, uh, calling for a committee, the whole meeting and discussing the paper, uh, where it deals with, uh, spending of taxpayer money. And I think tonight's meeting was very fruitful in the fact that, I believe we got more in-depth information and analysis on the type of work that's going to be done here at City Hall and the need for improvements in this building. And we also received tonight, Mr. President, and I want to thank Mayor Burke and the Chief of Staff and her staff for the draft capital plan we received tonight, which covers fiscal, uh, FY 17 to FY 21. And, um, I'm not saying I agree with everything in this plan, but, uh, it's something that we asked for something that, uh, this council has been looking for a long range capital plan, uh, to address some of the concerns we have, uh, throughout, uh, the community. And I think this is a step in the right direction, Mr. President, And it all took place because of a tabling the issue last week. So we can get these very important reports. And to be quite frank with you, I was not going to vote on the repairs, even though I knew they were much needed here at city hall. I've been here when the parts of the ceiling caved in. I've been here when some of the parapet around the building collapsed to the ground. And I know the work that's needed in this building. And, uh, I wasn't going to vote on it because I, as one member of the council believe, uh, it's my responsibility to look at this city, um, the entire picture and, uh, not to do projects piecemeal. And, um, I, uh, take my job very seriously. And now that we do have a draft plan, uh, I feel more comfortable knowing that at least there's a foundation here. to move forward on many of the needs we have and address some of the concerns. And I will, uh, support this paper here tonight, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Counsel Marks chair recognizes constant night. Um, yes, Mr. President. I think consular marks gave a great breakdown as to the legislative history of this piece of legislation that's before us here this evening. Um, I was very pleased to have an opportunity to meet with the mayor as well. Um, I think we had a great discussion about the capital plan and the capital projects. This project here before us this evening is outside the capital plan. It's something that's not under the previous administration. It's to address the hole in the ceiling over here that we've all pointed at and looked at at one point or another during our term here on the council, to address the parapet that surrounds the top of the building that we can all see and disarray, Mr. President. I feel as though this is a great appropriation of funds. I feel as though it's a well-thought-out plan, Mr. President. And for that matter, I will be moving for approval. The motion for approval by Councilor Knight, you're recognized as Vice President and Local Current.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I, too, am very thankful that we were able to meet with the mayor this evening at 5.30 to discuss any questions that we had with regards to this 1.2 from free cash, which is associated with a $1.8 million bond that is also, I believe, going to be taken off the table tonight. More importantly, I think it was extremely important that we do see the big picture as well, and I'm very happy that we got something in our hands with regards to a capital improvement plan. This details 6 million in spending, possible 6 million in spending for fiscal year 17. It shows us 27 possible in 18, 19 million in fiscal year 19, 11.5 in fiscal year 20, and 7 million in fiscal year 21, probably 50, 60 projects that are on this plan, and I know it's a draft plan, and it will take some tweaking, but it's something to start with, and it's a good document to have, and it outlines where the money would come from, whether it be linkage, free cash, Chapter 90 funding, grants, MWRA loans, or the budget, obviously, or going out to bond. So it's a great starting point. It's something that I don't know when we would have received it if we didn't hold off last week. And I think the one week was well worth it to be able to get that document. With regards to the $1.8 million, it was good to be able to ask the questions. I think Councilor Marks pointed out last week we were told it was an et cetera. And everybody's been talking about that in the city. How are we going to vote on something when we don't know exactly what's going to be what exactly the $1.8 million is gonna be put into and all that we're given is a few line items and an et cetera. So this filled in those blanks and it was much more detailed and we were able to talk to the engineer, so that was very helpful. With regards to the roof, it's important to know that they're gonna start, if we approve this tonight, the appropriation can, the contract can be awarded tomorrow. And there's a start date of October 7th, probably taking us with a couple breaks through the winter into the spring for a finish of before June 30th, 2017. At the same time, the council chambers will take about two months to fix. And it looks like we got to ask a number of questions about the front entry renovations. I think that's part of the thing that needs to be issues that needed to be more detailed, and we did get that detail. So hopefully we can get this up on our website, we can educate the people on what this $1.8 million bond is gonna be used for, and we can keep educated, and I'm very happy that we had that meeting.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Vice President, on the motion of Councilor Knight for approval, seconded by Councilor Falco, on 16-676, the appropriation of $1,200,000 from free cash Chair recognizes Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: I would just like to personally thank last week during the discussion that we had when the paper originally appeared before us, Councilor Scarpelli brought up a very valid point about the interior of the building. Uh, the discussion was, uh, uh, surrounding, uh, the exterior of the building. And, uh, for those that have been in this building, realize the public restrooms, have been in really deplorable condition for many, many years, lacking the proper fixtures and proper hygiene and so forth. And I want to thank Councilor Scarpelli because it was his insight that I believe got that matter attended to that we spoke about tonight. So that is part of the project. I think it's going to be a phase two or phase three, but it does include the updating of the restrooms here, Mr. President. which, um, you know, it may not sound like a juicy issue, but, uh, it's something important when people come into this community and come into city hall, they shouldn't be looking at caution tape in a restroom. They shouldn't be using both hands to put warm water. One side's cold, one side's hot. You gotta mix them up in the middle. Um, you know, there's a lot that be, uh, needs to be done in these restrooms. And I want to personally thank councilor Scarpelli.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. On that motion, all those in favour, Mr. Clerk, call the roll.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello. Yes. Councilor Falco. Yes. Councilor Knight. Yes. Vice-President Locourne. Yes. Councilor Marks. Yes. Councilor Scott-Billey. Yes. President De La Russa.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. With a vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the appropriation passes. On the request of Councilor Knight to take 16-674 off the table, Councilor. Yes, loan order of $1,800,000, City Hall roof facade. Again, we discussed this. The motion is before us.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, yes, this paper for a loan order of $1.8 million would allow us to complete phase one of the project and also put the design portion of phase two out to bid. That's my understanding. And this paper also would ask that if the loan order is approved, that after its third reading, the administration would come back and rescind the vote or ask for the rescinding of the vote of paper number 16676. So the $1.2 million free cash appropriation would go back into the free cash account, and we would bond out the total amount of $1.2 million plus an additional $600,000 for phase two, Mr. President. I move for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion for approval by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Caraviello, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll for the first reading of this loan order.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Haynes? Yes. Vice-President Lungo-Koehn? Yes. Councilor Marksley? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes, with a vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion is approved. We're in a suspension, Mr. President. 16-673, taxicab operator license off the table for Madochi Esteneville of 130 Day Street, number one. Chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello for the Department of Licensing. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Richard Caraviello]: Mr. President, I have a motion. Yes, Mr. Senator. Very good. Mr. President, I reviewed the gentleman's papers, and they appear to be in order. And motion for approval.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion for approval by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Councilor Marks? Your license is granted. All right, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Mr. President, we're under suspension. Two hands on the wheel. Thank you. We're under suspension. 16, 690. 16, 690. Common Victuals License. Common Victuals License. On that motion, 16-690, petition for Common Victuals License by Fong-Pin Chen, manager, 116 Center Street, Quincy Mass, 02169, for Lenny and Yee, LLC, doing business as Lisa's Family Pizzeria at 283 Boston Avenue, in Medford. The chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello, and is the petitioner present? Welcome.
[SPEAKER_09]: Yes, yes. Through council. Yes, good evening to the council. My name is Ken Levin, an attorney in East Boston. Happy to be working with Fengping Chen and Lidia Peña-Reyes. They are in the process of purchasing Lisa's Family Pizzeria at 283 Boston Street. And just to give you some background, Mr. Chen, is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Culinary School and has been working for the last six years at the Langham Hotel downtown Boston, formerly the Meridian, and is a chef there currently. And Mr. Reyes is also working at the Langham and started out as a third cook, then moved to second cook, and is now first cook. They've worked together for years and they enjoy working together. They found that Lisa's family pizzeria was for sale and felt that it was a great way for them to change their routine and be in business for themselves and take their skills and management ability and apply it in a different context. And they're excited about the opportunity. They're going to take over the restaurant. They're not looking to make changes to the staff. and the menu, but they will gradually incorporate their own talents and abilities into the menu as time goes on.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, thank you and welcome. Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I reviewed their papers and the papers appear to be in order. The hours of operation you're looking to have? Well, it's currently 11 to 11. And you're going to keep it that way. Stick with that.
[SPEAKER_09]: Okay.
[Richard Caraviello]: And, uh, you know, I knew, I know the old owner, Tony, he was a very generous man throughout the community. I hope you gentlemen will, uh, continue, uh, with Tony's, uh, practices. Uh, and again, I commend you for, um, uh, opening a new business in our city. Thank you.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. Council Max. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, knowing this is located up in the hillside area, um, Do you know if the current owner has the Tufts meal plan as part of the offerings? I don't believe so. Tufts has an agreement with a lot of the local businesses where they provide a mail ticket and they allow them to go into these establishments. I think it's called Tufts. Thank you, Councilor. And you may wanna look into that. If it's not already within that business, you may wanna reach out to Tufts.
[SPEAKER_09]: And certainly we can speak to the current owner, to Tony about that. To see. Maybe tomorrow to see if that's already incorporated. And if it isn't, we can look into that.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You can request it. I wish you well. Congratulations on the motion for approval by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Marks. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion granted, license granted. Good luck, stay engaged. committed to your community. Thank you. Thank you very much. While we're in suspension, we're going to take Mr. Cormier. Uh, Councilor Knight, uh, reminded me. Thank you. 16-six, six, six 91 petition by Richard Cormier, 26 Barbara lane, Medford mass to address the council on the upcoming stem cell registration drive to be held at the Harvard harvest, your energy fest at the McGlynn school on Saturday, October 1st, 2016. Welcome, Professor. State your name and address for the record.
[jO3ADh2wzWc_SPEAKER_05]: Thank you. Rich Cormier, 026 Barbara Lane Medford. Tonight I'm just kind of asking your support. I appreciate the fact you're allowing me to speak on this very important subject. On Saturday at the Harvester Energy Fest at the McGlynn School, we will be hosting a stem cell registration drive. The good folks at Be The Match will be looking for people between the ages of 18 and 44 to simply swab their cheeks and possibly save a life. In 2013, I was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, myelofibrosis. The only cure was a stem cell transplant, something I knew nothing about. Now I know more about it than I care to know. The first person tested as a match was my sister, and she didn't match. The doctors at Dana-Farber told me not to worry, that they would search the world for a donor to be the match. Fortunately, a donor was found in Germany. I received his life-saving cells on October 22, 2013. After a few bumps in the road, I'm happy to tell you that I no longer take any medication for my cancer, and I'm pretty much a survivor. My friend here, Frank Zizzle, is also a recipient of stem cells, and he, too, is well on his way to survivorship. This is very important to people that have any kind of blood cancer. At our last registration two years ago, one of our registrants was chosen to donate And last year, he made his donation. Many of you may know this hero as Curtis Tooden, who works at the high school. I'm asking you guys to support this extremely important and life-saving event. It doesn't cost a dime to register, and it's an opportunity for the average person to become a genuine hero. So if you could please get behind this and send as many people down to the McGlynn on Saturday, that would be outstanding. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli. If we can, first of all, thank you so much for bringing this forward. I know the two men in front of me and what you've done for our community is frightening to think this world without you two. I know that you're both new grandparents and thanks to this process, it saves lives and I think it's so important. If we could request the mayor's office to maybe put some information on the billboard and really push that effort and get the word out, not just to Medford residents, anybody driving down 93, I think it's very important. So thank you very much for bringing this up and thank God you with us. So congratulations. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: As amended by councilor Scarpelli, councilor Carr-Viello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, you know, you know, I know these two gentlemen, I see them on a regular basis. Uh, they were there last year. I know Rick was there last year. Um, I tried to donate, but he told me I was too old.
[jO3ADh2wzWc_SPEAKER_05]: They will, um, they will accept people above 44, but you have to pay a hundred dollars. And really statistics really show that. The most successful ones are the ones between 18 and 44 years old.
[Richard Caraviello]: But again, you guys do great work, and you're living proof of the great work that you do. And I'll see you down there on Saturday. Great. Thank you.
[jO3ADh2wzWc_SPEAKER_05]: Appreciate it.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thanks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. Pratt. I want to thank both Richard, Frank, and I appreciate their diligence on this. And I did have a question. When you were out there last year, were you welcomed by people? Were people skeptical? What was the type of feedback you got?
[jO3ADh2wzWc_SPEAKER_05]: Um, it's kind of funny because the name be the match. Some people think it's a dating service. We've had that comment before. No, I'm already married. But the fact of the matter is, um, once we explain to people what it is, uh, they do get the, the feeling that, you know, I believe this is becoming more and more, um, notable in, in the world when it started, when we, when Frank and I were sick, you know, just a couple of years ago, The only thing I knew about it was I thought stem cells had something to do with babies umbilical cords. That's all I'd ever heard about. Now I realize that there's so much more to it. The registry right now is up to about 13 million people worldwide. And as I said, I got mine in Germany. In fact, I contacted my donor and we speak on a regular basis. And it's just an amazing thing and we really do need them because Frank and I both know a gentleman who 10 years ago died after having a bone marrow transplant. And we had both talked to our doctors about the same person. And the doctors all said, had this happened now, he would still be alive. So the research is crazy. And the fact that they can do this, and it really I think, uh, I talked to Curtis. It was a little painful for a couple of days before he did it because you've got to take medication that builds up your stem cells. And then the day of the donation, uh, you get a little tired, but he said, really the next day he was fine and it really wasn't so bad. So it's, um, and he probably saved somebody's life. I don't even know that if he, if he knows his recipient yet, but, uh, I had to wait two years cause he was from Germany. I think people in the United States have to wait a year before they can find out who the donor is. That's great. Thanks so much for your work, both of you. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Motion for approval as amended. All those in favor?
[jO3ADh2wzWc_SPEAKER_05]: Aye. I have some papers I can leave with some information if you want.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please do. Mr. Messenger will take them. Thank you for your ride. Good evening councils.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. So let me address you guys. And, um, since the last meeting that we had in July 19, Nothing has been done that nobody comes to the park to check if these people are still there or not. These are outgoing every single day. And it gets frustrated, the people that cannot go down the park, because they see 15, 20 people standing around with 14, 15 dogs. And it's kind of threatening to people that they want to go down the park. In the last few months, one of my dogs was attacked by a half-fleshed dog. He had to be hospitalized and he had to be fixed. Unfortunately to these people here, they don't care about nothing else but themselves. There is a city ordinance that says no dogs allowed without leash. And to me, I was watching the AOL or Facebook, and there's people that criticize the police department because they're not enforcing that there isn't the Fourth of July fireworks. But yet for them, it's okay to break the laws, two laws. First of all, the half leash law, and second of all, the city ordinance. Now, come to find out that there is another ordinance that there is by the rules of the park, that there is no dogs allowed on the park. You know, these dogs, they come near, they do whatever they have to do, they pee in the barrels and everything else. There is a city workers that they go and pick up those barrels to empty it out, and they have to touch those barrels. There is no line inside the barrels, and at times, there is the barrels, they don't get picked up, because they are off the side. When the mayor was down at South Method, at Tuff's Park, I pointed out to her that there was a barrel that, near the fence, there was a couple that had a brand-newborn baby. and the barrel was there that everybody threw dog poop inside there. The smell of that in the summertime, to me, affects the little baby. The next day, it was moving across the park. Now, across the park, there is a playground, and the other side of the fence, that there is two toddlers that they're there. They're playing every day, but still they have to smell what's inside those barrels. I mean, I called the police several times at the time. There is nothing they can do. I mean, can we do something to break up this group and everything else? To have it, you know, if they work the dogs by themselves and everything else, that's fine. But it's intimidating when you try to go and watch a ball game. And there is these dogs that, you know, they're jumping all over the place. Last night I was down the park, there were a bulldog and a German shepherd that they were going after each other. That's, to me, it's no safety. There is people that go down the park, young kids that were there, and they were petrified. They want their benefits for themselves. They don't look. for the safety of people around. I've come to find out tonight that there is one of the guys that lives on Morton Ave, and he was talking with them. There is people that come from Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, and they come to the park because they're told that this is a great park to train their dogs. These people, they want to police themselves, but yet, that to me is not policing. They're bullying people not to go down the park. And the reason I'm here, because there is a couple of things that happens. I address one person that says, you know, there is a leash law. And he was trying to be an Italian using the middle finger. The next night, one of his friends that they're going down the park and socialize, It was trying to harass me and my wife that we were walking on Winchester Street. That's not right, not for anybody. Not for me, not for anybody that lives in the neighborhood. If we can do something, let's try to find a solution so that nobody gets hurt. There has been a couple of incidents in South Medford that dogs on the other side of Main Street They'd be beating people and they'd be beating the dogs for themselves. I mean, a dog is a dog, no matter which way you look at it. And if there is a ball running and everything else, so the dog is going to go after the ball, there is a child, what is going to happen to that child or to that kid? South Medford has been one of the greatest parks that there is for play ball and everything else. Now, this is the way I understand that it's all true to the whole city. And this is a community that people have been living in the city for a long period of time. And now there is new people coming in. You've got the regular that they go down the park and take the leash off. And these people moving in in the neighborhood, they're going to see the same thing, and they're going to be doing the same thing. Now, we don't have 15, 20 dogs. Now we've got 30 or 40 dogs coming all over the place. I mean, Tusk Park used to be full with people watching the ball game. The other night I went down there, it was like a ghost town because of the half-leashed dogs. Let's do something about these half-leashed dogs because either kids or grown-ups, they're going to get hurt. And that's the safety that I'm looking at. I raised my three kids up there at Tufts Park. And I'm sure other people that lived in the area that raised their children, they went down the park to play, not to watch dogs running around. We always see that and respect that rule because the consequences of that can be played. I thank you all to listen to me and see if we can do something about it. I mean, this is coming down. I called the police department that they don't even want to bother coming down.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's not right. Thank you all. Thank you for coming down. Mr. Ocino, the chair recognizes the gentleman from East Medford.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Thank you. Please state your name and address for Andrew Castagnetti, Cushman street method mass. The man makes perfect sense. Obviously, I'm not a politician. You can tell by my choice of words or lack of choice words thereof. But in the name of safety, the law should not be broken, especially when there's children around. I'm not against all dogs. I like some dogs better than some people, I've stated many times. However, please. have it fenced in, number one, and enforce your city ordinance or law, whatever you want to call it, as a leash law before someone gets maimed. And again, I repeat, the risk of being crude. I said this in front of higher-ups than here, that the average lawsuit in the United States for a dog biter is over $40,000 U.S. dollars. Beware. It's only a recommendation. However, I'd never enjoy being bitten by any dogs. Please be careful. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Chair recognizes the citizen from Evans Street. Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Uh, not, not a rhetorical question. Any update on the dog park, Mr. President that we know of?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Uh, nothing to report.
[Robert Cappucci]: Well, with regards to dogs, I understand the man's concerns. Maybe the city should just utilize the reverse 311 or 911 it is and just, you know, remind people that when you got your dog out there to have them leashed, maybe periodic checks of proper registration and licensing. But by the same token, I mean, dogs are more than just pets to a lot of us out here. Uh, they're, they're family members. They're, they're beloved. Uh, they provide comfort, joy, protection. Uh, I don't want to see the dogs get a bad reputation on this cause I'm, I'm of the opinion that there are no bad dogs, just some bad owners. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, sir. Chair recognizes Councilor Knight. Motion to refer the matter to the animal control officer, Mr. President. On the motion of Councilor Knight to refer the matter to the animal control officer. On that motion, the chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I feel for Mr. Osino. I'm a dog owner. I don't let my dog off leash. But the problem is, the group that's out there, they don't want a fence. And if we do have a dog park, they don't want to go down there because they feel that they want their dogs to run around the park whenever they want. It's not fair to the kids from St. Clements who go down there and practice football. that they'd be stepping in feces. And when they get out there to mow the lawn, they spread the feces all over. You can't expect the DPW guys when they're mowing the lawn to get out there and clean up the feces. So now that ends up spreading it all over the place. So again, I agree with Councilor Knight that we have the enforcement officer down there in the evening when they're out there in force, when St. Clement's kids leave. I mean, and again, uh, you know, these people can say all they want about, you know, the dogs being in control, dogs awfully shot that, you know, they, they have the mind of their own. They're going to do what they want to do. So again, uh, I would think, uh, I think we, we talked about this before about keeping the dogs in the fences, but this group doesn't want their dog fenced in. Thank you.
[George Scarpelli]: Councilor chair recognizes council Scott. I believe that. Thank you, Mr. President. I believe the last conversation we had about this, uh, this issue, we're waiting on the park department to get back to us to see what affects having that area fenced off, how would it affect kids at play and permitting for that area before we gave up a viable athletic field to dogs. So I know that Council Marks has worked very hard with his group and I know, you know, they just had their fundraiser last week and, putting together a true dog park and, um, in our community. And, but, uh, I, I, I can understand, uh, Mr. Sino's, um, frustration. So I know if we can ask the park board for that, that information, then look into moving forward of putting in, um, that fence, if so be it. I know that we talked about that being a pilot program and, um, and then waiting for the health department, to get back to us, too, with some information. And the other issue was whether it was a business or not, whether someone was holding a private business on our field for dog training. I think that that has to be investigated, too. So I believe that's what we can have the health department was doing an investigation and some research to see if that was happening. So.
[Fred Dello Russo]: on the motion of a point of information. Counsel Max.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just to address council Scarpelli's, uh, concern with, uh, the paper that we did forward, there were a number of questions we forward to the park board. I happened to bump into a chairman Graham, uh, last week and I asked him about the pay because it's been some time and he said they never received any paper from the council. Um, so that's what he stated to me, uh, because I know there was a number of requests, uh, for them to look at maybe alternate parks, other areas that may be suitable for, uh, dog parks and so forth. Um, so that's the response I received from him. Just so you know.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you for that. Can we have the clerk look, uh, revisit that and go back to that? Um, you know, I can call in the morning. I know I have my paperwork at home on that date and see if we can send that out. If not, if we can ask again, for the Park Board to update us on those concerns.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very good. So on the motion of Councilor Knight, Chair recognizes the citizen at the podium.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hi. Rachel Tannenhaus, 26 Pearl Street. Y'all are tired of my sob story. Hell, I'm tired of my sob story about off-leash dogs. Caveat that what happened to me did not happen in the city of Medford, but off-leash dogs is off-leash dogs. I don't think they know where they live. While I am extremely grateful for and proud of my new guide, Doug, who is making her debut here tonight, I am terribly sorry that people don't want a fence. Let me tell you a little bit about what I want. I want my old guide, Doug, back. I want not to have to have dug a Pomeranian out of his back paw while he screamed. Okay? I want not to have had to end our partnership after three years because he was attacked by off-leash dogs multiple times and became overly reactive as a result. I want the two weeks back that I just spent while I had a lovely time on Long Island getting this dog. I had to take time off work. I think my colleagues would like to have had me back there so that I could submit the reports that were due to our funding agency, but no, I had to bail on them. because my independence and my safety were compromised because people couldn't leash their frickin' dogs. I think that my guide dog school would probably like back the $50,000 that it cost to train a guide dog team. I would like maybe to not have to have experienced the trauma that we went through The two months that my dog was at the guide dog school trying to be retrained while I waited to see if it was a fixable situation, it was not. I'd like that. But you know, as the philosopher Jagger once said, you can't always get what you want. So I'm sorry those guys don't want a fence. I can't even tell you how high I jumped when we practiced dog distraction when I was on class with this girl, who is a gem, by the way. And we walked by a house with a fence around it that had this little, you know, barky dog. They do that, it's cool, it was behind a fence. But it reminded me so much of what had happened, and I just jumped a mile, and she handled it like it was nothing. But I bring that with me everywhere I go, whenever I leave my house with my dog, that I don't know if this dog is gonna be attacked again, if I'm gonna have to go through that again, if we're gonna have to go through that. I want not to have that happen, but I don't get that. So I'm sorry they don't want a fence. What we need is a dog park because I also believe that dogs need to run free. This dog works really hard. She has to blow off steam. When she blows off steam, she looks like a psychotic rabbit. Okay, it's amazing. So I realize that's an important part of happy, healthy dogs, particularly dogs who have stressful jobs. That's why you need a dog park. That's why you need places with fences. Maybe your dog likes to run wild and free, and you don't have a fenced-in yard, which I can sympathize with that. But you have to share the world with people, and some of those people also have dogs that have particular things that they do. You know, I'm able to get around in more or less one piece in part because of the work that my dog does. So I say, if you've got a dog, leash it. It's not going to kill it. It might kill mine otherwise. And yes, even your special snowflake dog. And if we can do something to help make sure that this city is safe for dogs and people, particularly people with service dogs, but you know, dogs and people in general, I'm in favor of doing that because I really don't ever, ever, ever want to go through that again. Thanks.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. On the motion of counseling night, it's your cue not working.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Mr. Capucci asked for an update on the dog park and there actually is an update, uh, tomorrow evening, uh, at 6 PM in the mayor's office, the dog park committee is meeting with the mayor and the architect for a new dog park. And, uh, by this time next year, we anticipate to have the full build out of, uh, the park for larger dogs. And, uh, hopefully shortly after that, we'll have an adjacent park right next to the big dog park for small dogs. Um, and, uh, That's the reason why we're having some fundraisers to pay for the additional small dog park. So we're almost there at our goal. The committee's working very hard and I think people can anticipate by this time next year, we will have a place where dogs can socialize and exercise. It's going to be the state of the art dog park. And the thing I do want to say, and I've spoken to Mr. Orsino a number of times, and I think he said one word that really struck home with me, he said, solution. And from what I'm hearing from Mr. Orsino is, I don't think he's anti-dogs. I don't think he's anti having people run their dogs, but he wants a solution. And in my opinion, we have the luxury of having 23 parks. Go to any surrounding community and say, do you have 23 parks throughout your city? It's unheard of. And I can't see why, We can't accommodate, and I realize a dog park is a fence and so forth, but we can't accommodate the needs of maybe a group or many people that feel they want to run their dogs free. I can't imagine in the city that we can't create some type of area that has natural barriers that wouldn't be nestled within a neighborhood of homes, which does create a concern. I just can't believe we can't resolve this issue to allow it. And you know, in my opinion, I've said this since I've been on the council, you know, years ago, these parks were utilized 110% throughout the community. Now they're at half capacity at best throughout the community. And I think we really need to utilize it. And I really, there's a group of citizens working on finding a park area that's not nestled in within the neighborhood, that may have natural barriers. It may be the perfect place to run your dog that's not going to have interference with people that may want to use the park. And that may be the starting point in this community because, you know, I've been active in the last couple of years with people that are pushing for a dog park. And I can tell you 99.9% of them are responsible dog owners. They really are. And they pick up after themselves. These dogs become their kids. I saw it the last weekend when we did the dog wash. And so I don't want to paint a broad stroke about people that own dogs and so forth. But what Mr. Orsino said really struck a chord with me. He said, find a solution. So he didn't say, I never want to see a dog in a park again. He said, find a solution. And the solution, in my opinion, exists within our community, we just have to put all our heads together and say, what's the best way of providing public safety but also allowing people in an area that's, you know, appropriate to run their dog free? You know, I don't see a problem with it, Mr. President. And I hope we get to that point. I hope CAMA heads prevail and we're able to get to a point where We can all coexist together, and everyone can have their little piece of the pie in the community. You know, why they move to the city? Some people may move here because there's a lot of parks. Some people may move here because it's dog-friendly. Other people may move here because we have parking enforcement. I don't know. People come to the city for many different reasons. And I would hate to limit those reasons, Mr. President, in this community. So, those are my thoughts, Mr. President. And I hope we can all get together and try to resolve this important issue.
[SPEAKER_02]: Can I say something? We have a park on Main Street, Brooke Park. It's got trees all over the place that have closed up the park, and it's a way open. There is no children going in there. Maybe we can deviate these people to go over there. I mean, like I say, I had three kids, they grew up there. In the last 40 years that I've been there, that I've lived in the city of Medford, I noticed many, many kids that come through the park. The youth league was there. The soccer practice is over there. I mean, this is a park where kids come in, there is the pool that they go there. I'm not saying, you know, don't give them the freedom that the dog deserve, but also let's put them someplace where there is no children that they're involved. They want to police themselves. And to me, that's a word that was used many times. Well, we bullying people not to come down the park when we are here. And that one is from six o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock in the morning, and six o'clock at night to eight o'clock at night. I mean, six o'clock, that is the games, the ball games are going on. And to have dogs running around, who wants to go and watch it? Do we go to the Red Sox game and take our dogs with us? Or we can go see the Patriots and we take the dogs with us. I got three of them. But I mean, you know what, if we can demediate them to go to Brook Park, which there is, you know, more enough space to let them running around, I would appreciate it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Cappiello. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Osino off at Brooks Park, I think, The neighbors of Brooks Park will tell you, you get down there, the park is loaded with feces. DPW has been down there many times to pick their feces from dogs who run around there and the owners who don't pick up after them. So. Thank you. I don't think we want to enrage another group.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, ma'am. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, my name is Cheryl Rodriguez. I live at 281 Park Street, and I have a skittish rescue dog who's been attacked by an off-leash dog in the city of Medford. But what no one is mentioning is that we do have the sheepfold. We're fortunate enough to have the fowls in the city of Medford, and that is an off-leash area in the natural setting, which I don't go to because my dog is afraid. but it's perfectly fine for people who want their dogs to run loose. The biggest complaint I hear about that is that people don't pick up their dog feces, but it is something that maybe these groups can embrace and take care of and clean up because we're very fortunate to have the Fells. A lot of people don't have all this green space and we should take advantage of it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Knight as amended. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. On the motion of Vice President Longo-Curran to return to the regular order of business. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion carries. 16-684 offered by Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Be it resolved that our administration ensure that the traffic engineer for the proposed development at the old Malden Hospital site studies the surrounding Medford roads and does a traffic impact study in Medford in addition to any study being done in Malden and its traffic impact. Whereas Malden will be getting a donation of two acres of land a $440,000 donation for public improvements and seven acres of trees preserved if the proposal at the Malden Hospital site comes to fruition. Be it resolved that the City of Medford get in contact with the potential developer to discuss what donations Medford will receive for the impact we will have on our traffic and roads. Madam Vice President.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: You're there, thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Oh, yes. There we go.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. I think my resolution basically sums it up, but last Thursday there was a meeting at the actual site of the Malden Hospital. Tents were set up, donuts and coffee was being passed out, and the developers, including their team, were present at this meeting. And there was a number of Medford residents and a number of Malden residents. Maldon City officials that were present and this is the same developer that proposed a project there last year and this year obviously they heard the concerns of Maldon residents and they toned it down. The site was toned down a significant amount from last year but it's still a massive, massive development with apartments, condos, townhouses, and obviously an issue There's definitely issues concerning the environment and traffic and the swimming pool that's going to be very close to Medford. There's a number of different things that were brought up at that meeting, but one of the big things that was discussed was the traffic impact, and I think that's something that Medford is very concerned with, and we should be, because you're looking at 450 potential plus cars that are going be on this site and traveling through our neighborhoods, through our streets, Murray Hill Road, which already gets a significant amount of traffic, is going to be greatly impacted. So I would just ask that we make sure, and I know the administration, I'm not sure if the administration is, how on top of it they are, but I know we are, we have requested an update from the administration. I was a little concerned that nobody from the administration was at this meeting, but I'm hoping In the background, they are discussing this with the Malden administration to make sure that our needs are met, and the traffic engineer, a big part of this is the traffic engineer that's gonna be hired. He has not done his study yet, and he is the same traffic engineer that worked on the Locust Street development, which concerns me. So I would just ask that we make sure that traffic study is done on our roads on that side of the project. I think that is gonna be huge, and I just don't wanna come two, three months from now looking at a traffic study where Medford wasn't included in this, and that was the loudest voice in the audience, the Medford residents worried about traffic. So that's my first part of the resolution. The second part is with regards to what these developers are gonna give the city of Malden. It's seven acres of land, donation of $448,000 for public improvements, what is the developer, if this potentially moves forward, what are we doing to ensure that we're gonna get, number one, a traffic study done on our side of the project, but also what else, has anybody been negotiating anything, I guess is my question. If the city of Medford wasn't there and I'm not sure what action we've taken, I just wanna push this issue and make sure our administration gets into, really understands what this project entails and see what we can do to protect our neighborhood. So I would just ask for support of the resolve. I think there are two big things that came out of Thursday's meeting. Another thing that we probably will be doing is setting up an ad hoc second meeting, inviting the neighbors down, inviting the chief of police, and working to protect our roads and neighborhood. But for now, I think this is important, and I would hope we can pass this and we can get some movement from city hall.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Madam Vice President chair recognizes councilor Falco.
[John Falco]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I want to thank, uh, council Longo current for bringing this forward tonight. Uh, it's an important resolution and this is an issue that really, uh, impacts the North Bedford neighborhoods, um, in a major way. Uh, the, the project has been scaled down, but the number of cars that are, um, As Councilor Lungo-Koehn said, the number of cars that are going to impact or going to be added to the daily traffic patterns in that neighborhood are up to 400, 500 cars. So that's a major impact. My concern, I guess, is with the traffic engineer. Earlier in the year, I mentioned or actually offered a resolution that the city hire a traffic engineer, and this is one of the best examples why we should have one. We should not be trusting the traffic study from a developer in run with that. I mean, the developers paying the traffic engineer for a study, I'm sure the traffic engineer is going to benefit the developer in a lot of ways. We need to have an independent traffic engineer take a look at this situation and take a look at the method roads. If the city's not going to hire a full-time traffic engineer, I look at a case like this, I look at a case like Locust Street, we should be consulting or hiring our own traffic engineer as a consultant to work on specific projects if we're not going to hire one full time. This is where we need an independent voice to take a look at the traffic patterns and how a development like this is going to impact our community and especially the North Bedford area. This is an important topic and it's going to affect and impact the quality of life for many residents. Anyone that drives through North Bedford knows the small roads, the winding roads, And the traffic is bad now, trying to add 500 cars to that, I can't even imagine. I mean, the major safety concerns there. So I'd like to amend the resolution to actually, to have the city hire a traffic consultant to look at this project and give us an independent view of how the traffic is going to impact the North Bedford neighborhoods.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the main motion amended by Councilor Falco, Councilor Scarpelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. I, too, would like to thank my colleagues Solongo Kern and John Falco. This is our neighborhood. And the phone calls I received over the past week, especially with the frustration of neighbors that are so upset that the talk of even moving out of that neighborhood where they've lived and their families have grown up for years over something this daunting is frightening. So I think what's important is we really need to inform our neighbors in that area in what is happening on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, because their voices need to be heard. I think that it's so important that not only that project, but as you move further down the road on the other side of Highland, you have the New England Memorial site that still has to be vetted and figured out what was going to happen there. And, you know, with those two projects, the size of those two projects, that will destroy that neighborhood. I mean, one alone is frightening. So we need to figure out a way. I know that there was a moratorium in Malden to hold off on that site. And as obviously it's been lifted and they're moving forward. So we need to really get on board and ask our administration to have a sit down if not, uh, us request to sit down with the delegates from Malden to maybe educate us a little bit. Um, and what's going on because I knew there was, there were a few Malden, uh, representatives, uh, that were totally against this project. So it, it didn't flow too easily there either. So, um, I say we, you know, I, I, like I said, I echo my, my concerns. for my neighbors and my colleagues. So thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Councilor.
[Michael Marks]: Councilor Marks. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Councilor Lungo-Koehn for her persistency on this issue. She's kept it at the forefront, uh, and, uh, uh, the issue out there. And I think it's going to reap benefits the longer we stay on top of this. You know, the, the one thing I did find interesting, Um, and it was regarding the locus street project is that, uh, I talked to a few people while that was going on and, uh, we heard tonight that you're right. The developer comes in, they do their traffic study, they do their environmental study and they're paying for these tens of thousands of dollars in studies. And, uh, you know, the residents don't get a chance to get a study. But during the Locust Street project, I had someone state to me that there's a general law. I forget the site and section of the general law, but it states that the developer is on the hook. So when a developer comes in and they do their, you know, public safety site study, traffic study, they also have to foot the bill for the local municipality at the request of the local municipality. In the case of Locust street, this city didn't request our own study. We went based on the study of the developer. So whatever that study said about the traffic impact and the congestion and so forth, um, the environmental impact, we took that as gospel. Um, you know, I don't know if it's too late or not with this particular project, but I think we should offer a motion if council longer doesn't mind. that this city requests from the developer our own traffic study, our own environmental impact study from our own independent hiree, Mr. President. And that would, in my opinion, be a suggestion. So we don't have to go based on what we're hearing. We heard on Locust Street, no impact. 490 units on a street that's the width of a dime. Oh, no impact on traffic. So, these studies, it's like expert witnesses. You have two doctors that come in. One doctor in court swears by one thing, and the other doctor swears by something totally different. So, you know, I would ask that if my council colleague doesn't mind that we amend the paper to request the administration ask that an independent traffic study and environmental study be done at the expense of the developer, Mr. President. And I could find that site and section. I don't have it with me. It's a general law.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Chair recognizes Vice President La Lucre.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Deller, so I'll be brief. I agree with my colleagues, and I think maybe we should pursue all three avenues, because to get a traffic engineer or to get money for a traffic study, I mean, that sounds all well and good, but we didn't even have anybody from the administration at this meeting. And this is happening soon. moratorium is being lifted in December, and then the city council is going to be asked to vote for a zoning change of that district. I've reached out to one city councilor, who I'm going to have a phone call with either Thursday or Friday, and then move on to the rest, trying to get an idea where the council stands, because there was a number of councilors in the attendance on Thursday, and there were some with concerns, how many children it's going to add to the Malden public schools, et cetera, et cetera. But for Medford, it's our streets, it's our neighborhoods, it's the residents that live and are gonna deal with the traffic. It's us who live in the area. I can barely get down Fulton Street on any given day. It takes me 25 minutes and my kids are almost late for school. Forget about Elm Street. I don't even think any of us even wanna dare go down Elm Street, but it's gonna affect all those roads. So it is something that we need to stay on top of. I like the amendments. I think any avenue we can get to make sure that the traffic study is done on our roads as well is a plus in my book. Let's get it done. Let's ask the administration, please get on top of this. We've been asking for a year. We have a developer who, it is massive. It's a six story complex. It's shaped like an E and there are houses all around with, you know, it's still massive, better than before, but it's massive and we need to get a handle on it before it's too late.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Madam Vice President. Chair recognizes Councilor Cavillo. Thank you, Mr. President. If I can further amend that, if we could have invited the developer to come down to Medford and make a presentation to the council, the whole, or to this whole body with residents here. So, uh, for the ones who weren't able to go to that meeting, uh, and would give us a chance to question that developer personally, uh, without the Malden people there.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So if I, if I could add that to the paper also, Mr. President, as amended by council Caraviello chair recognizes the citizen at the podium, Welcome again, and please state your name and address for the record.
[Cheryl Rodriguez]: Hi, I'm Cheryl Rodriguez. I live at 281 Park Street. I attended the Malden Hospital meeting, and they scaled down the project from 350 to 314, 444 parking spaces, and they were also asking to be able to park on street. So we're talking about at least 500 cars. I had another meeting after that meeting and I map quested how to get to 93 from there and it takes you down Murray Hill Road, right onto Fells Ave, right onto Vista Ave, which becomes Fulton Street Road. than left onto Fulton. If you've been down Fulton Street Road, my daughter's best friend lives off of there, the cars are parked on both sides of the street and it is single wide down the middle. So if someone is coming during rush hour, I often see people backing up because two cars can't fit down at the same time. So if you add an additional 500 cars to that road because the traffic engineer there did state, yeah, this is probably not a transit community This is going to be a car-heavy community. We're going to expect hundreds of cars going down these very small roads, and we need to be concerned. I think we need to make strong efforts to make sure that the neighbors are aware so this doesn't sneak up on them. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. And on the motion of Vice President Lungel-Kern, as amended by Councilors Falco, Marks, and Caraviello. Roll call vote has been requested. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll on the motion of approval by Vice President Lungo-Koehn as amended, seconded by Councilor Falco.
[Clerk]: Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Falco? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Lungo-Koehn? Yes. Councilor Marks? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Yes.
[Fred Dello Russo]: President Dello Russo? Yes. With the vote of seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes as amended. 16-685 offered by Councilor Marks. Be it resolved that the city solicitor, Mark Rumley, update the Medford City Council regarding the current legal status of the Hegner Center property located on Maple Park Avenue. Councilor.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Within the past year, we received a paper from the administration regarding the potential sale of the Hegner Center. And at the time, Bridgewell, who merged with the Hegner Center, was looking to sell the building to a Revere-based church for $650,000. So the mayor sent us a paper stating that the city of Medford was negotiating that we get a piece of the $650,000. I believe it was $100,000 or $135,000. But come to find out, Mr. President, many members behind this council were outraged when the paper came before us. And we did our homework and found out that this particular piece of property, which was a field house back some many years ago, built by the city of Medford, the property was transferred by the city ownership to the Hegner Center, which did tremendous service to adult residents in our community with developmental disabilities for a lot of years. And in June of 1999, the property was transferred to the Heckner Center for $1. And there was a stipulation within the deed that stated that if the property was no longer going to be used for a nonprofit educational purpose, that it would revert back to the city. So sometime in 2007, the Heckner Center merged with Bridgewell. Bridgewell eventually grew too large for the facility itself. They moved out in November of 2013 and the building laid vacant since November 2013. When we were presented with the paper that Bridgewell was going to sell the property, you know, I know myself and I know many members of this council where I rate saying, wait a minute, how do you get a building from the city for $1 for the purpose for nonprofit educational purposes for people with developmental disabilities? and then be able to turn around and get a great windfall off the city. Um, and, uh, at the time I know I requested it and other members of this council requested that the city solicited to do more research on this particular issue and, uh, find out why if it laid vacant since November, 2013, automatically it wasn't being used for that purpose for the last several years. it should have reverted back to the city, and it never did. So needless to say, I believe there's some ongoing negotiations and talks being had between the city solicitor, Bridgewell, and whatever other entities that are involved in this now, and I'm only asking that we get an update, because it's been some time, and as we all know, property in this community is at a premium right now, and we have a number of needs. We have the Method Arts Council, that doesn't even have a place to call home. They don't have an office at all. We got cache, we got PTOs, we got youth sports in this community, we got all sorts of non-profits that would love to have a facility, a budding a park, and a place to call home. So I'm hoping that we get a positive response from the city solicitor, and I'm hoping that the city moves forward in taking this particular piece of property back and the eventual, uh, uh, reuse of this property for a real true community use the arts, youth sports, PTO, whatever it may be, Mr. President, maybe a combination of all, but it's about time we take back the property that rightfully was purchased by method owned by method, uh, transferred for a particular purpose. It's no longer used for that purpose. And now, uh, in my opinion, it should revert back to the city, Mr. President. So I would ask that we get a response from Mr. Rumley on that.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. On the motion of Councilor Marks, all those in favor? All those opposed? Carries 16-686 offered by Councilor Knight. Whereas the American Society of Civil Engineering's 2013 report card for America's infrastructure show that more than 1.3 million miles of US roadways are in poor or mediocre condition, and whereas American motorists average 324 in additional expenses for repairs and operating costs attributable to roadways in poor or mediocre conditions, and whereas the historic trend in municipal roadway maintenance shows that cities allocate limited maintenance budgets based on a reliance of outdated, costly, and time-consuming pavement condition studies And whereas, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association finds that 12.5% of Massachusetts interstates, expressways, and other major roads are in need of total resurfacing or restructuring. And whereas, according to the Federal Highway Administration, the overall rating of roadway quality in Massachusetts is designated as fair to mediocre, and that 89% of all roadways in Massachusetts are maintained by local cities and towns, and that local roads in Massachusetts carry 66% of the total traffic volume, and whereas there is an evident need for the implementation of a pavement inspection and management program in the city of Medford. Be it resolved, the Medford City Council requests the city administration to explore the services developed by Burlington Mass-Based street scan incorporated, or any other entity with similar technology to perform a pavement conditions study of Medford's roadways and establish a pavement inspection and management program for the city of Medford. Councilor Knight, how did I do?
[Adam Knight]: Excellent, Mr. President. Excellent. Thank you. StreetScan, Mr. President, is a group of business and entity and organization that has developed technology where they retrofit motor vehicles with ground-penetrating radar, some acoustic engineering, and some optical engineering so that they can actually take a picture of the ground based upon what they've found on the radar underground, what they see through the optics, and what data they've gathered through the acoustical engineering. And then they can establish what's called a pavement inspection and management program, Mr. President. It grades each roadway and it does so in the normal flow of traffic. The car drives down the street just like you and I were going to work and it takes this data and it records it all. It brings it into one central location and they can actually put together a map using GIS technology to show you where your worst roads are, where your best roads are, what condition they're in. So say we had street scan here in Medford and they drove up High Street and they took pictures of High Street. They generate the map, and it would show that this section of High Street is in very poor condition, serious condition. It's red. You click on the map, and it would pop up, and it would show an actual picture of that stretch of roadway, Mr. President, what it looks like. And then it would also give you a series of recommendations as to what they feel as though would be the best solution to repair this at the current time based upon the data that they've collected. So there might be cracks in the roadway, and the recommendation might be seal the cracks. There might be a pothole, and the recommendation might be fill the pothole. such damage underneath the ground that the recommendation is there's a need for total resurfacing and reconstruction. tool does, Mr. President, is ultimately, within a day, someone can drive this vehicle around every street in our city, can collect all this data, and then in a few short weeks' time, can produce us with a map, with a pavement condition study of what exactly it is that's going on, not only above our roads, but also underground. So I think this will help us when we run into situations like we did at the Winthrop Street Rotary Project, where there was some cost overruns in the amount of, I believe, $300,000, because we brought an engineer in there to tell us where we can dig and where we can't dig, and they missed the mark. I think this is a tool, Mr. President, that we need to investigate, we need to look at, and we need to further develop because I really think it's going to be beneficial to the city. It'll save us a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. And ultimately, once the pavement inspection is done, the management program is right there with it. It comes up. You can do set short-term goals, long-term goals. You can figure out what direction you want to go in in terms of resurfacing plan, restructuring plans. They also can help forecast. the rate of deterioration that the roads that they've monitored are going to come out at. So I think it's really a great piece of technology. It's certainly something that I feel as though the city of Medford would benefit from. And I think it's worthy of something that needs a further look, Mr. President. And I'd ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The thing that amazes me, Councilor, is that, uh, among the, uh, uh, many statistics you shared with us that, um, uh, local roads in Massachusetts carry 66% of total volume of traffic in the Commonwealth.
[Adam Knight]: It's astounding. And we're in Middlesex County, and Middlesex County is one quarter of the state's population. So can you imagine that 66% of the traffic for one quarter of the state's population is congested to Middlesex County, Mr. President? It's amazing, with all the highways we have.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilor Caraviello. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Councilor Knight for bringing this up again. I met with Street Skiing two years ago at the MMA show, And I brought it up to the council and they would have been happy to come down two years ago to make a presentation to the city, which we had sent a letter to the mayor. And obviously, it went nowhere. We're back here asking for them to do it again. I've met with them a couple of times. For those of you who haven't gone to the MMA show in January, it's a good tool. There's a lot of stuff you can learn there. And as I say, these guys, they explained to me how it works. And again, they're more than happy to come down and do a demonstration for us. So I support this also, again. Excellent.
[Robert Cappucci]: Chair recognizes the citizen at the podium. Sir, please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. If I could ask, please, through the chair, at what cost does street scan, what would it cost the city of Medford? Any idea on that? That's what we're asking the administration to support. Mr. President, I've come down here a couple times now and spoke about Evans Street. Reports are that it's been 65 years since it's been repaved. We know that the gas lines have been redone. We're waiting on the water pipes to be redone, and then we can finally get our street paved. I hope that this doesn't cost too much because, I mean, we've all lived in Medford for a number of years, running for office. We've been through every neighborhood. I think we know what the problems are. I mean, we talked about see, click, fix earlier and, you know, people putting reports on there and having one word resolved and the thing closed and nothing actually being done. I've spoken about the huge pothole that still exists. right at the end of Evans street at the entrance way that has rocks all over the place. I think we know enough about the infrastructure of the city of Medford from, uh, from roof here to the police station to, uh, Fulton Heights where, I mean, when I ran for a state Senate a couple of years ago, when I went through Fulton Heights, I mean, there were roads up there that should be closed. They're dilapidated. We know the water pipes under the city of Medford, the streets that need to be fixed, and whatever streets that are controlled by the state, we need to reach out to the state to have them fix it. I don't think we need to incur another cost for the citizens of Medford who are already paying excise taxes, water taxes, property taxes, surcharge now on the property tax coming up, that I hope people are prepared for. That first payment in January is going back to the 1st of July. That first payment on the CPA is going to be pretty big, and we're not seeing anything done. That woman that came up here before talked about her manhole cover out in front of her condo. I think we know what the problem is. I don't think we need to put any more cost on the city or another layer of government. I mean, I appreciate, I definitely appreciate and understand Councilor Knight's motives, and I'm all for it. But I think we already know what the problem is. And I just think we need to have an administration that's finally going to light a fire under these problems and get them done. Now, the capital improvement project is supposed to start, I believe, next month. But then the winter's going to set in, and we're not going to get to these things until the spring. We've been waiting too long. Evans Street, 65 years. uh, I'm only 46 almost 20 years before I was born. That street need to be repaved. Well, Mr. President, I understand and I appreciate the motives of, of Councilor Knight, but I think we know what the problem is. I don't think we need to incur any costs. I just think these problems need to be, uh, addressed, taken care of and finally fixed for the, for the citizens who are paying a lot of money in the city of Medford. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Capucci. Mr. President, if I may, uh, constant night,
[Adam Knight]: A wise man once said, if we do things the same way over and over again, we're going to get the same results. This is an opportunity for us to take a look at a street. Gentleman comes up here and says the street hasn't been paved in 65 years. 65 years. I don't know how he knows that, because someone said it. Someone must have told him that it's been 65 years. If we have street scan, you know what we're going to have? We're going to have data. And we're going to be able to make data-driven decisions, Mr. President. And database decision-making is the best practice in municipal government. So, you know, with that being said, I still feel as though this data collection tool is very, very valuable to us here in the city. It allows us to make decisions that are informed. It allows us to bite off bigger pieces. And I think that it will really help us out in the long run in our long-term planning. Thank you, Councilor.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Chair recognizes Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, over the years, we've asked for a number of audits in the community, one being for tree stumps. We asked the city to go out and do a complete audit of tree stumps. We asked the city to go do a complete audit of sidewalks and so forth. And you know, I tend to agree with a Councilor Knight that, um, the information would be valuable to have. I know it's an expense, but to be able to map out every street and I realize a lot of them need work and it's not rocket science to drive down the street and see how much work it needs. but I think to have that at your fingertips where you can explore and see that you have a list and see that a street that hasn't been done in 60 something years or see that a street that has four layers of asphalt that may need a total rip up rather than just a top layer repair. These are the things I think you can catch with this type of system and we have hundreds of miles of street in this community. And when we did the mapping and the complete audit of the water and sewer pipes, that's exactly what we did. We hired a company to come in. We know our pipes are old. We know they're 100 years old. We know we have pipes that are lead. We know we have even asbestos pipes on the ground that are old. But in order to get a complete and accurate picture, we hired a company to come in with a camera, and they scoped out the pipes. And they told us where the hot spots are, where we're getting infiltration, where there might be leakage, and so forth. And that information was valuable. The other issue is, will the city follow up? So I agree with doing something to this magnitude. However, I don't think the city will follow up, to be quite honest with you. I think this is a great tool. And if the city wanted to use it as a tool, this would be invaluable to have, but I don't think the city is going to follow up on this. Um, but I do think it, it merits, uh, some review. Um, maybe we should send it down Evans street and have the car break down on Evans street when it hits through all those potholes. And then they could give us a report just on Evans street and see when the bells and whistles goes off when that, when it's dragging its equipment down your street to see what happens. And I don't mean to make light of it, but, um, you know, and by the way, we heard tonight, I think it was council Lungo-Koehn that asked about Evans street, that, uh, Evans street is going to be done, uh, with it by the spring was council Longo. Do we hear the spring in the spring? Is that right? Councilor Fargo. In the spring, it's going to be done. So you're going to finally get some relief. I thought it sounded more like on the fast track that it's already been out.
[Adam Knight]: I talked to him actually the other day. I can read the email to you.
[Michael Marks]: Yeah. Councilman. That's fine. But I want to thank council tonight. I think we have to think outside the box and, um, you know, and I think this is a worthy project. It's probably one of the major concerns I hear in this community, the condition of our streets, the potholes, and so forth. And why not have a complete audit of the roads?
[Adam Knight]: Also, Mr. President, we have public utilities that come into our community, and they request permits to do trench work. And they do trench work, and they say they're going to restore the ground to the same or better condition, the city of Medford standards. Well, then we come into a situation like we're dealing with right now on Doonan Street, where the street got torn up, They've come in, the trench work's been replaced, and it doesn't really live up to what I would find to be city of Medford standards, Mr. President. They left it in worse condition than it was when they got there. And we'll be able to have this tool to drive over the street that they just resurfaced, and we can tell them, no, your trench doesn't meet the standards. It's less dense here. It's more dense here. You didn't pack where you were supposed to pack. You didn't tamp where you were supposed to tamp. So I really think it's going to be a great tool for accountability as well as for database decision making, Mr. President. Madam Researcher.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Just a point of information. I did ask the mayor at our earlier meeting, she said Evans Street Chapter 90 funds repaving, that the contract was awarded and it will be repaved in the spring. That's the answer we got. So I was happy to hear some movement.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. So on the motion approved by Councilor Knight, one more thing, Mr. Capucci.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just really quick. Thank you to Councilor Lungo-Koehn for that information. Just really quick. It was actually Mark Twain who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. But finally, something's being done on Evans Street. But like I said, it was my neighbor, Mrs. Mottola, who's 86 years old, who's lived on that street since I believe she was in her 30s, who told me that that street hasn't been paved in 65 years. I'm not against what Councilor Knight is proposing, but I think we already know what the problems are. Let's fix them first before we throw more money into it. Now, the technology he's talking about is great, but let's fix what we have first and then start monitoring it. This technology actually used to work for a company that built these x-ray machines, and they did projects on like the the suspension bridge in Boston, where they scanned it and they found the holes in the cracks. I agree with what Councilor Knight has proposed, and I think it would be invaluable to the city of Medford. But I think first, let's, I mean, we're talking about all sorts of people going on see click fix and myself coming to the podium and reporting these problems, and we're not seeing anything done. And now we want to come in and spend more money to get information and data that will be valuable that we could work on, but we're not seeing the work done. Let's get the work done first, fix the streets and roads, and then stop monitoring it. That's my point. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Capucci.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And we welcome again, back to the microphone, Mr. Castagnetti. Thank you, Council President.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Nice to see you again. Feeling I'm a just and fair person, after hearing Mr. Capucci talk about his Evans Street many, many times along with his neighbors about being in disrepair. So therefore, about three weeks ago, after hitting some baseballs at Morrison Park, I went across the street, drove my bicycle down there. I've never ever seen a street in such disrepair as an understatement, as he may quote him, I think in the past, look like a war zone of some sort. It's really, I've never seen one so bad, I've never seen one that bad.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's got like the red rocks in it.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Yeah, he's very astute of you, Mr. President. However, Councilor Marks brought up a good point. The Heckner Center. If the contract originally, when it was sold, was written properly by the city, and the stipulation was it would revert back to the city instead of being sold for a dollar if it was not use no longer for a non-profit educational purpose. Correct, Councilor? Thank you, Mr. Marks. So therefore, I would presume, not being a lawyer, however, that there would be a cloud on the title, and that deed should be duly noted and registered at the Cambridge Clerk of deeds. And that money could be used to maybe pave a street or something, or give it to some arts organization that was promised a locale after the Swan School fell to a four to three vote midnight during a snowstorm. That's all I have today. Thank you, sir.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Mr. Castagnetti. So on the motion for approval by Councilor Knight, seconded by Councilor Falco, all those in favor? All those opposed? The ayes have it. Motion is approved. Uh, 16-six 89 offered by Councilor Knight. Be resolved that this city council extend its deep and sincere condolences to the family of Frank Andre on his recent passing. Councilor.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. Um, many of us that grew up here in the city of Medford know Mr. Andre is a longtime Medford resident, a business owner, entrepreneur, uh, thoroughbred racing aficionado and uh, most importantly, the number one fan of the Andre chiefs, Mr. President and uh, recently passed away and his presence is going to be greatly missed in this community. I'd like to extend my deep and sincere condolences to the family and ask the council to join me in doing such.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please. So on the motion of council night, uh, Oh, Councilor max.
[Michael Marks]: I agree with all the comments. Uh, and I thank Councilor Knight for putting this on. I think his biggest accomplishment is the type of family man he was. He raised a great family, and he will be sorely missed, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The President And he gave everybody in this community lasting. Who grew up in this community doesn't remember at one time a significant part of their life being there in that theater, having a wonderful time. We can be grateful to that family and to Miss Andrea. On the motion of Councilor Marks for us to go into suspension. All those in favour? All those opposed? On to suspension 16-693 offered by Councilor Knight. Whereas, beginning in 2006, the Granada Scary Trust was established for the purpose of, first, to bring to public attention and heightened awareness of pancreatic cancer, the third leading cause of death among cancer victims. to raise and distribute funds for research to combat this silent killer in most insidious form of cancer, and third, to provide support and comfort to the families of victims of pancreatic cancer. And whereas, in remembrance of its founder, Kathy Grinard-Skerry, the Grinard-Skerry Trust has worked tirelessly to meet Kathy's commitment to raise $1 million in support of this cause. Whereas on September 24th, 2016, the Granada Scary Trust announced that their goal of raising $1 million has been met and exceeded. Be it resolved that the Metro City Council commend and congratulate the Granada Scary Trust in recognition of their tireless fundraising work on behalf of pancreatic cancer research, and be it further resolved that the Metro City Council extend an invitation to the Granada Scary Trust to appear at an upcoming council meeting for a presentation of a council commendation.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, thank you very much, and thank you to the Granada Scary Trust for all their work that they've done, Mr. President. A number of years ago, Kathy Granada Scary was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and she inspired us all by creating the Granada Scary Trust and making a commitment to raise $1 million for pancreatic cancer research, Mr. President. Now, earlier this evening, you saw the city council spend $1.2 million in two weeks. From 2006 to 2016, the Granada Scary Trust worked tirelessly to raise funds, Mr. President. And they set a goal, Kathy set a goal, a goal of a million dollars. And the Granada Scary Trust, after Kathy's passing, continued to work tirelessly to meet this goal. And on Sunday, at their 10th annual walk, they were pleased to announce that they've met and exceeded Kathy's goal of raising $1 million for pancreatic cancer research, Mr. President. And I really think that this is something that the whole community has rallied behind, not for one year, not for two years, but for the last decade. And, you know, they always say, follow the money. If you follow the money, it's not going to lie. And that's just proof, Mr. President. They've been able to raise $1 million from residents in this community and surrounding communities. to fight this terrible disease all in the memory of Kathy, all based on Kathy's vision. And they didn't quit after a week or a month or a year. They worked for a decade, Mr. President. I think this is something that warrants recognition, Mr. President. I'd ask my colleagues here on the Council to support me in voting in favor of this measure.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. I want to second the resolve. I thank Councilor Knight for putting this on. Sunday marks the 10th annual. It used to be a walk and then it turned into a walk run and I believe it's going to be the last walk run as they moved on and created this lovely gala they have in April. So I just want to thank them for their hard work and a million dollars is going so far towards research for pancreatic cancer and the walk will be missed. I didn't miss one in the last 10 years. I don't think my kids have missed one in eight. So it was, This Sunday, there were hundreds and hundreds of people that probably have to stop the walk because it's just going to get so out of hand with people, crazy amounts of people. So it just shows the efforts that went into Kathy when she started 10 years ago. So she is missed. And thank you, Councilor Knight, for putting this on. And I second the resolution.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Knight for approval, seconded by Vice President Leclerc. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Do we have anything else in your hand? No. The records.
[Michael Marks]: Councilor? Just if I could, Steven Scaparrotti. I don't know if anyone knows him. He's a great, great young man in this community. And I wanted to recognize him, Mr. President. He won the silver medal in the Special Olympic softball just recently. And I know his mother, Janice, and his father, Tony, are very, very proud of him. And I know he watches this meeting religiously. And I want to congratulate Stephen and say you're doing a great job, Steve, and keep up the good work. Congratulations, Steve.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Councilor Marks. I know that the Scaparrotti family, I remember them way back in the day, Walton Glenwood Baseball, so it's great to see the tradition carry on with the Walton Glenwood Pride. So congratulations. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: The tabled records of the meeting of July 19th, 2016. July 19th, 2016. We'll pass to Councilor Marks. Councilor, did I approve that?
[Michael Marks]: How do you find the records to be in order and move approval?
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion, the councillor marks for approval. All those in favour? Aye. All those opposed? The records are approved. The records of the meeting of September 16th, 2016 will pass to Councilor Caraviello. Councilor, how did you find those records? Do you make a recommendation? On the motion for approval by Councilor Caraviello of those records, all those in favour? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries. And on the motion of Councilor Knight to adjourn, all those in favour? All those opposed?
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