[Clerk]: The first regular meeting of the Medford City Council will be called to order in the Howard F. Aldrin Chambers. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[hFAk--zIv7g_SPEAKER_20]: Councilor Camuso? Present. Councilor Cabrera? Present. Councilor Doralizzo? Present. Councilor Knight? Present. Councilor Walker-Kern? Present. Councilor Martz? Present. Councilor Fenton?
[Clerk]: Six present, one absent. Please rise and salute the flag. First order of business for organizational purposes, paper 15-001, election of a council president for 2015. The chair is now soliciting nominations. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I'll submit for nomination Frederick Dello Russo for President. Second.
[Clerk]: Frederick Dello Russo by Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Councilor Camuso. Any further nominations?
[Paul Camuso]: Move the nomination to be closed.
[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso moves the nomination to be closed. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso. Frederick N. Dello Russo. Councilor Caraviello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Frederick N. Dello Russo.
[Clerk]: Five in the affirmative, Frederick Dello Russo, one absent. Frederick Dello Russo, new council president. Please raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, say your name. I, Frederick N. Dello Russo Jr. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully and impartially. That I will faithfully and impartially. Discharge and perform all the duties. Discharge and perform all the duties. Incumbent upon me. Incumbent upon me. As President of the Medford City Council. As President of the Medford City Council. According to the best of my ability. and according to the best of my ability. And understanding. And understanding. Agreeable to the rules and regulations. Agreeable to the rules and regulations. Of the Constitution. Of the Constitution. The laws of this Commonwealth. The laws of this Commonwealth. And the ordinances of the city of Medford.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And the ordinances of the city of Medford. So help me God. So help me God. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Thank you. Thank you all very much. pleasure to serve you all as councilor throughout the years, and it will be a pleasure to serve you and my honor to serve you all as council president. And I'm particularly grateful to my colleagues on the Medford City Council for all your support over the years, and I promise to do my best to lead us in our meetings, be they pleasant or unpleasant. Thank you all.
[Clerk]: Madam Clerk, please record Council Penta present. There's no reconsideration of this type of vote, but we will mark it as approval or comment. Okay, second order of business. Paper 15-0. election of the council vice president for 2015. Chair is open to nominations. Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: I would like to put the name of Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn in nomination for vice president of the Medford City Council. Second.
[Clerk]: Seconded by Councilor Camuso for Breanna Lungo-Koehn, seconded by Councilor Caraviello. Any further nominations? Move the denominations, be closed. Councilor Camuso, move the nominations, be closed. Mayor Clerk, please call the roll. Councilor Camuso. Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Councilor Caraviello. Breanna Lungo-Koehn.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Lange.
[hFAk--zIv7g_SPEAKER_20]: Councilor Lange. Councilor Lange. Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Councilor Caraviello. Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Councilor Caraviello.
[Clerk]: Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Six in the affirmative for Breanna Lungo-Koehn, one present. Congratulations. Please raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, Satan.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I, Breanna Lungo-Koehn.
[Clerk]: Do solemnly swear.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Do solemnly swear.
[Clerk]: That I will faithfully and impartially.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: That I will faithfully and impartially.
[Clerk]: Discharge and perform.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Discharge and perform.
[Clerk]: All the duties.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: All the duties.
[Clerk]: Are coming upon me.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Are coming upon me.
[Clerk]: As Vice President of the Medford City Council.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: As Vice President of the Medford City Council.
[Clerk]: According to the best of my ability.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: According to the best of my ability.
[Clerk]: In understanding.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: In understanding.
[Clerk]: Agreeable to the rules and regulations.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Agreeable to the rules and regulations.
[Clerk]: Of the Constitution.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Of the Constitution. laws of this commonwealth and the ordinances of the city of Medford.
[Clerk]: So help me God.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Happy New Year. I want to thank everybody for being here. It won't be long. We have a lot of business to take care of, but I just want to thank my colleagues. I'm honored to serve as the Vice President of the Medford City Council for 2015. And I thank you for your trust.
[Clerk]: We will now turn the chair over to President de la Rousseau.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Our first order or our next order of business this evening will be the awarding of citations for the Medford High School girls soccer player Rory O'Rourke, the girls volleyball team, and the Medford High School girls soccer team. So if I could invite Councilors Musso and Knight to come forward to make those presentations.
[Paul Camuso]: We're going to split it up. We're going to do soccer first. So if the soccer team can come on up, please. We have two presentations this evening for members of the girls soccer team. First and foremost, we have one individual of our Lady Mustang soccer team that was selected as a Boston Herald All-Scholastic team and selected as the GBL League Girls Varsity Soccer Most Valuable Player and GBL All-Star for the 2014 fall season. And that is Corey O'Rourke. Please come on down. This is not Corey, but she looks so young. She's a farmer Mustang. This is Coach. And now we're going to have members of the girls team up here for being champions in the Greater Boston League of the Soccer League. So I'm gonna read one of these council commendations. The Medford City Council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Olivia Allison, Medford High School Girls Varsity Soccer, in recognition of winning the GBL title with a regular season record of nine, seven, and two, GBL record of five and one, and a playoff berth in the MIAA State Division I Girls Soccer Tournament for the 2014 fall season. And the first one is Olivia Allison. Dora Barrett. Gigi Braga. Sarah Branley. Emma Dorosis. Mary Donnelly. Hannah Gallop. Clyde Gonsalves. Colleen Hardy. Patricia Helion. Haley Massa. Jada McNamee. Talia Madaracho. Julia Matrano. Corey O'Rourke. Come on back. Where is she? Oh, that's right. Thank you. Adrian Perazzo. Congratulations, and now Adrienne Perazzo, as we all remember, she has been a captain of the hockey team since her freshman year at Medford High School. Very good athlete, as well as all these young ladies. Daniela Ramirez. Veruna Silva. And now we're going to call on Coach Perry, who has been with us for many, many years, not only as an outstanding athlete herself at Medford High School, but also a great coach and recently married. Congratulations.
[Rachel Perry]: I'd like to thank the city council for having us here tonight. It's our sixth GBL title along with our sixth time going to the state tournament. The girls did a tremendous job this season. They work hard in and out of the season. Ladies, thank you for your hard work and determination. I really, really do appreciate it. Happy New Year to everybody. I'm looking forward to next year. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: So we're going to go into a brief recess right here with the agreement of the members to take a photograph with the girls team and then we'll move on to the volleyball. call the meeting back to order. We have a similar presentation for the girls volleyball team, who is also the GBL champions. In my hand here I have a citation that reads, the Medford City Council takes pleasure in awarding this council commendation to Tyler Dyer, head coach of the Medford High School girls varsity volleyball team. in recognition of winning the Greater Boston League title with a regular season record of 10-8 and a playoff berth in the MIAA State Division I North Girls Tournament for the Fall 2014 season. Nicole Mortel, captain. Cassandra Ketty. Claire Doncaster, captain. Kali Amla. Ashley Eisner. Helen Lamb. Jocelyn McCarthy. Katrina Rasche. Victoria Rasche. Rene Stodd. Tenzin Funkeng. Brooke Pazzialli. Taya Elise Group. Nika Mirville. And lastly, Abby McCarthy. Congratulations to the 2014 Medford High School Girls Volleyball Champions.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd just like to thank City Council for having us here today. This is the first time in Medford history that the girls volleyball team has won the GBL. So I'm so proud of you girls. You work so hard all season and I'm just so impressed with you and I can't wait to get you all back next year. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: I'm going to take a brief recess to take a photograph with the team.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Item number 15003 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the standing committee rules be adopted as the standing rules of the City Council insofar as they are applicable on the motion of approval by Councilor Caraviello. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion is so ordered. 15004 offered by Councilor Caraviello. Be it resolved that the City Council transfers all papers and committees or on the table from the 2014 council to the 2015 council. On the motion of Councilor Caraviello, all in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The motion carries. Petitions, presentations, and similar matters. Item number 15005. Petition by Mary Kay Benoit of 8 9th Street, Medford to address the council on the Medford Scene Center. Is the petitioner present? On the motion of Vice President Longo-Curran to table. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion's tabled. On motion number, item number 15-006, petition by Joseph Viglione, 59 Garfield Avenue, Medford, to address the council on non-profits use of Medford's name. Is the petitioner present? I think the petitioner is entering the chambers as we speak. Mr. Viglione, your item is up for presentation. We'll give you a moment to compose yourself. Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record, please. Good evening.
[Joe Viglione]: My name is Joe Villione, 59 Garfield Ave, Medford, Mass. Wow, you went through that pretty quick. Happy New Year, City Council. Congratulations, Council President. I'm sure you're going to be a fine Council President. Congratulations, Ms. Lungelkern. And I wanted to talk about nonprofits. There are approximately 22,000 nonprofits in Massachusetts. over a million nationwide. And in Medford, we have had problems with sports and other entities not being properly monitored. The core issue here is that the nonprofits in question, three of them, had people in power for 30 years, 25 years, and I think it's incumbent upon elected officials to monitor these non-profits. Because someone has to. Where do you go to monitor a non-profit? You can go to the Attorney General's office, you can go to the District Attorney, you can go to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, but what gets done? So now we have a new TV station up at the high school, but we have questions about where all this money went from the previous one. West Medford Hillside Little League was able to through an insurance policy, recoup some of the funds, some of the funds, not all of them. I want to know what the elected officials in Medford, the school committee, the mayor, the city solicitor, the city council can do about looking closely at these entities, because if you look at Martha Coakley's site, I know she left office, but the site is still up today, it says that These nonprofits, these public charities, are supposed to help the public, Council President. And in Medford, are they? Where is our community? We have an issue with pay to park. This is something that the nonprofits could work together to say, hey, when we're having an event at the Chevalier Theater, maybe it should be free parking on that evening without a solid government look at these nonprofits and how they operate, we're going to have the same old, same old problem. Now, City Solicitor Rumley did a great job in 2008 with something we call the Rumley Report. It was written February 14, 2008, readily available on the web, but it was like going to a dead end. Our city solicitor worked very hard to find all this information, and the mayor met with that nonprofit at two pizza parlors. I don't understand, Council President. So in 2015, I want to know how we can govern these nonprofits better. They're independent. They have a board of directors. They have a president. But they just do things that are To the benefit of the board members, even if they're being honest with the money, they still make it a closed club, some of these entities. I want to know what this council can do because we pay a lot of money to each councilor, a lot of money. And I know you all work hard and you go through the year looking at doing the best job you can. But with the kind of government we have, with this mayor having all the power, I think the city council needs to look at the money they're getting paid and say, hey, how can we control this a little bit better? Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: Motion to receive and place on file.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso to receive and place in file. All those in favor. Councilor Penta.
[Robert Penta]: On that motion. On that subject matter, I believe it's incumbent upon somebody in the city. And it's obvious that the administration maybe doesn't want to handle it. It doesn't want to talk about it. But the fact of the matter is, We have two particular cases that I wrote standing. One is the West Method Little League Hillside, and the other one is Channel 3. And Channel 3 has a large duty of obligation to the rate payers who have Comcast television, and now for those folks that have Verizon television. Because on a monthly basis, a fee has been taken out of your Comcast and Verizon bills for the purposes of giving you public access TV. Why the mayor decided to choose to put it up at the high school, a place that's not convenient, and centrally located as was suggested by the that the mayor commissioned back in January, which submitted their report this past March. I mean, April, excuse me. Um, I don't know why, but the fact of the matter is it's going up there. But during that period of time, there's a lot of new folks that are here. So you might as well hear it for the first time during that period of time, since December of 2000, um, 2013 till now, uh, the city of Medford has amassed over 356 million, $356,000 of your rate payers money. And we haven't had public access TV during that period of time. Now, there's an approximate cost of, I believe, in the booklet that we received two weeks ago, of a cost of approximately $300,000, I think, and $26,000 to refurbish a particular part of the vocational school to have public access be up there and running. I may be off by a few dollars, but I think that's the dollar amount. With that being said, you know, it's a step. Is it a step in the right direction? Hopefully it is. But the fact of the matter is that the old board of directors and the members of Channel 3 have been unaccounting are unaccountable for all the monies that they had not only in their inventory of assets, but also in their inventory of cash and deposits minutes to the meeting. And as Mr. Viglione indicated, um, our city solicitor has made numerous requests of those folks to submit the returns, um, to give our cash balances. What's the name of the bank accounts? And we have yet to receive that. I know that they filed a petition of dissolution back, I believe, in October of 2014, in 2013, excuse me. And to this day, we still have nothing. What it's going to take, I don't know. I would hope that the mayor would have been more aggressive in going after your money, because it is your money, as a rate payer. to a cable TV subscriber, Comcast, and now Verizon, that's an awful lot of money. But we haven't had it for a while. So, I think if I understood the gentleman at the podium correctly, these are things that are part of our municipal government. And when you attach the name of Medford on anything that a governmental entity or a non-governmental entity might do, but to take advantage of the city's name of Medford, I think there is a sense of responsibility that we do have. And I would hope, Mr. President, under your leadership, there would be some sense of a committee meeting that would direct ourselves by way of maybe either policy or directing of the mayor to report back as it relates to these entities that use the name of Medford to their advantage, but to the disadvantage of the people who are using, are playing, or a cable subscriber that unfortunately has the name of Medford attached to it. So I think before you receive it and place it on file, there is a common understanding I think that needs to be made to cable TV subscribers, because I think if they knew each and every month, Mr. President, that money was coming out of their cable bill since December of 2013 until now, and if they realize that the city is sitting on $356,000 of their money, and there was no public access station for all that period of time, I don't think that they would appreciate it, and I don't think a lot of people understand it, because it's just That's a small little notation on your cable bill, but it's there each and every month, whether it's 97 cents or a dollar something, whatever it might be. But I just wanted to say that.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If I can comment, I'm under the impression that that amount that's been sitting dormant from all of our bills is actually a bit more, but I don't have an accurate rendering on that. And for all the money we pay in cable and there's nothing ever on TV, Mr. Councilor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: It's on motion of Councilor Camuso. Councilor? I agree with Councilor Penter to the point. If people are going to use the name Medford, the city seal or anything of that nature, then the city should be a watchdog. I think this has to be with websites that are out there, domain names and things of that nature too, because people do maliciously name Medford. for different entities, including the gentleman that just spoke. So maybe if we want to look at this, we'll look at anything that contains the name Medford and get ahold of it. And I look forward to doing that under Councilor Pinter's recommendation at the subcommittee.
[Fred Dello Russo]: So if we can send that to the appropriate subcommittee, once the subcommittees have been reorganized, we'll certainly bring that up. Gentleman is at the podium.
[Joe Viglione]: Thank you very much, Council President. Let me clarify. My petitions about non-profits that use the name Medford, anyone in this community who is a taxpayer and who is a resident can use the name Medford any way they want, as long as they're not wanting to overthrow the government or, you know, things of that nature. But come on, non-profits using the name Medford are what I spoke about. And there's a certain individual on this council that likes to engage in subterfuge, and it is wrong. Non-profits using the land, using ballparks, have to be held accountable. And that individual that spoke up should have been the first person looking at the books, not enjoying benefiting from TV3. in violation of the Internal Revenue Code. So he ought to shut his mouth and let us do the city business that he doesn't want to do for that money. And I would appreciate him not speaking because for obvious reasons. Well, with all due respect, as long as as long as I'm sitting here, this individual I do not want in my life. I'll get a restraining order on him.
[Paul Camuso]: Joe, good luck to you. I think there's a lot of people out here that want him on you. So good luck to you in your future endeavors, Mr. Viglione. With all due respect, I'm just referring to what my council colleague said. Nothing to do with the gentleman at the podium stated, but my council colleague actually said it eloquently, Councilor Penta, in any and all institutions and our endeavors that use the word Medford. And I think it's something that's wise, and I want to applaud Councilor Penta for expanding on the gentleman's views. So thank you very much, Councilor.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Duly noted. Mr. Sir, state your name and address for the record, please.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I fully agree through the chair with Councilor Camuso that if this gentleman wants to look at things with the name Medford attached to it, even though he's not a nonprofit organization, he uses Medford Information Central. to go after people vehemently, and this reflects badly on the city of Medford when he uses the name Medford on it. It is a disrespect to the city. It should be looked into. For a quick example, he referred to City School Committee member Aaron DiBenedetto. And I won't repeat the name, in a derogatory name. If he's going to use Medford, he needs to represent Medford as a respectable city that it is. I want to thank Councilor Camuso for bringing that up. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, sir.
[Robert Cappucci]: And will Councilor Carafiello.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'll yield to Mr. Viglione.
[Joe Viglione]: inside Medford, Medford Transcript, the media, whether you like it or not, there's no free speech in this city. No one can say ee, ooh, or boo about anything in this city. If you make a comment about money being stolen at West Medford Hillside Little League, oh my God. You know, if you make a comment about Erin DiBenedetto, which is, she's a lovely person. School committee people are great. But if I disagree with her politics, we need an ombudsman for this city. Mr. Cappucci doesn't like it because I explained his platform. It was very narrow. God bless him. I think he's a great guy. But he wasn't ready for prime time to go after Senator Jalen. A very respected person. She got my vote. I voted Republican across the board this time, but Pat Jalen got my vote. She's a good woman. Medford, if you want to have a magazine, and if Mr. Cappucci doesn't like it, he can create his own magazine. But the nonprofits is what I wrote about. It is in the agenda. non-profits using the name Medford. Let's get it straight. And I'm glad that we had 250,000 hits tonight, a quarter of a million on medfordinformationcentral.blogspot.com. I'm glad people are reading it. A quarter million hits, I must be doing something right, because no one's reading those other rags.
[Paul Camuso]: Quick question for the gentleman at the podium. Well, I'd just like to know, do you have press credentials? Because when other reporters come to this meeting, I notice they actually have credentials issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If we could address all of our remarks to the chair.
[Paul Camuso]: I apologize. I'm published in eight books, sir. I just finished another book. Do you have press credentials from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? Yes or no? It's very easy. I have my own press credentials, sir. From the Commonwealth?
[Joe Viglione]: I don't want to talk to you, Paul Calusa, because you are a reprobate.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I'll do my own research. Thank you. I'll do my own research. Councilor Caraviello, and then Councilor Knight.
[Richard Caraviello]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I've been involved in many nonprofits in the city for a long time. I know some of my other colleagues on the council have been, and most of them are good. I mean, there's been a few bad apples over the years, but I think you're seeing now people are being more responsible and where the money's being spent over the years. And part of it comes from the same board being on there too long. And I say, I think now, a new day and age, people are asking questions where they never asked before. So don't condemn all the good organizations for those couple of bad ones.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. And as we all know, the Office of the Attorney General scrutinizes all the books of nonprofits, as well as all their filings and tax filings. Councilor Knight. I'll yield my time to the gentleman at the podium, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Councilor. Mr. President, through the chair, thank you, Councilor Knight. Really briefly, on the issue of free speech, I'm not out to deny anybody's free speech. We have certain inalienable rights, but with these rights comes responsibility. I have the freedom of speech right now to scream fire and scare everybody to run out, and that's a matter of free speech. But it would be highly irresponsible of me to do so. And this is the point I'm trying to make with Medford Information Central. The gentleman comes up, and he says, I have great respect for Aaron DiBenedetto. But then he calls her Aaron DiBenderover on his website. And Mr. President, I agree with you. I don't tolerate it either. With freedom of speech comes responsibility into being adult. and represent our city in a respectable way. That's all I'm asking for. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Mr. President, I think that it's about time we move on the question.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On the motion of Councilor Camuso, as amended to receive and place on file.
[Paul Camuso]: I withdraw to receive and place on file.
[Fred Dello Russo]: as amended to be sent to the appropriate committee. Once those committees have been that, um, Mr. President, may I be so bold to suggest that business and economic development be the appropriate committee that that'd be central. We're on the motion of council night that the paper would be sent to the business and economic development committee.
[Robert Penta]: There may be a new committee you may want to find. You may want to eliminate some committees.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, at the present time, we adopted the standing rules of the committee. So those committees are presently, enacted until we make a change to the rules of the standing rules.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Your point of order is so noted and regarded. And so to that committee as indicated by Councilor Knight. All those in favor? All those opposed? So moved. Folks, I know there's a number of you that want to speak here on a particular matter. We're just gonna tidy up one more piece of business and then we're gonna do that. So on the motion of Councilor Caraviello for suspension of the rules to take a paper out of order. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Number 15-007, request for expenditure from law department claims over $1,000. Account number 10. 1-5-1-5-7-6-2. Date, December 23rd, 2014. To the President and members of the Honorable Medford City Council, from Mayor Michael J. McGlynn. Claimant name, Dorothy Dixon v. City of Medford. Date of accident, April 16th, 2012. Date of settlement, December 23rd, 2014. Date of trial reside, non-applicable. Amount of request, $5,000. Claimant's attorney, Jeffrey C. Levy, Esquire. Description of alleged claim. The claimant, Dorothy Dixon of 4 Kilby Street in Woburn, seeks compensation for personal injuries. On the motion of Councilor Marks, woman had a collision with a city vehicle with a child in the car. Driver had some injuries regarding some $4,392 worth of medical bills and a total settlement, which will exceed that eventually. And the total settlement is for $5,000. We have the representative of the office of the city solicitor here. If you could just state your name and address for the record. Real quickly.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_15]: Thank you, Mr. President, Councilors. Kimberly Scanlon, 75 Ashcroft Road, Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Medford.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. On the motion of approval for Councilor Camuso, Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Any item over $500 of expenditure must be approved by roll call vote.
[Clerk]: Councilor Camuso? Yes. Councilor Caraviello? Yes. Councilor Knight? Yes. Vice President Lungo-Koehn. Yes. Council March. Yes. Council Penta. Yes. President Dello Russo.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. Vote of seven affirmative, non-negative. The motion passes. Thank you.
[k3Xg1illaRI_SPEAKER_15]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Paul Camuso]: Do I have a paper on that?
[Clerk]: Where is it?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Is she here? She was tabled. Is Ms. Benoit here? On the motion of Councilor Camuso to hear concerned citizens.
[Paul Camuso]: To hear from the Chief of Police as well as concerned citizens. On the motion of Councilor Camuso.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Mr. Chief.
[Leo Sacco]: Mr. President, uh, Leo Sacco, police chief in the city of Medford. I live at two 27 Elm street in Medford. Uh, I think it's appropriate at this time that, uh, members of the public present their concerns. I'm here to answer questions that may develop as a result of their concerns. And with me tonight, I have, uh, two representatives from Republic parking. I have Jack Skelton, who is one of the principals of the firm. And I also have Dan Nash, who's a regional manager. who's overseeing the operation here in Medford at this point. So I yield to the, uh, to the public.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, chief. And folks, just a kind word to you all. I know this is a, uh, subject of great concern, uh, to so many of you here tonight. Um, just, uh, we like everything to be done in an orderly way as hopefully had been evidenced earlier. and we allow you to come up and speak for no more than 10 minutes. And I think if my council colleagues will perhaps agree and bear with me, we'll allow the citizens to speak, and then the councilors will have their opportunity to interchange with the people and the officials present. Yes, Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Just before we get started, Mr. President, it would have been, in my opinion, helpful to have a public hearing prior to any negotiations, prior to any contact with the potential outside firm that's taking over parking management. It would have been helpful to have businesses, residents at the table before change could happen. And now we're at a point where the program's starting and we want to hear from residents and we want to hear from business owners. And I just think this process has been backwards, to be quite honest with you, Mr. President. And I'm hoping that Chief Sackler's here tonight, and there's two gentlemen from Republic. But I'm hoping some of what takes place tonight, the comments that we hear, doesn't fall on deaf ears. Because as we've seen just over the last couple of weeks, that the administration has made several major changes to his pay for parking proposal. based on input, which should have been had months and months ago. So, you know, I, it's great that residents are coming up, but I hope that whatever stated that the mayor really takes into consideration and, uh, uh, if need be sit back down with Republican, the chief, uh, and I and out some of these major concerns we still exist was the president. And I thank you for giving me that opportunity.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor Marks. And also if I could, um, uh, just point out that, uh, Just before the meeting, a Park Medford parking information pamphlet was just published and distributed within the past day or so. And hopefully this will be distributed to the citizens of Medford. Councilor Penter, did you want to speak briefly?
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, one quick point before the citizens speak, and I think it has to be made clear. The Medford City Council did not vote for this paid park program. The council agenda of 14472 on May 20th of 2014 read as follows for the purposes of supporting the mayor to entertain or to engage in a 10-year contract and then report back. But that resolution was amended. And this is the exact words. And if anybody doubts what I'm saying, you can get a copy of the tape and watch it. The exact words are as follows. And it's not the exact words that are in the minutes of the meeting. It says the following, to amend the motion that the council meet before the signing so that we have a complete understanding. And at that point, I was interrupted by city solicitor Rumbley, who then indicated by saying that he thought it would be a good idea to have the company and also show the council certain things about the machine and of end of quote, then I continued on to say, so as amended that having the major, the mayor, whoever the vendor might be to present themselves before the council before the finalization of the contract. Now, That is officially on our records of our meeting. September 10th of this past year, the Medford City Council met for the purposes of looking at a contract. right here, we've got two of them. One we got in September and another one in October. The exact same contract a month apart with just one difference. The Medford City Council at that meeting on September 10th was met at that room by Medford citizens, certain members of the council, and questions as it relates to the contract that was being presented. The Medford City Council never ever took a vote to finalize or giving the mayor the final authority for the purposes of engaging in this pay-to-park program. So what you have here right now and what you talk about right now is completely the Mayor McGlynn's pay-to-park program with no endorsement from the City of Medford's Council or any other elected official. It's his program and he owns it and unfortunately you're here tonight but whatever we can do to resolve it, this is the intent of the City Council. Unfortunately I wish the Mayor was here to listen to you Like Councilman Mark said, it should have gone around to the entire community. There's a whole bunch of issues, and pitches don't lie. I've got a whole bunch of pitches, and I have comments. I've received 106 emails from business people throughout this community in the last two days, because they're starting to find out about it. But I'm willing to stay here all night, listen to whatever your comments are, and Chief, with all due respect, I think this is a bogus plan implemented upon the citizens, the business community, and the taxpayers of the city of Medford.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Penta. We'll now open up the podium to the citizens who wish to speak. Please approach the podium. You can line up if you'd like. And as you approach, if you could state your name and address clearly so that the clerk may make that part of the public record.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: My name is Gwendolyn Blackburn. I live at 233 Arlington Street in West Medford. Congratulations on becoming the president. and congratulations for being the vice president. I was coming before anybody was coming up here because I served on the committee with Councilor Marks. I was very happy. I've lived in Medford for 51 years. And whenever that there is something that I can do to help the city, I have been willing to serve and to help in any way possible. I served as an administrator in the Medford Public Schools for 32 years. I know a lot of people, know a lot of kids. And we always tried to do things the right way. When I was asked by the mayor to serve on a parking enforcement committee back in 2009, Councilor Marks, you have to help me, I'm getting old. It seemed to me like something I really would like to see happen because I felt that there were places certainly in the city where we needed to have enforcement, some enforcement. We went around to a lot of different places. I haven't been down here before because Councilor Marks has been talking about what we did. And then the nights that I thought it would come, it was either pouring rain, it was very cold or something. But at this point in time, with what is going on and what has happened, without any knowledge of the citizens, unless some of you got the knowledge that they were going to be putting these stanchions or whatever they are in the street, I thought it was important. The businesses are going to be suffering. There's a house on High Street, number 418. And if it was my house, I would take a sledgehammer, and it would be on the ground by now, because it would be in front of that house. I don't know who went with these people, whoever they are. and showed them places that these so-called kiosks, or whatever they are, who showed them where they should be, because they are in many inappropriate places. The other part that happened, when we had our committee, we worked with the businesses. We had a public meeting, and there was standing room right here in this council chamber. The business people had an opportunity to tell us what they would like to see. And we made that report. And I love the chief. I'm not going to pick on you. He was our chair, and he went with us to every city and town that we went to to see what their program was like. We got a lot of good information. We thought that it would be good to have some of the senior citizens, such as they have in Malden, to go around and do the parking enforcement. At one point, when we did have an opportunity to have a conversation with the mayor, he spoke about a kiosk at that time. We said, no, we don't want kiosks unless, like Arlington, they're in parking lots. That is not what has happened. He thought, on the street, we were opposed, and maybe not all of us, most of us on the committee, we were opposed to having kiosks on the street. Have people come put money here or there or wherever, and then walk eight spots down the street so that you can go to, maybe you're going to, as he said, Medford Pastry, but it could be on the corner. We were opposed to all that. We wanted to have, and the businesses wanted to have some meters, and we agreed to talk about having meters on the street. The police officers, who have a lot of things to do, They wanted to do the enforcement, and that was fine, but we also felt that some of our senior citizens could do that as well. We're in a situation now that I, from what I'm told, that we're stuck for 10 years with these things. We don't even know anything about them. No one has contacted us. And whatever you have that's going to be mailed to us, people are being stopped on the street, and they're being told, you have to put money in these things. Well, I know they're called kiosks, but I could call them something else. I think that we have been really dealt a really bad hand at this point in time. That we were not given the respect as citizens and taxpayers, and by the way, my tax bill went up again. But we're not being treated properly in this city. You want to do something, don't talk to the citizens like our committee did. Our committee had the citizens, the public, come out so that they would have an input in what they wanted to see as parking enforcement in our city. Didn't happen now. Next thing we heard, we had kiosks or next thing I saw these things coming up around different places on the street. I guess there's one up on the steps of the cemetery or right in front of the steps of the cemetery. I've gone up and down the street to see where I can find some. I don't understand. I don't understand why people are being stopped now and told that they have to put money in these things when we have not even gotten any mail. And I had heard we were going to get a letter or some direction as to how it works. I was also told that if you go down and talk to the mayor, if you have a place that you would not like to see it, go talk to the mayor, and the mayor will tell you, go see. Well, I can't do anything about it. You need to get in touch with Republic or whoever they are. What do they know about our city? We had a wonderful city. There was a man up here last week, I believe, from West Medford who had a lot to say. And I wish I could have been here with him so I could have applauded what he had to say. People move to Medford because of the kind of city that we have here. And people move to West Medford because it's like the village. But I don't know how these businesses are going to stay in business with the way that this thing, of course, we don't really know how it's working because we haven't gotten that kind of information, but I guess it's coming. We have right here, I have brought along with us tonight the owner of one of the sub shops in West Mefford who has petitions from people who signed in West Medford in his snapshot. Jimmy, why don't you and your son come up and bring your petitions. You can give them to the city councilors.
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_04]: I'm Jimmy, Jimmy Spirakis.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If you're through Mrs. Blackburn speaking and wish to yield to this gentleman.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: I'm going to yield to him because he has pages of petitions.
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_04]: Please state your name and address for the record. I'm Jimmy Spirakis. I own the block on High Street 501, 509 and also Jimmy's Pizza.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much. And if you have something to be distributed to the council members, you may give it to the messenger of the Medford City Council. And he is the duly appointed person to distribute.
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_04]: Go ahead.
[Leo Sacco]: I'm the son of Jimmy. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Welcome. Do you wish to share anything with the council?
[Q7cD9OP2TNA_SPEAKER_04]: Well, uh, Yes, we disagree with this idea. And every day, we hear customers who say, Jimmy, your business, I'm sorry, they're not going to be the same. And this is very, you know, very bad decision to do mirrors. And we come in for 10 minutes to pick up a pizza or something, and we go next door to a tailor just to bring a jacket, something. You know, it's very bad. And already today, two customers says, we walk over the place to the road. They walk the road. They don't drive their cars. They come to pick up a pizza. He says, I'm walk, and I'm going to use my car because I don't want to pay them money. And also, down the street for me, it's another block of businesses. They don't have a mirror over there. And, of course, businesses, they're going to take from me because they're going to go all the way down because they don't have to pay. They can buy pizza from other places. It's no minute on the street. So I don't think it's a good idea. And we're going to be, actually, we need help. The last two or three years, business is about 12% down West Medford. We need some kind of help to increase the business. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: Thank you. I guess I'm finished. Thank you very much. Well, I'm never finished, but I'll just stop because I think that we're in a bad situation, as far as I can tell, with these kiosks. That is what they're called?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Yes. Kiosks.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: Yeah. Kiosks. And I think we've really done, or the person who made them possible have put our city in a bad, bad situation and the businesses in a bad, bad situation. And it would have been nice had there been respect given to the citizenry here so that everybody could have had input. And now it sounds like it's too late. But we're not going to give up. We'll fight for 10 years.
[Fred Dello Russo]: And folks, if you wish to speak, you just stand in the aisle and wait in line. Sir, please state your name and address for the record. My name is Anthony D'Antonio, Yale Street.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: What number, Yale Street, sir? Number 12. Number 12, Yale Street. And congratulations, President Dello Russo and Madam Vice President on selection. Thank you, my neighbor. congratulations on a good year last year from all the council members. Although I didn't agree with everything you gentlemen and women came up with, but you're doing a great job out there and welcome back to the forefront. Mr. Camuso. I have, uh, I wrote a, uh, a small paper because I wanted to keep on track with what I want to say and some of the issues that have already been brought up, but I need to make, Oh, I need to make some statements. I want these statements to be heard. So forgive me if I am redundant and what somebody else has come up and said, but starting off, um, sir, if you could quiet down so that the speaker can be unimpeded, this parking program, as we know, it does not serve the best interests of the citizens. you represent, and in doing so, you've added a financial burden to our residents and our business community, not to mention a physical hardship for the disabled, seniors, and visitors to the city. I will not debate the logistical nightmare in the conception of this program, now known as Park Medford, because many questions still need to be answered. And I am hopeful that this honorable body will answer these questions respectfully, factually, and without prejudice. Park Medford is not the answer to enforcement in this city. And I'll say it again and again, this is a revenue program. It is not an enforcement program. I am hopeful, well Park, I'm sorry, I got off the sign there. I got a bigger printing here. It presents many problems. Among them are inaccuracies, ambiguities, favoritism, short-sightedness, and most glaring, common sense and respect to our citizens, to the businesses, and to our men and women on the police department, including our traffic supervisors, all of whom are quite capable of doing the job. Excuses about not being able to add to our public safety budget are just that. It is a sad state of affairs when the hard work, tireless efforts, and recommendations of Mr. Marks and Mrs. Blackburn and other members of the Traffic and Parking Study were totally ignored. due diligence was certainly missing and lacking in this presentation of this parking program. One cannot orchestrate a tumultuous program such as this in the manner in which it was done. It appears most definitely there has been selective placement of kiosks. Why no outcry from the Chamber of Commerce? For what purpose do they exist and for whom do they serve? They stood by mutely and watched as certain businesses remained free and clear of kiosks, while other businesses did not. Some politicians lack business experience and business sense, not all but some. But the smart ones, the ones who truly recognize it is their responsibility to work on behalf of the citizenry, will reach out and put the business paradigm on the table in an open forum, not behind closed doors at the expense of the taxpayer. Why, for instance? And please take note that I am objectively pointing out examples, free of any animosity, and as neutral as I can be. But I need to make this point by example. Why do we place kiosks in the center of West Medford Square, but have none as you enter from Arlington? Examples given, Joe's Peach and Charles Liquors, in the block of stores as you approach Boston Avenue. By the way, I received a text earlier today from Joan Gatto, who is the owner and proprietor of magnificent muffin. She is out of town and wanted me to express her concern on this particular program, as well as the concern she has for her other business colleagues in the area. Now to continue, I have to make a statement here and it is with all due respect and it concerns the placement and not placement of kiosks. and several business establishments in the city. I have been a long friend to the Dello Russo family in Medford. I have questions. Why? See, when I was growing up, a funeral parlor is solemn to me. It's like a chapel. Why they would place kiosks in front of certain places like in Sincardi's or Gaffey's, where there are other stores available in the area, and why none at other places? There should be none at all in any of these places. There should be no kiosks in the city of Medford. But the point I want to make is, who came up with this decision to put this here and that there? No kiosks on Main Street all the way from Medford Square to the corner of Wright Avenue and Yale Street, and then stopping at Wareham Street. I mean, it's a small square. It's, it's, it's vulnerable to going out of business down there. There's people that are, that are struggling, but yet there's convenience, convenient food markets that have none in front of them. I, I, I find it hard to believe that anybody would put a program together like that. And I'm sure that the people sitting on the council really didn't have much to do with the placement of the kiosk. I'm pretty sure. I know they didn't, but I just don't understand the concept, the idea and how it was put together. I also think it's unconscionable that kiosks are put where people worship, where parents go to pick up their children at the library or at school. And that two hour and less free parking is available in certain areas and other areas have kiosks and patrons who are required to pay. No enforcement on Sundays. That's another question. Why wouldn't it be prudent to have no enforcement on Saturdays except for permitted streets? Because on Saturday, Most of the mom and pops, most of the small cash and carries, most of the hair salons, the nail salons, everybody that's in business, that's when they do a brisk business on a Saturday. Everybody's home for the most part. Everybody is out shopping. So why do they need to be punished to pay? And then on Sunday, there's no enforcement. And here's a fact for you to digest. On Sunday spells disaster for our neighborhoods that have permit parking in opposition on the periphery of the smallest squares. Most businesses are closed. It's a family day, and we will have to put up with noise, more noise, incorrectly parked vehicles, blocked driveways, more garbage thrown on the streets and sidewalks. Then there's trying to hold spaces for expected company. Is this what we get for our tax dollars, a demise of our quality of life? And here's a real eye-opener, and I don't get this one at all, a 7 a.m. start time for enforcement. Where did that come up from 7 o'clock? How many people are on the road going to their jobs and typically stop at certain stores to grab a coffee, a scratch ticket, or some other commodity? Why are certain businesses being punished? Hell, they'll go someplace else, and who suffers? We all do. This program is lacking true parking enforcement. Can you not see this? In closing, I stand by my belief and on my own as a concerned citizen in a former mayoral candidate and former business owner outside the city of Medford. This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Ma'am, please state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_04]: My name is, um, Millie Casicio and I live at 289 Elm Street. I don't know much about this. I only heard about this less than a week ago from some friends. I don't know if I'm pro or con the kiosk. I know I've used one in Arlington. I've used one in Belmont. But I also, there's so many misinformation going on out there. I had friends tell me, I go to the senior center sometimes. Oh my God, they were so upset. First of all, every time, I don't happen to do it, but there's some people, they go there every day for their lunch. First of all, like, oh, they're gonna have to pay to park when they go for lunch, and they can't, now not only, paying after two hours. I said, well, you know, a lot of places you have to pay after two hours. No, they have to move their cars. They have to get this. Now, from what I talked to someone while I was waiting, they're not going to have to move their cars, are they? After two hours.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think that the, perhaps the most prudent thing would be once everyone's finished their remarks, the representatives of the parking management company and also the police chief of the city of Medford will explain things to you. And I would suggest to you that they are the authoritative voice in these matters, rather than hearsay.
[SPEAKER_04]: Why, I know, but this is going all over the place. I mean, oh, and what are these people going to do? They can't go. I said, well, maybe they just need to, you know, if they feel longer, they have to pay more money. Okay? Oh, no, they have to move the cars. I said, I doubt that, but I don't know. But we're going to get this information now after the whole, you know, every, especially the senior center, they're all, like, going crazy. Like, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? And I, like I said, I knew nothing of this until less than a week ago. But I knew this meeting was going to be here tonight. And I said, let me go and see if I... And I've really, at this point, still not found out. I don't know who says this, who says that. And I used to park, I worked for a while down towards the Seaport District, and it was a private But that's how they were, you know. I had to go park my car, then I had to go to the kiosk, which half the time didn't work. Then I had to pay, then I had to get that little ticket, then I had to go back and put it inside my car. And, you know, it was pretty cold down there sometimes. But there's all this misinformation going on. And that's really why I'm here to say, you know, people have to know. And I have a friend that lives in Gloucester. They have like four seniors. It's not a problem for me. I don't go that often, you know, and I can't get, but they have things for seniors. Because the people that were talking to me were saying, no, they're going to have to move their car, and they're going to pay all their money. And I was talking to my friend, and I said, well, what are you doing? She said, well, if you're a senior citizen, you go to, and I don't know, you get some kind of thing to stick on your car. in that. But it's just the misinformation that's bothering me. I wanted to sell this stuff. When I got here, now I'm listening. I'm like, ooh, this is even worse. So that's what I have to say. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much for coming up, ma'am. Yes, Councilor.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. If we could have the chief of police or somebody from Republic answer that question. I know other Councilors probably got an email regarding the senior center. Can you elaborate on that so we can get those answers first?
[Leo Sacco]: I mean, the senior center was always a consideration because we know how many people park there on a given day to visit the center during various hours. We've been trying to get the exact number or as close as possible to the exact number of vehicles involved. and designate an area in that lot that would be free so that they could go have their lunch, participate in the activities, as well as some of the volunteers that work there that work with the seniors. So that's, that's a work in progress. As I said, two weeks ago at the council meeting regarding the parking, there's going to be a lot of fine tuning. There's going to be a lot of tweaking as this goes along. Uh, and just based on my experience working with the, these gentlemen and others that are working, uh, staffing their office, They're very agreeable, they're very easy to work with, and they don't want to hurt anyone, especially when it comes to the seniors and the senior parking. But one thing the city has to get used to, for so many years, we've had free parking on the streets. And it's come time that things had to change, because the amount of vehicles, the amount of traffic, and the amount of people that are abusing the free parking privileges had to change. But as far as the seniors, There is a plan in place to designate the parking.
[Robert Penta]: Just as a point of clarification, Chief, you said for years and years we've had a lot of what, free parking? Yes. On the streets.
[Leo Sacco]: That's right.
[Robert Penta]: But we've also had an extreme lack of enforcement, and we wouldn't be here if the enforcement activity took place.
[Leo Sacco]: That's absolutely correct, Councilor, and I'll take some of the blame for that, that there's been a lack of enforcement. But when we have to prioritize what we handle on a given day, And the lack of steady, consistent enforcement, where we don't have the number of offices to dedicate to just go street to street and write tickets, that's part of the bigger problem, the bigger issue. Since 2009, actually 2008 when the committee was formed, We went around, we got ideas from other communities. And I can remember every single time, no matter who I spoke to, whether it be in this building or in the community, they always use Somerville as an example. Granted, Somerville is very effective at what they do. They generate $8 to $10 million a year. But one thing we know we don't want is to be just like Somerville, where people are hiding behind bushes just to drop a ticket on a vehicle. And I think that we have the good mix here with, with Republic and the involvement of the city. So yeah, it's time. And now the enforcement is coming. What was stated earlier about public meetings. We had a public meeting as Mrs. Blackburn mentioned back in May of 2009 and the recommendations went forward from that to the mayor's office. And that went in October of 2009. And one of the recommendations was that some form of parking control device be on the street. And at that time, kiosks were mentioned. And we know that there were some people that may not have been on the committee that favored kiosks. But the technology wasn't there. Here we are five years later, or just about five years later, the technology has improved so much. And it's less damage on the street. If you put single head meters all over the place, you'd be destroying the sidewalks up and down. When it comes to snow removal, the meters and poles will be knocked down. When one kiosk can handle 10 or 12 vehicles, and you don't have to pay and display, you get the receipt, you put the receipt in your pocket, and you walk away, and you save that just as it is as a receipt, if in fact at some point you get a ticket. So there's a lot of things that took place. But also, the Office of Community Development held a meeting in this room in March, and I believe it was March 31st, 2010 a public meeting that asked for the public's involvement and input for parking needs in Medford square. So they asked the business community and they asked the public. I'm not sure of the attendance of that point of information.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Marks chief.
[Michael Marks]: I think the issue is that when we had the public hearing back in 2009 it was to get input on eventually trying to create a parking management program in the city. What people are asking now is there's been no and the mayor's pay for parking plan. So there's been no public hearing chief. I mean, you could talk about a second meeting. That meeting wasn't regarding the mayor's plan that was being laid out chief at the time, if you recall.
[Leo Sacco]: No, but I think if you look at the recommendations that were submitted, almost every one of them has something to do with the program that's going forward this month.
[Robert Penta]: Chief pointed further clarification in the report that you folks submitted. on page number two. Third paragraph, first line, if parking is a major problem in the city, then a necessary first step in taking that enforcement needs to be seriously taken. Last sentence, what was realized was the steady, consistent enforcement was necessary where all violations and violators were treated the same. That's 2009, this is 2014, that's five years later, this mayor's been here and for five years he's done nothing about traffic enforcement. Now he wants to beat the people up and make this a revenue enhancement program and that's
[Leo Sacco]: That's not what the report's about. All I can say is going forward from that 2009 report, we did recommend some form of meter control on the streets.
[hFAk--zIv7g_SPEAKER_20]: That was the number one?
[Leo Sacco]: Recommendation number four, I believe.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, Chief. Councilor Camuso. To the Chief. Waited patiently. Thank you, Chief. And I'm just a little confused because I'm hearing some different things. Ms. Blackburn, well respected in our community, her years of service in the school department, Councilor Marks, yourself, Marguerite Lynch, Anthony Santoro sat on the original committee back in 2009. That's correct. Well, 2008 into 2009. And I went back to some of my old archive records. The recommendations were the agreement consensus that consistent parking enforcement is needed to provide efficient turnover. for pocket spaces to assist the local businesses. And one of the members actually was on there as a representative of the Chamber of Commerce at the time. It's like any other agency or group. turn over, so that's who was sitting there at the time. Number two was this particular group recommended parking controls are needed, meters slash kiosks, freestanding pay stations. That was number two for the recommendations. And it goes on to say that the parking rules must be fair and consistently enforced. Now this was back in 2009. Leading up to this, I know there was a first bid that went out that consisted of parking enforcement with a parking garage element at Medford Square. There wasn't the votes on the Medford City Council to support the garage at the time. We actually have members that don't even sit on the council anymore that were here for that particular. those particular discussions and I would have rather have seen the garage built with strict enforcement and then look at other areas but as far as all the recommendations it looks like a lot of them are with this plan. Now leading up to that, one thing that I disagree with totally on the mayor's plan is, and I said this at the Committee of the Whole meeting back in January, I would have rather seen the freestanding meters. I think senior citizens know how to use them. They're much more, they're much more user-friendly, but I also see the total other side of it where, up near Tufts University now, People that are living in our community and utilizing up there, everyone, they don't even go into a coffee shop without cash anymore. Everything is debit card, credit card driven. But there is the technology out there that could be standalone meters with kiosks. And I made that loud and clear known at the meeting in January. It was actually part of the committee report that was adopted. But as I said that evening, we're making recommendations to the mayor and ultimately this council gave him the authority to go out and up to a ten-year contract by a seven to nothing vote uh... and it leads us back to ultimately given the fact that he's the mayor duly elected by the majority of this community he is the signatory authority uh... at moving any contracts forward so uh... that was really the only piece that this city council had a hand in what i'd like to see them go the route with the quarter meters that you just throw in that people have been using. I remember the quarter meters over in Somerville or over in Charlestown when we were little kids going to get shoes. You'd throw a quarter in the meter back then. People knew how to use them. They're so user friendly. But I just think there could have been more public, leading up to this now, the rollout I think could have been publicized more. This piece of paper is very informative. I think it should have been in the hands a little bit sooner. The other recommendation I would have liked to have seen is started it not in the middle of the winter. Start it when it's nice out so that people could go up to a machine. And right now, I mean, I couldn't even carry my tea in tonight because it was so cold going from the car to here. If I had to run to a kiosk, I'd rather just get the ticket and pay it, I think, because it was so cold out there. But the fact of the matter is, I think the city has to continue doing outreach, utilizing the 911. We get phone calls to say they just put the chalk lines on the baseball field. This is something big that we should be getting three or four calls on. The outreach, the outreach, the outreach. The other thing that I'd like to bring up is just to say how we got here. This was an initial recommendation of several members of our community that had many recommendations. And after it went from here, the original commission, yourself, Councilor Marks, Ms. Blackburn, and other people, at that point, it was in the hands of the mayor. And it sat there. And then it came back to us at one portion just to give the authority to do the 10-year contract. I just wanna be clear to the people out there that, and you gotta remember too, the last time the halls were this, it was over the trash removal and the recycling bins. But given time, people did get in the groove. I'd like to think that the individual needs of areas like Jimmy's Pizza, areas like the senior center, I'm not singling out Jimmy's Pizza, but you know, the business communities in South Medford. Let's be cognizant when we're putting in those free spaces. If we have to add a couple more. so that people can run in and do their business and get out right away. But I'll be the first one to say, the person that takes that spot for 15 minutes, if it's a 15-minute spot to do a quick errand, and they're there 16 minutes, shame on them. They should get double the ticket, because the next person should have the 15 minutes and the 15 minutes. So I'd just like to get a commitment. Not a commitment, I understand you can't, but that things will be tweaked and looked at. Because there is stuff, like you said, the senior center, just last week, that was thought about. And there's going to be other areas that you think about. The other thing that's very, very important, places of worship in all the funeral parlors in our community. I actually did some research on this. Those meters, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think this is very important for the people in our community that practice their faith and their religious beliefs. venues that they will be bagged. There'll be an actual bag or something all over it on the weekends that says, uh, masks don't whatever the case may be. And the mayor has assured me that that will take place. Are you under that impression as well? They're bagged or they're just not enforced during that time.
[Leo Sacco]: I've been assured that any of the wakes, any funerals, the consideration will be given. Uh, as a matter of fact, uh, Rhonda Franzo was, uh, an unofficial committee member. He was aware of what was going forward and he's been totally agreeable as long as he could be assured that if he had a service going on at his facility. that it would be okay. And as I said before, the Republic folks are good about that. Not a problem with that. Not a problem at school pickup for St. Joseph's, uh, drop off and pick up at St. Joseph's.
[Paul Camuso]: Any of those things are more of a common sense way of doing the business. And the other thing that, um, that I'm glad the mayor listened to this council on, cause I actually made a recommendation, um, back when we had another piece of this whole puzzle, the other area where the city council was involved, it was the language. to combine two of the commissions and give the authority to one commission rather than an off-street parking commission and a traffic commission. You get too many hands in the soup, the soup gets spoiled. So we successfully, as a council, passed that, sent it to the state house, the governor signed it, and it came back. But one recommendation that I made, and it's in the official records, were to have resident parking only commuters. Because too many people from Winchester, not only some of them are coming down here and taking spots, they're leaving their trash in our trash barrels because they have to go to dump in Winchester. And that is totally unacceptable. And quite honestly, it's larceny, as far as I'm concerned, or illegal dumping, because it's our taxpayers that are footing the bill on that. But it is up to this point. I do see some tweaking getting done. which I think people have to understand that this is slow process, similar to the trash barrel situation where I had more phone calls on the trash barrel, similar to this situation, and how many people were going to need three, four, five barrels. And if you talk to the DPW, there's not many households that actually purchased the additional barrel at the time. But in Winchester, Winchester is totally expanding their program right now. as we speak. They just put their brand new kiosks in Winchester Center, and actually our kiosks are better. I haven't used one yet, but at least the numbers are bigger. In Winchester, the keypad is tiny. It's tiny. And I know this, this council wanted to make sure that everything was ADA compliant and the mayor is very serious when it comes to that stuff too, as, as yourself. But, um, that's, that's all I really have to say at this point. But, uh, I just, what I stated regarding the initial report, pretty fairly accurate because I'm hearing different things that, that that committee never wanted kiosk meters. But now when you look at it, it's actually one of the recommendations.
[Leo Sacco]: So I just, just, just to clarify that piece, I think initially the committee itself, you know, we were looking at, okay, we had a lot of signage out there. We had a lot of time limit. We could have done time limit enforcement, but every community we went to, they had some form of device on the street. And most of them had the meters at the time because the kiosks weren't as reliable as they are today. Uh, but when we had the public meeting, I'm not sure if you have that piece of that document when we had the public meeting, the majority of people, if not, I think barring two people who were in attendance that night, a lot of support, all wanted some sort of meters or some sort of control on the streets and then enforcement of those meters. And I have the notes here that Alvar Erickson had typed up from that meeting. And almost everyone, there were two that were against meters and parking enforcement in total. And everybody else wanted to see some sort of control device on the street, whether it be a meter, whether it be a kiosk. And at the time, the push was meters. The push was meters, because we didn't know what a kiosk was. So that was what it was at the time. But now, you know, time has passed. Here we are almost five years later, and the technology has improved so much. And the kiosk gives you — The Press.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: I just want to make sure that Councilor Camuso just outlined the process since 2009. But maybe just unintentionally, Between 2009 and today, the mayor appointed another committee. Oh, yeah, City Hall employees. Well, that hasn't been mentioned at all. Well, because it's his ball, I say. Well, I'm just saying, the mayor appointed another committee. That committee consisted of all his department heads. We know that. So not one person, I didn't sit on the committee, Gwen didn't sit on the committee, Ron DeFranco didn't sit on the committee, Anthony Santoro didn't sit on the committee. These were department heads. And the mayor devised a plan. So I don't think it's accurate to sit back and say, based on recommendations that were made five years ago, that this is how the mayor went forward. Because that's not what took place. The mayor went forward working in a vacuum in his office with his department heads. with no input from anyone. And that's what we're seeing here tonight. I think I stated that. Well, you might have stated that, but you've been supporting this from day one. Now, all of a sudden, you're giving it a change of heart. No, no, no. Councilor, it's not a recommendation to bring leaders in. You've got a crowd up here. You've got to change your heart now.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor, with all due respect, I took the same exact votes in this whole program as you and every other member of this council. So, Mr. President, just if I could finish.
[Michael Marks]: Clarification is our issue. Just if I could point. The two major issues with this is that when we as a committee met, and Gwen can speak for herself, When we discussed about who was gonna do the enforcement, every discussion was in-house personnel. It was our crossing guards, it was retired police. The mayor took the proposal and outsourced 95% of this. So that's a major part that the mayor changed. Major part. Just my other point. The other point, as the Chief mentioned, and Ron DeFranco, who's on the committee, also mentioned, and Gwen mentioned. Ron DeFranco was not on the committee. Yes, he was on the committee. He was an ex-officio member. He was on the committee. You didn't attend any of the meetings, so don't talk like you did. You're the one that brought the meetings to the city. Don't talk like you've been there. If we could make this point. If I could, Mr. President. And the second big issue, one was the outsourcing, and the second was that we as a committee wanted steady enforcement, parking enforcement, with the existing signage. The mayor took that around, wrapped it around, and made it a pay for parking enforcement. So the two major components were thought up in the mayor's committee with his department heads and had nothing to do with our committee. And we have a committee member that was here tonight that can attest to that. And Ron DeFranco mentioned that. So I don't like the fact that the mayor is looking now for a scapegoat to blame anyone on this parking when he should look in the mirror and he can see himself, Mr. President.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso, if you'd like to complete your remarks. Thank you. I can conclude with two things. And just to follow up on what Councilor Mack said, and I did say that after the recommendations came by his committee for all these recommendations, it was in the mayor's hands. He's the signatory authority and the only one. And to say that I supported it and now I'm not, we all supported it. Seven members of this council gave, had our- I didn't support this language.
[Michael Marks]: We didn't have- I didn't support this language.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Penta, if you could make a point of clarification.
[Robert Penta]: All the council voted for was to authorize the mayor to go forward and look into a 10-year contract because we had three people come. All three of them had a 10-year proposal. It was over a three-year minimum for which the procurement officer said these are what the people had to come in with. and the council voted with an amendment that the council meet before the signing so that we have a complete understanding. And I further amended it by saying that having the mayor, whoever the vendor might be, present themselves before the council before the finalization of the contract. So before the finalization of the contract to me means before that contract is signed. And if we don't agree or something has to be changed, we never have the opportunity to take the vote or discuss anything about a finalization. And, I tell you, it's on the record. It's clearly on the record, as clear as the bell. Thank you, Councilor Padgett.
[Paul Camuso]: Councilor Camuso has the floor, and then Councilor Caraviello. Just two last things. In the last few days, I had several members of our community reach out to me about the signs on the trees. I worked with the DPW today, as well as the Mayor's office, and all the signs have been removed from the trees, and Unfortunately, I know Councilor Marks over the years, this has been something he's been a stickler about. But some of the existing signs that were, they took down and put them over that. They were never removed in the first place. So shame on the city for allowing them to linger up there.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of clarification.
[Paul Camuso]: Further clarification.
[Fred Dello Russo]: On that particular motion.
[Robert Penta]: On that particular issue, excuse me, I have pictures of every tree that was bolted by a sign. If the mayor was on top of his game, they would have known right from the beginning never to put a sign on a tree to start off with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[Robert Penta]: There was no communication, not even with the mayor to them. I'm not yelling at you because you know something, this is such a disruptive piece of legislation that we shouldn't even be discussing this. The mayor should be in here apologizing and saying,
[Paul Camuso]: last but not least we have business owners in this community that have consistently parked their vehicles in front of their stores year after year after year and you know what the only people that suffer are them and the consumers when they pull up and they have to park three miles away because you got an ice cream store or you have a vendor I mean, they don't even try to disguise it. The name of the companies on the side of the truck that sits out there all day long, or the car that sits out there all day long. I think, I think today driving through the squares, I think some of the business owners now are taking the appropriate steps to leave the spots for the consumers, like us, when we show up. I think they're already seeing an impact, because you got good business in the community, like the guys that are sitting out here. They'll go deliver some food and then park their car half a mile away so that somebody can park in front of their store. There's not many people that do that, I hate to say, throughout our squares. And it's obvious, because half the trucks are leaded that say the name of the business and everything else. So that's it for now.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Kamuso.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Karifiello. Thank you, Mr. President. Chief, a couple of concerns I have. timeframe, uh, who decided on seven to seven? I mean, I don't see many communities.
[Leo Sacco]: I'll stab at the seven to seven piece only because I believe that's what the existing signage had said. And that just any signs that were replaced were replaced with the, uh, the wording of pretty much of the existing signage. I don't honestly believe that parking control officers will be out there at 7 a.m. And I know that they plan on staggering hours so that they can cover the entire city.
[Richard Caraviello]: One of my concerns, I'd like to see the time be changed to 8, at least 8 to 6 or something. But that 7 to 7, people are very concerned about the early morning people who are out. And that's been a huge concern of mine with the 7 to 7. I say, I, you know, I'm around everywhere. I don't see any city that has seven o'clock. I mean, you know, eight, nine in Boston. Um, chief, another thing is, um, and I don't know if this is a question for you, but you know, we're, we're in the winter now and when the plows are coming out and the plowing, I mean, you know, we've all, we've all lived in this community. The snow mounds pile up to be three or four feet high and you know, and they're not, and all the sidewalks aren't shoveled in the business areas. Who's going to shovel these kiosks over these people to get over that? I don't know if that's yours or the question for these gentlemen.
[Leo Sacco]: There will be a combined effort. I'd turn it over to the gentleman from Republic. I think it's a combined effort between the Department of Public Works and Republic. And I just know that during a snowstorm, there'll be no enforcement of those.
[Richard Caraviello]: It's after the snow and you had several feet. I mean, you know, I mean, I, I mean, you see people, you know, the store owners cut a hole this big for, you know, maybe, you know, a little walkway. So I mean, either, either the city is going to have to clean up the sidewalks because you can't expect people to have to climb over three feet of snow to put money in. I mean, can the gentleman answer that? Maybe, maybe he can answer that question.
[SPEAKER_27]: Addressing the snow issue, if there is... Could you please state your name and address for the record, please, sir? I'm sorry. Jack Skelton, Republic Parking System. I'm a vice president with the company. I thank you for coming out here tonight. I'm glad to be here. In a snow situation, if the kiosks are unreachable because of snow, there will be no enforcement. but the plan is to have them dug out as quickly as possible after a storm. We deal with this in many cities across the Northeast.
[Richard Caraviello]: Now, who does it dig out? You or us? We'll be working with public works. Okay. Um, another question, which is everyone's asking about is there's multiple stories about handicapped parking going all of the city, how long you can stay where you can stay, where you can't stay. Um, can you explain the handicap issue? Sure. By state statute, handicapped parking is not to be charged for on the street at all. Now, if I understand this right, because some of my family has a handicapper, you can put as long as they're parked in a legal spot, correct?
[SPEAKER_27]: Correct. They cannot block a driveway or a fire hydrant or something like that. But as long as they have their placard properly displayed, they will not be issued a citation. Uh, if they forget their placard and they're happy to be issued a citation, they can come into the office and we'll take care of it with proof of the placard.
[Richard Caraviello]: No. Are they subject to the same two hour constraints or one hour, whatever they have to be, or can, can I, can my wife park there all day? The, they're expected to maintain the two hour time limit, just like every other citizen would say. Now there's some, there's a lot of confusion going around about some people think is that they have a handicap pocket that they're going to be able to park there all day. Those ordinance that part of the ordinance has not been changed. Okay. So, so they can only park for whatever the two hours or one hour or whatever. Is that chief? Is that correct?
[Leo Sacco]: Is that what we're going to bring the same information that you had Councilor? It was my understanding that they would not, they could pack all day. They're not held to the same time limit requirement. That's just my understanding. And they could pack in any legal packing spot. So they can park all day or they can't park all day? That has to be determined. I have to look up the law and talk with the folks at the Registry of Motor Vehicles that issue the placards.
[Richard Caraviello]: I think part of the problem is there's a lot of misinformation going around, especially on that issue. What about the loading zone issue? The loading zone? Yes, I'm getting a lot of businesses asking about the loading zone areas. How long can I park my, I own a store in the square and I park in the loading zone. How long am I allowed to stay in that loading zone?
[Leo Sacco]: There are no real loading zones in Medford Square.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, not in the square, but other.
[Leo Sacco]: No designated loading zones. The loading zone in West Medford Square.
[Richard Caraviello]: Well, there's one in West Medford.
[Leo Sacco]: It was not posted properly to start with, but it was a commercial vehicle is 15 minutes And passenger vehicle was five minutes, so they could run in and run out. There's not a loading zone that's supposed to be an all-day parking.
[Richard Caraviello]: In Westlake, there is a loading zone. There is a sign that says loading zone.
[Leo Sacco]: But it's not supposed to be all-day parking. What I'm saying is.
[Richard Caraviello]: So the loading zone. Drop off. 15 minutes.
[Leo Sacco]: You didn't get out. 15 minutes for commercial, five minutes for passenger.
[Richard Caraviello]: 15 minutes for commercial, and five minutes for.
[Leo Sacco]: And the same thing will be taking place at the hillside at Boston and Winthrop. Point of information.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor.
[Robert Penta]: You're telling me in that loading zone up on the hillside, somebody goes in there, they're going to have, and they want to get some paint and they have to stir the paint and shake it up. They have to be out in five minutes. They're going to get a ticket. Five minutes.
[Leo Sacco]: You just said we have to be reasonable.
[Robert Penta]: Well, that's the whole thing about being reasonable here.
[Paul Camuso]: Why are we discussing all this? Point of information, a loading zone. My understanding is for doing deliveries to the company or the company doing a quick pickup and heading out. Correct. It's not for customers, it's a loading zone. But the nature of a certain business, if it's one of those... No, but he's talking about getting paint shaken up. That's a customer going in and getting paint shaken up.
[Robert Penta]: It's a loading zone. He just said for commercial and residential purposes.
[Paul Camuso]: Well, I challenge you to go up there and buy some paint and see if you get a ticket when you come out, because that's not the purpose of a loading zone.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Points both well received. The floor goes back to Councilor Caraviello. All these municipal lots, again, misinformation. I'm hearing that the lot in Medford Square behind on Governor's Ave is now business only. Absolutely not, absolutely not.
[Leo Sacco]: Is that gonna be? The restriction that's there today is the restriction that was there last year and the year before. Business parking along the wall that goes up against 15 Governor's Ave.
[Richard Caraviello]: I've been told by people in the square that, you know, your people are telling them, don't worry, park your car in the lot there. for businesses?
[Leo Sacco]: Anyone we've spoken to in the square, any of the businesses in the square. That's all I was told yesterday, Chief. The business parking is along that wall, that back wall. Everything in the middle and anything that's parallel to the Colleen's down to Gaffey's is not business parking. Business permit. They'll be held to the time limits that are posted.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Additional point of further clarification.
[Robert Penta]: You have three different time limits in that parking lot. How come there's no kiosks in there? You have a kind of limit against the wall on the back of Salvatore's. Then you have one for the business people on that wall. And in the middle, you have two hour parking. You have one hour, you have two hour, and the back of the wall parking. There's three different parking types in that parking lot.
[Leo Sacco]: Well, what's your question?
[Robert Penta]: Why isn't there just something that's consistent? The clarification, what is it? How can you have one hour, somebody, because they parked their car parallel, somebody parking it horizontal? What difference?
[Leo Sacco]: Because we're trying to accommodate, we've been trying to accommodate the businesses in Medford before this parking plan was even in place. Those signs aren't anything new. Those are the signs that were there. And we wanted to have people be able to go into Colleen's, or go into the sub shop.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You've made your point, Councilor Pinter. No, there's a corollary point to that.
[Robert Penta]: There's a corollary point to that. You go up Governor's Avenue. How come if you go up Governor's Avenue, you've done nothing with that? It's two hours on the right going up, and one hour coming back on the left.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You have a chance to have the floor, Councilor.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello? Thank you, Mr. President, again. Back to the municipal lots. Okay, so Medford Square is just going to be the same as The back lot, the back row, is this going to be the way it's been?
[Leo Sacco]: Correct? As it was posted in the past, it's remaining the same.
[Richard Caraviello]: Now, as I look out here in the back lot here, I only see one kiosk way up here on the side of the building for that whole lot. Shouldn't it be more than one kiosk?
[Leo Sacco]: I believe there is a second one, and I think they're just repositioning where the second one is.
[Richard Caraviello]: Repositioning. Now, what about, are you putting one in the Yale Street lot?
[Leo Sacco]: Yes, that one is due. They, because of the weather today, they weren't able to do the pad. They have to pour a cement pad because it's an asphalt surface. So they have to do concrete.
[Richard Caraviello]: No, I'm receiving calls from other people about, uh, some people in the Haines square area park in that lot in the back at night. Are they going to have to have their car out there in the morning? by a certain time in the morning for people to park there, right?
[Leo Sacco]: Yeah, I mean. Yeah, the parking's limited over in that area, as it is. The neighborhood, they would have to have the car out to accommodate the business people. I mean, the benefit is that they have an opportunity to park off street overnight. And then in the morning, the car has to be removed. OK. And my last question.
[Richard Caraviello]: The resident permit parking, these gentlemen are going to be enforcing that also?
[Leo Sacco]: Yes, they are. But the police will also be doing that. For the most part, during the daylight hours. No, what about at nighttime? Public parking will be doing it. And they're also been informed that they're willing to stagger the shifts of their personnel so that you'll have some evening coverage and possibly even into the early morning hours. They will stagger the shift, but they, they are willing to do that to make sure that we get citywide enforcement.
[Richard Caraviello]: Okay. Chief, you know, if at your convenience, when you get the ruling on the handicap issue, um, That is a key, because again, a lot of people are questioning that on who can park, who can't park.
[Leo Sacco]: As I stated, I don't want to contradict Mr. Skelton. The last I heard was that a person who has the proper HP placard or plate could park in any space and are not held to the time limit. I have to verify that to be accurate.
[Richard Caraviello]: I think that's one of the biggest issues that need to be clarified. A lot of people are under the impression that they get a placket, I'm there for the day, and you can't. I will get that answer tomorrow. That's it for the moment. I'm sure we'll have some more for you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, and before we turn the floor over to Councilor Lungo-Koehn, if you'll indulge me, two quick questions from the chair which have been brought to my attention regarding these regulations. Stacy's going to the hairdresser. She fills up the meter for two hours parking, halfway in between getting her hair set and dyed and whatever else she's doing, two hours run out, she's there in the chair under the hairdresser dryer with the apron on, what is she gonna do? Is she going to pay? Is she going to feed her meter?
[SPEAKER_27]: What happens to Stacey? I will address that issue. But as an overview, part of Republic Parking's job here for the city and what we promised them is that we will work to accommodate as many scenarios as we can to facilitate good business practices and turnover spaces in the city. And we are already seeing that. We've seen streets empty out from employees when we park our enforcement vehicle there just to go in and have lunch. So we are seeing the preliminary effects of the program. And we are dealing with specific issues such as the hairdresser scenario that has been brought to the administration's attention. We are working on a validation program that will allow them to exceed the two-hour time limit without being cited. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Uh, in one more, even though I was just, uh, pointed out to me by one of my colleagues that I'm speaking from the chair, which I ought not do, uh, you pay a dollar 75 to park in South Medford. You stay there for 45 minutes. You got a half hour left. Can you go to Medford square and run to the bank on the same, same dollar 75 or do you have to repay at the next kiosk?
[SPEAKER_27]: No, you're actually paying for your plate. And so your plate is in the system for the amount of time you purchase, and it will not be cited if you park on the street anywhere in the city. Thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Uh, councilor Lungo-Koehn has the chair, uh, floor.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, president. Um, Delaware. So on that last point with regards to if somebody is in the hairdresser salon, isn't it true that some spots are a maximum limit? where you can only have the two hours, but then there's other spots that you could, you could refeed the meter, whether that's through your cell phone or by adding more money into the meter.
[SPEAKER_27]: The payment of the meter is irrelevant of the time limit. The time limit is what it is. So when you go to a kiosk, you can only pay for a maximum of two hours. And if you were to not move your vehicle, but add additional monies to the meter, you would still be in violation of the two hour time limit ordinance. So that prevents what they call meter feeding and defeats the purpose of the program to facilitate turnover of spaces to free up time, move the employees out, and allow more customers to come in.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I believe that we were told incorrect information then at committee of the whole meetings. We were told that certain spots would not be limited and you could add more money. We were definitely told that. We've asked that more than once. So maybe we can get a clarification on that. Chief, I don't think Chief Sacco was at, I think we had three city council committee of the whole meetings when we were told some meters could be refed if somebody was in a restaurant and they were exceeding the two hours, it could be refed through your cell phone. There were some that were gonna be the max, but then there were others that, am I recalling that correct?
[Michael Marks]: I think if you were to put an hour, you would be defeated. Oh, for two hours? Up to the two hours, but that's my understanding.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: My other question, so Chief, for the senior center, when will we know how many spaces will be free and where those will be placed? When is the goal timeframe for that scenario?
[Leo Sacco]: I'm hoping by the end of the week we'll have the concrete answers and we'll just have to look and identify where the best spaces are to accommodate the center.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And those spaces will be clearly marked?
[Leo Sacco]: Yes.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: And then one other question you had mentioned, and I got an email on it today, with regards to people dropping off their children at St. Joseph's School. I don't know if this is going to be an issue at St. Ray's. I'm not sure how much parking is at each school. But specifically, St. Joe's parent wants to run in, drop off their child, and run back out. How do they know they don't have to feed the meter at that point?
[Leo Sacco]: I think in all of those examples, a school drop-off, a daycare drop-off, a school pick-up and a daycare pick-up, we know people aren't hanging around for long periods. There'll be consideration given during those times.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: How will Republic know where the daycare is a place? Which schools need this?
[Leo Sacco]: I think we've already kind of identified those locations, and I'm open to hearing more. It may pop up along the way, but I've already, you know, pretty much heard the list of all of the concerns for those types of, uh, operations.
[Michael Marks]: Okay. Thank you. Mr. President, just if I could.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Uh, council longer current, you're finished. A council night was next council. Max, do you have a, uh, point? And we also have many citizens who have yet to address us.
[Adam Knight]: And I think you're eager to speak. You echo my sentiment, uh, Mr. President. Um, I think we have a number of people here that are lining up in queue that have questions that they want answered. Um, some of which are business owners that probably have to get up very early tomorrow morning to be sure that operations are up and running. With that being said, you made a suggestion at the beginning of the meeting that we might want to reserve our questions for the end, allow the folks from Republic and the Traffic Commission to get an understanding of what the questions are that are coming to them so they can answer those questions. I think we're in a position to have the good fortune of being able to reach out to these folks and get return calls and speak with them much more frequently and much more easily than the people that are here in the audience. And they've been waiting patiently, Mr. President, so I'd ask that maybe we can
[Michael Marks]: Mr. President, just if I could ask one question, because it's online that was just mentioned by Mr. Skelton. And I realize these people have been waiting, but while Mr. Skelton is here, it's an important question. And I would agree the people should speak. You just mentioned about a validation program. That's a brand new aspect to this program I've never heard of before. And the way it was explained to me is what was just mentioned by the Council President. You're going to allow business owners to reach out to Republic and say, these five plate numbers on Tuesday are going to be here for an extended period of time. Don't tag them. They're going to have to pay. Someone's going to pay. The business is going to pay, whatever it is, for that period of time. But don't tag them. So if you have any business that reaches out to you under this current program, I own a convenience store. And I tell you, there are going to be these three plates parked extended period of time near my business. You're going to allow them to stay three, four, five, six, seven hours in that spot without getting a ticket. They're going to pay, but as long as they get the validation, is that, is that how this program works?
[SPEAKER_27]: We are charged with enforcing the ordinance and the rules of the city. So whatever the city adopts as the rules for parking is what we will enforce. The ability to offer the validations for extending the two hour time limit, which is currently the ordinance, is there through a validation program. And there's a number of ways to do that. One can be through an online reservation system, or it can be as simply if it's someone that only validates once a month or very infrequently, they can simply call our office and make an arrangement. That's the discussion at this point as to who it applies to and how it applies. That's up to the, uh, the city to decide.
[Michael Marks]: So that hasn't been worked out yet.
[SPEAKER_27]: Not all the details, sir. No.
[Michael Marks]: So we're moving forward in a couple of weeks and it seems like a lot of details haven't been worked out yet. My concern with that is that if, you know, it might be good for one or two people in the course of a day, but if you have 45 people reserving spots on our streets, As you just mentioned, the refeeding of a meter defeats the purpose of the whole program of moving cars along. And I can sympathize if someone needs to be in a business for over two hours. However, I'm not sure how you're going to manage that. And to have this program, the validation program, just brought up at the last minute, I don't think is a good program, especially where there's no consistency. There's no policy from what you're telling me. I doubt the city has a policy on that. And I'm not sure if that's something that should be implemented right away. And I know the mayor is trying to appease anyone that makes a phone call to him, but I'm not quite sure that's in the best interest of our city as a whole. And it may not be a question to you, but I'm very concerned about that program because potentially anyone can give you seven plates. Any business owner can call and give you seven plate numbers and say, please don't touch these Tuesday. I mean, I don't see what would prevent that. And before you know it, there's going to be no on-street parking. Everything's going to be saved. Really, when you boil down to it. And it would be worthwhile to pay $0.25 for every 15 minutes. It'd be a bargain. Actually, you may even get people that park there all day, and take the bus into town for $4 or $5, whatever it costs. I mean, really. And I might be stating it very simply, but there's a huge concern with that. And I think that was a knee-jerk reaction by this administration to try to help out a few people, all in good faith. But I don't know how that's going to work. And I would recommend that that doesn't move forward.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: If I may, my name is Dan Nash. I'm the regional manager for Republic Parking. When we discussed this validation program, it was to allow an additional hour. So it would only be up, they could purchase up to a third hour, not unlimited for the entire day. And that's the city, that's the city policy now. It's not the city policy now, but that's, what's been discussed with the administration to try to accommodate, you know, the example that was provided by the president earlier.
[Michael Marks]: And so was raising the fee to $400 discussed and that was raised. I mean, there's a lot of discussion going on and no one knows what's happening. And that's the problem. It really is. And I'm not blaming you too, but there's a lot going on. And these are the reasons why we should have had 10 public hearings prior to this. And from what we see, you're right. There's always going to be work in progress, but this is only about 40% in completion, in my opinion, chief, at this point. And I don't know how we have a go-live date, which doesn't make any sense.
[Leo Sacco]: All I can ask is for your patience. I think a lot of the bugs have already been worked out, but every day we're going to find something new that we're going to have to work on. It's the residents' patience, not my patience. Part of the problem that we have when we first started talking about that validation program was a lot of the postings in the city on the main drags were one hour only. All of those one hours were increased to two to accommodate some of the businesses, the hairdressers and things of that nature. And then I think it was already addressed on maybe going up to a third hour for those accommodations, but no way would someone be able to be there or make arrangements with anyone that they could be in that spot all day, unless they were parking in a spot that has all day parking, where you could pay $5 and park there for the day. That would be the only exception, because it has to be consistent.
[Michael Marks]: Where is that policy? Where is that written, Chief? Where is that written? It must be a policy, a guideline. Where is that written, the validation policy?
[Leo Sacco]: I don't have that.
[Michael Marks]: That's what I mean. Where is this stuff?
[Leo Sacco]: As far as the validation, I think that's between the merchant and the customer.
[Michael Marks]: No, but Chief, God forbid something happens to you tomorrow, who's going to have this information in their head?
[Leo Sacco]: I mean, the sign is what it says.
[Michael Marks]: If it says two hour limit, I know, but business owners are walking around now telling people that they can get validation. And it wasn't an hour that I heard from business owners. So they thought they can get more than an hour, just so you know.
[Leo Sacco]: And if we don't have anything in writing chief, why would anyone be requesting more than one hour? If you already have a two hour limit and now you're going to be granted maybe a validation for the third hour. Why would any business want to grant someone a validation for longer than that? I mean, that's, is counterproductive to trying to generate the business. What if they have an employee they want to park out there for a couple hours?
[Michael Marks]: There's a lot of reasons, Chief. There's a lot of reasons. And we should be in the business of saving spots.
[Leo Sacco]: As we go along, we'll encounter all of these, and we'll correct the problems that exist.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's a new day. That's all I can say. It is a new day. Thank you, Councilor Marks. A number of citizens would like to speak, and one is approaching who already has.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: Okay, so you know my name, Gwendolyn Blackburn. What I really wanted to say, I hope that our citizens out there that are listening and watching understand that if they're talking about a committee here, it is not the committee and it's not the report that Councilor Marks, myself, and the other citizens worked on because I'm hearing things that really did not come out of our committee. And so I'm hoping that people understand there was one committee back 2008, 2009, and we gave a report to the mayor. We never heard another thing from the mayor. That was it. We were all done. And so I just hope that people understand that we did our job. We went around to all these cities. We got all the information that we could get. We had our meetings. We put it all together. and we gave it to the mayor. We never heard anything else from him. From that point on, anything else that you're hearing and anything else that's coming up, that's the mayor. And so I just I just need you to know that it wasn't our committee, because we were very diligent about what we did, and we put a lot of time into going around to these different cities and towns. I do have a question, though, having been standing here. I'm understanding that people have to know their license plate. Because I can tell you, two people in my house, they have no idea what their license plate happens to be. I know mine. But there are a lot of people that they don't know. And I don't understand. The thing that has happened is that all of this has been put into play. You get bits and pieces of information, like the lady said. People don't know they have to know their license plate. I don't know how many people in here know their license plate. They may, may not, but a lot of people don't. The other question, and I'll sit down because this lady wants to speak. She has to leave. But what are we doing? And I would think that the first thing that might have happened is that we might have gotten meters up by Tufts up on Boston Avenue. Those kids park up there all day, every day, free of charge. And I would think, I was told they have to put concrete to put those kiosks there. They charge at the garage $8 a day. I'm told these, we've been missing a lot of money by not having any kind of meters or anything up there. I love the kids, but. That's all I want to say. Everybody else.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you. Point of information. Yes. And Mrs. B, thank you for, for your clarification or the report. I was just referring that I said after you guys made the original initial recommendations at that point, The only person that could do anything was the mayor, because he's the signatory authority.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: It didn't sound like it. I thought you were talking about our committee. I wanted the trustees to know for sure. It was not our committee.
[Paul Camuso]: Well, the committee that you were on, though, did make recommendations for kiosks and meters. So if you want the paper, I'll give it to you. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Ma'am, could you please state your name and address for the record?
[SPEAKER_33]: My name is Patricia Davenport, and I live in 127 Monument Street, West Medford. I love West Medford, the uniqueness of it, its small businesses and shops. I'm just going to mention a few. I'm in and out of them often. CB Scoops, Paul Reviews, okay, Dynamic Computer, and I'm just trying to list a few that I use a lot, Magnificent Muffins, and all the restaurants, delis, there are many of them. I'm afraid this is really going to hurt these small businesses, and that would destroy the character and the environment of West Medford, I think. I'm talking about West Medford, that's where I live. The second thing that I'm very concerned about is the process. The process was not transparent. There wasn't much or any input from residents or small businesses, which I believe is against the way we're supposed to be as a democracy. serve along the lines of no taxation without representation, no kiosks without people being informed and discussing it. And the third thing is that the Republic Parking is not a local business. It's not even a Massachusetts business. It comes from, I believe, Chattanooga, Tennessee. So we've outsourced this money-making operation to out-of-state which makes any recourse incredibly difficult. Anybody who's tried to deal with a big bank, you get put on hold for your entire day. Talking about tweaking, I don't think that's going to happen very easily after this has been put into effect. And I have heard too, now I don't want to say this for sure, but I have heard that there have been complaints about Republic Parking. Because what happens is when you put in your license plate, you don't get anything on your windshield. It goes to your house, to your address. And occasionally, by the time it's come to your address, you already have a late fee. And trying to get in contact, not with City Hall, that's easy enough. not with even Boston, but get in contact with a big company in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to explain that you didn't get this in time, to pay it in time, is a big problem. And I'm really afraid this is going to create a huge disruption in West Medford, in terms of its culture and its climate. I love the stores. They're wonderful. They won't exist if people have to pay them. There are also things about how much The businesses have to pay to have parking for the owners, for their employees, that on top of, I believe, I read it in your article, Penta, that that could break the backs of some of these businesses. And then the last point I'd like to make is everyone, or people who are for it, say just get used to it. We can and do get used to anything, but it's like frogs who are put into a pot of water, cold water, and then you turn up the heat and finally they're cooked. So I don't want to get used to that because the way it was done, the possible effects, there are many other things that could have been done. Local people, maybe hiring another traffic officer or employing local people. We do not need to outsource to Tennessee to get something done for our community.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci is 71 Evans street. I'll try to be very brief. Uh, I, I hope that this kiosk issue is a watershed event that that'll speak to the larger issue of, of our city. And I mean, look at all these citizens that are coming up here tonight that didn't even know this was coming. All the problems it's gonna cause for these people. Even some of the details that, with all due respect, the chief and the company that put these in aren't quite sure about yet, in terms of rules and whatnot. We're a city of about 58,000. We have 38,000 registered voters. In any municipal election cycle, maybe 9,000 people come out to vote. I hope that this kiosk, and this is an election year, I hope that this kiosk event is a watershed event and we have 20,000 people come out and vote this year because our city charter needs to be changed. We need a city council that's going to be able to put forward a charter commission review. It's been almost 30 years. With all due respect, there are always four votes that always go the mayor's way on this city council. And when the votes don't go their way, I don't mean to digress, but for instance, the million dollar, actually a $680,000 offer by Councilor Penta a few months ago, on the water pipes, when that passes, even when we get a miracle of that fourth vote, to go against something, this mayor who has all power in this city, it's too much power in any one office, he vetoes it. So even if this city council comes up with a resolution tonight of seven to nothing in the affirmative to help all these people and businesses that are confused about it, what's to stop the mayor from just saying, no, I'm doing it my way anyway? Please, Medford City Council, you have the authority to review our city charter, It's long overdue to be changed, or let's hope that this kiosk event is a watershed event, and the people that you represent. When I come and address this council, I'm seeing my neighbors on Evans Street. I'm seeing my neighbors up in the Heights. I'm seeing local business owners. It really needs to change, and we really need the voices that you folks need to be in a city that's dominated by the mayor's office. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Capucci.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Ma'am, please state your name and address for the record.
[HoymGn4EeMU_SPEAKER_16]: Yes, Maria Baker, 22 Summit Road in Medford. I am the owner, director, operator of Play Academy Learning Center at 65 Riverside Ave in Medford. And I want to say that I have had many concerns, and I have emailed all of you, so I imagine you are all familiar with what my concerns are. And I am happy to say that most of my concerns are being dealt with, and I really feel positive about that. A lot of my anxieties have been taken care of. Along with that, it has taken a little bit of time, and I need to manage all the anxieties and concerns of my customers throughout these past couple days that the parking program appears to be live, even though we keep hearing it's mid-January. So I'm dealing with that with the customers and trying to help them out. I understand that the meters are taking money, and so, you know, I'm just a little bit confused about that. There are a lot of things that I think there's confusion about, and I have some questions here that I'd like to just maybe list out, and I understand the representatives here are here to answer our questions, and so if it would be okay for me to just list them out, and then we could get some answers, if not today, then when they're ready, and have answers to these questions. One thing maybe isn't for them, but more for the city. On East Transit Way where I have two emergency exits there, and in the past when we shovel, because those are my emergency exits, what has happened is that the snow plows come along and they plow all of the snow right back up onto the sidewalk and block my emergency exits. That is also where the kiosks are. And so along the lines of the snow removal, Will the city now that we have this money coming in from these parking meters and everything that's going on with this program, will we now be able to remove snow? Not just push snow, but can we remove snow? Because in order to have these parking spaces now be worth paying for, it would be really nice if we didn't have to somehow hurdle over these snow banks. These snow banks are going to be in front of these kiosks. We talked about, I've heard mention about the fact that it's going to be a shared responsibility and all of that, and that likely there won't be any citations if the kiosk isn't working. But is there, how does the person issuing the citation know that the kiosk isn't working or isn't accessible or whatever the case is? Is the resident then going to receive a citation and have to go through the trouble of defending themselves and that sort of trouble? I just would love to know. how exactly that works and how they know, how they're alerted that the kiosk is not accessible so that that would make things a little bit easier. I know that there's lots of different information. We talked a little bit about the two-hour parking. There's a lot of confusion about that. So if I park in one part of Medford Square for two hours and then later on in the day need to do another set of errands and I go to another part of Medford Square and want to pay for two hours, am I not allowed to do that? A lot of people are confused. they can only pay for 2 hours, period, for the entire day in Medford. And I hope that that's not the case. I would like to think that you can move your car and go someplace else in Medford, even just move your car to a different space. But I know that there's a lot of question around that. There's confusion. Another question that I have is the technology when we put our credit cards and debit cards in. I know that personally I've had my credit card identity and all the information stolen because There are people out there who install cameras, and so when you insert your credit card and pull it out, everything is recorded and pulled. So my question is, how secure are these kiosks? Is there some sort of system in place where they're checked for these cameras that maybe are being installed, and whether or not there is even something to deter that from happening on these machines in the first place? And then just right off of that point, if I want to go on my phone instead of going on to a kiosk to pay for my parking, I understand that there's a $0.35 per transaction fee. So that's a little bit high if, in fact, I only need to go in for $0.15 or And so here I am, $0.25, $0.50 into a meter cost, but now I need to tack on to that $0.35, which I think that in today's day and age, a lot of people probably would want to use that as a convenience, especially families with young children, maybe business owners who want to help out their customers who are elderly, who come to them and say, I don't understand this kiosk, can you help me? And I could pull out my smartphone and say, here we go, I'll help you. you know, muddle through it. Well, now there's a $0.35 transaction fee for every time you do that, and that just seems high, and I hope that that is either reduced or goes away. A couple more questions I have is, can these kiosks be programmed so that, for example, why, if it's not live right now, why is this machine taking money from people who are parking? So can we program it so that when there are snowstorms and somebody goes over, because as a business owner or somebody, you know, I send someone down to shovel out my place, and now they see that they have parking that they need to pay for, will the machine not accept their money because it's snowing? Will the machine not accept money during times that it is non-operational? Whatever the reason is that, you know, there might be times that it's decided that they're not to take the money. Is that programmed right in there? And then my last question is, with this enforcement, is that if somebody blocks a handicap ramp or a hydrant, is that going to be enforced by the city, like the police, or is that going to be enforced by Republic? Because I'm not sure who that would be, because that, you know, right in front of my business there is a hydrant there, and often that does get blocked, and often handicap ramps are blocked and I'm really close to the senior center and it kills me to see that senior citizens struggle when they're trying to walk along and they're walkers or whatever and they can't because the handicap ramp is blocked. And so it would be really nice to see that sort of enforcement too. So those are my questions and hopefully we get some answers. Thank you.
[Richard Caraviello]: Conflict car of yellow. If we maybe let the gentleman answer some of those concerns before someone else speaks. If we could, um, it's as if you, uh, okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: I thought I was going to just be a few minutes, but okay.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. We've heard the, uh, gentlemen could address some of those pieces.
[SPEAKER_27]: I will try and remember them all, but I think I, do you need anything? Uh, First thing, Republic Parking has leased office space here in Medford, and we are a paying business here. We are based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, but we also have employed five Medford residents to be on our staff, and they're very familiar with the program here. They've interacted with a number of the citizens that have already come to our office to purchase their residential permit or stop by with questions. On the enforcement of, uh, any violation that's currently on the books will be enforced jointly by Republic Park and staff. I'm sorry, as public parking staff as well as the police. So we'll be working jointly on enforcement. Uh, the kiosk, as far as credit card security have, the lady was referring to a skimming device and that is, that machine is designed to prevent any sort of skimming device from being attached to it. All of the credit card information is transmitted completely by PCI compliance standards. It's not stored anywhere, which is the primary rule of PCI compliance. So the security is there for the citizenry. There was a question about a citation being mailed to the residents. That is not the case. If there is a violation and a citation is issued, it will be placed on the vehicle as the first notice per Massachusetts statute. So that is an inaccuracy out there. Yes. Uh, all of the kiosks are communicating to one central server, which is great. It allows for real time information to be available to city police, all of our staff. If there's a kiosk out of order, vandalized, uh, jammed out of a paper receipts, whatever it may be, we receive notification of that immediately so that we can address the issue. And at that point, all of our officers will be aware that they are not to enforce that specific meter. If we have a snow issue where they're inaccessible, that determination will be made before they go out on their beach to do the enforcement. So that'll be easily communicated to the officers and should not be an issue. The pay by sell is a convenience program and it's rolling out in cities across the country. That service is actually provided by a third party company and the 35 cent transaction fee is pretty much universal. That goes to cover their cost of technology As part of that fee, they absorb the cost of the credit cards, the PCI compliance issues, and all the advertising that goes into the program. The great thing about the pay-by-sale company that we've selected here is that they're the same company that's in place in Somerville. So we already have a large number of users that can instantly roll into the program. And if they choose to use the service, there is the convenience fee in place. But that, as I said, is a third-party company that provides that technology for us.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Through the chair, thank you, President Del Russo. Is that a one-time $0.35 fee, or every time you park, if you need 15 minutes, you have to pay $0.25 plus $0.35?
[SPEAKER_27]: It's per transaction. So if you purchase $2, and again, it's optional. You'll be able to use a credit card or pay coins at the meter.
[Adam Knight]: So there could actually be an instance where we pay $0.50 to park our spot and $0.70 in fees. If you put $0.25 on the meter and you have to pay by your phone $0.25 for 15 minutes, then they charge you $0.35 on the $0.25. So it's over 100%. If you choose to use the service for that transaction. And then say we put another $0.25 in because we were going over our 15 minutes on our phone. We added time to the meter, which is a capability, as I understand. We'd be charged another 35 cents for adding another quarter run. If you choose to do that, that would be the transaction. So in essence, for a 50 cent, half an hour spot, I'd be paying a dollar 25.
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, but it is optional and it's, it's well defined to the users. So there will be no hidden, hidden fees.
[Adam Knight]: Um, I wouldn't be so sure to say that because today councilor Caraviello and I went down to Bocelli's to have dinner and I went to the kiosk and I put my credit card information and everything like that. And I wasn't, I was unable to pay through my, through my, Park Medford application today and I put the money in, but when I read the terms and conditions, I didn't see that there would be an additional fee.
[SPEAKER_27]: And then when I read the terms and conditions on the pipe and when I put my credit information in the pay by cell for Park Medford is not available as of yet, it'll be rolling out this month. So that information, once you sign up for the program will be, you'll agree to that and you'll sign off on that when you register for the program.
[Adam Knight]: I already did register. I have a key. I haven't, if I go to Somerville, I can use my, device, right? Because you guys are the same company and you have the same database and all that, right?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes. So in Somerville, if you signed up for that, that information should be the same. In Somerville, there's a $0.35 transaction fee as well.
[Adam Knight]: No, I didn't sign up. I signed up in Medford, but I'm saying it's not available in Medford. But if I drove across the city to Somerville and I booked, would that same transaction fee apply? And I guess the answer is yes? Yes. OK. And is that part of the contract that the third-party vendor has put together between Republican and you? Or is that part of this contract that's governing the relationship between the city of Medford and Republic?
[SPEAKER_27]: The contract between park mobile is with Republic Park. And we presented that in our official proposal response to the RFP that was issued by the city to utilize that service. Point of further clarification.
[Robert Penta]: Are you saying that you already provided that to the city, but, and you're just rolling it out now? Is that in the contract?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, it's in the RFP response, which is a part of the contract that we signed.
[Robert Penta]: I have all your responses, but that was never explained to us. And another thing on the like venue, if I go online and I want to get a permit parking, a $10 permit parking, they're charging me $3 to go online to get a $10. That's extortion. 30% on a $10? On a $10? When people before could come down to City Hall and get it for nothing?
[SPEAKER_27]: They can still come to our office and pay no additional fees.
[Robert Penta]: We're talking about going online. to make it easier for the customer. Councilor Knight just alluded to the fact you have to pay 35 cents to put a 25 cent time period in. So you are charging 30% to buy a $10 to buy. Point of information, Councilor Camuso.
[Paul Camuso]: This is technology today. The City of Medford actually charges a fee when you pay your tax bills online or a parking citation currently through the City of Medford. So I just want to let Councilor Penta know.
[Robert Penta]: It's not a 30% charge. Councilor, it's a nominal fee, but 30 cents. It's not, you know, listen, you guys are here only for one reason to make money. That's the bottom line. And we understand that, but I'm here to make sure that you don't make money and give the city back to the people. So let them figure out what they need to do.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. The points of information have been made. And, uh, if we could resume, uh, unless you have any more, uh, questions to answer.
[SPEAKER_27]: we'd like to resume conversation with the citizens again. Sure. There was one more question that we can answer at this time. We can turn off the machines instantaneously if need be for a storm or emergency situation.
[Robert Penta]: So if you pop was and leave that spot and go to another spot, can they go to another spot of that? Is that it for the day? You only can do two hours.
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes. It's in line with the current ordinance. That's exactly. You can move, you can move within the city. You just cannot park in the same spot for two hours, more than two hours. The technology that we're using, the license plate recognition system, when it identifies a vehicle parked on a specific street, it has the latitude and longitude and photographs of the vehicle. So when it comes back on that same street, it's able to compare a current photograph to a previous photograph, the license plates, and determine how long the vehicle has stayed. That information is available to our officer.
[Michael Marks]: What's the margin of error?
[SPEAKER_27]: The margin of error is none. Because the officer is able to view the pictures with the information to determine if a violation has occurred.
[Michael Marks]: And they're going to determine if you're in that same spot, even though our spots currently aren't clearly marked, you're going to be able to tell if they're in that same exact spot.
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes. We're using latitude and longitude and photographic evidence. So it's very easy to determine if a violation has occurred.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Thank you. Councilor mocks. If we could receive resume, uh, Mrs. Consistio, is it?
[SPEAKER_04]: My name is still Millie Casasio and I still live at 289 Elm Street. When I said before about, you know, so many stories going around. And when I sat down, I felt a little better. Now I am totally confused. Totally. And again, part of it, you know, this business about the senior center and they mentioned about setting up a separate park for it. All right, but now, how are you gonna know that everybody that's parked in that is a senior citizen? Now, I know a friend of mine who lives in Gloucester, they can go to the town hall and they can get a sticker for their car, because anybody could come, you know, park their car and, oh, it's the senior center, what do I care? I'm just gonna park. How are you gonna tell that?
[Fred Dello Russo]: If, if I may, from the chair, it sounds to me like what the chief was saying that not every detail is worked out yet, but they've identified certain spots within the city, particularly at the senior center, which is due for major facelift, as you know, uh, in landscaping redesign that, um, uh, the area adjacent will be, uh, assessed and, uh, a means is going to be figured out as to how to achieve that to registering your car with a sticker is, uh, one of those means. I think that's something that they're, uh, examining as an option, but clearly, uh, something needs to be done there. And I think the message has been made loud and clear.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, the main reason I brought it up again is because I didn't hear that, and I just thought, I'll suggest that. I'll suggest that. But, and again, the business then too, like some of these people, I don't do it. I don't. I'm never there more than two hours, okay? But I know people, they go and they take the ceramics class and they take the knitting class and it's a social thing. Some of those people, it's the only social thing they have. So I had thought when I was up here a few minutes ago that If they were there for three hours, it wouldn't be a problem, but it sounds like they would still have to move their car.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think the chief was saying that's not the case, but what we have to be wary of is Mr. Smith from Winchester going to find that out and park there so he can.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, that's, but that's why I said seniors, you need to, for seniors, if the seniors that you need to have some identification. So people won't be doing that because people will do it. They will do it. Definitely.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. And the chief is right behind you to respond. Your neighbor just,
[Leo Sacco]: Just some information on that. We'll be working very closely with Pam Kelly, the director of the Council on Aging, and the person in charge of the senior center. We'll be working something out, whether it's a placard that will have to be displayed on their dashboard, but it'll be something clearly identifiable so that, I think we're trying to stay away from issuance of decals that give people a time that they can park any day they want to park there and, you know, get on the bus and go to Mohegan or Foxwood or wherever. This will be strictly for the center itself. And some staff person from the center may have to go out and put the leaflets on the dashboards for the people.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. Councilor, yes. And we want to allow some of the citizens to speak. I want to respond to the chief.
[Robert Penta]: Chief, I believe there's approximately eight parking spaces in the front of the senior center. And a lot of the times they will park across the street in the parking lot over there. Now, I have two pictures here that were taken at nighttime. You have two kiosks against the business wall of that parking lot. And here's a picture of the parking lot for which somebody would have to walk from the sidewalk, where those businesses are, all the way to the ring road. There's not one kiosk. How is anyone supposed to figure that out? And especially at nighttime, when it's dark out, you can't even see these kiosks.
[Leo Sacco]: They don't have to pay overnight. 7 p.m., it's over.
[Robert Penta]: What are you talking about? At 4 o'clock at nighttime, it's dark out. And you can't see. How are you going to see these? Against the wall. And if somebody's coming in, And if they're a guest at the senior center and not knowing that they have to go to a kiosk, what are they going to walk, 150 feet to go put money in a kiosk?
[Leo Sacco]: There's also a kiosk on the sidewalk, on the backside, on the Clippership Drive side, right where the flashing lights for the crosswalk is.
[Robert Penta]: But that's even further away than the parking lot is here.
[Leo Sacco]: But that's the main door of the center is on that side.
[Robert Penta]: When seniors, when they have their Christmas thing and whatever it might be, they may get 100, 150 people. And sometimes it might go to two or three hours, whatever the event might be. Why should they be worrying about having to come out and put money in a meter?
[Leo Sacco]: They do not have to worry about it. As I said, we're going to be working with the director of the center.
[Robert Penta]: But why wasn't this thought out ahead of time? This is the whole issue of not having meetings ahead of time to discuss these matters.
[Leo Sacco]: No, I can just tell you, based on the nature of the phone calls that my office has been receiving, Alvin's been getting all those calls. People who live in apartments above the stores in Medford Square want the city to decide where they're going to park. You know, I'm sorry. You're going to have to find your own space. We'll make an accommodation for the senior center based on the population that attends there, and we'll work with the people. But we cannot create parking spaces for people. They will have to look. We cannot satisfy every whim that comes up. We could have had 1,000 meetings. We could have met every single day for six months. We still would not be touching every issue that comes up because there is always another issue.
[Robert Penta]: But having always another issue is good to create the idea that had you had these meetings. These issues would be minimal now. These are major. And what's happening is the small businessman, who's the lifeline of this community, is at risk because they're worried about their customers, whether they come back or not, whether they have appropriate parking. And now, as Councilor Monk just alluded to, and I heard it earlier tonight, a special validation program. So what are we going to do? Take care of special people that contributed to the mayor's office and make sure that their tickets are taken care of?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Pente. You've made your point. If we can, Chief, do you need to?
[Leo Sacco]: I'll let it pass, but just the one comment I want to make is that just reinforcing the point, every single day there's going to be another issue. This thing has to get up and running and we'll have to tweak it. I know there's been some talk about, you know, since 2009 there hasn't been much activity. Well, there's been a lot of activity. We've met with consultants, but we also, everyone on this rail knows, we've been through a very difficult time. The whole nation's been through a difficult time economic wise. We haven't been able to hire people. We're just starting to hire people or replace vacancies.
[Robert Penta]: I'd just like to finish, so I can finish my train of thought.
[Leo Sacco]: The idea is that there was always a more important issue. Just like I said, with priorities for the police as far as enforcement, there's always a more important issue than parking enforcement. There's been more important issues that confronted the city than having this parking management plan, but now it's time. We've put it on the back burner for long enough. Now it's time to move forward. We're going to have some difficulties, but so far I've been very surprised at how quickly we've been able to resolve some of the issues that have popped up. If I've heard for years, and I know it's true with the economic downturn, businesses were suffering and businesses weren't going to survive. Well, if you couldn't survive with free parking, I mean, now we're trying to generate some parking turnover. So people will come to businesses in the square or all the squares, the business districts. And as I said two weeks ago, yes, the contract call for certain amount of kiosks and certain amount of meters, some areas that did not receive them in this round, this program is built to expand if it proves successful. So those other areas that people are concerned about that didn't get meted, may very well see them in another year or two.
[Robert Penta]: Chief, in all fairness, to this council especially, Hank Philippi Ryan came to this community and did an expose on its Channel 7. And they talked to the mayor, and the mayor was asked a question about the non-enforcement up in the metro area. for people parking there, and they did it for a month. It wasn't a day, a month, the same people, no enforcement. And the mayor had the audacity to blame the city council for not giving the money. That was absolutely not true. This Medford City Council has been most supportive of the police department and the fire department on every one of those issues. So taking that and coming forward, you have a tax bill, you have a water bill, you have an excise, you have a meals tax, and you're having business people that are trying to survive. You have a man that's never owned a business, doesn't know what it means to wake up in the morning, open the door, turn the key, gas, electric, employment, workman's comp, insurance, renter's insurance, trucks. You put, you, you, you. You put all that together, then you'll have an understanding. You'll have an understanding what the small little business man has to go through. Believe me.
[Leo Sacco]: I can't speak for the mayor, but I will in this one point. He's the last person that wants to see anyone go out of business or an empty storefront. He's doing a good job of it. I'll tell you that. That's one thing for sure. No one wants to see an empty business or an empty storefront and someone suffer any more than they have to.
[Robert Penta]: Do you remember a few years ago? Thank you, Councilor Penta. You know, on Riverside Avenue, when they shut down Riverside Avenue for the Ring Road, you put 39 businesses out because you took their front door visibility away, people that were here for years and years and years, and now what you're going to do is tell the small businessmen we're going to go to having a revenue enhancement rather than a traffic enforcement program. Start it small, see where it takes you.
[Leo Sacco]: All I know is when they closed Riverside Avenue for that mall that they put in, that was the standard that was going on around the country. Try to emulate the Meadow Glen Mall. That is what hurt a lot of the businesses back in that day, back in the early 80s. And now look, Meadow Glen Mall is not doing so well.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Chief. Whoever was next in line, if you could, ma'am, state your name and address for the record.
[SPEAKER_12]: My question is, I just want to find out the 50-minute parking we have over there. They're going to stay the 50 minutes because the two gentlemen that were there yesterday and today, they made a pay. for the court is other people. They came in my store and any other store. Just I'd like to know, are we going to leave it at 50 minutes, or they have to pay?
[Fred Dello Russo]: The chief will answer your question.
[SPEAKER_12]: God bless the chief. Thank you.
[Leo Sacco]: Yes, those spots are staying for 15 minutes, and they're free. But they're 15 minutes.
[SPEAKER_12]: OK, that's fine. They're going to enforce that too?
[Leo Sacco]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_12]: OK, thank you very much. There's another question I want to ask. I don't understand it too much. Like Mr. Pender just say, if the business owner, the one that they got a restaurant or whatever, and they want to get that five spot for the whole night, they can do that or every two hours we have to move? I don't know. I don't understand that question. You just say two hours they have to move. Okay. Thank you. That was my question. Thank you very much.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. In reference to a point you made about a fee, I paid by a debit card for my application. A debit card is cash and cash. There's usually no transaction fee associated with that. I got my bank statement, and on my bank statement it said, from Republic Parking, citation fee. Now why would an administration fee be called a citation fee? Those are two different words. Are we going to say that that administration fee is called the citation fee to say, this is the revenue we did in the first month. How many, how many permit parking placards do we have? We have a thousand in the city. That's $3,000 is a citation fee. The other thing is chief, what about resident permit parking enforcement after seven o'clock? Who's going to be responsible for that?
[Leo Sacco]: And who do we call? you call the Medford police. We will be doing enforcement after hours, but I've been assured by the Republic folks that in the very beginning of this program, and I believe it will begin in January 26th, we will be putting out some messages ahead of time to the various permit parking streets. So that the reminder notice to remind them to get going, to get their permits and that it will be going live on January 26th, I believe is the date. Uh, but, They will be staggering their personnel so that they can cover the evening and hopefully into maybe the early morning hours, because I know that many of the residents in the past, Yale Street, the Hillside, Tufts neighborhoods, they're very disappointed on the overnight. When they get up in the morning and come out and see all the out-of-state plates or cars that are not registered to their street, they're gonna get up, they're gonna find a lot of orange tickets under the windshield wipers of those vehicles. But speaking with the mayor today and with others, I mean, we will be, purchasing the technology as well. So our crews will be able to go up and down the street to read the plates that will turn around and tell us whether they're registered for that street or not. But the Medford police is still the police department in the city that will still be responsible for enforcement. We are now sharing that responsibility with Republic parking and they're going to help us out tremendously because we still don't have enough personnel to handle every section of the city all the time.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Just another question.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of clarification. Counsel Lungo-Koehn.
[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, President Dello Russo. Just while you're on that go-live date for the permit parking, is that scheduled to be the go-live date for the whole program, kiosks included?
[Leo Sacco]: Meters and kiosks would be January 15th, I believe.
[Robert Penta]: Point of order on that question. On that question today in South Medford, I got a phone call from a business person. The people from Republic were there telling people that they had to put the money in the meter. So, I mean, what is it, the 5th, the 15th? Why is Republic here? Why are your people telling people to put the money in the meter?
[SPEAKER_27]: The meters are active as of the 5th. Enforcement on the meters will begin mid-month on the 15th.
[Robert Penta]: So you're taking money in the meter. That's what you're doing.
[SPEAKER_27]: We're collecting money on behalf of the city. Well, if it doesn't start till the 15th, what are you collecting it on the 5th for? No, sir. I said enforcement begins on the 15th.
[Robert Penta]: What'd you say? Enforcement.
[SPEAKER_27]: The meters are active in collecting parking revenue for the city.
[Robert Penta]: That's not fair. What are you talking about? You're taking people's money now. So you're having 10 days of free money before you even do any enforcement. To learn how to use the system.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Camuso. This city council asked the mayor's office specifically to have a grace period on violations and enforcement. So I'm assuming this is the grace period.
[SPEAKER_27]: This is a way to get it.
[Paul Camuso]: We asked for at least a couple of weeks. We asked for a month.
[SPEAKER_27]: Is this considered the grace period on enforcement? Yes, sir. And it's obviously another way to get more information out to the people and make them aware of it, which it obviously has.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you. She's chilled.
[jCO6jvvXtn0_SPEAKER_03]: My name is Nick Tomazook. I live at 29 Garfield. You know, we come here, and we squawk, and we hoot, and we howl. This monster's here to stay. The only ones that can change it is you guys can make it easier for the people in the city. That's the mayor's office. But this monster's here to stay. Yeah. That's for 10 years.
[Paul Camuso]: But it's not us. We can't.
[jCO6jvvXtn0_SPEAKER_03]: So you guys got to start to listen to these citizens and try to make it as easy as we can. So this company doesn't build another high rise down in Atlanta. or wherever the hell they're from. They're not from Massachusetts. All right, that's all I got to say. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Ma'am, you'd like to speak?
[SPEAKER_23]: My name is Janice Marino, and I own Backstreet Salon, 370 Main Street, South Medford. And I have so much anxiety about this whole thing, because I have elderly clients that can't walk from one kiosk to another one to my shop. And it's going to make a disaster for me. And I'm sick about it. So I don't know. I just hope that everybody could just do something for the elderly people. And I understand two hours is fine. But sometimes in a hair salon, it gets really busy. And it takes longer to do different services for people. And they need more. So what I was going to ask you is, if they have this kiosk, and they have to come out of the salon, and they have to move their car, they're not going to come anymore. They're not going to come. They're going to say, I'm going someplace else. I'm going to go to assembly mall and have free parking. And why go to South Medford anymore? You know, so I'm, I'm so scared about losing my business. And that's all I have to say.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Janice. Sir, you name an address for the record.
[mex41hYCPiQ_SPEAKER_17]: My name is DJ Dabeningo, proprietor Dabs Lock 470 High Street, West Bedford. Uh, I was here two weeks ago, uh, this evening, like tonight addressing the council on this parking issue that is now a going to be a big issue in this city. Um, a couple of the concerns I addressed, um, and two weeks later still have no answers on one. And I heard earlier from home, sorry for my lateness. I, uh, suffered from a concussion earlier after falling on the ice and, was resting at home, so I had to rush down here to speak on this issue. One is the temporary parking passes for the business workers. I, like many businesses here in the city, employ individuals who work on a part-time basis who I cannot justify buying them a business parking permit for the year. One of my workers comes in four hours a week, one day a week. This past Monday, yesterday, I told him to stay home because I had been told that the enforcement was starting yesterday and I was not going to buy his vehicle a parking permit. And I have since told my other worker to stay home until we can figure this out. I went down to the Republic office yesterday in South Medford to buy my business permit, which I was always doing, and was listening to the frustrations of the residents in line who were buying their residential permits. When they approached the counter, they were told, it's $10 for the year, and then you get two visitor placards by year. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm paying $100 a year, and I got zilch. All I'm asking is some considerations be given to those businesses who employ more than one employee and give us something to work with. Because at the end of my lease, all I'm going to do is say, you know what, Medford? Sayonara. A few years ago, and I reiterate, quote unquote, the mayor stated the small businesses are the backbone of this community. How are they the backbone of this community if you're trying to force us out? That's my first issue. Second issue is there's a small issue of what I'm calling discrimination. So in West Medford, where I am, you have a lock shop, you have a dog groomer, and you have a convenience store and some place to eat. Down on Salem Street, in between Paris and park, you have the same types of stores. You have a lock shop, a dog room, or someplace to eat, and a convenience store. The only difference between those two areas and West Medford, you have to pay to park. In that strip, you don't. They are still businesses paying business taxes like I am, but their customers can park all day for free. So that's what's really irritating me about this. And any time I ask anyone with the city, including Republic, about answers, all I said is, we don't know. We scratch our heads. So I leave you with that tonight. Thank you again for allowing me to speak. Congratulations to our new president and vice president on the council here. Thank you. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record.
[Andrew Castagnetti]: Certainly. Andrew Castagnetti, 23 Cushman street, Medford, Massachusetts. Congratulations. Council president and council vice president. I'm no politician, as you can tell by my choice of words or lack of choice of words thereof. Therefore, I call it the way I see it. First off, it's very encouraging for a change to see all these people get civically involved. I wish they were here for my residential real estate exemption last month. Number two. Once upon a time, Medford Square did have parking meters. I believe when I was a teenager, they were there. Number three, then the meters were removed and replaced with two-hour free parking signs. However, for whatever reason or reasons, the two-hour limit was not consistently enforced. And then number four, the parking became abused from within and from without. Out-of-towners taking the bus or the train into Boston or wherever. Also, I believe most business owners want constant turnover for customer parking. And six, and now the free parking party is over, and we all must pay as we go or stop to park. Seems that the valid contract is signed, right or wrong? Good luck.
[Joe Viglione]: Thank you. Sir, could you please state your name and address for the record? Yes, Council President. My name is Joe Villione, 59 Garfield Ave. I was at Dunkin' Donuts on Sunday, and I'm sitting in the window reading my paper at the crosswalk, and the crosswalk is all broken, seriously damaged, so if someone is walking on it, a woman with her high heels could fall easily, and then the crosswalk is faded. Then you go a little further down, and At the coin-operated laundry, the gutter, you could get your tire in that rut. It's so big. Now, this problem is across Medford. My question is, how much money is Republic going to make from this compared to Medford? Are they going to get 75% and we 25? Are they going to get 99% and us 1? Are we going to get 100%? I don't know. But if we're paying to park in this city and the streets are broken, we're getting a bill of goods here because We're paying for premium space in what, I mean, Salem Street, Haines Square is starting to look like a third world country. The litter is beyond control. I don't see it in other communities, not in Woburn, not in Winchester, not in Stoneham, but here in Medford where I live, I'm constantly picking stuff up in front of my house, which blows in from the gas station, constantly. So we have this litter and these broken streets. The mayor's been in office for 28 years, and Republic has been in business a long time. They're as efficient, and I'm not making a joke here, they're as efficient as the machines in the film The Matrix. They know what they're doing. They're very, very smart. They didn't want us to have this on a public access station, which, by the way, we don't have anyways, but if we did, we would have had a discussion. I have to thank Mayor D'Antonio for actually bringing the people out tonight. Let's put it where it is. The guy that ran for mayor is the guy doing the real heavy lifting here. So thank you, Anthony, for doing the hard work and bringing people out. We don't know about the street, and can we fix them? Are we going to get money, serious money, to fix and pave our streets? Because they're a mess. Garfield Ave is pothole central. Central Ave took a long time to fix, and I know it's late. Locust Ave finally got fixed, but it's a little too late. I would like to know, Republic, if you can tell us what kind of breakdown the city's going to make from this revenue enhancement program.
[SPEAKER_27]: The contract with Republic in the city is a shared revenue contract. Republic Parking is responsible for all of the capital investment, the kiosks and the vehicles and all of the labor and all of the technology that's required, the office rent and such and overhead that we have as a business. And the revenues that will actually be earned will be determined by the results of the program, the amount of money that's generated from the program itself. So it's based on a percentage of the actual revenues that are received. There is a threshold, but basically the top threshold is 83% goes to the city and 17% goes to Republic out of which we have to pay all of our expenses.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information. Councilor Camuso. Thank you. And, um, a portion of that too, set up by this council and the administration is earmarked to go right back into community development in the squares. So whether it's hiring a consultant to try to bring in more business, whatever the case, whether it's physical infrastructure improvements of a particular square. So this council, working with the solicitor's office and the mayor's office, we're adamant that a portion of this does go back to the business districts that are affected. Thank you, councillor. Councilor Penta, did you have a point of information?
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, Jack, I think, excuse me, Mr. Skelton, I think you indicated when you folks were here that you folks needed to do approximately $2 million a year in business? That was the projections that were working off of, yes. You needed $2 million a year. And the city gets, after the first year, the city gets $300,000. And then after the second year, the city gets $700,000, going up to the seventh year. And then years eight, nine, and 10, it's a renegotiable too. So if the city goes from $300,000 to $700,000, that's a $400,000 jump in one year, how much do you folks expect to make between the first and the second year?
[SPEAKER_27]: Again, it depends on the amount of revenue generated. Referencing there is the guaranteed portion of the contract. Guaranteed. That's the guaranteed number. The threshold percentage breakdown is above that, sir.
[Robert Penta]: So if we're guaranteed a minimum of 300,000 the first year, because you have to do the cost for the kiosks and everything else. And the second year it jumps up 400,000. So that's like 110% increase to the city, if not more.
[SPEAKER_27]: If we meet the thresholds.
[Robert Penta]: So if the thresholds are not met, Isn't that an allowance for the city to opt out of the contract likewise with you? The city has the option to terminate the contract at any time.
[SPEAKER_27]: At any time? Yes, sir. No penalty, or what the penalty? They would have to pay off the investment that was made in the parking program.
[Robert Penta]: And how much is the investment right now, so far, approximately? About $800,000. About $800,000? Yes. Well, $800,000, that's for the cost of what, the kiosks and the signs? Yes. all of the technology. Okay, all the technology and the science. this supposedly 10 year deal.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Is this a rather long- Yeah, well, no, it is.
[Robert Penta]: It's relative to the money part of what he was talking about. It's a corollary, you know what those are? The corollaries go like this. The commentary was- It sounds like a run on sentence, councillor. It's an $18 million contract, but it's not $18 million for the city of Medford. This is an $18 million contract between you and the city and the city of Medford comes out of this. If we follow just your projections, if everything is met to $7.9 million, not $18 million as reported. If I understand that correctly, a guarantee of $300 the first year, $700 the next year, if everything is met for the next seven years, figure that out for the 10-year of the contract, it's $7.9 million, not $18 million.
[SPEAKER_27]: The number you're quoting is not something that we provided. That was an overall revenue projection.
[Robert Penta]: But the revenue projection doesn't come to the city. If we're getting $7.9, you're getting at least that, if not more.
[SPEAKER_27]: No, sir. I sure wish that was the case. We're obligated for all the operating expenses, which are significant.
[Robert Penta]: Well, I think maybe the city should really deeply investigate the fact that if we are locked into this for at least one year, we have an option to maybe look at this and maybe get out of it because I, you know, to be honest with you, that's an awful lot of money for you guys to think you're going to generate $2 million a year. And the $2 million a year just might not happen if people figure out, listen, I'm not going to go there and spend this money in the computer. I mean, in the kiosk, As Councilor Knight has alluded to, why am I supposed to spend 35 cents to put a quarter into the meter? That's another screwy thing. And if you have a validation program, that's only going to hit certain people to the exclusion of other, which is discriminatory as far as I'm concerned, every single business needs to be treated the same. And if they're not going to be treated the same, then the program can never work with equity. Thank you, Councilor Penta.
[Richard Caraviello]: Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. While you're here, can you explain how you're going to go around and tag these cars and not tag them? Are you going to monitor this? I'm confused. Is there going to be people? I'm hearing that you're going to have two cars going around the city. Are there going to be people actually in West Medford, Method Square, actually doing things?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes. All citations will be issued by our employees.
[Richard Caraviello]: No, no, no. It's not that. Is there going to be a person walking around Method Square Are you doing this all via the vehicle?
[SPEAKER_27]: There will be a combination of vehicle patrols and foot patrols, but primarily vehicle patrols. And that allows us to be very efficient and numbers. How many vehicles are going to be circling the city? We have two LPR vehicles that will be utilized for the program. So two vehicles? Yes, sir.
[Richard Caraviello]: Can do permit parking?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, sir.
[Richard Caraviello]: Parking?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, sir. We have as a correlation, as a comparison in other cities.
[Richard Caraviello]: So you're going to be driving. Who's going to give out the citation in the car? Is the gentleman or lady going to get out of the car and put a ticket on the window? Yes. Or are they going to put their hand on it?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, that's correct. All the tickets will be placed on the vehicle by our officer. This is a commonly used practice. That'll be in the vehicle, correct? Yes, they're in the vehicle. They'll make the identification of a violation and then get out of the vehicle and issue the citation.
[Richard Caraviello]: Now who's gonna monitor if there's a handicapped placard in the window? That will be our officers as well as the police department. So before you give a ticket to my car, you know, look to make sure there's not a handicapped placard in the window?
[Richard Caraviello]: What about towing?
[SPEAKER_27]: Are any of these guys ever gonna be towed? Under the current ordinances, a scoff law is eligible for towing.
[Richard Caraviello]: Who makes the decision on who gets towed? That's by ordinance. I mean, so, If you drive by the same car that's been there for two or three days, you call the police department and say, this guy's been there, we should have a toad. I mean, who makes that decision who gets toad?
[SPEAKER_27]: It's authorized through the police department to make a toad. So the police department's? Yes, sir. By current ordinance, that's how it reads.
[Richard Caraviello]: Okay, two more questions, one more question. Governors Avenue and Forest Street, there's no kiosk or meters on those two streets? The initial kiosk.
[SPEAKER_27]: Are you just gonna enforce the signs? The initial kiosk location was per a consultant study that was done prior to the RFP being issued for this contract. So all the locations for the kiosk with a few exceptions, uh, were per that report by the consultant, the city hired to do a study of the city. So we work with cities across the country and I can tell this council and the citizenry that it's always a dynamic situation. Even parking programs have been placed for, 50, 60 years, there's always changes that are ongoing.
[Richard Caraviello]: No, but my question was, Forest Street, there seems to be an awful lot of parking on Forest Street, and also on Governor's Ave, people that leave their cars there all day. Are you just gonna enforce the signs that are already there?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, if there's not a kiosk, it'll be per the ordinance and the time limits that are in place.
[Richard Caraviello]: Okay, now who's gonna, now is your signal tracking software gonna be able to say that that car's been there for two hours?
[SPEAKER_27]: Yes, sir.
[Richard Caraviello]: A few weeks ago, when the last time you were here, I had asked that you'd come back in 60 days and we could review what's gone on in the past. Can we still adhere to that? Absolutely. I'm available to meet any time that you'd like. I think it's important. Will yourself and the parking representative come back so we can say, look, it's been 60 days. these are the problems that are really sticking out, and maybe make some changes then? Absolutely. Okay.
[Maury Carroll]: Sir, if you could state your name and address for the record. Larry Carroll, 31 Richard Street, Medford. I just heard the gentleman refer to his staff. Are they officers? Are they employees of this company? I'm not quite too sure what that definition of officers mean, and maybe if you could clarify that a little clearer.
[SPEAKER_27]: The use of the term officers is not in any way to indicate that they're police officers. They're what we call enforcement officers in the industry, parking enforcement officers. The term we actually intend to use is ambassadors. We hear that in a lot of cities, but we're very successful in rolling our people out to promote the downtown, promote events, to share information.
[Paul Camuso]: I think he's referring to the ticket writers.
[SPEAKER_27]: That's what I'm talking about.
[Paul Camuso]: Good luck.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Mr. Carol, do you have sir?
[SPEAKER_34]: Vincent Ciano, 31 Henry street. Uh, it seems like a, an awful, confusing program. It seems like there are more questions than answers, just by all the questions that the Councilors have. But it seems that the people I talk to most don't even know anything about the program at all. And others know very little. I don't think this pamphlet explains too much. But what it boils down to is that I don't know if the people realize it or not, but now they can't park anywhere in Medford without paying a fee. You can't park in front of your own home unless you have a permit and pay a fee. Small, but it's still a fee. So where do you park? It's ridiculous.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: Thank you, sir. Councilor Camuso. If I may, this brings up a follow up question and this would be to the chief. There are some traditionally we know which streets right now in the community of resident permit parking only. I'm assuming there's going to be a residual effect on this because now people are going to be leaving place dead road to park and they're going to be parking up the side streets and all that. At this point, there's some scuttlebutt out there that there's other streets that were added as resident parking permit recently in anticipation of this program. Is that true or false?
[Leo Sacco]: That's false.
[Paul Camuso]: That's false.
[Leo Sacco]: One inquiry, one inquiry from a resident of Clulee road. Okay. Because they're the first street that does not have permit parking. I've just had that one inquiry. She was advised what she needed to do to get it before the traffic commission. But that was just the other day.
[Richard Caraviello]: The last street that was added was Hamilton street. I got one more question. On that, what you just said on Clulee road, I've had to call some other residents saying that They're being told that business people have been told can park on certain residential streets. It's not, well, David designated as business overflow, business parking can park on certain streets outside the business.
[Leo Sacco]: As I stated to two weeks ago in West Medford square between Hammond place and Brooke street, I believe it's one hour or business by a business permit. And then between Brooks and Alston, On High Street is two hour of business permits. So there's a combination of those two. On High Street? What about on those side streets? No.
[Richard Caraviello]: No.
[Leo Sacco]: No.
[Richard Caraviello]: Just on High Street.
[Leo Sacco]: Unless there's a street there that's not permit parking. If there's no permit parking, if there's no restriction, they can park. Thank you.
[Paul Camuso]: And that would be up to, because I know exactly what he's referring to, the Cottage Street that I talked to you about.
[Leo Sacco]: I've answered several questions from people on Cottage Street.
[Paul Camuso]: Exactly.
[Leo Sacco]: Somehow the rumors get started. And that's the problem. There's just a lot of misinformation. And you put a lot of people at ease, though. The proof is in the pudding. Once it starts rolling out and actually gets implemented, just what I'm hearing about the permit parking, took a lot of complaints from the public because we weren't doing enough permit parking enforcement. I'm looking forward to seeing that done. I think you'll see a big change that that that will be a major impact for the residents.
[Paul Camuso]: And then, um, my second follow up question is regarding the, uh, the streets and the permit streets for the viewing public, because there will be the residual effect like, um, some street that's not already residential. People may try to, beat the system, I'm not going to pay the $5 to park on Police Dead Road, so I'm going to go to one of those streets, Century Woods, Roberts, anything. If any streets see an influx of vehicles parking, they should get together and petition the community, the City of Medford, through the Chief and the Traffic Commission, to take a look at making it resident permit parking, because I know that you and the Traffic Commission, what's the official name now? Traffic Commission, right? Still Traffic Commission. With the merging of the off-street parking. But with that being said, I think people have to be cognizant of that. If you see an additional people park on your street, and traditionally you can tell when they're out of town is because they have stickers for the dump in Winchester or Lexington Boys and Girls Club or something like that. So, but if you see an influx of that, bring it to our attention as a city council, the mayor or the chief, and we'll get you before the traffic commission and the chief will do his due diligence.
[Leo Sacco]: All they have to do is generate a petition get several names of residents on the street that are in favor of it.
[Paul Camuso]: Have a hearing.
[Leo Sacco]: And Albert Erickson processes that, sends notices out to all of the residents that are listed for that street so that they get to come to a meeting or a call or send us a note whether they're in favor or opposed.
[Paul Camuso]: Well, I'm glad I'm glad you updated the council miss because there was a lot of banter going back and forth that all half the city now is resident permit parking only that they Because of this and at this point there's only been one addition to the last one was Hamilton Hamilton Street And that was two months ago. Okay before this was even and for this because this is going live, can you work with the city administration to maybe get the the the traffic commission's agenda on the city webpage, so people can take a look at it and see what streets around them may be affected by it, and then you can have maximum input from the area. Thank you, Chief.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, Councilor Cusum. Before we go to Councilor Marks, the chair has no paper before it. This has been an informational session. If the councilors want to formulate a resolution for us to end this with, the chair will entertain that. I would like to- Councilor Marks.
[Michael Marks]: Thank you, Mr. President. Chief, just if I could, we referred back to the parking committee in 2009, one of the recommendations was to have citywide permit parking, or at least to be reviewed. And that's part of the report. Has there been any movement on reviewing citywide permit parking? Because the approach of having it done piecemeal right now is not adequate enough. Residents are sending us emails stating the permit only is issued for your particular street. So if you want to go visit your sister or your aunt or your cousin, still in Method, you can't take your resident permit parking sticker and go to another section of Method, which to me is ridiculous.
[Leo Sacco]: That's correct. And that's age old. When the permit parking regulations were formed back in the late seventies, early eighties, it was street by street. And at that time, for the most part, it was the hillside area around Tufts university. But there has been discussion. I've spoken with Dan Nash and uh, you know, there's, there's now we're going to have some data to look at and really see what the impact will be on permanent parking. And we either will go through a zone so that, you know, it's a neighborhood area or we'll go citywide. But I don't see that happening before next year because everyone's getting their permit now and it's street by street because I think there's still going to be an equal number of people who want you know, just their street, which really isn't right. Every time we talk to a group, we let them know, okay, it was passed for your street, but remember you're part of a neighborhood and you know, someone on the next street over whose permits, who has a permit, it's just not enough spaces. They should be able to park on this street because it's just down the street from their house. It's part of a neighborhood. So we're looking at zone. either doing by zone or doing citywide. So anyone in the city who's registered in the city, even if they don't have a permit parking street, if they want to purchase a permit so that they have the opportunity to park, there'd be no reason to deny them.
[Michael Marks]: And chief, and I think Gwen Blackburn, who's still here, can attest to the fact when we visited Malden, Everett, Somerville, Boston, the committee itself, everyone came back to us and said, you know what? Keep whatever parking enforcement you do free from city hall. Don't locate it at city hall. Keep it away from city hall. And we heard that over and over again. And what we did was create an enforcement office on main street, which is great. That's free from city hall. But the mayor outsourced everything other than the hearings, the appeals. The one thing you'd say, We don't want to be involved with the appeal process. The mayor kept that in-house. He not only kept it in-house, he kept it here at City Hall. So it flies in the face of everything that we heard in the past. And then the mayor took it one step further and said that he didn't believe with this new enforcement program that there was going to be an increase that would merit or warrant someone, because we only have a part-time person that does the hearings now. and he didn't believe, with all this new ticketing, that we would need someone to do hearings, which makes no sense at all to me. Absolutely no sense. So the two points is, leaving it out of city hall, he kept it here. The other point is, you have a part-time person, Diane McLeod, who works full-time at a real job, and does this on a part-time, and now she's gonna be asked to do a program that, there was no enforcement in the city, very little, to now full-blown enforcement. I just don't see it happening. We asked that money be put in the budget to pay for another hearing officer, and the mayor denied it. So I still don't know how that's going to work, Chief.
[Leo Sacco]: That change may happen down the road again. I know the situation went down the road when they see what the impact is. But Diane McLeod obviously does a great job with what she does. And I have to tell you that She goes out and researches any ticket appeal. She goes out to the streets. She looks at the neighborhoods that where the person was cited. She calls the police department, Sergeant Carroll sometime at the current flow chief at the car, which is minimal to none, but she does a thorough job. But with this program, Even if she gets 100 appeals, there's going to be backup data. You're going to have a picture of the car in violation. You have two options. You pay the ticket, or you appeal.
[Michael Marks]: But Chief, think about all the different policies that haven't been outlined yet, all the different appeals that people are going to come up with and say, you know what, you told me this or that. That person is going to be inundated with hearings.
[Leo Sacco]: And I think initially, she will be inundated. But as time goes on and compliance rates pick up, which we've seen in the past, whenever we did extensive ticketing, within a week or two, you got compliance, and the tickets started to drop off because people complied. And then, when you went away for a month, things went back to the old way. I honestly believe, after a few months of regular, consistent, steady enforcement, you will see compliance. But I agree, the first few months are going to be difficult.
[Michael Marks]: The President And if we see compliance, Republicans are going to be in a lot of trouble because they're not going to get their revenue. Their revenue is not based on feeding the meter. It's based on ticketing. In life, there's risk, right? Two-thirds of their revenue is based on ticketing, not meters. So if compliance is there, and I hope that's correct, they're going to be out of business very shortly.
[Leo Sacco]: Well, I look at Somerville as the model. $8 million a year, and they keep climbing.
[Michael Marks]: Yeah, but they hide behind bushes, Chief.
[Leo Sacco]: And you said that's not going to happen in Method. Because there's enough low-bearing fruit to grab. We don't have to hide behind the bushes. Thank you, Chief.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you.
[Adam Knight]: Chief, do you have any idea right now under the current system what percentage of tickets are issued? What percentage of issued tickets are appealed? I don't know.
[Leo Sacco]: I think the bulk of the appeals happen with snow emergencies and street sweeping. That's probably the heaviest time we do any ticketing, or have been doing over the past couple of years. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: All set, Councilor Knight? Yes, thank you.
[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penta? Chief, at the outset, I probably should have said this right in the beginning. You don't belong here. The mayor belongs here. This is not your program. This is the mayor's program. And I'm involved. And you're doing his nasty work right now. That's number one. About three weeks ago, Dan, you and I, and I think a fellow by the name of John N. Candola, met at the coffee shop. I want to get back to your comment, Councilor Marks. We had a lot of conversation about a lot of the concerns that are out there. And I think you agreed and you said basically a lot of the things you and I were talking about, you agreed. One big issue, the appeal process. And what did you say? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'll paraphrase you. You said, if there was one thing you oppressed upon the mayor, keep it out of city hall, get an outside independent person. That's what you said.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: Dan Nash, Regional Manager of Public Parking. One of the things that we had suggested was to provide administrative hearing through our office to try to weed out some of the appeals that may come through that could be administered prior to going to City Hall. But at no point were we anticipating removing anyone, the final administrative hearing process or the hearing process from City Hall. That was never on the table.
[Robert Penta]: No, you indicated at that point in time, it would be wise and advisable to hire an outside independent person That way there would be no conflict as it relates to the parking ticket and city hall.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: But what I talked to you about is something that we had done in Springfield, Mass, where we had hired a outside attorney to come in and administrative hearings, uh, through the office to try to take care of some of the burden that might be left on the city's actual appeal process.
[Robert Penta]: So your recommendation is almost the same, whether it be Springfield and Medford or what have you. Why should Medford be any different than Springfield? I think every city's different.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: Springfield's huge. And I think part of that and discussions with the administration is to allow the process to go see what happens. I think the chief explained it very well just briefly is we know that the first couple of months there will probably be an influx in appeals. And if we see that that number is not dwindling down, then there are options that we could put into place to help assist with the appeal process.
[Robert Penta]: Well, I think that's something that should have been discussed and finalized and included in the contract, but just for the type of terminology that you're saying, that if in fact it gets to a point in time, as Councilor Marksley alluded to, and then an outside independent person needs to come in if they want to start off small, but the mayor was adamant. So if the mayor is going to be that adamant that Diane McLeod is a lovely person, she does her job, she has a full-time job to do. So I don't know how she's going to be able to pick up and chief, even though you said she may get all the technological thing, it might go up to a hundred. I mean, a hundred appeals is a hundred appeals. That's a lot to take care of during a period of time. But all I know is this, that if I was a contributor to the mayor of this community, and I wound up getting a ticket, I'd be knocking on his door and saying, hey, what's this all about? Oh, you're not going to get another contribution from me. Because he kept it here in City Hall, which is wrong. It should be out of City Hall. If this program really wanted to work its way right, it would be completely independent to anything that's political. And if you have to work out these little things, Councilor Camuso, I probably agree with you in one thing. And that's this. Yeah. on this particular thing, and I think it's a big one. I think if you were going to put meters in the city, you should have put meters so everybody that drove up would have seen them, they would have been able to understand it, the signage would have said how long you could have stayed, and this would have relieved an awful lot, an awful lot of the grief that's here. But your inconsistencies are all over the city. I'm not saying you, because you guys are only doing as you said where the mayor told you to do. I don't understand how you can go down Main Street from Medford Square to South Medford and have blocks of stores, have nothing at all, and then go to West Medford where there are kiosks, go to Haines Square where there are kiosks, and then Haines Square, at the end of Haines Square come to Medford Square, as Mr. Dobbs indicated, have had the same blocks of stores, like businesses, not having anything. And if you're going to say you're going to roll it out further, there's another phase to this, that means there's going to be more anguish and more heartache to the people in this community. We're not Newbury Street. We don't have to get up at 7 o'clock in the morning. And Newbury Street in Boston is the only place where they did this experiment with the kiosk, because the other parts of Boston still have the, and Brookline, who had the kiosk, got rid of it, because it was damning to the business community out there. We're not one of these communities. We're a simple little community. Point of information.
[Adam Knight]: Councilor Knight. Canal Street, Friend Street, Portland Street, they all have kiosks.
[Robert Penta]: It's not station.
[Adam Knight]: It's not downtown Boston. A number of different communities in New York City, New York State, California, Los Angeles County, they have kiosks. I think that they're new, they're scary, but at the end of the day, we're going to be able to figure it out. I don't think that we're giving the public enough credit. in terms of their ability to adapt to new technology. We've all done it. We've seen people come along and be able to work computers like wizards after a couple of weeks. It is what it is. I think that, you know, we're in a situation right now where we can go and we can talk about the past and we can talk about what happened, or we can look forward to see, all right, these are coming in. What's the process? How are we going to deal with our griefs and our gripes and our grievances? And in order for us to move forward, I think we really need to look at the plan and say the plan's in place. These are the, these are the recourses that we have. The traffic commission governs. We have the traffic commission and we go to the traffic commission. That's the process. There's a process in place. Now we can talk about the process that didn't happen to get us to where we are, or we can look forward and we can say, this is the process that we need to take in order to make this a successful plan. And that's where I am with this, Mr. President. I think that, you know, the history is the history. We all know what we voted for. We voted to give the mayor the authority to enter into a contract for 10 years. That's what we did. And we allowed him to go to the table and negotiate. He went to the table, he negotiated, and this is what he came back with. We have our concerns. We all have our concerns. And we've all had individual conversations with the chief and with the people from Republic and with the administration. But I think that right now, for the people out there that have concerns and that are scared and that are worried about what's going to happen, we need to tell them what the process is and provide them with an avenue to get answers to have their concerns addressed. Because in my experiences so far, I've gotten a number of calls about people that had issues about loading zones, and loading zones have been made. The folks from Republic have been pretty reasonable in terms of making accommodations to make this program and plan work for them. If we're going to roll out a plan that's going to be successful and that people are going to buy into, we need to look at the future and what avenues we have in order to address problems, not the past and what didn't happen and what should have. Thank you, Councilor, for your point of information.
[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penta has the floor. I disagree extremely with Councilor Knight on this because the past is the leader of the future. And if you can't learn from the past, the future will never have any value. The fact of the matter is this. There was no process. It never took place. And every time you keep saying, well, we have no recourse. Let's go forward. How can you go forward when you don't even know what took place? Because you weren't a part of it, when you were asked to be a part of it, when you were told to be a part of it. And you never voted for the finalization of the contract. The man took it upon himself. The bottom line to this whole thing is that there's a whole bunch of issues here. You guys are only here for one reason, that's to make money. You're not here to help the city of Medford, you're here to get your salary and to make money. So as far as that concern, you should probably sit down because the real questions that need to be asked, the mayor, he's the one that should be here. He's the one that should be explaining all of this to the people that's going on. So let me ask you something, sir. Well, I'm gonna ask him something, he wants to stay there. I like him, he's a nice guy. Let me ask you something. Yes. I have pictures here of you people bolting signs to trees. Why did you bolt the signs to the trees? Were you told to do that? No, we were not.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: Did you do it yourself? The signs that you see there, you know, what we did is we went along with what we had seen throughout the city, which were signs on trees. That's one I think is right out in front of Amici's. There was a one hour parking sign that was bolted to that tree that we took down and put back up.
[Robert Penta]: Well, what about the signs in Haines Square?
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: There was nothing on those trees. We made a mistake. I personally made a mistake because I told the staff.
[Robert Penta]: Well, didn't the mayor give you any instructions not to bolt signs on trees? Did anybody tell you that? It's against the ordinance to do that.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: It was my fault for not checking the ordinance.
[Robert Penta]: No, did anybody tell you if you're going to put the signs up?
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Mr. President. Point of information, Councilor Camuto. Either yes or no. Not to throw this gentleman under the bus, but normal person says you don't put the sign on the tree. I mean, the guy's acknowledging he made a mistake. You want to beat him up? Who didn't tell him? The chief, the police?
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, because it's important. It's part of what this process is all about.
[Paul Camuso]: I understand, Councilor. But did you lock your car when you come in tonight? Yes, I did. Did you lock your car?
[Robert Penta]: Yes, I did.
[Paul Camuso]: I mean, we're going volley here on ridiculous stuff now.
[Robert Penta]: Well, that's in your mind.
[Paul Camuso]: No, that's in your mind.
[Robert Penta]: That's why your mind and mine is entirely different. That's correct. Thank God. I have a pitch, Councilor. I have a pitch.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Just answer your question. The gentleman did answer the question, and we want to avoid a prosecutorial tone. We're not prosecuting anybody. Councilor Camuso, point of information.
[Paul Camuso]: To follow up on that, Aggie Tudin was very, very helpful in straightening the situation out. So kudos to her. I'm not sure if she actually talked to you or someone in your office. She's our tree warden here and arborist. And she was very concerned. She took the bull by the horns on that. Thank you, Councilor Camuso.
[Adam Knight]: Followed by Councilor Caraviello. Point of information, Councilor Knight. Personally, I don't feel as though Republic should be putting up any signs, Mr. President. And the reason so is because that work is DPW work. And we have a gentleman in the sign shop. who has a job, and his job is to be in charge of the signs. So this subletting of work that should be done by the DBW, I feel as though is a problem, Mr. President. I think that this work should be handled internally. We have a sign shop, we have a gentleman that's in charge of signs, and we have a gentleman who's well versed in the ordinances in the city of Medford. Quite frankly, Mr. Nash isn't from Medford, he came to this city. and maybe he relied on what he saw or what he's seen in other communities, so be it. But we have a sign shop, we have gentlemen in the DPW who know our ordinances, and I think that this is where the work should lie, not outside. Thank you, Councilor Knight.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Pentez.
[Robert Penta]: In response to Councilor Knight, that's absolutely not true. If you read the contract in the IRFP, they made the commitment to put the signs up and to replace the signs that are there. That's part of the contract.
[Adam Knight]: Any information, Councilor Knight? The contract that you're referring to is the contract with Republic, but the City of Medford also has a contract. The contract is with the Medford DPW Association, represented by Local 25, and they have rights. And if they aren't willing to sublet their work, and they haven't had an opportunity to negotiate the impact of the subletting of their work, then there's a violation.
[Michael Marks]: Point of information, Councilor Marks. So are you saying the may is in violation of the contract? That's what you just stated.
[Adam Knight]: that the union contract has been repudiated based upon the fact that outside people- So you're just stating again tonight that the may is in violation of the union contract? That's my interpretation, yes. That's my interpretation.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I believe the union contract has been repudiated. The DPW workers are suitably employed.
[Robert Penta]: Councilor Penta has- Yeah, the contract and the IRFP and the three pages of questions that were asked for which you, Republic, indicated that you folks would put up the signs and you would replace- is that true or false? That you would replace and put up the signs that were existing. That's part of the contract.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: part of the contract was, yes, we were responsible.
[Robert Penta]: Thank you very much. Okay. Not the city of Medford. Um, we have a, I have a picture here of one of your kiosks in front of Oak Grove cemetery on the sidewalk. Can you please explain in the middle of a snowstorm when they go down the street to plow the sidewalk?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Mr. President.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Camuso. That area in particular is maintained by the Cemetery Department. And they actually do that whole area, as you probably know, Councilor, from your expertise in that particular area. It's done very early in the snowstorms. And I'm sure it will continue to be done. What expertise?
[Robert Penta]: You do this? You plow the sidewalk, Councilor?
[Paul Camuso]: No, no, no. His expertise, he's up in that area a lot, given the nature of his business.
[Robert Penta]: You do the plowing on the sidewalk, yes or no? In front of Oak Grove Cemetery, do you plow the sidewalk there? Yes or no? You're an expert. Yes or no?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Do I plow the sidewalk?
[Robert Penta]: Yeah. Yeah. Sure, it'd help if they asked. You have one in the middle of the sidewalk there. Is there any particular reason why I had to go there and not other places? And this spot also has $5 a day parking, so.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor.
[Paul Camuso]: The $5 a day is for out-of-town residents that get on the commuter line or the bus.
[Robert Penta]: Five dollars a day is a bargain, it's a steal to come to the city of Medford, take the bus, go to Boston, and to park there, five dollars a day. But if you have to go down to West Medford, South Medford, North Medford, or Medford Square, you gotta pay to put the money in the quarter, and the most you can do is stay there for two hours. So how is that a bargain for the people of Medford? It's not a bargain. No, I don't, I don't want an out-of-towner coming here for five days when a homegrown person's gonna pay more.
[Paul Camuso]: And I want to applaud you, once again, for acknowledging my fine work in bringing forward the resolution to ban the out-of-towners from parking in Medford. And you actually supported it amongst all of us councillors. So I thank you for your fine support on that.
[Robert Penta]: Thank you for your point of information. Well, if we're agreeing, what are you yelling at me for? Because I love you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Penta, if we can continue with your line.
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, also, Dan, I have pictures here and up in West Medford, and I have pictures up here On the hillside in Medford. You have kiosks in front of residential homes. Why?
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: The earlier tonight, I know someone that spoke had mentioned a kiosk at 418 High Street. That's scheduled to be removed. That's going to be gone. I'm not sure which one you're speaking of.
[Robert Penta]: No, this is across the street. This is on, these ones here are on Boston Avenue, opposite where Dunkin' Donuts and Nick's Pizza and all that. It's all residential on that side of the street. You have kiosks up and down the street.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Camuso. That's the exact area that the esteemed young lady, retiree, was talking about. That's where the tough students park their vehicles all day long. They're out of state plates. Maine, Ohio, California.
[Robert Penta]: No. They park their vehicles on the opposite side of the garage, on the opposite side of the garage by the railroad tracks. That's where they park. Well, anyway. You don't put them in front of a residential. Then you go up to High Street, opposite St. Claude's, there's two residential homes there and there's a kiosk there next to an apartment. That's the one I told you, that's scheduled to be removed.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: But why did they go there in the first place? All the kiosks were placed based on the walker study that was done. Who was this walker study? And that was included in the RFP.
[Robert Penta]: Did the Council get a copy of this walker study? You got a copy of the walkers? Point of information.
[Paul Camuso]: We actually did not the walker study, but we actually got the overhead projection of every meter and the placement throughout the community at the committee of the whole meeting. It's on your disc. Yeah, it's on your disc.
[Robert Penta]: You're going to take the kiosk, the one on Boston Avenue in front of the, in front of all the, that's not my decision. Who made the decision to take the ones off of high street? The city. Was the city here chief? Can you get rid of the ones on Boston Ave? From the Sacred Heart Church going down on the right-hand side.
[Leo Sacco]: I'd have to look at it only because in some cases they were there because those are out-of-state students that are living in those homes. They're not owner-occupied. So it is a main drag. It does generate a lot of parking activity. Well, wait a minute.
[Robert Penta]: How are you going to make that determination? Does an owner-occupied person have to get a sticker so they don't have to pay?
[Paul Camuso]: Sacred Heart Church. Are you referring to the Old Sacred Heart Church on Boston Ave? Yes. Oh, okay. I'm confused because that's now Tufts University.
[Robert Penta]: The Old Sacred Heart Church chief on that side going all the way down. There are apartments.
[Leo Sacco]: There's only actually a few houses between Bellevue. Fairmont and University.
[Robert Penta]: You have two parking, you have two kiosks there.
[Leo Sacco]: I have to look to see if they can be utilized in a better spot, but I know from University Avenue down to College Avenue will be needed.
[Robert Penta]: But you have two kiosks there, so if you're worried about students who aren't owner-occupiers, then why can't you give them stickers like you want to maybe give to the seniors so that way they can be identified and they can park there and they don't have to worry about going to a kiosk and putting in a meter. Which seniors are you talking about?
[Leo Sacco]: As I said earlier, I have to look at the location and see what the situation is. What is he talking about, this guy?
[Paul Camuso]: Why don't you listen to what I'm saying?
[Robert Penta]: You said the seniors.
[Paul Camuso]: I said like the seniors, like he wants to give the seniors.
[Robert Penta]: You're talking about the old Sacred Heart Church. Forget it. Jesus. Also, you're losing it.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You have? Councilor Penter, if I could suggest. Yeah. We've spoken at a rather lengthy time. Wait a minute, this is very important.
[Robert Penta]: You have kiosks. How are you going to identify these kiosks at night when it's dark out? There's no signage. Flashlight. There's no lights. There's nothing. So if somebody's coming into the square, somebody wants to park in this parking lot at the end of the ring road, how are they going to see these two little kiosks in the back of the building that aren't lit up at all, and the people have a huge 150 car parking lot without anything in it? How are we going to do that? I mean, how is that equity compared to a small little businessman who's got a sign in front of a store or a kiosk?
[Leo Sacco]: Just keep in mind, 7 p.m. is the cutoff, so I know what you're saying, 4 o'clock, it's dark out. I understand that.
[Robert Penta]: So how do you do this? These things don't even get illuminated. So if somebody decides to come to the square, and they're four or five spaces away from a kiosk, what are they going to do? Are they going to get out of the car and go looking for a kiosk?
[Leo Sacco]: It's not illuminated. At that hour, they're probably not going to park in that parking lot.
[Robert Penta]: I don't care about this parking lot. This is just an example of one spot. Take the other spots. You have a small little peak. There's no light in the top that goes along or anything. You said the thing is run by solar. I'm assuming it has a battery backup. Why can't you have some kind of a light on it? So people don't feel like they're getting sucked in if they get a ticket.
[Leo Sacco]: But I also think that, as was stated earlier, we have to give people a little more credit than what's being given right now.
[Robert Penta]: How long do you think it's going to take, Chief, the people of this city of Medford who don't watch the council meetings, don't have a computer, or don't utilize it, don't read the newspaper, to get themselves acclimated before they start getting tickets all over the place?
[Leo Sacco]: How long? I think the learning process will be very quick.
[Robert Penta]: Well, if the learning process is quick, maybe the revenues will be down. And if the revenues are down, that's gonna mean businesses are in trouble because people aren't gonna do it. You know, we could have been the only community around that did not have paid parking. You know what that would have meant for business people? And you know what that would have done to the climate of this community? Just have enforcement for the hours that are there, whether it's a half hour or an hour or whatever it might be. You could have a self-medfit. You have 15 minute, you have a half hour, you have one hour and two hour parking on blocks of stores. How does that make any sense? I mean, how did they get to these numbers? One business has 15 minutes, another one has free parking for a half hour, another one's got a half hour, another one's got an hour.
[Leo Sacco]: But that goes back to what I said earlier, making exemptions as we go along. It's like we can't cater to every whim.
[Robert Penta]: But Chief.
[Leo Sacco]: And that's what happened. That's why you see the inconsistent timelines.
[Fred Dello Russo]: You've exceeded your time limit rather abundantly, and perhaps it would be. It's a very important issue, as you know. I know that. You've become rather repetitive I don't think so.
[Paul Camuso]: In Medford square, how many actual spots are there? Because the Councilor was on when they built the garage that actually fell apart and got destroyed. I don't know if it was shoddy construction back then or what the deal was. But how many spots are actually in Medford Square now?
[Robert Penta]: I didn't build that garage.
[Paul Camuso]: Oh, you were on the council when you approved that garage.
[Robert Penta]: It was your friend, the mayor, that didn't help the poor guy that fell through the roof.
[Paul Camuso]: No, it was built before he.
[Robert Penta]: The poor guy that fell through the roof that worked at the city. That's right. The mayor never went once to see him. You built the garage. Never went to see him. Go ahead.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: As far as the total number of spots, it's lucky he's alive. I'm sorry. As far as the total number of spots, I don't know the exact number. I know there's 36 kiosks and what. Can you let the chief know the number tomorrow and I'll be in touch with him? Absolutely. Thank you.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Penter, if you could wrap it up, please.
[Robert Penta]: I'd like to move that we keep this in a full-blown committee on behalf of the taxpayers of this community for the purposes of having a... There is no paper to keep on the floor. We'll make a paper on the floor. Make this the paper on the floor.
[Paul Camuso]: Point of information, Councilor Camuso. I'll yield to the gentleman, but... His motion is redundant. Councilor Vice-President, I'm sorry, Councilor Caraviello already has that. 60 days.
[Robert Penta]: What's he want? I didn't hear him. What did you say, Rick?
[Paul Camuso]: I'm sorry.
[Richard Caraviello]: I think two or three weeks ago, we asked for 60 days, if they would come back.
[Robert Penta]: Well, I don't want to wait 60 days. I just want to leave it open, so in case we have another opportunity. We have to give them some time to get it done. Well, we can talk about what took place here tonight. There is no paper before us. Well, then we move. Move the paper. Move the conversation. Can't come up for 90 days. You can move the conversation. I'm going to beat you with the rules, Councilor.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: It's going to be a long year. If I may be so bold to suggest, please do, that if certain individuals want a paper, they file a resolution. And we can talk about it next week.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Well, then perhaps we'll wrap up this discussion now. And we'll invite one of our beloved colleagues to submit a proper paper.
[Richard Caraviello]: What about the gentleman?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Councilor Caraviello has been waiting patiently. Was it Dan? Yes, sir.
[Richard Caraviello]: I have a question for you. When Councilor Penta was asking you about the appeal process. Yes, I have. Maybe I didn't hear you correctly. Did you say that if there's an overabundance of appeals, that you can step in and? Yes, sir, yeah. You can do that? Yes. You said you'd recommend it. You said you'd be able to, if there's an overabundance of appeals, we could do that.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: You would step in and take over the process? We would help supplement the process. I still think it's important that there's an appeal, that they can go to an appeal process that appears to be outside of our office, because when they come to our office to appeal, and if it gets denied, then they can be, well, they wrote the ticket and they, even though it would be independent.
[Richard Caraviello]: What would you consider an overabundance, what percentage? I don't want to throw a number at that. If 50% of the tickets are overturned, you would step in and say, I'm going to bring my own guy to do this? Well, I think it wouldn't be based on how many are overturned as opposed to how many are actually appealed. Actually being appealed? Right. So I say at some point, you could step in and take the process away from us, if that's what I understood.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I think point of information.
[Paul Camuso]: As much as a council, I think we want to take it out of city hall. I'm not going to put it back in their hands where they're right on the ticket. If there's a conflict of interest on the city hall side, there's a conflict of interest on the vendor that's making money.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: I agree. Now, because I think it's more of an appearance issue because we wouldn't actually adjudicate.
[Paul Camuso]: People will be saying you're only upholding the ticket because it's right.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: So I think there needs to be going in your pocket. There needs to be a, a step beyond us. I wasn't sure when you said that, but here's your right. We would have the ability and willingness to help supplement the appeal process to try to alleviate appeals that have to go to City Hall. I would not recommend not allowing that process to still be there for appearance's sake to make sure people feel they're getting a fair shake on that.
[Maury Carroll]: Thank you for that. Quick question. I want to go back to what Adam brought up about loading zones and deliveries. Councilor Knight. Councilor Knight, yes. A major part of deliveries in all these business districts, West Medford, Haines Square, Medford Square, all the areas that now have kiosks in them, which are the business districts, 90% of us depend on deliveries. There's never any parking. We don't have any loading zones. I brought this up at one of our meetings, I think, Leo, correct? And Chief Stack, I guess I have to refer you to since Little League Baseball. Anyway, what's going to happen to these? Are we going to end up as a business owner with a surcharge from these companies that are getting whacked with tickets and so forth? Because they double park, triple park, they park everywhere. We've all come across it. This isn't the first time it's ever come up. Who's patrolling that and how that's going to go.
[Fred Dello Russo]: It's an enforcement issue that maybe the chief can take a stab at it.
[Leo Sacco]: But I know that the last time we talked about this, I mean, the idea is that, you know, we know the businesses have to have their deliveries. We're going to try not to interfere with them. I do have an issue when they double pack on Salem street, because I see collisions happening, because people have to swerve into another lane. But I have not received numerous complaints about the loading trucks, and I don't anticipate that they would be ticketed. There was a location that I thought we could do something, maybe on River Street. Probably can't, because the buses have to make the turn there. But we're certainly not going to interfere with the loading and deliveries, unless someone's abusing it, and they're going to be there for an hour. I have great respect for the, the, the, the men and women who drive the tractor trailers and make these deliveries, how they can get in and out of tight spots and how quickly they can make their deliveries.
[Maury Carroll]: Uh, so the hope is, and I know you do, and I understand what you're saying, but we've entered a different phase here now. This is out of your control.
[Leo Sacco]: It's not totally out of the police department's control.
[Maury Carroll]: We have a different company coming in here who's now the enforcement company, who's the writing agent. Well, they're enforcing the time, the time limits.
[Fred Dello Russo]: If I can just point out from the chair that it was quite explicit in the contract that the enforcement of the parking and traffic regulations of the city of Medford, uh, the purview of Metro police department.
[Maury Carroll]: Well,
[Leo Sacco]: The goal is that they will be following our direction on something like loading trucks.
[Maury Carroll]: A big 18 wheel pulls into a bus stop like they do all the time and delivering 20 barrels to the liquor store next to me and 10 barrels to me. With these guys swooping in because this is how they make their income. They're going to be writing them up and then now we're going to be forced to have set delivery times and everything.
[Leo Sacco]: Well, I mean, that would be great if we could have set delivery times, but we know that they can't.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Maybe that's a better conversation to be had between you and the chief rather than in a public venue. Thank you.
[Maury Carroll]: I thought this is a public venue for business in general, and this is a forum to see how the chairman of Congress did such a bad job at doing this. The business owners, this is a concern for deliverance.
[Fred Dello Russo]: We understand.
[Robert Penta]: I think the question is pertinent, because you just mentioned Salem Street. And if Salem Street, which is a smaller, maybe in width of a street, as compared to other locations. But every one of these businesses, at some point in time, has to have some kind of delivery. Right. So what I don't understand is, Why should these republic people even be giving those businesses citation? I mean, I think that's what Mr. Carroll is asking.
[Leo Sacco]: Why should they be giving citations?
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, if you're saying the other ones is going to, all they're going to be doing is giving, what, tickets?
[Leo Sacco]: Just the tickets for the time?
[Robert Penta]: Why would they be giving a ticket to someone who might be making a delivery? That's what the question is. I don't anticipate that that will happen. Oh, OK. You don't?
[Fred Dello Russo]: No. OK. There was no desire to have a disruption of business.
[Leo Sacco]: All I can say is you'll probably find a police officer giving that ticket if that truck's there for two hours. OK. I mean, like I said, a lot of these deliveries are done very quickly.
[Robert Penta]: And the last part of the question is this. If I get a ticket and I have it appealed and I lose my appeal, can I take this to district court? Where does this appeal go? You have the option. What's the next logical, what's the next process after that if you lose your appeal? Court. Is it district court? I believe it is.
[Maury Carroll]: So I have one question for the chair to the chief.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Please.
[Maury Carroll]: Yes. If a vehicle is illegally parked, the public cannot give them the citation.
[Leo Sacco]: No, if a vehicle is illegally parked, they can't give the citation. It's part of the enforcement.
[Maury Carroll]: So if it's a delivery vehicle parked in a bus stop, which I think is illegal, that's pretty defiant, too. $100, set by the MBTA. Is the Republican that ticket, or do we have to wait for the Metro Police? Point of information, Chief.
[Richard Caraviello]: Point of information, Councilor Caraviello. The Republican people are telling them they will not be tagging in the bus stops. It's a tease problem. No, they can tag. That's what they've been telling the businesses in the square. We're not going to tag you in the bus. That's what the ambassadors were saying in the square.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: They misspoke. I've spoken to as many businesses as I can and we would tag in a bus stop if someone was parked illegally.
[Richard Caraviello]: Absolutely. You should make that known to your ambassadors.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: I will let them know. They're here to help out. Their primary goal this week is to help educate people on the kiosks.
[Richard Caraviello]: It's been like three degrees out there. It's kind of a bad week to get them out there this week.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: Yeah, the parking ambassadors' primary goal this week has been to help train people on the kiosks and assist them with that. They're not familiar with the ordinances. And I'll clarify to them to not answer questions on enforcement procedures because they're not our enforcement staff.
[Robert Penta]: What if a car, wait a minute, strike that. What if a car is illegally parked and the delivery has to be made, which forces the delivery truck to go up in the street? Does that mean the delivery truck is now going to get the ticket?
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: I mean, if the vehicle is double parked, then they would be in violation of an ordinance.
[Robert Penta]: No, if the vehicle, the delivery truck could not make his delivery because the car that was parked where the delivery truck was going to go is illegally parked or over parked. So that forces the truck out into the street. Does that truck going to get a ticket because of that car that's illegally parked?
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: Yes. And what I'd say to add to that is, We're not doing our job if there's a car sitting in that loading zone that prevents a delivery truck.
[Robert Penta]: Yeah, but you only have two people to go around the city. You can't be at every place all at once. That's impossible.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: Thank you, Councilor. I understand your question, and I respectfully disagree that we can actually effectively enforce the loading zones without having to be in the square at all times. And that's by doing proper enforcement throughout the city and tagging those people that do the violations. So, yes. And we would take consideration into a situation like that. If we approach that, our enforcement officer would go into the business and try to identify what's going on, ask the delivery driver to move, if possible, and give them the benefit of the doubt.
[Robert Penta]: So when the rubbish truck goes down the street and parks in the middle of the street because there's cars parked on the right, and they're collecting the rubbish off the sidewalk, they will or they won't get a ticket, the rubbish trucks? We're not going to ticket any rubbish trucks.
[Fcwn-qU-L9c_SPEAKER_13]: And, uh, uh, councilman Camuso to answer previous questions so we can avoid a phone call. There's just under 600 spaces in Metro square, just under.
[Leo Sacco]: Yep. Just, just to finish up on that. My recommendation is that the delivery truck, unless they're abusing the opportunity will not be tagged for the violation. I mean, until we can sit down and designate loading zones, but we just don't have enough geography. If we're trying to create parking spaces for consumers, we'd be taking it away from them. So if we can accommodate them on the street and if they have to double park and it's temporary, we can work with them.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you very much for all your help tonight, Chief, and thank you to the representatives of Republican Parking. Ma'am?
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: Ma'am?
[Fred Dello Russo]: Very briefly.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: I just want to say is, it seems to me, I called my house to find out if people were watching this. And what I was told is they don't know any more now than they knew before. And so what I am suggesting, and Mr. President, are you listening? Okay, I just want to make sure. What I am suggesting, just from what you've heard here tonight, Is it possible, because all those folks that are out there listening, looking at television and hearing all of this, and they don't know anymore than they knew before, is it possible for the city council to have, or would it make sense, because I thought I heard this man saying, in a year, if things weren't going, or whatever, that they could cancel, or whatever, is it possible for you to do or the chief to have a robo-call, one of those 411 calls, have a public meeting here, get the call out there? I get them all the time for everything. So have a public meeting and let all the people come here with their questions because I'm sure that For what? And? And? So you're saying that you can't have a public meeting unless the mayor gives permission to do that. That's what it sounds like. I understand that. We have how many citizens here in Medford? They don't understand what is going on because The cart is before the horse. This should have been the kind of meeting that should have been held with these people to come and explain everything. We don't even have anything in writing. We don't have anything in print. I have no idea. what this program is all about except that I know that these kiosks are on the street. And it just seems to me, and Councilor Knight, I know you're new, I know you're young, but you gotta know where you're coming from to know where you're going. So to think that you
[Fred Dello Russo]: Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[Adam Knight]: I would certainly agree that history is important, but history is history, and it's time for us to move on now.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: No, no, no. We need to know the history, though. Thank you, Councilor Knight. We always need to know the history.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Oh, and I knew the history. I was involved from day one.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: Thank you. So you're saying that's not possible. Is that what you're saying? You can't do that?
[Fred Dello Russo]: I'm not saying that. And the council is going to receive further resolutions for next week.
[nXRer8wKd5o_SPEAKER_14]: I'll put it on next week. Good. Thank you, Councilor Pinter.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Thank you, that will conclude this discussion tonight. The records tabled December 16th. We have one paper on the hand of the clerk received under suspension. Offered by Councilor Knight, be it resolved that the Metro City Council adjourn in memory of the late Governor's Councilor, Michael J. Callahan, fourth anniversary of his death. Fourth anniversary of his death.
[Adam Knight]: Mr. President, thank you very much. As many of you are aware, Michael Callahan and I were dear friends. And four years ago this evening, he passed away. Michael Callahan was a public servant for 48 years working in the federal and state and local government. He was the consumer commissioner for the Medford Consumer Commission from 1978 until his passing. He was a four-term governor's Councilor, and he was also chief steward at the National Association of Government Employees. Michael is sorely and sadly missed, Mr. President, just this past year. He was honored up at Wrights Pond for his work in protecting Wrights Pond and ensuring that that location was not turned into condominium complexes in the early to late 80s. So, Mr. President, I think it's fitting that on this evening and this anniversary of the death of such a great man that the City Council adjourns in his memory.
[Fred Dello Russo]: I sat on his knee when he was dressed as Santa Claus. The records. Yes, Councilor Penta. Please. Chief.
[Robert Penta]: Chief. We chief question. Can you go back? I wish the guy from Republic was still here. Can you go back and ask them to change these things here? Because the residential permit needs to be explained. It's $10 and it's $3. If you go online to get it, that's $10. If you walk in, it's a $3 charge. If you go online and people need to know that.
[Leo Sacco]: Is that in there?
[Robert Penta]: It's not in there. It's not in here. They need to change these. I mean, if this is going to be accurate.
[Leo Sacco]: I believe the mailings already went out.
[Robert Penta]: Well, you know something? Well, that's a shame. This is just monetary extortion by them. $3 to go online to get a permit.
[Fred Dello Russo]: Come on. Councilor Knight, your records from the 16th. Mr. President, I ask that the records remain tabled as I'm reviewing the tape. Thank you, Councilor Knight. On motion that they, Councilor Knight, that they remain tabled. Records, December 23rd, 2014. Passed to Vice President Lungo-Koehn. She's gone. Table them. On the motion of Council, that those records be tabled as well. On the motion of Councilor Camuso, that this meeting be adjourned.
|
total time: 9.76 minutes total words: 1059  |
total time: 24.13 minutes total words: 1780  |
total time: 17.55 minutes total words: 1520  |
total time: 2.76 minutes total words: 316  |
|
total time: 13.08 minutes total words: 708  |
total time: 30.39 minutes total words: 2807  |
total time: 4.63 minutes total words: 225  |
total time: 12.6 minutes total words: 1337  |