[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Method Happenings, a show for and about the city of Medford. I am John Petrella, and the purpose of this program is to give Method citizens facts and information to help you make informed choices. But before I introduce today's special guest, I just want to take a moment to extend an invitation to any member of the Medford City Council and any member of the Medford School Committee who is a candidate for re-election or to any new candidate running for office in Medford to appear on Medford Happenings. to share their positions on current issues facing the city. You can reach us at MethodHappenings02155 at gmail.com and that's how you reach us. Now, to get to our special guest today, it's Mr. Rick Caraviello, who is a candidate for the Method City Council. Rick has given many, many years of service to the city of Medford, including 12 years as a city councilor, He was elected council president I think three times. He was instrumental in the development, very instrumental, in the development of the new library as vice president and treasurer of the Medford Public Library Foundation. Rick was also the distinguished president of the Method Kiwanis, and he received the Citizen of the Year, which is something special, in 2023. Much, much more that Rick has done, and we will get into it later on. Rick, finally, welcome to the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, John. Thank you for having me on this afternoon.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's our pleasure. As usual, we'll get right into the show. So, Rick, we wanna get started. Give us, you know, give the audience some background information about yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. So, I'm a lifelong Medford resident. I'm 71 years old. I'm married to my wife, Carol, for 49 years. I know that's a long time. I have three children, Richard, Lauren, and Nicole, and I have eight grandchildren. So about myself, John, you know, I've spent most of my adult life as a community volunteer, whether it be at the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis, Medford Youth Hockey, the Food Bank, and multiple other things. I've pretty much given most of my time to the city of Medford and I'm something I'm quite proud of You've done a Tremendous amount for the city.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you And there's a lot more we can mention we won't but I know you've helped a lot of people Thank you that a lot of people don't even know about the things you've done Alright, so here's a good question for you Can you give us? You know, a few reasons why you decided to run for a seat on the City Council again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the first reason is, you know, my love for the community. As you know, I've been off the council for a year. I ran unsuccessfully for mayor last semester. I don't like the way that some of the community is going. One of the big things that hurts me is the divide in the community. I feel that we should be more of a unified community. I don't like this us versus them mentality that's going around and all the things that get written on social media. We're one city, we're one community. Let's find common avenues and common bonds to move forward. That's and that's part. That's the big reason.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. No, and I agree and that's a great reason because Like you I've been here most of my life and I've never seen it like this never with with the The division it's really bad and we need people You know, it's just not a local issue anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's become a national issue. Yeah, I uh you know with with you know just a division of division in politics and it's it's not right uh the way it is you know um this is america and everyone is entitled to their opinion we don't have to agree with but this is what makes our country great is we can agree to disagree and still be friends at the end of the day yes i loved it when we had that yeah we would have some pretty good
[SPEAKER_01]: political talk, whatever, but after the talk, we were still friends, we still got along and everything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it'd be nice to bring that back. All right, so that's a good reason, a really good reason. You know, you've had a, we mentioned it, I mentioned it in the introduction, Rick. You've done a lot for the city. You got a lot of accomplishments. Can you tell us, I mean, is there a few you could pick out that, you know, you're most proud of? Things really that meant a lot to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, obviously, the library. Yes. I worked on that for four years just to get them to come to the city. And I can't take all the credit for that. You know, the administration takes credit because of the funding. With the library came, with that work came $12 million in upfront funding. And I was also part of a foundation that helped raise over $6 million to sustain the library. So I think the city got a pretty good deal. We own a brand new library for not a lot of money. So I'm proud of that. I was also upfront with Michael Marks in bringing the art center.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not about taking credit.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about getting the thing done. I was up front with that. I was also both an executive director and president of the Chamber of Commerce. Many people don't remember, when Cheryl White passed away during my term, I stepped into that office for a year and a half so we wouldn't lose our Chamber of Commerce. I've been heavily involved with the Kiwanis. And some of the things I did with the Kiwanis, I chaired the literacy program where we gave reading books to all first and third grade children in the city of Medford. I was on both the director and president of the Youth Hockey Association when we had almost thousands of kids there. I volunteer at the food bank. You know, I'm where anybody asks me to be. I fought with St. Raphael's Food Bank. So I continue to stay involved. Another thing I'm really proud of is my work with the veterans in the community. We had a... We had a request from a World War II veteran that hadn't been out of his house for a couple of years. And when we went over there, the wife says, well, why are you here? I said, well, I thought you wanted a ramp. She says, no, we needed an elevator. I said, well, it's not an elevator. It's kind of a little bit out of my league, but I says, well, let me see. So I left. And I called my go-to veteran, Don Marcelino.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, Don, I explained him what this problem was. He said, well, let me see. He calls me back within an hour. He says, there's a lady that just bought a house that has an elevator. They'd like to get rid of it. And I said, oh, wow, great. We went by there. I called the family back. He says, Merry Christmas. We're going to install an elevator. And I want to thank the Murphy brothers, for all their time and effort that they put into that. And another one, we had a gentleman, a Vietnam veteran on Spring Street, had a paralyzed daughter, and daughter didn't have a bedroom or anything, and the people from Mill Creek stepped in and took her. gave us probably over $200,000 in time and effort, and we redid a whole house for this man and his daughter, between bedrooms, showers, we got a hospital bed donated for her, a lift. And I still, up to this day, I still do the food drive at Christmas and Thanksgiving for the veterans. So those are some of the things that, you know, even though I'm not involved, I still am involved with stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're very involved. You can say all you want, you're not involved. I know because, you know, I've known you for quite a while and I'm glad. You know, guys like you don't get the credit they deserve. That's the way I feel. There's a lot more things that you've done. I know some of these people, and it means the world to them. And I know someone else you got a ramp for, you played a big part of, and that was huge. And, you know, I thank you. And, you know, I look back at the library, and I always, I mean what what you what what you do with the library and even with the arts I don't think people in Medford can really like understand or appreciate what really happened the work that went into it and I know Michael Marks uh had a lot to do with that the art center as well but you guys really got this all rolling and well John you know this comes with
[SPEAKER_00]: building relationships in the community. And that's what it's about. I've lived here my whole life, I have friends here, and I've developed relationships both within the city, at the state house, and at the federal level. I have people that I can call there. So when anyone needs help, I'm able to assist them in really any way that's needed. Even though I can't do anything, I can at least get them into the right direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know people that want to help. That's what it is. You're a good guy and, you know, negotiating and everything else, you know, all that stuff. You're very experienced at it. I can go on like this for a long time, but I know, you know, we're limited in time here. But I want to personally thank you, and it's nice for the city to know, the people of the city to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks and unnecessary. This is something that we just do. We do it because we know it's the right thing to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep. No, I understand. But you're one of those guys that actually does it. That's all I'm saying. You actually do it. You don't talk about it, never say a word about it, but you do it. So the next question, Rick, that I have for you, You know, a lot of talk about zoning. It's every place you go, every year you go for a cup of coffee, everyone is talking about the zoning. You know, people would love to hear your position on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, my position is, it's been the same position that's always been from the day I was elected councilor back in 2011, is your job was to protect the neighborhoods. And right now we're not doing that. And the reason for the uproar in the community is because we have touched the third rail of politics in the city is the residential housing areas. There is really nothing wrong with our residential areas. Maybe you can tweak it a little bit here and there, but the radical changes that have been proposed, I do not support them at all. I know there's no there's no other answer of about you know That's the character of our community people moved here because they wanted a single-family house. They wanted that backyard They didn't want a two-family or a three-family or four-family next door to them yeah, and listen if that's what you wanted there's areas of the city that have two and three families and That's where you move to but Again, this is why we call it the third rail because you're proposing radical changes to small neighborhoods. And again, I've heard from people say, we moved here from Somerville because we liked what we saw here. We liked the communities. We like our small house on our side street. So that's really it. I mean, and as far as, I don't think that we worked enough on developing our commercial base. When I first got elected to the council in 2011, our commercial base was at 22%. John, I don't even think we're at 10% right now of commercial taxes. And the commercial base helps offset the residential. So we have these areas of the state. Mystic Avenue has been talked about forever. That should be the gateway to Medford, and it's not. It's just, it's not what we want there. It's a mess. It's a mess, and it's been talked about forever. Goes back before you and I, when we were little kids, there was talk about Tufts University taking it over, all kinds of stuff, but nothing has ever materialized on Mystic Avenue. You have that whole industrial district over by the the metal glen mall and all those side streets there where there is no more industry anymore that everything is like commercial and we're not taking advantage of that we've missed the boat i mean we you know we should have jumped on this in 2000 2001 two and three when interest rates were two and three percent right and at the And I think that's where we missed the boat. You know, we have all these small squares, and we're a unique community. Do they need growth? Yes, they do. They need help. But smart growth. Not 10-story buildings. I go to other communities. I see what other communities are like. Two, three and four stories is adequate for these West Medford Square, Ebby Salem Street, South Medford. These are untapped. Tufts Park, that whole street, right across the street there, that is a perfect development where there's a beauty salon and a cedar appliance. You've got frontage, you've got everything. And it's all a bunch of garages and untapped. What's Method Square? It's untapped. Again, small, smart growth, not overgrowth. And we talk about Method, even Method Square. It's still the same. People keep saying, I drive through and there's nothing happening. So I'll give you a funny story. My wife and I went out to dinner at Turner's and Melrose. And as we're crossing the street, I asked my wife, I said, stop. I says, tell me what you see. She didn't understand what I was saying. I says, look on both sides and tell me what you see. I said, I see a friendly looking street. It has trees on both sides. It has lighting. We have sign ordinance in the city that just ignore it. I mean, the stores all look clean. And that's really what it's about. Again, we're not reinventing the wheel here. Let's just say, people just got to stop and think. We're giving this the rush that we don't need to be doing. Let's think. Other cities have done it. It takes some time. And when you want to rush it through, Then you're going to get what you get.
[SPEAKER_01]: We used to call it the bum's rush. I didn't want to say that. I'm going to say it because it is what it is. Stop and think about what you're doing before you do it. I also go to Melrose. We go there for dinner once in a while. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great restaurants in Medford now and everything else, but yeah, there's a lot that can be done, and it doesn't have to be overdone. It's curb appeal. Right, exactly, yeah, that's a big thing, yeah. Melrose got it right, I have to say, downtown, they really do. Okay, so let's get to the next question. Another big event that happened recently was the overrides. You know, we had two of the three pass. It was a close decision, a very close decision, but they passed. What was your feelings about the overrides?
[SPEAKER_00]: My opinion is I did not support this override. Not that the issues that were in it weren't important. They were important. Right. For such a small amount of money, $7 million, I felt we wasted an override vote. Because, and I told the present council there now, you know, coming down the line, You have a potential of looking at an override for a potential high school. You're probably going to need an override for a potential fire station, or maybe a couple other things. That's what an override was meant for, for a large project like that. For what we did an override for, I don't think it was the right decision, and I think we wasted that opportunity for the ORICAs. Now when you go back for your second crack at the apple, people can say, hey, you just hit me a few years ago for an override. So I think it was a wasted opportunity for such a small amount of money. But maybe an override is inevitable at some point.
[SPEAKER_01]: I sense something brewing already with more overrides.
[SPEAKER_00]: Overrides weren't meant to pay people. No. They were meant for larger projects. Right. I agree. We had money. I thought it was just a waste for $7 million.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of people agree with that. It wasn't the right time. Like I said, I sense a lot more coming up the road. It's not going to be easy. It's just not. But thank you for that answer. So, you know, we're all aware of method needs. Boy does method need more revenue sources So I you know, I guess As far as like, you know economic growth growing the tax base. What do you think?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, as I mentioned before, you know the tech, you know, we were we had a lot higher Commercial base than we do now and it's gonna take it's gonna take a bit to get it back You know, some of it has gone from commercial to residential Yes, you get some of the money back but We have so much potential for commercial development. And again, maybe we missed the boat on some of it, but I think we need to work harder to get it back. One of my peeves with the city always has been that every time we talk about doing squares over this side, We never go to the business owner first, because these are the people that actually own the property. And we always take the public opinion, and everybody has great ideas on what to do with other people's property. And I've always seen that as an issue. Let's get the business owners and the property owners in a room, small sections at a time. What can we do to help you? Tell us what you want to do. We'll give you the city's vision, tell us your vision, and maybe we can collaborate on something. Maybe we can help you with some funding. But let's... Instead of, you know, let's say everybody wants a bakery in their community. Everybody wants a coffee shop in their community. But let's talk to the business, the property owners themselves. Let's see what we can do to help them. Target an area at a time. Like I said, we talked about that big piece in Salt River by Tuspac. Right. Great place. That's perfect. Oh, yeah. Great. And I know the gentleman there has approached the city before. It's gone nowhere. West Medford Square, you have a parking lot there. You got spaces. And we're wasting it on auto body shops and garages and things like that. Prime for small development. Right down Main Street and Redding. What do you see there? You see apartments, four stories. Not 10 stories like people. That's overgrowth, overcrowding. Those squares can't handle that. Find what fits each area and let's work on that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd like to talk to the business owners. We should talk to them first. And I think that's one of the keys that's missing because that doesn't, it just doesn't seem to happen anymore. I mean it did for a while but Boy, I agree with some of the stuff you're saying, especially with the squares. So you don't need 400 units in Method Square to make it successful. I mean, go up a couple of stories, whatever. I think that's fine. But anyhow, great answers. I thank you for those. OK. So, you know, we've talked about quite a bit here. You know, there's a lot of things that are... you know, economic growth, the overrides, what's coming up the road, there seems to be a lot of important issues, a lot of concerns. You talk to people, I talk to people, everyone I talk to, it's like, this election, it's like a huge one, and people are talking about a lot of different things in this. I've never seen them talk like this before, but, so, if you could, you know, give us an idea, you know, important issues, concerns. What do you hear? Y'all are everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I got to tell you what I hear. Probably one of the biggest issues right now is traffic. Traffic in the city. I don't agree with some of the changes that we've made. I know people call them traffic calming measures, but that traffic they work total opposite, because now, I mean, where I live, High Street in the morning gets backed up past the Brooks School. You can't get through the Winthrop Circle there because of the changes made. Winthrop Street backs up to the high school. And on the other end, Winthrop Street backs up almost to Tufts in the afternoon. Main Street is, you can't, we keep making the roads smaller. People are under the guise that cars are going away. They're not. I mean, I've talked to people that drive buses and trucks, they say, we can't navigate these streets anymore. And you're causing accidents, and you're causing frustration of people that are sitting in this traffic, and now they're cutting onto all the side streets and causing havoc over there. So that's a giant issue in town. As I mentioned before, one of my biggest peeves is the curb appeal of our city. I don't like the curb appeal. Route 16, the bypass has become a truck parking lot now. And these are all people that have been kicked out of Everett and Chelsea. They're parking the truck. My city is not a parking lot for these other communities. the NSA it's it's it look it looks horrible and you know listen as always um the common thing you only get holes in the street we get miles and miles of streets and you know um the money that we get from from the state it obviously is not enough to do a street at a time we can only the budget we have um is limited. One of the things that when I was on the council before that Councilor Falco and myself came up with, we had met a company that comes in and grinds and repaves all in one throw. And they had tried to come here to do a pilot program for a couple of streets for free to show you what they do. So You can probably do two or three streets for the price of one and we never took advantage of it. And I thought we should have, I'm not saying we do the main roads, but you get all these side streets that where you scrape them, and instead of giving it back to the company that turned it back in the time, they did it right on the spot.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, now I hear you, yeah, I remember.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, let's say, you know, sidewalks, yes, we've done a lot of sidewalks over the last few years. It never stops. You could do sidewalks forever. Having a full time sidewalk crew, something that I've advocated for since day one. Those are people, but people want to see more things. Why aren't there more restaurants here? I mean, we have Shavire Auditorium. We're not capitalizing on it. They do a great job there. I mean, listen, last night, the place was packed. And those restaurants depend on that. Yes, they do. They depend on those. We need more. We need more. And we have to work with them. Let's work to pull them into the community. Right. Go out and solicit. Yeah. I mean, we have so much untapped potential there. I mean, maybe, I don't know if you, when you watch some of the commercials, like the town of Marlboro, there's a commercial touting all the property they have. Let's get out there and sell ourselves. They get things. We're five miles from Boston. We should be booming. Yes, we should be, yeah. So that's just my two cents on that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, and I appreciate it. And yeah, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I mean, it's the street appeal and we can go on and on. We all know the sidewalks. I mean, there's gotta be a way to do it, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've always been an advocate of, putting on more code enforcement people. Right. And I'm not telling you to go out there and torture people. Right. But go around, you know, a couple of days a week and pick up the obvious stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, common sense stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: The obvious stuff, you know, even if it's wrong. Hey, Johnny, you know, I know you've been doing this for a while, but it's not right. I'm going to give you 60 days, you know, clean it up. And so this way. Get your act together. And get your act together. You know, like I say, we have a signed ordinance. Yes. And no one adheres to it. And it cleans up the windows.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know exactly what you're saying because I drive through the square a lot and I hear you. And I don't know what... I don't even want to get into up that circle, because I have to go there once in a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just takes forever to go anywhere in Bedford now.
[SPEAKER_01]: All the time, though. It's not like it used to be in the morning, some traffic. It's a constant. Something's wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the traffic calming measures we've made, they're really not. I don't agree with some of them, and I think they need to be fixed to help let the traffic flow a little bit. Cars aren't going away.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, no. It's causing more stress for people, that's the way I, you know, I look at it anyhow, it's just stress.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you want people to come here and build more, which is only gonna bring... More cars, more traffic. People don't have two cars anymore, but people still own cars. They still have to drive, they still get around. One of the big things people forgot about was these ridesharing services. City of Medford gets paid for every rideshare that originates in Medford. We have over a half a million rideshares that started in Medford. That's a half a million cars that were never on these roads. And how do you think half of these people get back? So if a half a million take them out of here, If even half of them come back, and you remember, you're going to Winchester, you're going to Arlington, you're going to Malden, the ride share business is a giant, and these are people that aren't familiar with your roads. And they live and die by the ways. And ways takes you off into the neighborhoods.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, no, I hear ya, I hear ya. All interesting, all interesting things, concerns, good ones. They need to be addressed. So I'm going to ask you this question, because this is one of those things, it irks me, and I know it irks a lot of other people. I'm sure you've heard it too, the complaints. People go to a council meeting, and they're doing whatever. They're talking about all this stuff, and then they always, at the end of the night, at 10 o'clock, people have to work, whatever. That's when the important items come up. If I told you how many people go to these meetings, what do you think? Council meeting schedule, is it really serving the needs of the people, of the residents? Is it doing what it's supposed to do, plain and simple?
[SPEAKER_00]: No. And I'm on the record on voting against the current schedule. Yeah. We have too many things going on, you know, permits and all the things. that you can't do in that shorter period of time. There was no reason why we couldn't continue the weekly meetings. People would say, well, you know, there's not enough stuff on them. Granted, there were some meetings that were short, and hey, every now and then you get that short meeting. And over the years, you got out there maybe 9.30, 10 o'clock on a late night. But when you're dragging these meetings purposely into 10.30, 11 o'clock, I think that's done by design to frustrate people so they go home. People have to go to work. Nothing good gets voted on at 11 o'clock at night because you're tired, you've been there a long time. you'll vote just to get out of there. I mean, one of the current Councilors complains about that all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: About being there all night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Being there all night. There's no need of that. The current system before was working fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was working perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, granted, during the summer it was a little quiet. We only used to meet once a month during the summer. That's right. And if needed, we would add another meeting. But we would have subcommittee meetings before the meetings or on a Wednesday night. That's it. And that's when you did it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't try to justify your job by adding on subcommittee meetings that don't need to be that long and that length. and that active.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the subcommittees is a whole nother conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: If elected, that's one of the first things I propose going forward is going back to weekly meetings.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's, I think that's, it's needed. I mean, and you said meetings, you know, going to 11. I know people that were up there at 1230 at night meetings are going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, not that I haven't sat through some of them, but no, no, no, it's just, it's not fair to the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, sometimes change can be good, but when they changed over that meeting schedule, people said this is not the way to go. I think people were right. They were complaining they were going to be shut out, and they've been shut out. That's the way I look at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when this was voted on, the agreement was, if it's not working, we'll change it back.
[SPEAKER_01]: That never happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it never happened. So trust me, that will be one of the first things I propose, is bringing it back to weekly meetings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so another and I'm glad you're answering some tough questions by the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, listen, I'm into honesty. No, I know you are. Maybe they're not politically correct, but they're honest.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you always were that's that's why you were on the council for all those years because you are you're an honest man. The revised city charter It's going forward. What do you think about that? Is there anything... I mean, no one's going to agree with all of it, but what do you feel about the revised charter? Is there anything on there you really like, you don't like, you think it's good?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this is the will of the people. Right. In the past, This has been voted on, the charter has been voted on by the people. You know, Milvern and Ron did a great job over two years getting the opinions of the people. Hey listen, this is what the people want. That's correct. Do I agree with everything? No, there's a couple things I don't agree with. Especially some of the things that relate to the city council. City council does not need a staff.
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: We shouldn't be reimbursed expenses. Right. people don't realize the implications. But it's just I support, I'm supporting it because this is what the people want. You're right. Do I love everything in there? No, I don't. But let's say, but you know, some of the council stuff in there, I don't, you know, raises. A lot of people don't know what's in there. There's no need of us having a staff. There's no need of us getting a raise. And there's no need of us expenses. What if I put in $10,000 of expenses? Who's going to say what expenses are?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I hear you, I hear you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's gonna, how much staff? Why does the city council need a staff?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, yep.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's your job, you're getting paid. You do your own work. It's not my job to pass it off to other people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, and I wanna remind everyone, that wasn't put in, that wasn't requested by the people. That was added in. That was added in after. By our city council. I just wanna make that perfectly clear. I think Ron Milva and that whole group did a tremendous job And they deserve credit for all the work they did. They do. And unfortunately, the city council did some things that I just think just shouldn't have done. That's all. It shouldn't have been done. And I thank you for bringing that up. So let me ask you, I call it a personal question, but it really isn't. We ask this of everybody, Rick. You know, what are your least favorite and then give me your most favorite things to do in Medford? Least and most favorite.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know me, I'm a foodie.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree. I enjoy going out to eat. I wish we had some more options. I try to frequent all the Medford establishments and I do my best. You know, I like being around town. You know me, I hit the coffee shop scene every day here in the weekends. I talk to people. Right. You know, I shop locally. I walk the streets and I try to do as much locally as I can. Yep. And I try to stay involved with what's happening and I'm there to help people that need help. Right. And you know why? I think I've done a good job at it, and I enjoy doing it for people. You've done a tremendous job. I enjoy helping people. That's what my dad, my parents told me. That's how they brought me up, was to help people.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of us were brought up like that, you know, to help other people. And we do it quietly. We do. We do it quietly. I'm glad you let some of it out, because you've done... Boy, we can go on and on on this show about what you've done. And I love the fact, I do, I always see you around, driving, I see you for coffee, you know, here and there, same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I have a least favorite thing in the city. I don't know what it is, I don't know what my, like I say, I try to stay positive on everything. I don't know if I have a, least least favorite thing to talk about yeah well I think I think you you know I mean I think some of the concerns Maybe some of those are things, but the single out something. I don't think I have anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fine. That's fine. You gave us some good examples earlier. All right. Last question. What's coming up for Rick Caraviello? And the other, you know, this is important too. How does someone, and I know everyone knows how to get in touch with you. I really do. I know that people know, because they're still getting in touch with you constantly. But you know, what's coming up for you and how do people get in touch with you?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm having my one and only fundraiser. which will be September 25th at Holwin on Middlesex Avenue. Everyone is welcome to attend at six o'clock. How do you get in touch with me? My phone number is given to everybody. I have no problem giving anybody my phone number. And my former Councilors will tell you, Rick always answers the phone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I still continue to answer the phone and I'll come to your house anytime you ask me. How do you get in touch with me? My phone number is 781-572-5410. That's my number. It's not a fake number. Right. That's my number. Call me anytime. I'll answer the phone. If I don't answer, I promise I will call you back. I know you will, yeah. So, unlike all these younger kids, I don't have all these techie things. I don't have 47 Facebook pages. I have an email address, which is rickcaraviello at gmail.com. And I do have an Instagram account. I don't know what it is. Wow!
[SPEAKER_01]: You finally have an Instagram account!
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, I've had the Instagram account, and I do have it. I guess you can find it if you really want to find it. But I say, you know, I'm not a techie. I don't, you know, most of my friends don't, aren't techies. So, but I say, everybody knows where to find me. You see me everywhere. And I say, when you call, I'll always answer you. I'll always answer the call, answer the phone for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to end the show on that. I really want to thank you. I think it was great to have you on the show. I think a lot of people in Method got to see another side of you. And I thank you for being honest with your answers and forthcoming.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe my answers aren't politically correct, but a lot of times people will ask me a question. I'll say, do you want the political answer or do you want me to give you the truth? And I try to speak the truth. Maybe I shouldn't speak the truth all the time, maybe I shouldn't give political answers, but that's just not me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you do the right thing, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the truth is not popular. As Jack Nicholson said in the movie, some people can't handle the truth. They can't handle it, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, well, I want to thank you, Rick.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, John.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so glad you came on the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really am. Thank you for having me. And thank the residents of Medford that support this station and support what you do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate it. I want to thank you for your hard work and all your staff that you have. Thank you. I don't know if people know, but this is all, you know, everyone that works here is a volunteer. Right. And I hope, I voted for the funding. when we did this some years ago to get this studio up and to get the science labs up and our robotic labs and everything. This section of the building shows what you can do without tearing the whole building down.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right. I agree with you. Oh boy, do I agree with you. Yeah. Yeah, we've been in the studio for a little while now and it's something else, this whole The Vogue section, it's incredible. We had a show about The Vogue earlier.
[SPEAKER_00]: People want to come here to go to our Vogue now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, it's pretty incredible and you're right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they say the kids do great work here. It's not the vocally, but it's technical school. But in our days, kids from this school didn't go to college. These kids are going to college. They're coming out here. The union's in here with them. They're getting degrees out of the technical school. They're going on to careers that are relevant today.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of opportunity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, a lot of opportunity. That's what it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right. Well, thank you, Rick. It is that time again, as I'm being told. So I want to thank Rick Caraviello first for joining us on Method Happenings. And really, Rick, Thank you so much for being a candidate for the Medford City Council again. This city needs you. We really do. It'd be nice to have you back up there. And before we close off, I want to let you know we are looking for some Medford residents to appear on a Medford Happening show to share their views on what they do expect from the members of the next city council. Very simple. We'd like to hear your opinions. So if you're interested in doing a show like that, you can contact us at Method Happenings, 02155 at gmail.com. I also want to thank everyone who has been watching the show. It's growing, and thank you for your feedback. And that goes for both the positive and the negative. And boy, it's been pretty positive. We appreciate it. You will be able to see replays of the show on the Method Community Media Channel Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. And I gotta tell you, you gotta go on a really, it's a great website. MedfordHappenings.com, and there is a lot of good information, things happening in Medford. There's some reviews on there. It's really a good website, and the amount of views, that we're getting is telling us that we really did a good job with it. We're very proud of it. You get a chance. Take a look. And you can also find us on YouTube and on Facebook at Method Happenings. For the Method Happenings team, these guys that really do all the work, Paul, Marco, Bruce, Margaret, and James, I'm John Petrella. the one and only John Petrolla. And remember, stay informed. Thank you, Medford.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ta-da!