total time: 34.63 minutes
total words: 2270
[John Petrella]: Hello everyone and welcome to Method Happenings, a show farming about the city of Medford. I am John Petrella. The purpose of this program is to give Method citizens facts and information to help you make informed choices. And before I introduce today's guest, I want to take a moment to extend an invitation to any member of the Medford City Council, 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. You can share your positions on current issues facing our city. And we can be reached at methodhappenings02155 at gmail.com. And today, I now want to welcome our special guest, Mr. George Scarapelli.
[George Scarpelli]: Thanks, John. How are you my friend?
[John Petrella]: It's good to have you here George's Let's see. I think you're the last guest but that means you're also isn't it? The last is always the best job. That's what they say That's what I said All right, so as usual we're just gonna get right into the show I I know you have a lot to offer, George, so we'll get started. Just, you know, give the audience a little background, you know, yourself. Who's George Scarpelli?
[George Scarpelli]: Sure. Well, I'm George Scarpelli. I'm a father of two amazing kids, John and Gianna. John's a senior at Merrimack in college. finance and my beautiful daughter Gianna is a junior at Bridgewater State College and she's going to school to work with special needs students and I'm married to an amazing amazing woman Dina and we live up in the heights we live on Butler Street and I work for the City of St. Louis Parks and Recreation Department. I'm the assistant director. I've been there for 18 years. Prior to that, I was a school teacher here in Medford for 15 years. I coached girls' softball and girls' soccer and boys' soccer and girls' basketball. And on the side, I fell in love with the solar world and have a solar company, which I have as a passion. So yeah, I've been very busy.
[John Petrella]: You're a busy guy, George. All good things, by the way. Thank you. And the only thing I do have to ask you, George, add to it, how many years have you been reelected? How many years on the council? Because you've served a long time and you served well.
[George Scarpelli]: I appreciate that. It's been a great ride and I know that when I left Medford I taught for 15 years and I was given an amazing opportunity to work for Mayor Joe Curtatone in the City of Somerville in administration and I took that opportunity and It gave me another opportunity to come back and make sure I gave back to Medford and I think that's one of the reasons why I ran for office as a former teacher. I wanted to make a difference in the school committee. So in 2009 I ran for the school committee and since then I've been an elected official either in the council now for 10 years and before that as a school committee member.
[John Petrella]: And you've done a great job. I appreciate that. I have to say it. Well, you have. Thank you. So you're running again. Yeah, I'm not going to get into a whole ton of stuff here, but just real quick, you know,
[George Scarpelli]: what what do you can what's the reason what what do you consider the uh... important reasons for you to be uh... running again meanwhile well i think that most important peace john is that you know when you run you really want to get back to the community you feel you have something to offer and uh... that's why we do we do and i think that night i i commend all of all the candidates are running in my is city council is in school kid members because it's a it's not easy position but i will tell you In the last few years, the meeting has been a lot stronger, and it's given me a lot more energy and drive, and that's making sure that our residents in the City of Medford, every single one of them, not the ones that vote for George Scarpelli, but everybody that calls or emails, that they have a voice. That's something we've seen that has been lacking with this council over the last few years, and part of the school committee. I feel like I'm obligated to stand there and fight and make sure that there's a voice for every member of the community.
[John Petrella]: Okay. Very, very good. As a current city councilor, okay? But we don't have an hour and a half, George. So this is the question I got to ask you, though. Listen, you've done a lot. Give us a couple of things you're really, really happy that you did, accomplishments that were done.
[George Scarpelli]: Well, I think some of the big things, there's a lot of little things that I think that are more important than the big things. really picking up that phone when someone calls when they're in need, or helping someone that's homeless, or reaching out to a family that's in crisis because of immigration or other outside factors that they need someone they can trust. And I think that's important. But, you know, I hang my hat on some very important initiatives that we started a long time ago. For instance, the creation of the full-time method parks and recreation department. I think that's something that we could see our families and residents of Method really taken advantage of, and it's something that was needed for years, and we've done that. So, but, you know, there are so many others that, you know, as a team that we've done, you know, with Council Falco at the time and Councilor Caraviello and Councilor Marks and Councilor Knight that, you know, a few years back we've seen a lot of Unbelievable, you know the the library, you know, Councilor Caraviello really started that and we supported him and Councilor Markswell the Arts Council moving that forward So yeah, there's so much to be done. I mean this previous council started the reclassification of the zoning. I think that's important, right? I think that we're in a crisis right now with our zoning process today that I'm sure everybody's heard about and a little nervous about, but, you know, that's something that needs to be revisited and needs to be redone, and we're here to do that, so.
[John Petrella]: Okay. We're going to get back on that in a little bit. Last Tuesday, 17 candidates ran in the primary election. I think that's a great thing to have, 17 candidates. And they ran for a seat on the city council. So we got 14 people will now be on the ballot for this November. I gotta ask you, how do you feel about the election results?
[George Scarpelli]: First let me say it's it was I'm honored that I received 4,000 votes and that's a lot for primary right but also Realizing that as soon as I woke up Wednesday morning. I had zero votes again and I think that's important for people to understand because November 4th is when it really counts right and Where we are and why I'm feeling so excited about this process this time around is that? people have traditionally run independent on their own and working on their own and asking for the bullet vote means that instead of voting for seven, four, five, that you vote for one person. And that was the old traditional style of voting. And we realized that my colleagues have woken the community up and realize what happens when you run on a slate. And that's what we've seen the last few years. And when you have an elected body that has one vision, one purpose, and one ownership of one word, and that's it, and that's by contract, that whatever is put forth, that they have to work together and vote six to zero on that. And we've seen the negative impacts that you see in a community when you don't have an opportunity to have open discourse, to have an opportunity to agree and disagree. And what I find really exciting is that we have now seven candidates left on the ballot that can agree to disagree. I've talked to every single candidate, and I've met with them, and they're amazing people, and they're hardworking people, they're intelligent people, they're passionate people. not to say that my colleagues aren't, but the one big difference is that the people that are running as independent voices are people that are going to listen follow through with what people are saying and make the best decision for what they think. Their individual thought, their neighbors, their community thinks is the best option for the city of Manfred. Not what a national agenda tells you to. So I think that's what I'm more excited about. And I tell people, I've told people across the board as we started this process, there are seven candidates. And if you appreciate George Scarpelli and you appreciate the work that I've done, I implore that all of you, stepping to that box in November, that you vote for seven independent voice candidates, because I think that's important. We have to go back to the times when you could sit across someone in the rail, look them in the eye, agree to disagree, and move forward. And I think that's a healthy engagement. What we're seeing right now is total divide in our community. You can feel it. You can hear it. You know, you're already hearing it already, the discourse of what this seven group is and who they are. No, I'll be honest with you, all seven candidates, I don't agree in some of the things they believe in and vice versa, but that's okay. That's where we are and that's where we should be.
[John Petrella]: It's what we need. It really is. We don't need rulers anymore. We need independent people that are going to work for the residents because we're not getting that right now. I agree with you. I want to get back to the zoning. Boy, oh boy, every year I go for a cup of coffee, someone always talks about zoning, zoning, zoning. We're just looking, you know, George, give us some kind of an idea. What's your position?
[George Scarpelli]: I mean... Well, I've been... I'm glad you brought this question up, John, because from the beginning, I was part of the process with the former council where we recodified the zoning rules. Then as we sat together and decided, how do we craft an RFP to find a partner that can help us move to the next level of rezoning? Because the truth of the point is that we need the rezoning. We haven't touched this in many, many years. It needs to be done. And the process is really the number one piece that we had back with the previous council when we started the RFP process. We asked for a company that would partner with us, there's a city council in the city, that would put a comprehensive plan, outreach plan, that would go into the neighborhoods and meet with the neighborhoods that are being zoned, rezoned, and get their input and understand what they want their neighborhood to look like. Unfortunately, we didn't get that. Unfortunately, the first meeting with the new council, we explained this is the process, this is who we're hiring, and I brought it up in the meeting, and I was told that, well, that's not what we decided on, and the director and the city council president at the time decided they would write the RFP the way they did, and this is where we are today. And it's been difficult to watch because if you look at all the votes, I don't support I don't support any of the zoning initiatives as we see today for the fact that it's changing the fabric of our community. You're hurting what makes this city so great. We have great corridors that should be, that we need to rezone, that we need the mixed use, we need the increased density, we need to bring vibrancy back into some of the corridors. But when you talk about encroaching into the neighborhoods, the neighborhoods that made Medford what it is today, why people are moving to Medford, and you want to change those rules to open it up to densification that will then harm everything that built the city for what it is, it's dangerous. And, you know, I look at my colleagues and we've asked to please slow the process down. and I was mocked and disrespected. Yes, you were. I've asked them to have the partners to put together a zoning plan that would be broken down in layman's terms so everybody can read it and understand what it means, because it's very difficult. I've been doing this for many, many years, and I find it very difficult. I'm not lying. I'm not a zoning expert. So I find it very difficult, and I'm in this day-to-day. So it's been very difficult, and when I see my colleagues all of a sudden backpedal, I realize the reasoning is so obvious, and I hope people can see that, that My colleagues decided to support the halt of the rezoning until we have different pieces in place. Blaming themselves for not asking for more money and blaming the mayor that she didn't give them what they wanted. That's not true. No, it's not. This is what they wanted. This is what they got. When I would say that we haven't had enough meetings, our council vice president would respond by saying we've had x amount of meetings twenty thirty meetings just because you call it a meeting doesn't mean it's a meeting if it's not getting to the residents of the city of medford it's not being effective when we see what we're hearing now and i appreciate the mayor for slowing the process down because i think it's needed i think the community development board works very hard and they've overwhelmed i think that uh... trying to push things through so there's something that you could put in an election flyer is wrong. And optimistically, I'm seeing a lot of positive reaction from our neighbors because they're standing up and they're saying, you know what, enough is enough. This is hurting the fabric of our community. This will change Medford forever. If you want to live in Somerville and Cambridge, go live in Somerville and Cambridge. This is Medford. We have pockets that are just like those communities, and we should increase that vibrancy and focus on those areas. But when you're talking about single-family neighborhoods, you're going to really devastate a lot of people, a lot of neighborhoods, and it would really change what Medford is, and that's not why people came to this community.
[John Petrella]: And this election, I'm just going to throw this in, but this election is really important because my gut is telling me if the same group of characters get in, they're just going to push forward in February whenever, as soon as they can.
[George Scarpelli]: Well, I'll give you an example, John. I appreciate that you're saying that, but I hate to cut you off, but I'm so fired up about this for the fact that when Council President backpedaled and said that we are now going to go to the neighborhoods and talk to residents, let residents get involved, they had that opportunity. They had that opportunity with Salem Street. When the mayor gave us that opportunity. We had over 200 people at the Roberts School talking about what that neighborhood wanted to see there. And they said they listened. And everything that they put together went off to the Community Development Board. And the Community Development Board looked at all these requests from the neighbors, and they've taken pieces and said yes, and they've taken pieces and said no. And it went to the City Council. And the City Council listened at one evening to all of these residents standing up for their community. and it was going to move forward. As those people left, Councilor Leming turned around and made the motion to bring back one of the most important pieces, the strongest piece of that change, that would destroy the neighborhood of salem street right and the council agreed to move back when everybody left that just gives you an example what you said you're right they had that opportunity so just to say that now because they're getting this fear and it's an election year and now people are looking for wait a second i want people that know that know that want that haven't followed this follow the city council go to youtube in previous meetings understand that this council had that opportunity with the Salem Street families and their neighbors. And they had that opportunity to stand up and listen and say we'll move forward and we'll understand what the neighbors want. And instead of doing that, they turned around And they brought it back to a place where leave the families and the residents of Sound Street and fear of what their neighborhood is going to look like. So thank you.
[John Petrella]: I thank you for that answer, George. I really do.
[George Scarpelli]: Thank you.
[John Petrella]: I thank you. Honest and truth. You know, I just want to go back. We had recent overrides, two out of the three passed. It's a done deal. If I told you how many people still come up to me and say, well, it's only one year, it's only one year. I don't know where they come up with that, but anyhow. What did you think? You're the expert, seriously, what do you think about the overrides?
[George Scarpelli]: Well, I think that people that have been following this know that I was opposed to this from the beginning. And it's funny because I know the other side wants to tell you, see, he doesn't want to help the schools. He doesn't want to help teachers. He doesn't want to help kids. He doesn't want to help families. And that's totally wrong. What I've said from the beginning with this override, was let's slow the process down. Let's put together a team of financial experts that'll guide us in making sure we're making the right decision whether we need an override or not. And if you look back and you watch the process and you see who's in that process, that process consisted of the city council president, school committee members that are all our revolution, the mayor's chief of staff, And no one from the financial department in Method City Hall, no one from the assessors, nobody from the business community, nobody from the banking community, nobody from the education community. It was put out there to say that this is what they needed. And as the process went on, and the override passed, very minimally, by the way.
[John Petrella]: It wasn't an override.
[George Scarpelli]: The understanding of what the impact meant to people that are vulnerable, our seniors, our veterans, our neighbors that are disabled, and what that means to them. Well, you're hearing it resoundingly now that we have people that are hurting. Our senior citizens are hurting. Our neighbors are hurting. It's not their fault they were blessed 50 years ago to purchase a home in Medford for $50,000, $20,000. It's not their fault that the property value is now, you know, the house is now appraised at a million. And the only way they can live in that home that they built and they created is that they focus on day-to-day cost and how they can survive. not preparing our senior citizens, not preparing our community of what that impact would make. You know, we heard it back then there would be only $40, only $40. I had phone call after phone call, email after email from vulnerable residents of this community that saw $1,800, $2,400, $3,000 increases that needed to be paid now. And we saw that because you see the people moving, you see people having to leave. Not because they want to, because they have to. And that's not fair. No, it isn't. And again, I know that you're hearing dialogue now because you spin the truth to make something happen. So, we didn't want to help the schools. Total opposite. At the time, we had $23 million in free cash. And free cash, again, is our taxpayers' money. That's money that hasn't been used throughout that budget year for some reason, one or the other. So, we had funds. We had $4.5 million we could have put to the school, level-funded everything, and then gone to the process. I only bring this up because Back in 2008-2009, I was working for the City of Somerville, and I worked with Mayor Curt Atoni. And they were investigating to figure out whether they needed an override in the City of Somerville. What he did was... He compiled experts, his team of financial experts in City Hall. Assessor, finance director. He had two bank presidents, a Sloan family and another bank president. He had financial geniuses from Tufts, MIT, Harvard. He also brought in the business community and educated neighbors that work in this field. And they came to a conclusion after meetings, transparent meetings, that everybody knew what was being said, how it was being done. And they figured out that they had to make a few changes. They showed the changes. and they showed how they can bring in some revenue, and they didn't need that override. With that then came Assembly Row, and then with Assembly Row brought a whole new neighborhood, another tax bracket, more new growth, and the city flourished from there. So we didn't see that. And as we're talking about that override and where we stand, I didn't believe in it, not because we didn't need it, But because how we got there.
[John Petrella]: Right. Yeah. Yeah. But that's a key. Yeah. It's how we got there. And unfortunately, I know a couple of people that long time, long time residents and it's they do. They are struggling to keep up. All right. So we're all aware. I mean, it's no secret the revenue in this city. Boy, we need some growth. What do you do, George? How do you fix it?
[George Scarpelli]: I mean, what do you do? It's difficult, because if someone's going to say that, you know, George Scarpelli and the seven independent candidates, they don't want rezoning, they're wrong. You need rezoning. And rezoning is important because of new growth. When you look at corridors like Mystic Ave, when you look at corridors like Medford Square, that's vital space that we can use to bring in new growth to help fund this community.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[George Scarpelli]: When you look at the rezoning, you look at densification, how dangerous can be. When you see the tax bracket that could be increased, let's look at some of the projects that are about to kick off. You're talking about over 400 units on the Fouls Way. You're talking about, oh, maybe two to three, 400 units at the Cappy site. They're fenced around the Gold's Gym site on Mystic Valley Parkway. You're talking about the GE site. There are so many sites. There's so many areas. But the key is this, John. to create revenue, to increase our finances, it has to be done thoughtfully. It's smart growth and development. It's not, you know, affordable housing, densification, and throw it out there. It has to be a process where we're meeting with the school department, you're meeting with the police, the fire department, you're meeting with the DPW, making sure that our infrastructure is strong. These are the key issues that we need to know before moving forward. Right. And it's funny, because part of that is, well, we're going to be asking, you know, two questions that were brought up, and you look in the future, well, we're going to need a new high school. And we do. No one's arguing about that. No one is arguing. And you're hearing the scuttlebutt from the other side saying, well, you don't want these seven, because they don't want a new high school. Not one of us have said that. I will tell you personally, we need to do something about Medford High School.
[John Petrella]: Yes, we do. The whole city knows.
[George Scarpelli]: Listen, if we're lucky enough for the state to come back and give us, you know, the old percentages, let's do it. Right. But let's look at refurbishing. Yeah. We might have to look at the whole process again, John, for the fact that if we're looking in to bring 2,000 new units in the city, And we're looking at now, we're looking at a huge increase in the school population. We might have to look at making maybe part of the high school, maybe a middle school and a shared high school now. You don't know, but until everything is on the table, until you educate yourselves, educate the community and understand what the impacts are, bring all the people to the table, you don't know what that'll bring. But you look at a site like the Budweiser site, You want to talk about new growth and how we could have really captured a lot of new growth, but at the same time really given the community something great? I looked at that and said about a year and a half ago, why isn't our community development director, why aren't we working with that owner? Why aren't we looking at that land and saying, hey, wouldn't you like to see a Linfield Marketplace there? mix-use would have been great businesses apartments community space recreational space it would have been a great opportunity instead what we have right now We're going to be losing about $500,000 in tax bracket with the MBTA. And then even worse, not even understanding the implications of the increased fees that we're going to have to pay to the MBTA because those buses will be housed in Medford. So, you know, it's been difficult. It's been difficult to watch because I've talked to my former colleagues that are education leaders in Medford and teachers. I've talked to family members that their kids are in the Medford public schools. And if you ask them, not the school committee, not the people that are afraid to say the truth, but if you ask them, have you seen a huge impact with this override money? And the answer is resoundingly no.
[John Petrella]: No, they haven't.
[George Scarpelli]: We talk about the $500,000 for sidewalk and hot tub. We haven't seen it. No. One thing I find disturbing is that our community stood up and said, let's listen to our firefighters, because that's the only organization that stood up in strength and did what was right. They didn't sit there and take something. They said, stop. This fire station is an inferior product, and all it is, it will cause Medford harm, financial harm, as early as two to three years once it's built.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[George Scarpelli]: So they supported the city and educated the city says do not support this and we didn't. Right. You know what's sad, John, we haven't talked once about what we're going to do for our firefighters. That Main Street fire station is deplorable.
[John Petrella]: Oh, I know.
[George Scarpelli]: It should be condemned.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, I agree. So I agree.
[George Scarpelli]: I know that our new facilities manager is doing his best. But you look at that override, and if you did it the right way, and you sat at the table with people, and you said, instead of 6.5, we really need 8 million. Let's ask the residents. Would you commit to that extra 1.5? I would guarantee you most people would have gone with that. As a debt exclusion, that money would come back to you after that loan is over. But when you look at the override, It really wasn't needed at the time for the fact of what we had. Because what do we have this year in free cash at the end of the year? Over $25 million again. Now, I said it over and over again. I'm not blaming anybody or accusing anybody that they're doing something funny or illegal. What I've been saying for years is that this is blatant mismanagement of city funds. And I've asked my colleagues on the City Council. I asked them for an audit. And they threw it back at my face and they said, we do an audit. Now the audit that gets done for the city, people don't know, every year our city gets audited. But the audit is very simple. The audit just looks at how many apples you have. How did you spend, did you spend those apples? And that's it. The audit, I'm requesting, and I've reached out to DeZoglio's office to help with the state auditor, and asked for some guidance, and they said, you need the support first of the council, and then the mayor's approval, and they would come in with an audit, and look at the city's method, and you could see, where is the money going, how are we spending it, why didn't we spend it? And I think that's the key. It needs to be done. It's important, George.
[John Petrella]: No, it needs to be done. I hear you, and hopefully a lot more people are going to hear you too, George. The council, you know, the council, the way you guys meet now, George, No, I'm just asking.
[George Scarpelli]: I have to ask it because... John, when this came forth that we would cut our meetings instead of weekly to go bi-weekly... I made a recommendation that we wouldn't do that. I then made the recommendation that if we're only going to work half of the month, we should only get paid for that. Right. Some of the council members said that we can't do that because they've got to pay their rent.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, right. Yep, yep. I remember that.
[George Scarpelli]: This isn't about money. To work in a city council, if you're working for money, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Now, when you look at the situation we are, think about it. You have one day every two weeks. You have a podium that my former colleagues educated me that made sure that I knew that that podium was the people's podium where people could speak. I've seen the most disrespectful, disgusting actions by my council team, the way they treat people at that podium. People can't express themselves freely. People are afraid to come up. Or what they do is you'll have a very, very important initiative. We've had a lot lately. And what happens, it gets pushed off and pushed off. And then all of a sudden at 11 o'clock, 11.30, 12 o'clock at night, it's put in front of the people. John, I'll be honest with you. I said this in the past, that anything after 11 o'clock should be shut down. Some people even mention 10 o'clock. But when you're talking, the other night, 1.30 in the morning I got home. We weren't talking about, you know, we weren't talking about simple issues. We were talking about major, major concerns in our community. So we need to go back to that. And I hope we have four Councilors that are elected that we can look back and change the process back to where it was.
[John Petrella]: We need to go back. And I've been to some of those meetings. You know, you hate to say certain things, but boy, it's done on purpose, and that's all I can say. It is. I mean, no one wants to say it, but the way it's done and, you know, my opinion, they just... They do. They shut down a lot of people. It's not fair. They're not listening to the people. I want to get back on the charter.
[George Scarpelli]: very important.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, I gotta ask you, like, what's, I mean, they're huge. They did a ton of work on that, the Charter Commission. I gotta ask you, the revised charter, I mean, a lot of people aren't really sure what's going on, what's going through. I mean, can you
[George Scarpelli]: Well, there's a lot. I mean, first, I'll be honest with you. I was one of those city councilors that didn't support the charter. I didn't want the charter. I didn't believe in ward representation. I was totally against it. But then when you started doing your homework and getting more involved in understanding the process, you realize how important that is, especially in government. When you look at a charter to make sure that every quarter represented, and especially as you change, right? We have a lot of new residents in the city of Medford, and they've come from communities where they've always had that representative that lived in their backyard.
[John Petrella]: Oh yeah, that's true.
[George Scarpelli]: And a lot of new residents don't feel comfortable because they don't know who that person is. They don't know they can reach out to everybody. Right. But more importantly, I realized how it supports the diversity of our community. It really looks at those people that really want to get involved in their neighborhood, that don't have the finances, that don't have the time, that don't have the ability to reach citywide. right and i think that's why slates work that's why the revolution works yeah because when you're talking citywide you're working as a team you're funded you have a lot of money and it's easy for you right yeah but when you look at ward representation you don't have to raise fifteen thousand dollars no you raise a couple thousand dollars you're knocking on people's doors you're talking to neighbors right Now, if you've seen the makeup of our council, that's true. It's been a lot of times it was mostly white men. And that's where it was. As we're moving forward, you want to see that diversity. You want to see more people of color. I think everyone agrees with you. We want people that truly represent our community. And with the charter, my colleagues, I found myself I called it that night, it was bizarro world. I said, I couldn't believe that we had people like Milva McDonald and her team, and that was the Charter Review Committee, who did hundreds of meetings. I'd say over a hundred meetings. I know she laughs because it gets bigger and bigger every time we talk the story, but we've had over a hundred meetings. Milva and her team have gone out and interviewed everybody, the sitting city councilors as well. And they've all supported one major point, and that's ward and precinct representation. That means eight representatives in each ward, and then three at-large members. And that, you realized, that's an exciting new change. We need that. Absolutely. So the council, I remember when Milva came out, and we had representatives from U.S. Boston that were experts in this field, and they shared all their information. I thought this was going to be a great night. And my council colleagues stopped it because they now wanted to go to district representation. And that's wrong. And it was funny because I was getting emails from people that normally don't email me. They seem to think they follow that dialogue because it's easy when you're on one side, they have to villainize you on the other side. So they said, George, I know that we haven't seen eye to eye in years, but maybe we might not align politically, but I'm so disappointed with our members of this council that ran on the mission of eight representations, three at large. And then when they came to that night, they changed it to district. And I found myself as a member, a former member now of the Our Revolution family, sent me my colleagues' breakdown of their mission. And their number one mission, one of their number one missions, last election term, was the charter review and ward precinct representation. And I'm telling you, even today, We need it. People voted for them because of that reason. Melvin McDonald and her team worked her tail off to make sure that we got all the information we needed. The homework was done. It was vetted properly. It was put forth properly. And I know they've made some changes and the mayor had to make some concessions that that my colleagues wanted, that I don't agree with, but you look forward to where we are right now, and I think it's something that people have to realize. Not only just voting the seven independent candidates on November 4th, but also, if it's on the back of the page, wherever it is, find the question on the ballot for charter change, and please support the charter change. It's just as vital. Trust me, believe me, I think it's very important and I think people have to stand up. I'm going to challenge all of my colleagues and future colleagues that we should come out publicly whether you'll support the charter and really spread the word because you have 14 candidates. That's a great platform. What a way to 14 people reaching out to all their neighbors and saying, hey listen, you might not agree in a candidate or two, but one thing we can all agree on is this charter change. It needs to be done. It needs to be done.
[John Petrella]: It's vital. Great answer, George. It's just been great to have you here. this is just something we ask everybody uh we're coming to the end of the show yeah uh real you know quick if you don't mind you've been around a long time you know every inch of the city if you had something you know your least and most favorite things uh that you like to do in the city yeah as it's funny as an elected official i will tell you the best part of the city is really talking to people
[George Scarpelli]: And I think what you see right now is you see our firefighters, you see our police, we see our DPW workers, you see our teachers, you see the most vital members of our community. making sure that they're treated fairly. Our working men and women of our community, our union members, making sure they're taken care of, because those people, if we're taking care of those people, then that group of people are taking care of us every single day, no matter what. They're the first one running in a fire, the first one when someone's pulling a gun, they're the first ones when someone's passed out, they're doing the right thing. They're taking care of our children every day, And I love doing that. Now, it's funny, for fun, I'm a very simple person. I love being home. I love my neighbors. I love my neighborhood. I love my dog, walking my dog.
[John Petrella]: That's a good thing.
[George Scarpelli]: I love watching games, you know, watching the Little League game at Carr Park or going, you know, at Gillis Park or going up to the high school and catching a high school game. You know, I miss it since the kids have graduated. I know my daughter Gianna still plays lacrosse at Bridgewater State. I just love doing that because that truly gives you the true feeling of community. You know, you're a Mustang, you're blue and white, and it means a lot.
[John Petrella]: We are. It does mean a lot. It does. And the football team won. They won 20-0. Coach Curley doing a great job. Great, great job.
[George Scarpelli]: And I'll tell you with that, I'll give you a good example. You might, if you're looking at wins and losses for teams, you can criticize any team, but what I love what the football team does, I don't know if people see what they do, but they have implemented a part that I think is invaluable. They go out and perform community service all over this community, whether you're a senior citizen, whether they're helping the hunger, whether they're supporting the Kiwanians, I think that's what community's about and I'm so proud of them and I'm proud about schools and teachers and coaches, so I can go on and on.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, there's a lot of that going on in Medford. That's all the good stuff, and it's good to hear someone mention all the good stuff, because there is a tremendous amount of good going on.
[George Scarpelli]: Yeah, we have a great community.
[John Petrella]: We do. We really do.
[George Scarpelli]: We just have to find a way to come together.
[John Petrella]: Right. And that's the most difficult part.
[George Scarpelli]: Listen, if that's with or without George Scapelli, we have to find a way to heal and get together, because right now, there are so many questionable initiatives that are out there that are really hurting and dividing our community, and we need to find a way to come together.
[John Petrella]: It's got to be with George Scarpelli. Yeah, well, we hope so and I appreciate that. We need George. We do. All right, is there anything going on with you coming up? This will be the last question. I mean, anything going on coming up?
[George Scarpelli]: I'll be, you know, a lot of people said, geez, George, you've been a little stagnant. And, you know, unfortunately, a couple of the candidates' nights, I I'm now acting as one of the managers that are overseeing the recreation department at Somerville. Our director has moved on, so I find myself very busy at work, especially in the evening, so I find it very difficult to get out to some of these events, and I appreciate you doing this for me. I want to thank you. And your team, you've been amazing. This is a great platform. And I hope my colleagues really take you up on coming down and sharing their input, because I think it's important. So it's that dialogue that we need. But I will tell you, I'm putting together a fundraiser soon, and we'll start meeting some people. But my phone number, it's public everywhere, 781-858-0240. Anybody can call me. And they do. Okay, and they do. You can ask my wife and kids.
[John Petrella]: We know.
[George Scarpelli]: But in my email, I use my personal email because it's easy to get me, and that's scarpg at comcast.net, or just send me a message on Facebook, and I'll be there. I mean, I listen sometimes. It's not what people want to hear, but a lot of times all our residents want to do is talk to somebody that's listening. Right, yeah, yeah.
[John Petrella]: I, you know, that's it. I mean, the time, the show's overdrawn, but I can go on with you, you know.
[George Scarpelli]: Marco and Paul, I appreciate, in the background, doing all the hard work, but I appreciate you doing this. This is important, and I beg everybody, if I can, one last thing is, please come out November 4th. We need everybody to be heard. We need you to look at the seven independent candidates that are not running on a slate, that are working independently with their own voices to bring what each neighborhood needs to see what's best for the city of Medford. So, I thank you for having me, my friend.
[John Petrella]: Oh no, George, it's all our pleasure. You've done, like I said, you have, you don't get enough pats on the back and what you've been dealing with. No, seriously, the last few years, it isn't easy, but you've really done a great job. You've done a great job.
[George Scarpelli]: I'll take this again because I love the city of Medford and I want to be there for the residents, so thank you.
[John Petrella]: And we thank you. All right. I want to thank George Garpelli first. for joining us on Method Happenings today, and of course for running for re-election, Method City Council. You couldn't get a better Councilor, and I think a lot of people agree with that. Before we close, I just want to let you know we are looking for a few Method residents, or actually we're looking for a lot of Method residents, to appear on Method Happenings. just, you know, just to share their views on what they expect from the incoming or the next city council. And if you're interested in doing something like that, you can contact us at Medford Happenings 02155 at gmail.com. We've already had some some people contact us so I want to thank them and we are going to do a show. You know everyone's going to get a few minutes just to talk about Medford. I also want to thank everyone who's been watching the show. Thank you for your feedback, and I'm gonna say it's been all positive, and we really appreciate that. You're gonna be able to see replays of this show, Medford Community Media, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and on our really, I mean really, I keep promoting this website because a lot of people are viewing it. You gotta check it out. It's MedfordHappenings.com. And on that website, it's all about method a lot of good things reviews You know, we're getting into all the sports politics What's happening in method the arts and I can go on and on so check out method happenings calm you can also find us on YouTube and on Facebook at method happenings and So, for the Method Happenings team, we thank George for being on the show, and we also, I want to thank Paul, Marco, Bruce, Margaret, and our friend James. I'm John Petrella, and remember, stay informed. Ta-da!
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