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[John Petrella]: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Method Happenings, a show for and 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. Today, we want to welcome two former Method City Councilors, Mr. Bob Penta, and Mr. Michael Motz. And I will say this, they both serve the city of Medford very well. And I want to thank you both for joining us. Welcome to Method Happenings. It's our pleasure. It's our honor to have you guys on. Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you, John. OK, gentlemen, we're going to get right into, you know, the purpose of the show. We're going to get into some questions. And, you know, the first question we're curious about, we wanna get started with, is we're gonna ask you both, if you can tell us what differences, okay, if any, do you see in this current council when comparing it to past city councilors? So in other words, what was different when you guys were Councilors? You see any big differences? And we'll start off with that. And Bob, we'll start with you first, and then Michael, you can come in afterwards.
[Robert Penta]: Well, the first thing that I've seen over the past four years, especially with this particular council, is how they treat the people when they come to the podium. And it's not very nice at times. and I've been a product of what they've done. They're not courteous. They're not willing to listen. They have an agenda sometimes, many times, has nothing to do with the city of Medford, and when you try to correct them on that, they don't want to listen to you. Also, the fact that they cut down the speaking times at the podium, another act that just doesn't speak well for good government, because good government as an elected official, you're supposed to just sit there, listen to what people have to say, and then get involved in your conversation. And that's, can I just detour one thing real quick, because it has something to do with this. It has everything to do with what we just went through now, to get onto your program, John. Because when I was in the city council, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a class aid studio up in Method High School, okay? And to unfortunately have to do this late at night, not use that studio, that's there for the people for public access. That's what it was there for. And the city administration uncomfortably has made this very hard for people like you, who does a wonderful job in bringing both sides in, not to be up there. I'm just upset, to be honest with you. That's why we're not at the studio, okay?
[John Petrella]: All right, I can appreciate that, Bob. Michael, anything you want to add?
[Michael Marks]: Yeah, I mean, when I first got on the council, the council was known as the People's Forum. It truly was the only place in the city that residents can go up, and at the time it was once a week, which I think many people prefer that over every other week now, and residents could come up on a host of issues that impacted their daily life, and we as a council would open up, allow them to speak. You know, we had rules regarding time, but if someone took their time out of their schedule to come up there, We were very gracious with allowing people to speak, and we never shut off people. I think Bob can attest to that. We let people vent, and sometimes they just wanted to come up and vent, but we gave them a forum, and I think that's what's lacking now. Residents are frustrated because they don't have a forum to speak, and when you get to speak, You're cut off. You're rude. Members of the council, certain members, are very rude and condescending. And they really make people feel like they don't want to hear what they have to say. And when you get rid of the only forum in the city, I think that says a lot that people have nowhere else to go. And in my opinion, if I was back in the council, that would be the first thing I would fight for. Increase public participation, allowing residents to get up and vent any of their concerns, and make it truly the people's forum. And that was, as you remember, Bob, Bob Mayorko used to say that all the time. This is the people's forum. And, you know, I always remember that. And I said, you know what, this is the one place they get to come up and speak and be heard and, you know, by their elected officials and give them the opportunity.
[Robert Penta]: As an addition to that, John, hopefully, if a majority of these new independent candidates get elected, one of the The first few things that they do is they bring back the weekly meetings, number one. And number two, they bring back the five-minute rule to let people speak. And if it means speaking more than once, so be it. Listen, some of the issues that are going on right now in this city demands an awful lot of the people's input, because that, unfortunately, is what's causing this election to go forward. They're not being heard. And you have this group of people that are on the council right now that only think one way. They will not open up their brain to listen to an opposing opinion.
[John Petrella]: Right, right. I appreciate what you guys are saying.
[Michael Marks]: And if I could just add, John, they're using the agenda against residents. And when I say that, you could be on the agenda and not be heard for four or five hours. And to me, if you have a group of residents that come up all on the same issue, there's no reason that would have never happened under our watch, myself or Bob Penter or the other members of the council. If we knew there was a group of people there, we would always suspend the rules and allow them to speak first. They weren't waiting four or five hours to speak. Now it's being used, the council agenda is being used as a tool to stifle people. And that again is not right. In my opinion, these are the things that we have to look at. There were a host of changes that were made to the council rules, in my opinion, that do not benefit residents of this community. and allow for public input. And the new council that comes in, hopefully, will change a lot of those rules back to allow for more public participation, allow for people to get up there in a timely fashion and speak, and move the issues along. And that's not happening right now.
[John Petrella]: And I agree. I mean, I think that you guys hit some good issues. And I have to agree with most of what you're saying. All right, so, you know, we'd like to get, you know, we have you both here. So, you know, we'd like to get your views on some current issues. And, you know, the biggest issue that I see right now in this city, no matter where you go, people are talking about it. We've talked about it on a regular basis. Every candidate that we've had on, this is a very important question. a lot of people are very concerned, and that is, you know, this proposed zoning in Medford. You know, what do you guys, you know, one at a time, you know, just give us an idea, where do you stand with this zoning? You know, how do you feel about it? Where do you think it's going? We'll start with you, Michael, this time. You know, what do you think? Where are we going?
[Michael Marks]: So the major concern I hear right now, and there's a lot to zoning, if people don't know or not aware, zoning, in my opinion, is the lifeblood of a community. That's the backbone of a community, how it's zoned. And I think what's currently happening right now is The push from six members of the council, excluding George Scapelli, he's been very vocal about being opposed, not to zoning changes, but to the elimination of single family districts. That's going to have such a major impact on the neighborhoods. If you look at the Lawrence estates, if you look at North Method, if you look throughout the community that have single family neighborhoods, the Brooks estates, and all of a sudden now zoning for single families is going to be gone and you're going to allow up to three, four, five units in each lot. That makes for high density housing. It makes for increased traffic, increased congestion, increased lack of parking. There's a host of concerns that everyone in this community should have. And that's not to say we don't need additional housing, and in particular affordable housing. I think Chapter 40B, which is the state law that provides for building with affordable housing, that does increase the stock of affordable housing in the community. Does it do enough? That's up for debate. But right now, to change the fabric of this community, and let me just say, John, it doesn't just change single family areas. I live in Wellington, and it changes two family areas as well. So if you look at South Method, if you look at Wellington, Haines Square that has a lot of two families, they're talking about changing a two family into a four to six family. And think about it, that just doesn't impact your neighborhood, that impacts infrastructure, water and sewer, that impacts school size, class size. There's a lot of ramifications right now that I think every, that's the most pressing issue, I think every resident in this community should be concerned and should really pay attention to what's going on. And in my opinion, I was elected 26 years. By far, this is probably the most important, crucial issue that faces this community right now.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, I definitely agree. Everyone's talking about it. And that was a great answer. Bob, you want to add something to that? I would, you know.
[Robert Penta]: I do. The fact of the matter is this whole issue had its initial beginning a couple of years ago on the Salem Street area. A lady by the name of Shoah Rodriguez, a great warrior for the neighborhood, was out there and they came to they eventually came to an agreement between the neighbors and as to what was being proposed in the city and the city council this city council wanted to go against it and they did and that suddenly it was a pushback okay but what they're proposing they were proposing to put you into a 4,000 square foot lot and they're allowing you, if this goes through anywhere, some one to three additional units. They're also taking the 75-year-old homes that are in a particular district, and you'll be able to put two to three more in-house people in those 75-year-old homes. The setbacks from the street in the back, they're changing all of those. Wrapping up what Michael is saying, If even if a developer were to come in and this was going to take place, doesn't people realize that developers buying the property, so he's going to be paying a lot of money, then he's going to have to pay to develop the piece of property. So if you think you're going to sell that to a low or moderate income person, no, because he's going to want to get his money back. That's for sure. And then add on to that, if it has an effect on the school system, for which it will, all these people coming in. Somebody's going to have kids. And right now the school system is at max of these elementary schools. What are we doing? So the planning here is absolutely ridiculous, okay? And once the mayor got a hold of it, I believe it was in August of this year, she sent a letter to the council and to the planning board to let's just push back She didn't realize, I believe she said she didn't realize that the pushback was so strong on the neighbors. And as a result of that, you know, it hasn't gone anywhere. But the sad part is this, John, this is the sad part. You've got seven independent candidates that are running and hopefully they get in there, at least the majority. Because if they don't get in there, the unfortunate part is if four out of the seven get in there of the present city council, which are OR revolutionary, they're just going to go forward with this change in zoning. And this is going to really send the city into a tailspin. You won't recognize Medford after this.
[John Petrella]: Right. No, I know. It's not a good thing. And thank you guys for the answer.
[Michael Marks]: Can I just add one thing, John? Sure, Michael. Yep. just because it's important to know, I think, for the viewing audience, that this zoning initiative was on the fast track. And there were countless meetings and so forth. And people have spoken up that they were not just opposed to it, but they thought it required more investigation and more community input. And it wasn't until the election started to approach that this current city council, six members, put it on hold temporarily. And when I say temporarily, I mean temporarily, until after the election's over. And in my opinion, if we reelect six of those members, This zoning is going to fly through. The very fabric of the city is going to change a thousand percent. So we have a unique opportunity to stand up and say, you know what, we don't support this current zoning change. We do support taking a look at zoning and how we can improve it. But we don't support this current zoning. And the only way I tell people all the time to send a message is to look at the candidates right now that are talking about, hey, let's take a step back. Let's carefully approach this zoning and see what we can do. And if you look at George Scarpelli, Rick Caraviello, Patrick Lurken, Paul Donato Jr. has spoken about it, Melody Tringali, Nate Merritt, Nick They've all spoken about it, saying that they're definitely going to review this and take a much longer approach to make sure every neighborhood's accounted for when any change, and every input is accounted for. So I think that's key. And when I tell people, because we still get calls, Bob Penter can attest to this, I get calls all the time. And I'll say what you probably do. If people say, Mike, what do you think? And I tell them, I say, you get the government you deserve. So if you want to reelect the same people, you're going to get this, especially the zoning, jammed down your throat.
[John Petrella]: It's going to happen. We know it's going to happen.
[Robert Penta]: John, one step further to that. One step further to that. If this were to go through, you could get a hodgepodge on the same street. One side of the street will be zoned one way. It depends on how the development is going to take place. This doesn't belong in Method right now. They've got 1,000 new units coming on board. And if the city was so concerned about affordable and low-income housing, they should be going out there and look at pieces of property. A classic piece for them to take would be the carbons on Salem Street, because they're getting that from nothing from the MBTA. And make sure that the MBTA cleans the land first, OK? Yeah, you know, we could go on and on. Like Michael says, we could go on. There are so many nuances, so many nuances to this here. You know, like I said, right now you're allowed to put an additional 900 square feet unit on your house. But if you can go, the state allows you, you can go back to the city, get a special permit from the city and you could put two on on your present existing. So this is you've got to read what they're proposing. It's crazy. It's absolutely.
[Michael Marks]: John, not to belabor it, but one other point because this is an important issue. Back several years ago when I was on the council, there was the housing production plan. This plan was commissioned by the city and we brought in a private consultant and they brought up creative ways in order for us to create more affordable housing. And one of the major pieces was to look at, I believe at the time, there were some 300 and something odd lots in the city. And most of them were under the buildable size that you can do in the city. And at the time, the housing production plan was going to take these lots, either purchase the city or approach people that own these odd lots that can't build, and turn them into buildable lots. for affordable housing and give an incentive. And so you're talking about a massive project, which would be another 300 or 400 additional affordable housing in the city on lots that are already there. People can actually sell their lot off if I had a little piece of lot and build affordable housing on it. And there's been no consideration by this current council. They only want to come in and create high density housing and just jam things into people's neighborhoods. That's not a way of doing it, John.
[John Petrella]: I agree. I agree with you guys. All right. You know, I want to keep moving on here. We really probably we're trying to cover an awful lot. Um, the next big thing, uh, it's also on the ballot that that's going to be on the ballot is the proposed charter. Um, you know, basically I don't want to get into too much detail. Uh, you know, we've, we've talked about this quite a bit on this show. Uh, bottom line, are you in favor? Not in favor. uh you know why or why not and you know just try and be brief about it um then we'll start with you michael uh fail or not and and why why not the charter correct yes
[Michael Marks]: So I understand this is somewhat of a contentious issue. And when I was on the council, I was the first member of the council to bring forth a petition to be sent to the state legislature for a charter review. And believe it or not, it passed four to three, I believe, at the time. It went up to the statehouse and sat in the, I think it was the home rule or local affairs committee. I think it was the local affairs committee and sat there. And we finally reached out after it was there for months and come to find out the chairman of the committee said he didn't think that the four to three vote was enough to move that forward. And, you know, it's a majority of the council. We speak to the residents, you know, initiate this process. But needless to say, it died within the statehouse. You know, I support the two years worth of work that was done by a lot of good people in this community that sat. They had countless hearings. They met with countless people, countless boards and commissions, and came out with what I think a good working document and something that, is it perfect? Absolutely not. But at this point, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And I think we have a decent document to work with. And for instance, WAD representation. I've always supported that. I think it's important to make sure that every neighborhood, every ward has someone that you can say, hey, that's my city councilor. I see him three times a week. He lives in my neighborhood. I see him at Stop and Shop. It's really bringing the city back to a real small neighborhood level. And I think it's a good form of government. So I support most of what's in there right now. Am I happy with everything? No. But this also calls for a periodic review of the charter. It hasn't been looked at in 39 years. and I think this is a good start and hopefully it is just the starting point. So I'm going to support it and I'm telling people that I know to give it a shot and then we can always look to tweak and improve going forward.
[John Petrella]: Thank you for the answer, Michael. Bob, yourself, support it? Yes, no?
[Robert Penta]: Not for anything. This is where Michael and I part ways because, you know, seriously, because I know a lot of work went into this, okay? And having served for many years in this council, I was never even asked for my opinion by the group of people. That's number one. Number two, Michael's for what councils? I'm not for what councils. I don't see any need to increase the annual budget by a minimum of $120,000 to add four more councils on there. And then at the same time, make the financial corrections in the council chamber to put the people in there.
[Michael Marks]: Point of information. Point of information. Yes. Does that still work? Point of information? Yeah, it still works. You see how I got Bob to stop talking quick? No, but that's okay. Right away, it went in his head. He said, point of information. Yeah, good memories, Michael.
[John Petrella]: These are good memories.
[Michael Marks]: So I'm not advocating to increase the budget line for Councilors. It could be done very simply. Right now, councils make, on an average, $30,000. The large councils make $30,000. The ward councils make $15,000, $17,000. I'm not advocating to give them additional money. I just think it's a better form of government. So I don't want people to believe I want to increase their salaries. That's not what I want.
[Robert Penta]: Well, let's put it this way. Whether it's $30,000 or $17,000, you're still going to be increasing the budget of the council. That's number one. Number two, They have a thing here on page eight of this new document, which is 54 pages long, that the city Councilors can submit expenses and their costs for being a Councilor during the course of the year. So let me remind everybody, including you, Michael, we were on the council. The IRS came in and said you could not do that. So whatever you were going to be getting for your expenses would have to just go into your salary and that's how it was corrected. But this is included in this particular budget, excuse me, in this particular piece of legislation. The mayor is serving for 16 years, but there's no term limits for the city council or the school committee. And that's not right either. The idea that the school committee would have two wards put together, why they couldn't agree to come to 11, I don't know, but two wards put together because in one of the two wards, there'll be a school. So at least there'll be a school for every two wards. That doesn't make any sense. What happens if another ward and the future years decide they want to have a school? Are they going to need a school because of the increase in the population? They should have just left the school committee alone seven members at large, and then they decided to take the mayor off the school committee as to being the chairperson, because now she is nothing more than a member. So think of this logically. If she sits on that school committee as a member, but he or she in the future is also a mayor, That's the money person in the city. Do you think you're going to put a non-money person that's going to sit in the chair that's going to be arguing with the man who's going to be sitting on the floor? I don't think so. Plus the fact, John, this has always been my belief. When I ran for office, I knew what my duty was. I had to go out there and campaign. And I lost 36 pounds my very first time out there, ringing the doorbells and having people meet me, passing out my literature and going forward. I'm a firm believer, if you really want something that bad, then go for it. Because that's how the city of Medford has gone on for so many years, since 1939. They've had seven councils at large. So by just increasing them, the next argument would be, let's just say I'm coming from Ward 8. and watch two, three, and four don't like me, okay? For whatever the reason is, they don't like me, my style, whatever I'm proposing, I'm not gonna get anywhere with them. But if I was at large, it affects the entire community. And you could see that through the years. And I'll tell you another thing. The camaraderie that existed with seven Councilors in the past, even when Michael was there, at least we got along. We have differences of opinion. This is just going to open up a ball of wax that somebody in Ward 8 needs something that's more important, and they're going to consider it more important than another ward in this and that. And then you're going to get into this political hangover. It's just, I don't know. But no term limits for Councilors, no term limits for school committee, but the mayor gets 14 years. I don't know where that comes from or where the logic to that came from.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, I listen, I thank you. You both gave us honest answers. You know, the only thing I can add to it, you know, to me, it's a living document. And I know there's a lot, I agree, there's good in there, and there's things I don't like, and I think everyone's gonna find that.
[Robert Penta]: And you just gotta balance it out, but it is a living- But one important thing, this is a document that got passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, okay? I've got it right here, 50 some odd pages. The taxpayers of this community should have gotten a copy of this document, be made available to them so they can read it.
[John Petrella]: They can't read it.
[Robert Penta]: They're not in the city clerk's office and they think you're talking Chinese to them. Can we get a copy of it? The registrar voters should have a copy for anyone that would want it. Not everybody has a computer to go on and read it. If it's such a good document and if the city thought it was such a, what would it be to spend a few thousand dollars and mail it out to every registered voter?
[John Petrella]: I don't know. I don't have the answer for that. But all right, we're going to move on. And it's nice to see that people can disagree and still get along, still go for a cup of coffee together.
[Robert Penta]: That's why he's on the other side of you right now.
[John Petrella]: OK, so, you know, this is sort of a two part question. We've already had an override passed. I don't know, you know, how you guys felt about it, but, you know, there's talk now, I mean, new high school, okay? Is it gonna be refurbished, the costs? Is it gonna be override, debt exclusion? You know, there's a whole lot more going on. You know, what do you think about, you know, If you were on the council right now or the school committee or you had some kind of a say in this, which way do you think you're gonna go as far as how do you get a new school? How do you do it?
[Robert Penta]: What's the answer? First of all, John, last year, when that override for $456 a year and keep going forward, the only way that's ever gonna come off is the council is gonna have to vote it out or put it on the ballot. Plus the fact, plus the fact, that 456 has got nothing to do with the tax rate that's going to be set. So that's going to be 456 over and beyond. But the fact of the matter is, you keep talking about, you'll tell me why there is a need for a new high school, because number one, if the school had been maintained like it should have been, you know, we went through this with all the elementary schools after so many years, You know, they didn't take care of the schools and they're in almost the same condition right now. But that's not the point. They put a new science lab in there. They did a new section over there where the pool is and stuff like that. The infrastructure of our city is in desperate need of help. The high school is not falling apart. You have to have a sense of priority of where you're going to go in the city and how you're going to spend your money. OK. So therefore, I would hope that this new council, when they come in, they look at that override and just saying, hey, when that override was passed on, it was $28 million in city monies and free cash sitting there. And the override was only for $7.5 million worth of what was needed at the time. So they could have deducted that from the $28 million, but they didn't do it. And the unfortunate part is the at present city council doesn't think like this. Okay. They have more on these national issues and more on these social issues and whatever it might be. They don't know how to think about Medford and where it's going and how to spend the dollars. And that's the problem. And that's why you're seeing, you're seeing seven new Councilors running this year, you know, to get back and take a grip back of our city. And we've got to do it because you just go up to keep, who do you think is going to keep paying for all these things? It's the taxpayer, right? There's no doubt about that. And that's just it. Common sense, right? Common sense when you're going to spend the taxpayer's dollars.
[John Petrella]: Thank you, Bob. Michael, same question.
[Michael Marks]: Yeah, I think it's great to propose new things in the community, right? I think everyone would like a new high school, a new fire headquarters. Even our elementaries and middle schools now are 25 years old and they're getting up there to an age and doing a lot of work. I think what you have to do is make a case for it, right? And if we need a new high school, you have to say, what is enrollment like? Do we anticipate enrollment increasing? That high school was built for, I think, 3,500 or 4,000 students, or maybe even more than that. It's at less than half capacity. right now. We just got a few years back school building assistance money, millions of dollars, like Councilor Penter said, to do science labs and so forth and rehab the high school pool. And I know they put a new roof on it. And we got 90% on the dollar. I was on the school committee when we actually proposed going from neighborhood schools to centralized schools. And at the time, that was a huge issue because people liked having the neighborhood feel, right? Your kids walk to school, everything's within the neighborhood. It was a tough decision, but it was one that I think was warranted at the time because of the age and condition of our schools. We were able to give our kids state-of-the-art facilities in these schools now. So I think, honestly, more due diligence needs to be had regarding the need for a new high school. And as Councilor Penta mentioned, there's a lot of needs out there. And I think looking at a new high school, you're talking anywhere from $200 million to maybe $300 million. And then displacing kids throughout the course of a whole school year and maybe even longer. So there's a lot to look at. It sounds great, but I think, honestly, we need to see what type of reimbursement, if any. You know, if you work for the state, and Bedford just got $20 million from you, and then they're coming back saying, you know what, the $20 million you gave us, we're going to rip that down for the science labs. to build a brand new school and say, we just gave you 20 million 10 years ago. Now you want to rip it down? So I don't know. I think there's a lot. I'm not opposed to a new school, but I really think that we haven't done our homework.
[Robert Penta]: I want to jump in there because he brings up a good point, Councilor Marks. The fact of the matter is every year the state auditor was supposed to have an audit of the expenditures of the new schools going forward until they were paid off, okay? And while that was supposed to be five percent of the budget of each school, five percent of the budget of each school, it never took place. And because it never took place, those schools just fell into disrepair. You could go into the Brooks School and you'll find, you know, I don't want to name any schools. I mentioned that.
[John Petrella]: I hear you.
[Robert Penta]: I hear you. But the fact of the matter is this, John, OK? It's your elected people. And if they were doing their job, they would have realized that that money should have gone in there. There should be no reason to be spending hundreds and millions of dollars to refurbish new schools. It doesn't make any sense.
[John Petrella]: Right.
[Robert Penta]: So before you get to that, Drive down the streets, look at your potholes, look at your sidewalks. And if you want to talk about something crazy, talk about the crazy bump outs all over the city, OK? You tell me what that's going to serve.
[John Petrella]: You're jumping ahead to my next question, Bob. Oh, go ahead. So thank you guys for that. And I'm going to let you answer this first, Bob, all right? Go ahead, sure. Because that is the next question, because I, oh my god, it's like unbelievable. You know, talk about bump outs, Salem Street, the traffic in Medford, all the safe street programs, congestion, the sidewalks, the bike lanes. We need street repairs, sidewalk repairs. I mean, we can go on and on and on. So, you know, it's a lot to get done. And it seems like it's just too many things all coming
[Robert Penta]: Some of it has no rhyme or reason. There again, you say a lot of things need to be done. You can go back to maybe a year and a half ago. This all starts in West Method, coming from Winchester, not being able to take a right down Plaisted Road. They put those stupid cones there. And as of last, a few months ago, what did they do? By Osborne Road, they shut the street off. For what reason? okay? And then you have Councilor Lazzaro, Emily Lazzaro, trying to take credit, trying to trade credit for the Salem Street Rotary. If you look at that, the first snowstorm, that traffic is going to be backed up into 93. It doesn't make any sense. You go on Main Street by Stanley Road or Stanley Street, they're all over the place. Compare that to a legitimate street that needs to be, Riverside Ave, where Councilor Marks lives, that really needs to be rehabilitated. High Street, going from the Winter Street Rotary up there, you wonder what the hell is going on. Who's running the city? And you know another stupid thing, John? If you drive on Mystic Ave, okay, next to the Great Beer Garden, you go a little bit further down, they have a bike lane in the middle of a highway, okay? It doesn't make any sense. Whoever's running these things, department heads, you could go to, we won't get into it, but go ahead.
[John Petrella]: No, I hear you and I see that on Mystic Ave and I just, you know, geez, I haven't plowed a street in about 40 years, Bob, but I see those plow trucks. I'm like, I see these bump outs. I see these rotaries. I mean, fire trucks. I don't know how they're going to do it. I really don't. Look what they did in Haines Square, for God's sake. You're right. It's going to be extremely tough.
[Robert Penta]: I appreciate that. And where were the Councilors? Not one Councilor speaking up, at least no matter how. That's why you need a new direction. The direction should be Medford. Let's do a Medford direction.
[John Petrella]: Right. Michael. Same thing, same question. I'm not going to repeat the whole question. And I know you ride a bike, Michael. It needs tires. It needs tires, you're right, Bob. But I know Michael does. He's a bike rider. He rides that bike a lot. What are your thoughts on what we're talking about, Michael?
[Michael Marks]: Right. So you know what? Traffic calming, when I was on the council, I'd probably say it was my number one issue. And I fought hard to make sure our crosswalks were relined every year and so forth, to use thermoplastic rather than paint, because it lasts five years and paint fades away after a year. So you had a hard time on that. Yeah, there are a lot of issues, but one issue, John, that no one talks about, and it has to do with roads and sidewalks, is right now we have roughly 730-odd streets in the community, of which more than half are private ways. And on a private way, the city will not typically get involved with the repair of a sidewalk, the cutting of a tree, the maintenance of a road, and you pay the same tax as everyone else. So if I happen to live on a private way, I don't get any of those services, but I pay the same tax as the next person. And to me, that has to be a number one priority that every street in this city is treated the same, whether you're private or not. If the city has to accept all the private ways as regular roads, they have to go through a process in order to do so. And there's no reason when people would call me up and say, hey, you know what? How come they won't plow my street? Or how come they won't fix a pothole or cut this tree down? And I say, well, you live on a private way. That's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. I agree with Bob with the bump outs and everything else that's going on. In order to get federal and state money, Barbara will remember, when we did projects in the city and got federal and state money, which was good, it always came with string attached. And it was like on High Street, when we had to do away with all the parking, when we did all the different road safety concerns, we went up to the Brooks School and they made us put a bike lane there. And the bike lane led to nowhere, which was one of my big gripes. So all of a sudden you have a bike lane and then it ends when you get to the Winthrop Street Rotary. You're on your bike and you're like, what do I do next? Now I'm mixed in with traffic. So there's a lot of things that we don't put an emphasis, there's zero dollars in our budget to repave streets. Zero. All the money comes from whatever the state gives us. So there is zero money. So if we wanted to get serious, there should be a line item to pave a certain number of our 730 streets every year in order to, you know, make the changes that we want.
[Robert Penta]: Right. If you want to just jump in real quick, when he talks about the Greek school, there's an island down there. If you go down High Street on the island, And then the wintertime, that sign that's in the middle gets knocked down two or three times by cars and trucks because they put the island in there, but they don't paint the cement, the borders in orange. They just leave it. I mean, you can just drive into it. Simple little things like safety, you know, I mean, paint, what's a little orange paint, a yellow iridescent paint, something, you know, it's just... One driver, one bike, people riding bikes too, it's the same. You know, you talk about riding bikes. If the police department really wanted to make some money, they could do it with these bikes. These bikes should be registered and insured. These guys driving down the street and girls going to red lights, cutting people off and then giving you the finger after they do it, please, please.
[John Petrella]: By the way, it's not just bikes. I see every kind of electric scooter and wheels. I'm amazed at what's out there. It is, it's amazing.
[Michael Marks]: John, the city implemented a pilot program probably 10 years ago for permit parking. 10 years ago, and we're still under the very same pilot program. It's the longest pilot program in the history of the United States. It shows you that we, not even a crawl, we're at a snail's pace in this city to get anything done. You know, it's really sad.
[John Petrella]: It really is.
[Robert Penta]: John, this all reflects back on the council that is there right now, back to the days when Michael was there and I was serving. I mean, you would get a few things done in this. You cannot, the last four years, you could not go before this council, express your opinion, especially if it was contrary to theirs. And when they cut everybody from five minutes down to three, Yeah, that's it.
[John Petrella]: Yeah.
[Michael Marks]: Go on, street sweeping. We do street sweeping twice a year in the neighborhoods. Surrounding communities do it weekly. There's no reason why we do our thoroughfares, but the neighborhoods, I live near Wellington, the debris that flows up from Dunkin' Donuts and all the stores down there, it's incredible. There's no reason why we can't have a street sweeping program, really.
[John Petrella]: It'd be nice. You know, I'm going to have, I got one last thing for you guys. And, uh, uh, you know, this is great. I, I, I, I've enjoyed this show. I have, um, um, so, you know, I wanted to bring up, uh, you know, the police, the fire departments, uh, you know, we, we know, well, I don't know, but it seems to me, I mean, the fire department is like, for whatever reason, they've been put on a back burner in this city. You know, they need a new building. There's so many things, but, you know, let's talk a little bit about that. The fire, the police, you know, what's going on. I don't know who's got a contract, who doesn't anymore. But there's a lot going on with them. You know, Michael, you mentioned it earlier, so we'll go to you first. I mean, you know, the fire department, I guess they, you know, they need a new building. They deserve a new building. What do you think?
[Michael Marks]: Well, when I was a member of the council, myself, Bob Penter and the rest of the councilors, we did a tour of all the fire stations. Right. I would venture to say that there's not one council except for George Scarpelli that's been in all our fire stations now. And really, many of them were in deplorable condition. They're 90, 100 years old, some of the buildings. And, you know, many of them lack just the basic amenities, like the showers and the bathrooms. And these are places where we're telling a brave man and woman that spent 24 hours a day, you know, back to back days. you know, when you go in the kitchen, you know, is very close to the apparatus, which, you know, leads to a lot of different concerns, health concerns, fire safety equipment that they use, their coats and so forth, need the proper cleaning after a fire for the soot and everything else because of the carcinogens and so forth. So there's a lot of issues that really need to be addressed. And when it comes time You know, I've always supported our brave men and women in the fire and the police, and they're out there. When you need someone, they're there. When you have a concern, the fire department's there. When you have a concern, the police department's there. Our DPW, I mean, you could go through the list. You know, our teachers. We have a lot of good municipal employees, but unfortunately, I think, you know, A lot of their concerns are not heard. And even when it comes to properly paying them, I think there's a lot that can be done to, sometimes you can't show it monetarily, but you show it in other ways that you're appreciative of what they do for our community. And part of it is giving them a facility which they can be proud of. Equipment, cars, trucks, everything they can be proud of. So that's where I stand. I've always been a big advocate. Those are difficult jobs. In this day and age, they're even more difficult.
[John Petrella]: It's a tough thing. It's a much more complicated job, too. Bob, anything you want to add?
[Robert Penta]: You also have your first responders in there, you know, and yeah, they do the first respond, they do just not a lot because he basically hit it. Firstly, me if I were back in City Hall, my concern would be the contracts. There's no reason to have contracts go over and beyond their due dates of when they should be renewed by. You negotiate a contract for four years, whatever it is, once it's done, you should just go right into it, not wait until maybe six months before. And then when you go to these contracts and you go to these meetings and you hear both the fire and the police say, someone doesn't show up and that just pushes it back and pushes it back and for whatever it might be. I think there needs to be a new direction that's looked at personally with the council and the fire and the police and anything that does with public safety. Because that's the mainstay. If you don't have a safe city, what do you have? You have nothing. You can say anything you want. DPW, do they have enough people? Who knows? It seems like they have enough equipment. But if you look at the issues, the guys who turn around and say that they're being told to go here, there, and everywhere. You know something, John, I'm just going to go back. Sometimes I repeat myself and I apologize, but I don't apologize because I don't like to repeat myself. I don't like to say the same thing over and over. And if this administration, and I don't know how they're running it, would take more of an active position with the council and start to share what the needs are and what the concerns are and what the finances might be or has to be or what it should be. And yes, that's one of the things they do address in the new charter. That's OK. I'm glad they put it in there. It's not going to get corrected unless there's a meeting of the minds. Why should we, sometimes when you are there, have somebody come in and they start talking about, you know, their concerns for the city, you know, and they'll turn around and say, well, we don't want to say anything in this and that. But it bothers them, you know, and that's just it. It's the whole idea of having communication and common sense. If we can afford it, we can afford it. The best example, am I going to spend almost $300 million for high school? Or am I going to look at these streets and these sidewalks and the public safety that's really needed? And the concern of the public safety of the elementary schools that are there right now. It's a shame that they're spending millions of dollars. Rick Caraviello, when he first ran, I'll never forget in his first term, And he made the comment that the schools, and that's when he got elected some 12 years ago, the schools were at a million dollar a year repair rate. And now it's even more than that. That absolutely should have never, never happened in a million years. That's management. That's poor management.
[John Petrella]: I just look back, I mean, you know, to the days when, you know, everybody, seem to get along. You know, I can remember you guys in meetings, you guys, back in the day, councils, they'd have their arguments, you'd go back and forth. But, you know, the difference is when I watched the council years ago, when you saw things happening, and working with all these different departments, it was all for Medford, like you were fighting for Medford. And that always impressed me. And I got to be honest, I don't see that anymore. It's just, it seems like everything's fragmented. You know, there's a divide in the city. I don't know what the reasons are. But there's just a lot of division. And it's sad. It just, you know, It makes me disappointed sometimes that, you know, we talked about a lot tonight and, you know, there's a lot of good that's still going on in this city, but we definitely need some change. We need some good people.
[Robert Penta]: Do you know something, John? You say there's a lot of good in the city and there is. There's much more good. There are many more good people than there are But the unfortunate part is when you serve in politics, what you basically see most of the time is what needs to be corrected. It would be great to go to a council meeting and just every, oh, wasn't this great? Mary's kid got a scholarship. It would be great to do that, but it's not happening. And that would be abdicating your responsibility because you're supposed to be looking out for the city as a whole, okay? And I don't care whether you're a ward council or a council at large, no matter what you vote for, it's going to affect the city as a whole. And that's how I looked at it. That's how I looked at it, and I still look at it that way.
[John Petrella]: I know that, Bob. Like I said at the start of the show, you guys served this city well. You know, I can go on for, geez, I don't know, a couple more hours with you guys, but unfortunately... Go ahead.
[Michael Marks]: John, can I add one thing, John? Sure. Can I add just one quick thing? You know, I think we have to remember, we elect Congress people to go up and work on national issues for us. We elect our U.S. senator to go up and work on national issues. We represent our council to work on local issues. And as far as I'm concerned right now, this present council is more concerned about working on national issues and has forgotten about local issues. So in my opinion, on November 4th, If you're looking for a council that's going to reunite and take back and work on local issues and make that a number one priority, you have to look at Melanie Tringali, Nate Merritt, Nick Giurullo, George Scapelli, Rick Caraviello, Patrick Clerkin, Paul Donato Jr. Those are the people that are going to protect our neighborhoods and put Method first and work on local issues. And just my last point, John, I really want to thank you and your team for providing one of the only local access programs. I know you work with Bruce Patterson, who's been awesome to work with, Paul Garrity, yourself, Marco Cronali. What you guys are doing, really, I can't thank you enough. We don't have a local paper. We have no other way. We have a council that doesn't work for the people. Your show is doing yeoman's work and just getting out. Like you said, this is a show for the city, for the people. There's nothing more to it. And you welcome everyone on it. If they don't take advantage, that's their problem. You welcome everyone on your show. And I want to thank you.
[John Petrella]: I want to thank you, Michael, because we really do appreciate it. And I do want to repeat what you just said. We have invited everybody on this show. you know, Councilor, everyone that has anything to do with Medford, you know, all the politicians, whatever. And, you know, some people came on and we welcomed everybody and that's it. That's all I can say. So, but I appreciate.
[Robert Penta]: John, you know what y'all like? Y'all like Medford's Joe Rogan, okay? You are his podcast, okay? Because that you are, your group of folks are the only ones that have done anything, okay? You know, listen, you know, Michael forgot one thing. He mentioned the six people you know, the six people, the names there that are running. They seem to forget that the people that they're running against have thousands of dollars. They have thousands of dollars coming in from all over the place. That's why the people of Medford, if you're really serious about wanting to save your city and elect people that are independent, okay, you've got to get out and vote and vote for these seven people, you know. The shame to the whole thing is These folks, they don't own businesses. They have no idea what it means to pay a more, I mean, not a more, I mean, to pay the rent, to pay taxes, to pay insurance. It just doesn't make any sense. But I'm going to go back to what I originally said. It's this. When somebody comes to the podium and they're mistreated rudely, OK? And as Michael earlier said, sometimes they're even condescended. And I, being a former member of this board for many, many years, And at times, not only were they disrespected, wasn't even allowed to speak, okay? That's what's wrong. That's what's wrong. That's why they should all go.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, and that's happened to quite a few people, including myself. But, you know, listen, thank you guys.
[Michael Marks]: Go on the Charter Review Committee. The Charter Review Committee, comprised of residents of this community, spent two years of their life working to put together the charter. Whether you like it or not, it's different. Two years. They finally got all their recommendations. They went up to the council, and the president of the council told the two chairmen, when they were going to go up there and speak after countless meetings, two years worth of work, you have two minutes to sum up what you did in two years. That's a disgrace.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, it was. And I was there for that meeting, yeah. I, you know, yeah.
[Robert Penta]: And John, the bigger part of that, the bigger part of that disgrace, what Michael was talking about, how they made a last minute deal that nobody even knows what the deal was, which changed the vote. Right.
[John Petrella]: I know. Hey, listen, we got to... What, are you going to go? Yeah, we got to call it a night, Bob. Like I said, we're going to have to have you guys come back on to finish this. Yeah, we, you know, we sort of have time restraints, you know, but, uh... Time restraints?
[Robert Penta]: Well, you're not even in the studio. Where are you?
[John Petrella]: I know, but I still have time restraints. We still have to edit the show.
[Robert Penta]: There's still things we have to do, so... I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but I'm a firm believer in that studio issue. We spent many hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars for that studio not to be open at nighttime and do things like this. That's what it's all about. Right. Yeah, it's not a nine-to-five job.
[John Petrella]: Yeah, it isn't but uh, you know, well that'll be taken up another time. Uh, thank you, Bob Penta. Um, thank you Michael Marks. We really really appreciate having you on the the show. It was it was actually it was great talking to you guys. So uh with that Thank you both. Thank you for the way you serve the city for all those years.
[Robert Penta]: Well, let me ask you, the next time I come on, will I get a blue background?
[John Petrella]: We'll make sure you get a background. We'll come to the house and bring you one, Bob. Thank you guys. Have a great night. Thanks, John. Okay. Okay. I just want to, once again, thank Bob. Bob Penter and Michael Marks, thank you guys for joining us on the show. I also just got a couple of announcements we've been asked to make. And one of them is we want to let the audience know that if you need a ride to your polling place in order to vote, you can call this number, 781-858-0222. 4-0 and you will get a ride to vote. Once again, if you need a ride to the polls in order to vote, that number is 781-858-0240 and they will actually take you to the polling place. And I just want to add this to everyone You know, I hear people say they're not into politics. All I'm going to ask is it is time to educate yourself. The future of Medford, it depends on it. So I just hope you get out and vote. And I'm just going to end with it's your civic duty to vote. So please, your vote matters, your vote counts. And that's the two messages I want to get out there. And I just want to take a minute to thank everyone who has been watching our show. And thank you for your feedback. And I can honestly say it's been 90% positive. So it's a good thing. A couple of negatives, but that's part of it. So we'll take the negative, too. If you would like to share a comment, if you're opening a new business, you have a business now, you represent an organization, you have an upcoming event. If you'd like to appear on a future show, you can contact us at MethodHappenings02155 at gmail.com. Once again, Method Happenings, 02155 at gmail.com. We got a lot of great shows coming up. I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but we do. We got some really good shows coming up. So look for those. You will be able to see replays of this show on Method Community Media. Usually it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 6 or 7pm. And you can also go to A fantastic website. Even though it's ours, I can brag all I want. It's a great website. Everything you could possibly want to know about Method, what's going on, Bruce Patterson takes care of that website. He does an incredible job. It's well worth a look. And you can go to the website, which is methodhappenings.com. I guarantee you're going to like it. So take a look at it. You can also find us on YouTube, Method Happenings on YouTube. Just go there and we'll pop up. And for the Method Happenings team, Paul, Marco, Bruce, James, and Margaret, I'm John Petrella, and I say it again, get out and vote. Your vote matters. And please, the most important thing we ask, stay informed. Thank you, everyone.
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