AI-generated transcript of Medford Happenings Episode 35 Breanna Lungo Koehn

[John Petrella]: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Medford Happenings, a show for and about the city of Medford, and I am John Petrella. And the purpose of this program is to give Medford citizens facts and information to help you make informed choices. And today, I want to give a really warm welcome to Brianna Lungo Curran, mayor of the city of Medford, Can't thank you enough for coming. I know you're busy, so thank you so much. Absolutely. Happy to be here. OK. We're going to get right into it, Brianna, right into questions. So most people know you as a city councilor. They know you as the mayor of Medford. But could you share a little bit more about yourself with our listeners? Like, who is Breanna Lungo-Koehn?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you, John. Thanks for having me. I think I'll start with just saying I don't pretend to be somebody that I'm not. I don't fight for things or do work because I feel like I have to. I think what you see is what you get with me, and I really do believe in all the work we do. I've been able to grow, whether that was a city councilor or now as mayor. I am very thankful to the residents of Medford for giving me this opportunity since I was 21. to grow in this role and really figure out who I was. On top of being a mother of three, all of my kids have went through the Medford Public Schools. My daughters are now in high school, but they went to the Roberts and the McGlynn schools. My son's in sixth grade at the McGlynn Middle School. And I also love to coach. I started with girls basketball when my daughters were young. I loved coaching. I did it for about four or five years, and now I still am involved with Girls on the Run. created my own boys program last year and the year before that did boys on the right track for for my son yep yep that's third through fifth graders so we still do girls on the run um starting up at the end of this month actually and i'll be a sub for for that organization love it um so i love to coach i run myself um i love to run races the last one i did was a half marathon and Cambridge in November. It was cold. So I think I'll find one over the summer that I like. I'm a pet lover. I had my first dog gifted to us, my children and I, from my husband. I say it's the best present he's ever given us. So Harley's my best friend and I'm following that punch story every second that I can. I adore that little monkey, so that's what everybody's talking about and I almost couldn't believe it when I saw it on the world news a bunch of nights ago. And I'm a hockey mom, I really enjoyed hockey and lacrosse and watching my kids play sports. But I just want to try to be a humble person and a caring person and thoughtful in everything I do. Not perfect by any means. Right. Nobody is. No, nobody's perfect. And I totally admit that I'm not one of those people, but I try to make the best decisions I can, most of which I can never make everybody happy. And I try to, but of course you never always can. And sometimes I even second guess, did I make the right choice? But when you're mayor, you're making hundreds of choices and decisions a week and responding to hundreds of thousands of emails. So I do the best I can. And I just try to stay true to who I am. Live I always make the decisions. I always say I make decisions based on what will make me sleep at night So I feel like I'm extremely ethical and believe in accountability and having good morals good for you.

[John Petrella]: That's what it's all about Yes, it really is and you're a very busy person. That's for sure. It keeps me out of trouble. Yes Yeah, there you go. But thank you for all that. I appreciate that. That was a great answer Okay, you know you've been leading this city and through a lot of changes. You had COVID, charter, revision, and there are a lot of things that you've accomplished as mayor. You know, can you let us know a few things you feel really proud of? I know, you know, it's been tough. There's been a lot of things that have gone on in Method. So what are some things you really feel good about?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Sure, sure. Well, first of all, I'm very proud to be the 36th person to be on your show.

[John Petrella]: Thank you. We love the plug. Yes, I'm very happy.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: That's a big accomplishment for me. I think I would frame the question as what we've accomplished. The city residents, volunteers, and the team at City Hall and beyond. So I think the first biggest accomplishment was setting, changing the way we hire in the city of Medford and really hiring candidates that are have all the qualifications that we need to move this city forward. And so building that team took several years, and I truly feel it's one of the strongest teams we have had. So with that, I think there's a lot that we've all accomplished. We have created a parks team, and over the last five to six years, we have done projects in almost every single one of our parks and playgrounds and open spaces. We've spent, we've been able to get a number of grants, millions of dollars in grants to redo. play structures and open paths. The Clippership Connector was a huge accomplishment. Carr Park is fully opening the end of the year, but we've done basketball courts over and tennis courts over and tree projects throughout our parks and throughout our community. So setting goals like let's plant 200 trees this year and we put it on the team and we seem to get it done. So parks is a big thing. I think housing, and trying to help with the affordable housing crisis, while still listening to our residents and understanding that all residents have the right to be heard. I think we are working on zoning. I'm happy that I helped slow it down so that everybody has a seat at the table. Nobody is flat out rushed, and it can be at a pace where residents can follow and be part of the process. City staff, the CD board, the city council, So housing, we have about 1,600 units in the pipeline, and that's just six or so large-scale developments that I think we've done a great job negotiating benefits for our neighborhoods that go along with those developments. That is probably a big accomplishment, and we've doubled the size of our planning department to be able to do that. And we're strategic with funding. We have a number of different funding sources, not just taxes that we work with, and create roles for people in city halls to get things done. Economic development, we're working on it through the zoning and bringing in establishments like the Great American Beer Hall, or Locolito, and Tacuba, and Mrs. Murphy's, while supporting restaurants that have been in business for quite some time. So trying to get people to shop local and social media. We do our best with Facebook and trying to get people involved. I pride of the work we did with really moving the needle forward with making Medford be welcoming to all. And our Office of Prevention and Outreach, I know you interviewed Jason Stone. He's our mental health clinician. and social worker, he's our social worker actually, I should say. Him and Chris Suma, who's our recovery coach, they're helping people every day. We also have, through the MVP program, we have connectors and liaisons who all speak a second language, and they're out there in our community getting people the supports and help they need, building trust so that if there is a climate crisis, people know they can lean on the city and that we're here for everybody to make sure everybody's safe. The high school, we're making progress on the new high school. I know we'll talk about that later, but that's... You know we're going to talk about it. Yes, we're definitely going to talk about the high school. We've also spent millions in updates to our fire stations. I'm sure there's millions more to go, but we've spent millions on windows, on roofs, and the list goes on. Kitchens, we've rehabbed kitchens, so my chief of staff is really taken the lead on that with our facilities director and the team at the fire station. Building a sense of accountability in this city, too, is a big accomplishment for me. It didn't come easy. There was no human resources in Medford when I first started, so to have a very strong human resource director that is helping to show that we support our employees, but we also need you to come to work, and do your job, and work hard. And if not, we're gonna hold you accountable, and we want you to improve once we do. So, those are just some of the accomplishments that we've all accomplished together.

[John Petrella]: We're gonna get into some of that. Something I, well, my career is, when I, my career, when I used to work, there was always something keeps you up at night. As a mayor, what challenges do you see facing the city right now? What keeps you up at night as a mayor?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Usually there's a good two to three nights that my eyes are wide open at like 2 or 3 a.m. and then there's nothing that can get me back to sleep. So it's probably what happened during the day, but overall it's affordability for our residents from the transportation to the housing to the food insecurity. making sure our residents have what they need. We do have 42% low income in Medford and I worry about that. I want people to be happy and live the life they deserve to live and when people are worried about bills or the next grocery bill or their heating bill, that's something that causes me a little lack of sleep. Some of the litigation that's going on in the city and how that's transpiring. That sometimes too keeps me up, but it's obviously nothing more than any other mayor is dealing with. Some of it bothers me because it is political, which is unfortunate. So that's another thing. And maybe just personnel matters. When you have to, holding somebody accountable, like I said, that I think builds a better department and person and city is not easy. It's not easy at all.

[John Petrella]: It's a difficult thing. It can be very difficult.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yes. So I try to drive home every night and focus on all the amazing things that we're doing, all the amazing people that work for the city or that volunteer for the city. And I truly do, I name people in my head as I drive home from work. Because my day is, hey mayor, so and so did this. Hey mayor, we gotta do an investigation on this. This person files, it's always a hard day. It can be a hard day. So those are some of the things that keep me up at night. Some of the many, yep.

[John Petrella]: And those are all good reasons, by the way. So, you know, a common concern I hear, and this is people that, you know, a lot of them don't feel that they always know about important decisions or they find out about them after they've already been, you know, made. And I know it's tough to communicate. What would you tell residents? You know, that want to be more plugged in. You know, what's the best way to really stay on top of what's happening, or is there a good way?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Sure, sure. You know, we have a great comms director, and we have a communications specialist, and they're both full-time working hard to get communication out. The first thing I probably would say is that you need to, some people just go online and are on Facebook or social media saying, we didn't know about this, we didn't know about this, we didn't know about this, but take even five minutes to sign up for our newsletter. We put out a newsletter monthly. Or sign up for our robocall system. It can be a phone call, it can be, you get text messages, or emails. All of the above. I get all of the above, so I know they all went out. And those are important communication. It's an important communication tool that goes out to thousands, tells you about events, tells you about important meetings, reminds you to check the website. We're trying to remind people of the communication pieces. Then we also have two social media pages. We have the City of Medford social media page that we're pushing out information daily. as well as my mayor page on social media. So those are some of the ways they can actually sign up and or like a Facebook page and get to the second communications. We also are starting this, because I do hear it a lot too, some people say I didn't know about that meeting and we will talk in my office, we robocalled it out twice. It's on the school and the city website calendar. So checking the calendars, too, is very important. Everything is on that monthly calendar, and you'll know, oh, in two weeks, there's a zoning meeting. There's a building committee meeting for the new school. Let me get involved. We also try to do surveys because we know people are very busy. They sometimes don't even have time, never mind to watch a meeting, but to read an email. So doing a survey on your own time, we do try to get input through that avenue. We also are creating a neighborhood liaison committee that will meet with either myself, my comms director, comms specialist, or community relations director monthly. And we're hoping that they can work outside of those meetings and create a sense of neighborhood. I think of sometimes the Jim Silva, Jim Silva's of the world, who started the committee Smarto. And now he still sends out emails or forwards important city messages. So I see this kind of blossoming into very creative ideas of ways to not only get communication out, but also get communication back. What are you hearing? What are you seeing? Who needs help? Oh, you know somebody that needs to sign up for MassHealth? OK, we have somebody for that. Or you know somebody that's struggling with alcoholism? We have somebody for that. Because we do. We offer so much. And it is hard to get every little bit out, but we try. And I think the second part of that answer is that sometimes I can't give my side to the story, or I don't bring the public in when I'm negotiating a contract.

[John Petrella]: That's understandable.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, of course. There's times when, and it will just be all over the internet, and I'm like, Really wish I could comment on that, but I I can't I'm the one that has to say no it would be unprofessional or violate XY and Z confidentiality rules, but I Feel like for the most part. I'm trusted I do do everything I think of the dollar I think of what will be best for each and every resident in the city Just like the Cataldo and Armstrong contract. Yeah, I I We didn't want to bash anybody, but it just was not working with Armstrong and we had this amazing, you know, worked really hard to negotiate a new contract and finally I think we all realized we had to make the switch, and I'm very happy with the decision. It's going great. They are more responsive than I could ever wish for. They communicate amazingly, and response time's down.

[John Petrella]: Right, yeah. No, no, I think it's all due. Came in I like I said, they're doing a great job. So yeah.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, so I hope people just understand sometimes I can't say every can't tell everything and Just give me the benefit of doubt. No, there's two sides to the story or you know No, there is a third side and that's somewhere in the middle I I don't have that platform on Tuesday night to sit and write and talk or I don't want to sit and bash the council I that's I gotta be I can't I don't play that role and nor do I want to every Tuesday. I

[John Petrella]: We hear you loud and clear. Thank you. All right. No, great answer. It really was. I like that answer. Another major conversation in Method, you touched on it earlier, Brianna, zoning, housing. There's clearly a need to build more units. We want to attract new residents. You want to keep housing affordable. But new developments also can alter the look and feel of neighborhoods. And, you know, how do you ensure that any changes to the city's zoning are thoroughly understood by the people living here? And it's a tough thing, I understand.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, I think I didn't never got my side of the story out with the whole zoning other than people that maybe have emailed me and I emailed them back. But I think what I had done in the spring proved that I am all about making sure we are transparent and taking our time and doing it right. I Wasn't involved. I was you know, it was a busy time with budget and a whole host of things right and zoning is under the council and I didn't feel like I wasn't invited to those meetings initially, and therefore our communications team wasn't invited to those meetings either. It wasn't until, and I thought everything was going smoothly until Salem Street kind of hit the fan, and then that's when I started, I need more information, I need to know what's going on, why is everybody so upset, because I feel like one of my major roles is to keep people calm and in touch with the communications piece. Why are people upset? What is going on? There's a petition of over 700 people. I know that's going on at the same time another quarter is going on. I feel like this is too fast. you know, too fast, and then some of our employees were getting attacked on social media. So that's the point where I said, I need to get involved here. Or I need to better understand. And I listened, and I assumed what I was hearing was accurate. And then it wasn't until we really got to the residential where I said, oh my gosh, nobody, like I saw the, the maps and somebody, people had called me, I'm like, do you know what these mean? I'm like, I'm trying to read them the best I can, but it's all coming so fast at us. And once I realized it, I said, oh yeah, no, we cannot do this in a vacuum with only one group of people realizing what's going on and nobody else having any idea. We need to slow this, we just need to slow this down. Right, that's all. Yep, people, we were getting hundreds of emails, When the residential piece came out and you know, everybody wants to see the city rezoned, but I was a big part of the reason that we are slowing it down and taking one piece at a time. So right now we're working on Medford Square. We seem to be in a groove, not only with the transom potential overlay, but the whole Medford Square rezoning, the CD boards meeting with the council. We're having bi-weekly meetings, myself, my chief of staff is now invited, my communications director, our communications director is now invited, and we are taking our time. We have to do it right. So I truly feel everybody needs to be heard and there needs to be a balance. It needs to be done thoughtfully and the zoning consultants need to answer to the council, of course, because they're the ones that are going to vote on it and the C. D. Board. But they also need to make sure that I have the information. Um, my chief of staff has the information and the city's common director has the information so that we can push everything out the way it should be pushed out. And everybody's in the know and can take part. So we're looking at Medford Square now. Then we're gonna look at Boston Ave and Tufts. Everything seems to be going pretty well, and the pace seems to be manageable, and any time, like the CD board might mention, this is going too fast, I back them up. I say, well, if this is going too fast for you, then I will adjust what I agree to in that press release, and let's be thoughtful.

[John Petrella]: Let's do this right. Right, and that's the key. I think everyone wants new zoning for Medford. I do, but I think it's the way it gets done, and yeah, that's all.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yep, it can't be done in a vacuum. And it was, you're right, it was moving so fast. It was so fast and very complex. It is very complex to understand. So when we're not even being told the information and we're like seeing maps on our own from residents giving them to us, there was issues. And there was even issues like internally that we handled. But hopefully it's a clean slate and we'll move forward and we'll get it done and get it done right. We've proven we know there's a housing crisis and we want to help. We have 1,600 units in queue and I talk to developers every day. But we also need to show that we care about businesses, we care about people's neighborhoods and listen to them. You can't rezone our commercial district and take away all parking. Our businesses need patrons, and patrons, it would be wonderful in an ideal world for everybody to take the train and the bus and ride their bikes. Believe me, that would be amazing. But people want to drive their car. Some people need to drive a car, and you need to have the proper parking. So there just needs to be that balance of, oh, yes, we want that complex, but it maybe shouldn't be 25 units. Could you make it 15? Because you need one spot per unit. And that's far below what our minimums are. So I agree with reducing the minimums, but having no parking, that's going to cause people to park where? several restaurants have their patrons parking.

[John Petrella]: There's already enough with the parking.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: So just balancing it out, listening to all.

[John Petrella]: That's good to hear, really is. Thank you. Alright, you brought this up earlier and I got to bring it up again. You know, let's talk a little about, you know, we all know a major infrastructure project in the city is the high school can you walk us through you know I guess why Method needs it now and what happens Breonna if the city doesn't move forward now. And you know I just want to say one thing and then I never, I'm just a host but I think like everyone in Method wants a new high school. I think it's how we get there and that's all I'll say and I'm you know looking forward to hearing from you because no it's a lot.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: It really is. I'll tell you where I'm at now. Because again, it's about balance. I think the majority of people, you're right, want a new high school. And so I say to both sides, I say to those that don't want it, please be open-minded, please consider voting yes on a debt exclusion. Medford High School, other than maybe a few areas, is in shambles. I mean the heat, the electricity, the systems are, Everything seems to be falling apart. Our kids are wearing jackets in the winter. Roofing, it's an old structure. It needs to be, and we've worked several years now through this MSBA process. So I ask people that I know to really get involved or at least educate yourself and think about it. And then I asked the people that want the best in the nation. I asked them to really think through what that would do to those that can't afford it. The fact that we have 42% in this community that are low income, but also the risk that puts on a passing debt exclusion vote. Right. So that's where I am now. I I've always supported a new high school from the get go. I'm on the committee. We meet at least monthly. I am in meetings internally during the weeks. Right. I don't nobody wants a new high school more than I do. And I but at the same time those are the two I'm in the middle of trying to, yeah, high schools are only getting more expensive, but the state MSBA process does have minimums. And if you build to the minimums, which nobody wants to build to the minimums. I want the biggest and the best, but I want the debt exclusion to pass, and I want it to be reasonable. So we submitted projects to the MSBA for their feedback that were above minimums, and MSBA is going to give us their input in about three to four weeks, and then we're going to have to adjust. I just want us to get to a place where we have a number that we think will pass the debt exclusion. and that I, as mayor, feel comfortable knocking on doors or doing videos and campaigning for a new high school, that I can say, I believe in this and this is why. Our kids deserve new classrooms. Our kids deserve new athletic facilities. Our kids deserve a new theater. But it just becomes this, you know, a balance. And it's one thing that actually keeps me up at night because I don't want to do anything to jeopardize the project, but I do, I have been speaking up a little bit saying this is getting a little pricey for, we need to really think through what we have as a final project.

[John Petrella]: Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that's what people want to, want to see, you know, some kind of a balance, that's all.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Well, you've got people that don't want to vote for it, and then you've got people that want to, but then it's the rest.

[John Petrella]: But there's got to be, there's got to be a balance in the middle to get people together and, you know, I think there is anyhow. Yes. You know. I hope so.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I think we'll, I think we'll get there. There is a process. We're following the process. behind the scenes, making sure we're transparent. It's a 2000 page document that was submitted. Everything's in there. But once we get the information back from the MSBA, there's going to be a lot more public knowledge on all costs and what you know, what we're looking at and what we need to do to make sure we get that that Yes vote in May of 2027.

[John Petrella]: Sounds good. Sounds good. All right. So now we've reached the last question that we have for you tonight. So let's say it's, oh, I don't know, 2050. And Metfed made all the right choices, followed through on the comprehensive plan, invested wisely. We've had, you know, balanced growth thoughtfully. You know, what does that vision of Metfed It's a tough question. What does that vision look like to you? What is it that you want to see? If everything is done right, you know?

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: I'll start with what we've been working on, another project we've been working on for several years. Myself specifically, but also decades, the city has done plans for Medford Square and redeveloping our three lots. So in 15 to 20 years, I would love to see development like the transom development that's going to come to our three vacant lots, where there's going to be a grocery store facing our senior center and the senior towers, the housing. where we have, gosh, I think 400 to 500 residents living, commercial space on the bottom floor, housing on the top floors, including 20% affordable housing. So that would probably be something I'm most excited to see, other than the high school. But I think overall, having a city and a state that has met the challenge of the affordability crisis and reasonably developed our Mystic Ave corridor and the rest of our corridors to a place where everything is vibrant from a housing standpoint but also an economic development standpoint. I see our police and fire and DPW and city services departments Growing in size to be able to accommodate and the additional housing I see a new high school for our students A new athletic fields for our students. I see people that know they're welcome here in Medford continue continue to know that they're very welcome here in Medford and it's a place that is helping people and You know, I see a positive wonderful City that is thriving on many many levels Vibrant vibrant. Yes, and we are working on it and yeah, yep and I say we because there's just so many people who maybe don't agree on every single thing, but Working to make the city as best as we can and it takes time.

[John Petrella]: Yeah, i'm sure a lot of time.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yeah, it takes a lot of work A lot of work and hopefully we'll get there. We will I think we will we are we are making we are making steady steps And know you're positive.

[John Petrella]: That's thank you.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Thank you. Yeah, I try to be as positive as possible.

[John Petrella]: Um, it's that time again, um You know, I really do I want to thank you You know for joining us on method happenings What you shared today was it was great. It was nice to have you And we wish you continued success. We really do. Thank you. You know, we want it we want Whatever's best for Medford. That's all.

[Breanna Lungo-Koehn]: Yep.

[John Petrella]: We all do so Thank you very much Brianna. I appreciate you taking the time and joining us and I also want to take a minute to thank everyone who has been watching the show, and thank you for your feedback. If you would like to appear on the show, you can contact us at methodhappenings02155 at gmail.com. You will be able to see replays of this show on Medford Community Media Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. And also you need to check out our really great website MedfordHappenings.com and you can also find us on YouTube and on Facebook at Method Happenings. For the Method Happenings team, Margaret, Bruce, Marco, James, and Paul, I am John Petrella, and remember Method, stay informed. Thank you. Ta-da!