[Nicholas Karinge]: All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the June meeting for the co-commission with persons with disabilities. My name is Nicholas Kaikari-Karinge. I am the disability specialist in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Ms. Frances Nwaje is not here, so I am here. And I'd like to hand it over to Joe.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Hi, I'm Joe, lifelong resident of MedFed. I got a few small disabilities, and I have a son with major disabilities. Glad to be here.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Thank you, Joe. Did you want to pass it on to somebody?
[Andreottola]: Yeah, Anthony. Hi, Joe. Thanks, Anthony. I'm a commissioner. I'm a blind community member and glad to be here.
[Nicholas Karinge]: And OK, John.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Hi there. I'm John Shabe. I'm a disabled union organizer and retired now. I'm an amputee and a resident of Medford. So Kate.
[Kate Ryan]: Kate Ryan, she, hers. I'm a various disabilities of varying intensity, passing it on to Susan.
[Susan Bibbins]: Hi, I'm Susan Wolin-Bibbins. I am a commissioner, um, in Medford. Um, I have been a resident of South Medford. Um, and I've been a commissioner for a very long while, and I identify as I'm disabled and my pronouns are she, her, hers.
[Nicholas Karinge]: And we have a guest on with us tonight. Todd, would you like to just give a brief introduction? I'll let you share more when we get to your question.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, sure. Todd Blake, Director of Traffic and Transportation for the City of Medford. Hi, nice to see all of you again. Yeah, I'm here to give some updates on some various things we're working on to help improve accessibility throughout the city. Thanks. Thanks for having me.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Hi Todd, welcome to the meeting.
[Kate Ryan]: Pete, what you said more clearly please, I couldn't understand you.
[Todd Blake]: Sorry, I will do. So my name is Todd Blake with the City of Medford, Director of Traffic and Transportation. And I'm here, it's nice to see all of you again. I'm here to give some updates on some projects or initiatives that we have to improve accessibility throughout the city.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Awesome. Thank you so much, Todd. It is wonderful to have you with us. Okay, so I would, for our first order of business, obviously we need a motion to approve the minutes from May. I hope you guys have all seen them. And so if we can have someone move to approve them, if not, yeah.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Motion to approve. Second.
[Nicholas Karinge]: All right. So that was, we'll say that was moved by Sue Susan, seconded by John. And I guess there is no one who is not in favor, so it moves. Great. Thank you guys so, so, so, so, so, so, so much. Now, we do have an order of business regarding the disability fair. It was proposed. Obviously, this would be for the distant future because we just had it just a few weeks or months ago. Lord have mercy. I can't even tell where time has gone. But if anyone So it was suggested by, I believe, Commissioner Casey that we could move the timing of the fair.
Instead of starting at 11 a.m. and going till 2 p.m., it was discussed Or it would propose that we could move it from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Does anyone have anything to say on that? Yes, Susan.
[Susan Bibbins]: I just wanted to know what was the reasoning.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I... I don't want to bring up their name. It was noticed at the end of the fair that we noticed some people walking in either late or almost at the end of it. And, you know, usually when people have children or they're escorting somebody, you know, you either got to get them dressed or, you know, prepare them and, You know, it's only I'm not trying to change it. I'm just just a short discussion. Did anybody else notice some people coming in late? That's all. Yeah, I didn't. Yeah. You know what, maybe just next year, we'll just you know, have our eyes open and just see if people come in late. I mean, you're always going to have late people or early people, but it's just an awareness. That's all.
I'm not trying to change it, but I just want to see if anybody noticed that. That's all.
[Susan Bibbins]: I mean, I don't think that's a bad thing to do necessarily. Um, to have it run from 12 to three instead of 11 to two. The reasoning is because you get the late risers and the early risers. I just wanted to see what the reasoning was.
[Kate Ryan]: Personally, I prefer, I think that we're going to have people running late no matter what time we ended at. And as a person who doesn't have the energy, I think that going till three is really late for me when I've gotten up at a regular time. And At 2 o'clock, I am cooked, beyond cooked, and I support the earlier time. In fact, I would even say like 10 to 1.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Well, I'm fine with the current time, 11 till 2 or whatever it is.
[Susan Bibbins]: I could go either way. But then again, I'm cooked in the afternoon anyway, but that's just me So I think we should definitely revisited when we're planning for next year Maybe have for us in the commission maybe have two shifts. The morning and the afternoon. Those people of us who can make it, who are more energetic in the morning and then when they're spoons run out, they leave when they need to, and others come in.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Anthony, do you have anything you'd like to say?
[Andreottola]: You're asking me Nick?
[Nicholas Karinge]: Yeah, you.
[Andreottola]: I think I mentioned it last week. I'm on a whole different page. I'd like to see the whole thing move to the fall instead of the spring. But I'll go along with whatever the group decides. But I think that, like I said the last meeting, I think that we'd have more attendance and say September or October, then we've gone a couple of rainy May, early days in May. But if you get a good day in May, people want to be, there's so many things going on in the month of May, graduations, events for kids and stuff.
moving on ceremonies. I feel that we might serve the community better at a different time. But like I said, I know people felt strongly last week about me. But I think the time of day is really up to what people's being with our for kind of doing the work and set up and stuff, and what the vendors are available. So I think maybe asking some of the vendors what time they like to be, they can get out and get their volunteers in place might be important too.
[Susan Bibbins]: That's a good idea.
[Nicholas Karinge]: I will definitely relay that back about my contacting vendors. I think, Susan, you were onto something in saying that we can kind of cross that bridge when we get there, type of thing. But personally, I feel like I'm I'm good either way. Of course, myself, I am not a morning person, unlike some people. So I would not mind it starting a bit later.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: So if we do it in the fall, though, our first next meeting is September. Would we have time to organize an event for October?
[Andreottola]: It wouldn't be until the following... What? We already did it for this year.
[Nicholas Karinge]: It would be next year.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Yeah, it would be next year. We don't have time to organize a whole thing like this. This one was in May and we started in January, so... Sorry about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. But all in all, I feel like we've kind of said, okay, we can stay with what we have right now and then kind of talk about it more when we start back up in September or maybe in November or something. Does anyone have anything to say to that, or can we stick with that idea for now?
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Yes, let's stick with that for now.
[Nicholas Karinge]: We all good?
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think so, yeah.
[Nicholas Karinge]: All right. Then moving on to our next order of business. This is the ODEI special. the whole D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D- But yeah, so the Institute for Human Centered Design, as I think I had mentioned with you guys last time, they were to come and start a survey of City Hall. And that did happen on June 1st. It was a Monday morning. And they came and they did their thing. I got to kind of walk around with them a little bit before I had to come back into the office. But very good people and very thorough.
They went through every room, every ramp, every door, everything in City Hall. And they sent back a very thorough review of our sister City Hall.
[Susan Bibbins]: Are we going to get to read it?
[Kate Ryan]: Yeah, can we read it? I can't wait.
[Nicholas Karinge]: I will get back to you on that, but I will make note of that and talk to Ms. Francis about that. I don't see why not, but I will get back to you guys on that. So suffice it to say, I got the document and I was just like, ooh, this is really thorough. But no, they have done some excellent work. And then we had a kickoff meeting with with the department heads here at, well, it was online last week. I believe some of you guys were there. So thank you to those of you who did come on.
It was a very, again, a very thorough meeting, they kind of laid out what they have in store and what they have done already. Also kind of who they are at IHPD and what they do. After that meeting, You guys all should have received from me yesterday a questionnaire in your email. We are asking that you please fill that out and send it back to either me or Miss Frances.
[Susan Bibbins]: I have a question about the survey. Could you send me another copy? I will do that. Because I seem to have lost it in my email.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Oh my.
[Susan Bibbins]: Um, I do that. Sometimes I lose things in my email.
[Nicholas Karinge]: It happens. It happens to the best of us. Don't even worry, worry, worry, worry, worry, worry, worry about it. I will send it to you right after this me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Thank you so much. You are most welcome.
[Kate Ryan]: Can I send you the... Can you the... Can I send you the responses in an email because it's easier than having to go and figure out text to speech in a PDF because text, no speech.
[Nicholas Karinge]: I think that should be each to text. I think, I think that that should be okay. Um, it, it, it, it, I believe it is a word documents a word. might be able to do some of that, but.
[Kate Ryan]: Yeah, but I don't have to get my computer out and I can just do it on mobile.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Sure, sure. I think that is okay. And then we can just copy and paste it for you. I don't think that should be a problem. On top of that, the IHCD also sent out a survey to the department heads to get their feedback and just to make sure that they are in that I know about just how accessible all of the facilities and programs and services are, et cetera. We also have sent in the final invoice to the MOD, so this is our thing, and we are getting to work on it.
With all good times. Regarding that, does anyone have anything that they want to say? Especially those that were in the meeting. Is there any feedback you guys would like to give or just questions or comments?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Nick, I got one question. Is that the same company that was developing the signs for Method Square?
[Nicholas Karinge]: Yes. OK, thank you. Yeah. So they they they they are the same company. They're different things, but they are connected and they are the same company.
[Susan Bibbins]: I I think it's all well and good that they're coming in and telling us what needs to happen. That's fantastic. They're a great company. I've worked with them and for them, but I, I'm a little suspect on that anything's going to change personally. because it's Medford.
[Kate Ryan]: Yeah, I haven't seen any buy-in from the city council or the mayor yet. I haven't seen any real support beyond like, oh yeah, you know, none of them.
[Susan Bibbins]: This is happening, wow.
[Kate Ryan]: Yeah, none of them have ever come to any of our meetings. Like one of, they'll swing by occasionally for a photo op, but. And a couple, especially if they're running, because you can't beat a photograph with a crip, you know?
[Susan Bibbins]: But... I just... It's all one good to have a transition plan, but it's all... It remains what it is.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Well... A plan. Well, that leads to my second point that I was just about to say. So let me respond first and just remind everyone that we did have Councilor Leming come and give his so, so, so, so, so, so, so support on the city ordinance for this commission. So there is some, so they are working with us as they can. Let's not say that they're not. But now that brings me to my second point. We have sent in another grant, another MOD grant application for next year.
And this, because let me also remind you guys, this grant that we got, that we are working with IHCD for right now, is a planning grant. So that's why it looks like, okay, they're just telling us what's wrong, telling us what needs to be fixed, because this was a planning grant. Now, next year, if we get this MOD grant, we have applied for a project grant, which means now we can work toward implementing the change that is indicated on the transition plan and on the self evaluation that will have been made from this grant that we have right now.
[Kate Ryan]: But I don't get it. So we have a planning grant and then we have an implementation grant. Are we only going to get changes for us because of grants? When do we get to be actually part of the city budget?
[Nicholas Karinge]: Let me also say- I don't think we have a budget.
[Andreottola]: I don't think that's part of our purview as a commission. The city operates in different departments and they have to apply for grants to pay for changes in the city. There's a shrinking amount of money and I think it's wonderful that The city is in the Department of Diversity and Inclusion. It is applying for these grants. So the city does have some resources to put these plans in practice. So I think it's something that we should look as a positive step forward, not a something to kind of that, uh, when, you know, uh, we have been invited to, you know, be part of this. And, uh, I think it's important for us to, you know, bring our experience in our, uh, in our backgrounds, uh, you know, into the process. So, uh, the city will make, you know, better choices, what, but what limited money they may get, you know, there, there isn't a lot of resource is to, uh, for accessibility. If you've been reading in the paper, the federal government is actually trying to find ways to decrease funding and resources for ADA modifications and community programming. We have to really be vocal and positive and kind of do what we can to get our fair share right now.
[Kate Ryan]: No. I disagree. I'm not grateful for my rights.
[Andreottola]: Well, that's on you.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Well, thank you so much. Commissioner and Andrea, because you have said it very well. We have to use words to get the work done and it's not just us, it's pretty much every department in the city has to look for money to do work that we need done inside of the safe city. So that is how work gets done around here. That is how we are going to get this work done so that we can have what we need to survive well as people with disabilities.
So we are hoping for that grant. And that is kind of where we are with IHCD. They will be continuing to go through various streets and sidewalks and buildings throughout Medford. And so you might see them running around your neighborhood with some lovely levels and some tape measures. And so, yeah, that's kind of where we are with that. Any other comments, questions on that?
[Andreottola]: Oh, Nick, I was wondering if we could move on. I know Todd is on and has been waiting to give us updates. I really don't want to keep him hanging on. I know it's stuff that may be relevant for our future work.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Well, thank you, B, because I was just about to. I just wanted to get that courtesy out of the way. But now, moving on, because Todd is here and he will tell us more, but I wanted to kind of give you guys another piece of good news that he will speak of more and that is that um we just got news literally just just just a couple of hours ago that we have been granted the the the the casino fund grant and so that will go towards um the and all that work, but Todd will be able to talk about that much better than I will. And so Mr. Todd Blake, the floor is yours. Welcome to the commission meeting.
[Todd Blake]: Thank you. And no issues. You know, you guys do what you do with the meeting. I could wait. It's fine. So I'll just chime into the latter part of the last one. In my experience, you know, it's a great question and support and thoughts that you all had about the money and the grants and things like that. Basically, Susan and everyone else, like, from my perspective, I throw like the kitchen sink at things in terms of funding sources. So we usually a lot of projects have multiple sources to get things done. And some like that I work on, might be a grant for for equipment and then we have to match like the labor which is i'm going to get into with some of the things or like so a lot of times there's a match anyways and that match may come from operating budget or it may come from another alternate source so like this you know we try to piece it all together uh to get things done as best we can because yeah um Yeah, I myself don't have an operating budget. I do everything with grants. So I do work with the DPW operating budget for like say paints and things like that. But yeah, many of what engineering does as a whole department is all alternate funding sources and not a lot of general fund. So yeah, we do whatever we can to get things done and we're constantly trying to get more money for all of us to do all these great things. So yeah, with that said, so as Nicholas indicated, Nick Francis and I had applied for a casino supplemental grant. So the casino in Everett, has this rolling grant source each year. And the communities involved that were determined to be surrounding communities have an opportunity to submit grants. And so we had friends and I had submitted a grant application to do further upgrades to provide increased accessibility for people at traffic signals in Medford. And we had requested $40,000 to hopefully install about 32 buttons. And we estimated that might be enough to do three intersections, maybe more depending on how many buttons per location. And we were very willing, we left it as flexible as possible in terms of locations so that we could work with you all to, like, if we had a choice between several locations, we could ask you which one would you prefer to do first, you know, in terms of prioritization. And just to back up a little bit, so this, mostly this, equipment we're talking about would change out the existing traffic signal button that you press to get a walk signal at a location to be an accessible APS button it's called that the state has determined as an accessible button. It has an audible component and has like the tactile component to the to the button and also it's like a locator tone for people with low vision to find where the post is. So you've probably seen these elsewhere because we talked about this in Medford Square we added them. We added them at uh Forest Street and Lawrence Road as well already. So so this will enable us to continue to add you know change out that equipment that's not accessible to accessible. It doesn't mean everything at the end section is being fully upgraded in terms of roadway and sidewalk, but every little bit we can do. So this is a signal component. Yeah, so we think it's a good thing and we'll look forward to working with you to pick locations. So one thing I want to say just to give, not necessarily to bore you with stats, but just to give perspective. So we have About we have more than 25 signals in the city of Medford, but 25 of them we own. So other ones, the state might own MassDOT or DCR. So of the 25 we own, There's only about six that currently have ADA buttons. So this grant will, and then usually when we're doing ADA buttons, we try to also add the countdown pedestrian to count backwards for the cycle too, that a lot of pedestrians, no matter ability, seem to like that. And it promotes walking as well. And it's a little more intuitive. So right now it seems about only roughly six of the 25 have these accessible buttons. But with this grant that the casino we're getting for that, we could potentially do another three. That would bring us up to nine out of 25. But then I have other good news. I've been working with MassDOT, so Mass Department of Transportation. They have various safety projects throughout the state. And they were looking into intersections that could use up safety upgrades and accessibility upgrades. And they chose several in Medford to target. And so I've been working with them. And this is an example of one of those ones where they're so they're giving us free equipment. and then we have to pay the city for the labor to install it. So that's one of those things where we're working together. We'll get free equipment, then we get to pony up the money to do the labor, but we think it's obviously a good trade and we get a lot of good equipment out of it. So that program is gonna improve eight locations, eight intersections. So between the eight that they're gonna help us with and the three that, The casino, that's another 11 so we're going to go from six locations to 17 of the 25 being accessible in terms of accessible buttons. So, so we think it's a good thing, you know, it would be great to help get the word out that this type of thing is going, going on and. And like I said, so they chose the specific eight in that case. So that enables the six that we already have, the eight that they chose, that's 14 out of 25. So that's about nine remaining. So of the nine remaining, we can work with you all to see of those nine, which ones do you think should be priority for the three that we're getting for the casino?
[Kate Ryan]: Where did they choose? Because my first thought is Mystic Valley Parkway. And I think that that's not Medford. I mean, it is Medford, but it's not.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, you've been doing your homework. It's Medford, but it's state-owned. Yeah, you're right. So Mystic Valley Parkway is state-owned. But there are other projects that are coming up that will add crossings that are accessible that don't even exist yet, like across Main Street, near the Craddock Bridge and near the police station, there'll be future crosswalks associated with the Main Street project that will be either upgraded or brand new crosswalks with accessibility. So there are other projects that will hit some of the state locations as well. But yeah, that's a great question. I could list off, or I could share a screen of which locations. I think I'm blocked. I think I need to be a co-host, Nick. But while he's working on that, I can name them. So right outside City Hall, City Hall Mall at Salem Street is one.
Salem at Park Street is the second one. High Street at Johnson Ave in West Medford. Winthrop Street at Steve Miller Drive, which is the high school. Harvard Street at Willis Ave. Main Street at Hancock Street. Riverside Avenue at Clippership Drive. And Riverside Avenue at Spring Street in Lakeyard Drive. So the total for those eight locations is going to be 44 accessible buttons total. And then in addition to that, we're getting countdown pedestrian heads at seven of those. One of them we already have. We did an upgrade to countdown ourselves during the pandemic. We had sourced some money, and we did three, one in each kind of neighborhood, east, south, and west. So there's other upgrades as well, like in terms of safety, but they're not necessarily accessibility, but they help every user through the intersection, right? So the other types of equipment are what's called the non-motored backplates. So if you look at a traffic signal, the green, yellow, red signal, some signals have like the black backing around it to try to help make it more visible if there's sun behind it or whatnot. So it actually helps for, people notice it better. And then the visors that might go over the top of the green, yellow, and red, the individual lenses, the visors that help keep out the glare from the sun, so it makes the color more visible to people. So those are the things that the state had identified that could be upgraded fairly easily to somewhat improve safety for all users.
So yeah, we're very lucky to be chosen by the state and have this many locations being upgraded. So that's good. And we're happy that we can figure out a way to pay for the labor. So Nick's going to install them all himself.
[Andreottola]: Hey, Tuck, can I ask you a question, please? On these new buttons, will they eliminate the chirping bird sounds, or will those continue the ones that have them, but will they go to the ones that actually speak and say, walk, wait?
[Todd Blake]: So that's a great question. So these are the type that verbally speak. Yeah, they say they typically say something like, weight when you press it, it has a tone to notify you where the post is, locator tone. And then if you press it, it says weight. And then when it's active, it usually says walk light is on to cross or something like that. Yeah. So those are the new, what, you know, others have decided are the standard accessible buttons versus the former chirping, um, Which the chirping, yeah, you kind of had to pick one chirp for the East West and one for the other move. But, um, yeah, Salem, I think we still have that.
[Andreottola]: Well, those will be, will those be eliminated eventually?
[Todd Blake]: Yeah. So one of the locations they chose was Salem Park so that the new ones would replace those chirping ones. Yes.
[Andreottola]: So the chirping will stay at Lawrence road.
[Todd Blake]: Uh, no, the chirping will be, swapped out for the verbal one as part of the state program for that particular location. So again, after these two programs, these eight and three, maybe more with our other grant, that'll be 11 plus six, so we'll have 17 out of 25, and then we'll continue to work to get the remaining done. Yeah, it's good news. Like I said, you know, sometimes it seems like it's not enough sometimes. But again, comparatively to other cities and towns, there may be other cities, towns that didn't get anything from the state.
It's kind of good and bad, right? We're getting stuff. But does that mean that those were more unsafe than those other cities to begin with? Right.
[Andreottola]: So the walk is the speaking once is so much more. accurate too because you can know what direction rather than if you know if you don't know your compass points when you're a blind person and you don't know where the chirp is whether it's to the left or you know which direction and also from the residents you know especially like the one on Lawrence Road and Forest Street is very close to residential houses and the chirp is up high on the pole and you know it is It is annoying to the public, you know.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, but I have received that complaint even regarding the newer ones with the locator tone. But, you know, usually we respond in saying that, you know, it has to be a certain decibel for the people that actually need it. So, like, we try to find the balance there. But you're right. The volume, the actual message and the tones are directly out of the button itself. So they're more at the level, pedestrian level versus up high. You're right.
[Andreottola]: Yeah, I think that's great. Thank you.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Todd, can I ask you a question? You gave a great presentation. When you were talking about 40 some odd buttons, but would you say the average intersection would take up four buttons, right?
[Todd Blake]: That's a great question. So for the casino ones were conservative or not estimate. So like in terms of how many so so you're right. So this is 44 buttons and they have an arrow left to right. It's like to get back to what Anthony was saying like so it helps direct you which crosswalk to use. But so of these of these eight. Like a lot of locations, like you said, it's going to be four is probably the average, but some locations might have eight because if they have two heads per corner, then it will be eight. And some, if they have one head per corner, it will be four. And then, so it's like probably on average, even if we call it six, but for our purposes for the casino, we asked for money for 32 buttons, assuming eight per location. So that's three intersections. But if it ends up being the average is four per location, once we get into picking, we might be able to get four or five intersections instead of three, right? So we just wanted to estimate three. Because usually, there's not more than eight. So at least three, we should say. And then once we select it with you all, then we'll be able to know exactly if it's three or four or five. Hey, John.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Hey. Was the time increased to allow people to walk across the road?
[Todd Blake]: So usually, as part of this exercise, so the state for their eight, and we would do the same for the ones we do. They, I believe, provide it. what they believe the time should be and then that's what they'll be adjusted to but if if any of you all kind of let me know that it doesn't still doesn't seem like enough i could always change it again and increase it more but um but usually they use a The minimum is the seven walk and that's just to get you off the curb. And then there's a calculation to get you across based on like walking speed or whatnot divided by the length crossing. So that's the time for the flashing don't walk. And then usually there's an all red, like a don't walk, that everyone stops for a second or two. So there's a calculation involved in the flash and don't walk in a minimum time, like usually a range 7 to 10 for the initial. But if any of you at any time found that light crossing, you needed more time for flashing walk didn't provide you enough to finish crossing all the way across. We could always take that up, but they've done the calculation for the eight that they're touching and they have, that's what it will be changed to. And then we could always circle back, but they do look at that and do it based on what their guidelines are.
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: So thank you.
[Andreottola]: Yep. Just a follow up question on that, on the, the one that, you know, We've talked about the really difficult one in Method Square, the long one that crosses from High Street to Riverside Ave. Does that have a varying time on it for when there's high traffic time? Somebody had told me that it changes on different times of Day is I didn't think that was correct. Could you kind of clarify if that is or not? Is there a time or during peak traffic that that you have less time to cross the street there? So.
[Todd Blake]: It's interesting, it's a good question. Like in general, there are kind of multiple types of, kind of three basic types of crossings, short for signals. There's exclusive where all the vehicle movements are stopped when the pedestrians are going. Then there's concurrent, which is like, The adjacent crosswalk has a walk at the same time as the green light adjacent to you. And then there's a hybrid that has kind of a short exclusive phase where all the cars are stopped. And then it goes to concurrent. Those are the three basic.
three basic types of of crossings at signals and in Cambridge and other cities depending you know if you go around the country at different cities and towns there'll be different types and mostly in our area like the Somerville Medford area most of them are exclusive pedestrian phase So those would be all the time all the same. But in the areas where they're concurrent or hybrid, Cambridge has a lot of hybrid ones where it's like a short exclusive phase and then concurrent. But concurrent because concurrent style go with the adjacent traffic and the adjacent traffic may have variable green times depending on time of day or traffic, then it would never go below a certain minimum, but there could be in cases where there's concurrent, it could go more. So the calculations that I spoke of still exist and it would never go below what you're need but it could go above in the in the case where this concurrent pedestrian phasing and Medford Square happens to be like one of our only concurrent situations where where you kind of cross with the adjacent maneuver. So one thing for the high street to Riverside that we did change recently in the past year was there used to be, so this is a kind of double-edged sword, there used to be two phases where you could cross from that triangular island at High Street across to Riverside where the Citizens Bank is.
But one of those two phases that came up only provided time to get to the middle and you got stuck in that tiny island on Main Street. So we've eliminated that so that only one phase comes up. So it's one versus two, but it's safer because you don't get trapped in the middle. So the one that comes up gets you all the way across Main Street from Hyde or Riverside when it does come up. And if it doesn't, if it's too short, let me know and then we'll increase it. But that was a change to get people not to be trapped in the middle. And because that island in Main Street was kind of very narrow, so if there was more than one of you on there, you could get out into the street.
[Andreottola]: And if you were navigating with a stick to find that island, it was kind of you had to find the island first, you know. But just just so it is correct, like because I know some blind people time, you know, they they you know, they actually have, you know, when they would hear the chirp, they knew they had, you know, so many seconds to make it all the way across. It is true, though, and that intersection it could be different at different times of day.
[Todd Blake]: I'd have to verify but basically there would always be so the green is so it's kind of when you have concurrence kind of the opposite so like or So the green for a particular direction will have to, if it goes concurrent at the same time as the walk signal on that same direction, then the green will have to be, even if there's only one car there, the green would have to be long enough to provide the walk to get all the way across. So usually the vehicle phase is longer than typical versus the other way around just to match the pedestrian phase. But I guess what I'm saying is, in general, if it's concurrent, it could be variable in the sense that it's always a minimum. It could be longer. But usually for most of ours, it's going to be the same because of the vehicle side of it is Yeah, I'm probably losing you now. But say high streets, in terms of number of cars that were needed for green lights, if there are only a few, it might need only 10 seconds of green. But if we have a concurrent pedestrian phase that needs 30 seconds, we wouldn't give the 10 second green. We'd have to give a minimum 30 seconds to match the pedestrian, if that makes sense. So the answer is it could be longer, different times of day for concurrent. But in our case, it's likely that about the same for all times for the concurrent pedestrian phases.
[Andreottola]: I know it's, I'm probably- I think I follow. The thing is, you'd have to measure your time from the shortest green. It could go longer.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, it's like green, yellow, and red all combined have to match what's required to cross the street for pedestrians at the minimum, yeah.
[Andreottola]: okay so thank you yeah we could talk about it offline too if you want to i don't want to lose all of you no i just i just i just avoid that and i i've i found a way around that intersection myself but uh i was just thinking just for general kind of knowledge because i i've said someone tell me that you know that signal is you know Sometimes you have a longer time to make it across and sometimes it's shorter. And I said that can't be true, but I guess it is. It can be longer. You're saying there's a minimum, but sometimes you could have longer time to make it across.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, depending on the intersection and the setup, yeah. So one thing we could do, I mean, definitely not asking to solve it now, but I could kind of throw out there to get your, you know brains thinking about it in terms of like the ones that we have for casino that we have flexible to choose a location versus others after looking at the ones that already have the buttons and the ones that the state's going to cover with us. The remaining ones are Boston Ave at Arlington Street that doesn't have any Boston Ave at Harvard Ave, Boston Ave at Harvard Street, Boston Ave at North Street, Boston Ave at Winter Street, so a lot of hillside, West Medford, and a little bit of South Medford. Then Lawrence at Governor's Ave, Riverside Drive at Cooper Street, that's way over near like the Malden line near Wellington. I don't know if too many people get over there. Riverside at Commercial, Riverside at Locust Street and Winthrop Street at Lawrence Road. So those are the ones that will be remaining after the state's efforts that we could choose from. And I could provide that list. And then, oh, there's also one more, High Street at the library.
So that's another. So if any of those rang a bell for someone or stood out to you, and again, I could provide that list to you all, and you could kind of take longer to think about it. But yeah, so it's a good opportunity, like I said, after both programs, we'll be closer to having all of them.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Great. Well, thank you so much, Todd. I know I myself am learning a lot and I am appreciative of all that you do and this work and just everything because now I'm learning just how much work it takes to program those dang signals.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, and one thing I want to point out that I didn't touch upon is this particular program, and to try to get the most out of our resources too, this particular program is only signal equipment, upgrading of signal equipment, so it doesn't involve any construction like digging or anything like that. So, yeah. So, but we take a week and get an upgrade when we can, when we can. And then over time, we're getting closer and closer.
[Nicholas Karinge]: But thank you all. Oh, thank you, Todd. We appreciate you for sure. With that, I would say, Right now, it would be public participation, but I don't think we have anybody from the public. So is there any other business and any other things that we want to discuss before we go on break for the summer?
[qy5_Am-xQ_s_SPEAKER_04]: Well, I want to thank Todd for coming, speaking today, and all of you guys for the great work you're doing. I second that.
[Nicholas Karinge]: I said it. Again, I always look forward to these meetings. No matter how long my days are because I know that you guys are doing excellent work and I'm glad to be working alongside each and every single one of you. With that, if we have no other business, you know what that means. Okay, yes.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: One quick question for Todd.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Of course.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Todd, it's kind of an off-the-wall question. Do you think we'll see school buses and MedFed with those cameras to catch people driving around buses when people are supposed to stop for children getting off of buses?
[Todd Blake]: It's a very good question. I haven't tracked the law and the implementation of it recently. But if it's a state law that was passed, then it enables, usually enables cities, towns to do it. So then it's dependent usually, and don't quote me on this because I don't know specifically for Medford, but usually what happens is state law, then, you know, it takes time to, and money to implement something like that. Right. And, and it basically, usually the law just allows the cities, towns to go about doing it, but that doesn't mean they have the money or the resource. So I don't want to speak and act like we do or don't, but, but so, As an example, one that I'm more in tune to is the state changed the law or created a law to add the ability for the MBTA buses to have cameras on those buses. And that law explicitly allows the MBTA to write tickets for people in that are parked in bus stops or in bus lanes and they can issue tickets via camera for that. So in that particular case they pass the law then there's time to you know for the state itself to implement it, procure it, hire someone to put the cameras on the buses and the higher system to manage the software component to and everything like that. So usually it takes a while to roll out and then they might pilot it. I'm aware that they're piloting the MBTA cameras in Boston say first and then over time they roll it out more and more. So if the school bus situation is similar to that, I would imagine it's probably parallel to that in the sense of even if there's a lot of changes, which is a good thing for safety for all the kids and everything, right? Then sometimes it takes time for logistics of things for individual cities and towns to catch up with that. So in the T's case, it's on buses that they own, right? Whereas if for school buses, each city or town may contract with a different school bus company, right? That may or may not have those capabilities. So I'm also aware of another state bill that is just a bill, a proposal, it hasn't got passed as far as I know, that's looking to do camera enforcement of things like speeding and red light running and things like that, that exists in other states, but not Massachusetts. So there've been bills over the years, though, that are proposed like that and haven't got passed yet. But I'm aware that there are several ongoing through the state system to inquire or try to pass a law regarding that. And same thing, if a law ever got passed, the state agencies and the cities and towns that we're then enabled to kind of opt in and use that, there's still a lot of logistical and financial stuff. So just because a lot of changes doesn't mean all that other stuff happens immediately. But this is kind of the, seems like the trend because it's challenging to get everyone that's not behaving properly, right?
Did that answer your question, Joe?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Actually, I see people violating the law driving around school buses when the kid's getting off. That's all. I just want to wrap this up. Thank you.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Well, actually, I want to thank you, Joe, for mentioning buses because I wanted to ask Todd if he wanted to say anything. if there's anything more on the email that you guys should have received about the changing bus routes. So Todd, if you want to share about that, you're welcome.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, I'm glad you remembered that because I forgot to mention that. I'll try to be quick. So in Medford, the TEA has proposed this massive redesign of their whole bus system back in 2022. So it's been four years now. It's crazy. But it was a proposal. They came out with one proposal, And for Medford, it had a lot of pros and cons, and we provide a comment letter. But one of the main takeaways in the first proposal was they were proposing to eliminate Route 80 in Medford and Somerville and Arlington. So then we had a slew of comments in our letter, including don't eliminate the 80. So then the T came back with a revised proposal in late 2022.
So they listened and brought back the 80 in that case, but then they eliminate the 94 instead, which we're like, what? So then that proposal in late 2022 is actually approved by the MBTA board. So from that point on, The 94 was slated to be eliminated in Medford. But we've been continuing to advocate with state partners and city partners and residents. There's a lot of big resident groups writing a lot of petitions to save things. So the most recent news, which Nick was just pointing out, is the MBTA just held the public meeting on June 15th that was online only, and they will be holding another in-person meeting in Medford at some point, likely in July, to discuss this. But out of all the system and all the bus changes, based on the comments and the complaints from Medford residents and some others, They have agreed to revisit about 12 routes, and one of them is the 94 in Medford. So we're happy and grateful that they're revisiting. So the latest proposal that just happened this year, a month or two ago, is that they're given an option where they're going to the community and saying, well, we could just have the 80 and not the 94, and the 80 will go here or there in Arlington or Burlington, and it might be this frequent. Or we have an option B that will restore or not eliminate the 94, and we'll keep the 80. So we'll keep both, but they might be less frequent than the option that would only have the 80.
And then they had a minor revision to the 96 to not go on George Street. So basically, the latest revision is only about a dozen in the whole system of changes that they had. But some of them, it's a chance for Medford residents that use the 94 and want to keep the 94 to communicate to the T that that's what we want. We want to keep the 94, so we don't lose service that we already have, a route that people rely on and need. Yeah, this is a good opportunity for us.
[Kate Ryan]: They want to sever West Medford from Medford Center.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, that's why we didn't like that either. So we want to keep the 94 and the 80, so not switch one or the other.
[Kate Ryan]: And I wrote to them, and I also cc'd Sean Garvalli, who is, and I do not understand districts at all, but I do understand that he is my rep, and if he is your rep, and I don't know if he's everybody's rep or not, He is asked to be kept in the loop because he wants to know what people are saying about this because he is interested.
[Todd Blake]: yeah yeah it's always a good idea if you have comments feel free to give the comments directly to the team that's your prerogative but if you want to keep the city or state reps and things like that in the loop you could cc us because then oh i didn't know that okay well we could get a better sense of like if he's trying to get a sense of what his dealt you know people in his uh districts feel then he could get a sense of what he should write you know but um do you want me to forward you the email that i wrote it to the team you could it's not a requirement but it helps because then we we will likely formulate uh we're working on a a formal letter from the city to the t just like we had in the past about advocating for keeping things what your email is please Yes, I can put it in the chat or say it if that's easier. T Blake, so first initial, last name, T-B-L-A-K-E, at symbol, Medford-MA.gov, Medford-MA.gov. Thank you. So again, the reason It's very, I'm very thankful because of all the 170 communities in the T region, you know, we're one of 12 that they listen to our complaints and they're coming back to us with another revision. So, but then we got to respond and say which revision we like the best, which it seems like.
[Kate Ryan]: So it's not dead yet. The 94 is not dead yet.
[Todd Blake]: Correct, so all of the advocacy got them to come back to us and they're offering us an option that includes keeping the 94 now. Yeah, which in late 2022, that didn't exist. They approved eliminating it. So this is our chance to keep it.
[Susan Bibbins]: Will you let us know when the in-person meeting with the MBTA is?
[Todd Blake]: Yep, yep, definitely. Right now, I think we're like discussing venue, whether it's going to be like the library, the chambers, and they may have multiple meetings, but one may be more regional, one may be specific to there. But, but yeah, I definitely will let you know when it's solidified, which the date and location. Yeah.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. And please remind them of accessibility.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Yeah.
[Kate Ryan]: Yeah, can you please make sure that there is a microphone? And can you please ask people to speak more slow?
[Todd Blake]: Definitely. I'm guilty. Sorry about that. Sometimes I speak too fast. Maybe it's nerves. They make me nervous.
[Kate Ryan]: How is the new signal that you put it in Medford Center? that we went with you, remember in the... It was cold. Yeah, I just remember it was cold. I don't remember what it was.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, all those buttons are in there, should be functioning. There was one that was acting up, the one between... And have you got any feedback or anything from people? Yeah, we did. We got some thanks, which is nice. Yeah, it's been positive so far. And luckily, that's one area I haven't received a complaint about the audio being too loud. Sometimes in the more residential areas, you might get that type of complaint. But yeah, so far, so good. All right.
Nick, that was a good reminder, thank you, about the MBTA, because so many people rely on that. And like one of you said, not having the 94 does separate West and Central. And that is never good. Yeah, so the best we can do as a community is is be direct about which option we like the best. So like, if they get a hundred responses and it's wishy-washy, but if they get a hundred responses and 80, 90 of them all say we want to keep the 94, then they'll get the message loud and clear, you know? Yeah.
[Kate Ryan]: I'm sorry for this, what's probably a stupid question, but keep what we have now is not an option.
[Todd Blake]: Essentially, that's what option B is. We keep the 80, and we keep the 94, and the 96 will get even better. So that's option B. Option A is the one that's like a better version of the 80 in their minds, but no 94. So if you want the 94, you don't like option A. And option C wasn't really an A, B, or C. C just had to do with which routing the 96 uses, or whether it hits George Street or not. And that's kind of independent of the option AB, so it's separate. The 96 is gonna be more frequent, no matter what, it's gonna be 15 minutes or better. So the only thing that they were proposing for that at this time was whether or not it should go down George Street, which in the previous comment letter, we said we wanted to keep it on George Street, because it's kind of in the Harvard neighborhood.
[Kate Ryan]: For non-visual people, those maps, I found, did anybody else find them kind of hard to figure out?
[Nicholas Karinge]: A little bit, yeah.
[Todd Blake]: No, there was a lot of confusion about the 96, like what they were actually proposing, yeah. They could have been more clear.
[Nicholas Karinge]: I found that you kind of had to put your cursor on the stops to figure out where where each one is and then go through all that. But it's definitely not the simplest map to figure out. But Todd, once again, thank you so much. I think your work is just so valuable and so like it's if not what gets spoken about often. So thank you so much for all that you do and for keeping us in the loop as well.
[Todd Blake]: We try. I try. Maybe I should retire tonight and leave on a good note. Right. So we hope to continue to do good work for everyone. Indeed. Thank you for having us.
[Nicholas Karinge]: Well, thank you, sir. Well, with that, Any other business? Yes, no, maybe so. And if no, I think we all know what that means.
[Susan Bibbins]: Motion to adjourn. Second.
[Nicholas Karinge]: All right. The motion has been seconded, and I don't think anybody here opposes. So we will see you guys in September. Bye bye.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Have a good summer.