[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Perfect. Well, hello, everyone. I will start with this at our last meeting. We didn't have quorum. It was my first meeting. But everyone, I am Sam Riley. I'm the new climate planner here. I've been here, I think, last week was exactly one month. So I'm a lot more familiar with stuff than I was at our last meeting, because I think that happened during my first week. But I'm excited to get to know all of you and learn more about this council and the great work that you do.
[Evangelista]: Yeah. All right. Glad to meet you, Sam. Thank you. It's my first time meeting you, I think. Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: No, you were here in the last meeting.
[Jenny Graham]: Well, I was with Charbel, wasn't it? Yeah, just the two of you.
[Evangelista]: Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: And I thought that I was with you. Sorry.
[Evangelista]: Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: No problem.
[Evangelista]: Yeah. So nice to meet you. I'm Stacy. Stacy Moore. Yeah. Community liaison. Yeah, that's me.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: And nice to meet you, Jeremy and Natasha, as well. Nice to meet you, Samantha. We have a little bit, I think, of a delay. So if we are talking over each other, I apologize from the Zoom. OK, no problem. All right, so we will start by reviewing the minutes from your June meeting. Did everyone look at the minutes? Were there any questions, comments, concerns about them or? They look good.
[Jenny Graham]: They look good? Are we listening? So a motion to accept the meeting, the agenda. Okay, sure, we'll accept the meeting.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: So in that case, does someone, do you want to lead the meeting? We are not tears. Right, but in the case of not having chair, and we, I think that's awesome stuff.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: It happened during those 2 meetings, I think show bells, I think. Yeah, you like, sort of promotions and that's great. That's the last of them 2nd.
[Jenny Graham]: 3rd all in favor.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: I. Can you hear my eye? Yeah man.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Perfect. So the second piece of sort of administrative. Talk that we have is the next meeting that we have is scheduled for October 21st. Does that work for everyone?
[Evangelista]: I believe so, right? I'm sure it does. It's another Wednesday. Yeah. Is the Wednesday going to follow to our weekly meeting? Well, that's a great question. I mean, today is the 16th. Zoom. I'm sorry. Zoom person. Zoom. The 21st is looking for a Zoom meeting if we're doing that every other thing.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. Right. Can we do the 14th or the 28th instead because that way we're going to be here.
[Evangelista]: Or it could just be a remote unless we decided to, you know, do a remote meeting following our Zoom meeting.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Would you want to be in back to back meetings? That can be a lot. If you prefer one of the other days, we can do one of the other days. Like, let's just get it over. Let's just do all the meetings. We can do that too.
[Evangelista]: I'm proponent to just knock it out. If we're already, I'm already in front of the computer, then we just roll into the next one and it'll just be another Wednesday, you know, just another Wednesday meeting with our team.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, does that work for you guys? We'll say Zoom. Perfect. Does your other meeting end right at 6.30? do we want to have like a 645 start just to give you some buffer time to have a snack?
[Evangelista]: Is it a whole?
[Jenny Graham]: No, we can make it to 630 because we let them know we need to be here. So they kind of make an agenda according to that, you know, that time. So we don't want to stay in.
[Evangelista]: We don't have it for half an hour. It's true.
[Jenny Graham]: It's just half hour.
[Evangelista]: Beautiful. So we could say 40 if we did it. know at 5 45 if we start at 5 45 we go from 5 to 5 30 gives us a 15 minute break whatever and then you know right right is that good or we could just do 5 30s that way it gives us a little wiggle room if it runs over or something yeah our team meeting instead of doing 6 30? No, no, no. I'm saying because it's usually just a half an hour, 5 to 5 30. So I'm saying if we did it, if we did this meeting at 5 45, it gives us 15 minutes, body break, whatever. Or it allows a few minutes if our team meeting runs over a half hour.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, I think a remote meeting is 5 30 now. because for people to be able to attend after work. Oh. But I think it would be, we can, can we talk to email? But the date is okay. Just need to figure out the time. That works for everybody, you know. Okay. Perfect.
[Evangelista]: did not know that. Pushing and dragging behind.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: All right, perfect. We will move into sort of the next part of the agenda is upcoming events and activities. On the 22nd, there is the Housing Resource Fair. On the 26th, there's the Mystic River Celebration. And then as of when we Posted this agenda. There is not a date yet for the Hispanic heritage event, but I feel like I just saw an email about that. Yeah, I think so too.
[Evangelista]: I haven't seen it. I don't know. What's the event before the Mystic River? The housing resource fair. Oh, right. Okay. The 22nd. Yeah, it's the one that we have.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, if you guys have made it to Maybe you guys are able to answer, do you know what the vendors that you guys are going to have?
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: I know that Will will be there talking about, will you be there for electrifying Medford, things, composting, that's difficult. I'm always there. And then I know, I'm listening to Catherine, she says there's going to be a mix of local groups talking about housing as well as state and New England based groups that we'll talk about. So talking specifically Medford but then if you know someone who might be interested who lives in Somerville or somewhere else that there'll be resources for them as well. So it won't just all be Medford related.
[Evangelista]: So are those folks who are going to be part of the panel who are speaking that you're talking about or is it going to be folks who are
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: tabling because there's four speaker or three speakers and a moderator yeah but then there's like a dozen or so probably a couple dozen tables okay i think it's going to be before the speak when you get there for the first part of it it will be you could go around to different tables and then the second part is the speaking i'm assuming when leaving you can also go back to some tables okay because i i uh we had we had posed a question about if um the folks or the vendors who are
[Evangelista]: tabling if they would be doing any sort of presentation or if they would speak to the to the group about what they do and then you know we could you know maybe at the end either talk with them grab some some of their pamphlets or whatever they might have um so that was the question yeah i'm looking at the event overview like schedule and it looks like we'll have probably an hour or so of
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: tabling opportunity. I don't think we'll have like groups stand up and say anything other than you'll, like any other event, you'll go around and meet everybody.
[Evangelista]: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It was just a question that was, was posed. It just that it might be, it might be nice to have them do a little presentation about what they do, a little snippet and, um, you know.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I think we should talk to Catherine about getting a list of who's tabling. I can get you a list of all the tables that are going to be there. Maybe they're like one sentence blurb.
[Evangelista]: Yeah, just a little something to get a sense and sort of just get a feel for what they do. Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Because, yeah, I don't know if I could name everyone who's going to be there. And that feels important. We should know who's there.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, but I like spaces. situations that she's going to be on west Medford you know for some hours over there so if there are residents over there she's talking about the event she'd like to give a little more provide a little more information yeah and people may think you know it's worth it or not for them to come to yeah yeah i think we'll make a little one pager yeah like here's a list of every event everyone who's tabling and what they're about that would that would be really helpful as well yeah yeah i'm trying to get that to you
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: tomorrow, early next week, because I think it's, what, Tuesday? It's noon.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: But yeah, Catherine could also knock it out really quick. I'm sure she has a lot. I'm sure she knocked it out already. So we can get it quick.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, even if we just share an email, you know, to everybody, you know, at least we know and we can kind of pass it on.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Actually, I don't know if his teams are right now.
[Jenny Graham]: In about the Hispanic Heritage Month, our event is going to be in the end of September to the beginning of October, we are just finalizing some attractions that are going to have. And then we're going to be letting everybody know by the end of this week, you know, like, but I think Francis just gave a resume what is about, you know, like what is the month is about and like shows us for every holiday. You know, I don't think that is any detail about what the event is. Okay.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Is this
[Jenny Graham]: at the event is it going to be an event where people will be tabling is it more just celebratory fun things um that's a good question i don't have the answer i mean um but it's gonna be in the city hall it's probably the city hall so we're thinking about to have some salsa dance or something you know i do believe that it's gonna be tabling you know But I can get more information, but like I said, the email is going to come by the end of the week and then, you know, you guys can know more about it. I will find out more about it too. But it's happening. But the library are having the whole week of Hispanic Heritage Month and they are tabling and they're also doing a volunteer event, I think it's Tuesday. The volunteer fair? Yeah. I just overheard someone.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: This is the day of the day of action.
[Jenny Graham]: I overheard someone talking today that is coming up. I really want to go to that event.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not familiar with this one.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, what I heard is they're going to have a bunch of places that are interested, you know, to recruit volunteers or they are offering volunteer opportunities. That was my understanding.
[Evangelista]: I thought it was October 17th. The 17th? The volunteer fair at the library, the one that they're putting on. I think Patrick sent an email about that.
[Jenny Graham]: done softens today. So I also wanted this coming up. So anyway, I'll try to get back to that because I think will be a good opportunity for us to get to know what the place is and what's going on too, but it like share some of the resources and I don't see anything there.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Going back For the Hispanic Heritage event, if it is an event where we will be tabling, I would love to have flyers translated. Do I send translated materials to you guys? Do I send them to someone else?
[Jenny Graham]: How is that? So how we do it is send to Patrick. OK. You can either send the flyer, and he put on the Google Doc, if they're without the news lines, or you can, if you prefer, just make a Google doc with the stuff that is going to be translated. But most of the time you get a flyer, you know, and then you kind of separate each session, you know, to be translated and then sent back to you guys. But it's important when you're sending him an email, have like a timeframe for when you're expecting. They say like two weeks in advance, you know, the thing is that We have so many changes, you know, like there's some liaisons that left, you know, like because they got a full-time job. So we are in transition. So it has been tough a little bit. So yeah, just communicate with him by email. And that's a good thing because I need to send you a translation that is ready.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Perfect. I'll go back to the next event, and I can't believe we're already talking about October. October 8th is the Energy Bill checkup with National Crid at the Senior Center from 1 to 4. I believe I will be there, I'll be there for most of it, if not all of it. I don't know how, I need to go check with how that's being communicated and who's doing that. I won't get to that. We're getting to things that are beyond Brenda's transition list. I don't know what to do about that. I think we have a rundown.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: We've got to figure out some details. Yeah, I'll figure that out. Sorry, quickly going back to the flyer that you mentioned, I'm curious, like, which languages you are planning on using? And I'm just curious if, like, you know, you guys have any thoughts, too, of what, like, the most relevant would be for the translations?
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: My thought for the event would be probably just Spanish. And if we have someone to translate into Brazilian Portuguese, you all would probably know better than I would. My thought was for a Hispanic heritage event, those would be the priority languages. Should we just do everything in case other people are coming up that might speak Haitian Creole might speak a different language. We are trying to have all languages at once.
[Evangelista]: All languages. Yeah, because some folks in the ESOL, you know, we try to share the events that are going on with those folks as well. And it's, you know, It's everybody, it's a little bit of this and a little bit of that. So yes, it would be an ideal thing to do all languages. All right, perfect.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: As just a quick interjection, Catherine just sent me a link on the events calendar on the city website for the housing resource fair. They have a full list of everyone who is tabling and a link to their website.
[SPEAKER_05]: Awesome. Awesome.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Um, so I can send this link to Sam to be sent out to everybody, but no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, we can get there.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Um, so this is the, for the event itself right off the counter.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, they're pretty organized.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I know. Wow. All right.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Beautiful. I'm excited about all languages, but the municipality I was in before we had to send everything out to get translated and it was very expensive. So it was like, Maybe one language for this, but all languages all the time. It's fabulous.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: You got like our standard, like six or seven, you know?
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. But like, we cannot translate like big, you know, like need to be a flyer.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah. You know what I mean? But even that's huge sort of translating.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. But like the thing is like, especially now with now getting the grant that it was covering us before the hours went down, you know, so our liaisons don't have many hours available for that too. So that's why the two weeks you know, notice have everybody to do it. Um, but what date are you now with events? Because I think you didn't talk about the October fast or the facts. Okay.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: The 17th is the harvest your energy festival.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. But you're already in the 17. We have the October fast on October 3rd. Oh, all right. I don't have that. Do you guys have a table for that? I reserved today for our office.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I don't know if we usually table at that one.
[Jenny Graham]: No, I'm wrong. I'm sorry. But we didn't because it's $150 if you're not a member for the chambers.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: And if you're a member, it's $50. So we're trying to see if we can maybe just get a $50.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. I know in the past we haven't done it mostly because people are there for drinking and usually don't like talking about energy efficiency we just don't like don't get the kind of hits that we're usually looking for um not to say it's like an unimportant event like a lot of people are there but you know if they're on their third beer and i start drinking they're not at home last year was that when they had i wasn't there oh i wasn't there you know i wasn't wondering because i know they're gonna have over here you know on the square
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, we didn't sign up for that 1 yet because we're waiting for that, but the task community day I want to be there. We're going to be that 1 and you guys going to have the going to be at the mistake to right? Mistake a river. When is that? I saw your name over there. Yes, I definitely know your name, but at the office. Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yes, I think it's on my calendar. I just have to. I'm signed up for too many events. I'll do it like a week at a time.
[Jenny Graham]: Like, all right. Yeah. So we have a good, good, like big events that are coming that we can, you know, definitely share a lot of things. Full events calendar. I don't think we signed up for the Harvest Your Energy Festival, did we?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Our office, I don't think we. Well, I'll text Kyla to double check. And you're in the government.
[Jenny Graham]: I did sign up to volunteer, because if you guys send the whole, you know, send to all the employees and send just to your group.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. I'll double check with Kyla. If you're not tabling, you should be, so.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, either way. If we're not tabling, I can just come in and volunteer.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: And then after Harvest Your Energy, our next one on the count that we have written down, so we might be missing some, but it's November 19th, the Winter Preparedness Event. Yes. So that's City Hall meeting thing.
[Jenny Graham]: And you guys gonna do the energy bill checkup? Okay, awesome. The only thing I suggest you guys to do as soon as possible to reserve, you know, this room for you guys to do if you need to be here set up earlier for the event. Reserve it now? Yeah.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: Is it technically this exact room, the 201?
[Jenny Graham]: That, right now, I thought it was nicer to set up because like they can be helping but yet people can sit down and wait a video they have you know seems like they gave like an introduction or something and then they had their own personal questions and stuff they didn't come um because the 207 she thought it was true like yeah but you guys do whatever you want but in the setup you know the way we think it works for you um and i think they put some stuff in the dvd too you know but nothing okay But like all that big time, if you want to have a different room earlier, you know, we'll look that sooner rather than later.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: All right. I know we talked about some events that we didn't have listed. Are there any other community events that you guys know about that?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, I got one. Uh, and actually you're helping with the translation for the flyer, but October 17th in the morning before harvest energy is junk in the trunk. Uh, it's a free swap event, uh, actually just in the back parking lot of Medford city hall. Uh, people open up their cars and little like vendor stalls and they give away everything for free. So it's a great opportunity to like find new appliances, artwork, houseware, tech, furniture, anything people basically are doing their, their clean outs and they, they give away everything for free.
[Jenny Graham]: And it feels. their car with the stuff from the other cars. Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Um, but basically like we still, I think we still have some vendor slots available. Uh, there's a limited number of parking spots to be a vendor and like give things away, but we'll take as many shoppers as can walk by. So invite everyone to come get free things. Sure.
[Jenny Graham]: Was your flyer that has something that public bathroom is not going to be available?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yes, that is something we've been trying to figure out because City Hall is not actually a City Hall event. It's just run by residents in the community, myself included. But it means that they won't open City Hall for us. So right now, everything is free. But we would pay money for a porta potty or for some kind of bathroom situation that we just can't afford because we're all volunteers. But we can sit down and talk, I would love to talk about how it's like, you know, it's just one more thing to manage and we've never had a budget.
[Jenny Graham]: Yes.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: We always tell people come by a shop and then leave and go to the bathroom.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. I mean, like your office or our office, the responsibility, you know, like, I don't see why not. We should not be provided the bathroom for the first floor.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And I would love to talk about it. I don't get a key.
[Jenny Graham]: That's very important. You know, like there's older people that comes for events like that, that, you know, like I think it's good. I'd love to chat about it. It should be providing that accessibility.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, I would like that. So I will send myself a little email to meet with you and talk about it, because it's something that we've kind of written off as, gosh, that's hard.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, let's talk tomorrow morning.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: OK.
[Jenny Graham]: But anytime. I'm free in the morning. And then you can talk to Daria and figure that out. What time is that? What time is the junk in the trunk? Let me see.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, it's on the city website now.
[Jenny Graham]: I did apply it to one of those.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: By 12 we're totally done. Just to let you know.
[SPEAKER_05]: 10 to 12. 10 to 12.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. And usually like we're kicking people out at 12. So like, you know, 10 to 1130 tends to be the like the window. We keep it pretty short because again, Everyone has to stay at their stuff. You don't really have bathroom access. So we've always kept it really short.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, what do we do? We close the stairs, the main stairs with the two big benches that you have in front. We have each side.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we have a system.
[Jenny Graham]: So we put it over there. We close for nobody. And we put signs, nobody's allowed to go. We put on the stairs the long. We put a sign, nobody's allowed to go upstairs. And just accessibility for the bathrooms.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Does that mean we would need like police detail or anything like that?
[Jenny Graham]: No, but that is a form that you fill out with the Dario that they're going to communicate, they are going to do the communication, the police, the fire department and the Cataldo. Let them know that there's going to be people in the building.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[Jenny Graham]: Because God forbid something happened.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: And they are nobody's in the building because it's a weekend. You know, they know all if someone calls said there's a fire in the city hall, we know that people there. So you know, like, that's why they need to know those things. Okay. But they take care of that. We just need to perfect.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I'll be happy to talk with you about this.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: This is I'm sorry, is this in November, October 17? October, October. That's pretty tight. Okay.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Well, everything else has been set up and ready. We usually try to fly under the radar and not provide any extraneous things.
[Jenny Graham]: We just want to provide a bathroom for Chihuahuas.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And you're right, you know.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: On the flyer that the rain date is October 25th?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yes, the week after. Yeah, yeah.
[Evangelista]: And whatever folks don't get rid of, we can always go over to harvest your energy. Yeah. I mean, you know, recycle or whatever textiles, you know, yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: They're collecting a lot of it.
[Evangelista]: Yeah. You know, some appliances, if there's a washer and dryer that number, you know, it works, but they don't want it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I usually give everyone a donation location sheet. here are all the places to get rid of your stuff that will keep it in use and keep it useful. That's awesome.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, so we're all about it. Any other events that we're missing in this sort of fall time frame?
[Jenny Graham]: 2022 December. Perfect.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: The last one I have is Hala is waiting for a grant to work with the community gardens. More information provided in September.
[Jenny Graham]: Probably more information provided. I believe we didn't get that grant. Didn't get it? Okay. I'm pretty sure we didn't. Okay. But I will double check. All right. Thank you. And I'll send her resignation today because her full-time job has been very demanding. You know, and that's been true for her, so we're going to be looking for a food connector soon, food supply connector soon, so. Okay.
[Unidentified]: Thank you, Blondie, that's good to know.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: All right. We're moving on from events. We can move on to update from city actions, and then I will hand it over to Will to talk about composting.
[Jenny Graham]: Oh, um, okay.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, no, I misheard you before.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, we're good. So, um,
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Happy to talk about and answer any questions you have regarding our compost system. I'll give you kind of the broad overview of what we currently have. We work with a group called Garbage to Garden. They're based in Portland, Maine, but they have a base of operations in Boston and a farm out in Brickens Farm in, I want to say it's Harvard, Massachusetts, like a little ways out. And right now we are set up such that every resident in a building of four units or less qualifies for free curbside compost. You can sign up online at medfordcompost.com and Yeah. Anyone in that four unit or less situation qualifies automatically. They'll come by on your trash day. They'll drop off a little bin. Uh, it's like a 15 gallon bin. It's really small. I love it because you know, when I'm working with little kids, they always go, that's my trash can. And then I have the adult trash can, like they love taking ownership of it. Um, but that just gets picked up every week alongside your trash. So it's on the same day, same schedule or route as your trash pickup.
[Jenny Graham]: But isn't the trash change the schedule?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yes.
[Jenny Graham]: What's going to happen with that?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Compost will remain weekly on the same day, like that'll be just the system. What's really cool about it is, so that compost gets picked up. That'll mean that all of your wet trash, your stinky food shouldn't just be sitting out in the sun and the heat for a long period of time gets snapped in a latching bin, kept away from rodents, and emptied weekly. So it keeps everything a little lighter, a little cleaner, and helps really drastically with our rodent management work. So we're really encouraging everyone to take up composting if they are able. Because when we leave food in the larger trash bins, rats can crawl right into those. They don't snap shut. And then we just feed rats in our neighborhoods. And that's not really what we want. No. So that's the long and the short with our compost system. Again, it's free to residents. We're currently at 51% of eligible households are using it or are signed up to use it. uh, which is really phenomenal. That's more than most cities, period. Um, so we're already doing really well, but, you know, that means a little less than half of Medford still isn't, which is crazy. So it's a free service. I have flyers and things. So if you ever ask, that was my next question, don't much info your way. Uh, we have door hangers from garbage to garden. I've made little flyers about the pros and cons of composting. Spoiler, very few comps. It's just learning a new habit.
[Unidentified]: It's hard.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: But yeah, we want really everyone to compost that can. It's really going to be essential if we are going to switch to every other week trash. It'll be really important that our trash is lighter and doesn't have food that will rot or spoil in the sun. So they really go hand in hand. Sure. so that's a specific bag that goes yeah so in the in the garbage to garden little pale uh you can either use two paper bags like those brown paper bags you get from a grocery store or you can use the biodegradable green plastic bags you can buy those it's usually like uh, $10 for a roll or something like that. I usually just have it part of my grocery routine. I go to the grocery store, I get brown paper bags and I put them right in the bin.
[Evangelista]: Uh, double them. Yeah. So it's doubling up the brown bags.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. And that just helps us like just keeping it clean.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: Anything wet or whatever. Exactly. Yeah. We use a lot of those in our recycling bin. Oh yeah, yeah. I can just take it out and throw it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. So I like to use them just to line the bin. It's a really efficient way for me. I feel like I'm part of like a really good, like closed circle of groceries eventually end up in the, in the compost bin, but the bag they came in with the bag they go out with.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, no, I was just asking because like, it's a free, you know, like that's excellent, you know, but then what are the things that come with, like, I know, uh, mouthing you buy the trash bags, you know, like, so if it does the actual cost, I think people are going to be.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. So what I really like about garbage to garden and you can go on their website. They're really, really good about making accommodations. Um, cause I send them all of these complaints. It's my favorite pastime is throwing, uh, complaints at garbage to garden and making them get better. Um, because. I said, hey, I don't really care for the biodegradable plastic. They don't really make sense to me. I don't like them. And they said, oh, well, we'll make sure our systems work with the brown paper bags. That's not a problem. If you are low mobility or your curb is weird and you can't bring your compost bin directly to your driveway or to the curb where it gets picked up, you can for people. I've, I haven't seen them myself, but they're supposedly, uh, selling, uh, handle extenders. Um, because they're really like awkward height for a lot of people of a certain size. So they have these extenders that let it rise up to meet you a little higher up, make it a little easier to carry down to the curb. Like the more that people complain and I hear it, the more I just relate to them and the more they're fixing. So whenever you have a problem with compost, I actually want you to like yell at me and complain. Cause like I can hopefully make it better. Um, but there's a lot of, a lot of things they do and services that I think we'll just keep expanding. Uh, and the more people that compost, the more we demonstrate that Medford really likes this, the more options we can provide. Um, cause you know, Sometimes it's a matter of proving to city council or to the mayor or to any of the staff that people actually want to do this. Um, so the best way to prove it is to have people sign up and actually use it. When is the date again, that, um, the trash switch will be July 1st.
[Jenny Graham]: Okay.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Uh, so just about a year from now, a little less.
[Jenny Graham]: So there is a. So, maybe it will be something that I can put for a future meetings, you know, maybe can focus from like the spring time.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And so this, I want to hit that running and I would love currently. So. Currently, we've gotten a pretty tremendous amount of feedback about the switch to every other week. That we're starting, we're mostly just parsing through at the moment. Um, so currently the plan is to keep up this every other week in July. Uh, that being said, DPW is talking with waste management is talking with planning is talking to city council to deliberate and see if there are other ways to go about this. But we should definitely be planning for that every other week switch. And if we do. Um, we'll want to make sure that people are not just prepared, but like, ready to hit the ground running because there's a lot to consider. It's a, it's a change in routine. Um, and that's not something I want to take lightly.
[Jenny Graham]: And especially like, if you have options like it is, and we find a way to pass that message to the residents that, hey, you know, let's try to avoid the, you know, distinct trash, you know, like and things and at the same time you're helping, you know, like you can use this for this, you know.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, so that's why I've been prioritizing advertising and creating more of these swap and exchange events. I want to get more repair clinics and cafes. You should never have to throw away technology because it breaks. You should have the option of fixing it. We should make sure if you do have clothing you don't wear anymore, exchanges, lots of ways to minimize the actual trash going out. Because the other side of it is there are a lot of communities that produce a lot less trash than Medford. So we know it's possible. And we also know by tonnage, there are a handful of residences that are producing a lot more trash than if we were to do just a per capita ratio of trash production. So I think really there are a handful of households that need a lot of accommodations. But I think a lot of people will meet us exactly where they are right now without much change. That's just by the numbers. That doesn't make it feel more comfortable. A change is hard. It's really scary to change a routine. But by the numbers, I really do believe we'll get there. And that's why I want to make those swap events better. And I want to make composting easy for people Um, I've been handing out free kitchen compost bins so that people can compost and build that habit in the kitchen. And then we did a, actually I have pictures. We did a decoration event at the library where people drew faces and little monsters to feed their compost bin. Um, and yeah, so really comes down to what can we do to make this an easy transition for people. Um, and not just an easy transition, but kind of remove some of the fear and anxiety around this transition. Um, so as much as I'm trying to do this, like as you're talking to people and you hear things that people are scared about, or you have an idea for something that you think would make for a great deal of relief, I'd love to hear it. Um, and I'd love to throw money at it and time and effort to make these things happen. Cause I think we can get there.
[Jenny Graham]: Is that any thing that Any other event that you guys run around that time, the spring time to the summer, that is just your event that you can incorporate that? Because I remember one of the meetings that we had for the next year, we kind of talked about the bikes. You know, a lot of people have bikes that, how can you recycle that? They have someone to fix the bikes. So instead of people buying new bikes, you know, like, you know, we talked about more of the meetings. maybe can incorporate all those ideas, you know, like, and have another event just to provide those things. I know events take a lot, a lot of work, a lot of things.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: That's what I'd rather do is I'd rather have one big event a month that like gets people excited.
[Jenny Graham]: I agree with you.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: The hard part is can we get new people each time? Yeah. I don't know.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And I'm sure you run into the same issues as you get the same people every time. And it's like, Oh, I got, I got 10,000 residents that I think know me by name. They love me. There's still 50,000 more. And I don't know.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. And that's how I think, Oh, we got one person that is new that next time you're going to bring another person, you know, and leader by leader is better than nothing. Right. Um, but like maybe just kind of. maybe put it for agenda for next agenda, maybe like for us to review all the ideas that you had.
[Unidentified]: Sure.
[Jenny Graham]: Talk about it for the next year because you're kind of on the end of the year. And what are we going to, what is the goal? Like, are we going to put any of those ideas, you know, in practice, you know, for next year or just going to be up in the air, you know?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And that's the last thing I'd want. Yeah. I don't want anyone to feel like we're not with them. as this happens.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, no, but I think it's just because it's so much for us to catch up and then we keep, oh, this is great, and then we put in a minute, you know, like, and then, but then we forget about it, you know, like, so maybe we all take a look and try to remember what we had talked and maybe, you know, see what are you going to think that is priority that you should be bringing for next year and then start planning that too, because, like I said, We already talking about the winter, you know, I appreciate that.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: That's. Yeah. And you, as far as I'm concerned, like this group is like the, the best at activities and like, you're always making the, like the spinning wheels and giveaways and raffles. And like, I want to, I want to lean on you however I can, if you don't get it done. Um, so definitely anytime I can steal time from this, uh, this committee, I will take it.
[Evangelista]: um because yeah i'm just thinking spinning wheel you know maybe doing something you know i mean even at the harvester energy usually it's kind of around it's for the kiddos but you know maybe even if we geared something a spinning wheel around something about recycling and composting and all of those things that you know yeah yeah we had the your event we did with brenda and it put it through a false you know
[Jenny Graham]: And I remember talking about, you know, recycling and stuff with the elder over there. And like, is it true or false? All the trash that we get in Medford, we throw in the Mystic River. I really hope not, you know, like, so they didn't know. So we want to bring the opportunity to pass what we learned over here, you know. So I thought it was pretty cool. Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: So that's been the, the big thing is actually, I think it was your recommendation. I made those beanbags and they are a huge hit. My one concern is that they're really popular with kids, but adults feel like it's beneath them and they might like watch their kid do it, but they're not usually engaging as much. So if there are ways to engage people over 15, I like this idea of quizzes.
[Evangelista]: What are we doing with the beanbags? I remember when you suggested that.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: So I ended up going to the Makerspace and making these from scraps. They are little beanbags with printed images of different types of trash.
[Evangelista]: OK.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Banana peels.
[Evangelista]: Where they go.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And then kids will source them into the right bins.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: mean you've both tabled with me they will sit and they will hand sort everything until the beanbag pile is gone and it's really it's pretty incredible yeah i want to give you a shout out because at the national night out like the kids were so excited and at first i thought maybe they would just be like kind of like aggressively checking but no they were really gentle with them and like really wanted to know they were like is this the right answer so i wanted to to give a shout out to the idea and the execution.
[Evangelista]: But again, I always say it starts with the kids. And then the kids, if they know it and they get it right, it's like, mom, no, dad, no.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: That's how my parents learned to recycle was me harassing them until they figured it out.
[Evangelista]: And one of the other things I wanted to say about the composting, I wondered if you would do like a road show and take it to the schools and stuff, because again, When the kids learn it and they go home, it's like, no.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I pitched this to the schools last spring, and it got pretty much shut down immediately. Too much time, not enough budget, things like that.
[Jenny Graham]: We can work directly with the PTOs because the PTOs run events.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Beautiful. Because there is a group. We have Keep Medford Beautiful. Keep Massachusetts Beautiful is the larger organization. They do litter cleanups and things like that. They do school visits directly related to what to do with trash, why you recycle, why you compost, things like that. And I had spoken at length with their head educator who wanted to come to the schools. And he said, oh, I would do it for like $100 a school, like just boom, boom, boom, boom. But it was not received well by the school. We just said, that's too much time. That's too much money. We're not going to do it. But if we can engage with the PTO, That'd be a really awesome group I would put in contact with and we can start.
[Evangelista]: And even if you found a school in the, in the surrounding area and they were willing to, I mean, for their community. And as soon as word comes back that it was a success, you know, you didn't want to do it the first time, but it's, it's that important that, you know, we're trying to, um, that, and, and you, you talked about like fix it events. What about like. you know, with the, with the, with the Vogue or something. I mean, because you talked about having the event and then, you know, when you get the same people, if you start going to those venues where that's what they do, they tinker and it's kind of like a, know you get a group of people who are of the same mind and it's like this is a really good thing and then they kind of start spreading it out to you know their backyard buddies who you know do their fixing or whatever and whatever i mean you kind of understand where i'm going with that i beyond understand i've been pushing again this like i don't so i didn't grow up here i don't know any of the teachers it's been a real like blind spot for me yeah i get that um so
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: If you have anyone at the school, I've reached out with, oh, I forget their name. They lead, it's called Eco League. It's an afterschool club at the high school. And they said they would think about it, but that's the only connection I really have.
[Jenny Graham]: Our office works very closely with the schools. I'm the PTO people, you know, I work with all the statewide PTOs. But Matisse's grant, we are doing the Caregiver University, you know, like with the school. So I will, when we talk tomorrow, maybe we can make like a meeting with Matisse and see the possibilities, you know, bring anything like that. And she has funding, too, that maybe can be supporting that. But yeah, maybe we just need to find the right people and the right opportunity to bring that. I think it's a great idea, you know.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I have a pretty long list here.
[Jenny Graham]: I was ready to do it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Garbage Garden has canvassing teams that I've been working with and I used to be a teacher before this. I would love to go and do these things. It's just a matter of Can I get in the door?
[Evangelista]: Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: So I'm, I'm eager to do it. And if you have those connections, I can at least send ideas to them and it would be really helpful.
[Jenny Graham]: have you guys ever bought a garbage truck to any of your events? So people can, no, I'm sorry.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: No, that would be cool. We have our recycler come in, our like, hardwood recycle.
[Jenny Graham]: What do they do? And maybe have a little presentation here, you know, this is how it works, why it's important that you don't put a glass on top because it can cut the glass or, you know, anything like that. Why it's overflowed, it's not good because the animals can get in. Sure. But like have a demonstration like that. And kids love trucks and, you know, I mean, like, and, i think that would be super cool too i will i will pitch that i like that a lot actually because yeah i think it was national night out they have to like touch a truck event where there's just like smoke truck kids are crazy about it yeah yeah if we can get a garbage truck in there well the thing about you were saying that you're reaching out to the kids but not the parents you know maybe have something like that can catch their eye like a Like Ben or something like, are you smarter than a fourth grader? You know, or something like that.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, I love it.
[Jenny Graham]: And then, you know, fans, you know, come parents and kids versus adults. Yeah. And something like that. My kids are crazy about that. Like they want to beat us in any game and anything.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I do like that. I'd say for most of the families I'm seeing, the kids will beat the ground up.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah. Yeah. But I like it. Plus, you're putting those parents to participate with their kids. They're making them memory, you know, and direct as a family. And you try to cross your message out there, you know, like, Patsy, what are you trying to, you know?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: I think that's a great idea, especially for the adults to learn, because real life scenario I have seen other people's trash because I do be nosy I look, looking at it, and they really need like if we would have like in any event we would have like. like examples, like what do you put on the compost? What do you put in the recycling? And a lot of people I've noticed, especially the bottle waters, they don't wanna crush them. That's why their bins are overflowing all the time. And the boxes, they don't wanna tear it down a little bit so it could have more room, so it won't overflow. Yeah. So, maybe if we could educate the adults, as well as the teenage children that would be helpful because when we started getting the trash every two weeks. I have a big fear that people are going to put trash bags on the side of the street, and all these other stuff it's going to be a whole lot of mess. Yeah, some people are lazy. They just throw food in the trash can instead of the compost, because I've seen that like a certain family member of mine. I'm like, that's not how this works. Because they leave their, their compost outside. And then while they're in the kitchen, they're kind of like annoyed to go outside and throw it away. And it's like a whole mess. I feel like they just need an education on how to use it and to make it better for them and the city, of course.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I definitely agree. Okay. I like all of this.
[Evangelista]: Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: you can you can compose bones, bones, meats, dairy, leftovers cooked and uncooked. Yes, like basically any organic thing. If you were going to eat it or it's adjacent to something you're going to eat. You can also get like never put me together.
[Evangelista]: I got a compost thing. Yeah. In the in the back.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And you can't do it in your home on a pile.
[Evangelista]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_06]: And that's why most people don't think about it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: What I, what I tell people that already have at home composting, I go, that's really awesome. And you should keep doing that. If you're doing it in a way that you, if you're doing it as clean and matters to you, that's great.
[Evangelista]: You create making dirt for your garden.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: That's super helpful. Absolutely. But. Yeah, you know, if you got the really gross stuff, you got like spoiled dairy, you got leftover food from the, our trash day is Wednesday morning. So Tuesday night as a house, we go through all of our leftovers and we dump it right into the compost, anything that's getting a little funky. And I know that their industrial commercial scale thing can break all of it down.
[Evangelista]: My God, that's a sell right there because the after stuff is so, freaking happy at that point.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I mean, do you believe I've been doing this for six months? Yeah. It's a it sells itself. It's just a matter of getting used to it. Yeah.
[Evangelista]: It's important. You said, is it four or less units or less than four or fewer? Yeah, four or fewer. Okay. That's a good thing. And I'm currently our flowers. Flyers.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, I will send some flyers because I have I know I have your email. And I can, or send it to Sam, just send it to everything.
[Evangelista]: Yeah. If, if somebody gets it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. We got info ready to go. It's just a matter of, you know, building the habit, making the, making the pitch as to why it's important. It can be tricky for some people because it's a new thing to do.
[Jenny Graham]: know like they use like cows poop you know for those things so it's because they eat grass or or why can we use can we use dogs poop oh yeah so like how does that work yeah so our system cannot take uh pet waste okay a lot of that has to do with what we're feeding our pets um which
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I am not going to claim to be an expert on like how you should feed your pet or if there would be a way to make that work. But as it stands, like dog poop is not going to biodegrade in a way that's meaningful. And more importantly, this is especially true with cat waste. Uh, they have different chemicals, parasites, and other, uh, like biological factors going on, uh, that would contaminate the soil that's being produced. Yeah. Um, so it's more of a contamination risk, but also there are some worries about like what breaks down and how well.
[Jenny Graham]: Um, and because in my mind it's more like. Animals, if you like certain animals and then I was wondering, you're right to think about it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: A lot of it is our pets get fed very specific diets and those don't always behave correctly in the same way. Like you should not try to compost human feces either. Like. It's true. It's not byproducts. Yeah. Like we have other ways of disposing of that and that has to be the way. Um, that being said, like question, it's a very good question. And a weird one that like most people don't even really think about.
[Evangelista]: The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: There you go.
[Evangelista]: Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Um, but I also have like a whole, we did a Q and a through our Facebook. I'm like, You know, can I compost leaf litter and yard waste? The answer is yeah, you could. You don't want to do too much because they'd rather it be food. But like, if you're in a bind and you're like, I got all these like sticks, break them up really small and put them in.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, but like, so does that mean during the springtime, if I clean my backyard and I put in a paper bag, the compost people are going to be able to take that too?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: They wouldn't want all of that. OK, gotcha. And our yard waste actually is getting expanded. I believe it'll be 25 weeks out of the year. Either 20 or 25. I think it's either 15 or 20 now and it's increasing by five more weeks. I'll have to double check. But we're increasing our yard waste pickup. So there's absolutely zero reason that you need to compost your yard waste. We pick it up pretty regularly. That's cool. But like, I always recommend to people like, hey, you could throw up if you're composted stinking throw a little bit of leaf leaf litter in there or paper towels. That's my favorite way it soaks up the smell it soaks up the juices keeps it clean keeps it smelling good like there's a lot of a lot of ways to make it
[Evangelista]: What a lovely conversation.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I love talking trash.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: I'll just quickly add my roommates and I restarted composting a couple months ago, but we live in Somerville. So we have to like pay every month to do it. It was like worth it for us, but I'm always so envious of like, Oh my gosh, Medford, cause I live pretty close. So I see all the Medford compost and I'm like, Oh, I'm jealous. I feel like messaging, not to be competitive, I feel like there should be collaboration between cities, but they're kind of like, oh, we're doing this, and oh, the next-door town.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are doing better than Somerville and Boston and Cambridge.
[Jenny Graham]: A lot of other towns. I'm from Everett, Maldon, you know, and I can see the difference, you know? It makes me really proud, actually, to see, like, I know the people that are working very hard to do that, you know?
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: I don't know if we mentioned this before in our last meetings. What about batteries, small batteries?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, so batteries are tricky. There's actually a few different, depends on the type is the short answer. What I'm going to recommend, there's a website, you're going to go to Recycle Smart MA. Uh, and they have a little search bar called the Recyclepedia and you can type in any material on earth and the very smart people at RecycleSmartMA, which is run through MassDEP. They will tell you exactly what to do with it in real time. They have like a whole database encyclopedia on what to do. Um, the short answer is if you have like rechargeable batteries, uh, they need to, oh, there's so much. So mercury and recycle and rechargeable batteries, bring it up to city hall DPW. They collect those special. Um, cause those need to be disposed of in a very particular way or they could explode. It's really dangerous. Um, uh, lithium ion batteries in particular, like what's in your cell phone or an e-bike or a laptop. Those can be really dangerous if not treated well, if they get punctured, they go into thermal runaway, they explode, it's really dangerous.
[Evangelista]: So even if you just kind of leave it sitting, sometimes they swell, because I had a phone, I was looking at an old I was looking for an old iPhone, I was looking for an old iPod.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[Evangelista]: And I pulled out an old iPhone. And there's no way I would have kept it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: It was it was swelling. Oh, my God. So
[SPEAKER_05]: I was like what on earth it had to have exploded. That could have been a real disaster.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: So we are working with the fire department actually right now to build some extra systems in place because if a battery were to start swelling or anything like that, you need to contact the fire department immediately. They will dispose of it. They have ways to do so.
[Evangelista]: So even though it's split open at this point, should I get it out of the house? Because it's been a curiosity of mine now. It's just like, if you have someone who works at an Apple store, why would this happen?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: If it's split open and hasn't already kind of exploded, you're probably OK. But I would still contact the fire department and have them come collect it. Those have the potential to be really dangerous. And I would never recommend keeping one in your home. okay yeah because i've been hanging on to like i said maybe i should just maybe maybe i'll take to the apple store so yeah and see what what's happening with the product yeah so a lot of tech stores like apple store will do it uh same with a lot of hardware stores if you go to home depot lows tags ace hardware any of those usually have receptacles to collect lithium ion batteries so long as they are not you will as long as they are not like inactive exploding I just read about it all the time.
[Evangelista]: Thank you. I'm going to put that joke around my back, which I'm going to put, I'm just going to throw it out in the yard tonight.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Well, so I would be more careful with it than that. If I'm going to be completely honest. Oh, the fire department. No, no, I would what I would do. she's gonna be like there are sorry there are uh some ways to to handle this again something it hasn't exploded no so you're likely okay okay uh but you know treat with care yeah um it stores a lot of energy in its lifetime and as it dies it doesn't die quietly um like i'm not ready exactly exactly um so like Treat it with a lot of care. And I would contact the fire department, non-emergency, but they should come collect this is your best, best bet. If it's not, if it is swelling or something, that's really dangerous. We usually get, I think the fire department has claimed a handful of house fires over the summer started by like e-bike batteries that swell or a damaged laptop batteries that um explode on the back seat of a car or something okay usually you know when it's happening like you can see it swell yeah like sometimes people will show me their laptop and it looks like it's pregnant and i go oh you simply must go to the fire department to dispose oh yeah jack i have a bunch of stuff at home and so that would hold them will pretty much hold true with any sort of battery like even for like um power tool you know those batteries or this those tend to be and you know you have these so for larger appliances they tend to be lithium-ion the those power tool ones tend to have much uh much more durable frames so they're less likely to do that um i mean the same is true for like evs okay like ev batteries technically have the same like their lithium-ion and if you were to like but they're encased a million times over because they know the accidents happen and they don't want to explode because you got rear-ended okay um but like your phone it's just in a little yeah case and that's harder to harder to secure the thin wad of aluminum yeah if uh plastic it's usually plastic but all this to say like It's not, I'm not going to like fearmonger and say like all your tech's about to pop.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Like, but like, it's something to like have in the back of your mind, like it does happen on occasion. And when it does the fire department knows best and they're literally like undergoing extra trainings right now through the state, they're getting extra disposal methods with them right now. Like I'm, I met with the fire chief, like two weeks ago to talk about this exact thing. This is like front of mind for them.
[Evangelista]: It's just really good to know. I mean it's probably was probably like I'm gonna get off this it probably was like an iPhone 5 so it's pretty old and it's just been you know because that yeah I just think it's beautiful technology and yeah it's like I had an iPhone 6 up until like a year and a half ago.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: My favorite thing on earth.
[Evangelista]: Yeah, sitting around in a drawer is not a good place for it. If you're not going to use it, if it's not being used and, you know, where you're keeping an eye on it, where you're grabbing it from time to time, it was in a drawer.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. And that happens to a lot of people because they just don't know what to do with it. And that's where, um, the other group to talk to is the battery recyclers. Um, and I'll get their exact URL. Um, there's an international organization that literally gives you like a map of where to dispose of batteries and different types of batteries and things like that.
[Evangelista]: So is that recycle smart dot M a or recycle smart and a dot. Can you send that as to an email to us?
[Jenny Graham]: They have a Facebook page of that.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah.
[Jenny Graham]: I also thanks. I follow down who recycles smart and they dot org.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Okay.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: I just wasn't sure. Yes. Medford, the opening website.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I have another question. I'm passionate to it already. Yes, sorry.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: I have another question, but this one could be personal to me, since we're talking about that subject. I don't want my house to be blown up too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: It's likely to make other people too.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: My brother, apparently, you know those gas containers? where like you run out of gas and then you put the gas inside that red container.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, sure, sure. Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: So apparently he had to put it in my house without me knowing. And it kind of blew up, like not blew up, like swell. It's swell.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: It's like the big red one.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: The big red one. Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: It kind of swelled up. And I got concerned about that. And I asked someone, why is it, is it that big? I didn't know they, they sell it that huge. And they're like, no, it's not that huge. It's, it's swelled up. because there was actually a little bit gas inside it that I didn't know.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: So I called.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Yes, it evaporated. So I called the fire department, the Medford Fire Department, because I got scared. I'm like, oh, my God, this thing's going to blow up with me and my kids in the house. So they came and they said, OK, it's It's not. It's out of the red zone. It's not gonna blow up or anything but I need to get it out of the house that I need to contact City Hall. I think it's DPW I'm not sure. And they, cause they can't take it. They can't remove it for some reason that I have to call them and have somebody special to come remove it out of my property. And I may have to pay for it. Is that true? Cause it's still there and it has gas inside it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Okay. That one is an interesting case. I will talk to DPW tomorrow morning, uh, to figure out best course of action for that. That is quite interesting.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: I would assume, but I wouldn't wait because I think they just had their hazard waste day. You could bring it. I don't know. I'm not an expert on things blowing up or things that you shouldn't. I wouldn't see why you would need a professional to remove it if it's not a concern to blow up. But we can talk to DPW and maybe I don't know, maybe we do coordinate with them, like weird things that might be in your home.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: I know. I'm like, even the fire department, I'm like, why you take it? I don't want it here.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's crazy to me that they just didn't.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'd think they would be able to defuse it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: If the fire department doesn't treat it as a big deal, it must be safer than we think. But again, I'm,
[Jenny Graham]: Or maybe they also need to be educated, you know?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: But this is really good for me because this is not something I'm familiar with. And I'm about to spend about an hour at DPW figuring out everything there is to know.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, there's actually gas inside it. So I'm like, imagine the hot, steamy weather. I feel like something could happen.
[Evangelista]: Couldn't you take it to a gas station? They must have some way to- They won't take it.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: They won't take it. They won't take it.
[Evangelista]: Why?
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: get on the curb and clap just kidding don't do that don't do that yeah but you can you can take oil to them yeah i would think we're an auto body shop yeah we'll talk to dpw and get back to you because i'm very curious and i'm very other i'm curious and concerned my so i'm going to talk to dpw i'm also going to implement some like
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: background chemistry and physics in this. As the weather cools down, it'll condense. It'll be less of an issue.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: So the hotter it is, the more it expands. Yes. So cooling it down will be nice. But like, you know, I'm not going to bank on that, you know.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Because I was going to throw out. I don't know if that was a smart move. I was like, I'm going to take that gas and just throw it away. They're like, no, no, no, don't do that. You can't do that. I'm like, OK, so what do you want me to do? I don't want it in the house.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah, so.
[Evangelista]: Definitely don't pour it down some sewer. No.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Thank you, yes.
[Evangelista]: Definitely don't. Put it in the river.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, well, because, you know, it will do that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no doubt.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: I wonder if it'd be worth it to do a little social media campaign about things. We can get it translated up like, batteries, if you have them in the house. and they're about to explode. Like, this is what you should be looking out for.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yes. And we have that info. So I will, I will make that my, my absolute mission for the, for tomorrow.
[Jenny Graham]: I mean, maybe have a fire alert. If you have this, this, this, this, you know?
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Yeah. Cause again, my biggest fear is that it's more common than people are talking about.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah. I'm afraid to call the fire department.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: And the fire department simply must be the first person to know. Um, so I'm glad you did that. If they say it's all clear, we can go a little slower, but my goodness, we should, I will, I will get a full answer for you and you will hopefully know by the end of tomorrow what the best course of action is.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Of course. That's yeah. See trash is serious.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah. I'll keep us aware of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and I'm in the, I'm in the planning office. If you have questions about trash, like, email me, call me. I love doing this. So, like, I don't want to take your whole meeting. You just come visit. I get lonely.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Oh, I got a lot. I got a lot. You have a card.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, I do not slowly in turn. No, I will connect us all on email.
[Evangelista]: Yeah, because I want to put numbers in my phone. So if I'm having a conversation with people or and we can just so yeah, so that you know, so I could just say here's here's here the folks to speak to and which is Sarah. Oh, see, there's nothing that's always to do with people. Right. Before we do adjourn and stuff. Because I had someone who I had put in touch with, Brenda, or I sent her her information and stuff, and now that she's gone, with you replacing her, can I get your information as well? Because she wants to talk to somebody about mass aid, unless there's somebody else. No, send it to me. I want to give her your number, because, you know, she said she was going to call, and I talked to her today, and she said, she was gonna contact Brenda, and I said, Brenda's not with us anymore, so.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: I will give you all my email and my office number, and then I will drop off some of my cards to her office tomorrow so that you guys can just keep them on hand and be like, oh, I have her card. Okay.
[Evangelista]: It's about insulation. She wants some insulation down or something, or I don't know, so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[Evangelista]: Okay. Awesome. Sam Riley, I got it now, so okay.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: It's all right. It's first time and it's late, so. It's a double whammy. Yeah, wrong date. No whammies. Well, do we want to... The last sort of thing I had on the agenda was talking about things for upcoming meetings. Are there topics? Have we sort of branched out? Oh, hazardous waste seems to be very important. Let's spend time. Maybe we can invite someone from DPW here to talk about how they do it, or the fire chief, someone from fire to talk about it. Is there anything that we want to talk about in future meetings?
[Jenny Graham]: I would love to talk in the next meeting about what else can we provide during the winter preparedness event. You know, what are you guys going to be doing? It's huge. But like, also I was thinking about, um, I read some news about how oil is very expensive and how people can manage, you know, give some tips or things like that. Hey, if you have oil in your house, how can you prevent your house from being cold? Um, I know as Brazilian, I've seen families that leave the stove on and leave it open. know, to keep the house warm, you know, like I would really love to have some type of material to provide to people. I was just talking to Stacy today about how I want to make like graphic things that I can put it, you know, not presentation but like people can walk by and see like ways they can dress during the winter because there's a lot of folks that came from another state or another country during first winter or they still haven't learned how to dress appropriate for the winter. I really would love to have things like that you know more visual because going to the table first take a long time for us to explain one thing for each person you know but if it's something visual they can even just take a picture take that with that you know like i would love to have some more uh safety ways that they can keep their house warm you know or safe you know you know like uh yeah well i know there's some uh jacket coat drives i think uh some of the churches down the way do coat drives every year which we should just be translating and sending out to everybody Yeah, I would not do that because we are doing a cold drive for that man.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Apologies.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, that's what are you going to be doing each other? But like, we need to focus on our well, that's probably what I was thinking of.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: It's the only one I and then was ABCD does they'll submit like they'll do one month. if you're behind on energy bills and stuff, like they will help you supporting.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: There's national grid. I can't think of the word off the top of my head, but there are reasons and they won't, I don't think they shut your heat off no matter what happens. But there's other reasons where it's like, you can give, if you're in the hospital for long periods of time, if you're going through something, you can, submit something to National Grid so that they won't shut off your power.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, I was thinking to talk to our social worker, Jason, that sometimes people have issues and they leave for the last minute. They're being evicted. They have no electricity because they've run out of their power. They leave for the last minute. make people aware that, hey, if we know the issues in the beginning, maybe we can direct you to resources, you know, like that can prevent those bad things to happen. But if there's any resource out there that you guys know about oil, you know, for those families that, you know, like they can supply, you know, the oil for the heat, you know, that would be very helpful. I couldn't find anything today when I was doing my, but like the safe part.
[Evangelista]: What about like weather stripping? doing stuff like that, whether it's shipping, yeah, installation, indoor, I mean, you know, putting the things that'll help drafty windows, the plastic or whatever.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: What is available there that it can do it, you know, like, yeah. Nassim has a ton of rebates and incentives, but even more, I don't know, but I need to find out. Back in the other municipality that I worked for, we had a regional agency called SMAW, and they helped lower income residents. So pretty much if you are below the income eligibility for MassSafe because there's an income incentive, you get a ton more incentives. They do a lot more for free. So we can see whatever that regional group is to see if they will come to that to talk about things that they'll do for free for a lot of residents.
[Evangelista]: So would that be for homeowners or is that for even?
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Renters you don't get as much, but if it's like window cover, like the plastic that goes over your window, they'll do stuff like that, that is renter friendly.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, and other things like the electric heaters, you know, that people put in their houses, you know, those are so dangerous. and i've been in houses that people have stuff that they shouldn't have around those things you know like that for me is common sense but for people that don't know anything about it you know like and if it's cold yeah if you're cold it's like you know this is you're just trying to fix that and there's a heater there i put
[Evangelista]: You know, we can gather around in this one room, spend our evening there.
[Jenny Graham]: Oh, let me leave all why I'm going to do this and that. Because when I come back to the house is warm enough for when to come, you know, like, so I just would like to, maybe we kind of brainstorm a little bit and maybe be able to work together something else that can provide. Almost do this, not that. Yeah.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: Cause the other side is like, I mean, I winced when you talked about like leaving the stove on or things like that. Cause those, like, especially if you have like a gas powered stove, the air quality is really bad. Like it could be really. Dangerous for people to do that.
[Jenny Graham]: And I know people that have kids and they do that, you know Gas burners or even get burned, you know, like she was running, you know, like and I don't know I can see a lot of bad sinners happening, you know, like but at the same time I understand, you know, like in about like their rights to you know, there are a lot of landlords that you know, like control the heat in the house because it's included or not, you know, I mean like so I Yeah, we cannot cover everything, but maybe you can come up with some idea that it can, you know, not that kind of thing is from a quilts over the window household.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: All the old blankets and set them up, but yeah, we'll make it tonight.
[vIXAnO_MxfQ_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, because before, like, some of the windows in our apartment. Some of them are so old and you'd stand next to them and you can feel them. They're like a draft, literally like wind.
[Jenny Graham]: So we put up the weather strips. My husband, I always thought that it's ghetto, you know, like, but like, I mean, I can feel, so I did and then shows the whole thing flows up. I mean, see, I was telling you. And then he kind of shut up, you know, after that. So, and then the room was much warmer too, you know, like, I mean, oh, I can see that the heat is not working as hard, you know, as hard too.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: do you think everyone needs to replace their windows so probably some rebates there oh a hundred percent but do they do that around this time though it's the last moment yeah and thanks to climate change and it's warmer later you got till november a little later too windows are very expensive that's another one if there is like a smock type group i think they would put windows in for free if you own your home And then it's connecting with landlords to make sure that they know that these things are available.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: That's my biggest worry is we send a lot of materials to landlords that just don't get it, don't care, don't see it.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: Or there's the catch-22 of, I upgraded all my windows, I did all these things. Rents are more expensive. So making sure that when they're doing these upgrades, it's not, I upgraded this place, that's $200 more a month. So that we're really capturing doing it, but not... not taking advantage of doing it. Another thing that you had said was doing imaging. I did a lot in my previous role. I translated my website into images. So no matter what language you speak, no matter what your understanding is, you can see the images. So we could probably do a lot. I did something where it was like, you know, paper dolls, and like they have the clothes that you're like, put them on. So I wonder if that, for like kids, we could do something of like paper dolls of like, hey doll, let me wear.
[Jenny Graham]: That's what I was trying to do today. I put some, I found some pictures on Google, you know, that I could use, you know, that shows like, you know, the layers and everything, like more visual. That way I don't need to be writing all those things, you know, like, because nobody has the time or want to go be reading all that. Yeah. Yeah. So we're trying to find ways that people can just look and get the message instead of reading all those ginormous, you know, like flyers and whatever you're making.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: We did projects with residents that are early onset dementia and finding that having images helps as something on the fridge instead of, oh, jacket, oh, heat on in the summer is, oh, drink water today.
[Jenny Graham]: Well, I work, my first job was working with Kumo, you know, that Japanese, and that's how their vision, you know, like kids start reading by relating words with, you know, like, like kids don't know how to read, but if they see the McDonald's sign, they know that's McDonald's, you know what I mean? Like, so, and I kind of also, I mean, oh, working for them, I kind of understand like, oh, the message could be way more than just words, you know, like, that is... An image is a thousand words. Everybody's so quiet today. We'll come up with something by the end of the meeting.
[O2nzoxaatsQ_SPEAKER_09]: All right. It is 8 o'clock, so I'm going to be very aware of time. So next meeting, we can talk about winter preparedness, what we want there. Any final thoughts, anything else before we adjourn? I don't think you have emotions to tell us. We do, and I realized we lost Jeremy at one point, so I don't even know if we've got him, to be completely honest. Yeah, we have three.
[Jenny Graham]: Oh, three is for Natasha, and three for us.
[Evangelista]: Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. So, yeah. Thank you. Jeremy left a while ago.
[Jenny Graham]: I saw him when he said to... I think that video scared him. Huh? The video, the scary video. I think he left before that.
[Evangelista]: Before he was gone. Oh, oh, oh. He missed the video.
[Jenny Graham]: He was standing at the top.
[Evangelista]: Okay. Motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Bye, Natasha.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: I'm thinking about that gasoline by tomorrow.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Yes, please. I don't want to be in the five o'clock news.
[rov34HMcKiU_SPEAKER_27]: No, you will not. We will make sure you're better than that. Bye. Bye.
[MCM00001615_SPEAKER_08]: Check it out.
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