[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: This was a meeting with we invited our facilities manager Paul Riggi to come out and talk about our facilities.

[Anna Callahan]: We have requested that he present us both with a spreadsheet of all of the buildings and some information about those within the next.

[Anna Callahan]: and then within the next month, he's also gonna, or a couple of months, he will also get us an estimate for how much it will cost to get a true long-term planning document about our facilities to understand the state and the cost to repair each of them.

[Anna Callahan]: And I move to approve.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, do you know if it will affect any trees?

[Anna Callahan]: The placement of the pole and the placement of the wires?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So, as I think many of my fellow City Councilors, I also feel that we are relatively powerless in this situation, which I'm not happy about.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate the work of Councilor Lazzaro in

[Anna Callahan]: talking to our police chief and getting an understanding from our police what they feel capable of doing, what they feel that they can do, what they are willing to do, and I'm very appreciative of that behind-the-scenes work.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that this will be really important for people, and my hope is that we

[Anna Callahan]: you know, the reports are that there is not a lot of ice activity and that people then feel more comfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: But of course, if there is, I think that is also very important for the public to know about.

[Anna Callahan]: My only request was going to be, which I believe Councilor Collins also just put into her request, that it's specified that it is done at a City Council meeting so that it can be

[Anna Callahan]: to be part of the public record because I think that's that's a to me almost the most important part of what this request is about is about getting this information to the public.

[Anna Callahan]: Um so thank you so much for this work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: It is my understanding that the last time the National Guard was brought into a state to assist was with the permission of the governor.

[Anna Callahan]: It was in 1992, during the Rodney King riots.

[Anna Callahan]: There were many millions of dollars of property damage, and I believe there were quite a few deaths.

[Anna Callahan]: And it was requested by the governor to aid and assist.

[Anna Callahan]: Far, far worse had happened, certainly than anything we're seeing in Los Angeles right now.

[Anna Callahan]: There is no permission from the governor of California right now.

[Anna Callahan]: And the last time that the National Guard was sent in to any state without the permission of the governor was, I believe, after the Civil Rights Act.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you very much.

[Anna Callahan]: Exactly.

[Anna Callahan]: In Alabama, 1965, to enforce the Civil Rights Act, it is

[Anna Callahan]: truly bizarre and disturbing that this is happening now.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, I really have to echo some of my fellow Councilors in saying that I don't think that it helps us to sit by and try to not be noticed.

[Anna Callahan]: I think at this point, despite our

[Anna Callahan]: not having power at the national level or at the state level, I think that it is important that we speak up.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for putting this together.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: My only was a friendly amendment, which is just what you said, which is to send it to the Public Works and Facilities Committee.

[Anna Callahan]: We have good discussions there, which include residents, as well as talking to staff.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um so I have been asking about this sort of behind the scenes.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm gonna just be more public now.

[Anna Callahan]: Um.

[Anna Callahan]: I understand that it's important for the city to have certain savings accounts.

[Anna Callahan]: The stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: I understand that we need to maintain certain amounts of money in those accounts.

[Anna Callahan]: Um and if there's a certain amount that we should

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that we should not be seeing more than $20 million in excess of those accounts just lying around not being used.

[Anna Callahan]: And what I hope to see from the administration is, so this basically says, well, there's $550 million in existing needs.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, wow, it's so much more.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't wanna see the $550 million in needs that we have.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to understand how much of free cash needs to be maintained

[Anna Callahan]: because it is a smart move to maintain it, because that is what we need in order to keep our bond rating good and all of that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I want to have an idea of how we're going to spend the rest of the money.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we had $28 million a year ago.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't continue to put more money into, you know, I completely get it.

[Anna Callahan]: We need to have a certain percentage of your budget that you have to have as free cash at the end of every year, and I completely approve of conservative budgeting so that we do every year have some free cash like coming back into that free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't just not spend it because

[Anna Callahan]: The way that certain things work, like our roads and other maintenance projects, the longer you allow them to become more and more dilapidated, then it costs 50 times as much to repair.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't just let this money sit there.

[Anna Callahan]: And so that, I think, is what Councilor Lazzaro was trying to say, that the money isn't doing anything.

[Anna Callahan]: And there are things more important that it could be doing and it should be doing.

[Anna Callahan]: So what I would like to see is, I get it if some of this free cash should remain as

[Anna Callahan]: uh you know in stabilization funds or even in the free cash account if there are reasons why that those should remain there i understand but i think we we shouldn't be taking i mean since i've gotten on the council it's a year and a half we don't have a plan for the

[Anna Callahan]: tens of millions of dollars in free cash that we have, we need to have a plan so that money can be used in a way that is smart and means that in the future we have to spend less money, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Those are things, like roads in particular, I just find it hard to believe that letting

[Anna Callahan]: plus million dollars in free cash sit around is better for the city than spending that money.

[Anna Callahan]: For example, on roads, and I also understand that if we're going to be spending on roads, we're going to increase our spending on roads, then we have to hire more engineers like these things can't happen immediately.

[Anna Callahan]: I get that.

[Anna Callahan]: But to see this, a year later, that there isn't a plan.

[Anna Callahan]: that to me seems overdue.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to, I would actually love to hear from you.

[Anna Callahan]: And I thought this was what Councilor Lazzaro was asking for when she said timeline.

[Anna Callahan]: What I would like is not just a timeline for like when we're spending the money, I'd like a timeline for when can we see the thing I just described?

[Anna Callahan]: When can we see that the administration has a plan for how much of this $22.12 million remaining is going to be reserved

[Anna Callahan]: because I understand that, and there may be unknown expenses, there may be other things.

[Anna Callahan]: I get that.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what we have the stabilization funds for.

[Anna Callahan]: But I want to know timeline.

[Anna Callahan]: By the end of the summer, will we have an understanding of how this $22 million is going to be spent?

[Anna Callahan]: What is the timeline for us seeing a plan for free cash, including one for reserving some of it as savings?

[Anna Callahan]: yes, staffing is absolutely, I completely understand that those are issues, but you can't start staffing if you don't have a plan.

[Anna Callahan]: So, the having of a plan, I think, is the thing that I'm looking for the timeline on.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I appreciate that you think that, you know, at the end of the summer is when we'll be able to see that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I forgot to ask a couple of questions.

[Anna Callahan]: So more than half of this $550 million is the water and sewer infrastructure work plus the lead line replacement.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanted to ask how much of that, like we have the water and sewer enterprise fund.

[Anna Callahan]: How much do you think we will be using other savings accounts to work on one or both of those two items?

[Anna Callahan]: So if I may, it's entirely possible that we might dip into free cash for, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: or some other sort of savings account for that, but it's also quite likely that we may not because the rates might be put.

[Anna Callahan]: And that includes both the lead lines as well as the water and sewer infrastructure.

[Anna Callahan]: No, I'm sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just had a super quick follow-up to Councilor Leming's point.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to make sure when you're looking at that $28.3 million from last year and the $22.12 million this year and comparing it to other cities, in comparison to other cities, are you taking their total amount of savings?

[Anna Callahan]: Because this $22.12 million does not include the stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you add those stabilization funds to the $22.12 million,

[Anna Callahan]: than I believe we're actually over the 28.3 million that we had a year ago.

[Anna Callahan]: So this may be more than the 14% that we were a year ago, and it might be that we have more to spend to be in line with other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me know

[Anna Callahan]: this is a meeting of the Public Works and Facilities Committee for June 3rd, 2025.

[Anna Callahan]: This is the, I will restate that now that I'm on mic.

[Anna Callahan]: This is the Public Works and Facilities Committee for June 3rd, 2025.

[Anna Callahan]: This meeting will take place at 6 p.m.

[Anna Callahan]: in City Hall.

[Anna Callahan]: And if, I think I will go ahead and just start by having you call roll call.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: And today we are covering paper 24-034 from President Zach Bears.

[Anna Callahan]: It is a report request from the Facilities Manager.

[Anna Callahan]: Be it resolved by the Medford City Council that the Public Works and Facilities Committee request a report from the Facilities Manager containing the following information.

[Anna Callahan]: One, a complete inventory of city-owned properties and city-managed properties.

[Anna Callahan]: Two, cost to restore each property on the above inventory to a state of good repair.

[Anna Callahan]: Three, cost to maintain each property in a state of good repair once restored.

[Anna Callahan]: Be it further resolved that the Public Works and Facilities Committee invite the facilities manager to present and discuss the above report once completed.

[Anna Callahan]: And we very much appreciate our facilities manager, Mr. Riggi, being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Riggi, please take the floor.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me, let's turn you on.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't, this thing is not, ah, there we go.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you give a timeline and a cost estimate for what it would take to provide the, and you got a copy of this.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure, but you're talking about a cost estimate for the cost estimate, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have a sense for, I mean, is a better process that you provide us with an estimate of how much it will cost you to do this report?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something that you?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to turn to my fellow Councilors and see if folks have questions.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Your mic doesn't say your name on here.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: You're the... Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Ms.

[Anna Callahan]: Do I have questions from other councilors?

[Anna Callahan]: can you let Zach in?

[Anna Callahan]: President Bears?

[Anna Callahan]: Could you at least provide some version of that just to the city Councilors?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you,

[Anna Callahan]: Before we move on to public comment, I just wanna see what you think about a little bit of a timeline.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you think that if you can get us that database, just the spreadsheet, in a couple of weeks, is that reasonable?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, beautiful.

[Anna Callahan]: And then do you think you could get us an estimate by a month or two from now, like an estimate, sorry, an estimate of how much it will cost to get the cost estimate?

[Anna Callahan]: I should be able to do that would be beautiful, right?

[Anna Callahan]: If you can get those things the next month or so, that'd be really helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I think we can, um Maybe.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh, maybe what?

[Anna Callahan]: What accounts are think about us revisiting based upon that estimate and making a decision as to whether we want to, um Request.

[Anna Callahan]: That that full, um, estimate of

[Anna Callahan]: seem reasonable that we revisit that in this committee?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so that'll be our plan.

[Anna Callahan]: And so once you get us the estimate for the estimate, we can let you know whether, you know, what we think about moving forward with that.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful, great.

[Anna Callahan]: I will open it up for public comment.

[Anna Callahan]: So if there's anyone, I do not see anyone in the chamber.

[Anna Callahan]: If there's anyone on Zoom who wants to make any commentary on this topic.

[Anna Callahan]: Ken Kraus, we are asking you to unmute now.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any comments on the comments?

[Anna Callahan]: Any other public comment?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, we do have Matthew Leming, Councilor Leming, who is not on the committee, but maybe he is on the committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Glad to see you here, Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: We're having you on mute.

[Anna Callahan]: No, no, you go ahead, Councilor Laming.

[Anna Callahan]: And can I clarify, it sounds like maybe it does help lower the overall cost.

[Anna Callahan]: Anything else, Councilor Leming?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: And do you think that in the two weeks, you would be able to also just add a column that was like the, whichever estimate for maintenance you think would be preferable if you want to do the like 2% or some sort of per square footage maintenance estimate in that spreadsheet would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Perfect.

[Anna Callahan]: Any other comments from councilors?

[Anna Callahan]: I want to thank you so much for coming out.

[Anna Callahan]: It has been really great to have you here.

[Anna Callahan]: We look forward very much to the spreadsheet and then the estimate for the estimate.

[Anna Callahan]: Do I have a motion on the floor?

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: There is a motion to keep in committee and adjourn from Councilor Bears, seconded by Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: Clerk, when you're ready, if you would call the roll.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Five in favor, zero opposed.

[Anna Callahan]: The motion passes and we are adjourned.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: And 1st, I just want to apologize for not being there in person.

[Anna Callahan]: I am feeling pretty under the weather.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and in fact, I think I will probably drop off after this budget vote.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, but, uh, but I also want to thank Councilor Tseng for, um, mentioning the tree planting the volunteer tree planting project and just give a tiny little update so that people understand and then ask 1 question.

[Anna Callahan]: of the mayor as well, that the volunteer tree planting project is full steam ahead I have a team of dedicated volunteers who are working on it.

[Anna Callahan]: We anticipate having our first pilot planting happened this fall, and we are working with trees Medford and you know,

[Anna Callahan]: beginning to talk to folks in the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: So I believe that that project is going to move forward.

[Anna Callahan]: And Madam Mayor, I know that you had suggested when we met that the trees themselves, which is a relatively small part of the cost of planting trees, might come out of free cash when that happens.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanted to see if that was still the plan.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm also very, very excited to see the free cash and stabilization fund plans later this summer.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you feel better.

[Anna Callahan]: just super basic, why are we doing soil remediation there?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: This is, I'm quite sure you're correct, but just, you know, running the numbers in my head, 1,100 a year is more than three a day.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's a part-time person that can assess more than three buildings a day.

[Anna Callahan]: That's like, maybe I'm not, I'm just curious, like, with the part-time.

[Anna Callahan]: That's amazing, okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: And then thank you, President Perez, for mentioning the, what am I sitting on now?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, the residential exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: My understanding is that

[Anna Callahan]: applications wouldn't begin until July, like we would open an application process in July and that you would need people starting some extra help starting in July, right?

[Anna Callahan]: But the way you phrased it, it sounded like it would be submitted by July.

[Anna Callahan]: Or can you just talk a little bit more about that process?

[Anna Callahan]: But I think if we vote in December, can we vote in December to have it apply to the next?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just trying to understand.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems almost like it's become impossible for us to ever do it because we have to have already hired the people before.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that our deadline for making some sort of decision was really going to be around July.

[Anna Callahan]: For the following July.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's why you would need to have that extra on the budget, because those people would have to be hired.

[Anna Callahan]: So you're not talking about this July.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: How many different pieces of debt do we have that end at different times?

[Anna Callahan]: Three years at 100.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to see if it's 60 things, and I don't know if you could, you know.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't mean like asking me right now, but if we could just have it emailed, that would be really interesting and useful to understand sort of when it's gonna get retired, when different pieces of it are gonna get retired.

[Anna Callahan]: That'd be useful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just hoping, I know you're excited about statistics.

[Anna Callahan]: You brought them here.

[Anna Callahan]: You want to bring them up next time.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm so excited.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm hoping that you can maybe just email the clerk, and then he can forward some of those to us.

[Anna Callahan]: Just the ones you mentioned today.

[Anna Callahan]: Don't go to any extra trouble.

[Anna Callahan]: I especially like the rankings and the program it provides.

[Anna Callahan]: the part-time pay as compared to Winchester and if you have anybody else to compare to.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really would like you to include the fact that people work for us because we are more fun than other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: This is my theory.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: unclassified, which is almost tap.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I'm so sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: City Council.

[Anna Callahan]: Good evening and welcome to the City Facilities Committee for May 20th 2025.

[Anna Callahan]: This meeting will take place at five p.m.

[Anna Callahan]: in the City Council Chamber of Medford City Hall.

[Anna Callahan]: 85 George B has to drive.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh.

[Anna Callahan]: Today we are covering item 25-069 offered by me chair Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: It is a resolution to invite the friends of the

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So to start us off, I will just read the resolution first.

[Anna Callahan]: Whereas the Chevrolet theater is a historic thriving cultural center used by our residents, which brings together people from all over Greater Boston, be it resolved that the city council invite Cindy Watson from the friends of the Chevrolet to attend a public works and facilities meeting to inform our community about the state of the Chevrolet theater.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to invite Ms.

[Anna Callahan]: Watson to come up to the podium and give us your

[Anna Callahan]: Give us your take on the State of the Chevalier.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, let me just... Hello?

[Anna Callahan]: There you go, you're on.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, this is just, you've just been sort of rattling off some events that happened and I don't have the budget numbers right in front of me.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I'm sure there is a budget for the Chevalier.

[Anna Callahan]: Would you like us to follow up with the administration to figure out what the budget is?

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like $100,000.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me just ask the $100,000.

[Anna Callahan]: Was that for this fiscal year so that that would be from last July 1 until ending in June 30.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: So that would mean that was since we're three quarters of the way through that year, that maybe there would be $25,000 left.

[Anna Callahan]: That was all he had.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what he told me.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: But it sounded I mean, I look, I wasn't at that conversation.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I'm really just going off of what you said.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like there are twenty five thousand dollars remaining in the budget and there is a quarter of the year left to go.

[Anna Callahan]: So that doesn't sound particularly odd.

[Anna Callahan]: But again, I don't have like I was not I did not realize if you'd asked I could have prepared and had the budget at this meeting, like with all those numbers and knowing what everything had been spent out of that budget.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not realize that that was what you were going to be asking about today.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, my main reason for coming here was to get additional lighting for the balcony, so that great and that that was what I understood that you had some requests of things that you wanted done which, you know, we're happy to, you know, pass along but I think if you want a deeper understanding of what's going on with the budget like we can do that it just might take a little bit of time I'm going to go to Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: My bad.

[Anna Callahan]: You're number five?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm gonna tell.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, who's requesting?

[Anna Callahan]: Did I get you?

[Anna Callahan]: So by the way, if I may.

[Anna Callahan]: Today, at six o'clock, we will have the Chevrolet theater budget on the, so if you just stick around, then you will hear the presentation of the budget for the Chevrolet theater so who's going to present that.

[Anna Callahan]: Good question.

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, also, I believe Paul Riggi is on Zoom and has raised his hand.

[Anna Callahan]: So shall we go to him?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that all right if we go to him?

[Anna Callahan]: Fine.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you?

[Anna Callahan]: We're asking you to unmute.

[Anna Callahan]: Go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: If I may, the Hager Center is actually not on the agenda and I really am interested in understanding.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that you would be giving us the state of the Chevrolet, and I know you specifically wanted to talk about the facility.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: And I still do want to ask, aside from the lighting, it seems like the lighting is on people's radar.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other needs that you see in terms of the facilities, things that you would like to happen in the near future?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other needs that you see in the Chevrolet?

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like there is a motion on the floor.

[Anna Callahan]: Could you maybe repeat?

[Anna Callahan]: Did you catch that motion?

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Clerk, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Seconded by Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there any more discussion on this particular topic?

[Anna Callahan]: I was just fast.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anything further that you want to discuss about the state of LA?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have a motion.

[Anna Callahan]: By Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Clerk, please call the roll.

[Anna Callahan]: When you're ready.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have a date

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, if I may also remind people, not just that we have the senior center ones, but that we do listening sessions.

[Anna Callahan]: So I want people to understand that we do listening sessions and for folks, you know, who maybe do not come to city council meetings, you know, the purpose is really to hear from folks who are not coming here.

[Anna Callahan]: So just for residents to understand that, and if you have suggestions, we would love to hear them.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: It really pretty much speaks for itself.

[Anna Callahan]: I was talking to them and they suggested that they come here to City Council so that we could just get the word out about the services that they offer.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a very exciting project.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm really quite happy to see these plans coming together after so many years of work.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a few comments and then a couple of questions.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that in one of the master plans, there really was an analysis of Medford Square and the very specific types of businesses that we have there and the difference between the types of businesses that we have and the types of businesses that create a really walkable, safe,

[Anna Callahan]: a kind of vibrant square that I think everyone here talks about and wishes for.

[Anna Callahan]: And many people even look back to 30, 40 years ago with warmth about how it used to be more that way when there were bookstores and other places that people frequented.

[Anna Callahan]: So I say that because I'm very excited about the grocery store coming in.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm also very excited to see a coffee shop coming in.

[Anna Callahan]: And, and I really also do appreciate all the work that you do in talking specifically to developers.

[Anna Callahan]: I recently got, you know, an email from a resident, asking if they can if we can stop a bank from coming into Medford Square.

[Anna Callahan]: Because they they're like we can't have more banks and insurance companies and places where you don't you know need to go or enjoy to go.

[Anna Callahan]: And please, I hope no one is offended by my mention of those two specifically but I think there are there are many in Medford Square that are.

[Anna Callahan]: not the types that were identified in that master plan as being ones that are going to create the vibrancy we want.

[Anna Callahan]: So I do appreciate all of the work that you are doing too, because we cannot simply dictate as a city council what people rent to and what businesses come in, but we can talk to developers and try to encourage them to bring certain types of businesses in.

[Anna Callahan]: So I appreciate all your work there.

[Anna Callahan]: I did want to mention also that I think one of the benefits, and I think this came up in a conversation that we had about this particular project, one of the benefits of having a garage that is not underneath the residential units, that is actually a small bit away and maybe you have to cross the street, is that I certainly hope that the residents who move in will

[Anna Callahan]: hesitate to jump in their cars just a little bit more and be more likely to walk to walk into Medford Square, we're talking, you know, obviously, those who are young and able to do that, but hoping that people that this creates naturally just a little bit more of a walkable square.

[Anna Callahan]: and lowers our need for like people get very concerned about the traffic that's caused by new development and new residents moving in and new housing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I hope that that will be a little bit ameliorated by the fact that the garage is not underneath

[Anna Callahan]: the building of the residence.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really appreciate that as a very thoughtful way to approach some of these things.

[Anna Callahan]: I had a couple of questions.

[Anna Callahan]: One is about the parking.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do understand that there are a lot of some of the seniors who are concerned that the senior center parking will not be as large.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm curious if any of the parking will be designated for seniors or

[Anna Callahan]: how many of those spots will be designated as handicapped spots.

[Anna Callahan]: That might also help for those seniors who really do need to have a spot that is very, very close to the senior center.

[Anna Callahan]: If we have a larger number of handicapped spots because it is directly across the street from the senior center.

[Anna Callahan]: So I wanted to ask about that.

[Anna Callahan]: And then this is more my curiosity about your opinion based upon a lot of the zoning that we have done.

[Anna Callahan]: But my second question is really about step

[Anna Callahan]: a step back.

[Anna Callahan]: So looking at the sort of envisioning diagram that they, the picture that they painted of what it might look like when standing in the memorial garden, that it does create a little bit of a sort of a corridor, like one of these wind tunnels of height.

[Anna Callahan]: And I was curious, because in my mind, the step backs where you start off

[Anna Callahan]: like coming up from the sidewalk, but then the top couple of floors are actually backed away, that that might help to reduce a little bit of that feeling.

[Anna Callahan]: And I was curious about what your thoughts were about that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate the constituent who is bringing up the specifics of the affordable housing.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to make a short comment, which is that if you actually run the numbers, I will say I was a little surprised that 80% of AMI is 92,000.

[Anna Callahan]: That's higher than I thought.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you run the numbers at 92,000, 30% of that per month is 2,300.

[Anna Callahan]: And I assume that's one person, so it'd be a one bedroom.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm making a guess because between 92 and 132K, which you said was one person and four person, 80% of AMI, making a guess for two people that it's around 108.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if that's accurate, but something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: that would that would be around like 2700 a month for a two bed.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just like actually running the numbers and these numbers don't, to me appear to be much different from market rate.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, hang on, hang on.

[Anna Callahan]: So and I understand that you're saying market rate for new construction.

[Anna Callahan]: So

[Anna Callahan]: I just want us to be sensitive to the fact that if this is close to market rate for a lot of our existing housing, then calling this affordable when it's new construction, I just want us to be sensitive to this idea that

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: And, and I think that is in fact what I'm bringing up which is, I think that people in the city want

[Anna Callahan]: colloquially affordable housing, right?

[Anna Callahan]: They don't want something that fits the legal definition of affordable housing.

[Anna Callahan]: If it's not actually creating more housing in our city, that is gonna be affordable for people.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, even at 80% of AMI, let alone what the constituent was mentioning of people who aren't at 80% AMI.

[Anna Callahan]: Like I hope that we can consider having some steps or something, that's all.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know it's conversation, but I think actually looking at the numbers and being open with the public about what numbers we are looking at and whether we're creating lowercase a, colloquially understood to be affordable housing, I think is an important discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, and I don't disagree that like we also have a very specific issue in Medford which is we have a lot of older folks, we have the largest of my understanding from the Senior Center, and the Council on Aging is that we have the largest proportions or cohort of seniors that we have ever had.

[Anna Callahan]: And a lot of them, especially I've talked to tons of them they live in.

[Anna Callahan]: They live in a four or five bedroom home and they're by themselves or with two people and they don't actually even want that, but there's nowhere in Medford to go.

[Anna Callahan]: So I appreciate that this will resolve that issue, but I think creating affordable housing is its own

[Anna Callahan]: question, and that I would love for the City Council and the Planning Department and the Mayor and everyone to sort of grapple with in a real way, that I hope we aren't just creating more housing and hoping that that theoretically resolves a lot of our problems, but that we actually make some efforts to create

[Anna Callahan]: affordable housing in the different variety of ways that it can be.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't necessarily mean create as in built.

[Anna Callahan]: I just mean that, you know, whether that's the Royal Community Land Trust, whether that's the Affordable Housing Trust, whether, you know, there's many avenues, I think, doing our best to create housing that is lowercase a affordable is something that I hope we can

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So, this $5,500, is this adding to a fund to make this happen, or is that the whole amount to make this happen?

[Anna Callahan]: I will say it does strike me that like this project is like $5,000 and replacing the HVAC system in the school is $25 million.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I understand that these things are real, but like, wow.

[Anna Callahan]: I am excited about it, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so excited about the neighborhood community hubs.

[Anna Callahan]: It's been my favorite part of zoning so far of everything that we've done.

[Anna Callahan]: And just my sort of initial thoughts about the types of businesses that would be there.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think this is, I'm not married to this.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's totally up for discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: But I would, I think with the concept that,

[Anna Callahan]: These are going to be within a half mile of every home.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: And so there's a there's a limited sphere of no parking right so the concept is really this is for people to walk to to make us a more walkable city.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I would lean toward.

[Anna Callahan]: choosing businesses that can survive on that amount of traffic.

[Anna Callahan]: And by that, I kind of mean another way to think about it is that these businesses should be the kind of businesses that any one family might go to multiple times per week.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think to me that means co-working.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to make sure we get co-working in there.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't see it.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to make sure that co-working is absolutely in there.

[Anna Callahan]: Co-working, coffee shops, bookstores, kids activities.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I think there are places that, you know, laundromat, sure, but I think there are places where

[Anna Callahan]: you might go multiple times per week.

[Anna Callahan]: I think a store that people go to only once every three months or so, like perhaps, you know, a hair salon, and I could be wrong about this, so, you know, maybe people who know more about that particular business model, I think if their primary, if we have them everywhere in the city and their primary people are only within a half mile, they may not have enough

[Anna Callahan]: business to survive, which is why I'm trying to think, like, what are the, what are the businesses, like a bakery, you know, like, I mean, we stopped by there, we walked by it every day on our way to school.

[Anna Callahan]: And sadly, it means that I eat a lot of pastries because we can't help.

[Anna Callahan]: We got to just walk in, you know, we got to get something.

[Anna Callahan]: So I hope we can think carefully about the kinds of businesses that we think will survive and will do well if in fact they are within a half mile of folks and don't have parking.

[Anna Callahan]: If it's truly like the design is that it's for the people who can walk there and we want to have small ones but scattered throughout the city so that everybody has their local ice cream shop, everybody has their local

[Anna Callahan]: you know, co-working space, their local coffee shop, where they see their neighbors, and it really gives us this feeling of this neighborhood feel, where people get to know the folks that live within a half mile, mile of them.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just have a question.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love it if somebody could give like a slightly different definition of the different types of districts, like overlay, the two kinds of overlays.

[Anna Callahan]: And like, I will admit, I haven't really understood how they differ in terms of our decision making and where they will allow the businesses and who can, you know, so if I can have like maybe someone take a stab at that explanation, that would be really helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: And if I can ask, is that still laying on top with very specific, like these plots of land, only these plots of land, or is it a little more lucid than that?

[Anna Callahan]: The one question I've been most curious about is, could one of those triggering things be, it is more than a quarter mile from the nearest neighborhood, other neighborhood commercial?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: That's super helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: And kind of exciting, I think, if you know, include like artisan, like, I like that kind of what was a glassblower stained glass or something that exists, like if we include the sort of artisanal stuff there, then what's exciting to me is like, if it's more than a quarter mile from any of the nearest one, then you who could be a glassblower could, you know, convert your

[Anna Callahan]: your first floor into an artisan's space, and then maybe next door it'll be a coffee shop, like allowing residents to use their own creativity to be able to use their spaces for these kinds of things, I think would be a lovely organic way to make this happen.

[Anna Callahan]: Or somebody who loves baking.

[Anna Callahan]: They'd be like, I'm gonna use my garage, it's gonna become a bakery.

[Anna Callahan]: Wouldn't that be cool?

[Anna Callahan]: It'd be super cool.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: So I have a really kind of a follow-up question to Chair Lazzaro's, just because I did notice that the sort of percent and number of incidents between January and December didn't seem to change.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think I understood that, Chief Buckley, your response was that there are actually types of incidents that are just difficult to, you know, make that happen from beginning to end.

[Anna Callahan]: And I was curious if there if, like how our sort of percentage rate compares to other.

[Anna Callahan]: cities who also use body worn cameras.

[Anna Callahan]: If we have a goal, if we have already reached the goal in terms of like percent of, you know, special notification forms that we get per month compared to like out of the recorded events.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so just curious if, uh, we feel like we are at our goal like as an average of 0.72 or if we think we can get better, or do we think that this is where we're where we're expected to be a year or two from now?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just have a super quick question, which is, do I recall you saying correctly that you said before that there was some concern about being able to fill 15?

[Anna Callahan]: Can you just talk a little bit about the balance and what people on the commission have said in an administration about filling 15 spots?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I have to say I don't I don't really have much of an opinion.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to go with what other people think is right.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to go with what folks who have been on the commission feel is right.

[Anna Callahan]: I think, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: 335 would be fine 444 would be fine like I don't have much of an opinion so I hope people can offer some stronger opinions in mind.

[Anna Callahan]: I feel like it's more important when you do a roll call.

[Anna Callahan]: What I might say is that they actually can't hear us anyway if you're on Zoom.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Before I give my opinion, what is their current budget for the commission?

[Anna Callahan]: So, I'm sorry, can I just clarify?

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like they don't have currently, they don't have an actual budget, but they have in the past used the DEI budget with permission.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I guess I would say as a general rule,

[Anna Callahan]: happy to hear that the council has been like one commission at a time giving small stipends.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that and I really love that

[Anna Callahan]: the speaker brought up the idea of child care.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that if we want a true cross section of people to be able to participate in commissions, then I think it's smart to provide a small stipend and also to provide child care.

[Anna Callahan]: I generally in terms of the budget, like I'm very aware that our budget is our whole entire city budget is minuscule and it's a miracle that we are able to run this city as well as we do on the tiny, tiny per capita budget that we have.

[Anna Callahan]: However, I also think that we are not going to win that, you know, we're not, we're not helping ourselves when we battle over pennies.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think what we're talking about here is something that's meaningful as an unbelievably small percentage of the budget.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would like to leave something in and I'm, I don't really have an opinion between 1000 and 1250.

[Anna Callahan]: I think 1000 would be fine.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, maybe that will feel have the mayor feel slightly better if we, you know, put it at 1000.

[Anna Callahan]: But I do think it's important that we're able to bring in a true cross section of the community.

[Anna Callahan]: I think this does help.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, hello.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't press my button, but that's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: I will speak away.

[Anna Callahan]: I think.

[Anna Callahan]: that I must have accidentally pressed it.

[Anna Callahan]: That's OK.

[Anna Callahan]: I will speak anyway.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm always prepared.

[Anna Callahan]: Always prepared to talk.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to try and move us along, because I know we have other things to cover in this meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: We have another meeting after this.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to say, let's go with $1,250.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I think we can make a motion at the end, if that's all right.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, let's keep it at $1,250 and move on.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other, is this common in commissions?

[Anna Callahan]: So if we don't, I'll state my opinion anyway, without that information, I do think that the Human Rights Commission is primarily a, well, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe I should look through all of the work that they're going to do, but I think that they really are in a position to speak out

[Anna Callahan]: And that is one of the primary things that they do is to ensure that the voices of people who are, you know, marginalized or

[Anna Callahan]: you know, especially in today's world, under the Trump administration, there are a lot of people who are in precarious positions, and to ensure human rights, you know, violations, and to ensure that those people can be heard.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I'm more reluctant to allow those people, someone with that primary role to be removed.

[Anna Callahan]: that I am for people in a different role where their role is to protect trees or their role is to approve zoning advances or to do other things where they're sort of have a different role aside from speaking.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm leaning against it.

[Anna Callahan]: That's kind of where I'm sitting right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: After hearing from folks, I feel I think even more strongly that I don't

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not in favor of the amendment, so I'm perfectly happy if we say that the City Council may request the agency remove any of their own appointees and the mayor may request that the agency remove any of their appointees, but not that they have the ability to do so.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: City Council may request removal of their own appointees.

[Anna Callahan]: Mayor may request removal of their appointees.

[Anna Callahan]: The red is stuff that we accepted last time.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I'm in favor of all of them, except I just want to ask a little bit of a clarifying question about the second to last.

[Anna Callahan]: So they're empowered to advocate for laws, policies and practices that support human rights.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't quite understand the difference between what they can do now and what she is suggesting.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you go a little bit more into detail?

[Anna Callahan]: What can they do now that they can't?

[Anna Callahan]: But the power is to do what exactly?

[Anna Callahan]: So she's saying that they can't pass their own resolution saying the HRC of Medford supports X, Y, or Z.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, I feel completely comfortable with them saying the Human Rights Commission of Medford supports X, Y, Z. But I don't feel comfortable with them saying the city of Medford supports X, Y, Z. They're not elected body.

[Anna Callahan]: They already have elected bodies to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, this is a very clear thing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to, like, I would be in support of it saying that.

[Anna Callahan]: But that isn't what I read here.

[Anna Callahan]: Technically, it does say they shall be empowered to advocate for laws, policies, and practices that support human rights and improve social equity in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: But what she is saying is they cannot advocate for laws, policies, practices that support human rights and improve social equity in Massachusetts or the country.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, I'm sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: I think to say that the Human Rights Commission cannot come up with their own opinions on human rights outside of our cities is going to rule out probably nine-tenths of everything they want to talk about.

[Anna Callahan]: In my opinion, if you live in Medford, it doesn't mean you don't have a sister in some other state and a parent in another country or an entire community.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's what human rights are about.

[Anna Callahan]: So I definitely feel very uncomfortable if they cannot simply advocate for or put their own opinion and say that the Human Rights Commission itself.

[Anna Callahan]: They're not saying the city does.

[Anna Callahan]: They're saying the Human Rights Commission is, and that's what they're there to do.

[Anna Callahan]: This is what I would like for the Human Rights Commission to be able to do.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's my opinion.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um so I would if I were reading this, I would think that Cindy Watson already appeared on 4 29 and she has only been invited on May 5 20.

[Anna Callahan]: I would just remove the whole section because the meeting is going to happen on 5 20.

[Anna Callahan]: All right.

[Anna Callahan]: Aside from that, it's beautiful.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: I like it.

[Anna Callahan]: Good catch.

[Anna Callahan]: Not until 1 AM forever though, like on every day.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like- I only mentioned it because this is the kind of thing like restaurants staying open until one is a kind of thing that occasionally some residents are not happy about.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know they're kind of a part, they're not in a residential area, so it's probably fine, but- They are in the first floor of a building where people live, so.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: That's it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: My question is actually also about the prop two and a half overrides.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just, my understanding is, and I want to make sure this is correct, and for anybody out there listening, that those overrides were passed one, you know, one for the schools, one for the schools plus roads, and at least in that first year that they do have to be spent on the schools.

[Anna Callahan]: So just to make sure that that million dollars isn't going to come out of the override that we passed, which was designated for the schools, just want to be checking

[Anna Callahan]: How long would it take you to write up a one or two page document that essentially laid out the difference between keeping the software we have and moving to the new software, both in terms of like upfront costs, long term costs, like at what point we would sort of break even or begin to be saving money if we move to the new software, how much

[Anna Callahan]: work it would be?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you think that you could put that into a one or two page document and would it be terribly burdensome for you?

[Anna Callahan]: I just wonder if, because, you know, I hear all these names of different software is going around and then all this different amounts of money and, and I, I have trouble wrapping my head around it if it's not like written down.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would really appreciate that I don't know if that's something that you know that Council feels is worth, worth the time of the staff time to like put together like a one page doc just of the basic outlines, but I would appreciate that.

[Anna Callahan]: I am happy to make that motion unless anybody has in particular, before I begin making a motion.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anybody who's like, no, don't do it, because I'm happy to make that motion.

[Anna Callahan]: perhaps I put a due date of July 31st to make it so it's not like during budget season.

[Anna Callahan]: If you can finish budget season and then you know.

[Anna Callahan]: It's always budget season in the fall.

[Anna Callahan]: I know, I know.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if that's helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: In which case, I would love to make a kind of simple motion.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not going to put a ton of details in because I think you understand what we're looking for.

[Anna Callahan]: And the motion is that we request a document outlining what it would take for Medford to update our financial software.

[Anna Callahan]: That's fine as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Perfect.

[Anna Callahan]: By September, it doesn't matter.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's fine as long as it's this year.

[Anna Callahan]: Aye.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: As someone with kids, I have to say that the Bedford Family Network is truly a gem.

[Anna Callahan]: I think people don't realize the dearth of activities for families with young children.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: everywhere else except for here in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And it is truly an amazing institution and really shows such incredible leadership from Marie Cassidy.

[Anna Callahan]: So just such appreciation for the work that she has done, the leadership she has shown, and the organization that she has built and the incredible value that she has provided to parents at a time in their lives, which can be quite tough.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I do not want to play any favoritism for our public buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: I love them all.

[Anna Callahan]: We are in one now, but I will also say the Chevalier Theater is, of course, so much more than just a building.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, what they bring to our city is truly wonderful in terms of events, as well as just, you know, economic vitality and what they bring to the square.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm very excited to have them come again this year.

[Anna Callahan]: I think

[Anna Callahan]: you know, they they have some requests in terms of the actual physical building.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm excited to hear what they look for, and what the city might be able to help them out with.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I have to say, I have attended one of the Boston Glory games at Hartmell Stadium with my kid, and it was amazing to see all these kids like racing back and forth down the edge of the field with these gigantic flags going by.

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, the Frisbee was also good.

[Anna Callahan]: I enjoyed it very much, and I highly recommend it to everybody.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me know if I'm

[Anna Callahan]: reading this correctly, that the one that we approved before, which is for a loan for $5 million with the estimated total project to be an additional $20 million, so $25 million total.

[Anna Callahan]: And then in this one, it says the $5 million still, but that the total project cost instead of being $25 million looks like $30,775,000.

[Anna Callahan]: And because it looks more detailed, perhaps there has already been some planning or a little bit better estimation.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that just the, am I correct in that that is an increase in the guesstimate on the total project cost or am I being that wrong or?

[Anna Callahan]: That's basically all I wanted to know, was this is a sort of updated project cost?

[Anna Callahan]: If they feel that what you said is accurate, that's all I was asking was like, this is like an updated amount from that original one that we've passed back in.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate the, you know, noticing that this is a big number.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will say that when I was going over this item with some of my volunteers that helped me to go through what's on the city council agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: We all noticed that this was a big number and one of my volunteers actually did a little bit of research and looked at what other cities have paid for

[Anna Callahan]: you know, things like replacing roofs on schools, things like HVAC systems on schools, things like, you know, replacing air conditioning or whatever it might be.

[Anna Callahan]: And while there was a fair-sized range, this number did not stand out as unusual.

[Anna Callahan]: It was not on the high end.

[Anna Callahan]: It was not on the low end.

[Anna Callahan]: It kind of sat in the middle of what other school districts do spend for this kind of repair.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that's a, it's a perfectly reasonable question to answer, or to ask, and, and I, you know, we did ask and we looked around and least got sort of that sort of lay person's understanding of yes, this is what it generally costs in Massachusetts to do this kind of work.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and then the thing that I would like to say about free cash, um, and I echo other city councilors' statements that, um, you know, the Massachusetts state has, um, it has resources for city councilors to understand how to properly use, uh, their money, and it does say that it really

[Anna Callahan]: No city should be using free cash or stabilization funds for operating budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And so this is why we had overrides was to increase our operating budget that we can spend, as people are saying, on ongoing expenses that we have to budget for every year and that if that

[Anna Callahan]: If the amount of money ran out, we would be in deep trouble.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the reasoning why it is not just people sitting in the city council that think that it is the state that thinks that it is the credit agencies that think that if you spend all of your free cash if you don't have free cash the end of each year.

[Anna Callahan]: then if your amount of free cash gets too low, then your credit rating goes down.

[Anna Callahan]: So it is really important that we do these things correctly.

[Anna Callahan]: But what I'm also excited about with free cash is I'm really happy that we are spending

[Anna Callahan]: $5 million of our free cash on this project.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really want to know from the administration, and I know that there's discussions happening between city councilors and city council leadership and the administration, but I am very excited to hear what the plans are for spending the amount of our free cash and capital stabilization funds that is above the recommended amount that we maintain in those funds.

[Anna Callahan]: Because I do think we have more than the recommended amount that you need to maintain.

[Anna Callahan]: And we obviously have capital projects.

[Anna Callahan]: Just this one capital project would wipe out all of free cash if we use free cash for this project.

[Anna Callahan]: Our roads have tens of millions of dollars of road debt.

[Anna Callahan]: We have many, many capital projects that need money.

[Anna Callahan]: So we do not have more free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: than projects, and I am excited to understand better what the priorities are that the administration has for how to spend the free cash that we have that we could be spending in the near future that will still maintain a healthy level of free cash and stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for having us.

[Anna Callahan]: For waiting until this late hour, not as late as sometimes.

[Anna Callahan]: So my only questions really are,

[Anna Callahan]: just sort of how, is there any way in which these changes might affect our homeowners?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there any way in which these changes might affect people's ability to get FEMA funds, their ability to get flood insurance?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, is this simply just a totally routine update and that's it, or is there gonna be some changes that might affect?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful, and I guess the sort of overarching question is, this is a routine thing that they do every 10-15 years?

[Anna Callahan]: From my understanding, yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Given the state of our national government, there was some question when looking at this about like, hmm, what is the meaning behind this change?

[Anna Callahan]: But it sounds like this is just routine, updating the maps, updating language.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Just for those listening, can we have like a one-sentence reminder of what it is that we are citing?

[Anna Callahan]: But am I correct that this was one that one councillor asked for us to get a legal opinion on?

[Anna Callahan]: And we got that legal opinion?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, your work is fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so glad that you are here in our community.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just curious how you get the word out to renters about your services.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I absolutely echo those sentiments for everyone doing all of this work, which is incredibly vital to our community as well as the planning department.

[Anna Callahan]: I did have a question about the entitlements and, you know, I really appreciate you explaining that there were some COVID funds, but I'm curious about the reasoning why the entitlements do go down every year.

[Anna Callahan]: I assume that's something from the state, their determination of

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Just on on this chart.

[Anna Callahan]: This was really just for discussion only this is the 2024 numbers not the 2025 numbers, and mainly what I wanted to ask about before I run the 2025 numbers is I grade out and put in brackets, three items.

[Anna Callahan]: because I want people to understand that those three items are not things that are under our control at all.

[Anna Callahan]: And one is insurance, one is pensions, and one is bonds, bonds and interest.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanted to, so we don't talk about it right this second, but like, so that you know, this is not like the final chart.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really for us to discuss.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we want to discuss the chart now?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to discuss the chart.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm liking that.

[Anna Callahan]: My main question was, are those three the three that should be grayed out?

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to make sure that everybody agrees.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, just the general fund.

[Anna Callahan]: In my mind, those are the three that we just can't control them.

[Anna Callahan]: And so they're just unmovable.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, I can plan on doing that tomorrow.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Chair.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just curious why one to 15, and not one to 25.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just, I mean, I guess we won't know until people answer the question but like we might get zero like 11,000 a year like who earns.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I mean, well, I don't know maybe so many people.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: This isn't exactly a suggestion.

[Anna Callahan]: It's more, I don't know what it is, comment, I guess.

[Anna Callahan]: What is the easiest way for you to participate in the budget process?

[Anna Callahan]: And then it's like emailing your elected official, calling your elected official, or attending city meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: If I were a person who is not a city councilor, I would be like, wait, I have to email my city councilor?

[Anna Callahan]: What am I going to tell, what am I going to say?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, what do you mean?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, it doesn't, I'm not sure what we can say there, but those three options, like attending city meetings, that at least makes sense to me because like you attend,

[Anna Callahan]: right?

[Anna Callahan]: And then you get some information, but like emailing your elected official, like with no, it just seems like an impossible ask.

[Anna Callahan]: I was excited by Councilor Lazzaros suggestions here was just what I was.

[Anna Callahan]: hoping bringing this up would come to you.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the idea also from Councilor Tseng of like first say, how are you keeping up to date?

[Anna Callahan]: And then after that, I think we should use this to figure out what we should do.

[Anna Callahan]: And so attending regular city council meetings in the chambers, then we could say, you know, if we offered, you know, a listening session in the community, would you attend?

[Anna Callahan]: If we offered a Zoom,

[Anna Callahan]: special budget Zoom meeting, would you attend?

[Anna Callahan]: Not promising that we're going to do these things, but saying we're curious to see what interest there is.

[Anna Callahan]: If we offered these things, would you attend?

[Anna Callahan]: Just I think I'm really happy that you brought this up, I think term limits for all.

[Anna Callahan]: Like fairly extended like eight terms that's a lot of time, I feel very comfortable with that.

[Anna Callahan]: I also think that, you know, nobody should be able to start 32 years with a tiny two year break in the middle.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I'm, I'm in favor also of taking up the consecutive.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I am not happy with how this process has gone for the charter in general.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate Councilor Lazzaro's description of a two compromise where no one is happy with the product.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is also accurate.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that if we do not put the mayor back on the school committee, this charter will not make it to the state.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Are we going to vote on the charter approval before we vote on this one?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, there's the one that says both of the- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So that one is a little- I can highlight that one.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Or if you just want to say that- I just don't want to approve this if that language isn't there because we haven't taken it out yet.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: On Zoom.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just want to make sure that we're not sending stuff to legal that we don't need to send to legal.

[Anna Callahan]: My understanding from the building commissioner is that on that we are the appropriate body to make appeals and final decisions when it has already gone through the building department on things like signs.

[Anna Callahan]: So.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not positive it doesn't need to go to legal, but I think we should not just send everything to legal just to send things to legal.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I think the most frightening thing to me is that it is very clear that people are being snatched off the street with absolutely no due process at all.

[Anna Callahan]: So this question of someone who it has now come out is really innocent of anything, even being in this country illegally, who has been deported not to his home country, but to a prison in El Salvador that is renowned around the world for torture.

[Anna Callahan]: And this person is not being recalled, even though it has now been made clear that they were not who the government thought that they were.

[Anna Callahan]: Seeing Rumesa snatched off the street in that video was genuinely, should be frightening for everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we should remember the famous poem from Nazi Germany that says, first they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.

[Anna Callahan]: Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

[Anna Callahan]: Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

[Anna Callahan]: And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

[Anna Callahan]: So anyone who feels safe should really just pause and think about what it means for people to be snatched off the street by people who do not have a warrant and are not declaring who they are,

[Anna Callahan]: with absolutely no due process.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that that does not end well for anyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Anyone here could be mistaken for someone else and shipped off to a gulag.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am very happy

[Anna Callahan]: to be on a city council that is doing everything that we can in this moment to try to protect our residents who are being targeted for a variety of reasons.

[Anna Callahan]: But really, that ends with anyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize for not being there in person.

[Anna Callahan]: I am sick and I did not want to get anyone all sick.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to encourage anyone who was not at our last meeting to read my blog post.

[Anna Callahan]: I have been interested in the nitty-gritty details of how democracies work, including different voting systems and wards versus districts versus at large and all that stuff for a long, long time.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you want to know my full thoughts, that's on my blog at annakalahan.com.

[Anna Callahan]: The short story is that both nationally and internationally, people who study democracy and democratic systems all are pretty much in consensus that single seat first past the post districts, which is what ward or district seats are, are known to be one of the worst at appropriately representing people's political views.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, I want to mention that.

[Anna Callahan]: So I mean, I've been for 30 years, probably a person who believes that we that, you know, we're in a hybrid system, but one that is balanced, right, that does not have too many water district seats, and does not have too many at large seats.

[Anna Callahan]: I know the Charter Study Committee did do a survey, and a lot of people are talking about, you know, what came out of the survey.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to remind us that there were 663 responses to that survey.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, I really am happy that they did a survey, and I know how hard they worked to get those responses.

[Anna Callahan]: I will also comment that there never was a question asking how large the wards or district should be, whether we should have districts the same size as Somerville, which would be 4 or wards, which would be 8.

[Anna Callahan]: So.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm unconvinced that the community, from that particular survey that we can read out of that survey, that what everybody who answered those questions is that they wanted to have eight wards rather than districts the same size as other cities near us.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say one thing that we do know is that Medford voted strongly in favor of ranked choice voting in a statewide vote.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that over 10,000 people voted in that election.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we want to know what Medford actually thinks with confidence, we know that Medford wants rank-choice voting.

[Anna Callahan]: And my concern is that by passing this, we are locking ourselves into a charter that won't allow us to have rank-choice voting for these single-seat first-past-the-post districts.

[Anna Callahan]: So whether it's wards or districts, we will not be able to have rank-choice voting.

[Anna Callahan]: If we had rank-choice voting, I would be happy to have eight and three.

[Anna Callahan]: But the more districts that you have compared to at large, right, the greater percentage of awards you have, the more it is a problem when you have this first-past-the-post single-seat district.

[Anna Callahan]: And when I say locking in, my understanding is, and I really hope that we can get a definitive answer to this, that if we pass this charter, that we will not be able to get a home rule charter for decades.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would like two things.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like, number one, if anyone among the city council can answer the question of who do we need to ask to get a definitive answer about whether passing this charter is locking us out of having a rank choice voting

[Anna Callahan]: a home rule charter that allows for ranked choice voting within the next 10, 20, 30 years.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to know who we can ask to definitively answer that question.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I would consider all of these amendments and things as long as we have one more week to work on this, as Vice President Collins suggested.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: No, I believe Anthony Wilson did answer my question, but I am interested in the answer, excuse me, to that question as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I can't hear Councilor Tseng.

[Anna Callahan]: Anna, can I jump in?

[Anna Callahan]: Um, yes, I, I would much prefer, like, I know we haven't yet voted on whether to move this to the city to the committee of the whole.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, but I would much prefer not to vote on this, that particular motion tonight, but to vote on that at the committee of the whole.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I amend can I, um.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if I can amend Councilor Leming's motion to ask that that be voted on next week.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I might have, I might have misunderstood.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that I was asking Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that we were voting on the removing the mayor from the school committee.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we were, I thought that was from Lemings and that was the one that I was hoping to move to next week.

[Anna Callahan]: So I didn't quite understand why you were asking Councilor or Vice President Collins to amend her motion to move to next week.

[Anna Callahan]: So maybe I misunderstood.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, I did not realize that.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so sorry, my internet has been in and out.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you, I completely missed the one that we're voting on.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you tell me again?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you and I apologize person and don't want anybody else to get what I have.

[Anna Callahan]: So just a cold, but my question is about whether there.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh, is any agreement with the company that provides this information or provides this technology, um, in the contract or, uh, with.

[Anna Callahan]: Any partner of theirs, any 3rd party that any information from that is captured by Medford cameras would go to anyone aside from Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, and to follow that up with, so it sounds like SenseN and GTEC, if I've got those correct, at some point, each of them has the data.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you know if SenseN deletes the data once it is transferred?

[Anna Callahan]: And do you know if GTEC has any access to the data?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: I concur.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think we have to worry too much about consistency between them with something with a change as small as this.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: That was like the one that we pulled in from Unfinished Business.

[Anna Callahan]: Just one quick question.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Sometimes we say the council or council and sometimes we say we.

[Anna Callahan]: That's probably fine.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, sure.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you look under March 25th, we say council submitted, and later we say the council received, and then later we say we approved and we passed.

[Anna Callahan]: Should we make it a little bit more consistent and either say the council or we?

[Anna Callahan]: I am happy either way.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I'd ask.

[Anna Callahan]: Motion to approve.

[Anna Callahan]: Second.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am going to make a suggestion, which is that we use this not only as an opportunity to get feedback, but as an opportunity to educate.

[Anna Callahan]: I found that at one point during

[Anna Callahan]: the fall, it was incredibly educational for the people that I talked to, to actually see a pie graph of our budget and to understand which of the elements in that pie graph are things that are discretionary and which are things that we cannot change.

[Anna Callahan]: And in fact, sometimes like insurance, which is our second budget item, our first is our school district and our second at 15% is insurance, that insurance in fact goes up.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't even keep it at 15% because it goes up by 10% this year.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would love it if we could include

[Anna Callahan]: a little bit of education along with this and just have like a pie chart that shows our current budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe we can, I think this is the 2024, which is, you know, or 2020, whatever the fiscal year starts in, in, in the summer.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I forget, is it the 2025 one, whichever is the current one.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: I have one that's colored, but I think what I would want to do is gray out the sections that are not discretionary, just to educate people on what parts of the budget do we actually have any ability to increase or decrease on our own, so that people have some idea of like what our budget actually looks like.

[Anna Callahan]: Once people see it, I think they often are like, oh, wow, like I had no idea.

[Anna Callahan]: And they stop arguing about things like, you know, all the stuff in there that's like 0.5% of the budget, you know, they're less concerned with how much it costs to do these, you know, incredibly small departments that are very mighty in their ability to help our city.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: By the way, the Zoom is not responding.

[Anna Callahan]: It's covering the whole screen here just so you know.

[Anna Callahan]: What?

[Anna Callahan]: Zoom is not responding.

[Anna Callahan]: It's covering the whole screen so no one can see your screen anymore.

[Anna Callahan]: There we go.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sitting at home.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just have a question I'm excited to bring up in a public meeting so I can ask my fellow Councilors if anyone wants to work with me on this.

[Anna Callahan]: Many years ago when I was the president of the board of a 432 person housing association, I did a participatory budgeting measure where I actually invited everyone who lived there to

[Anna Callahan]: basically put in like they got to see the exact budget and they, you know, got to

[Anna Callahan]: make their own adjustments to it.

[Anna Callahan]: And it was advisory, but it got a lot of interest and it was very educational.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wonder if any of my fellow city councilors would be interested in working with me to put together something similar that would allow our residents to really kind of dig into the budget and make their own recommendations as an advisory to our budgetary process.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to have a co sponsor.

[Anna Callahan]: So if there's one person that can work with me on it I can kind of put it together and then.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, exactly, like, put together, just somebody that we can put together a motion and then we can chit-chat about, like, how to put together the first draft so that when it comes to committee, we'll be able to... I'm personally happy to step in for that.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we're three members of the committee right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm just looking for somebody.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to know who it is that I can work with.

[Anna Callahan]: I think having one other co-sponsor and not two because we're all on this committee and it's going to come to this committee I think is best.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I would just add that the specifics of our city and the fact that we have, we don't have that many like giant apartment buildings, but we have a lot of like duplexes where one or both of those

[Anna Callahan]: are rented out, it is super hard to reach those people.

[Anna Callahan]: You just can't.

[Anna Callahan]: It's very, very, very difficult.

[Anna Callahan]: That one.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's great.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'll provide, I'll bring my pie chart and I'll gray out the ones that are not, you know, actionable, not discretionary.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and we can vote.

[Anna Callahan]: We like it.

[Anna Callahan]: I should change colors and whatever.

[Anna Callahan]: To schedule our next meeting, this committee's next meeting for two weeks from now.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to clarify.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, it actually looks like there aren't very many changes.

[Anna Callahan]: A lot of these are simply a comment saying that it is consistent with state law.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is, you know, 1234567 just on the first page and almost all of the comments on the first page as well as in one of the comments.

[Anna Callahan]: I might be wrong about that.

[Anna Callahan]: But many of these what look like changes aren't.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wonder, could we go over just the substantive changes first?

[Anna Callahan]: Would that be okay?

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: You notice one thing as I'm looking, so just below that, after D before E, all city agents shall comply with any state regulation pertaining to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare, not otherwise explicitly stated in this ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: And the change is all city employees and officials shall comply with any state or federal law.

[Anna Callahan]: Clearly, we understand the current state of federal actors and potential for federal law changes.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wonder, was that state regulation very specific to not include federal regulation when it was originally written?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something that we specifically want to keep and perhaps leave out federal law silently?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I don't think that's going to get us in any trouble just to not include the words or federal.

[Anna Callahan]: I have something small, and I'm mostly just asking if this language means what I think it means.

[Anna Callahan]: under the role of the police department.

[Anna Callahan]: So the language changed from the police department of the city of Medford shall not to blah, blah, blah, no officer or employee of a law enforcement agency of the Commonwealth.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not a lawyer, I'm more of a layperson in terms of legalese.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, a law enforcement agent of the Commonwealth is a state police.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think what we're trying to say is the Medford Police Department, and the new language does not say that anymore.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, why are we writing language for any random city in the Commonwealth?

[Anna Callahan]: Like we're Medford, we should only be talking about Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So my only thing about that is, I think in the city agent definition, it's kind of a little bit more encompassing.

[Anna Callahan]: It says employee of the city, whether full-time or part-time, regular or seasonal, any intern or volunteer when acting on behalf of the city of Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And I kind of like that definition.

[Anna Callahan]: And I feel like it's a little bit more encompassing.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a reason to not go with that one?

[Anna Callahan]: No.

[Anna Callahan]: But shorten that, shorten it to that, just the beginning part of that.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I'm of two minds of the contractor part.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we might need to check.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know what we need to check, but I'm sure that first part, and I think we're all agreed that not the grants and the award, people who got an award.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think we're just in the middle section of the contract.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I also support and I'm curious about the idea of having height next to 93.

[Anna Callahan]: So in that parcel furthest to the east.

[Anna Callahan]: So I mentioned the answer to that question from the planners.

[Anna Callahan]: I also want us to look at the parcel furthest to or the parcels furthest to the west.

[Anna Callahan]: When I look at the other map that you provided a number of meetings ago that shows the actual

[Anna Callahan]: Current zoning or not zoning but current like existing buildings that is marked as orange, which says condo conversion two to three family so I'm not sure exactly what buildings exist there at this moment that did not seem.

[Anna Callahan]: to go drive with my recollection of what buildings are there.

[Anna Callahan]: But like understanding what height is there right now would be helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: It does, you know, that whole section abuts on multiple single family or like currently mostly single family places.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm a little bit curious about can we get more height close to 93 and maybe get something on the other side that's a little bit closer to match the residences that are just to the west and north of it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm looking at the planning and permitting agenda from the 12th of February, which is an amazing one because it included a lot of maps, and this is one of those maps.

[Anna Callahan]: It's just the one that shows like every parcel and what exists on that parcel, and it's marked as orange, which is condo conversion duty family.

[Anna Callahan]: Not sure why.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciated those look at the heights and the shadows.

[Anna Callahan]: The one that I was curious about was the Salem Street one.

[Anna Callahan]: It does appear that all of the others covered where the shadows would be on the north side for Salem Street.

[Anna Callahan]: How does it work as we're looking north of Salem Street?

[Anna Callahan]: When we look at the housing that's north of Salem Street, and there's a road there, how does that?

[Anna Callahan]: I think that wasn't covered.

[Anna Callahan]: Almost everything else, it covers what happens.

[Anna Callahan]: But those buildings, which we're changing on the left side that you're circling right now, what about the housing that is on the other side of that?

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I'm curious about.

[Anna Callahan]: That's great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I am just curious that the cemetery lot is zoned as mixed use.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just had a question.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that when I looked at one of the Medford Square master plans, it talked about very, very specific types of businesses that we are lacking in the square.

[Anna Callahan]: And I should look it up.

[Anna Callahan]: and go back and recall more exactly which types of businesses those were.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think it was things like more restaurants and less insurance companies or something.

[Anna Callahan]: Not that I want to pick on insurance companies or anything, but more of the places where people go and walk in and less of places where people don't actually have to walk into that store on a daily basis.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I'm curious if that is something that we do with zoning, or if that is something like, is there a micro zoning that you do in a place like Medford squared?

[Anna Callahan]: It took to sort of try to incentivize the kinds of businesses that we want that are to be in the center of the square.

[Anna Callahan]: Or is that something that we rely upon our generally our planning department and our economic development director and those sorts of.

[Anna Callahan]: people if we want to change the percentage of those types of businesses that we have in the square to make it a more vibrant and walkable square.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: That's actually incredibly helpful to hear what other communities do and that there is this possibility of, you know, like a economic district supported by a group of, you know, public and private, I suppose, might be a good

[Anna Callahan]: name for it.

[Anna Callahan]: That's great to know.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks so much for elaborating on the usefulness of zoning in this particular thing and how we actually do it, which is not through zoning, but really through our staff and our administration.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I'm gonna say something somewhat similar.

[Anna Callahan]: Um,

[Anna Callahan]: This is not our specialty.

[Anna Callahan]: We have a building department that it is their specialty.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't quite understand why this has come to us.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems like

[Anna Callahan]: at a minimum, like, I don't know if this is the proper process that like, at some point, if we are the appeal authority, we are the final authority.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I think having, you know, the someone from the building department here would be incredibly helpful to understand the final issue.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I have not read any word in this large town.

[Anna Callahan]: So

[Anna Callahan]: On the face of it, I mean, you just want to change the sign.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems pretty reasonable.

[Anna Callahan]: But again, this is not our specialty.

[Anna Callahan]: We are not the people who normally do this.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would at least want to have at least a little someone from the building department chime in to understand why have they not approved this.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I guess my first question is, if this waits a week or two is that gonna be horrible like is there some is there some great urgency.

[Anna Callahan]: for clarifying that we are in fact the appropriate body for this to come to after the building department.

[Anna Callahan]: Given that, I would actually prefer rather than paying the, I don't think we need to pay a legal team.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that we want to honestly hear from the building department and whether they show up here or whether, you know, at the thing so we can ask them questions or whether, you know, we can have an understanding.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, I read it and it's like, they just want to change what's on the side.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, it seems like a no-brainer and I just want to understand from the building department, like, why is it that

[Anna Callahan]: They can't like I've read the legalese, but like I would love to have the building department chime in.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I definitely agree in the need for us to support to find money to do these, the nexus study so that we can update the linkage fees especially for affordable housing which I think we should do first.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm absolutely supportive of that, but I will not vote in favor of selling off public lands, which we'd never get back.

[Anna Callahan]: when we have $28 million sitting in free cash, let alone the money that is in stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: I cannot understand why we are selling off public lands when we clearly have many times that amount of money in free cash that we do not know what that is planned to be used for.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will not vote to sell off public lands at this point in time.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I completely agree that one-time expenses, just like this nexus fee, is exactly what Free Cash is designed for.

[Anna Callahan]: It is what it should be used for.

[Anna Callahan]: We have plenty of free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: We should be using free cash for this.

[Anna Callahan]: Once you sell public lands, it is gone forever.

[Anna Callahan]: I have yet to see that there has been any

[Anna Callahan]: that we're going to have to sort of brainstorming or real in depth study of what could be done with those parcels.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh it isn't simply that there could be permanently affordable housing on them.

[Anna Callahan]: There are many other things that can be done with public lands.

[Anna Callahan]: Um and II really urge my city Councilors to not rush through to sell public lands when it has not been thought through.

[Anna Callahan]: And to urge the mayor to pay for the next study as soon as

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I do support many of the other items that other folks have brought up.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just going to talk about the two that I put in that have been projects that I have been working on for quite a few months.

[Anna Callahan]: So one of them is about the volunteer tree planting program.

[Anna Callahan]: I have been working with folks in Trees Medford and also

[Anna Callahan]: talking to tons of volunteers about this program.

[Anna Callahan]: We did have the DPW commissioner come in to the committee to speak about what it would take to get this program off the ground.

[Anna Callahan]: And let me just say a little bit about why it's important that, you know, we do lose about twice as many trees as we plant every year.

[Anna Callahan]: And yes, we live, we, you know, a third of Medford is the fells.

[Anna Callahan]: We have lots of trees.

[Anna Callahan]: I think if you

[Anna Callahan]: you know, live in the kind of northern part of Ward 6, you feel like there's lots and lots of trees, but if you live south of the river, you really, and especially if you've lived there for a long time, I talk to many people who say that they have lived on their street for decades, and it used to be a canopy of trees, and you look now, and it is barren.

[Anna Callahan]: This depresses home prices.

[Anna Callahan]: It causes us to have heat islands, makes people pay more for heating in the winter, for cooling in the summer.

[Anna Callahan]: There's so many reasons.

[Anna Callahan]: It doesn't clean our air from pollution.

[Anna Callahan]: There's so many reasons why we need to be replacing these trees.

[Anna Callahan]: Anecdotally, you can just see on my street, not that my street is any more important than anyone's street, but on my street, you can see these little squares where there used to be a tree planted in front of every house.

[Anna Callahan]: And now, on the whole block, there is one remaining tree.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really believe that with our small budget in Medford, with our small budget and our mighty residents, mighty in their willingness to volunteer, I think that we can solve this problem with very little addition to the budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And we can do it through activating our community and getting people involved in community events, meeting their neighbors,

[Anna Callahan]: And the DPW commissioner said that all it would take would be one staffer, like a halftime staffer, who was a volunteer coordinator.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's my first request.

[Anna Callahan]: My second request is a halftime person involved in housing to run a home sharing program.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, I've been meeting with our housing person

[Anna Callahan]: and other, you know, many other residents.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, we've been meeting for months.

[Anna Callahan]: We have met with people who run the sort of national home sharing organization that helps people start home sharing programs in their cities.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll tell you a little bit about the idea behind home sharing.

[Anna Callahan]: In our city, according to our senior center, I hope I am not incorrect if I'm not wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: What they said is that we have a larger percentage of seniors, people over 65 than we have ever had in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And the reality is that many of those people live in houses that have four or five bedrooms.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: As I have talked to seniors, both of the senior center, you know, as I was knocking on doors people that I, you know, interact with some of these folks that I've been meeting with many many seniors here in Medford would like to downsize or they are worried about aging in place.

[Anna Callahan]: but they either, the rent is getting hard to, sorry, they could use a little bit more financial security or they need a little help around the house.

[Anna Callahan]: We are not the only city facing this kind of issue.

[Anna Callahan]: It is really interlocked with our housing crisis because 50 years ago, we had 9,000 more people living in the city with less housing.

[Anna Callahan]: So our problem is that we have fewer people

[Anna Callahan]: per bedroom.

[Anna Callahan]: We have one person living in a three-, four-, five-bedroom house, and that isn't how it used to be, and that isn't how it could be.

[Anna Callahan]: So we can really help both our seniors to help them to age in place help them to be financially comfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: And we can also help our housing crisis by helping to solve this problem.

[Anna Callahan]: And what a lot of other cities are doing is they're starting a home sharing program and it's a matchmaking service a very hand holding personalized matchmaking service that ensures

[Anna Callahan]: that older folks who have extra bedrooms can find a person who usually it's some mixture of financial payment.

[Anna Callahan]: They call them hosts and guests, kind of like Airbnb.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a mixture of financial payment and service.

[Anna Callahan]: So they can help take out the trash.

[Anna Callahan]: They can help do a few things around the house for someone who is older and needs a little bit of help.

[Anna Callahan]: I think this program could be really successful in Medford and it could solve a lot of our sort of interlocking problems that we have that are basically because of demographics.

[Anna Callahan]: And so that's something that again, I think would be a very big impact for a very small amount of money.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I guess I'm, like, curious if we are suggesting increases in the budget in six places and don't cut the budget anywhere.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious, how do we, like, you know, how do we grok that?

[Anna Callahan]: Because that doesn't add up to me unless there's, like, obviously the money from the Prop 2.5 is spoken for.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So...

[Anna Callahan]: for level funding, everything, and then we're asking for increases.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, I'm trying to understand how we get to that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks Um, just a super quick

[Anna Callahan]: actually make the decisions about reducing line items.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think that when we're like we we also can't tell the mayor what to add either, you know, and and so I think this is our opportunity to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would just say that I

[Anna Callahan]: I think there is something to be said for us making those thoughts known in some way.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know, for folks who've been on this city council longer, if this forum is exactly the way to do that or if there are better ways to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I do hope that keep everything the same and then add all of these other things.

[Anna Callahan]: I suspect that is less likely to get us any of those extra things.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, this is our opportunity to make these kinds of requests.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's, that's my thinking.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, just a super quick question.

[Anna Callahan]: The next study is the linkage fees related one.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to add my support for the solicitor, which is already on there.

[Anna Callahan]: And also this study for the linkage fees, even though it's one time, I would love to see it added.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I will happily third that with my support, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just a little curious about the part that's near Magoon Square.

[Anna Callahan]: And mostly, I apologize, because I was looking for a previous map that you had that showed like the existing heights and structures.

[Anna Callahan]: And I apologize, I can't find that right now.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm just curious for that urban residential to at the very bottom of the map is that one that's that's, you know, just just north of Bow Street,

[Anna Callahan]: The furthest south wine red urban residential.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, the furthest south wine red one.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just slightly curious, like whether that is like existing buildings, like similar to existing buildings, or if this is like where we're going to hope for growth because it is close to T-stops down there and Boone Square and everything.

[Anna Callahan]: No, I totally get that.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm actually just asking about the existing buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: No, I think either way is great because it is close to some of these MTA stations that are not in Medford, but are clearly affecting, we should be building there.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just a little bit curious, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: I know no one ever likes whatever colors you choose.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize, but I do wonder if it would be possible to make the like mixed use and commercial, you know, somehow make them like the neighborhood residential being like yellow, green and red, like all possible primary colors like

[Anna Callahan]: is a little hard for me to tell where is residential versus where is, you know, there's possibility for commercial and I don't know if there's a way to make that slightly easier to grok.

[Anna Callahan]: I have to keep going back and forth.

[Anna Callahan]: It just doesn't make sense in my brain.

[Anna Callahan]: If it's not too much work.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: We had a really great meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: We invited the parents of students with disabilities to come and speak.

[Anna Callahan]: We discussed possibilities of how Medford can provide more activities for their children, covered many things between having it through the rec department and having it through more of a citywide effort.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that was the discussion and we're moving forward with trying to support those children here in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to express how excited I am that we are including green score in our zoning.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's going to help us meet our climate goals.

[Anna Callahan]: I live relatively close to Vistacab and it is an absolute tree and greenness desert.

[Anna Callahan]: It is an incredibly

[Anna Callahan]: this incredible heat island and deeply unpleasant to walk by.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that having this and especially the way that we have incorporated into Mystic Avenue and the way that we will be able to incorporate it into all of our zoning is just incredibly important.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm very excited about it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I have a very simple question, which is on this request.

[Anna Callahan]: It does say that the facilities assessment is being conducted by Habib Associates, who is an approved on-call house doctor for the city.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just, I will say, found that a little bit confusing.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have an on-call house doctor?

[Anna Callahan]: which my understanding from the internet is an actual doctor, like who works for a hospital or an institution, which could be the city, and a doctor is conducting a facilities assessment.

[Anna Callahan]: I just didn't seem to, I was wondering if there's a typo.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not gonna speak on that motion, but I'll speak

[Anna Callahan]: on the more general topic of the charter?

[Anna Callahan]: It is late at night.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize to my fellow city councilors.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to keep you up for another few minutes.

[Anna Callahan]: I have been very interested in voting systems for decades.

[Anna Callahan]: I studied the mathematics of voting systems while getting my undergraduate degree in math.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I think I really want to take this opportunity since I haven't

[Anna Callahan]: previously spoken very much about the charter to talk about why I am in favor of the four districts and five at large system for the city council.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you look at both national and international organizations that study voting systems.

[Anna Callahan]: It is well understood that multi seat systems are better than single seat systems and within single seat elections that first past the post is one of the worst possible electoral systems.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to catch people up on what these terms mean single seat versus multi seat.

[Anna Callahan]: So in a single-seat election, people in a localized geographic area, usually called a district or a ward, they only get to vote for one person, who usually is required to live in that ward.

[Anna Callahan]: And only one person represents those people.

[Anna Callahan]: So ward representation is single-seat representation.

[Anna Callahan]: In a multi-seat election, people in a geographic area, like a city or a state, get to vote for multiple people, and multiple people represent them.

[Anna Callahan]: So at-large representation is multi-seat representation.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to talk about the terms proportional representation versus winner-take-all representation.

[Anna Callahan]: So first, all single-seat elections are by definition winner-take-all elections.

[Anna Callahan]: But multi-seat elections can be proportional, or they can be winner-take-all.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you think about how the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries work, and you may not know how they work, but I'm going to tell you how they work.

[Anna Callahan]: In the Democratic presidential primary, delegates in each state are allocated proportionally to the candidates based on the statewide vote.

[Anna Callahan]: So if a candidate wins 40% of the vote, that candidate gets 40% of the delegates from that state.

[Anna Callahan]: It's proportional.

[Anna Callahan]: In most states in the Republican primary, all of a state's delegates are allocated to the candidate who receives the majority of votes in that state's primary election.

[Anna Callahan]: Or I think it's actually the plurality of votes in that state's election.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you were to get 52% of the vote in that state, you would get 100% of the delegates from that state.

[Anna Callahan]: That's called winner-take-all.

[Anna Callahan]: And the third set of terms I'm going to talk about are first-past-the-post, runoff elections, and rank-choice voting.

[Anna Callahan]: There are lots of different ways to run a single-seat election.

[Anna Callahan]: But these three are the only ones that really we do in America.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'll talk about those.

[Anna Callahan]: In single seat elections in America, you most often see what's called first past the post.

[Anna Callahan]: So everybody votes for one, whoever gets the most votes wins, even if you have five candidates and the highest vote getter only gets 25% of the vote.

[Anna Callahan]: That means the 75% of people who voted for those other four candidates don't get their preferred choice.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, if you have a runoff election,

[Anna Callahan]: then, and you have five candidates running and one of them, the top voter gets only 25%, then there's a runoff later with the top two vote getters.

[Anna Callahan]: And during that runoff, since there's only two, somebody is gonna get over 50% of the vote.

[Anna Callahan]: Ranked choice voting is also called instant runoff voting because voters rank the candidates in their order of preference.

[Anna Callahan]: And essentially you're asking the voter to tell you their

[Anna Callahan]: took their vote and their runoff vote on the same ballot.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's why it's called instant runoff voting.

[Anna Callahan]: And so what I'm going to talk about is how groups and researchers who study these different voting systems, what they see as outcomes for these different voting systems, or at least for the one considered to get the best representation and the one considered to get the worst representation.

[Anna Callahan]: Multi-seat proportional representation is associated with a greater likelihood that each constituent has at least one elected official who agrees with them on policy.

[Anna Callahan]: It is not possible to gerrymander in this system.

[Anna Callahan]: Minority representation tends to improve under proportional multi-seat systems.

[Anna Callahan]: They tend to be more competitive with more seats in contention per district.

[Anna Callahan]: They create space for more than two parties, and they lower polarization.

[Anna Callahan]: They tend to have less extremism in the general population.

[Anna Callahan]: And the elected officials in multi-seat proportional representation systems tend to be more likely to problem solve with people from other parties or platforms, and they tend to maintain democratic norms.

[Anna Callahan]: Winner-take-all elections, which only, sorry, winner-take-all single-seat elections, have a greater likelihood that a constituent's policy beliefs are not represented by their elected official.

[Anna Callahan]: They are susceptible to gerrymandering.

[Anna Callahan]: They uniquely disadvantage racial, ethnic, religious, and other political minorities, especially when they are not concentrated geographically.

[Anna Callahan]: They also reduce political competition.

[Anna Callahan]: They create safe zones by creating safe districts.

[Anna Callahan]: They increase effective polarization, which is also called negative partisanship.

[Anna Callahan]: And that means that voters from opposing parties don't just disagree with one another.

[Anna Callahan]: They actually come to believe that people, voters from the other party are bad people.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will say, I've read about this particular thing, negative partisanship, because it is an indication when you have high negative partisanship, it is an indication of a failing democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are beginning to have in America high levels of this effective polarization or negative partisanship, which is not a good sign.

[Anna Callahan]: They are

[Anna Callahan]: They're high stakes elections.

[Anna Callahan]: Politicians are worse at problem solving.

[Anna Callahan]: They're worse at maintaining democratic norms.

[Anna Callahan]: And voters and politicians who lose in win or take all elections are less likely to trust democratic institutions and more likely to resort to violence.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll just take one quote from one of the organizations that does this kind of research, the organization called Protect Democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: It says, researchers are especially concerned about the use of winner-take-all elections in highly polarized and diverse societies like the United States.

[Anna Callahan]: As one global study of democratization concluded, winner-take-all electoral systems are ill-advised for countries with deep ethnic, regional, religious, or other emotional and polarizing divisions.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you've fallen asleep because of the wonkiness of all these terms, I'm going to tell you the conclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is the part to really pay attention to.

[Anna Callahan]: Single-seat, first-past-the-post elections are known, according to experts and researchers, to be among the worst possible methods for getting people appropriately represented in politics.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to rephrase it.

[Anna Callahan]: Single-seat first-past-the-post elections, otherwise known as ward or district seats, are, according to most experts, known to be among the worst possible methods for political representation.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, I'm gonna guess that a lot of progressive heads are spinning around right now because this is not what you hear in progressive circles, right?

[Anna Callahan]: We've been told that wards are better than at-large.

[Anna Callahan]: So why is it that in America, research shows that ward-based is a better system at the city council level, right?

[Anna Callahan]: And I think there are two important reasons why.

[Anna Callahan]: One is the distinction between identity-based representation and policy-based representation.

[Anna Callahan]: And the other one is historical redlining.

[Anna Callahan]: So in America, we have a skewed understanding of what representation is.

[Anna Callahan]: We think that to be represented, you elect someone similar to you.

[Anna Callahan]: To have women's issues represented, you elect a woman.

[Anna Callahan]: To have black or LGBTQ or immigrant issues represented, you elect someone from one of those groups.

[Anna Callahan]: If you want to be represented in your city, you elect someone who lives in your ward.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a fundamentally different understanding from what people in other countries understand to be the essence of representation.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, I believe, and people in many other countries believe, that true representation politically is when you elect someone who is going to vote the way that you want them to vote on policy, because that is the job that you are electing them to do.

[Anna Callahan]: The argument for wards is based almost entirely on an identity politics viewpoint.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is also why most of the time in cities across America, it is typically Democrats and progressives who want more wards, and Republicans and pro-establishment people who want more at-large representation.

[Anna Callahan]: Research on wards looks for outcomes based upon identity.

[Anna Callahan]: You have to understand that ward representation research also exists in the reality of American cities that have had historic redlining, meaning that we force minorities to be concentrated in certain districts.

[Anna Callahan]: From an identity politics perspective, wards hold up pretty well in research in cities that are highly geographically segregated.

[Anna Callahan]: people from these historically underrepresented identities are in fact elected more often in these cities.

[Anna Callahan]: There's not a lot of research on whether it's true from a policy perspective.

[Anna Callahan]: In terms of policy representation, it would be good for more research to be done.

[Anna Callahan]: But it's important to note that when minorities are spread throughout the population, word representation does not even do a good job of bringing in different identities.

[Anna Callahan]: And in fact, it has shown to be the opposite.

[Anna Callahan]: Multi-seat representation does a better job of electing representatives from minority communities than single-seat districts.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that's something that's important to understand.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I will go ahead and stop here.

[Anna Callahan]: Those are my main reasons why I'm very happy with the idea that we are going to have a nice even mix of award representation and at-large representation.

[Anna Callahan]: I wrote a blog article for people who want more detail and who want to understand a little bit better and have some insight into what I actually have spent a lot of my time as my day job doing for the last eight years in terms of reinvigorating democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not going to bore you with that here.

[Anna Callahan]: It's late at night.

[Anna Callahan]: It's, in fact, not even late at night.

[Anna Callahan]: It's early in the morning.

[Anna Callahan]: But you can see my blog for those things.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to say a couple of things.

[Anna Callahan]: A final point, one is just that most cities in Massachusetts have larger wards than we do.

[Anna Callahan]: And there are many cities, I believe Somerville and Lowell are among them, that have wards that are twice our size, which basically means they are wards that are equal to the size of the district in the current city council proposal.

[Anna Callahan]: The other thing I want to say is I find it quite frustrating that the dialogue in the city council meetings has turned into this.

[Anna Callahan]: If you're for eight wards and three at large, then you are a good and righteous and virtuous person.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you vote for four districts and five at large, then you're an evil, power-hungry, and dishonest person.

[Anna Callahan]: And I want to mark this as that rhetoric

[Anna Callahan]: is exactly the kind of polarization that we have come to in America, because we don't have very good electoral systems, and we have this, you know, effective political of a negative partisanship problem, right, this is what these things lead to.

[Anna Callahan]: I am hoping that we can all try to

[Anna Callahan]: to understand that we don't need to accuse others of being evil and bad, and hopefully also understand that the difference between—these are both hybrid systems—the difference between 8 and 3 and 4 and 5 is not a gigantic difference.

[Anna Callahan]: I personally think that 4 and 5 is in fact better representation for all the reasons that I said, and I would love it if we can, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: try and tone down a little bit the rhetoric that paints people as being bad people.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's what I have to say.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: It's about number of constituents per councilor, I believe.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey there.

[Anna Callahan]: So thanks so much for all the work that you've done and all the folks you've talked to and everything that's, you know, I know there's a lot going into this.

[Anna Callahan]: I had a question as I'm looking over the roles, powers and duties, and please tell me if I'm misreading this, but it does look like

[Anna Callahan]: The, the four essential roles are all related to Medford specifically and I just know from some of the folks I've talked to that they felt that their hands were tied and they were told they were not allowed to discuss human rights, anywhere outside the city.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just, I wanted to raise that and see what you think as the person working on this document, if you've had those kinds of discussions, you know, maybe I'm wrong and that's, you know, that's not what this does.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would just love to get your feedback on that, just Councilor Tang.

[Anna Callahan]: I was actually just thinking, instead of deleting the words in Medford, I think it is appropriate that it be about Medford, but I think maybe there could be a, you know, letter E or something that is, you know, sort of, I don't know how to phrase this, but like an outlet for discussion of,

[Anna Callahan]: human rights issues that affect the people of Medford, even if those issues are not occurring in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Because there are, you know, I mean, look, just thinking about the, you know, the great desire here in Medford for a ceasefire earlier last year, that there were many families here who were directly

[Anna Callahan]: affected, directly affected by what was happening abroad.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think at least the ability for them to discuss those things and to be a place where people in Medford can go to raise issues of human rights that are affecting them personally.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know how to phrase it, but I think having that as, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: one thing that they are explicitly allowed to discuss, I think might be a benefit, but I'm open to people's opinions as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And I did have one other question if I may, and that's about the question of whether the city solicitor is the council or the commission has access to other council.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I'm inclined without hearing more about it, I'm sort of inclined to,

[Anna Callahan]: say that it probably should be the city solicitor or the council of the city because they are a commission of the city.

[Anna Callahan]: But I would be interested in understanding a little bit more at least of how that would be paid for.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, anyone can go and find another lawyer that they happen to know or get some advice from somebody else, that's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: But if we're talking about it being like paid legal counsel, I would wanna have some idea of where that funding is coming from.

[Anna Callahan]: Would you mind telling me where that is?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm looking for it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, I just wanted to chime in and thank Faringer.

[Anna Callahan]: I read that whole part and I believe that you're quite correct that that we're already covered.

[Anna Callahan]: So Councilor Tseng, no need to add anything.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that language covers, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I mean, I feel similarly.

[Anna Callahan]: I suspect that if we do strike that first sentence, then the mayor will have an opinion and, you know, we can like strike it as a suggestion.

[Anna Callahan]: But if the mayor comes back, I'm not concerned that this will ever be used to say that they cannot.

[Anna Callahan]: use some other legal opinion.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the fact that we have discussed it here and that we are saying it is our intention that that second sentence means that they are allowed to seek other counsel, I think is fine.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not, I'm not concerned about it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think either way is probably fine.

[Anna Callahan]: And even if we send it to the mayor with only one sentence, only the second sentence, she may send it back with the first one added.

[Anna Callahan]: So, which I think would also be fine.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, no, that was that was not intentional.

[Anna Callahan]: Would you mind rereading the motion back?

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just wanted to give my own little bit of report back on this.

[Anna Callahan]: I think my take on it was slightly different.

[Anna Callahan]: I did, you know, the first interaction I had with someone after the official hour was over was someone who said that she felt that the whole tone was very angry and that she, you know, felt uncomfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: And so,

[Anna Callahan]: being a person who has done other listening sessions, you know, with other groups.

[Anna Callahan]: I know we have all done some of them.

[Anna Callahan]: But my hope is that for the next one that I attend, I will be more facilitating.

[Anna Callahan]: I will come with, you know, some visuals on topics that can be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that when one or two

[Anna Callahan]: people dominate the conversation with angry rhetoric, it makes it very difficult for other people to discuss the things that they need.

[Anna Callahan]: And I felt that the conversation that started the second the hour was over were actually conversations that were not pet projects.

[Anna Callahan]: These were the real

[Anna Callahan]: things that people are concerned about.

[Anna Callahan]: I heard people talk about their need for housing as a senior.

[Anna Callahan]: The things that I heard over and over and over at the doors that to me are the primary issues that did not get discussed during that hour.

[Anna Callahan]: It was things like the lack of transportation for elderly people, that there used to be something called Megan Transport, and there used to be other ways that they could get around the city, but those things are not there anymore.

[Anna Callahan]: So they, you know, were wondering what we can do about that.

[Anna Callahan]: And then some talked about housing.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, as I mentioned, some of the things that I'm working on, the home sharing, bringing home sharing, matching service to Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And I talked about co-housing, and I talked about, you know, other

[Anna Callahan]: Like the RFP and how the hope is that that will have a lot of smaller units that older people can move into because they talked about wanting to downsize.

[Anna Callahan]: So these were the conversations that I think are the, the more

[Anna Callahan]: general ones that many, many seniors want to talk about, and the ones that we ended up talking about for an hour were more the pet projects of like, my street has a pothole in this one place, and I want to know about that pothole, or I want to continue talking about Salem Street, when we already have public forums for talking about the Salem Street zoning.

[Anna Callahan]: That should be something, it's fine if somebody wants to bring it up and talk about it for three minutes, but that shouldn't dominate the conversation at these listening sessions because it prevents us from hearing from the nine-tenths of people who are in attendance who aren't there for that particular issue.

[Anna Callahan]: We already have forums for talking about that particular issue.

[Anna Callahan]: My plan is that I will be facilitating more,

[Anna Callahan]: And then I did take some of these issues and following up with city staff.

[Anna Callahan]: I talked to the economic development director and talking about the RFP, talking about parking near the senior center.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll be following up with the planning department.

[Anna Callahan]: I followed up with DPW as well with some more general questions about when do they have

[Anna Callahan]: plans that they post on the website, like the engineering department actually posted last year, two different plans, like a crack ceiling plan and I believe like a pothole filling plan.

[Anna Callahan]: And just when were we gonna be able to see those?

[Anna Callahan]: Because people do wanna know when these things are going, like which streets are gonna be done next.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I was kind of looking for a timeline for that.

[Anna Callahan]: And just generally following up with city staff on some of the specific questions.

[Anna Callahan]: that were coming up during that session.

[Anna Callahan]: So I do think it was a good session, but I think that we can do better in terms of our ability to make sure that residents who are showing up at these feel comfortable, that they don't feel like it's

[Anna Callahan]: Like they are shut out by a small group that has a particular agenda, but that we are actively asking questions about the things we have an idea that, you know, seniors care about or

[Anna Callahan]: any listening session that it might be, whether it's like parents or folks at West Medford Community Center, or no matter who it is, we might have some facilitated questions where we are asking people, hey, we'd love to know your opinion about, you know, housing.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, how is housing going?

[Anna Callahan]: We want to know your opinion about transportation around the city.

[Anna Callahan]: We want to know your opinion, you know, about, like, how is this affecting you in your life?

[Anna Callahan]: So, thank you so much for letting me give a little bit of a longer report back on that.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited that we're doing these.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think the more of them we do, the better we'll get.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm really excited to make them places where residents feel comfortable and welcomed and that they are, their input is, you know, that they can also give input.

[Anna Callahan]: And we have kind of a step up, step back, understanding that these are for everyone to contribute equally.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I am going to yes and.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited about what Councilor Lazzaro was saying.

[Anna Callahan]: And as often happens with me, I didn't mention that, yes, of course, we also will listen to concerns that people come with.

[Anna Callahan]: I think maybe we either have the first half or the second half of the listening session dedicated to that.

[Anna Callahan]: so that there's a specific time that is like, hey, we're going to ask you questions.

[Anna Callahan]: And then there's a time that's like, hey, you ask us questions.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think it's rare that elected officials do the part that I'm talking about, where they're actively asking people, hey, I actually want to know how housing is affecting your life.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's a piece that I think is really important.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would love to have that piece added to what I think what we have been doing, which is more of an office hours.

[Anna Callahan]: Office hours is like anybody can show up and they ask you whatever they want.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think the listening session part

[Anna Callahan]: which to me is like finding out from like asking targeted questions and hoping that everyone there can talk about their own experience to give you a picture of how our policies are affecting people.

[Anna Callahan]: That is a part that I would love to add as a yes and thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it's coverage both both sides, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So it covers the city side and then also the resident side of of the pipes that they determine are lead, which is probably far fewer than we think.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, neither.

[Anna Callahan]: It's the city is going to do all the work.

[Anna Callahan]: And the city pays for it.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually really appreciated that it was formatted properly because it made it look so much more professional.

[Anna Callahan]: I did read it.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually thought it was fine.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm good on the newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: I will happily vote in favor.

[Anna Callahan]: Which might I add was the thing that I proposed.

[Anna Callahan]: dearly similar to the things I proposed.

[Anna Callahan]: They were super mad until someone on the other side proposed it and then they loved it, exactly as I said in that council meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: You remember I was like, I was like,

[Anna Callahan]: Never mind.

[Anna Callahan]: I said what I said.

[Anna Callahan]: And now I said it.

[Anna Callahan]: I move to approve with edits.

[Anna Callahan]: Second.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just want to give my kind of perspective on things.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, if this were coming into

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: So if this were coming into, because I was not on the governance committee, if this were coming into this body, whether it was eight and three or five and four, four and five, I guess, either way, I would vote in favor.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that we want a combination of more localized members as well as at-large members.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is what I am for.

[Anna Callahan]: So either way, whichever of those it was, I would be voting in favor of it.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it is also fair to say that the survey that the study committee did included a question about combination of wards and at large.

[Anna Callahan]: It did not ever ask

[Anna Callahan]: whether that should be four districts or eight wards.

[Anna Callahan]: A little odd because they are recommending four

[Anna Callahan]: for school committee and eight for city council.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems like maybe you include that in your survey so that you can get that information.

[Anna Callahan]: I personally don't believe that we have any idea how many people in Medford would prefer the eight wards versus how many people in Medford would prefer four districts.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I can look at the numbers right now, people who want a combination of wards and at large, and you know,

[Anna Callahan]: I get it that ward in Medford means a very specific thing.

[Anna Callahan]: I think our wards in Medford are quite small compared to a lot of the other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: So combination of some sort of localized and at large is 60% of people.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is what we are voting on.

[Anna Callahan]: To stay as is, meaning all at large, 18% of people think we should stay all at large.

[Anna Callahan]: 17% of people think we should be all wards.

[Anna Callahan]: you have approximately the same number of people who think it should stay like 20%, 20% almost.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like 18%, 17% say that it should be all at large, 17% say it should be all ward, and 60% say it should be a combination.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there's a decent argument to say that something that is near half and half is maybe

[Anna Callahan]: something that people in Medford want.

[Anna Callahan]: It's unfortunate that we really have no idea whether the community would prefer eight or four, because that was never asked.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to push back a little bit on this.

[Anna Callahan]: We know absolutely certainly that everyone in Medford wants eight words.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that that question was ever asked or answered.

[Anna Callahan]: And, uh, yeah, like I said, I would be in favor of mixed whether it was eight or four.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I think going to a slightly larger council is good too.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so that's just my position.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually wanted to bring up a totally different topic, the topic of ranked choice voting for single seat elections.

[Anna Callahan]: So that would be any districts or wards as well as the mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: And I apologize that I did not attend the final

[Anna Callahan]: and I don't know whether this was discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: I was not on the committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I did try to attend the other two meetings, but I would love to raise the topic.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and here.

[Anna Callahan]: From folks about the topic of ranked choice voting.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I have downloaded from the state of Massachusetts, a database that includes the sizes of all wards and precincts of every city and town in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will say it looks like most cities, and of course we're only looking at cities because towns have a totally different government structure.

[Anna Callahan]: So we're only looking at cities.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, this database includes all towns and cities.

[Anna Callahan]: All municipalities in all of Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: sadly, this particular database, I wish I'd done this before, because I would have marked them as cities or towns.

[Anna Callahan]: So this particular database does not in fact tell me which ones are cities, which ones are towns.

[Anna Callahan]: But as I am looking through it, I've gone up through letter N, and I have not yet found any cities that have wards

[Anna Callahan]: as small as our wards.

[Anna Callahan]: So far, everything looks about twice as large, one and a half times as large, three times as large in terms of population, just the population.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I mean, look at Chelsea.

[Anna Callahan]: And some of these are considerably smaller cities than we are in population.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that really matters, right?

[Anna Callahan]: But it looks like Chelsea's are

[Anna Callahan]: twice the size of ours.

[Anna Callahan]: Chicopee actually would be similar.

[Anna Callahan]: Everett, we're looking one and a half times, not quite one and a half times.

[Anna Callahan]: Somerville are twice the size.

[Anna Callahan]: Fall River.

[Anna Callahan]: more than one and a half times.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just looking, I understand that people want local representation.

[Anna Callahan]: And I understand that we are unusual in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: And I made the argument last time that in other states, we are not at all unusual in terms of the representation that we have, either the current representation that we have in terms of being at large, because all over the country, that still is the same.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think the point I'm trying to make is the argument that we should definitely be wards, because that is just like all the other Massachusetts cities.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, I would love to dig a little bit more into this database.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not sort of trying to understand at a glance, like, am I making sure we're looking at, I think all of those I mentioned are cities and not towns.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would want to double check that those are in fact the ones that are, that the size of the wards are as listed, the things that are listed as wards, though they each have like a person per ward.

[Anna Callahan]: But it does look like our wards are smaller than most cities wards.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to make that point.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize, I gotta correct myself.

[Anna Callahan]: Chicopee would be smaller.

[Anna Callahan]: And I haven't dug deeply into this.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is really just kind of trying to get a sense.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I appreciate so much that you're here again, I was there at the library with you and I was with, you know, with one of your very first meetings with Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: I, I really have heard from you guys very clearly that this is not about just rec programs.

[Anna Callahan]: I loved the way that you phrased it about it including restaurants and places of worship and meetings and events, live entertainment, holidays, employment, the library.

[Anna Callahan]: There's so many things that we could be doing.

[Anna Callahan]: My volunteer team has found a volunteer who is a specialist in special ed, both in her work and in her education.

[Anna Callahan]: And what I'm hoping we can do is set up a meeting where

[Anna Callahan]: the group and this volunteer and I can all meet together because I believe that she has volunteered to do 20 to 40 hours over the next few months, and budget season is coming up.

[Anna Callahan]: So if she can pull on all these threads and find out and do the legwork that the mayor is gonna want to hear,

[Anna Callahan]: about what this is actually going to look like.

[Anna Callahan]: She can do that.

[Anna Callahan]: She wants to volunteer to do that, then we'll be able to have something that is much more concrete for the mayor to approve of in budget season.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is where I think this volunteer is going to be really incredibly helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: is to hear all of the ways, all of the ideas that you guys have and the ways that Medford could be like this, you know, the inclusion specialist that you want to be housed somewhere in the city, the ways that that person could bring these kinds of activities.

[Anna Callahan]: And that way, she can do the legwork

[Anna Callahan]: to ensure that the mayor feels comfortable with funding this position and also where in the budget and where this person should be housed.

[Anna Callahan]: I think having that volunteer do that legwork before budget season is the way that we're gonna be able to have this placed in the best place that you guys feel comfortable with it being funded in the city of Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, I think my suggestion has been that we meet with her.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, I would love to see her here.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if she's coming tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we need to have like a deeper, like her hearing this meeting would be great, but having a deeper discussion where she can really dig in and ask tons of questions to you guys, that's going to be a lot deeper than this meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: But let's set up a meeting where I can be there, she can be there, we can make sure that we get this off.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for all this work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm hoping, can you give us a little bit more of the big picture?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I know that we have like 125 year old water lines throughout the city and it's hundreds of millions of dollars for us to replace them all.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you fit this into the context of that?

[Anna Callahan]: I know that this is a specific APA project that has a deadline, but give us a little bit of context in terms of how does it fit into our sort of longer term plans to replace these aging pipes?

[Anna Callahan]: Is it safe to say that like, this is just the very end of like the sort of

[Anna Callahan]: roots or tree branches or whatever you want to call it, of the water system.

[Anna Callahan]: So at this point, because of the deadline and the funding, we're going to be working at the ends of the system.

[Anna Callahan]: And that after that, when that deadline is no longer pressing, that we will move on to working to the rest of the aging water system.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, just one super quick question, and I think you already said it, but if you can repeat, when would this work be completed?

[Anna Callahan]: Approximately, do we have any ideas?

[Anna Callahan]: Can I ask a question?

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm specifically thinking of some constituents who have reached out to me and like begged me for any sort of resources that they can do that they can possibly get for replacing their lines because they know they have lead in their water.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any thoughts on should they just pay to do it themselves?

[Anna Callahan]: If they replace their part, but then the other part isn't replaced, is that then possibly going to be worse?

[Anna Callahan]: What should they do, given that they're concerned right now?

[Anna Callahan]: It's so incredibly helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, I wish there were much more that we could do.

[Anna Callahan]: It is really, I believe, quite ridiculous that we cannot actually get this without a home rule petition, which is almost certainly going to be denied.

[Anna Callahan]: We should be getting

[Anna Callahan]: real estate taxes from these large institutions.

[Anna Callahan]: A master plan is really small potatoes, and it is quite frustrating that we have to do a homeown petition, and it is unlikely to be approved, but I am certainly in favor of this homeown petition.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that it passes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted a super quick clarification.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like you're saying that if we don't do anything differently, and this is a UR1, but there's a lot of single family homes, they will not be able to build an ADU.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to have a little check in, maybe I missed it, but that we can, in fact, write something into the zoning to ensure that they will be able to do an ADU by right?

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to make sure that we're not like allowing ADUs in all the single family places.

[Anna Callahan]: But if there happens to be a single family home in a, you know, zoned something that's not single family, that they're not then not allowed to do the same thing all the other single families are.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I so appreciate you looking into this and especially into where they these small commercial districts already exist in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say as we have gone through this whole zoning process, I think the thing I am most excited about is what I have been calling

[Anna Callahan]: community mixed use, which I think is exactly what we're talking about.

[Anna Callahan]: The idea, and I phrased it as, you know, within a half mile of every home, having a corner where people can go and there would be a space that was co-working by day, community events by night, there would be a cafe, there could be a bookstore, you know, a small grocery.

[Anna Callahan]: So all of these things, and I love the reframing that I

[Anna Callahan]: a five minute walk to an ice cream shop.

[Anna Callahan]: Everyone should be five minutes from ice cream.

[Anna Callahan]: So these things I think to me are what I'm the most excited is to really bring walkability and the neighborhood feeling and the idea that you're going to get to know your neighbors in this specific place that really is designed for you to meet the people who live

[Anna Callahan]: on your block, two blocks over near you.

[Anna Callahan]: And in part, what I am really hoping for is as I talk to people who have lived in Medford for a very long time, one of the things that they don't like about the changes that are happening is that they have known their neighbors their whole lives.

[Anna Callahan]: And they really feel this break with the people who are new here who aren't getting to know their neighbors.

[Anna Callahan]: That that is, is troublesome and, and I personally agree as someone who has moved often.

[Anna Callahan]: I wish that I knew my neighbors better.

[Anna Callahan]: I wish there was somewhere that I could go I mean for me it's Colette bakery, because, you know, we pass it every day that we go to school and so we stop in and we know people there.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think everyone should have a place, whether they have lived here for 50 years, or whether they just moved here, they should be able to walk somewhere that they will have an opportunity to get to know their neighbors.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is very exciting to me.

[Anna Callahan]: And among the uses, I would love for us to consider children's and teens activities.

[Anna Callahan]: Because I think that is also something that I hear often from residents is that we don't have enough activities for families.

[Anna Callahan]: And if there were something that were walkable, especially teenagers, that's like a great opportunity to have something where teenagers can go and hang out, it's a safe space.

[Anna Callahan]: where they're a few blocks from home, they're very close by, and yet it's also designed for them.

[Anna Callahan]: So those are the kinds of considerations that I'm thinking of.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm hoping, I apologize if this was already sent out, but I got the full color maps of the

[Anna Callahan]: the proposed zoning and the existing use, but I didn't get the map of this one that has these existing commercial spots in the neighborhoods, and I would love to have that if that's possible.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: And I did want to just respond quickly.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the reason why this is one of the more major changes that is happening in the residential zoning is this very specific spot, because it was single family too.

[Anna Callahan]: And now we are changing it to

[Anna Callahan]: urban residential.

[Anna Callahan]: And the reason is because there's a brand new T stop that, you know, 10 years ago, did we even know 10 years ago that it was going to come to there?

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe around 10 years ago?

[Anna Callahan]: We hoped.

[Anna Callahan]: But the zoning is 37 years old.

[Anna Callahan]: So like 37 years ago when this zoning was written, that T stop was not even a twinkling in the eye.

[Anna Callahan]: of the person who ended up planning the T stop.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is why this particular neighborhood is seeing such a change is because it really is right where that T stop is.

[Anna Callahan]: And the whole rest of the city is going to see much less change.

[Anna Callahan]: So I do understand that this, you know, for folks who live in this neighborhood, you know, we may want to have more discussions and really talk to them.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is also why I was, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: wanted to deeply ask these questions about like I want to make sure that single family homes, people who only have single family homes in this particular neighborhood are able to do with their homes, what every other single family homeowner can do in Medford, that I think is very important that they be able to do, you know, an ad you that they be able to, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: put on a porch or whatever it is that they want to do to their single family home.

[Anna Callahan]: I do not want people to, I think we already have too much turnover in this city, you know, because of the skyrocketing housing prices and the pressure on people to, you know, sell and move somewhere cheaper.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to make sure that the folks who currently live here is the people that we're serving.

[Anna Callahan]: But this is this one neighborhood is going to be the spot

[Anna Callahan]: that looks like in the zoning in terms of the residential neighborhoods does get the most change, and it is purely because of that T-stop.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I really want to thank Councilor Lazzaro, of course, for bringing this forward and working with residents.

[Anna Callahan]: I do want to thank the residents.

[Anna Callahan]: Their letter is incredibly well thought out.

[Anna Callahan]: The requests they have made are well thought out.

[Anna Callahan]: They have gotten many, many, many signatures for people signing on to this.

[Anna Callahan]: So they've done a lot of organizing work.

[Anna Callahan]: I think, and I completely agree with Councilor Lazzaro that it is,

[Anna Callahan]: incredibly frustrating that deaths, injuries, accidents continue to happen, and we do not have the ability to have the control that our residents would like us to have over these roads.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, even just in the question of like whether signage is put up saying what the speed limit is the correct speed limit so you know even small things small requests go unanswered.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to ask a little bit of a procedural question I hope it's okay.

[Anna Callahan]: This is by no means to not say that this is an important topic but.

[Anna Callahan]: Is it actually allowed for motions to be put in remembrances, and I'm only wondering because I think there may be people in the community who would want to know about this and might want to speak on this topic but they wouldn't look in remembrances for promotions that are happening.

[Anna Callahan]: And my only suggestion, like I've been thinking about whether.

[Anna Callahan]: It would be useful.

[Anna Callahan]: I know there's been an email thread with more data about the state roads and accidents happening there.

[Anna Callahan]: There is data online that we can see about injuries, deaths, accidents happening on the state roads.

[Anna Callahan]: That data is available to us online.

[Anna Callahan]: And I was wondering if we might think about putting this either in a committee to then go to City Council, but having Todd Blake, who's our traffic guy or anyone else that that folks think is the appropriate person to talk to us about navigating

[Anna Callahan]: our relationship with DCR and what we can maybe provide, is there anything that we can do to push DCR to take action more quickly?

[Anna Callahan]: So I guess there's, like, should we move this to committee?

[Anna Callahan]: Can these motions be done in a remembrance?

[Anna Callahan]: And then...

[Anna Callahan]: I had one other suggestion, which is wondering if city councilors can sign on to this letter, if that would be more impactful for us also to sign on to the letter to maybe send to our state delegation.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan, sorry, I'm still working on the mics.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't have a motion exactly but I would, I think it's probably easiest to just keep it in this committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think there's current urgency because of the state that we live in.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would, I would say we just keep it in this committee and then we take it up next month when we've got the legal review and go from there.

[Anna Callahan]: As long as we have finished and everyone has spoken, I would move that we adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a little bit more of a general question about this whole section.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just, I do have a question for the chair of the study committee who I so appreciate being here in person.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't see any survey questions about strong mayor versus weak mayor or about the strength of the mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: My understanding is we have one of the strongest mayoral sort of systems in the whole state.

[Anna Callahan]: and country.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just curious if there was discussion among the community that you heard how much of the, you know, whether this.

[Anna Callahan]: was talked about on the commission.

[Anna Callahan]: And specifically, I'm really talking about appointments, both department heads, as well as boards of commissions, the budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And it just comes up in here because of the ability of the mayor to veto

[Anna Callahan]: you know, anything coming out of the City Council.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm just curious kind of how the sort of strong Mayor Week Mayor fit into the discussions both internally within the committee as well as more broadly within the public.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a super quick question about we did pass a budget ordinance and I know that the charter basically is a

[Anna Callahan]: that takes precedence over ordinances in general.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm curious how you might see this piece of the charter and the ordinance that we passed as interacting with each other.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, you may not know about the ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: The ordinance basically lays out a timeline for when the mayor will provide certain information and different meetings that the state council will have with department heads to understand their individual budgets.

[Anna Callahan]: So it has this more details, and I don't really know if the actual dates are

[Anna Callahan]: probably not identical to these, but I'm just curious if you have an understanding of how that, would that ordinance kind of be washed away or would that ordinance just be assumed to be fine unless it's specifically against the charter?

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, but to me, that is a little, like, I would not get from that what I think you mean.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, OK.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, that sounds like when you push this off to the other, whereas we're still discussing it internally.

[Anna Callahan]: I would just be, if you want to probably say no decisions have been made yet, I would say that.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, a little more direct.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Just two minor edits.

[Anna Callahan]: The first is under planning and permitting.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that we just found out today at planning and permitting that they're not going to be, the CDB is not going to be talking about Salem Street on February 5th.

[Anna Callahan]: They pushed it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just don't want to put February 5th because I'm pretty sure that

[Anna Callahan]: they are not talking about it on February 5th, so.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the second one, and this is very minor, but under public works, the last sentence, we also heard from the commissioner and city engineer on the possibility of, the city engineer did not chime in and had nothing to say, so we just removed the city engineer part of that sentence.

[Anna Callahan]: The city engineer was really there to talk about the roads.

[Anna Callahan]: So the last sentence should read, we also heard from the commissioner on the possibility of, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, these are great.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the fact that you're for each one of these, you're asking, does staff have the capacity?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you see any ethical concerns?

[Anna Callahan]: You know, these are, these are great questions to ask to everybody.

[Anna Callahan]: I would just ask the mayor's office as well, what other data aside from these she thinks would be interesting, or might be helpful to the to the community.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I don't know if the health department has data that would be interesting or helpful to the community to understand over time.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, you know, there are maybe other departments.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, you know, we have our housing department is incredibly small, not even a department, but you know, with housing data that we have over time, like there are other things that might be useful.

[Anna Callahan]: And so just adding that one question to the mayor's office would be good.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lazzaro, I so appreciate you bringing that up.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that that's a real concern given the skeletal nature of many of our departments.

[Anna Callahan]: And I guess what I would say is staff capacity is a question people can answer many ways.

[Anna Callahan]: People could say, well, if you pass it, we have to do it.

[Anna Callahan]: So yes, you have the staff capacity.

[Anna Callahan]: They could say, no, we don't have the staff capacity because we're already at our max.

[Anna Callahan]: even if it's five minutes, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So I think adding a question of a rough cost estimate would be more helpful because that would, some people might say, yeah, that'll, you know, it would take me two hours to do everything.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's one thing.

[Anna Callahan]: And another person might be like, yeah, that's gonna be like five hours a week for the next six months, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So I think having an idea

[Anna Callahan]: of what each department thinks might be the cost to putting it up for the first time and or keeping it maintained.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that would be helpful information.

[Anna Callahan]: For the amendment, can we send it to the mayor first?

[Anna Callahan]: Wait, give the mayor a heads up before we send it to the department.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: My assumption was that it was going to go to the mayor first.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I jump in?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, I appreciate that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Make sure you go to ours.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I, myself, am very excited that we're going to have some meetings about zoning that are not in this room.

[Anna Callahan]: Going out, you know, where the people are, places that people feel more comfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's really great.

[Anna Callahan]: I get that we are under-resourced, but I appreciate Councilor Scarpelli's push for us to really do more and to do our best effort to get

[Anna Callahan]: all this information out to people.

[Anna Callahan]: And that being said, I do want to make a comment that we have been, am I correct, 37 years without zoning changes?

[Anna Callahan]: Over 30 years.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's closer to 40, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Close to 40.

[Anna Callahan]: Not deciding to not change anything is a decision, and the world changes and the demographics of our city changes and coven happens and you know things happen in the world the.com bust in the 2000s happened and, you know, things.

[Anna Callahan]: change in the world and in our city.

[Anna Callahan]: And the choice for the city council to not change the zoning is a choice, as much as a change is a choice.

[Anna Callahan]: I personally have talked to many people who, you know, have been wanting a lot of the changes, zoning and legislative that we have, you know, on our governing agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: have said to me, I've lived here for 30 years and I have wanted these things to happen for 30 years.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought they would never happen.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so excited that finally some of these things are happening.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think, you know, it's just important to remember that while change is hard, the whole world changes and zoning needs to be updated.

[Anna Callahan]: A lot of the zoning things that we are doing is bringing things to

[Anna Callahan]: the current non-conforming structures that exist.

[Anna Callahan]: So in many places, we're not, you know, yes, we are changing many things, but there are places where we're simply trying to reflect what actually currently exists because what's built there is not conforming to this old zoning.

[Anna Callahan]: And on that note, I did have just one small request that in some of our educational materials, I don't know whether it be the videos or just

[Anna Callahan]: you know, infographics that we create or in the writing or whatever that might be, I think it's important for people to be able to see very simply what the old zoning said.

[Anna Callahan]: what currently exists and is non-conforming, and what the new zoning says.

[Anna Callahan]: And if people are especially concerned about heights and about density.

[Anna Callahan]: So in very simple, as much as we can have incredibly simple ways of describing, here's the old zoning, here's the new zoning, and here's what is currently built, and why you can see that in these places, we're actually not changing anything.

[Anna Callahan]: We're literally, we're changing the zoning, but we're only making it meet what exists.

[Anna Callahan]: and in these other places where we are changing the zoning.

[Anna Callahan]: I think those, you know, as much as we can simplify it for people, that would be really helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know that in the first proposal, then it was amended by President Bears, and I just wanted to kind of note that in the amended, sorry, in the proposal two, there are, interestingly, there is a part of the northern part of West Medford that even in the before amended proposal one,

[Anna Callahan]: was Neighborhood Residential 1, which was nothing but single-unit dwelling plus ADU and historic conversion, amended to be a larger portion that was only gonna be that.

[Anna Callahan]: And now in Proposal 2, it's actually Neighborhood Residential 2, and so it allows two units.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that portion, and when I look at the reality, there are no two-unit dwellings there.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that,

[Anna Callahan]: I just want us to be careful that places, and I think this was the intention, President Bears, of the proposal that you made, which I was supportive of, please correct me if I'm wrong, but that in single-family areas that were single-family that are in fact single-family, there are no two units currently built there,

[Anna Callahan]: That I think I certainly felt that adding a to use and historic conversion was the right amount of change for those areas and I believe there are two areas, one is the northern part of North Medford and the other one is a triangle in Lawrence estates, but that both of those cases.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would be totally like every resident there is like, yeah, let's have two fellows here but my guess is that that's probably not going to be the reaction that we get.

[Anna Callahan]: So, that would be my.

[Anna Callahan]: inclination.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know if other councillors would be supportive of that, but I think that was kind of what President Bears's amendment was going towards.

[Anna Callahan]: So I wonder if we could, you know, come to some sort of agreement on whether we think that that's a good idea to roll it back, especially the northern west Medford part, roll it back to neighborhood residential planning.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you look at the difference between the proposed neighborhood residential districts version 1 and the amended proposal 1, and I believe that is President Bearsar's amendment,

[Anna Callahan]: in both of those, the very northern part of West Medford, that thing that goes way up by the lakes, right?

[Anna Callahan]: In both of those, it is neighborhood residential one, both in the original and also in the amended.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you now look at proposal two, that I believe is neighborhood residential two.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I could make a motion, but I don't know if a motion is really necessary.

[Anna Callahan]: I feel like if there's some consensus on this committee, then we can trust our Innocence Associates planners to do a slight revision.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I make a suggestion then that if a councilor wants to propose something that maybe we say, are there any objections to, then we don't have to vote or anything and people don't have to every single person chime in.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a little bit simpler.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will make the first one.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say, are there any objections to the very northernmost part of West Bedford as it goes up Grove Street?

[Anna Callahan]: Somewhere in there, there being a boundary between Neighborhood Residential 1 and Neighborhood Residential 2, currently it's all Neighborhood Residential 2, let the furthest north part be Residential 1.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we can kind of look at the original proposal before the amendment.

[Anna Callahan]: that that may be a good place to look at for the differential between one and two.

[Anna Callahan]: Any objections to them making a change like that?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I found them in order pending, tiny, tiny corrections that I sent to the clerk.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: At the Public Works Committee, we had Commissioner Tim McGivern and our engineer Omar Tella to give us an update on the roads, both their conditions, as well as how they are going to be spending the new $500,000 per year from the overrides.

[Anna Callahan]: And we also discussed the potential of having volunteer residents helping to plant city trees.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I do want to thank Councilor Scarpelli for bringing forward a number of ideas that I think are really pertinent to what's happening right now.

[Anna Callahan]: I know it's quite difficult to get information out to people.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, I do hope that we can do a better job.

[Anna Callahan]: of informing people on a topic that is as important as these overrides and the way that it's going to affect their taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: There are a number of things in here.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanna state where I am on these various different things.

[Anna Callahan]: The listening and education sessions, I think are fantastic idea.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm always a fan.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to be at them and help as much as I am able to.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe as I think Vice President Collins

[Anna Callahan]: mentioned that we have maxed out our ability to the statewide exemptions for our seniors, veterans, disabled, and other communities.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that we are already at the max, but I think asking our state representatives what else, what more we can do is a great idea.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm personally in favor of the homeowner exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that not everyone on the council is, or at least I don't want to guarantee that everyone on the council is,

[Anna Callahan]: I think looking into that and beginning that discussion now so that we are in time to be able to make that decision later in the year is a great idea.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely getting information about the abatement process as quickly as possible in every means possible would be fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Any grants and fees that can be used.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I certainly am in favor of.

[Anna Callahan]: So, that is where I said I am in favor of both this proposal as well as the proposal so I will vote for both.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: In addition to amending this, I assume it's what you're suggesting that we amended to send it to a governance committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I wonder if we could also do a friendly amendment to just add in language saying we urge our fellow councilors to not place other items of discussion before these hearings from business leaders.

[Anna Callahan]: Business people.

[Anna Callahan]: because a lot of the problem it sounds like is that we just, you know, we take things out of order and then we end up accidentally pushing these things until 11 o'clock at night when really let's not do that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I absolutely so appreciated our former messenger, Lera Lepore, who's a wonderful person.

[Anna Callahan]: I do hope that we can update the messenger role a little bit given

[Anna Callahan]: know, the digital age and that we may not need the exact services that were in his job description before.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say that if the city is going to hire a staff person for the city council, if the city council has a staff person, I would hope that some of their time might be dedicated to constituent services, which I think in, you know, most cities that is one of the first staff that is hired for a city council.

[Anna Callahan]: in, you know, there are certain cities, Cambridge and other cities, where every city councilor has a staff person who basically does constituent services.

[Anna Callahan]: I think constituent services are incredibly important to the number of emails that we receive with people who have questions, you know, that really are questions for the administration of us, you know, sending them to the right administrative person in the, you know, in City Hall.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm hoping that either

[Anna Callahan]: the messenger position can be one that can do a little bit of that kind of work and less driving around to deliver us.

[Anna Callahan]: As much as I enjoyed having the paper copies of the agendas delivered to my door, I hope that maybe some of that time can be used for constituent services and that we can just kind of look at that role and update it for the 21st century.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I want to thank you for all of the meetings that you attend.

[Anna Callahan]: You're one of our most engaged residents here in Bedford.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fact that you happen not to be at that meeting is completely understandable.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm glad that you're here asking this question, because most residents don't, in fact, go and look back at the committee meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: But they may, in fact, come and look at this meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: And you asked some questions that I asked.

[Anna Callahan]: So I specifically asked Commissioner McIvern.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry, I can go on.

[Anna Callahan]: No, no, not at all.

[Anna Callahan]: Again, I think it's important that we do discuss these things here at the official regular City Council meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: I did ask about resurfacing because I know with roads, you can save a lot of money by doing that kind of repair in between, and so I asked if maybe we would be able to save money in the future by doing these kinds of intermediary repairs.

[Anna Callahan]: He said, as President Bears noted, that unfortunately, because of the nature of

[Anna Callahan]: playing tennis, that it might affect the way the ball bounces that might cause people to sprain ankles, that doing those kinds of repairs doesn't actually work on the kind of surface also as noted that the underlying, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: structure just needs to be repaired at this point.

[Anna Callahan]: And then importantly, I think also Councilor Scarpelli noted, if I may, to let me know if I'm wrong, that the high school uses this as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Like it is a very used tennis courts that really, Medford really would suffer if we did without.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I appreciate your question.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry, I don't have a memorized who's microphone or who's.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: So as a general rule, I'm often hesitant for the city to sell off its owned property.

[Anna Callahan]: And this particular proposal

[Anna Callahan]: I have quite a few questions about, we have a newly formed affordable housing trust, it is looking into community land trusts.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems like city properties where housing can be built are perfect candidates for community land trust, you know, land.

[Anna Callahan]: I am like the language in this seems vaguely to point toward the funding probably being used for portable housing but not necessarily it says for general municipal purposes and or for the purpose of disposition on such terms and conditions as in the best interest of the city like these to me

[Anna Callahan]: what we are doing is handing over to the mayor the ability to sell a city property with no conditions, and I am not comfortable with that, with the way that this is worded.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would have a lot of questions about how the Affordable Housing Trust fits into this, why there is a rush when the Affordable Housing Trust is probably not really prepared to deal with land right now because they're in the early stages, and we don't yet have a community land trust, why we are now suddenly desperately selling something that has not been used since 1950,

[Anna Callahan]: So I have quite a few questions, and I don't believe I will be prepared to vote in favor of this tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, just a hypothetical question.

[Anna Callahan]: Looking down the line, if, um,

[Anna Callahan]: this land were not to be sold and were to be, is it possible for the city to transfer ownership of this land to the Affordable Housing Trust or to a community land trust, should we have one?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, and I so appreciate the, first of all, the work from the commission and also the Collins Center.

[Anna Callahan]: I am not a member of this committee, so thank you so much for allowing me to ask a question.

[Anna Callahan]: This is on the same exact point.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that, for example, when we were working to try and reduce the rodent population, that the person sponsoring a piece of legislation

[Anna Callahan]: was communicating with the staff in order to understand best how we can help the staff through the ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: The staff needed an ordinance to be changed.

[Anna Callahan]: And so working together with staff to understand how we can best tailor the ordinance to meet the needs of the staff, that to me, like, I'm 100% in favor of

[Anna Callahan]: nor shall any member of the city council give orders or direction.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely, I 100% agree.

[Anna Callahan]: It just says, you know, the city council shall contact only solely through the mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: And it seems like getting information on how to craft ordinances to best meet the needs of staff, that's, I just wanna make sure, again, we're all asking about this.

[Anna Callahan]: That would be amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: I just specifically, I mean, I wasn't the sponsor of rodent control, but I know how much, you know, that was something staff needed and that the sponsor of that ordinance needed to just hear from and worked with staff members to craft it carefully so that it met the needs of the city.

[Anna Callahan]: So those kinds of things I think are important that we are able to accomplish.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I just had one quick question, which I think Councilor Bears may have just answered.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not clear to me who is on the committee or who puts people on the committee, but it sounds like what Councilor Bears is suggesting is that it says, this review shall be made by a special committee to be established by a vote of the council.

[Anna Callahan]: So that would be the council that is

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to understand what that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um,

[Anna Callahan]: So I definitely am in favor of having a hybrid system that has some wards or districts and some at large.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, whether it is four districts, eight wards, each of our wards has two parts, that would be 16.

[Anna Callahan]: That to me is not as much of the question in terms of

[Anna Callahan]: do we have boards or districts?

[Anna Callahan]: If we have four districts, we have eight wards.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, we are still using, like forming these more local elected offices, which I am in favor of.

[Anna Callahan]: I do definitely appreciate a lot of what President Bears has said about first past the post, single district.

[Anna Callahan]: Those genuinely are,

[Anna Callahan]: not the greatest way to elect people, not necessarily the best representation of democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: They also lead to long incumbencies because it is far more difficult to oust an incumbent.

[Anna Callahan]: I was very curious.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that in Massachusetts, we do

[Anna Callahan]: We are a little bit of an outlier currently, especially with seven at large, but also in terms of the number of city councilors that we have for the size of our population.

[Anna Callahan]: And I was really curious to look outside of Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: And if I could share my screen.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry that this is so small.

[Anna Callahan]: And this should only be, hang on.

[Anna Callahan]: I only wanna share that one.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me see if I can do that.

[Anna Callahan]: This is the one I picked, but it didn't, oh, I see.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, okay, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so what I did was I went ahead and I looked at other states and other cities, and I mean, I literally just went to Chattopiti, and I asked Chattopiti, please give me 10 cities in New England that are around 60,000 population.

[Anna Callahan]: And I said, please give me 10 cities in the South.

[Anna Callahan]: I said, please give me 10 cities in the West, 10 cities in the Midwest, and I just,

[Anna Callahan]: Like, you know, there was no picking of which cities these were.

[Anna Callahan]: These are, I believe, a quite random sampling.

[Anna Callahan]: And they're all, you know, somewhere around 60,000.

[Anna Callahan]: And I looked just to have an understanding of other states and other cities that aren't Massachusetts, and how many city councilors they have per population.

[Anna Callahan]: So there's a range.

[Anna Callahan]: I think population per city council ranges from about 4,000 to about 15,000.

[Anna Callahan]: There's a lot of, you know, there's a big range.

[Anna Callahan]: There's a large, there's wards or districts, and there's a lot of hybrid.

[Anna Callahan]: There are a few that are purely wards.

[Anna Callahan]: And what I thought was interesting is that at the number seven, and this has, I think it ended up with 48,

[Anna Callahan]: because there was one that was 99,000, I got rid of that one.

[Anna Callahan]: So there's 48 listed here and we just so happen in population per city councilor to rank 24th, which is exactly in the center.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, this is a pretty random sampling of cities that are close to 60,000.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just wanted to sort of provide that as what I think is

[Anna Callahan]: know, looking, it includes some in Massachusetts as well.

[Anna Callahan]: And Massachusetts does tend to have far larger city councils per population than other states.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe we want to be more like other cities, maybe we think that other states and cities in the country also understand how to do a democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: I personally don't

[Anna Callahan]: have an opinion either way.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that Massachusetts is necessary.

[Anna Callahan]: The way we do things is necessarily better.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think the way other states do it is necessarily better.

[Anna Callahan]: But I just thought it was interesting to kind of take a look at a random sampling of cities across the country that have approximately our population and what their size of city council is and also what their sort of composition is.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just wanted to provide that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to note first that I independently also

[Anna Callahan]: came up with a thought of what Councilor Leming suggested, which was for the four districts plus five at large.

[Anna Callahan]: So I thought it was amusing that you independently came up with that idea.

[Anna Callahan]: I also am fine with a larger city council.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I just wanted to say that I'm not on this committee, and I so appreciate the opportunity to be here.

[Anna Callahan]: I will not be able to vote today.

[Anna Callahan]: I do actually have another appointment, and so I will be leaving.

[Anna Callahan]: But thank you all so much for your incredibly thoughtful comments and proposals.

[Anna Callahan]: I, for one, genuinely believe that everyone here is doing their absolute best to come up with

[Anna Callahan]: what is going to be the best for Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Not slightly better.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there are, I think we should listen to what councilors say.

[Anna Callahan]: We should take what they say as what they mean.

[Anna Callahan]: And I certainly, when I do have an opportunity to vote in the city council meeting,

[Anna Callahan]: I will be voting for the thing that I believe is the best possible charter that we can have for the best representation in the city of Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Hello.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: I am curious, just because of the information I know about our roads, that once they get past a certain deterioration rate, then they become a lot more expensive to repair.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm curious about tennis courts.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there that kind of a lifecycle where they should be repaired within a certain number of years, and then it becomes more expensive, only noticing that this is the most expensive item on our list?

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm curious if that's something that we

[Anna Callahan]: could pay less for in the future by repairing them earlier?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really important.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted a quick, for the record, for folks listening, can you let us know what 100% of AMI is in Bedford?

[Anna Callahan]: Anyone?

[Anna Callahan]: I know it's area median.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just going to look it up, and then I was like, maybe the public should know, too.

[Anna Callahan]: But off the top of your head, nobody knows.

[Anna Callahan]: I was looking up.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't find it instantly.

[Anna Callahan]: So, We don't have to stop the meeting for that.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just, I just thought it'd be interesting information.

[Anna Callahan]: That's all.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Test 1-2, test 1-2.

[Anna Callahan]: We're ready to go?

[Anna Callahan]: All right.

[Anna Callahan]: Welcome to the Public Works and Facilities Committee of January 21st, 2025, taking place at 7 p.m.

[Anna Callahan]: in the City Council Chambers.

[Anna Callahan]: Today, we will cover two items.

[Anna Callahan]: One is paper number 24-492, Resolution to Receive an Update on Roads, and the other one is 24-493, Resolution to Establish a Volunteer Tree Planting Program.

[Anna Callahan]: Before we go on, Mr. Clerk, would you call the roll?

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Then we might as well move on to our first paper.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is the resolution to receive an update on the roads, whereas it has been more than six months since the city council was last updated on our roads, and whereas during the election of November 5.

[Anna Callahan]: The voters of Medford considered a budget override provision in Question 7 providing funds for, among other purposes, quote, fiscal year 2025 general operations of the Department of Public Works, $500,000, including but not limited to additional staff for road and sidewalk infrastructure repair, unquote.

[Anna Callahan]: and that ballot question was successful.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Public Works and Facilities Committee invite engineer Owen Wartella and DPW Commissioner Tim McGibbon to attend an upcoming meeting that is today to talk about the state of the roads and the plan moving forward, given the outcome of the election.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much to Commissioner McGibbon and Engineer Wartella for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to go ahead and pass the floor to you.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you can give us an update on the roads, especially given the new budget, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me see if there are any questions from the city council members.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I'm not sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you help me with this?

[Anna Callahan]: on the left.

[Anna Callahan]: We're trying to click the green one and nothing's happening.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I don't actually have one other question before we go to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to put in one last comment just because I think

[Anna Callahan]: You know, a lot of this, we do this for the public.

[Anna Callahan]: We do this not just for us to understand because we're obviously involved in budget considerations, but we do this for people who are listening to be able to really understand what is happening with our roads.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to put this in a little bit of context that when we did our first roads assessment in, am I correct that it was 2019?

[Anna Callahan]: 2021 was the first one?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Then when we did the first roads assessment in 2021,

[Anna Callahan]: At by that time, we are roads already were quite degraded in that 49% of our roads were in the, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: category four and five of the five, one being the best and five being the worst.

[Anna Callahan]: So we found ourselves, you guys are in a situation where you're trying to dig us out of a hole that has come from the past and from the fact that maybe they didn't have the information because there was no roads assessment, maybe utilities were not being kept track of and so they,

[Anna Callahan]: No one was preventing the degrading that they were doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And for who knows what other reason, not enough funding or whatever else, that we found ourselves at the first roads assessment in 2021 with roads that are quite degraded, and now trying to dig ourselves out when just to stay at the same level would cost $5 million a year.

[Anna Callahan]: Would you say that's relatively accurate?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Five would be just able to begin improvement.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So just for people to understand sort of the context of where we are in terms of this roads update.

[Anna Callahan]: So, wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anything else?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me go to Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I would just want to see if you have any last things.

[Anna Callahan]: I know we do have another agenda item that I'm hoping to get to.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anything else you'd want to add about roads?

[Anna Callahan]: Starts with a single step.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we can, I would love to move on to 24-493, which is the resolution to establish a volunteer tree planting program.

[Anna Callahan]: Whereas Medford loses an estimated 500 or more trees each year and plants less than 250 trees each year.

[Anna Callahan]: And whereas the cost of planting city trees is primarily in the labor to plant the trees rather than the cost of the sapling.

[Anna Callahan]: and whereas Medford only has one full-time staff member dedicated to our trees, the tree warden, and whereas Medford currently contracts out for tree planting, which is more expensive than planting with an in-house crew, and whereas trees are a vital part of fighting climate change, help cool buildings and streets in summer, and add to the beauty of our city, and whereas Medford has many residents who want to volunteer to plant city trees, therefore, be it resolved that the Public Works and Facilities Committee invite DPW Commissioner Tim McGibbon to attend an upcoming meeting, that is today,

[Anna Callahan]: to begin discussing the possibility of allowing Medford residents to volunteer to help plant city trees.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a project near and dear to my heart that I talked about a lot as I was campaigning a year ago last summer.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would love to just open the conversation.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate Commissioner McIvern that you are open to discussing this possibility.

[Anna Callahan]: There are other cities in Massachusetts that do allow residents to help volunteer to help plant city trees.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to hear your thoughts about whether this is a project that we could start looking into here in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: I know a lot of residents who are actually excited to help.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you can give us a little bit of sort of your opening thoughts.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you tell me a few, I have a few questions.

[Anna Callahan]: What season is the best for tree planting?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: So a couple other questions.

[Anna Callahan]: How comfortable would you feel with a volunteer, volunteer coordinator, or do we need to wait for a budget item to come and put a halftime person in the budget before you would feel comfortable with a position like this?

[Anna Callahan]: Let me go ahead and go to councilors for any questions or comments.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: A couple other questions, if you've thought a little bit about it.

[Anna Callahan]: Aside from a volunteer coordinator, do you see any kind of structure?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, how would this fit in with the tree warden or with anything else in the DPW?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, what would you imagine to be like a structurally, how would it work?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Any other, I can think of a bunch of next steps that I will, by the way, I have talked to Chief Medford about it.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I think I have some other next steps for me personally that I want to do.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you see other next steps?

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I'm thinking like a pilot, like we get something in the budget and then

[Anna Callahan]: figure out like a place where we could do a pilot project where we can do one or two tree plantings in a particular neighborhood and you know work through the warden and the volunteer coordinator and really have a first project to happen.

[Anna Callahan]: Just curious if you see sort of other sort of next steps that we would do in this process.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there any other questions either from councillors?

[Anna Callahan]: Well, from councillors first.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there any questions from the public?

[Anna Callahan]: I see one and I don't have.

[Anna Callahan]: Amanda Bowe, we have asked you to unmute.

[Anna Callahan]: That is so exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate you bringing that to our attention.

[Anna Callahan]: You're going to make that happen.

[Anna Callahan]: Anyone else?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: On that note, I believe we are at the end of this discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: I so again, super appreciate that you're open to the idea, really looking forward to moving this forward either through the administration with a part time volunteer coordinator or with a nonprofit, but potentially working with

[Anna Callahan]: you know, the Mr. Graber Water Association or some other nonprofit, and of course with Trees Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much, Trees Medford, for the work that you have done in previous years on this project.

[Anna Callahan]: And with that being said, is there a motion on the floor?

[Anna Callahan]: with a motion to adjourn from Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Seconded by Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, do we need to call the roll?

[Anna Callahan]: We don't need to call the roll.

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: Aye.

[Anna Callahan]: And all opposed?

[Anna Callahan]: We have three in favor, one opposed.

[Anna Callahan]: The motion passes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I'll say that given the garbled nature of the Zoom

[Anna Callahan]: call and the complicated nature of the request, I definitely need that reread because I did not understand what that was.

[Anna Callahan]: I had a couple of things.

[Anna Callahan]: Number one, I'm really excited about the idea of historic conversions.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's wonderful, like not changing the exterior of the building but allowing for it to become maybe, you know, a five-bedroom becomes a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom is such a great idea.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I wanted to ask a little bit about the NR2 and NR3 areas that used to be single-family.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm specifically thinking about, as I look at the map, like Lawrence Estates and those parts of West Medford that were single-family, single-family one.

[Anna Callahan]: And curious, because you did mention that you're trying to get it to reflect what's currently there,

[Anna Callahan]: Do you think that in those areas, the two-unit and three-unit allowance under these new zoning neighborhoods, is that reflective or is that going to be a significant change in those two areas, the Lawrence Estates and the West Medford?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, no, mostly I was kind of, what I was looking at, and thanks for pointing out this particular map, because now I can actually see it for myself and zoom in on it, but like in that Lawrence Estates especially, it really does look like it's currently mostly single family, and we are, you know, upping it by one and two,

[Anna Callahan]: potentially like, you know, one and two levels more.

[Anna Callahan]: So, just, I just wanted to know how much change was suggested.

[Anna Callahan]: I had a question that is perhaps a silly one, but I was curious when I look at the, the

[Anna Callahan]: sort of diagram, the very last page that has the two and a half stories and the three stories.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know that I see that architecture all over the place and like the two and a half story looks, you know, a certain way and the three story looks very like blocky and cut off.

[Anna Callahan]: how much does it, that half story matter to like not blocking people's view or not blocking people's sunlight or not blocking other things because like as an architectural piece and for the amount of extra space people get in their homes, like it, I don't know, to me seems like that might be nicer actually.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm just like, this is a, I'm totally not an architecture person.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm just curious more than anything, not making a suggestion.

[Anna Callahan]: Does a half story, does a two and a half or three and a half limit encourage pitched roofs?

[Anna Callahan]: What mic number are you?

[Anna Callahan]: Go for it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So what I heard Zach say is the opposite of what I wrote down that you read.

[Anna Callahan]: So my understanding is that now the lightest yellow and the northern parts of Lawrence Estates and the middle part of West Medford would all include two-unit dwellings.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I heard, Zach.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I heard in the rereading of the

[Anna Callahan]: thing and I am concerned because I think that's I'm not really comfortable if that's what we're doing is making every like two unit everywhere like that's I believe president bears please step in and correct me I think it's the opposite I think it's that yeah I'm saying the opposite I'm saying that this is an increment too far and each shade should go down one increment

[Anna Callahan]: That is, I feel much more comfortable about that, but I'm a little concerned about the wording because to me, the wording said the other.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm much more comfortable with that.

[Anna Callahan]: We got a lively debate.

[Anna Callahan]: This is exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am in favor of sex change.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'll just let you know why.

[Anna Callahan]: I think, like, I'm really encouraged by the fact that we are allowing for historic conversions and ADUs by right throughout what is currently considered single family.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, that is enough change in those areas that I do not feel like we need to move further than that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think

[Anna Callahan]: we will get pushback from the community is my concern that, you know, that's a little bit like those areas of Lawrence Estates and West Medford that already that is, I think, excellent and just the right amount of change that we're going to allow that doesn't really change a character of the community.

[Anna Callahan]: I think once we're allowing two units, that for me, that

[Anna Callahan]: belongs more in the areas that were on this new map considered neighborhood residential three.

[Anna Callahan]: And that also will be a change for much of those places, but I'm comfortable with that level of change.

[Anna Callahan]: So I feel quite good, and I think better than the current

[Anna Callahan]: suggestion, given that I do understand that because of some of the existing housing that is there, because you guys plotted this very carefully, that the boundaries are going to adjust a little bit.

[Anna Callahan]: But to me, this feels more comfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: And it also does mean, because of the ADUs and the historic conversions by right, that we are allowing more housing throughout the city, but just in a way that I think feels more comfortable to the residents of the single-family, current single-family one areas.

[Anna Callahan]: Three out of five is a quorum, isn't it?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate all the information you provided for me.

[Anna Callahan]: This is enough information that I all the information that I need to hear.

[Anna Callahan]: I very much appreciate a number of things.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, that you've been looking into state and federal grants to make sure that we

[Anna Callahan]: get as much as we can from other sources.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate the balancing that you're trying to do between our goals, like, for example, our clinicals, but also with our limited budget and really trying to do the best that we can there.

[Anna Callahan]: And most of all, this, I think, is an example, and I feel like this has been true

[Anna Callahan]: Most of the times that I've interacted with this administration is that that you really are understanding that there are times when delaying a project actually leads to it costing far, far more than it would have if we had just fixed it in the first place.

[Anna Callahan]: So I very much appreciate that level of financial responsibility where you're saying, no, we do need to fix this now, because if we don't, then it will be more expensive for the city in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: So I very much appreciate those things and all the information you provided.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I really do.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, I appreciate the time of these parents, you know, having heard a lot of their stories.

[Anna Callahan]: And as you will all hear today.

[Anna Callahan]: I think, you know, it really is.

[Anna Callahan]: They are in a situation of really needing to be supported and needing to be supported in their own city and not to have to drive like long distances to get to somewhere that they can get the support they need.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited to work with them as parents.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope also that we can find someone in the community who is not one of these parents to like help us to really sort of move forward on this issue.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited to work with the administration, and to really be creative in thinking about the ways that we can support them as quickly as possible.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, we've been in these discussions so we've been in this administration already with these discussions so we're moving forward.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm really excited to hear from them, and excited to.

[Anna Callahan]: get them what they need quickly and in the long term, making sure that that's something that is going to be, you know, a long term thing in the city of Medford that they can count on.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: If anyone is curious about more information on this project, we just had a meeting at six o'clock that you can find online.

[Anna Callahan]: And, and they provided a ton of information.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think we all feel like quite informed.

[Anna Callahan]: including all of the different state and federal grants that they've been looking into.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate all the planning that has gone into this, the amount that they are balancing our goals, including things like climate goals and everything else with our limited budget and our desire to make sure that we are, you know, spending what we

[Anna Callahan]: need to spend in the most financially responsible way.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate what Councilor Tseng just said, which is that often if you wait and defer projects, it in fact costs the city far more money.

[Anna Callahan]: So I appreciate that they are trying to look to the future and do these repairs now rather than waiting any longer and having it be more costly in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will be voting yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a quick point of clarification.

[Anna Callahan]: It is my understanding that the chief of police was invited to participate in the discussion around these changes.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that correct?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I was actually just hoping you could read back the B paper.

[Anna Callahan]: I was hoping to write an amendment while other people were speaking.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you don't mind.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to see if I could make a friendly amendment to the B paper.

[Anna Callahan]: I have sent the amendment to the clerk.

[Anna Callahan]: The amendment is that we request that the administration work with the building department and other public safety departments to alleviate concerns about after hours building inspector availability.

[Anna Callahan]: This really is the job of the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: And I appreciate that we've had quite a public forum here for folks to speak and really for us to understand what these issues are.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think the appropriate move here is to both get information and also to encourage the administration to make sure that these issues are covered.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I was very sad that the porch closed.

[Anna Callahan]: I went there many times and I would love to hear your 30 second elevator pitch for your vision for what you're creating.

[Anna Callahan]: Many other cities do have a hard stop in their rules.

[Anna Callahan]: So they will have, as Councilor Collins, Vice President Collins mentioned, that they will have something in their rules that says at X time, everything is tabled.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I also just wanted to say that very few cities do this.

[Anna Callahan]: Very few cities have a document where you can actually see what are the goals?

[Anna Callahan]: What is the, not just a pure value statement vision, but what are the actual policies that we're trying to pass?

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to thank whoever came up with this idea, because I think it's really brilliant.

[Anna Callahan]: And to be able to have it visible to the public, and then we go over it in public meetings, I think is crucial.

[Anna Callahan]: And like you said, great for transparency.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you to everyone who put it together.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I said they just had a question.

[Anna Callahan]: What is the appropriate next step?

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think it's a huge rush, but I would love to see that.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like you're going to check in with them.

[Anna Callahan]: Just was curious about what the next step is.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, and it sounds like you're willing to at least just ping them and see what the update is.

[Anna Callahan]: because I have not gotten the briefing that you have from the assessor, I am very curious and I just want to make sure that for myself I also agree that it is, you know, if I, like to me, if I think that it might be something that might help some folks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm just curious, is the assessor the right person to talk to?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there

[Anna Callahan]: Like, how can I understand a little bit more about it just to kind of get my own sense of what it is that that state law is in fact offering to us?

[Anna Callahan]: That would be lovely.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So pardon me if I forgot I was up late last night.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanted to ask, I think the mayor was going to provide us with a little bit more of a long-term capital spending plan now that we have the stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: Did that happen?

[Anna Callahan]: Are we still waiting for that?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something we expect in that administrative finance committee?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm absolutely in favor of us checking in and making sure that that money is spent well.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say that

[Anna Callahan]: Clearly, the mayor and the administration knew that there was a possibility that the overrides would pass.

[Anna Callahan]: They knew about this 1.75 million.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sure that they had a plan for how to spend that money in case those got passed.

[Anna Callahan]: But again, I appreciate it, and I think we should look into it.

[Anna Callahan]: But I doubt very much that we lost that money.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a good reminder for some of the things that I said I would work on that I should maybe move forward.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you very much for that.

[Anna Callahan]: I also wanted to ask, I'm going to guess because it wasn't on this list at the beginning of the year, but we did discuss getting, and we also got a little bit more information from the assessors on the possibility of a residential exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just curious what,

[Anna Callahan]: what committee that would be discussed in, if we decide to, you know, to have a discussion around the information that's provided?

[Anna Callahan]: I welcome anyone who has traffic related or roads related or sidewalk related, anything to ask that it go into the public works and facilities committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I would be happy to take those in my committee.

[Anna Callahan]: So if that seems like the appropriate place, then I welcome it.

[Anna Callahan]: The fat cats.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, the fat rats.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know that one thing that is a top topic for people in our city to talk about and to complain about is roads and sidewalks.

[Anna Callahan]: For perfectly good reason, we got into a hole because the roads and sidewalks were not properly updated for many, many, many, many, many years.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are doing our best as a city to dig ourselves out of there.

[Anna Callahan]: I think my plan, so we had one, we had the,

[Anna Callahan]: DBW commissioner, as well as the lead engineer, come to a meeting in the spring.

[Anna Callahan]: They will be coming to another meeting, which I thought was going to be in December, but it turns out it's going to be in January.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think my goal is to have them come in twice a year, just to give updates to the public, have a public meeting with them there, being able to report, see how we're doing in terms of getting our roads back from the brink and really getting us on that uptake where every year our average road

[Anna Callahan]: rating is getting better instead of getting worse, which has been happening for a long time in the past.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's kind of my plan on that one, is to have them come in a couple of times a year.

[Anna Callahan]: I know Councilor Bears has also asked for some information from our building commissioner and some others on city facilities.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will check in with President Bears about that, and perhaps we can have one where we have an update

[Anna Callahan]: on that as well.

[Anna Callahan]: We have the public restrooms and parks and squares that has come into our committee.

[Anna Callahan]: We're working on that.

[Anna Callahan]: Lead ordinance, clearly with the notifications that came out from the city about lead pipes, I think it is more on people's minds than it was.

[Anna Callahan]: It is something that has always been important to me.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I hope that in the new year, we do start working on this lead ordinance, which we have not yet given a paper number.

[Anna Callahan]: There is also a home rule petition to increase excise taxes for large trucks.

[Anna Callahan]: Vice President Collins, do you want to give us a tiny update on that?

[Anna Callahan]: it will likely go on the back burner when we discuss these projects at a committee meeting in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: Public utility accountability, I will say when I have spoken to staff, they are actually doing a really excellent job compared to prior years and prior administrations on holding our public utilities accountable and forcing them to do road repair and sidewalk repair

[Anna Callahan]: as much as we are legally allowed to force them to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: So, we can maybe also get an update on that from the DPW commissioner when they when they come into our committee to talk about roads.

[Anna Callahan]: The Tree Planting Volunteer Network is something that I talked about a lot on the campaign trail.

[Anna Callahan]: It's probably my absolute favorite policy.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm very excited about it.

[Anna Callahan]: And at our next public works meeting in January, the public works commissioner will be, sorry, DPW commissioner will be having our first discussion about how to implement this.

[Anna Callahan]: This is basically allowing residents, because most of the cost of planting trees in the city

[Anna Callahan]: replacing, we lose far more trees than we replace, so we're losing trees every single year.

[Anna Callahan]: And for sure, the major cost of that is labor and not the price of the tree.

[Anna Callahan]: So the goal is to allow residents to volunteer, to work together with training, with appropriate trees, with the appropriate depth, doing it all the right way, but to allow residents to plant city trees.

[Anna Callahan]: So it does sound like that is something that the administration is amenable to, and I'm really looking forward to our first conversation about that in January.

[Anna Callahan]: And aside from that, we are just, you know, reviewing other things.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm looking forward to 2025 and us getting some of those things done.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just going to say it's been a pleasure to be working with you all in this first year, my first year of being an elected official.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate all the support that everyone has given in just understanding how things work and whom to talk to for information.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really appreciate the way that we've been working together.

[Anna Callahan]: Also appreciate the clerk.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Mr. Clerk, for all the work that you do for the city.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, and thanks to everyone who is tuning in, whether it's live or after the fact to any city council meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: We appreciate your participation.

[Anna Callahan]: We appreciate you keeping up.

[Anna Callahan]: Appreciate the emails.

[Anna Callahan]: We appreciate all the communication.

[Anna Callahan]: And please do reach out and let us know what we can do for you in the new year.

[Anna Callahan]: Present

[Anna Callahan]: Steal my thunder.

[Anna Callahan]: I basically was going to see if you had, like, how short is your short version of your presentation?

[Anna Callahan]: And if there's something you can give that's five minutes or less that can really give us an overview.

[Anna Callahan]: And as well, if you can also give us a little bit of an understanding of

[Anna Callahan]: exactly how important the timing is and whether getting something, you know, obviously this is a process, it would not be approved tonight, it has three readings, whether us bringing it forward tonight is crucial to the timeline.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Real quick, this was something that I have dealt with a lot being a renter, living in a lot of different houses, all of which I led when my child was under six years old.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do think that it's crucially important.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm very excited that Medford is incentivizing people and giving people this opportunity to get those fixed and providing a little bit of help with that.

[Anna Callahan]: I also understand that this is simply

[Anna Callahan]: putting it in place so that it can be used by the residents.

[Anna Callahan]: Obviously, that'll depend on how many applications come in.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm very happy to support this.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually would make a motion to sever.

[Anna Callahan]: I would sever it into five.

[Anna Callahan]: Perhaps we can do that after public discussion or whatever before or after either one is fine.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think there's one that's about the essentially lines two and four, which are the cost of terminating.

[Anna Callahan]: Then the one in the middle, that line three,

[Anna Callahan]: Uh inviting all communications.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's a a separate one.

[Anna Callahan]: Um there's a question of the bond rating is a third.

[Anna Callahan]: The question of the private investigators is the fourth and the question of the drug testing is a fifth.

[Anna Callahan]: That would be my suggestion to sever it into those five.

[Anna Callahan]: comment was actually from earlier just to explain.

[Anna Callahan]: To the person who's asking us to respond that like actually, I think I at least for one Councilor was really hoping to hear from the public first.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not want to interrupt and put in my own comments.

[Anna Callahan]: I really wanted to hear a little bit more about what people had gone through and experienced.

[Anna Callahan]: That was why I was not responding to that.

[Anna Callahan]: I also do hope that we can.

[Anna Callahan]: Are we going to sever before we discuss each one or are we going to sever at the very last second?

[Anna Callahan]: I think it might be easier to sever and then discuss each piece.

[Anna Callahan]: My mic is on.

[Anna Callahan]: Does that mean I am allowed to speak?

[Anna Callahan]: I would just say that I, I think rule 21 is

[Anna Callahan]: very unhealthy for us to use.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that we should use it incredibly sparingly.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that a financial paper is in fact one that moves funding, and we are not doing that.

[Anna Callahan]: This does not actually move any funding anywhere.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, classifying this as a finance paper with regards to Rule 21 really makes Rule 21 far more broad than I am comfortable with.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not think that was what, like, I don't read rule 21 as saying that.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, I think a ton of people have come here to hear our thoughts on this and to hear us make, you know, either move this forward or not.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think it is, it's not really the best, I think, for anyone if we do not allow this discussion to have a conclusion tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: It's her motion to sever.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you please repeat exactly how you want to sever it?

[Anna Callahan]: The reason I had split it into five was because the first and third sentences, their cost associated with terminating school superintendent's contract and anticipated costs of superintendent search committee and interim appointment, those to me seem to go together.

[Anna Callahan]: Asking for any and all communications, corresponding meeting minutes, I may have a very different opinion of that one.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would start.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you very much.

[Anna Callahan]: I would be in favor of something that was not exactly this, but that requested from the administration to understand what is our policy?

[Anna Callahan]: What is the reason which we are doing this?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, for me, both of these last two paragraphs are, I will say,

[Anna Callahan]: I hope we have a really good reason if we are doing either of these things.

[Anna Callahan]: I looked a little bit into different state laws, in different states, different state laws on drug testing, for example.

[Anna Callahan]: And it has to be only under certain circumstances.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think for me, I really want to have an explanation of what our policy is as a city for both of these.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we are doing either of these, what the reasoning is behind it, I don't think that I am completely ready to vote yes on this before I have more information, a flat-out cease and desist, although it does, like, I mean, hearing the language, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: may seem attractive, but before I have more information, I'm not willing to vote yes on it.

[Anna Callahan]: I would vote yes if this were amended to say we want to know a full policy, we want to understand, you know, when this is used, and then the cost as well.

[Anna Callahan]: let me do my best to request that the city administration provide its policy regarding the use of private investigators with regards to any city all any or all its city employees and then I'm okay with the second sentence be it further resolved that the city administration report back with the identified line items in the budget

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: If I may, I have to say, I am overall, whenever I have looked into specific questions, things like how much free cash we get at the end of the budget year, and whether that is something that is viewed by the state of Massachusetts, by bond agencies, et cetera, as is that something positive or negative?

[Anna Callahan]: There are other things that I have looked into that the city has done that have been questions about what the city is doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And when I've looked into very specific things like those, I am usually, I find that what, or for example, the other one is like creating capital stabilization funds, these sorts of things, I have found that

[Anna Callahan]: the city administration is actually doing things that are considered, in those two cases, considered best practice by the state of Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: And that being said,

[Anna Callahan]: I, if, if we were a city council where I genuinely believed that the mayor or the administration were doing something that I disagreed with, even if it were the purview of the mayor, I, as a city Councilor, I would feel comfortable making a motion that says the city council does not agree with X, Y, Z practice if that were the case.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so I just want to make it clear that I don't think that we as a city council are

[Anna Callahan]: in any way trapped against saying what we believe our opinion of what the administration should be doing is.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that we can say the same thing to Tufts.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't control Tufts, but we sure can say we wish Tufts were doing something different.

[Anna Callahan]: We would like Tufts to do something different.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we can say that to the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: So a slight disagreement, I think, with my fellow Councilor, or maybe not, but if I was understanding you correctly.

[Anna Callahan]: I just think I don't have the information, and I really want to have a lot more information before I make any kind of decision on something that would say something so strongly worded as that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm happy that I think we're going to get a wording change, and we'll be able to get a little more information.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually, to be honest, I would like to know what our drug policy testing is for all city employees.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that the reasons for these particular tests, I would be interested in that as well.

[Anna Callahan]: I honestly I think that we might because of the reading that I did on drug testing in different states in the United States.

[Anna Callahan]: There are certain, there are only certain times that it can be done, it is not at the whim of the mayor or anyone else in the city.

[Anna Callahan]: there, you know, it falls into certain categories where it is legal and then other categories where it is not legal.

[Anna Callahan]: So I imagine that we will, we will get an answer that at least will fall into like some vague category.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would be happy with that.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanna have some clarification.

[Anna Callahan]: Um the requested meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I'm assuming this is a meeting between the administration and the fire department that you're talking about.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, can you be a little bit more clear?

[Anna Callahan]: So you're asking that the meeting with the council also include the fire chief and the union leadership.

[Anna Callahan]: But that if there needs to be an executive session, we would have that without those folks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't see where the zoning board.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm on page six.

[Anna Callahan]: They're not in the pocket.

[Anna Callahan]: My computer is dead.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I see page six, I see.

[Anna Callahan]: That's it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: The one change I would additionally like to make is I am hoping, I know that we have not had a chance yet to discuss co-living, which as far as I understand it is really just people who are not related to each other living, renting an apartment.

[Anna Callahan]: And I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the fact that that is disallowed in certain sections of MSTICAV.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm hoping that we can just remove that definition and everywhere it appears for this particular approval tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: And that'll give us time to talk about it.

[Anna Callahan]: And we can always add that definition later.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think it's going to delay anything or be problematic to simply remove that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'd love to ask you your opinion.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you think that we could just

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to say how much I appreciated the comment about our values.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's always really important to discuss our values.

[Anna Callahan]: And I agree that in the comprehensive plan, it really is sort of filled with that kind of discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And you can read about what people in the community, what values other folks who live here wanted to bring.

[Anna Callahan]: I know for myself, one of my highest values is a sense of community and vibrancy and people being able to walk to a place that they

[Anna Callahan]: meet with their neighbors and really love.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's something I'm always thinking about.

[Anna Callahan]: I know for Mystic Ave, it really is not a place that people just love to walk down.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's something that we've really been trying to work on is to make Mystic Ave something that serves us as a community and as residents.

[Anna Callahan]: But another underlying thing that we understand that people want is there to be

[Anna Callahan]: more new growth right so that new growth is both going to be commercial businesses moving in it's also going to be about new housing that brings in new revenue to the city they both bring in revenue to the city so I think those are among the many different things as well as well as you know we have these new green score that is going to bring more places which I think were mentioned about like

[Anna Callahan]: where young and old people can, you know, spend time together where there's trees, where there's benches to sit on and places to, you know, to chat.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to be incentivizing that from developers.

[Anna Callahan]: So these are all things that I think we have, we have brought forward as, as values.

[Anna Callahan]: Each of us individually has values, but we also have some values that came out of the comprehensive plan that we are trying to make happen through the zoning process.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you so much for asking about that.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I also not inclined to agree with any sort of waiving of three readings.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the three readings are good.

[Anna Callahan]: Also, there were a lot of changes that just came in recently.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think, you know, I'm comfortable passing it for first reading.

[Anna Callahan]: It'll, you know, give me a chance to go through line by line every single change that was made, which I know was recommended by KP law.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would be perfectly fine if we want to make an official request that in between our first reading and the third reading that we ask the police chief to come to a

[Anna Callahan]: But I think it's a different request when it's past first reading.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we want to make a request that he show up to a committee meeting where we can discuss this and any reservations he has, I would be open to that as well.

[Anna Callahan]: So we get it in between.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, yeah, right.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just going to suggest that maybe public comment at this meeting is not the best, like given that late hour and everything else is maybe not exactly when we want to be line by lining, you know, specific wording and that

[Anna Callahan]: you know, the sponsors of the legislation working with, you know, like between now and third reading.

[Anna Callahan]: Does that make sense that that might be a better way to make edits that may be doing it right now?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I would simply request that we do the same thing we did for the last thing, which is just remove strike table abuse regulations line eight.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, clearly this is going to be part of the ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sure that the language is pretty clear based on it being in the ordinance, but it does like on first reading external from the ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: there is this question of like, could it be used to say that residents who have their own video footage cannot use it in a criminal investigation for criminal proceeding?

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if it's like, that would be a question for a lawyer as to whether to specifically say any video footage or other data recorded or obtained by the city, by a city entity, right?

[Anna Callahan]: By a municipal entity, illegally or in violation.

[Anna Callahan]: like just adding in to be very clear that we're only talking about video footage or other data obtained by the city.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, just a super quick follow up.

[Anna Callahan]: Was this previously part of the language that was sent to the legal before?

[Anna Callahan]: Has this language passed through legal at least once, the stuff we're adding?

[Anna Callahan]: I think that makes me feel more comfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Cool.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, this ordinance seems very thorough.

[Anna Callahan]: I do appreciate all the work that has been put in, both by the former administration of police chief, as well as by the activists, by Councilor Tseng, and everyone else who was involved.

[Anna Callahan]: The one thing I noticed as I read through it is it is very thorough.

[Anna Callahan]: It has a lot of details.

[Anna Callahan]: things that as a person who is not an expert in police ICE integration, you know, I am not an expert in whether these things are boilerplate or not.

[Anna Callahan]: So my main question is just, and I would love to hear either from Councilor Tseng or from the ACLU, just about whether there are details in here that are Medford specific,

[Anna Callahan]: if these are pretty standard boilerplate that have been passed in other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: And then my final question would simply be to ask if this has been run by KP Law or if that's maybe our next step, just to see sort of what the next, in terms of the legalese, because I don't, being not super expert on this, there are lots and lots of details in here that I have not had a chance to research each one individually.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a super quick question.

[Anna Callahan]: Did we this year maximize tax deferrals for seniors?

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that had already been done in the past.

[Anna Callahan]: Leave it as it's too confusing.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, we don't need the super hyper detailed.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I was.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like, let's just have like a footnote or something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I am super happy if we want to do these because maybe these are even more interesting to some people than other things, but like the Bedford Donuts Cafe, the Demets Donuts, the Buns House.

[Anna Callahan]: That might actually be really interesting to people.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought we were not including them, but I'm happy if we want to.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, just a little update, which is that the session that was supposed to be on the 7th got postponed, so that's going to be in January.

[Anna Callahan]: January the, do you remember the date?

[Anna Callahan]: I can look it up.

[Anna Callahan]: The 4th or something, and because we changed the date, weren't sure if you could make it, but we just want to make sure there's going to be a second City Council.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, it is going to be the 4th at 1030, which is a Saturday, January 4th.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you're available, great.

[Anna Callahan]: If you're not available, then chair Leming, if you don't mind helping us to make sure that somebody can make

[Anna Callahan]: And our community liaison, Stacey Moore, will be helping with outreach for that.

[Anna Callahan]: But it's great.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the West Medford, we rescheduled because they misunderstood who was doing outreach for it.

[Anna Callahan]: And then once we were like, no, actually, it should be the venue that does outreach, and they said,

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to do it in January, which gives us enough time to fill the room.

[Anna Callahan]: So we can expect there to be 20 or more people, which I think is going to be probably our largest so far, which will be very exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: mechanical problems.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: I have a nephew who got into rowing in high school that all through college had changed his life, the sheer amount of time and dedication and, you know, muscles that you got to put in to be, to do rowing and teamwork.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's an incredible achievement for you to reach the state level.

[Anna Callahan]: It is an incredible achievement for Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just so proud.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited for you to be here and thanks each and every one of you for all the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, it was an excellent time to see a game on Thanksgiving day.

[Anna Callahan]: It was fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Really great to see some touchdowns.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say as a total band geek that I was sad that I missed the marching band, but it was okay to see a wonderful winning game and an excellent game of football.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: As previously stated, I am a band geek.

[Anna Callahan]: I did marching band all through high school and college.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the way that the marching band supports the football team and the sports.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, all of the work that people put in.

[Anna Callahan]: I really appreciate what Councilor Lazzaro said about kids being able to find

[Anna Callahan]: an activity and a community in which they feel they can really be themselves and express themselves.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm so happy that we have not just a marching band, but an amazing marching band that is, you know, really striving and pushing itself.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm really excited and I congratulate them.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm super proud of what they bring to our community.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the idea of having a catch all.

[Anna Callahan]: I was going to ask that we specifically mention South Border Road because there are a number of residents on the upper part of governors who have for many years been complaining about the safety issues.

[Anna Callahan]: They're really concerned about their kids.

[Anna Callahan]: You know lots of very fast traffic because of South Border Road.

[Anna Callahan]: So I hope we can leave some specific mention of things as well as having a catch all and I would love to have South Border Road specifically called out in this resolution.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, now it is.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, looking at this over the weekend with some of my volunteers like going like going through Google Maps and doing street view and looking very specifically like at an individual blocks like it's it's really impressive.

[Anna Callahan]: What you've done to sort of preserve the neighborhood as well as really help us get to the point where we are able to develop in a way that.

[Anna Callahan]: that just amplifies what we have and doesn't overdo it.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really appreciate your attention to detail.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually have one very tiny question that is sort of not specifically related to Salem Street Corridor.

[Anna Callahan]: I just, I'm curious because I noticed that there is co-living that is allowed, and I noticed this also in the Mystic Ave when it came through City Council to go to CDB, that co-living was disallowed on Mystic Ave, and here there's places where multiple dwelling is allowed and yet co-living is not allowed, like in Mixed Use 1 and Mixed Use 2.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and perhaps this is a conversation I can have with someone, you know, maybe after the meeting, but, um, to, like, my understanding of co-living is that it is explicitly making it okay for people who are not related by family, um, to rent together.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would be curious as to why we would have rental properties where that was disallowed.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so I, that's, maybe there's some nuance that I'm not understanding, um, and if,

[Anna Callahan]: talking about it after is more appropriate, that's totally fine.

[Anna Callahan]: I just was curious about that small detail.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I think talking afterwards is probably appropriate.

[Anna Callahan]: I would just say co-housing.

[Anna Callahan]: That is what I think co-housing is.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think co-living, according to the definition that we wrote, is a little bit different.

[Anna Callahan]: So let's talk about it after the meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Sounds perfect.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Just one incredibly short for anyone who heard us talk about co-living.

[Anna Callahan]: I want people to be reassured.

[Anna Callahan]: Co-living literally does not mean anything outside of a normal rental apartment being rented by people who are not related to each other.

[Anna Callahan]: That's literally it.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not congregate housing.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not any of those things.

[Anna Callahan]: It's incredibly simple.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really adding nothing.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you want me to explain to you why we are putting it in the zoning, I'm happy to explain.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, why we're trying to differentiate between that and other kinds of housing.

[Anna Callahan]: But it's nothing changing, nothing new in that particular definition.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: As everyone has already said, thank you so much for all your work so far this season.

[Anna Callahan]: There's a lot going on for you, I know.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I have some numbers that are from housing Medford, and I just want to ask you if you think this is like close to accurate that we have approximately 47% single family homes, we have about 32% that have two to four units.

[Anna Callahan]: We have about 2.5% that have five to nine units, about 2.5% that have 10 to 19 units, and 15% or so that have more than 20 units.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you explain this a little bit?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I just see these columns are like 101, 102.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, so what I'm looking for is percentage of the residential.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's hard to find that in this document.

[Anna Callahan]: What I'm trying to understand and what I have from Housing Medford, which I'm asking you if it's relatively close, is of our residential.

[Anna Callahan]: We're talking about a residential.

[Anna Callahan]: We need to compare residential to residential in this particular case.

[Anna Callahan]: So that almost half of our residential, less than half is single families.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, well, we have to vote today.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm trying to kind of understand this.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so- For this discussion, rather than waiting until after we have the vote, I'd like to have that information for this discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, maybe I can ask a couple other questions first, so we can have everything at the same time.

[Anna Callahan]: The way that I'm looking at it, and I understand the arguments for that if you're above the threshold, then your taxes will go up.

[Anna Callahan]: If you're below the threshold, probably your taxes will go down.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems to me that we have, it looks like, just under 50% that are single family.

[Anna Callahan]: Those people are almost all certainly Medford residents.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe 30% or so of our residential housing is between two and four units.

[Anna Callahan]: Some of those are going to be Medford residents.

[Anna Callahan]: Some of them are not going to be Medford residents.

[Anna Callahan]: And then 20% is five units or more.

[Anna Callahan]: And those are almost certainly not owner-occupied.

[Anna Callahan]: It sure seems to me that if we are looking at this from the sense of how can we benefit Medford residents and how can we especially benefit Medford residents who

[Anna Callahan]: Our working class are people who, you know, we have a really large cohort of people who moved here, when we were affordable, because this was where working class people could afford to buy, and those people most of them now are seniors, they're on fixed incomes.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I'm thinking about this a lot because today is when we're supposed to be voting on this residential exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: It is really our last chance to make a decision like this before the taxes from the Prop 2.5 override go up.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it really seems to me, and especially you have said that, what would happen is condos go down, single families, some would go down.

[Anna Callahan]: And then two and three families are the ones that are going to be starting to be the ones that are paying more, as well as the much larger properties.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, from my perspective, it really seems like we are now in that position, given the valuation that you, the sort of threshold of 982,000, that we really are gonna be benefiting almost all of our Medford residents, and certainly the ones who are most in need, by passing this residential exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: And so my second question for you, because I understand that,

[Anna Callahan]: it is considered that we would have had to do this earlier in the cycle in order for this to happen, but this was not on our agenda earlier in the cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: It sure seems to me that if the administration believes that this could not be voted on now, and it needed to be voted on six months earlier, then the administration should have put this on our agenda six months earlier.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm having trouble with the fact that we are supposed to take a vote tonight, and yet we're told we cannot vote in there.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm not blaming you.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm looking at you, which I'm probably supposed to be looking at the chair.

[Anna Callahan]: In no way do I think this is, I hope you don't hear me as if I am putting this on you.

[Anna Callahan]: I am not.

[Anna Callahan]: But I do think that this is something that we are supposed to vote on.

[Anna Callahan]: It is our job to vote on this.

[Anna Callahan]: This is something I believe would benefit

[Anna Callahan]: almost all of the homeowners in Medford, except for those who own multifamilies and have some rental income.

[Anna Callahan]: And I am feeling frustrated that we are now told that we are not allowed to vote in favor.

[Anna Callahan]: So my question for you is, what would happen

[Anna Callahan]: if we voted in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: What would the city have to go through?

[Anna Callahan]: How much pain and difficulty and money would it cost if we voted in favor for the city to actually get this stuff done on time?

[Anna Callahan]: Can we hire enough consultants or full-time employees or whatever to make this thing happen?

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit more about the overlay account?

[Anna Callahan]: So it's not that we would have to get out of the overlay account, it's that we would have to have come here to this meeting with an option

[Anna Callahan]: of a tax rate that would cover that, but is the question that you don't know what that tax rate is because you don't know how many?

[Anna Callahan]: Because you haven't had the applications come in yet?

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to understand, you couldn't, for example,

[Anna Callahan]: yesterday or tonight and we post on the news tomorrow, just saying hypotheticals, you could not come up with that number.

[Anna Callahan]: You could not come up with the appropriate tax rate for us to have a residential exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So how does that happen?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, let's say we wanna pass this as soon as we can.

[Anna Callahan]: When do you open up those?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, since the city hasn't passed it yet, would the city have to then pass it

[Anna Callahan]: This is what you're saying, I think.

[Anna Callahan]: The city would have to pass it in maybe June so that you can receive enough applications so that when it comes to tonight's vote in late November, you can set the rate, which you can't set because we don't have any applications.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to make a motion that we ask KP Law exactly how we do that.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you happen to have the other numbers for like two or three families or over five or anything like that?

[Anna Callahan]: We're apparently not gonna vote on it tonight anyway, so we can get another time.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: But that's parcels and not units.

[Anna Callahan]: So units would be useful.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I make another motion?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for the assessor's office to provide us with the percentages and numbers of the single family, two family, three family, four family, five to nine, 10 to 19, over 20.

[Anna Callahan]: as well as valuations, average valuations, I think, for them.

[Anna Callahan]: That'd be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Or any other information that you think would be helpful for us to make a decision about a residential exemption.

[Anna Callahan]: Understood.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope it is not considered off topic to talk about the residential exemption that is on the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm just curious, do we have good information on the multifamily housing and how many are owner-occupied?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something that you could provide to us?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: If it's something you can provide, that'd be great.

[Anna Callahan]: If you don't know, then yeah, I totally get it.

[Anna Callahan]: That's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just curious.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I want to give a little brief history.

[Anna Callahan]: As President Bears mentioned, this was introduced by Councilor Knight in 2019, early in that year.

[Anna Callahan]: It also went to the Energy and Environment Committee later that year.

[Anna Callahan]: In 2021, it was looked at by the zoning subcommittee, and they allowed the trees Medford volunteer organization in Medford to draft and submit revised ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Later in 2021 that came back.

[Anna Callahan]: And then in 2022, that ordinance was split into three parts.

[Anna Callahan]: And so those three parts are the ones that we'll be looking at today.

[Anna Callahan]: One creates a tree committee for the city.

[Anna Callahan]: One is about public shade trees.

[Anna Callahan]: And the third one is about private trees, trees on private property.

[Anna Callahan]: So because it's been so long and because there have been a number of changes made, our goals today are really to sort of get everyone up to speed, all the city councilors, the members of the staff, and everyone else up to speed on where these ordinances are at to

[Anna Callahan]: figure out what our next steps are, and to basically set when is the next time that we will be discussing these ordinances in committee.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's kind of the goals.

[Anna Callahan]: And on that note, I would love to have, I'm very excited that we have a wonderful group of volunteers here in the city from Trees Medford who have done a lot of work on this over the last couple of years.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know that they have a long history with this and they have offered to give a, they wrote a letter and if they wouldn't mind reading that in or I could read that for them.

[Anna Callahan]: or President Bears's gonna be there for them.

[Anna Callahan]: But then after that, if we can maybe begin with the tree committee ordinance, and if they can give us a tiny introduction to the tree committee ordinance, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't know if they wanna go ahead and come up to the podium.

[Anna Callahan]: Go for it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we want to go ahead and start with the tree committee ordinance, I'm happy to share my screen.

[Anna Callahan]: What we have is a redlined version.

[Anna Callahan]: And Councilor Beres, can you go ahead and let us know for this redlined version, what are the different colors?

[Anna Callahan]: What are the things that are added or removed?

[Anna Callahan]: So actually.

[Anna Callahan]: Zach just did this.

[Anna Callahan]: He took your version, and he created a red line.

[Anna Callahan]: Because we can't look at the.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't know exactly what we feel is the best way to go through this.

[Anna Callahan]: Mm-hmm.

[Anna Callahan]: Do people want me to read it?

[Anna Callahan]: Should we just read it silently?

[Anna Callahan]: Should I read it out loud for your call?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I'm only just seeing this now.

[Anna Callahan]: That would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, my only question is, I think that the intention is to provide help so that in case, you know, given the new ordinances, there is in fact more work to do that the tree committee might be able to help with that work.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to be, I want to get your input, like if the language has changed to be like,

[Anna Callahan]: you know, when needed, help support DPW in?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, would it be okay to include these things?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just wanted to mention the changes to the appointments and see if anyone had any comments on that.

[Anna Callahan]: Sounds like, you know, five men for residence up to 10 total, two youth members, one who demonstrates expertise in the field of urban forestry and landscape design.

[Anna Callahan]: Just wanted to see if there were any comments on that particular portion since we didn't really, nobody really made any comments before we move on.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: All right, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Unless, are you interested in doing an intro to this one or no?

[Anna Callahan]: I could just do a little bit of the purpose.

[Anna Callahan]: It does, this one is preserving, protecting public shade trees and trees otherwise located on public property.

[Anna Callahan]: And it is different from the third one, which is trees on private property.

[Anna Callahan]: So it looks like, let me see if I can do a little bit about the changes.

[Anna Callahan]: Looks like there are some changes to the intent and purpose, adding something about MGL Chapter 40A.

[Anna Callahan]: A paragraph about that and state legislature granting municipalities rights and responsibilities.

[Anna Callahan]: It does talk about establishing a tree fund to supplement the city budget for tree maintenance, tree planting, stump removal and site preparation for tree planting.

[Anna Callahan]: A few changes in the definitions of caliper in terms of diameters of the tree trunks measured.

[Anna Callahan]: A few very small minor changes in construction and demolition.

[Anna Callahan]: Then this looks like more changes to the diameter at breast height.

[Anna Callahan]: Tree diameter in inches measured four and a half feet above the ground for multi stem trees size determined by the measure of all trunks, then adding the total diameter of largest trunk.

[Anna Callahan]: A new definition of drip line the area directly under the tree at the outer circumference of the tree branches, where most the rainwater shed from the tree canopy drips to the ground.

[Anna Callahan]: Then also a new definition of a landmark tree.

[Anna Callahan]: Any healthy tree may be designated as a landmark tree if it meets one or more of the following criteria.

[Anna Callahan]: A, a tree that is documented to be 50 years old or older.

[Anna Callahan]: B, is 24 inches in diameter or more at breast height.

[Anna Callahan]: C, represents a rare species.

[Anna Callahan]: D, is associated with a historical event or person, unusual feature, or scenic enhancement.

[Anna Callahan]: All landmark trees are protected trees, except those listed as invasive species on the Massachusetts Invasive Plants list.

[Anna Callahan]: Then a few very small changes.

[Anna Callahan]: A change to protective trees.

[Anna Callahan]: The change to protective trees is accepting trees listed as invasive species on the Massachusetts Invasive Plants list.

[Anna Callahan]: Looks like a new definition of the tree fund, an account established pursuant to this ordinance for the deposit of payments for mitigating tree removal in lieu of tree replanting.

[Anna Callahan]: This fund may only be expended as a means of promoting a healthy tree canopy and will be applied to the cost of site preparation, tree replanting, and new tree maintenance.

[Anna Callahan]: And a few other very small changes.

[Anna Callahan]: The tree warden has some some new language in it, which really is defined in saying as defined in GLC 87 S2 and Medford Ordinances 1974 Chapter 26 Section 2.

[Anna Callahan]: The tree warden is the city employee responsible for the management of city cities, public trees.

[Anna Callahan]: Applicability these versions shall apply to the activities related to trees on public land.

[Anna Callahan]: Changes to tree permit.

[Anna Callahan]: In addition, if a public tree has fallen on a house resulting in damage to windows, puncturing roofs, or similar significant damage requiring immediate action, the homeowner may proceed to have the tree taken down after notifying the tree warden and no permit is necessary.

[Anna Callahan]: Also under that section of tree permit, city tree removal and replacement, a hearing process.

[Anna Callahan]: When the city removes a tree from the sidewalk strip, it must replace the tree within the next planting cycle unless the following procedures are followed.

[Anna Callahan]: A, if a tree is cut down by the city and is not to be replaced in the next planting cycle, the city must hold a hearing and invite interested parties, tree groups, and residents within the city block to attend.

[Anna Callahan]: The hearing must provide the opportunity for community members to contest the decision not to replace the tree in a timely manner.

[Anna Callahan]: B, the decision must be announced on the city's website for one month prior to a hearing.

[Anna Callahan]: C, if the intention is not to replace the tree at all, one month prior to the hearing, the city must inform members of each residence within the city block in writing of their intention not to replace the tree and the reason why the city seeks to reduce the tree canopy in their neighborhood.

[Anna Callahan]: The city should plant with native trees wherever possible.

[Anna Callahan]: Removal of a public tree must include stump removal within 60 days of the tree removal.

[Anna Callahan]: If removal of a stump within 60 days is not possible, the city must inform residents of the date of removal.

[Anna Callahan]: And there are more changes under tree planting.

[Anna Callahan]: Promote an equitable and diverse urban tree canopy that provides adequate shade for all its neighborhoods.

[Anna Callahan]: That's an addition.

[Anna Callahan]: Looks like a lot of changes under record keeping.

[Anna Callahan]: The city will maintain an updated inventory of all public trees, tree removals, and stumps.

[Anna Callahan]: The tree warden shall keep a publicly available electronic record of removal requests, which shall include the species and size of trees to be removed, the reason for the removal, photographs of the trees documenting the reason for removal, the date, the contractors involved, and the name and address of the person who requests removal.

[Anna Callahan]: The city will maintain and make publicly available in electronic form an inventory of trees that includes tree and stump removals and new planting.

[Anna Callahan]: New section protection of landmark trees.

[Anna Callahan]: The city shall make extra efforts to preserve landmark trees, including treating disease trees where feasible, enhancing pruning schedules and regular monitoring of the tree.

[Anna Callahan]: A landmark tree shall not be cut down or removed without a permit.

[Anna Callahan]: We are close to the end here under enforcement and penalties.

[Anna Callahan]: Two sections.

[Anna Callahan]: Section A, citizen removal of a public tree.

[Anna Callahan]: Any person or entity damaging or removing a public tree without authority will be fined, and the fines will be deposited in the tree fund.

[Anna Callahan]: Enforcement shall be by the tree warden or the tree warden's designee or the police.

[Anna Callahan]: Citizens may report damage or removal of public trees to the tree warden.

[Anna Callahan]: Section B, penalties.

[Anna Callahan]: Any person who violates any section of this ordinance or violates any stipulation of a permit issued pursuant to this ordinance shall be fined and the fine shall consist of the cost of compensating the city for the cost of replacing the canopy that was lost.

[Anna Callahan]: This compensation shall be calculated by measuring the canopy cover used using recent aerial photography such as Google Maps cover coverage or aerial photography, determining the number

[Anna Callahan]: of young trees that would have the equivalent canopy coverage.

[Anna Callahan]: The fine shall be the sum of the cost of preparing the site, planting those young trees at the current contract rate, and salaries and costs for staff time for selecting, watering, and monitoring those trees.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is all of the additions and changes.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we want to have staff?

[Anna Callahan]: I just figured before we leave this one, it sounds like we want this to go to department heads for their feedback.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we want to wait and have that feedback first before we send it to KPLI?

[Anna Callahan]: I assume we do, because there might be some changes.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we want to have a cost analysis done?

[Anna Callahan]: Or should we have those?

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to have a better sense of our plan.

[Anna Callahan]: what the different steps are that we need.

[Anna Callahan]: Because I think a cost analysis was mentioned.

[Anna Callahan]: KP Law, I think, as the last step.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So again, the purpose of this is to protect specified trees on private property in the City of Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: I will just go through some of the changes that have been made since the last draft.

[Anna Callahan]: In the intent and purpose, it does add a last sentence to the first paragraph.

[Anna Callahan]: Medford's current tree canopy stands at 29%.

[Anna Callahan]: Protecting and increasing trees on private property is one way to protect tree canopy.

[Anna Callahan]: No trees shall be removed except in accordance with this ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: And then there's another added paragraph similar to the public tree ordinance saying state legislature has granted municipalities the right and responsibility, blah, blah, blah, and quoting MGL chapter 40A.

[Anna Callahan]: There are some changes in the definitions.

[Anna Callahan]: Under Caliper, again, some changes similar to those in the public tree ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Definition of certified arborist, a professional arborist possessing current certification issued by the International Society of Arboriculture and or the Massachusetts Arborist Association.

[Anna Callahan]: Definition for code enforcement officer, the building commissioner or designee.

[Anna Callahan]: Definition for construction construction permit, a building permit issued by the building department allowing construction demolition or renovation of buildings and structures on a parcel of land.

[Anna Callahan]: Some tiny changes to definition of construction.

[Anna Callahan]: A new definition for critical root zone, the minimum area beneath the canopy of a tree which must be left undisturbed in order to preserve a sufficient root mass to give a tree a reasonable chance of survival.

[Anna Callahan]: The critical root zone is represented by a concentric circle centering on the tree's trunk and extending outward towards the tree's dripline.

[Anna Callahan]: Small changes to demolition.

[Anna Callahan]: More changes to the diameter at breast height, which are similar to those in the public preordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Definition for developer, an individual or firm who purchases a property in order to improve, renovate, expand or demolish a structure with the purpose of reselling the property.

[Anna Callahan]: Again, the definition of drip line, same as from the public preordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Some small changes to the definition of a hazardous tree.

[Anna Callahan]: Definition of a landmark tree, which is the same, I believe, as from the public one.

[Anna Callahan]: Definition of landscape design plan, a written description and scale drawing of the future site that includes the locations of plantings, structures, hardscape, green space, topography, and future canopy.

[Anna Callahan]: A handwritten drawing is acceptable accompanied by photographs.

[Anna Callahan]: small changes to the definition of Medford Tree Committee and person.

[Anna Callahan]: Protected tree.

[Anna Callahan]: Any tree on private property with a diameter at breast height of eight inches or more, or a multi-stem tree having an aggregate of 24 inches or more.

[Anna Callahan]: Species that have a small height at maturity or are slow growing, such as flowering dogwood or American holly, with a DBH of six inches or more are eligible to be considered protected trees.

[Anna Callahan]: Trees listed as invasive species on the Massachusetts Invasive

[Anna Callahan]: Plants list are not considered protected trees.

[Anna Callahan]: A few changes to the definition of replacement trees.

[Anna Callahan]: The trees must be a minimum of three inch caliber and a minimum height of six feet.

[Anna Callahan]: It again mentions the tree fund.

[Anna Callahan]: It has tree protection, replacement and mitigation plan, a site plan drawn and stamped by a certified land surveyor or engineer and stamped by a certified arborist or landscape architect.

[Anna Callahan]: It must show all protected trees as defined herein, including public shade trees near the property and must indicate which protected trees will be retained or removed and how critical root zones of each protected tree and public shade tree will be protected from damage during site work.

[Anna Callahan]: Tree removal application process and forms required to be used by any person as defined here in seeking to remove a protected tree.

[Anna Callahan]: The $100 fee must accompany the application.

[Anna Callahan]: The fee will be $35 for owner occupied properties.

[Anna Callahan]: Tree removal permit.

[Anna Callahan]: a permit issued by the building department for removal of trees based on the appropriate application process on privately owned property.

[Anna Callahan]: In addition to the actual cutting down of living trees, quote, removal includes any act that A, has caused a protected tree to die within the previous 12 months, or B, is likely to cause significant decline or death within a three year period.

[Anna Callahan]: One sentence added to tree warden, the duties of the tree warden are redefined in this ordinance to include private trees.

[Anna Callahan]: And then there are a lot of additions here under applicability.

[Anna Callahan]: These versions shall apply to the following activities on privately owned land.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want me to read this whole thing?

[Anna Callahan]: There's a lot.

[Anna Callahan]: There's pages of

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that at this meeting, we're really kind of getting back up to speed with like what the purpose of this is, what some of the ideas are in it.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like it does need some, you know, discussion with the building department of, you know, what we can and can't do, maybe some understanding of

[Anna Callahan]: how this can be covered by zoning and the building department, which I myself don't fully understand.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm curious about other cities, how they deal with this from a zoning perspective and a building department perspective to see how that is done in other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'd be interested in understanding a little bit more about that.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm hoping that the next step might be to have a sit down.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to be involved with the building department.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know Trees Medford has been incredibly generous with their time.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe we can all sit down and have an understanding, look at some other cities, discuss what's gonna be possible here in Medford as well.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to quick ask if at this stage, is there anything that we would want to ask of Innocent Associates in terms of their, you know, like, can they give us like a very general sense of like what people do in terms of zoning?

[Anna Callahan]: And without even sending them this whole piece of paper, but maybe with the purpose of it and just say, hey, what do you recommend in terms of zoning?

[Anna Callahan]: Or how would this piece fit into zoning?

[Anna Callahan]: Or if we're too early for that?

[Anna Callahan]: I was just going to make a motion.

[Anna Callahan]: I move that Vice President Collins and I work with Therese Medford and the staff to do a next draft and update of this that we will then bring back to Council.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Who knew?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Mechanical failure.

[Anna Callahan]: Did you send this out?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a copy?

[Anna Callahan]: Can we see copies?

[Anna Callahan]: What's the name of the, I just don't see the, I'm looking at all of the clerk's emails right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Is it under the newsletter draft or?

[Anna Callahan]: What's the title of the email?

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I can get it later, but I would like a copy.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe the clerk can find out the subject and let me know.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't see, did I get it?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, to my Gmail.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it only went to my Gmail.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: second.

[Anna Callahan]: Now it's on.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for your work.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm really impressed with, you know, initiating the program, having the ideas, then finding out it's not gonna work the way you think, and then finding a way to make it work.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's excellent.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say I am very excited about the owner occupied.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's exactly the way that we want to do it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, it seems like we're all on the same page.

[Anna Callahan]: But I wanted to informally ask that you might come back to this committee in a year and just give us an update.

[Anna Callahan]: Perfect.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm still on, how nice, how convenient.

[Anna Callahan]: Given Councilor Tseng's suggestion, I wonder if there is a way to not tie it to $750.

[Anna Callahan]: I wonder how we can, if there's a way to sort of craft some language that isn't gonna require us every couple of years to be like, well, that's not 750.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so this is a little bit of an update.

[Anna Callahan]: I know when we first drafted the, I think we came up with nine different ones we were hoping to do, you know, this year or so, we wanted to take advantage of our community liaisons.

[Anna Callahan]: So we split those up.

[Anna Callahan]: I have a couple of reports back from those that will be upcoming.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully, we also can move.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the senior center is fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: We also had, I think, tough students in the high school.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love for us to, at some point in the new year, to start doing things at each of the schools for parents of the schools.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's a great way.

[Anna Callahan]: And there's other ways for us to really get into the community.

[Anna Callahan]: I think getting out of this chamber and getting into places where folks who maybe don't come to this

[Anna Callahan]: room able to hear from more folks.

[Anna Callahan]: So my two updates are that this Saturday through the

[Anna Callahan]: um, Arab speaking, uh, liaison.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh, we're gonna do one at the library.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's coming up Saturday at noon.

[Anna Callahan]: And then, um, we have two potential dates for doing one through, uh, Stacey Moore, and we decided to do it at the West Medford Community Center.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and the two potential dates for that are, um, Saturday, December 7th at 10 or 10.30 a.m., and Saturday, January 4th at 10 or 10.30 a.m.

[Anna Callahan]: So we can pick either one of those, and then I can get back to her.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I would like us to choose now, like sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: We have a few minutes.

[Anna Callahan]: I know I mentioned, you know, maybe doing some at the schools.

[Anna Callahan]: I also thought just thought we could have like a couple minutes of brainstorm since we're nearing the end of the

[Anna Callahan]: year.

[Anna Callahan]: But, you know, I think for parents at the schools, you know, one each at each school might be nice.

[Anna Callahan]: What do you think of maybe looking at where the lower income Medford residents are and trying to do like neighborhood ones where we flyer?

[Anna Callahan]: Just trying to think of like, how can we reach the folks who are like, likely to come here that we don't often hear from and that we would really like to make sure that they're doing okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I noticed that there are some younger trees.

[Anna Callahan]: So the two areas where there will be sunshades, the left one and then the lower one.

[Anna Callahan]: Near the lower one, it seems like there are some younger trees.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just curious if you anticipate that at the point where those trees become larger, that this is sort of something for the next 10 years that these sunshades will be really helpful and that hopefully those trees will then provide more shade there.

[Anna Callahan]: Any thoughts of like planting a tree in the south side so that eventually it will shade that area as well if that's something that we think is necessary long-term?

[Anna Callahan]: I know it's not in this project, but I just thought I would mention it.

[Anna Callahan]: Just one other comment that I really appreciate how much, I'm always impressed with how much our city administration looks for grants.

[Anna Callahan]: And just so that people know, grants often come with this kind of requirement where there's the grant, but then they also require the city to put in funds that are sort of roughly equivalent.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really appreciate the work on that front.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to note for anyone listening that Commissioner McGibbon will be at the next public works meeting in order to give us an update on how these funds be used, what we can kind of expect from this new funding to the DPW.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I so appreciate this, the thought, the gesture.

[Anna Callahan]: I actually went on Amazon and found some solar floodlights that are like either white or multicolored that cost around a hundred bucks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think this is something that we could easily make happen pretty quickly.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just appreciate all the work.

[Anna Callahan]: It's very thorough.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for adding in things that like vegetative walls, remembering suggestions that we made quite a while ago.

[Anna Callahan]: So really appreciate the work.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: That was that was me seconding.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Second.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I would note that I forgot to remove that last half of the sentence so at the bottom of full text and description before the potential language.

[Anna Callahan]: It should also remove and to encourage the city council to regularly to consider regular cola adjustments that whole half should be removed, because I removed all of that, that that would be my revised.

[Anna Callahan]: As I stated in January at the meeting, I believe that, I know that this is the law in a number of states.

[Anna Callahan]: It is also the law in some other cities in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: And essentially what it says is that you can vote to change the salaries, but they can't take effect until after the next election.

[Anna Callahan]: And that is essentially what I'm proposing be discussed in the governance committee.

[Anna Callahan]: It probably makes sense if, like, if we vote this to the Governance Committee, when the Governance Committee takes it up, for the very first thing be to send it to legal to see whether it could even be passed by an ordinance, or we could do that from here.

[Anna Callahan]: Because if it can't be passed by an ordinance, and it can only be passed by a charter change, then obviously there's no point in us discussing it.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm happy if that's the first step.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, thanks to reply.

[Anna Callahan]: So what it what this always was even from the beginning was to disallow any future city council from voting to increase their own salaries.

[Anna Callahan]: And then in addition, I had it.

[Anna Callahan]: put on the agenda to discuss whether the future would have a color adjustment.

[Anna Callahan]: But, you know, as I was discussing them with this with some of my volunteers.

[Anna Callahan]: Somebody brought up the point that that really doesn't belong in an ordinance, it's not in the other cities ordinances, that would simply be up to city Councilors to bring that up as something if they feel like bringing it up.

[Anna Callahan]: So the important meat and potatoes of this was always what I have here, which is making it no longer legal for city councilors to increase their own salaries, but simply to vote to increase the salary of a future city council.

[Anna Callahan]: That's always what this was about.

[Anna Callahan]: And I simply removed the part that really shouldn't be part of an ordinance, but would be at the discretion of city councilors in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry, I have to comment here because I am really.

[Anna Callahan]: I brought this up.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm supposed to speak to the chair, because I literally was trying to appeal to I think the people who are here because of misinformation.

[Anna Callahan]: I brought this up because I wanted to make sure that the city council could never again vote for their own raises that is what this was always about.

[Anna Callahan]: It did absolutely not suggest that we have coal increases every year or anything of the kind.

[Anna Callahan]: If you read the original that I wrote, and look, I can understand if some people read it very quickly and did not understand what that said, but the only thing that it mandated is that no future city council could ever vote to increase their own salaries.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will say that I am feeling surprised that I am trying to bring forward things that I believe the people who are here would genuinely want to be passed, genuinely.

[Anna Callahan]: And yet somehow, the part that said like, hey, maybe it should be like,

[Anna Callahan]: on an agenda to consider, which does not mean that it should happen.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, that is the thing people focused on instead of focusing on the only actual thing that it did, which is to make sure no city council could ever vote for their own raises, and I'm surprised that Councilor Scarpelli wants a future city council to vote for their own raises to be able to raise their own salaries.

[Anna Callahan]: This is the only thing that it does.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I'm...

[Anna Callahan]: I am surprised and I hope that people will read what is actually being proposed instead of making assumptions based on who is putting something forward.

[Anna Callahan]: What does it say?

[Anna Callahan]: That's what it says.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, read it.

[Anna Callahan]: It says no city council, no change in the salary

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that people can discuss what is on here with the removal of that second half of the thing because this is the only thing that is being proposed.

[Anna Callahan]: I have revised it.

[Anna Callahan]: This is the revised version.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not there, it is gone.

[Anna Callahan]: This is all the branches, and this is what I'm trying to do.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I brought this up and I apologize for having anything about COLA in it at the beginning.

[Anna Callahan]: I wish that it had been this second version, which almost no one talked about.

[Anna Callahan]: I brought this up knowing that it would not be friendly

[Anna Callahan]: to many of my fellow city councilors.

[Anna Callahan]: I brought it up because I believe that it is the right thing to do.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that city councilors, as is true in many states, and as is true in some other cities in Massachusetts, city councilors should not be able to raise their own salaries.

[Anna Callahan]: That is why I brought this up.

[Anna Callahan]: I brought it up despite knowing that other city councilors here

[Anna Callahan]: who voted yes, when I voted no against those raises earlier this year, that those other city councilors might have their feelings hurt.

[Anna Callahan]: They might feel that this was not friendly to them.

[Anna Callahan]: I felt a little ballsy and I felt that I was doing the right thing.

[Anna Callahan]: I still feel that I'm doing the right thing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't mind being ballsy.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just a little bit sad that I am attacked not for what is actually what I am, this, what I am proposing today, which I believe if it had been put forward by councilor, that every person in this room who spoke out against it would be speaking out in favor of it.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, maybe I am wrong, but I think that

[Anna Callahan]: Wow, okay.

[Anna Callahan]: I should not have said that.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth.

[Anna Callahan]: I am very sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: I genuinely was trying to do what I believed and continue to believe is the right thing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do hope that things like this can be read

[Anna Callahan]: and spoken about with some attempt at understanding that it is a good faith effort.

[Anna Callahan]: And literally what is written here and what I am trying to do is to make it not possible for the city council

[Anna Callahan]: to raise salaries of any sitting elected official.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that is what I personally believe in, and I will stand by it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Six or eight months ago we had these.

[Anna Callahan]: So engineer own we're Tella and the Commissioner Tim McGivern at the public works meeting, and it was great to sort of be able to get their take on an update on the roads.

[Anna Callahan]: because they will have the extra $500,000 per year.

[Anna Callahan]: We want to go ahead and get another update from them.

[Anna Callahan]: And I invite everyone who's interested in our roads, which I think is everyone, I hope, I'm certainly interested in our roads, to come and have questions for them prepared so that we can get all the information that we need.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: This was something that I talked about a lot, as I was knocking on doors.

[Anna Callahan]: Last summer, and I found that a lot of people were especially in South Medford we're really interested in helping to plant trees in their city I know that there are other cities that allow residents to help with this.

[Anna Callahan]: program.

[Anna Callahan]: Obviously, it's this only with the proper training with the proper trees at the proper depth, you know, doing everything exactly the right way.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounded like as I talked to Commissioner given that he is open to it.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is simply to have him come to a meeting and so that we can begin discussing how this might work in our city and get the sort of best ideas of the way this would move forward.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that we might by spring, if spring is the right time to plant trees, that we might be able to have our first pilot program.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to note that I was actually kind of peeking through the RFP.

[Anna Callahan]: Just now, definitely it specifically calls out the parking of the senior center that that must be that that must be like.

[Anna Callahan]: I think replaced or continued at least the number of parking spaces, but it also talks about the idea that the parking that is created has to not only consider the senior center, but it also has to account for new business development in the square.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not saying that what's in the RFP, sorry, I'll talk to the, I'm supposed to talk to the chair.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not saying that what's in the RFP is definitely what

[Anna Callahan]: will happen in the end product.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think that it just so that you know, it is in the RFP specifically that those requests are there.

[Anna Callahan]: And then this you coming to this meeting is absolutely fantastic, because, you know, it has to come through this body.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are now extra aware.

[Anna Callahan]: I also would love to be in one of the future

[Anna Callahan]: listening sessions at the senior center.

[Anna Callahan]: And we can even specifically bring up this topic of the RFP.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, as we go forward, I think there will be other public meetings about the development that is going to be done.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really appreciate all of your comments, and we will take them to heart and we will, you know, make sure to

[Anna Callahan]: be pushing forward as the RFP moves forward through the process, that we will make sure that not only are there enough spaces for the senior center, but also for the growing needs of parking in Medford Square as it grows.

[Anna Callahan]: I had a thought as we were discussing this because I and I do remember going to some of those public participation community events organized by the planning department to discuss these three lots.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, I wonder if there is something of a timing problem because you know that was

[Anna Callahan]: At least it was a year and a half ago, or over a year ago for sure.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think what may happen is that when it's so far away from a reality.

[Anna Callahan]: People might not realize that it's going to impact them.

[Anna Callahan]: And then when it becomes like now there's an actual RFP and it's already been sent out.

[Anna Callahan]: And so now people are worried.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm wondering if maybe, you know, we can have like just a chit chat with the administration and talk about maybe having, spreading the community meetings in such a way that there are some community meetings closer to

[Anna Callahan]: or like before or after an RFP goes out, because now that it's becoming a reality I think people are realizing the way that it's going to impact their lives in a way that a year and a half ago.

[Anna Callahan]: It wasn't, it didn't seem like something to attend so anyway, I'm just thinking about that as something that maybe

[Anna Callahan]: You know, if the administration is in fact, you know, we are having these community meetings, but the timing isn't lining up with what people need in terms of it being really applicable to their lives and then wanting to take the time out to come to these community meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think I may just have a little, and I might talk to some folks in the administration about that possibility of changing the timing of some of those.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So on page 22 of 39, I just have one question, which is that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to make sure there's not a typo in here.

[Anna Callahan]: I really remembered, and tell me if I'm misremembering, that the height, the building height differential between MX-1, MX-2, and MX-3 was more gradual.

[Anna Callahan]: These MX-1 numbers and MX-2 numbers are identical.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really thought that it stepped up between MX-1 and MX-2.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that not accurate, page 22 of 39?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yep, 22 of 39 of the packet.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought there was a step up between MX1 and MX2 and not like they're identical and there's a giant leap to MX3 in terms of height.

[Anna Callahan]: And if I may, I also noticed that co living is explicitly denied in MX one, two and three, which is probably fine, because I'm guessing that those are all going to be one and two bedroom places that are built there.

[Anna Callahan]: But just a note.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just have three questions.

[Anna Callahan]: My first question is at these times in the past, did they have other cost of living adjustments or raises?

[Anna Callahan]: Or are these the only ones?

[Anna Callahan]: And my second question is just about parking union titles.

[Anna Callahan]: Does this include everyone in the department?

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to understand what parking union titles means, and I understand that it's part of contract negotiations.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, my third question is a little more broad, probably not really able to be answered.

[Anna Callahan]: So I assume that the reason that we're looking only at raising parking right now is because of union negotiations rather than raising salaries of other unions.

[Anna Callahan]: You don't you don't touch the cemetery soil removal.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I saw this on here.

[Anna Callahan]: And I was assuming that was part of the Halloween zombie uprising initiative.

[Anna Callahan]: But I thought it was part of the whole business from Tim McGivern.

[Anna Callahan]: Halloween Zombie Uprising Initiative.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry?

[Anna Callahan]: The Halloween Zombie Uprising Initiative.

[Anna Callahan]: You're making me say it four times.

[Anna Callahan]: Actually stole my thunder because I was going to ask about that specifically, but I know the tree inventory is, you know, going to be done soon and just was going to ask about the plans for like how to keep that up to date.

[Anna Callahan]: I was only going to say that I did walk by this yesterday.

[Anna Callahan]: And there's a, I mean, you can see the retaining wall that has, you know, just totally fallen all the way down the hill.

[Anna Callahan]: It's, it really looks like it's needs immediate attention.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I did have a very quick question, a comment.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, I'm extremely impressed with certainly everything that I had suggested language on or had advocated for.

[Anna Callahan]: Everything has gotten in here.

[Anna Callahan]: Definitions are great.

[Anna Callahan]: Like everything looks wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you so much for all your work.

[Anna Callahan]: making sure that all of these different pieces from the different Councilors made it in here.

[Anna Callahan]: And my only question looking at this whole thing is really about the environmental resilience piece and the table of development incentive bonuses.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know we have had a tiny bit of discussion about green score, and here it is, just there's one line, like ideal green score is one additional story.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious, like how does that,

[Anna Callahan]: I think we haven't passed the green scoring yet, so I'm curious what that looks like if we pass this and we do green score later.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious about how that fits together.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a quick question, since Director Hunt had mentioned it.

[Anna Callahan]: There was like a sort of adult stuff allowed.

[Anna Callahan]: Where is that going to be re-added back in here on this map?

[Anna Callahan]: I only just noticed that we are a new blonde chicks panel.

[Anna Callahan]: So I wanted to talk for a good picture because a lot of people are asking why do we have to increase hope?

[Anna Callahan]: Why are we trying to increase sexism?

[Anna Callahan]: And so the basic question is really, do we have enough money to do the services in our city that we want, that we really are expecting from anyone that lives in any city in Massachusetts?

[Anna Callahan]: So I'll start by saying that we rank 320th out of 351 cities and towns.

[Anna Callahan]: That's the 2024 budget, in terms of our budget per capita.

[Anna Callahan]: So that means we have a smaller budget per person than all of the other 58 cities, and it is smaller per person than 90% of towns.

[Anna Callahan]: The only towns that have a smaller budget per person than we do are all much smaller than New York.

[Anna Callahan]: So the truth is,

[Anna Callahan]: We just can't run a city on the amount of money that we have.

[Anna Callahan]: And Prop 2.5, I don't know how much we're, we need to get into that specifically, but Prop 2.5 in Massachusetts means that if we're gonna raise taxes more than the total amount of taxes that we bring into the city, more than 2.5% per year, we put that on the ballot and ask the voters to make that decision, and that's what we're doing here.

[Anna Callahan]: The other thing I want to raise now, because people ask this question a lot,

[Anna Callahan]: Is there somewhere in our budget that we can scrimp and save?

[Anna Callahan]: This giant blue piece of the pie is our schools.

[Anna Callahan]: I think everyone on both sides of this question understands that we have a huge funding gap in our schools and that we need to find more funding for our schools.

[Anna Callahan]: The next one is insurance.

[Anna Callahan]: Insurance is required by law.

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot, this is not discretionary, we can't cut that budget.

[Anna Callahan]: The next budget is pensions.

[Anna Callahan]: Pensions, again, are a contract, but we cannot just decide.

[Anna Callahan]: The next two are fire and police.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that anyone on either side of this fractured and wrapped question wants us to drastically cut our fire department or our police department.

[Anna Callahan]: The next one is DPW highway.

[Anna Callahan]: That means our roads.

[Anna Callahan]: And the thing that's important to understand about roads is that the more you underfund them, the more money, you're ballooning the amount of debt that you have to pay later.

[Anna Callahan]: So, for example, we had a road assessment done.

[Anna Callahan]: It has five ratings, one, two, three, four, five.

[Anna Callahan]: 49% of our roads fall into the worst two categories.

[Anna Callahan]: And here's the problem.

[Anna Callahan]: It costs at least 30 times as much to fix a category five road as it costs to fix a category two road.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you just always fix your category two roads, and always have your roads in good condition, you can actually do it with the state funding.

[Anna Callahan]: But when you allow them, when you underfund them, and you allow them to get in such a dilapidated state, you just haven't.

[Anna Callahan]: In prior administrations,

[Anna Callahan]: You're ballooning the amount of debt that we have.

[Anna Callahan]: So you can't underfront your roads.

[Anna Callahan]: After roads is bonds.

[Anna Callahan]: Again, we have to pay that money back.

[Anna Callahan]: This is not something that we can just decide not to pay.

[Anna Callahan]: And now we're getting into these tiny, we're not working up here in these teeny, weeny little ones.

[Anna Callahan]: With the library, facilities, and other small departments like HR, things we simply cannot cut.

[Anna Callahan]: There is nowhere in this budget that there's a ton of waste.

[Anna Callahan]: There's nowhere in this budget.

[Anna Callahan]: We already have, over decades, cut and cut and cut and cut.

[Anna Callahan]: There's nowhere else to cut.

[Anna Callahan]: We simply do not have the budget to support a city of our size.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would like to pass it to Mayor, if I remember.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you very much.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, I think I'm going to take what is free cash, and then the mayor is going to take what are the projects that are waiting in ways for free cash to be used for.

[Anna Callahan]: So, free cash, dumb name, not free, not cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay?

[Anna Callahan]: So pre-cash is the official term for, at the end of budget season, let's say your budget was $108 million, and at the end of the budget, you spend $107 million, that $10 million difference, it's called pre-cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Now maybe you had a little more revenue than you expected, maybe you didn't spend on something you thought you would spend on, but it's very common, and what's important to understand

[Anna Callahan]: is that it is recommended by the state of Massachusetts that cities and towns have between 3% and 5% of their budget in free cash each year.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, 3% to 5% of the federal budget is between $5 million and $9 million.

[Anna Callahan]: And the reason it's recommended is because bond agencies

[Anna Callahan]: will give you a rating based in part, so that's one of the things they use to give you a bond rating, which is like a credit rating.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you don't have free cash, if you end up spending every penny, which I have heard from people like, we should spend every penny, it's mismanaged, we don't spend every penny.

[Anna Callahan]: It's actually financially mismanaged according to bond agencies and according to the state of Massachusetts if you spend every penny.

[Anna Callahan]: It is considered that you are not being financially responsible with this.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the most important thing to understand is that we need to have free cash in order to have a good profit.

[Anna Callahan]: And what else can I say about free cash?

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe the next thing is just to talk about what it gets used for.

[Anna Callahan]: The one other thing I will say is that in 2024, we, for the first time, created a capital stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, we were one of the last five municipalities out of 351, sorry, 10.

[Anna Callahan]: We were one of the last five to create one, so we finally did that, and that's where you're supposed to put pre-cash so that it can be spent on capital projects.

[Anna Callahan]: And just quickly, the city council has been working on rezoning, and we're pretty excited about this to ask, because we're gonna rezone for a lot of mixed use and a lot higher stories.

[Anna Callahan]: It'll gradually, as it goes away from the metro squares, it'll gradually get more and more stories, but we're very excited about the amount of people who might have their, and I will also just, I will switch over to Ross.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is our,

[Anna Callahan]: This is the commercial sector, new growth, and I don't know how much you can see, but the last two years have been higher new growth than any time in the last 20 years.

[Anna Callahan]: So we really are doing better.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, we haven't actually explained Prop 2.5 fully.

[Anna Callahan]: Would you like to start by explaining Prop 2.5?

[Anna Callahan]: Let me just do Prop 2.5 and override versus a debt exclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: So, unlike almost every other state in the country,

[Anna Callahan]: where city councils are allowed to raise the taxes that they determine that they need.

[Anna Callahan]: They're elected, they run on it, they either want to raise taxes or they want to not raise taxes, and then as elected officials, they make that decision.

[Anna Callahan]: In Massachusetts, a statewide ballot measure passed in 1980 that said that no city or town can raise the total tax levy, total amount of money brought into the city, more than 2.5% per year.

[Anna Callahan]: New growth changes the model, that's different.

[Anna Callahan]: But the point is not that they can't raise the taxes, it's simply that to raise those taxes, they put it on the ballot and they allow the voters to make that decision for themselves.

[Anna Callahan]: Even the proponents of Prop 10.5 did not want it.

[Anna Callahan]: So it used to go 30 years without ever 40 years without ever putting it on the ballot.

[Anna Callahan]: They believed that it should be put on the ballot and the voters should decide.

[Anna Callahan]: Override is something that you increase the total amount that the tax levy can be.

[Anna Callahan]: So in our case, it would be $3.5 million for question 7, $4 million more for question 8.

[Anna Callahan]: And at that point, that becomes a new tax levy, and that can be increased 2.5%.

[Anna Callahan]: because it has a limited, it can only be used for the thing, well, they can both only be used for what they're supposed to be for, but it's for capital projects, and once it is paid off, that tax then goes down again.

[Anna Callahan]: That's pretty much it.

[Anna Callahan]: The only thing I have to add is once you negotiate contracts with the teachers, then you have a contract.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't see how that's possible.

[Anna Callahan]: And how often have we cut the school budget?

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to say one very quick thing.

[Anna Callahan]: Every year, for the last 40 years, that we have not put this on the ballot.

[Anna Callahan]: We have not allowed our community to make these decisions for themselves.

[Anna Callahan]: Invest in Medford, the place we love.

[Anna Callahan]: We're just thinking of the best for Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Invest in Medford for our schools.

[Anna Callahan]: Wouldn't it be cool to invest in Medford?

[Anna Callahan]: I gotta stop asking teachers to do more with less.

[Anna Callahan]: our students.

[Anna Callahan]: Let's set them up for success.

[Anna Callahan]: Invest in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: For all the kids.

[Anna Callahan]: Our kids deserve the best.

[Anna Callahan]: No more but surely no less.

[Anna Callahan]: That's why we're here to confess that it's best to invest in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: In the chamber.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh huh.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, that's looking good.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Tasty.

[Anna Callahan]: Um.

[Anna Callahan]: Just there's a typo at the end of the first general business point and invest $4 million to invest.

[Anna Callahan]: I've looked through everything and it looks good.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that Councilor Tseng is updating just the governance committee one, but I think my committee is good and the rest of it looks good to me.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you so much for putting it together.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, just, didn't we also have that commemoration of Larry Lepore?

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm wondering, do we, in the past, we've left those off of this.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is accurate that we have not put in like the personal ones about, you know, I started so I started I started doing that because I figured it was it was nice.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll want to put Larry Lepore in here.

[Anna Callahan]: Larry Lepore.

[Anna Callahan]: And I actually do have one like to me.

[Anna Callahan]: This seems grammatically awkward.

[Anna Callahan]: This section that I like we started discussions on the city charter review process, including setting a timeline as we expect the Charter Review Committee's recommendations to like to me there has to be an ending to that sentence, but.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not sure what you mean as we expect them to continue to arrive or as we expect.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I move to approve and send to, just to approve.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Motion to adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Just clarification.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like this is to ensure that we are in line with state law.

[Anna Callahan]: So state law already has changed, and we want to have something explicitly

[Anna Callahan]: supporting the state law?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think in addition to the cost, which is important, I would love to have, you know, either if you have already done some of this research, possibly we do more research into the need in the community.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, I'm sure you've already thought of this, but we may want to reach out to the Disabilities Commission, we may want to see if we can reach out to

[Anna Callahan]: Mothers with newborns and small babies because I just remember from that time period that like finding a bathroom that had a changing space was like absolutely crucial and if I, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: couldn't find one, it's like very bad.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe we can think of other, you know, groups of people that might have special needs or not even that special, but like, you know, some understanding of what the need is in our community.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that would also help us sort of make the case for the cost of these going on.

[Anna Callahan]: So.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I also did not know him nearly as well as I wish I had, but I think

[Anna Callahan]: we will really never be able to replace him.

[Anna Callahan]: No matter who we get for this position, we won't be able to replace him because of his personality and because of who he was.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm, you know, someday we'll have someone in that position.

[Anna Callahan]: They'll be different, but Larry is definitely truly missed.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I think this is a basic question why do we need these overrides.

[Anna Callahan]: And as Councilor Leming stated, we, we actually I will say we rank 320th out of 351 Massachusetts cities and towns.

[Anna Callahan]: in the amount of budget we have per person.

[Anna Callahan]: So we have less budget per person than every other city in Massachusetts and we have less budget per person than 90% of towns.

[Anna Callahan]: All of the others that spend less per person than we do are much smaller than we are.

[Anna Callahan]: Our budget is too small to provide the services that we need.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to go ahead, I don't know, this is probably gonna be too small for people to see, but this is a chart of our budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And this large blue area here is the schools.

[Anna Callahan]: That is what we are looking for more money for, so we cannot cut that.

[Anna Callahan]: The next one is insurance.

[Anna Callahan]: Insurance is something that we are required to have by law.

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot cut that.

[Anna Callahan]: The next one is pensions.

[Anna Callahan]: Those are contractual.

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot cut pensions.

[Anna Callahan]: The next two are our fire department and our police department.

[Anna Callahan]: My feeling is that no one on either side of the Prop 2.5 debate wants to drastically cut our police and fire departments.

[Anna Callahan]: The next one after police and fire is our roads.

[Anna Callahan]: And I appreciate your question about the roads, because underfunding of our roads has caused us to have $67 million in essentially road debt it's called the road backlog 30 seconds.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: After that, our bonds, which we are also required to pay, and then we get down to smaller things, the library facilities, many other small departments.

[Anna Callahan]: None of these, if we even cut the entire department, could possibly fix the $3 million to $5 million that we need for the school budget.

[Anna Callahan]: Our budget is simply too small.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll let someone else talk about which of these increases more than inflation.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I hear a lot of people asking about free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: I think misunderstanding what free cash is.

[Anna Callahan]: First thing I'd like to say is, free cash, dumb name, it's not free, it's not cash, okay?

[Anna Callahan]: So, free cash, sorry?

[Anna Callahan]: Free, free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: May I get my two minutes?

[Anna Callahan]: Will I get my two minutes?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Free cash is the term that the state uses for the money that is left over after your budget season has ended.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's the difference between what you budget, which, let's say, is $180 million, and the amount you spent, which, let's say, is $172 million.

[Anna Callahan]: That $8 million, which is the difference, is called free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, the state of Massachusetts has a group called the Division of Local Services, and their job is to help cities and towns become financially responsible.

[Anna Callahan]: They highly recommend that cities and towns in Massachusetts have 3 to 5% of their budget left over in free cash every single year.

[Anna Callahan]: In Medford, that amount would be between $5 million and $9 million.

[Anna Callahan]: If you don't have between 3 and 5% of your budget left over in free cash, you are considered financially irresponsible.

[Anna Callahan]: by credit agencies and your bond rating goes down.

[Anna Callahan]: Now that is very bad because it changes, just like if your credit rating is bad.

[Anna Callahan]: It changes the amount that you have to spend anytime you borrow money.

[Anna Callahan]: So we want to be a financially responsible city.

[Anna Callahan]: So having money left over in free cash, and I'm going to

[Anna Callahan]: I have another chart here because I think it's important for people to understand that this city was in the past very financially irresponsible.

[Anna Callahan]: If you notice that before 2012, we couldn't even meet our budget many years.

[Anna Callahan]: We definitely never reached that 3% in free cash and our bond rating was terrible.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's only in recent years that we have begun to have anywhere close to the required 3%.

[Anna Callahan]: in free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Now free cash according to the state of Massachusetts should never be used for an operating budget.

[Anna Callahan]: It needs to be used for capital projects.

[Anna Callahan]: We currently because of underfunding of our roads have $67 million in road debt.

[Anna Callahan]: We have $79 million in our capital improvement plan for things that need to be done only in the next

[Anna Callahan]: Three to five years.

[Anna Callahan]: So we cannot use free cash for something like our school budget that is absolutely verboten according to financially responsible people in the state of Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: two minutes councilor calvin and then councilor collins very quickly the reason that those other cities don't have as much money in free cash is because they weren't last to the table in getting a stabilization fund having a stabilization fund again is considered financially responsible

[Anna Callahan]: Medford didn't have one.

[Anna Callahan]: There are 451 cities and towns in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: We are one of the last five.

[Anna Callahan]: Only five remained this year that did not have a stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: That's why we have all this free cash, because we didn't have any stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for your correction, because I do know it's 351.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm surprised that I said that, but thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just wanted to speak to the question, which is, where is the money going to go?

[Anna Callahan]: So my understanding is that in that first year is when that strong encouragement to spend it on what was mentioned in the- It's a legal requirement.

[Anna Callahan]: A legal requirement.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you very much.

[Anna Callahan]: A legal requirement to spend it on what was talked about in the ballot question.

[Anna Callahan]: But what happens over time, because Prop 2.5 overrides

[Anna Callahan]: don't end, right?

[Anna Callahan]: They sort of just mean that the total amount of the budget is increased and that will continue.

[Anna Callahan]: It is a sustainable source of revenue.

[Anna Callahan]: And what that means is that over time, there may be, you know, like 10 years later, 15, 20, 30 years later, it may be that that budget needs, you know, the city council should be able to spend that budget in the way that makes the most sense.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the reason why

[Anna Callahan]: It's a legal requirement at the beginning, but it does go into the general fund, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Sure, I think it's important to understand that the money from both seven and eight will go to the schools, obviously not the 500,000 for the roads, but the rest of it, and that it is the job of the school committee with the mayor and with the school superintendent and the financial people and the whole administration of the schools to figure out how best to serve children with that budget.

[Anna Callahan]: It's possible that a tiny percentage of that may be necessary to boost our busing so that young kids are not walking across dangerous intersections.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm not going to be making that decision.

[Anna Callahan]: That's simply a tiny example since people have mentioned busing.

[Anna Callahan]: a zillion different decisions that can be made when you're talking about the school budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's the job of that part of the electeds and administration, the school committee, as well as the administration of the school system to make the best decisions each year, given what is happening that year with the budget that they have.

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, as always, with the best interests of the students in mind.

[Anna Callahan]: That's a tough question to answer.

[Anna Callahan]: I simply want to say that chronic underfunding, unfortunately, causes people to mistrust their government.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, half of our roads are in the worst two road conditions, and that's from chronic underfunding.

[Anna Callahan]: It costs between 30 and 50 times as much to fix a road in condition five, that's the worst one, as it does to fix a road in condition two,

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, we would be able to pay every year for all of our roads to get repaired with chapter 90 funding if we never let them fall into that kind of disrepair, but through underfunding.

[Anna Callahan]: chronic decades long underfunding, we have created a city that cannot service basic, basic needs.

[Anna Callahan]: And that does make people mistrust the government, unfortunately.

[Anna Callahan]: But the fix is, and someone here mentioned, you know, that what other communities do when they're in these situations is bonds and other things.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that what other communities do in this situation is they pass a prop two and a half override.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks again.

[Anna Callahan]: Always good to see young folks coming up here and asking these great questions.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to talk a little bit about the difference between 7 and 8, Proposition 7, Proposition 8.

[Anna Callahan]: And 7 is going to make sure that we provide the same resources and the same

[Anna Callahan]: you know, budget, basically, that we have been providing.

[Anna Callahan]: Prop eight is gonna be where we make sure that we can actually really do a little bit more, that we can take care of our teachers, that we can pay them better salaries, that we can pay paras better salaries, that we take care of them the way that they are taking care of you.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's just a little bit about the difference between those two and why they're separate.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, these questions are better answered by school committee folks.

[Anna Callahan]: My understanding is that you can't really compare what our entire school budget is to other cities very well, because other cities don't include a lot of the things that we include in the school budget.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's not apples to apples.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wish I could rattle off all the things that are included and not included.

[Anna Callahan]: The ones that I recall are, I think, IT, and now because of

[Anna Callahan]: post COVID, there's just a lot more, you know, Chromebooks required for students and other IT related things.

[Anna Callahan]: IT is often not included in school budgets in other cities, but it is included in our school budget.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there are parts of building maintenance that are included in our school budget that are not included in other city school budgets.

[Anna Callahan]: So while it appears, if you just look at the number, it appears that we spend more per student,

[Anna Callahan]: I don't believe that that is an accurate way of looking at it simply because of the things that are and aren't included.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I just wanted to comment about the school day.

[Anna Callahan]: Unless I'm mistaken, please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: We have one of the shortest school days of anywhere in the entire state that we are barely like a minute or two above the state absolute minimum for the number of minutes that children have to spend in school across the entire year.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a super quick comment that teachers who are underpaid compared to how much they could make in other cities, they do think about whether the city is able to fund them the next year.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we want people to stay, it's just healthier for us in terms of teacher morale and longevity to have, for them to know that the budget is there for their salaries for the next year, because people do try to think ahead

[Anna Callahan]: you know, they're less, we'll just have more turnover, that's all, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: If I can, oh, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I just um, so my understanding is that there are some numbers going around comparing Medford salaries with communities like Arlington, but actually just have an accurate numbers.

[Anna Callahan]: And, and those are all public so you can actually go on the web and like look up those numbers so I encourage you to do that just to make sure that the numbers that you're seeing are accurate.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I love that question.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for bringing it up.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there are a few basic.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't want to say rules of engagement, but just pieces of advice that people hopefully understand as like good for group dynamics healthy for a community healthy for a group.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that people in their conversations with neighbors can think about these things.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that we on the council can also do these things as well.

[Anna Callahan]: They are things like treat other people with respect and dignity.

[Anna Callahan]: Assume good intent.

[Anna Callahan]: Don't assume that the other person means you ill.

[Anna Callahan]: Just assume that they have good intent.

[Anna Callahan]: Listen to what folks are actually saying.

[Anna Callahan]: Don't use accusational language.

[Anna Callahan]: Basic decorum, basic showing respect for other people is what I encourage for everyone in all of their discussions with the friends, family, neighbors, city councilors, and all of those folks.

[Anna Callahan]: And I hope that if I am not following that, people will call me out, because I do hope that I can always treat everyone, no matter what their political position on a topic is, with respect.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to take this opportunity to answer a question that has come up pretty often in these chambers, and that really is a question about why we can't use free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: People say that they heard that we have $34 million in free cash, and why can't we use that instead of raising taxes, which I think is a very fair question.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would like people to consider

[Anna Callahan]: the way that city budgets and city finances are similar to household finances.

[Anna Callahan]: When you run a household, you've got income, you've got expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: If you make your operating budget, your normal budget for the year, you want to look at your income and hope that your budget adds up to less than your total income.

[Anna Callahan]: And in your household, you probably also have

[Anna Callahan]: a savings account.

[Anna Callahan]: It's good to have a savings account for one time or unexpected expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: Your kid might need braces, your roof might need repair, you might need to get a new car.

[Anna Callahan]: Cities also need to have savings accounts for similar reasons.

[Anna Callahan]: At some point, we will need a new fire station.

[Anna Callahan]: We will need a new high school.

[Anna Callahan]: There might be a pandemic, and our schools suddenly need HVAC systems to all be replaced at the same time.

[Anna Callahan]: The short answer to why we should not use free cash for normal budgeted items is that free cash is savings, and we need it to fix things that are getting older, like buildings or firetrucks, or in case some unexpected emergency happens.

[Anna Callahan]: Now what is free cash exactly?

[Anna Callahan]: It is really a dumb name because it's not free and it's not cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Every year the city makes a budget and throughout the year we spend money.

[Anna Callahan]: If we spend less than we budgeted, that amount left over is called free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we budget $180 million and then we spend $172 million, that gives us $8 million in free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: And what's important to understand is that every city is strongly encouraged by the state to have free cash every year.

[Anna Callahan]: Cities must spend less than their budget.

[Anna Callahan]: If they spend more than their budget, their bond rating goes down.

[Anna Callahan]: Bond rating.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like a credit rating.

[Anna Callahan]: And if your bond rating goes down, then it costs you an arm and a leg in interest and fees to borrow money.

[Anna Callahan]: Spending more than you budgeted is a big no-no.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a sign that your city's being poorly run.

[Anna Callahan]: So yay for Medford that recently we have free cash every year.

[Anna Callahan]: This has raised our bond rating up to a double A plus rating in the last few years.

[Anna Callahan]: The Division of Local Services is a state body that helps cities and towns be financially responsible.

[Anna Callahan]: It recommends that cities and towns have between three and 5% of their total budget in free cash every year to maintain a good bond rating.

[Anna Callahan]: And in Medford, that is between 5 million and 9 million each year.

[Anna Callahan]: Our $34 million in certified free cash is primarily because we had $9 million in 2023 due to remaining ARPA COVID grant funds, $9 million in 2022 because of unfilled state positions and legal funds not being spent.

[Anna Callahan]: Both of these years are within the recommended 3-5% of our budget.

[Anna Callahan]: Before about 2012, we had almost no free cash each year, which really is a sign of not being managed, financially managed properly.

[Anna Callahan]: And the state recommends that municipalities create what are called stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: Almost every city and town at the start of 2024, all but four cities and towns out of 351 had at least one stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: We were one of only four that did not.

[Anna Callahan]: We finally, this year, have created two stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: And what's important to remember, do not use your savings, free cash or stabilization funds for normal operating expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: The Division of Local Services says, quote, free cash should be restricted to paying one-time expenditures, funding capital projects, or replenishing other reserves.

[Anna Callahan]: It recommends that communities adopt a free cash policy that avoids supplementing current year departmental operations.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: We are recommended by the state to have a certain amount of money in our stabilization funds for Medford, it's five to 7%, which is what they recommend would be between nine and $13 million in our stabilization in our general stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: Just to understand a little bit about what we might use these stabilization funds or free cash for, we do have, according to our payment analysis, $67 million in essentially road debt, because we have not kept our roads up as much as we should have.

[Anna Callahan]: It costs less.

[Anna Callahan]: each year if your roads are in good shape, and it costs if your roads are in bad shape.

[Anna Callahan]: So we need to make sure that we are doing those improvements.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we also have a capital improvement plan, which has recognized $79 million in needs from about 123 projects across the city.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to be pretty clear that when you look at what we are recommended to do by the state in order to be a financially responsible city, that means that we should continue to create a budget that we know we won't exceed.

[Anna Callahan]: At the end of each fiscal year, we should have between 3% and 5% of that total budget unspent, which is called free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Those funds can move into a stabilization

[Anna Callahan]: where we can spend them to properly take care of our city, which will allow us to spend less in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, we also want to have new growth through more commercial growth and new housing.

[Anna Callahan]: We already are doing that.

[Anna Callahan]: The last three years have seen Medford's highest new growth in the past two decades, and we will continue to encourage new growth.

[Anna Callahan]: Unfortunately, this is a slow process.

[Anna Callahan]: It cannot fix our budget shortfall.

[Anna Callahan]: and because of rising costs of schools, insurance, pensions, inflation affecting every department and other costs that we cannot control, we need to increase our annual budget and that means voting yes on the overrides and on the debt exclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So, in looking over these I had a few comments, starting with the co housing.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that definition is pretty good, but if you look at.

[Anna Callahan]: So, in Cambridge there are two different co housing.

[Anna Callahan]: places.

[Anna Callahan]: One of them is more like townhouses, and the other one is more larger buildings, a little bit more like apartment buildings, I think.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I would want to, like, I think the definition of co-housing hopefully should not limit it to small single unit or two unit buildings, but rather be a building or set of buildings, right?

[Anna Callahan]: just to open it up a little bit in case people want to basically build co-housing that's a little bit more like an apartment building but has a bunch of shared facilities as well.

[Anna Callahan]: My second one is about co-living and I think what I'm hoping to do is to make a distinction between co-living and which is tenants choosing to live with each other as something we specifically want to

[Anna Callahan]: allow and encourage in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And there's also something else that I think we specifically want to discourage in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And the difference is really whether the tenants select who the other tenants are, or whether the landlord selects the tenants.

[Anna Callahan]: So for example, I did a slight update to the co-living.

[Anna Callahan]: saying a building in which a group of residents pay rent to occupy a single unit with private bedrooms and shared living spaces, including cooking and sanitary facilities, such residents have input over the selection of the other residents living in the housing unit.

[Anna Callahan]: And I have a little bit of extra language in case it's necessary.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know whether it's necessary, but the end of that sentence could be either because they apply for the lease jointly or because when one or more tenants moves out, the residents jointly select a new tenant to add to the lease.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that the concept that residents have input over the selection of the other residents is important in co-living.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the one I would want to discourage is basically the same, but saying residents of this other thing, which I don't know what the name would be, do not have input over the selection of the other residents living in the housing unit.

[Anna Callahan]: You say a group of residents pay to rent, pay rent to occupy a single unit.

[Anna Callahan]: Great and I would love that that'd be amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's most of my, my, my comments.

[Anna Callahan]: I did notice when I was looking through the definition, the definition of like a lodger, and of a lodging house.

[Anna Callahan]: To me the definition of a lodger was not clear but apparently it is pretty clear because you know to the staff because they have been dealing with this code for you know this zoning for you know many years.

[Anna Callahan]: They understand what it means which maybe is plenty and that's all we need to do.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that lodger and lodging house were related to each other, which apparently they really aren't.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the lodging house definition is slightly problematic.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me just find, sorry if I can find that.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, my other comment about congregate living is I don't know that we need them.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that elderly-oriented congregate living, we have a lot of senior housing definitions already in our zoning, so I'm not sure that having an elderly-oriented congregate housing would conflict with that.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I'll leave it there, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: That's your calling?

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think we need a motion at this point because NS and associates is going to take this feedback and bring it back to us.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that accurate?

[Anna Callahan]: My only question is

[Anna Callahan]: I sent an email with the language that I had suggested, which doesn't have to be exact, but is there anything else that we should do with this language or will Innocence Associates come back to us with these updates?

[Anna Callahan]: Hello, sorry about that.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not at my desk anymore.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so this, the northernmost commercial lot on the south side of the street, the sort of easternmost, just wondering about that being commercial as opposed to one of the mixed use, just because it does abut right up to the public housing.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just gonna want, out of my curiosity, like, is there a reason why this, because it seems like we have a distinction between these two, and like it would make more sense to the I if this was commercial than that was commercial?

[Anna Callahan]: Like just, you know, is there a reason why?

[Anna Callahan]: Is it because of the size of the lots, or is there some reason why this is, excuse, and that's commercial instead of switching those?

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Just super quick.

[Anna Callahan]: We still are intending to have a co-working definition added.

[Anna Callahan]: Since it was mentioned that like a co-working space, I just wanted to double check.

[Anna Callahan]: All I know is that when I was doing some research into it, it seemed like co-working spaces had difficulty finding an appropriate place within zoning in most cities, and I don't remember exactly why.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm looking to see if I can find why.

[Anna Callahan]: I might be able to find it in about one minute.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Emily.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan, go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And just to close up that thought I found the whole thread that I had run into before, and they are in fact talking about the fact that a lot of co working spaces want to be in retail, where there's zone for retail.

[Anna Callahan]: And they don't want to be shunted off into like commercial office space zones because it doesn't really work for co working nobody wants to rent there if it is in that space so

[Anna Callahan]: as long as we're aiming toward, like this whole idea of mixed use, maybe, you know, it'll fit perfectly in there, but as long as that's in our minds, and I think, yes, we will wanna have co-working definitions, both to promote it, as well as to enable it to be the tiny little, in the same way that retail in our code, I don't know if we're continuing this, has different definitions for like,

[Anna Callahan]: convenience store and other kinds of stores that have different sizes, there may be usefulness to having that sort of definition for co-working so that we can have like neighborhood co-working spaces that are tiny in, you know, more across the residential neighborhoods, as well as be able to have more ones like on Mystic Ave.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, Councilor Calderon, go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: Only because

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. DiStefano, you had mentioned the idea of tough students and how many businesses they were coming out with.

[Anna Callahan]: And it made me think about the spaces, not just co-working spaces, but for example, in Kendall Square, they also have places where they have accelerator programs.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know whether that would be something at all interesting to us or if it would be

[Anna Callahan]: if there's any difference between that and co-working, if there's any reason to define it differently, but just in the back of our minds to think about how do we have a technology hub here in Medford, where not just from Tufts, but also from maybe some sort of tech hub, a startup generator, if we can encourage that.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wasn't sure if I quite understood you properly, but this, I assume, has not yet gone to legal review, like we're finalizing it to make sure that it's what staff needs first, and then we'll send it to legal.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that correct?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: You can borrow mine in a second.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Vice President Collins.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Scarpelli.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Tseng.

[Anna Callahan]: That would be miraculous.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Welcome to the Public Works and Facilities Committee of October 1st, 2024, at 6 p.m.

[Anna Callahan]: in City Hall.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Clerk, would you call the roll?

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Today we are talking about

[Anna Callahan]: Resolution 24-422, resolution to host a discussion of MassDOT plans for Medford Square Main Street intersection.

[Anna Callahan]: Whereas the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is planning to make changes to a busy intersection in the heart of Medford Square,

[Anna Callahan]: which will impact drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians for many years to come.

[Anna Callahan]: And whereas the Medford Bicycle Commission attended an informational meeting and expressed concerns with the plans made thus far, now therefore be it resolved that a representative from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation familiar with the plan shall meet with the Medford City Council, a representative of the Medford Bicycle Commission, and a representative of the City of Medford Traffic and Transportation Department

[Anna Callahan]: in committee to discuss said plans.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a resolution of Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: I leave it to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Let's go to Emily O'Brien.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, uh, Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have any other councilors that want to speak on this topic?

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lennon?

[Anna Callahan]: If I may.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, please.

[Anna Callahan]: This is the meeting we're having right now.

[Anna Callahan]: This is this meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: So this resolution isn't to have another meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: The resolution which got passed through the city council was to have this meeting right here.

[Anna Callahan]: I will ask for any public participation.

[Anna Callahan]: Anyone in the chamber?

[Anna Callahan]: Anyone on Zoom?

[Anna Callahan]: It is Council President Zac Bears.

[Anna Callahan]: The floor is yours.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Anyone else like to speak on this topic?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, I do see Emily O'Brien.

[Anna Callahan]: If you want to speak one more time, go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And I see that Todd Blake, Director of Traffic and Transportation, is raising his hand as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Go ahead, Todd.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: It's amazing that you're there to help us facilitate the extra meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: Any other comments from the public or from councilors?

[Anna Callahan]: Well, thank you so much to everyone, Councilor Lazzaro, to Mr. Blake, Ms.

[Anna Callahan]: O'Brien.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, Councilor Lazzaro, do you wanna go ahead?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful, thank you to everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: And Councilor Lazzaro has motioned to adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have a second?

[Anna Callahan]: No one is seconding the motion.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Seconded by Councilor Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: All opposed?

[Anna Callahan]: That is an aye.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, thank you very much.

[Anna Callahan]: The meeting is adjourned.

[Anna Callahan]: I move that we take this out of order, put it at the end of the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: I retract my motion.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Glad this is on the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: I think hearing from constituents and also informing constituents is crucially important.

[Anna Callahan]: Among the many vulnerable populations we have here I think our children are definitely on that list.

[Anna Callahan]: I would hope that parents

[Anna Callahan]: would be explicitly reached out to.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if we can go through the PTOs of the various schools, but I think that those people also will be highly, highly impacted by the override vote.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would hope that we can not only reach out to seniors who are a vulnerable population, but also reach out to parents and make sure that they are also included.

[Anna Callahan]: Reaching out through, say, if we're going through the senior center, then also being able to go through the PTOs.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for putting this on.

[Anna Callahan]: You just said what I was going to say, which is it is important for people to understand this does not eliminate MCAS.

[Anna Callahan]: Some people are confused about that.

[Anna Callahan]: It simply removes it as a graduation requirement.

[Anna Callahan]: I completely agree that it is really damaging as a graduation requirement.

[Anna Callahan]: So just as long as people understand that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I just figured while we're getting the Zoom up, we could ask some questions.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I have one, just a question for my own curiosity, and then I also have a suggestion.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm curious why the commercial is like 50% lot coverage and the other ones are 80% lot coverage.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that like a standard thing, and is there a reason why that's so?

[Anna Callahan]: And I saw that and I'm curious about like permeable surfaces.

[Anna Callahan]: If it's going to be 80% lot coverage.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have a recurrent just because I know in that area, we're really concerned about it being a heat island.

[Anna Callahan]: My final, oh, did you?

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: My final kind of suggestion was, because I live down there and I'm, and I, my kid goes to the method took looking at option B. I wonder if, rather than that sort of southwestern portion being all commercial, if it's possible to split that and have commercial.

[Anna Callahan]: Right on the road and then having those back parcels be mixed use or something else not have so much of the audio auto usage close to the school and the park and also this public housing there.

[Anna Callahan]: So having you know a little bit nicer usages right butting up to those those three would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Back, you mentioned that maybe keeping that not having incentive zoning and keeping that to.

[Anna Callahan]: I wasn't sure if he was asking about that, so.

[Anna Callahan]: Mine was actually very similar.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious if it would be useful for us to have a definition of life sciences or R&D in the definitions, or if simply having a maximum height that allows for taller stories would be enough.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: This may not be something you guys can answer.

[Anna Callahan]: But, um, in terms of like commercial buildings, uh, I know that ever since Covid, there's a lot less need for commercial buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we still think that there is enough need that if we zone something that is purely commercial that, um

[Anna Callahan]: people going to be developing that.

[Anna Callahan]: And just as a follow-up question to that, given the, I guess, ongoing crash in commercial real estate, do we think, in terms of this option A or B, I just wanna get a sense for like,

[Anna Callahan]: If we exclude commercial, do we think that we'll be missing out on folks who want to develop here?

[Anna Callahan]: If we include commercial, will we be risking having a whole zone that does not have a lot of demand?

[Anna Callahan]: Just obviously, you can't fully answer this question, but do you have a sense between those two?

[Anna Callahan]: incentive zoning not being in that one section, but I assume that everything else would have incentive zoning.

[Anna Callahan]: And also behind, like, yeah, the HICSAB one, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: It does have.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: It might be nice to say something like the city council is taking the issue of rodents in our city seriously.

[Anna Callahan]: Like start off with sort of the purpose of the wildlife feeding ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, exactly.

[Anna Callahan]: And the Wildlife Feeding Ordinance is one of our tools.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that just helps people to kind of understand, like, if I just see the Wildlife Feeding Ordinance, I don't really know what that is.

[Anna Callahan]: But like, if it's like, we're taking rodents seriously, and this is one of our tools for doing it.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to update that next sentence a little bit.

[Anna Callahan]: The purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that residents do not intentionally feed wildlife.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that's quite right.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's more like do not feed unwanted wildlife.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it's really the purpose is to make sure that, you know, people aren't accidentally providing food for pests.

[Anna Callahan]: But I don't know exactly how to phrase that.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I don't think anybody's intentionally feeding rodents, right?

[Anna Callahan]: That's not a thing.

[Anna Callahan]: I would lean toward, I agree with putting all three of those at the top because it is a thing that we do.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I would put ordinances, the definition of ordinance down with the commonly used terms and keep it out of that one line.

[Anna Callahan]: the top.

[Anna Callahan]: Does that make sense?

[Anna Callahan]: Um well, I would remove motion the previous, I can't see it cuz it's covered by the.

[Anna Callahan]: I suspect that for people who are, you know, coming to their first city council meeting or something, that is not a thing they need to know.

[Anna Callahan]: I would just take that one out because I don't think it's like super important to know that one motion.

[Anna Callahan]: There's other stuff that we could put in there in terms of commonly used terms.

[Anna Callahan]: I would rather see ordinance than that one.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I would do.

[Anna Callahan]: I would remove that one and put in ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that what Councilor Lazzaro was saying was that this is going to be improved.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that there are different people who understand things in different ways.

[Anna Callahan]: And I completely agree.

[Anna Callahan]: I think this is fantastic for what it is.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the idea of laminated copies being in this room for people to just like maybe on every row, there's a copy and people can look at it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to offer to work with Councilor Lazzaro on the apples and worms version.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So currently those fees, I assume they are associated with not just rodent control, right, that you have to have themsters and that seems like a normal

[Anna Callahan]: fee for any kind of construction that is not solely for rodent control.

[Anna Callahan]: Are those fees going into the general fund?

[Anna Callahan]: Are we, I mean, I don't know how large this is and if there will be some pushback from other parts of the administration that, you know, these fees really are not just for rodent control and perhaps should be going to the general budget.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to suggest that we consider giving the weekend hours to one, perhaps not the during the week, as sort of matching with with during the week is just till midnight.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, but during the week is till midnight, which is later than they're currently are, which was 11pm.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that correct?

[Anna Callahan]: believe so yes yes so that is what I'm suggesting that it be weekend till one during the week till 11 but a little bit of a compromise on that point I don't I also don't particularly see a reason why consistency is the reason why we should agree or not agree I think you know

[Anna Callahan]: different businesses are in different areas of the city.

[Anna Callahan]: They have neighbors closer or farther away from them.

[Anna Callahan]: They have different track records of complaints with the city.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's pretty clear that Panda Express has all of those check boxes that we want to see in terms of being pretty distant from the closest housing.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think there could be some consideration to a possibility of giving them the extended hours for the weekend

[Anna Callahan]: for this vote.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I totally agree.

[Anna Callahan]: It would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: I also agree that, you know, we have to be aware of costs.

[Anna Callahan]: I simply wanted to add that after I had my son, I remember traveling around and talking to all the other new moms about where you could possibly change a baby in the bathroom without laying them on the floor.

[Anna Callahan]: So I hope that we can include that in the discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just, I hope that we are infrequently asked to waive three readings and that we can- There's not three readings on this paper.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: As a general rule, I hope that we are infrequently asked to make quick decisions.

[Anna Callahan]: Apparently this is not waiving three readings, so maybe it is not a big deal.

[Anna Callahan]: But just wanted to make that short comment.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to take this opportunity to answer a question that has come up pretty often in these chambers.

[Anna Callahan]: And that really is a question about why we can't use free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: People say that they heard that we have $34 million in free cash and why can't we use that instead of raising taxes, which I think is a very fair question.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would like people to consider the way that city budgets and city finances are similar to household finances.

[Anna Callahan]: When you run a household, you've got income, you've got expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: If you make your operating budget, your normal budget for the year, you want to look at your income and hope that your budget adds up to less than your total income.

[Anna Callahan]: And in your household, you probably also have a savings account.

[Anna Callahan]: It's good to have a savings account for one time or unexpected expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: Your kid might need braces, your roof might need repair, you might need to get a new car.

[Anna Callahan]: Cities also need to have savings accounts for similar reasons.

[Anna Callahan]: At some point, we will need a new fire station, we'll need a new high school, there might be a pandemic and our schools suddenly need HVAC systems to all be replaced at the same time.

[Anna Callahan]: The short answer to why we should not use free cash for normal budgeted items is that free cash is savings, and we need it to fix things that are getting older, like buildings or fire trucks.

[Anna Callahan]: or in case some unexpected emergency happens.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, what is free cash exactly?

[Anna Callahan]: It is really a dumb name because it's not free and it's not cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Every year, the city makes a budget and then throughout the year, we spend money.

[Anna Callahan]: If we spend less than we budgeted, that amount left over is called free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: So if we budget $180 million and then we spend $172 million, that gives us $8 million in free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: And what's important to understand is that every city is strongly encouraged by the state to have free cash every year.

[Anna Callahan]: Cities must spend less than their budget.

[Anna Callahan]: If they spend more than their budget, their bond rating goes down.

[Anna Callahan]: Bond rating.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like a credit rating.

[Anna Callahan]: And if your bond rating goes down, then it costs you an arm and a leg in interest and fees to borrow money.

[Anna Callahan]: Spending more than you budgeted is a big no-no.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a sign that your city is being poorly run.

[Anna Callahan]: So yay for Medford that recently we have free cash every year.

[Anna Callahan]: This has raised our bond rating up to a double A plus rating last few years.

[Anna Callahan]: The division of local services is a state body that helps cities and towns be financially responsible.

[Anna Callahan]: It recommends cities and towns have between three and 5% of their total budget and free cash every year to maintain a good bond rating.

[Anna Callahan]: And in Medford, that is between 5 million and 9 million each year.

[Anna Callahan]: Our $34 million in certified free cash is primarily because we had $9 million in 2023 due to remaining ARPA COVID grant funds.

[Anna Callahan]: 9 million in 2022 because of unfilled state positions and legal funds not being spent.

[Anna Callahan]: Both of these years are within the recommended three to 5% of our budget.

[Anna Callahan]: Before about 2012, we had almost no free cash each year, which really is a sign of not being managed, financially managed properly.

[Anna Callahan]: And the state recommends that municipalities create what are called stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: Almost every city and town at the start of 2024, all but four cities and towns out of 351 had at least one stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: We were one of only four that did not.

[Anna Callahan]: We finally, this year, have created two stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: And what's important to remember, do not use your savings, free cash or stabilization funds for normal operating expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: The division of local services says, quote, free cash should be restricted to paying one-time expenditures, funding capital projects or replenishing other reserves.

[Anna Callahan]: It recommends that communities adopt a free cash policy that avoids supplementing current year departmental operations.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: We are recommended by the state to have a certain amount of money in our stabilization funds.

[Anna Callahan]: For Medford, it's five to 7%, which is what they recommend would be between nine and $13 million in our general stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: And just to understand a little bit about what we might use these stabilization funds

[Anna Callahan]: or free cash for.

[Anna Callahan]: We do have, according to our payment analysis, $67 million in essentially road debt because we have not kept our roads up as much as we should have.

[Anna Callahan]: It costs less.

[Anna Callahan]: Each year, if your roads are in good shape, then it costs if your roads are in bad shape.

[Anna Callahan]: So we need to make sure that we are doing those improvements.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we also have a capital improvement plan, which has recognized $79 million in needs from about 123 projects across the city.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to be pretty clear that when you look at what we are recommended to do by the state in order to be a financially responsible city, that means that we should continue to create a budget that we know we won't exceed.

[Anna Callahan]: At the end of each fiscal year, we should have between 3% and 5% of that total budget unspent, which is called free cash.

[Anna Callahan]: Those funds can move into our stabilization funds where we can spend them

[Anna Callahan]: properly take care of our city, which will allow us to spend less in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, we also want to have new growth through more commercial growth and new housing.

[Anna Callahan]: We already are doing that.

[Anna Callahan]: The last three years have seen Medford's highest new growth in the past two decades, and we will continue to encourage new growth.

[Anna Callahan]: Unfortunately, this is a slow process.

[Anna Callahan]: It cannot fix our budget shortfall.

[Anna Callahan]: And because of rising costs of schools, insurance, pensions, inflation affecting every department,

[Anna Callahan]: and other costs that we cannot control, we need to increase our annual budget, and that means voting yes on the overrides and on the debt exclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is...

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, we will reconsider severing.

[Anna Callahan]: Or no, we will not reconsider severing.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm disappointed that I cannot show my support for each of these individually.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to chime in.

[Anna Callahan]: I totally agree.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's important to be involved, and I'm excited for it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks Um, yeah, just quickly that I

[Anna Callahan]: puts the work on us and not on the developers.

[Anna Callahan]: Because the developer will be like, oh, what is it for this neighborhood?

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, it's fairly simple for this neighborhood.

[Anna Callahan]: It means that we have to do the work in advance, but that the developers may have more simple instructions because there will be neighborhoods where we're not worrying about one thing or another thing.

[Anna Callahan]: I definitely want to take a look at this doc later with a little more time.

[Anna Callahan]: First thought is that, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: want us to encourage more density within buildings we have a lot of homes that have four or five bedrooms and one person living in it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that we want to go ahead and encourage folks to live with each other.

[Anna Callahan]: to relieve our affordable, our sort of housing issues that we have here in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just wanna make sure that if we're making definitions that we're not sort of defining anything as more than four people living together, it's like a separate sort of definition of living.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanna be a little bit careful on that front.

[Anna Callahan]: It looks like some of those definitions are like anything more than four and you're defined as a strange form of housing.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's my only thinking without really having time to sort of look more deeply into it.

[Anna Callahan]: Just wanted to ask, it does say Monday through Sunday, so seven nights a week.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about whether you've seen more demand on weekends, are there certain days that you would like it to be later, other days when it would be earlier, just based on what you've seen, what you think would work best for your business?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to mention that I did knock on thousands of doors last summer and fall, and this issue came up really a surprising number of times.

[Anna Callahan]: How many residents commented that within the first few years after completely repaving a street, that some project would come in and rip up the street again, and that they felt that that was a poor use of city funds.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think this is important that we, as a city, require full repaving of city streets when it is within five years of the paving of a street.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sure that it is within the business model of National Grid to fully repave roads that have been from curb to curb that have been paved within the last five years.

[Anna Callahan]: simply because that is just a normal process of doing business, doing the kind of business that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: It may also be something that you realize that when a city council has changed personnel, that perhaps you might get a different opinion.

[Anna Callahan]: And that may be your job, but my job is to fight for what the city should be getting in this business contract.

[Anna Callahan]: And within this business contract, it is,

[Anna Callahan]: The normal thing, the thing that we need to request is that you do full curb-to-curb repaving.

[Anna Callahan]: And if the agreement was made in the past, that it makes more sense for both parties for that to be moved to a different street, but that the cost of the repaving is fully reimbursed by National Grid, then I feel very comfortable with that agreement that was made in November.

[Anna Callahan]: No.

[Anna Callahan]: No.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to comment that I'm incredibly thrilled about the work that Council on Learning has done.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm thrilled about the work that Councilor Leming has done on this.

[Anna Callahan]: As I hope people understand, this City Council has really taken the funding of this city very seriously.

[Anna Callahan]: We have been underfunded for a long time, and the linkage fees are one of the few places where we can actually

[Anna Callahan]: obtain more funds that does not affect property taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is something that I think everyone here should be really excited about.

[Anna Callahan]: It has not been updated in 34 years.

[Anna Callahan]: It is definitely undervalued.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a way that we are going to bring income into the city.

[Anna Callahan]: And then these changes that make sure that even if a study is not done regularly,

[Anna Callahan]: that we continue to increase those at the price of inflation is truly a fantastic work.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm very excited about it.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you, Councilor Leming, for the work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious if you have any predictions that if you raise it from $0.25 to $0.35, which based on your chart is one of the higher, is a little bit higher than surrounding cities, do you think that that will lead to fewer people charging in Medford or

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for coming here.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm really excited about the program in general.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to see that there has been increasing demand.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that's a good sign.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a question, is this out of the Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund or is this out of the, these bonds, are those the bonds that we see coming out of the operating budget?

[Anna Callahan]: Find them in order.

[Anna Callahan]: And I move to approve.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for coming.

[Anna Callahan]: It's great to have you here.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to see if you had any opinion on the topic that one of the previous speakers mentioned about poison versus population control.

[Anna Callahan]: Poison versus population control.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, exactly.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lovett.

[Anna Callahan]: I plan to vote in favor.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Can we vote on this motion?

[Anna Callahan]: Can we vote on this motion?

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Just one quick question.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't see any mention of spaying or neutering, which I assume is intentional.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I totally missed that.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't see any mention of spaying or neutering these feral or stray cats.

[Anna Callahan]: I assume that's intentional.

[Anna Callahan]: It does say vaccinating, but it doesn't mention spaying or neutering.

[Anna Callahan]: I also reached out after seeing this, I reached out to the State Auditor and I also reached out to the Attorney General.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems quite clear from the letter that Councilor Scarpelli wrote that the request in the letter, and he says right here, to examine the issues set forth in said letter.

[Anna Callahan]: That letter is to address issues that he mentioned, which include whether the chair properly ruled out of order a certain

[Anna Callahan]: state piece of legislation, C43 section 22 of MTL.

[Anna Callahan]: When I reached out to the state auditor, what the state auditor said was, our office does not conduct audits of city councils, full stop.

[Anna Callahan]: We can, however, conduct audits of cities if requested to do so by a city council.

[Anna Callahan]: So there's something I find very interesting happening here, which is this motion, as written, says that it is to examine the issues set forth in the letter.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to tell you right now, the state auditor does not do that.

[Anna Callahan]: That is what they told me in writing.

[Anna Callahan]: They don't do that.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a legal question.

[Anna Callahan]: And Councilor Scarpelli seems to think that for some reason, the contracted legal team, KP Law, because they work for the mayor is different somehow from a city solicitor, which also would work for the administration and for the mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: And I've talked to

[Anna Callahan]: to city councilors from many cities for many years about the fact that city solicitors do work for the administration, and they tend to, you know, have administration centric ideas right that is a totally normal well understood thing.

[Anna Callahan]: But this idea that somehow if we had a city solicitor, it would not be hired by the mayor, and yet the KP law is hired by the mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: And so therefore we should never take the opinion of the legal team that we currently have.

[Anna Callahan]: What we need to know and what was in this letter is a legal opinion.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, unfortunately, I did not have time because this

[Anna Callahan]: was sent out on Friday, and I reached out to them on Monday, and today is Tuesday, so I have not yet spoken to the Attorney General, but I am sure that if what we want is a legal opinion from the state, we can get that legal opinion from the state.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, what's interesting is that the motion that Councilor Scarpelli has now stated is not to examine the issues set forth in said letter, which would be essentially to audit the legal

[Anna Callahan]: opinion in the particular legal statements made by the city council, which the state auditor does not do.

[Anna Callahan]: But now it is to look at our finances around financial mismanagement.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, that is something that the state auditor can financially audit a city.

[Anna Callahan]: They will charge the municipality, so the taxpayers of Medford will pay for that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would like to ask a question.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there not a regular audit done of the city every year?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: There is a regular audit done of the city finances every year.

[Anna Callahan]: Which I approve of 100%.

[Anna Callahan]: City's finances should be audited every year and they are.

[Anna Callahan]: I would simply want to understand, because it is not at all clear to me, which of these two things we're actually voting on.

[Anna Callahan]: Are we voting on for the state auditor to examine the issue set forth in said letter, which is what is written, which I'm pretty sure they will not do, because that's not what they do, or are we voting on them to look at our finances

[Anna Callahan]: which was what Scarpelli said out loud, which we already do every single year.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm really having trouble imagining why we would want to pay the state to do a second audit when we already do them every single year.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would wanna know which of those we're voting on if there's gonna be a motion.

[Anna Callahan]: I am unclear.

[Anna Callahan]: I also feel like there are so many responses that I could give.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really not possible to respond to everything.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, I was sad that your motion was Rule 21.

[Anna Callahan]: I was going to vote for it then.

[Anna Callahan]: I was also going to vote for it the week after when it was pulled.

[Anna Callahan]: I also want to know the answer to these legal questions.

[Anna Callahan]: I do not feel as sure as Councilor Tseng that I know exactly what that law states, and I would like an official legal opinion, and I look forward to what the Attorney General says.

[Anna Callahan]: I also wish that, as a general rule, financial matters were brought to us earlier so that we were not under the gun and had to do things.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is a situation that we are put in.

[Anna Callahan]: And while it is accurate to say that some pink slips went out, some pink slips go out every year, and there would have been dozens and many dozens more pink slips if we had not passed what we passed.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's not accurate to say that it made no difference, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It made a big difference to our schools, whether we voted that week or the next week.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't like being, would I like another week or two to be able to look at these financial questions?

[Anna Callahan]: You bet I would.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not the one putting these matters to the city council at the absolute last second so that we are forced to vote on them as fast as possible.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't like that.

[Anna Callahan]: I really wish that I had some miraculous way to know how the 60,000 people in Medford all think.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm surprised to hear anyone say that they know how those 60,000 people all think.

[Anna Callahan]: I also am really having a lot of trouble understanding how the, like,

[Anna Callahan]: auditing the way that the overrides were passed because the overrides are a major problem, you know, that our community is not being listened to.

[Anna Callahan]: This whole argument really, I'm really struggling with this because, you know, the overrides was a question of

[Anna Callahan]: rule 21 and basically us being able to vote on them that week or not.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think there's any argument that rule 21 was

[Anna Callahan]: suspended and that whether that was suspended in a way that was legally like okay or not okay.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that simply is unfortunately what it is.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe you don't like the politics of it, but that was voted on properly.

[Anna Callahan]: And then whether the whole community has listened to it.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we're literally allowing the voters for the first time.

[Anna Callahan]: We're allowing the voters to be listened to.

[Anna Callahan]: We are allowing them to be listened to for the first time in decades.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm really struggling with this argument.

[Anna Callahan]: or how putting overrides on the ballot so that the community can in fact be listened to by having a democratic vote where everyone can come to the ballot box, how that is not listening to the community.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will also say that all the people, I mean, the wildly overwhelming support of people who came to that meeting and spoke in support of putting the overrides on the ballot, and we're yet being told that we aren't listening to the community.

[Anna Callahan]: That's really struggling.

[Anna Callahan]: with how that can be when number one, wildly overwhelming support from the community at the meeting where we discussed it, and number two, all we're doing is putting it on the ballot so that we can listen to the community.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, finally, I wanna say that this particular matter, there is no deadline for whether we vote for an audit.

[Anna Callahan]: And I am completely, do not understand what the heck we are auditing, because we are gonna audit everything.

[Anna Callahan]: We're gonna audit financial mismanagement.

[Anna Callahan]: We're gonna audit the management style of the council president, which I pretty much guarantee you the state auditor is not going to do.

[Anna Callahan]: The number of things that have been mentioned that we are auditing, I have no idea.

[Anna Callahan]: what this motion is here to say, and I am not gonna vote on a motion to have the state auditor come in and who knows, spend millions of dollars auditing, I don't know, any random thing.

[Anna Callahan]: This is not a reasonable thing to vote in favor of.

[Anna Callahan]: Is it possible to move to table?

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to move to table because I, here's my reason.

[Anna Callahan]: I am not confident that the money that we would spend right now would be any different from the yearly audit that we already have done by an independent team.

[Anna Callahan]: So until I understand that it would be different,

[Anna Callahan]: I cannot vote in favor of this because it would literally just be duplicating work that is already done.

[Anna Callahan]: Huh?

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, I'm here.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan is present.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't hear that you call me.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Whenever you're done, I just, I have two very small changes.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I'm having trouble with my mute button.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm here.

[Anna Callahan]: Just two very small things in the very first paragraph.

[Anna Callahan]: I would

[Anna Callahan]: I would have us use a word other than elected.

[Anna Callahan]: I tripped over it when I read it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think if we can say we voted to place or, you know, there's other ways to put that I would just use a different word than elected.

[Anna Callahan]: Because it's easy to read, like, we were elected to place these, you know what I'm saying?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, just another word.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the other one is... Sorry, can you, wait, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, just change it to voted and then people won't be, they won't trip over it.

[Anna Callahan]: Ready for my second one?

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm going off the one that you sent out today, which I thought was the latest.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Why don't I mention my only other thing, and then if you guys already fixed it, then great.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that okay?

[Anna Callahan]: It's under general business.

[Anna Callahan]: The first bullet point should be two sentences.

[Anna Callahan]: One about the budget and the second one about the school system.

[Anna Callahan]: It's just a little confusing and kind of run on.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: It looks great.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: It was Friday.

[Anna Callahan]: It was a Friday, so it was a week ago Friday.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the 19th.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if- I would just state that we did it, honestly.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we- because otherwise, like, some people might be offended that their thing didn't get mentioned, and I think it's easier to just say that we met with them and had a fruitful discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I just chime in very quickly?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to say that I think an easy way to make it okay for the populations that we're talking to is to have the person who organized it just send them a draft.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't think we're gonna say anything super personal.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not gonna mention anybody.

[Anna Callahan]: But if we send them a draft and be like, hey, this is what we're gonna say.

[Anna Callahan]: If you don't let us know by next week, we'll go ahead with it.

[Anna Callahan]: That at least gives us, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: like allows them to say, oh, you know, they prefer that they that we don't mention that one thing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I love the idea.

[Anna Callahan]: I think in addition to what we hear from people who already attend the meetings, I would hope that maybe at the top, we put some information for people who have never attended a meeting that simply says, hey, here's how to find out what we're going to talk about.

[Anna Callahan]: Here's how to come.

[Anna Callahan]: Here's what will happen when you come to City Hall.

[Anna Callahan]: You will have the opportunity to speak for three minutes on any topic, like letting people who've never been know that they are welcome and how they can begin participating.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: You're confusing him with Kit.

[Anna Callahan]: That's Kit.

[Anna Callahan]: That's right.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm now that I'm hearing all these things, I'm envisioning like a table at the front of the hall, the minute people walk in the door, and there's one that says, so it's your first council meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: There's another one, like the green one says, so it's your first council meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: The blue one says, here's the purview of the city council.

[Anna Callahan]: The yellow one says, frequently asked questions from people who have attended council meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: Like they're all like separate pages that just cover a sort of one topic.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe that's going overboard, but that's what once councilors are starting speaking, then I was like, Oh, like, this could be something that people can be like, Oh, which of these is the right, you know, one for me, if we can't put everything on one page.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I'm just talking for just a second.

[Anna Callahan]: Tell me tell me again.

[Anna Callahan]: That's me.

[Anna Callahan]: Did you hear me just ask you?

[Anna Callahan]: That's cool.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, great question.

[Anna Callahan]: Your guess is as good as mine.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, it was.

[Anna Callahan]: Everyone in the waiting room is me.

[Anna Callahan]: City Council.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: I am present, this is Councilor Cownie and I am present.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, we heard and noted you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I... Hang on one second.

[Anna Callahan]: Do I sound like I'm getting any feedback?

[Anna Callahan]: No?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So we have done a little bit of looking at the street and sidewalk repair and accessibility.

[Anna Callahan]: We had an update from our DPW commissioner and an engineer around where our roads were, and we got a nice view of the

[Anna Callahan]: 2024 update of the pavement study, which had originally been done in 2021.

[Anna Callahan]: So we got to see what has been done over the last few years, and we're pretty pleased to understand that they did get utilities to do all of the repaving work that they are supposed to be doing.

[Anna Callahan]: So we're going to continue.

[Anna Callahan]: We have a few questions with them that are ongoing, and we're going to catch up with them when they have more information about the total look at where the last year or two of funding has come from and how that has been spent.

[Anna Callahan]: The second piece we're looking at is city facilities and equipment.

[Anna Callahan]: Really, the main thing we did there was because we have a new building commissioner, we have asked them to do a review of all of our public facilities.

[Anna Callahan]: So we will meet with them to go over that.

[Anna Callahan]: We also have public restrooms and parks and squares that we have not really begun on yet.

[Anna Callahan]: There is a lead ordinance that we also are going to be looking at

[Anna Callahan]: a home rule petition to increase excise taxes for large trucks, that also is in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: And this public utility accountability, we have touched on that, especially with the roads.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are sort of on that and making sure that that is moving forward through the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I would say the final thing is to look at the tree planting volunteer network.

[Anna Callahan]: So all of these are things that we will be doing, except for the streets and sidewalk repair and the facilities maintenance, which were planned for the first half of this year.

[Anna Callahan]: All of those are happening either the second half of this year or in the second year of the term.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you, Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that this intersection has been a sore spot for many years, and I look forward to a discussion in the Public Works Committee.

[Anna Callahan]: So I welcome that to come into the committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Second.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for, for all the work that you guys have done to put together these proposals.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to ask a little bit about the capital stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: whether with the general stabilization fund, if that way that it is set up through the recommendations of the state, if that can be spent on capital, if the point of having a separate capital stabilization fund is to

[Anna Callahan]: limit the ways that those funds can be spent.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm trying to get to sort of why establish a capital stabilization fund separately from the general stabilization fund.

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, I am really glad that we're establishing a water and sewer capital stabilization fund, which we desperately need.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I just do a short follow-up question?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any data on how many municipalities or the percentage of municipalities that also have a capital stabilization fund?

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I don't think so.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize, could you re-read the B motion, please?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: I guess I have a second, I hesitate on two points.

[Anna Callahan]: One is that I think that the cost of living in Medford is going up more than 2%.

[Anna Callahan]: So for non-union employees,

[Anna Callahan]: you know, my general understanding of salaries in Medford is that they are across the board too low.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do look forward to us receiving and reviewing the overview of how we compare to nearby cities.

[Anna Callahan]: But, you know, I mean, I'm happy to give a raise, but I also hesitate to give

[Anna Callahan]: This to me is not a raise, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It's clearly not a raise, it's a COLA.

[Anna Callahan]: But even at a COLA, I would like to see us being commensurate with other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: And then secondly, also, I'm not totally convinced that

[Anna Callahan]: As well, looking, you know, I, I probably should spend a little time reviewing mayor salaries and nearby cities of similar size and all those things.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think you simply say it's 2%.

[Anna Callahan]: I also don't think that the

[Anna Callahan]: current pay of the person who sits in the mayor's chair, given the two positions that they are legally required to sit in, and the pay that they get from both of those is not a living wage.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that can be argued.

[Anna Callahan]: So I do have two points of hesitation on this one.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So it seems to me that really, if we're just talking about timeline the most important thing is we don't choose to do one thing first, that we will realize when we then look at something else, but those are conflicting.

[Anna Callahan]: So, things like for example.

[Anna Callahan]: creating more affordable housing and the natural environment.

[Anna Callahan]: Like if we're gonna be like zoning, great, we're gonna zone everywhere for tons of housing.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we're like, oh, when we get to natural environment, we're like, oh crap, like we forgot that we actually meant to also prioritize this.

[Anna Callahan]: So can we just look to see which ones could conflict with each other and make sure that we look at those at the same time or close to each other?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to follow up on the point I was making and see if our planning department has any particular thoughts on that question, because I'm not convinced that the rating system that they came up with covers what I'm talking about.

[Anna Callahan]: So for example, if we're like affordable housing,

[Anna Callahan]: We're gonna do that first and then mitigating heat islands is gonna be last.

[Anna Callahan]: Those could in fact be in conflict with each other.

[Anna Callahan]: Whereas I think 18 hour communities and balanced growth are less in conflict with each other, but I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: So I wanted to ask and see if you just have any initial thoughts that you could put in on that.

[Anna Callahan]: If any of these goals are things that if we don't consider them at the same time, we might regret it later.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I just have four that I would say are from my four priorities, housing, the 18 hour community and specifically creating walkable neighborhoods.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, little neighborhood centers, and then buildings and energy but really

[Anna Callahan]: like two thirds of our emissions come from buildings, and almost all of our buildings are existing buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not really focused on the new building stuff, but anything we can do for existing buildings, which I know is not easy and zoning and the natural environment.

[Anna Callahan]: So those would be my four.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Madam Mayor, for being here, for all the work that you have done on the budget and providing us with the information early, and also on working on these proposals.

[Anna Callahan]: People who know me will know that I believe two things.

[Anna Callahan]: One, I believe in democracy, and two, that I believe that this city has been underfunded for many, many years.

[Anna Callahan]: So...

[Anna Callahan]: to the first point, again, as Councilor Tseng mentioned, we are not voting to approve of these monies.

[Anna Callahan]: We are voting to allow

[Anna Callahan]: the people of Medford to make this decision.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that we need to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, that is the most important thing, is that we not, the only thing that we could do now, tonight, that would be the most undemocratic thing to do, would be for us to refuse to allow the voters to make this decision, right?

[Anna Callahan]: That would be undemocratic.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's my first point.

[Anna Callahan]: My second point is about the chronic underfunding of the city.

[Anna Callahan]: And while I certainly am all for new growth, I think it simply doesn't add up if you look at the reality of the funding of the city and at what we need in order to not be financially irresponsible.

[Anna Callahan]: The problem is that costs rise faster than Prop 2.5 allows us to raise taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we simply look at the budget, we can see that in many ways.

[Anna Callahan]: So the largest portion of the budget is our schools.

[Anna Callahan]: The second largest portion of the budget is insurance.

[Anna Callahan]: Insurance is going up.

[Anna Callahan]: We do not have any control over that.

[Anna Callahan]: It is going up higher than we are allowed to raise taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: The third one is pensions.

[Anna Callahan]: Pensions we also do not control.

[Anna Callahan]: Those are the top three.

[Anna Callahan]: After that come police and fire.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fourth one after that is roads.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to talk about roads.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want people to understand that these costs, many of them are going up.

[Anna Callahan]: They are uncontrollable by the city.

[Anna Callahan]: And they're going up faster than we are allowed to raise taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: So this simply is something that, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: It's math, you cannot make those numbers match.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to talk about roads because we had a great meeting with the Commissioner, the DPW and one of the engineers.

[Anna Callahan]: There was a roads assessment done.

[Anna Callahan]: If people have not looked at that roads assessment done in 2021.

[Anna Callahan]: It basically said that, so the grade roads, they call them 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

[Anna Callahan]: I like to call them A, B, C, D, and F, because everybody understands grades that we get in school.

[Anna Callahan]: 49% of our roads in 2021 were rated D or F, the worst two possible qualities of roads.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, it costs 50 times as much.

[Anna Callahan]: to bring a road from F to A as it costs to bring a road from B to A. So the problem is if you are simply not spending enough on your roads every single year that you're allowing roads to get to be D and F, that is unbelievably financially irresponsible.

[Anna Callahan]: because the amount of money it takes to then repair those roads is like 30 to 50 times more.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is years of underfunding our roads that has led us to this place and it is financially irresponsible.

[Anna Callahan]: We came out of COVID and during COVID, students everywhere suffered.

[Anna Callahan]: They suffered mental health issues.

[Anna Callahan]: They suffered academic issues.

[Anna Callahan]: They suffered from family issues.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is a reality that our students, all of our students in our schools are facing.

[Anna Callahan]: They need more supports.

[Anna Callahan]: That is just a reality.

[Anna Callahan]: And the other thing about schools is that we have school buildings that have not been properly maintained, that the money to properly maintain them has not been spent in the past.

[Anna Callahan]: That means that we are in debt.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are in road debt, we are in school debt, we are in school support debt, we are in trees debt, and I'm glad we planted 200 trees, but it is my understanding, and this is colloquially that I have heard through the grapevine, we do not have actual study yet, it's not completed, but my understanding is we lose more than twice as many trees every year as we plant.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are in tree debt.

[Anna Callahan]: We are in debt in terms of the salaries because we do not, our salaries are not commensurate with other cities, surrounding cities.

[Anna Callahan]: And what that means is that it is incredibly difficult now for us to fill positions.

[Anna Callahan]: We have turnover.

[Anna Callahan]: This is financially irresponsible.

[Anna Callahan]: So the problem is not, like the problem that we have, new growth, there is no city in the world that could create the new growth needed to fill these gaps.

[Anna Callahan]: These gaps are real.

[Anna Callahan]: They are due to many things that we cannot control.

[Anna Callahan]: And I believe that the proper thing to do is to allow our community to make the decision through democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to mention one thing for folks concerned about seniors.

[Anna Callahan]: We also have in Medford, there is something that people can request.

[Anna Callahan]: If you're a senior, you can request that you can be exempt.

[Anna Callahan]: In fact, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, from all of your, up to all of your taxes, and that can be until your property is sold.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is something that seniors in Medford have the option of doing.

[Anna Callahan]: So we hope that this Prop 2.5 override will not negatively impact folks in their day-to-day living expenses.

[Anna Callahan]: I guess my only, not knowing very much about this, my only comment is that I will admit I do not quite understand what this actually does and if it restricts the ability for people to speak in a certain way or, like, I'm just trying to understand what this

[Anna Callahan]: actually changes material for people.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: No

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Would you mind sending, because I'm not sure if I have access to this document and with OML, but I probably shouldn't.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you can, I would love to send the ability to sign up the sign up form to folks that I know.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you can send that bitly link out, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: And I did have one and only one comment.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much to Councilor Lazzaro for writing it up.

[Anna Callahan]: And I enjoy the exclamation points and the this is very exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's a lovely personal touch.

[Anna Callahan]: I have one suggestion, which is that we do not

[Anna Callahan]: say, we make statements like this is popular legislation in Medford and many residents spoke in favor of the resolution simply because, you know, it is my experience having talked to city councilors across the country and also looked at a lot of studies on, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: what happens inside city council chambers and who emails and you know talks to their legislators and who is usually left out of that conversation that

[Anna Callahan]: just because people appear at the city council chamber and make a statement does not mean that it is popular in the city.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think we should not be stating as a city council, this is popular in the city, because I think it's not a fair statement for us to say.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would just recommend that we don't make statements like that in the newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: I think people who disagree might be unhappy that we are making this as a blanket statement.

[Anna Callahan]: That's just kind of overall, I think that we should probably refrain from using those kinds of commentary about popularity of stuff in the city of Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: I have a suggestion.

[Anna Callahan]: Can we just, at the April 30th meeting, the final vote was taken to make the budget ordinance law, make that the first bullet point.

[Anna Callahan]: Even though it, you know, things may be slightly out of chronological order, nobody cares.

[Anna Callahan]: I think people just need to understand what happened.

[Anna Callahan]: So make that the first bullet point.

[Anna Callahan]: At the end of that bullet point, have our one sentence about what it is, and then the next bullet can say, in anticipation, we met many times to hear a city department's budget proposals.

[Anna Callahan]: Or in alignment with the budget ordinance, we met many times in committee of the whole to hear city department budgets.

[Anna Callahan]: Redundant, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: To the law, and so the sentence at the end of that first bullet point can be something like, this new ordinance requires that the city council and public be more

[Anna Callahan]: be involved earlier in the budgeting process.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that fair?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to say more than that?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just did want to mention that I have to leave at 10 after, unfortunately.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wanted to ask, I'm fine with the newsletter as it is.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know whether other folks are ready to vote on that, but I would ask that we

[Anna Callahan]: That I can make a motion to disband the subcommittee on listening sessions today.

[Anna Callahan]: Because I think, as we discussed earlier, that it does make the scheduling part very difficult for the listening sessions.

[Anna Callahan]: So that would be my request that we'd be able to do that before eight.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, sorry, I thought that we were specifically going to do it at this meeting but maybe I was wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I move that the chair can always add the links in?

[Anna Callahan]: Any links that the chair deems necessary, the chair can always add those links that are relevant and necessary into the final document.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, to approve the newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: As amended, as edited.

[Anna Callahan]: And keep the paper in committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So the other one.

[Anna Callahan]: That part I understood.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe I'm not understanding the other one.

[Anna Callahan]: It's two different lots, but they share one wall?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: OK.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know that the same way that we don't want height things into the zoning definitions, we probably also don't want hours in the zoning definitions.

[Anna Callahan]: But I will say that when I think of a neighborhood cafe and about zoning and having neighborhood cafes in more closer to residential neighborhoods,

[Anna Callahan]: I do think of ours as part of the reason why a cafe is more acceptable than an eating establishment, than a dinner place.

[Anna Callahan]: Because a dinner place is going to be open until 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night.

[Anna Callahan]: A cafe, you know, big closed by 8.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't know where that belongs or if it just doesn't belong at all.

[Anna Callahan]: But I just wanted to mention that in terms of, it does seem to me to be related to zoning in terms of where we might want to have places that are open late at night and where we might not want to have places that are open late at night.

[Anna Callahan]: I really do, given what you said.

[Anna Callahan]: I think having two frontages and a primary and a secondary makes a lot more sense because of the sort of spacing that will happen between front lines and the house.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that would really help.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Did you hear me?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Just one question.

[Anna Callahan]: As a newbie councilor, there are a number of canine services, canine workers maintenance.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious about this.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to check in on something, which is, I do have a, I have a workshop, an old workshop that I used to give on how to do these kinds of listening sessions.

[Anna Callahan]: So I haven't sent it because I'm like.

[Anna Callahan]: Is your mic on?

[Anna Callahan]: It is on, but I'm not talking to it.

[Anna Callahan]: I've just been thinking about,

[Anna Callahan]: uh, not getting in trouble with, uh, bidding law.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, I guess what I should do is send a copy to you and the clerk, and then it'll get distributed at the next meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that the appropriate thing to do?

[Anna Callahan]: It's just like how to run one of these sessions.

[Anna Callahan]: and that works for open meeting law?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, okay, good.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, and then I will look it over before I send it, because I know it's not exactly designed for what we're doing, but it's kind of like a,

[Anna Callahan]: general like how-to designed for local electoral politics generally.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes and and part of that is gonna and I think part of what is recommended in because it's really designed for like one

[Anna Callahan]: City Councilor or one like Mayor or somebody to run them.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I think one of the things we probably will not adhere to very closely is that really the meetings are designed to be not public, not open to anyone.

[Anna Callahan]: They're designed to be like safe spaces for a specific community.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we will not be doing that.

[Anna Callahan]: We will have ours be more public, which is fine.

[Anna Callahan]: But the idea that if you really want to understand, for example, the Haitian community, you go to a Haitian church, you don't have it be like any random person from Medford could show up.

[Anna Callahan]: You have it be like a community.

[Anna Callahan]: of people that knows each other and you know in a place where they usually congregate.

[Anna Callahan]: So what we're doing is going to be a little bit different but I think it'll also be, it'll still have a little bit of that kind of flavor of a

[Anna Callahan]: you know, a space where people feel comfortable because we're going to go through the community liaisons, we'll have it like at the senior center because we're going to these places.

[Anna Callahan]: I think, you know, it will lend itself a little bit more towards people opening up, which is the idea.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like for people to feel comfortable that they can open up about what their lives are like.

[Anna Callahan]: And if I apologize, I was just realizing I didn't really answer your question.

[Anna Callahan]: Your question was more about the gist.

[Anna Callahan]: And I said what we weren't going to do.

[Anna Callahan]: But the gist is the purpose is not for us to be like, here are policies that we want to know about.

[Anna Callahan]: The purpose is really for us to ask more

[Anna Callahan]: general questions about what their lives are like.

[Anna Callahan]: But ideally, we've talked to someone in that community beforehand.

[Anna Callahan]: We've had a conversation, like whoever's going to facilitate a conversation talks to somebody beforehand who can say like, hey, this community is probably going to want to talk about X, Y, or Z. So we have some idea.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not just sort of randomly asking questions about their lives, but we know a little bit about them.

[Anna Callahan]: And let me just give one example.

[Anna Callahan]: before COVID, I was running a campaign for, you know, the first couple of months before COVID hit.

[Anna Callahan]: And then COVID hit and I couldn't do these listening sessions, but I did get a chance to speak to someone from a particular community who, and you know, it was, I was wishing that I could have a listening session, but I didn't end up having one because of COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: But the person that I talked to really helped me to understand that

[Anna Callahan]: Most of the people in that community were health care workers.

[Anna Callahan]: Many of them were working with the elderly.

[Anna Callahan]: And so the impact on that community of COVID specifically was really devastating because the number of their patients who were dying, the number of

[Anna Callahan]: you know, the other people that they knew who were also, you know, nurses and caretakers who were dying of COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it was really an eye-opener for me.

[Anna Callahan]: And to think about like how to ask those questions and really understand like what could be done from a policy perspective.

[Anna Callahan]: And obviously that's like a, that was a critical time and a really unusual thing, but I wouldn't have known

[Anna Callahan]: about that particular aspect if I hadn't talked to someone who knew that community really well first.

[Anna Callahan]: So knowing sort of what to ask is always good.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think with the community liaisons especially, we'll be able to talk to the liaisons themselves and maybe get some of that from those folks.

[Anna Callahan]: It'll be easy because they work for the city and we have access to those people.

[Anna Callahan]: So that'll be a nice conversation.

[Anna Callahan]: So I actually would, I think that the senior center is a really good opportunity.

[Anna Callahan]: As I was talking to seniors on the campaign trail, I'm sure you also have like stories on the campaign trail, you know, we all do.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, they had very particular concerns that are things we can address, concerns about transportation specifically, like how to get from one part of the city to another.

[Anna Callahan]: Folks in West Medford talked about the, you know, commuter rail,

[Anna Callahan]: not being ADA compliant, like at that one particular place and how difficult that made their ability to use that.

[Anna Callahan]: Obviously, we don't have control of the commuter rail, but as city councilors, it is something that we can, you know, push the state legislators for.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I wouldn't go in and talk about whether they have job opportunities.

[Anna Callahan]: You know what I mean?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, there are things you do and don't talk about.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think, you know, it can definitely be tailored toward

[Anna Callahan]: seniors and talking specifically and asking them questions to sort of bring out like, how is Medford serving you?

[Anna Callahan]: We're at the senior center, so we don't want to get them complaining about the senior center itself.

[Anna Callahan]: So we want to be delicate about that particular aspect.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think there are a lot of things that Medford can do.

[Anna Callahan]: And even maybe some conversations, I know like Arlington, because I met my mom, they have a really great like senior, you know, I forget what they call it, but it's like the senior center, it's like a community center for elderly, Council on Aging or something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: And they have tons of programming.

[Anna Callahan]: I've heard seniors talk about lack of programming.

[Anna Callahan]: They want to talk about the sidewalks, you know?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, so I think there are like very directed questions that we can have to understand how Medford can serve seniors better.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's a really, I think it's a great one to try out this,

[Anna Callahan]: targeted, facilitated conversation rather than just a chitchat.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I would do if I were there.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, it does.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, it is designed for like one elected official to be doing these rather than like a group that so therefore no open meeting law, you know, we don't, it doesn't consider any of those things.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, let me just take a peek.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, wonderful, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, that makes me happy.

[Anna Callahan]: Hang on.

[Anna Callahan]: I love that idea that one person is the point person and they're the facilitator and they meet with the person beforehand to figure out what the question to be.

[Anna Callahan]: I really believe that we would actually, after this meeting, where I think we should

[Anna Callahan]: Like I like your suggestion about one person kind of owning.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we should also maybe divvy up the work tonight for how to reach the different, it's only nine groups.

[Anna Callahan]: We just split it up between the three of us.

[Anna Callahan]: And after that, I would actually really like to disband this subcommittee because I think it makes it very difficult.

[Anna Callahan]: No two of us can ever talk about it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that we will have,

[Anna Callahan]: more ability to get things done if I can call one of you and say, hey, did you call this person or not?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, it just makes more sense to me if we disband this after tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: I just sent it to Adam, sorry, the clerk.

[Anna Callahan]: So hopefully we can take a little peek at it before we leave today.

[Anna Callahan]: Matt, are you getting these extras?

[Anna Callahan]: Putting them on the list?

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I was- Should we have a spreadsheet or something?

[Anna Callahan]: We write these down somewhere.

[Anna Callahan]: and the date that we have them on.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know, this might be useful.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so, so far I have- And we can, from this subcommittee, if you want, we can meet with the president.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we already have nine groups, so we can, any additions, we can always be like, people committee, we would like to add these.

[Anna Callahan]: Vote.

[Anna Callahan]: And then on it goes, so.

[Anna Callahan]: And then... Unless she thinks two in different parts of the city.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: I would take the nine that we already decided and split them up between the three of us.

[Anna Callahan]: The eight left aside from the three of us.

[Anna Callahan]: Just split them up between the three of us.

[Anna Callahan]: And then just for scheduling purposes, as soon as we talk to somebody, we'll pay you.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think they'll overlap naturally.

[Anna Callahan]: I think a lot of them will be like, oh, let's do something two, three months from now.

[Anna Callahan]: And as we're scheduling, we'll have a moment to check in and make sure that they're not too late.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I thought the three of us are doing all this.

[Anna Callahan]: Just the three of us.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to do anything.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the community liaison.

[Anna Callahan]: The two high school sites and Tufts, that's already three.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: And will you send this out in the meeting minutes?

[Anna Callahan]: I will do both.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll do the Spanish-speaking community liaison.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll do the Black African-American community liaison and also the West Medford Community Center and I'll work with both of them to see whether we want one or two.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I'm happy to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Haitian.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean... Yeah, I think he thought you said Asian-American, but you probably said Haitian-American.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, okay, okay, that was... Yeah, that's the confusion.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: So Haitian is you, unless you want to give it to me, either way is fine.

[Anna Callahan]: I would also mention that like I have

[Anna Callahan]: where I've had a long ongoing conversation with Kuliyan from the Bangladeshi community.

[Anna Callahan]: He is supposed to be working on setting up one of these for me, a listening session literally just like this.

[Anna Callahan]: And so, you know, if we want to, I think we loop him in.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Because he is interested and already was planning on it.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: If I am, then maybe you take Haitian.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Unless you want to do the Haitian.

[Anna Callahan]: I know Whomiyoon and also Foxy and Nicole pretty well, so, and I've been talking to Whomiyoon about it, so I'll work with Whomiyoon in ICM.

[Anna Callahan]: And also I've been doing the West Country Community Center a bunch, so I'm happy to be doing that one as well as the Aftermarket Community Day event.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I super quick talk to you guys through this doc?

[Anna Callahan]: So I actually had to cut out a bunch of other stuff out of this particular document.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is like a portion of it.

[Anna Callahan]: So if there's anything that's like, oh, see the XYZ earlier in this document, it's not there, don't worry.

[Anna Callahan]: I left in just this little introduction about the model that you will find humorous.

[Anna Callahan]: Because it's like, oh, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: We're on a slate of candidates on a single platform.

[Anna Callahan]: They're like, oh yeah, I recognize that.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I also left in what is called the pitch, just because, I don't know why I left it in there, but I know it happens later, I mention it later, so I think that's why I left it in there.

[Anna Callahan]: Anyway, starting on page four is where we start talking about the continuous time hauls, and you can see that before doing it, you choose the constituency, you contact the group leader, you set a time and location,

[Anna Callahan]: And then you work with that group's leadership to come up with questions, right, that relate to the concerns of the group.

[Anna Callahan]: And then at the event.

[Anna Callahan]: That's why it's not really like, we fit it into like a raising small dollar donations workshop.

[Anna Callahan]: It was one of the pieces, including like house parties were another piece, there were different other pieces.

[Anna Callahan]: So just don't worry about that stuff.

[Anna Callahan]: Like I said, I would have pulled all that stuff out, but in this particular case, it's more just for the part that's like starting at page four.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: I agree.

[Anna Callahan]: I will do that.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, but like a short intro, so people kind of understand what's going on.

[Anna Callahan]: And then it should really be 70% listening.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do think that, like, you know, this sort of 30% helping to educate people, because a lot, like, the idea is that a lot of these people, maybe if they don't vote in city politics, have no idea what, how it even might affect their lives.

[Anna Callahan]: And so helping them to sort of understand how they can become more involved in the community, how can they become more involved

[Anna Callahan]: you know, politically and people that they know can run for office or get involved like that, I think is a helpful part of it if it comes up, but we don't have to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think so.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, to disband this committee, I think is not a bad idea.

[Anna Callahan]: I just have a general question.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that we're having a tree inventory done, and I've come to understand that we probably lose more trees than we plant each year.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have a dream for the forestry department that would allow us to plant as many trees as we lose each year?

[Anna Callahan]: And just to follow up, do you know when we'll get the geometry and the vulnerability assessment?

[Anna Callahan]: The compost, you say you're building a list, and currently we have a relationship with Is It Garbage to Garden?

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: And is that how the list is built, is through them, or is there also a separate list?

[Anna Callahan]: And so just so that I understand, that is through Garbage to Garden that we're doing our long-term compost project.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not going to end up being in the city.

[Anna Callahan]: So is this the fund out of which we have to repair all of our 120-year-old pipes?

[Anna Callahan]: And I apologize for this newbie question, but where in here am I looking for an increase because we got to start repairing these pipes?

[Anna Callahan]: Which budget item?

[Anna Callahan]: And if I hope you don't mind if I just follow up a little bit.

[Anna Callahan]: So we're trying to wrap our heads around an issue.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: You're saying if we had sort of in-house people, which I imagine is because you say it's part of a plan for the future, like that is really how a city would normally be run is you're using this budget to make sure that you maintain all of the lines.

[Anna Callahan]: So is there.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, should I be looking in this budget for like us at least beginning to do some of that work this year, this fiscal year?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: And then my final question, I think, is about retained earnings.

[Anna Callahan]: Retained earnings, by that, do you mean what enters

[Anna Callahan]: the enterprise fund from the rates that is not spent in that fiscal year, that that should be something that we are, you know, sort of filling that bucket year by year.

[Anna Callahan]: And is that something I can see here?

[Anna Callahan]: Or is this really just a budget?

[Anna Callahan]: So we're not seeing sort of what is being retained?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited that you and Councilor Leming are bringing this to us.

[Anna Callahan]: I have many questions.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited to get into it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm also excited that we have this section where it's clearly marked.

[Anna Callahan]: This is simply what we're referring to committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I will save all of my questions for committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, really thank you for not just your flexibility, but your creativity.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm excited for you to explore having your own drivers where I think you can keep

[Anna Callahan]: more of the proceeds here in the city of Medford amongst you and your employees as well.

[Anna Callahan]: So I love the creativity of that idea and thank you so much for that as well.

[Anna Callahan]: I will try to find that.

[Anna Callahan]: I did find the exact number, 2129.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, it was quite shocking to realize that it has been the practice of cities, at least has occasionally happened that they seize entire property.

[Anna Callahan]: for a small amount of debt and then keep the profits, keep the rest of what they sell that probably for the sins, utterly absurd.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am in support.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say that as I was canvassing, I remember talking to someone who lived next door to a micro lot.

[Anna Callahan]: that the city had appropriated from a, this was the story, so this is not verified, but this was from a resident saying that the micro lot between their house and their neighbor's house was something that the city had taken

[Anna Callahan]: because of past due taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: And that it then was an eyesore filled with weeds and rats that worked with their nearby residents to try to come up with some sort of plan to purchase it from the city and the city refused.

[Anna Callahan]: So at some point in time, Medford had been taking portions of lots

[Anna Callahan]: to instead of back taxes.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will also say that even if I'm happy to hear that the court has now determined this is not lawful, but even if the city of Medford is not currently doing something, administrations change, and it is important that we ensure that this is not allowed to happen in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: The same rate as all residents, homeowners, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Could you just talk a little bit more about the data processing, what it covers, what the systems are?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you both so much for being here and for all the work that you do all the time.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious, again, one of the newer city councilors.

[Anna Callahan]: about how the estimates for court time work looks like from 40 to 60K and just curious about how you budget for that.

[Anna Callahan]: Did we feel that it was discussed?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I had questions about the first one.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: For the multifamily dwelling, I visited a property in Medford that was two buildings, a single family and a two family on the same property.

[Anna Callahan]: The owners lived in the single family, and they rented out

[Anna Callahan]: both those two families.

[Anna Callahan]: And according to this, that would not count as a multifamily dwelling because it says two or more buildings on the same lot with more than one residential dwelling unit in each building.

[Anna Callahan]: Because one of those was a single family, that whole lot would not count as dwelling multifamily.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that accurate?

[Anna Callahan]: So I guess if I could just finish up my question, I'm just curious, like, how much do we need to hash these out here in this meeting?

[Anna Callahan]: Or is, like, before we officially agree on these definitions, like, at what point are we, like, sitting down and saying, okay, do we think that, you know, this is the definition that we want?

[Anna Callahan]: Or do we want it to be more like some rules?

[Anna Callahan]: Or do we, like, when is that appropriate time for us?

[Anna Callahan]: I found the detached two-unit is Philadelphia-style, because it doesn't share the walls.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, above and below.

[Anna Callahan]: Philadelphia style just means there's one room of the first floor on the second.

[Anna Callahan]: Anyway, that doesn't matter.

[Anna Callahan]: But like above and below, I thought was detached.

[Anna Callahan]: And duplex is attached.

[Anna Callahan]: might I suggest that we go through all these other terms that are maybe a little bit, require a little bit less discussion and see if we can get through some, and then we can come back to this, you know, multi-unit definition, which may require more discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: Just an amusing anecdote.

[Anna Callahan]: As I was canvassing, I passed by a van, and inside that van, they were washing dogs.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like mobile doggie daycare.

[Anna Callahan]: It's so weird.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say, I believe that the colloquial is doggie daycare and not dog daycare.

[Anna Callahan]: I think people say doggie daycare, so I would leave it as doggie because that's what people say.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just gonna say, for what you're talking about, which is housekeeping, in the non-housekeeping example, do they each pay the landlord individually rent?

[Anna Callahan]: Because that's another way to sort of define it, is to say,

[Anna Callahan]: Are these people all paying rent as a unit, or is the landlord requiring, like, are these people who don't cooperate, and therefore they each pay separate rent to the landlord?

[Anna Callahan]: That's a little bit more easy to define than housekeeping.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say this issue is very important to me as someone who has lived in intentional communities for almost my entire life and had difficulty being able to live with other people, being afraid that the landlord will discover that in a four bedroom house, the four of us are unrelated and therefore we're going to be kicked out.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there's a lot of fear among tenants.

[Anna Callahan]: And yet I also think that the idea of being forced to live with other people that I don't know

[Anna Callahan]: is horrible.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, what you're surfacing here is exactly has been a lot of my life experience.

[Anna Callahan]: And so to me, this is an extremely important issue.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really like the way that you're thinking about the things that matter are not the number of people, which is a health department issue, but the things that matter are, do the tenants want to live this way?

[Anna Callahan]: Or is the landlord forcing them to live this way?

[Anna Callahan]: So I very much appreciate this difference.

[Anna Callahan]: But whether we define it using housekeeping or define it using separate rents or define it, you know, the way that we determine it, I think can be massaged.

[Anna Callahan]: But to me, those are the two important.

[Anna Callahan]: That is the important difference between the two is like, is this something that tenants are choosing?

[Anna Callahan]: And yes, they are fine having, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: one extra person, or if somebody there has a young child, they're fine with it?

[Anna Callahan]: Or are these people who are really being forced to live together by the landlord?

[Anna Callahan]: So I would want to be able to zone.

[Anna Callahan]: It doesn't mean that we're saying it can't happen.

[Anna Callahan]: It just means we can zone them and have an awareness of what's happening.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say I'm particularly fond of tiny homes, given especially how much demand we have for one bedrooms and two bedrooms that we don't have.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think having a definition would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: It says accessory, but it's very clearly a use.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like a use.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's pretty clear, the exact same word.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like you're saying that the not changing the character of the premises of a neighborhood is a standard, and you want to remove that?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize, but I will have to leave due to family

[Anna Callahan]: Not quite emergency.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just want to ask a pre-question before we start discussing the coverage of lot and ask whether we need any kind of a definition of permeable surfaces.

[Anna Callahan]: If we're going to be adding something in about percentage of lots or amount of permeable surface, something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to toss that in there to see if that can be discussed in this last.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll just say I did read through the whole thing.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems pretty comprehensive.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't see any glaring omissions or anything that I would change at this moment.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not convinced that that is accurate, and I don't want to put that in here in case it is not accurate.

[Anna Callahan]: I think open meeting law is open meeting law, and we don't need to write our interpretation of open meeting law into this document, is what I would say.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it is my understanding that

[Anna Callahan]: I, as a city councilor, can post whatever I want on X, like I can say my opinion on X, and it doesn't mean that other city councilors cannot also state their opinions on, and by X, I actually mean X Twitter.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm talking about the actual thing, not like a thing with the letter, not the algebra.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is why I'm concerned, because if we're putting into this some interpretation of open meeting law that I think may not be applicable

[Anna Callahan]: And it doesn't really matter whether I'm right or wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: It just, I think, matters whether we are 100% legally sure that that is, in fact, accurate.

[Anna Callahan]: And even if it's accurate, we already have opening law?

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: I just feel like it might be not necessarily and potentially inaccurate.

[Anna Callahan]: I move to approve the social media guidelines.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry?

[Anna Callahan]: I refer it out of committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize, I've been looking for this as a document.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have this, was this sent to us or is it the one that's, oh, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: It's sitting right on the desk, looking in electronic form.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry, could you repeat the motions?

[Anna Callahan]: would you like Councilor Tseng to go first?

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so I think just for logistics, we two things.

[Anna Callahan]: Number one is that we should not have more than two Councilors at each one of these, we should just decide that that is what we're going to do because I think it's impossible.

[Anna Callahan]: to ensure that some policy that is upcoming won't be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: Like that's just the nature of these things.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I think we should just decide no more than two councillors.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the question is, how do we make those decisions from a logistical standpoint?

[Anna Callahan]: The other question that I have is, and I know that we, I was the one who proposed that we have a subcommittee, that subcommittee has not met yet.

[Anna Callahan]: Given that there is a subcommittee, even any two of us on that subcommittee

[Anna Callahan]: cannot appear at the listening session.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm wondering if perhaps, given that there's already a listening session later this month, if perhaps tonight we should disband the subcommittee.

[Anna Callahan]: Even though it would be nice to have a subcommittee to discuss this, I think it might be more in the way, given open meeting law, then it will help.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe we just have these discussions here.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will make that as a motion, but I would love to discuss it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not, you know, for sure,

[Anna Callahan]: that that is the right way to do things.

[Anna Callahan]: Through the chair, I would be super interested in understanding if there are any specific questions, what exactly would be asked of legal counsel?

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to withdraw withdraw my previous motion and make a different motion.

[Anna Callahan]: My new motion is that the chair of resident services committee will appoint which one or two city Councilors would attend each listening session based upon their availability.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: I did find one error, which I already sent to the clerk.

[Anna Callahan]: Do I say what that error was?

[Anna Callahan]: I do remember, so.

[Anna Callahan]: Aside from that, I found the records to be in order.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor CUMMING, yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Vice-President Pearce, yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: We had the pleasure of having Commissioner Tim McGibbon as well as our engineer Owen Wartella there to discuss our roads and sidewalks.

[Anna Callahan]: There had been a pavement assessment done in 2021, and we got to see the pavement assessment that was just done recently as an update.

[Anna Callahan]: We, there were, you know, essentially they talked us through how the roads have,

[Anna Callahan]: basically what they have been doing with the roads, which includes coordinating with the utilities when they need to do repairs on the road, making sure that utilities are, in fact, doing all the road repair that they are supposed to be doing, as well as getting all the different kinds of funding that they possibly can.

[Anna Callahan]: We are, in fact, repairing roads at approximately... There were five different strategies that were recommended, and we are repairing the roads

[Anna Callahan]: better than the middle strategy, but not as well as the top strategy because we do not have the funding to do that level of repair to the roads.

[Anna Callahan]: So if there is going to be an improvement in the roads in Medford, it does look like funding will have to increase.

[Anna Callahan]: It just comes straight out of both of those pavement assessments.

[Anna Callahan]: And that was what we discussed in, oh, they also have, they bought the equipment to do a hot tub crew, to have an internal crew doing road repair.

[Anna Callahan]: They just need to have to access the funding to be able to staff that, which we think will be less expensive than, for certain levels of repair will be less expensive.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the update for that.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callan.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Vice-President Collins.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: As a city, we are a cash-strapped city.

[Anna Callahan]: There are many things, our water pipes, our roads, our schools, I could go on and on, that really require more funding.

[Anna Callahan]: Property taxes are one of the very few ways that we are able to raise any money, and it seems just not right to me that we ask every homeowner here to pay their property taxes without fail every year, and yet large organizations with billion-dollar

[Anna Callahan]: endowments do not have to pay anything.

[Anna Callahan]: The 25% number, as I understand it, was gotten to because that is approximately the amount of services that they use of the city that we do not get any reimbursement for.

[Anna Callahan]: I agree that 25% is not enough, but at least it is something, and I'm in favor.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I have to say, I am trying to understand how we can be discussing the transfer fee when it is not on the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: And I implore the chair to limit discussion to what is on the agenda, because people need to be noticed publicly so that everyone knows what is on the agenda and what we are discussing.

[Anna Callahan]: This can't be a body where you put something completely vague on the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: And I have to say, when I read this, I had no idea what was going to be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to know, and the public needs to know, what is on the agenda, so that people who are interested in talking about that topic can come.

[Anna Callahan]: Second, I would like to say

[Anna Callahan]: back to me.

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to just make a comment that it seems that people do misunderstand the subcommittee process.

[Anna Callahan]: So, since this is what is on the agenda, I would like to discuss the subcommittee process.

[Anna Callahan]: That is, that when we are going to begin to discuss

[Anna Callahan]: some piece of legislation, for example, that before we can come in with all the wording ready, set, go, we have to give it a paper number.

[Anna Callahan]: So we bring it to this body for it to get a paper number so that it can be discussed in committee.

[Anna Callahan]: That is the way that we do things.

[Anna Callahan]: And then it will be discussed in committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Committees are open to the public.

[Anna Callahan]: They are held right here in this room.

[Anna Callahan]: any member of the public may come, they may be part just as in city council meetings, they can be part of the discussion where we craft the language together as a community.

[Anna Callahan]: That may take one committee meeting, it may take more than one committee meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: It will then, especially if it is an ordinance or some larger piece, it will be required to have three hearings, three readings.

[Anna Callahan]: here at the city council meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am somewhat confused as to why what was said that was my description that this was the beginning of a process is being questioned.

[Anna Callahan]: It is definitely the beginning of a, this is what subcommittee, subcommittee, but committee process is about.

[Anna Callahan]: You get a paper number, it goes to committee, it gets discussed openly,

[Anna Callahan]: with the public in committee, that is where language can be drafted, and then it comes to this body, and there are still public hearings in this body.

[Anna Callahan]: It was not.

[Anna Callahan]: It was not.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to comment that what I described as the process is for ordinances.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not necessarily for resolutions.

[Anna Callahan]: Resolutions don't have to go through three readings.

[Anna Callahan]: Different things that we pass through this body have different requirements.

[Anna Callahan]: I certainly was not under the impression that the newsletter had a paper number.

[Anna Callahan]: Each individual monthly newsletter has its own paper number, and therefore,

[Anna Callahan]: must come out of committee and then be discussed in this body.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm happy to do that if that is what we want to do.

[Anna Callahan]: But I did think that that committee had the ability to pass a newsletter, since it's simply a thing that is happening.

[Anna Callahan]: I totally appreciate it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm very happy to change that understanding of mine and to have those sent to this body.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not convinced that that would be a great idea, because I think editing, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: hundred and fifty word newsletter in the city council meetings does not seem like a super great use of time.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope this can be clarifying for people.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the idea is that we have a discussion as a community about what we would want, whether we want it, what it would look like in terms of a transfer fee.

[Anna Callahan]: The letter that was signed is for the state to allow us to have that discussion, right?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we can discuss it all we want, but we won't be able to- To give us the authority.

[Anna Callahan]: To give us the authority, right, to have to, once we've had that discussion, to actually pass something.

[Anna Callahan]: The idea of like, I think we all want to be able to have that discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: We've literally not written a single word.

[Anna Callahan]: We want to have the discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And that letter doesn't do anything but try to enable us to be able to have the discussion as a community.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, through the chair.

[Anna Callahan]: I understand that many constituents oppose a real estate transfer fee and that

[Anna Callahan]: know to make an analogy with theft makes it makes it seem like something of conviction uh for or against something i think a much better analogy is a minimum wage law so in california and other states cities can pass any kind of minimum wage law they want to in massachusetts we cannot um i would sign a something at the state level saying

[Anna Callahan]: please allow any city or town in Massachusetts to pass any minimum wage that they deem necessary in their own city.

[Anna Callahan]: But that doesn't mean that I would want an infinity minimum wage in Medford, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So you vote, you push for the state to enable you, it's called enabling legislation, to enable you to pass the laws that are correct for your community.

[Anna Callahan]: And then within your community, you have the discussion about what would be the right minimum wage for Medford?

[Anna Callahan]: And that is the question that we are having, which is, you know, we are about to begin a long discussion, including the public, about what kind of real estate transfer fee might be the right one for Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: But that doesn't mean that individual sitting elected officials who also, by the way, have websites that declare that they, you know, people run on issues.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, there are things that are on my website that are issues that I support and I ran on those issues.

[Anna Callahan]: I told people when I was running that I would support those issues.

[Anna Callahan]: That is why I got elected, because those things were on my website at that time.

[Anna Callahan]: And as city councilors and other elected officials to sign in support of the state, allowing communities to make whatever decision they want doesn't mean that

[Anna Callahan]: you know, I'm gonna support a $500 minimum wage in Medford, even if I think that any community should be able to have any kind of minimum wage they want.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just think that that analogy-wise, it's a better analogy that we want the state to allow us to make those decisions.

[Anna Callahan]: speaker, I appreciate you coming up to the podium.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to remind everyone that we are discussing the process dealing with possible home rule petitions.

[Anna Callahan]: It is very important to me

[Anna Callahan]: that comments made by constituents who are knowledgeable, who should be heard from, and comments made by members of this committee who also are knowledgeable and who should be heard from, all of those comments should be heard by the public at a meeting where they know that this is going to be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, so today we are doing a pavement management plan update, and I want to thank Commissioner Tim McGivern and our engineer Owen Wartella for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: I will go ahead and read the text of the motions that we passed at our last meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: President Bears has moved that we create a new paper in this committee to request an update on, one, the pavement management plan and sidewalk management plan for the DPW.

[Anna Callahan]: including the financial plan recommendation that the City adopted based on the pavement and sidewalk management plan.

[Anna Callahan]: Two, what the City has spent on pavement management and sidewalk management since the plans were released.

[Anna Callahan]: Three, how much was spent from authorized bond orders if funds were spent on streets and sidewalks other than those initially listed for the bond orders.

[Anna Callahan]: Four, when the pavement and sidewalk management plans may be updated.

[Anna Callahan]: And then Councilor Scarpelli moved to ask the DPW Commissioner

[Anna Callahan]: to do a cost analysis for road and sidewalk repairs and to request a sidewalk and hot tub crew to do the work in-house and to look at the costs for Luke's sidewalker and to have that be added into the duties.

[Anna Callahan]: I welcome you and thank you so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: If you would be able to give us kind of the update as requested, that would be fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think maybe a little bit of understanding of the five strategies and which one of those strategies we've been following.

[Anna Callahan]: If you can go a little bit into that, that'd be amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: You're talking about both the year 2021, year 2022, year 2023, that all of those numbers in terms of being able to sort of calculate what we spent, that all of those are ones that you're working on?

[Anna Callahan]: So if we're looking at what was spent each year, and you're saying that these calculations really haven't been done before, are you working on those from years starting with the 2021 pavement management study?

[Anna Callahan]: Or are you just talking about the last year?

[Anna Callahan]: Second.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, I think we're fine.

[Anna Callahan]: That's right.

[Anna Callahan]: We are reconvening, planning and permitting as soon as this meeting is over.

[Anna Callahan]: Did you call me?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: This meeting is adjourned.

[Anna Callahan]: It looks like I can't really read all that on the screen.

[Anna Callahan]: So some of these may have already been covered by Vice President Collins.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would say like the leaf flow ordinance, for example, doesn't need to be covered both in the general business as well as in the planning and permitting committee.

[Anna Callahan]: It just might be confusing because it says, like if they only read one, they'll say, they'll think it's a second reading.

[Anna Callahan]: And then under sent to committee, a home rule petition for a real estate transfer fee, that to me is a little too,

[Anna Callahan]: strong sounding, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like we sent a home rule petition to commit, like, if I didn't know much about the city council, I would think that there was one completely written up and this language was all finalized.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think the phrasing should be different.

[Anna Callahan]: Open day discussion or something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Gave a number to, same also with like developing a home rule petition.

[Anna Callahan]: That's, I don't know,

[Anna Callahan]: exactly what to do with that one, but I think in the same way that governance committee has just a one-liner, we also could put in public works committee as just a one-liner of like currently discussing roads and sidewalks, renovations as, you know, according to the assessment studies, something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Could be a nice simple way of just saying that, hey, this committee is looking at those things, so people care about that.

[Anna Callahan]: Currently discussing road and sidewalk renovations.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't have perfect language for this, but according to the pavement and sidewalk assessment studies.

[Anna Callahan]: Something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Under planning and permitting.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, I would just remove it.

[Anna Callahan]: I can't tell if Councilor Collins did that already.

[Anna Callahan]: And making the language about the... Yeah, the sent to committee a home rule petition for real estate transfer fee, that one, it just, I think it's a little misleading to put it that way.

[Anna Callahan]: You saw it first.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: First of all, you have the toughest job of doing the first one, getting all of these edits, so I really appreciate all your hard work doing that.

[Anna Callahan]: I do want to mention that if we are going to use email, if we are going to use anything that uses people's phones, which includes text messaging, which includes WhatsApp, which includes Signal,

[Anna Callahan]: we have to have opt-in.

[Anna Callahan]: So the idea that we can't start anything until we somehow have a way to reach everyone, the way that we reach everyone is by producing something, and including, I want to make sure that we have something near the top that says, please forward this information to your friends, or here is how your friends can get on this email list, so that people will send this information to people that they know, and it will be very easy for them once they receive something from a friend or colleague,

[Anna Callahan]: for them to get on the email list or on a mobile list or something.

[Anna Callahan]: So getting folks to spread the word about this.

[Anna Callahan]: And then two other things.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to make sure that with the real estate transfer fee that I think the wording that we chose was really great.

[Anna Callahan]: I think also for the rent stabilization ordinance

[Anna Callahan]: both of those because they are very hot button issues.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to make sure that the language is accurate to what has happened, which is we're simply opening the discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: So whatever language we're using for the real estate transfer fee, we should use a similar language for the rent stabilization.

[Anna Callahan]: And then this is a general question, something to think about maybe for next time.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love it if in our newsletters we can include not only what has happened in the past, but what is upcoming.

[Anna Callahan]: so that maybe even if it's only just that very next week, if we know, so that people can make a plan to come, or even if it just includes maybe a link to the events page that shows people what is upcoming and a thing at the bottom that says if you want to know what we will be discussing in the City Council and in the committee meetings, go to this link.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: A few things.

[Anna Callahan]: Number one, I will second your motion to have you reach out to Mr. Nwaje to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: Second, you also partially answered my question, which is going to be, what is the schedule?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I said I would do whatever was free, so I have no idea what month I'm on, but at least I'm not next month.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: It's in the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: I missed it.

[Anna Callahan]: And the third thing is, I'm curious why I would love to avoid having these

[Anna Callahan]: unless there's a reason having the wording of the newsletters go to the full city council meeting, it seems like really this should just be in this committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't understand why we would want to send it to the full city council.

[Anna Callahan]: I just can't imagine having the, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: a 200, 300 word document be edited in a city?

[Anna Callahan]: I literally think that's the wrong place for like that is that is not the place.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, this is a just a communication from the city council.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not seconding that one.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't want us to forget.

[Anna Callahan]: So anywhere you can just put this so that we don't forget.

[Anna Callahan]: Just put it in that document and then we'll look at it next time.

[Anna Callahan]: Like that we should really have a way for people to forward this to others so they can get on the list.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the idea of putting upcoming, like even just a link to the upcoming meetings would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Those two things I think we should include in every newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: The other one is a way for people if they forward it for people to get on the list.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe you guys can work together to figure it out.

[Anna Callahan]: And even if it doesn't end up in this newsletter, that's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: But in the future, I think we should keep it.

[Anna Callahan]: But isn't there a link that has all of them?

[Anna Callahan]: There's a link where you can see the upcoming meeting agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: The question is, how can people opt in?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe this can be quick and exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not sure which of these should actually be motions and which should just be that we plan to keep this paper in committee and move forward.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think we should, I would like to make a motion that we form a subcommittee that includes

[Anna Callahan]: me, Councilor Tseng, and Chair Leming.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that's okay.

[Anna Callahan]: That's my emotion.

[Anna Callahan]: About the listening sessions to ensure that these listening sessions happen.

[Anna Callahan]: And then, besides that motion, I want to open up two ideas for discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: One, that we try and hold approximately one per month.

[Anna Callahan]: So we try and hold maybe nine, you know, eight or nine this year.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I would love to have a quick brainstorming session about which groups to reach out to

[Anna Callahan]: Is that all part of your motion?

[Anna Callahan]: No, no, no.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: The motion was only about a subcommittee.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: That's the motion.

[Anna Callahan]: Everything else is just for discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: So that we do, you know, one a month, seven or eight this year.

[Anna Callahan]: And then Councilor Tseng and I already came up with a short list.

[Anna Callahan]: So we can very quickly, I think, you know, brainstorm a list of groups to reach out to this year.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: That is a great question.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we'll meet as a subcommittee.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll have to, you know, discuss exactly the logistics of how that's going to work.

[Anna Callahan]: But we certainly can.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, we can make the subcommittee.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we can make a subcommittee open to as many people as our.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And basically it will be a lot of it is just going to be doing the logistics of, you know, when to have these meetings set up and who's going to be there, that kind of thing.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say that I think part of the idea is not to use conference rooms and buildings, but to really go to the place where these less represented folks feel comfortable, sort of go on their turf rather than our turf.

[Anna Callahan]: So that'll be something that we're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: May I open the discussion of some possible groups to reach out to?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So first we thought there are five community liaisons.

[Anna Callahan]: And those are, you know, five groups that we would love to begin with.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we also thought that high school students would be a really fantastic group and we could do potentially either have just have one group or we could have separate groups for the vocational school and the other half of the school.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we thought the senior center would also be great.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: reaching out maybe to some tough student groups.

[Anna Callahan]: And that right there is like, let's see, five for the community liaisons, one or two for the high schools.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's nine.

[Anna Callahan]: That's this year.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know the names of the liaisons themselves, but the, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: The groups that they represent are the Haitian community, the Arab community, the Portuguese-speaking community, Spanish-speaking, and I believe the fifth one is black residents in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope that's accurate.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is something that we should discuss in the subcommittee.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there's going to be a little bit of trying to figure out exactly how that's going to work.

[Anna Callahan]: And we'll do a little bit of brainstorming to sort of

[Anna Callahan]: you know, understand the possibilities.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's just a longer discussion that we probably want to have to make this already pretty late.

[Anna Callahan]: If there are other groups that folks want to reach out to, uh, you know, now is great or don't hesitate to, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: There's zillions of groups we could reach out to, of course.

[Anna Callahan]: We don't want anybody to feel excluded, but we thought this would be a good starter set.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: I meant to include veterans.

[Anna Callahan]: Veterans?

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Move to adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Present

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to hear more about the last one, state aid, chair sheets, and other things.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there somewhere that we can look up what new growth has been in previous years?

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Gallagher.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, that $250,000 is included in your new growth figure from before?

[Anna Callahan]: This $250,000 is included in the new growth figure from the previous year?

[Anna Callahan]: So just a quick question, if you happen to have these numbers off the top of your head, if not, I can look it up later.

[Anna Callahan]: On this fiscal year 2025 budget impacts with these four sort of unavoidable cost increases, do you happen to know for each of those what sort of percentage of our budget those are?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, what is the health insurance, you know, what about what percent of our budget?

[Anna Callahan]: If not, that's fine, I'll finally look at it.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you just let me know a little bit more about what those, these two, 5240 and 5310 are, what those cover?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, maintenance and professional technical services.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll use this opportunity to thank everyone for coming out.

[Anna Callahan]: Just save a little bit of time.

[Anna Callahan]: So appreciate your work that you do every day as well as the time that you're taking in an evening to be here.

[Anna Callahan]: My specific question for you is how much funding comes from the cable companies and sort of what percentage of your budget is that?

[Anna Callahan]: Just curious about that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful to have you.

[Anna Callahan]: Very excited.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Just a few questions.

[Anna Callahan]: And pardon me for my sort of not having a lot of history with the veteran services and asking some very basic questions.

[Anna Callahan]: But do you have a sense for just the number of veterans that we have in Medford is one question.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe if there's any sort of age breakdown, like how many of them are really older and are also able to use the senior center and the Council on Aging services.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's two questions I'm happy to, I don't even, I'll tell them all to you and then I can remind you.

[Anna Callahan]: And the third question, and this is my nubiest question, which is, in addition to payroll, I actually would love to just get some vague sense of what the other funding.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: So as of, ooh,

[Anna Callahan]: Move to adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lazzaro?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, these letters were a

[Anna Callahan]: quite frightening reminder that our water pipes are 100 years old, almost older than any other city, and that instead of over the decades spending the money that came in through our water system on the water system and replacing these pipes for decades, that that money went into the general fund.

[Anna Callahan]: and was spent on other things.

[Anna Callahan]: And so we have, for decades, not improved our water system.

[Anna Callahan]: We have, for decades, not improved our roads, which is why that 49% of our roads as of 2021, hard to know whether that's improved or gotten worse.

[Anna Callahan]: probably has gotten worse.

[Anna Callahan]: 49% of our roads are in the worst two classes of roads out of five.

[Anna Callahan]: That's the most expensive kinds to replace, to repair.

[Anna Callahan]: Our schools, which are 20 years old, have not been properly maintained for the last 20 years.

[Anna Callahan]: Salaries, and we talk about the salary of this particular position in the water department, but salaries across the city are not commensurate with other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: So we can't find people to fill a lot of positions.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not just that position.

[Anna Callahan]: There are a lot of positions we cannot find people to fill.

[Anna Callahan]: Previous administrations have been like 30, 40 years ago were given a city in pretty good shape and did not do the repairs that were needed.

[Anna Callahan]: And that has left us in a position that I'm really, they've kicked the can down the road.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm trying to understand what kind of management style it would make up for.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, if $500 million is the amount to repair our water system, and we know that it's $100 million probably or more to repair the roads, get the roads back into shape, there isn't a style of management that can

[Anna Callahan]: magically make that money up here.

[Anna Callahan]: My thing about the management is not that I'm making any kind of statement, but my statement is about the funding that we have to do the absolute basics necessary for a city to function.

[Anna Callahan]: You cannot have water pipes that function.

[Anna Callahan]: You do not have a city, functional city.

[Anna Callahan]: You don't have roads.

[Anna Callahan]: These are the basics.

[Anna Callahan]: And this isn't purely the fault of this mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: This is something that we have kicked the can down the road for many decades until we find ourselves by doing things that were financially irresponsible, but were made taxpayers happy.

[Anna Callahan]: And now we're in a position where we have had that situation going on for so long that we're going straight off a cliff.

[Anna Callahan]: I talked to some of the engineering folks about the water systems, and they said, oh, you know, there is money coming into the water system that we can use to repair it.

[Anna Callahan]: But of course, that money used to go to other things.

[Anna Callahan]: That money has always come in, and it used to go to the general fund.

[Anna Callahan]: So now that money isn't going to be going to the things that it used to go to.

[Anna Callahan]: So those things will go down.

[Anna Callahan]: There is not enough funding to take care of the financial irresponsibility of former administrations and former city councils.

[Anna Callahan]: really administrations because the state councils do not have do not have hardly any effect on the budget because it's really up in the hands of the mayor.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um I definitely do believe that, uh, our city's underfunded.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it is a pretty simple math problem that when you don't fix your water price for 100 years, you don't fix your roads for decades.

[Anna Callahan]: You don't fix your schools for 20 years.

[Anna Callahan]: You don't

[Anna Callahan]: for years so that those salaries are below commensurate for other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that that math problem is pretty simple one, but that doesn't mean that I believe that all of our money is being spent properly and I really appreciate this resolution.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's incredibly important that we understand and that the community also understands how money is being spent.

[Anna Callahan]: and that we are really responsible and that that money is not being wasted.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really appreciate this resolution and any other resolutions that come to us having transparency and understanding the way that the city is being run and to make sure that our funds are being used well.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm sad that we cannot have any impact over that, and it's too late.

[Anna Callahan]: And so all I'm saying is to you guys, but also to anyone else, don't hesitate to come to us.

[Anna Callahan]: If we can put pressure and make the difference between that FEMA grant being in a better position to pass, then reach out.

[Anna Callahan]: And secondly, I really wanted to talk a little bit about this question of mismanagement.

[Anna Callahan]: because I think it is raised all the time, the question of wasting money.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm curious about it, and I want to learn more.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to ensure that we know in terms of transparency and that the community knows how money is being spent.

[Anna Callahan]: But I do also think there's another question that we haven't been talking about as much about recently, which is being able to

[Anna Callahan]: the fire department.

[Anna Callahan]: We have run departments where sorry, um, support being supportive of unions.

[Anna Callahan]: We have many unions in the city that do not get contracts for years.

[Anna Callahan]: Um my opinion of what has been happening this year with the fire department is that it really has demoralized

[Anna Callahan]: a fan of what has been going on between the mayor and the fire department, as I said at one of the previous meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am interested in understanding, I really question how you guys can have a consulting firm where you're already looking into this, the mayor is doing separate consulting firm and the wisdom of that.

[Anna Callahan]: And from a union perspective, that it seems like you're,

[Anna Callahan]: many combined years of experience is not being looked to at all.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I have to say that I do really question the wisdom of this, and that I want to be supportive of the fire union, and I will leave it at that.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just had a question.

[Anna Callahan]: It seems that no one really is in charge of making sure that this happens.

[Anna Callahan]: No one at the trust is in charge, no one at DPW is in charge, and this sort of has just gone on because nobody's been focusing on it.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there any way to get somebody to, it's their responsibility to focus on it, or is that, you know?

[Anna Callahan]: Is this the right moment for questions?

[Anna Callahan]: I did just have a question about the site plan review topics.

[Anna Callahan]: This is just my lack of knowledge about this.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a super brief?

[Anna Callahan]: What is that covering?

[Anna Callahan]: If I may, we could take one step back and say like site plan review, like what?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, just a quick question.

[Anna Callahan]: I mentioned this last time, and I'm just curious who would be the right person to talk to about potentially

[Anna Callahan]: what it might mean to add a coworking as a zoning use.

[Anna Callahan]: With the concept that instead of office, like office building is sort of the place that it might fall.

[Anna Callahan]: And we might not want giant office buildings like scattered across Medford, but to allow like small coworking places that are designed as neighborhood connection spots and places where people can

[Anna Callahan]: have one desk and meet their neighbors and go during the day now that we're sort of in a world of remote work.

[Anna Callahan]: It is not something I've thought through super deeply, but I'm curious, aside from one or two Councilors, if there are staff people or whoever that I can talk to that know more about zoning that might have some ability to speak to whether it would be useful or whether there is no need

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Just looking through theme five, the climate resilience.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted some of these seem like they kind of lean towards this but I wanted to ask if there is currently or if there are plans to have sort of percentage of lots that can be covered by impermeable surfaces.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I would imagine that is where it would go.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Just wondering if there is anything currently in the zoning or if their plans to put in the zoning any sort of limits on the percentage of a lot of it.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, amount of a lot in some way that is covered by impermeables.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So one thing that I feel pretty strongly about is that the folks who live in Medford and rent out properties in Medford, these are always the best landlords we have.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that the city is currently making an effort to reach out to landlords to make sure that they know about the different rebate programs that there are at the state level.

[Anna Callahan]: And tax incentives in order to retrofit their houses, but it's very difficult to reach that group of people because we just don't know who they are.

[Anna Callahan]: There are also.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, we have on our docket for things that we are hope to do, and I know I'm excited to do is to implement what the state has now allowed, which is a good landlord tax credit.

[Anna Callahan]: That would also, you know, you have to apply to that, and that would be much easier for us to reach those good landlords in town if we knew who they were.

[Anna Callahan]: And there are all sorts of other reasons down the line that it could be really helpful for us.

[Anna Callahan]: I know in the climate adaptation and action plan,

[Anna Callahan]: it has.

[Anna Callahan]: There are ways that, you know, reaching out to landlords, knowing who landlords are in terms of retrofitting buildings is going to be really helpful in terms of, you know, being able to provide rental protections.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that we many people as I campaigned were upset with absentee landlords who allow their buildings to fall into disrepair or allow to have there to be

[Anna Callahan]: know, junk in the, in their yards, and being able to know who landlords are what properties are landlords and reach the tenants in those buildings as well to communicate them we we have tenants rights ordinance which we passed recently.

[Anna Callahan]: being able to know who which properties those are so we can reach those people would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: And really all we're talking about is simple, simple registry that would just have the listing of which properties and how many you know which units are rental properties, and who is a contact person that we can reach out to in terms of the property management or the landlord.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's what this is about.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan?

[Anna Callahan]: I would just reply that I have spoken to the planning department and they say that they're actually kind of excited to have this because a lot of the things that they're trying to do are very difficult.

[Anna Callahan]: For example, that they have on their docket to reach out to landlords specifically about rebate programs at the state level, and that's very difficult.

[Anna Callahan]: They just don't have access to who those people are.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that from the planning side, they are kind of excited to be able to have this information, and they see it as being beneficial to them rather than a burden to them.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, my direct response is all we're doing is giving this a number and we're beginning the conversation.

[Anna Callahan]: So the truth is, we're going to be taking input from the planning department, from the building commissioner, from the administrative staff to understand how is this best implemented.

[Anna Callahan]: So really, this is all we're doing is starting the conversation.

[Anna Callahan]: But as far as

[Anna Callahan]: who will implement it.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that the administration already, because this was in the plan that would come up a few years ago, I think they already have ideas and I would look to the administration for information like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Again, this is the beginning of the conversation.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is the beginning of a many months long process.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, this is the beginning of a many months long process at which the public is welcome to attend any of those meetings that we have.

[Anna Callahan]: And

[Anna Callahan]: My understanding is that at a minimum, it is the address of the property, the address of which unit is a rental property, and information on how to contact the landlord or property management.

[Anna Callahan]: My name is amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan just to a point of information.

[Anna Callahan]: Renters are not on the registry.

[Anna Callahan]: There's rental properties that are on the right, so just be property owners and renters themselves are not on registry.

[Anna Callahan]: I hear everybody here.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think what I'm struggling with is that

[Anna Callahan]: My understanding of how we work on policies is we bring a suggestion for something that we might pass in a year or two years or six months or whatever, we bring it here to get it a number.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, any policy, whatever policy that is, it is by definition, it is not totally worked out.

[Anna Callahan]: Not all of the answers are there, because this is how we create policy.

[Anna Callahan]: We create policy by giving it a number, and then by sending it through a process.

[Anna Callahan]: And that process, and tell me if I'm wrong, please.

[Anna Callahan]: That process involves three public hearings, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It has to go through first reading, second reading, third, something like that, after it's been written.

[Anna Callahan]: After all of the committee meetings, it involves three times that it has to appear before the city council.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's when the answer, when all of the questions, when it's been worked through with the staff, with, you know, in committee with the public, with, you know, whatever sort of listening sessions and other things that we do.

[Anna Callahan]: So what I'm struggling with is,

[Anna Callahan]: You know, we're bringing things here to give it a number.

[Anna Callahan]: And what that does is it allows us to then begin the process of discussing it publicly where everyone is welcome for many months.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think for the, like the leaf blower ordinance, we had eight or nine, was it nine public meetings about it?

[Anna Callahan]: I thought that we had the eighth leaf blower like public swap but we had a lot of meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I think what I'm trying to say is, this is the second time since I've been a city council which is like three months.

[Anna Callahan]: people come, dozens of people come to the meeting to prevent us from ever being able to discuss a policy and we're being accused of not knowing all of the details.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, the reason that we have this process is so that we can include the public in the entire discussion of every aspect of it and every detail.

[Anna Callahan]: So what I'm struggling with is I want to begin the discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will say, I'm saddened.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm very saddened that I now seem to be on the receiving end of something where, specifically for in-town landlords, I have for years talked about how in-town landlords are the people that we want to support.

[Anna Callahan]: And there's video of me from years ago

[Anna Callahan]: So, like, this is, I just want to know we're coming up on the 15 minute limit for the previous question today, you have about a minute, then I want to go a minute but that's what I'm struggling with is I want to begin the conversation, so that we can talk about it for many months in open public committee meetings, and then we can have.

[Anna Callahan]: the three public hearings in the city council, all of which are designed to answer those detailed questions and for you to have input on those answers, those questions and answers.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's what I'm struggling to get to is the point where we can actually discuss this rather than having it shut down before anyone is allowed to discuss it.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Kelly.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a thing.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, so I was, I'm not actually in favor of reducing the amount of time that people, so I would have done this differently, let's put it that way.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that having, and I've looked at some other cities, I have to say, I am so happy that we do something that I have not seen really anywhere else, I guess maybe Revere does it, but that we let people speak on every single agenda item.

[Anna Callahan]: Most cities, there's one public comment period that applies to like anything that's on the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: You have your two minutes during that public comment period and that's it.

[Anna Callahan]: And you don't get to be there when they're debating the whole rest of, while they're debating the body is debating that particular agenda item.

[Anna Callahan]: So I love that we do that and I think that we should keep that.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm glad this doesn't in any way get rid of that.

[Anna Callahan]: I do think that meetings that go to one, two, three o'clock in the morning,

[Anna Callahan]: the poor people who have to speak on a topic that doesn't come up until after midnight, like that's also, that's just not good democracy, right?

[Anna Callahan]: The way I would have done it, and I don't know how much people are open to changes on the floor, but I think that we should have a limit on the end time of the meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we limit the end time of the meetings,

[Anna Callahan]: So that nobody has to stay up until you know one o'clock in the morning to be heard on their on their agenda item.

[Anna Callahan]: Then, allowing the chair, which I think we already have as an option to before any public participation to declare hey like there's 100 people in the room for this item, we're going to leave it to and we and this is currently our policy anyway that we have done for this item, we're going to have two minutes per issue we did that you know a number of weeks ago for a different issue.

[Anna Callahan]: And that the chair can do that in order to meet the deadline of the midnight 1231 o'clock whatever it is that we decide is the final hour that this.

[Anna Callahan]: that the city council meetings end on.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's where I would go with it is have like a meeting end time so that nobody has to stay up till one o'clock in the morning just to speak on their issue.

[Anna Callahan]: The other possibility is to let public comment happen at the beginning and then have it apply to all of the agenda items.

[Anna Callahan]: That's very common.

[Anna Callahan]: And then nobody, no members of the public have to stay until midnight, one o'clock in the morning in order to speak on their agenda item.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think there are other ways to go that would let people speak.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just not sure that this is the one that I, I'm not sure that I love this one.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to be slightly more clear than what I said before, which is I would actually really like to discuss this, to be able to come up with some other ideas in committee rather than voting on this right now.

[Anna Callahan]: So that'd be my preference.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to address one thing, because I'm feeling frustrated that I brought the rental registry here

[Anna Callahan]: And I very purposefully did not decide a lot of things.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not want to have come up with all the answers because I wanted to be part of the public process.

[Anna Callahan]: So this you have already decided everything, that's why I couldn't answer questions about the details of rental registry because I don't want to come here having decided everything.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the process.

[Anna Callahan]: We get a number for something.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's frustrating that dozens of people are coming out to say, don't give it a number so that it can be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what I'm having trouble with.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to be able to give something a number.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we should not have all the details before we give it a number.

[Anna Callahan]: But then I'm being...

[Anna Callahan]: criticized that I don't have all the answers.

[Anna Callahan]: But the reason I don't have all the answers is because I don't want to have come here having decided everything.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to give it a number so that we can have a public process of many public meetings so that your opinions, the public opinions, can exactly be part of this process that you're talking about.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's part of what I want to be able to do here is have fewer

[Anna Callahan]: long extended discussions, and I'm not talking about this particular resolution, but fewer long extended discussions that prevent us, people saying, please do not begin a discussion about this.

[Anna Callahan]: I would much rather people come to the discussion about it.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, let's agree to have a discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we can have the discussion where people can give their opinions.

[Anna Callahan]: But to come here with dozens and dozens of people saying,

[Anna Callahan]: Whatever you do, you're a terrible person, if you agree to allow this to be discussed, I find it... This is why you might see me not, quote-unquote, listening to dozens of people, because all I'm voting for is for it to be allowed to be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think it should be discussed and that's for, you know, these other things, whether it's the real estate transfer fee, the rental registry.

[Anna Callahan]: All I'm saying is, we should be able to discuss it in open public meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: This is part of what I'm a little bit frustrated with is the idea that we're coming here having already decided and then suddenly it's like,

[Anna Callahan]: to zero or six to one or five to two because we've already decided, but like all I wanted to do is discuss and be able to like have the open public forum that you are asking for.

[Anna Callahan]: So I guess that's it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I just don't exactly understand.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that there's a B paper attached to this motion.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you restate that B paper?

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is a great idea.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, just that when there is a question of whether we're going to send something to committee to be able to open a many months long discussion, I'm going to vote yes.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we need to be able to have those discussions.

[Anna Callahan]: This is actually something that we're gonna be changing these rules today, and that will be a permanent change.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't feel comfortable.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't feel comfortable when I read it, and my position has not changed.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not gonna be voting this one.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, I think it says it all.

[Anna Callahan]: We are really just sending this into committee to discuss.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully it will be a way for us to reach out to people who rarely or never come to these meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: Those 70% of people.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, the 50% of people who never vote in city elections, 70% who didn't vote in this particular city election.

[Anna Callahan]: 70% who didn't vote for me.

[Anna Callahan]: Those folks who are not engaged politically, we want to be able to hear what their lives are like, and that's what this is about.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious if that monthly report comes in, who goes over the report and then what happens after that?

[Anna Callahan]: Do we think that it's appropriate given that a lot of this is for new construction, and some of it may be fossil fuel stuff construction in buildings, is this a place where we can request that the departments that we're talking to take into consideration.

[Anna Callahan]: incentives for our climate goals or our affordable housing goals that are lined out in our various plans, like the CAP, the Climate Action Adaptation Plan, or our Affordable Housing Production Plan.

[Anna Callahan]: Can we ask that they take those into consideration when they are updating?

[Anna Callahan]: As I'm scrolling through all these many fees, I do notice taxi cabs on here, and I'm curious if the city has done anything about including the gig worker cab things into, I assume that this only applies to actual taxi cabs and not to like Uber drivers and everything else,

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't know whether, I mean, that seems to me clearly to be totally outdated, and maybe we need something totally different.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have a way of knowing which of these fees bring in what amount of money?

[Anna Callahan]: Or which categories of fees bring in what amount of money?

[Anna Callahan]: Move to adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Second.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm curious if we know how other cities are currently doing this.

[Anna Callahan]: Nobody knows.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: That's something we might want to look into is see some of our surrounding cities, how they deal with food trucks, and if they all have to go to the city council, if they just have it done by, you know, the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: I just had a question because it sounds like what the attorney is saying is that according to our laws, we only have the ability to give permission for these food trucks on public ways and all the other entities like the parks and the schools do their own

[Anna Callahan]: food truck licensing.

[Anna Callahan]: What it sounds like Councilor Scarpelli is saying is that this is not the practice that we have done, and it is also perhaps not what our former city solicitor said.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, that makes things a little muddy.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to have, I mean, maybe that's just the reality, but if there can be any clarification on that, I think it would help us understand.

[Anna Callahan]: If that proposal goes through, then it probably makes my point sort of moot.

[Anna Callahan]: But I was sort of looking as a relatively new Councilor to understand, obviously the Metro Public Schools is the largest department in terms of funding.

[Anna Callahan]: But there's dozens of departments listed here on the website.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm looking for a chart that shows me the size of the budget for each one.

[Anna Callahan]: So we have an understanding of like, okay, are 20 of these so tiny that they're not, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: worried, concerned about them, but I will do some research there.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that rephrasing to make it any grant funded position is probably a good one.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, it was just a quick, did this not already go into committee as a request that we were making in the committee, in Public Works Committee?

[Anna Callahan]: I thought it maybe did.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanna make sure we're not doubling up two motions for the same.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm totally in favor, and also the five-year plan for the roads, I think, is going to go through that committee as well, rather than be a budget request.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Clark, do you happen to remember if a motion went through the committee, the Public Works Committee?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm looking it up.

[Anna Callahan]: either way we should have to look.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to ask you about civil service law and whether we are currently following civil service law.

[Anna Callahan]: So the appointment of the active chief, was that done appropriately?

[Anna Callahan]: Was was the are we gearing up for the required testing?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you know if we're currently like on schedule to follow through with civil service law as we are supposed to right now?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate all the work that has been done on this.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to comment a little bit about what I saw when I was campaigning and what I have also seen here in these chambers and heard people speak about, which is that when people do not trust

[Anna Callahan]: the way, when they don't understand how their money is being spent, and they don't trust the way that that money is being used, then they never want to give the city another penny.

[Anna Callahan]: So when you combine lack of transparency with underfunding, which I believe is what has happened to Medford over many, many years, what happens is you have a breakdown of democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: So to me, making sure that the public

[Anna Callahan]: through this budget ordinance has access to seeing and understanding how are the money that comes into the city is spent, and to know that that money is being spent on things that they are in fact seeing.

[Anna Callahan]: I think this is going to help not only

[Anna Callahan]: the way that we move the budget forward, but it's also gonna help get people to understand that, yes, the city is or is not, you know, whatever we find, right, when we've got this transparency, using the funds wisely.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we will also see that there's genuine underfunding of most city departments.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to ask if you have run this by the Community Development Board as well as the Office of Planning.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Mr. Castagnetti.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to mention that I do have a friend who lives in one of these

[Anna Callahan]: cooperatively owned buildings in Boston, and he raves about it.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'd be excited to talk about that as an affordable housing possibility as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I do have a clarifying question.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to make sure we're talking about an email newsletter specifically, or do you mean more broadly the sense of a newsletter that could be email and other things as well?

[Anna Callahan]: I just didn't know whether when you said the word newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: No, that's a great clarifying question.

[Anna Callahan]: That you meant the email part of it, or if you were talking more broadly.

[Anna Callahan]: on the second, but also a question.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so I I'm assuming that this, um, sort of voluntary sign up will be available to all because and not just those are this committee.

[Anna Callahan]: This is how we do it, if it comes to me for questions.

[Anna Callahan]: No, it's great.

[Anna Callahan]: So it seems to me that in addition to an email, like having our own email list, specifically because of the laws around opt-in, that any list really should, if you want to have an email list, then you'll have to be opt-in.

[Anna Callahan]: If we want for people to be able to get access to this information, they should be able to opt in.

[Anna Callahan]: They should also be able to follow a social media account on their preferred social media platform.

[Anna Callahan]: So I want you to reread that.

[Anna Callahan]: But to me, that sounds a little vague.

[Anna Callahan]: The language, I wasn't sure exactly what you meant by it.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wonder if we can

[Anna Callahan]: very specifically have something that's more talking about the creation of, um, followable distribution platforms, which would include things like an email list that people can opt into, um, a, uh,

[Anna Callahan]: you know, an X account, a YouTube account, you know, blah, blah, blah, like accounts on those specific platforms.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry, what's the third motion?

[Anna Callahan]: When you say that, it might take a while to set up.

[Anna Callahan]: Just I was going to answer the question.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I agree with both of y'all.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanted to add that I'm probably even more excited to put into the newsletter things that are upcoming than things that already passed, because that allows for people in the community to participate in the decisions to be involved in engaging in democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: So those are difficult to spin.

[Anna Callahan]: We simply just state what is coming up and what is going to be on the agenda.

[Anna Callahan]: And that way, people will know

[Anna Callahan]: when to come if they want to speak out about something.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so

[Anna Callahan]: I assume this is because I only had four hours of sleep, although it could also be because you only had four hours of sleep when you wrote these.

[Anna Callahan]: But I didn't fully understand the first three motions.

[Anna Callahan]: And if it's okay with you, because, hey, we're in a body where words matter, do you mind reading those slowly?

[Anna Callahan]: And I think I will probably make slight amendments just to the wording to make sure that that wording is easily understood by everybody.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that okay?

[Anna Callahan]: One at a time.

[Anna Callahan]: The only thing for me is the word newsletter to me, it means email newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: So I wonder if we can call it a communications plan or communications or I'm not sure.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if there's a better word and if everybody else thinks it's fine, that's fine with me.

[Anna Callahan]: But like I was confused when I really thought you meant an email newsletter.

[Anna Callahan]: That just, that just feels like it.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's difficult because... If you guys understand it, that's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: To me, it meant something different from what you meant.

[Anna Callahan]: What if we say monthly newsletter content?

[Anna Callahan]: and when we will have perhaps left a little bit more.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I didn't realize.

[Anna Callahan]: As long as it specifically includes any city councilor, not just this

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, I'll make sure that yeah, beautiful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Love it.

[Anna Callahan]: Beautiful.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Beautiful.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it is.

[Anna Callahan]: Love it.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: That does it.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I was just going to say like, you know, if the mayor helps distribute or any of these other email lists agrees, then what they do is they don't just distribute our content as if it's theirs.

[Anna Callahan]: They say, you know, sign up here, like here's the content sign up here.

[Anna Callahan]: And that gives everyone on their list the opportunity to opt in.

[Anna Callahan]: really make an effort to be on all of those platforms, because that's kind of the point, is that each platform has its own subset of people that actually check that platform and prefer that platform to other things.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we should not neglect to at least consider texting, WhatsApp, discourse.

[Anna Callahan]: These are things, so especially like texting and WhatsApp are used by a lot of

[Anna Callahan]: less affluent immigrant communities.

[Anna Callahan]: And so if we don't even discuss them, and I understand that texting probably would cost us money, but if we don't at least consider those, I think that we are sort of blocking off certain people to engagement and specifically people who tend to be the least engaged.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would love for us to consider those as well.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize, I will have to leave in nine minutes.

[Anna Callahan]: I move that we join these and approve them.

[Anna Callahan]: I can be that person creating a paper to report and putting on the agenda at some point?

[Anna Callahan]: All right, yeah, I better.

[Anna Callahan]: Move to adjourn.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, super excited to be working on this and to have a team of people dedicated to all the research and legal and urban planning work that needs to be done to do this right.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited to hear where specific policies that we have all proposed might fit into here, into the timeline.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just want to encourage if it's possible and if this

[Anna Callahan]: that fits into your presentation, feel free to drop in mentioning policies as examples of things that could go in there.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it might also help folks who are in the audience, both on Zoom and here in person, to understand what kinds of things we mean with these more generic buckets that we're talking about.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just gonna throw in one thing that I've heard from some constituents, and I think we should also think carefully about because it does seem like a post pandemic request, but folks who have been working from home would, folks that I've heard from would really appreciate having a mini office space that they could go to that's very close to their home.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know if that's another thing we could think about as a possible zoning is having these micro pockets of,

[Anna Callahan]: you know, tiny office space, like, you know, one of these spaces where you just rent a desk, tiny micro office space, coffee shop, lunch place, something like that, which would allow people to sort of start getting out of their homes who currently don't have to go to work.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, I just had a question.

[Anna Callahan]: It would be really helpful to be able to see the list of minor changes that have been requested from staff and from the Zoning Board, and what is our best way of doing that within open meeting law?

[Anna Callahan]: Can we request that they send those to us in advance of a meeting and then make those public, or are they ready to do that?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something you feel like we're at a space where that would be useful for the City Council to see that list?

[Anna Callahan]: do you think we can do both?

[Anna Callahan]: Just timing wise.

[Anna Callahan]: I think economic development and climate put them both on the 24th.

[Anna Callahan]: I guess we can always, if we don't get them covered, we can always put them up.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: On the idea of like having a lost cat or other pet and trying to lure them back, I do think that that is already accounted for in section B, number D, number, sorry, section D, number B, that there's an exemption for feeding of pets.

[Anna Callahan]: And only if the food intended for pets is determined to be the source of wildlife feeding.

[Anna Callahan]: So it seems like it's okay to do that already according to this.

[Anna Callahan]: but only if it is determined to be the source of wildlife feeding, would then there be some sort of a, you know, they would be required to take some steps to render that food inaccessible to wildlife.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that probably already falls under the ordinance as my suspicion.

[Anna Callahan]: As far as the question of getting proper budgetary information out of the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that's an entirely separate discussion, I agree that that's a big problem, and we as a city council have been working.

[Anna Callahan]: I even before I got on the city council to make sure that that's a more transparent process that the mayor is asked

[Anna Callahan]: and has been asked repeatedly and now has to follow a schedule to provide information this is something that this city council and the city council before me has worked very hard on.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is not something that we are ignoring this is something we are working very hard to make sure happens, but it is a totally separate issue from whether

[Anna Callahan]: we have 12 month availability of free cash, essentially, or if we only have free cash after it has been certified, which can take six to nine months.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is what this question is, is a question of whether we have, as a city, have availability of that free cash for 12 months, or whether we have availability for that free cash only after it has been certified six to nine months later.

[Anna Callahan]: I completely agree with many of the people who spoke here that the city

[Anna Callahan]: The roads are in terrible condition.

[Anna Callahan]: Our school buildings are in terrible condition.

[Anna Callahan]: Our school budget is not anywhere near large enough for the amount of teachers that we need.

[Anna Callahan]: I completely agree with those sentiments and that reality.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that it's because of decades of underfunding of this city, because that is why the roads have come to the point where they have come, and why the school buildings have come to the point where they have come.

[Anna Callahan]: That is also a separate issue from the question of whether we have year round access to essentially free cash, or whether we can cannot access that free cash for the first six to nine months.

[Anna Callahan]: So, to me, this really is a question simply of whether, and I appreciate cancer Scarpelli for your consideration for the newer city Councilors of which I am one.

[Anna Callahan]: I would not mind a little bit more time to understand this.

[Anna Callahan]: But I will say that it seems quite clear to me that, first of all, we're not taxing anybody.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not increasing the funds.

[Anna Callahan]: No, no, no, no.

[Anna Callahan]: This literally does not have to do anything with that.

[Anna Callahan]: It converts free cash from something that we cannot access to something that we can access.

[Anna Callahan]: And that free cash is literally

[Anna Callahan]: what happens when the income that comes into the city and the budget that goes out of the city, the actual spent budget that goes out of the city differ, which they have to do, or else you don't have a bond rating.

[Anna Callahan]: So understanding the budget of the city and how it functions, I do believe that creating this fund is the smart thing to do.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm willing to vote on this tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, I know that on that lot right now, there are a lot of wonderful tall trees that block the busy Broadway street from those other streets that are a little bit further in.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about the proposed green space and whether there will continue to be trees there or be new trees planted, aside from the pocket park?

[Anna Callahan]: They're quite lovely and tall.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: I am going to reiterate what has been already said a number of times.

[Anna Callahan]: All we are voting on tonight is whether we are allowed to discuss this topic.

[Anna Callahan]: So anything that comes before us has to get a number and go to committee.

[Anna Callahan]: That's how we start the process.

[Anna Callahan]: That's how we have a discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: That's how we also continue to get public input as we craft any sort of legislation of any kind.

[Anna Callahan]: We literally don't have a single word written about what kind of transfer fee we would do because we can't until we get a number and we send it to committee.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is going to take months because we're going to take a lot of input from the committee.

[Anna Callahan]: So as far as having a well-functioning democracy and being able to discuss important issues, this is how it starts.

[Anna Callahan]: We're only voting on whether we can discuss this issue.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is what we're voting on tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: I also really want people to have a little bit of understanding.

[Anna Callahan]: I know way too much about state politics.

[Anna Callahan]: And I can tell you that of any communities that have passed a real estate transfer fee, as with many other housing related issues, the state does not approve them.

[Anna Callahan]: So what is going to happen

[Anna Callahan]: is if we are lucky enough to pass anything,

[Anna Callahan]: that is related to a real estate transfer fee.

[Anna Callahan]: It will not be approved by the state.

[Anna Callahan]: The only thing likely to come out through the state is what is gonna be very similar to Governor Healey's proposition.

[Anna Callahan]: Governor Healey's proposition, just so you know, is 1% on either side.

[Anna Callahan]: Nothing will affect anyone who sells a house less than a million dollars.

[Anna Callahan]: And the only tax is on what is over a million dollars.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you sell your house for $1.1 million, the total tax for you is $1,000.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, I hope I can assuage some people's fears.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really hope that we can have a respectful discussion tonight and that you all can participate in our many months long discussion that we hopefully will be about to begin.

[Anna Callahan]: that will happen in perfectly open committee meetings, which we invite you all to come to.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, just point of personal privilege and I appreciate the opportunity in case other folks, maybe I misspoke or people didn't understand what I said earlier.

[Anna Callahan]: I was not saying that if we pass something like this, it will never get through the state house.

[Anna Callahan]: What I was saying is that the likelihood that our version, that any version we pass is different from Governor Healey's version is very low.

[Anna Callahan]: And what that means is that it will be a 1% tax

[Anna Callahan]: on buyer or seller, it will only affect homes over a million dollars and only the amount of money over a million dollars.

[Anna Callahan]: That was the reason that I brought up how difficult it is to pass through the statehouse.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you for giving me the opportunity to restate that.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you, we are voting to do what exactly?

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I apologize to my fellow Councilors for not submitting mine in a timely manner, but I want to, first of all, just state my agreements with points that other folks have brought up.

[Anna Callahan]: One is level funding for Medford public schools, including those positions that have been paid for with funds that may be ending or may have ended.

[Anna Callahan]: I agree with Councilor Scarpelli's request for a DPW hardtop group.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to make sure that we maintain our funding for community liaisons.

[Anna Callahan]: The elections department needs to be fully funded as it was in the past with an elections director.

[Anna Callahan]: I definitely agree with everyone that the city solicitor and assistant city solicitor salaries need to be increased.

[Anna Callahan]: We need to find those people and fill those positions.

[Anna Callahan]: And then two that I think have not been mentioned.

[Anna Callahan]: One is our tree planting budget should equal an amount

[Anna Callahan]: that can fund the amount needed to plant the number of trees that Medford loses per year, whatever best estimate that is we have for like a five year average.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to see a, this is not exactly a budget request but it's like information that I think needs to come along with the budget.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that

[Anna Callahan]: We have requested from the administration an explanation of what our five-year plan is for fixing our roads and sidewalks and how that matches with the pavement report, pavement management study, and the sidewalk study that were done.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that we need to see a five-year plan so that we can understand how the upcoming budget fits into this plan.

[Anna Callahan]: At a minimum,

[Anna Callahan]: If that plan is not ready in time, the budget for roads and sidewalks should come with an explanation of what is going to be accomplished with the funds just for this year as compared to the plans from the pavement management study and the sidewalk study.

[Anna Callahan]: So those are mine.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry, I do have one question.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there, for example, if there were creative ideas that came from the community about how we can support our local small businesses, is there some sort of a fund where small amounts of money like $2,000, $4,000, those kinds of things can come out of?

[Anna Callahan]: I would request there be a small slush fund for, you know, creative events and other ideas that can help our local small businesses.

[Anna Callahan]: We're talking like 10k maybe for an entire year, just very small.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, we're talking small, but you could do some interesting events and things with 10K.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So I hear this sort of coming up with five.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm curious, what do our

[Anna Callahan]: boil down recommendations look like?

[Anna Callahan]: Are we supposed to come up with five?

[Anna Callahan]: It doesn't say anything about that in the resolution.

[Anna Callahan]: What are we expecting this to look like?

[Anna Callahan]: How many is too many?

[Anna Callahan]: What do we want?

[Anna Callahan]: I wanted to ask, should I email mine, or is it okay?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have reasonable notes from what I said?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm really happy to see these changes.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the readability is very important.

[Anna Callahan]: I remember hearing from some constituents that they felt that it was more lenient on the municipality than it was on residents.

[Anna Callahan]: And this, I think it wasn't, but I think this reading of it makes it really clear that actually it's stricter on the commercial owners and the municipality than it is on residents.

[Anna Callahan]: So I only have one very small question, which is about the use of wheeled leaf blowers powered by four stroke engines.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sure there's a good reason why they're carved out from any sort of phase out.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm curious what that reason is.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I'm wondering if there is any phase out for those planned or if we're just, you know, maybe there's a reason why there's no plant phase out.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, could we say, you know, the user of the leaf blower?

[Anna Callahan]: Suggesting suggesting each year by September 1.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, just wanted to add to that.

[Anna Callahan]: But in addition to there being plenty of studies showing that over the life of the product, it is environmentally more responsible to use electric.

[Anna Callahan]: It should be noted that battery technology changes and changes fairly quickly.

[Anna Callahan]: So when we're talking about lithium batteries, the design of an electric leaf blower is different from the design of a gas powered leaf blower.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we

[Anna Callahan]: convert now to electric as battery technology improves, we will be able to more easily get the benefit of those new batteries, which, you know, I'm sure will be environmentally more sustainable because people are not quite aware of the problems with lithium batteries.

[Anna Callahan]: No, yeah I am seconding but I'd also like to discuss.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I just want to comment that there have been many public meetings on this.

[Anna Callahan]: There have been many, there have been dozens of people speaking very eloquently in favor of passing this.

[Anna Callahan]: I personally believe that there are more residents in Medford, who are incredibly frustrated with both the noise and pollution of gas leaf blowers than there are

[Anna Callahan]: people who do not want this ordinance to be this to move out of committee and to move to the City Council for passage.

[Anna Callahan]: And I also really want to reiterate that the very well respected institutions and scientists in climate science have studied whether

[Anna Callahan]: battery powered leaf blowers or gas powered leaf blowers are which one is environmentally better in the long run.

[Anna Callahan]: And they have determined that electric powered gas blowers are better for the environment in the long run.

[Anna Callahan]: And they include all sorts of things in that determination, including the dangers of lithium batteries, including, you know, all the metals that go into those.

[Anna Callahan]: So

[Anna Callahan]: We do not need to debate things here and talk about individual metals that go into them because we are not those experts.

[Anna Callahan]: Those experts have come to conclusions and those conclusions are that it's better to use electric.

[Anna Callahan]: And I certainly do believe that between the environmental impact and the noise pollution, that this is what, passing this is what the majority of Medford's and residents want, which is why I support this.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really commend the CPC for all the work that you do and, you know, the whole approval process and researching all these projects.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to understand a little bit better the process.

[Anna Callahan]: So there are applications that come in.

[Anna Callahan]: Are those applications ones that have been, do people go through the planning department?

[Anna Callahan]: Is it all simply, are these

[Anna Callahan]: organizations coming to you directly?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there what is and I guess what I'm asking about is I've been hearing from constituents about sort of equity across the city, folks in Barrie Park, Barrie Park playground, thinking that they maybe are not getting as much attention and as much funding.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm just curious if like who who's

[Anna Callahan]: job would it be to look across the city and determine which of these sort of resurfacing projects or any of these projects are the ones that are most needed and ensure that those applications are getting in.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to really thank all of the people who reach out to me.

[Anna Callahan]: I have received more emails on this topic than I've probably on any other topic and spoken to a number of firefighters.

[Anna Callahan]: And honestly, my position on this, I am finding it extremely difficult to believe that

[Anna Callahan]: a healthy fire department filled with people who want to do their jobs, respect their leaders, and are, you know, doing the best that they can here in Medford in this incredibly difficult job is going to be helped by a process that almost to a T, like every single one of them does not want.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: If we are looking, that is just very difficult for me to believe.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to make sure that whatever process that we have for selecting, and it was very interesting to me to hear, and I really dug into the process and how it has worked in the past, and how people are satisfied with it, and why it is that this particular process that the fire department has builds trust, builds respect, builds a really good, as Councilor Lemmie said, morale,

[Anna Callahan]: And I am finding it very difficult to believe that a process that every firefighter does not want is going to get better leadership into the position.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's where I start from, but I'm open ears and I'm very interested in hearing from everyone who is here to speak about this topic.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, and thanks so much to everyone who has come tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: I consider myself to be a pro-worker and pro-union person, and I know that there are other Councilors on this council who agree with that statement about themselves.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the absolute minimum that we can do if we are pro-worker, pro-union people, is to not make this permanent change

[Anna Callahan]: to essentially at will employment based solely on flimsy corporate arguments and a totally unproven allegation.

[Anna Callahan]: So from the arguments standpoint, I have heard a number of things tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: and things like this process should not be hamstrung by all sorts of bureaucratic blah blah blah.

[Anna Callahan]: It sure is real simple when you can fire anybody for no reason and

[Anna Callahan]: Process is something that helps us have good democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: It helps us have good workplaces.

[Anna Callahan]: I do not think that this argument of needing to have a quick process is one that I would agree with or that vibes with me.

[Anna Callahan]: This idea that we need leadership that is most qualified, that we're going to find the best candidate.

[Anna Callahan]: I talked at length with firefighters who described the process, the civil service process, and believe me,

[Anna Callahan]: Having a mayor select someone is not merit-based.

[Anna Callahan]: If you want the best candidate or most qualified candidate, then you're going to go with a civil service process because that in fact is totally merit-based.

[Anna Callahan]: And this question that this decision does not affect other people in the department is, frankly, totally not true.

[Anna Callahan]: It is true to say that it does not remove those other people from civil service, but it totally affects them, aside from the fact that all these promotions, you know, would, you know, waterfall down.

[Anna Callahan]: and affect a lot of people every time there would be a new fire chief.

[Anna Callahan]: That, of course, is true.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you want to know if it affects the department, look around the room.

[Anna Callahan]: It affects the department.

[Anna Callahan]: Why else are all of these people here?

[Anna Callahan]: And as far as the allegation, you know, I am very concerned that we are being pushed into this decision based on

[Anna Callahan]: a totally unproven allegation that the mayor herself says she doesn't even have any idea why these people would do a coordinated sick out.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, people don't do a coordinated, like, they don't through their union coordinate to all be sick at the same time without a demand.

[Anna Callahan]: You don't, like, that just isn't the thing.

[Anna Callahan]: And the other thing about being sick is that, you know, diseases are contagious.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: So people all get sick at the same time when they work in the same place.

[Anna Callahan]: That is normal.

[Anna Callahan]: And you can think what you want about that particular instance.

[Anna Callahan]: But whatever you think, there is no proven anything going on here.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is not the time for us to make this kind of decision.

[Anna Callahan]: It also I really have to urge Councilors to understand that there is not one firefighter that is in favor of this.

[Anna Callahan]: And I am, again, as I said at the beginning, really boggles my mind how we could possibly improve our fire department with leadership that they themselves will refuse.

[Anna Callahan]: It simply does not make any sense.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am not in favor of this, and I don't think that it helps us to move this to a committee where we'll discuss it more.

[Anna Callahan]: I have made my decision.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: No.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I have a few questions.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I don't, I don't see.

[Anna Callahan]: So there are seven different Home Rule petitions listed, potential Home Rule petitions listed.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have any actual legal language for any of these seven?

[Anna Callahan]: My second question, if I may, if I may just ask my second question.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just wanted to double check.

[Anna Callahan]: So we are, right now we're not discussing the other six.

[Anna Callahan]: We're discussing the rent stabilization, which is referenced in a separate email.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that correct?

[Anna Callahan]: We're only discussing the rent stabilization today?

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: No, really, President Bayer said what I was going to say.

[Anna Callahan]: I think the person who wrote in that was read in public comment misunderstood what is in this draft with the idea that currently you can evict people for any reason.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we change that, that doesn't mean that you can't evict them for any reason.

[Anna Callahan]: There are many reasons that you certainly can evict people.

[Anna Callahan]: You can evict them if they don't pay their rent.

[Anna Callahan]: You can evict them if they have a cat and that's against the lease.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, any of these things are perfectly valid reasons to evict someone.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think there was a misunderstanding and I hope that that came through in President Bears's message.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: So yes, these are a number of pro-democracy reforms.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to clarify for folks what I mean by pro-democracy reforms.

[Anna Callahan]: These are things that ideally would help Medford have more people voting.

[Anna Callahan]: have better actual voting rates throughout our population and or would allow for people who tend to be underserved by government and underrepresented to be better represented and better served.

[Anna Callahan]: There are many of these that we could consider.

[Anna Callahan]: These are the ones that I think that we can consider most easily as a city council in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: So the reason why the salaries for elected officials are prioritized is because if any salaries are going to be raised

[Anna Callahan]: then I personally would prefer, even though this isn't a law on our books, there are cities in Massachusetts and in other places around the country that have laws that say that if salaries are going to be raised, that they need to be decided in the first 18 months of the term, and they cannot take effect until the next term.

[Anna Callahan]: So the idea of having a recommendation finished by December 31st,

[Anna Callahan]: out of this committee means that the council could then make a decision before June, which would be within the first 18 months of the term.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the reason behind that particular issue.

[Anna Callahan]: But I will say there is no rush on any of these.

[Anna Callahan]: Nothing needs to be decided.

[Anna Callahan]: There's also no

[Anna Callahan]: There's no legal language on any of these.

[Anna Callahan]: So this really is just an opening discussion and no rush on any of these.

[Anna Callahan]: There's no particular timeline for them.

[Anna Callahan]: So whenever it pleases this particular committee to put them on the agenda, I would be happy to appear again.

[Anna Callahan]: From the public?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: In our last meeting, not the last meeting, but one of the meetings we had yesterday, I believe that the clerk said that if we receive and place on file, then we're essentially putting it away to not look at again.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to reopen it if we need to.

[Anna Callahan]: Doesn't this just remain as something that is, don't we need to not receive and place this on file?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm asking maybe the clerk.

[Anna Callahan]: I am, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, I was just saying if you prefer to do these other two first, we can, because we know the better, then we can have more general discussion after, but then we can just move to move 006 to after those, if you prefer that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I also am fine if we do the sort of general discussion first.

[Anna Callahan]: Perhaps we move it to move 006 to the end and we get your stuff, do all of your stuff, and then 006, if there's anything left over in 006, we can cover it at the end.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, I was just curious if, like, if we have a subcommittee, are only people who are on this committee allowed to be on the subcommittee?

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's a question for Adam.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm curious, yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: So I definitely think it's, I love the idea of having something that is, you know, unbiased, sort of lets people know about what has been passed recently, and especially opportunities for people to get engaged before things are passed.

[Anna Callahan]: That's the part I'm most excited about.

[Anna Callahan]: I am,

[Anna Callahan]: Curious if we have talked to the communications department and seen whether we can sort of fold this into what they're doing, like we come up with sort of the brief description.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I don't think it has to be long either.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we're talking, it's simple.

[Anna Callahan]: And then, I don't know, can you quick answer that before I make a couple more comments?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Just to finish up, I'm someone who thinks very deeply and has for seven or eight years thought very deeply about how to engage people who are not currently engaged in city politics.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not worried that if we send it to some people, there are people who aren't getting it.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that's the way all newsletters are.

[Anna Callahan]: You start with with the people who you know you can access.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think this kind of update is

[Anna Callahan]: just trying to get a certain piece of information out.

[Anna Callahan]: The question of how do you engage more people, I think, is something that we reach differently.

[Anna Callahan]: That's not what we discuss now.

[Anna Callahan]: That's what we discussed specifically when we were discussing, hey, how do we reach those people and bring them into any of these discussions?

[Anna Callahan]: To me, that's what the meetings with underrepresented groups is really

[Anna Callahan]: dedicated to as well as the community liaisons and other things.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm not, I'm not really concerned about, you know, having a newsletter that does not go to every single person in the city.

[Anna Callahan]: I think you start, you know, that's how newsletters are, right?

[Anna Callahan]: You start with what you can.

[Anna Callahan]: I just, I would love it if we can also talk to the communications department and see if that's one of the avenues that, you know, we can sort of fold this into if it's something nice and simple.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just hoping because I know we're short on time, but it would be great if the ordinance those that are listed here would major partisan ordinances if someone could simply give like a very basic sort of status of those that would be very helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: public works facilities convened, and we have discussed ways that we can keep up to date on the roads and sidewalks, as well as all of the buildings that the city owns in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: We are excited to keep the public informed of how these efforts are moving forward with the administration.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Leming spoke quite well on this.

[Anna Callahan]: Really, this is a, remember, this is a resolution.

[Anna Callahan]: This is not an ordinance that we are passing.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a statement of the views of the council on not prioritizing our law enforcement to spend resources, to arrest and, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: you know, sent for incarceration, people who simply have possession of such controlled substances.

[Anna Callahan]: So given that and what Councilor Leming said, I believe this resolution is a fairly reasonable state and there are many other cities that have passed something very similar.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: As a co sponsor of this, it clearly is important to me that we do consider the spirit of what we're trying to do here.

[Anna Callahan]: But I also want to mention that this is a fairly long resolution, and it includes a couple of state

[Anna Callahan]: recommendations about state policy.

[Anna Callahan]: And I want to ensure that other Councilors have had the time to consider those policies and to consider the entire text.

[Anna Callahan]: And that I also mentioned this because I am the first in the alphabet, which means that I have to state what I'm going to do first.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's simply to say to my fellow Councilors that I would definitely respect people's desires to have time and committee

[Anna Callahan]: to understand the issue more.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will, as a co-sponsor, make sure that this does move through committee.

[Anna Callahan]: But I just want to state that I'd love to hear from other Councilors in terms of whether sending it to committee is something that you would prefer.

[Anna Callahan]: Because I work for a 501C3 organization that takes a position on a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, among other things, I have filed a disclosure form with the city clerk, but I have been advised by the State Ethics Commission that I am able to vote on this issue.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I so appreciate everyone who is involved in this process.

[Anna Callahan]: And I want to say, just for a moment, about the amended language, that that is actually part of the democratic process.

[Anna Callahan]: So the original language that was posted was there for people to interact with.

[Anna Callahan]: That is why it was there, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It wasn't there to remain untouched until we arrived here today.

[Anna Callahan]: It was there so that people could be involved in democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I'll direct my comments to the chair.

[Anna Callahan]: Could be involved in democracy and they did, right?

[Anna Callahan]: They reached out to Councilor Collins and probably to, I certainly had someone reach out to me.

[Anna Callahan]: People reached out to the councilors and to the sponsor of this particular resolution.

[Anna Callahan]: to state what they wanted, their vision of what they wanted this to be.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know that many, many people did that.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's where the amended language came from.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't want people to think that we are simply looking at amended language that sprung out of one of our minds without input, and that we're voting on it without

[Anna Callahan]: you know, thinking about it.

[Anna Callahan]: But this was something that really was worked on by many people.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate all of their time.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate all of the time of everyone who has been here.

[Anna Callahan]: It is well worth our staying up late for the things that we do.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really appreciate that and just wanted to chat for a minute about

[Anna Callahan]: how much I appreciate people being involved in our democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: I do hope that folks will come back and will stay on top of the things that are coming up in the city council and will reach out to us before they're voted on to help us make them better.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to mention for anyone watching, listening or in the chambers that this is a resolution that simply sends it to committee.

[Anna Callahan]: This is an opening of the discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: So if people are interested in this topic, please come to the committee meetings where this will be discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: Same with the warming center, same with some of these other resolutions that were passed today and maybe passed later today.

[Anna Callahan]: This is really the beginning of the discussion, certainly not the end.

[Anna Callahan]: And we really encourage people to come to those committee meetings because that is where the sort of

[Anna Callahan]: you know, meat and potatoes of developing laws for our city comes from.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted to mention that in one of the committees, perhaps you can remind me which one, we were talking about the importance of holding companies accountable for any damages that they do, or for following through on their promises of things that they've committed to.

[Anna Callahan]: And I see this as part of that ongoing work, but we will be, as a city, we will be doing more to be proactive about these kinds of things.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, yes, as I mentioned earlier today in this committee, we have discussed getting updates from the administration on roads on sidewalks and on all publicly owned buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: We also have a new facilities manager.

[Anna Callahan]: So we feel this is a really nice way for them to get

[Anna Callahan]: themselves situated in terms of what all of the city owned buildings are, what state of repair they're in, how much might cost to repair them.

[Anna Callahan]: So, this is just something that we're, you know, putting forward.

[Anna Callahan]: And we think that it will both be beneficial to the city and also be beneficial to the facilities manager.

[Anna Callahan]: This resolution really is all about just getting the information that we need to make decisions like that in the future.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just gonna say, I worked on this.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm in support of this.

[Anna Callahan]: I do, as a general rule, I think councilors should take time to understand everything in everything that we pass.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know that there's some state laws involved here.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's why I just wanted to know, but I'm perfectly happy to pass tonight.

[Anna Callahan]: Present.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, I cannot hear you.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you move the thing onto the podium, maybe?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, good idea.

[Anna Callahan]: With air conditioning.

[Anna Callahan]: Is this better?

[Anna Callahan]: I just was hoping that we can, for all of these, have a status in each of these.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's super helpful to have a status.

[Anna Callahan]: So even zoning reform, it's helpful for us, but also for the public to know, oh, there was zoning reform.

[Anna Callahan]: There was a minor zoning reform that happened last cycle, but we expect to be doing more major zoning reform.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think even for any of the ordinances and things, even if it's not started, it would be great to have a status put in there.

[Anna Callahan]: So status being things like not started,

[Anna Callahan]: proposed, like I don't know what they all are going to be, but like a status.

[Anna Callahan]: And if there's anything that can be easily put into like a short sentence for people to give people any context around that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Would it be helpful under descriptions and goals if we actually

[Anna Callahan]: called out housing production plan section 5B to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and the climate action plan 2.2.D, blah, blah, blah.

[Anna Callahan]: So rather than these generic implement Medford Comprehensive Plan, which even I who have read the Medford Comprehensive Plan don't, that's so vague.

[Anna Callahan]: Would that be a helpful way for us to have a full list, even though I know that would be long?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a way for us to maybe each of us take things that we're like, I'm trying to figure out how we can break this into chunks to make it into like a list of things that we actually want to accomplish.

[Anna Callahan]: So these are definitely out of the climate adaptation and action plan.

[Anna Callahan]: Really, the energy disclosure and benchmarking are kind of linked.

[Anna Callahan]: So what other cities have done is to first start with having buildings, usually large buildings above a certain amount, have required energy disclosure.

[Anna Callahan]: And then after that, after they've been doing that for a few years, then the city can benchmark certain energy goals and have fines for buildings that are not meeting those goals.

[Anna Callahan]: So it is definitely part of the same, it would be part of, I believe, the same ordinance that would have one thing for a few years and then benchmarking part of it for the next few years.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: You just reminded me.

[Anna Callahan]: I also had a talk with Brenda and Alicia about this and heard that the state may be working on something like this.

[Anna Callahan]: The state's version will only apply to very large buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: I think our first step is really to investigate, number one, what the state is working on and number two,

[Anna Callahan]: how quickly that might be done, because being someone who actually knows quite a lot about how state politics works, I know that it could be 10 or 20 years.

[Anna Callahan]: So we need to understand whether they're actually going to accomplish something or if this is just something that is, you know, quote unquote, being worked on.

[Anna Callahan]: And then number three, if whatever law they are working on is even going to have any impact in Medford, given the size of most of our buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: And if not, then we want to consider what could we do that might be like a slightly smaller building size or how we could have impact.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm super passionate about this because two thirds of our emissions are from buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: And so this is really and almost all of our buildings are existing buildings.

[Anna Callahan]: There's like a half a percent gain in buildings per year, maybe, maybe less.

[Anna Callahan]: So we cannot affect this carbon emissions through new buildings and new construction.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, there's new construction on old buildings, but if we really want to get at our carbon emissions, this is something we'll have to consider.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, I can speak to that.

[Anna Callahan]: It's basically something that will allow us to reach both some of our climate goals as well as some of our affordable housing goals.

[Anna Callahan]: It just means that if you're a landlord renting units that you would have to register with the city.

[Anna Callahan]: Pretty simple.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Tseng?

[Anna Callahan]: Sure this energy retrofits for existing buildings is really right out of the climate action adaptation plan.

[Anna Callahan]: It's supposed to be something that the planning department is doing this year.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe started last year.

[Anna Callahan]: I think they're actually going to start this year.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think we just want to have our eyes on it and ensure that that effort is moving forward.

[Anna Callahan]: I think there are other things to do with that before we look at any zoning.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to look at the state legislation and everything else.

[Anna Callahan]: Hello, welcome.

[Anna Callahan]: We are convening the Medford City Council Public Works and Facilities Committee meeting for January 31st, 2024.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Clerk, can you call the roll?

[Anna Callahan]: present.

[Anna Callahan]: And I want to recognize Emily Lazzaro as our vice chair.

[Anna Callahan]: We will go on to the action and discussion items.

[Anna Callahan]: And the primary one here is

[Anna Callahan]: is 24-006 offered by Isaac bears Council President, the resolution that each council committee review the 2024 2025 Council governing agenda as amended at the January 24 2024 committee of the whole meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: So we do have that agenda in front of us.

[Anna Callahan]: And as with the other committee meetings, we can go ahead and just run through those items to discuss how we are going to move forward on them for the next year or two.

[Anna Callahan]: We will start with our major projects, and I'll start with the street and sidewalk repair and accessibility.

[Anna Callahan]: and sidewalk repairs.

[Anna Callahan]: Um while we don't implement street and sidewalk repair as a city council, um, we do want to be, um.

[Anna Callahan]: Aware of and to also provide residents some awareness of what the city is planning to do in terms of street and sidewalk repair.

[Anna Callahan]: And one of the

[Anna Callahan]: the administration, which of the proposed plans in the 2021 payment management study we have chosen, or if we haven't chosen any of those plans specifically, then what are our plans for the next five years, including both the funding as well as which streets or category of streets we will be repairing?

[Anna Callahan]: Comments from city councilors?

[Anna Callahan]: President Bears.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you think that we can request that for a month from now when we have our next

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, do we have, this is a motion, do we have?

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have a second?

[Anna Callahan]: Seconds the motion.

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Scarpelli, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I love that idea.

[Anna Callahan]: I might suggest that we add to this motion that we have a report back not only on the pavement management,

[Anna Callahan]: study, which is specifically roads, but there's also a sidewalk study.

[Anna Callahan]: So maybe that belongs in it and then maybe a separate motion for a comparison of the price of having our own sidewalk.

[Anna Callahan]: And yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Zero.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there more discussion?

[Anna Callahan]: Do people feel comfortable, even though this is a very long motion, do people feel comfortable voting on the motion?

[Anna Callahan]: But I believe that currently we're only considering your motion right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, OK.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, any more discussion on the first motion of President Bears?

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: All opposed?

[Anna Callahan]: Motion passes.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Scarpelli, do you want to make that motion now?

[Anna Callahan]: Does it go boing?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Any more discussion on this motion?

[Anna Callahan]: Seconded by Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: All opposed?

[Anna Callahan]: Motion passes.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, let's go ahead and breeze through some of these other ones.

[Anna Callahan]: We have one under City Facilities and Equipment.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anyone who wants to speak on this one?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli.

[Anna Callahan]: I completely agree.

[Anna Callahan]: I think having some sort of assessment.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do think that if with a new facilities manager, that is exactly the time for them to be given a task like this, as long as they have enough time, because it really sets them on the right path of being aware of all of our facilities and the shape that each one of them is in.

[Anna Callahan]: It'll help them to get all that information on board quickly.

[Anna Callahan]: Any other discussion around this one?

[Anna Callahan]: Moving on to public restrooms in Parks and Squares, and Councilor Tseng is not here, but it is fairly self-descriptive, just developing plans to have more public restrooms in our parks and squares.

[Anna Callahan]: Moving on to ordinances, is there any discussion?

[Anna Callahan]: We're good.

[Anna Callahan]: Ordinances, the lead ordinance, Councilor Beres, do you want to introduce this one?

[Anna Callahan]: Any discussion?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Moving on to a homeown petition to increase excise taxes for large trucks.

[Anna Callahan]: This is Vice President Collins taking the lead on this.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anyone that wants to introduce this one?

[Anna Callahan]: That's what rings in my head.

[Anna Callahan]: Any other discussion?

[Anna Callahan]: Moving on to the oversight and engagement, public utility accountability.

[Anna Callahan]: Cerulli is looking at holding utility companies accountable to provide services and benefits to the community and mitigate impact of their assets and poor asset condition on the city.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for mentioning that.

[Anna Callahan]: It also reminds me that I heard this same thing that you say that you have heard for many years I also heard this talking to neighbors at their doors.

[Anna Callahan]: And also I wonder if we can fold into this.

[Anna Callahan]: to understand from the administration how much coordination there is, because in some other cities, they put a moratorium once a road is truly repaved and brought up to like a number one.

[Anna Callahan]: And my understanding is that then there are a lot of emergencies, and that this happens all the time.

[Anna Callahan]: So to really have an understanding from the administration of what that moratorium is, what can get in the way of it, how often it happens, that, in fact, it's torn up much more quickly than every five years.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think that might fold into that, or it could be separate.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Lazzaro.

[Anna Callahan]: So there, yes, Councilor Lazzaro?

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Scarpelli has a motion on the floor and as we read it back, if you wanna, no, no, just let me know if you think it makes any sense to add in something about the moratorium and how often it is broken.

[Anna Callahan]: So let's go ahead and read that back.

[Anna Callahan]: Do we want to have a second for this motion?

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe.

[Anna Callahan]: We can always add my stuff as a different motion or something.

[Anna Callahan]: Any more discussion on the Councilor Scarapelli's motion?

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: Aye.

[Anna Callahan]: All opposed?

[Anna Callahan]: Motion passes.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, we are near the end here.

[Anna Callahan]: Seconded by Councilor Caraviello.

[Anna Callahan]: All right, Councilor.

[Anna Callahan]: Already?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to read that back, and then we'll take a vote?

[Anna Callahan]: We'll have a discussion and vote.

[Anna Callahan]: Any discussion?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: Motion passes.

[Anna Callahan]: The final thing on our list is simply the tree planting volunteer network.

[Anna Callahan]: That is really something that we're at a very early phase.

[Anna Callahan]: We're just at the point of like talking to city staff and kind of seeing, you know, they're like talking to city staff and also looking at what other cities have done just to get an idea.

[Anna Callahan]: So we're not, I think, at the point of any kind of an ordinance or taking action.

[Anna Callahan]: So the idea is that the city would allow certain volunteers, residents to, with training, with the proper placement, with the proper trees, with the proper depth, and with all the training to be enabled to participate in the planting of certain city trees.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do think also that as a, like if this becomes something of a resolution or who knows what exactly it will become, that it will be for, it's kind of stopgap measure, that the purpose really is to have a larger tree planting crew, but that at the moment, while we are dealing with budgetary difficulties, that this might be able to help us to increase our tree canopy.

[Anna Callahan]: President Bears?

[Anna Callahan]: Does anybody have an idea for what is the next step for this?

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have any other public comment, any discussion of anything else as we've reached the end of our sort of list of things that we hope to cover in this committee?

[Anna Callahan]: What we were just talking about just now.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes, 19-554, resolution to add noise barriers along Route 93.

[Anna Callahan]: It was discussed.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not call it from my chair.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Please do.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you state your name and address for the record?

[Anna Callahan]: I think that our clerk actually has some some answers for you.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, unfortunately, I think that the reason this has been stalled for six years is because it's really up to the state.

[Anna Callahan]: This is not something that we can decide and our administration can implement.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: No, we can't because it's really up to the state.

[Anna Callahan]: So we don't have any control over it.

[Anna Callahan]: So what we're suggesting is that we reach out again to our state representatives to ask them for some information, but it's nothing that we are able to.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Any other public comment?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: OK, all rants aside, cut you off, President Perkins.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there any other discussion?

[Anna Callahan]: No, there's not.

[Anna Callahan]: Does anyone move to adjourn?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Motion to adjourn from Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Zach Bears.

[Anna Callahan]: All in favor?

[Anna Callahan]: Aye.

[Anna Callahan]: Opposed?

[Anna Callahan]: Motion passes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you very much to everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: See you all next month.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just curious about procedure, and I know that the committees were different in the last cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: These tree preservation leaf blower, which seem like they might be under environment, are they in Committee of the Whole because of the change of structure of the committees?

[Anna Callahan]: Or is there a reason why things might go to Committee of the Whole rather than be in a specific other committee?

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate that the current status is in there, so we can, we don't even need to ask, like, we can see immediately, like, what is it waiting on, so thank you for that.

[Anna Callahan]: I was so excited to see the percent for art ordinance.

[Anna Callahan]: Will there be an updated digital copy of this regularly as things change?

[Anna Callahan]: I want to bring up two ideas that came up as I was knocking on doors.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope to, you know, encourage these to happen.

[Anna Callahan]: One is to encourage our schools to offer more opportunities for our children to spend in the fells.

[Anna Callahan]: and in nature.

[Anna Callahan]: And the other one that I got from a 10-year-old at the doors is called Lemonade Stand Days, where we send out a text message to everyone in the city saying, if you're a kid, get your lemonade stand ready.

[Anna Callahan]: If you're a grown-up, put cash in your pocket.

[Anna Callahan]: The night before any day, it's going to be over 90 degrees.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to highlight that the energy disclosure and benchmarking ordinances, I'm happy to take, to kind of review that and look, because certain things have to happen before other things, and

[Anna Callahan]: Anyway, if you want to put my name there, you can, on the Energy Disclosure, just because I want to work together with Patel in terms of looking at those

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to bring up another idea that I heard while I was knocking on doors.

[Anna Callahan]: This is not at the point of writing an ordinance yet, but simply at the point of having discussions with the public.

[Anna Callahan]: Someone asked if we could pass something allowing folks to have chickens in their backyard.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know that the way other cities do it, it's a certain number per lake.

[Anna Callahan]: or nine blocks or whatever that is.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's not like anyone can have as many chickens as they want.

[Anna Callahan]: So, but again, not ordinance stage, simply curiosity because someone mentioned it when I was knocking on their door to see if this is something that the people in Medford are interested in.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Again, I'm excited to dig into these and to work with the committee to prioritize these items.

[Anna Callahan]: I do want to say I'm happy to put the public utility accountability if you want to put my name as the lead councilor.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: That's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm also really grateful for seeing the lead ordinance on there.

[Anna Callahan]: That was on all of my original material that I knocked on doors with in May and June.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm very happy to see that there.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's it for me.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanna make sure that people, that we understood you correctly.

[Anna Callahan]: You're talking about municipal energy.

[Anna Callahan]: It says you broke up a little bit right then.

[Anna Callahan]: Renewable energy.

[Anna Callahan]: Renewable energy or municipal energy.

[Anna Callahan]: I think he was talking about municipal energy.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, which I think is very exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And I so appreciate this being brought up.

[Anna Callahan]: Given our discussion right now, and discussions that I had many times at people's doors over the summer and fall, I would love to organize one meeting of this Public Works and Facilities Committee that is devoted to discussing private ways with the public.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully we can have a lot of lead time.

[Anna Callahan]: We can also come up with some written understanding of the history of private ways, how they became what they are.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to do something like that, so I don't think we'll do it right away.

[Anna Callahan]: It's something that will require a lot of preparation for, but I do think that that would be beneficial for our community, for people to be able to come and discuss the issue as a whole with each other.

[Anna Callahan]: I would lean toward a debt exclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: A debt exclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: Like a real big public campaign for a debt exclusion.

[Anna Callahan]: Everybody knows exactly what it's for and the public gets to decide whether or not to do that for the people who live in the city and yet do not get a lot of the services that everybody else gets.

[Anna Callahan]: Really could be a question of equity.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the voters are deciding and we're not doing anything that is not, we're not making the decision.

[Anna Callahan]: Voters are making the decision.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that the $64 million question?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: As I was looking through our whole governing framework, I noticed that there wasn't any obvious place to put a lot of the revitalizing our squares work.

[Anna Callahan]: And I thought about the Resident Services and Public Engagement Committee as a good place where we might be able to do some of those.

[Anna Callahan]: I know some of our neighboring cities have, they actually have city run offices that can help local businesses.

[Anna Callahan]: They have grants for

[Anna Callahan]: you know, both exterior and interior design.

[Anna Callahan]: They have trainings in, you know, how to, you know, run, you know, employment, and how to run a business, all sorts of things.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think that's, I heard so many times from people that we really want to be revitalizing our squares.

[Anna Callahan]: So one, it's just really a question if there is another place aside from zoning, which I know is going to be, you know, obvious, that's more obvious place.

[Anna Callahan]: but if this seems like the right place to put some of those discussions.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I would love to offer that I will go ahead and make some suggestions for things we might be able to do based on what some other cities have done and ideas that came up during the campaign.

[Anna Callahan]: I simply wanted to address Councilor George, I mean, Councilor Scarpelli, and say that we miss your cheerful disposition in the chambers.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So, when I was reading this after action report, I assumed that it would include some explanation of the things that had gone wrong, and why they had gone wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: And I, I just don't see anything like that in here I see a lot of things like, you know, I mean,

[Anna Callahan]: As Councilor Scarpelli said, we often have these results by 9pm, and yet we didn't have the results until 1 o'clock in the morning.

[Anna Callahan]: And rather than any sort of explanation of why that happened, it says all ballots must be counted on election day.

[Anna Callahan]: The tabulation facility will post the tabulated tapes in the same method as the individual precincts.

[Anna Callahan]: Unofficial results will be released once, like there is nothing in here that explains what happened.

[Anna Callahan]: So my first question is perhaps I misunderstood what this report was supposed to be.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'd like to ask what the report was supposed to be.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think it would be incredibly helpful to have some sort of understanding of what it was that actually went wrong because I don't see that in here at all.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: It's been 24 years since a school committee has gotten a pay raise.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe that the school committee is overdue for one.

[Anna Callahan]: We need the school committee to be paid enough to ensure that enough people run so that elections are competitive.

[Anna Callahan]: We need the pay to be enough to attract people who are less wealthy, people who cannot afford to spend up to 20 hours a week doing something that

[Anna Callahan]: you know, doesn't pay or pays very little.

[Anna Callahan]: I see raising the school committee salary as a pro-democracy reform along with many other types of pro-democracy reforms that I will mention later.

[Anna Callahan]: Reforms that I have presented in communities across the country for seven years that are deeply important to me.

[Anna Callahan]: As I said last time, pro-democracy means not just people who are willing or dedicated.

[Anna Callahan]: It means having people sitting in those seats who represent, for example, the lower 50% of wage earners in our city.

[Anna Callahan]: These are not the people who usually run for or win elected office.

[Anna Callahan]: Pro-democracy reforms usually happen in the next cycle because it is not about paying the people currently sitting in those seats.

[Anna Callahan]: It is about getting diverse people to run.

[Anna Callahan]: Many cities and states have it in their laws that any change in salary for elected officials cannot go into effect within the same electoral cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not look hard for these, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So just in three minutes of Google searching, Illinois and Georgia both have state laws for all municipal elected officials.

[Anna Callahan]: stating that you cannot raise the pay within that electoral cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: Even in Massachusetts, and again, no exhaustive search, Watertown and Everett both have city codes that say that any pay increase for school committees specifically must be voted on in the first 18 months of the cycle and cannot take effect until the next cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: On the question of pay parity, I tried to find examples of pay parity between school committees and city councils discussed anywhere.

[Anna Callahan]: I found almost nothing.

[Anna Callahan]: No well-known elected officials, no organizations that I've heard of or haven't heard of discussing this issue.

[Anna Callahan]: It came up for a vote in Fall River.

[Anna Callahan]: a proposal to bring the school committee pay up to the city council pay, it did not pass.

[Anna Callahan]: In Worcester, there was one school committee member who wanted for the school committee to be paid the same as city council, but that is not allowed by the city charter, which in Worcester states that the salary for members of the school committee will be equal to 50% of the salary established for members of the city council.

[Anna Callahan]: So unless they change the city charter,

[Anna Callahan]: They cannot do that.

[Anna Callahan]: And I will say that across the country, school committees getting paid 50 percent of the city council is pretty standard.

[Anna Callahan]: That doesn't make it right.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: But it is the norm.

[Anna Callahan]: I also tried to find anyone talking about this issue as one of parity between men and women.

[Anna Callahan]: I could not find, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I could not find anyone talking about this issue.

[Anna Callahan]: I did look up some numbers.

[Anna Callahan]: So according to the National School Boards Association, 51% of school board members are men, 49% are women.

[Anna Callahan]: We should note that this is a much higher percentage of women than in other elected bodies.

[Anna Callahan]: 28% of Congress is women, 33% of state legislatures are women, 32% of city councils are women.

[Anna Callahan]: Northampton, which is a pretty progressive city, commissioned a study on compensation for elected officials in 2014.

[Anna Callahan]: That's a little while ago.

[Anna Callahan]: The end result was a recommendation that they pay their city councilors $17,000.

[Anna Callahan]: That was a raise for both city council and school committee.

[Anna Callahan]: That they pay their school committee members $9,000.

[Anna Callahan]: They have less than half the people living in Northampton as we have in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: It was 10 years ago.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't think that we should look at those specific numbers.

[Anna Callahan]: But it is interesting to note that their commission did have a difference in pay between the city council and the school committee.

[Anna Callahan]: I am not stating that this is right, that school committees across the country are paid approximately 50%, but there appears to be nobody except for us here and in Fall River, even discussing this issue.

[Anna Callahan]: I believe without a doubt that a pay increase for the Medford School Committee is long overdue.

[Anna Callahan]: I personally believe there are many reasons why it is appropriate that pay increases for any elected officials come take effect the next cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: I would like to make a motion.

[Anna Callahan]: It's somewhat long.

[Anna Callahan]: I can email it to the clerk, the president, the vice president, or whoever is appropriate.

[Anna Callahan]: If it is possible to vote on it tonight, that would be great, but if not, that's fine.

[Anna Callahan]: My motion is to send the following pro-democracy reforms to study in the Governance Committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Salaries for elected officials, public financing of elections, rank choice voting for single elected offices, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote, and allowing non-citizen residents to vote.

[Anna Callahan]: along with that, a request that the Governance Committee prioritize the salary discussion and come to a recommendation on this issue before December 31st of 2024, so that the City Council can vote on whether to implement those salaries starting January of 2026, which is the beginning of the next electoral cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: Also a request that the Governance Committee consider the following factors in their salary recommendations, in addition to any others they deem important,

[Anna Callahan]: getting enough people to run so that elections are competitive, enabling less wealthy people to hold elected office, and gender pay parity.

[Anna Callahan]: Non-citizens.

[Anna Callahan]: Councilor Kelly, are we not covering 2402?

[Anna Callahan]: As a new city councillor, I would love to ask how this discussion is going to proceed.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like my understanding was that there were going to be some proposals that would change either the number or the start date or something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there any proposals to do that, or is this simply discussing the original?

[Anna Callahan]: Whew, wow, so much to say about this.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I want to say that a number of years ago, the Somerville School Committee, the paraprofessionals were asking to have their salaries raised to, I think it was $25,000 a year, which I can tell you in Somerville, nor here is a living wage.

[Anna Callahan]: I was outraged that the school committee was like, nope, flat out.

[Anna Callahan]: wouldn't do it.

[Anna Callahan]: And one of the reasons that they gave was that they were talking to other school committees and the other school committees from other cities didn't want Somerville to raise the wage because, oh no, then it would mean that they would be under pressure to raise the wage.

[Anna Callahan]: And I said right there that it was my, I was incredibly disappointed.

[Anna Callahan]: They should be proud to be the first city to do the right thing for the paraprofessionals.

[Anna Callahan]: right?

[Anna Callahan]: So, and I want to start off by saying how much I believe that our paraprofessionals, especially, but also our teachers are underpaid for the work that they do, how incredibly important that work is.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I'm boggled by the types of industries that get paid twice as much as teachers, genuinely.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: That is very important to me.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think, unfortunately, the only way that we are going to get the things that we care about in this city to be properly funded is to increase the total budget.

[Anna Callahan]: Because we're not going to steal from affordable housing stuff to pay the teachers.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not going to steal from the teachers to pay for putting us in line with our climate change goals.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not going to pay for those.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not going to steal from one thing to pay for another.

[Anna Callahan]: Our roads, everything is underfunded.

[Anna Callahan]: We are wildly underfunded in Medford and we have to solve that problem.

[Anna Callahan]: So I wanna make sure that we don't come into these detailed arguments that are like, oh, well, we can't spend this $60,000 this way because it's gonna come back and fight and compete with the other 70 things that we could spend $60,000 on, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So I wanna talk a little bit about

[Anna Callahan]: the value of having a genuine democracy, right?

[Anna Callahan]: I truly believe, and this is something I've spent like seven years working with experts on, studying, training people around the country in how to get a better democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: It's very important to me.

[Anna Callahan]: I know a fair amount about it.

[Anna Callahan]: So when we talk about getting better representation or good representation on a city council or on a school committee, it is not about getting people who are dedicated.

[Anna Callahan]: It is about getting people who genuinely not only represent but vote in favor of policies that even the scales.

[Anna Callahan]: Our government in America at all levels

[Anna Callahan]: overly supports and overly serves people who are wealthy, people who own property, people who are white collar, people who have white collar jobs, people who are overly educated, people who are white.

[Anna Callahan]: And when we talk about having a better democracy, it isn't about getting people who are dedicated.

[Anna Callahan]: New city councilor, you gotta correct me on these things.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So having run workshops around the country for many years and having, in these workshops, to create these workshops, I studied with experts, mostly in democracy and specifically in democracy at the local level.

[Anna Callahan]: So city councils, town councils, more city councils than anything.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just gonna, I pulled up here something that was from one of my workshops so that people understand that this is in,

[Anna Callahan]: like a sphere of things you can do to structurally have a better democracy and better meaning we're not only representing home owning wealthy white people in your city.

[Anna Callahan]: that you are properly representing the people who earn less than 50% of, you know, half the people in the city earn less than 50% of the average wage.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, that's the way it works.

[Anna Callahan]: So things that you can do to make your city be better represented.

[Anna Callahan]: are public financing of elections, having district awards, making sure you have vote-by-mail or early voting.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not going to read all of these.

[Anna Callahan]: There's like two dozen of them.

[Anna Callahan]: Are your elections on paper ballots?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a hand-counted audit of at least 1%?

[Anna Callahan]: And are your elected officials paid a living wage?

[Anna Callahan]: So the problem with this idea that it should be a volunteer effort is that there are lots of people, mostly people who earn less than 50%, less than the average wage in your city.

[Anna Callahan]: that they just can't volunteer 20 hours a week.

[Anna Callahan]: Neither they nor their spouse earns enough money that they are able to spend time with their families and live a decent life and pay their bills, their rent, or their groceries, or whatever it is.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not about them not being dedicated.

[Anna Callahan]: do the job if it doesn't pay.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to say, I don't think any of us on the city council, and I don't want to speak for other people, but in most cities, no one on the city council and no one on the school committee falls into those categories.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's why these people are underrepresented.

[Anna Callahan]: So I care a lot about democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: And I genuinely believe that the right thing to do

[Anna Callahan]: is to increase the pay of the school committee.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, that doesn't mean, that being said, right, I also believe that as a city, as an elected city councilor, it is my style to make a bunch of, to be able to pass a lot of things that materially help people.

[Anna Callahan]: Fix the roads.

[Anna Callahan]: make sure all of our positions in the school are properly, that we have people who are second language teachers, that we have after school programs for everyone, that we have these things before we do anything that is either for ourselves or cultural.

[Anna Callahan]: That is my style.

[Anna Callahan]: So I feel incredibly uncomfortable voting on this as the very first thing that comes up in my term as a city councilor, because that is not the way that I want to serve.

[Anna Callahan]: That is not the way that I want to serve.

[Anna Callahan]: But I want people to understand that my viewpoint on this is not something that I come to in the last month because this

[Anna Callahan]: particular issue came about.

[Anna Callahan]: This is a viewpoint that I have held for many years, having worked with many experts on how to get your city to properly serve the underserved, which includes the paraprofessionals and the teachers and the other union workers who work here for the city or in the city.

[Anna Callahan]: Those are incredibly important to me, and it's important to me that we serve those people first before we serve ourselves.

[Anna Callahan]: But it is important because the only way you can sustain a city council or a school committee that makes those right decisions is by paying a little bit more so that we can have people on those bodies who come from those backgrounds and not just people who want to

[Anna Callahan]: to hope to serve those people, but never actually talk to them because we all live in our own bubbles.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, stop there.

[Anna Callahan]: I was only going to ask for the motions to be read more slowly before we vote.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you clarify the dollar amounts?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm a little bothered by the fact that it looks like in both of these proposals, the final landing pay is more than the lowest paid paraprofessional that I don't feel, unless I'm incorrect about that, that's what it looked like to me.

[Anna Callahan]: I won't be voting in favor of anything that puts them above a full-time paraprofessional.

[Anna Callahan]: This is to put this to the next meeting.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Aye.

[Anna Callahan]: Aye.

[Anna Callahan]: I second it.

[Anna Callahan]: Lawrence Lepore.

[Anna Callahan]: I approve.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I first wanted to really thank President Bears for all the work that went into this.

[Anna Callahan]: It looks like a really excellent framework that we'll all be able to add to.

[Anna Callahan]: And I especially wanted to highlight how, like, I think a lot about democracy, and to me, that's engaging people in the political process, and also just engaging people in their own ideas for making Medford better.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that this document, in terms of the transparency that Councilor Scarpelli mentioned,

[Anna Callahan]: It really allows us because especially with the timelines it allows us to communicate with our residents and to engage them in the process right and I understand that this is not in any way finalized but for example, someone who is really concerned about any of those housing home rule petitions.

[Anna Callahan]: that I think a lot of folks in Medford are either for or against, that being able to sort of point out what timeline we think that's going to happen on and when they can get engaged, that is crucial in terms of getting people to engage in the process politically, which I'm very excited about.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you so much, President Bears, and thanks to everyone here.

[Anna Callahan]: I really look forward to seeing what everyone adds to this framework so that it can truly become a document that we can share.

[Anna Callahan]: with the public as the plan that we see as our ability to engage the public in what we're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, yep, I very much agree that this is important, and we need to protect those residents health and safety.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to hear from President Bears.

[Anna Callahan]: If you happen to know any sort of just a tiny bit of details about

[Anna Callahan]: Obviously, if this is under state regulations and other cities are passing this, there's going to be, you know, places that the Board of Health will go for the kinds of details about how this might affect, like, small local landlords and the ways in which the sort of, you know, is there funding that is available?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there, you know, how is this sort of effectively done?

[Anna Callahan]: I have not looked into how that is done at the state level or at other cities.

[Anna Callahan]: if there's a word or two you could speak to on that point.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I read this section of the state code.

[Anna Callahan]: I was very excited about it.

[Anna Callahan]: It's something I talked about on the campaign trail.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, this is something that really just gets right at affordable housing in terms of rentals, and it attacks the problem exactly where it exists, by rewarding those rental properties and those landlords.

[Anna Callahan]: who are renting below market rates.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is exactly what we want to be doing.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm pretty excited about it.

[Anna Callahan]: I also am excited about the fact that it will just by the fact of doing this, you know, most of the people, the landlords who are renting below market rates tend to be local.

[Anna Callahan]: Many of them live here in our city.

[Anna Callahan]: If not right here in our city, then they're in nearby cities.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think being able to target these tax credits for folks who live here is what I wish we could do if we can legally, if we can find a way to do it legally for Medford residents, I would love to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm also very happy that this will target people who are local, a lot of Medford resident landlords, as well as folks who live in nearby cities.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm excited about it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited to discuss it on the committee.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you for putting this forward.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So where can we, whether we are city councilors or members of the interested public, where can we find the Wellington Circle Study?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Mr. Brown, I want to commend you for being a model resident of Medford because I am so impressed.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I'm pained to hear that you have been trying to get this done for 10 years, but I am so impressed that you, you know, you're not just complaining about something.

[Anna Callahan]: You are talking deeply about the issue.

[Anna Callahan]: You have looked into how it could be funded.

[Anna Callahan]: You have looked into the proper surface that needs to be done.

[Anna Callahan]: You have looked into what other cities have done.

[Anna Callahan]: You have truly looked at what the solutions should be.

[Anna Callahan]: And I am also very happy to help.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will, you know, in conjunction with Councilor Scarpelli and Councilor Mulroney.

[Anna Callahan]: There you go.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, I'm happy to help in any way I can.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do, I know this is not a simple

[Anna Callahan]: issue.

[Anna Callahan]: But I do hope that Medford can become a city that can respond to people like you, to people who come to us with well-thought-out proposals that they have already dug into the solutions for and already done a lot of that work.

[Anna Callahan]: Because the point that that has happened, we really need to be able to say yes to our residents.

[Anna Callahan]: That is how we engage people in the political process when someone, I mean it's a miracle that you're still here 10 years later, because normally when people come and they propose these well thought out solutions, and they're told no or they simply get nothing, they will go away they never come back.

[Anna Callahan]: the best thing our city can do to take these amazing solutions that are provided by people who genuinely care about a specific issue and to find ways to incorporate those into a solution that we can make happen.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm really hoping that we can do it, not just for your issue, but more broadly for folks in Medford who want to engage in the political process in this way.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: So, congratulations.

[Anna Callahan]: Take a photo?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: miss.

[Anna Callahan]: So the other day, I was talking to someone who had donated to me and some other candidates in 2020 when I was running for a different seat.

[Anna Callahan]: But now he said that he doesn't believe in electoral politics anymore.

[Anna Callahan]: He had lost faith in our democracy.

[Anna Callahan]: And I told him that in 2016, I had a similar crisis where I was really wondering if our democracy was still functioning.

[Anna Callahan]: And I've spent a number of years researching what makes democracy tick, creating my own theory about how we can improve it.

[Anna Callahan]: So I told him that I had a rough draft of a book on this topic and I sent him the first chapter.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't expect anything because he said he wouldn't donate.

[Anna Callahan]: And the next day he actually sent me a very generous donation.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I thought in case anyone else out there is worried about our democracy and wondering what you can do.

[Anna Callahan]: and also have time to read a 20 page chapter that I wrote.

[Anna Callahan]: It is linked down below.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you can donate a little bit to my campaign, because I am going to be doing all of the things that I describe in the chapter to reinvigorate our democracy right here in Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, I am here with Stephanie Johnson, who owns SwapIt.

[Anna Callahan]: It has been so fun and so fun to meet people, really just a joy.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, can you tell us a little bit about how SwapIt got started?

[Anna Callahan]: That's amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: That is amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Sounds so great and an amazing gift for Christmas.

[Anna Callahan]: Now, how have you guys been doing since COVID?

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm sorry, I missed, when did you start?

[Anna Callahan]: And yeah, how have things been going since COVID?

[Anna Callahan]: I can't wait.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, just how can people shop with you for the holidays?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, for your cat.

[Anna Callahan]: And do you have a website?

[Anna Callahan]: Like how do people make that happen?

[Anna Callahan]: Like if it were like a gift membership for somebody, let's say.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome, and is there a way to donate to you or like people have clothes or is it mostly just members who come in and bring clothes?

[Anna Callahan]: Got it.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Sounds super exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's such a great gift.

[Anna Callahan]: Very, very fun.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And so, yeah, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye-bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, I am here with Christina Pascucci Ciampa.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope I said that right.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, and she is with All She Wrote Books and is going to tell us a little bit about how she started the bookstore.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so moved.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like you opened during COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, ultimately.

[Anna Callahan]: I imagine that you expected to open during normal times, like when you first signed the lease and those sorts of things you didn't realize.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, speaking of the rest of 2020, we are in the holiday season and people love books.

[Anna Callahan]: And how can, how could people shop with you?

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, no worries.

[Anna Callahan]: You got another delivery of books.

[Anna Callahan]: You're busy.

[Anna Callahan]: But let me.

[Anna Callahan]: In-store appointments.

[Anna Callahan]: I haven't heard of that.

[Anna Callahan]: Amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so happy to meet you.

[Anna Callahan]: I love, I love your story.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I can't wait to visit your shop.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, I am here with Joyce McKenzie, who owns Nelly's Wildflowers in Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Joyce, for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, of course.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you tell me a little bit about Nelly's, when it started and how you started?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I have to say, you know this, but the viewers and listeners don't, but Nellie's well-forested my wedding.

[Anna Callahan]: So I have such a warm place in my heart for you guys.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, no, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so, you know, you obviously, COVID I'm sure affected your business.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you tell us a little bit about what it's been like and what it's like now?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sure people would love to have flowers for the holidays, to get flowers for their loved ones for the holidays.

[Anna Callahan]: How can people shop with you?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And what's the website and the phone number?

[Anna Callahan]: And how can people find you on social media?

[Anna Callahan]: Amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, I am here with Madison Lewis from Mamas Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: Madison, thank you so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for having me.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a pleasure to be here today.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Pleasure to have you.

[Anna Callahan]: So can you tell us a little bit about Mamas?

[Anna Callahan]: and how it got started and your role?

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I've, you know, kind of seen a little bit of what's going on.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really amazing seeing like you have pods where each neighborhood, like each, you know, three or four blocks has like its own, you know, small network.

[Anna Callahan]: And you also have these email lists for different subjects.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about the structure just so people know how they can plug in?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm curious what have you heard from the community about the need the changing needs so especially like what's been happening lately as we approach the holidays.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And how can people either get involved or donate?

[Anna Callahan]: Like how can people help?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Any more specific information about like, because I saw that you have like an $11 holiday thing, like are there any particular sort of holiday, like what happens to those funds?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: It's truly an amazing, amazing organization started at exactly the right time.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm so, it's just so great to hear that it's still going strong.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, they're still doing great work.

[Anna Callahan]: I know a ton of people who joined recently even, not just at the beginning.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, thank you so much for the work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: But thank you for having me.

[Anna Callahan]: Amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to have you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, I'm here with Joanne Keith, who runs Stinky's Kittens and Doggies 2.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, Joanne, so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Of course.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, I would love to hear a little bit about your shop and about when it started and how you started it and maybe a little bit about you as well.

[Anna Callahan]: How has it been since COVID started?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I'm sure you would rather be grooming cats and dogs.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like there are a lot of things that people could buy from you for the holidays if they have loved ones who either have a pet or if they have a loved one who is a pet.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: That's our whole goal is to- Oh yeah, it's like,

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So tell us the website and any social media you have.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I'm so happy to have been able to kind of catch you and learn more about you.

[Anna Callahan]: I've passed by the shop so many times.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll share it around, spread the word, and have a great holiday.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey there, I'm here with Eddie George from Neighborhood Kitchen.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would love to hear a little bit about Neighborhood Kitchen and how it got started and your role.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, a little bit about the shop, store, the restaurant.

[Anna Callahan]: That's awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And, and you, were you both, um, you know, you're both cooks or chefs previously, or?

[Anna Callahan]: Amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: So great.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, well, how have you guys been doing during COVID?

[Anna Callahan]: How has it affected the business?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And I assume that things are still, things are still tough, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Yep, me too.

[Anna Callahan]: So how can people shop with you for the holidays if they want to get for a neighbor, for a friend, for a loved one, if they want to get, you know, something to support you and get something wonderful for their loved one?

[Anna Callahan]: My mouth is watering.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: By the way, did I notice that you're wearing?

[Anna Callahan]: Are you wearing a Neighborhood Kitchen t-shirt?

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, can people get those?

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Did it go up like an inch and then we'll see the whole thing.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we know what it says, but there you go.

[Anna Callahan]: Perfect.

[Anna Callahan]: I got a math that says that.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, let us know when you get those that kind of swag that people can buy because I'm sure we'll sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm excited.

[Anna Callahan]: I can't wait to eat there.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we'll buy ourselves some and then we'll buy some other people.

[Anna Callahan]: So great.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Have a good holiday.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye-bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, I have Kenya Alfaro here with the Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for coming.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, yes, thank you for having me.

[Anna Callahan]: Of course.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I would love it if you can just tell us a little bit about the Welcome Project and the community that you serve.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you tell us a little bit about how those families have been doing during COVID and even now that we're, what are we, nine months into COVID?

[Anna Callahan]: And how can people watching this help?

[Anna Callahan]: How can they donate or do other things?

[Anna Callahan]: And then where do those donated funds go?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for the work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: It's always a pleasure.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, everybody.

[Anna Callahan]: It is great to be back.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm really excited today to be talking to Molly Kivy, who I met while we were knocking on doors.

[Anna Callahan]: She's a resident of the 34th Middlesex.

[Anna Callahan]: And we are going to be talking about unemployment.

[Anna Callahan]: As I'm sure everyone watching can understand, unemployment is one of those policies that has really kept tens of thousands of families afloat.

[Anna Callahan]: It's unbelievably important to people who have been put out of work by the pandemic.

[Anna Callahan]: But it also is in some ways sort of keeping our economy going right now.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's a crucially important program that

[Anna Callahan]: I think most people think it's probably running fine, but it actually has some very deep structural problems.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm really excited to talk to Molly.

[Anna Callahan]: And let's go ahead and bring Molly on now.

[Anna Callahan]: Fabulous.

[Anna Callahan]: First, I would love to just ask you a little bit about why this is so important to you.

[Anna Callahan]: When I read through your proposals, I see so much work has gone into this.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really incredible and very impressive.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to hear your story about why this is so important to you and why you've decided to spend so much of your time trying to fix unemployment.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, it's an incredibly important program and it sounds like you,

[Anna Callahan]: because of your upbringing and the cyclical nature of certain jobs, there are jobs where that's the job, right?

[Anna Callahan]: And it's just a crucially important program.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about what are some of the problems?

[Anna Callahan]: And not too much, we can dive in, but if you can kind of summarize some of the problems at first, then we'll dive in.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, when I first heard that from you, I thought that was crazy.

[Anna Callahan]: I had no idea.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that the part where there's like a cap on the amount that, is that that part you're talking about, that there's a cap on the amount that businesses pay?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I got it.

[Anna Callahan]: That's the fourth one.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fifth one?

[Anna Callahan]: So let me see.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if I can remember the five.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me try.

[Anna Callahan]: So one is it doesn't pay people enough to get by.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Right?

[Anna Callahan]: Number two is that

[Anna Callahan]: Number two was something about small businesses paying into more than big businesses, but not the cap, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Right, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a regressive tax structure.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a regressive tax structure.

[Anna Callahan]: It just by its nature, even without the cap, it's a regressive tax structure.

[Anna Callahan]: Number three is that, I forgot this one.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: That's crazy, that just doesn't, it punishes businesses that have to lay off workers.

[Anna Callahan]: Which in the end does not do, just as in punishing people for criminal offenses does not in the end lead to people behaving better, same thing with businesses.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, that tells you a lot.

[Anna Callahan]: Number four is the cap, but they cap the amount that the salary that gets taxed, and then businesses that pay above that salary, that the tax is not applied.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fifth one, which in some senses is a giant one that affects all sorts of things, is that Massachusetts does not, we don't have money in the funds to pay for this program.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm excited to hear you talk about it, because I only know all of this stuff from you.

[Anna Callahan]: But apparently, because we don't meet these standards, we now don't get interest-free loans.

[Anna Callahan]: We now have to pay all this money to, I presume, Wall Street banks.

[Anna Callahan]: Just to service the loans, I'm being able to pay for the unemployment.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's really problematic.

[Anna Callahan]: were we already not solvent?

[Anna Callahan]: Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, the Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So that costs Massachusetts $1.4 billion.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: And FUTA, just because I know we're going to be talking about FUTA, it stands for the Federal Unemployment?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Good.

[Anna Callahan]: Good.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, I don't know if we want to dive into some of these problems individually, or if you want to start talking about solutions, or maybe both.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe start with one of these that you feel like can be solved and how you might solve it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to let you lead.

[Anna Callahan]: OK.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about purchase power?

[Anna Callahan]: What does it mean, and what is the definition that makes it not working now, and how would we define it differently to make it work?

[Anna Callahan]: That sounds like a simple change, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So 50% or 40% of what they're getting paid is not enough if what they're getting paid is not enough.

[Anna Callahan]: So we want to just increase the percentage of that that they get through unemployment.

[Anna Callahan]: Right, it still complies even though we're in a pandemic, we're literally like tens of millions of people have been thrown out of work and there's no way that those people can all find jobs.

[Anna Callahan]: Totally impossible no matter how hard they try.

[Anna Callahan]: You're suggesting something that would be great in normal times and absolutely necessary for what is happening to people right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Love it.

[Anna Callahan]: This is something I love.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that should be done way more often is to say, well, what do the other, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: 50 countries most similar to us do, and if they all do something different, then maybe we're, you know, maybe there's something wrong with the way that we're approaching it.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so someone has a question about, because our last Solidarity Live was about MMT, modern monetary theory, and the fact that our national government does not have the restrictions on spending, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It's not actually spending.

[Anna Callahan]: They're creating, right?

[Anna Callahan]: They're increasing the number when they spend, the national government spends.

[Anna Callahan]: You're increasing the number of dollars that exist.

[Anna Callahan]: And so there is no reason at all why the national government can't create a jobs program, do the Green New Deal, pay for Medicare for all.

[Anna Callahan]: All of these things are, there is no how can we pay for it.

[Anna Callahan]: And so the question is, how does that relate to the Massachusetts budget and the need to have those funds in that trust fund?

[Anna Callahan]: And the federal government creates dollars, but the state governments don't.

[Anna Callahan]: So the state governments are just like you or me or a company or your city.

[Anna Callahan]: They can't just create dollars.

[Anna Callahan]: They have a budget.

[Anna Callahan]: And so their budgets are just as fixed as yours or mine.

[Anna Callahan]: So the trust fund, I'd love to hear more about that.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me think about that for a second.

[Anna Callahan]: And how you would fix the problems that we have at the Massachusetts trust fund that it's not solvent.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: And how do we fix this trust fund problem here in Massachusetts?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And by removing the cap on salaries that are taxed, do you have an idea, a sense of how that would affect the amount of money in the trust fund?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it makes sense because we're in a huge crisis right now.

[Anna Callahan]: So asking to suddenly make a fund that was insolvent for decades to make it solvent during a

[Anna Callahan]: you know, gigantic crisis where we're doing nothing but pour funds out of it.

[Anna Callahan]: Obviously, I think that's too much to ask.

[Anna Callahan]: But it sounds like removing the cap would bring in a lot more money.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, and you said that it's at 15,000?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, which is- That's insanely low.

[Anna Callahan]: It's insanely low.

[Anna Callahan]: Only like the very smallest companies are paying like, you know, the full, I mean, it really is- Full wages.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, the full wages.

[Anna Callahan]: And it really makes it clear that only companies, the more you pay your employees, the less and less and less and less and less you pay.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm curious what sort of pushback you've had.

[Anna Callahan]: I know that you've been sort of talking to some folks in the State House and trying to get some interest in some of these policies.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't want to

[Anna Callahan]: out anybody by name or anything, but I'm just curious a little bit about sort of what have people been like, oh, this is great.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, I'm really excited about this part of it or that part of it.

[Anna Callahan]: Have people just been not interested?

[Anna Callahan]: Is it too much change?

[Anna Callahan]: Is it too wonky?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I hope nothing's too wonky for people at the state house because that's kind of their job.

[Anna Callahan]: OK, so did they tell you why?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we all know this is what happens, right?

[Anna Callahan]: But, like, I'm a little surprised that they're, like, just saying it straight out.

[Anna Callahan]: Like, well, you know, if the giant corporations don't like it, then what?

[Anna Callahan]: Because we have lobbying and because they're allowed to just pay people, you know, $100,000 a year to sit, you know, to show up at the, ah, I'm sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm getting a little aggravated about my whole money in politics thing.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like, you know.

[Anna Callahan]: The problem is that those are the people in the room.

[Anna Callahan]: That is the problem.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a terrible way to say that.

[Anna Callahan]: Actually, it's people.

[Anna Callahan]: You're supposed to be representing people.

[Anna Callahan]: Speaking of participate, I'm so glad you said that, because great segue.

[Anna Callahan]: What can people do?

[Anna Callahan]: You have so many great ideas.

[Anna Callahan]: You have done so much incredible research into this.

[Anna Callahan]: I really encourage anybody, if you're open to it, to call you and talk to you about this, because you have all the data to back it up.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love for you to just let us know, what can we do?

[Anna Callahan]: How can we help?

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome, awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you wanna spell your name for folks so they can, and they can look you up on Instagram and Facebook?

[Anna Callahan]: M-O-L-L-Y.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anything else?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I think my sort of wrap up about this is, number one, unemployment is super broken.

[Anna Callahan]: I had no idea.

[Anna Callahan]: It is.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm sure that the budgetary problems are affecting other parts of our state budget, right?

[Anna Callahan]: We're spending, what did you say, like $60 million a year just on interest.

[Anna Callahan]: That's $60 million a year that we cannot spend on other things.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so it's actually, it is a separate thing.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not going to affect the rest of the state budget, but it is going to be levied on business owners.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is going to hurt the economy and hurt small businesses a lot more than large businesses.

[Anna Callahan]: No, it's the worst time.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, but number one, the unemployment is deeply broken.

[Anna Callahan]: Number two, that our legislature, they're just saying it straight out, like special interest rule,

[Anna Callahan]: And if you can't get them on board, tough.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: It's been eye opening, but I think it's, I love your idea that people just, just like, just open up your email or pick up the phone, call your state rep, tell them everything.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Any last words?

[Anna Callahan]: Anything else you want to

[Anna Callahan]: get out before we finish up?

[Anna Callahan]: Always a pleasure.

[Anna Callahan]: Likewise.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: I love the work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: OK.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Frank, are we off the air?

[Anna Callahan]: You're muted.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, this is Anna Callahan with a post-campaign update.

[Anna Callahan]: By the end of my campaign, I had started to think a lot about what I wanted to do if I were elected.

[Anna Callahan]: And when I lost on election night, I realized that all of the things I was the most excited about, engaging new people in the political process, building the movement that we need in order to pass a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, a criminal justice overhaul, and housing for everyone here in Massachusetts, that all of those things were things that I didn't need to be a state rep to do.

[Anna Callahan]: I can do them right now.

[Anna Callahan]: There has never been a more important moment in our country.

[Anna Callahan]: between the presidential elections and an ongoing pandemic leaving 40 million people unemployed, with a climate crisis and the racism in our society and our criminal justice system.

[Anna Callahan]: We need to step up our game to make the political process work for us.

[Anna Callahan]: And I agree with AOC when she talks about what we need to be doing right now.

[Anna Callahan]: She says we have to bring new people into the political process.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think her words were that we have to do that in every pocket of this country between now and the November elections to save our democracy and even after the elections as well.

[Anna Callahan]: And I couldn't agree more.

[Anna Callahan]: I had the great privilege of being able to spend every day engaging people in state politics.

[Anna Callahan]: And wow, I really miss it.

[Anna Callahan]: loved it.

[Anna Callahan]: I loved walking outdoors.

[Anna Callahan]: I loved meeting new people.

[Anna Callahan]: I loved hearing what matters to people, what issues people care about, and how it affects their lives.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really miss dreaming big about what we could have if we all worked together and if our government worked for us.

[Anna Callahan]: So my team and I will be engaging people in the political process right now through conversations about the upcoming election on November 3rd.

[Anna Callahan]: We are going to be knocking on doors.

[Anna Callahan]: We are going to be hosting Zoom meetings.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm most excited about going on walk and talks in the different parts of the district so that we can meet people where they are.

[Anna Callahan]: And I hope that you'll join us.

[Anna Callahan]: I really believe that if we build a movement here in this, one of the most progressive districts in one of the most progressive states in the country, that that is the way we can move our issues forward.

[Anna Callahan]: So I look forward to seeing you soon.

[Anna Callahan]: You let me know when we're live.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Good to see everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for tuning in today.

[Anna Callahan]: This is Solidarity Live, where we talk about the issues that affect people in Medford and Somerville, and how we can work together to solve them.

[Anna Callahan]: Today, we are going to be talking about an issue that affects everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: everyone in the United States, everyone in many other countries.

[Anna Callahan]: And that is the question of our national debt and our money supply.

[Anna Callahan]: So before, I do have an exciting guest, but before I bring our guest on, I want to have people in the audience just think about a few questions before we start.

[Anna Callahan]: And one is, do you think that our national debt is a problem?

[Anna Callahan]: Is it something that worries you, the size of our national debt?

[Anna Callahan]: And if we could reduce our national debt to zero, would that be good?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something that you think would help solve some of our problems?

[Anna Callahan]: And my third question is, who are we borrowing this money from, right?

[Anna Callahan]: If we have national debt, we've borrowed it from someone, we owe it to someone.

[Anna Callahan]: Who have we borrowed it from?

[Anna Callahan]: And who do we owe it to?

[Anna Callahan]: And how do we pay it back?

[Anna Callahan]: These are questions we're going to be talking about in addition to the even more important questions about how a new way of understanding our national debt can help us be able to fund things like a Green New Deal and Medicare for All and other programs that are important to us.

[Anna Callahan]: So now I'm going to introduce

[Anna Callahan]: Fadel Kaboob and Frank, if Frank, our producer could bring Fadel on, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: First, let me just make sure if I pronounced your name correctly.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So Fadl Kaboob is an associate professor of economics at Denison, and he's also the president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.

[Anna Callahan]: And Fadl, I would love for you to go ahead and just introduce yourself and your work.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's so ingrained in us, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Because we live with it day to day and we have this fear of what might happen if we go into debt.

[Anna Callahan]: We've known people have gone into debt.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a thing that's very difficult for us to think differently.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I just pause you for a second?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, of course.

[Anna Callahan]: So I want to go back a little bit, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I think when we use this term,

[Anna Callahan]: spending, like the government is spending.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it's very hard for us, you know, as people who spend money, who earn money, spend money, borrow money, when we talk about the federal government as spending money and borrowing money, I think it's hard for people to understand how it's different for the federal government.

[Anna Callahan]: So when the federal government, let me just ask this question, when the federal government spends money,

[Anna Callahan]: and you say spend into existence, like they're actually creating more dollars, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So they're increasing the money supply, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So it's not like they're spending.

[Anna Callahan]: They're just creating more dollars and giving those new dollars to people or companies.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that accurate?

[Anna Callahan]: There doesn't have to be a war either.

[Anna Callahan]: We can just increase the military budget for no reason at all.

[Anna Callahan]: And that money is created by the federal government because the federal government is the only entity in the world that can create dollars.

[Anna Callahan]: And that means that it created more dollars in the economy than it destroyed, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So it simply increased the amount of money in the economy.

[Anna Callahan]: And the same with the debt, that's also true of the debt, like that the total amount, I've heard Warren Moser talk about this, that like the total amount of the national debt is equivalent to the net amount of dollars in savings in the world.

[Anna Callahan]: So is it fair to say that the debt, right?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, the deficit is what each year, like the yearly difference, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: And so is it fair to say that the debt is the money supply?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, money supply has its own sort of definitions.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So another question, because I know part of what excites me and a lot of other people about this idea is the things that we could do, the things that we could afford, and how it affects those things.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know a lot of people are interested in the question of inflation and how that, once we realize

[Anna Callahan]: that there really is no problem with the federal government creating money, right, spending money or creating money, that we can afford these things and we don't have to say for Medicare for all, we don't have to say how can we pay for that, we never have to say that.

[Anna Callahan]: So now the real question becomes inflation.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I'd love for you to talk about maybe the jobs guarantee and or Medicare for all and or other programs that we could be spending more on, maybe, you know, college debt and how that kind of intersects with inflation.

[Anna Callahan]: Or we don't know what we're doing in the central bank.

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, I'm gonna let you go on in a second.

[Anna Callahan]: We do have a question from the audience, so.

[Anna Callahan]: If you want to keep going, then we'll come back.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: OK, so let's go ahead and do a question.

[Anna Callahan]: This one is from Frank Lee.

[Anna Callahan]: And the question is, why has there been such low inflation despite the massive money creation responding to 2008 and responding to COVID?

[Anna Callahan]: And this seems like it's related to the inflation deflation problem, that if all the money being spent goes to the 1% who are not going to buy more consumer goods, then it doesn't help

[Anna Callahan]: bring inflation up, which is apparently I didn't know this is what people are trying to do now because their inflation is not for normal consumer goods.

[Anna Callahan]: There isn't enough demand.

[Anna Callahan]: Does that sound right?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So, wow, I think we could talk for hours and hours.

[Anna Callahan]: It would be amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: It's such a deep, deep subject, really.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think hard for, you know, when I first learned about it, just wrapping my head around it, it took me hours and hours of listening to all sorts of different MMT people give lectures and reading and everything.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope we can do more.

[Anna Callahan]: Let us know how we can help get the word out.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to certainly do our best to get the word out here.

[Anna Callahan]: I just want to ask you if you have any final words.

[Anna Callahan]: We don't have a specific time limit, but we try to keep it under around 45-50 minutes.

[Anna Callahan]: What are your thoughts maybe on what are our next steps?

[Anna Callahan]: I just finished it this morning.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, Fadal Kaboob, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful to chat with you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for the work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks everyone for tuning in.

[Anna Callahan]: Don't hesitate to reach out.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll see you soon.

[Anna Callahan]: Some people say that I'm a little too honest to be a politician.

[Anna Callahan]: But I've never understood why you wouldn't want to be clear about what you think and what you feel.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's one of the things that I love the most about the culture here.

[Anna Callahan]: People are really open about what they think and what they stand for.

[Anna Callahan]: My name's Anna Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: I live in Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: I've been here since 2003.

[Anna Callahan]: I live with my husband and my son and several absolutely wonderful housemates.

[Anna Callahan]: Because really, who could afford the rent here?

[Anna Callahan]: I was a software engineer until four years ago, when I realized that I just could not sit by any longer, and I became devoted to political activism.

[Anna Callahan]: I started an organization called The Incorruptibles, and through that I have spent the last few years training people in cities across the country to really build progressive electoral power from the ground up.

[Anna Callahan]: The Massachusetts Statehouse is not a very progressive body.

[Anna Callahan]: And the more you learn about it, the more it is obvious that it is a dysfunctional and deeply broken institution.

[Anna Callahan]: It is very difficult to find out what is happening at the Statehouse.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's designed to keep voters in the dark.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to mobilize the people of Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to lift the veil off of the statehouse so that my neighbors can hold me and my fellow state reps accountable.

[Anna Callahan]: Our state rep has voted again and again to make sure that that doesn't happen, and it is wasting our time.

[Anna Callahan]: We are in a moment in history when big changes are going to happen.

[Anna Callahan]: We need a statehouse that is ready to make bold, progressive change.

[Anna Callahan]: This election is about good government.

[Anna Callahan]: This election is about whether our state rep's votes are secret.

[Anna Callahan]: This election is about whether we as constituents have enough time to organize around legislation before it's already been voted on.

[Anna Callahan]: And fundamentally, this election is about the concentration of power in the hands of the speaker that prevents us from passing the no-brainer progressive policies that the people of Massachusetts want, need, and deserve.

[Anna Callahan]: We all have progressive values here.

[Anna Callahan]: We need progressive action.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So first, we're going to talk about how COVID-19 is affecting folks in jails.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love it if you would go ahead and just introduce yourself and how you are sort of related to this topic.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Before we talk a little bit more generally about what's happening, well, you tell me, do you want to talk generally about what's happening in Massachusetts prisons?

[Anna Callahan]: Or do you want to go, should we just go straight at what's happening related to COVID-19?

[Anna Callahan]: I think let's start with COVID-19 and why it's so dangerous for them at this moment.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we can broaden it up a little bit after this.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you mean that the prisoners themselves are spending their own money to buy soap?

[Anna Callahan]: So before you go on, I do want to just mention, um, we have someone who's commented on YouTube saying, um, they're hoping to hear about what correctional facilities are doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and so it sounds like one thing that they're doing is they have, they seem to have obtained masks, which, you know, it's so incredibly important for our, like there's a shortage of masks.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's so important for our hospital staff and doctors to be able to have the masks that they need.

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, it's important for correctional facilities to have masks as well, but not if they're just wearing them around their neck and using it to, you know, taunt

[Anna Callahan]: The inmates.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm going to jump in.

[Anna Callahan]: I can't resist jumping in here because I did spend two nights in jail in 2000 when I was illegally arrested for protesting.

[Anna Callahan]: There were about 71 of us.

[Anna Callahan]: We were illegally strip searched.

[Anna Callahan]: The women only were strip searched twice during our time there, and there was a giant lawsuit afterwards and all that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I will say that this was in Los Angeles, and I will say that we were

[Anna Callahan]: We were arrested and literally not allowed to wash in any way.

[Anna Callahan]: And the police who had arrested us had us leaning up against, like, pushing us against a chain link fence that was, like, covered in grease and oil because it was right directly underneath a freeway.

[Anna Callahan]: And so our hands and our bodies were just, they had all this black grease all over them.

[Anna Callahan]: And we were not, there was no,

[Anna Callahan]: ability for us to wash anything at all for like, you know, 30 hours or more.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: And the whole taunting thing, people may not realize how much psychological games are played to inmates by correctional staff.

[Anna Callahan]: So the idea that correctional staff are joking about purposefully getting inmates sick with COVID-19, that is,

[Anna Callahan]: you know when this is real psychological

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it's terrible.

[Anna Callahan]: That should not be legal for them to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I want to, for a second, before we go on, to talk a little bit about how dangerous it is to be in these close quarters with people.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we're talking about social distancing, and people who are incarcerated do not have that ability.

[Anna Callahan]: So can you talk a little bit just about how dangerous it is and if there have been any outbreaks inside of any correctional facilities?

[Anna Callahan]: We have another question here.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there ways for people to get involved and support the incarcerated population during this time of crisis?

[Anna Callahan]: Canteen money for soap, masks, letters.

[Anna Callahan]: I am sympathetic to those who are in prisons.

[Anna Callahan]: And before we go on to the next questions, we do have another question.

[Anna Callahan]: You're saying that letters and emails are really helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a particular easy way?

[Anna Callahan]: I know that a lot of people who are involved in Mamas Mutually Medford and Somerville are, people want to help.

[Anna Callahan]: People want to be able to do something.

[Anna Callahan]: What's an easy way for people to get involved that way?

[Anna Callahan]: And I assume we can't do that right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, no.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, there's no visiting, right.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: There is another question, which is, do you know what sort of medical care is available in case someone in prison does get the virus?

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, I've heard, I know that a couple of our city councilors here in Somerville, Ben, you and Kevin and JT Scott, and as well as other people have been talking about releasing certain portions of the prison population.

[Anna Callahan]: Certainly the the ones who are oh, what's I'm forgetting the term I I sometimes call it debtors prison, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It's people who their pretrial detention.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: So they they haven't been convicted of anything and they just can't pay bail.

[Anna Callahan]: And so they're held in jail.

[Anna Callahan]: It is so insane.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really mind-blowing to me that this is true in America today.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there some way that we can pressure people?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a way that folks listening here can help with that?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to talk a little bit about, we've talked a lot about COVID-19 and how it's affecting people.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk to us a little bit about what you were working on before COVID-19 and about solitary confinement?

[Anna Callahan]: How is that legal?

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, I think you once mentioned to me the limit.

[Anna Callahan]: Isn't there a limit under the sort of world human rights?

[Anna Callahan]: Who has a limit that's... Oh, 15 days.

[Anna Callahan]: That is totally insane.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: That's horrible.

[Anna Callahan]: Horrifying.

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, let's end on a slightly better note than that one.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any better notes than that one in terms of the incarcerated population?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there anything on the horizon?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there any bills that you think are happening right now, maybe at the state level, that have a good chance of passing?

[Anna Callahan]: Or Rachel Rollins, she seems pretty good.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe through our elected DAs, we're going to be having some positive movement.

[Anna Callahan]: That's exactly right.

[Anna Callahan]: That is right.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for coming on today and for talking about this incredibly important, I think, too often overlooked topic.

[Anna Callahan]: And also for all the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really important.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to actually go on.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to see if I can get some mamas folks to

[Anna Callahan]: some mama's folks to start writing letters.

[Anna Callahan]: We have one final comment.

[Anna Callahan]: As the mother of a previously incarcerated, I agree with Caroline when she says the medical care is lax.

[Anna Callahan]: Inmates are often not taken seriously and there are longer than average wait times for care.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So medical care in prisons, important topic, especially now.

[Anna Callahan]: But yeah, we're going to see if we can get some folks to write some letters.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: This is Solidarity Live, where we discuss how COVID-19 is affecting Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: This show is really about getting through this crisis together.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you have been affected by COVID-19, if you have lost income, if you're worried about a family member in a hospital, in a nursing home, in a jail, if you're struggling with school closures or anything else, please reach out.

[Anna Callahan]: Good policy is based on hearing directly from people in need.

[Anna Callahan]: And this show is about uplifting those stories so that we can solve these problems together as a community.

[Anna Callahan]: One example of how we are doing that is with the SNAP, a food assistance program.

[Anna Callahan]: Someone did reach out to the show a week or two ago to say that his doctor had told him that he needed to stay indoors because of his lung condition, but he cannot use his SNAP card to purchase groceries online.

[Anna Callahan]: He has to go to the grocery store in person.

[Anna Callahan]: So we had an expert come on the show and give some advice, but it turns out that other states are allowing people to do online grocery delivery, and that is where you, viewers of the show, come in.

[Anna Callahan]: Please sign our petition to make Massachusetts one of the states that allows SNAP recipients to get their groceries delivered.

[Anna Callahan]: Together, we can help our neighbors through this crisis.

[Anna Callahan]: Our campaign is hearing directly from people in need, uplifting their voices, and engaging the community to solve these issues.

[Anna Callahan]: So today I have on Hannah O'Hanlon from the Somerville Homelessness Coalition.

[Anna Callahan]: She's going to talk about the homeless population here and how they're being affected.

[Anna Callahan]: Then we'll have David Tizell from the Somerville Community Corporation to talk about the tenants that they have and what they're doing to keep them in their homes.

[Anna Callahan]: And after that, we will have Movami Callahan, who's a Medford doctor, and she will be talking about how our medical system is holding up under the stress of COVID-19.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will go ahead and get us started here.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm gonna bring in Hannah O'Hanlon.

[Anna Callahan]: I just have to get her on the screen.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, there we go.

[Anna Callahan]: I...

[Anna Callahan]: There we go.

[Anna Callahan]: I have managed to find the right button.

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, anyone who is watching on YouTube, you can simply comment in YouTube's comment box and then ask any question you like and I can pull that question in and we'll answer those questions live.

[Anna Callahan]: So, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Hannah, thank you so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to hear a little bit just about your organization in general and the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: That is great.

[Anna Callahan]: Really needed work.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have an idea of how many folks you interact with as a homeless population in need, like on a daily or weekly basis?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk about how COVID-19 is affecting the people that you're helping?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: What do you think is the best way for people to be able to help out?

[Anna Callahan]: Where can they donate?

[Anna Callahan]: Can they volunteer?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other ways that they can help?

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any final thoughts, anything else that you want people to know about what's happening?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, you know, I heard on WBUR there was a segment on homeless shelters, and all I remember is hearing that they had gotten enough tests to test an entire homeless shelter, like every single person in the shelter, and that some crazy high percentage of them

[Anna Callahan]: One in three.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's what I remember, but I didn't want to quote it because it seems so high.

[Anna Callahan]: But a lot of them were asymptomatic and they didn't show signs of the disease.

[Anna Callahan]: What do you think that that means?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it sounds like the program that you have where you actually house people is the safest for them.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: In addition to being obviously the best for them.

[Anna Callahan]: When you can house people and they can have their own home, it's clearly better for many reasons.

[Anna Callahan]: But here in COVID-19, it's even more crucial.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: The work you guys do is totally amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't envy you the amount of work that you have to do these days.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, we will be encouraging people to help you out, to volunteer and donate.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, it's really good to have an update.

[Anna Callahan]: And stay safe.

[Anna Callahan]: do personal care, everything that you need to do.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: But I hope that you two will introduce Tufts Mutual Aid and introduce yourselves.

[Anna Callahan]: And somehow my computer is not plugged in, like it's plugged into my ear and my battery is gonna die.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm gonna duck out for just one second in this COVID home studio here.

[Anna Callahan]: But why don't you go ahead and introduce Tufts Mutual Aid and yourself.

[Anna Callahan]: I have you live now.

[Anna Callahan]: but I think you're muted.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, great, Nikhil, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So can you tell us some of the stories that you've heard as you've been working with the folks that you're working with?

[Anna Callahan]: What do you hear from people?

[Anna Callahan]: what's happening in their lives, right, as a result of these changes?

[Anna Callahan]: We have a question from Joel Greenberg.

[Anna Callahan]: He says, how much notice were people given to move off campus?

[Anna Callahan]: Seems like a huge burden for students and families.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And would you say, I mean, obviously you don't know numbers, but maybe you do, like what percentage of tough students actually had to leave town, like had to find, like were on campus and had to find somewhere else and ended up maybe going home?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And so, you know, it's interesting because when I, when I first heard of Tufts Mutual Aid, I thought, okay, it's like, you know, the other mutual aid societies helping provide

[Anna Callahan]: you know, helping people make sure they're safe, that they can pay their rent, that they can get groceries and things, but it sounds like you are also pretty deeply involved in making sure that students who have to now continue their education are able to do that part of it.

[Anna Callahan]: So, like, how do you balance those or, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: You know, what do you feel has been happening for students who have to continue their education, have to do everything online?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, how disruptive has that been to their education?

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe talk about that side, just the educational aspect of it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So just a last question about the other side.

[Anna Callahan]: So the making sure people can get groceries, they can pay for their rent, all of these things.

[Anna Callahan]: Have you seen, for the students that remain, are you interfacing at all with mamas, with another different mutual aid?

[Anna Callahan]: Is this mostly students helping students?

[Anna Callahan]: How are you able to help

[Anna Callahan]: those students who are in the area to be able to sort of afford the changing circumstances that are happening to them now, but specifically like rent, food, the basics?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: All right, how can, what can people do?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, does it like, like it really has been,

[Anna Callahan]: the Tufts Mutual Aid is the students helping the students, students who have moved, leaving food, and the graduate students helping in the, you know, so are there ways that other people in the community can be helpful, and what would that be?

[Anna Callahan]: And how can people reach you?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a website?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there an email address people can reach out to, a phone number, anything?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks both of you for coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really great to hear about, you know, this part of our community that we probably don't hear a lot about, you know, outside of the Tufts community.

[Anna Callahan]: Really great work you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for doing it.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for being on.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm Anna Callahan, I'm running for state rep, suffer engineer and mom.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I ask, do you know much about the state house?

[Anna Callahan]: And they're like, not really.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm like, oh well, I'll tell you two fun facts that you can share with your friends.

[Anna Callahan]: Number one is that there's no way for any of us to know how our state reps are voting.

[Anna Callahan]: And number two is that the last three speakers of the house have all been convicted of felonies related to corruption and bribery.

[Anna Callahan]: Everyone, thanks for tuning in to Solidarity Live, where we take questions and stories from the community in Somerville and Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: We bring in experts to talk about those issues, and then we work to solve those together.

[Anna Callahan]: Today, I have on someone from the Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: She's going to talk all about everything they do with our immigrant community and a specific fund that she's working with today.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to bring her right in.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is

[Anna Callahan]: Let me have her join us.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, this is Kenya Alfaro of The Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, Kenya, you're live.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, how are you?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm doing well, as well as I guess you can be right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love for you to just tell us a little bit about what the Welcome Project does in general, and then specifically how you're dealing with COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I will mention, I just got a comment from someone saying that there's a little bit of an echo, so I don't know if anybody's not muted or because we have people later in the show who are on right now.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you can mute, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully this problem will resolve.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like you guys really have good insight into our immigrant population and how they're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to hear as much as you can how our immigrant community is doing now during COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: You're saying food resources are a problem because of just lack of funds, is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: I think it seems like you've frozen.

[Anna Callahan]: So give me one second, everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: It looks like we had a little problem with Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: Hang on.

[Anna Callahan]: We are just trying to get Kenya Alfaro back on from the Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to go ahead and do what I can.

[Anna Callahan]: to get Kenya back on, to get our folks from Tufts Mutual Aid back on.

[Anna Callahan]: They are also, ah, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So it looks like, ah, we have everyone back, amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: So sorry about that, I do not know exactly what happened, but I lost all of you and my whole Skype went down.

[Anna Callahan]: So I apologize, thanks everyone for sticking with us.

[Anna Callahan]: So Kenya.

[Anna Callahan]: You were talking about food resources and how the city of Somerville has really done some work there to make food resources available to people.

[Anna Callahan]: Right, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And do you know if folks in that community have been plugging into the Mutual Aid, so the Medford and Somerville Mutual Aid, or in any of the other cities' Mutual Aid projects?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And you have a particular fund that you administer, is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you wanna talk a little bit about that?

[Anna Callahan]: I'll just remind people that if you have any questions, you can just put those in the comment box and we can pull those right in.

[Anna Callahan]: In your outreach, you guys must have a lot of languages on hand, I imagine.

[Anna Callahan]: When you're calling through people, how many different languages do you have to rely on to reach out to people?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, that is great.

[Anna Callahan]: And are there ways that people can help?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it sounds like people can donate to that fund specifically.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fund, I assume, is directly related to COVID, and it started with COVID, and so it really has to do with that.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other ways in addition to that that people can help?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, good.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like at one point there was a need for masks.

[Anna Callahan]: I know

[Anna Callahan]: you know, a lot of folks and mamas are excited to make masks, so I don't know if that's something that people still need.

[Anna Callahan]: Let's be clear, there's a new law in Somerville saying that when out of your house, you must wear a mask, and there is a fine, up to $300, I think, fine related to that.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, do you wanna give just a little plug for like how people can find you, how people can donate to the fund or help out in other ways?

[Anna Callahan]: Like specifically, like what's the website and?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great work that you guys are doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful to have you on and keep us updated.

[Anna Callahan]: Let us know as things change, if there are more needs and other ways that people can help.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to have you.

[Anna Callahan]: We now have someone who is from here, but is currently in South Korea.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know how many people listening know about South Korea and the way that they have dealt with COVID, but it's very different from how the US has dealt with COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: And so here is Howard Kim.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just gonna pop your name up here.

[Anna Callahan]: And you are live, so Howard, it's great to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: When you say you're hearing this news, you mean in America?

[Anna Callahan]: So, yeah, what I've heard is that it was, at first, you could only get tested, even if you had symptoms, you could only get tested if you had a known contact, if you'd been in contact with someone who was known to have had COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: That was how limited the testing was.

[Anna Callahan]: And now, then it was if you had symptoms of COVID, they're loosening it up a little bit, but it is still very difficult to get a test.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just going to ask if the test results had come back yet.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Get the test back.

[Anna Callahan]: So even though you were tested and your test came back after one day, did they ask you to stay indoors for two weeks or did they just give you two weeks worth of food and then tell you you could go out?

[Anna Callahan]: So you had two weeks of staying at home.

[Anna Callahan]: You got tested.

[Anna Callahan]: Your test came back negative.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: And then you were at home for two weeks, maybe because there's some chance that you could have had and it hadn't shown up yet on the test for whatever reason.

[Anna Callahan]: you stayed home for two weeks.

[Anna Callahan]: And after that time, now tell us what is your life like?

[Anna Callahan]: Now, when you were staying at your parents' house, did they have to stay home?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, great.

[Anna Callahan]: But restaurants, coffee shops?

[Anna Callahan]: Can I ask you, where does South Korea get all these tests?

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot seem to get tests.

[Anna Callahan]: You may not even know this,

[Anna Callahan]: Why is there such a difference in the ability for people in South Korea to access tests than people like in Somerville, for example?

[Anna Callahan]: Why can we not access tests here?

[Anna Callahan]: I heard about this.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I ask, does South Korea have a national healthcare system?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: It is such an amazing story.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm so glad that you started with the personal story of your own experience living in Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: And I had not realized that you were here when COVID started.

[Anna Callahan]: And you decided to go to South Korea knowing that the South Korean reaction to this was going to be much better, was much better, and that you would be both safer

[Anna Callahan]: and more free to go about your normal daily life in South Korea than here?

[Anna Callahan]: And now in Somerville, you would be forced to work remotely anyway.

[Anna Callahan]: Like you would still be having to work remotely right now.

[Anna Callahan]: But South Korea's response sounds like it's just a lot more sustainable than ours.

[Anna Callahan]: Because you guys are going about mostly about your normal business, but with the testing and tracing program that they have, the contact tracing program, they can contain it very well while most people are kind of going about their daily lives and the economy is not under a huge hit.

[Anna Callahan]: Does that sound about right?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that crazy?

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll have to check.

[Anna Callahan]: I really have no idea.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll check on that.

[Anna Callahan]: It might be right.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, hey, we're in the US, where medical things cost ridiculous amounts of money.

[Anna Callahan]: South Korean ones or United States?

[Anna Callahan]: We'll get to our experts and we'll ask about that here as well.

[Anna Callahan]: So amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: So we have something to look forward to.

[Anna Callahan]: We can get life back to normal and keep this thing under control.

[Anna Callahan]: So it has been really eye-opening to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate you coming on so much.

[Anna Callahan]: And I have to say, it is kind of amazing that your Skype feed is great.

[Anna Callahan]: half a world away from us.

[Anna Callahan]: So good job Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, no kidding.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any last, any final words before we let you go?

[Anna Callahan]: Really, really fascinating to hear about what life is like there for you right now.

[Anna Callahan]: And I hope we get there soon.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Is it okay?

[Anna Callahan]: There's not so many people on.

[Anna Callahan]: Can those folks?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, Anna Callahan, she, her.

[Anna Callahan]: I am running for office.

[Anna Callahan]: It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it.

[Anna Callahan]: And let's see, I'm so happy to be back at the doors, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Knocking on doors and talking to voters is super fun.

[Anna Callahan]: I really love it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll just tell you a little bit about what I say to people because it's kind of fun and how people react.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm like, hey, you know, I'm

[Anna Callahan]: I'm Anna Callahan, I'm running for state rep, software engineer and mom.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I ask, do you know much about the state house?

[Anna Callahan]: And they're like, not really.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm like, oh, well, I'll tell you two fun facts that you can share with your friends.

[Anna Callahan]: Number one is that there's no way for any of us to know how our state reps are voting.

[Anna Callahan]: And number two,

[Anna Callahan]: is that the last three speakers of the house have all been convicted of felonies related to corruption and bribery.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just had someone today who after I did that, and then of course I go on to explain why that matters and what the policies are that we cannot pass because of this broken system, blah, blah, blah.

[Anna Callahan]: But somebody just today was like, I really like your pitch because when you said there were two things that are fun facts, I thought, oh, well, there's only two.

[Anna Callahan]: I have time for those.

[Anna Callahan]: And then when you're done, it was really interesting.

[Anna Callahan]: I was like, yes, that is what I was going for.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, almost everyone I talk to is convinced and they're going to vote for us, or they just want to do some due diligence.

[Anna Callahan]: They just want to kind of look and read up a bit.

[Anna Callahan]: But I've even, I tell you, I've had a number of people who, the longest conversations I have are with people who, the rare person that I talk to who has worked with Christine on something or who, you know, is a kind of regular caller and those people are,

[Anna Callahan]: all very, very rare, but just talked to one the other day.

[Anna Callahan]: And you know, she had time, I had time.

[Anna Callahan]: We talked, the concentration of power in the hands of the speaker

[Anna Callahan]: She was interested in that, but she wasn't convinced by it.

[Anna Callahan]: And it wasn't until I started talking about the work I've done over the last four years and co-governance and how the people who have been marginalized, who are not engaged in the political process have got to be at the decision-making table.

[Anna Callahan]: And that was what convinced her.

[Anna Callahan]: That's kind of my, you know, I keep it in my back pocket for the people that aren't convinced by the first argument, which is almost everyone is convinced by the transparency and the power of the speaker argument, but that's always there.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, the movement building aspect, which in my heart is kind of the true

[Anna Callahan]: reason why I am running and the thing that will be different about me from most other people who are elected representatives is that once I've always got that.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, I probably spoke too long.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm supposed to say something about the difference between me and Christine.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not sure anybody here doesn't already know, but you know, we've got

[Anna Callahan]: we've got a real problem at the state house, right?

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot pass no brainer legislation.

[Anna Callahan]: Caitlin, you're gonna love this.

[Anna Callahan]: I was at a door today and I was like, and we can, you know, because of this concentration of power in the hands of the speaker, we cannot pass election day registration.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't pass, you know, 100% renewables by 2050, 2050.

[Anna Callahan]: And she was like, those are no brainers.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's what I always say at the door, is no-brainer policies.

[Anna Callahan]: So she took the words right out of my mouth.

[Anna Callahan]: Those are no-brainers.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm like, yes, they are.

[Anna Callahan]: All right.

[Anna Callahan]: That's enough from me.

[Anna Callahan]: I am going to go ahead and pass this on to a voter in the district, Mr. Greg Nadeau.

[Anna Callahan]: And really- I think you actually grilled me.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to see you, Bob.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: And we still have Wednesdays as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Mondays, Wednesdays and Wednesdays.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh wait, I know.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll sing the step-by-step guide.

[Anna Callahan]: That's my little video weirdness.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much, everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm so happy to be back at the doors, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Knocking on doors and talking to voters is super fun.

[Anna Callahan]: I really love it.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll just tell you a little bit about what I say to people because it's kind of fun and how people react.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm like, hey, you know, I'm

[Anna Callahan]: I'm Anna Callahan, I'm running for state rep, software engineer, and mom.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I ask, do you know much about the state house?

[Anna Callahan]: And they're like, not really.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm like, oh, well, I'll tell you two fun facts that you can share with your friends.

[Anna Callahan]: Number one is that there's no way for any of us to know how our state reps are voting.

[Anna Callahan]: And number two,

[Anna Callahan]: is that the last three speakers of the house have all been convicted of felonies related to corruption and bribery.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just had someone today who after I did that, and then of course I go on to explain like why, how that, why that matters and what the policies are that we cannot pass because of this broken system, blah, blah, blah.

[Anna Callahan]: But somebody just today was like, I really like your pitch because when you said there were two things that are fun facts, I thought, oh, well there's only two, I have time for those.

[Anna Callahan]: And then when you're done, it was really interesting.

[Anna Callahan]: I was like, yes, that is what I was going for.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, almost everyone I talk to is convinced and they're going to vote for us, or they just want to do some due diligence.

[Anna Callahan]: They just want to kind of look and read up a bit.

[Anna Callahan]: But I've even, I tell you, I've had a number of people who, the longest conversations I have are with people who, the rare person that I talk to who has worked with Christine on something or who, you know, is a kind of regular caller and those people are,

[Anna Callahan]: All very, very rare, but just talked to one the other day.

[Anna Callahan]: And you know, she had time, I had time.

[Anna Callahan]: We talked, the concentration of power in the hands of the speaker,

[Anna Callahan]: she was interested in that, but she wasn't convinced by it.

[Anna Callahan]: And it wasn't until I started talking about the work I've done over the last four years and co-governance and how people who have been marginalized, who are not engaged in the political process have got to be at the decision-making table.

[Anna Callahan]: And that was what convinced her.

[Anna Callahan]: That's kind of my, you know, I keep it in my back pocket for the people that aren't convinced by the first argument, which is almost everyone is convinced by the transparency and the power of the speaker argument, but that's always there.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, the movement building aspect, which in my heart is kind of the true reason why I am running and the thing that will be different about me from most other people who are elected representatives.

[Anna Callahan]: What is the biggest point that differentiates you, Ms.

[Anna Callahan]: Callahan, from your opponent?

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I probably already said it, but I'll say it again.

[Anna Callahan]: I think right now, the Massachusetts Democratic Party platform is very progressive.

[Anna Callahan]: It is essentially the Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren platform.

[Anna Callahan]: It is very popular in the district.

[Anna Callahan]: We have a veto proof super majority of Democrats in the House and Senate and we cannot pass.

[Anna Callahan]: Medicare for all we cannot pass real climate change legislation, we can't we can't pass any of the things that are in that document, and it's because there is a concentration of power in the hands of the speaker.

[Anna Callahan]: And that is the big difference between.

[Anna Callahan]: the two of us.

[Anna Callahan]: Representative Barber voted to end term limits for the speaker.

[Anna Callahan]: I would vote to have term limits.

[Anna Callahan]: She voted to increase the pay for the speaker and the pay for all of the committee chairs and co-chairs that the speaker alone chooses.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that the speaker should not be choosing those.

[Anna Callahan]: I think they should be chosen by a secret vote for the entire house.

[Anna Callahan]: She voted against transparency, like making committee votes public.

[Anna Callahan]: making committee votes that are public putting them on the website, all of that stuff we need transparency everywhere.

[Anna Callahan]: In fact, we actually need for our legislature to no longer be exempt from public records law, we are one of only two states in the country where all three branches of government are exempt from public records law, and that is ridiculous.

[Anna Callahan]: The lack of transparency, the lack of time for legislators to look at bills, means that we can't organize as activists around those bills either.

[Anna Callahan]: And this whole situation, the culture, the rules, the financial incentives, prevents us from passing progressive policies, prevents us from passing the Massachusetts Democratic Party platform, and I will work very hard to end that.

[Anna Callahan]: One thing to realize is that every time we turn around, scientists are saying, oh actually we were wrong, climate change is way worse than we thought.

[Anna Callahan]: So, we need to look at everything through a lens of environmental justice.

[Anna Callahan]: The Green Justice Coalition has the right idea which is to put together

[Anna Callahan]: Marginalized communities of color that are most impacted by climate change with labor and environmental groups, and that is how we develop a Green New Deal.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to commit to sourcing our electricity from 100% renewables by 2035 at the latest.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to divest from fossil fuels.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to convert government transportation to electric.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to make sure that all new housing is passive housing, is zero emissions housing.

[Anna Callahan]: But more than that, we are eventually going to have to have a plan for how are we going to switch our private transportation to electric?

[Anna Callahan]: How are we going to retrofit all of our housing and commercial buildings so that they are not

[Anna Callahan]: also emitting carbon emissions.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it's a very complex problem.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, the way we go about it is through a coalition of groups that really centralizes the voices of the people most impacted by climate change.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really want to say that the people of Massachusetts are totally ready for this in every poll, willing to pay extra money for it.

[Anna Callahan]: The legislature is not ready.

[Anna Callahan]: We have to get rid of the concentration of power and the stranglehold that the speaker has over the state house, because that's how we can get this done.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: I am running for state representative in the 34th Middlesex District, which is part Somerville and part Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, there is something that someone I highly respect said to me a few years ago that really drives everything that I have done for the last few years.

[Anna Callahan]: She says, if they have the money and we have the people, we cannot win by preaching to the choir.

[Anna Callahan]: So that to me drives home this point that we're not gonna pass a Green New Deal without a movement behind it.

[Anna Callahan]: Not here in Massachusetts, not nationally.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not gonna pass Medicare for all without a movement behind it.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not gonna get any of the things that we want, need, and deserve, including literally saving our planet and our species from extinction.

[Anna Callahan]: We are not gonna get those things.

[Anna Callahan]: unless we really bring more people, like a lot more people, into the political process.

[Anna Callahan]: So I've been spending my last four years training people in kind of a different model of political organizing that elects slates of progressives to city councils while building a movement on the ground to support those people.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just concluded that it's about time for me to step in and do the candidates part of that.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so the model is really quite different from what most people around the country are currently doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And we got this, so I started this organization four years ago, three and a half years ago, called The Incorruptibles.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's what we've been doing.

[Anna Callahan]: We've been training people around the country in this model.

[Anna Callahan]: So the difference between the two models is, here's the old model, probably sound kind of familiar.

[Anna Callahan]: You get a bunch of people together,

[Anna Callahan]: You wait until candidates announce that they're running.

[Anna Callahan]: You choose the least bad one of the candidates.

[Anna Callahan]: And then you do everything that you can to get that person elected, which is where most of the training in this country happens.

[Anna Callahan]: The training is around getting people elected, whether they are great, good, or mediocre.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the last step is after that person is elected and they start doing something you don't like,

[Anna Callahan]: get angry, and start over at the top.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not actually a very effective model.

[Anna Callahan]: It doesn't lead to sort of lasting change.

[Anna Callahan]: We're always back at the beginning again trying to elect one more progressive.

[Anna Callahan]: The new model involves putting together a coalition that comes up with a single platform and then runs slates of candidates.

[Anna Callahan]: And those candidates hopefully are not people who self-select.

[Anna Callahan]: When people self-select, they are more likely to be wealthier, more likely to be white, more likely to be male.

[Anna Callahan]: But when through your coalition, you are, and the coalition is all of, you know, a lot of working class people, marginalized, vulnerable communities.

[Anna Callahan]: And when you work through that coalition to bring people, to sort of train people up to be candidates, to encourage people to be candidates who might never have thought of being a candidate, then you get a much better diversity of candidates who's more likely to maintain those ties.

[Anna Callahan]: And then once you run these slates of candidates on a single platform, once they get elected, and this part is really, really different.

[Anna Callahan]: Everybody talks about holding representatives accountable, and that is an antagonistic relationship.

[Anna Callahan]: But the way that this model works, there is an intimate working relationship between the coalition

[Anna Callahan]: and the elected official, where that coalition is really co-governing.

[Anna Callahan]: So they are helping to figure out what is on the agenda, what maybe is missing on the city council meetings, or the state agenda for that cycle.

[Anna Callahan]: to strategize together about how we're going to pass policy, to be involved sometimes in writing the policy, and really to work together and get the grassroots out to pass that policy.

[Anna Callahan]: I did not create it.

[Anna Callahan]: So I had the great fortune of working with Gail McLaughlin, who was the mayor of Richmond, California.

[Anna Callahan]: And in Richmond, the town of Richmond really had been owned by Chevron for 100 years, to the point that Chevron actually had a desk inside City Hall.

[Anna Callahan]: And they would pay off every single politician.

[Anna Callahan]: And by pay off, they're donating to their campaign.

[Anna Callahan]: So in the early 2000s, some people formed the Rich and Progressive Alliance and they did this whole model and over the course of seven or eight years, they had a majority on the city council plus the mayor and they passed

[Anna Callahan]: most incredible suite of policies.

[Anna Callahan]: They passed the first rent control bill in the state of California in 30 years.

[Anna Callahan]: They reduced the homicide rate from the second highest homicide rate in the country.

[Anna Callahan]: They reduced it by 75%.

[Anna Callahan]: They got $100 million in new taxes from Chevron.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I could go on and on.

[Anna Callahan]: There's like some amazing, amazing things that they

[Anna Callahan]: continue to do, right?

[Anna Callahan]: They're still in power.

[Anna Callahan]: So that does not change.

[Anna Callahan]: They are still there.

[Anna Callahan]: They have a strong coalition.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I got to work with them.

[Anna Callahan]: I also worked with Jane McAlevey, who is such a powerhouse.

[Anna Callahan]: She's one of the most successful union organizers in the last 40 or 50 years.

[Anna Callahan]: She gets 95% participation in the unions where she organizes, and it's not because everybody there is pro-union.

[Anna Callahan]: It is because she does the really hard work of convincing people to join the struggle.

[Anna Callahan]: And she has done it thousands of times.

[Anna Callahan]: She has perfected this, you know, the sort of convincing conversation, this long relationship where in the end, those people join the struggle.

[Anna Callahan]: And so I got to incorporate her ideas.

[Anna Callahan]: She's the one who said, if they have the money and we have the people, we'll never win by preaching to the choir.

[Anna Callahan]: So she has really proven that herself hundreds of times and gotten, you know, her, the unions she works with,

[Anna Callahan]: get amazing wins.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, yes.

[Anna Callahan]: So people who have listened to this podcast will have heard this many times.

[Anna Callahan]: In Massachusetts, there is a combination of a set of rules, financial incentives, and a culture that basically puts all power in the hands of the speaker.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, AOC talks about the vice grip of pressure that she is under, psychological pressure, social pressure, political pressure, every moment of every day to conform, and that kind of pressure exists at the State House as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Specifically, one of the things that we're trying to change first is transparency, that there is really no way for you or anyone to know how their state rep is voting.

[Anna Callahan]: It's all done secretly.

[Anna Callahan]: And so most bills, the decision as to whether a bill will move forward or not is done by a very small group of people in a backroom deal, and it is completely undemocratic.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to give a little bit of a long answer here.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to, I'm going to start with,

[Anna Callahan]: with national politics, only to make a point.

[Anna Callahan]: So there was a study done by some Princeton researchers on, they took about 20 years of bills that went through Congress, every single bill, 20 years of Congress, every single bill that entered, that passed, that failed.

[Anna Callahan]: And they basically looked at

[Anna Callahan]: whether how people felt about those bills, how, you know, the top 10% of wage earners felt about those bills, and how the bottom 90% of wage earners felt about those bills.

[Anna Callahan]: And the conclusion of that research study was that it was about 2000 bills.

[Anna Callahan]: So the conclusion of that research study was that

[Anna Callahan]: The top 10% of wage earners pretty much control which bills pass and which bills fail, especially which bills fail.

[Anna Callahan]: Anything that they don't like, they can absolutely make fail.

[Anna Callahan]: The bottom 90% of wage earners, I believe their quote was, the desires of the average American have a minuscule, near zero, statistically insignificant impact on public policy.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is really something to like take some serious pause at.

[Anna Callahan]: That our Congress serves the wealth, period.

[Anna Callahan]: Full stop.

[Anna Callahan]: And what people say a lot is they talk about money in politics.

[Anna Callahan]: It's all money in politics.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't believe that it's all money in politics.

[Anna Callahan]: I, like you, I believe that most people enter public office with good intentions.

[Anna Callahan]: So now I want to talk a little bit about what life is like for progressive elected officials right after they get elected.

[Anna Callahan]: And this is from my experience providing these training sessions to people around the country, in Oklahoma, in, you know, northern, central, and southern California, in Pennsylvania, in Kansas, in Rhode Island, in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: and sometimes having mayors or city councilors attend the workshops.

[Anna Callahan]: And these are all, the progressive ones are the ones attending the workshops, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Because we give these workshops through an Our Revolution group, through a DSA chapter, through an indivisible group, through a PDA, Progressive Democrats of America.

[Anna Callahan]: So it's always, we find a group that is interested in the coalition building side of it.

[Anna Callahan]: And then elected officials that are friendly with them sometimes attend.

[Anna Callahan]: So here's what happens when a progressive gets elected.

[Anna Callahan]: They have a whole team of people.

[Anna Callahan]: This is to city council or state.

[Anna Callahan]: They have a whole team of people working to get them elected.

[Anna Callahan]: And they have this great party on election night.

[Anna Callahan]: And everybody is really happy.

[Anna Callahan]: And all those volunteers go home and pretty much totally stop interacting with that elected official for six months, eight months, a year.

[Anna Callahan]: right?

[Anna Callahan]: They just, they're gone.

[Anna Callahan]: Meanwhile, the elected official goes to work.

[Anna Callahan]: And while they are at work, they're contacted and asked to have meetings with developers, lobbyists, chamber of commerce, CEOs, the

[Anna Callahan]: As things pass through the city council or through the state house, there are all sorts of consultants that develop, you know, beautiful reports that have all these graphs that are well-researched, that have lots of photos.

[Anna Callahan]: And most of those, who's paying for those?

[Anna Callahan]: Corporations are paying for those, right?

[Anna Callahan]: Somebody has to pay for those reports.

[Anna Callahan]: That's where these sitting elected officials get their information.

[Anna Callahan]: because no one else is providing information for them.

[Anna Callahan]: And even their own constituents, I talked to a state rep, actually one of the earlier podcasts, one of the state reps said that if she didn't go out of her way, out of a district of 40,000 people, she would probably hear from the same 100.

[Anna Callahan]: The people who feel like it's their prerogative to contact a state representative are people in general in the top 20% of wage earners.

[Anna Callahan]: So even your own constituents, that's part of the job, is you have to serve your constituents.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you don't try to have some control over who you listen to, you will literally only hear from

[Anna Callahan]: pro corporate, pro wealthy, top 20% people, 24 hours a day.

[Anna Callahan]: That's the nature of the job.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: So part of the model.

[Anna Callahan]: is a very specific, deliberate strategy to ensure that the elected official is hearing not only from the sort of grass tops, like the leadership of organizations that either serve or whose members are part of working class communities, but that you're directly listening to vulnerable, marginalized working class people.

[Anna Callahan]: And here's how it goes.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not super difficult, but it's time consuming and it's hard work and you have to do it.

[Anna Callahan]: You start off, and I recommend doing this with others, not by yourself.

[Anna Callahan]: So hopefully with an organization that wants to be involved because it's a lot of work and they can help you out.

[Anna Callahan]: Step one is really to list who are the underrepresented, marginalized, vulnerable people who live in your city or district.

[Anna Callahan]: And that's probably gonna include like 30 or 40 demographics, sometimes overlapping.

[Anna Callahan]: With that list, you then start to make another list, which is who are the individuals or organizations that have access to those people?

[Anna Callahan]: Who are the ones that are trusted by those people?

[Anna Callahan]: Who are the ones that serve those people in some capacity?

[Anna Callahan]: And then you start having one-on-ones.

[Anna Callahan]: and you meet with those folks with the goal of setting up listening sessions.

[Anna Callahan]: So let's say, for example, that you want to meet with, you know, that there is like a Haitian community in your area.

[Anna Callahan]: And you have done a few one-on-ones, and through talking to those people, you've identified that there is a particular church leader that knows a lot of folks.

[Anna Callahan]: And you meet with them, and they're very excited about the idea.

[Anna Callahan]: So then they help you set up a meeting that they bring their people to.

[Anna Callahan]: with translators if necessary, you know, whatever you need to make happen.

[Anna Callahan]: And ideally, it's at their location, so they feel comfortable, and it's at their timeline.

[Anna Callahan]: So if it is at a church, it might be like immediately after the service at the church.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's this the whole meeting is 70% listening.

[Anna Callahan]: So the idea is you ask people how state politics affects their lives, right?

[Anna Callahan]: How many people in this room have

[Anna Callahan]: not gone to the doctor because of cost.

[Anna Callahan]: And then you get their stories, their personal stories.

[Anna Callahan]: After, so you do that throughout for every, you keep doing this and you, and this never stops.

[Anna Callahan]: You can be in office for 20 years.

[Anna Callahan]: Frankly, this is exactly what Bernie does and has always done.

[Anna Callahan]: I remember reading, I kind of knew this, but I, I remember reading in one of his books and on page 202, one of his books, he says, oh, I, it's May.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just had my sixth town hall with high school students only of the year.

[Anna Callahan]: So he had already done 600 town halls that year, more than one per month, that only included high school students.

[Anna Callahan]: And you know, he's also done half a dozen for every other, you know, underrepresented community in his area, right?

[Anna Callahan]: In his state, in his city, whatever it is.

[Anna Callahan]: So, so this is the way that you maintain those connections and you hear the stories of how policy is actually affecting people's lives.

[Anna Callahan]: And the last thing I'll say is that it doesn't quite stop there because those personal stories, like when you're at the meeting, you are engaging, you try to engage those people in the political process, right?

[Anna Callahan]: You help them to understand, you can narrow in on some particular policy that they want to change, and then you help them and get them to be activated in something that they can affect.

[Anna Callahan]: But after that, the personal stories are incredibly effective for motivating other people to action.

[Anna Callahan]: So those personal stories, you can use them with permission to help everyone else that you have then been involved with.

[Anna Callahan]: Everybody from like all the more politically active activist organizations to all of these, you know, more underserved groups that you're meeting with.

[Anna Callahan]: when they hear that personal story they will be motivated to act on an issue that maybe isn't their issue.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's the model.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Movement building is the reason that I'm running.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we can do a lot, not just within the district to, you know, I just described it.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, doing all of that work in the district will be important.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think with those connections with people in the district, you also connect with people in other districts.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm also running, I mean, you know, you said,

[Anna Callahan]: It would be great if more politicians were doing this.

[Anna Callahan]: And that is the entire purpose of the incorruptibles and what I've spent my life doing for the last four years.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really intend to help bring this model to other elected officials.

[Anna Callahan]: It really is to their best interest, because if you do this model really well, you will, they can run anybody they want against you.

[Anna Callahan]: They can pour millions of dollars against you and you will win your reelection.

[Anna Callahan]: So those sorts of, like the long-term goal of being able to, as an elected official, I think I'll be able to get the word out more and get more interest in the model as an elected official than I have been just as a regular person.

[Anna Callahan]: And then, you know, transparency matters.

[Anna Callahan]: The culture at the Statehouse, the rules at the Statehouse, the financial incentives at the Statehouse mean that Massachusetts cannot move forward.

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot be a leader.

[Anna Callahan]: Our people, the Bay Staters, are ready to lead.

[Anna Callahan]: We are ready to lead.

[Anna Callahan]: We want to lead.

[Anna Callahan]: On environmental stuff, everybody is ready to even spend a little bit more money so that Massachusetts can lead in, you know, really pushing back against climate change.

[Anna Callahan]: But we can't do it because of the

[Anna Callahan]: the culture happening, the rules, the financial incentives, essentially the stranglehold that the speaker has over policy that passes.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will do everything that I can to get democracy at our statehouse.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, thanks for asking.

[Anna Callahan]: AnnaCallahan.com is the website for the campaign.

[Anna Callahan]: Donations are always appreciated during COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: Everything costs more.

[Anna Callahan]: We can't just knock on doors.

[Anna Callahan]: We've got to pay for phone banking tools, text banking tools, and all of that.

[Anna Callahan]: And we would love to have more volunteers.

[Anna Callahan]: So we have a volunteer page on the website.

[Anna Callahan]: You can sign up there as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for doing the, uh, for doing the interview.

[Anna Callahan]: All right.

[Anna Callahan]: See you next time.

[Anna Callahan]: Hello everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for tuning in to Solidarity Live.

[Anna Callahan]: This is where we take questions and stories from our community here in Somerville and Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: I try to bring in some experts to talk about what's happening and how we're being affected by COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: And then together we figure out how we can solve our issues.

[Anna Callahan]: You can always make a comment in YouTube and I can pull that comment in.

[Anna Callahan]: We can answer it live, so don't hesitate.

[Anna Callahan]: And I am going to bring in my first guest for the day, which is Nicole.

[Anna Callahan]: Nicole Mosalem.

[Anna Callahan]: Tell me if I said that right, because I think I used to pronounce your name wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: You did.

[Anna Callahan]: You got it.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Nicole, so happy to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: So happy to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so there's different things we can chat about.

[Anna Callahan]: I think if we can start, I would love to have you just say who you are.

[Anna Callahan]: And we will begin with a conversation about the Muslim community here and Ramadan.

[Anna Callahan]: And then after that, I'd love to talk a little bit about your run for state.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: So can you talk about the Islamic Cultural Center and its mission and, you know, sort of what you do there?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, hey, JT.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: I think I answered the call from you, and I accidentally lost Nicole and Paola.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me see if I can grab them.

[Anna Callahan]: I was right in the middle of talking to Nicole.

[Anna Callahan]: Good to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so, so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I am going to grab the two of them.

[Anna Callahan]: So hang on everybody.

[Anna Callahan]: JT is coming right up.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm dialing them in.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to have them on the line in just a second.

[Anna Callahan]: Hello?

[Anna Callahan]: Nicole, I am so sorry.

[Anna Callahan]: We had a Skype kerfuffle.

[Anna Callahan]: So let me go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't yet have your video.

[Anna Callahan]: I've got JT on here with Nicole's name under it.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, there we go.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, I'm going to switch.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to switch out JT.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to switch in Nicole.

[Anna Callahan]: All right, we're doing this thing here.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we've got everybody on the call now, so that's great.

[Anna Callahan]: So, Nicole, so sorry about the interruption.

[Anna Callahan]: If you can talk a little bit about, yeah, you were talking about the mission of the Islamic Cultural Center, providing, you know, sort of spiritual space for them, and if you don't mind picking up from there.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I mean, we're sort of all in the same boat on that front.

[Anna Callahan]: Everybody's programming, doing everything had to be cancelled.

[Anna Callahan]: And it's so great that there is this physical space for the Muslim community in the area.

[Anna Callahan]: And I imagine that you, given your role, that you hear from a lot of the Muslim families and the Muslim people in the area.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'd love to kind of ask you, how is that community faring during COVID-19?

[Anna Callahan]: Which both you and I know about.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, I'm sure that is tough to have that going on at the same time.

[Anna Callahan]: And I imagine that for people who live alone, it's maybe even more difficult.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, mostly this is about sort of reaching out and hearing from the Muslim community and how you're doing, but I can't resist asking you about your own race.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would just love, you know, without spending too much time on it, I would love to kind of hear, you know, why you're running and, you know, just to say, feel free to talk a little bit about your race.

[Anna Callahan]: And that just happened.

[Anna Callahan]: For all those families, that just happened.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Hair, hair.

[Anna Callahan]: I am totally with you on that one.

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, if anybody wants to comment, ask questions, we'll take those questions live.

[Anna Callahan]: So feel free to just comment in the YouTube comment section.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know candidates are very busy.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, if you can stick around, um, and be on at the same time as, uh, like a little bit later as Paola and JT, um, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: But I also completely understand if there are other things that you have to do.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, so, uh, so yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Uh, if, is there any final words that you want to say, talk about in terms of, um, the Muslim community or the work that you're doing, uh, right now under COVID?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I am going to bring in Paola.

[Anna Callahan]: Hello.

[Anna Callahan]: One second, let me switch this here.

[Anna Callahan]: Paola, you are live.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is Paola Masoli with Mothers Out Front.

[Anna Callahan]: Paola, if you can introduce yourself and a little bit about Mothers Out Front, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: We have a little bit of connectivity problems.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't know what your data reception is like right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Unfortunately, we're getting a lot of sort of connectivity issues, so it's very difficult to understand you.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe we can, let's try again in a second or two, or if there's a place near you that you get better data.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, you know...

[Anna Callahan]: I like the idea of doing it without video that maybe we'll get better audio.

[Anna Callahan]: Try speaking again.

[Anna Callahan]: Unfortunately, we just did not.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, we are not able to.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not understandable.

[Anna Callahan]: So we had had this idea earlier today that maybe we would just call you on the phone and we won't be able to see your face.

[Anna Callahan]: Or maybe leave your... No, yeah, it's unfortunately just not working.

[Anna Callahan]: We might be able to, the video was actually not too bad.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you mute your audio, I'm gonna call you on the phone and we will have that play if that sounds good to you.

[Anna Callahan]: So you're welcome to put your video up if you'd like.

[Anna Callahan]: Otherwise, we'll just go.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, so we can hear you fine now.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will just leave your name up here, but I'm going to, um,

[Anna Callahan]: not have your video on because we don't see you.

[Anna Callahan]: If you want to turn your video on, that's fine, and I'll put you in there over Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, Paola, go ahead and let us know sort of a little bit about you and about Mothers Out Front.

[Anna Callahan]: I know, I'm with you.

[Anna Callahan]: I just wanted, like, because gas, when I think of gas, it's like gasoline for the car.

[Anna Callahan]: And the Weymouth Compressor Station, as I understand, this five-year battle to prevent this new infrastructure for fossil fuels coming

[Anna Callahan]: to a not wealthy community in Massachusetts.

[Anna Callahan]: Because when you build new infrastructure, then the only way to get the money back from that investment is to do more fossil fuel extraction for the next 20 or 30 years.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And can I ask you, I know that you've been particularly involved here in Somerville with the gas, the problem with gas leaks.

[Anna Callahan]: So natural gas, which is not natural, right?

[Anna Callahan]: The methane that is pumped into our houses to supply heating.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: that the infrastructure in Somerville leaks, and in other places as well.

[Anna Callahan]: I know it's a problem in Medford, and it's a problem across the state, that it leaks so much that, and I'm going to let you finish this sentence, how bad is it?

[Anna Callahan]: How bad are these leaks in Somerville and Medford?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, and as long as we have those, as long as we have gas flowing through those lines,

[Anna Callahan]: We've got to fix them.

[Anna Callahan]: But ideally, we move totally away from fossil fuels.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we'll never need to repair those again.

[Anna Callahan]: And we're one of the dense, like Somerville is one of the densest cities in the whole New England area.

[Anna Callahan]: So the percentage of our housing that is new is small.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: you know, the work that you are doing here and that Luggage Out Front is doing all over the country is very important.

[Anna Callahan]: I know sort of, you know, uplifting the stories of like, you know, the health stories that have happened to people because of these gas leaks, because of the Weymouth Compressor Station.

[Anna Callahan]: And also the trees, I remember you talking about, you know, these trees that have died and going there and actually testing the ground and finding that it's-

[Anna Callahan]: So, so much more gas in that soil than is allowable.

[Anna Callahan]: So, those things are really important as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there any ways that people can get involved in Mothers Out Front?

[Anna Callahan]: That's right.

[Anna Callahan]: I love that you say more hands on deck because I always talk about it is an all hands on deck moment.

[Anna Callahan]: for climate and other things.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: It's been really great talking to you and hearing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Hearing more about the work you guys are doing.

[Anna Callahan]: So glad that things are moving forward in terms of Somerville and we will keep pushing on the way with the compressor station.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Me too.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye-bye.

[Anna Callahan]: And the next guest that we're going to have on is J.T.

[Anna Callahan]: Scott, who is a Somerville city councilor.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to remove Paola's name and move that front and put yours.

[Anna Callahan]: I've got you in, JT.

[Anna Callahan]: JT, how are you doing?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, we don't have your audio.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Nothing is as it was.

[Anna Callahan]: So JT, I didn't even really introduce you.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love you to talk a little bit about who you are and really we're focusing on COVID-19 and how it's affecting Summerville and Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you can talk to us about what's happening at the city council now and what you guys are doing around COVID-19.

[Anna Callahan]: So we've actually, we're having a little bit of trouble understanding you as well, JT.

[Anna Callahan]: Give me just a second.

[Anna Callahan]: How is your data?

[Anna Callahan]: I hate to say it, but I actually cannot understand you.

[Anna Callahan]: It's that bad.

[Anna Callahan]: It makes me wonder if maybe it is my data, but I hope it's not.

[Anna Callahan]: You think it might be mine?

[Anna Callahan]: It might be mine.

[Anna Callahan]: I think it is.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm on a 5G network.

[Anna Callahan]: That's usually pretty good.

[Anna Callahan]: You know what?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm actually going to move from my lovely background here.

[Anna Callahan]: Background will probably, hey, we're all in COVID-19, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So everybody knows that you're at home and things look weird.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to plug right into the internet here.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to hardline it.

[Anna Callahan]: I can get my lights to work.

[Anna Callahan]: There we go.

[Anna Callahan]: Just one second.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, and of course, my computer does not have this kind of jack.

[Anna Callahan]: Say another couple things.

[Anna Callahan]: We're all facing challenges.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am going to ask, I'm going to do something here.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I have one of those?

[Anna Callahan]: Because I can't hear through mine.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so apparently everybody here is the same thing that I hear, which is that folks can hear me fine, but they can't hear you.

[Anna Callahan]: Drat.

[Anna Callahan]: You know what?

[Anna Callahan]: Here's what I would love.

[Anna Callahan]: Because this worked for Paola.

[Anna Callahan]: Your video is actually fine.

[Anna Callahan]: Totally fine.

[Anna Callahan]: Leave your video on.

[Anna Callahan]: Mute the audio.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll have the audio by phone.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that'll work great.

[Anna Callahan]: So I have two numbers for you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'd hate to read them off on, do you end in 3-2 or end in 2-1?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so we can see you and now we can hear you.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: The best thing is if you can mute the computer completely, not just yourself, but also mute the computer and then use the phone for audio, that would work great.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, I'll ask you some questions.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, I know that a lot of great things have been passed in terms of making sure that we're all safe, that the whole shutdown and all of that, and Somerville was very early on in that.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to look a little bit at the future.

[Anna Callahan]: What is the plan, right?

[Anna Callahan]: How are you guys handling the, do we have enough testing kits in Somerville?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there any sort of a tracing plan?

[Anna Callahan]: Or is that something that the state will really take care of?

[Anna Callahan]: How does that side of things look from the city perspective?

[Anna Callahan]: Well done.

[Anna Callahan]: Give him a push there.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I, can I ask you a little question about that?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, I think some of the stuff that Somerville has done amazingly well is to provide aid to people.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about, um, what, what sort of things are available, like even to people who are listening here, like what they can, how they can, um, look to the city of Somerville for some of their needs during COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: I know, they were the very first, our very first show was someone, one of the founders of Mamas.

[Anna Callahan]: So, I could talk to you forever, and I'm wondering if you're okay with it.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to see if Paula and Nicole are still around.

[Anna Callahan]: So, if Paula and Nicole, if you guys are still here, go ahead and turn on your video.

[Anna Callahan]: Paula, hopefully we can get you in.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Nicole is... Oh, good.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me add Nicole.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah-ha-ha.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to bring in a couple of seconds for you guys, and then I'll bring Paul in.

[Anna Callahan]: We all love Mike.

[Anna Callahan]: Who doesn't love Mike?

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I've never had four people on.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know how it's going to position people in the frame.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me give it a shot.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to bring Paula in here as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Aha.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: Like that.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just going to move the names around.

[Anna Callahan]: So JT is over there.

[Anna Callahan]: Nicole is there.

[Anna Callahan]: Paola is here.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Good to see everybody.

[Anna Callahan]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: It's funny because this is such a listening session.

[Anna Callahan]: Every week I'm listening and hearing stories from the district and bringing in experts to figure out how we can solve these together.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't really talk about my race on the show, but now is my opportunity.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, JT.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I'm running because I really believe that we cannot... I think the other side has the money and we have the people, but if that's true, we cannot win if we're preaching to the choir.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we will not win a Green New Deal if we don't have a movement behind it.

[Anna Callahan]: I think we will not win Medicare for All if we don't have a movement behind it.

[Anna Callahan]: I've been training people for four years in a style of...

[Anna Callahan]: build movements through local electoral organizing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I see the primary role of an elected official as a movement builder.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we must have movement builders as elected officials, because that is the only way that we will

[Anna Callahan]: get the policies that we want, need, and deserve.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am running to be a movement builder in the district and across the state with some very specific tactics that I learned from some amazing union organizers and other elected officials and other folks, very specific tactics that I've been training people in for years now.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm excited to do it as an elected official.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: I really could stay in this call for a long time, but I believe it or not, you know, candidates have busy schedules and I have a meeting starting now.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you all so much.

[Anna Callahan]: It's been wonderful talking to you all.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for all the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for tuning in.

[Anna Callahan]: We will be back in a couple weeks.

[Anna Callahan]: Have a good night.

[Anna Callahan]: Hello, everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for tuning in to Solidarity Live, where we take stories and questions from the community here in Somerville and Medford, and then we bring in experts to talk about those issues, and we also figure out how we can solve these problems together as a community.

[Anna Callahan]: So today I'm actually quite excited.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to be talking to a musician here in Somerville and the difficulties that you can imagine they have living under COVID, trying to live as a musician in the economic climate that we have.

[Anna Callahan]: And we also will have on a musician from Canada.

[Anna Callahan]: And so we will talk about the differences there.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm going to bring those folks in.

[Anna Callahan]: We have with us James Lesuey.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope I said that right.

[Anna Callahan]: You'll be able to introduce yourself as well.

[Anna Callahan]: And Kat McCleavey.

[Anna Callahan]: So awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: You are both live.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to go ahead and start with James.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you want to just introduce yourself briefly and talk about what has happened in your life since the lockdown started.

[Anna Callahan]: OK.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, and when we talked earlier, and by the way, I will just mention to you, it's a little bit awkward on the screen because all three of us are like, one, two, three.

[Anna Callahan]: And so you're very narrow.

[Anna Callahan]: So you're going to stay kind of in the center of the screen.

[Anna Callahan]: But yeah, stay there.

[Anna Callahan]: So James, when you and I had spoken earlier, you mentioned that you were doing a lot of music gigs and really kind of living the life of a musician.

[Anna Callahan]: But that recently you had taken on the restaurant job because you wanted to be able to save money, right?

[Anna Callahan]: You didn't want to just meet your expenses, but you wanted to save.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about that and about the timing of when you took this job as well?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so both the music gigs and your restaurant job have really been shut down by the economic climate.

[Anna Callahan]: Exactly.

[Anna Callahan]: And you are an opera performance major, is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am going to... Well, before we switch over to what's happening in Canada, I just want to ask, if it's okay, how are you doing financially?

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk to us about, like, were you able to pay this month's rent?

[Anna Callahan]: And how did you do that?

[Anna Callahan]: And then are you able to pay next month's rent?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, what does it look like for you?

[Anna Callahan]: What does the future look like for you?

[Anna Callahan]: The second month- And that's a mutual aid, that's a mutual aid organization.

[Anna Callahan]: So just reaching out to neighbors and people in the community.

[Anna Callahan]: Who knows, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So I mean your life is completely up in the air and it must be very stressful and you have no idea where you're gonna be able to pay your bills a couple months down the road.

[Anna Callahan]: I am going to go ahead and switch over to Cat McLeavy.

[Anna Callahan]: So you're both still on, but Cat, just introduce yourself and what's happening with you right now, especially since COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: They had a little pause.

[Anna Callahan]: You and James are both working musicians.

[Anna Callahan]: You both were in the Boston area, both, you know, graduated from music school and working as musicians.

[Anna Callahan]: So tell us what happened when the lockdown started and you're in Canada.

[Anna Callahan]: And you have any medical issues that you have are covered because Canada essentially has a single-payer national Medicare for all style.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So the other question that I want to bring up for you, James, is you had mentioned to me that you might look for work.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about that and about your concerns around that?

[Anna Callahan]: We've had, what, 30 million people file for unemployment in America since the start of COVID, something like that.

[Anna Callahan]: It might be a total of 30 million.

[Anna Callahan]: And, you know, I, like, through talking to you and other people who really are facing this choice of, okay, I either get myself a job that is dangerous for my health or

[Anna Callahan]: I have no idea how I'm going to pay my rent and put food on the table.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think neither of you have kids.

[Anna Callahan]: I could be wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: I didn't ask that question.

[Anna Callahan]: But for parents who have children they have to feed, it's yet another level of question there.

[Anna Callahan]: And I do worry that these, you know, the way America is set up, that we let everybody fend for themselves, that this lockdown situation is creating an environment where we allow people with white collar jobs to remain safely ensconced in their apartments, and everyone else has to, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: basically become an essential worker serving those people and putting themselves in danger or else.

[Anna Callahan]: And it doesn't have to be this way.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is actually, this is the second, it's like a new segment on the show called It Doesn't Have To Be This Way.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, I mean, same situation, two musicians, similar life stages, one in America, one in Canada.

[Anna Callahan]: It does not have to be this way.

[Anna Callahan]: It doesn't have to be this way.

[Anna Callahan]: Kat, I assume you're not like running around, you know, thinking you're gonna have to get a job as an Amazon worker or a grocery store clerk in order to pay your bills.

[Anna Callahan]: And that was because of city policy or national policy?

[Anna Callahan]: I remember.

[Anna Callahan]: You know what, though?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm guessing that as soon as the lockdown happened, you would have high-tailed it to Canada.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, last week, our It Doesn't Have to Be This Way segment... Here, my quotes didn't show up.

[Anna Callahan]: The It Doesn't Have to Be This Way segment was...

[Anna Callahan]: It was actually a guy who was living here in Somerville until the lockdowns.

[Anna Callahan]: And two weeks after the lockdowns happened, he got a flight to South Korea because that's where his parents were.

[Anna Callahan]: He's like born in America, but his parents are from South Korea and they happened to be there.

[Anna Callahan]: And they were like, you got to come here.

[Anna Callahan]: And now he's in South Korea.

[Anna Callahan]: And guess what?

[Anna Callahan]: He, you know, he goes to work.

[Anna Callahan]: People are going to school.

[Anna Callahan]: people are going out to restaurants and things, they have testing and contact tracing, they have everything under control, and they are leading normal lives because of policy.

[Anna Callahan]: Because their government has their head together.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, man.

[Anna Callahan]: So I bet you would have gone.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Boy, I am going to give you guys both an opportunity to say any final words, but I first just want to thank you so, so much.

[Anna Callahan]: James, it's not like we have millions of viewers, but it takes bravery to let your personal story be out there for people.

[Anna Callahan]: And I really, really appreciate you doing this, because there are many people in your shoes.

[Anna Callahan]: And personal stories motivate people to action.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think it's really important that we get these stories out there so that people understand the gravity and the impact of policy and how much it affects people's lives.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really, really appreciate you coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: And Cat, of course, love you dearly.

[Anna Callahan]: We were housemates.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if people have really fully understood that, but we lived together for a whole year.

[Anna Callahan]: She's wonderful, wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: And James, I know you're wonderful as well.

[Anna Callahan]: We don't have quite the same history.

[Anna Callahan]: And so thank you so much, Kat, as well, for being on.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to let you each say some final words.

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe, Kat, why don't you go first?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, my pleasure.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful to have you both.

[Anna Callahan]: Stay well.

[Anna Callahan]: And let's, you know, let's all get together and make some serious change because our country is in deep need of you.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: All right.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, everyone, for listening.

[Anna Callahan]: We will be signing off, and we will see you next week.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye-bye.

[Anna Callahan]: everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for tuning in to Solidarity Live where we take questions and stories from the community in Somerville and Medford.

[Anna Callahan]: We bring in experts to talk about those issues and then we work to solve those together.

[Anna Callahan]: Today I have on someone from the Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: She's going to talk all about everything they do with our immigrant community and a specific fund that she's working with today.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm going to bring her right in.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is

[Anna Callahan]: Let me have her join us.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, this is Kenya Alfaro of The Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, Kenya, you're live.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, how are you?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm doing well, as well as I guess you can be right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love for you to just tell us a little bit about what the Welcome Project does in general, and then specifically how you're dealing with COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, I will mention, I just got a comment from someone saying that there's a little bit of an echo, so I don't know if anybody's not muted or because we have people later in the show who are on right now.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you can mute, that would be great.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully this problem will resolve.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So it sounds like you guys really have good insight into our immigrant population and how they're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love to hear as much as you can how our immigrant community is doing now during COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: You're saying food resources are a problem because of just lack of funds, is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: I think it seems like you've frozen.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, so give me one second, everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: It looks like we had a little problem with Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: Hang on.

[Anna Callahan]: We are just trying to get Kenya Alfaro back on from the Welcome Project.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to go ahead and do what I can.

[Anna Callahan]: to get Kenya back on, to get our folks from Tufts Mutual Aid back on.

[Anna Callahan]: They are also, ah, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So it looks like, ah, we have everyone back.

[Anna Callahan]: Amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: So sorry about that.

[Anna Callahan]: I do not know exactly what happened, but I lost all of you and my whole Skype went down.

[Anna Callahan]: So I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, everyone, for sticking with us.

[Anna Callahan]: So Kenya.

[Anna Callahan]: You were talking about food resources and how the city of Somerville has really done some work there to make food resources available to people.

[Anna Callahan]: Right, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And do you know if folks in that community have been plugging into the mutual aid, so the Medford and Somerville mutual aid, or in any of the other cities' mutual aid projects?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And you have a particular fund that you administer, is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

[Anna Callahan]: I'll just remind people that if you have any questions, you can just put those in the comment box and we can pull those right in.

[Anna Callahan]: In your outreach, you guys must have a lot of languages on hand, I imagine.

[Anna Callahan]: When you're calling through people, how many different languages do you have to rely on to reach out to people?

[Anna Callahan]: Great, that is great.

[Anna Callahan]: And are there ways that people can help?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it sounds like people can donate to that fund specifically.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fund I assume is like directly related to COVID and it started with COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it really has to do with that.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other ways in addition to that, that people can help?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, good.

[Anna Callahan]: It sounds like at one point there was a need for masks.

[Anna Callahan]: I know

[Anna Callahan]: you know, a lot of folks and mamas are excited to make masks, so I don't know if that's something that people still need.

[Anna Callahan]: Let's be clear, there's a new law in Somerville saying that when out of your house, you must wear a mask, and there's a fine, up to $300, I think, fine related to that.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to give just a little plug for how people can find you, how people can donate to the fund, or help out in other ways?

[Anna Callahan]: Specifically, what's the website?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great work that you guys are doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful to have you on and keep us updated.

[Anna Callahan]: Let us know as things change, if there are more needs and other ways that people can help.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, great to have you.

[Anna Callahan]: So our next guests are from, hang on, we're gonna add, from Tufts Mutual Aid.

[Anna Callahan]: We have, I'm getting closer, here we go, Madeline Clark and

[Anna Callahan]: Nikhil and Nikhil, I'm gonna let you say your name because I think I might get it wrong.

[Anna Callahan]: And you know what, I hope that you two will introduce Tufts Mutual Aid and introduce yourselves.

[Anna Callahan]: And somehow my computer is not plugged in, like it's plugged in to my, and my battery's gonna die.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm gonna duck out for just one second in this COVID home studio here.

[Anna Callahan]: But why don't you go ahead and introduce Tufts Mutual Aid and yourself.

[Anna Callahan]: I have you live now.

[Anna Callahan]: But I think you're muted.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Nikhil, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So can you tell us some of the stories that you've heard as you've been working with the folks that you're working with?

[Anna Callahan]: What do you hear from people?

[Anna Callahan]: What's happening in their lives as a result of these changes?

[Anna Callahan]: We have a question from Joel Greenberg.

[Anna Callahan]: He says, how much notice were people given to move off campus?

[Anna Callahan]: Seems like a huge burden for students and families.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And would you say, I mean, obviously you don't know numbers, but maybe you do, like what percentage of tough students actually had to leave town, like had to find, like were on campus and had to find somewhere else and ended up maybe going home?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And so, you know, it's interesting because when I

[Anna Callahan]: When I first heard of Tufts Mutual Aid, I thought, okay, it's like, you know, the other mutual aid societies helping provide, you know, helping people make sure they're safe, that they can pay their rent, that they can get groceries and things.

[Anna Callahan]: But it sounds like you are also pretty deeply involved in making sure that students who have to now continue their education,

[Anna Callahan]: are able to do that part of it.

[Anna Callahan]: So, like, how do you balance those?

[Anna Callahan]: Or, you know, what do you feel has been happening for students who have to continue their education, have to do everything online?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, how disruptive has that been to their education?

[Anna Callahan]: Maybe talk about that side, just the educational aspect of it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So just a last question about the other side.

[Anna Callahan]: So the making sure people can get groceries, they can pay for their rent, all of these things.

[Anna Callahan]: Have you seen, for the students that remain, are you interfacing at all with mamas, with another different mutual aid?

[Anna Callahan]: Is this mostly students helping students?

[Anna Callahan]: How are you able to help

[Anna Callahan]: those students who are in the area to be able to sort of afford the changing circumstances that are happening to them now, but specifically like rent, food, the basics?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: All right, how can, what can people do?

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, does it like, like it really has been,

[Anna Callahan]: the Tufts Mutual Aid is the students helping the students, students who have moved, leaving food, and the graduate students helping in the, you know, so are there ways that other people in the community can be helpful, and what would that be?

[Anna Callahan]: And how can people reach you?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a website?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there an email address people can reach out to?

[Anna Callahan]: A phone number?

[Anna Callahan]: Anything?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks both of you for coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really great to hear about, you know, this part of our community that we probably don't hear a lot about, you know, outside of the Tufts community.

[Anna Callahan]: really great work you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for for doing it.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for being on.

[Anna Callahan]: All right, so our next person, and I'm just gonna click click here for a minute or two.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, we now have someone who is from here.

[Anna Callahan]: But it's currently in South Korea.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know how many people listening know about South Korea and the way that they have dealt with COVID, but it's very different from how the US has dealt with COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: And so here is Howard Kim.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm just going to pop your name up here.

[Anna Callahan]: And you are live.

[Anna Callahan]: So Howard, it's great to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for coming on.

[Anna Callahan]: When you say you're hearing this news, you mean in America?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, what I've heard is that it was, at first, you could only get tested, even if you had symptoms, you could only get tested if you had a known contact, if you'd been in contact with someone who was known to have had COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: That was how limited the testing was, and now,

[Anna Callahan]: Then it was if you had symptoms of COVID.

[Anna Callahan]: They're loosening it up a little bit, but it is still very difficult to get a test.

[Anna Callahan]: I was just going to ask if the test results had come back yet.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Get the test back.

[Anna Callahan]: So even though you were tested and your test came back after one day, did they ask you to stay indoors for two weeks or did they just give you two weeks worth of food and then tell you you could go out?

[Anna Callahan]: So you had two weeks of staying at home.

[Anna Callahan]: You got tested.

[Anna Callahan]: Your test came back negative.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: And then you were at home for two weeks, maybe because there's some chance that you could have had, and it hadn't shown up yet on the test.

[Anna Callahan]: For whatever reason, you stayed home for two weeks.

[Anna Callahan]: And after that time, now tell us what is your life like?

[Anna Callahan]: Now, when you were staying at your parents' house, did they have to stay home?

[Anna Callahan]: OK, great.

[Anna Callahan]: But restaurants, coffee shops?

[Anna Callahan]: Can I ask you, where does South Korea get all these tests?

[Anna Callahan]: We cannot seem to get tests.

[Anna Callahan]: You may not even know this,

[Anna Callahan]: Why is there such a difference in the ability for people in South Korea to access tests than people like in Somerville, for example?

[Anna Callahan]: Why can we not access tests here?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Can I ask, does South Korea have a national healthcare system?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: It is such an amazing story.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm so glad that you started with the personal story of your own experience living in Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: And I had not realized that you were here when COVID started.

[Anna Callahan]: And you decided to go to South Korea knowing that the South Korean reaction to this was going to be much better, was much better, and that you would be both safer

[Anna Callahan]: and more free to go about your normal daily life in South Korea than here?

[Anna Callahan]: And now in Somerville, you would be forced to work remotely anyway.

[Anna Callahan]: Like you would still be having to work remotely right now.

[Anna Callahan]: But South Korea's response sounds like it's just a lot more sustainable than ours.

[Anna Callahan]: Because you guys are going about mostly about your normal business, but with the testing and tracing program that they have, the contact tracing program, they can contain it very well, while most people are kind of going about their daily lives, and the economy is not under a huge hit.

[Anna Callahan]: Does that sound about right?

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll have to check.

[Anna Callahan]: I really have no idea.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll check on that.

[Anna Callahan]: It might be right.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, hey, we're in the US where medical things cost ridiculous amounts of money.

[Anna Callahan]: South Korean ones or United States?

[Anna Callahan]: We'll get to our experts and we'll ask about that here as well.

[Anna Callahan]: So amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: So we have something to look forward to.

[Anna Callahan]: We can get life back to normal and keep this thing under control.

[Anna Callahan]: So it has been really eye-opening to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate you coming on so much.

[Anna Callahan]: And I have to say, it is kind of amazing that your Skype feed is great.

[Anna Callahan]: half a world away from us.

[Anna Callahan]: So, good job Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, no kidding.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any last, any final words before we let you go?

[Anna Callahan]: Really, really fascinating to hear about what life is like there for you right now.

[Anna Callahan]: And I hope we get there soon.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So that is it for our show.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you everyone for tuning in.

[Anna Callahan]: I hope it was everything that you dreamed of and we will be back next week with more stories and questions from our community, with more experts to talk about those issues and with more ways that you as a member of our community can plug in and how we can solve these problems together.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: This is Solidarity Live, where we discuss how COVID-19 is affecting Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: This show is really about getting through this crisis together.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you have been affected by COVID-19, if you have lost income, if you're worried about a family member in a hospital, in a nursing home, in a jail, if you're struggling with school closures or anything else, please reach out.

[Anna Callahan]: Good policy is based on hearing directly from people in need.

[Anna Callahan]: And this show is about uplifting those stories so that we can solve these problems together as a community.

[Anna Callahan]: One example of how we are doing that is with the SNAP, a food assistance program.

[Anna Callahan]: Someone did reach out to the show a week or two ago to say that his doctor had told him that he needed to stay indoors because of his lung condition, but he cannot use his SNAP card to purchase groceries online.

[Anna Callahan]: He has to go to the grocery store in person.

[Anna Callahan]: So we had an expert come on the show and give some advice, but it turns out that other states are allowing people to do online grocery delivery, and that is where you, viewers of the show, come in.

[Anna Callahan]: Please sign our petition to make Massachusetts one of the states that allows SNAP recipients to get their groceries delivered.

[Anna Callahan]: Together, we can help our neighbors through this crisis.

[Anna Callahan]: Our campaign is hearing directly from people in need, uplifting their voices, and engaging the community to solve these issues.

[Anna Callahan]: So today I have on Hannah O'Hanlon from the Somerville Homelessness Coalition.

[Anna Callahan]: She's going to talk about the homeless population here and how they're being affected.

[Anna Callahan]: Then we'll have David Tissell from the Somerville Community Corporation to talk about the tenants that they have and what they're doing to keep them in their homes.

[Anna Callahan]: And after that, we will have Mavami Callahan, who's a Medford doctor, and she will be talking about how our medical system is holding up under the stress of COVID-19.

[Anna Callahan]: So I will go ahead and get us started here.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm gonna bring in Hannah O'Hanlon.

[Anna Callahan]: I just have to get her on the screen.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, there we go.

[Anna Callahan]: I...

[Anna Callahan]: There we go.

[Anna Callahan]: I have managed to find the right button.

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, anyone who is watching on YouTube, you can simply comment in YouTube's comment box and then ask any question you like and I can pull that question in and we'll answer those questions live.

[Anna Callahan]: So, great.

[Anna Callahan]: Hannah, thank you so much for being here.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to hear a little bit just about your organization in general and the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's what I do.

[Anna Callahan]: That is great.

[Anna Callahan]: Really needed work.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have an idea of how many folks you interact with as a homeless population in need on a daily or weekly basis?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk about how COVID-19 is affecting the people that you're helping?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: What do you think is the best way for people to be able to help out?

[Anna Callahan]: Where can they donate?

[Anna Callahan]: Can they volunteer?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other ways that they can help?

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any final thoughts, anything else that you want people to know about what's happening?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, you know, I heard on WBUR there was a segment on homeless shelters, and all I remember is hearing that they had gotten enough tests to test an entire homeless shelter, like every single person in the shelter, and that some crazy high percentage of them

[Anna Callahan]: One in three.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's what I remember, but I didn't want to quote it because it seems so high.

[Anna Callahan]: But a lot of them were asymptomatic and they didn't show signs of the disease.

[Anna Callahan]: What do you think that that means?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it sounds like the program that you have where you actually house people is the safest for them.

[Anna Callahan]: Correct.

[Anna Callahan]: In addition to being obviously the best for them.

[Anna Callahan]: When you can house people and they can have their own home, it's clearly better for many reasons.

[Anna Callahan]: But here in COVID-19, it's even more crucial.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: The work you guys do is totally amazing, and I don't envy you the amount of work that you have to do these days.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, we will be encouraging people to help you out, to volunteer and donate.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, it's really good to have an update, and stay safe.

[Anna Callahan]: Do personal care.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Everything that you need to do.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I appreciate it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to go ahead and bring on David Tissell from the Somerville Community Corporation.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me just switch the titles here.

[Anna Callahan]: Here he is.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, we've got you on.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, Anna.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for being on.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to hear a little bit about what the Somerville Community Corporation does and your role specifically.

[Anna Callahan]: You're getting close.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's very important.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it seems like there's only a certain amount of new construction you can do in the densest city in the whole of New England.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that is great.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'd love to hear how COVID-19 is affecting your organizing, is affecting your tenants, like what do you see happening?

[Anna Callahan]: Is that something new to COVID-19 or is that something that existed before?

[Anna Callahan]: So can you talk just a little bit more about that in case there are people listening who might be interested in looking into that?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, good to know.

[Anna Callahan]: You know, it's funny, shortly before this call, I happened to be talking to my mom who lives in California, and she was saying that Governor Gavin Newsom

[Anna Callahan]: you know, had very recently given a speech or a talk where he was saying that 10% of Californians are undocumented and that these undocumented workers were the people growing the food, were the people

[Anna Callahan]: delivering the food and other essentials, they were the people working in the grocery stores, that these are the essential workers, and that he was going to ensure that they had medical care, that they were all gonna get unemployment.

[Anna Callahan]: And I just wanna, I haven't looked into that from a policy, like I don't know what exact policies he passed, because I literally just got off the phone with her, but I'd love to hear from you a little bit about your thoughts on that.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there other ways that people can get involved?

[Anna Callahan]: can help out in the work that you guys are doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Tell us what we can do as far as... Yeah, thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much, David.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, Hannah.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for coming on and talking about the great work that you guys do.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: We are going to wrap up this episode with having my sister come on one more time because there are always updates in the medical community and we want to know what is happening

[Anna Callahan]: with our medical personnel?

[Anna Callahan]: What is happening?

[Anna Callahan]: How are doctors and nurses doing?

[Anna Callahan]: How are hospitals doing?

[Anna Callahan]: Are they able to cope with the stress of all of the new patients?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there enough beds?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there enough ventilators?

[Anna Callahan]: What are the numbers?

[Anna Callahan]: Tell us your updates.

[Anna Callahan]: And I apologize.

[Anna Callahan]: I asked all these questions, but you know what?

[Anna Callahan]: People who didn't see the episode two weeks ago, please introduce yourself.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: That's incredible that all these beds have been built.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know there was a ballot measure recently to limit the number of patients that nurses would have to deal with at a time, and that didn't pass.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any sense of whether, I mean, obviously there's no avoiding in a pandemic that people are gonna have more patients, doctors are gonna have more patients, nurses are gonna have more patients, everybody, you know, and some medical health professionals

[Anna Callahan]: are going to get sick and be out.

[Anna Callahan]: So as far as just the medical professionals, are people working crazy hours?

[Anna Callahan]: I know there was some sort of rotation happening.

[Anna Callahan]: How is that working out?

[Anna Callahan]: With drive-through testing, how long does it take to get the test results?

[Anna Callahan]: Or are you just getting tested and then you get the results later?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: How is it going with personal protective equipment?

[Anna Callahan]: I know that's something that you see in the news all the time.

[Anna Callahan]: There's not enough equipment.

[Anna Callahan]: People are having to wear the same mask for many shifts in a row.

[Anna Callahan]: Has that changed?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, that is good to know.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to, first let me ask if you have other thoughts, if you have other things that you think people might find interesting?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And I'm just going to go ahead and have you finish up with a reminder, like washing hands.

[Anna Callahan]: What is a reminder of what is the proper, how do we best protect ourselves and others?

[Anna Callahan]: That is amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much for that tip.

[Anna Callahan]: That is really great.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully we'll soon get enough testing that everybody can know whether they have it, whether they had it, if they have been interacting with someone who has it or had it.

[Anna Callahan]: So hopefully we'll be there very soon.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, thank you so much for the update.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really great to hear about how the medical community is coping and that it seems like it's going okay.

[Anna Callahan]: We're not gonna be totally overwhelmed.

[Anna Callahan]: Yay!

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, thank you for being the front lines of this fight.

[Anna Callahan]: It is really, you guys are all the heroes of the coronavirus.

[Anna Callahan]: We're glad to do it.

[Anna Callahan]: We're glad to do it.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: I think that is the end of our show this week.

[Anna Callahan]: As I mentioned before, please do send us your stories of how COVID-19 is affecting you, is affecting your family.

[Anna Callahan]: Let us know what sorts of issues we can dig into, what things you're interested in, and we will bring people on to talk about those issues to uplift the stories of what's happening to people in our community and to try and solve things together.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: everyone, thanks for joining us.

[Anna Callahan]: Here we are on Solidarity Live.

[Anna Callahan]: This is our second week.

[Anna Callahan]: We're talking about how COVID-19 is affecting Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: So I have the great pleasure of having Medford City Councilor Zach Baers here with me.

[Anna Callahan]: Zach, first I would love to have you just introduce yourself and maybe say a little bit about what is happening at the Medford City Council now.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So thanks.

[Anna Callahan]: One thing that I really want to do in every episode is, in case there are people, probably everybody's gotten the memo, but in case there are people who haven't gotten the memo, just how serious this is and why it's important to what they call social distancing, which I wish they were calling physical distancing.

[Anna Callahan]: I pass people on the street, like I'm walking with my son or something, and we're like more than six feet away, and I'm like, hey, how are you?

[Anna Callahan]: And some people are really friendly and some people are like, meh.

[Anna Callahan]: So physical distancing, why is it really important and what are we facing?

[Anna Callahan]: By the way, I just got a comment that says if it's okay for you to mute your own computer, either put in the headphones or mute your own computer screen while you're speaking, that there's a little bit of... Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: I have headphones in, so yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: If the other, we also have two other folks who are on Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know if it matters if they mute, if, you know, if they're in headphones or mute, that would be amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: That might make a difference.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I bet I can probably mute her if she is not muted.

[Anna Callahan]: Hmm.

[Anna Callahan]: It's not as easy as in Zoom, but Caroline, if you're listening, if you could mute, that would be awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: And so, you know, one thing I want to emphasize is that the real danger here is the idea that we may overwhelm the hospitals.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's what, like, big picture-wise, that, I think, is what we're trying to avoid and why social distancing, why it's worth it to, like, literally almost crash our economy temporarily, because if we don't do this,

[Anna Callahan]: you have so many people going to the hospitals that you literally just don't have enough ventilators and beds and doctors to treat them.

[Anna Callahan]: And then there's no treatment.

[Anna Callahan]: And if there's no treatment, then people simply, they just, a ton of people will die.

[Anna Callahan]: So that's kind of the reasoning why it's important.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you can, you know, we've talked about this a little bit last week, but if you have some notes of hope for people who may

[Anna Callahan]: realize how bad it is and be at home feeling very down about things, that this maybe won't be forever, like what is your sense of us pulling out of this?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm really interested in hearing a little bit more from you about the two sort of avenues that you talked about.

[Anna Callahan]: One is direct payments and the other is freezing the economy, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So I know

[Anna Callahan]: In Denmark, they're paying every worker 75% of their income, I believe, for the time being.

[Anna Callahan]: Just the government, that's the way that they're handling it.

[Anna Callahan]: But in Boston, there is a new movement for Massachusetts, I believe it's called Housing Guarantee, that's talking about

[Anna Callahan]: in addition to a moratorium on mortgage payments, having some sort of a cancellation of rent for people who are unable to pay.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about either of those?

[Anna Callahan]: Talk either about the freezing economy or about the direct payments side?

[Anna Callahan]: By the payment stuff, you don't mean direct payments from the government, you mean... Sorry, I mean... Freezing.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Anything else going on at the city level?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, we've seen that on the mamas list, the Mutual Aid Medford and Centerville, that people are helping with that.

[Anna Callahan]: And they also have a lot of good advice about how to, wearing gloves, washing before you go out.

[Anna Callahan]: And that if you're leaving something in the pantry, that you want to do that safely.

[Anna Callahan]: So that even if you're completely asymptomatic, that you're not leaving something for someone that could potentially infect them.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know that there are a lot of good people who are helping to fill those as well.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So we actually do have a food insecurity person who's just about to come on the call.

[Anna Callahan]: And I wanted to ask if you have any final words for people

[Anna Callahan]: for this week before we go to the next guest.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to say one more time the website that people can go to for Medford?

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for being on.

[Anna Callahan]: It's great to hear about the great work that you guys are doing there and chat a little bit also about state and federal policy.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to go ahead and switch to Becca Miller.

[Anna Callahan]: Becca, I've got you on screen now.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to switch out the name so that you don't look like you're Zack Bares.

[Anna Callahan]: There we go.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: So first, I would love for you to introduce yourself before I kind of read the story that led me to invite you on here.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks for all the great work that you are doing.

[Anna Callahan]: So I would like to just go ahead and read.

[Anna Callahan]: Someone sent an email to the show, and they wanted me to read it.

[Anna Callahan]: So this is someone who says, I am a 58-year-old disabled Medford resident.

[Anna Callahan]: My doctor advised me to shelter in place due to my congenital lung disease.

[Anna Callahan]: When attempting to set up an online grocery delivery, I discovered that Massachusetts does not allow SNAP EBT recipients this necessary service.

[Anna Callahan]: Why is this?

[Anna Callahan]: This presents a very dangerous choice to high-risk individuals.

[Anna Callahan]: Go hungry or expose oneself to a potentially fatal infection.

[Anna Callahan]: Please explain.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, and also you had mentioned when I first asked you about this that the HIP program, you actually can order fresh produce through the HIP program for delivery.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about that?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's an amazing program that Massachusetts has.

[Anna Callahan]: And can you either, like, do you happen to know the phone number for Project Bread, or is there a website for them?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, where can people find this information?

[Anna Callahan]: That's awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm slightly curious just about the tech issue that you talk about.

[Anna Callahan]: So when you're saying that we can't get it here in Massachusetts, I understand the issue with Amazon and Walmart being the two options in the five states that do have it, right?

[Anna Callahan]: That's not perfect, to say the least.

[Anna Callahan]: But what's the tech issue between us and getting at least those two who are piloting it in other states to be able to deliver to people in Massachusetts?

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, at least we've got HIP here, that's great.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any final thoughts for folks who either may have some, either are on SNAP or maybe aren't on SNAP?

[Anna Callahan]: For example, who's eligible for SNAP?

[Anna Callahan]: And would people now who have lost their jobs, maybe they would be eligible for SNAP and they don't know?

[Anna Callahan]: Who can apply?

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, thank you so much, Becca.

[Anna Callahan]: It's been great to have you on.

[Anna Callahan]: And again, for the work that you do, always.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think we are about to start a conversation about incarcerated folks in Massachusetts and how they are dealing with SNAP.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you, Becca.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to say ciao to you.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to invite on.

[Anna Callahan]: Carolyn Bayes.

[Anna Callahan]: Great, Carolyn, you are live.

[Anna Callahan]: I fear that I have a frozen version of you.

[Anna Callahan]: Hang on.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, Carolyn, we might have to reopen our phone call.

[Anna Callahan]: You might have to dial in again.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me see if I can get Carolyn on the horn here.

[Anna Callahan]: Meanwhile, I will say you can always send in your stories.

[Anna Callahan]: You can send in your questions.

[Anna Callahan]: You can comment on YouTube, and I can see all those comments, so we can bring those in.

[Anna Callahan]: There is Becca again.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, how are you?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to try and get Carolyn on here.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me call her back.

[Anna Callahan]: Aha, she is calling in.

[Anna Callahan]: Pardon me, I have a little bit of an issue with Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: Give me one second.

[Anna Callahan]: Trying to get Caroline on here.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me, I don't have your video, but I do have your audio.

[Anna Callahan]: Ah, I've got you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: So first, we're gonna talk about how COVID-19 is affecting folks in jails.

[Anna Callahan]: And I would love it if you would go ahead and just introduce yourself and how you are sort of related to this topic.

[Anna Callahan]: So.

[Anna Callahan]: Yep.

[Anna Callahan]: Before we talk a little bit more generally about what's happening, well, you tell me, do you want to talk generally about what's happening in Massachusetts prisons?

[Anna Callahan]: Or do you want to go, should we just go straight at what's happening related to COVID-19?

[Anna Callahan]: I think let's start with COVID-19 and why it's so dangerous for them at this moment.

[Anna Callahan]: And then we can broaden it up a little bit after this.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you mean that the prisoners themselves are spending their own money to buy soap?

[Anna Callahan]: So before you go on, I do want to just mention we have someone who's commented on YouTube saying they're hoping to hear about what correctional facilities are doing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it sounds like one thing that they're doing is they seem to have obtained masks, which it's so incredibly important for our, like there's a shortage of masks, and it's so important for our hospital staff and doctors to be able to have the masks that they need.

[Anna Callahan]: And of course, it's important for correctional facilities to have masks as well, but not if they're just wearing them around their neck and using it to, you know, taunt the inmates.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm going to jump in.

[Anna Callahan]: I can't resist jumping in here because I did spend two nights in jail in 2000 when I was illegally arrested for protesting.

[Anna Callahan]: There were about 71 of us.

[Anna Callahan]: We were illegally strip searched.

[Anna Callahan]: The women only were strip searched twice during our time there, and there was a giant lawsuit afterwards and all that.

[Anna Callahan]: But I will say that this was in Los Angeles, and I will say that we were

[Anna Callahan]: we were arrested and literally not allowed to wash in any way.

[Anna Callahan]: And the police who had arrested us had us leaning up against, like, pushing us against a chain link fence that was, like, covered in grease and oil because it was right directly underneath a freeway.

[Anna Callahan]: And so our hands and our bodies were just, they had all this black grease all over them.

[Anna Callahan]: And we were not, there was no,

[Anna Callahan]: ability for us to wash anything at all for like, you know, 30 hours or more.

[Anna Callahan]: So,

[Anna Callahan]: And the whole taunting thing, people may not realize how much psychological games are played to inmates by correctional staff.

[Anna Callahan]: So the idea that correctional staff are joking about purposefully getting inmates sick with COVID-19, that is,

[Anna Callahan]: You know, when this is real psychological.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it's terrible.

[Anna Callahan]: That should not be legal for them to do that.

[Anna Callahan]: And then I want to, for a second, before we go on, to talk a little bit about how dangerous it is to be in these close quarters with people.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, we're talking about social distancing, and people who are incarcerated do not have that ability.

[Anna Callahan]: So can you talk a little bit just about how dangerous it is and if there have been any outbreaks inside of any correctional facilities?

[Anna Callahan]: We have another question here.

[Anna Callahan]: Are there ways for people to get involved and support the incarcerated population during this time of crisis?

[Anna Callahan]: Canteen money for soap, masks, letters.

[Anna Callahan]: I am sympathetic to those who are in prisons.

[Anna Callahan]: And before we go on to the next questions, we do have another question.

[Anna Callahan]: You're saying that letters and emails are really helpful.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a particular easy way?

[Anna Callahan]: I know that a lot of people who are involved in Mamas Mutually Medford and Somerville are, people want to help.

[Anna Callahan]: People want to be able to do something.

[Anna Callahan]: What's an easy way for people to get involved that way?

[Anna Callahan]: And I assume we can't do that right now.

[Anna Callahan]: Visiting, yeah, there's no visiting, right.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: There is another question, which is, do you know what sort of medical care is available in case someone in prison does get the virus?

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, I've heard, I know that a couple of our city councilors here in Somerville, Ben, you and Kevin and JT Scott, and as well as other people have been talking about releasing certain portions of the prison population.

[Anna Callahan]: Certainly the the ones who are oh, what's I'm forgetting the term.

[Anna Callahan]: I I sometimes call it debtors prison, right?

[Anna Callahan]: It's people who their pretrial detention.

[Anna Callahan]: Is that right?

[Anna Callahan]: So they they haven't been convicted of anything and they just can't pay bail.

[Anna Callahan]: And so they're held in jail.

[Anna Callahan]: It is so insane.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really mind-blowing to me that this is true in America today.

[Anna Callahan]: Is there some way that we can pressure people?

[Anna Callahan]: Is there a way that folks listening here can help with that?

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you want to talk a little bit about, we've talked a lot about COVID-19 and how it's affecting people.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk to us a little bit about what you were working on before COVID-19 and about solitary confinement?

[Anna Callahan]: How is that legal?

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, I think you once mentioned to me the limit.

[Anna Callahan]: Isn't there a limit under the sort of world human rights?

[Anna Callahan]: Who has a limit that's... Oh, 15 days.

[Anna Callahan]: That is totally insane.

[Anna Callahan]: That's horrible.

[Anna Callahan]: Horrifying.

[Anna Callahan]: So, yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Wow.

[Anna Callahan]: Well, let's end on a slightly better note than that one.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any better notes than that one in terms of the incarcerated population?

[Anna Callahan]: Like, what do you... Is there anything on the horizon?

[Anna Callahan]: Are there any bills that you think are happening right now, maybe at the state level, that have a good chance of passing?

[Anna Callahan]: Or, you know, Rachel Rollins, you know, she seems pretty good.

[Anna Callahan]: And maybe through our elected DAs, we're going to be having some positive movement.

[Anna Callahan]: That's exactly right.

[Anna Callahan]: That is right.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for coming on today and for talking about this incredibly important, I think, too often overlooked topic.

[Anna Callahan]: And also for all the work that you do.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really important.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to actually go on.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to see if I can get some mamas folks to

[Anna Callahan]: some momma's folks to start writing letters.

[Anna Callahan]: We have one final comment.

[Anna Callahan]: As the mother of a previously incarcerated, I agree with Caroline when she says the medical care is lax.

[Anna Callahan]: Inmates are often not taken seriously and there are longer than average wait times for care.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So medical care in prisons, important topic, especially now.

[Anna Callahan]: But yeah, we're going to see if we can get some folks to write some letters.

[Anna Callahan]: And thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: So just to close this out, you can always, as you can see, we take comments over YouTube.

[Anna Callahan]: We really want to elevate people's stories.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you have a story, if anything has been happening to you because of COVID-19, if you've been affected by either the health

[Anna Callahan]: crisis that we have or if you have been affected economically.

[Anna Callahan]: We know a lot of people in the district have.

[Anna Callahan]: We know there are a lot of students in Medford and Somerville who had to leave school and either are stuck having to pay rent where they're not living or are stuck not having a place to live.

[Anna Callahan]: and then having to find places to live.

[Anna Callahan]: So if you have any stories, please send them in.

[Anna Callahan]: We can talk about them anonymously.

[Anna Callahan]: We can have you on the show.

[Anna Callahan]: I really believe that good policy is based on

[Anna Callahan]: uh, hearing directly from what's happening to people.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, and so, uh, I also think that we help people understand why policy is necessary by really elevating these stories, um, so that we all understand, uh, how policy affects our lives.

[Anna Callahan]: So thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Um, great to have everybody here.

[Anna Callahan]: And that is the end of today's show.

[Anna Callahan]: We will be back next week.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: So it looks like we are live.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to say hello to everybody who's watching.

[Anna Callahan]: I see that Hannah is a little bit frozen, so I'm going to go ahead and switch her over.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, we've got her.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm Anna Callahan, and I have with me Hannah Friedman.

[Anna Callahan]: who has been doing just amazing work with mutual aid Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: So fantastic, really great.

[Anna Callahan]: So Hannah, I would love to have you just say a little bit about who you are and how MAMAS, Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville started.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: So we're going to talk more about mamas in just a second.

[Anna Callahan]: I thought we might open up with a couple of public service announcements.

[Anna Callahan]: And I don't know if you've had a chance to read these.

[Anna Callahan]: There have been some Medium posts that became very popular by a guy named Tomas Pueyo.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm not sure that I pronounced that correctly.

[Anna Callahan]: I don't know.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, and by the way, if you're watching on YouTube, you can just write a question or a comment and then we can see those and we'll answer people as this goes on live.

[Anna Callahan]: So in the first Medium post that he made, it's called Coronavirus, Why You Must Act Now.

[Anna Callahan]: That one is really about how serious this is and the importance of social distancing or what I like to call physical distancing, right?

[Anna Callahan]: We need to be physically distant from each other.

[Anna Callahan]: Keeping six feet of space, not touching things other people have touched, just the

[Anna Callahan]: the reality of how incredibly contagious coronavirus is and how important it is that we slow down, we like flatten the curve, as I say, we slow down the number of people who are infected because of the fear of overwhelming our hospitals.

[Anna Callahan]: So I don't know if you have any thoughts about that.

[Anna Callahan]: You seem good, I can hear you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: So I just wanted to kind of start this off in case there are people who don't really understand the magnitude of the crisis that we're in and why people are doing all these measures, like why all the schools have been shut down, why all the restaurants have been shut down, you know, why all of this stuff is happening.

[Anna Callahan]: that it really is critical that we not overwhelm our hospitals, basically.

[Anna Callahan]: But the other one, and he did a second post after he got many millions of views on that first post, and basically it's talking about what does this look like?

[Anna Callahan]: Do we have to stay indoors, socially isolated from each other for six months or a year?

[Anna Callahan]: For people who are maybe aware of how bad it is and want to not be

[Anna Callahan]: need a ray of hope.

[Anna Callahan]: So the ray of hope is that already in some countries they have flattened the curve and so it's really a question of right now doing everything we can to reduce the number of people who get it at the same time.

[Anna Callahan]: But you know there was a great video of a doctor talking about what's happening in Taiwan and in Taiwan you know they are

[Anna Callahan]: they are currently kind of going about their daily lives.

[Anna Callahan]: They have tons of tests.

[Anna Callahan]: They have testing for everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: They have plenty of masks.

[Anna Callahan]: Everyone wears masks.

[Anna Callahan]: As you enter public places like schools or shopping malls, they have little people who have like a little forehead temperature check

[Anna Callahan]: And then if you are quarantined, the government actually calls you at national health care.

[Anna Callahan]: So the national health care system calls you three times a day to ask you about your symptoms.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you need to go to the hospital, they arrange to have you delivered to the hospital.

[Anna Callahan]: And they pay people to stay home.

[Anna Callahan]: So, you know, there's a lot of hope there that we are not going to have to live like this forever.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we can just, you know, be good for the next few weeks, we'll see.

[Anna Callahan]: Every country is different.

[Anna Callahan]: Every region is different.

[Anna Callahan]: But hopefully we can get it under control and have some hope for more normal lives soon.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, great.

[Anna Callahan]: So now I want to ask more questions about Mutually Medford and Somerville.

[Anna Callahan]: It's so exciting.

[Anna Callahan]: I know you guys have, you have a lot of email lists.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you just talk about sort of what you have available to people and how people are communicating through Mamas?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: So I know that we don't wanna, you know,

[Anna Callahan]: give it any personal information, but what are the needs that you're hearing, right?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm assuming, like, there are people who've lost their jobs.

[Anna Callahan]: There are people, there are, you know, college students who have been kicked out of the dorms.

[Anna Callahan]: So tell me what are some of the things that you're hearing from people in their needs?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, definitely.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to go ahead and take this opportunity.

[Anna Callahan]: There was someone who posted a need, and for the show we kind of reached out to a few people, and she said she's very happy to have her email that she had sent read on the show.

[Anna Callahan]: So I'm just going to read the very opening.

[Anna Callahan]: My name is...

[Anna Callahan]: So my name is Ivy Ryan and I am a Somerville based actor and teaching artist and I just lost three quarters of my income and I'm scrambling to make it through March and April.

[Anna Callahan]: So I think there are all sorts of needs that people are posting.

[Anna Callahan]: It's really amazing to sort of see what you're talking about, that there are people posting what's going on in their lives, and then there are all sorts of people who are offering to help.

[Anna Callahan]: And I think it's very exciting and really what every community needs, what our community needs, what every community needs.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely, you know, so thanks for that great segue because I was gonna, I was gonna run by you.

[Anna Callahan]: So Ben, you and Kemp and City Councilor was going to be here tonight and then you know how everything is changing like every five minutes.

[Anna Callahan]: I feel like in the last week we've been through like a month.

[Anna Callahan]: Things are changing so quickly every day, so he's not able to make it tonight, but he sent over some of the things that he and J.T.

[Anna Callahan]: Scott, two Somerville City Councilors, have requested.

[Anna Callahan]: They did a resolution for things that they say the state and national government should do, and I'll just read a few of these off, and I'd love to get your sense about them.

[Anna Callahan]: For workers in small business, including universal paid family and medical leave for all, unexpanded unemployment insurance for all workers, including self-employed, hourly, and gig workers.

[Anna Callahan]: Financial assistance, including regular direct cash payments to all people without means testing for the duration of the crisis.

[Anna Callahan]: a public ownership stake of any large corporation receiving a federal bailout, and a prohibition on stock buybacks for any large corporation receiving a bailout.

[Anna Callahan]: And I know stock buybacks are this thing that's confusing, not a lot of people understand it.

[Anna Callahan]: They were illegal until 1982.

[Anna Callahan]: So it is very recently that corporations have been allowed to sort of buy up all of their own stock, which increases the price of their stock, which makes all their shareholders richer, and does nothing for the company except put it in deeper debt.

[Anna Callahan]: So any thoughts on those before I go on to the next two?

[Anna Callahan]: Keep going.

[Anna Callahan]: Keep going.

[Anna Callahan]: Awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: Voting rights, including immediate implementation of vote-by-mail policies in all states and territories in order to assure that our democracy functions during this crisis.

[Anna Callahan]: And the fourth one is incarcerated people, including taking all steps to avoid COVID-19 infection among incarcerated people, such as releasing all people currently held in pretrial detention.

[Anna Callahan]: A lot of those are people who just don't have the money to pay for cash bail.

[Anna Callahan]: So sad.

[Anna Callahan]: Prohibition on detaining people for greater than 48 hours without a court order.

[Anna Callahan]: without a court order finding a threat to public safety, and immediate clemency and release granted for incarcerated people who do not pose a threat to public safety.

[Anna Callahan]: Your thoughts?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, totally.

[Anna Callahan]: I will say, I think we're going to have a criminal justice person on next week to talk about what's happening inside of jails where, you know, there literally isn't soap.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like people are forced to like eat at the same table.

[Anna Callahan]: I mean, it's just...

[Anna Callahan]: terrifying, terrifying.

[Anna Callahan]: Exactly, exactly.

[Anna Callahan]: And the number of people who are in jail for like marijuana.

[Anna Callahan]: a lot of crimes, which is not a crime.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like so crazy, so crazy.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Any final words before we go on to invite our local doctor in to chat with us?

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks, Anna.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much for all the incredible, incredible work that you guys have done.

[Anna Callahan]: It's amazing.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll see you soon.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: So I am now going to invite in a doctor whose name is Mvanwi Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: And yes, it is not an accident.

[Anna Callahan]: She is my sister.

[Anna Callahan]: And here she is.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me switch over the name.

[Anna Callahan]: It's the first time I've done this.

[Anna Callahan]: There we go.

[Anna Callahan]: Mvanwi, hello.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi there.

[Anna Callahan]: I appear to, unfortunately, you are frozen at the moment.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me just see if I can.

[Anna Callahan]: You're frozen in Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, dear.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, no.

[Anna Callahan]: We've got your photo, but we cannot see you in Skype.

[Anna Callahan]: So let me, do you mind if I just call you back?

[Anna Callahan]: That's absolutely fine.

[Anna Callahan]: Go ahead.

[Anna Callahan]: I'll be right here.

[Anna Callahan]: Let me do that.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, no.

[Anna Callahan]: Let's see.

[Anna Callahan]: I have lost both of them.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to do,

[Anna Callahan]: A quick dial in.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, hey, it's Daphne Boland.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: Hang on one second.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to see if I can get my sister in here.

[Anna Callahan]: Daphne is going to be on with us in just a minute.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi there.

[Anna Callahan]: Hopefully this is working.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Give me one second.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm going to switch over the camera.

[Anna Callahan]: That looks perfect.

[Anna Callahan]: One second here.

[Anna Callahan]: OK.

[Anna Callahan]: Hi.

[Anna Callahan]: Excellent.

[Anna Callahan]: Great to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: So first, if you don't mind just introducing yourself for the audience.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: That's awesome.

[Anna Callahan]: And yeah, can you, first of all, I'm gonna interrupt to say there was a question, I'm just now looking at the comments, so if you're making a comment, said the guest audio is echoing, hopefully we just, hopefully it's not echoing anymore.

[Anna Callahan]: Got a thumbs up, that looks like that's right.

[Anna Callahan]: Someone asks, hey everyone, what's for dinner?

[Anna Callahan]: So it's always good to have fun on these shows.

[Anna Callahan]: And someone asked, how many people are involved in mamas?

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I meant to ask that question.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm sorry that I didn't.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll get, well, next time we'll get some updates on that.

[Anna Callahan]: So move on.

[Anna Callahan]: I would love to ask you just a general question.

[Anna Callahan]: Like what is it like to be a doctor here in Medford during this craziness?

[Anna Callahan]: Can you give an example of a recommendation that was yesterday or the other day?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And if we only had the testing, then people could get tested and they wouldn't have to.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about other ways that clinics that are still open are protecting both the clinicians and the patients?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And so one thing I also wanted to ask you about, just because I know we've talked about a little bit, is there's some sort of rotation schedule?

[Anna Callahan]: So there's specific places where the COVID patients are being sent, and other places where they're not coming in, and then there's a rotation schedule.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you talk a little bit about that?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, and is there a rotation of

[Anna Callahan]: It's really incredible the sort of organization that is happening between these different hospitals and different, you know, different sort of corporate entities, right?

[Anna Callahan]: So there's, you know, various different organizations that own different clinics.

[Anna Callahan]: And so it's really amazing to see that all this coordination happening.

[Anna Callahan]: And the idea of flattening the curve is that the action you take today will flatten the curve 10 days from now?

[Anna Callahan]: Something like that?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And you were mentioning earlier today, I think that we have more hospitals and medical clinics per person than most places or?

[Anna Callahan]: Than most places.

[Anna Callahan]: So all you out there, this person you're seeing on the screen is one of the people that you will save a big nightmare and headache and

[Anna Callahan]: staying up late and working too hard and maybe getting coronavirus if you stay home, keep your social distance, wash your hands.

[Anna Callahan]: Can you just say one little thing about why washing your hands is really effective, that that is effective and why it's effective?

[Anna Callahan]: And the good thing about washing your hands is like the virus itself is encased in like a lipid.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, of course, for the work that you're doing.

[Anna Callahan]: You guys are the heroes of the day, the week, the month, the year, probably.

[Anna Callahan]: And thanks for being on.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely, thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Good luck out there.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, be safe.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay, so our next guest is Daphne Ballin.

[Anna Callahan]: Here she is.

[Anna Callahan]: Hey, Daphne, how are you?

[Anna Callahan]: Hi, how are you?

[Anna Callahan]: I'm good, and Daphne is one of our paraprofessional teachers in Somerville Public Schools.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you wanna give a little, I just gave the intro already, but do you wanna say anything more about sort of who you are and all that?

[Anna Callahan]: I've been in the education field for years.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, great.

[Anna Callahan]: You can tell.

[Anna Callahan]: So I really have two questions for you.

[Anna Callahan]: The first one is what it's like to be a teacher during the whole coronavirus craziness.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the second one is going to be about the paras and the current contract fight that you're in.

[Anna Callahan]: But if you could talk first about what is it like?

[Anna Callahan]: You're a teacher, and then all the schools are closed.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: And what is your, is, are you, so are you doing things during the day through the public school system that they have?

[Anna Callahan]: Are you doing training?

[Anna Callahan]: Are you doing, you know, are you interacting within Zoom calls with the kids?

[Anna Callahan]: Like what's, what's, what's happening day to day?

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, we have a comment from one of the viewers that says, thanks, Daphne.

[Anna Callahan]: And the Welcome Project is offering translation services for free to help communicate resources, et cetera.

[Anna Callahan]: Good, good.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, so I would love to hear from you a little bit more about the paras.

[Anna Callahan]: I know you guys are in a contract fight with the city of Somerville for a living wage.

[Anna Callahan]: And if you can give us a brief sort of rundown of what it is and then sort of what's the state of it now.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah, that's so insane.

[Anna Callahan]: Sorry, that's like so horrible.

[Anna Callahan]: It's like I can't even believe it.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: It's good to have the update on what's going on with that.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, of course.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: There's lots and lots of us who are on your side.

[Anna Callahan]: We appreciate that.

[Anna Callahan]: Of course.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, great to talk to you.

[Anna Callahan]: Do you have any final thoughts?

[Anna Callahan]: By the way, if anybody has questions, we can always throw your questions up here.

[Anna Callahan]: You can just put them in the comments in the YouTube comments section.

[Anna Callahan]: So yeah, if you have any final thoughts you want to about just about how can we weather this?

[Anna Callahan]: How can parents

[Anna Callahan]: get through this time without child care.

[Anna Callahan]: How do we do that?

[Anna Callahan]: And by the way, being outdoors, A-OK, right?

[Anna Callahan]: A-OK.

[Anna Callahan]: A-OK.

[Anna Callahan]: This whole stay at home thing doesn't mean you can't go for a walk, go for a bike ride, go to a park, and stay six feet away from the other people.

[Anna Callahan]: Right.

[Anna Callahan]: Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: They do.

[Anna Callahan]: Great.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much.

[Anna Callahan]: Lovely to see you.

[Anna Callahan]: You're welcome.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for having me.

[Anna Callahan]: Good to see you too.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely.

[Anna Callahan]: And we'll keep in touch and we'll keep people updated on how the Paris fight is going as well.

[Anna Callahan]: And so that's it.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to go ahead and I will close up just with a reiteration that

[Anna Callahan]: Number one.

[Anna Callahan]: Oh, I have a lot of comments coming in.

[Anna Callahan]: Let's see.

[Anna Callahan]: This is funny.

[Anna Callahan]: Living in a roommate situation can be tricky in easy times.

[Anna Callahan]: How do you convince roommates who won't agree to stop having guests over to agree?

[Anna Callahan]: Is having one guest in your personal quarters over okay?

[Anna Callahan]: Wow, that's a very interesting question.

[Anna Callahan]: Who knows who is the best person to answer that question?

[Anna Callahan]: I have lived with roommates for pretty much my entire adult life.

[Anna Callahan]: I live in co-ops and my family now lives in co-op and we love our housemates.

[Anna Callahan]: But we all sat down and we had the conversation about

[Anna Callahan]: Who is going to be invited over?

[Anna Callahan]: Who is not going to be invited over?

[Anna Callahan]: Where is it okay for us to go out of the house?

[Anna Callahan]: real conversations about the sort of danger, the actual danger of what it could be like.

[Anna Callahan]: And not, like I know a lot of people, because it's more dangerous for people who are older, maybe younger folks are thinking like, oh well, even if I get it, it's like a flu, it's not a big deal.

[Anna Callahan]: Like even if you are okay, and even if it is like a regular flu for you, or even if you do not show symptoms,

[Anna Callahan]: So the reason this thing, you know, my sister who was just on was saying that there were 700 and something cases yesterday in Massachusetts and like 1,700 cases today.

[Anna Callahan]: So more than doubled the number of cases that we saw come in.

[Anna Callahan]: That's because you transmit the disease to anyone that you interact with before you even have any symptoms at all, before you know that you have it.

[Anna Callahan]: For other people, it is really important that you guys have that conversation and talk about like, hey, you know, who is going to come over?

[Anna Callahan]: And where are those people going?

[Anna Callahan]: And what are those people doing?

[Anna Callahan]: And washing your hands and all those things.

[Anna Callahan]: I do feel for you.

[Anna Callahan]: Having roommates can be a big blessing, makes you less lonely.

[Anna Callahan]: But it also, you know, these things to discuss and agree upon are pretty important.

[Anna Callahan]: So good luck with that discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And oh, and we have a comment from someone saying, I would have a conversation with your roommates about not having guests over.

[Anna Callahan]: The more closed loop, you could have the better chance of not spreading, less interaction, less spreading.

[Anna Callahan]: So great.

[Anna Callahan]: And then finally, I will put, I don't know how to do it right now.

[Anna Callahan]: I'm still new to this thing of broadcasting at the same time as having other people, other speakers on, so using some new software.

[Anna Callahan]: But I'm going to put some links to the Tomas Pueyo articles, the Medium articles,

[Anna Callahan]: about why you must act now, so the importance that might be helpful with the roommate discussion.

[Anna Callahan]: And then the hammer and the dance, which is a lovely, a really good article that gives you hope that we're not going to be here social distancing forever.

[Anna Callahan]: I also have someone commenting, saying that if it's multiple roommates and having a group conversation and getting everyone on the same page is really important.

[Anna Callahan]: And I totally agree with that.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: It has been great.

[Anna Callahan]: I want to say one of the big goals of doing this, we're going to try and do it every week with different folks.

[Anna Callahan]: We have city councilors from several and Medford that we'll have on the show, and lots of other people.

[Anna Callahan]: And one of the big goals is to hear stories of what's happening in our community.

[Anna Callahan]: and to have others in our community be aware of what's happening to the sort of more vulnerable people.

[Anna Callahan]: So we know that there are folks here who have lost their housing because they were at Tufts.

[Anna Callahan]: We know there are folks here who have lost their jobs.

[Anna Callahan]: And so finding ways that we can support each other is what this is all about.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, everyone.

[Anna Callahan]: We're going to sign off for now.

[Anna Callahan]: You can always go to AnnaCallahan.com slash getupdates to sign up there to make sure that you hear about future shows that we're going to have.

[Anna Callahan]: We'll try and have them once a week.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Anna Callahan]: Bye bye.

[Anna Callahan]: Stay safe.