[Anthony D'Antonio]: Excuse me, my name is Anthony D'Antonio. currently at 24 Hicks Avenue in Medford. I think that this issue hits home with a lot of people. I think that if I was to ask people in this audience who has not been affected by drug use, addiction, whatnot, it wouldn't seem any hands up. And I'm talking about cousins, uncles, aunts, mothers, fathers. I think it's good to try to get a fix on this thing, but the problem is, You're not gonna do anything until you realize that this is, like Mr. Jones said, this is all about money. You ever wonder why they can take Norfolk facility and put together 400 families down there of people just recently in this country, but yet people in this country who are addicted, if you haven't got the $50,000, you're not gonna get your time in a facility to try to break you from this evilness, okay? And the government is at fault. You wanna fix this problem for starters? Okay, you had governors in the state, opened up the doors and institutions that housed a lot of people that were ill, mentally ill. Drugs, you name it. The gamut was there. They opened the doors. The last 25 years, you're walking out on the street. Where are they going to go? Guess where they wound up? They wound up in Casa Nelliot and different places like that. It's a shame. Look at the, you have a Long Island facility there that could house over a thousand people there. So the bridge is gone. It was the fact that it's gone, and now they're having an argument. Quincy's having an argument with the city of Boston. They don't want to put a bridge up there, but they have a facility there. The people need to be supported by the government, who are the ones who are causing the problem. You want to stop this problem, start executing the dealers, okay? Get rid of them. They're nothing but scum on the Earth, and it's affecting everybody. Everybody in, I guarantee you, anybody in this facility here has a, probably has somebody they're very close to, but you're not gonna do it because it's all about the buck. Ronald Reagan said the right thing. I'm here from the government, I'm here to help you. Scariest words in the world, trust me. They're not doing us any favors. And I know your intentions are great, that's fine, but the problem, you know, it's like a tap, a water faucet, you can't shut it off because the wash is broken. You gotta take it from where it is, from the bootstraps, my friend.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio. Excuse me. 24 Hicks Avenue in Medford. I would be in favor for the petition, because you talk about a crowded environment, late hours. Well, you know on Yale Street, where my house is, we have the Oasis, we have Bocelli's, we have a few other things going on. And we have a parking lot at Double Curse, because what happens is when they leave the restaurant, they hang out in the parking lot. They have loud music playing. All kinds of distractions there. I can't see a couple of delivery cars making that much of a difference on the street because it's not as thickly settled where their shop is as our place on Yale Street is. So give it a chance. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Thank you. Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. First, I want to say that a comment that was made by, I can't think of her name right now, about the CPA funds that Cameron, Roberta Cameron, just to let people know that those CPA funds are property owners' tax money that they're charged a surcharge. This came about about five or six years ago. We were supposed to get rebates, matching funds from the state, but the state has stiffed the city of Medford and others for the last several years. So that's our money. It appeared that this money was coming out of the sky, you know, just dropping down. No, it's our money, our property owners' money. So now, I have, it's not gonna take long to say this, but I've been listening and watching, and I've been in Medford for a long time. I've been around the world, I've been in different countries, I've lived in different states, and I try to hold my peace, and I see some serious stuff going down here, and it's gotta stop. So I'm gonna present my little treatise here, and I hope you got your seatbelts on. to say that I am disappointed and angry, but not surprised in the least by the actions, attitudes, and discriminatory accusations towards our citizens that the current irresponsible and questionable motions being brought by the sitting council this evening is monumentally understated. The sitting council members supported, endorsed, and financed by the progressive socialist group Our Revolution, has furtively laid the groundwork to target and punish Medford citizens. In particular, homeowners, business owners, taxpayers, and workers. That's just about everyone except themselves and their agenda. Why? You have drawn that infamous red line in the sand, creating a schism which is, for all intents and purposes, the systematic and ultimate degradation of a city, along with its people, that stands proud, friendly, productive, prosperous, caring, diverse, in our favorite word, inclusive, for more years than most of you have walked the earth, but many more. You exercise ambiguous language when you attempt to introduce us to national political agendas under the guise of, it's good for Medford, when in fact it is not. Your efforts in these matters are not welcome, as are not your attempts to indoctrinate the Medford to a socialist system, not here, not now, not ever. I am steadfast in declaring that I have very little faith If any at all in all in your abilities to perform your duties as city Councilors, your lack of experience in life circus is pretty evident verbosity is not a substitute for performance. We are not fooled, and we are not fools. Understand this. We, the majority of Medford citizens, the hardworking property owners, the business owners, the longtime residents who for many years have contributed to and for the betterment of Medford, are the people who you work for, period. We are not your property. I refuse, as I hope we all do, to be treated as fodder for your political ideologies and schemes, none which are beneficial for this city. This is not the place for you to build your curriculum vitae on the backs in the bank accounts of Medford citizens. What gives you the audacity to assume such? Your responsibility as city councilors when you took the oath of office was to ensure that we have a city made safe for its residents, schools, students, visitors, good streets, sidewalks, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, to welcome and support businesses so that they may flourish in also as important, if not most importantly, financial integrity, discipline, and acuity, which we are sorely lacking. Fix this first. Don't burden us financially because we have a weak, ineffective, and irresponsible administration, and you lack the tools and experience needed to mitigate this problem. We are not your cash cow. You are paid extraordinarily well to perform your duties. We're waiting for our return on investment. I don't see anything on the horizon. Please do your job, attend to your resignation. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue in Medford. I brought the wrong damn glasses today. Anyway, here's my take on this whole thing. Financial integrity in politics, especially within the role of a city councilor, stands as a cornerstone of ethical governance. The significance of maintaining an unwavering financial integrity cannot be overstated as it forms the bedrock of trust, transparency, and accountability within the realm of public service. At its core, financial integrity in politics embodies a commitment to honesty, responsibility, and ethical behavior in handling public funds and resources. As a city councilor, one assumes the crucial responsibility of managing taxpayer money and making decisions that directly impact the community's well-being. This trust bestowed upon the Council necessitates the highest level of ethical conduct, particularly in financial matters. The ramifications of financial impropriety can be severe and far-reaching. Misuse or mismanagement of public funds not only undermines the public's confidence in their elected official, but also erodes the foundations of democracy itself. It jeopardizes the credibility of the Council and the entire institution of governance, casting doubt on the motives and intentions behind policy decisions. Maintaining financial integrity as a city councilor goes beyond adhering to legal statutes. It embodies a commitment to ethical leadership. Transparency in financial dealings, proper allocation of resources, and rigorous accountability measures are imperative. Striving for transparency ensures that constituents are aware of how their tax dollars are utilized, fostering trust and credibility in the council's decisions. Integrity in financial matters also extends to ethical fundraising and campaign finance. Ultimately, financial integrity is the linchpin that upholds a councilor's ethical compass. It forms the basis for sound decision-making, fosters public trust, and strengthens the democratic process. As a city councilor, embracing and championing financial integrity isn't just a duty, it's a commitment to serve the public interest with honor, honesty, and unwavering ethical standards. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. From everything I've read this evening, it seems that this election was flawed. I can't understand that the council will accept a flawed election. You know, who knows about the outcome, whether it would be the same or not. I don't think it would be. I don't trust this city the way it's run in the last two elections, OK? We have good people running, and probably good people get in, OK? But the thing is, the damn thing was flawed. It was FUBA. I mean, I can't believe this. You can't accept this election. You have to go and do it again. And I don't want to hear about it costs money, because we have money available. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Oops, is it? Oh, there you go. All right.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. It's like a church in here, so quiet. Not that I would know, but anyway. I'm glad you brought this up, Councilor Bears, because I wanted to bring up something that we did several years ago when Chief Sacker was around. terrible parking problems down in South Medford, down on Yale Harbor, Main Street and everything. We started at the Kennedy Condominiums, a group of neighbors, must have been about 20 of us. We walked the whole neighborhood. We walked and saw the situation, the problems that we were experiencing. We wound up all the way down to Columbus Park. The problem you have is one of the things that's increased the traffic to cut through traffic is when they put that juggernaut across from the fire station. People don't want to go down there, wait for the turn, take a left. They're going down to Alexander Avenue now, or cutting across Harvard, and then they're zooming down to Willis Avenue. It's really dangerous. And the children there, I mean, the poor traffic supervisors there, they put their lives at risk over there. I mean, I can hear them yelling at the people in the morning sometimes, you know? But for every solution, the way the city is right now, it creates a problem on another part of that neighborhood. Because I don't really see any solution to divert all the traffic. All I see is a heavy duty, a heavy hand in enforcement, okay? Because that may defer or deter some of the activities that are going on there. It is, you know, I'm out five o'clock in the morning walking my dog and I bring a light and I have to flash it when I cross Willis Ave because they're flying up there. Like Councilor Beall said, if they're not doing 50, they're not doing anything, okay? And even sometimes with the light, I think they must know where they wanna run me over because it'll slow down. But anyway, I think it would be great to get together because I don't think the traffic engineer or anybody would be able to go down there and say, okay, we're gonna do this because it has to be, you have to have all the voices, you have to have what the concerns are and everything. And here's one thing that I noticed. When you're coming up Willis Avenue, and you're going to approach Hicks, or going to the left to go to Columbus School, or Missy's Steak, or Missy Tuck, you don't see the stop sign until you get right to the top of the rise. And that's dangerous, because people don't see the stop sign, so they're not slowing down. They got these great guys that take the corners really nice. Somebody's gonna get killed. I appreciate that, and I just wish that we would put something together so the neighbors can get together and say, here's our concerns, what can we do? And see what happens from there. By the way, the Aisle Street parking lot, I mean, it's still a problem. It's getting worse, just to let you know. So, thank you very much.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: No, I just would like to say something. My name is Anthony D'Antonio 24 Hicks Avenue. And I have to say through the chair, I'm a little bit disappointed with councilor Singh and councilor Collins. They bloated about how wonderful they're going to do this and that and everything for the residents of South Medford. And then when the boat came, You decided you don't want to do the right thing, okay? Yack, yack, yack, yack. It amounted to nothing. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Okay.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Yes, there you go. Yeah. Did you hear my address and name? It's 24 Hicks Avenue. Listen, I wanna thank Councilor Caraviello for bringing this up. And I know a lot of the councilors have good intentions to try to get things done, but nothing gets done. All we hear about is, let's have a report from this one. Let's get a report from that one. Let's do this, let's do that. It's not working, number one. We have an influx of people down in South Medford. A lot of children, a lot of parents, a lot of bicycles and bike riders. And it's treacherous down there. I don't know what the traffic engineer had in mind when he put some of these rotaries in or some of these stop signs, which I think are misplaced and should be reviewed. And I'm asking people, anybody in the council, you want to spend about 10 minutes with me. I'll pick the day, Saturday, stand at the corner of Highland Main Street with me, and I'll show you exactly how dangerous that intersection is. I could go on and on about the dangers, but you gotta see it to believe it. And you know, not for anything, the car drivers are not the only ones that are causing a problem. People on bikes, people on these bikes with their kids, with cabooses in the front and in the back, riding around on these heavily, you know, traffic streets, it's dangerous. I don't care what kind of a bus, a bike lane you put in, nobody pays attention to the rules, okay? I got hit two weeks ago in that intersection as a pedestrian. And the person that hit me took off, all right? Nobody saw anything. None of the cars that were there that stopped took the guy's number down, okay? And it was a guy because I was trying to catch up with him. And as I was running down the street there, because I did get hurt, but my adrenaline was so pitched. that I wanted to get this guy because he came, I was in the right. I had the right of way. He was wrong. He came right through the light. And I'm telling you, He saw my life flash before me. So that's number seven. I got two more lives to go. Anyway, it's serious. It's serious. And I'm going to show you how serious it is. Five minutes on a Saturday morning, okay? Forget Sunday because it's pretty quiet there on a Sunday or even a Friday. And the other thing I got a problem with is these school bus drivers. They think they're all on the Indianapolis Speedway out there. It's dangerous. They got these huge buses speeding down Willis Avenue, speeding down side streets. There has to be enforcement. We've had enough of the excuses. It's time to take the, you know, whatever the term is, I'm still banged up from that accident. So it's not coming out all the way. Whatever they do. to make it safer for pedestrians. So who's going to be at fault when the next person gets killed at the intersection there, because we have had fatalities there. And it's a bad intersection just in the way that it's placed geographically. So please, anybody, feel free to come with me, five minutes, 10 minutes, I'll even buy you a cup of coffee, maybe a Danish if you're nice. But that's all I have to say. And thank you again, Councilor Carrie Villela for bringing this up, appreciate it.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: It was only a Ford F-150, and that's, it's gotta be a lot bigger to take me out, trust me.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Unfair at all. Now I'm up there, you know, I've made a few blunders on the side, broken sidewalks here, broken kneecaps, the whole deal. But my problem is, it's a great thing you're trying to do, but what about the seniors? What about the people over 50? You can't, they can't do it. You know, it's an impossibility. And the other problem is that it's almost impossible to do a good plumbing job, not because they don't do a good job. There's too many cars. And I don't care if you see a park over here or a park over there, there's too many cars. So as a result, driveways get blocked in. People can't get people to come and shovel. I mean, it's really, it's really disgusting out there. And I, I, um, I've seen some of these, I think we have one or two bombardiers. Here, these are the little ones. They look like little riding tractors. They have the V and they take it off the sidewalks. But you know, there's a guy up in Princeton Street, Frank Torriani. They've had a tree stump there that's as big as this area here. It's on a sidewalk. He's 92 years old. He's legally blind. And I mean, these are things that need to be taken care of. I don't know, when I was a kid, they used to, we had a snowstorm, we used to go down to the MBTA down in Charlestown. They used to hire you for the night to clear all the stations, the steps and everything. And I know that there's kids out there that want to do this, but you got how many houses in the city and how many people can you put out there? I mean, you know, even the National Guard couldn't do it on a night. So I wish you would take consideration of the people that are out there in age, like myself, you know, I don't want to do it anymore. But I see some of these people, they become shut-ins because they can't get out. And then when they can get out, they have to be careful because you shovel, you melt it, and at the end of the day, it becomes ice again. So it's a never-ending battle. I think there's going to be a better way to help the people in the city of it. Keep the sidewalks clear. So, that's all I got to say right now.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: There you go. OK. Dr. Starella, he was a character. He had quite a career in the Navy. And he came to become second in command to LSM 548, which is a landing ship for personnel on the beaches. The amazing thing with Dr. Storaro is he had chronic seasickness. He was in the Navy. It was unbelievable. But he was smart. He was a creator. He was an inventor. He was well read. He was honest. And he never turned away anybody that came to his dental office in East Boston that didn't have any money. Rick, you might remember this, I don't know, but he, one time he came up to make a presentation up to the podium. He created a plexiglass thing to like a podium so he could hold the thing up. I mean, he was a cat, he was a character and he used to drive this huge Lincoln Continental. And then we were all relieved when he came one day and he had one of those small little, what do you call those little suckers? But he was on his way to perfecting. a way to win at craps. And he was, he was confident that he had it. And unfortunately he passed, but nice man. And he's a true Medford spirit, true Medford spirit. So we're going to miss him because, huh? Oh, very nice. That's that. And then that's it.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Only one. As I was sitting there, I got 27 text messages from eight different people. The system goes off. You can't hear, it stays off, it's distorted, the chiron on the bottom is totally out of control. It's like on an LSD or something because you can't read what's going on at the bottom. If the gentleman in there needs help, let's get him some help. If it's the equipment, let's get the equipment in here. I mean, I can't watch it on TV, that's why I came down tonight. So I'm having a sequence or something.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Figures it's Comcast.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue, Justin, Councilor Sam, glad you brought this up. What I'd like to tell you, what I'd like you to do is spend some time down there. I know you're in school, so you may conflict with your schedule, but you go down to Willis-Pixave, East Albion Street, go when the kids are getting there to school, okay? Just take a camera with you and watch what happens. The police are there trying to direct the children. for their safety. People don't even stop the stop sign. Police can't go after these people all the time because they're too busy watching their kids. The signage is like spaghetti. It's all over the place. It's not right. They did a remake of the circle down by the school. It's a complete, it is, it's not right. The traffic engineer designed it. Don't know how he came up with that solution, but it's not working. Another problem is by the collect bakeries. You cannot come out from Bow Street or Ellington Street and have a clear view of the cars coming up from the south side of Main Street. And there's a lot of kids across there in the morning. And the whole thing that has to be done is it has to be enforcement. Because right now, the police are too busy doing things. And people say, well, what do they do? Well, they do a lot. But what's more important is to get these things and get these people and condition them not to take these streets, okay? Or to put some signage up there. So it's dangerous. I mean, I can hear them coming up from Willis Avenue. You know, they got these low-riders flying down the street there, you know, and they're popping in the music and everything. And there's kids trying to cross the street. So let's do this before somebody gets killed out there. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. Listen, um, one of the things I think people are not understanding is in the last 10 years, the increase of traffic that comes through the city of Medford, see Medford is a cut through city. They come from everywhere. You don't have the same problem in Winchester. Okay. There's a lot of people that are working in the marketplace. That traffic is on the streets at all hours, three o'clock in the morning. It starts. They're going to the markets, they're going everywhere for work, dirt shift, graveyard shifts, whatever. Okay, and I think it's unfair to draw a conclusion that because people are getting stopped, it has to do with their color or their appearance or whatever, because there's a lot of bad guys that get stopped. So what I would like maybe before you people really get into this, I mean, that young lady that was on before with all the statistics, statistics can be skewed. Okay, MMS is in economics and we know how to do that. So in all these facts and figures, but I'm gonna ask maybe anybody in good faith, ask the chief, if you can go on the ride along and the graveyard shift with the police officer, then come back here and tell me what's going on in the streets. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue, South Medford. Um, I live down the other end. However, I used to go up for on the weekends to enjoy a sandwich or whatever, walk around that little area, uh, near Sandy beach or it used to be Sandy beach. And, um, it's disgusting. I've seen things you can't believe. I wish we could have somebody in the board of health go down there. These people should be ticketed to dumping diapers, the water grown men defecating in the water. It's true. You can't get anywhere. And these people that go down there, God bless them. There's a lot of good families, but they're not all good people that go there. Believe me when I tell you, I don't know how these residents put up with it. I'd go out of my mind to be honest with you. So they do need help. You got to find a way to do it and help them. I mean, I don't go there anymore. It's not enjoyable, you know? So they need the help. Let's get going here. So thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. Good evening. Hold on. Thank you. Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. Through the chair, thank you, Councilor Marks. Last night's performance by the school committee was abhorrent. It was terrible. It was disrespectful that we people sat out here to make a point. Nobody was going to get crazy or yell or scream or anything. We had questions. We had suggestions. We needed to know. We were read the public participation guidelines, and then they went right to this other agenda. for over three hours. What an embarrassment this school committee is. I hope in the fall that they're all replaced. Thank you. Any further public participation?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Can you give me name and address of the record? Excuse me. My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. I didn't want to come up here to speak. And I was enjoying some of the wonderful comments that were made about Sonoma, if I have the name right, and some people's concerns. But through you, Mr. President, I will not sit still. and get a lesson on racism. I'm sick and tired of that. Mr. President, I didn't say that. I'm tired of listening to people deny racism, Mr. President.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Name and address of the record, please. Excuse me. My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 24 Hicks Avenue. It's such an honor to see an honor bestowed on this gentleman, Harold McGilvra Jr. I met Harold when I was eight years old, and he was a teenager, and he was going out with his future wife over on Marion Street, Main Street. The four houses that connected in the back all together, we all used to play there. We used to torture Harry. He was older. Back then when kids tortured the older kids, they'd smack you around a little bit. It was a lot of fun. I gotta tell you something about Harry. One of the toughest guys I ever met. He wasn't supposed to survive that accident. When Harry walked down the street, if he was coming from Tufts Park after banging in a box, okay, you could tell it was Harry. You know why? The street lamps used to shine off the spit on his shoes. They used to, it was incredible. He was like a parade dress all the time. When Harry was in the neighborhood and he was on patrol that night, you don't have to worry about anything. You can leave your doors unlocked. He didn't need a patrol car to get to the scene. He'd run to the scene. He was incredible. He was just one of those people. And when you got into, many conversations and he had some conversations up here and a couple of times they got heated, but then when he was proven that his point was not the correct point, Harry would come up and he'd apologize and say, I'm sorry, this is the information I had. So I just, I can remember the day that he got hit. I remember the day when he first came down the streets and he pretty much put up all of us on notice, but the McGilvery family is a long, long, history in the city of Medford and in South Medford. And if you didn't know him at Gilbrey, you didn't come from Medford. So God bless him. Bye bye. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Brianna, is that you? Yes. Is everyone on? OK. I am really upset with hearing some of these people talk about Columbus, okay? He did this, he did that, he did this, he did that. Were these people there 500 years ago? No, they're looking at history. I mean, the last person up there, I'm sick and tired of hearing this white supremacy baloney, okay? The name Columbus should stay because it was an Italian. It's a discrimination against the Italians. You can try to whitewash anything you want, but it's wrong. And I'm tired of hearing some of the committee members bloviate about, oh, I did this and I tried that and we're busy and this and that. It's discrimination, pure and simple. And it may be changed, but it's not going to be changed for long. And I hate to say that, but I'm sick and tired of it. Because we as Italians have been put down for many years, and it stops now. Christ, thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: So moved.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, Hicks Avenue, directly across the street from the Columbus School. I simply request that you reject the hanging of not just this, but any and all political banners and or flags on Medford City Hall. There should only be one flag flying on City Hall grounds. One nation under God with liberty and justice for all. Sad to say in the current cultural and political climate, there may soon be a resolution to remove it. I would hope to hear a counter-resolution declaring a prohibition of any and all political banners on City Hall. And Black Lives Matter is a political movement. Dr. King never demonized the most egregious segregationists, nor did he condemn all white people and demand fealty at any cost. He did not espouse destruction of the country. He sought to uplift it in the face of physical assault, threats, incarceration, in the deaths of civil rights volunteers. He endured and prevailed in uniting Americans of every race to join his civil rights movement, all done peacefully, unlike what is going on today. At the very least, the resolution should be tabled until citizens are allowed to voice their opinions in person at a meeting. City Hall should be the landmark for all of Medford's citizens without favoritism shown to one group over another. Please leave that building unadorned. Every citizen in Medford has the right to exercise the First Amendment right to free speech at City Hall, whether in the form of protests and rallies outside the building or in attending city council and school committee meetings inside the building. Please do not capitulate to those who are intent on dividing residents of Medford into those who support their socialist progressive ideology and those who do not, labeling and harassing those who disagree as racist. That is not progress. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Congratulations everybody. Um, the concern I have is, you know, what Harvard is a very, very busy street. There's a lot of traffic every day. Do we have a plan? Has anybody seen a plan on what they would do for alternative routes for people to take, you know, regardless of school buses or, construction trucks with the green line going up, the concrete trucks that you see every day going up there. It's a concern. Where's the traffic going to go? Because right now, Bonner Avenue, tremendously overcrowded in the mornings and the afternoons. Golden Avenue, all those areas. And it's going to affect people driving around in the area trying to make it back and forth to work. make it back home, and I just wish that before they started this. First of all, I don't agree with the time frame when they're going to do it, because based on some of the previous work that they've done, it hasn't been broom cleaned and has to be re-repaired. Winter time is going to be tough. I mean, I might as well just put sand back in the holes there because the concrete or whatever they put there, I don't think it's going to make it through the winter season. The most important thing, I think, is the people that have stores. This is a busy season for them. You have the Oasis restaurant, you have Buccelli's, you have Ata's Pastries, you have LaCasha's. This is when a lot of people make their money because of all the different parties they have for the holiday season and everything. So, I mean, I don't even know that these people, the store owners, were made aware of this. The most important thing is, where are you going to get your cannolis for Thanksgiving? That's what I'm more concerned about, Mr. Theodore. That's right. But anyways, I would expect more from National Grid. And I know you guys will do what you have to do to get things squared away. Thank you. We appreciate it.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio and I live on Yale street in Medford. And it's a pretty hot topic here. Um, but I'm going to tell you something right now. You can take all the statistics, all the figures and everything, just throw them out the window because everybody skews statistics. But what's really aggravating is these people come up here and they say, well, my family did this and my family did this and I'm this and I'm that we're all, part of the same group. We've all, in our families, every single one of us, have had people that have bled and died in fields far away from here, okay? But the thing that really aggravates me is if you notice the tone, it only took a matter of 10 minutes before we got into white privilege, okay? We're responsible for everything in this world that goes wrong. Well, I'm sick and tired of that. You can't legislate behavior on somebody. Everybody, I don't understand this culture of fear. I haven't seen that. This city, Medford, was more diverse than it is now when I was growing up. And everybody, that's right, they are immigrants. We're all immigrants here. And there's all ways to come in here. But what they're doing is they're making it very divisive because it's them against people that have a different point of view. So if you have a different point of view, you're on the wrong side of history. Well, that's a bunch of baloney. So I just want to tell you that nobody is saying you can't come here or anything like that. But if you take a real good look at it, we've had a botched up immigration system for years. And now a certain political group has found out that by catering and proffering to illegals, that they've created their own voting block for the future. Okay. And I'm just sick and tired of everybody being blamed. When other people, you know, is this safe, Medford? You're insinuating that Medford is not safe. Medford is safe, and the police should be commended for what they're doing with what they have. So just think before they speak over here, because I'm getting really aggravated about this nonsense. Thank you. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio. I live at 12 Yale Street. City of Medford. Just a couple of points that I'd like to make. I don't want to ramble, but with regards to an appeal from an abutter, an attorney, there are always large firms that have it in their realm to offer their services pro bono for different areas. And maybe the people that may want to consider an appeal may want to look into that. There's also a GoFundMe fund out there that could be utilized. And that if the development is not going to benefit all the residents of the city of Medford, maybe they'll throw in $2, $5 or whatever. But the thing that bothers me about this development, several years back on Yale Street, There was a couple of developers that came in and said, we can't build unless you let us build 200 units over there. Can you imagine? We're having trouble with 50 units over there now, about 50 units with parking and different things. Can you imagine if they built two high rises they wanted to build at 200 apartments over there or 490 units? Uh, it's quite a bit, but I, I don't consider that to be a smart development. I don't see anything that's, um, altruistic for the city of Medford are coming from the developer to the city. I don't see that. All I see is dollar signs with this developer. Um, I'm involved in a project right now for veterans that we're trying to get and build communities for them. We have one that we're looking at 32 units in an adjacent city and another one for 42 units down in Westboro. And we've been working on these things for close to a year now. It didn't just happen like that. I'm confused at the Board of Appeals. I questioned, do they live in the city of Medford and know what's going on in the city? I mean, right now we're jammed up with an awful lot of traffic. We've got Mystic Avenue that's going through another development. They're going to be putting retail stores. They're going to be putting apartments, what I understand, in businesses. But did you go to West Medford and they knocked down 30 units on Canal Street, but they want to put 490 on Commercial Street. It's not the right kind of a development for that area. Development and building is good, puts people to work. We need to have people going to work, but we have to have something that's not going to have a problem when it's all done. I mean, where are the people going to come when they have all these problems? They're going to come here. They're going to come to the city council. They're going to go to the traffic. They're going to go everywhere. Okay. And what kind of a life is that? I mean, you know, it was a commercial on TV years ago. The three boys eating breakfast. They didn't want to eat the breakfast. And they said, give it to Mikey. He'll eat it. It's like, throw it all down here in this section over here. I mean, what the heck? We've got enough. The streets are jammed. Golden Avenue. People can't get through Mystic Ave. They're coming up Golden Avenue. Today, this morning, there was a line from Willis Avenue all the way up to Main Street. It's just too congested. And if they go ahead and build it, that's fine. There's not much you can do it unless you want to really fight it. It's not smart development. I don't think anybody in the city was not nobody in the city. I think, I don't think was aware of it off of the community development. Didn't they throw back or the mayor throw back something and say, wait a minute, that's not the right fit for this particular thing. Can we, what about this? Or what about that? Just like, is it a wham bam? Thank you, Sam. You know, and it was done, but, uh, and then schools, if you have 490 units and you just take two and a half people, two and a half, people per unit. It's about 1300 people. If you take one and a half times those people, divide it, you're going to have anywhere from 450 to maybe 600 additional students because they're building one, two and three bedroom units over there. So it's going to be a crunch in the school system. But there's a lot of things that should have been thought of. You know, the cows are already out of the barn and um, hopefully, I don't know, hopefully we'll survive this. I'm sure we will. but it's just not the right fit for this city because this is like Cabrini Green in Chicago. It's just too much down there. So thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. I just truly want to thank Councilor Marks, your persistence on this matter. I know you've been a supporter of this for quite a while and also along with you, Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. I was happy to see that the majority of the councilors that are here this evening, everybody brought this up in their election when they were running for the office. And I think it was a very refreshing thing to see, finally see. This is so important. And I understand the calling center from there. And I know that it's an advisory type of a situation. I mean, because like you say, we don't know everything. We don't know the pitfalls of people that have made changes and then have regretted those changes and have to wait five years to get them back on board. I only look at this as taking the foot off the citizens' chest by changing the charter, because right now there's a lot of things that need to be looked at to help the citizens get along a little bit better, because right now we're inundated with everything. Everything's going up. The costs are going up. This is going up. Schools, infrastructure, everything. This is only a positive step for us. And now that most of you, I'm looking for all your support on this endeavor for the citizens of Medford. Talk the talk, now let's walk the walk. Thank you very much.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Thank you, Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. Councilor Marks and through the chair, there were a few people, several people, I would like to say a few words before we make the presentation. I figured it would be better, uh, to do that first, if that's okay and agreeable with you. Uh, don't want to make this, you know, um, too long, but, uh, I'd like to give them the opportunity to speak first and then I'll come commence with the gifts. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Thank you, City Council, Council President Del Russo, for being allowed to speak here this evening. My sentiments also to Councilor Camuso. We had a few nice battles, but we always walked away smiling. I have a few words I'd like to say. I'm trying to do this in a different approach. I have two quotes here I'd like to read. First one, be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. That's from John Wooden, who was one of the most winningest coaches in college basketball, who won 10 championships in a 12-year reign with an unprecedented seven in a row, seven consecutive wins. The second quote, I believe there's an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts. That's from Sylvester Stallone, otherwise known as Yo Rocky, okay? Now, why these two? One is a fictional character portrayed by an actor, and the other was an actual human portrayed by a human, okay? But what did they have? They not only taught the talk, they walked the walk. They did so with compassion. They did so with integrity. And they were determined to have things go the right way. But it was always for the other person. It wasn't for themselves solely. And that's what Bobby Penter is. I knew Bobby Penter back in the days of driving canteen trucks. He gave most of the food away to the needy kids in Roxbury and Dorchester. A lot of people don't know that. He was always being yelled at for not being able to pay his bill because he was giving the food away to the hungry people. But he's always been, no matter what, no matter what kind of adversity there was, he stood up. He stood up for what he believed in and what he felt the people wanted him to believe in. And with that, there's a lot of baggage that comes with that. And a lot of people don't understand, but he has conviction, he has integrity, and he's been a really good friend to me. And I hope he feels the same way. about me to him. Now, that's all I have to say in that regard. What I would like to do right now is I'd like to give Mrs. Penta, Susan, the backbone of Mr. Bobby Penta. I'd like to present her with something. Where are you? Come here. She earned those roses, let me tell you. Now, we know you worked very hard during the campaign this past year. And your supporters and your friends felt that the two of you deserve something to show our appreciation for your efforts. So the first thing I have is a gift certificate for a lovely meal for the two of you. to a place called Il Posto in Somerville. So the two of you can go and enjoy a nice meal. To start your new year off, a bottle of Dom Perignon. And we hope that is just the beginning of a new life for you and Susan. And for Councilor Penta, we have a special gift for you. Would it be okay if Councilor Penta could come over to the podium, please? What we have here is a 1904 edition of the City of Medford on parchment paper that's framed The inscription says, Robert M. Penta, thank you from the citizens of Medford. Thank you, everybody.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. In reference to the speed bumps on Harvard Street, coincidentally I happen to be talking with an individual today who lives on Harvard Street, whose daughter is bedridden and is right in the vicinity of where that speed bump is. Now, the majority of vehicles that come up Harvard Street, well not the majority, but quite a few are trucks. Some of them have pallets on them, some of them have two wheelers on them. I hear it from in the back of my house. It goes over. It's the sounds, unbelievable. And apparently, these sounds, right directly, diagonally across from this person's house, is driving these people crazy with the noise. I mean, it's terrible. You know, the speed hump, which is a little, you know, not as, you know, pronounced as the speed bump. would be a much better fit for Harvard Street. Because if you went there, you'd have to listen to it. You wouldn't, you won't believe the sound you hear there. It's very noticeable. So that's the only point I wanted to make. And it was coincidentally that I bumped into this gentleman. So thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio. I live at 12 Yale street. And I just want to make a comment regarding the statement that Mr. Penta brought up. Um, I felt myself not having been a candidate this year that that was a very inappropriate acknowledgement that evening because everybody in the city knew what happened. It was even self admitted by the individual who was being acknowledged. And then Mr. Penta was besmirched saying that he did something that he did not do because I was there when Bob Penta went up to defend his name. So it was inappropriate, there was no place for it. If you want to acknowledge him, send him a bloody card. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Um, I know there was a rumor going around and it came from the high school by way of the city hall. Yeah, but let's, let's look at it this way. A real, let's just look at it this way. In 48 hours, if that's not being played, There's a problem. So that rumor will become true because it only takes 48 hours for the tape to go from here to a Thursday night replay and a Friday night replay. Rumors are that it's all being edited. I don't think there's any need to edit, but if it's not allowed, it's not shown anywhere in the city. Point of information, Councilor Knight.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Great. Well, the subject was brought up. I wanted to talk on it. I understand that. Great speech. But it's happened before. I want to see that video. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony Antonio, 12 Yale Street. I appreciate that motion, Councilor Knight. Would that also include the absentee landlord situation that we're experiencing in Redford right now? You mentioned Yale Street. We have quite a few absentee landlords on there. They're not condominiumizing the units, but they are being overcrowded. I would imagine there are some, I can't see it, I haven't seen it, but I've seen workmen go into places. I'm sure there are some situations where we have stalls on the floors where people, six, seven, eight, nine unrelated people are in there.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: All right, thank you very much.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Very good.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Thank you. Please state your name and address for the record. It's Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street in Medford. I'd like to, through the chair, ask City Clerk Finn two questions regarding the election. And before I do that, I would just like to ask him, Through the chair, have any of the councilors seen the new lighting on the parkway from the bridge where Luminaire is to the police, state police headquarters? They put in the LED lamps up there. It's a magnificent lighting. Is this on this matter? No, I just wanted to ask that question. So let me ask this question, Mr. Finn, through the chair. Can I do this? Please. Back in the 2010 election, Mr. Finn, you offered to the candidates the opportunity to come in and look at the voting machines that we're going to be using in the election for voting. Last year, I don't believe that happened, and I wanted to know if it's going to be an issue this year that you may put that demonstration on explaining how the voting machines work and so on and so forth. So that's one question. What I wanted to know is at the end of the election, at the end of the day, when the polls close, what is the procedure for people to get the vote, the count of the vote in each precinct when the polls close before the ballots come up to city hall? And the last question, if you could be so kind to answer is, What is the procedure, and how do you count for all the absentee ballot votes? And how do they come in when they come in from nursing homes, acute care facilities, and assisted care housing? That's all I have to ask.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My hope is, myself as an individual, can I go in there when the polls close and get a count on the candidates who received X amount of votes in that precinct?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: As soon as they count them.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: So is there a method for the people to, let's say there's 147 people in a particular place. Do they mail them in or do we send a representative from City Hall to collect them? Do you know what I'm saying? Because of the situations that exist up in these places.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I wanted to make sure that.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. I'm also in favor of Dave's Fresh Pies. Thank you. Very good. Anybody else in favor?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Please state your name and address for the record. Good evening. Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale street. Um, just a quick side note, the water enterprise fund, water and sewer enterprise fund was established for emergencies in the cities and to take care of old, old pipes and so on and so forth. Now, when that created was created, the recommended funding for level funding level for that was between two and $2.5 million. That meant that We'd have a substantial amount of money to take care of any and mostly all emergencies that had to do with water and sewer. So now we have, I believe it's over $6 million in there. I don't see the reason we need to take out a loan. And as far as not paying any interest on it, the loan becomes part of our debt service. Now who pays the debt service in the city is the taxpayers. So it's invisible when you put it on paper, but at the back end, it's the citizens who are paying increases in taxes to pay for this loan. We've got the money there. All you have to do is take it out of there. towards the project. The project is sorely needed, there's no doubt about it. And I can't see why we're not using the Water Enterprise Fund because that was the sole purpose that this was created for. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: That makes sense.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street in Medford. One quick question. At the end of the project, will we finally have working pedestrian lights at the end of South Street, which leads to Main Street, across the street, on the ramp that goes to Route 93, and on the ramp that jumps onto Main Street off of the parkway? We've had those relics there for years. All they do is blink yellow. It's very dangerous. There are many people, women, men, children, carriages trying to make it across the street. It's a race against time with them. And I just want to know, is there, I haven't seen anything with that here, but I know that somebody had mentioned that that problem was resolved. So I don't know. Do you know about that? No. And it'd probably be a different contractor possibly through the state to do that, but I don't see it on the plans. And I don't think if we're going to spend this kind of money that we don't wind up with pedestrian lights. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street in Medford. First of all, People who seem to have no problem with the parking enforcement program are people that are least affected by it. Now, we know that there's been some alleviation of the cars parking in the squares who take the bus. But all they've done is they've gone from here to here. They've gone from the streets to the Whole Food parking lot. They've gone up to the Bow Street area, up near Magoon Square. The cars are inundating the streets. And these are the people that are going and parking them back at Mystic Avenue. You haven't stopped the commuter parking problem in Medford, because now all the streets are getting crowded, but they don't happen to be in the square. And I'll be honest with you, there was never a problem to get a parking spot in Medford in the big lot next to the senior citizen buildings years ago. I mean, you could always go there if you wanted to walk, all right? And that was your choice. I like to see the business people who say that they enjoy and they look forward to people having to pay to come into their shops, because I have yet to find one. I really do. And I'm not trying to be facetious. And I'd like to see the numbers for a program that they had the best march in the years. We still had the snow pile in front of the state police building on the parkway. It was over the roof. I mean, people couldn't even get to the stores. So I'd like to, you know, unless it was the guy that sells shovels at the local hardware store, I mean, really. But this started. Point of information. Point of information, Councilor Camuso.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Through the chair, Councilor Camuso, I understand about the meals tax in the restaurants, because most people in a time of when you have one storm after another after another, most people cocoon, and they'll walk to the places. Very few will probably drive in, but a lot of people are going in restaurants. But I'm talking about the majority of businesses in the squares, in the private squares, the dry cleaners, The floor is, huh? Did I say private square? I meant the side squares.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I have a private square. No, it's a, I misspoke on that one. But, um, as I said before, the problem, there's a lot of things that could be fixed in the program, but the major problem with this whole parking program was it was no due diligence. There was no, going out to see how these other programs work in other cities, to see what problems they had. It was wham, bam, thank you, man, and here we go with a parking program. And it's been a mess. It really has been. It's been terrible. I've seen people. I've helped people. I can't see the bloody screen. And you're right. There are people that are trying to put money in, and they get tagged. So I don't know what they are. I haven't gotten a ticket yet, because I refuse to put any money in the meters at all, none whatsoever. I'll walk the two miles to the square. I will. I'm just upset with that parking program. And you councilors voted in good faith to give the administration the ability to work up to a 10-year contract. But then on behalf of your good efforts, the contract was signed, and then here it is. Here's the contract. Now we have to live with the mistakes. There was no shaking out of this whole bloody package. So anyway, I just want to say that the problem has actually just moved to other neighborhoods. And it's evident. And anybody who wants to come in, I'll show you the cars. Whole Foods, the whole parking lot was loaded there at 9 o'clock. There were like about six people in Whole Foods. So where are those guys? They get the bus into Harvard. Thank you very much.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: And my other neighbor.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Aye.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Name and address of the record, sir. My name is Anthony D'Antonio, 12 years in Medford. I have an affinity with Wrights Pond because I used to go there when I was younger, and there was never a fee to pay to get into Wrights Pond, if I'm not mistaken. And if there was a fee, we always would have gone in over by Eagle Rock to get in there and hop the fence or whatever we had to do. In 1926, when my family moved out from the north end by way of Italy, we built one of the first houses on Elm Street. As you come up and just take the right to Elm Street, number 7 Elm Street. I have pictures of my grandfather, my uncles, my father, boating, fishing, right up in that area. And it's always a place where my grandfather used to take me when I was a little boy. I am so opposed to these fees. I am opposed to having to pay for this because this should be something like an item in the budget that maintenance is taking care of. There are also some ideas that you might want to put forward. Fishing tournaments like they have at Horn Pond, you get the state to come in, you get them to stock it, you run a couple of tournaments. The state will not come in and stock the ponds.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Yeah, good idea.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: But, in spite of the fact that I don't agree with any of the increases and I think that residents should have some kind of an I.D. Card maybe at a very minimum cost, I think that the least we should do is offer the membership free to our veterans and to our senior citizens. And, is this, is it A.D.A. Compliant up there? to expand that in any way, shape or form. With the bathrooms, restrooms and everything to be an ADA certified?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I just think it's a great resource.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: It is. And it's, you know, like we have the mystic river, but we haven't taken advantage of anything on that. And,
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening, Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. Um, we had a little bit of a discussion last week on this, but it's very important that we consider changing, reviewing the, the charter because, um, for instance, having in the last couple of weeks going, going over the ledgers of the city of Medford, looking at the budgets present past, um, this oversight is missing in this city. And we, you know, I hate to say this, but the spending in the city is almost like a drunken sailor. And I hate to use that clause, but I mean, I am amazed at what is being spent in the city. And I hear people say, well, we can't do this. We can't do that because there's no money left. There's plenty of money there. It's just how we present our budget. But the fact is that the council should have a strong say in what we do when it comes to the budget. I'm not saying yes or no on that. I'm saying why did you present this budget? No, go back and this is what you have to do. I mean, has anybody got the actual title of the type of budgeting we process in this city? You know, is it zero-based budgeting? Is it just, you know, adding on from last year's budget? Because one of the things I noticed is an awful lot of transfers and money, and that affects the budget. And there shouldn't be that kind of excess money, surplus money in the budget to do that. But the thing is that you have to have a balance of power. You can't have one individual running a city of 56,000 people. And I actually think there's a lot more than 56,000 people in here. Because we just had an article come out on the 26,000 housing units, housing stock, with this thing saying that we're below the affordable housing percentage. units of housing, we have 56,000 residents in the city. How do we only have 56,000 residents? I mean, if you take two times the 26,000, there's 52,000 people right there. So it's very important. And last week I talked to you through the chair, through Councilor Knight, you had asked me some information about the previous meetings. I do recall, and I believe, to the chair also, the city clerk may be able to confirm this. I did post and time date the meetings. Uh, we did have other Councilors and other prospective Councilors come to the meetings. The minutes were, it was pretty much information that we gathered from the state and we passed on to each other and we read and looked at it. And, uh, then as I said, we got dumped on the, uh, on the issue before the council to pursue it any further. But, uh, as far as your request for the minutes, I mean, the minutes were basically just chapters, verses from the State, you know, the Department of Revenue, the Secretary of State, and some from the city itself. But we had interest in the charter review, and I think it's very important. And a point that was brought up was that with ward Councilors, I think the Councilors can do a better job in their wards. It's difficult to be a councilor at large because you've got all these people that need and have questions. I mean, it's almost impossible to do this. I mean, a councilor in itself is almost a 24 hour day, seven days a week job. And I think that the people deserve much better than we're getting now. And I'm not saying from the council, I'm saying from the city administration. And I think, and I don't want people to think that because we're gonna have the city solicitor render an opinion on the charter, that this is an ongoing process and the charter is now under review, because a lot of people asked me that question last week, and I said, no, it's just for the city solicitor to render an opinion. So please remember that, people that are listening out there, that it's only an opinion, and that it may mysteriously disappear after the election. So please be aware of that, and please, if you're serious about a charter review, let's get it on board. Thank you very much.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale street Medford through the chair for Councilor Caraviello, uh, February 11th, 2014, we issued a check for $9,694 for fixtures. And who do we buy these from Liberace? I mean, really? What do we have? It's a disgrace. I agree with you. I was there. I saw it. The library is a disgrace. I have a suggestion, though, because not all is lost. In the budget, when you go and look at the budget this year, we have two assistant superintendents making $112,000 each. I would like to see it just justify one assistant superintendent, let alone two. Let's take that money and reallocate it somewhere. We've got to get some people in there that know what to do with the numbers, because this city needs to get back up on top. Tired of watching it go one rung below, another rung, another rung. So do the best you can on that, please. I appreciate it. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening, again. Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street in Medford. I can't remember how many months ago it was, but I started a committee, just a grassroots committee. And I have 57 members on it right now of people that were very much interested in reviewing the charter. It's very important because it's a very old document. I know that Councilor Penta was on it. At the initial change from plan E to plan A, there were a lot of amendments left out of it. Amendments that hurt the citizens of Medford because they weren't getting fair representation for their tax dollars, among other things. But I do recall when I came before, I had a discussion with Solicitor Rumley, and we had a miscommunication. And I tried to get to him before he went on vacation. He took a long weekend. And I came before the council somewhat unprepared, but the emotion that I was trying to get across was to get a feel from the councillors, would you be amenable to having a commission set up where I believe each one of your councillors can pick somebody to go on the, on the committee or the commission. And it was shot down four to three. And I think councillor Marchant voted for it, Penta and Biannalonga. And it's very important. I mean, I know it's an election year and I know, you know, this is the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do 10 years ago, 15 years ago. I mean, charter should review, be reviewed at least a minimum every five years because things change all the time. So I just wanted to get that straight. And there are a lot of people from that committee that I started. There were hundreds that want to see a review of the charter because they don't understand. They don't understand why what happens here on Tuesday nights happens. Why don't you have authority to do this? Why do we spend this? Why do we need to be some changes? We need to have a balance of power. So there was a vote taken. And as I said, it got stuffed four to three. So anyway, that's all I wanted to say.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, Yale Street. This was an ad hoc committee. which came about because of the frustration of many citizens. This is not a, uh, you know, you don't have a charter. We just was a group of people to met.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: No, because what I, uh, what's happening now is because it's an election year and a lot of people busy with different things. Um, and I have a couple of other avenues I've been, you know, going down. I'm hoping that the, um, the next administrator, the next mayor in the city of Medford, We'll understand that this needs to be done, and we'll go along with that. It's quite an operation to get this thing going. I think to go the signature way is 5,500 signatures. Then there's a process with this, that, and the other, and it takes a while. But as I said, councilors can vote a commission, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, can vote a commission to work on the charter, and it needs a lot of work. There's a lot of weak spots in the charter.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: We have some minutes of what we've done.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: It's not in the conversation. Pretty much what we did, what we discussed was the need for the change in the charter or the review of the charter. And not so much to besmirch the mayor or anything like that, because it's a very fine line when you're trying to work with somebody who's been mayor for 28 years in a charter that's been in existence from the year before he became mayor. So it's a fine line, because there's a lot of different opinions of everything and everybody out there. And that was difficult, because we shook out the people that just wanted to come in and lambaste the mayor. We didn't do that. And then, you know, so it's important. The goal was to get this city back in the, back in the green and the black and everything.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: And as I said, it is a committee, ad hoc, and not a commission, not a duly registered commission. Thank you, Mr. D'Antonio.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Through the chair to Councilor Penta, I do know the work that you did on the charter, because I read it and re-read it and read it again. And I do know that they omitted some very important revisions, amendments, clauses in there that sort of shot a whole lot of holes for that charter back then, Plan A. And one of the things people have to know, there were nine members on the commission.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: in one of the bays at the dpw yard where we formally leased the building over there. I don't know if we're still under the regulations, the rules and regulations of the lease, have we bought it out? And if so, if that's listed as hazardous material, are we going to be responsible for that? I mean, I don't know what the catchphrases of dirt and rocks and all kinds of garbage. Over the weekend. Okay, good. All right. No, I was just concerned because it's very unsightly. So, okay. Thank you. It does smell bad. Do we still, are we still indebted to that?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. 40 years ago today, and tomorrow, and on Thursday, We had a Medford resident, who is now a 30-year member of the Medford Police Department, standing on the rooftop of the embassy in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. This evening at 9 o'clock on the PBS station, public broadcasting, they're going to have a documentary called The Last Days of Vietnam. We have a hero amidst us again, as we do quite a few times in the city of Medford, and that person is John Galane. And he's over there in Saigon right now, commemorating this occasion. John was one of the last to get on a chopper from the rooftops. He was getting on a chopper as he saw the tanks coming down the street. The North Vietnamese were coming down there. It's similar to what Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore did in La Trang, Vietnam in 65 in November, when he was the last man off of the first major battle we had. However, the difference was that the 1st Battalion, 7th Calvary had decimated the enemy. John Ghislaine was facing the enemy coming down the street, and he was one of the last two or three. And I'd also like to say that at that attack and before the attack that we lost two Marines over there, Darwin Judge from Marshalltown, Iowa, and Charles McMahon from Woburn, Massachusetts. I think it's a good piece of living history for the people of Medford to see what this gentleman did, John Ghislaine, as a Marine over there in Vietnam. It's just something that we cannot forget. I get so dismayed with seeing things that are being taught to our students today, and it's revisionist history, and nothing is being brought up like this. But I think that John and all the guys, all the Marines that are over there deserve our appreciation for what they did 40 years ago today. And Semper Fi, John. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. Two points. I agree with the bounty hunter aspect of it, because today, as I was enjoying a cup of coffee, I watched one of the enforcement agents there. Ambassador, I'm sorry. Ambassador. And he went to this truck, which his friend of mine was having coffee with me, and he had like 10 minutes there. The guy walked by. Then he came back, and he was hovering around the car, and he kept doing this. I kept doing this, so with about two minutes left, we had to write down some signs. He went over there. This gentleman was waiting for this thing to expire because he figured, well, it's like seven minutes left. He's definitely not going to make it. But that's been happening, okay? And I feel bad for the people that are up in the office of Republic because they're only the messengers and they're taking a lot of the grief, the citizens who have the jobs there. But the problem I have is that we've had a reduction in enforcement because When people went to get their stickers for permit parking, they got no stickers. So now what happens is we have an influx of cars coming in there after the enforcement is over and on the weekends. And when you call the police, the police say, we don't know who has a sticker and who doesn't, because they don't have the software, they don't have the wherewithal to do it. So that's important. And when I called up Republic, they said, well, we're working on it. But I asked a simple question. I said, well, why did you change the scheme? from giving out the stickers. I mean, everybody does that. You put a sticker there. Well, she didn't have an answer because she's not in the corporate end of things. So I'm hoping that when these people come, we have the meeting, that we get this answer.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good. Now, who's going to be responsible for the payment of those stickers and for the cost of the stickers? And how will they do it? I mean, if everybody has their placards and they're in the book already, that way they're going to get them to all the people. And who's going to pay for that? If you have visitor passes, okay? No, no, no, I understand that, but you went for the permit, you have the permit, and you don't have the decal, but you have two placards for visitor passes. How are they going to get the decals for the people who bought?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: All right. There's a lot of other issues there. I'll wait until this meeting comes up, but I just wanted to say that there's a net, the net results so far on the permit parking is negative. We're not getting the enforcement and we're getting more people from Somerville parking on the side streets where there's permit parking because there's no enforcement and you can't blame the police because they don't know, they don't have the information, you know? So thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street, Medford. The magic word I saw in Mr. Councilor Penta's motion was kiosk, and there's many problems with the parking program as it exists. However, all I'm here for right now, because it was an intro for me to come up here and speak, is a suggestion to the City Council. What I would like to see, you know we've had one bad winter. Everybody, every business owner has been affected one way or the other. We've had this parking program that's been implemented. The residents have been impacted by it. There isn't one business, 80% of the businesses out there have been affected negatively in remuneration for their work. I mean, it's been terrible. I know some people in business, and they're hurting, and the winter didn't help, and the implementation of the parking program didn't help. I have a suggestion. Can this council, through a vote or whatever, say, okay, we've got a very special weekend coming up, What do we say? We knock off the parking enforcement Friday and Saturday so that the vendors and the businesses that do a lot of the business, especially on this coming holiday weekend, get a little bit back. I think the city owes it to them because you can't do anything about the snow, but we can certainly do something about this terribly implemented parking program because it wasn't ready. It was not ready for prime time. And if anybody should get a ticket, then on the, uh, onus of Republic that they, not only reimbursed, I just canceled the tickets out, but give the people a chance to do some shopping again. I mean, it's like a ghost town out there, you know, on Saturday. Now, a week ago, we had the leprechaun race. That's a great cause. I mean, that's, I have no qualms with that, but maybe the next time, maybe do it on a Sunday or something, because that also affected the businesses because I didn't realize the enormity of the blockages to get into the square. Usually I can, I can get into the square by all the sides. They had everything blocked. It was a good event, but then again, it also affects other people, the same way as the bridge is going to affect a lot of the store owners. And I still want to see why they want to put the bridge there. And I want to see where the safety issues are. Why are we letting buses go over it? Why are we letting trailer trucks go over it? There are safety issues there, but I think they can be corrected. I don't want to get too off the subject, but we ought to send state engineers over to Rome and have them take a look at the Coliseum, what they're doing in rebuilding the Coliseum. I mean, it's incredible. I don't agree with what's going on with the state, with this program. But anyway, the thought was just to see if we can do something for the people this weekend. We'll have Barry Clemente give a little tune. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale street in Medford. Um, a couple of points I want to make. And I try not to be redundant on any of them. But I was on the way home this evening, passing the South Medford Square, and I noticed a decrease in the amount of vehicles out in front of the stores, from Alexander Avenue to Yale Street. A really big decrease. And usually when I drive by there, they're loaded, they're crowded. Even on my street, there's people there parked. I don't know if they would, Tuesday night is always a busy night down there with the Oasis and with Pacelli's, but I got home and I received a phone call, a reverse 911 call from Captain Clemente indicating that we will have three public and police, we're going to have the three meetings discussing the parking situation. at the Academy, if I'm not mistaken. I think it's going to be at the Academy, I believe. I was in a rush to get out and I was listening to Clemente leave the message there. My point is that a good effort on the part of the Medford police in trying to do this, but I still say wholeheartedly that the meeting should be taken here and that the mayor should be here to answer the questions. Nothing gets done. The point doesn't get across unless he is here taking the heat on this. I mean, when, where's the surprise when, who didn't think this was going to happen after he went mute on the parking proposals put by your committee that you had, nothing was done. Nothing was done. Then all of a sudden it comes in with a guillotine and we got this parking program. Now you want to raise revenue. You want to put parking meters there. You don't want, this is not a kiosk city unless you put them in the, in the parking lots and then you have, You don't need to put your license plate in. They can run a piece of paper. And they have a software that says, OK, you're a young person. The thing that I have a question of is, when this was being negotiated, didn't anybody from the finance department, budget director, or the purchasing department get an idea that this was going up towards a million dollars on behalf of the city to put forward this program? I mean, if it's a million dollars, it normally is going to take a three year contract. And I think it's time for the city to say, okay, thanks for the time you put into this, but this is not for us. We have to find a different solution. There are other solutions out there. And unfortunately it requires a lot of personnel on the ground. And it also requires a mayor who can get the money from one and put into a budget where we need public safety officers, we need DPW people. I mean, there's a lot of things that can be done, but this just doesn't, and there's nothing against the Republic Parking System. I mean, they're all good people. They have a bottom line they have to meet, but this is always the way the city runs. The mayor doesn't like what some people do, and he comes up with his own plan, and then he, you know, he hits Mrs. Murphy's car on the rear wrench, opens the pond door, and you guys are all chasing the car down the street as well as the citizens. And it's the wrong way to run a city. And that's because this charter has not been reviewed for 30 years in the city of Medford. There's absolute power in there. And to expect anything else, like Charlie Brown always thought that Lucy was going to hold the football when he goes to kick it, but she always moves it. That's what we have with this mayor. You don't get what we're paying for here. We have to change that. And people have to be made aware of that. We've got to stop all this. Well, never mind. Anyway. I hope that the people understand that there are a lot of pros and cons with these things. And I've seen a lot of people having difficulty, a lot of difficulty with the kiosks. It's a hell of a lot easier to put a quarter and a card, a credit card in those things. And one thing I think I heard one of the representatives from Republic say that the information is secure when you put your license plate number in there. And I strongly disagree with that. There is no information that's secure once it goes into the cloud, or it goes into the airways, or it goes into the software, because there are companies out there that do this particularly. I could take Mr. Nash up to a place in New Hampshire and show him his own company in a particular data aggregator, and they won't even know that they're being looked at. And I have a feeling that it's not their fault. It's just the way the society is today. But anyway, I really hope that— Point of information? No, no, no, no, no. To give you an example, Groupon sells coupons for golf memberships and causes special discounts. Well, you can go up there and they can go right into their system and see who's signing the coupons. So what happens is you manufacture golf clubs, you come to me, I sell you a list, the people that are buying the memberships to the golf course.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: They can't sell it.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: They won't.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I said I could take you to a company in New Hampshire that does this, and they could go into the site.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I just think a little more consideration on behalf of the mayor should have been taken for the people in the city of Medford.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I thought you said that I misinterpreted what you said. No, it's out there. I mean, these are companies. They pay big money for people to come in and do this, to do the software. I mean, they have computers that will fill this room, and that's all they do. That's how they make their money. You've probably seen emails that should come to your email address that you have no idea how they got there. That's how it happened. They sell the list. Well, thank you, and good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Knight?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record. My name is Anthony D'Antonio of Yale Street, number 12 Yale Street. And I'm just another one of those irate citizens right about now, because I can't believe that this city has gone forward with this program. It's astounding. I mean, this is wrong. I said it last week, it's wrong. And I have to come up here, and if I have to come up every week on a different issue with this parking program, which is actually a revenue enforcement program, I will do it under a different subject, because something's got to be done.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: What is that? We're made to believe that all these years that we were able to park in the streets, that we were supposed to bow down and say, well, thank you for letting us park in your streets. Now, if you have to go with these kiosks, and I see dozens of people, elderly people, young people, still having difficulty with the kiosks. I don't know. You said you saw people in Boston. I mean, that's fine. But I see people having great difficulty here. So the thing is you don't put the money in there. You get a ticket, you're forced to pay. Okay. It comes into the city. This is, this is not the right way to do it. I mean, citizens will put up with it for a period of time, but it's, I had a business. I had two businesses. The Councilors have businesses. You, if you don't know how to run a business, what it takes to run a business, There's no compassion for the people out there. I mean, the Chamber of Commerce, you know, for this particular program should be called the Chamber of Horrors. I mean, what have they done to this city? I mean, really. And I feel bad that Chief Sacco has to come up here also. The mayor should be sitting right here and taking the heat for this program. And I want the citizens of Medford to know whose fathers, or who's with the mayor, and who's with the program, and what are you going to do for the citizens? Because it's wrong. I mean, Harvard Street and Main Street, it was crowded all the time. There was nobody up there today. They're gone. People are complaining about businesses, even the Oasis Restaurant, one of the busiest places around there. He's already dipped because they don't—these guys, they work hard. They don't want a $25 ticket. I mean, that's a lot of money. It's coming out of their pockets. It's coming out of the table, food, clothing for their children and their families. So it's got to be reviewed. It's got to be every week until something happens. I would think that I would like to see a hold put on to the start of this program because We're not ready for it, the citizens are not ready for it, and the businesses are already starting to pay the price. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: What number, Yale Street, sir? Number 12. Number 12, Yale Street. And congratulations, President Dello Russo and Madam Vice President on selection. Thank you, my neighbor. congratulations on a good year last year from all the council members. Although I didn't agree with everything you gentlemen and women came up with, but you're doing a great job out there and welcome back to the forefront. Mr. Camuso. I have, uh, I wrote a, uh, a small paper because I wanted to keep on track with what I want to say and some of the issues that have already been brought up, but I need to make, Oh, I need to make some statements. I want these statements to be heard. So forgive me if I am redundant and what somebody else has come up and said, but starting off, um, sir, if you could quiet down so that the speaker can be unimpeded, this parking program, as we know, it does not serve the best interests of the citizens. you represent, and in doing so, you've added a financial burden to our residents and our business community, not to mention a physical hardship for the disabled, seniors, and visitors to the city. I will not debate the logistical nightmare in the conception of this program, now known as Park Medford, because many questions still need to be answered. And I am hopeful that this honorable body will answer these questions respectfully, factually, and without prejudice. Park Medford is not the answer to enforcement in this city. And I'll say it again and again, this is a revenue program. It is not an enforcement program. I am hopeful, well Park, I'm sorry, I got off the sign there. I got a bigger printing here. It presents many problems. Among them are inaccuracies, ambiguities, favoritism, short-sightedness, and most glaring, common sense and respect to our citizens, to the businesses, and to our men and women on the police department, including our traffic supervisors, all of whom are quite capable of doing the job. Excuses about not being able to add to our public safety budget are just that. It is a sad state of affairs when the hard work, tireless efforts, and recommendations of Mr. Marks and Mrs. Blackburn and other members of the Traffic and Parking Study were totally ignored. due diligence was certainly missing and lacking in this presentation of this parking program. One cannot orchestrate a tumultuous program such as this in the manner in which it was done. It appears most definitely there has been selective placement of kiosks. Why no outcry from the Chamber of Commerce? For what purpose do they exist and for whom do they serve? They stood by mutely and watched as certain businesses remained free and clear of kiosks, while other businesses did not. Some politicians lack business experience and business sense, not all but some. But the smart ones, the ones who truly recognize it is their responsibility to work on behalf of the citizenry, will reach out and put the business paradigm on the table in an open forum, not behind closed doors at the expense of the taxpayer. Why, for instance? And please take note that I am objectively pointing out examples, free of any animosity, and as neutral as I can be. But I need to make this point by example. Why do we place kiosks in the center of West Medford Square, but have none as you enter from Arlington? Examples given, Joe's Peach and Charles Liquors, in the block of stores as you approach Boston Avenue. By the way, I received a text earlier today from Joan Gatto, who is the owner and proprietor of magnificent muffin. She is out of town and wanted me to express her concern on this particular program, as well as the concern she has for her other business colleagues in the area. Now to continue, I have to make a statement here and it is with all due respect and it concerns the placement and not placement of kiosks. and several business establishments in the city. I have been a long friend to the Dello Russo family in Medford. I have questions. Why? See, when I was growing up, a funeral parlor is solemn to me. It's like a chapel. Why they would place kiosks in front of certain places like in Sincardi's or Gaffey's, where there are other stores available in the area, and why none at other places? There should be none at all in any of these places. There should be no kiosks in the city of Medford. But the point I want to make is, who came up with this decision to put this here and that there? No kiosks on Main Street all the way from Medford Square to the corner of Wright Avenue and Yale Street, and then stopping at Wareham Street. I mean, it's a small square. It's, it's, it's vulnerable to going out of business down there. There's people that are, that are struggling, but yet there's convenience, convenient food markets that have none in front of them. I, I, I find it hard to believe that anybody would put a program together like that. And I'm sure that the people sitting on the council really didn't have much to do with the placement of the kiosk. I'm pretty sure. I know they didn't, but I just don't understand the concept, the idea and how it was put together. I also think it's unconscionable that kiosks are put where people worship, where parents go to pick up their children at the library or at school. And that two hour and less free parking is available in certain areas and other areas have kiosks and patrons who are required to pay. No enforcement on Sundays. That's another question. Why wouldn't it be prudent to have no enforcement on Saturdays except for permitted streets? Because on Saturday, Most of the mom and pops, most of the small cash and carries, most of the hair salons, the nail salons, everybody that's in business, that's when they do a brisk business on a Saturday. Everybody's home for the most part. Everybody is out shopping. So why do they need to be punished to pay? And then on Sunday, there's no enforcement. And here's a fact for you to digest. On Sunday spells disaster for our neighborhoods that have permit parking in opposition on the periphery of the smallest squares. Most businesses are closed. It's a family day, and we will have to put up with noise, more noise, incorrectly parked vehicles, blocked driveways, more garbage thrown on the streets and sidewalks. Then there's trying to hold spaces for expected company. Is this what we get for our tax dollars, a demise of our quality of life? And here's a real eye-opener, and I don't get this one at all, a 7 a.m. start time for enforcement. Where did that come up from 7 o'clock? How many people are on the road going to their jobs and typically stop at certain stores to grab a coffee, a scratch ticket, or some other commodity? Why are certain businesses being punished? Hell, they'll go someplace else, and who suffers? We all do. This program is lacking true parking enforcement. Can you not see this? In closing, I stand by my belief and on my own as a concerned citizen in a former mayoral candidate and former business owner outside the city of Medford. This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, 12 Yale Street. In reference to a point you made about a fee, I paid by a debit card for my application. A debit card is cash and cash. There's usually no transaction fee associated with that. I got my bank statement, and on my bank statement it said, from Republic Parking, citation fee. Now why would an administration fee be called a citation fee? Those are two different words. Are we going to say that that administration fee is called the citation fee to say, this is the revenue we did in the first month. How many, how many permit parking placards do we have? We have a thousand in the city. That's $3,000 is a citation fee. The other thing is chief, what about resident permit parking enforcement after seven o'clock? Who's going to be responsible for that?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Just another question.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening, Anthony D'Antonio. I'm going to make it brief. I got an octopus and buccalus soaking in water, and all. I got to change the water. When's that going to be coming over tomorrow? Listen, seriously, this parking thing is wrong from day one. Councilor Knight, you made a very interesting statement. You said you had it in your hands. We're discussing this thing. We could have made the change if we could have done this and that. What happened? Nothing happened. We could have gone to Chevalier or the McGlynn School or something that had a huge citywide meeting like they did for the Green Line and have the questions answered. This is too quick for too much. I think the repercussions from this are going to be grand and I'm still against citizens in Medford having to pay for parking permit. We pay taxes. We pay an excise tax that should have been talked about many, many years ago. And it's on our backs to pay an excise tax. If you pay an excise tax, we should get a sticker that says you're a Medford resident. It gives you the ability to park anywhere. I don't even know if charging citizens to park in their own streets is legal. I don't know. Is it? Does anybody know that? But this whole thing, As far as your question with them about did they have any discussion of preferences about if they had a parking area there, I think the citizens and the business owners of Medford show a lot of respect, especially to Chief Sacco. So they're not going to embarrass him in front of this person. But the thing you have to understand is Republic is a public company. They sit in that boardroom and they see those numbers, just like when Staple says, okay, close that store, close this store. They're going to say, hey, start kicking the numbers up and you're going to see stuff, stuff happen. I mean, this is wrong. It's just wrong. Store owners, a group of guys got together and they resolved this whole thing. Very simple. And to put it down in a little more micro, um, causal that the problem we have in the city of Medford, with the parking is actually enforcement. It's not the chief's fault. It's the fact that most of the money goes to the school department and we can't put 20 police officers that we need in the street. We need to have police officers on the street. We need to have the right amount of people in the fire department. It's very important, especially in today's time with what's going on. So we have to find a way to cut here and put here. And then this problem may start to go away without bringing in a private enterprise that's going to show you what a private enterprise is all about. And I just think it's so hard for the business owners now to try to keep their heads afloat, their heads above water. And now this is a detriment. This is like being punished to go and shop. So anyway, next time around, you know, let's have a, let's do this right the next time. Thank you. Thank you.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Good evening, Anthony D'Antonio, excuse me, Yale Street. You know, it happens every year. The budget comes out, we all argue over the numbers, rightfully so. The problem exists at the conception of the budget, which, having moved back here to Medford several years back and watched how it operates, I'm disgusted with how this budget gets put together. You can say and defend everybody and anybody you want, but that nobody's worrying about the person who's on a fixed income right now, who's probably at home sweating, saying, am I going to be able to buy prescription drugs after this tax increase goes through? They're making $1,100 a month. Figure that and having a household that they own. You have to put yourselves in their shoes. A lot of times, elected officials, you're not affected by the laws that you create, by the rules, by the budgets, because you get that. You can handle it. You've got that money coming in. And I don't mean that in a derogatory manner. I'm saying that people do not have it now. Electric rates are going up. Water rates are going up. Everything's going up. Big deal. The fuel and everything is going down right now. Just wait. Watch what happens after. It's not going to be last forever, but you've got to stop working for the administration and work for the people. When you say you do it, do it. I mean, the majority of the council does not work for the people in the city of Medford. And I'm disappointed in that because it affects everybody. It affects people that want to come here. And we're just, you're not looking at the total picture. And as far as the new administration coming in, it's time that we have a change in it. It's time that we get somebody that maybe has to say, It's time for you cities and towns to take on some of this fiscal responsibility. This is insanity. You can't keep putting your hand in my pocket, in my neighbor's pocket, and everybody else in the city of Medford. You gotta do it at the onset, where it counts. And if you tell me you can't find room to cut the budget and make it a better city, then you're not doing your job because it's there, all right? Maybe they ought to start reading a book on it.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: No.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Was that vote all taken care of?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Gentlemen. Anthony D'Antonio, Yale Street. One meeting. I have a question, and maybe somebody on the council can enlighten me. taxpayers and people that may be watching on TV and the overcrowded and the Council Hall here. But I was on my way to City Hall today to get a parking placard sticker and I bumped into my neighbor just as I was leaving and he said he had already come from City Hall and they said he cannot get the stickers any longer like we used to do at City Hall. Is there a method or a way to do this? Because right now-
[Anthony D'Antonio]: So then the placards we have now are grandfathered in until that date?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: That's good. That's good to know. I have other things to say about the parking program, but I had enough for tonight. Thank you, everybody.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: One of my neighbors does not have a computer.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: As long as the public is informed, that's great. Now, one last thing before I go. Councilor Knight, you were talking about the construction up on Smith Street to Hicks Avenue last week. But I have a question. On the corner of Main Street and Alexander Avenue, there seemed to have been a mistake. The council addressed this a few weeks ago. But I understand that. But why in God's name do we have to have a bolted in sawhusk wood with yellow caution tape on it. I mean, it's terrible. I mean, when can we get rid of this damn thing?
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Cafe dear. I believe it's in front of them. Yeah. Cafe dear. Yeah. I hadn't been to the last couple of meetings. I missed out.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Excuse me. Anthony Antonio, Yale street number 12. Um, just a couple of comments on the parking enforcement program, revenue and revenue program. Um, I was never in favor of going out to a third party or a subcontractor to do this for the city of Medford. I always felt very strongly that we were capable enough to do it here. I always felt that within the city of Medford, this would have been handled with a lot of respect for the citizens and the store owners in this city and with common sense. And I see that this is somewhat lacking in this particular contract. I am still waiting, unless I missed it somewhere along the line, for the analysis between in-house versus outside contracting as far as the cost analysis on that. I think that an implementation of a parking program where we're going to capitalize a particular company with equipment, and I don't mean that we're going to pay for the equipment, but it's a lot easier to get into a contract than it is to get out of a contract. And if this thing is not working properly, and if this thing is not realizing the money that we think that we're going to get, how do you get out of the contract? And you brought up a very good point. There's been snow. on curbs and on the sidewalks until end of March. I can't understand how people that are handicapped, people that have elderly people like myself, you know, I mean, really, how are you going to get up and put the money in the slot, put the money in the kiosk? That's an important part. You've got to clean these parking lots and you've got to clean the sidewalks. We need the people to do that.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: And I agree.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: I feel like it. No, but I mean, I just want it to work right, and I want it to benefit everybody in the city. And I want it to benefit the people that are coming into the city, to patronize the shops and the schools and whatnot. But maybe, you say, maybe republic will get out there on them now to get it done. Well, it should. And I hope that it is done. It is done, because it's an important part of it. Well, good luck. Thank you. And I'm looking forward to a public meeting.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: That is a very difficult situation over there. You have the cars on the opposite side heading towards Medford Square trying to get into the parking spots on the opposite side, and it is at a different angle than just going diagonally into the spot. You do have the double parking. You do have the trucks, the deliveries when you have the liquor store getting whatnot. They have no other place to go. One of the concerns I have is when people are trying to back out of that spot where they're all head in parking, there are no mirrors that you can see. They have the convex mirrors, and you can see the cars coming down the street. Right now, if you're familiar with it, you know how to play the traffic off the store windows if you can see down past the Airstreet. But I mean, it's a gamble. It's a gamble. There have been a few fender benders, but thankfully nobody's really gotten hurt there, but it is. I always learned that you can't take the left turn on a double yellow line, okay? So if there's an accident, I don't know who's at fault, you know? But yeah, it is difficult when it double parks and when they try to take that turn because what happens is it starts to back up traffic at the intersection of Main and Harbord. And then you've got people stuck in the light and the light changes and then, you know, everybody's beeping horn to it and all that. But the thing would be nice if they did have some, one or two mirrors when you're backing up. You can look at the mirror and see traffic coming from up, down from the Princeton Street area. So, but yes, that is, that is a problem. That is a problem.
[Anthony D'Antonio]: Anthony D'Antonio, Yale Street. Thank you for bringing this up this evening, Councilor Marks. I'd like to go on record as saying I'd like to volunteer to be a member of this advisory committee if it does become, if it does come to fruition. And I will promise you that if I'm on this board, it will not lead to stagnation. Thank you.