[Bill O'Keefe]: when we have.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Attorney Bill O'Keefe, 18 Kilgore Avenue for Mass.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I just wanted to follow up.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know it's always difficult when you're putting these presentations before the community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Is the school committee gonna do this as well?

[Bill O'Keefe]: I don't know.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, it should be recommended to the school committee, because I know a lot of these folks that talked issues, talked about the school committee issues, and they definitely need to get clarified so there's a clear understanding, so that everybody can understand and appreciate it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Like, I got a student up at the high school that's part of the vocational program.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, I've had all my kids educated at the Medford Public Schools, and I'm happy with the education that's provided at the school system.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know there were some comments about, I mean, the teachers and where they stand.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, it's all in how parents are involved and what the expectation is.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, every kid learns differently.

[Bill O'Keefe]: My other concern is with the MCAS also being on the voting block in November, how much money do we dedicate to the MCAS in order to basically prepare for the test?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So there's other money that could be allocated towards whatever funding is needed to maintain a budget.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was part of the whole recession back in 2010, 2011,

[Bill O'Keefe]: where everybody was getting laid off and everybody lost their job.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It was the community that maintained everything.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, you were a student there.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: You got to understand how this gets presented to everybody.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You're on 23 different community channels throughout Massachusetts.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Because we're on Comcast and you're on Verizon.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So how you present yourself and what you talk about here gets presented to leaders of industry, to people that are looking to do development, to do projects, that build businesses.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, so the decorum and how things get presented, you guys got to look at how that's being done and what messages is being presented.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, just tonight alone.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, the one thing I just haven't seen is a real plan or an understanding of a plan for six, seven, and eight.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I'm sure it'll come out and it'll get concise.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You guys are working through it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's a need to rip off the bandaid and figure out how money's going to get allocated and spent.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But it's a presentation that you make not only to the community, but to everyone else in the commonwealth.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And if I can, with your situation in terms of the lead paint, I mean, the lead in the water, did you get your child tested?

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm just asking because it's always a concern.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, I know that was the biggest thing.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was just at a meeting today with Treasurer Goldberg, and they have money.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's called Swirl.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's an account.

[Bill O'Keefe]: that they put in 170 schools in order to have water bubblers that are fresh water.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I'm not sure if that's been allocated or looked at as a resource, but she just presented that today at a community meeting for businesses and what she's doing with the schools.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that might be something you guys want to take a look at.

[Bill O'Keefe]: My understanding of the acronym is SWIRL.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And they have a lot of money for that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But if there's lead in the water and stuff like that,

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, should probably let the community and the kids know they should get tested just to make sure that they're not exposed to it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But I thank you for your time.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Absolutely, yes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: and welcome the opportunity to take any questions.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Lifelong Method resident, father, husband, served on the school committee, attorney.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I also think that the mayor is doing a wonderful job as well as his council.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it can be as impossible as impossible can be, but just like anything else, everybody's gotta agree to disagree sometimes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I just want to speak on the gillis park and the car park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was the original applicant for the CPA.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I just want to thank the administration.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I may have one girl current for all the time they put in.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was hoping to hear uh talk about the time that she spent with regards to one gillis park as well as columbus park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: These are going to be added values both to the community, as well as to the neighborhood.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They're long overdue so I want to thank this Council for their support on this.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, my name is Bill O'Keefe, 18 Kilgore Pass School Committee member, attorney.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Thank you, appreciate it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Bye.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And the reason I say this is because the last three PACs that were done

[Bill O'Keefe]: But you know what this is the reason that when you see especially the first one when you see the

[Bill O'Keefe]: Sure, so even with the stadium seating too as well, are we going to have bleachers?

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'll definitely email you on some of the other things, too, as well, in terms of the speakers.

[Bill O'Keefe]: All our parks, none of them basically meet that standard.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The other thing I just wanted to basically bring up, a concession stand.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Well, one of those things that you definitely want to consider

[Bill O'Keefe]: Because the way meth is evolving right now, we have so many new people moving into method.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's how you build that camaraderie, the partnership, and it's one of those investments where you're basically recycling community money, where the PTOs or some other organization, civic or otherwise, can utilize that, not only for branding of method product, but also just basically for 5G.

[Bill O'Keefe]: resources for adaptive students because of the culinary arts programs that are available.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So there's something to look at that I think would be beneficial when we start to look at these open spaces in order to basically give access and opportunity for everybody to basically participate.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes, exactly.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And that's just one of those things in terms of

[Bill O'Keefe]: when you start to build that stuff out in terms of a big picture.

[Bill O'Keefe]: for the parks in our community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have a lot of parks in our community that, you know what I mean, the return on the value in terms of the car parks, you know what I mean, the Tufts parks, having this type of design, conceptualizing this, will only engage kids in the community a lot more to be active.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we'd appreciate any type of information on it forward.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'll send you my information.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But I think this is a great start, and I think to build on that in terms of

[Bill O'Keefe]: Good point.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's what I was going to bring up.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I thought Tom, that was a great idea.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The garden club has $1 garden club.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I worked with the garden club back in 2015 in terms of that whole kiosk mindset.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That would be ideal, not only for branding and for parks, but also advertising in terms of what the money's going to in terms of, hey, it's that whole project scope.

[Bill O'Keefe]: What they do with every other project, and it becomes a community door too as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And if I can too, you have the top of your department here for the vocational school.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Okay.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The southern portion which is actually closest to the entrance where you want the aesthetic effect most immediately is also the place where

[Bill O'Keefe]: So my whole thing is if there'd be an opportunity to make an egress, something that'll allow people instead of going over the wall, there's an entrance way or a pathway that allows them to go behind it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Both from a safety standpoint with the winter that comes, as well as just the whole aesthetic.

[Bill O'Keefe]: No, but they walk behind it instead of walking in the street at night because of the lighting and stuff like that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But maybe that's on a different phase or something like that where the lighting can accentuate both.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, it's more towards the restoration.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I'm sure when the design scheme's done, lighting will emulate it, so I'm sure that'll be spoken for when that phase comes in, too, as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Okay.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It is, it is.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And now we'll have someplace warm to go.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Thank you, Tom.

[Bill O'Keefe]: All right, thank you.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes, so there's actually three bocce leagues.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's one in Medford, there's one in Malden, and they have one in Everett, too, as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Where there's over 200 players, you need the two courts because what you have is you have couples bocces.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So you don't want to bog them down in terms of having three-hour events.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that's why they have the dual courts in order to basically standardize the competition as well as to increase the volume of play.

[Bill O'Keefe]: What you're probably going to end up doing to the rec department is setting up a league where it runs for eight, six, even 12 weeks.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And then you have certain divisions and then there's rankings, so on and so forth.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's similar to what it does.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, I mean, what you're doing in terms of a scope is ideal.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, you definitely need the two courts.

[Bill O'Keefe]: If you're looking to parlay in terms of having some more information about it,

[Bill O'Keefe]: They just built them down the Method Boat Club, they designed them.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, they had someone come in and basically scope it all out, so there's a template for them to basically utilize.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Joe Casey, who's with the Method Police, he'd be a great person to contact with regards to it, so.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That would be the value add.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm not sure if the Wellington Yacht Club has it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know the Method Boat Club has it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Excuse me.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's seasonal.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's just one of those things where, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: They have the teams and stuff like that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So what you have here is you're going to have the seniors and the kids and they'll be able to basically parlay with each other in terms of just that whole mentorship stuff.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it'll be great.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, Malden has one too.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's a couple hundred people and a lot of them are from Medford too.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm sure they'll be excited to see this.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know it's all cash prizes too, right?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, if you want, I can just add, I know we've worked with him, I do the Boy Scouts too as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes, so a lot of the Eagle Scout projects we partner with the friends of Rice Pond in order for them to basically enhance some of the pathways.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We actually do overnight camping trips there, that's what we do for onboarding.

[Bill O'Keefe]: One of the first things we do when we have kids transition from the Cub Scouts to the Boy Scouts, instead of taking them to Maine to camp,

[Bill O'Keefe]: We take them up to Wright's Pond and then we bring someone from the Friends of the Fells to basically teach them in order for them to earn their Bartonist badge and then they basically diagram and they mark off all these paths.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that's the partnership that the Boy Scouts do work with the Friends of the Fells.

[Bill O'Keefe]: the Wrights Pond, and they've been a great group for the past 10 years.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was actually one of the first people to have an overnight camping trip up there, and unfortunately I horrified him.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I think about 5.30 in the morning, he was coming to basically do his morning chores.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But to give you an idea of the historic value that happens here, Wrights Pond was one of the first ponds that basically established the city of Boston to come out and visit.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's still a bus that comes out of Haymarket.

[Bill O'Keefe]: that drives up and drops them off at the bottom of the ramp, and these people walk up.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It goes through Haymarket, through Chilestown, and drops off right at the bottom of Elm Street.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That bus is still serviceable today, and the folks and the senior citizens still utilize it in order to come up from the north end, from Chilestown, and from those inner communities in order for them to access

[Bill O'Keefe]: the country living, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So they come up and they fish, they come up and they walk those paths.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's a lot of seniors that are from outside of Medford that have used this as a historic perspective for the past 50 plus years.

[Bill O'Keefe]: When you see a lot of the homes up in that north Medford area, a lot of those homes were cottages for the folks in the north end and the child stock.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And then they became full season homes as the children grew up and needed a place to live.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And they moved up into North Method because that's where they used to have their cottage to go to Wright's Palm.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that bus still exists, just to give you an idea of the historical perspective of Wright's Palm, the value added that it provides to both seniors and our community groups.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'll be brief.

[Bill O'Keefe]: My name is Bill O'Keefe, I'm with Method Little League.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I've played in Method Little League since 1977.

[Bill O'Keefe]: in the art of baseball.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have a lot of board of directors members here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I can introduce them if need be.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But what I think we can do is just put a quick video together in order for you to see some of the highlights of our season.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're an all-volunteer group that basically relies heavily on civic organizations and donations from the business community in order to do what we do.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This year alone, we actually... We can do that from opening day, just to give you an idea.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we start every year, basically, putting everybody together as a community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So this is our opening day.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We normally do a parade, but because of how the weather's been so off and on every year, we now just walk the whole mouth track.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's a lot safer, and we just basically bring everybody over to a trained field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: and have an opening day event.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we have over 400 kids that participate.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Our program basically averages about 600 kids.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have a lot of travel teams.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We play three seasons.

[Bill O'Keefe]: To give you a historical perspective in terms of Little League, we had to merge all the city teams.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There was a number of reasons for them, and one of them was financing.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This is Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Gillis Park is one of the oldest fields.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This used to be the old high school field before 93.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This was a football field prior to it becoming a baseball field, but they also used it as a baseball field too as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We'll provide some photos so you can see that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This is where Amelia Earhart gave her maiden voyage speech right when the football tower was here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: before she made her... This is one of these areas that has great improvements and opportunities for so many, so many community groups in the city of Medford.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Whether it's the garden club, the art club, or the recreation group.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's so many equal opportunities and visions that can be seen with this field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But it has to be done so safely.

[Bill O'Keefe]: in terms of what you're looking to accomplish.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Behind us we have the Heckner Center.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's just one of those locations that's been used as a non-profit for a very long time.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Non-profits have consolidated.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Those resources are available.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's up to us in the community to bring that back in order to have that return on the investment for our North Medford neighborhood, as well as for our kids, as well as many of our civic organization groups, in order for us to pop in together in order to basically not only enjoy the winter and the fall, but the spring and the summer months here at Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But in order to do those things, we have to look at our baseball field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This is a baseball field where the community has spent numerous amounts of money basically preserving and maintaining for capital improvements.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have bars up there that aren't welded in that you potentially have the chance of falling.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've had them fall before.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've tried working to get them welded and put together.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Obviously, it's a cost factor.

[Bill O'Keefe]: These are some of the capital improvements that can be done in order to basically accommodate it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, we've been upgrading strides in terms of basically putting the batten cages in the back.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've landscaped this and we've upgraded this whole field and spent

[Bill O'Keefe]: close to $40,000, $50,000 in the past four years, basically upgrading this so the kids can have the opportunity access.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And again, we have communities from outside our city coming in here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have lots of people that gather.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They can patronize our businesses.

[Bill O'Keefe]: which basically generates revenue.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So there's a return on this investment and that's what we're looking to accomplish here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean reinvesting our own money, recycling our own money by having resources and tools not only for the kids but for some other programs that could be available in the city.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So when we look at some of the things that we're looking to do, we have our upfield wall here that had a hockey rink put in during the winter and a result of some of those

[Bill O'Keefe]: flooding and other things with that hockey rink.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So our parents are concerned about the safety of their kids.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Some of the other coaches from the other teams have brought that up too as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we have a quote in order to have that basically refurbished and painted.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We also have a quote in order to basically paint our backs off and have all these fences restored and welded so that they're done safely.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So there isn't an opportunity to impact our kids.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So again, hopefully with your support we can partner together short term to make these fixes and then long term to basically put a vision together in order to build up this whole area for the many groups that we have here on Neptune.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I think it will be a positive experience for everybody.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Coach University and the Positive Coaching Alliance.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We work with them pretty closely in terms of training the coaches, but just basically working with kids and just making sure they have access and opportunities to positive reinforcements.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that's one of the opportunities that we're trying to provide as a community for the kids in the Medford Little League program.

[Bill O'Keefe]: What I'd like to do is just provide this opportunity for Mayor Burke to come up and just have to say a couple of words.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're kind of in turn with the

[Bill O'Keefe]: So I'll just give her an opportunity to say hello.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So what we're going to do now is we're going to ask the kids to come up with their gloves.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're going to ask, we have City Council, Michael Marks, City Council, John Falco, and we have Mia Mustone, who's also a coach.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Congratulations, Mia, for stepping up, joining better coach Michael Marks.

[Bill O'Keefe]: She just found that out, I know.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's been a great opportunity.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Here we are, welcome to Love Fields, which is still at Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, we have the opportunity, as you can see, the lights that were put in, those were put in by community volunteers in order for us to have a night game.

[Bill O'Keefe]: As you can see, they're working real well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's just a good tribute to Little League when you can play games at night.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's nothing better than playing a game at night, whether it's youth baseball or adult baseball.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, some of the things that we brought up before is some of these benches here,

[Bill O'Keefe]: As you can see, for safety concerns, I mean, there's different standards that you need in order to basically have sitting apparatus at fields.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And obviously, a capital improvement need is obviously required in this opportunity.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, as we pan along here, too, we're just basically taking a look at the fence here that we're looking to basically get fixed.

[Bill O'Keefe]: As you can see, some of the damage that was done and some of the damage that you continue to see

[Bill O'Keefe]: even just wear and tear with the weather and stuff like that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We had the opportunity to put a new school board up last year.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have the sponsorships of Medford Little League as well as Ronnie's Place.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's a great opportunity for the kids to basically see the schools and even work down there at the concession stand.

[Bill O'Keefe]: you basically upgrade and update that stuff so uh it's a good feeling when you have a night game under the lights and you see the schools and stuff like that in the back we were able to add two batting cages which came out real nice uh they've been over there for a couple of years right now and you have basically a bunch of the uh

[Bill O'Keefe]: the senior pay-per-view kids coming over and high school kids during the summer partaking and utilizing them.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's a good shade, a good opportunity.

[Bill O'Keefe]: As we further go along, we're just looking to basically address some of the issues here in terms of access.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, the access point that's over there, it's just not ADA accessible.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So our goal in this debate is to find a grant through the Community Preservation Act.

[Bill O'Keefe]: in order to basically look to have this as the gateway to the park and do something in order to basically make it accessible for all kids, for all parents, and basically for all seniors that come to watch the game.

[Bill O'Keefe]: As you'll find on some nights, they won't come into the park because of the ledge at the mouth of the park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's just not accessible.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So just to give you an idea, I can talk to you about the EDA thing.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, we had a player that got injured and broke his leg the first game of the year.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He was in a wheelchair.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He couldn't attend any of the games.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We had to watch him basically from the sidewalk.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So with the help that was provided, we're looking at an accessibility study done in order to basically determine how to best approach making the park accessible.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, everything that's done here, there was an issue in terms of ownership of the park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: which basically goes to whether it's maintenance or restoration.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There was some Indian folklore that said that the park was left to Little League, so it's Little League's responsibility.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We had to get the city solicitor involved.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm actually an attorney.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We had to get the registry of deeds.

[Bill O'Keefe]: prove that Little League does not own the field, that it's the city's responsibility.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I believe being a new board yourself, you found that out too as well, where Gillis Park wasn't even listed as one of the parks that was presented to this commission in terms of an open space item.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's just one of those things that an urban legend took a life of its own with regards to this.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So no city's money has ever been put into this park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's all been done by donating donations and volunteers There's a need to restore this area in order to bring it up.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So basically, I mean a standard that's being Consistent with other communities when these kids as well as us as coaches travels other cities and towns There's a certain minimum standard that's that being met.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're not meeting that standard

[Bill O'Keefe]: We actually, in 2016, we hosted the sectional championship where Medford ironically ended up being in the finals.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They challenged the field because it was not ADA accessible.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That 2016 team had to go play in Melrose and they lost.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, we had the opportunity and Craig Moody and a few of the other people's kids were on the team this year.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We ended up making it to the final four and we played out in Millbury, Mass.

[Bill O'Keefe]: This has only happened four times in the history of Medford baseball.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And this is Little League, this is what kids dream about.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Having the opportunity to have that chance to play on TV.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We were one game away from playing on ESPN on Sunday night against New Hampshire.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Unfortunately, there's a Little League inning in everybody's life and Medford had that Little League inning.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But we're looking to basically bring those opportunities back here to Medford, and in order to do those, we need funding in order to basically enhance and restore some of these areas.

[Bill O'Keefe]: As the board knows, I put in four applications to basically restore these parks, and all of them basically fall on the guidelines of safety and accessibility.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, only one of them was signed off, which was Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I have no idea why the other ones weren't signed off, but there's some significant issues with safety out of these ball fields that need to be addressed.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Kids are getting hurt.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And it's one of those things where it's like, I can show you the policy that I pull for Little League.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I indemnify the city, I indemnify basically Tufts University and the Method Public Schools because we also play down a drain field too as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's just one of those things where there is no maintenance budget, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So this is left to us.

[Bill O'Keefe]: When we go up to the civic organizations in order to ask them for money,

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, they'll give certain things, but they're not going to give towards, you know what I mean, fences.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They're not going to give towards walls.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Like I said, I've met with the vocational school in order to see if we can leverage them.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've had Dave Will and a few other of his contractors come in.

[Bill O'Keefe]: and they've actually restored some of the things that needed to get done, you know what I mean, that wouldn't impact a lot of the kids' day-to-day operations.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But some of the things that we're looking to do here, I think, is a win-win for everybody.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We partnered with Sheryl Williams.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They're looking to donate all the paint.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Ironically, I had the Little League team recognized at Fenway Park on August 28th.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I had them have their photos.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Basically, they took the national anthem with the Red Sox on the field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And who was basically throwing off the first pitch at the same time?

[Bill O'Keefe]: The CEO from Sherwin-Williams was donating the paint to us.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He actually thought we scheduled and coordinated this, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Because he was making the donation on the paint.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And he thought we had the Method Little League kids on the field to thank him.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It just so happened to be the same night.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There was no planning.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I wish I could say we were planning it, but it just looked great for him in terms of his spirit.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He was throwing off the first pitch.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But in terms of the accessibility study, there's a lot of people in the community that are really looking to have this done.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Unfortunately, what happened was,

[Bill O'Keefe]: Someone went and put that step in, in July, and they basically assumed that was the fix for accessibility.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So they kind of, you know what I mean, sent a few people off the wrong way in terms of, you know what I mean, geez, this is what the city's going to do in order to address accessibility.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They put a step instead of a slope.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, you know what I mean, the study that we have, it's $2,800.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I think it's a value add.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Some of the things that we're looking to get done, you know what I mean, pretty much will help enhance the area and just basically provide a good experience for all parties involved.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Again, this is just one of the first phases in terms of this park here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I think as soon as that gets addressed,

[Bill O'Keefe]: and the accessibility gets addressed.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We'll be looking at something that's ideal and just basically big picture.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I bring up the Heckner Center because it's one of those locations.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I grew up at the Heckner Center.

[Bill O'Keefe]: My father was the postman.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So I know all about it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know there's an apartment above it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The gentleman from the cemetery used to live up there.

[Bill O'Keefe]: and he'd work at the cemetery, and his responsibility was basically paying all the utilities for that house, and that was his cost for basically living there for free.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that was the offset.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, the space in there is absolutely phenomenal.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, I know they're talking about the arts department.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, I'd love to see something with Bistro with a 479.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'd love to see some sort of culinary arts program, basically be in there for seasonal.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That North Medford area is just one of those areas

[Bill O'Keefe]: that it just needs a little bit of a kiss.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So if you have something like an ice cream parlor or something where these kids can work at, and just so everybody understands in terms of how we do it for Little League, we have these concession stands.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We do a buddy program where we have kids that are basically special needs.

[Bill O'Keefe]: on the autism spectrum are disabled, we have them work in these concession stands in order for them to learn life skills.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're not looking to make money, we're looking to recycle our own money.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And by giving these kids the opportunity to do those things, that's basically the return on investment that we get as a group, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that's why we basically maintain these concession stands.

[Bill O'Keefe]: A lot of people question the value that we bring to them.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're not looking to make money.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're not in the business of making money, we're in the business of making memories.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, that's kind of how, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: I've always presented Little League as, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: There was some things that you guys don't want to know about that happened.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There was indictments and people stealing money, and it was a goddamn shame.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But the people that knew about it and did nothing, those are the people that I worry about the most.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Because it went on for years.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We lost a quarter of a million dollars because people willfully turned their eyes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: away from basically these people stealing all this money, and this is what we get left with.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's $2,800 worth of quote.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I had $3,500 in there as a placeholder until I got the quote.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we received the quote, and the quote came in at $2,800.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, we're restoring basically the original features of the box.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Completely replacement.

[Bill O'Keefe]: versus capital Because it's not being maintained

[Bill O'Keefe]: Right, so we're looking to restore it to its original condition and then have them maintain it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So again, like I spoke to, this park hasn't been touched in over 30, 40 years because the city said they didn't own it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it just has been dilapidated to the point where, I mean, no one's taking ownership of it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's similar to what we have with the Hegnesson.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, it's just dilapidating because the city said they didn't own it and they had it up for sale for $739,000 because they didn't own it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And then we had to show them the title and the deed to show that they did own it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And then they had to remove it basically from being sold.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's similar to the patio where nothing's been maintained.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So our goal is to restore it back to its original features and then basically have the city maintain it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The city?

[Bill O'Keefe]: And again, sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you.

[Bill O'Keefe]: No, it's okay.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Because similar to them presenting Harris Park, presenting Harris Park is a softball field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Do you know how many girls play softball?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Less than 200.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They've already refurbished three of their fields, okay, and spent a significant amount of money on those fields.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And we haven't had one dime spent.

[Bill O'Keefe]: on any of the baseball fields, and now they're looking to take some of our baseball fields away.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We gave up Victory Park, which was fine, to Sarka, because at Sarka's numbers, they were significantly higher at the time, and that was years ago, which it was basically a high school field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Sorry, go ahead.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But again, it goes to his point in terms of, I'm a volunteer.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're all volunteers here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Us to hold the city accountable for doing things

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's a feat in its own.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Like, I have a full-time job and four kids.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So for me to basically hold someone's foot to the fire, I can show you 50, 60 emails that go back 10 years that talk about everything that you wanna know about these parks.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Nothing's getting done.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's a community credibility issue.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I can't blame it all on the DPW, because they don't have the numbers to maintain this, okay?

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're in a whole new stage here in Medford.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're at the pioneering stages in terms of what we're going to look like.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So how we present ourselves is similar to basically everybody coming to this park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We had four different cities come to this park and question the significance of it, both from a safety standpoint and just a basic upgrade.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's the same thing with the Brooks Estates.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Only one is before you right now because the other ones didn't get approved.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Why would there be changes to the park?

[Bill O'Keefe]: On that side of the wall, with ADA,

[Bill O'Keefe]: that's not gonna impact the playing field or the fences.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That would be, that would be, because there's ample space here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's the other thing I can, in terms of like the garden club, like the floor plan that I provided, I mean, it was the first time people saw it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, because it was at the Registry of Deeds.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Like when you look at this, this is the line here in terms of the property line.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The fence is back in here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Okay, and we've maintained all these shrubberies here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, if you're looking in terms of big picture, this Heckner Center here, I mean, this whole area, I mean, can get redesigned and redeveloped.

[Bill O'Keefe]: How we used to do it, with the people that were disabled, we had them park in the parking lot up here, and have them basically walk down through the gate.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And then, mysteriously, one day, a lock showed up on it during the playoff game, and it was just bolted shut, and the parking lot was bolted shut, and they said, oh, the owners of the property did that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: We had to research it to find out that the owners of the property were the city of Medford.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, like, I'll play the cat and mouse game all day, but at the end of the day, you know what I mean, the room that's available in order to basically make this ADA accessible is going to go into the design and scope of what needs to get done.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The problem is just thinking out of the box.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Everybody wants to think, well, this is the entrance, so we have to have this as the entrance.

[Bill O'Keefe]: No, you don't.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You walk down the field and say, you know something?

[Bill O'Keefe]: This is a better entrance down here, and then grade it in order to make it ADA accessible.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, we had the same issue when we had the Field of Dreams, where they didn't want to basically put in an access ramp.

[Bill O'Keefe]: People had to think outside the box in order to do that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And it was successful.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And these people that are basically the ones that are looking to get hired, they do this nationally.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, I'm a project manager for Bank of America, so I mean, I deal with this all the time.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm also an ADA attorney.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm not concerned in terms of what's going to happen when they go in and design it because it's going to be done tastefully and aesthetically pleasing so that it basically balances off both the pock as well as the experience.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And that's what we're looking for in terms of a big picture.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Listen, if you're a volunteer in Medford, you have to enjoy being punished.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I understand completely.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It was an illegal rink that the park board never authorized to be there.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Am I correct on stating that?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Unfortunately, the volunteers went down and did humans work in terms of restoring it and putting it back so that it wasn't a safety issue.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Our goal here is to restore it to its natural beauty.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The money we've spent on this, just to give you an idea, we basically had to do all the drainage over and we had to basically skim the field.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That cost us $25,000 and then we had to take out

[Bill O'Keefe]: all the shrubs that were around the park because they were just overgrown and no one was maintaining them.

[Bill O'Keefe]: When we did that, we put a batting cage in the back.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That batting cage gets utilized constantly.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, it's just one of those things where it's like, where's the return on the investment?

[Bill O'Keefe]: We just had the concession stand because of how it's graded from the street and the storms in the winter.

[Bill O'Keefe]: all the water runs down and it rotted out the concession stand floor.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Everybody will agree, any of these things that are down here are classified as fixtures, correct?

[Bill O'Keefe]: And fixtures are what?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Property of the city.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Their response is it's not our responsibility to maintain it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So here's where it lies a problem.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have to have volunteers come down, donate product,

[Bill O'Keefe]: Labor get things squared away and it's money out of our pocket in order to maintain an experience for the kids in our community And again, we have volunteers and I'm sure I'm not sure I'm assuming you guys are volunteers too But I mean, it's that that whole like all we're looking to do is restore to its original condition and then basically You mean work to have a maintenance account?

[Bill O'Keefe]: And again, the folks that are behind me, they're looking to do the same thing.

[Bill O'Keefe]: If we have to put an action plan and a memorandum of understanding together, I think that was something that was talked about in terms of getting a contract with the city.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I don't have a problem doing that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: you know, I mean, I have no problem, I've been negotiating my whole life.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's free arguments for me.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's kind of how I see it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm not getting paid to do it, but if I have to do it, I'll do it in order to leave that legacy behind, so that there'll still be Little League Baseball here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It all started in 1954.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Ideally it would be great to have a, kind of a,

[Bill O'Keefe]: What was that woman's name that was here earlier?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Clodagh.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Allie Fisk, you mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: No, no.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Clodagh.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Oh, Clodagh, yes, sorry.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes, the woman prior.

[Bill O'Keefe]: When you brought that up, that's all that we look for, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have a lot, we have 26 parks here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: If we could have a seat at the table.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's a lot of intelligent people here, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's like, everybody thinks the politicians are the ones that have the solutions.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And unfortunately, they don't.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's the private industry that basically will provide the input and the recognition in order to get things done.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's their tax dollars.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They should have a voice in it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We'd love to.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We'd love to.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I can speak candidly to that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: After this is done here, you mean, and then the accessibility study's done, and they make their recommendations?

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's probably it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We already have the lights down there.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You mean my biggest thing is the Heckner Center and the collaboration that that can provide to the community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's a value added.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's an untapped resource.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know the art center is looking at it, you can have the recreation group, there's space for the garden club down at the Heckner Center in Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You can even put a bocce court down there if you want to.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's enough room.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's all on what you want to do in terms of a vision and what this community wants to do as a vision for that North Method area.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Same thing with Carr Park and Tufts Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The reason why the Community Preservation Commission was put together was to restore the integrity of the items that you guys are basically working on, which is the historical open space and recreation.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We don't want to outsource to third parties to have them manage in order for them to reap the benefits of it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Let us recycle our own money and do it on our own.

[Bill O'Keefe]: These concession stands and using the vocational services that are available, those are the life skills that make quality of life in Medford a lot better when we start to access them for not only our kids, but for the next generation.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And there's a plan and a template that speaks to that so that we don't have to worry about who's going to be basically the gatekeeper after we're gone.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We set it as a cookie cutter, and that's basically how it should work going forward.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I hope that's the goal and the mission of what this board is looking to do because there's a lot of money.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's a lot of money and you're not going to have a lot of applicants come in.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I'd hate to see this become just like one of those patronage farms.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So political agendas, you know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: My biggest concern with a lot of this money is that, you know what I mean, it's going to be self-serving.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I hope it's not going to happen that way.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: I hope there's really going to be resources that are basically going to be available for this community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I don't say it to basically, you know what I mean, throw a nudge at you.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But, you know what I mean, it's hard to have a lot of this money and spend it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know what I mean?

[Bill O'Keefe]: This is your first go around with it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm sure it was hard to digest.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Like, wow, there's a lot of money.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And there's only going to be more money coming.

[Bill O'Keefe]: You know, I appreciate what you do.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I love what you do.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, no good deed goes unpunished.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And to give you an idea, too, like 1947, my father played for the Medford High Mustangs.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They went to the championship game.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They played in the Gator Bowl when high school teams were able to play in those collegiate bowls.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So they went down to Fort Lee, Mississippi and had a zero-zero tie.

[Bill O'Keefe]: But it was at Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean, Gillis Park has a very historical perspective for a lot of people, not only in Medford, but outside of Medford, too, as well.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So when they come here, I was gonna ask Joe Brandi to come,

[Bill O'Keefe]: Joe was a teacher at the high school and spent basically most of his adult life maintaining Gillis Park.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He doesn't have the opportunity to access it because he's old.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We got him a plaque last year, we got it up down the field, we got a Hall of Fame wall that we're recognizing a lot of people that have made significant contributions to the community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's tough to build on if I can I'm just gonna leave you a book here Yeah, I mean these have all the bleachers and things in it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I mean none of the bleachers

[Bill O'Keefe]: of standards or requirements.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Just so you have an idea of the quotes, this is what I put in on my other quotes that didn't get signed off on.

[Bill O'Keefe]: If there is extra money, that's what ideally we'd look to do.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Most of the bleaches, so we caught the people, they were basically dragging them out onto the street, put them in a truck and then scrapping them over at the Everett Aluminum.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We don't have a lot of them left, but the ones we do have left, don't need to go.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're doing a parade for Medford Little League.

[Bill O'Keefe]: One of our fans here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Say hi.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Hi.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Get out of here Yankees!

[Bill O'Keefe]: okay

[Bill O'Keefe]: So they're nice enough to come and sing the national anthem for us.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So what we're looking to do is just give them the opportunity to sing, and then we'll have an opening day ceremony.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Thank you.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Come over and basically speak the pledge for Method Little League.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Nice job.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Nice job.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Nice job.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Nice job.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And what we also do, too, is we have a coach's pledge.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It was something that we put in back in 2013.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was going to have Joe Salera read it, so I'm going to bring him out right now and have him read it.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So, Joe, why don't you come out and read this?

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know, Joe.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Great fun.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We love that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Tufts University and the Positive Coaching Alliance, we work with them pretty closely in terms of training the coaches for just basically working with kids and just making sure they have access and opportunities to positive reinforcements.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So that's one of the opportunities that we're trying to provide as a community for the kids in MedFed and the MedFed Little League program.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And what I'd like to do is just provide this opportunity for Mayor Burke to come up and just have to say a couple of words.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've been partnering with her with the Community Preservation Act in order to do some reservations, some recreation programs.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So I'll just give her an opportunity to say hello.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So what we're going to do now is we're going to ask the kids to come up with their gloves.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're going to ask, we have City Council Michael Mox, City Council John Falco, and we have Mia Mustone, who's also a coach.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Congratulations, Mia, for stepping up.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Johnny's been a coach.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Michael Mox has been a coach in this program.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's been a great opportunity.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we have Mayor Burke and the rest of the elected officials.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We'll have you step out in the mound here.

[Bill O'Keefe]: The count of three, take your time.

[Bill O'Keefe]: All right, one at a time.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We'll do one at a time.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Maya Firth will go first.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Hey John Tucker.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Sure, sure, sure.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have tryouts that are basically beginning next week.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They start March 17th.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've partnered with Tufts University.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we'll have our minor league and major league divisions basically beginning their tryouts.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We have plenty of volunteers that have showed up, parents that are local.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've communicated it out.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've had clinics at the high school in partnership with athletic director Bob Maloney.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He's been kind enough to carve out some space for us in order for us to basically bring the kids up there, get them acclimated, seeing that there's snow on the ground.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We don't have too much access to the fields because of that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's been working out pretty good in terms of getting the kids on Fridays and Sundays active and engaged in terms of sports and leisure.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm glad you asked that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's actually Kevin Bill.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He had the opportunity to meet with them a couple of weeks ago.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He's real engaged and energetic.

[Bill O'Keefe]: He's going to put some programs together.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I think his biggest challenge is going to have that one touch to the community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I know he's in the process of developing a web page to make it easier and more accessible for the community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: One of the big things that

[Bill O'Keefe]: you're tasked with is similar to new residents moving into Medford is where do you go in order to access opportunities that are recreational.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I think he's looking to mirror it after the Medford Family Network so there will be a one touch for all types of sports and activities whether it has to do with swimming, hiking, parks, any type of activities that have to do with sports related events but what it will also do is provide

[Bill O'Keefe]: an opportunity to have one calendar so that everybody that's participating doesn't have to worry about choosing what sports or what events to go to because they'll be able to have something that'll show them the timelines and the events so that they can schedule, just like anything else, their busy lives accordingly with the day-to-day activities in Medford.

[Bill O'Keefe]: uh... to all the youth sports and unite them so i'm glad to hear that uh... you're working on that and and moving the city forward on that yeah kevin's definitely engaged with it we had an opportunity to meet with him a lot of the volunteer non-profits uh... from all the different sports both boys and girls as you know it's all volunteers that basically

[Bill O'Keefe]: you know what I mean, run these programs.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And you realize all the money and opportunities that are available for these kids, it's just basically having people understand where to go to get that information.

[Bill O'Keefe]: That's the hardest thing and with tryouts and timelines and stuff like that and just people's busy schedules.

[Bill O'Keefe]: An event calendar I think would be ideal and definitely be a good trend for the future.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes, yes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: No, I played the same thing.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I did the West Medford Little League.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I was with Montanetti's in the plastic industries.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, and back in the day, there was West Medford, North Medford, South Medford, and Wellington Glenwood.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And there was multiple, multiple teams.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Just through the consolidation of sports and just families not having multiple, multiple kids.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's been a little bit of a reduction in terms of the program, but there's still a program.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We're now one program citywide.

[Bill O'Keefe]: We've consolidated and merged over the years with Williamsport, which is the charter out of Pennsylvania.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So right now there's six major league teams, there's six AAA teams, there's six minor league teams.

[Bill O'Keefe]: There's 10 farm teams, and then we have eight t-ball teams.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we have a little over 400 kids that participate.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Our biggest thing is balancing with a lot of the people that are engaged in soccer.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we balance with soccer, trying not to conflict with their schedule, because their spring league is pretty much the biggest spring league for their season.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They have spring and fall season, but the spring season is the biggest season.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So we balance that as much as we can.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes, yes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I can tell you that.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yes.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Any updates that you can give us?

[Bill O'Keefe]: Yeah, we actually have an event.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's a Method Yellow Youth Sports Program at the Legion for St.

[Bill O'Keefe]: Paddy's Day.

[Bill O'Keefe]: It's a youth program where the kids are going to come up and they're going to play cornhole and a few other games just to basically have a night out.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So the kids and the parents can enjoy our festive activities.

[Bill O'Keefe]: I'm a Sal member, which is a son of American Legion.

[Bill O'Keefe]: My father, who was a Medford High graduate, he graduated in 1947, actually played for the 47 championship team back in the day.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They went down to

[Bill O'Keefe]: to play in the Gator Ball.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They played against Fort Lee.

[Bill O'Keefe]: They're recognized in the Method Mustang Hall of Fame.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So my father was a veteran in the Navy.

[Bill O'Keefe]: And I've had the opportunity to go up there pretty much my whole life and support the different veterans that are past, present, and obviously future veterans.

[Bill O'Keefe]: So it's a good opportunity that they network amongst themselves.

[Bill O'Keefe]: more or less provide sponsorship opportunities and just great camaraderie in the community.

[Bill O'Keefe]: One of the biggest things that I've always seen done was having them recognize all the veterans at Oak Grove Cemetery.

[Bill O'Keefe]: John Granara and the Granara family, Paul Granara too as well, they've been very supportive of making sure that there's a flag on every grave at Oak Grove and they could tell a few stories with regards to some of the

[Bill O'Keefe]: the legacy of Medford in terms of their commitment to our veterans and the organizations.