[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I was listening to what Mr. Buckley had to say, but more importantly, I was listening to the Chonam's voice and I feel that level of disparity to some degree coming from him. And I wanted to just step back for a second and just point out one thing that George had pointed out earlier, which is fear of retribution. I don't think anyone anywhere in any job should ever be in fear of retribution, regardless of what is going on. Now there's an investigation whether you believe it is valid or not valid. It is completely irrelevant to those folks getting up every single day to do their job and do the job the best they possibly can. Someone needs to let them know there should be a free fear of retribution in any way, shape or form. You cannot have these folks going into a burning building, and then coming out in the next day, not feeling well at all, and asking for the day off, and then having to worry about possibly having to go to the doctors to get a note to come back the next day. Fear of retribution is human resource 101. And that has to be clear from everyone here in the administration as well. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. Thank you, Council President. Just two minutes in a short time of walking the streets and meeting people, I find it very interesting, the undercurrent of how frustrated many, many, many people are. And I've heard some people several times say, it's time to move on. It's time to move on from this situation. It's time to move on from this situation. What's interesting is that the community did move on. The community decided collectively that, hey, we've got an opportunity to be part of a change of a name. And they took that opportunity, and they rose to the occasion. And they were still ignored the second time. So this frustration can't be ignored anymore. It's hurtful. It's sad. It's sad that we have a community that's so divisive right now because of because of a lack of education, really, more than anything else. It's a lack of education about the history of Italian-Americans and what they went through. It's a lack of education of exactly where these teachings are coming from and is there validity to any of these teachings? In fact, if you really want to go through history, if you really, really want to be upset, you have to be more upset about the Spanish Inquisition than you are about Columbus himself. You have to be more upset about that. If you really want to go back in history, you could go all the way back to Egypt and be upset about those folks and how they grew their civilization. And you could just go on and on and on and on and on. It's a real sad situation that we can't come together and figure out how collectively as a community we can move on from this, because there are certain specific people that continue to agitate the situation. One thing I want to make very clear, Jean Barry Sutton made that school about community, about teachers, about parents, about children, and about love and caring. Our school committee made it about a name. And people have to remember that. And that's a real sad situation. in a very short period of time. I can't think or I stand corrected. I would love to have been able to ask Jean Barry Sutton, how many kids came to her on the way to school and said, principal, I can't come to this school because the name hurts me. How many kids did that? I can only imagine what the answer would be because she made it about them. It wasn't about anything else, not the politics of it. We've got to pull back together. We've got to come together somehow, because it's going for the Brooks School. It's going for all the parks. The names are going to just continue on. And how do we get proactive? How does this community stop this movement or even have a voice to stop this movement? They need to look to someone for that leadership. And where do they go? Who do they speak to? We need help there. We understand that we have that power in elections. But further than that, how do we be proactive and be part of that conversation when it is time for everyone to decide it's the Brooks School, the name has to change, or it's the Columbus Park, the name has to change, or so on and so on. And you can go down the list how many streets are named after people that You can investigate anything about anyone. You can never look at history through today's lenses and expect a similar result. You just can't. Thank you very much.
[David McKillop]: Good evening, Dave McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I actually wanted to speak to one of the speakers earlier that had said that don't listen to the loudest voices. My point to that is don't listen to all the voices because there are very quiet voices that are just as powerful. I came to you in a Zoom meeting somewhere in the winter season where we're all put away in our homes and asked you, implored you, please table this. Please give the opportunity. of the community to absorb what it is you're trying to do. I did not agree, I wanna be very clear, I did not agree with the process, nor did I agree with the decision, but to at least give them the opportunity to absorb this. And I was met with absolute silence, just like that, silence. Silence is equally as powerful as the loudest voice. Now, here we are today, And I was standing back there and a couple of folks came into the room and they were looking around and they said, I'm not sure where to sit, which side should I be on? My response to them was, this is the Medford community, sit wherever you want. This is who we are. And this is who you need to represent, the Medford community. There's not a hundred people in this community. There's not a thousand people in this community. There's over 58,000 people in this community. You need to represent them all. So please take that into consideration when you take these names into consideration, because you have that one opportunity to take that dividing rod that has been thrown straight into the middle of this city and pull it out and destroy it forever, but it's up to you. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Can you hear me? Yes. Can you hear me? Okay. Good evening. Under the guise that I'm in a time sensitive issue here, I just wanted to go back and revisit the thought process behind why this is so sentimental to the Italian American community and others as well. And I was doing some homework and doing some research and found an article that was printed in June 18th 2020. It was printed by a Louis Navier and I just want to read a portion of it because it is very very lengthy and I don't want to take everyone through it but it's certainly something that everyone can either look up or I can certainly send it to you. So this portion is based off of why the Columbus, it's basically more about Columbus Day but why the name Columbus is important or at least in the psyche. In New Orleans in 1891, back in March of 1891, a gentleman named David Hennessey was murdered. He was a police chief and he was murdered by people of Italian descent. So there were 11 Italians that were brought up on trial and were acquitted, come to find out they weren't even part of what happened. But back then, because the Italians were hated so much by the United States as such as Mark Twain would likely predict, an extrajudicial killing and an Italian accused of murder as the outcome more likely than a trial by jury. Twain was not being provocative. He was inspired by true events. And this was one of those events. These 11 Italian Americans, which were dock workers, cobblers, food vendors, tin smith, one was even a laborer on a plantation, were all round up after that and they were lynched.
[David McKillop]: Okay. So in a nutshell, I just want to let you know that this was something that was brought out back in 1891 and President Harrison in 1891 created Columbus Day in recognition of the Italian community. I wish I could finish this because it is very, very important to understand the context of this. And this was something that was created that really is very, very important. And I hope that everybody can get in touch with me to understand this better. The Italian community deserves to hear about this.
[David McKillop]: Hi. So to finish my point, this letter that I was reading was basically talking about exactly what people brought up, which was racism. Back in 1891, the systematic racism against Italians was horrific, just as it was everywhere else in every other situation. But President Harrison created the Columbus Day holiday to end that, to bring people into the fold. And I think that to sit there and talk about racism and white supremacy, I don't think President Harrison was a white supremacist when he was thinking about this. In fact, the Italian consulate in Italy itself Sent over a statue of christopher columbus to forge a union between the two countries And this is why it is so important to the italian culture. It's not just Christopher columbus and is in the history of the man. It is a symbol of a way to in to include the italian american community and that's when it was created in 1892 And it was created and after 13 I don't know, generations of people celebrating Christopher Columbus and it morphed into a symbol more so than the name and the person. It's a symbol of inclusiveness and to take that away without anybody being able to vocalize it is taking away that symbol. So again, I say to you, like I said to you on Monday, people's perceptions are their reality, and you are taking away that reality. Please, I implore you, please do not drive the stake further. The jury is out on the history of Christopher Columbus, as Carol pointed out, and I think there has to be more conversation. I just want to leave you there. I implore that you think about it, and I applaud Ms. Van der Kloot for even thinking about it after Monday's conversation.
[David McKillop]: Good evening, everybody. It's nice to see some faces in this crazy time. This is certainly a challenge for you guys and I honestly don't have any words of comfort. My question is in listening to you. Actually, it's more of an assumption at this point that even though everyone here is looking to have their voices heard, am I clear in hearing that the decision has already been made and you're just at the point of procedure, from what I'm hearing from Ms. Van der Kloot and Mr. Rousseau, that sounds to me like it's more about procedure now that the decision has already been made. Is that correct or incorrect?
[David McKillop]: So the unfortunate part is there are a tremendous amount of people that feel like their voices have not been heard. And my question to you as a committee, is there an opportunity to pull this back and really give the community a chance to absorb this conversation?
[David McKillop]: So I would just like to speak to that for a second, Mayor, if I could. I think, you know, being able to process this as a community and understand you know, in its totality, why the decision was made, how we came to the decision, was it a jump decision? Was it following an agenda that's national? What was the real purpose? And can we take a step back to take a step forward so everyone can get behind whatever the decision may be? I employ the committee to really think about that because this is a community of 60,000 people. and not a small community of very vocal, very active. There are a lot of people that work in this community morning, noon, and night that aren't really as exposed to some of the things that we're exposed to in today's world. that would like the opportunity to be able to discuss this. And I'm just asking you to really kind of look at this in the situation that we're in, the fact that we've been in this COVID situation for a year now and we're all in COVID fatigue. We all agree there. And I think putting this out there just really kind of drives a stake into the community without giving them the opportunity to speak. That's really all I wanted to speak to.
[David McKillop]: Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Thank you really quick. I just want to kind of go back to my suggestion because I, unless I missed it, I don't think anybody really answered whether they wanted to come together as a committee and decide to maybe possibly pull this back and have more conversation. I am just looking at this committee as a whole in this time. You have to look at it in this time and what everyone has been going through in this city and be committee be a committee that will pull the community together. And if this is the one issue that they need time to absorb and understand, whether it be one way or the other, I say be the bold initiative, take the bold initiative and step back and really give everybody the opportunity to understand what it is that we're doing and why we're doing it. I think that the decision was made, I get it, but decisions can be changed. You have to understand, and I always teach my people, that a person's perception is their reality. So if you think, oh, that's their perception, they didn't, we did communicate, but that's their perception. That's their reality. They live that reality that they feel like they haven't been communicated with. And you folks are the leaders. You're the team leaders. You're the team spirit. We talk about school and Ms. Van der Kloot talked about these young people. This is an opportunity to show that we can change our minds. We can move the needle. And you folks have the opportunity to do that. And I really, really hope you think about it. Think hard. Think long. If you move this resolution through without taking any of that into consideration, It's just disappointing to see which way this may go. So just really think about that, folks. You're the team. You're the team leaders. You're the ones that can really motivate this city to move forward. And really just, in my eyes, ignore what else is going on. This is Medford. You're Medford. You're the team. And I wish you well with it. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Thank you very much. Thank you everyone for being here. I'd like to thank my family, I'd like to thank Tufts, and I'd like to thank the Medford Chamber of Commerce. This is an exciting time for Medford, as it has been for many, many years, but we are at a precipice. We're at a crossroad in Medford, and we have to decide which direction we want to go. And I'd like to be part of that direction. When I first started this campaign back in July, I'm sorry, in June, I really came out wanting to share my ideas and express some of the experiences that I've had with my business as well as the city that my business is in. I'm excited about the opportunity of those ideas because I've worked in businesses all the way up and down the East Coast for the past 30 plus years. Some of those ideas coming from different cities could really give us the opportunity to change direction in Medford and open up our eyes to different and exciting ways of doing business as well as ways of opening up our lives and community spirit and involvement. Although my work experiences have taken me outside of the city limits for most of my adult life, it doesn't lend credence to the fact that I have no vested interest in my own town. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It gives me the unique opportunity to take great ideas and ways to doing business I've learned in several different states and apply it here. I've experienced in many different cultures and ways of thinking from city to city, giving me coping mechanisms to maximize the best results, working individuals as well as varying groups in individual cities or towns. I've learned over the years the art of collaboration and how important it is to put people together in a room, to get ideas going, to express their ideas. Every voice needs to be heard in a city, not select groups. And in this city, I believe that we can do that. I believe we've got some great opportunities here pulling people together and moving this city forward. Those who know me best will tell you that I'm a man of my word. I'm a man who will stick to a code of ethics even though it may not benefit me in the end. I'm open. I'm inviting. I'm approachable. I appreciate when I hear what people have to say. There is no such thing as a bad idea. I believe that every voice should be heard. It is okay to disagree. It is not okay to dismiss someone for disagreeing. And that's my motto when it comes to bringing people together. In over 30 years of running businesses, in the last 15 years of my own, I've managed and created budgets. I've hired, developed, trained, and created training programs for over 5,000 people. I know what it takes to get business moving, and I know what it will take to get a city moving. It's just coming up with great ideas, action, logistics and execution and that's what will move the city forward. The ideas that we have for this city could be endless and all we need to do is open it up and untap the potential that we have and that's what I'd like to do in the city of Medford starting on day one. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: I think the biggest issue that we have facing this city right now is this agenda of density. We have an issue. We have to address it. Everyone knows that this city is going to grow. It's how we handle it, what we need to do to approach this situation. We haven't even had a zoning conversation. So when the Board of Appeals comes together, they're really not quite sure what to do with rules that are 30 plus years old. So we need to have that conversation first before we can even map out the city and what we want to do. So I believe density is not the way to go. I believe mixed use and taking care of our downtown areas and keeping the integrity, the culture and the status of some of these downtowns and the quality of those downtowns and rebuild that and get the excitement going from one downtown to the next because each downtown has its own personality and we shouldn't lose that. And I don't believe density is the way to go.
[David McKillop]: Yes I would. I believe that the complete streets program in my eyes needs to be complete. I think that the complete streets program is a good start. I think taking care of the corners of most of the sidewalks in the street areas is great. But an ADA handicap accessibility means just that. So if someone in a wheelchair wants to get up on the sidewalk, they can do that now. But if you go 20, 30, 40 feet down the street, down the sidewalk, you still may not be able to pass and have to go out onto the street. So to me, that's what complete streets means. Let's complete the projects or else it's really just an incomplete street program.
[David McKillop]: I do agree that the charter review has to happen. I don't agree that the 43 is not a majority rule. I don't understand how we can't push that through. I would fight for that. I think that it is a struggle, although we have over 4,200 signatures at this point, maybe a little bit more. I think that combined with the home rule petition, we can make this conversation happen, but I think it's time after 30 plus years that this has not been a review whether it is the exact plan that we have right now or another plan, I think that we have to open this conversation up. And I do believe that there is a lot of room for interpretation in certain areas of it, but I certainly believe that for a city to move forward, and I've always said this, the city needs to be fluid. We need to have term limitations so we can have these new creative ideas come forward. A city needs to grow. And the only way to grow is to have new blood come in with new ideas and new interpretations of the way the city should go forward. So I think term limitations is something that should also be looked at as part of the conversation.
[David McKillop]: David? So you support, I'm sorry. I forgot we can't address each other. So basically, as far as the charter goes, I think that the term limitations is the most important part of it. I think that, again, I will stand behind that 150%. I think that wards are a great idea to look at, but it really, let's take a look at the plan. Is this plan the best plan for us right now? Should it be a different plan? And we need to exhaust all avenues and look at that and look at it as a whole, as a city, and really come together and make that decision collectively.
[David McKillop]: Absolutely not. It is time to change this program. Why we haven't held Republic's feet to the fire in this respect is absolutely beyond me. This is the poorest customer service program I've ever seen. Anywhere and I've been in customer service for 30 years and I can tell you every contract is designed to be broken We need to sit down with this company We need to hold their feet to the fire and we need to make the program work for the citizens of this city not for the private entity the kiosk program is not working and You cannot tell me, for the thousands and thousands of people that I've spoken to, that this is an okay program when they are so frustrated with it that they literally get in their car and drive to an entirely different city, whether it's a CVS or a pizza place, to get their work and job done. I think that's embarrassing, I think it's frustrating, and I think it's time that we hold this company's feet to the fire. Because if we don't do it now, we'll never do it, Everything can be renegotiated and it's time to do that and make it more palatable for the people that want to visit our downtowns because I'm telling you right now, if you talk to a lot of the businesses, a good 60% of those businesses are complaining that this program is not working well for them.
[David McKillop]: Mayor, I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong. Basically, I don't understand the senior parking program because our seniors have worked hard their entire life. If we really desperately need that $25 from our seniors, then I think we're actually worse off than we probably thought we were. It is time to make it free for the seniors. That's number one. Number two, all we've done is basically take our commuters and push our commuters further into the neighborhoods. And what that has now done for us is try to figure out ways where we have to put more signage further into some of these neighborhoods because our residents are even more frustrated because they can't find parking. Thirdly, when you have open spaces and your businesses are complaining that business is not good, it's not because there's open spaces for good reasons. It's because there's open spaces for frustrated reasons. I personally have experienced it. I personally have watched people get frustrated with it. I'll give you one quick, well, I guess that's it, my time is up.
[David McKillop]: Thank you. Mr. McKillop. I believe that there is so much more to do in this. I think the master plan is a start. It's a good start, but it's a contrast for what I believe is what we need to do for businesses in the downtown. We do not have the infrastructure to move this forward. If we did have the infrastructure to move this forward, it would look a lot different than the way it looks right now, which is the same office and the same community development program for the past 20 plus, maybe even 30 years. To move a city forward, you have to, again, build the infrastructure to get there. and I don't believe we're in that position yet. We don't even have a design and review board to help businesses come into the city and really work with each and every individual downtown in their personalities to move each and every downtown forward. I mean, Hillside is completely different than what's going on in Medford Square, which is completely different than what goes on in Ainsquare. So we need a design and review board to help these businesses because if Johnny Pizza wants to come in and they want to open up a pizza place and they think Hillside is the best place to go, There's seven pizza places in a row in Hillside. So we want to help them to understand. And what happens then is it creates mix. And mix is what gets business going. You do not want a downtown that has several of the same type of product downtown. You want to have a mix so people can get excited about that. The last part that I want to talk about the master plan is I'm really confused by it. There isn't really much in there about development of business. The other thing is they're talking about eliminating 40% of the parking which is based off of a Nelson Nygaard study from 2005. If we have Chevalier Theatre going like we're all saying that's going to come up and running and then we have five new businesses downtown and throw a couple of hundred people on the street and then somewhere along the line the waterway gets going, How are we eliminating 40% of our business? The master plan is not 100%. It is not ready to be initiated, and we certainly don't have the amount of people that we need in the community development or design and review to move this forward. Ms. Puccini-Burke, your one-minute response.
[David McKillop]: To me, the riverway is a sore spot for me because that is the jewel of the downtown. We could reinvent the entire downtown by using that riverway. We don't need to get close. We need to be on it. And it's about time we look at that. Ring Road has to go. The development has to be on the water. Just visualize the fact that there's a boardwalk. with all these great restaurants and shops that face the water with cafe style doors where you can sit down and enjoy that type of environment. And then there's mixed use where there's actually condos or townhomes or affordable housing mixed in there that really brings the whole downtown to a totally different level. It's time to open our eyes and create new and exciting ways to look at this city. It's not getting close to the water, it is being on the water and using the water and that will move this city forward and that will reinvent Medford permanently.
[David McKillop]: So I always say, if I sell my house today, I can't afford to buy it back. That's a problem in Medford. It is a problem. Some people look at it as a good problem, some people look at it as a bad problem. As I'm walking neighborhoods, there are people that have been in their houses for 60, 70 years, and they're retirees, and they can't find a way to make it affordable to live in their own house because year after year, the house gets reappraised for tax purposes. So there are some people out there that have their home, they bought it for $20,000 or $30,000, and today it's worth $900,000. And so what they're finding is that they're having to ask family members to come in and move in with them because their tax base payment is $10,000 or even more a year. How are we doing that to the citizens that have contributed so much to this city for so many years? We need to look at tax incentives for these folks. Then what we have to do is not only do we have to look at low-income housing, we have to look at middle-income housing and try to balance that. And we have to take a look at the way we're going to do that. Maybe some of that comes from the Community Preservation Act because there is that 70% of free money. But there are other ways that we can look at that and we need to balance that. Again, it goes back to what are we going to do? First, start with zoning. Second, stop this density program that we have going on because that will definitely gentrify everything and eliminate the process of trying to keep these downtowns a little bit more balanced for everyone. Thank you. Ms. Pacini-Burke.
[David McKillop]: So I believe, I go back to exactly what I said before. Building the business base is going to increase the tax base which will level some of the residential burden. The more that we get these businesses up and running and do the mixed use, the more important it is. I believe that we can do that with each downtown and recreating the downtowns by keeping the same personality. And I think it's crucial to the movement of all these people that are gonna be coming into Medford They have every expectation that they want to be able to enjoy Medford, and we need to recreate the downtown so we can have that tax base increase so we can level the playing field on the way we actually set the taxes up. Because year after year, taking a look at the way we're gonna find money and attacking the homeowners is just not the way to go anymore. It's not feasible. You can't continue to run a business, you can't continue to run a city like that. Ms. McCheney-Burke.
[David McKillop]: Thank you for all the hard work that you've done to to secure this grant and we look forward to moving forward with it Mr. McKillop, so I'm about priorities and I know that when you were elected mayor that you your priority was to take care of the police and fire department and that has now been kind of put to little a little to the behind before the actual library and But having said that, now that it's done, we already have the grant. I want to know, is it that you've already raised $17 million? You've planned to raise $17 million? Because in the end, most people have already said, and it's been reported by Wicked Local that it would cost up to $34 million to build this library. So you're saying the burden is $5 million for the citizens of Medford, so $17 million has been found? That's a lot of money to find in this period of time, and I'm hoping that's the case because I'd like to be able to do the same thing for the Police and Fire Department, which I believe we need to have yesterday, because that's, to me, what the priority should have been. And I'm all in favor of a new library. I think we should have a new library, but it's priorities for me.
[David McKillop]: Again, if it was a priority, then I think the grant writing for the library first prior to the grant writing for the police and fire station doesn't make sense to me.
[David McKillop]: Lawrence is not as bad as Medford, thank God. But Malden is three times better than Medford. And if you're proud of that. then we should end the conversation right now. Because the end result is we need to set the priority and we needed to set it from the beginning of the year last year, this year. And now all of a sudden we're starting to work on that and it's frustrating to me that we haven't taken it to a different level. We don't even have a grant writer ready to write a grant to make this happen.
[David McKillop]: Again, I go back to priorities. It's pretty common sense for me, and I only deal with the facts. It was a priority, and it's been a priority. We all know the condition of that fire and police department. We've seen it. It's horrific. It's a bad situation. I know for a fact that the police went to you, Mayor Burke, with a plan for the female officers to get them out of a bathroom and actually give them a place to change. That plan was put together by the police officers. It was ready to go. They even had the dollar amount ready. And in the last hour, the answer was no. But yet we found $500,000 to put a new park on Riverside Ave. I just look at priorities, folks.
[David McKillop]: So I had said this before. I think that the opioid crisis should take precedence over everything because it's actually destroying entire families. It's horrific. It's scary to all of us. Not one person has the answer to this. We need civic leaders. We need religious leaders. We need medical leaders. to come together in an emergency type situation in the city of Medford, whether it's weekly, bi-weekly, whatever we need to do. Part of the school is also that important link, the teachers and the parents to come in there and talk not just about curriculum, but to talk and open it up. The dialogue needs to happen for these children as young as kindergarten all the way up. They need to understand what they're faced with, and they need to hear it from both parents and teachers, and administrators, and Councilors, and really show that we're behind these children so they can move forward in life and not have to deal with this situation. This is a scary, scary, scary time, and if we don't wrap our arms around it and take a volunteer look at this, because this is something we need to fix yesterday, folks, and we've got to get involved, and we've got to do it now. Ms. Pacini-Burke.
[David McKillop]: So when I said a sense of urgency, to me a sense of urgency is not meeting monthly. A sense of urgency is meeting weekly if we have to, daily if we have to. We need to get our arms around this. Paul Spencer is a young man that lived in my neighborhood and we saw him grow up and we're very, very proud of that young man and he's doing great things, but that is just not enough. He needs an army behind him. We need to get together as a community, and we need to fight this with everything we've got, and a monthly meeting with the DA is not gonna cut it. We've got to get together, folks. We've got to get everyone in our community, all of our leaders, to rise up and make this happen for our kids, for our future, for families, because it's not just about construction workers, it's about everyone, and it's touching everyone. Ms. McCheney-Burke, your response.
[David McKillop]: Mr. McKillop. I think that the police budget is not enough. I think that what we have to do is we have to come up with a comprehensive plan to move forward. If we're going to have all of this growth in the city, we need a formula. We need to know exactly how many people or an estimated amount of people that will actually be moving into the city of Medford and how many police officers and firemen we need for that. And we need to plan ahead of that and not just try to work with what we've got. So we need to kind of open our eyes and broaden our horizons in the respect of where we want to go. So if you have 5,000 new people coming into the city of Medford because of development, out of the 5,000, how many police officers and firemen and emergency medical people that we need in this city? And that's what we need to do. We need to sit down and have that type of a conversation So we are proactive, not reactive, and we are ready for the influx of new people coming into the city. We're already behind the eight ball with the staffing of the police station, the police department, as well as the fire department. I know that one of the campaign promises was to create a foot patrol for all the downtowns. I think it's a great idea. It's one of the things I think I would love to agree with you on, but I think we have to investigate how we're going to do that. If you want to talk about budget, our budget is very, very top-heavy. It's not a very balanced budget, and there are things that we can do to balance the budget a little bit better. I've looked at the budget. I believe it's an incredibly top-heavy budget, and you become stagnant. You can't move when you have a very top-heavy budget, and you need to work with that.
[David McKillop]: Mr. McKillop. I just don't think there's enough of an effort there. It has to be consistent. I think that we have bigger, broader issues. We just talked about the opioid crisis and how that's overpowering us. We just talked about the fact that we're gonna have all these people moving in to the city. There's so much going on, so many moving parts. A sporadic officer on the street is just not enough. It needs to be a more consistent presence. We need to really get people to understand that we're there to help and these officers are willing to do that. They just want to have enough of a force to be able to do it.
[David McKillop]: So in the city that my business is in, Salem Mass, I'm sure you all know where Salem is, it's a huge art community and jazz festival and a lot of moving parts in that city. And one of the unique opportunities that I have bringing to Medford is I've experienced all of that. I was part of that. In fact, we had art shows in my own restaurant, because that's how important it is for the community of Salem, and I'd like to be able to bring that to Medford as well. Because believe it or not, that is something that goes incredibly hand in hand with the downtowns, because the downtowns being an old retailer, this is something we talked about 25, 30 years ago, The malls will not be as important as downtown areas, but you cannot compete with recreated downtown areas like Assembly Row and Station Landing. This is what's happening. The big companies are coming in and they're recreating downtown. So some of these downtowns are struggling. You're not going to get the same retail that you would get see over there. So it has to be very unique and inviting, and the way to do that is to work in conjunction with art, jazz, music, and move this all forward. There are some great festivals that we could put in this city, like a jazz festival, like an art festival, that we've already done some of that, but in a different and broader scale. A chocolate festival, an ice festival, there's many, many ways that we can bring the life back into these downtowns, and I'm a huge advocate of that. Ms. McCheney-Burke.
[David McKillop]: Mr. McKillop, your response. So I think that the City Hall is a great start, but I don't think it's enough. I think that the folks that are making the art want to be able to move that around the city. So utilizing the restaurants and utilizing the different areas and inviting some sort of a festival where all of the restaurants and some of the shops are actually showing this wonderful product, where there's an opportunity to purchase it, I think is a great way to do that. I think the City Hall is great, but unless you're doing business in City Hall, you're not going to be able to appreciate the wonderful art that's out there. As far as Chevalier Theatre goes, I'm really, really excited about Chevalier Theatre, and I think it's a great opportunity. I just, I wonder, again, this is not against Mr. Bloomingwright, but I think it's a good judgment, and it's priorities, and there is a vetting process, and I know the vetting process was done between two groups. It was the North Shore Music Theatre, and it was Bill Bloomingwright. And I question the way the vetting process goes, because when I vetted the two of them, I know that there was one concern for North Shore Music Theater, which was a real estate development issue. But if you go back, my concern when I went to that meeting was there wasn't enough information with regards to all of the certificates that we needed for that contract, like Choke Safe, Serve Safe, Tip Safe, Certification, ASCAP, CSAC, and there was nothing in the writing of any of that contract that stipulated the importance of those items for Mr. Bloomwright to take care of. And as far as the vetting goes, I mean, if you go back, my concern was because we have the Boys and Girls Club, is there gonna be a quarry issue because that building shares the space with children? And there was a commitment that, There is absolutely no way that children would be able to interact with the people that are going in and out of that building. I find it a little bit discerning, but again, there's a commitment there. And lastly, if you look... really quick, sorry, if you look in the past of Mr. Bloomingwright, there is some issues and concerns in his background, especially one being that he's been brought up in a few issues, one being that serving underage minors, and that's a big concern of mine. And I question, I would question, you know, that's a huge concern, so.
[David McKillop]: Mr. McKillop. I am actually in agreement with that portion of it. I am not, I've never been, I was brought up to not disobey the laws, whether they were civic or criminal. That's the way I've always been brought up. That's for the federal and the state to take care of. I believe that this city is a kind, caring, charitable city. It's always proven that. I think Chief Sacco laid it out the best possible way. It's already been defined that we will take care of the people that are in this city, but as far as the law, the law is the law. And my job as the mayor is I really want to focus on something else that's even twice as important, and that's the opioid crisis. That's really where I want to put my energy, that's where I want to put my time, that's where I want to put my focus.
[David McKillop]: So the Complete Streets program, the portion that I agree with is the crossroads and getting people up and down on the sidewalks and the bike paths. I mean, it's a challenging time for us because there's a lot of things that we want to get accomplished in a very small amount of space. I mean, this area is an old area, just like Boston, just like everywhere else. So it's a big challenge to get these bike paths up and running, and I can appreciate the fact that they are getting done. But to be able to do that, I think some of the rules have to change, especially for bicyclists. I believe the bicyclist rules have to be kind of reevaluated and a little bit more structured so we can share the road properly and make sure that they're safe and the pedestrians are safe and the cars are safe in conjunction with each other. I believe that there may be some areas that even though we desperately want a bike path, it just may not be able to happen because the road is just too tight. And that's where the challenge becomes. It really makes me nervous to see the shared road more than it is to see the bike path because you just don't know what's going to happen while traffic is moving and you're sharing that space. So it's a real concern for me. I believe that we should really kind of take a look at it, take a look at the rules for the bikes, take a look at the rules for interacting with the bicycles in shared space, and really kind of put together a comprehensive package for that. Ms. Puccini-Burke.
[David McKillop]: So as far as the Complete Streets program goes, we've talked about that already. I believe that, let's go back to the rules and what we're doing is because we're implementing these bike paths and it's this shared bike path that really concerns me more than anything else because We're going forward with it, we're moving forward with it, but I don't believe that we've really reviewed the rules well enough to be able to make sure that no one's going to get hurt in that respect, even to the point where maybe we should be discussing space between car and bike. I mean, there's rules that we have to put into place so that we make sure everybody's safe, first and foremost. The Chapter 90 program, which gives you just under a million dollars, with the amount of roads that we have in Medford, we're never going to get caught up using this program. What it basically does is that you have to spend the $800,000 and then the state will give you back the $800,000, so all it is is a turning wheel. And with the amount of roads, I mean, if you do the math, we'll just never be able to take care of what's going on in the city. We need to take a preventative maintenance action plan and put it into the budget so not only are we using the Chapter 90, but we're using additional money to keep moving forward and take care of the infrastructure of this city. Ms.
[David McKillop]: No, I mean, well, I'll take the 30 seconds to just go back to the fact that I'm not saying I'm against bike paths. What I'm saying is that if we're going to have shared space and we're going to try to squeeze these bike paths in old, old roads, we need to have a comprehensive look at the rules for both bikes and for cars and for pedestrians so we can make sure that everyone is safe in these spaces. That's it.
[David McKillop]: Mr. McKillop. So for inclusivity, I've never been more excited than when I opened my own business with my brother-in-law and my father-in-law, who's since passed away. And we've had some exciting times there for the past 15 years. But being part of that city and including myself in every aspect of what goes on and the different entities and the different groups, the most exciting part of it was that we worked together tirelessly to grow that city. And to the point where we even, even my sales team and myself, we created another group for weddings and it was a bridal group for all of the different wedding venues in Salem, a perfect example of what collaboration is. We didn't really compete with each other. It was healthy competition, but we got together and we made something really exciting because it was about bringing more business into one city as opposed to one business trying to do everything they can to maximize their business. That's an example of bringing people together and building a coalition to move things forward. And I believe that we have different entities in this city to do that. And I believe that I would love to be able to have the opportunity to put these groups together and do even more exciting things. That's number one. I do agree with Mayor Burke that it is time to turn the corner in politics and move forward because it is about, it's not about us, it really isn't about us, it's about everyone. It's about you especially and what you want with this city and for this city. And these ideas that you have, you have to bring them forward. Volunteerism needs to come back. We need to all get engaged in our own city to move this city forward. And I think it's time that we need to act on that more than anything else. Because I think the time of sitting back and complaining about all the things that are going on is over. It's time for everybody to get engaged. to move Medford forward so we can actually not only be the best city for us, but the best city in Massachusetts bar none. And that's the way I feel. Ms.
[David McKillop]: Mr. McKillop. So Lisa and I raised four kids in this city. And we have been here married for 26 years. Lisa graduated in 1982 from this city. We haven't left this city. I fell in love with it, even though I'm originally from Everett. And they always say six degrees of separation from Everett. Everybody is connected to Everett from one point or another. But although as much as I loved Everett for all the time that I was there, I truly, truly love this city as well. So I'm just looking at this as my ideas when I first started were just that, ideas. And the more I walked around from neighborhood to neighborhood and the frustration that I was feeling and the frustration that I was hearing, I felt more invigorated to keep going and to keep pushing forward to the point now where I'm actually incredibly excited about the opportunity to help move some of the great ideas that we have forward in this city. And I believe we can do that, but we need to do it together. We need to do it collectively, and we need to hear every single idea that's out there to move it forward. And some of the things that we need to do is we need to make sure that we include everyone, like the Community Preservation Act. When we do something and we make a decision, it should be a decision based off of the entire city, not a select group, because that's big money that everyone should be involved in when we make those decisions.
[David McKillop]: When you're looking at the Community Preservation Act, my biggest concern is that 70% of that is considered free money. Right now, we've collected just over $1,231,000. Out of that, we'll probably receive in November 15% of that from the state, and that's their match, which isn't a heck of a lot. It's $184,000 if you do the calculation. So that's not a lot of money, but that's a lot of money in general. 70% of that is what they are considering free money. It's for us to do with what we want within the parameters of the Community Preservation Act. And I believe, like I'm hoping you believe, we should all be part of that decision and everyone should be communicating that, not just a select few with a select few surveys. I think it needs to be more broad than that. And I think that's incredibly important for the community.
[David McKillop]: So here we are.
[David McKillop]: Let me calculate that, that would be three. Okay, John, you're all set. Okay. So basically, like I had said earlier, when I joined this race, I joined this race because I really wanted to help and I thought my ideas would resonate with a lot of people. I had no idea that my ideas would resonate this much. And I'm, like I said before, much more invigorated, much more excited about the opportunity to come to this city in the respect of being your leader and taking new ideas, ideas that I've learned all the way as far down as Miami, Florida, to all the way as far up as Bangor, Maine, to as far west as Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio, and everywhere in between. There are some really great ideas out there, folks, and sometimes you can't just bottle everything up in one space. You've got to be able to broaden your horizons and expand that. There are so many things that we can do better like the school system and taking it to a totally different level and actually putting into place actual projects that we can actually move this city forward in the respect of being in the top 50. And I don't think we should limit ourselves to just patting ourselves on the back to where we are right now. We need to go forward with that. If we're going to be one of those new gateway cities where everybody's moving into this city, we need to have a school system that reflects that. And we need to go above and beyond to try and find ways to make that happen. I want to be part of that. I want to be part of the overall growth of this city. I'm excited about some opportunities that we have. I think we've got a good start. I think we could do much, much better than where we are right now. I think we can fix the tax situation and minimize the tax increases from year to year to year to year to year to year to year that we've all been experiencing. and I believe that that's just by taking the budget, breaking it completely down, and restructuring it and bringing it back to life so we can actually have a more palatable budget situation where we can move that money forward and around where we need it to go. We need to help the police department and the fire department. There's so many different areas. We need to start thinking about the school system. I mean, we need to think about the high school right now. I mean, perfect example in the high school. It's just another example. There's a top up in the roof. I think everybody's seen it when you go to the gym. There's a yellow tarp in the roof. Follow the yellow tarp. There's a tube that goes down the wall, goes into a bucket. That's been there for over 10 years, at least, that I can think of because I'm trying to remember when I saw it with my kids. These are the things that we need to have a proactive preventative maintenance plan in every single part of each and every department of this city. and we don't have enough of that. I will not pass a budget without it, so we need to fight it out and we need to come together and make that happen for the future of this city so we can focus on our future. So I need your vote November 7th, which is really right around the corner. It's only a couple of days. Think of Dave McKillop, think of November 7th, and think of the focus of the future that we have for the city of Medford. Thank you very much.
[David McKillop]: And am I close enough that it still can be heard? Can you guys hear me well? I will project. Can you hear me better? I'll give you this one. OK. Actually, no, I think I'll be fine. I'd rather just go there. Thank you very much, Henry. I appreciate it, though. Thank you. You'll need it for the TV recording, sir. It will? Okay. All right. Hello. Can you hear me now? Never, never good to put a microphone in my hands. I promise you that. So we went into the room with Neil Osborne, and Neil had a really great, very technical system to get us started. It was a paper bag and two pieces of paper. Thank you, Neil. It was really hard work. Anyway, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, everyone, for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come here to speak with us. Well, to speak about us. I want to thank all of the Medford Ward 6 committee, especially Henry Milleran, Bruce Kulik, Christy Evita, and a special thanks to Paul Donato for hosting this evening tonight. My name is Dave McKillop, Sr., and I'm running for mayor of this great city. I'm married to my wife of 26 years, Lisa Marchino-McKillop, and we have resided in North Medford for the same amount of time, where we raised our four children, David Jr., who is here tonight hiding in the back. my daughter Teresa, Matthew, and Anthony, all of whom have gone through the Medford school system. Although my work experiences have taken me outside of the city limits for most of my adult life, it does not lend credence to the notion that I do not have a vested interest in my own hometown. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I apologize that I'm going to keep turning, but this is a very awkward situation to be in. It gives me the unique opportunity to take what great ideas and ways of doing business that I've learned in several different states and apply it here. It has given me insight to varying labor laws and ways to work within their parameters, policies, and procedures. I've experienced many different cultures and ways of thinking from city to city, giving me coping mechanisms to maximize the best results working with individuals as well as varying groups in individual cities or towns. I've learned over the years the art of collaboration and how it can foster true creativity and excellent outcomes. And above all else, I've been true to who I am. Those who know me best will tell you I'm a man of my word. I'm a man that will stick to a code of ethics even though it may not benefit me in getting ahead. And I'm a firm believer that we are all on the same playing field of life and that no one deserves to be treated any less than anyone else. In over 30 years of running businesses up and down the East Coast, most notably my own last 15 years of owning a business, I accumulated a parallel amount of knowledge that works well with running a municipality. Managing and creating budgets for many years, ranging from $1 million to $100 million, I can set up and break down a budget to see where the opportunities lie. Being my own budget director for my business, I've created and implemented countless budgets, as well as cash flow plans and P&Ls, allowing me to understand the terminology of a budget and where to look for unbalanced monies or inaccurate spending. As a negotiator for many vendors and insurance contracts, I have a keen insight to current issues on negotiating labor contracts. My commitment is I will never walk away from a negotiation if it makes more sense on both sides to find common ground financially and collaboratively. I have a long history of taking on and completing large business projects that involved major expansion and business startups, which in turn has given me a unique set of skills needed to complete any project, large or small, for example, the master plan. This takes good communication, collaboration, planning, timing, and sometimes, and not often addressed, follow-up. hiring, training, and developing over 5,000 employees in my 30 plus years of running businesses. I developed a follow-up tools to ensure the success of individuals, for example, performance evaluation and action plans. This is crucial to the overall morale of any work environment. People can respect better where they stand once they have had these conversations. And they have been given achievable goals to be successful at their jobs. I have created training and development programs for better customer service skills that the employees can use as tools to mold their individual successes. Let's face it, municipality is the ultimate customer service job. I take pride in putting the people first when performing a successful task, giving them the well-deserved credit. I'm not afraid to put myself out in front when we fail and take the responsibility when necessary for the people that work with me. I have accomplished much in my life and I'm excited for the opportunity to share what I've learned in my own community. I've been recognized and awarded many times over my business achievements. I was nominated businessman of the year in my community that I own my business in right now. I have been vice president and president of the Chamber of Commerce in Salem. I have worked with a company called Nelson Nygaard, which happens to be the exact same company that worked with Medford in 2005 to create their parking program. I worked with them for two and a half years to create the parking program in Salem that currently exists today. I have worked closely with many community groups and have been part of many initiatives to move a city forward and get business going. I've worked closely with several community support groups, like Lifebridge, NAGLI, HAWK, and YMCA, just to speak of a few groups important to me. Having been taught time and time again in every situation that communication can solve mostly every problem, but you need to know when to listen and to learn and when to act on a situation. I take great pride in the fact that I'm approachable and my door is open to everyone. I have always said I cannot fix a problem that I do not know about, so let's talk. These are the most important issues frustrating citizens that I have met over the past few months, actually several months now, with a lot of walking and two pairs of shoes so far. Parking. Let's hold Republic to the fire. This is the third party company that takes care of our parking program. And let's eliminate these kiosks once and for all on the streets or discuss a way to eliminate the current contract and create our own in-house program putting Medford citizens to work. Look at a better way to create access to the local businesses that thrive on the in and out business by changing times and signs. Give them the opportunity to take advantage of their type of business. Infrastructure issues like tree stumps, sidewalks, streets, and of course crosswalks. Complete streets is not enough. People say they're not afraid to pay taxes. They just want results. In this area, I feel the administration is not doing well. We need to take a portion of the general fund money that is not part of the Complete Streets Project and get certain emergency situations done. Then we need to set aside annual funds to stay ahead by adding to the Complete Streets Project. To pay for this, we need to create a preventative maintenance line item in the budget and expand on our DPW workforce. This only makes common sense because you cannot expand a city while shrinking the very department responsible for the work that needs to be done. If we do not take these steps, then we just end up with an incomplete streets program. It's time to have a clean and inviting city. the police, fire station, and safety. The current mayor committed two years ago to getting the process going in a new facility. Instead, the mayor put her efforts in a new library that will cost a total of close to $34 million, with $22 million of it going right to the bottom line for the citizens of Medford. I will have the necessary personnel involved in any conversation regarding the building of a fire and police station to discuss how and where we can count on receiving the money necessary to build the much needed facility before we start the planning. Hire the grant writer needed for the city so we can start planning on this project. I will also create a line item for hiring much needed staff that conforms to the projected growth of the city and the amount of fire and police needed to ensure the correct safety for both the citizens and our first responders. I would also like to revisit another promise not yet completed by the current administration. Mayor Burke talked about two years ago was foot patrols. I think that's a great idea, and I think it's time we take a look at that, especially with the issues that we have, including the opioid situation. We need to have foot patrols in our neighborhoods. And we can pay for this by increasing our increasing tax base by our new construction, so this can happen. Communication, the lack of good communication between the administration and the city council. The mayor has stated in her most recent article that she created a council liaison for them to go to if they were having issues with the department head, but it was never their role to go to the city council meetings. Even though Mayor Burke did commit to being at or represented at the city council meetings, neither has happened. I will be at the city council meetings once a month or as requested. I have the rapport with the city councilors and will continue to foster a better working relationship as well as create workshops with the city councilors, department heads and the administration as well as citizens of Medford in a casual environment to allow for frank, open and creative discussion on ways to move this city forward. I promise to make sure that I treat the city council as one body for the good of the city, and I vow to eliminate the day-to-day issues that they're faced with, which are not even their responsibility. For example, hours of conversation about potholes and sidewalks. We need to move the city forward, and these are not the conversations that the people who are supposed to move the city forward should be having. That is the DPW's responsibility. This will allow the council to put forth resolutions that will indeed move the city into the future. The downtowns. This is the one that's near and dear to my heart as a business owner. Although the master plan is and has been a good start for many, many, many years, it is still not enough. We need to address the Office of Community Development. and overall infrastructure of the administration to better prepare for anticipated growth spurt, this city will incur. We need to seek out new and inventive small businesses to create excitement in our downtown. For example, a dessert bar, a rooftop restaurant, an imported cheese shop, a local artist shop where you can actually take a class and display and or sell your art in that very shop, and many other varying shops that represent different cultures. This takes an outreach program that may span the globe using today's technology to travel through different shops. I want to create an office of design and review board that will help better balance the types of businesses in each and every downtown area. Understanding the different personalities of each downtown. And especially the demographics of what would most of the people that would most likely shop these areas. The school system. Let's set goals. Let's set a goal to get Medford's school system into the top 50, at least in the state. I believe we can do much better and there is no shame, no shame, in borrowing really good ideas from surrounding school systems. In fact, I'd like to create an outreach program with other more successful school administrations to foster a community of spirit shared by several areas that surround Medford. Then we can find ourselves in a healthy competition with surrounding cities in ranking and funding to better our standards. Charter review. It is time finally to look at our charter review if for no other reason than to continuously foster new ideas and ways to keep this city fluid and never to return to it's just the way we've always done it attitudes. opioid crisis. Hiring a recovery coach is good. In fact, I know Paul Spencer. I have known Paul since he was very young and coaching basketball at St. Francis with my kids. We're all very proud of Paul. He's done such a great job in his life, and that's not easy. But that doesn't go far enough. We need to recruit leaders from all facets of our community and create an opioid commission. inclusive of police, fire, education, medical, psychological, religious, and civic leaders along with the administration to meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to tackle this on all fronts in our community. These are some of the problems that we're faced with on a day-to-day basis in Medford. And these are some of the ways that I feel we can solve some of those problems. But there are so many topics to discuss. I would entertain any conversation to discuss those topics. But time not permitting, they will have to wait for you to reach out. Give me an email at mckilloppermayer2017 at gmail.com. or meet me at two of my favorite stomping grounds, Dunkin' Donuts or Da Metz. So if you've heard all about us tonight, but it really isn't about us, it's about you and what you want from Medford. Remember, everyone who's lobbying for your vote will, if elected, work for you. Some may forget that. I will never forget that. These are the reasons why I've decided to run. I'm excited for the opportunity to debate these issues and more with the current mayor, Stephanie Burke, and we will, on November 2nd, do that. Then hopefully you'll be informed enough to make the right decision, the one that will mold the future for this city. My name is David McKillop, and I need your vote on November 7th. It's time to put Medford back on the tracks to growth, results, and prosperity. Thank you for coming out, folks. I really appreciate it. Have a great night. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Dave McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I just want to speak on this because really, basically, you folks have to realize that you are the coaches, basically, at a team. The morale for the teachers, the morale for the students, and the morale for the parents has to be upheld for the city school committee to sit there and not know that we're at 60% for special needs is unheard of. I mean, you folks should have this information, you should know that.
[David McKillop]: Okay, secondly, basically. Why not get into the school and work with them and try to educate yourself in the respect of what's happening in the teachers and the classes and getting out there and being able to visit that school and help build the morale. You also mentioned the fact that there has to be, maybe you need better marketing. You folks are the marketers. You're the ones who have to market that school. The comments that were made a couple of weeks ago at the last school committee meeting was not marketing. It was derogatory and these folks, have come together loud and clear and said, hey, we need your help. You folks create the plan. We'll execute the plan as best we possibly can. And they need that support. And collectively, yes, this is a great start. But you have to take it an extra step and not wait for them to come to you again. You have to get to them and make this happen cohesively.
[David McKillop]: I'm just simply clarifying that, you know, what we were kind of Throwing it out there that you maybe you need better marketing I mean we are the marketers that that for the school and that's really something that needs to be clarified Point taken in the respect of that, but I also listened to the teachers and they were telling me time and time again They tried communicating consecutively with the administration and fallen on deaf ears Those are the things that need to be addressed immediately and those are the things that just that that's what I just bring to light we can we can Appreciate everyone coming together. We can appreciate the fact that they came together as a team But I think the reason why they came together as a team is there's been a growing frustration. This just doesn't occur overnight There's a growing frustration and that's all I wanted to bring to light and that's what's where the expertise of you folks can can change that dramatically and Getting involved in exactly what it is that they're frustrated with so mr. Benedetto Thank you.
[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. Good evening, everyone. I was actually at the city council meeting about the capital improvement in the SOI, and we were kind of there were some things being bantered back and forth. My question is, in the capital improvement program, is there an opportunity to usurp some of that money for maintenance for an extended amount of time?
[David McKillop]: Okay.
[David McKillop]: Okay, so is there another opportunity to kind of create some sort of a bucket of money, if you will, for this?
[David McKillop]: One suggestion or one idea might be where you had done a tremendous job collecting taxes on property that did not have taxes collected on. I think it was over 2.8, 2.9 million dollars this year. That may not happen every single year, but is there a possibility where we could actually take some of that instead of putting it into the general fund and applying that to the maintenance of the schools? Because to be honest with you, I feel bad for John. I think he needs two carpenters. I have an 11,000 square foot building and I could never do what he does with one person. It's just a suggestion, but there has to be something to take these schools to a different level because I remember I was here when we built the middle schools and we were kind of fighting, you know, we're taking them out of the neighborhoods and putting them into a general area. It wasn't about the schools that I was fighting. It was about the maintenance, because we were complaining that the older schools were not habitable. They make great condos now, but they're not habitable for schools. So here we are now 15, 20 years, however many years it was, and I made the same point. Now some of these schools need some dramatic maintenance. So you can get $10 million in capital improvement, but if you don't have a maintenance plan, you're going to be back in the same boat 10 and 15 years from now. So you need to create a plan for this. And that has to be something that has to be discussed and scrutinized and scrutinized, because that money is money that's not going to be wasted, but is certainly going to be spent unwisely 5, 10, 15 years from now. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. Good evening everyone. Um, I was actually at the, um, city council meeting about the capital improvement in the SOI and we were kind of, there were some things being bantered back and forth. My question is, uh, in the capital improvement program, is there an opportunity to usurp some of that money? for maintenance for an extended amount of time. create some sort of a bucket of money, if you will, for this.
[David McKillop]: One suggestion or one idea might be where you had done a tremendous job collecting taxes on property that did not have taxes collected on. I think it was over $2.8, $2.9 million this year. That may not happen every single year, but is there a possibility where we could actually take some of that instead of putting it into the general fund and applying that to the maintenance of the schools? Because to be honest with you, I feel bad for John. I think he needs two carpenters. I have an 11,000 square foot building and I could never do what he does with one person. It's just a suggestion, but there has to be something to take these schools to a different level because I remember I was here when we built the middle schools and we were kind of fighting, you know, we're taking them out of the neighborhoods and putting them into a general area. It wasn't about the schools that I was fighting. It was about the maintenance. Cause we were complaining that the older schools were not habitable. They make great condos now, but they're not habitable for schools. So here we are now 15, 20 years, however many years it was. And I made the same point, you know, now some of these schools need some dramatic maintenance. So you can get $10 million in capital improvement, but if you don't have a maintenance plan, you're going to be back in the same boat 10 and 15 years from now. So you need to create a plan for this. And that has to be something that has to be discussed and scrutinized and scrutinized, because that money is money that's not going to be wasted, but is certainly going to be spent unwisely 5, 10, 15 years from now. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Name and address of the record, please. David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. Good evening. I guess I'm probably not going to be the most popular person right now, but I just want to be pragmatic and speak about the other side of the picture a little bit. I listened to what we have to say, what everybody has to say, and I'm 100% in favor of changing zoning and having historical areas of the city because I think that's incredibly popular for the preservation of the city. It gives a snapshot to the future of what we were in the past. However, I just want to throw something out there. 25 years ago, I bought my house. My house was not a historical house. Today, if we pass the 75 years, it is now historical. Tomorrow, if I choose to tear my house down and build a beautiful new little house that my wife and I can retire in, does that mean that that may not happen because the city council has decided that my home is now a historic home? So as an owner of a piece of property with a home, that is a decent little home. Point of information. Councilor Knight.
[David McKillop]: Correct. But if we put it to the point at the hands of the commission, how many homes in the city after 75, 90 years, how many homes become historical homes?
[David McKillop]: That's the point I'm trying to make. At one point, the entire city becomes locked. And that's what we have to consider. So again, painting a clear kind of balanced picture, I think that going in the direction of trying to preserve historical homes 100 years past is an incredibly important thing. Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. Could we have quiet in the back there? Respect the gentleman at the podium. Thank you. I apologize. That's quite all right. I mean, opinions are very welcome. But we have to consider every aspect. And I think that going through this process and finding the right way to make this work for everyone is the best way to go. Because again, let's take a look at another example. A family has a home. passed down generation after generation. The family has increased in size. The family is no longer in Medford. And the last remaining people in that home have passed away. Now the family wants to sell that home. A developer happens to come in and wants to purchase that home. Are you saying to that family they cannot maximize their potential because it is a historical home? What is it we're trying to tell the taxpayers? So there's two sides to the coin that have to be considered. And not that I'm against everything that's been spoken about tonight. I'm 100% for it because I think there's some incredibly beautiful homes in this town that have to be preserved. But there are two sides to the coin that have to be looked at and that's the obligation of everyone to look at that and protect everyone. So it's going to be a challenge to find the best way to come across with this and to find the best rules to make that happen. Thank you. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I live up in an area called the Heights. I'm sure most people are familiar with it. One of the things about the Heights that's very unique is our water pressure. I had the rare opportunity of sitting across at one of the Mayor's meet and greets, the Commissioner of the Water and Sewer, and asked him, has that area of Medford ever been reviewed? Because the water pressure is It's sometimes so horrific that if I'm taking a shower and my neighbor waters their lawn, I guess I'm taking a cold shower or a very little one or a very fast one. And his response to me was, oh yeah, it's reviewed all the time and it's in a very costly reviewed it to process. And how long ago, my question was, was that reviewed? Oh, many, many years ago, but we look at it all the time. So my question is, how can we have an $8 million surplus and have areas of the city that have a deficit when it comes to things that need to be looked at, repaired, fixed, replaced, changed? I know I'm on a five-eighths piping. Part of that is so the pressure can kind of maintain a certain level. But really, seriously, it's just ironic that we would ask for an additional $1.45 million a year to add what, to the surplus? I'm confused. And the other thing I really kind of, me being mathematical, I take $8 million and $9 million and that's $17 million and isn't that pretty close to what we need for a police department, fire department? Just throwing it out there. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Name and address of the record, please. David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road, and I do own a restaurant, and I was hesitant to come up. I'm not going to lie. I know you did. There's two rules of thought here. The city that I work in, I have an incredible rapport with the department and Larry, the head of the department. So we work in tandem. He comes in. It's a surprise. I never know when they're coming. There are things that, totally honestly, that they will find that are incredible, and then there are things that they will find that might have slipped through the cracks, whether it's a thermometer that isn't working or something that isn't quite shelved properly. But they work really, really hard with us as a community. And if you work really, really hard with the Board of Health, There's a respect level there that carries very well. Now, I can't speak for what goes on in Medford as far as the rapport between the Board of Health and Medford and the restaurant tours. I can only tell you that that's something that you know, as a whole, you would look at and see the reports and evaluate the situation and make a decision as to does this make sense for us? Should we step up to the plate and do something a little bit different because it's not quite working the way we'd like to based off of the information we have? That's kind of the way I personally would approach it. If I remember correctly, the grading method was based or actually came about do specifically because of the chain businesses. Because the chain businesses were the ones that were having a real difficult time staying on top of things. Because when you go to franchises or you go to district managers, regional managers, then store managers, then assistant managers, It's very, very difficult to kind of maintain a certain level of control. And that's kind of where that kind of came from and morphed out of. And then it blanketed across and kind of kept going further. And to be honest with you, to Mr. Penta's point, there are some areas that it does not work well, that it is kind of a negative kind of reciprocation on the behalf of someone that may not appreciate someone else and, you know, gives them a bad score just simply because they can. So it is a double-edged, it can be a double-edged sword, but I think that any community that works with the Board of Health, the restaurateurs, they recognize how important it is and the Board of Health, if they do it well, and I know in my community they do it very well, They work in tandem and they work really, really hard together to make sure that everything is the way it's supposed to be. So that's the only input I can give on that. I don't have an opinion one way or the other as to which direction. I just say, basically, collect all your data. Take a look at your Board of Health. And by the way, if I'm not mistaken, the Board of Health is really, it is a department within the city, but it's underneath the umbrella of the state. Am I right or wrong? I think in the city of Salem, that's the way that they present it. Okay, just for clarification, because I wasn't quite sure, because I know that in the City of Salem, they kind of make it as the Board of Health is kind of their own entity within the city working underneath the state, no? Okay, so maybe that's not the one.
[David McKillop]: That's kind of the way, the approach I would make. And you do have to be careful when anything, anything has to do with something like that. So thank you.
[David McKillop]: Jackson, that's your buddy.
[David McKillop]: Name and address for the record, please. Good evening, Dave McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. I was reading this ordinance and I think it is definitely well written and the points are very well taken. There is one thing that I would like to suggest to add to this is simply the drop boxes. The biggest problem with the drop boxes is the amount of product that actually goes to those boxes and the overflow. So maybe there's some way we can ask for some sort of a calendar or something of pickup when the pickups occur, how many pickups are for each individual box. That way there you have a monitoring system and you can hold people accountable for that. Because that's really the biggest issue of those boxes. Most of those boxes are pretty well kept. They're clean, they're neat, they're well painted, they're not really too disastrous. It's the amount of product that goes around those boxes. And maybe there's that one window that you have an opportunity to kind of monitor that and maybe have better control over that. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Name and address of the record, please. David McKillop, 94 Rock Glen Road. I was listening to all the conversation tonight, and I guess being a business person, I'm all about planning. It seems to be that for whatever reason, we're struggling with planning. One of the things that really strikes me as curious is the MSBA. The MSBA was presented. Now, when it was presented is the question, because if it was presented Two months ago, six months ago, a year ago, then you may have had the opportunity to actually get more information a lot sooner. So that should be a question that should be asked. When is the MSBA turn around and say, hey, when does the door open?
[David McKillop]: Okay, thank you. So that's the first thing. So if it's being opened up in January, the meeting is being done in February, the finalization is then, now it's March, April, really the window is much, much smaller than you might actually anticipate. So the question isn't answered in the respect of how to plan this better. So now, to be proactive, the next time the MSBA opens up, I think as a city council, I personally, if it were me, would say, hey, the next time this opens, we want from day one to know when and how and what we need to do. We want to be part of that. So when the school committee goes into the committee of the whole, the discussion is made, you're already aware something's going to be coming to your desk. And I think that would help. To me, again, looking at a business perspective, I've been in business for 14 years. My business needs a facelift really, really bad. So if you guys want to help me with that, please contribute. But in order to do that, four years ago, I had to start planning for this coming year, not 2017, 2018. Four years ago, I started to put that plan together. Four years ago, I did a cost analysis. Four years ago, we started to meet with people that could help us put this project together. This year we're meeting with a designer who's going to take an entire year to put this together. So I don't understand how we're looking at the police station, the fire station, the high school, and we're saying, oh my God. The world is coming to an end today when this has been happening for 10, 15, 20, 30 years. So the other thing I ask is, where's the plan? We just heard that it would be five years out for a new roof. Where's the plan? Do we have a plan in front of us? Do we know how much it's gonna cost in five years? Have we started to map that out? Are we planning for that? Secondly is, if we're going to get 40 more years out of this high school, Okay. What's the plan in 40 years? What's the new high school? Let's be visionaries and let's try to figure out how we can make this happen in the future for all of the people that are voting for you and all the people in this community. Because I look at Medford as a gateway city. Cambridge is maxed out. Somerville's maxed out. This is the next city on the line. You want it to be Medford or do you want it to be Malden or do you want it to be Everett? I think you guys really have to take a look at that and start planning ahead and putting your best foot forward, because if you don't start investing now, it's going to catch up later on. Thank you. Thank you.
[David McKillop]: Name and address of the record, please. David McKillop, 94 Rockland Road. Point to Councilor Knight. Being able to balance zoning is an incredibly important thing for a city to do because of the actual tax base. And having to be able to, or actually just being able to, increase the commercial tax base so you can actually either balance or decrease the residential tax base is an amazing prospect for the residents of Medford. And I think any resident in Medford would be more than happy to accept that kind of a balance or that shift in being able to kind of offset the burden. Secondly, being an old retailer, there is a major, major shift for shoppers to get out of the malls and get into neighborhoods, back into neighborhoods, back into what they call fabricated cities as you see in Somerville and in Wellington and up in, there's so many different places. So you really have to look at what we have. We have such great opportunity downtown and maybe reworking some of these zones to actually structure a future for that. This would be an excellent downtown for something like that. to be able to take advantage of the .75 tax, sales tax that you could take advantage of with additional restaurants and the hotel tax with the new hotel that's coming, you're really gonna position yourself to be able to go back to what we said earlier, which is plan for much bigger projects and better ideas. But you have to have the vision to understand that and you have to kind of try to fight your way towards that because I'll tell you, you've got a waterway, most cities don't. You've got such a proximity to Boston that most cities don't. You've got so many things working for us and in our favor that if we don't look at this and don't look at the rezoning, it's a missed opportunity for everyone. And I'm telling you right now, that's the opportunity to gain. That's the opportunity to look at, because that is where most people are gravitating towards when it comes to shopping. And they want that lifestyle. They want that hometown feel again. And I'm lucky enough to do business in a city like that, and that city does get it. And I can tell you the residents of that city, their tax burden year after year after year is constantly offset by people like myself and some other friends that do business in that city as well. And it's a great, great thing. So thank you.
[David McKillop]: Councilor Falco.