[Leonard Glionna]: My name is Len Glyona. He, him. I'm a lifelong resident of Medford.
[Leonard Glionna]: Well, for Chinese food, I like Tiki Island. And for Italian, I like Amici's in West Medford Square. And I like Rosso's. And every Saturday morning, a group of us go to Classic Cafe on the corner of It's Central Ave and Spring Street, which is run by a very nice Albanian family. And we meet there every morning, every Saturday morning, nine o'clock, and we talk politics.
[Leonard Glionna]: I got involved with politics at a very young age. My father was a member of the Medford Democratic Ward and City Committee, and I joined many years ago. And I've been a delegate to the Democratic State Convention for probably 12 years or so. And I've run campaigns for candidates. And I've always had a love for local politics and county politics before the Middlesex County former government was eliminated, and statewide politics. And it's always been for, as I said, Democratic politics, politicians, mostly, I would say, moderate to Back then the term was liberal. Those are the people I tended to support.
[Leonard Glionna]: Well, it's been on my bucket list, and I've been running out of time. And as you probably know, I ran Nicole Morell's campaign four years ago and two years ago with the help of other people, obviously, and when I thought that she— was not going to run and there would be three openings, I thought this was my best chance ever. And so I just decided to pull papers on the last possible day and I jumped in.
[Leonard Glionna]: All right.
[Leonard Glionna]: First, issue that I am interested in is having the city build a new fire department headquarters because our firefighters certainly deserve it and I think they should have got a better place to work when the new police station was built but that didn't happen you know for whatever reason probably financial reasons So I would, you know, advocate on the council for allocating the money and suggesting to the mayor. Again, the mayor is the final word on the project of that scope. And hopefully we'll get a new fire department headquarters within the next few years.
[Leonard Glionna]: Yes.
[Leonard Glionna]: I was probably one of the first families, my wife and I, that sent sons to the Hervey Magnet School, which was, you know, a school in West Medford on Sharon Street that advocated uh, educated, uh, children, um, of all races to, to work together and to learn together, et cetera. And I think it was a shame that, that, and it was federally funded, um, but it was under the purview of, um, our school department, you know, our superintendent, our school committee and, um, the class sizes were very small. They had great field trips, of which I was a chaperone many times. So I guess I can say I walked the walk. I live on Chandler Road. It's not exactly a walking distance to Sharon Street, but we did it. And then our kids went to the Brooks School, and then they went to Hobbs Junior High, and then they went to Medford High School. So, they've got a great education working with, you know, all nationalities, races, etc. And all three of my sons played sports, and there were a lot of, you know, African American kids. kids from different backgrounds which gave us as a family the ability to meet with people from all walks of life and it made for a well-rounded education for the three boys.
[Leonard Glionna]: Well, again, my two grandchildren, I have four grandchildren all together. Two live in New York City and Brooklyn, and they actually go to what's called a Quaker school. The two that grew up in Medford went to the Brook school, so they were exposed to kids from, as I said, all walks of life. But as far as my own personal experience, I spent 12 years in the military. So, you know, I was with African American, Asian American, a lot of Spanish speaking kids, you know, 12 years in the U.S. Army Reserve that, you know, exposed me to a lot of different people. You know, I actually taught GED when I was in the Army to young men that were probably going to be on their way to Vietnam. And they were from primarily African American neighborhoods of Chicago, et cetera. So that was a learning experience. And during the busing crisis in the 70s, I was working for the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare, and they had a volunteer program that they would send, I was an accountant back then, and they would send us to different Boston schools to volunteer and teach kids in those schools. So I have been exposed and it is important to me. Very important.
[Leonard Glionna]: Well, let me just back up and say that I graduated Medford High School. I won't tell you the year because I'll be aging myself. My wife graduated Medford High and all three of my sons. So a good public education is very important to me and my family and everyone else in the community. As far as a new high school, I would support expending money to put a study together to see what the needs are, because that high school was built for between 4,500 and 5,000 students. Presently, there's a little under 1,200 from what I'm told, like 1,197 students. I would love to see a brand new, sparkling new high school because when people come to a community, whether they're going to an athletic field like Placid Park, etc., that's the image that the city projects to visitors. If somebody's coming from you know, Wellesley, Iraq, et cetera, to play on our fields, if the fields have holes in them and people break their ankles, or it's just not aesthetically attractive, I think it sends a bad image for the city. So to have a new high school would be wonderful. the flip side of that is how much would it cost what would the state reimbursement rate be i'm told it would be somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of a 300 million dollar high school say so we would have to As a matter of fairness, because it's the old saying, he who pays the fiddler picks the tune, we have to tell the taxpayers what it would cost them on an average single-family home. We said 800 more per year, is it 1,000? And what about a two-family or a three-family or a condominium? So, to be fair to everybody, we have to put the facts and figures out there. Now, could a new high school be placed where it stands? That would probably be the best scenario because I live in that neighborhood and I know the amount of ledge that's up. If you looked at the Field of Dreams, which some people have proposed, and it may work, it'd be a beautiful view of downtown Boston, but how much ledge is under there? Another issue is a second means of egress. Right now you have one driveway coming in and out of the high school. I'm told, I've never verified this yet, but you need a second means of egress, you know, for fire apparatus, etc. Where would that Where would that be? Would that be going through one of the abutting neighborhoods? Would that disrupt the neighborhoods? I mean, you can see just with the 10 lot subdivision on Winthrop Street, what it's doing to that neighborhood and to Winthrop Street. You can imagine, you know, the disruption of a new high school. And what about the disruption to the kids' education? Where do we put the kids while we build that high school? So I'm all for a new high school, but I have to be realistic enough to say we have to study the possibilities and put it to the voters. Let the voters decide.
[Leonard Glionna]: Well, as you know, you're a member of the Charter Commission. Yes. And I followed your meetings, and I am a strong advocate for charter change. And I spoke before your body. And my position, my personal position is, ward representation would be a good thing for the city of Medford. And the reason I say that is I look at just as an example, because my daughter-in-law teaches in Everett. And I follow Everett politics. Not because she teaches it, but I just know some of the people.
[Leonard Glionna]: Yeah, right. It's an abutting city. It's a little smaller than Medford. But 55 people pulled papers to run for municipal office in Medford, in Everett. 22 in Medford. Now, Medford's a bigger city. Now, why did that happen? It happened because of ward representation. In each of the wards, there's probably two or three candidates running for a seat, and then they have, I believe, four at large. in addition to, and this isn't even a mayoral election year in Everett. They have a four-year term. Now, Everett has the advantage of having three local newspapers. We have none, which makes it increasingly difficult for a candidate like myself, who can't buy ads in a newspaper, to run citywide. If it was ward representation, let's say, use me as an example. I live in Ward 3, so the chances I would be running in Ward 3, and there'd probably be other candidates running as well. And if elected as a ward representative, you know, Councilor, my focus, you know, primarily would be the issues you know, facing war three residents, which Winthrop Street would be an issue, a new high school would be an issue, etc. And it also would make it easier for people of limited means to run for office. It would also, make it easier for, say, African-American candidates. I mean, we've had some in the past. We had Kenny Holmes as a, he was a World War II veteran and he became a city councilor. We've had school committee members, Madeline Duggar Andrews, whose school is named after, and there are others. But we haven't had many. So I think water representation would help that situation.
[Leonard Glionna]: I agree. And just going back to the numbers, we have eight wards, as you said. It was seven up until a few years ago. But in most cities, if you have ward representation, you have a certain number of at-large candidates. And if you have eight wards, you're going to have to have at least three in order to have an odd number, you know, so somebody can cast a deciding vote in terms of a tie. So realistically, we would have eight ward councils and three at-large. So we would have a body of 11. then the issue goes to the school committee. Does the school committee go to ward representation? And would it have the same format, you know, eight and three? And from what I observe, say, in Malden, which is another city I follow their politics, it seems like the ward Councilor and the ward school committee person, they sort of work as a team. They work in tandem on issues that affect their particular ward. But if a resident has an issue that they don't get satisfaction from their ward representation, they would have three at-large Councilors to go to. And then, you know, again, most of the power in the city rests with the mayor's office. So you get in touch with the mayor or her staff and you know you ask them to in the department heads. Councilors can, they can't direct you know departments to do anything. They can only you know, respectfully requested or, you know, as an elected official, they would call the mayor's office and ask the mayor to look into a situation. And, you know, she's been very responsive. I've had a situation with a tree and, you know, they answered the question within 10 minutes. So I think Medford deserves at least an opportunity to put it on the ballot and let the people decide, again, whether or not they want more water at his station.
[Leonard Glionna]: Well, the existing council did a wonderful job under the leadership of Nicole Morell and Zach Beers in terms of the zoning. And zoning changes leads to economic development. You know, I grew up on Hancock Street, the last house on Hancock Street abutting Mystic Avenue. And when I was a kid, You know, Mr. Gabb was referred to as the gateway to the city. 50, 60 years have gone by and we still don't have the development that we should have down there. We did have, you know, the Century Bank building was awarded a variance to go six stories. But as you travel down, Mr. Gavin you towards Boston the right-hand side of the zone c2 which means commercial two stories and that's to protect the the houses the residents of South Bedford along that stretch of Mr. Gavin you The other side of the street is C4, unless it's been changed with the latest code, and that gives you the right to go up four stories. That's where the side with the VFW is. Now, the Century Bank building, as I said, got the variance to go up six stories. In my opinion, there's no reason why all along that west side of Mr. Gabb shouldn't, they should be allowed to go six stories and we should have bio labs or we should have apartment buildings. My preference would be apartment buildings with commercial space on the ground floor. As I said earlier before we went on the podcast, I have a son in this family who lives in Brooklyn, and if you go to Brooklyn, almost all your commercial areas, you know, you have the apartments up above the commercial, and it works great. You have markets down below, variety stores, bodegas, etc. So I think We've really missed the opportunity to develop that west side. And what does that lead to? Well, it leads to increased tax revenue. I mean, not only is it the building permit fees, it's the restaurant meals taxes that will come in because of what's going to go into those commercial spaces. And then the annual real estate taxes that the commercial properties are going to bring, that's what will fund the repair of the streets, the removal of the tree stumps.
[Leonard Glionna]: The building of a new high school, a new fire station, etc. And some of our existing fire stations in the neighborhood, up in Fulton Heights or in West Medford or on Salem Street, they certainly need some work. existing schools. We call them new schools, but it's 22 years now. They need maintenance. I mean, we've made some, you know, progress. We've got a beautiful new community space and playground going into the McGlynn School under the, you know, leadership of Dr. Peter Cushon and Shanine Pellequin, the resident representative, and And also, we've got a new, beautiful, renovated car park. I went to the dedication, and I understand... I'm excited to see that.
[Leonard Glionna]: Your neighborhood, plus I've heard on Emily's podcast that you were... Are you a broad jumper or a javelin thrower? Something up a car park, I remember.
[Leonard Glionna]: Broad jumping, all right. But that's going to be beautiful, and for people like myself, new pickleball courts.
[Leonard Glionna]: Yeah?
[Leonard Glionna]: Yes. And the advice that I was given by some people that have also been in the city a long time is be the bridge between the old Medford and the new Medford. And what I mean by that is People that have grown up here have certain values, and they have a way of doing business, so to speak, and their lifestyle. But we have to welcome the new residents that are coming in. There's a reason Medford housing prices are going through the roof. And it's because young professionals are moving here, two-family incomes, they can afford to pay You know, the prices and pay the property taxes. And they may have a different set of values. They may have more progressive values. And there's nothing wrong with that. You have to be a bridge to welcome everybody into the community and get people to sit down and talk, because we're all friends and neighbors at the end of the day. And even when this election is over, I mean, I still want to be able to go out and have a drink with any one of the candidates. And I think all 21 people running for office this year are wonderful people. You know, that's the advice I give. Let's try to work together to make Medford a better place. It's been a great place. Again, I've grown up here, my wife, my kids, two of my grandchildren. And there's a lot of room for improvement. But I think we're moving in the right direction.
[Leonard Glionna]: I would just respectfully ask the citizens of Medford to give me one of their seven votes. I think I will be a voice on the council that somebody has seen a lot in life. whether it, you know, be my educational background, you know, in terms of I was an accountant, a lawyer, I've raised a family, I've been in the military, I've worked for the federal government, I've been involved with local issues. I was on the committee to restudy the, uh, reuse of the old Medford High School on Forest Street. I was appointed by, uh, the mayor to be on the Massport Community Advisory Committee. I was, um, chairman of the Hormel Stadium Commission for four years, and now, uh, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn appointed me to the Chevalier Theatre. commission, which is integral to keeping our restaurants in business in the city of Medford.
[Leonard Glionna]: Exactly. We have one coming up, the Wurlitzer Society. Oh yeah, the organ. The organ, yeah, which I went to last year and it was wonderful.
[Leonard Glionna]: Thank you. Thank you for accommodating me. Again, daytime is difficult because I get called to substitute teacher on to Catholic, which is where I was this morning. Thank you, Danielle, and to Shelly as well.