[Nick Giurleo]: Good evening.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Troleo, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: I was originally going to comment on the substance of this motion and just express some opinions about why I think it's overbroad and doesn't really do anything.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm very frustrated with what procedurally happened leading up to this taking of this motion or this resolution, sorry, discussion of the ordinance out of order.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think it's really, really shameful that this Council would not second Councilor Scarpelli's motion to take the city charter resolution out of order and discuss that first.

[Nick Giurleo]: We're prioritizing here

[Nick Giurleo]: an ordinance on gender identity over our city charter, our constitutional foundational government, the changes in the city charter are going to significantly impact how elected officials are elected in Medford.

[Nick Giurleo]: So the fact that we would just not even second the motion and not even be courageous enough to vote no on it really is shameful.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think everyone in this council who did that should be ashamed of themselves.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Hello again, Nick Traleo, Forty Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: Um I'd like to first just reiterate what I said in the earlier discussion about, you know, taking this resolution over resolution of the city charter.

[Nick Giurleo]: Again, concerning to me.

[Nick Giurleo]: But in terms of what happened to miss us Turk, I just like to offer a legal perspective given the lawyer and this is what I do for a living is think about legal problems.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think the issue is very narrow, to be honest with you, you know, because I think the legal questions really does a visa recipient.

[Nick Giurleo]: have that same right to freedom of speech as a citizen of the United States.

[Nick Giurleo]: And I'm not here to answer that question I mean it would require a great deal of research to try to understand what the law says on that subject.

[Nick Giurleo]: Ultimately, I think it's a question that judges have to decide and that's what's happening right it's being litigated in the federal court.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think when we use inflammatory language, really on either side, right?

[Nick Giurleo]: Screaming about deportation or screaming about political imprisonment, it really doesn't help address this problem, which is to try to resolve a legal question.

[Nick Giurleo]: Another thing I'd like to just point out is I think this is a little bit beyond the scope of what the city council is tasked with doing, right?

[Nick Giurleo]: We're talking about federal immigration law here.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think every one of you would admit you don't have any jurisdiction.

[Nick Giurleo]: to handle that.

[Nick Giurleo]: Um so, you know, ultimately, if you're not happy with what happened with miss Oster, you do have a right to be upset about that.

[Nick Giurleo]: You do have a right to petition your elected representatives in Congress.

[Nick Giurleo]: Um but you know, let's try to respect what authority this city council has to actually do things.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Trillio again, Forty Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: So, you know, the premise of this is actually great, right?

[Nick Giurleo]: Informing people of their rights.

[Nick Giurleo]: I mean, when I do my job of defending people accused of crimes, I mean, that's something I encourage, right?

[Nick Giurleo]: Know your rights.

[Nick Giurleo]: It's important.

[Nick Giurleo]: Everybody wants that.

[Nick Giurleo]: You know, it's just the issue with supporting a lot of these resolutions is hard just because of a lot of like the inflammatory language that gets put into them.

[Nick Giurleo]: that kind of politicizes the issue right like the issue at core here is like we should inform people of their rights, which is great, but then you have things like making blanket statements that, you know, federal law enforcement are like.

[Nick Giurleo]: disproportionately targeting non-white people, you know, when that's not really supported by any evidence that I've seen, you know, to me, that just unnecessarily politicizes these decent ideas behind the resolutions and makes it hard to support them.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think if we can just get proposals out there that just get to the issues and avoid all the political fluff, we're going to actually accomplish more.

[Nick Giurleo]: And we're going to realize we actually agree on more than we think we do.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Julio 40 Robinson road.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'll try to be brief but basically my point is I think it's very important that the council remember the last step in this process right the last step of getting this done and that is it goes to the people, the people are voting on the charter, right, so we wouldn't want to go through a process in which we finally get to the last stage of it, and then we get some sort of tragic outcome of the people reject the charter, because they feel like it doesn't reflect

[Nick Giurleo]: what they had believed over time it should contain.

[Nick Giurleo]: So that's why it's very important.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think the overarching consideration here should be, what do the people want?

[Nick Giurleo]: So it's important to put individual opinions and egos aside and look to that.

[Nick Giurleo]: So when it comes to ward versus district, when it comes to mayor on a school committee, we have to overall defer to what the people want.

[Nick Giurleo]: And when we have,

[Nick Giurleo]: Procedural issues like what we're going through now with the amendments, but also the fact that we didn't get the public comment until 1030 because we took other items up on the agenda first, despite the importance of this item, it really does diminish the ability of the council to understand what the people actually want, which will get us to that goal of getting a charter through.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I would just encourage all of you to really take that into mind.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Victor Leo, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: So with my comment I would just like to take a step back here and just remind the Council of kind of what is the overall goal of this process of getting charter out to the people to decide on.

[Nick Giurleo]: To me, it seems like one of the major objectives here is we need a charter that makes our local government accessible to the people of our city.

[Nick Giurleo]: Right.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think it's just a matter of common sense.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm not really going to advocate strongly for one of these systems or the other in this comment, but I think just as a matter of common sense, I lean kind of more towards the word based system as representing this way of getting people

[Nick Giurleo]: directly to their elected representatives so they can feel themselves heard.

[Nick Giurleo]: But kind of focusing on this process, you know, I would say that it really does seem like we're really speeding through it here.

[Nick Giurleo]: Like, I understand the charter review process has been going on for a while, but it really does seem like we're trying to make an extremely consequential decision that will dramatically impact our city at a very fast speed.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think there would be value in potentially slowing things down

[Nick Giurleo]: and talking more to the people to try to get a better sense of what they actually want.

[Nick Giurleo]: So there are benefits of doing that.

[Nick Giurleo]: There's also other aspects of the charter we could take a look at that I think would deserve some of our time, right?

[Nick Giurleo]: You look at some of the provisions, changes that were being made to kind of make it easier to reduce public participation in our city government.

[Nick Giurleo]: You know, we can go back, we can look at those and try to eliminate those.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think that's all I have to say.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you for listening.

[Nick Giurleo]: Good evening.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Giurleo, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm going to just speak briefly tonight in favor of the A paper.

[Nick Giurleo]: And I think the simple reason is that, really, this is something that we should be discussing, right?

[Nick Giurleo]: Medford, in its entire history, never approved a Prop 2.5 override before.

[Nick Giurleo]: So really, regardless where you fall on the issue, it is an unprecedented time.

[Nick Giurleo]: for all of us.

[Nick Giurleo]: And as Councilor Scarpelli represented, you know, there seems to be some legitimate concerns across the city among residents as to, you know, what will the impact of this be.

[Nick Giurleo]: And the reality is taxes have gone up for everyone.

[Nick Giurleo]: And there is a huge cost of living crisis in the country.

[Nick Giurleo]: So it's really going to be harder now for members of our community to make

[Nick Giurleo]: ends meet.

[Nick Giurleo]: This council talks often about affordability and how they're concerned about affordability, so let's do it.

[Nick Giurleo]: Let's talk about affordability.

[Nick Giurleo]: And we really do have to continue to think of the impact, especially on the most vulnerable of the community, like the elderly, veterans, people who are suffering from disabilities.

[Nick Giurleo]: They face unique challenges.

[Nick Giurleo]: They deserve to be heard.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I really wouldn't see any kind of legitimate reason to have to go with the B paper here.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think the A paper is innocuous enough.

[Nick Giurleo]: I don't think it's political.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think it can be approved on its own.

[Nick Giurleo]: And just generally, you know, as for unhappiness over, I would say, the outcome of the election, while I personally think it's justified, I mean, I agree that really this was a decision of the voters.

[Nick Giurleo]: So, you know, if you're not happy with the outcome, express that unhappiness at the ballot box in November.

[Nick Giurleo]: It seems like we have a pretty significant difference of opinion here as to how are we going to meet city funding needs.

[Nick Giurleo]: So if you don't like the fact that these overrides passed, show up in November and vote out of office to people who supported them.

[Nick Giurleo]: Express that unhappiness.

[Nick Giurleo]: That's kind of how democracy works.

[Nick Giurleo]: So that's what I'll be doing, and I would encourage everyone else to do.

[Nick Giurleo]: That's all I have to say.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you for listening.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Giurleo, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: Good evening.

[Nick Giurleo]: I just want to comment tonight for the public, primarily coming before you as a licensed attorney just what exactly is in this welcoming city ordinance as I read it.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think it's common for legislators and not just the city council, but really all legislators in general to use kind of

[Nick Giurleo]: soft kind of flowery language to describe what laws are really saying.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I think this welcoming ordinance is a pretty good example of that.

[Nick Giurleo]: What you might not realize, unless you actually read the fine print like I did, is that really the crux of it is not really to welcome anybody, but actually to just significantly hamper the police department's ability to do its job of working with fellow law enforcement to keep the community safe.

[Nick Giurleo]: So what do I mean by that?

[Nick Giurleo]: I think the ordinance essentially prevents the Medford Police Department from cooperating with all federal law enforcement and enforcing immigration laws.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think, in my opinion, this is not only illegal, but also a seriously concerning violation of the concept of limited government, or as we've been hearing a lot tonight, separation of powers.

[Nick Giurleo]: The ordinance, for example, says that Medford PD can't comply with immigration detainers, detainers being requests from the federal government to hold a person who's in the country unlawfully.

[Nick Giurleo]: So this means even if the Medford PD became aware a person was violating a federal immigration law, Medford PD wouldn't be allowed to do anything about it, which is confusing to me because it's the job of law enforcement agencies to enforce the laws and our city council and mayor making it essentially unlawful for them to do their jobs.

[Nick Giurleo]: The previous draft of the ordinance that I read mentioned a cause of action, basically giving an opportunity to sue the city at the taxpayer's expense if this ordinance were to be violated.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm grateful to see that that's out of the ordinance now.

[Nick Giurleo]: But it was in there before, which I do think speaks to the motive behind this ordinance.

[Nick Giurleo]: Another thing that concerns me is the very end where it talks about the Medford Police Department, having to report data on its detainers, and you think that data would go to write to this legislator the city council but.

[Nick Giurleo]: That's not what it says.

[Nick Giurleo]: It goes right to the mayor, which is a little suspicious to me.

[Nick Giurleo]: So my legal opinion is I think this is a legal ordinance.

[Nick Giurleo]: And even if it isn't, it shouldn't be.

[Nick Giurleo]: And I think it just is a matter of policy, too.

[Nick Giurleo]: It's terrible.

[Nick Giurleo]: Shouldn't be on the books.

[Nick Giurleo]: That's my take.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Jorleo 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: Before I criticize this resolution I'll just say, I'm sorry, President Bears you had to go through that that was very inappropriate.

[Nick Giurleo]: We probably disagree on a lot of things but nobody deserves to be treated like that so I guess

[Nick Giurleo]: we have to have civil discussions

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: I appreciate that.

[Nick Giurleo]: So now for the criticism.

[Nick Giurleo]: There's mentioned in this resolution here of cost of living, a cost of living increase.

[Nick Giurleo]: Okay, well I wasn't aware.

[Nick Giurleo]: Okay.

[Nick Giurleo]: Totally, totally gone.

[Nick Giurleo]: Great, so that makes it.

[Nick Giurleo]: not attacking you, the version of the resolution that I had in front of me said that, so I didn't know that that was taken out.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: In any case... I should be nicer to you more often.

[Nick Giurleo]: We can have civil discussions in the city council, we really can, even though we disagree.

[Nick Giurleo]: But I'll speak about just in general then the cost of living issue.

[Nick Giurleo]: You know, our city, these overrides, this is what it was all about.

[Nick Giurleo]: I mean, this is what was raised as a problem, cost of living crisis across the country.

[Nick Giurleo]: I mean, we saw in the national election here that cost of living crisis really impacted voters.

[Nick Giurleo]: It really made a difference.

[Nick Giurleo]: It led to a very unexpected outcome.

[Nick Giurleo]: So it's something that can't be, in any context, when we're talking about raises,

[Nick Giurleo]: something that can be disregarded here.

[Nick Giurleo]: And we have to take, you know, what people are experiencing, what people are feeling, what people are suffering through into consideration.

[Nick Giurleo]: I mean, we can't be forgetting, as Bernie Sanders himself said, the working class people.

[Nick Giurleo]: I mean, we have to think about that.

[Nick Giurleo]: We have to think about the impact of our fiscal decisions.

[Nick Giurleo]: So that's just my general comments tonight.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Good evening, Nick Giurleo, G-I-U-R-L-E-O, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: So on the subject of the math, my question relates to essentially, you know, these overrides and so-called consequences of not passing them, of not approving them.

[Nick Giurleo]: So we're hearing kind of these expressions of certainty described what will happen if the overrides don't pass.

[Nick Giurleo]: We've heard from Councilor Bears, there will be cuts.

[Nick Giurleo]: We've heard from Councilor Leming, the roads won't be repaired.

[Nick Giurleo]: So my question is, you know, where is this math?

[Nick Giurleo]: I mean, where is, for the average citizen who's not a mathematician, you know, where are we going to see this data that shows that these consequences will actually result if these overrides don't pass?

[Nick Giurleo]: I've looked and I haven't really been able to find anything.

[Nick Giurleo]: So where do I go?

[Nick Giurleo]: Yeah, but data on- We're not doing follow-ups.

[Nick Giurleo]: To her response.

[Nick Giurleo]: Okay, just clarifying her answer, because I'm not quite understanding.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm just, the clarification I'm requesting here is, are we saying that various reports and data showing that there are certain needs are the same thing as saying that if we don't pass this overrides, that this X or Y will happen?

[Nick Giurleo]: Are those two exactly equivalent?

[Nick Giurleo]: They don't seem exactly equivalent to me.

[Nick Giurleo]: Good evening, Nick Giurleo, G-I-U-R-L-E-O 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm speaking in favor of this resolution.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm very happy to see it.

[Nick Giurleo]: Seniors really are important in Medford, so it's good to reach out to them in any way we can on issues that really will impact them.

[Nick Giurleo]: The way I see this resolution, it's just calling for a fairly innocuous community meeting to give our seniors some information on what these ballot questions are really all about.

[Nick Giurleo]: Given my personal opinion that

[Nick Giurleo]: approval of them will have a disastrous impact on seniors.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think it's very important to educate them on the issues so they can come to those conclusions themselves.

[Nick Giurleo]: My opinion is based on this just terrible cost of living crisis the country is facing.

[Nick Giurleo]: That crisis is due to fiscal irresponsibility.

[Nick Giurleo]: And it seems like these ballot measures, if approved, are really gonna be promoting that, which has led to this cost-of-living crisis.

[Nick Giurleo]: There really is, I think, some misinformation out there about what these ballot questions really are all about.

[Nick Giurleo]: We hear words being used, like investment, when we're not really saying what this really is, which is just taxation.

[Nick Giurleo]: People really are struggling.

[Nick Giurleo]: It's important to educate them on the issues so they can understand why they're struggling.

[Nick Giurleo]: And I would just highlight what the previous speaker said about the severe economic challenges that seniors throughout the country really are facing that I think we can all agree on.

[Nick Giurleo]: They're on fixed incomes.

[Nick Giurleo]: And data shows that when seniors on fixed incomes face unexpected increased costs, they're forced to forego necessities, necessities like food, necessities like prescription medications.

[Nick Giurleo]: really do have to be aware that recklessly raising taxes will have real consequences.

[Nick Giurleo]: You know, it's more than just harming the economic diversity of the city.

[Nick Giurleo]: In some cases, this could be life or death for people who are vulnerable.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I would encourage everyone to approve of this resolution.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you for listening.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Giorleo, G-I-U-R-L-E-O, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: I would just like to use my time tonight to speak in favor of Councilor Scarpelli's resolution and to provide a legal opinion on some of the legal issues that we've been talking about tonight.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm a licensed attorney, so I feel that might be appropriate.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm not speaking on behalf of any organization, just speaking here as a concerned citizen.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I've reviewed the materials here, I've reviewed Councilor Scarpelli's letter, the resolution, the law at issue, the rules at issue.

[Nick Giurleo]: Councilor Scarpelli claims that his rights under the statute 43-22 were violated.

[Nick Giurleo]: I have the statute here, I'll read from it.

[Nick Giurleo]: Any ordinance, order, or resolution may be passed through all its stages of legislation at one session, provided that no members of the council objects thereto.

[Nick Giurleo]: But if any member of the council objects, the measure shall be postponed for that meeting.

[Nick Giurleo]: Councilor Scarpelli says the statute's applicable, and that he invoked it at that June 25th meeting, and I agree with him.

[Nick Giurleo]: I was actually there at that meeting, and I heard him say that.

[Nick Giurleo]: I heard him invoke his right under that statute.

[Nick Giurleo]: Now, five financial papers were presented at that evening and passed through all stages of their legislation, as the statute says, at one session over Councilor Scarpelli's clear objection, an invocation of 4322.

[Nick Giurleo]: Therefore, a vote on those papers per the plain language of the statute here should have been postponed for the next meeting.

[Nick Giurleo]: My interpretation of that statute does differ from Councilor Tseng's interpretation.

[Nick Giurleo]: I think suspension of the rules through 32 was improper.

[Nick Giurleo]: State statutes do supersede all local rules of this council and any council in Massachusetts.

[Nick Giurleo]: And the council's own rules recognize this.

[Nick Giurleo]: If we actually look at the text of rule 32, the suspension rule, it states that suspension is only allowed, I'm quoting, insofar as these rules are not of statutory sources or origin.

[Nick Giurleo]: Rule 21 states that any finance paper appearing on the council agenda for the first time shall be automatically laid on the table for one week when such action is requested by any member.

[Nick Giurleo]: That's clearly of statutory origin, in my legal opinion here.

[Nick Giurleo]: By its plain language, you're basically codifying through that rule that we have in the council here, 4322.

[Nick Giurleo]: So in summary here, not only do I think the council violated 4322, I think it violated its own internal rules here.

[Nick Giurleo]: And more politically speaking, I would say our city really should be promoting financial transparency.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I really do believe a vote in favor here.

[Nick Giurleo]: about 30 seconds.

[Nick Giurleo]: I really do believe a vote in favor of here would do just that.

[Nick Giurleo]: So I'll support it.

[Nick Giurleo]: And also just stay for the record, my legal opinion here that, uh, I do believe Councilor Scarpelli has legally meritorious claims.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nick Gioia, 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: So there are a number of reasons why I'm opposed to all of these overrides, but there's one that I'd really like to bring to attention of the council tonight, just for the purposes of time.

[Nick Giurleo]: To me, it's just incredible how exceedingly vague they are.

[Nick Giurleo]: If you just read, for example, the one called To Invest in the Future of Medford Public Schools, we're talking about a humongous sum of money for general operations.

[Nick Giurleo]: What does that even mean, general operations?

[Nick Giurleo]: We have increased access to the arts.

[Nick Giurleo]: Well, what does that mean either?

[Nick Giurleo]: So you're asking the voters here to vote on something where they don't even entirely know what they're voting on.

[Nick Giurleo]: That's very concerning to me.

[Nick Giurleo]: Now, generally speaking, I think we have to acknowledge also that people really are suffering with taxation.

[Nick Giurleo]: The cost of living crisis in our country is incredible at the moment.

[Nick Giurleo]: There's a lot of economic data supporting that it's bad.

[Nick Giurleo]: So we're saying to ourselves, you know, increase taxes, but we're not really addressing the real impact on people who have to pay these taxes.

[Nick Giurleo]: right?

[Nick Giurleo]: Everyone wants services.

[Nick Giurleo]: Everyone wants to improve our schools, our roads.

[Nick Giurleo]: We have to acknowledge reality.

[Nick Giurleo]: We can't pay for things we can't afford.

[Nick Giurleo]: Another reason why people are leaving Medford, going other places, or not moving here in the first place is because it's too expensive to live here.

[Nick Giurleo]: And part of the reason, I'd say main reason it is, is because buying a home here requires you to pay enormous sums of money in property taxes.

[Nick Giurleo]: It's really an insufferable situation, and I really don't think these overrides are going to do anything to improve the economic diversity of our city, much less any of the other problems we've been talking about tonight.

[Nick Giurleo]: So for those reasons, I'm very opposed to these overrides.

[Nick Giurleo]: As much as I love the Medford public schools and I want to increase services, we have to be realistic here.

[Nick Giurleo]: We have to do what we're able to do.

[Nick Giurleo]: This is coming from a guy who went to Medford High, who was number one in his class.

[Nick Giurleo]: I really do care about this city, but I have to acknowledge reality first.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nicholas Jorleo, Forty Robinson wrote, I'm speaking tonight in opposition to this resolution.

[Nick Giurleo]: There's talk of efficiency, there's talk of, this is about making the process more open to other people, so they don't have to wait, because maybe people have to go to work tomorrow, or there's other reasons why they don't want to stay the whole night and wait for their turn to speak.

[Nick Giurleo]: To me, though, I just don't buy that.

[Nick Giurleo]: I really do think this is pretextual.

[Nick Giurleo]: I really do think this is an attempt to limit democracy in Medford.

[Nick Giurleo]: And it's very sad, it's very troubling.

[Nick Giurleo]: This is a public forum here.

[Nick Giurleo]: This body of elected officials is supposed to be accountable to the people of Medford.

[Nick Giurleo]: We should have an opportunity to stand up here and tell you what we think.

[Nick Giurleo]: Now reflected in the previous debate here on the registry resolution, it's very clear here that this council doesn't really want to listen to the popular will.

[Nick Giurleo]: Every single person who spoke here tonight was opposed to the registry resolution and it passed.

[Nick Giurleo]: Aside from one councilor who had a change of conscience and another who was opposed from the beginning, the resolution passed without any sort of consideration of the public input.

[Nick Giurleo]: And it really reflects how detached from reality the city council is.

[Nick Giurleo]: It's sad.

[Nick Giurleo]: They're not reflecting the popular will here.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm a person, I have to wake up at 6 a.m.

[Nick Giurleo]: to go to work every day.

[Nick Giurleo]: I don't wanna stay here all night to speak here for a few minutes about an issue.

[Nick Giurleo]: I wanna go to bed, I wanna go home, spend time with my family, relax, read a book, do something normal after work.

[Nick Giurleo]: But I wait, I wait my turn, I wait patiently, I stand up here, I speak, I say what I have to say.

[Nick Giurleo]: It's part of the process.

[Nick Giurleo]: We can't be limiting public availability here.

[Nick Giurleo]: We can't be limiting public participation in debate.

[Nick Giurleo]: This resolution is really, it's despicable.

[Nick Giurleo]: Mr. Scarpelli was exactly correct.

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you, I'm opposed.

[Nick Giurleo]: We must always recognize that- 30 seconds, Travis.

[Nick Giurleo]: You have 30 seconds, Pri.

[Nick Giurleo]: Good evening, Councilors.

[Nick Giurleo]: My name is Nicholas Shirleo.

[Nick Giurleo]: I live at 40 Robinson Road.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm a lifetime Medford resident, an attorney, and director of an international relations publication.

[Nick Giurleo]: I'm not speaking on behalf of that publication tonight.

[Nick Giurleo]: I am, though, speaking in opposition personally to the resolution.

[Nick Giurleo]: Putting aside why the council is spending time crafting legislation on international politics when our city faces plenty of problems on its own, the proposed resolution in effect supports the totalitarian government of Cuba, a socialist dictatorship with a horrendous human rights record.

[Nick Giurleo]: As Human Rights Watch, one of many organizations, has highlighted, Cuban government human rights abuses have included arbitrary arrests of activists and independent journalists, torture of prisoners, significant repression of free speech, and extrajudicial killings.

[Nick Giurleo]: Nearly a million people have fled Cuba's communist regime.

[Nick Giurleo]: Imagine some or many have called Medford their home.

[Nick Giurleo]: We should embrace these people, not tout Cuban government propaganda at our city council meetings.

[Nick Giurleo]: Put simply, a vote for this resolution is a vote in favor of the current regime.

[Nick Giurleo]: The United States of America should not be doing business with dictatorships.

[Nick Giurleo]: Why would Medford support the contrary?

[Nick Giurleo]: Thank you.