[Paul Donato Jr]: Hello, I'm Paul Donato Jr., and I'm running to be your next city councilor. I'm a lifelong resident, born here and married with four children, with two currently in the school system. I want to thank you for giving me three minutes to speak, because if I was in front of the Medford City Council, I would only have two. I love Medford. It's a city with rich past and great resources, and most importantly, amazing people. Our residents come from all walks of life and all age groups. And whether they've lived here for decades or just moved in, they'll all help make Medford what it is. What we all share is a desire to see Medford grow and thrive. To make that happen, we need strong leadership and a city government that truly works for the people. We need leaders with vision who involve the community in shaping the future. One example is the city's recent rezoning efforts. The problem? The community didn't ask for a complete overhaul of every neighborhood. I believe we should take a smarter, more focused approach, starting with key areas like Mystic F. Right now, it's just a busy road, but it could be so much more. With thoughtful planning, we could add housing, support local businesses, bring in new shops, and improve safety and the look of the area. But these changes come from real conversations with the community, not top-down decisions. Another area full of potential is Medford Square. We've had plenty of studies and good ideas like more housing, riverfront walking paths, restaurants, parking, and shops that people want. I've worked with the City Council and residents to turn those ideas into actions through workshops and open discussions. As we plan these improvements, we also need to think about our infrastructure, things like roads, buildings, utilities, and city services. We must ask, do we have enough police, firefighters, and DPW workers and staff and equipment to support these changes? I'll make sure infrastructure planning is a required part of the development or rezoning project. Smart rezoning and solid infrastructure planning are two key areas that I'll focus on as your new city councilor. But I'll also work with the new effective council to tackle other challenges and build a bright future Medford. I'd be honored to earn your vote and you can contact me at donato4medford.com. Thank you.
[Paul Donato Jr]: John, thank you and crew for having me here today.
[Paul Donato Jr]: So my name is Paul Donato, Jr. I'm a lifelong Medford resident. I was born here at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. I've never left. I attended Medford High School and Davenport School, Roberts Junior High. I've been all over the city. So the whole thing, you... Yes. Part of my work history is I'm in the hospitality industry, catering and concessions. If you come by the farmer's market on Thursdays, you'll probably bump into me and my children selling Italian ice.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you very much.
[Paul Donato Jr]: The reason why I want the job is I want to be the voice for the people of the citizens of Medford that aren't being heard. There's a lot of people out there that they don't have this, they don't have an opportunity to be heard. And I just want to be that person to represent the people of Medford.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, that's correct. There's a lot of stuff going on that people need to know about.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Charter change.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes. I don't agree with a lot of things that's happening. Zoning, taxes, cost of living, the infrastructure and roads.
[Paul Donato Jr]: In my opinion, Mr. Gabb is the gateway to the city.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And about 35 years ago, people on the council had an idea to change Mystic Ave and it was outvoted and it didn't happen. And I believe that that is where we should start. We should focus our attention on Mystic Ave commercial and industrial zoning. high-rises we have that whole side of uh... ninety-three right that we could put high-rises and mixed-use pedestrian walkways and bear garden things that uh... we deserve not only for us but bring some other people into it
[Paul Donato Jr]: So I don't think that the focus should be on neighborhoods and residentials at this time.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I think that we should focus on our commercial. We have Cane's Potato, the old Cane's Potato Chips, GE.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Cane's, yeah. Cane's Potato Chips, GE. I mean, there's high-rise buildings there. You can build as high as you want, or 14 stories, 30, whatever it may be, and it's not gonna take away sunlight and ruin the neighborhoods that we currently have. People move to this city, years ago in the 50s and 60s because of the neighborhood feel and the The comfortability of knowing your neighbors and I don't think that's happening anymore. I think that If they try to change the zoning in the neighborhoods It's gonna ruin some of that feel Yep.
[Paul Donato Jr]: you know they're focusing on parts of the city it's all residential and what they need to focus on i agree is the squares mystic ave so much that potential that we have here in the city that uh... we're not using right now those sites have been empty for a long time on mystic valley parkway you want housing that's the perfect place to start so i mean
[Paul Donato Jr]: So roads and infrastructure. Right. You can't put Band-Aids on the streets right now. OK. We need billions of dollars. Not millions, we need billions. So we've heard, yes. Billions of dollars. And I don't think that they should be just patching up roads. Let's start in the bottom. Let's put in new gas lines, water lines, sewer lines. While we're at it, cable and electric. I think that they could, you know, if they're digging up the streets and the streets open, let's move the pipes underground. Right. Right. So this way we can protect ourselves from future storms. I mean, we haven't really had any snow or some serious storms. We have been lucky. But we don't know what's going to happen 25, 50, 100 years from now. The infrastructure is over 100 years old. And I believe that we need to start there and getting some of the funds from the electric and the gas companies. And we'll let them pay for it. I know that when you dig up the street, they should be doing curb to curb. Pat's work. Yeah, no, I hear you on that.
[Paul Donato Jr]: In my study that I've been doing, the city of Medford does about 10 streets a year, complete streets.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And I think that we need to have a 10 year program and we need to build it up to 30 streets, to 40 streets a year. Okay. In order to get to that 10 to 15 year goal.
[Paul Donato Jr]: To fix all of our streets. It's a plan, yeah. Let the electric company and gas company pay for some of that infrastructure repair. They're the ones that are digging up our streets after it's just repaved. You just mentioned Winthrop Street, they repaved it. How many times? Three or four times they had to cut it up, open it, and start again.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And then move on. A little bit at a time. Now we're going to get into economic development.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Well, I know the current council voted to change Salem Street. We can start with that if you'd like.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I think that if a new council is elected, we can bring back some of those ordinances and things that they have changed. If we can change the council, we can change some of the things that they have brought forward. I know you're talking about this, but I don't think the council should be talking about issues not in the city of Medford. Okay. Right? I know we didn't bring it up, but... Yeah, no, it's... I mean, yeah, I mean... Let's focus on what's going on in our city.
[Paul Donato Jr]: It's not that I'm concerned about what's going on in other parts of the country and in the world. We all are, right. But right now, Medford needs us. Yep. And let's focus on Medford before we start focusing on the rest of the country and the world right now, in my opinion.
[Paul Donato Jr]: The people need to be informed. They're not being informed properly. Robocalls, brochures, let's, if we're gonna do this, let's do it right. Let's not rush it. Yeah, yeah, I mean just like the charter change it took the charter change was in process for 10 years, right? It took the charter commission two years to come up with a plan And they came up with a great plan. I thought so they came up with a great. I thought so at the last minute There was some doors, backdoor deal or whatever. Yeah, something happened because it got changed. Or they tried to change it. They tried to change it. And thank God the mayor stepped up.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And at the last minute she conceded to a few things. Right. And I think that she did a great job by keeping ward representation. And hopefully it passes the legislature.
[Paul Donato Jr]: She did. When it came to that.
[Paul Donato Jr]: She did hold her ground. She did a good job.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I do.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Let's bring in some big-name companies. Right now the mayor is looking at Budweiser for Market Basket. If Market Basket doesn't work, they have their own internal problems going on right now. my opinion again this is my opinion with uh... encore and everything that's going on and they're trying to build a soccer stadium there's nothing for families and children to do okay in that area and i believe that uh... something like just throwing it out there a great wolf lodge something for families that you know We can get a good tax break from a big hotel chain like that to come in. That's a perfect location. Indoor activities, something for families to do. Grandchildren, children of all ages can go in there and enjoy themselves. I really do hope that the mayor and everybody can get together and bring in a market basket. But if that fails, that's just something I'm throwing out there, in my opinion. big business is what we need.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Almost 10 years, I believe.
[Paul Donato Jr]: It's a big piece of property.
[Paul Donato Jr]: It goes all the way almost to the end of Riverside Avenue.
[Paul Donato Jr]: There's a lot of potential there. A lot of commercial growth.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Of course, they pay less taxes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I mean, there's a lot going on. We just did Medford, Malden, and Somerville, I believe, have a program for undeveloped children.
[Paul Donato Jr]: They just started.
[Paul Donato Jr]: That's correct. And I think that we need to start focusing on our children and their education and things for them to do. I wish I had some of those things when I was younger.
[Paul Donato Jr]: We did.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Papageno's. Actually, I worked at the movie theater. Yeah, so there you go.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And the square was always busy. There was a McDonald's in the square. I don't say to bring that type of,
[Paul Donato Jr]: I like the mom and pop, the Alamo, the nappies. We have some great cuisine and great restaurants in the city. I don't want to see chain restaurants like that come into the city. But more mom and pop stores would be nice. Just like they did in Somerville. I'm not going to mention Assembly Road.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Correct.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Housing and mixed use. Yeah, you can do a lot of different things. There's a lot of things can be done around there.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Oh, jeez. The least favorite thing to do in the city is right now to walk the streets. I've been walking the streets since I was a kid. Right. But walking the streets right now, the sidewalks and streets are in deplorable condition. It's dangerous. Yeah. A lot of ADA requirements that still aren't being met on a lot of streets. OK. I've noticed overgrown trees that are ruining the sidewalks. And I'm all for the trees, Methods of Trees City, and I'm proud of it. But we have to, I think, replace some of the trees of the roots that grow up and out.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And ruining our sidewalks to the new type of trees that grow down and don't disturb the sidewalks.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah, you've got to pay attention when you're walking.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah, it's a lot of raised sidewalks and concrete and asphalt.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Some of my favorite things to do in Medford? So, Medford is, without a doubt, Location, location, location. We are five to six miles from Boston. we're so lucky that we can hop into the North End, Chinatown, Government Center, State House, all of that stuff is right down the street. Like I said, location, location, location, everything in business, that's the first thing you look at is location. And I think that we have one of the greatest locations here in Medford, and some of the restaurants, the cuisine, everything we have here in Medford, it's family orientated.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Absolutely.
[Paul Donato Jr]: So that's why I said big business, but not too big business. Right. Yeah.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And right now, I think that that's the problem. They're trying to do the zoning all at once. And the residents and the citizens of Medford need to digest one thing at a time.
[Paul Donato Jr]: So let's, like, Mystic Ave, again, The gateway to the city, that's our gateway to the city. We know that the infrastructure is fairly new on Mystic Ave, and can handle some big high-rise buildings, and it's not gonna take away sunlight and air rights from some of the neighborhoods that they're currently talking about. I have a single-family home, and I don't want a monstrosity next door to me that's gonna take away my sunlight and air rights. even though the planes fly over. I still want to see the numbers on those tails when they drive by.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah, that's South Medford, North Medford, East Medford, Wellington Glen, we have Hillside, West Medford, and I don't think people started to realize about the zoning until the word West Medford came out. And then that woke people up.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I think that Salem Street, unfortunately, got the brunt of it right now. But if a new council is elected, maybe we can bring back some of those things that they have changed.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Do it the right way, and don't rush.
[Paul Donato Jr]: There's no rush. Again, Mystic Ave, the gateway to the city, start there. Don't start in the neighborhoods. Don't start on the congested areas. Start on Mystic Avenue. We have plenty of room. You want housing? There's got to be developers out there that would love to build a 14, 15-story building with mixed use and 10% affordable housing. I mean, we can make some concessions to get them in there.
[Paul Donato Jr]: We just set up a website. It's Donato, D-O-N-A-T-O, the number four.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Uh, dot com. All right. And my email address is Paul at Donato for medfit.com.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes. I'm sorry. Paul, P-A-U-L at Donato, D-O-N-A-T-O, the number for medfit, M-E-D-F-O-R-D dot com.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I appreciate you and your crew for having me here.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I would like to make a motion to accept the presentation except supply to anyone. Is there a second so we can get this over with and then we can finish what we need to do.
[Paul Donato Jr]: just everybody has a chance to look at it this weekend, right Mr. Chair?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Okay. Weren't we just told that we didn't have any time restraints tonight? Right.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Now, Mr. Chairman, may I make a motion to have the presentation the way it is so we don't delay anymore. We can discuss whatever you'd like to discuss afterwards, but we can accept the presentation as it is. So this way there's no argument or no discussion about eight slides, nine slides. It's the 20 slides minus the 21, slide 21, and then just... then we can nitpick through every slide afterwards.
[Paul Donato Jr]: So my motion was seconded, Mr. Chairman. Okay, so now- We can discuss the slides, but let's just approve the entire process, and then we can go through slide by slide if you'd like, but at least we know that the 20 slides have been approved.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I was at the school committee meeting last night, Mr. Chairman, and I was, you know, disappointed that they said that we were trying to stall the process. Well, right now is a motion on the floor, not to stall the process any longer. We can discuss like Brie said, individual slides or individual comments. but at least we can agree on the 20 slides to go forward. So now we don't have to worry about a six o'clock deadline. We don't have to worry about anything because the 20 slides have been approved.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I just don't want the school committee to think that we're stalling the process because I think that we amazingly- This process is our own.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, there are 22 slides. We're going to say because the thank you, after you look, the thank you would be slide number 22.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you. Slide 22 says thank you. The one prior to it is 21. I'm just asking that if we could delete slide 21 off the whole process, and keep those other slides, which are 20 slides, with the thank you, end with the thank you. Just remove slide 21, that's all I'm saying. And we could say, yes, and now you wanna individually, like Matt, and I agree with you, Matt, we can go through each individual slide. But in case we go past 6.15 or six o'clock, at least we know that these 20 slides are approved. that we've all looked at and we've had all weekend to look at them. The school committee thinks that we're stalling the process. And I don't want that. We've done such an amazing job on this presentation and it should be seen in its entirety. And I don't wanna see just eight slides be presented to the school committee. I think that these 20 slides should be approved. That's just my opinion.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I'll cable it until five 45, Mr. Chairman.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Clippership drive is one word. Clippership is one word.
[Paul Donato Jr]: So hopefully, um, put in the chat, the, uh, the phone number that he can dial in, but he probably can't see the chat.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I can text him if you'd like.
[Paul Donato Jr]: You could have voted already.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Every resource that I attack says two words as well. There we go. We'll rename the street and give you credit. All right.
[Paul Donato Jr]: All right, Melissa, I'll leave that up to you then.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I just asked Lisa to put it in the chat if she's available to have the phone number.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I believe Jim is back on.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Agreed. Anybody else?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah, put it to a vote, Ron. Put it to a vote. I would leave it the way it is, Ron. You work really hard on this. I'm sorry, my name is Paul.
[Paul Donato Jr]: This is Paul, I second Kathy's comments.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you, Ron, for allowing us to change the slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I would move on.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thanks again, Ron.
[Paul Donato Jr]: yeah. I thought we moved on.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Mr. Chair, can you clarify a yes and no vote, please? Yes is remove, a no is stay. No is a stay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[Paul Donato Jr]: How much time was wasted on that, Mr. Chair?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you, Kristen.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, thank you.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Okay, I'm curious, Mr. Chair. Barry Sutherland did start off her career as a special education teacher. And I believe Kathy Kay can attest to that if I'm not correct.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Japan, which is worldwide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, agreed, move on, Mr. Chair.
[Paul Donato Jr]: No.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes. If I may, it's 5.45 and my original motion from 4 p.m.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Is now back on the floor.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I'll give it five more minutes, Mr. Chair.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, Mr. Chair, we can move on to the next slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, we do.
[Paul Donato Jr]: It's 5.50. The five minutes are up. It's time for a vote. I'm sorry. Enough is enough. You guys wanted to play around, and I said this from the beginning. The game is over.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I make a motion to move to the next slide, Mr. Chair. Motion to move to the next slide, Mr. Chair. We're all set with this slide, right? No. No, Mr. Chairman. This was not the slide we were talking about. The motion to move to the next slide, Mr. Chair.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Correct, at this time we were gonna vote- I'll accept the slide 21, yes, that's the original motion at 4.05 PM.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I can stay here till 11.59. We can stay here all night if we have to, but we made a commitment
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Sure, we can stall some more, according to the school committee.
[Paul Donato Jr]: That's not the word he used.
[Paul Donato Jr]: This is Paul through the chair, Patrick. Thank you. Absolutely.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I'll agree to that, Patrick.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you, Matt. This slide is fine. I agree with it.
[Paul Donato Jr]: This is where I have issues, Mr. Chair.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I believe this is not in our scope.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you very much.
[Paul Donato Jr]: It's all I asked for at 4.05 PM.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Hey, thank you. Thank you very much.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Mr. Chair, I would like to make a motion to accept the presentation as is right now, like we tried at 4.05, Mr. Chairman. Please.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you, Kathy.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Aye.
[Paul Donato Jr]: All right. Subcommittee of the subcommittee on this presentation.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Motion adjourned.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Oh, okay. I'm rushing.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I volunteer Ron. I nominate Ron.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I would like to- Ron and Dr. Grace are the two, besides you, Mr. Chairman, are the two most trusted people on the, not trusted- Can I just make, so I have a list here of every slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Does Peter have his hand up?
[Paul Donato Jr]: I'll take the one that says thank you.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Now. Can I speak motion to adjourn?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Can I get a second? Second. All those in favor. Aye.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Mr. Chair, can a motion be made to see Ron's presentation in its entirety? Sure.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I second that motion.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I would second that amendment, Kathy.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Kristen has her hand up.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Mr. Chair.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Mr. Chair, I'm against that.
[Paul Donato Jr]: With the submissions, with the submissions was the agreement.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah, there was a motion before Matt's.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, Mr. Chair. What's the point of showing the 18 names if it doesn't show what the community input was? We know that there was 18 names because that's what the community voted on. Submitted, submitted. I'm sorry, I apologize. Submitted, submitted. All right, we're gonna- Submissions. Maybe we should put it, instead of alphabetically, put it in with the number of submissions, put it in that order. Would we agree for that? Agree with the order that the amount of submissions were made. So we know the order of the submissions with the 18 names. Anyone? All right.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Why do we have to use the word votes anyways? Why can't we just get rid of the 12 votes and just say that the first round of voting, we got Belinda Sutton, Jean Barry Sutherland, and Ms. Sutton. Why do we have to use the word votes? Those are our top three. We're gonna give votes to either one of them.
[Paul Donato Jr]: 12 years back in 2019.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I'd vote for that.
[Paul Donato Jr]: For the chair, I agree.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I agree with you, Grace. Thank you. I'd second that.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Very well said.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Do you mind repeating that for her so she can write it?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, Mr. Chairman.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I make a motion to move on to the next slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I'm sorry, I pass. A motion's on the floor to accept the slide and it was seconded.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Sure, and Gene Barry Sutherland got 423 submissions. You want to get rid of that, but you don't want to get rid of this.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And a motion was made. All right. We move this now? I will drop my motion if we just move on to the next slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: No, my motion's still on the floor.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Motion to move to the next slide, Mr. Chairman.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, if we moved on to the next slide, leave it the way it is right now currently and move on to the next slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And then I'll add an amendment to add that there's 423 votes were made for submissions were made for Jean Barry Sutherland. I mean, we can go on.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I understand that, so that's why I'm saying.
[Paul Donato Jr]: You're not going to be able to be presenters to the school committee next Tuesday.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Keep the slide the way it is presently, because I'm the one that made the motion. Keep the motion. Keep the slide the way it is. Right now, move on to the next slide as we were just informed that there's another meeting coming up and we'll never finish this. As Ron said, we have five, six hours more left to work to go. We're gonna have to go to the school committee and ask for another week to delay this. So let's just move on to the next slide, please.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I think it's great.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Motion to accept this slide.
[Paul Donato Jr]: The Underground Railroad, there's lots of things that you learn about at the Royal House.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I would love to take you on a tour.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I second Ron's wording.
[Paul Donato Jr]: That's a friendly amendment. I second Ron's amendment. My question.
[Paul Donato Jr]: to remove that line.
[Paul Donato Jr]: What were your words again, Ron, please?
[Paul Donato Jr]: No, but not your words. I'm talking about the way you said a legacy of.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Should we move on to the next slide, Mr. Chairman? Motion? Everybody happy with the slide?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Mr. Chairman, are we going to have to go to the school committee and ask for another week? Because as we only have 10 minutes left and we haven't even finished. We have another meeting this week.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Friday.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Ron's original, Ron's original.
[Paul Donato Jr]: That's why originally Ron did ask for two weeks. And unfortunately we voted for only given one week to June 7th. And we should have listened to Ron from the beginning and went with the two weeks because this is the problem that we're having. We're not going to finish.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you, Matt. I agree with you. You need to ask for an extension, please.
[Paul Donato Jr]: And Mr. Chair, if I say Lisa said that we had a 15 minute presentation when we need a half hour. So we need to put on the agenda that we need a half hour to 45 minutes for our presentation.
[Paul Donato Jr]: One minute extension, please.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Paul Donato Jr.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Paul Donato Jr.
[Paul Donato Jr]: For the clarifications to the chair brief, did you say that there was no persons of color in the city of Medford have anything named after them? Is that what you said?
[Paul Donato Jr]: But in that quote, you did say that there was nothing named after anyone's a person of color. Did you not say that?
[Paul Donato Jr]: There is a public building. You're incorrect there. Madeline Dugger Andrews is a person of color who a middle school is named after.
[Paul Donato Jr]: That's what this is a fact finding information about the city of Medford.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I'd like to thank Beth Fuller for talking so hotly about Miriam Morrissey. I knew her very well. She was actually one of my babysitters. I knew a lot of the people on the list personally, Ray Marano, Pauline Walker, and Jean Barry Sutherland. I just would... like you to consider Jean as one of your top choices. Teachers are arguably the most important members of our society and often are undervalued. They give children purpose, set them up for success as citizens of our world, and inspire them to drive to do well and succeed in life. On top of that, not only do they educate, but they help parent and mentor our children during the day. The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, and teachers are that critical point that makes a child ready for their future. I think past three years opened the eyes of many parents as to how much our children depend on their teachers. With that being said, what better way to honor an educator who dedicated her life to children, the city of Medford, and fighting for equality than to name the Columbus School after Jean Barry, who just so happens to be a former principal of the school. This also is our chance as a city to stand with all educators and let them know how much we appreciate them and support them, especially after this difficult year. In addition, Jean has met all four of the criteria rubric with almost a perfect score. We have given the city a chance to vote and the number of votes Jean has received speaks volumes. I hope you strongly consider Jean Barry as your choice. Thank you.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Dean Barry Sutherland.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Dean Barry Sutherland.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Can a motion be made, Mr. Chair, that we just move on with the three names? Just asking.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Can we- We want to make a motion. Is that a possible set so we can move on? We can get this done? Three names? Zach, we'll look at the floor.
[Paul Donato Jr]: May I, Mr. Chairman?
[Paul Donato Jr]: I believe that we've spoken as a group. We picked three names, 21 votes. We're on a time restraint. The school committee is looking for a name. We just came up with three. I mean, we have 30 minutes left.
[Paul Donato Jr]: What do you think? Is this something we can agree on? Finally, please.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes, Mr. Chairman.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yeah.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I also didn't have access through the chair and she did fix it though.
[Paul Donato Jr]: No.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I second Ron's amendment.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Aldonado Junior, lifelong Method resident. I was born here, 1966. I graduated in Method High in 1984. I have two children who already graduated, and I have two children currently in the Medford school system. I'm a food concessionaire in the summertime, and I do snow removal in the wintertime. Thank you.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Roll call vote.
[Paul Donato Jr]: No.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: My suggestion through you, it'd be each member pick three names off of this list, submit it to the chair. So this way we can have some sort of list and start from there. That'll narrow it down.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Yes.
[Paul Donato Jr]: Correct.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I believe he said at the beginning, it had to be public, right, Elisa? This had to be done in public?
[Paul Donato Jr]: Extremely small. I didn't receive an updated list today.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I make a motion to extend one week, Mr. Chairman.
[Paul Donato Jr]: I agree the way we're going right now. I don't think we'll make two weeks.
[Paul Donato Jr]: When was our next meeting, Mr. Chairman?