[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you to the organizers for this event tonight, so that these candidates can come and bring our message to the city of Medford. I'm Robert Capucci. I'm 47 years old. I'm the youngest of seven kids in my family. I'm a lifelong Medford resident. I graduated from Franklin Pierce College in 1994. I went into teaching, and then after a few years of that, I joined the Army Reserves, and I currently work in electronics, making laser scalpels for a company up in Lexington. I heard a lot of the candidates touch upon The issues that were sent to us, the city committee here sent us actually 30 different topics to discuss with five minutes to talk. So I chose five, and I'm going to just answer them directly. The number one I chose was the opioid crisis. I lost my best friend in 2003 to drug addiction. A couple weeks ago, at 46 years old, he had to bury a high school graduate, a classmate of mine. It's the number one killer of people under 50 years old in America, and it needs to be addressed. I think Medford should start leading the way in research and how many prescriptions are actually being given for opioids, to whom, for what purposes, and to investigate to our fullest to ensure every single prescription is right and proper. I will continue to support and advocate for worthwhile community programs like candlelight vigils, various drug addiction rehab facilities and groups, and other initiatives we have here in Medford such as Team Medford and the new drug officer recently appointed by the mayor's office. I'd also like to establish here in Medford a kind of a tough love approach. and send out coordinated, communicated messages to all the residents on a regular basis to get people to realize their problem and light a fire under their butts to get the help that they need so they stop dying and they can enjoy the holidays, child graduations, weddings, all the things that make this life worth living. The Medford City Council should start leading the way on this initiative. The next topic I want to talk about is inclusion. I think the best way we can be more inclusive of our diversity here in Medford is something that I've been calling for throughout my campaign and for years before. and it was highlighted just last night in these chambers by the excellent speech of Dr. John Stirella of Metcalf Street in two words, term limits. If we had a three-term term limit for the elected right now in Medford, there would be five open seats on this council. for this city to take advantage of and run for. There would be four seats on the school committee. We'd have two new challenging candidates for mayor. Nothing else would lead the way to include the diverse population we have in Medford so that we can hear from all different kinds of people to come up here and act, all different new ideas, new initiatives to include all of Medford in our wonderful city. Parking. I recently had a conversation with the manager of Carol's Restaurant. We discussed something that was recently featured on a news program, Chronicle. That report was called the Amazon effect, whereby mom-and-pop shops across Medford, across Massachusetts, across the country are getting walloped because more people can easily just go online and order from various, you know, internet services, and they're not being able to keep up with these internet companies, the mom and pop shops. So what cities and towns are doing to combat this and make our city squares more attractive is Offer no-fee parking. I lead the way to get us out of the contract with Republic Parking. We need to revitalize these city squares. That's the best way to do it. If we offer no-fee parking with strict two-hour limits so that we don't have that problem we used to have that's probably still going on on the outskirts of the city, we make sure that people that come here and park and leave their cars all day, after two hours, they're towed at their own expense. Taxes. I am actually for the city to collect more taxes and have more taxes in their coffers. We need these funds for hiring more police, firefighters, teachers, teachers' aides, infrastructure repairs. What I don't believe in... 20 seconds. Oh, really? That quick already? Gee whiz. Well, what I don't believe in is constantly raising the tax rate. What I think is what we do is we create more taxpayers, and the way we do that is to cut taxes. With my last few seconds, I want to make an appeal to the 28,000 registered voters who don't vote. Come out and vote on November 7th for Robert Cappucci. Thank you. That was really good.
[Robert Cappucci]: Testing, 1, 2, 3. Good? All right.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address for the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. Over the centuries of this nation, we've always welcomed immigrants to the United States. Me, personally, I encourage more immigration to the United States, especially if it's from countries that oppress their people in any way. But we do have a supreme law of the land, and it is the U.S. Constitution. And under the U.S. Constitution, there are laws that govern how one becomes a citizen of the United States. For a city to automatically dictate what the police can or can't do in terms of immigration questions undermines the very reason it makes this country good to come to. You're subverting the Constitution. which for centuries has helped a lot of people come from impoverished or oppressive nations to come here and build a much better life. One of the things I want to talk about is the cost of illegal immigration. While it's true that the last speaker said it's something like $12 billion that they're putting back into the economy, at the same time, a year, it's $135 billion that's coming out for the cost of illegal immigration to the United States. On the state level, among the 50 states, it's $88 billion a year. At the federal level, it's $45 billion a year. So the costs coming in don't— even come close to the cost going out in terms of prison upkeep, schools, hospital, all sorts of things that these costs rise on. I don't think that for a city like Medford, for a group like Safe Medford to come along and, you know, this has nothing to do with building fear or anything else. It's a matter of respect for the law. in becoming a citizen of the United States. It's an affront, in my opinion, to the many millions of people who have come here the legal way, to all of a sudden just basically grant amnesty, which is essentially what this is, by dictating to the police that, quite frankly, I don't think the city council has really the experience to tell police officers what their policy should be. And under the guise of the feel good appeal to the emotions of making Medford a welcoming city, like Mr. Penta said, we've always been a welcoming city. I'll leave you with this question. Is Medford being a welcoming city by basically subverting the rule of U.S. constitutional law by not enforcing it, by policy, or would we be a welcoming city by doing something very simple that this city does not do? When a new resident or a new business comes to this city to open shop or to live here, Medford does not send them a welcome packet saying, here's where Wright's Pond is. Here are some discount coupons to the Chevalier Theater or to Carol's Restaurant. Here are the city services. Here's when we pick up trash in your neighborhood. That's a welcoming city? It's not. But circumventing the laws governing immigration under the U.S. Constitution is? I beg to differ. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I'll try to be very brief. I don't know anybody from my side of this issue who doesn't want to see Medford become a sanctuary city. I didn't hear a single one of them say they oppose immigration. In fact, I started out when I first spoke saying I encourage immigration, especially from other countries where there's oppression or just subpar standing living standards. It's difficult to embrace this issue on so many levels. But I really think it's, I mean, people want to come up here and say that, you know, just saying that the reasons why we're for honoring the law is somehow related to the Nazis or white privilege. And then they want to say that the statistics we bring up are fear mongering. It's just a little hypocritical, Mr. President. I also want to address the point of being for limited government, but also being for a police force in Medford that's not a full force. It has nothing to do with limited government. It has everything to do with government's first duty, in my opinion, which is protection of the citizens. We are about 30 officers insufficient on our police force. In the current policy of not ask an immigration status. If that's what the police department now deems fit, then that's what I support. But make no mistake, what the policy for the Safe Medford group is, is to actually put into law, taking away any possibility of police asking, should the question arise about immigration status. You know, it was actually President Obama who put forward the secured community program which Massachusetts never actually signed on to, which automatically, if there was any question of immigration status, that fingerprints and mugshots had to be sent to ICE. Massachusetts never signed on to that. joined on to the Secured Communities Program. And I really don't know why. And whether it's not constitutional law or state law, I mean, there's no skirting around with legal jargon the fact that there are laws. that govern legal citizenship in the United States. And my side of the argument is that we just honor these laws. It has nothing to do with white supremacy or Nazism. It's just a simple matter of respecting the law because we are, as the founding fathers said repeatedly, a nation of laws. And those laws have to be respected. Are you circumventing the very reason why it's a good country to come to. And finally, one of the things that gets established when you establish a state or a city as a sanctuary city, you're creating a magnet for illegal residents to come to, which makes it pretty easy for ICE and for whoever was in power of immigration to know where to go to. So it's actually not a service to undocumented, illegal residents of the United States. You're actually putting a target on their back. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Thank you. Unfortunately, I'm here again to address this council on the matter of the upkeep of Evans Street. Spoken to you for years about it at the council chambers, at the last meeting across the courtyard, and here I am in the little theater addressing you again tonight, and I really hope to God this is the last time. The last meeting, This council informed me, which I then informed my neighbors on Evans Street, that Evans Street wasn't on the list. And then we came to find out that that was a miscommunication, that Evans Street was on the list. And DPW workers came to Evans Street and they mapped out with colored spray paint the water pipes on Evans Street that are going to be replaced. And we were told, a friend of mine, one of my neighbors, Shawna Smith, has a friend in DPW who told her that work would begin on September 11th. It's September 19th, the work hasn't begun. So my friend Shauna went on C-Click Fix Sunday night to report to the city that Evans Street is one big pothole. We come to find out there that the work wasn't started on September 11th, as promised, because the work order was assigned to the science department. Terrible incompetence on the behalf of this mayoral administration, or it's on purpose. We are at our wit's end on Evans Street. And this is the proper format, I think, for the current mayoral administration, because it's all an act. We're frustrated. on Edmonds Street. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Councilor Dello Russo. Mr. President, if I can address that. It's disparaging for 30 houses on Evans Street to be paying taxes for the last 67 years in the tune of millions of dollars and not have proper basic services done for the residents of Evans Street. That's disparaging. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. This is a fraud. This kind of pertains to what Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn is talking about, but I had to leave that meeting that night. Now, with the breakdown of that money, can I ask, was Evans Street a part of that?
[Robert Cappucci]: From what I heard, what happened was after being told the street was going to be fixed this year, it's not this year. That's true.
[Robert Cappucci]: This year?
[Robert Cappucci]: So how are they going to do that work in the winter? Exactly. And how can you say that they're going to do water main repair without, I mean, to get to the water main, you have to dig up the street, so obviously.
[Robert Cappucci]: I don't know about it being a blessing, Councilor Knight. The residents on my street, knowing that I come to a lot of the city council meetings, they have been asking me for months now,
[Robert Cappucci]: Right, I do not hold this council accountable for the street and road repair on Medford Street pertaining to this year. It's been decades since the street has been serviced. I speak tonight in favor of Councilor Lungo-Koehn's resolution to have the specificities on future appropriations outlined because The Administration put out you know a letter that in good faith these Councilors looked at and then notified the residents on my street who for years have been wanting heaven Street to be fixed and I think it was appropriate for you to do so, but then the along the chain of departments that it has to go through, the engineer's office, the purchaser's office, then out for bids, then back to the mayor to choose the bids. It was a serious ball dropped. I wish the residents on my street weren't told that it was going to be done in May. I hope that you stand resolved to hold whatever administration is in power to, you know, doing simple things like street and road repair, especially when it's gone for decades neglected In a city that, through different accounts, I mean, I sat through all the subcommittee meetings on the budget, and I see how expenditures not paid get thrown back into the general fund, to where it's now ballooned into tens of millions of dollars, and to tell any resident, the people that came up before, on brookings or curbs, or go up Adam Street on the hillside, go on any street up in the heights, for this city to be sitting on so much money, And simple things like road repairs aren't being done. It's a little disheartening, for lack of a better term. I hope that you all vote in the affirmative on Councilor Brianna Longo's current excellent resolution. Thank you. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Just really brief. I completely understand what Councilor Marks is saying, but on the flip side, what Councilor Lungo-Koehn is saying is the presentation of these appropriations coming in as dire and needed and at the last minute to invoke that It's it's almost it's almost like sets up the council to look bad. It's it's I think it's quite frankly the
[Robert Cappucci]: So, you know, there's different ways that we can handle the question, right? I understand that council of Councilor Knight, but when they do come up at the midnight hour I I don't think that this resolution lacks teeth. I think what council Lungo current is doing astutely is Sending a message not only to the mayor but a separate message to the the people that you guys represent that we are gonna do something about your taxpayer dollars.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I was one of several candidates who reconsidered this letter that we signed on Friday during the day of the lottery, a letter that was just hastily written. It wasn't notarized. It wasn't written under perjury or penalty, going back on it. Considering the costs, I mean, I've been coming to these city council meetings for 10 years and I've been asking for costs to be redirected. And these are monies that are gonna be allocated and spent elsewhere, whether it's on the primary or not. The money essentially is already gone. Essentially, it's already gone. I wasn't the only candidate who reconsidered. I don't want it to be presented tonight that just one person, because we did... I was only notified by one person. Right. I don't know who else has bowed out. And here we are tonight, notifying you, Mr. President. After discussion from some of the candidates, it wasn't hidden from other people who signed. It was presented that way. But with all due respect, the prior speaker was texted on Saturday and informed. I don't know. Right. I'm just saying it in full disclosure because I don't want it to be portrayed or perceived that anything was covertly done. In considering not having a primary, I mean, the weight of denying citizens an election is something, you know, Something that weighed heavy on my mind. So I thought about it and I reconsidered speaking for myself. I am not obligated to to have to disclose reasons Why I reconsidered? Two people. I'm 47 years old. I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions. I reconsidered based on discussion with a sitting council member, as a matter of fact. And I won't mention any names. I'll just say that it made better sense, and it was better judgment, and it was better part of the democratic process to have an election and let the voters decide. Full disclosure, I'm just up here tonight letting you know that everything was above board. It was a simple thing. I greatly respect you for bringing that home rule petition.
[Robert Cappucci]: And I understand that, but things happen and people change their mind. Things happen. People change their mind all the time. Thank you. Your mind changed as well at times. I don't think we should deny an election to the citizens of Medford in a primary.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I just have one question through the chair. That fixed rate that's being offered per kilowatt hour, is that locked? Like, what happens if something comes up in the future where they could get a lower rate? Could we opt for the lower rate? Thank you, Mr. President. Ms. Hunter, could you answer that?
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I would just respectfully ask through the chair that the Board of Health look into this, because there was just a report in the news that in Boston, many trucks were in violation of health codes. So please keep that in mind.
[Robert Cappucci]: Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street.
[Robert Cappucci]: Chuck Daugherty, 173 Wilburn Street, and I'm not in favor.
[Robert Cappucci]: Collin McGowan, 173 Medford Street.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Just to address the need for more businesses in Medford, you can go across this city and see tons of empty storefronts. Bringing in a new business that's offering jobs, that's more revenues for the city of Medford, could be used to offset other things that we need, like police and equipment for the firefighters and fixing streets and roads. That's number one. Number two, I think Nick and Michelle made a really good case. to address some of the points that were just made about a lack of smell, about a lack of noise, about it being a good location. In reference to what Councilor Knight brought up under the Mass State Laws, I've seen this body of proof permits with stipulations that in six months we'll revisit it to take a look at what the impact was. I hope that you would consider that in considering this business.
[Robert Cappucci]: That's not an option for these people. But I say that based upon the fact that they've done their homework and they've done their research. And I'm confident that within a few months, you won't find the adverse impacts. I mean, these people are loving their dogs. This is going to be a good business for Medved. Me personally, I would love to live right next door. to a dog kennel. I love dogs. I've grown up with dogs my whole life. I lost my dog last summer. I got another one three weeks later. I think this is nothing but a win-win for the city of Medford. I strongly urge this board to approve this permit. Thank you for your time, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you. Name and address for the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Through the chair, thank you, Councilor Falco, for yielding. some time to me. Um, I just want to talk about a few things. Uh, I, I definitely echo everything Mr. Starella just said, uh, in, in spades. I just want to echo a few things from what, uh, Councilor Marks was, was talking about. Um, he's mentioned one street that hasn't been done in six decades. That's, that's my street, Evan street. I've been before the city council before, uh, And it's a very sad commentary on the city of Medford. to see a budget of $167 million when residents on my street, Mr. President, were told by at least two Councilors that the repairs that were in dire need, critical condition, were going to be done this May. I came to the city hall and I spoke to the engineer who told me all the red tape it has to go through. about a contract. A neighbor of mine told me yesterday that upon speaking to somebody in City Hall, I won't mention any names, said that contract is now having problems, so it doesn't look like our street's going to be done this year. After being told by several people that it was going to be done, the residents of Evans Street are outraged. Mr. President, when we're paying two income taxes, excise taxes, property taxes that go up every year, a new connectivity fee coming at us in the water tax account that has a surplus in it, to see a $167 million budget that's about to be approved, as Mr. Storella said, that 80% of it is going towards salaries and the infrastructure repairs not being done, It will be reflected on this body. It's a primary reason why I am running for city council this year.
[Robert Cappucci]: I can. If that threatens you, good. Good. Because we need new voices on the city council, Mr. President. We need new people that are going to come in here and have the political will to finally stand up and say no. This is not a political step. I know that, Mr. President. Thank you for reminding me that. The reinvestment in the arts that Councilor Marks spoke to is a stabilizing tax base, especially with that Chevalier Theatre. That's only going to get $97,000 this year under this budget. It's outrageous. It's outrageous, especially when this downtown business district is suffering so much for the extended repair of the Craddock Bridge that's now added another year, another $10 million to it. Far too many residents of this community are at their wits end with vital repairs that are not being done and seeing a budget increase to $167 million. I respectfully ask you to vote no on this budget until such a time that it reflects adequate responsibility for all the millions of millions of tax dollars that these residents are paying. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilor Falco.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Name and address the director, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans street. Just to bring up some of the points that Mr. Penta was talking about, excuse me, Tomorrow night, there is a meeting of the Community Preservation Commission. It's at the high school, I believe, at 5 o'clock. The funds collected so far is $1,200,000, as I believe you know from the subcommittee meetings on the budget. What you also know, too, is that, I mean, this also connects to what Lisa was saying. I forget your last name. I'm sorry. The property taxes, in Medford, as the assessor said, are going up an average of 10% to 14%. And he said that based on historical records. So the CPA tax is going to be collecting a lot more money, too. One other clarification I want to make is I was opposed to the CPA in 2015. And when it passed, the very next day after the election, I went to the Office of Elections Secretary of State's office, and I asked them, how do we get rid of this? And they said, you don't. There's only one way after five years. Now, maybe what Mr. Penta said is true, but they didn't tell me that, about the city council being able to put it on the ballot. But what was told to me from the Secretary of State's office is, It can only get on the ballot to be repealed the same way it got on the ballot to be passed. And that's you have to go out in citizen effort drive to go out and get the signatures, to get this thing on the ballot, to get it repealed. And one final thing I want to say about the matching from the state is only half of the cities and towns have the CPA. but all 351 cities and towns pay into the fund that funds the towns that have it. So an unfortunate aspect of this is that lesser affluent communities that don't have the CPA end up, through their taxes, funding more affluent towns. We really don't need the CPA. I definitely agree with the purposes of it. The preservation of historical landmarks and open spaces, But Medford already sits on surpluses and budgets. We have a property tax that goes up every single year. We have surpluses in other accounts. There are other ways that we can do the objectives of the CPA without having the CPA. And if Mr. Pinter is right of some way of freezing this or reducing it, please, By all means, do that, because as the last speaker said, this is what's on the mind of the people. How are people going to upkeep their properties when they have the connectivity tax coming at them? when they have the perpetual property tax, when they have the meals tax, and the sales tax, and two income taxes, and fees to go to Wrights Pond, and fees for this, that, and the other thing. Gene Neuzil's right. This is death by paper cuts. And this body has the power to do something about that. I mean, these are our neighbors. We know the people who own these restaurants out here. We grew up here, our whole lives. Please, common sense. Please, thank you, Mr. President. It was voted on by the people. If you can get it repealed, we'll review the paper. The people voted it in. Right, and I sat at a polling center on election day, and as people came in, Mr. President, and they looked at that doctor's prescription of a ballot question, they went up to the poll worker and they said, hey, can you explain this to me? And when they were told, basically, it's a surcharge on your profit, oh, I'm not voting for that. You're right, you're right. It was a citizen effort drive, and kudos to Roberta Kammerer for what she did. I don't agree with the CPA, but I definitely admire her efforts. It was a job well done. But it was also done in a way that wasn't specifically clear to the voters of this community as to what was actually going to happen. And that, you're right, it was voted on by the people. What did he say? 1,300 people didn't even vote on it. Most people didn't even turn it over. More effort should be made to clarify exactly what was being voting on, and that there was even a ballot question. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Excuse me, I'm Rob Caputi of 71 Evans Street. I want to thank Mr. Penta for bringing this up. I just want to say, I mean, this is a very important issue to me. What's actually going to happen with this tax and all the other taxes is the businesses in residence, they're not going to pay it. They're going to pass these costs along to people that rent, to people that buy goods and services. You know, I've been sitting in these subcommittee meetings that this honorable body has been having on the budget. And to see an issue like this come, and then to hear different department heads, like the chief of police talking about he asked for five new police officers, and that was denied. It's explained off that they're going to be hiring civil dispatchers, and that will bring in more police. But in actuality, that's not really going to bring in more police. I mean, it's just very confusing and frustrating to the citizens who are seeing things like my street, Evans Street, and all the infrastructure repairs that are needed across the city. to see other ways of bringing money into the city rather than, you know, direct tax or new connectivity fees, to look at the budget that's being proposed here, to see only $97,000, I think the figure is for the Chevalier Theatre, that could be bringing in so much more money, an increase to the investment, to that treasure of a theatre where we could actually, bring in enough money by bringing in bigger names with more investment to that almost 2,000 seat theater to see the increase in sales and whatnot to our downtown business district that's being crippled by the Craddock Bridge repair, and then use that money to actually really reduce water rates and property rates. and so many other things. $1,200,000 taken in by the Community Preservation Act. To see that when we know we have surpluses in other areas, I mean, to me, that's money taken out of the economy. It's going away from from people being able to pay a better rent in Medford or a better mortgage or better prices for goods and services. I think Mr. Penter is right. I think this body should stand up on this and sit down with the mayor in the subcommittee meetings that I've been going to. Sometimes department heads coming without full facts on each decimal point. Sometimes department heads not even be in there. Sometimes the Hormel commission department wasn't there on Saturday morning, I believe it was. And then wondering why is there a Hormel commission in a park commission? Why isn't that one commission? Yeah, I am wondering about that.
[Robert Cappucci]: I guess that explains that. But why can't, through maybe Hormel petition, we combine the two, like we've done in other things, like Councilor Marks brought up on Saturday morning at the subcommittee meeting, different ways that this body has brought other like the Traffic Commission, I think it was, and the Off-Street Parking Commission into one. That's what I'm hoping to see more of when I go to these subcommittee meetings. Streamlining government, making it smaller, more responsible, more effective, more transparent and accountable. To see all these dollar amounts, too, that are coming in for $450,000 that was budgeted for 2017. They only spent $420,000. Well, what happens to that other $30,000? Oh, it just gets rolled over into the general fund and not being applied to next year's spending. I'm sorry, Mr. President. Continue. Is there a point of information to be made? Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say that, you know, I mean, you guys are very smart and intelligent people. You see what's going on. $167 million being proposed to spend this year, but not in areas where we could actually bring in more money and provide better rates on all sorts of taxes to the citizens. It's a shame and it's disconcerting, and I hope that the public is watching during this election year. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank Vice President Marks for bringing this up tonight. I mean, I don't know how many times I've been up here speaking about Evans Street. With all due respect, I respect the intentions of bringing in technology to look at the roads. But, you know, as Councilor Marks said, he's gotten, what, how many pictures came in? I think we know what the conditions of the roads and streets are. And to try to make it a little bit bigger of a picture, These kind of improvements go towards growing our community. I want more people to move and live in Medford. I mean, with the problems we're having with airplanes and everything else, more improvement on parks, which has actually been excellent in the last year and a half, I have to say. The park improvements have been good. But if we add this million dollars, To further improve our city and make it aesthetically pleasing and get more people to move here To make our community stronger. I think it would be great and to make it a zero-sum game I know the council is in the administration and a lot of people don't want to hear this but perhaps a 20% reduction and certain pay grades might help to offset certain costs so that we can make these improvements to make our city a much better place to live in, move to, raise a family, and improve our schools. I mean, the facade at Medford High School, I think, is still in need of a million dollar repair. It's a figure that I heard. I could be speaking out of turn. I don't know. that exactly, but I do know it does need repairs. And moving forward, I would hope that when you look at this budget that you're going to debate, we look into certain areas, because I took a look at it before coming up here. You know, to see millions of dollars in the pay grades and having to beg for a necessity like streets and roads kind of makes no sense to the people that are at home watching, seeing their water tax go up, their property taxes go up every year, a surcharge on the property tax, the excise taxes that I think are specifically supposed to be used for street and road improvements. And what are we getting for it? A city councilor who has to bring up again for how many years now, a simple thing like fixing the streets and roads to make Medford strong. Take that slogan off of a T-shirt. Let's put it into reality. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I want to thank you all for this discussion. I think this is one of the biggest pebbles in the pond. When we're paying for water that falls out of the sky, I mean, look at it from the perspective of the businesses. who might have to raise their prices a little bit for goods and services. Other residents who, like the city treasurer said before this council a couple months ago in talking about going after delinquent taxpayers, she said it's not fair to the residents who are, quote, sacrificing new cars and vacations. Well, why do you think that is? It's because they're paying for water that literally falls out of the sky. Is God going to be charged this new connectivity tax? I don't think so. The Metro residents and businesses are. And it would help the overall local community to really get a grasp on this before and not just keep letting it go. I mean, businesses are losing in this square so much money because of that Kratik Bridge. I know one proprietor, since it's happened, has lost close to a million dollars in business. When you add these taxes and fees on it, I mean, it becomes a priority that really shouldn't just slip through your fingers and get away. I respectfully request that you get a firm grasp on this and get the job done, please, sooner than later. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Through the Chair, thank you, Councilor Lungo-Koehn for taking this out of order under suspension of the rules. I don't want to seem selfish about Evans Street coming up here again, because I know there's a lot of streets and sub water and gas systems across Medford that need to be looked at. But I'm a little disheartened before this body tonight to come and speak on this matter yet again. Through the administration's office, through the DPW, a letter came out saying that Contracts would go out in May for the work that needs to be done on Evan Street that members of this body have said in the past is in the top five of worst condition streets in the city of Medford. When that letter came out, it prompted some city councilors, when they saw it, in good faith, to tell neighbors of mine and myself that work is gonna be done this spring specifically this May. So a week and a half ago, one of my neighbors, Mr. Rob McGuire, knowing how often I come to the council meetings and discussions I have with the honorable members of this body, asked me point blank on Facebook, hey, well my nickname's Booch, hey Booch, when are they gonna do the repairs on Evans Street? So I said, I'm not sure, I only know what we were told, what you were told. And then another neighbor of mine in the discussion on Facebook posted the picture of the letter that came out. And it was said that last week somebody was going to bring it up for discussion on this body. And for whatever reason, probably a good reason, it didn't come up for discussion. And I was going to speak last week on it. So the next day, last Wednesday after work, I came right to City Hall. And I went into the engineer's office, Cassandra. And I asked point blank. Neighbors are asking me. We were told. that work was going to be done this spring, this May. She told me, and this is no offense, but these are the slow wheels of government. Medford has been waiting over six decades, not Medford, but Evans Street, for repairs that really need to be done. We had a water pipe that burst just before Christmas, this past Christmas, on Evans Street. But what the engineer told me, who also I know is constrained by a lot of projects that are going on, but what she said was, I'm finalizing the contract now. Then it goes to the purchaser's office. Once it gets approved there, then it goes out for bids. Then once the bids come in, the mayor has to choose the best one. So I said, well, my neighbors are asking me, when is this work going to be done? Possibly July. I'm sorry, Mr. President, but with all due respect, I really don't see it happening this year. And now you have to account for there's 26 houses, four on the corner, that's 30 houses, paying at least $1,200 in property taxes, paying God knows what in water taxes. Even the people that rent there, their rent's going up because of property taxes, the surcharges on property taxes. We're paying a lot. I did a ballpark figure. We're talking over six decades. We're talking millions of dollars in taxes from this one street. I'm here tonight to tell you that I spoke to my fellow residents, and I'm not even here to ask for the work to be done anymore, Mr. President. A year and a half ago, this administration ran on a promise on her platform that she was going to dust off the master plan. A year and a half later, Mr. President, there's another inch of dust on the master plan. The citizens on Evans Street are disappointed, Mr. President. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Councilor Lungo-Koehn.
[Robert Cappucci]: If you drive around the corner on Pinkett Street, the potholes there, you have to navigate around them to not put damage on your car. The potholes on Evans Street, I mean, there were baseball size rocks coming out of the, out of the gravel, out of the street.
[Robert Cappucci]: There's a lot of disappointed people on Evans street. And this is my name.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. This matter about the trucking has come up at the Method Police community meetings, and even if they had all of the equipment, they can't do it because of the traffic that would back up behind those trucks. I forget the detective's name. I directly asked him to do this. from seeing the way 18 wheelers turn right here out at the point at the, at the citizens bank out at century bank, uh, they physically can't do it even if they had had the equipment. I, I would support, uh, what councilor Knight offered, which is have the state police do it outside the city limits. So as not to congest the city, they do it on route 16.
[Robert Cappucci]: I brought this up at the community police meetings. They said right out to me, they physically can't do it because of the traffic nightmare that would happen. Those truck pullovers, they take a long, long time to do. I'm just giving you the information I got directly from the Method Police. And also, too, on the matter, if I could. One of the information, Vice President Fox.
[Robert Cappucci]: It's not that they're not willing. It's just that we're a current force of only 104 officers and not having the necessary capacity to do these things. They're definitely willing. They definitely want to do it. But they looked at it, Councilor, and it's physically not possible for them. They want to do it. Of course they want to do it and provide public safety at the same time. I hope I didn't give them this information.
[Robert Cappucci]: I'm sorry. I would agree with that. Talk directly to the police and I'm sure they're going to confirm exactly what, what I just said. On the matter of what Councilor Dello Russo brought up about the low-flying planes and the noise, I read an article. Maybe some of you saw it. I posted it around Facebook. There is a problem in Los Angeles out of LAX. It's a health problem. These low-flying planes are producing something called ultrafine particles that are hurting respiratory systems of people that are going to the hospital. These low-flying planes, I mean, I know the city council, it's up to our state and our federal delegation to do something, but maybe the city council as a body can look into this article. I can send it to you and see what their findings were. It's in communities 10 miles around LAX, we're what, seven, eight miles away from Logan, and we are, from that presentation given by Massport a few weeks ago, we are ground zero. Medford is directly being assaulted by these things. I mean, the noise is definitely a problem. But I went to the hospital a couple weeks ago because I had upper respiratory problems. I got some medication. There was one person waiting. in the urgent care waiting room and two people on either side of me with the same problem. Another person had it that I'm currently seeing now. And we should probably look into, you know, medical records going on and determine if these ultrafine particles are invading our airspace and falling on our schools and everything else. The noise could be a small problem compared to something that could be much larger. Thank you for your time, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Before they leave, if I could ask them some questions through the chair. Having not read this report yet, and I intend to, I'm a little bit in the dark, my question pertains to the funding grants that are possible. From what I'm hearing tonight, this sounds like it's like expressly for like some kind of natural disaster where health concerns are. But through the funding that we're now available for, what kind of grants could the city of Medford apply for? Such as a few weeks ago, Councilor Knight brought up the EpiPens for first responders. Could we get funding for that? Perhaps for police?
[Robert Cappucci]: Oh, specifically just for natural disasters? Yes. Well, then I guess that answers all my questions. I don't have to address them. But one last question to the city. I know Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has brought up often hiring a full-time grant writer. Has the city of Medford done that yet? Not to my knowledge. OK. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you. Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I had opportunity to also attend last night's informational discussion. And while I am thankful that the meeting took place, I'm not really optimistic from what I learned last night. Uh, they started the meeting out saying that, uh, present trends of airplane noise are either going to continue or get worse. And, uh, I'm led to believe that it's actually going to get worse. Now as, as, because there's three new airlines, uh, that are going to start. 11 new airlines. Some of them, uh, double deckers, uh, that'll be coming in over the next, I think you president, uh, Caraviello said last night, one starts next month.
[Robert Cappucci]: From what I heard the presenters, excuse me, say last night was, complaints have skyrocketed. And the information they put out last night was from a study that, I don't think it's half done, Councilor, I think it is done. I think this slide show, was actually the result of the study that I asked the guy after the meeting. I think the guy's name from MIT is Professor Hanson or something like that. And it's a taxpayer-funded study that I think more complaints to Massport is good and should happen. But what I really think needs to happen is that we have to address our state delegation, Congresswoman Clark, Senators Markey and Warren, because these are the people that have the political authority to do something. I looked up, before coming last night, because I thought the airlines were going to be here, the amount of profits that these airlines are reaping. And I am all for that, 100%. Make as much money as you can. But when they're making a combined $29 billion profit, They can afford to spend a few dollars to fly these planes out over the ocean, make a U-turn, gain the altitude, so they don't have to be subjecting our schools possibly to cancer, so that they don't have to be subjecting our city to this excessive noise. I mean, you heard some of the comments in here last night. One woman said, if she knew about all this airplane noise, she wouldn't have bought a house in Medford. We want more people to move here. We want the quality of life to improve. And as another gentleman said last night, with the CPA surcharge tax, and the property tax, and the water tax, now the connectivity tax, plus the sales tax, two income taxes, where are all these monies going to? If we're not going to get a better improvement in quality of life, I really think people should direct their complaints and light the fire under our state delegation and our federal representatives to cause a herring, have people come out and hold these airlines accountable. to what they're doing. Another option they can do, which is cost prohibitive to the airlines, like they did in East Boston and Winthrop, is start soundproofing the windows in Medford. Sound panel the houses. But because it's Medford and also Somerville and Everett, that's cost prohibitive. The only real solution, I think, here for them to do is to pay the few extra dollars in fuel costs, fly out over the ocean, gain altitude, and then you know, not subject our cities. I mean, some of these planes are flying at 500 and a thousand feet. It's, it's, it's really outrageous. Uh, I hope that, that people will still continue to complain to Massport, but if that's only going to fund, uh, cause another taxpayer funded study that tells us what we already know, I mean, what's the point? Get, get the people with the political will, and authority to do something about this before we start seeing people leave. And I want more people to move to Medford. I want it to be the best city north of Boston. But it won't be if we continue with these excessive fees, taxes, and planes that are destroying the quality of life in Medford. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Vice President Mox.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street, If I could, through the Chair, I understand this is, she's part of the Community Preservation Commission.
[Robert Cappucci]: In vetting her out, I think it would be prudent to ask the question, exactly how does this commission work? From my understanding in reading the law is that they get to decide how the funds are spent, but people from the citizenry can also solicit the Community Preservation Commission for funds.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Through the chair, I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this up and bringing this information forward. Mr. President, on two separate other debating topics tonight, the vetting of the new Community Preservation Commission, a new shadow government in Medford, and on Councilor Lungo-Koehn's resolution about the demolition. A lot of talk was generated on affordable housing and preserving historic landmarks. Here's a great opportunity to give a little bit more affordable housing to the residents of Medford. And as far as historical landmarks go, how about our senior citizens, like my mother, who's 78 years old, who is a historic person as far as I'm concerned here in Medford. This charge, Mr. President, and I'm a little passionate about this, is outrageous, especially when Councilor Marks refers to the fact that there's $8 million in an overtaxed account. Here's a great opportunity to provide a little bit more affordable housing to the citizens of Medford. And we shouldn't wait until 2018. The power of this body should somehow find a way to kill this now, not wait. May 2nd will be the Council meeting. And on that point, because this is such an important matter, perhaps that Committee of the Whole meeting should be in this chamber, under the TV, so people at home can watch this, Mr. President. It's unfortunate that that meeting is not available to the whole public through technology in some fashion. To me, I'm sorry, this is really outrageous. Something should be done. In terms of talking about affordability for the residents of Medford, another speaker spoke earlier tonight about how the rents are going way up. Why do you think that is? When the property taxes are always going up, our sales taxes, excise taxes, excess in taxes, a cash account with another $10 million into it. This stuff trickles downhill, Mr. President, in the lower income, in the middle income, and the poor people are the ones who end up paying all of these excessive costs for living in the city of Medford, especially when there's a surplus. Mr. President... May 2nd, voice your concerns that night. I'm voicing them here and now, too, Mr. President. Thank you. It's outrageous. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci Jr., 71 Evans Street in Medford. I'll try to be brief at this late hour. Last summer, it was proposed that the city move towards municipal aggregation based solely on it would save the electric rate payers in Medford some money. It went away. Somehow it came back last Tuesday in a committee of the whole meeting under a new auspice of protecting the environment, go green. There was a wonderful presentation brought by the company, supposedly going to be hired. by Alicia Hunt, the Director of Energy and Environment here in Medford, the Chairman of the Go Green Medford Community. Basically, for the citizens that are watching at home, it's a program whereby if passed, if it ever comes to a vote in this council and it does get passed, you're automatically opted into the city buying your power for you, your electricity, with the provision that you can opt out. Understandably, what the company said last week was you can opt out at any time. There was also a 30-day opt-out clause in there. But Councilor Marks at the Committee of the Whole meeting brought up the state law, which is after 180 days, you cannot opt out. And getting into these government contracts, doing things on behalf of the people, when they tell you, you know, we'll let you opt out at any time, But the state law says something else. I'm a little bit skeptical of the whole process. If this is really such a good thing, they should present it and market it to the people as an opt-in if they want to, not force everybody all at once to be a part of this system. I mean, that's a slippery slope. Where does it end? Is the city council going to vote? another company buys all my clothes for me, all my groceries, it's a dangerous precedent that we're setting. It really is. But I want to be fair to the other side. Councilor Dello Russo at the Committee of the Whole meeting was very astute in bringing up, I would like to hear opposition to this. So I emailed everybody on this council, the Citizens Against Municipal Aggregation website. I also included the mayor and Alicia hunt the director of environment and engineer. I'm also going to reach out to them if this ever does come to a vote so that the opposite side could be heard. I just find it just comforting that the city would entertain a notion of doing something on behalf of every resident. From reading the CAMA website, it doesn't always work. And if you are locked into it and they say you can get out, but on that 181st day you do try to get out, for some reason you can't, and a lower rate comes, I mean, you can go to The two sources now, it's an Eversource and National Grid. And you can click on them now. And under those, a ton of other options come up. There are choices for citizens to make right now. They can enter into a six-month program for, say, $6.99 a kilowatt hour, or another program for $12.99. That choice, which is pretty much the fundamental building block of this nation, should never be taken away. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci is 71 Evans street. Uh, I don't know how feasible it is, is for the city, but if an extra set of eyes is, is needed, I know neighboring communities like Cambridge, they have cameras at intersections and such. And if people are, I mean, I've never personally seen anybody blow off a crossing guard, but if people are, I mean, that's a very serious issue that drastic measures have to definitely be taken. And on the matter of hiring auxiliary, last Tuesday night when I presented that humble suggestion, the next day actually, I walk my dog at the park. I spoke to a guy who used to be an auxiliary police officer and, um, they're, they're invaluable in terms of the service that they provide. If they're only working 20 hours a week. I mean, this guy personally actually, uh, caught down and tracked a, a, uh, an offender. I won't say of what nature, but, uh, um, I wonder if the city knows when, We did get rid of the auxiliary police we used to have. I know growing up in the 70s and 80s, we used to call them parkies. There used to be a cop at every park. But we've got rid of that program, and I'm wondering why, just if it was budgeted. If you can find out, that would be great. And look into it, whatever you can do for public safety. It's really government's first issue is protection of the citizens. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this discussion to the table. I've attended many of those town meetings. I also want to thank Councilor Falco for bringing these into the neighbourhoods. That kind of a turnout is great. I missed the first two of this year because I just got a new puppy, but I usually regularly attend those meetings. I don't know what the city law is or the state law. But perhaps to alleviate some of these traffic and public safety issues, you know, with budgeting being as it is, perhaps Medford could incorporate an auxiliary police force or a special police force that reserves part-time. They could be armed or unarmed or unpaid. I briefly looked it up before I came up to speak. There's about 10 towns in Bristol County that utilizes an auxiliary force that, you know, if they're youngsters, as Councilor Marks alluded to, there's a lot of people in this city that want to contribute, that want to volunteer. I bet you could find at least 20, 30 people that would be happy to volunteer their time on a part-time basis. to help alleviate some of these concerns. Councilor Mark said something earlier, with all due respect, about, you know, they'll find a way to make it. Haven't gone to these town meetings for pretty much regularly for about three or four years now. It's really difficult. When Chief Sacco says that he needs the manpower, he really means it. You could have some officers that, you know, are working undercover. of others that work in phones. He's very understaffed. He needs about another 25 or 30 officers. Now I know the mayor just freed up a few months ago about 10 dispatches so that they could offset that and hire 10 new police. But at the same time, they lost 10 police officers. So they really didn't gain one more officer from that move. So I'm just up to offer a suggestion. Maybe the city council could, working with the mayor's office, get the advice, of course, of Chief Sacco, who would know more, consider an auxiliary reserve police force that would help ensure all of the concerns that were brought up tonight. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci of, uh, 71 Evans street. Uh, a bunch of weeks ago, a fellow, uh, resident who lives on Evans street with me in mind, we came down to talk about the bad, very bad condition of, of Evans street. And, uh, A C click fix item had been posted the Wednesday, I think, uh, before the Tuesday night we came here to speak and that Thursday it was, it was taken down and put, uh, resolved when, when it wasn't, uh, what I think the city needs to do is instead of just like one word, in closing it out resolved, put the fixes that were made, the time, and try to be a little bit more specific and transparent. With regards to making comments on it, I understand what Councilor Caraviello is trying to convey by that sentiment, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to see anybody silenced or any ideas that might be offered that might help a situation. as well. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Chair recognizes the citizen from Evans Street. Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Uh, not, not a rhetorical question. Any update on the dog park, Mr. President that we know of?
[Robert Cappucci]: Well, with regards to dogs, I understand the man's concerns. Maybe the city should just utilize the reverse 311 or 911 it is and just, you know, remind people that when you got your dog out there to have them leashed, maybe periodic checks of proper registration and licensing. But by the same token, I mean, dogs are more than just pets to a lot of us out here. Uh, they're, they're family members. They're, they're beloved. Uh, they provide comfort, joy, protection. Uh, I don't want to see the dogs get a bad reputation on this cause I'm, I'm of the opinion that there are no bad dogs, just some bad owners. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Chair recognizes the citizen at the podium. Sir, please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. If I could ask, please, through the chair, at what cost does street scan, what would it cost the city of Medford? Any idea on that? That's what we're asking the administration to support. Mr. President, I've come down here a couple times now and spoke about Evans Street. Reports are that it's been 65 years since it's been repaved. We know that the gas lines have been redone. We're waiting on the water pipes to be redone, and then we can finally get our street paved. I hope that this doesn't cost too much because, I mean, we've all lived in Medford for a number of years, running for office. We've been through every neighborhood. I think we know what the problems are. I mean, we talked about see, click, fix earlier and, you know, people putting reports on there and having one word resolved and the thing closed and nothing actually being done. I've spoken about the huge pothole that still exists. right at the end of Evans street at the entrance way that has rocks all over the place. I think we know enough about the infrastructure of the city of Medford from, uh, from roof here to the police station to, uh, Fulton Heights where, I mean, when I ran for a state Senate a couple of years ago, when I went through Fulton Heights, I mean, there were roads up there that should be closed. They're dilapidated. We know the water pipes under the city of Medford, the streets that need to be fixed, and whatever streets that are controlled by the state, we need to reach out to the state to have them fix it. I don't think we need to incur another cost for the citizens of Medford who are already paying excise taxes, water taxes, property taxes, surcharge now on the property tax coming up, that I hope people are prepared for. That first payment in January is going back to the 1st of July. That first payment on the CPA is going to be pretty big, and we're not seeing anything done. That woman that came up here before talked about her manhole cover out in front of her condo. I think we know what the problem is. I don't think we need to put any more cost on the city or another layer of government. I mean, I appreciate, I definitely appreciate and understand Councilor Knight's motives, and I'm all for it. But I think we already know what the problem is. And I just think we need to have an administration that's finally going to light a fire under these problems and get them done. Now, the capital improvement project is supposed to start, I believe, next month. But then the winter's going to set in, and we're not going to get to these things until the spring. We've been waiting too long. Evans Street, 65 years. uh, I'm only 46 almost 20 years before I was born. That street need to be repaved. Well, Mr. President, I understand and I appreciate the motives of, of Councilor Knight, but I think we know what the problem is. I don't think we need to incur any costs. I just think these problems need to be, uh, addressed, taken care of and finally fixed for the, for the citizens who are paying a lot of money in the city of Medford. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Capucci. Mr. President, if I may, uh, constant night,
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just really quick. Thank you to Councilor Lungo-Koehn for that information. Just really quick. It was actually Mark Twain who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. But finally, something's being done on Evans Street. But like I said, it was my neighbor, Mrs. Mottola, who's 86 years old, who's lived on that street since I believe she was in her 30s, who told me that that street hasn't been paved in 65 years. I'm not against what Councilor Knight is proposing, but I think we already know what the problems are. Let's fix them first before we throw more money into it. Now, the technology he's talking about is great, but let's fix what we have first and then start monitoring it. This technology actually used to work for a company that built these x-ray machines, and they did projects on like the the suspension bridge in Boston, where they scanned it and they found the holes in the cracks. I agree with what Councilor Knight has proposed, and I think it would be invaluable to the city of Medford. But I think first, let's, I mean, we're talking about all sorts of people going on see click fix and myself coming to the podium and reporting these problems, and we're not seeing anything done. And now we want to come in and spend more money to get information and data that will be valuable that we could work on, but we're not seeing the work done. Let's get the work done first, fix the streets and roads, and then stop monitoring it. That's my point. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Capucci.
[Robert Cappucci]: Welcome, please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Rob Capucci, 71 Evans street. I'll try to be really brief. I went to the park department meeting earlier tonight. And, uh, there's, there's a little bit of conflicting information based on what the park ranger that was there, what, what he said and the citizens that, that came before us. And, uh, I mean, if it's, if it's in the purview of this city council, if you have any bearing over the parks department, I don't know if you fund them, if you vote for them on the budget. I would suggest that the rules, that somebody from the parks department that should come here and give their side of the story. For instance, the park ranger that was there is saying that there was always two officers at the base of Wright's Pond, and as people left, he allowed people to come in. But according to the citizen that was here tonight, that is conflicted, and she's reporting something else. And if it is what the citizen said, it comes down to that the residents of Medford are paying a fee to use this. And apparently, it's sometimes getting denied, even after they're paying for it. With all due respect, that translates to other things in the city of Medford, where our tax dollars and we're not getting the basic fundamental services. And it's a very serious issue that I just hope that, based on the conflicting reports that are there from an objective outside observer, from having been at the meeting earlier and hearing what my fellow citizens said, It's an important issue to look into further, and that's my humble suggestion. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. My question in all of this is on discretion. I mean, the laws are in place, and we are a city, a state, and a nation of laws that we must follow. But I'm worried about, you know, just applying these laws no matter what. I mean, are we going to hire people now that the animal control officer is here? I mean, when do they apply the law of dogs being off the leash? I asked this for a specific instance. A few weeks ago, actually earlier in the spring, a woman, a senior citizen who walks her dog in the park near my house, Morrison, the dog's name is Noodle. It's about a foot and a half long, six inches high. She left the dog off the leash and she got hit with a $200 ticket. And she asked the officer, you know, don't you give a warning first? And he said, yeah, this is the warning, here. And it was a $200 ticket. I mean, we should definitely respect and follow the laws. But I also think that there are times when, you know, I mean, we hire police and teachers and we elect city councilors to also be, you know, of good judgment. And I think that was a bad judgment call to give this woman a $200 ticket for noodle that you wouldn't even feel if it was sitting on your foot. You know, I think looking at this and talking about offense and everything else, you know, we should just, like the last gentleman spoke about, about discretion and improvement. I mean, I think terms of judgment calls is one of the areas we should also look at. I mean, people know their dogs. They know their city. They know when the dog should be off the leash and when not. And every dog owner I've seen across Medford always picks up after their dog and looks out when other dogs are present. But those are my two cents. And thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Very nice. Thank you, Mr. President. It's Robert L. Cappucci. But, Mr. President, if I could, there is another citizen, Mr. Eric Reed, who wants to speak, and it's a similar issue that he wants to speak on, so if he could go first, if I could request that, and then I'll speak after him, if that's possible.
[Robert Cappucci]: President Lungo-Koehn, did you have an alternative?
[Robert Cappucci]: I'm going on the table and off the table. Off the table. Thank you, Madam President. All those in favor?
[Robert Cappucci]: I'm speaking directly to Evans Street.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, it's actually Robert L Capucci, uh, of 71 Evans street, if I could just submit this petition that I collected from my fellow neighbors on Evans Street and on the corners of the street as well, Central and Lawrence Street. Basically, we, the undersigned residents and abutters to Evans Street, demand our water pipes fixed and street repaved as promised by the City of Medford. I got 50 signatures from fellow residents. The reason You folks might have received some emails today from Pinkett Street. It's because, you know, with time constraints, I couldn't go down that street and get their signatures as well. But I did go down that street and I put out a flyer with everybody's email and the mayor's as well. If I could submit that to the city messenger. Please submit that to the messenger who will submit it to the city clerk and make it part of the public record. Okay, Mr. President. No, thank you. But, you know, a couple of weeks ago, A fellow neighbor of mine, Shauna Smith and I came up, and we discussed this street, and it was, what's the word? It was mutually agreed that Evans Street, I mean, I don't wanna rehash everything that was already said here tonight, but Evans Street is in one of the top five of direly needed repairs. Council Vice President Lungo-Koehn is exactly right, that this street, I mean, let's put that into perspective. 65 years it's been since this street has been repaved. You know, with the water pipes underneath them, who knows if we're drinking lead. It's way past time, Mr. President, which, you know, we were told that bids would go out, they would be decided on in the best possible. At this point now, my understanding is that None of these bids were decided on, which brought to me to go out, you know, after being told one thing, to go out and get these signatures. In relation to other things like, which I'm 100% for, park improvement and bringing things in there, we need to fix what we, I mean, I don't mean to be disrespectful. I think maybe a tandem project could be done to do it, but, you know, if you go out and you fix the parks, it, quite frankly, it's putting lipstick on a pig, Mr. President. It's more than just the infrastructure work that needs to be done. I took my first steps of my life on Evans Street. We have residents on that street right now. diagnosed with cancer who will be dead, at least one, within a year. We need people taking our first and our last steps. This is our home, Mr. President. Our excise taxes, our sales taxes, our property taxes, our surcharges on these taxes go towards keeping our home, our lives. We come home after a hard day of work to see potholes as big as the mouths of an alligator with rocks all over the street. I mean, You wonder why that sometimes, you know, people... I don't want to say it's a direct correlation, but it doesn't help when there's an opioid and a drinking problem to come home after a hard day's work and see our existence in total shambles, with streets falling apart and sidewalks falling apart. It doesn't help. These things are related. Not a direct cause and effect, but it is related. It's more than just the infrastructure projects that are not being done. And when we pay all this to actually see government governing over the will of the people, we can't wrap our minds around it. You should have heard some of the comments I heard coming down the street, my neighbor across the street. Her SUV two years ago sank in the sewer draining because the street around it fell apart. And she had to call AAA to get it out. Mrs. Natola told me a bunch of years back, a whole chasm opened up on Evans Street, and a whole truck fell into it. And that's another thing. It's wear and tear on our police vehicles, and our fire engines, and other infrastructure. plowing trucks and everything else that we're also paying for as taxpayers. I mean, it's at a critical point, and I want to thank this council for bringing it up. I want to thank Mr. Reed and Mr. Penter, who spoke before, and I hope that something can be done expediently, because we're tired of paying to be told something and then not having it done. It's beyond comprehension. It's beyond incompetence. And it's an affront to people that have lived on these city streets in their whole lifetime. I mean, with kids playing there, with their pets and everything else. Mr. President, please use the power of this body to inspire this mayor to do what we all know has to be done, or do something when the budget comes up, to jar the system and make it work for the people that you represent, who voted for you, who put you on this august body, as Mr. Penta likes to say. I think another member of the community wants to speak. And I hope that, you know, I get a little passionate, but I'm not speaking up here just for myself, speaking on these for these other 50 people and all around the city of Medford to people who who don't have the time to come out to this podium. I'm fortunate to have the time, and I'm trying to articulate their passion and, quite frankly, their rage. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street in Medford. I want to thank all the people that came out and spoke tonight. I would hope that, you know, with this audience and focus on this issue, I would hope that more residents in the auditorium tonight and watching at home would pay a lot more attention to what goes on in the city of Medford on their website, because this is one in a sea of issues that escapes a lot of people in their everyday lives, that if more people came out and spoke like this so eloquently, as have tonight that came before me. A lot more good government and a lot more good stewardship of the people's money would take place in the city of Medford. I just want to address three quick points. Communication, affordable housing, and money. On communication, obviously, this Zoning Board of Appeals seriously dropped the ball. I mean, if they took into account the full city of Medford, in the streets and roads, the police department falling apart, the school facade, this building right here. There are a lot more serious issues to address first before we bring in a 490 unit. I mean, my street alone, I just found out tonight that, you know, I came up before this council a few weeks ago that Evans Street is one of the top five streets, and Evans Street is a stone's throw from this project. Now, with this traffic that's gonna develop, you're gonna see more people trying to avoid the long lines and going down some of these other side streets like mine. Now, the Honorable Adam Knight sent me a message that bidding on my street ended, and they were gonna choose, but I come to find out, the meeting on Saturday morning, that nothing's moving forward on that. There's no plans to do any construction or fixing of that street. The water pipes in Medford, the gas pipes, there's a lot more serious issues to look at first. before the Zoning Board of Appeals. And I think Sheryl Rodriguez was right. It wasn't written by Medford for Medford. It was written by this body that wants to come in and make some change. That's first. Communication is awful. It's just that simple. The second point is affordable housing. There's other ways of making things affordable for the citizens of Medford. Meals tax, sales tax, income tax, property tax, that goes up every year. Next month starts the Community Preservation Act, which is an end-run to around the property two and a half tax. That's a surcharge on the property taxes that have gone up for every year for nearly 30 years. Reduce some of these taxes, make it more affordable for the citizens of Medford, people to want to move here, businesses to want to move here through tax incentive. With more people moving in, you'll find that the city will actually have reduced tax rates, would probably take in more revenues. That's number two. Number three is money. You're talking about hiring a lawyer if this resolution is passed and the cost that's going to be on the city. What cost? You're having a free cash account, what? A surplus of almost $10 million? How many millions in surplus is this city sitting on? This is our money. We've already paid for the lawyer. Their money has already been given to this city. What are you talking about? And finally, one last question through the chair for the city solicitor. If this board does vote to pass a resolution to appeal, then the mayor has to approve it or is she automatically bound by the resolution? The president is shaking his head no. So what you're saying is this city council could pass a resolution and the mayor could possibly shoot it down and the appeal is gone. Is that what you're telling me, Mr. President? I wouldn't use those words, but yes. Thank you. I'm sure you would use much more congenial words, and I appreciate your candor and good judgment. I hope that if that does become the situation, and it does get dismissed, not approved, kindly disregarded by Her Honor the Mayor, then when you come to a city budget, You should actually use the power of the city council to have some bite, to speak up for these people that are in this audience tonight that want action for their money and their votes. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I'll try to be very quick. It seems to me like there's some confusion as to whether or not, I mean, you're talking about the process and I appreciate that, but I mean, everything that was discussed tonight, you've got the 11 variances, the zoning particular to this case impact on the city. It seems to me you've got, like right now, you could make a motion to appeal, enlist specific things, specific to this zoning law, as the city solicitor informed us that it has to be specific to this zoning, to take a vote on appeal and request the funds from the mayor for the legal representation for it. I don't see why that's not crystal clear to everybody in this room at this moment. And I would just like to ask, when you do take the vote to appeal and it gets approved, that whatever meetings that you do have with legal representation, that it's open to the public, specifically to the abutters. Because like Gene Martin said earlier, these are people that, you know, this is everyday, ordinary people that may not be lawyers, that may not be pretty about how to go about appealing this as a direct abutter to this, so that they could come, not to piggyback on your litigation process, but so that they can absorb information as well so that they know what to do going forward. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Rob Capucci of 71 Evans Street, which is not a direct abutter, but very close proximity to this massive project that's coming. And, you know, there's not too much more to add to the conversation except to touch upon the infrastructure problems that the city already has. I mean, here in this building, the high school, the police department, I was up here last week talking about Evans Street. We're not against the development, but something this big, I definitely agree with Councilors Knight and Falco, that this is just something that seems to be too big, and it seems to be coming in with the impression I'm getting, with a lot of expediency. I mean, actually being told, the citizens, by this developer, it's coming, deal with it. That's unprecedented. I want to thank all the other speakers that spoke. When this traffic impact happens, you know, and it gets clogged on Fellsway and Riverside Ave, these folks are going to be looking for, you know, quick shortcuts to get back to their house. They're going to be going down Evans Street. That's not fixed yet. I want to thank Councilor Knight for informing me that the bids are in to replace the water pipes. And once those bids seep through and one is decided on, they're going to come in and fix Evans Street, which is in the top five. of streets that needs to be fixed. But there's probably a hundred or more streets that needs to be fixed. And what happens when this added traffic is on the roads when Evans Street is shut down for, who knows, a month for fixing? And other streets are too. It seems to me that we don't want to discourage development. But at the same time, we got to fix what we got first. We can't build on a faulty foundation. Our streets and roads, our water pipes, the parks are being looked at. I mean, this location seems to me a good location to put a joint police and fire station instead of this massive project. It just seems to me that there are other things to look at. in this city first that need almost at a critical level of attention before we start entertaining massive, massive projects like this. I mean, there's a public safety issue too with all these cars going down the streets. I mean, in my neighborhood, there's at least 20 young kids that live on that street that are all over it. If they can navigate through all the rocks on Evans Street, Sorry for the jab on that one again, but still, I mean, in all of these neighborhoods with more cards on there, the safety risk goes up, and if it goes up even 1%, that's, I'm sorry, that's too much for my liking. I really don't understand how this city council doesn't have jurisdiction over the appeal or whoever's approving this. It would seem that you must have something in the books put some kind of injunction. And that's another thing. Why doesn't this body communicate with the DPW or with the police station or with other things to find out, you know, there's a lot of infrastructure problems in this city. You know, let's talk about this impact on the city and the taxpayers. Why don't we get together and maybe not approve this, especially in the manner with which they're keeping people in a dark room on a hot night and giving them three minutes to speak, and then they're being told. One of the speakers that spoke earlier that called everybody to a public action, I can't emphasize and ditto her and echo her more. That's what we need, not for just this issue, but I would love to see more people at this podium and in these chambers every week because when more voices are heard from all different parts of this city, more projects will have a fire lit under them, and more things will get done for the benefit of all of us, everybody on the city council, the administration, all the small businesses, and all the taxpayers, and all the residents, the kids in the schools, and everything else. Politics is really not a spectator sport. But I hope you consider all the things everybody said tonight, and I thank you for your time.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, President Lungo-Koehn. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I have to say really briefly, I really enjoy saying President Lungo-Koehn. That would be a great thing for this body. But I digress. Is this matter going to be tabled? Oh, OK. I believe we're going to have that offering, yes. I'm confused. I mean, all through this discussion, a couple of things came to my mind that Ronald Reagan often said. as scary as nine words, I'm here from the government and I'm here to help. And the government that governs least is the government that governs best. President Lungo-Koehn, what Councilor Marks said tonight was 1,000% spot on. I think the vote should be taken and this should be voted down. I'm confused. Ms. Hunt said to Councilor Caraviello that she wouldn't want to have a public hearing on a theoretical proposition, but they want to have the vote tonight on a solid proposal. So I don't understand how it changes from a solid proposal to the city council to take a vote. to a theoretical proposition to the citizens that are suffering, do as I say, not as I do. I'm really confused on that. How is that possible, that for the residents, it's a theoretical proposition? But there's an ironclad proposal here tonight that's going to bind the residents of Medford Inn. That's why I asked President Lungo-Koehn. this was going to be tabled, because if it's going to be tabled, then my point is moot. But I really think this should be voted down, unless the city's going to get in on it, too, like Councilor Marks said. But I think the residents of this city need to have 1,000 questions, all sorts of input. since, you know, they're being basically forced into something. Thank you, President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Please. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. So, I mean, just a few questions. When you say that Lauren did her job, there have been, going back a couple years now, reports to the city about this street. It spills out into Central Ave. These rocks are in front yards. They're on sidewalks. My question, I guess, is will we get a time frame? of when this will be done, because it is the summertime now. Kids are out of school. They're going to be all over that street. It's only a matter of time before a tire spins one of these up. I mean, we've already had injuries. With all due respect, Mr. President, is there any way we can get some type of time frame on when to expect this street to be fixed?
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: When we consider the surplus amounts in city coffers and you know, we have, an endless list of taxes to be paid, quite frankly. And no disrespect to this body, but this is—it's an abomination. It really is. And the amount of money that we pay as residents and taxpayers, that this wasn't done two years ago when you were first informed of this. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Maybe if they could come by and pick up all these loose rocks that are, if that's possible. But if this gets added to the mayor's capital plan, what does that do in terms of a timeframe of fixing this street? I mean, when do they meet on that? When is that discussed? When is that approved?
[Robert Cappucci]: So then my next question would be, knowing this, why would a councillor request to put this on the capital plan that's going to push it out another year or two? It's unprecedented.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Just to address some of the things that were talked about here, I don't think Mr. Reid was coming up here to try to be accusatory. I just think he was asking for accountability and transparency on issues that have been going on in the city of Medford for years, if not decades. When I ran for this body in 2013, my main issue was the water pipes. You're asking the citizens of Medford to pay for the rainwater in the snow melt. You add that to the meals tax, the sales tax, the property tax, which is about to have a surcharge put on it, and we want answers as to why things are not being done. The Honorable Mike Marks asks, well, where do you think that the lack of communication came? Well, you heard my neighbor and friend earlier tonight say four recent additions to C-Click Fix were taken down today as resolved, and obviously they're not. Those pictures I took were yesterday. This gentleman is talking about a state allocation of $4 million that we could be using on top of what is in the excess of the water account now. It's like $7 million or something like that was the last report I heard. Now we're talking about $10 or $11 million. It doesn't need to be discussed or pushed forward anymore. It's not just Devon Street, it's also Pinkard Street around the corner from me. In working on several campaigns that I've worked on and ballot initiatives, walking around the city through the Heights, through South Medford, it's literally the whole city, with some streets being at an emergency condition, with matters of public safety. we're asking questions about all the tax dollars that we pay and the fees that we pay, the parking meters, people paying after six o'clock. I mean, where is all this money going? I think it's not being done because it looks great sitting in the accounts. And then Medford elected public servants can go around and say, well, Moody's just upgraded our credit rating to AAA. And yeah, that's great. on paper, but when you look through and walk through the city and you're wondering why communications are going ignored from people who work for the city, and you ask a question, it's like, where's the problems and where's the miscommunications? It's right there. And we're just asking for the work to be done that has been years in dire need of it happening. You got the budget next month. I hope a lot of people will come down. and ask questions and hold you folks accountable and transparent to the citizens that are paying for all of this, that are not getting anything back when Dr. Stirello talked about the police department deficiencies. I hope people will come tomorrow night to the town hall that the chief will have at the police station. and ask questions there. But I know you sigh, and I'm talking, and I'm taking too much time, President Dello Russo, but these are very important things. It's a matter of public safety. It's a matter of work not getting done with all of the money sitting there when petitions are being ignored for months. I'm sorry, but it's really at the brink, and this body really needs to come together and do something to light a fire under this. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci again, 71 Evans Street. There's another issue going on at Republic. I'm not sure or not if it's supposed to. I believe it is. But these machines are supposed to shut down at 6 o'clock. They're not. In the last month and a half, just walking through the city, I told a good dozen people, just tonight, I went to the store before coming here, and at 6.40, there was a young lady starting to feed money into the meter. And I said, no, you don't have to pay right now. It's 6 o'clock. And she said, well, I didn't know that. And I said, well, it's on the parking sign, but it's written very small. She said, well, it would have been a little bit more helpful if it was actually on the meter. itself, that it closes at 6 o'clock.
[Robert Cappucci]: You cannot put any more money in.
[Robert Cappucci]: Are you absolutely sure of that? Because I've seen people feed If there's a way to request receipts and to look at that, because, I mean, you're putting in your personal information. If people are paying after 6 o'clock, and, I mean, as Councilor Marks alluded to, they're trying to generate revenues, I wouldn't be surprised a bit if some of these machines are taking money after 6 o'clock, just my opinion. But I would look into their receipts, see if they are or not. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I know you've already had the discussion about Evans Street and you've taken action on that. But it looks like now you're, it's like piecemealing something when, you know, stepping outside of the box and look it in. I think what a lot of people in Medford see is, like Mr. Reed spoke of before, You have allocation of funds on the MWRA for, I believe you talked about sidewalks or something like $3 million, which 75% of which would be grants. We see in the free cash account, something like six or $7 million. What we don't understand as citizens paying all these taxes is how come it can't be that this commissioner's office can't be staffed? with the right amount of people to survey the city, make the proper assessments, hire the people that we need, and get the job done when there's all this money that's at your fingertips to be used. We're talking about $500,000 that we don't even know what it's going to be used for. We're talking about complaints and registers made to SeeClickFix that are taken down and closed and resolved when they're obviously not. It's just a hard thing to wrap your mind around, seeing almost tens of millions of dollars, when an understaffed department that doesn't even have the manpower to go out there and assess what needs to be fixed. I'm sorry, Mr. President, but it has to be said. Leadership has to come in. It has to be accountable and transparent. It has to look at what we've got in order to fund the resources to get these jobs done that are years past due. It's something to consider when you look at the budget next month. I would like to say this, though. The parks project that has gone on, because a lot of hits and a lot of criticism has been made, I've got to give kudos to. You've got to also reward what's good as being done. And Morrison Parks, our new basketball court and a few of the other parks, excellent job. Excellent job. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Rob Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I want to thank Councilor Marks for bringing this to our attention tonight. And I couldn't agree with him more about what he said. But it speaks to a larger measure. You know, for this thing not to be appealed, that ruling to not be appealed, if it can be, by our state delegation is a question that I have. People are disheartened in this state. And, you know, it speaks to one party being in domination of this state for decades. They can pretty much do whatever they want. A few years ago, We had a petition, and it passed, and it was on the ballot to lower the sales tax or keep it at the same rate. The state legislature said the people didn't know what they were talking about, and they went ahead and raised it anyway, even after a petition and a vote of the people. It's disheartening to a lot of folks in this state. That's why the census release in December of last year showed Massachusetts lost 21,805 people from July 2014 to July 2015. People are disheartened, and quite frankly, they're giving up, and they're voting with their feet, and they're moving out of our state. At a time when we have the best education, some of the best technology, other programs that we're either leading the country in, or we're only second or third, we're still seeing a net loss of people, of almost 22,000 people in one year. It's unprecedented. It's unheard of. I would respectfully ask this body if there's some way to reach out to Senator Jalen or State Rep. Paul Donato to, like Cheryl said before me, to either resubmit this home rule petition or appeal the ruling of this committee. To just be shut down in silence like that after 30 years of the same charter, without even so much, I mean, this wouldn't have even have changed the charter. It would have either to keep Plan A or make a few amendments to it, to tweak it a little bit. And after 30 years, that was unreasonable to ask? We get that one little piece of paper? It's embarrassing. Mr. President, it really is. I would like this body, I request this body to please write up a letter and send it to their committee and express not just your feelings, but as the voice of Medford. I tried to get the signatures with Dr. Stirella about four or five years ago. Another team came in after that under former mayor candidate Antony D'Antonio. There's another team out there In all of that time, we got a lot of positive feedback, but it's hard to get these signatures. I was on the team that got the signatures for the tank, the gas tax. We had a team of about 500 people across the state. It took a lot of time and a lot of effort, and we squeaked it in there. And what's the state legislature doing now in the face of that? They're trying to pass a new law saying the cities can raise the gas tax if they want to. step forward, you go three steps back. Please, send a letter to this committee and let them know that we're in charge of the government. They're not in charge of us. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Uh, my, my first question on this matter is has, has the city council of Medford, uh, decided to, uh, become a, uh, a union talking point. Now I don't really take either side on this issue. My question is the function of the city council to represent all of the citizens, citizens of Medford. I mean, if you're going to start taking up every single union issue that It reflects badly on this body, in my opinion. Why not take up the issue of the local 25 here, where the new mayoral administration has pretty much nearly wiped out their overtime? But that's another matter. Councilor Knight has brought up some very good points, but he doesn't just cite Verizon. He cites all of corporate corporate America. Now, the unions in this case are actually representing the work line, not the entire workforce, as Councilor Knight alluded to. It's the work line force of Verizon. Since the year 2000, their responsibility, their Department of Verizon, in terms of their overall economic intake, in 2000 it was 60% Today, in 2016, it's actually less than 7%. What Verizon is doing is actually, in my research, and I got this all from the public record that anybody can look up, what Verizon is doing is conforming to the 21st century and the times. What is before this union and the company is a contract, and that's up to them to decide. If the councilor wanted to, you know, make a statement on it, but to actually call for this city to take action, I think sets a precedent.
[Robert Cappucci]: Point of information.
[Robert Cappucci]: Well, Mr. Citizen. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank the Councilor for his comments. Being a longtime worker for unions, I'm sure he's representing them well. But he's here to represent the city of Medford, in everybody's opinion, not just the unions. The contract that's before these workers. Point of information, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Well, Councilor Knight has said a lot about corporate greed and one of outsourced jobs and things like that. Let's take a look at what, first of all, Verizon is offering the workers right now. A 7.5 percent wage increase.
[Robert Cappucci]: No, this is a part of the public record. Mr. President, the Councilor has brought up an agenda item. This is an open forum. He's brought up points about corporate greed and everything else. I have the full right to offer my opinion in refusion to him citing corporate greed and everything else. Let's talk about what's actually being offered here.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you. May I continue? You may. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, what's actually being offered here, is a 7.5% wage increase, a no layoff provision, a 401k plan matching a pension plan, with three annual increases and access to health care. Last year, Verizon invested $7.8 billion in America's technology infrastructure. They paid $8.4 billion in taxes in 2015, added that to 2014 and they actually paid $15.6 billion. That's a 35% tax rate. In salaries, they paid a combined $16.1 billion. They've purchased $4.25 billion from diverse suppliers. Those purchases alone create jobs in other industries. They paid $8.5 billion to shareholders in cash dividends. They paid $2.3 billion in pensions and retirement benefits. This is all just last year. $3.2 billion in health care benefits covering six 170,000 beneficiaries given top-of-the-line access to medical, dental, prescription that was so robust that it qualifies for the Cadillac tax under Obamacare.
[Robert Cappucci]: You're looking at almost $100 billion here.
[Robert Cappucci]: Mr. President, if I have the floor, I would appreciate you ruling on civility in the forum, so I'm not shouting it down. Thank you. Verizon, just a month ago, signed a contract with Boston to bring in fiber technology to Boston, Mass., making it one of the most advanced, industrialized, and technologicalized cities in America that Mayor Walsh has partnered with because it's going to bring jobs and benefits to the people of Boston that many of these Metro residents that are working on. One of the things with— Point of information, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: So not only are they corporate greedy people, they're also Is that what you're alluding to?
[Robert Cappucci]: Well, with the fact that this particular department has declined over 53 percent, what Verizon has done is expanded in fiber for broadband services. They invested in workers and tools. to keep a lot of these jobs. What we're talking about here, actually, is a private case that the council has brought forth that the city of Medford is now going to clamp down on corporate evil greed America. And that's what's really fueling all of this, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Right. And the reasons for that, Mr. President, as the Councilor outlined, are corporate greed and not doing things for poorer cities.
[Robert Cappucci]: That's what you said, Councilor.
[Robert Cappucci]: will wrap it up shortly. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'm from a union family. What happened? I'm not against unions. No, you're not, Bernie. Yeah, sure I am. Yeah, I am. Thank you for calling order to this forum, Mr. President. Thank you very much for not doing that.
[Robert Cappucci]: I'm not drinking any Kool-Aid. I'm just reciting facts of what Verizon did. That's all I'm doing. It's all part of the public record. that people can go home and look up. I'm personally proud of a country I can live in where it can pay out this much money and provide all of these jobs. Look at what's being offered to these union workers. A 7.5% wage increase, no layoff provision, 401k They're offering you a medical plan that's so good that it qualifies for the Obamacare Cadillac tax. They paid $15.5 billion in taxes in the last two years under a 35% rate. Who's being greedy? Who's being greedy there? I lift paycheck to paycheck. I have no pension. I pay a lot for my health care. A lot of this health care gets paid for by Verizon.
[Robert Cappucci]: Would someone move the question, please?
[Robert Cappucci]: I'm a Medford City resident for 46 years.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Rob Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Let me start with the city is being denied a service that we're paying for. The last figure I heard is somewhere around half a million dollars from our Verizon and cable bill is going towards public access that's been shut off since, I believe, 2013. That's years of a disservice to Medford. So on Friday, I actually took a day off from work and I drove around to Melrose Community Public Access Station, SCAT TV in Somerville, and Stoneham. Just to give an idea of what we're being denied here in Medford. First of all, jobs. Somerville employs eight people full-time. Malden, I found out from one of the station managers that I visited, employs nine people full-time. Melrose has three people full-time with three part-timers, and I think it's the same in Stoneham. That's jobs being denied to Medford residents. That's number one. The programming that's on some of these stations is unbelievable. Self-help programs, community awareness programs. I think of some of the organizations here in Medford, like the Medford Community Coalition or Prominent Citizens that were just honored a few weeks ago, Jay Campbell, the fine things these folks do. With a public access TV show, it could be compounded and bring more great services to the city. I mean, you all know I'm a political activist, so my forte is, you know, we're in a big election year here. Candidates, next year's a municipal election year. Candidates could have a forum, another avenue to bring their campaign and talk about different things. You know, I think about in 2015, some 2,500 people blanked the ballot question. It might not have been so many if we had, you know, a public access TV show where we could discuss the pros and cons of the ballot question. Other things, too, that could happen, the Honorable Breanna Lungo-Koehn talked about communications from the police in terms of different things. He could have a show on there. You can talk about different neighborhoods in Medford that might be having problems or might need more attention. Boards and planning meetings that happen in this building could find a show from somebody who wishes to produce a show on things like that and bring more information which is power and knowledge to the taxpayers of this city that deserve public access. Now, in talking with other station managers and the wonderful things that they're doing, at least one of them, the station manager at Somerville, knew a little bit about what we have here in Medford, the equipment, and they offered, you know, they said if I'm successful in bringing a positive message and do get the ball rolling, They're going to reach out, and they're going to help us get us up on our feet and running. I'm sure there's a lot of other residents. The students, they have great teaching going on at Medford High School, but having our own public access, this could be almost like an internship for them to get real world experience to move on to whatever college and future careers they might have. In closing, I just want to say that I I hope that the mayor's office is watching this because I believe ultimately it resides in the mayor's office to get this back up and running or not. But if there's any kind of vote or any influence that you find city councilors can have on the mayor's office to get this going, it would be great. I mean, in terms of helping this city, there's so many things a public access station can do for children, for working families, and for our senior citizens. So I hope you take that into consideration. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Your name and address for the record, please, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Really briefly, what these other cities and towns do to offset costs, as I'm sure you probably know, is they charge a membership fee for the year. So that brings in money to the station to help pay for some of the employees that work there. And a couple of other quick points, too, is obviously not everybody has cable in Medford. So what Melrose does is they put all of their shows, you know, if everybody has the internet at home, even without cable, you can still be watching local access in that town. And one final point I want to make, and it's something that I brought up here. that, you know, I don't want to say it was pushback on doing public access, but some of the comments I hear is that nobody will watch it. Well, Comcast actually does internal ratings. And in Melrose, 75% of the Comcast subscribers are watching their community local access TV. So the interest is there. The funding is there. It's just a political will to get it done. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Rob Capucci, 71 Evans street. Uh, really brief in this meeting that's coming up, uh, possible, uh, question, uh, the meters we don't have to pay after six o'clock, but I've, I've noticed many times parking around the city. that I know there's signage for it, but the signs kind of blend into one another and a lot of people don't notice. And many times, I've been walking down the street or parking after six, and I see people pumping money into the meters at 6.15, 6.30, seven o'clock at night. If there was a way to perhaps make these meters either shut down or not take money after six o'clock, If that's possible with Republic in any meetings that you have, that would probably save a lot of citizens some money that they don't need to be paying after 6 o'clock. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome. Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street and through the chair. Thank you, Councilor Knight. I was out to dinner the other night and a citizen sitting next to me has worked for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital for 23 years. And I know the gentleman who spoke before me, Councilor Penta, when he was on this body, he brought up the merger that never went through and such. But to be brief, this gentleman who worked for the Lawrence Memorial for 23 years has told me there's doctors that are leaving and that the hospital is up for sale. If this body could, unless you know already, find out for sure what's going on so that the citizens of Medford know what's going on with their local hospital, the urgent care, the emergency care there, if in any way one of you councillors could could possibly reach out to the current leadership of Hallmark and maybe have them come before this body to discuss it. That would be highly appreciated. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I want to fully concur with the last speaker, Jean Martin. This is not a democracy. We live in a representative republic. To be clear, and I definitely want to congratulate and acknowledge the point that Councilor Knight is making about the voters having a say on this by petition. I hope he'll feel the same way on an upcoming agenda, but that's another item. But to be sure, this proposal, if I can ask a question, this is not a charter review we're talking about here for this particular agenda item. What we're talking about is reviewing just plan a or making amendments to it or keeping it. Is that not correct? We're looking at If I can so we're looking at just either amending the plan a we have or keeping the plan a that we have Is that correct under this agenda item? so then Under plan a so if one of the amendments is to go to a plan C. That's not an option That's correct. So then what we're doing is we're not doing charter review. We're doing one particular
[Robert Cappucci]: And Mr. Mr. President, if I could, please, it's, It's that I do know what's happening here, that I wanted it to make clear through a question for the people in the audience and the people watching at home. It's not that I don't know.
[Robert Cappucci]: It's a question to bring clarity so that everybody in this audience and everybody sitting at home watching knows full well that this is not a full charter review with the option of going to another charter. It's either accepting Plan A or amending it, and that's it. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. I want to thank Councilors Lungo-Koehn, and Marks for bringing up these topics. I'm of the humble opinion that government's first duty is protection of the citizens. Councilor Caraviello, I think hit it right on the head. I do attend the first Wednesday of the month police chief town hall meetings where there are sergeants and detectives. It's every first Wednesday of the month at 7 o'clock. We need to fully staff our police force and we need to get them a better station. On March 18th, four officers will be graduating from the academy. given us a total of 105 offices in Medford, putting us about 25 offices short for a city of our size. Now, these informational meetings, I would encourage people to go that might be watching and listening to me right now. They have refreshments there. You can ask any questions. The things you find out are very pertinent. Like what I found out at the last meeting was, with just an additional 10 officers, they could be able to be doing so much more for the citizens of Medford. They just got a Twitter account. I'm pretty sure it's at medfordpolice.com. But I would either Bing or Google search that to make sure. But one of the reactions of having this Twitter account now is that the media will be asking them questions about different things that they're working on. And this takes a lot of time away from the officers to be able to do their duty. They're making about one arrest a week on drug charges. There's somebody else going around the city now targeting Hondas, stealing the tire right off the car using a silent drill. There's a lot going on, and there's a lot that can be learned at this informational meeting. But as Councilor Riccabiello pointed out, they need the offices to be able to have good communication with the people, to be able to be in every neighborhood of our city to be enforcing the law and having a much stronger and sounder public safety. But they need the officers. Just 10 more officers would do a world of good for Medford. And as far as communication goes, This city is sitting on almost a half a million dollars in collected fees from the Verizon and Comcast accounts. It's long past due that we open up our TV3 station. We could be talking about this. We could be talking about the charter review and explaining it to people. As Councilor Knight points out, people don't know. Well, let's really open up the doors of communication. The chief could have his own show on TV3. We could be doing a lot more for communication in this city and a lot more for public safety. You're sitting on the funds to do it. I would respectfully ask you to please get the ball rolling in that area. And I thank you again for bringing this up, and I thank the councillors for their input. And again, Councilor Caraviello hit it right on the head. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Tom Kubler, 1012 Toro Avenue.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Rob Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Thank you very much, Councilman Marks, for bringing this up. Always at your best and doing your due diligence. Love to see it. As you know, Dr. Starella and I tried to get the signatures for this about four or five years ago. And then another group led by a former mayor candidate, Anthony D'Antonio, tried as well. And now I'm glad to see that there's a third group trying to get this underway. To be clear, recent municipal election, why I think the mayor is on board with this, and I want to thank her too, is she won a very narrow election, and half of the city voted for Barpenta, who made it, I think, a forefront of his campaign. And with all due respect, I think that's why we're talking about it tonight. I just had to say that. I'm a little squeamish about this Collins, is that what it's called? call-in centre coming in. While I think we should definitely entertain any positive suggestions, this is for Medford. It should be driven by Medford residents, as former Councilor Camuso had once said when this was in discussion before when he was a member of this body, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. Without getting into any kind of quirky jokes or real bad municipal law technicalities, just a plain spoken guy. So I'm going to speak as plain as I can. This city has all of its power centered in the mayor's office. The city council's ultimate power basically is to cut the budget. After 30 years, that has to change. As a former candidate for City Council, I struggled to run citywide. Some candidates have the support of special interest groups, some don't. They're able to raise tens of thousands of dollars. I spent $94.50 in my campaign in 2013. I didn't ask for any money because I knew the special interest groups wouldn't support the kind of initiatives. This is it, folks, people watching, people listening tonight, this is the way to get City government change. It's been 30 years. Councilor Marks brought up some real good things that this can provide. I mean, we're a city with a police station that's falling apart. The force is understaffed. The school is falling apart. The streets and roads are falling apart. One of the speakers spoke tonight about the soul of this city. being the government, government affects the souls of this city. And people that are watching should start calling in and emailing now your state representatives. This should be on the ballot in November. No question about it. Long overdue. Serious changes have to be made in the city of Medford. We've got people coming in here fighting government to keep a historical house in our community. It shouldn't be like that. The bulk of this people want something in Medford. They should get it. They shouldn't have to worry about their kids at school with open doors. And I know this is coming up in future resolutions tonight. But this is the way to do it. We take a good, hard look. at the condition the city's in. We take a good hard look at why it's in that condition and what can be done about it. Changing this city charter is paramount after 30 years. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: I'm not, I'm not squeamish about it. Maybe that was a poor choice of words. Like I said, I definitely would, would welcome.
[Robert Cappucci]: But at the end of the day, the city gets all its power and all its money from the residents of Medford. Whatever this group comes in and suggests, if it's positive and helpful, yeah, I'd be all for it. But at the end of the day, it should be decided by vote by the citizens of Medford.
[Robert Cappucci]: Right. Well, to me, I look at it, it's not rocket science. It's not really rocket science. There's only one lawyer in this group. There's only one lawyer in this group that knows legal. With all due respect, it's been 30 years. There are serious problems in the city. The water pipes, the streets falling apart. We're all in agreement on that.
[Robert Cappucci]: And power centralized into one office. I mean, I don't see this call-in center coming in and saying anything different than I'm saying right now. I welcome outside help. Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the citizens who live here, work here, die here, pay all the taxes of a property tax that goes up every year. Now a surcharge on that property tax, a meals tax, a sales tax, God knows what else. Some businesses on the brink of closing down because of a three-year bridge project. Something has to be done.
[Robert Cappucci]: I agree.
[Robert Cappucci]: I am very passionate about it, but I'm just worried about non-Medford residents coming in. If they're a great group and they've had positive results in other cities, definitely let's look at that. But my main point is at the end of the day, this belongs to Medford.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. We have to have that talking. We have to have that discussion and community input in a public hearing so that the solicitor can take that input and create the document. That's what creates the document. So we can have, you know, definite item a for chatter review to have a discussion and further meetings. As Councilor Penta pointed out, it took 26 meetings and 6 public hearings. That's where it starts. Councilor Marks, 100% behind you. You're absolutely right. We have to have this meeting. It is the City of Medford's government. That's where you start it. That's where it starts and the discussion and the talk. And yeah, everybody's going to have an opinion and there are going to be times of contention That is never ignorance, it's passion. We love our city and the Medford. We want it to work right. Let's have that discussion and invite Medford to this podium to talk about it next Tuesday night. Please, thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Name and address of the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. Thank you, Councilor Lungo-Koehn, for bringing this up. And I have to second and echo the sentiments of the previous speaker, Mr. Robert Penter. public official that's appointed to be getting the kind of money he's making a year on taxpayer dollars, to put out a letter like that that accuses, by name, private citizens of using inflammatory speech, was, I think, the exact word that he used, it's reprehensible. We're talking earlier about the Charter Review and getting signatures and having an open podium. This is all part of a free country. Using words like that from the superintendent of schools of all people against private citizens, talking about instilling fear, that might scare people away from this podium, which might be the objective. I'm not saying it is, but it might be. And that's unconscionable. That, to me, instills a lot of passion. We live in a free country. It comes with responsibility. can't run in here and scream fire and not have consequences of that. But this city council last Tuesday night had a very good resolution brought forth that was excellent for this forum, since it's this city council that decides the budget for the protocols to be made by the superintendent and the school committee. I am beside myself when I comprehend this letter put out by the superintendent of schools that would frighten people away from this podium. That's not what this country is all about. And he really should either consider retiring or the mayor should consider replacing them. Because this, I think, is something that could be the grounds for a recall vote of the administration if action isn't taken. on this letter. I wish he would apologize to the citizens he named specifically and to the citizens of Medford. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Bob Capucci, 71 Evans street. Uh, I too am a former educator in, in, in Massachusetts and, uh, there are definite ways and orderly in, in, constructive way for parents to come in and retrieve their kids can happen without it breaking down into chaos. Uh, you know, school could be put on lockdown. Everybody stays in their room. And as parents showed up, you know, they're notified where their kids, uh, they communicate and they get them out in an orderly fashion. Now I went to, uh, chief Sacco of the method. Police holds a informational town hall meeting every first Wednesday of the month. And this was the main topic. The police got this threat and the threat was an automated robotic threat to the school. So that was one of the things that they used to determine the legitimacy of the threat. It came at a very inopportune time around 10 in the morning. The police did go through the school and make a search. But some of the things that they brought up that I think makes it pertinent for this council to talk about was that something like half of the cameras in the school don't work, not every single door is locked and being looked at. Another thing to consider is that it wasn't the police department's decision to put out the information about this bomb threat at six 30 at night, uh, hours after it happened. Uh, uh, I believe that was on, uh, the superintendent of schools, his decision, uh, and, uh, going forward. I, as you do consider the budget budget in, in June in, in the police department that we have, I mean, there's Metro police officer, that was up there on duty that day also has two kids in the school. So they did sweep the school. They did do a search. I don't know the full extent of that. And they did pass on the information of the call to the state police to try to track where this robotic call came from. But in considering the budget in June with our police department, I think it would be pertinent to do what you can to get uh, uh, enough police officers on, on the method police force. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Capucci.
[Robert Cappucci]: Mr. Citizen, please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Rob Capucci, 71 Evans Street in Medford. Just really brief. We need the community access station for so many different things. It could help, you know, advertisements for the, for the five business districts for the arts and stuff going on, uh, Medford sports, things like that. Uh, also politically speaking, we got a huge election year next year with state Senate and, uh, state house rep races. Uh, the presidential primary is on March 1st. You got a number of state committee, keep members up for election running from here from Medford, Medford candidates. I just want to make that statement. I mean, all the other things, too, that community access provides on, you know, how-to shows and things like that. We really need to have it in the city. But my question to this body, Mr. President, through the chair is, as Councilor Penta mentioned, $450,000, that's almost a half a million dollars. What happens to this money? Do you know? Is it put in a bank account? Is it getting interest? Is some of it paid out for some things? I'm just unsure as to what happens to almost a half a million dollars. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, sir.
[Robert Cappucci]: It was a real question. It wasn't rhetorical.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, President de la Ruzo. I'm Robert Capucci. 71 Evans Street. Another matter in this property tax that hasn't been discussed, coming up in July, the property owners in this city are going to have to start paying the surcharge on the property tax through the voter approved, even though 2,453 blank ballots were cast on the Community Preservation Act. That's number one. We've seen a property tax increase, and what was discussed earlier was the impact on rents, such as myself. I'm a renter. I've probably seen my rent rates go up. But there are other impacts on this. Any time the city or the state or the government taxes people, that's money actually being taken out of the economy. And as Councilor, through the Chair, as Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn specified through the emails that she and you all are receiving, we're not getting the services for the tax dollars that we're paying. An understaffed police force, I mean streets and roads that are going neglected. The park, I live near Morrison Park, hasn't had any work done on it in three, four, maybe five years now. There hasn't even been an American flag waving in Morrison Park for at least four years now. These impacts on the city are more than just the rents. It's people leaving these small businesses that are going to see property tax increases as well. This is money taken out of their pockets. This is a young child's dance lessons that they might not get, a young child's baseball team that he might not get to play on, a family, two or three, that might have been planning on going to Disney World that they won't be going to now. I rise in strong favour of Councilor Wong-Tam's resolution to do any tax reduction that you can because when you do that, you're actually putting money back into the economy. You're helping these small businesses that are disappearing by the score from the corner of Salem Street and the Fellsway beyond West Medford Square and all points beyond in all five of our business districts. It's a shame to see this property tax go up again for the 29th consecutive year, is it? And now the added CPA surcharge that's coming, barreling down, added to the water tax that I believe is going up by another 7 to 10% from the last committee of the whole meeting last week or the week before, plus the excise taxes, sales taxes, all these other taxes. And this is why Massachusetts is known throughout the nation as tax-a-chooses. It's literally outrageous. It really is. And I'm trying to articulate the rage that people that are watching that are feeling. And I hope they know that there are people that understand. Maybe it will take a state rep or a state senator candidate or the next one. to start proposing legislation at the state level to reduce surcharges on property taxes, which are in the end run around Prop 2.5. You know, the Moody's report that was just discussed in the committee of the whole meeting prior to this meeting, stated that, you know, they look at the surpluses here in Medford as great city management. Did Moody's ever walk through this building and look at that? I mean, seriously, if all they're going to do is look at the money, well then, yeah, the taxes keep going up every year in Medford. We have almost $20 million in surplus. If that's all they're going to look at, yeah, then that's great city management. But if they actually physically walk through this town, the city of Oz that I grew up in now for 45 years and saw the condition of the police station, the understaffed, the fire departments, the stations that can't even email each other. Seriously, do whatever you can to reduce at least one tax in this city. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Max?
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I used to teach public speaking at a university in southeast Kansas, and I have to say that We want to try to bring more citizens to this open forum. I actually looked up in the last week what the policies are in regarding the decorum and the rules, the Roberts rules that we follow in council meetings. And as a member of a state committee, we follow Roberts rules. But unfortunately, the rules aren't always followed. And coming to this podium, Oftentimes, people ask me, why do you subject yourself to that? Because I'm watching at home, and I see the Councilors aren't really listening to you. A few weeks ago, we were discussing, I forget what it was, but I brought up a comment by former president, God rest his soul, Reagan, about the nine scariest words he ever heard. And as I recited it, With all due respect, Mr. President, you were laughing at me from behind the podium. And people mentioned that to me days later, saying that was pretty disrespectful and rude. So I would like to see more people come to this podium, especially with a new council coming in and a new mayoral administration coming in. We're literally going to need all the voices we can get at this podium. And I want to thank Councilor Penta for his years of dedicated service and for bringing up this issue tonight. And thank you for your time, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Bob Caputi, 71 Evans street. My concern is this bus stop in the work area. I would really like to know what's going to happen here. Are they going to shut down that street? And if so, it might help the local businesses there for whatever part of the street you're going to shut down if you allow, if it's possible, some parking there. I know firsthand, I mean, we all know Carol's restaurant. It's been a tradition in Medford for going on a century here. He's been a friend to me, the family, a lot of you guys here, and I go there a lot, as most of you do, too, and he's losing a ton of business. What I would like to also see is, you know, make sure that these construction crews that are coming in are maintaining that area in terms of eyesore and clutter and whatnot because, you know, along with regular customers of the restaurant. There's also functions and groups that come in there from out of town. Maybe some kind of deal can be made with Republic for a wedding special going on there or a baby shower where carols might be able to print up some cards for these folks and get them in there. And finally, one last thing on the bus stop and what the chairman of the disability community was saying. Maybe somebody from this body can reach out to the MBTA somehow and use that van service that they have and maybe offer some of these folks a ride if they need it. You know, I mean, this, I don't have to tell you folks, this is your job to make sure that the taxpayers, the businesses, and the citizens are well taken care of and that street and area is as safe and accessible as possible. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street in Medford. I just wanted to talk about the third annual Jingle Bell 5K Walk Run that we just had here in Medford on Saturday. First of all, I want to thank the city of Medford, Lonergan's Insurance, all the folks that work the tables at the registration. other places like Carol's Restaurant, like we were talking about earlier, who hosted the night before the Mustang Spirit Night with Medford's own Vanessa Salvucci, awesome vocal talent. Also had a breakfast there the next morning. And to the police and the city officials that helped keep safety on the streets. And that is actually the reason I wanted to speak tonight before this body. Uh, they closed down Potter Riverside Avenue, but the, the walk run goes behind the McGlynn and Andrew school. And that street wasn't shut down. And, and I was a walker, not a runner. And I was walking next to, uh, a couple of families, uh, uh, Councilor elect, uh, John Falco. I saw in the crowd there that day, uh, because that street was open, There were people making audible complaints and frustration having to pull their five and seven-year-old kid out in front of moving traffic. Next year, if they can also close down that street as well, not that I'm saying that there was an incident or anything, but it would probably be in the city's best interest for a public safety issue to either alter the route or close down that street as well. I forget the name of the street, it's right behind the McGlynn and Andrew School, running alongside Hormel. And also, if I can, a quick shout out to the Medford High Mustangs, who made a valiant effort at Hormel Stadium. Going to miss number 31, especially, DiLorenzo, Anthony, great player. But thank you all for the Jingle Bell Walk Run. It was a great event. I hope more people will come out for it. next year as well. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Welcome. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. And speaking specifically to the agenda item that Councilor Knight brought up, What you'll be voting for is a subcommittee to discuss how this City Council is going to go ahead now that this vote is passed. And my question, Mr. President, I guess to Councilor Knight, through you, the Chair, is will this subcommittee be a public meeting that everyone can attend?
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you. Further to, Mr. President, please, if I could. If I understand this law correctly, another question would be, in listening to Councilor Knight speak, is that this body now sets up that full nine-member committee, and from the way I understand it, it's a nine-member seat. Five of the seats are already preordained from various departments, like environment. But the other four seats is what this body has power and control over. As to how.
[Robert Cappucci]: Very good. If I could, Mr. President, this is, again, part of the misinformation that went out to their Councilor, Penta was speaking on the director of preserve Medford, who was one of the lead advocates of this CPA told me personally that what has to happen now by the law is a nine member panel has to be formed in five of those people are already coming from various departments. Now I'm getting different information from Councilor Knight tonight. So it's a very, Very confusing thing. And it's very taxing on the citizens.
[Robert Cappucci]: Councilors, Mr. Capucci, if you would, please just again, state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans street. Uh, as a veteran of the army reserves, I can, I can tell you firsthand what happens with a lot of these reservists, the national guards is, they either sign the title over to a family member, they take their car off the road, and the minimal impact would be just that. This is a great resolution and idea, but if you really wanted to make an impact on these soldiers' lives, instead of deferring their excise tax, which they probably already made arrangements for to defer themselves, There's a long list of other taxes in the cities that could be deferred. This new CPA tax surcharge, for instance, the water tax, the property tax. If you want to really do something for these soldiers, look in that area, because this is, with all due respect, a lot of bark with no bite. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Aye.
[Robert Cappucci]: Hi, you wish to speak? Welcome. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Robert Capucci, 71 Evans street, uh, through the chair. Uh, while it's important for the topic of safety, if we're looking at other cities and towns across the nation and what they do, The town of Kennesaw, Georgia, actually passed a law that required all households to have at least one firearm and ammunition on hand, and it dropped the crime rate in that town to practically nonexistent. Thank you, Mr. President. On the motion of Councilor Knight, all those in favor?
[Robert Cappucci]: You're right. Thank you. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Council President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. might be a little redundant, but enough can't be said about the Chevalier Theatre. It is a treasure and a gem that's not real well known here north of Boston. I went there last Saturday night, saw the four a cappella singing groups, it was sensational. What I didn't see around Medford, what Lynn does, I have friends who live on the Lynn Shore Drive up in the Swampscott area, when they have a big show coming in, they put out these A-frame placards that, maybe Medford is doing this and I just missed it, so forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but maybe in our five business districts, we could put up an A-frame and let people know, like this Saturday night, they have a comedian and a singer named Sarah Blacker, I think. After the show Saturday night, I went to a local restaurant, Carol's, that everybody knows, and a lot of people showed up. I'm sure there was spillout for Salvatore's and other places, If people driving home on a Friday afternoon saw an A-frame that these acapella bands, who were sensational, that were at the Chevalier, I mean, this is how we revitalize our business networks. And I hope that the city of Medford will take action on this and help to advertise some of the great shows that are coming in at the Chevalier. And I want to thank the Chevalier Theatre for the awesome job that they're doing. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Welcome. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci, 71 Evans Street. On the matter of this monitoring system, I would hope that would also include all of the public buildings in this city because the rate payers are responsible for taking on that cost. In terms of what Councilor Penta just brought up, this body passed an amendment to a budget to keep the water rates the same. It was something to the tune of $618,000 that then got vetoed by Mayor McGlynn, but then the budget was still signed and that money still had to be accounted for, but then that all just disappeared when we went to this tiered system. So I would hope that this monitoring system is utilized by this building, high school, library, Chevalier. What we need to know, we need transparency, because if there's a water leak at the Chevalier and the ratepayers are having to incur this cost with, you know, other costs that are going to be going up in the next few years with the passing of the Community Preservation Act, you're putting a lot on the taxpayers of this city. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. And I just want to speak more. I know this was brought up a couple weeks ago, and a group came in and addressed the pros. And I even spoke up a little bit that night. But there's just — as a taxpayer, there's just some more concerns. And I'm not here to argue for or against passing this measure, to just discuss it a little more after having spoken to some fellow residents. and taxpayers. The fruits of the CPA, the Community Preservation Act, and what it wishes to achieve, I don't see anybody being against that. Infrastructure repairs, building repairs, as we see here, the police department that should probably be condemned, fire station repairs, street and roads, cleaner, more open space environments, we are all for that. But there are just some concerns that have come up, wondering if, and I'm not arguing for or against it, just wondering if the CPA is the right way to go, and the voters will decide that next Tuesday. But just looking into it, the card that came out yesterday, the mailer, I don't know if you received it, One of the things that it says, which is just a general statement, that the state will match it. It didn't give any percentage on what it would match. At first we heard 100%, then 30%. I think the last official report from the state of Massachusetts says it's only going to match 18%. The proponents for this argued a couple weeks ago It's going to be a small increase to property taxes, $54. Depending on your land value, for some people that's upwards of a 40% increase. When it gets to the business side of it, when I was looking this up earlier tonight, a place called Redstone and Stoneham, just for an example, the land, because this 100K cap which is a little bit insignificant if you're in a higher tax rate, like Redstone is, like perhaps our Super Stop and Shop is, or the Meadow Glen Mall, or other industrial parks here in Medford. The Redstone, for example, was assessed at something like $34,200,000. Their tax increase was significant. It was $5,700. And that gets passed on to the consumer. just for people to understand what we might be getting into here and locked into it for five years. There are also alternatives to this that people have been discussing that might be a better way to go. In discussing this earlier today with a proponent for the CPA, I made some suggestions as what might be an alternate route, and the person said it was a Band-Aid that doesn't provide a steady funding stream. To me, what a lot of the people in Medford are saying is we have seen A property tax increase every year for 28 years, excise taxes, sales taxes that have gone up, income taxes, meals taxes, death taxes, taxes for businesses, and everything else. For a proponent to tell me that we need a steady funding stream, I say it already exists. We have. a surplus between two different accounts are in Medford of almost $15 million. We're talking about a steady stream that's about 10 miles wide, 20 miles deep, and longer than the Mississippi River. We have the funds to do what the CPA is asking to do. In my humble opinion, and just as an observance, what Medford could be doing as an alternative is, a few weeks ago, I went around Medford and I took a few pictures There's, from the end of Salem Street near the Fellsway, all the way up to Forest Street, there's over 20 storefronts closed down, some of them boarded up. A tax cut incentive to bring businesses in here would be the route to go. A property tax, either neutrality or cut, would be the way to go. We attract more people to move to Medford, Mr. President, and more businesses to come into Medford. What are one of the other proposals by the CPA? Affordable housing? Let's get people jobs. Let's attract businesses and people to move here by offering tax-cutting incentives. With that added business growth and business venture and people working at a lot of these empty storefronts, they can afford on their own without having to rely on government and higher tax incentives. to be able to afford their own houses with personal responsibility and self-dignity of doing it for themselves. I would just very much like to urge our city council and everybody watching, make your own decision, either for or against it, next Tuesday on voting on ballot question one. And other cities and towns have accepted it, about 154, I think it is, in Massachusetts. And there are pros and cons to it. And some towns have already started, at least one, I think it's the town of Northampton, have started to try to repeal it after passing it. And that would come from city council initiative, should it pass next Tuesday. And if it don't, then it's not a concern. They call this state, Taxachusetts, for a reason. And to continually raise our taxes, to argue for infrastructure repairs when we're already paying taxes ad infinitum, and we're not getting those necessary repairs now. I mean, we've driven through Medford. We know the conditions of the streets, the roads, the parks. Another thing, open spaces. We have Hormel Park. We have part of the sheepfold. We have, what, 26 parks in Medford? We already have a lot of open spaces. We already have a lot of money to make these infrastructure repairs. Just those surpluses alone, I mean, I understand that some of the surpluses can't be touched, but maybe a new ballot initiative to maybe change that law could happen to appropriate the funds that we need. In closing, I would just like to say, Thank you very much for the time. I'm not arguing either for or against us, just bringing up some ideas for people to ponder, for you good people to ponder as well, because you'll be voting next Tuesday, too. I thank you for your time, and good luck to you all. Good night. Thank you, Mr. Capucci.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be very brief. These tax increases from the CPA, and again, it's up to the people to decide on it one way or the other, but these tax increases are going to result in the very people that Mr. Kulicka talking about having to pay higher for goods and services. not rocket science. At least one of the Councilors behind here, two own their own businesses. As costs go up in one area, they have to be made up in another area. So a local of shop XYZ, who owns a $30 million property, is now paying $5,700 more. The very people that this is designed to help, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt. because they're going to now be paying more for goods and services, or the four or five people that work in the back have now become three or four and jobs are going to be lost. That's why I advocated tax cuts as an incentive to bring businesses in here and create jobs and to bring price of goods down, because when there's more businesses, there's more competition, and competition brings down prices for the very people the gentleman from Garfield Abbey was talking about that are suffering, the fixed-income people. We really need to consider this one way or the other. But again, it's up to the people on Election Day next Tuesday, one week to go. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Just a question for Miss Fairchild, who just spoke, if she could come back for the folks watching at home and give us the new website address. Because I know a lot of people, after having been at that debate, like myself, who had never been in the Chevalier before, would like to know as much as possible. Maybe there's volunteer opportunities and whatnot.
[Robert Cappucci]: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Bob Cappucci, 71 Evans Street, Medford, Mass. I would very much like to speak to the point of this DVD not being played on educational access and the government channel from the Chevalier Theater. I was certified in communications by the Massachusetts Department of Education back in 1996.
[Robert Cappucci]: Only that it was brought up as a rumor by Councilor Brianna Lungo-Pratt.
[Robert Cappucci]: Well, then I would just like to, whether it is or isn't, I just want to stand up here and advocate for it to be played on both channels. Because as a former grad student who taught debate at Pittsburgh State University in Kansas, this debate, I was there that night, this debate could be used as text I sat next to a young man, Alex. I was a senior at Medford High School. I forget his last name. The AP political class was there in attendance, and they got credit for being there. I hope that the powers that be, now that they have this DVD that has been given by the Chevalier to the city, which is owned by the people, get to play that on both of our only two access channels, which is the government and the educational access. And one final point, sir, to the people watching at home, I hope that your voice is loud, that this is played as soon as possible until Election Day on both access channels that Medford does have. Thank you, Mr. President. That was part of the resolution.
[Robert Cappucci]: Please state your name and address for the record. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Thank you, Mr. President. Just while we have the folks here for the benefit of those who are here in the audience tonight and those folks who are watching home, I have a question in terms of seating. Is the Chevalier going to be opened up fully or is the number of audience members going to be limited? Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Through the chair, I want to thank from the bottom of my heart the last speaker who spoke so eloquently, spot on, and precise. Her information is invaluable. I would just like to remind this body of a presentation I gave you back in November of 2011 on the International Council for Local Environmental Issues. Please check your research avenues. I just looked it up. It's still on the MedFed patch. I passed out a pamphlet To each and every one of you, I hope you've retained them. If not, I have copies at home. Please look that up. I cannot elaborate more on what Carolyn just said here, because it was excellent and spot on. But there are other ways of bringing affordable housing to the residents of Medford and the state, which is through tax incentive. If we bring in more businesses through tax incentive, and we get some of these more than 20 vacant storefronts filled with thriving businesses, and we get people gainfully employed, then they'll be able to afford their own housing. Putting taxes on top of taxes to hope that these monies are used. I mean, I'm reminded of Ronald Reagan's scariest nine words, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. We have been paying taxes in this city, in this state, and in this nation through the nose. And quite frankly, what have we got for it? A police department that's understaffed, a police station that's falling apart. Another guy's going to come up and speak on a house on my street, Evans Street. I welcome you all to drive down Evans Street, right now after this meeting, tomorrow in the daylight. It is a war zone. The street is falling apart. Huge boulders coming up from the gravel and the sediment. That's one street of many streets in this community. And we're supposed to expect now, through this Community Preservation Act, that paying more taxes, throwing more money at the problem is going to somehow be a solution? I urge you, please look up that presentation I gave. Open spaces sounds wonderful. Until you find out that you're restricted to go on there, a citizen who's paying taxes in this community should be able to go on any open space. Please, I urge you, look up that presentation I gave you, and I'm gonna write a nice letter to the editor urging the citizens of Medford to vote this matter down. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. Back to the Honorable Councilor Knight's topic for the condo.
[Robert Cappucci]: I would just respectfully request that that you look into it because, I mean, if people are renting in perpetuity without any hope of ownership, and converting these places into condos makes it more feasible or practical, puts them on a road to ownership, that might actually be a benefit for the city. So I would just request that you look into it from all matters the pros. and the cons, thank you. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Sir, welcome. Steve Monahan, 213 Park Street. And I'm in favor.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. To be clear, this is on extending the hours at each place. I am in favor, but I I would request that you listen to the neighbors that might live there and maybe do like... Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, president. I mean, de la russo, excuse me. Robert of 71 Evans street. In relation to this excellent agenda item being offered, I had something on the table, 15361. Remove that not for the purposes of discussion because it's the exact point the Council at night is bringing up. If you could remove that from the table too, discard it so that it's off of your paperwork. But I rise in favor of this. If we look at the city of New York, Mayor de Blasio, I think his name is, he did a tax incentive program like this, and it's bringing in a lot of business. And in relation to everything that's been discussed tonight, in another project that I'm working on, I've taken pictures from the corner of Salem Street and the Fellsway, all the way up here to Forest Street and through the square, and I got some, like, 20 pictures of storefronts that are gone. And without mentioning any names, I know that this is an issue for one of the mayoral who wants to implement this kind of tax incentive, to bring businesses into our starving business districts, and I would hope that this measure is voted in the affirmative tonight to make Medford business friendly, and we make our city attractive for businesses and families. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I don't know. I just have a few questions. Could it be possible that all parks in Medford are, by the request of the council, looked at for possible other venues for something like this, because I know I might be speaking out of turn. There might be works in the process that I don't know about, but my park, Morrison Park on Central Ave, this might be out of turn of the topic, but it's out of disarray. Maybe this is a matter for the questions I have. It's just that Morrison Park is falling apart. The tennis court has huge cracks in it. There's grass growing up between it. The basketball court as well. There are fences falling apart. And I might be speaking out of turn. The Parks Department might have this. Maybe as a part of this, I don't know if you could have like all parks looked at since this gardening was brought up. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street, I just want to be really brief because I know other people are waiting to come and speak about other agenda items. I just want to thank Ms. Brady for coming up and bringing this up, for Councilor Penta's remarks and for Chief Sacco's remarks. Obviously, we all, everybody in this body, everybody that works in this building, we all have a passion and love for Medford, but this pay-to-park kiosk program The way it was implemented and the way it's been working, or a lack thereof, is disastrous for the city of Medford. I have been working on another project, and a week ago from Saturday, I started at the end of Salem Street, where it intersects with the Fellsway, before Malden, and I stalked at Forest Street, just taking pictures of businesses that were once there that are gone now. I have pictures of over 20 businesses in that eight block radius that are gone now. I'm not blaming that on the pay-to-park kiosk program, but with all due respect, we're talking about being realistic. The small businesses in this community that provide the jobs and this city makes money off of through sales tax and mails tax and whatnot are the reasons why, partly, we have a surplus. And if we focused, you know, hindsight's 20-20, but if we focused years ago on going to bat in supporting small businesses, and we didn't lose these 20 businesses, we would have had the funding for Chief Sacco to have a full and adequate police force. I mean, God bless him. He's doing the best he can with the manpower he has. And with the national feeling going on about police officers in general in the country, he deserves a real applaud him and every officer. But if we had the full and adequate police force built upon providing the support that we can to these small businesses going back years ago, it's not that the business owners are parking in front of their businesses. The problem was in the past was that because Chief Sacco doesn't have an adequate police force to enforce the laws that are already on the books for traffic enforcement. We have people from other cities and towns coming here, parking all day right in front of these businesses, and then getting on the T and going to work. That was the real problem, not the business owners parking in front of their places of establishment all day long. The gentleman who owns the gas station right across from the West Medford post office, A few weeks ago, I was talking to him and he said, you come out here at 11 o'clock in the morning and you look up this street that was once parked with cars and all these small businesses were making money off, it's gone now. We're losing money, businesses, jobs, revenues being collected because of this pay to park kiosk program. And I hope that the next mayoral administration will exercise the buyout option and get rid of it provide the infrastructure and support for small businesses to take the place of these 20 businesses that are on this phone right now. I'll email you the pictures if you want. And we have that level of economic engine activity again. And with the two surpluses we have, with all that money coming in, we can hire a full police force for Chief Sackle to get the officers out there, not even to mention all the construction programs that are going on, to have Chief Sackle with a full police force to implement the traffic laws that are already on hand, then we wouldn't be experiencing a lot of these problems, in my opinion. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Senator. Councilor Knight.
[Robert Cappucci]: He was caught in the process. Thank you, Councilor. Thank you, Mr. President. About a year and a half ago, this council passed an amendment to appropriate $600,000 to give to the MWRA to keep our rates the same. The amendment passed, but then there was a dispute about it, but the budget was signed with that amendment passed for $600,000. I think it was $618,000, something thereabouts. But Dr. Stirella brought up that the rates went up anyway. I came before this council. After that, and I specifically asked the question, now that this amendment passed, does that mean the water rate stayed the same? And the answer given to me was yes. But now I'm finding out that the water rates did, in fact, go up. And what happened to that $600,000? Let me explain what happened.
[Robert Cappucci]: So then what happened to that $600,000? Guess it's gone, huh? And now you're borrowing $2 million.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Bob Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I got just two brief questions and then a brief statement. Number one, my first question revolves around this temporary bridge I want to know the safety of its construction, what its weight capacity is. I mean, we just had a winter and nine feet of snow. Is it plowable? What's the tonnage it can take? My second question, Councilor Caraviello and Knight touched on it, is police. How many Medford police are going to be used over the course of these three years? Because as we know, we have a shortage of staff in the police force. Or maybe Chief Sackle can answer. I saw him in the audience tonight. Are there going to be any attempts from this council or the mayor's administration to maybe even hire more police? And finally, I mean, I'm 45 years old next month. Grew up my whole life in Massachusetts without bringing up the big dig. I mean, we've seen now the estimates of costs go from $2.5 million to $11 million. I mean, what assurances are we the citizens and the taxpayers and the businesses that are going to be sharply affected that there's not going to be cost overrides, another big winter of snow. We're going from three years now to four, to maybe five. And finally, and with all due respect, I want to thank these folks for coming here with this presentation. But you elected city councilors. are the representatives of Medford. You're our voice. If some of these questions are too tough and you get offended by them, well, these are the taxpayer dollars. And quite frankly, if you get offended by these questions, I'm sorry. With all due respect, that's just too bad. And you should please stay and answer these questions. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Cappucci, 71 Evans Street. I'll just be as brief as I possibly can be. I think this problem is actually a little bit larger And I would only respectfully ask this body to maybe bring in our state representatives and state senator into this, because other than these massage parlors, anybody with a smartphone or a laptop can go to craigslist.com or Backpage. I know in recent years, they do like these sting operations for these massage people that are operating out of hotels. These are people that are coming in out of state staying here a week, a weekend, and there's just a lot of this, and it's rampant on the internet. So maybe we can engage our state representatives to maybe have the Massachusetts State Police to look in this beyond what's being offered here tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Please state your name and address for the record, please.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. Just a few questions. What department heads failed to give answers to the questions that you asked?
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Councilor Lungo-Koehn, for your proposal to table this until next week. I want to thank all the other residents that came before and spoke. I also want to thank Councilors Pinto and Marks for their comments. It's odd to me that city councilors will bring up other issues such as the massage parlors or other things that are going wrong in this city based upon the administration's willingness or not to get a certain thing done. And then the one power that the city council truly has You're not going to have the political will to rise up and make a stand with that and speak on behalf of the voters that put you in office. It's literally beyond my comprehension that you won't do this. November 3rd is Election Day, and elections have consequences. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: As amended. Mr. Citizen, would you speak, please? Senator? Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be very brief. I'm Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. My concern is that with more traffic on the road, that somehow if you could expedite whatever projects you have in the works to fix the roads that are in dire need of repair and When drive-throughs have existed in this country for decades, and when one city councilor makes a personal attack on another city councilor's age, but he said it. It's an affront to every senior citizen.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Cappucci, 71 Evans Street. I just want to echo the sentiments of Mr. Regeria, who just spoke. It's a shame that we're this late in the game here, and we're being told that we have to spend this money in two weeks, and then we're being told that we can't. I applaud Councilor Fenton's effort, because I think what he's saying is he's hearing the things that you guys are hearing. On my street, on Evans Street, not all of the topical applications of streets and roads are the same throughout the city. For instance, on my street, it's an older road. And they have actually did a couple of the potholes, but there's one major one in the middle of the street. And what's happening is there are blocks, in some cases boulders, that are loose in the kind of street that's applied there. And I actually saw a car spin out and shoot one of these rocks, almost hit a little kid. I mean, we're talking not just a few, We're talking hundreds of them. Some residents on Evans Street have had to walk out onto the street and pick them up and stack them off of the road. This is a much, much more serious circumstance or concern, I should say, than maybe, well, you probably do realize, I'm sure you're getting all sorts of emails and phone calls. But at this stage of the game, to be last minute scrambling like this is an indication of we need new leadership. And Mr. President, with all due respect, as the moderator of this panel, other cities and towns watch us. When councilors are speaking and other councilors just start screaming out, would you please bang the gavel? and call for some decorum. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. It was about four years ago, I want to say, Another resident of Medford and I tried to establish a charter review committee, Dr. Stirella, that you are all very aware of. From my perspective, it's a huge undertaking. I think we had to get something like 10,000 signatures just to get it on the ballot, and then it has to be voted on by the city at large. either the mayor or this body could vote to have one formed. My support of a charter review commission or committee or whatever you want to call it stems from just a couple of simple things. We've been operating under the plan A strong mayor charter now for almost 30 years. And I just think it's prudent, practical, logical just to establish a review of the charter. to see if that's the way we want to continue functioning our city government in the manner we've been operating it for decades now, almost three decades. Many businesses out there from 1988 we're talking here, maybe earlier, just don't operate under the same business model. And I just think it makes sense for us to review it, especially with certain things that are going on. I'll stick to the charter. But I mean, there are reasons why we want to review the charter. We're understaffed in the police force. The building's falling apart. There's water and sewer pipes. There's pay scales. There's all sorts of reasons why we want to look at the charter review. And another reason to look at it is maybe we want to change it to go to ward representation as opposed to at large. Because I really think that's a great thing. I know that some of you councillors are against that because it kind of like pits the city against each other, but I think that spirit of competition is good. I think when you have, like what we were talking about earlier tonight, you got the Heights, they could have like their representative on the city council, and that person could be doing all they could to become specialized and expert and experts on knowing what's going to go up there at the Malden Hospital. And, you know, there's all sorts of horse trading. We all know who pay attention and are active in politics, the way things get advanced. And, you know, when you have different representations from different wards, it just seems in that spirit of competition, we hold each other to higher standards and more things get done. And finally, on the topic of ward representation, that I really think this city needs, it affords the opportunity for more voices to rise, for a diversity in background, for people to get elected in their ward, to run a smaller, more economical campaign, so that we get more different people up here on this body, with all due respect, are that the ward can, you know, keep electing the same representative for years. It's not that I am kind of for term limits, but I'm not against having, you know, the same representatives for sometimes decades at a time, some of whom I like very much and I would personally keep voting for. But again, it all comes back to opportunity. and providing as much opportunity for more citizens who may want to run that might not be able to afford it. I mean, there were tens of thousands of dollars spent in the city election in 2013 by one candidate on the city council. And I mean, I won't mention who. People can look up the public record and find out for themselves. But that's a lot of money to spend. for a job that pays much less than what was spent. Under ward representation, somebody could possibly win a city council seat for maybe $1,000, $2,000. It's just better to review our city charter after so many years, to look at the way city government runs, to look at some of the problems we're having in this city, and maybe open doors for new people to rise up and have a voice, because we're privileged to live in a country where we have the freedoms that we have and the opportunities that we have, and to expand these freedoms and these opportunities only makes sense. I hope that this body, after hearing from more citizens, will deeply consider and move forward on establishing a charter commission committee and review. Thank you very much for your time.
[Robert Cappucci]: You name and address for the record, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans street. Uh, just really brief. I have a question, excuse me, based on a Councilor, Marx Marxist comments. Uh, first of all, I want to thank everybody who came up and spoke and I, and I thank all the Councilors for their excellent commentary and concern. I mean, it's through the city. There's a huge concern for this. There really is. But my questions are, The Honorable Michael Marx brought up that in the past that there were already resolutions to have the city solicitor speak on the process of this. My question is, A, did he come? And B, when he did come, were there minutes kept of any comments that he might have made so that you guys can maybe meet in a subcommittee or something and discuss them? But thank you for your time. Those are my questions, and thanks so much.
[Robert Cappucci]: If you would, just state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. While I have this opportunity with President McDonald here, Through the chair, I just have a few questions. I definitely don't want Medford to lose anything in a possible merger. I strongly agree with the points Councilor Penta is bringing up. But there's another aspect to this that deeply concerns me as I work in the medical device industry. As I'm sure thousands of more Medford residents do, Stoneham, and this greater community does. So with all due respect, through the chair, if I could ask President McDonald to perhaps speak on his, what's the word, on his professional opinion about these conversations he's having as to, he said there's no timeline or anything. that could be projected, but based on the conversations that he's having. Because a lot of jobs are in the balance. From my industry, personally, I make laser scalpels, and our sales went through the floor. Lots of people got laid off. It's not just my company. Hologic up in Bedford, their market share went down 40% with the larger doom hanging over us, for lack of a better term, of the Affordable Care Act, which caused a lot of insurance rates to go up, a lot of hospitals to make these mergers that are going on, not just in our community, but around the country, that are affecting a lot of people. And I'm sorry, Mr. President, but this is a very huge issue. I'll try to be expedient, but please don't rush me out the podium, with all due respect.
[Robert Cappucci]: With all due respect, I'm not asking any questions to put anybody on the spot. This council... We know that. ...asked about the merger. And since it did come up, as a citizen, representing thousands of people that work in the industry who are very concerned about this merger, I think it's prudent, I think it's sufficient, and I think it's precise... It has been established, so if you could... ...to ask, through the chair, President McDonald's professional opinion on whether or not he thinks this merger is going to happen. and whether or not, based on the conversations he admitted having, whether or not, what kind of a timeline we're looking at.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I deeply respect the concern for jobs that Councilor Knight is bringing before the City Council. But with all due respect, when I got up and spoke earlier asking questions about jobs, the Councilor instituted a point of personal information or whatever to have the President come back and speak you know, when he's more prepared. So I would just request respectfully that, uh, before taking a vote on this, that Councilor Knight or another Councilor offer that the president or whomever the authoritative body is of Tufts university to come down and speak their side of it, uh, at a time when they're prepared as, as well, because the points are similar. I was trying to argue for jobs, like, Point of information, Mr. Bynum.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you for that point of information, councillors. Sir, you may continue. Thank you, Mr. President. For the very reasons that council and I stated that we don't know was the reasons I came up here and asked a couple of questions since he was here, the president of Hallmark and suggested that we've had conversations was the very reason I asked a couple questions, because we don't know. All I'm asking here is for, with all due respect, a little less duplicity and ask for both sides to be heard from, like he was asking before when I asked a couple of small questions. And with all due respect in this election year, I think the job he's trying to defend is his own.
[Robert Cappucci]: Mr. President, with all due respect- And I must take responsibility for those- Absolutely.
[Robert Cappucci]: Sir, you may continue. Thank you, Mr. President. With all due respect, that gentleman sitting in the audience, I didn't know who he was.
[Robert Cappucci]: No, no. I'm sorry. That's not true. The last time, through the chair, Mr. President, that's not true what he said. The last time I was here for a meeting with the president of Hallmark Health, it was the CEO, Mr. Michael Sachs. It wasn't President McDonald. While President McDonald was speaking, I had to go ask his colleague what his name was. With all due respect, This Council, through the Chair, asked a question about the merger. This is an open podium. When that was brought up for public discussion, I'm fully privileged, being a tax-paying citizen of this community, to come up and ask questions when this Council brings up the issue that the Council brought up, not me. So, with all due respect, Council, and through the Chair, you're wrong. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I promise this will be the last time I come to the podium tonight. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Through the chair, I want to thank Councilor Lungo-Koehn, Vice President, for bringing up this issue. This past Sunday, April 5th, marked 12 years to the day that my best friend died on an overdose of OxyContin that he bought illegally. While I strongly advocate being a former teacher, strong educational programs, teaching our youngsters the problems in the health issues and even the death that could arise through using drugs, I would like to ask that this council please place emphasis on the criminal aspect of what's going on here. Councilor Marks, in an earlier discussion, brought up low staffing. We don't have a full police force here in Medford. And Councilor Caraviello brought up the DARE officer program. My question is, you know, how many people that are out there selling illegal drugs to our youngsters and our students, how many of them are being arrested? If my friend 12 years ago, you know, from the person, whoever it was, he bought illegal Oxycontin from got arrested the day before, maybe that night he wouldn't have illegally purchased these drugs and got arrested. And if it's doctors doing it, I hope that there's some aspect of looking into them to get them arrested and losing their license. We need a strong, fully staffed police force so that they can go out and do their job. Now, I'm obviously speaking out of turn. Chief Sacco is doing everything he can with what he has, and there may be answers to the questions I'm bringing up. And I'd like to know how many arrests were made in the last month, in the last three months, the last year, on people selling drugs. That kind of prevention, from a legal standpoint, I think needs some emphasis as well. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: I wasn't aware of that. I just hope more arrests are being made. And thank you for informing me on that, Vice President. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Please state your name and address for the record, sir.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Just two quick points. Councilor Penta brought up this merger. That's not going to happen. I work in the medical device industry, and the company which I'm employed, to be quite honest with you, I don't really recall who said this, but we watched that merger with keen interest, and I'm hearing reports that that merger is being blocked on the South Shore. And it might actually go through up here. That merger might still go through. So if that President, Mr. McDonald, comes up here through your governmental contacts, I would find out that I'm getting reports in the industry I work in that that merger might still go through up here on the North Shore. And on the point of the noise issue, whatever resolve that happens, I mean, for her benefit and her neighbors, too, no doubt, please do whatever resolve happens, make sure the noise is contained. And I say that because these sound barriers that are up here on Route 93, what they're actually doing is it's blocking the sound on this side, but it's catapulting the sound in that direction. And as far as Garfield street, up Salem street, the noises from the highway are a big problem from the residents down there. I have a lot of friends that live in that area and they said that to me. So please make sure that the noise is actually contained. Thank you for your time.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Cappucci, 71 Evans Street. I'll be 45 this year. I grew up my whole life in Medford. Over the last few decades, I'm sorry, I hate to say it, but I'm seeing Medford deteriorate. We've got all these wonderful resolutions that this council has offered. to combat things like string of robberies on Salem Street recently, this heroin addiction problem, the police department falling apart, the police force itself understaffed, the fire department doesn't have an internal email system. I was shocked when the president of the union said that a few weeks ago here. I mean, we can just go down the list of things, and it all comes back to our strong Mayor Plan A charter. You can, with all due respect, Councilor Penter, you can put the 10-day line on it, but at the end of the day, the real power that this council has is on the budget and cutting the budgets. You can make resolutions and recommendations, but it's, and with all due respect to the mayor, I mean, I see him at events, he's a really nice guy, he always says hi to me, but it's just that office. There's too much concentrated power in one office. Now, I tried years ago with Dr. Sturela to get a petition going to have our charter reviewed. And it's been almost, what, 30 years, Councilor Marks, since our charter's been reviewed? I mean, how many of these small businesses out here work under the same business model as 1986, 87, 88? I don't think any of them. If this council has the power and authority to implement a charter review, It's long past due. I love Medford with all my heart, and I'm just seeing it change, and not for the better. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good things about Medford. We have a lot of great potential here, location to the city, right off the highway here. We could do so much for the businesses and the community of Medford. With all due respect, I know you folks work hard, But it makes a lot of us ask, why is this council one of the highest paid in the state? Why is the mayor one of the highest paid in the state? For all that money, it seems like, including yourselves, we should all be getting a little bit more. And all these resolutions that are coming down the pike, that are going unnoticed, unrecognized, unresponded to. With all due respect, again, to the mayor, What Councilor Camuso said a few weeks ago was spot on. It's leadership that's tired. And we need to review the charter of the city government here in Medford because it needs to be looked at and based on recommendations by the Charter Review Commission, it most likely probably should be changed. I think a lot of great testimony for that change was given tonight by the Honourable Robert M. Penta. Thank you so much for your time. deeply take that under advisement. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Thank you, Mr. President. I am in favor of this. If I could please just add, at a time when Medford is seeing businesses fly out of here, with eight open storefronts down here in Medford Square, the amount of hoops I've seen this council put on this man and this business, is amazing to me, calling for them to add expenditures of an awning, and this, that, and the other thing. I hope Wendy's doesn't just move across the street.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Cappucci, 71 Evans Street. Through the Chair, if I could ask, Councilor Penta threw out a figure. Comcast, or whoever the issuing authority is, or maybe it's a combination between several services, has given the city how much money that's not being used? Through the Chair to Councilor Penta?
[Robert Cappucci]: And how long have we not had access to television? Well, since December of 2013. So we're two and a half years almost, two years and a quarter, with that much money. What? A year and a half. A year and a half? Well, we're... This governing body acts as kind of like the Congress of Medford. You're the voice of the people. The mayor is the chief executive officer. You really need to ask about these monies, why we don't have an access television for the community for a myriad of reasons, and what the mayor is afraid of and why he's not advertising. I mean, Joe Viglione, who came up before me, gave an excellent dissertation, and it's It's really incumbent upon this body to get answers. I know under our city charter, all you can do is make requests of the mayor. But if it takes changing the city charter to finally get some things moving forward in the city, these are the options before you. And this is why we elect you good folks to be our voices when obviously there's just too much power. in one office in Medford City government. We need to know where this money has gone. I hope this investigation will find that out, and we need access to television in Medford. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Thank you, President Dello Russo. I'm a little bit confused because this council voted when the budget was being passed to amend the budget by some $600,000. That amendment was passed, but then His Honor the mayor vetoed it, but he signed the amended budget. So how does that $600,000 figure into this tiered water rate? Can I answer that?
[Robert Cappucci]: Well, if I may, I specifically returned to this podium and I asked the direct question, does this amendment mean, at the time, the MWRA wanted to raise our rates by 10%, but then after this whole debate and passing of the amendment for the $600,000 to come out, I returned and I asked specifically, and I believe it was the Honorable Michael Marks who said the answer to my question, which was, Does this mean that nobody in Medford will see a water rate increase? And the answer was directly given to me, yes. Now you're saying that under this tiered rate, some people are actually and some businesses are actually going to see somewhat of an increase?
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you very much, councillors. And just one final point. with all the snow that we have and we still have the water pipes cracked, when all this starts melting in the spring with spring rains and this all starts pouring out in the Boston Harbor, I would just respectfully request that this body send a letter to the state level and let them know about our water pipe conditions and not, you know, to calculate it as raw sewage, as I heard it been said in the past.
[Robert Cappucci]: Right. Well, with new Governor Baker facing an even larger budget deficit than which was once perceived in cuts coming that are going to be coming very soon, I just want to request that we let the state know about our water pipe problem here and try to keep as much money in Medford for our infrastructure, police, education, and whatnot. But thank you all so very much for those great answers. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Sir, state your name and address for the record, please. Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Camuso. Today at the Immaculate Conception in Malden, I just want to ask maybe for a moment of silence if we could. There were almost 100 priests, at least a dozen bishops, His Eminence Cardinal Sean, and the pastor of St. Raphael's, Father Toomey, who gave the homily. for the passing of Father Richard Meem, who was the pastor at Immaculate Conception Malden. I also want to thank Council President Dello Russo for coming last night to his wake, and his Honor the Mayor, who both came, Michael McGlynn, to the wake and to the funeral services today. It was a real boost to the family to have those dignitaries from Medford come I am a member of the Immaculate Conception Parish, as are many people in Medford. So Father Meem had a very big impact on our community. As a Knight of Columbus there, Father Meem was constantly coming to the meetings. He was a man of true character. When Father Meem started succumbing to his illness at the beginning of last week on Monday, I actually saw Cardinal Sean at an assembly in Faneuil Hall two Sundays ago. And I said, Your Eminence, if you please would say a prayer for Father Meem. He's taken ill. And apparently, the prayer was answered with God calling him home to go on to be with God. But the next day, when it was clear that Father Meem was unfortunately going to pass, Cardinal Sean, this is just a testament to Father Meem's character. Cardinal Sean went to visit him to inform him. I mean, his whole family around him, the man saw all his friends. He knew people were very, very morose because a loving family member and a good friend was dying. Cardinal Sean informed him that his Holy Father, the Pope in Rome, had elevated Father Mime to Monsignor. And this is a true testament to his character, his response was, well, it's about time. And they all, I mean, here's a man who immediately relieves the morosity of the situation for his family and friends. And it was just such a wonderful homily today by Father Toomey of St. Raphael's. And if I could, I could please, I mean, a lot of folks in Medford would love probably to have just a brief moment of silence. And thank you so much, Councilor Camuso.
[Robert Cappucci]: If I could just add to really quick that our own city solicitor, Mark Rumley, who's the deacon of our parish too, was also very comforting and inhaling at a time of serious grief. And I want to thank him for his outstanding leader as a spiritual leader in my parish and church. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci, 71 Evett Street. If I could just add a request, because Councilor Camuso brought up the towers in Burlington, if it is at all possible to find out from the safety department if this tower's given off any radiation, because a lot of those towers do, that could be another public safety concern.
[Robert Cappucci]: The matter is disposed of, as you know. Yes, Mr. President, thank you very much. Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. I didn't plan on speaking on this tonight, but a couple of points came up that I had to voice my concern about. With all due respect to the Chief of Police, who has been exhaustive in his energies on this kiosk program, he referred to concerns that people have and the questions that are coming up as throwing stones on something that we haven't even seen if it works yet, when on a issue brought up tonight by Councilor Penter, it clearly states, Medford citizenry never had an open public opportunity for input, discussions, concerns of the implementation. Is it throwing stones? And with all due respect, I have great respect for the Chief of Police. I just wish he would term it differently. Was it throwing stones for Jimmy's pizza? To come up here and address his concerns, was it throwing stones for the woman who talked about Playstead Road and what she has to do to get a permit? Was it throwing stones for the guy who owns the lock company? Was it throwing stones for all the other citizens and businesses that have come up here? And my second point is on the 30-minute parking amendment, a query posed by the Honourable Michael Marks. That's never going to happen. because that will get rid of all the money these folks are going to be collecting on this. I have seen for the last few weeks, going into months now, the great concerns. I mean, we're talking about making Medford more business friendly and improving our five business districts. Welcome to Medford with higher property tax rates, pay to park, the streets falling apart, an understaffed police force. I mean, there are. a lot more things this city could be doing and it's ultimately going to depend on the voters this year and to exercise that option in this contract to buy it out and get rid of it, please. It would be the best thing for the City of Medford. Thank you for your time.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Ms. Martin. Sir, please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Just very briefly, I know you're a busy city council. I kind of agree with the previous speaker. I wholeheartedly agree with the intentions. Lord knows our city's roads need improvement, our buildings. We need a full police force with a better facility. But I don't think creating a new account is the route to go since we already have accounts, free cash accounts, surplus accounts, and there may well already be an account that exists. Through the chair to Councilor Knight, as an elected member of the Republican State Committee, I work with advisors to the new administration, being a Republican governor. And I can tell you firsthand, there are cuts coming that will continue with the cuts of the previous administration, and might even be a little bit deeper, because after the transition happened, or during the transition, actually, when he was governor, elect Baker, we come to find out that there was actually a shortfall of another billion dollars that we didn't know about. So the cuts are definitely coming. But Medford is in a unique position with this new parking program that contractually requires you to spend $250,000 a year on infrastructure that will be set up, if I'm correct, maybe the chief can come up and correct me, or the representative from Republic, This funding will be spent on infrastructure repairs based on how this city council rules those monies are to be spent. So we are in a good position to actually do something very good for the citizens of Medford and maybe even the state at large. We have all this surplus. We now have, which is about to start getting enforced in two days, a new windfall of money coming in. This isn't going to hurt our bond rating. It's actually going to increase it. We can make Medford with a new casino coming in and all sorts of jobs. People are going to be looking for a place to live. Now is the time for this city council to act. We already have the account set up. I don't really think we need a new account to be set up, but what we could do is reduce property rates. What we could do, property tax rates, that is, excuse me. What else we could do is reduce business fees. Massachusetts requires, each town and city to establish an excise tax, but there's nothing stopping us from setting that excise tax rate to zero. We can make Medford one of the most attractive cities to move to in the Bay State with a new casino coming in and job prospects. There was an article a few weeks ago how all cities and towns across the Bay State are trying to be the new Somerville. I'd like to see the next article. come to say, let's try to be the new Medford. I hope you'll take into account what I've said, and thank you for your time.
[Robert Cappucci]: Sir, thank you. Please state your name and address for the record. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Cappucci of 71 Evans Street. I'll try to be very, very brief. Unfortunately, I mean, my heart's torn out listening to all these folks come up here. My heart is shattered. But it's not about critical emotion. It's about critical thinking. And unfortunately, this program is going to get worse before it gets better. The representatives of the mayor that come before us and say they can write down information and implement this, that, or the other thing, when I went to the town community meeting at the police station the other night, with all due respect to the chief, he said right out, that these interim prices are interim, and they're most likely going to go up. It's going to get worse before it gets better. And unfortunately, I hate to say this, but the fact is the contract has been signed. This city is under a plan A strong mayor charter. That's why he can stay at home and send his representatives down here when he should be here. My suggestion, with all due respect to this city council, would be to pass a resolution to have the mayor come down and sit here and field questions on this matter. He signed this contract. It's up to him to come out from behind the shadows and stop sending folks down here to take the hits for him. My heart goes out to the chief having to take all these questions, too. It's unfortunate, and I'll just close with this. Through the chair to three city councilors up here, Councilors Marks, Penta, and Lungo-Koehn, This is the issue where this city is ready to give you the broom, and we can call you either her or his honor, the mayor. Take up action, please. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans street. Uh, I don't know what good it would do, but just to expand a little bit on the excellent effort that council append is trying to make, and he brings a very good point. I mean, during the other discussion tonight, we've heard the one business owner talking about the rise of price and food and everything else. And this is a great initiative. Soon, our representatives up in Washington, D.C. are going to be voting on the Keystone Pipeline and other things. Now, our representation in Washington, probably across the borders, is going to vote against it, but this is a way to help alleviate costs right here in Medford. If we could maybe further the letter to our two state senators, our Congresswoman, was it Catherine Clark, to maybe support expansion of energy deciphering and drilling and pipelines that are gonna come so that these costs, I mean, that's where these increases are coming from, Councilor Pinter. It's the denial of pipelines. It's the denial of permits for oil drilling because it's killing jobs and everything else. We have been getting a break on our gas prices because of the oil war that's going on now between fracking states and the Middle East lowering their prices to try to hurt. And it is hurting jobs already in North Dakota. That's going to bottom out pretty soon. And Councilor Penta brings up an excellent point. I hope that we could maybe as a City Council send something to our Washington representatives and any citizens at home watching, maybe we can call some of our Washington representatives because these issues are going to be coming up in the new Congress. And I hope that the right decisions are made on behalf of the people that vote. you good folks in our state and our national representation into office. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm Robert Capucci of 71 Evans Street. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I fully agree through the chair with Councilor Camuso that if this gentleman wants to look at things with the name Medford attached to it, even though he's not a nonprofit organization, he uses Medford Information Central. to go after people vehemently, and this reflects badly on the city of Medford when he uses the name Medford on it. It is a disrespect to the city. It should be looked into. For a quick example, he referred to City School Committee member Aaron DiBenedetto. And I won't repeat the name, in a derogatory name. If he's going to use Medford, he needs to represent Medford as a respectable city that it is. I want to thank Councilor Camuso for bringing that up. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: And will Councilor Carafiello.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Councilor. Mr. President, through the chair, thank you, Councilor Knight. Really briefly, on the issue of free speech, I'm not out to deny anybody's free speech. We have certain inalienable rights, but with these rights comes responsibility. I have the freedom of speech right now to scream fire and scare everybody to run out, and that's a matter of free speech. But it would be highly irresponsible of me to do so. And this is the point I'm trying to make with Medford Information Central. The gentleman comes up, and he says, I have great respect for Aaron DiBenedetto. But then he calls her Aaron DiBenderover on his website. And Mr. President, I agree with you. I don't tolerate it either. With freedom of speech comes responsibility into being adult. and represent our city in a respectable way. That's all I'm asking for. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Bob Capucci is 71 Evans street. I'll try to be very brief. Uh, I, I hope that this kiosk issue is a watershed event that that'll speak to the larger issue of, of our city. And I mean, look at all these citizens that are coming up here tonight that didn't even know this was coming. All the problems it's gonna cause for these people. Even some of the details that, with all due respect, the chief and the company that put these in aren't quite sure about yet, in terms of rules and whatnot. We're a city of about 58,000. We have 38,000 registered voters. In any municipal election cycle, maybe 9,000 people come out to vote. I hope that this kiosk, and this is an election year, I hope that this kiosk event is a watershed event and we have 20,000 people come out and vote this year because our city charter needs to be changed. We need a city council that's going to be able to put forward a charter commission review. It's been almost 30 years. With all due respect, there are always four votes that always go the mayor's way on this city council. And when the votes don't go their way, I don't mean to digress, but for instance, the million dollar, actually a $680,000 offer by Councilor Penta a few months ago, on the water pipes, when that passes, even when we get a miracle of that fourth vote, to go against something, this mayor who has all power in this city, it's too much power in any one office, he vetoes it. So even if this city council comes up with a resolution tonight of seven to nothing in the affirmative to help all these people and businesses that are confused about it, what's to stop the mayor from just saying, no, I'm doing it my way anyway? Please, Medford City Council, you have the authority to review our city charter, It's long overdue to be changed, or let's hope that this kiosk event is a watershed event, and the people that you represent. When I come and address this council, I'm seeing my neighbors on Evans Street. I'm seeing my neighbors up in the Heights. I'm seeing local business owners. It really needs to change, and we really need the voices that you folks need to be in a city that's dominated by the mayor's office. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Capucci.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci at 71 Evans street. Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. City Councilors, a few things that came up tonight I have to speak about. Just I'll try to be as brief as possible. Ms. Baker, who spoke and didn't, liked the term abuse used by Councilor Penta. Those of us that are living in providing you with all these excess funds, Massachusetts is seventh on the list of most moved out of states. We are highest per capita out of any other state in the nation as the highest tax state. Through the chair to Councilor Knight, he wants to talk about a new administration coming in with historic cuts. This is the first time Charlie Baker will be governor of Massachusetts.
[Robert Cappucci]: Okay, two points, Councilor Penta, excuse me, Councilor Camuso to Councilor Knight through the chair. We've just had eight years of the Patrick administration who has already cut aid to cities and towns. this city was still able to create the $7 million surplus under that. Governor Patrick has repeatedly blamed the federal government for his having to cut aid to cities and towns. Another point I would like to make is, what was the other part of what you said?
[Robert Cappucci]: The citizens of Medford who are paying these taxes, we'd like to have some rainy day funds in our pockets. And if taking a million dollars out of a $7 million surplus is going to allow, I mean, I don't see the city of Medford having bake sales. I don't see the city of Medford manufacturing products and selling them to the market. Government doesn't make any money at all until it levies a tax on the citizens. We want to make Medford an attractive and popular town. We do that by cutting tax rates. I don't think there should be a property tax increase on the residential properties or the commercial properties. We gotta make Medford attractive because Somerville has taken off ahead of us. And as far as alluding to those four votes, that come up, this city's constantly being told, next time for the police station, next time for the dark park. Well, next time is now, and we do have city elections coming up next year, and I hope everybody within the sound of my voice hears it, because we need that fourth vote here on the council, or we need a new administration in the corner office. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Thank you, Mr. President. Robert Capucci, 71 Evans Street. If I could, through the President's chair, ask just a few questions. I wonder how many cases of discrimination of this nature in housing have happened, maybe recently, and what is the actual process of investigating these accusations? Because as, I think her name is Miss McLeod, alluded to, she said, like, we don't want to see things that happened in Ferguson happen here. Now, I know that the popular opinion of what happened in Ferguson, Missouri—and please, don't get me wrong. I want everybody's rights to always be protected. Our rights were never given by any legislative body. We believe in the founding of this nation. that our rights come from God, that are inalienable, that we're born with. And therefore, they should be protected. But what happened in Ferguson, if I understand the testimony from the grand jury, was that the officer, Mr. Wilson, I believe his name was, didn't do anything out of line. And he was just performing his job. So, but, like, it just concerns me, the process of investigation of these matters and how many of them actually happened. Because the truth of what happened in Ferguson, just on CNN the other night, there were correspondents doing hands up, don't shoot, and that never happened in Ferguson, Missouri. We have popular opinion causing Groups of people go out in New York City screaming, what do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now. We have high school kids that just today, through social media, left their classes and stormed the state house and other places. And I'm just concerned that everybody's civil rights is going to be protected, of course. But the truth is also going to be pursued. Thank you, Mr. President.
[Robert Cappucci]: Bob Capucci, 71 Evans street. Please forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn. I came late and I didn't hear everything. But, uh, with the passage of this new casino bill, and it's definitely coming here now and Everett, I don't know if a concerted effort between the city council and the mayor can be made to press upon the wind people to, to, I don't know if they have provisions, But let's try to get some funding from them to do infrastructure improvements here in Medford because we're going to be impacted by this wind casino that's coming in. And I believe they have it in their plans to help communities like ours get funding we need for a stronger police force and things like that. So we don't have to do drastic things like lose the parks and things like that. But I would hope that this city council and our mayor is going to press upon the wind people to fortify before that thing comes in here. And we've got 10,000 cars out there in Wellington Circle Plaza and all sorts of stuff. That's my two cents. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: Yes. Name and address for the record, please. Robert Capucci of 71 Evans street. Uh, several months ago, a fellow citizen of mine, uh, John Stareller and I, we tried to get, uh, a charter commission formed by, by through petition, but we realized that we couldn't, we couldn't do this because it was a huge undertaking. So I'm just asking the council again, if it's within your means to do so, to appoint a charter commission, to serve as a body that could caucus I greatly agree with Councilor Dello Russo in adding another layer of government. That's not what I'm all about. But if we had a charter commission that could carcass on various issues like traffic control, like the expenditures in a parking garage, like lights going out all around the city. sidewalks that need to have crosswalks that are there. A board that can serve for the people to come as a third and final check and balance in our check and balance system of our public government. The federal government operates on it with a president. a judiciary and a legislature. This city has the city council and the mayor who never see eye to eye and a constituency that has to either keep emailing or running up to this podium. If it's within the purview of the Medford City Council to appoint a charter commission to caucus on all these various issues to consolidate different conglomerations of, of, of big government here in this little city, then please, by all means do so. Uh, uh, citizens, I'm going to have to ask citizens to, to help me like John Sterella and I, and we're going to have to get to this petition form to form a group, uh, as a charter commission that could serve the city and the citizens in a multitude of of areas that I think would only help to ensure better roads, better lighting, better expenditures spent by our tax dollars, and to review the policies and actions, or lack thereof, of this board and of the CEO. Thank you.
[Robert Cappucci]: Robert Capucci from 71 Evans Street. First and foremost, Councilor Penta, thank you for your eloquence, your wisdom, and your passion in sticking up for the fundamental American individualism. That is the whole reason why I brought this up. I didn't know myself the extent of reach into children three to 12 years old that this Agenda 21 has. Agenda 21, make no mistake, is about the redistribution of wealth. The United Nations charter calls for taking a back seat to individual freedoms. The director of ICLEI, a guy named Dr. Harris, I believe his name is, states right out that individualism has to take a back seat towards the redistribution of wealth. They blame the United States, as Councilor Penta said, for the problems environmentally of the world. So what they do, and what socialism does itself, is it doesn't raise the lower up to the higher. What it actually does is lowers the higher down and that doesn't help anybody. Now, Councilor Dello Russo, I'm sure that high school you visited did have individuals that were very bright and smart. That's, that's not the point of argument here. And you also brought up, uh, Joe McCarthy, McCarthyism and you, and it, and it kinda, it kinda puts this whole question that Councilor pent is bringing up that I, I tried to enlighten the city and the citizens to in a light as a certain, form of, oh, it's crazy wackoism to talk about something like this happening. But it is happening. And communities all over this nation have gotten rid of ICLEI and Agenda 21. The town of Cuyver Mass, Las Cruces, New Mexico, towns all over the United States are getting rid of it. Sir? Councilor Dello Russo, Joe McCarthy brought up an issue in the 50s stating there were 53 communists in the United States government. And he was ridiculed for this. He was dogged. He was called an idiot. He eventually left the Senate, became an alcoholic, and died young. Did you know that in 1995, the government of Russia put out something called the Venona Papers. And in those Venona Papers, it proved everything Joe McCarthy was saying as accurate to a T. There were 53 communists in the United States government. This is a real issue. It's nothing crazy. It's something very simple. I passed out that pamphlet. to you folks when I gave my presentation on the first. On the bottom, it had a website for a quick 12-minute video. I watched it before I came here tonight, and it's from 629 to 641. Did all you folks watch that? I certainly hope you did, because there were resources in there to look up All sorts of other things about Agenda 21, and Councilor Penta brought up a lot of things I didn't know myself. An environmental officer from the western part of Massachusetts first introduced me to Agenda 21, ICLEI and sustainable development. He's a conservationist officer for Massachusetts, and he's been going around this state giving a two-hour presentation on the true nature behind Agenda 21. And it is an indoctrination of our youth. It is teaching kids away from individualism and the foundations of the United States Constitution towards the UN Charter and the UN Constitution. And it's really a shame if that's happening because I'm 41 and when I'm 55, I don't want to see the United States of America where a 20-year-old Kids that are now stepping up to your positions, having their idea that it's not about the free individual American citizen, but it's about the big bad America and its corporate greed and how they have to be punished and their wealth has to be redistributed to other countries around the world. American excellence and American individualism must be fought for. And it's great that Councilor Penta brought this up, The way he argued the point was flawless. It was great. And I highly discount, uh, the Councilors for his interruption and for trying to highlight it as McCarthyism and crazy. When, when please look up the Venona papers, counsel Dello Russo, Joe McCarthy was proved right. Thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: All right. What do you want? What's your, uh, uh, Bob Capucci, 71 Evans street. I just want to make the point that this isn't a Republican or a Democrat issue. This is an American issue. There is a website, Dr. Wood, actually, www.DemocratsAgainstAgenda21. This isn't a partisan issue. But for full disclosure, I am a Republican, and I'm a candidate for a Republican State Committee. I just thought I'd plug that if that's okay with you. Thank you, thank you very much.
[Robert Cappucci]: What is it? Go ahead. Bob Capucci, 71 Evans Street. Nobody's advocating a witch hunt. Nobody's advocating to attack on anybody's infringements of rights of free speech or anything like that. I came to this issue based on fact, based on looking at the empirical data and then researching it beyond that. The offshoots of McCarthyism, which is which is, which is, it's, I'm sorry, but it's fear mongering. I understand that people suffered and The facts of the matter are, though, that the things Joe McCarty was saying were later proven in 1995 by the very people he was saying them against. They came out with something called the Venona Papers, V-E-N-O-A-N-A. We're not gonna get into this.