Local Action Will Save Us

Yesterday, the President of the United States yelled at the President of Ukraine on TV, telling him to be more grateful, that he was toying with World War 3. He praised the President of Russia, the aggressor, the bad guy. They fired the chair of the Joint Chiefs, General CQ Brown, a Black man, for being a DEI hire, and promoted a white man in his place, who they had to get special permission to hire because he was under-qualified. They’re telling all the trans people in the military to pack it in - there’s no place for them in the military anymore.

I was feeling upset about all of this yesterday when I went to the Malden Warming Center. I don’t usually go in on Friday nights lately. This year is my first as the President of the Board of Directors. My regular volunteer shift this winter has been Mondays at 9pm. This week, however, our Executive Director had a family emergency, and I offered to cover check-in a couple nights. So I went in to help out. It was a pretty busy, chaotic night. We had more guests than we could offer a space to for the night and the other warming centers in the region were also full. It took a few hours to feed the overflow guests and find somewhere to send them for the night.

The reason I’m writing this, though, is because of an interaction I had in the midst of the chaos. One of the guests who couldn’t stay asked me if she could have a hairbrush, so I went to our donations room to ask the volunteers for a brush. I got in line behind a guest, George*, who was asking for a few clothing items. George is Black and queer. They often wear their hair in fun styles or a wig. Last year and the year before, when I was the assistant director of the warming center and I was there more often, George and I would talk a lot about our nails. We often wore similar colored nail polish. They like eyeliner in blue or gold. I have always liked George. They are quiet and kind and they always call me “mama.”

While I was waiting behind George, they were asking the volunteer, an older woman with white hair, in the donations room for clothes. She had already pulled some underwear for them, floral granny panties, and set them aside. George asked for a sweatshirt from the women’s section and the volunteer obliged. The first thing she brought out was a hunter green hoodie. George was not satisfied. “Do you have something in a brighter color? Pink or red or even blue? You know, something fun? Even black would be better.”

The volunteer went back to the sweatshirt section. George and I chatted a bit more about how they have been doing this season and what we have both been up to. The volunteer came back out with a black hoodie. George said thank you. I got the hairbrush for the other guest. The volunteer interrupted us before we left and said, “you know, there are a few other fun things that aren’t sweatshirts. I have some sweaters that are like what Emily is wearing. Do you want to see them?” George said they did, but they wanted to eat dinner before it got cold. They said they’d come back in a little bit, and thanked the volunteer again. George took their sweatshirt and underwear back to their cube and I dove back into the chaos of the center.

The Malden Warming Center closes for the season at the end of this month. We are open December through March, the coldest part of the year. The point of the center is to have a warm, safe place for people to go when they have nowhere else.

It’s also a warm, safe place for people to go when the rest of the world feels cold, calculating, unsafe, and unkind.

Last night, an older white woman spent her Friday night in a small, fluorescent-lit room fetching women’s clothing for a Black queer person; a person who a lot of people in this country have said they do not want to promote, help, or protect.

It was really nice to see.

It made me feel pretty warm and safe. When things in the country as a whole feel really out of control and awful, it is nice to see people in community with each other, helping the most vulnerable among them, and giving them a chance to ask for a cuter top.

The Malden Warming Center

*Name has been changed.

Life and Death

On December 4th, Dan Dill walked out his door with his puppy, Blue, to go for a walk. Dan looked both ways on a busy street that runs between his house and the Mystic Lakes and stepped off the curb. A person driving a car crashed into Dan and Blue, severely injuring them. Dan was in a coma. On January 11th, Dan died from his injuries. (Blue is expected to recover, I am happy to report.)

On February 4th, Arthur Webber was crossing the street in another crosswalk, on the other side of Medford. A pickup truck hit Arthur and killed him. Both men were in their 70s.

Mystic Valley Parkway, where Dan was killed, is a State controlled road in West Medford, owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The rotary at Salem Street where Arthur was killed is a State controlled road, owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). As such, the City of Medford does not enforce traffic laws on those roads and does not and cannot make changes to the patterns or roadway architecture. It is somebody else’s job.

Yesterday, at a City Council meeting, I introduced a condolence resolution for Dan Dill. Usually, condolences are offered to the families of people who were very influential in the City because of their political or community work. Dan was an influential person in his world (a professor of chemistry at Boston University for 50 years and a beautiful photographer), but the reason this condolence resolution was offered was because Dan’s neighbors were pushing DCR to make safety changes to the road they control that runs through their neighborhood.

I am hopeful that changes will be made in the spring construction season. Our State Representatives and Mayor discussed the location where Dan was killed yesterday, right before the City Council meeting, with the Commissioner of DCR and they told me improvements are coming. But as cars become faster, heavier, and safer for the people inside, they are getting more dangerous to pedestrians. As an elected official of the City of Medford, I feel it is my responsibility to speak for the residents who have been banging the drum for this cause for years, saying our roads are too dangerous, asking what will it take? Does someone have to die?

It isn’t someone else’s job. It’s mine. It’s all of ours.

There will be more meetings on this topic going forward. Our next step is to hold a Committee of the Whole with the Medford Bicycle Commission and Walk Medford, two groups who advocate for the safety of people who travel our streets not in cars. I am hopeful that the Medford Police Department and the State Police, who have a barracks in Medford, will also join us to discuss enforcement, and what we can do to improve that area as well.

I will say, though, and I apologize in advance if it seems like I’m harping on this or if I seem shrill: people in Medford will get upset about a lot of hypothetical things - things that haven’t happened and most likely won’t happen. People will often be afraid of things they think I and my colleagues are advocating for, which are not dangerous and have even been shown to increase safety and community well-being. Something I hear mentioned a lot, for example, is zoning changes to allow for unmitigated by-right homeless shelters and methadone clinics (both would be a community good and I’ll write about why another time). We DO NOT currently have rampant medication assisted treatment centers or shelters for unhoused people.

What we DO have is cars killing our elderly neighbors.

Right now, we have a crisis. This is life and death.

Where was the crowd of angry residents in the chambers last night?

People are actually dying before our eyes. That makes me angry.

If it makes you angry, too, send me an email and tell me why. I’ll tell you when the Committee of the Whole is and you can come make your voice heard. elazzaro@medford-ma.gov

On Diversity, the Searing Pain of Editing, and Medford’s City Charter

Map of Medford with Wards and Precincts

Last night, the City Council’s Governance Committee met to discuss a few sections of the draft version of a City Charter that can then go to the State, to eventually be presented to the City’s voters, which, if approved, would be implemented in 2027. Any new charter will be a huge improvement and I am delighted at the privilege to do this work. A committee was appointed by Mayor Lungo-Koehn to study the charter years ago. They convened, researched extensively, held many public meetings, conducted surveys of residents, and put together an excellent draft charter. Now the City Council Governance Committee is reviewing the draft and making amendments, which will be voted on by the full City Council, which will then go to the Medford State Delegation (our Senator and House Representatives) who will hopefully pass it through the State House, and then it goes on the ballot for a vote this November.

We talked last night about one particularly contentious matter: the composition of the City Council. Many other cities in Massachusetts and across the country have ward- or precinct- or district-based Councils. Ours is currently only at-large councilors, meaning all the members of the Medford City Council represent the whole City of Medford, all roughly 60,000 residents. There are good and bad things about this. It is nice that every resident of Medford has 7 people they can contact with an issue and every Councilor ostensibly cares equally about every neighborhood in the City. The downside is that it’s expensive and time-consuming to run for office, especially for a new candidate. This precludes many people from running for office who might otherwise want to. Removing this barrier by having ward-based City Councilors seems like a no-brainer. This was one of the tenets of my platform when I ran for office a year and a half ago.

One of the recommendations of the Charter Study Committee was to change the composition of the City Council from 7 at-large Councilors to 8 ward-based Councilors and 3 at-large Councilors. The idea is that this will open up opportunities to underserved wards (some wards haven’t had a City Councilor from that ward since at least 2005), will make it easier for people from historically marginalized backgrounds to run for office, or people with families, demanding jobs, or lower income, to run for office. I believe this is true! I am all for this.

City Council President Zac Bears offered an amendment to this section suggesting that instead of 8 ward-based Councilors, we try a compromise of combining the wards into districts of two wards each, based on the CSC’s recommendations for the School Committee composition. We would try 4 district Councilors and 3 at-large Councilors. At the Governance meeting, Vice President Kit Collins offered a further amendment to 5 at-large Councilors, to grow the size of the City Council to 9 total members. This option could solve for the concern about low turnout in some wards, the concern in many neighboring communities about ward Councilors frequently running unopposed term after term, uncompetitive elections, misalignment with the CSC’s recommendations for School Committee, potential for ward Councilors being overly concerned with parochial issues and NIMBYism, it could solve a lot of issues.

I had planned to vote in favor of that amendment, but changed my mind right before the meeting. I received a lot of emails in favor of a hybrid at-large/ward-based City Council composition. I read all the threads online I could find and almost everything I saw expressed that preference. The CSC’s survey showed that preference. I often struggle with the concept of representative democracy versus leading the people in the direction I personally think is best. I also struggle with knowing if the people talking to me are the actual majority or just the loudest voices in the room. The survey conducted by the CSC only offered fully at-large, fully ward-based, and a hybrid version as options, so there were some limitations, but these were the data we had to work with.

I voted against President Bears’ amendment, meaning I voted to keep the CSC’s suggestion of a Council of 8 ward-based Councilors and 3 at-large Councilors. I decided to do that because of my campaign promise, the emails I received, and conversations I had with residents and members of the CSC. That being said, I believe that if we have 11 councilors, City Council meetings will be too long. They are already too long and it is an additional barrier for new candidates running for office. We currently have no limit on how long a City Councilor can speak and we are outliers in the amount of public participation that happens in our meetings compared with the rest of the state. If there are 11 Councilors, I will lobby heavily for additional limits to meeting lengths, both in the time Councilors are permitted to speak and the amount of public participation that is offered in our meetings.

President Bears’ suggestion that we combine wards, in alignment with the recommendation by the CSC for School Committee, was met with insinuations of corruption, immediately. That was wild! The suggestion that my colleagues would spend their time and energy crafting an amendment to the City Charter for nefarious ends, so they can keep an elected position that equates to long hours late at night, endless work, research and emotional labor, and frequent online attacks and doxxing boggles my mind. This is not an easy role, nor a lucrative one. No one runs for office for the glamor or the money. I was at work at 1am on my 40th birthday, being told I was disgusting for voting in favor of rezoning.

It was as though, by doing our jobs and making amendments to the draft of the charter, we were showing disrespect to the Charter Study Committee. It is explicitly our responsibility to review the CSC’s draft and make productive, constructive amendments. That is our charge, our mandate, our job. We hadn’t even deliberated on it and immediately, the assumption was that we were doing a power grab.

(Permit me an empathetic sidebar: I have an MFA in creative writing and have written many plays, personal essays, and a novel. Every time I complete a first draft, I am convinced she is a perfect piece of art, more wonderful than anything anyone has ever written. I give this beautiful piece of writing to someone to read, and they say it’s good and then give me edits, and it feels like they are murdering my babies. I relate to the pain of having your work edited. I apologize for inflicting that upon the CSC.)

There is a very pure and good desire, that I believe the members of the CSC hold, and I held during my campaign, that ward-based representation will make our majority white City Council more diverse. 

Having ward representation will definitely make it easier for someone to run for City Council, which will be a good thing. It will also be easier to run for a district seat (i.e. two wards combined into one district) than it was to run at-large. I was on the losing side of the vote and President Bears’ amendment passed in Committee. I am fine with that. District representation is still a step in the right direction and brings us in alignment with the recommendations for School Committee. But one thing to keep in mind is that making it easier to run for office will not necessarily mean our district candidates will be people of color or women or queer people. There is more work to do.

Representation matters. And it takes more than offering this charter change to achieve true representation. This will be one step, and in the meantime, we can make the whole of our government more representative, more welcoming, and more open by passing ordinances that do that now.

We actually have been doing that, by changing the name of the Columbus School to the Missituk School, and by passing ordinances like the welcoming city ordinance and the forthcoming gender affirming care and reproductive healthcare ordinance. That’s how we make our City safe for all people, that’s how we make our buildings welcoming: we celebrate our diversity, we keep our DEI initiatives going, we speak to our residents and we listen to them, and we keep our lines of communication open. We hear all opinions and we listen with open hearts and minds. We say yes, we say we will try, we say we trust you and we believe you. We open our doors.

Short Skirt / Long Jacket

This song (by the band Cake) came on my 00s Garage Rock Spotify playlist in the car today and I believe it is about a woman who works in municipal government. Hear me out.

Here, listen to the song, I’ll wait.

The full lyrics, for reference:

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond

I want a girl who knows what's best

I want a girl with shoes that cut

And eyes that burn like cigarettes

I want a girl with the right allocations

Who's fast and thorough

And sharp as a tack

She's playing with her jewelry

She's putting up her hair

She's touring the facility

And picking up slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket

I want a girl who gets up early

I want a girl who stays up late

I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity

Who uses a machete to cut through red tape

With fingernails that shine like justice

And a voice that is dark like tinted glass

She is fast and thorough

And sharp as a tack

She's touring the facility

And picking up slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long... long jacket

I want a girl with a smooth liquidation

I want a girl with good dividends

At Citibank we will meet accidentally

We'll start to talk when she borrows my pen

She wants a car with a cupholder armrest

She wants a car that will get her there

She's changing her name from Kitty to Karen

She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler LeBaron

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket

***

When this song came out, it was the summer before my sophomore year of high school. When my friends and I got our drivers’ licenses, we would put this song on mix tapes and play it in our cars, driving around, singing at the top of our lungs. This is a good song about a girl, and we wanted to be her. Some of us became her.

I’m not saying it’s about me, but I have been known to wear too-short skirts. I also wear my nails too long and they shine like justice. I try to cut through red tape with a machete, but sometimes it’s harder than I’d like it to be. Sometimes you have to use tiny little scissors and it takes years.

***

This year I’m volunteering in a regular weekly shift late in the evening at the warming center. The past two years I was there half the nights doing check in, but I took a step back this year from the day-to-day responsibilities. I ended up taking on more responsibility for policy and fundraising because that’s how I live my life, but don’t worry about that. Point is, I was there Monday night and it was very cold. 

We’ve been in a cold snap for a few days. One of our guests is a very sweet man who was trailing a significant odor on Monday. One of our staff members from the City of Malden compelled him to change his clothes and clean up. The staff member told me that this guest has traumatic brain injury and doesn’t notice when he has had an accident and can’t tell he needs to get clean. This guest also has money in his bank account, retirement savings and social security, enough to get an apartment, but no ID and no debit card to access the funds. After the guest was clean and back asleep, the staff member and I discussed the systemic issues that had led to people like him, our kind and gentle guest, being in our care, sleeping on chairs in a church multipurpose room instead of in his own home, unable to access his own money, and how we could help him.

At 9:45pm, the staff members left because their shift was over. The volunteers stayed. We had one spot open for another guest and the doorbell rang. It was Lawrence*, a guest I knew well from previous years at the center. He used to be a regular, but on this night he didn’t want to stay. He was just popping in to see if he could grab some food. I didn’t ask, but I hope he has an apartment or is staying with family. Last year, he told me he sometimes stays with his brother, but that it’s hard because his brother doesn’t always agree with his lifestyle. Lawrence wears glittery eyeshadow and always has his nails painted. When he came in on Monday, he asked to see my nails. Mine are currently long and red for Christmas (they shine like justice). Lawrence’s are red, too. We held our hands out to each other to compare.

Lawrence asked for Cinnamon Toast Crunch and chips and I dug around in the donation room and filled a grocery bag for him. He left to catch the train.

***

We get more donations to the warming center when it’s very cold out. I don’t like asking for money, it goes against my immigrant great grandparents and the morals they instilled in my grandparents and parents and me, by extension. But I ask anyway, so when the grants manager and the assistant director and I talked about the cold snap and how we can raise more money if we do a fundraising push when temperatures are low, we decided to go for it. Funds are funds, and we use money to help people, and it’s not wrong to ask for what we need. We are sending an email appeal today. Right now it’s 24 degrees out, but it feels like 9.

***

In Medford, there is a building in a neighborhood that is zoned for single family homes. It used to be a convent and has been empty for at least ten years. A developer bought the building and is working with a nonprofit organization to turn the space into a shelter for unhoused survivors of domestic violence, women and children. I have been trying to help them along. The cost of housing is very high and I see the rising need for shelter due to my work with the warming center. The zoning is posing a problem, though. The neighbors have hired a lawyer to fight the proposed shelter and that lawyer has suggested that the shelter cannot open because it doesn’t qualify to supersede the city’s zoning regulations.

The group trying to open the shelter has been through two contentious Community Development Board hearings so far, with one more slated for this month. I hope the shelter is able to proceed. I think it could do a lot of good. I know the need is there and I wish there was more I could do.

I don’t, however, have a machete.

***

In 2001, I didn’t imagine I would be the kind of woman who would tour facilities, but that is what I am now. I tour many facilities. I met with Medford’s economic development director yesterday. I am working on making our streets safer, our squares more vibrant, and our community more business friendly. I want to expand the services we provide our residents, especially our residents who are most vulnerable, and businesses bring in tax revenue, which the city can use to bolster the services it provides. 

It’s not very sexy to a 15-year-old, but it is actually a little sexy. It was to the band Cake, anyway.

***

What is my point? I’m not sure, beyond this: January is hard. The holidays are over, which is a relief honestly, but the joy and the celebrations are over, too. The parents are suddenly scrambling to make all the kids summer camp plans, because registration opens next week, which is extremely stressful, and really hammers home how cold and desolate it is outside. I’m getting emails from lawyers saying that shelters can’t open because the neighbors don’t want sweethearts coming into their neighborhood and I want to say: meet them! They are good and you might like them. They need help. It feels like 9 degrees when the wind blows.

It’s dark and it’s cold and I’m trying, I guess is my point. We are doing our best.

*Name has been changed

Cake

UPDATE on December 4 Meeting

In my last blog post I said that there would be a meeting on December 4th of the Medford Community Development Board about a nonprofit that is attempting to build a shelter for survivors of domestic violence and their children. This meeting has been postponed until December 18th. It will be at 6:30pm on December 18th on Zoom.

What To Do

Last week I went to Deep Cuts in Medford to watch the election results. Medford had its first ever Proposition 2 ½ overrides on the ballot, to protect the jobs of teachers, fund our schools, fix our roads and sidewalks, and allow us to borrow enough money to do a massive upgrade to our main fire station (technically a debt exclusion but I am trying hard not to bore you). The overrides for the schools and roads passed, but not the debt exclusion for the fire house. That’s okay, we were really excited and happy that the voters had a chance to make their voices heard and that we don’t have to fire any teachers next year. Medford voters came through for their own, and that was something to celebrate on election night.

There wasn’t much else to celebrate, though.

It has taken me a long time to process the election. Another woman lost the presidency. Our rights are already hanging by a thread. Rights other people already fought for (!) are being stripped away, even as we speak, even with a Democratic president in office right now. The groundwork was laid a long time ago and sometimes it feels like there’s no use fighting.

So what do we do, those of us who were disappointed by the national election results? For me, the solution is to look at our local elections, our local battles and victories, and what comes next. Who needs us to fight for them right here? 

The night after the election, there was a Medford Community Development Board meeting to discuss a proposed shelter for women and children, survivors of domestic violence, in a currently vacant former convent. The meeting was on Zoom, and I attended to hear about the plans and voice my support. 

Many people also came on to voice their opposition to the proposed shelter. They said there isn’t enough parking. They said the children who would live there might be loud. They said the people who the women and children were fleeing could follow them to the shelter and commit further violence (This one really got me. What should we do instead? Where should they go, if not here?). The meeting lasted three hours and it was continued to a future meeting in December, so the board has time to review documentation. 

Though I have been avoiding social media since the election, I did see on Facebook that there would be a neighborhood meeting about how to block the shelter from opening in the convent. I attended that meeting as well, though I was late because of a prior engagement. When I walked into the neighborhood meeting, somebody said “well here’s Emily.”

In 2013, I had three miscarriages in a row (stay with me). The second one was kind of a doozy. I wouldn’t stop bleeding and every time I thought it was over, the intense pain and bleeding would start again. I had to go to the hospital for a D&C, which is the same as a surgical abortion. Actually, all miscarriages are called spontaneous abortions, medically. Since the election, I keep thinking about how if I had been trying to have a baby this year, in, say, Texas, instead of 11 years ago in Massachusetts, I could have been denied that surgical abortion I needed. Maybe instead I would have bled out in my car in the hospital parking lot, like what keeps happening to those other women. And then I never would have had my two kids. I never would have run for office in my little city. I never would have watched Donald Trump become president and put anti-abortion activist judges on the Supreme Court. 

I never would have worked at the Malden Warming Center and become passionate about helping people experiencing homelessness. 

I never would have been told I’m condescending in a public forum. 

But lucky me, my miscarriages happened in 2013 in Massachusetts. And I’m here to tell the tale and to keep up the fight and to explain to everyone in Medford that an appropriate application of the Dover Amendment is job training on site at a homeless shelter for women and children who are survivors of domestic violence.

We take our wins where we can get them. And when things seem too dark and pointless, I suggest we can look to the places where we can still help.

One such place is on Zoom on December 4th at 6:30pm. If you think that Medford should be part of the solution, hop on Zoom and voice your support. Materials can be viewed here. I’ll see you there.

the author on election night

Sometimes Stigma Prevails

On April 16, 2024, a for-profit company, Habit Opco, submitted paperwork to attain a special permit to open a clinic in Medford to treat patients with substance use disorder. Medication treatments for SUD include suboxone and methadone. Both are effective medications that have saved many lives. This clinic would have been for patients in recovery from substance use disorder. As of yesterday, June 25, 2024, Habit Opco elected to withdraw their application to open the clinic at the storefront located at 360 Salem Street because of the complications associated with that location. That location is zoned in a way that requires that medical offices attain a special permit to open. The intention of the special permit process is to prevent businesses from coming in that would cause an undue burden on the parking or traffic of the area. The intention is not for residents of the area to express their distaste for the type of business that will be opening. 

At our last meeting, on June 11, 2024, around 11:30pm, I introduced a resolution supporting an initiative called Stop the Stigma. Stop the Stigma is a campaign that works to familiarize the public about the damage that negative stigma does to people dealing with substance use disorder. Stigma against people with SUD can prevent them from seeking treatment because they fear what their employers, family members, and community will think about them. I offered that resolution to begin a conversation about SUD from a place of empathy, kindness, and understanding, rather than a place of fear. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and the fear had already taken hold.

There is no law in Medford that says that a clinic that offers medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder cannot be located near a school, a dance studio, or a home. I do not believe such a law is necessary. This clinic would have been for people in recovery. Many people in Medford know someone in recovery from substance use disorder, whether they are aware of it or not. 

The reason the company withdrew their application is because they did not believe that spending last night hearing negative comments about their company and patients, followed by another meeting with the community development board on June 26, followed by another meeting on Thursday, June 27 with the zoning board of appeals, would be productive. Even if the special permit was granted, a culture of fear has been created, and our community has been harmed by this.

Habit Opco is planning to find a location in Medford in an area zoned as commercial or industrial, that is still accessible for patients by car and public transit, that will not require any special permits so that they can open by right and will not be in this position in the future. I hope my fellow councilors and residents can understand the damage that has been done to our community by the folks that have perpetuated negative stereotypes of people with substance use disorder. That wasn’t necessary here. The patients that would have used this clinic are your friends, family members, and neighbors. They are people who already walk their kids to school at the Roberts. They go to Nappi’s for pasta. They bring their kids to the dance studio across the street. The people who use medication to help with their recovery are people like you and me. 

I hope that we can learn and grow as a community from this experience. Last night we failed one of the most vulnerable populations of Medford. An organization that would have been able to offer a service to our residents, that we as a municipality are not able to offer, was denied that opportunity. I am very disappointed. But I am not giving up.

On Smiling Politely

On Tuesday, March 12th, 2024 there was a regular meeting of the Medford City Council on many items, among them an opportunity for the Council to decide to discuss a home rule petition to levy a tax on high end real estate sales. The intention of the petition was for it to receive a paper number and be sent to the Planning and Permitting Committee so that Councilors can discuss the details of the petition, which is highly changeable and can be tweaked for each municipality based on the needs of that city or town. The tax can range from .5% to 2% and can apply to sales of homes above $1 million or above $2 million, it can be a tax on the full amount of the sale or only on the amount over and above $1 or 2 million. There are many exemptions that can be factored in, such as excluding buyers or sellers on fixed incomes, owner occupants, veterans, etc. 

This is exciting in particular this year, because Governor Healey has included an allowance for a Real Estate Transfer Fee in her housing bond bill so it is more likely to pass this year than ever before, and we would like to be prepared if it does with legislation written and ready to go.

Councilor Matt Leming, the lead sponsor of this petition, explained much of the above to the gathered crowd in the chambers on March 12th, but unfortunately for many residents it was too late. There was a lot of misinformation circulated in Medford - intentionally, I believe - about the Real Estate Transfer Fee. Though about a third of the residents spoke in favor of the petition, the loudest voices were in opposition and resembled an angry mob. They were afraid that at the end of our vote, homeowners would be immediately taxed to within an inch of their lives. There was a lack of understanding of what was involved in the petition and though we tried to clear it up repeatedly during the meeting, the ship had sailed. Unfortunately, the crowd came in ready for a fight before we had even begun.

I am generally in favor of exploring the possibility of this tax, which would fund affordable housing initiatives in Medford, which is one of my highest priorities as a City Councilor. I believe we need to explore as many options as possible to fund affordable housing.

I spoke during the meeting only a few times. I mentioned that my own mom has been displaced from Medford because of the cost of housing. I discussed the increase in new guests at the Malden Warming Center this winter as a result of the cost of living. I spoke about the importance of affordable housing to this Council.

But overall, I didn’t speak much. Mostly I listened. And as I was listening, I reacted to the speakers. Many speakers were very angry and afraid. They spoke to members of the council as though we were trying to hurt them or take away their rights. They insulted the members who are renters. People in the crowd shouted over City Councilors as they spoke. It was a very contentious meeting and I felt surprised and shocked many times. My face most likely showed my feelings.

At one point during the meeting, a woman I have not seen before came to the podium to speak. She asked me my name, which I gave her, and then she told me that I am condescending. My kids were watching the meeting at home. They learned a new word that night. It’s fine, I’m glad they expanded their vocabulary. What I don’t love about it is that I was singled out. The Real Estate Transfer Fee is not my initiative. I didn’t put it on the agenda. In fact, I hadn’t put anything on the agenda that night. But I was called names, shouted at, jeered and bullied. When I spoke about the importance of affordable housing I became emotional and I paused. In that moment of silence, the crowd in the chamber shouted at me.

I reacted. I yelled back at the crowd and told them they had been horrible all night. (I wish I had held it together better in that moment, but I can only take so much.) I reiterated that affordable housing was something many of the City Councilors had built their campaigns on and we would carry forward that initiative because that was our promise to Medford. After my outburst I stood up and told Council President Bears that I needed a break. I walked out of the chambers while the crowd continued to jeer and heckle me. Someone yelled “If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

I took a few minutes in a conference room and got over it. The council took a short recess and I went back in and we finished the meeting. It lasted until after 1:00am and we had to table about half the agenda items because so many people spoke on the Real Estate Transfer Fee petition. We voted 6-1 to send the petition to the Planning and Permitting Committee to be crafted with exemptions for various groups and carefully constructed for the needs of Medford. My hope is that this legislation will allow our Affordable Housing Trust to grow and fund new initiatives to build more affordable housing in Medford and help allay the ongoing housing crisis. It is one of many ways we are working to combat the increasing cost of living in our region.

A week has gone by since that meeting. I haven’t slept well.

Last night, Tuesday March 19th, 2024, we had another regular meeting of the Medford City Council. All week I was afraid of what the meeting would be like. I was afraid there would be another angry mob in the chambers. I arrived and sat quietly and tried not to look condescending. I tried to smile more, in case that had been the problem. It was a quiet meeting, mostly consisting of the agenda items we hadn’t gotten to the week prior. Toward the end of the meeting I realized what I was doing: smiling politely, staying quiet.

By the end of last night’s meeting I was angrier than I had been before, this time at myself. Where do I get off staying silent? Who is that helping? How is that amplifying the voices of my constituents - the people who voted for me? Being silent and smiling politely is not my job. My job is to do what I promised people I would do.

So here is my promise to my constituents: I will fight for what I believe to be right and for what Medford voters put me in office to do. I will listen and I will act. It is not my responsibility to make my face nice for anyone. It is my responsibility to work for you. Thank you for reminding me what my job is and for strengthening my resolve.

Thoughts on the City Council meeting on January 23, 2024

On January 23, 2024 the City Council met for a regular meeting on a variety of issues, including to ask a few questions to State Representative Paul Donato, who spoke on behalf of our state delegation regarding a migrant shelter that will soon be utilizing a building located at 400 Riverside Avenue in Medford. There were some questions from members of the council about this project, because it is not a city project, but a state one. The state of Massachusetts has contracted with a private real estate owner to use that site as a temporary shelter as overflow for families when they are waiting for placement in more permanent shelter locations. As a City Council, we have no say in whether or not this shelter will open, when, or how, it being a state program.

Massachusetts is a Right to Shelter state, which means if you come here, you have a right to be sheltered, safe, and warm. As a state, we provide that for everyone who comes here. I believe this to be the right thing to do and am proud to be a Massachusetts resident because of this policy, among many others. We are facing a crisis in Massachusetts at the moment because of broader issues across the country and the world, but that is neither here nor there. None of these broader issues were created by Medford residents or the Medford City Council, nor are they issues we can solve today. What Medford residents can do is welcome migrants if they come through or settle in our city, open our arms to people who need help, and offer what support we can.

I have heard from neighbors and friends that they would like to help and are eager to welcome new or temporary residents of our city. Unfortunately, last night, those were not the loudest voices at the meeting. The majority of residents who spoke last night on this topic spoke about fear and described negative stereotypes of immigrants. I did not speak much on the topic myself, because there isn't much the City Council can do about this shelter. If the state needs a temporary shelter and the building meets their needs and the building's owner is amenable to the agreement, they can go ahead with the deal. I personally will not stop it, and I wouldn't want to try and stop this from happening, even if we could, because I would like migrant families to be sheltered, safe, and warm.

I help run the Malden Warming Center, an overnight shelter that serves unhoused guests in the winter months, when it is too cold to safely sleep outside. This season, we have had quite a few guests from other countries, more than prior years. One of those guests earlier this winter was a young man who recently arrived from Colombia. He and I started sending each other messages on WhatsApp so I could work on my Spanish and he could work on his English. After about a month staying in the warming center, this guest was able to secure an apartment. He sent me a message one day that he didn't have a bed. I went on Facebook and posted in the lovely Everything is Free Medford Facebook group, asking if anyone had a bed they could spare. Many people replied saying they would love to help my friend. I picked up a bed from Medford and drove it to my friend's new apartment. He and his new roommate were so grateful! After I dropped off the bed and they got it upstairs, they chased my car waving, yelling thank you.

The people who offered up a free bed for a stranger to sleep in: that is Medford.

The people asking how they can help; the people eager to open their homes and their lives; the volunteers at the Malden Warming Center from Medford (because Medford doesn't have its own warming center - yet): This is the Medford that I know. This the community, and the values, that I will represent on Medford City Council. 

I'd like to share the message my friend sent after receiving his bed, as a reminder to everyone reading this that we can be the helpers. Medford is big enough for all of us.

Nuevamente por acá para darte gracias
Por tus bendiciones creeme que Dios se fija en todos esos detalles y te va ayudar a hacer tus sueños realidad
Cuando llegue a estados unidos nunca pensé que me fuera a encontrar personas como tú
Enserio muchas gracias por el colchón a ti y a la persona que lo dono
Dormí demasiado cómodo
Muchas gracias y bendiciones para todos tus seres queridos

Translation to English:

Here again to thank you
For your blessings, believe me that God pays attention to all those details and will help you make your dreams come true.
When I arrived in the United States I never thought I would find people like you.
Seriously, thank you very much for the mattress to you and the person who donated it.
I slept too comfortably
Thank you very much and blessings to all your loved ones

Another thing I wanted to hold up from last night, is something my colleague Council Vice President Kit Collins said: we can do more than one right thing. Medford is open and ready and willing to embrace anyone who would like to live here. Thank you to everyone who came out and made their voices heard. I encourage people to come speak any time they feel passionately about something on our agenda.