Public Comment

Transcript (~11 min @ 22:22)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 21:22 Jen Grigoraitis: passing it off to councillor Grigoraitis thank you councillor Garipay all right do we have everyone on so just for the benefit of the public that's watching we're now going to transition to the legal and legislative committee um so good evening this is a meeting of the legal and legislative Committee. I am Councilor Grigoraitis, the Chair. Joining me are Vice Chair Migliorelli and voting members Tramontozzi, McMaster, Eccles, and President Sinella, ex officio. Also joining us tonight are non-voting members, Councilors Thomas, McNaught, Stewart, and Gimaldi. Pursuant to Governor Baker's order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law and the Governor's order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the legal and legislative committee will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible we will post a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the city of melrose website and on mmtv3.org and at this time without objection i will open public comment okay seeing no objections so public comment is the portion of our meeting where any member of the public may speak to any item on tonight's agenda again this is the legal and legislative committee agenda if you wish to speak if you can please raise your digital hand and this foot will bring you forward so you'll have we'll be able to hear you but not see you and if you can please state your name and address for the record thank

▶ 22:57 Speaker 1: you this but we have mr. Dipper mr. Dipper may Harris yes yes we can hear

▶ 23:06 Speaker 2: The floor is yours.

▶ 23:09 Speaker 4: Okay. My name is Myron Dittmer, 93 Altamont Ave, Melrose. I'm speaking on behalf of the Mount Hood Park Association. We're an environmental group in Melrose dedicated to the protection, preservation, and the promotion of Mount Hood Memorial Park and golf course.

▶ 23:24 Speaker 6: Notice that the word park comes before the words golf course. This is because the park came first before the golf course.

▶ 23:36 Speaker 4: Back in 1907, John Slayton had built and donated an observation tower at the highest point at Mount Hood on 25 acres for the enjoyment of the residents.

▶ 23:49 Speaker 4: It was only later during the 1930s that the city purchased additional land to expand the park to 235 acres and build the golf course. Also later, the city built cabins for recreational purposes for both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts at Mount Hood. And more recently, we now have a tot lot,

▶ 24:05 Speaker 4: picnic areas and bike and hiking trails intersecting the golf course and because of this

▶ 24:10 Speaker 4: we can no longer separate the golf course with surrounding passive and active recreational uses

▶ 24:20 Speaker 4: at mount hood tonight i am speaking against order 2021-104 which amends chapter 173 to delete section 173-2 which currently restricts the sale of alcohol and parkland managed by the park commission i have previously discussed with you for our reasons for not deleting section 173-2

▶ 24:43 Speaker 4: of the ordinance since by doing so it would set a bad precedent and signal to the public that the city condones alcohol sales and consumption on parkland even though such a change would add significant safety risk to all residents and families who live near and around parkland

▶ 25:02 Speaker 4: such as mount hood as previously discussed excessive drinking remains a big problem in the city with both adults and youth and looking at our crime statistics confirms that alcohol library

▶ 25:14 Speaker 6: related crimes such as drunkenness and dui stops are increasing we believe that any change which

▶ 25:20 Speaker 4: allows alcohol and consumption in and around parkland whether it be at mount hood bowdoin park or any other park is the wrong strategy and message sent to the public and the youth of our city there are many more effective ways to support our local economy than selling alcohol on parkland such as reducing the meal tax on local resident restaurants for a period of time improving parking

▶ 25:48 Speaker 4: downtown by increasing city efforts and advertising to encourage residents to shop locally even shutting down traffic on Main Street famously during summer months for businesses or vendors

▶ 25:58 Speaker 6: to sell their services and products as they do during the Victorian Fair in the fall.

▶ 26:04 Speaker 4: Another reason given to allow the sale of alcohol and beverage parts at Mount Hood is because this is an effective way to monitor and control alcohol rather than

▶ 26:14 Speaker 6: having golfers sneak it onto the course. This argument is totally spacious. GMC has not been

▶ 26:18 Speaker 4: able to monitor or control alcohol brought in illegally by golfers from their small parking

▶ 26:29 Speaker 4: area in front of the clubhouse what makes anyone think that they can do better on a 5 600 yard golf course which beverage carts operated by older teenagers paid at minimum wage finally at mount hood this is not an economic issue or an issue to spur economic development since the golf course

▶ 26:47 Speaker 6: revenues already bring in millions of dollars each year and the city gets enough money from

▶ 26:52 Speaker 4: these revenues the rev to renovate and upkeep all the parks in the city the money the city would get

▶ 27:00 Speaker 6: from a beverage cart selling alcohol would be they say approximately seven thousand dollars which represents zero point zero zero eight percent of the 2021 city budget

▶ 27:15 Speaker 4: I have just heard that the city will be getting $8 million for infrastructure from the federal government under the American Rescue Plan.

▶ 27:23 Speaker 4: Therefore, this change in the ordinance is clearly not being done to spur local economic development. It is being done to satisfy special interest groups within the city with no regard to public safety.

▶ 27:34 Speaker 4: As I have spoken to you previously, this order represents a clear and present danger for residents living adjacent to and around Mount Hood.

▶ 27:41 Speaker 6: and i can only hope that u.s city counselors who are the stewards of our green spaces in melrose

▶ 27:47 Speaker 6: will recognize your public safety responsibilities and not approve this order

▶ 27:48 Speaker 4: i've sent counselor gregory rightist a list of 27 residents who are butters or live near mount hood and who are firmly against this order deletes to delete section 173-2 of this ordinance i hope you will have the courage to vote against this order it is the right thing to do thank you for your

▶ 28:15 Speaker 2: time and attention thank you mr dimmer ms foote do we have anyone else in queue we do have mr kevin

▶ 28:22 Speaker 2: art can you hear us yes can you hear me yes yes can you please say your name i'm sorry sure yep

▶ 28:33 Speaker 4: my name is kevin art um i actually live in new hampshire uh i am the uh the manager of mass golf management and I was asked to speak on behalf. And I just have a basic little prepared statement.

▶ 28:45 Speaker 2: Having a beverage cart on a golf course is an expectation and a norm at many golf courses. Many of our customers on a weekly basis ask if they will see a beverage cart and when they are told that that won't be possible they are surprised and unexpectedly find out that that's not the case.

▶ 29:06 Speaker 2: We believe that golfers enjoy the convenience of beverage card service where they can get not only an alcoholic beverage, but a sandwich, snack, water, soda, or even basic golf necessities.

▶ 29:16 Speaker 2: A beverage card will also help control customers bringing their own alcohol onto the course. Currently, we are playing the role of policemen constantly having to chase and confront customers who would try to bring beer or other alcohol onto the course. This happens more often when customers know that there is not an on-course option. When the golf course is the entity providing alcoholic beverages, we are more successful in managing consumption. When we are trying to enforce prohibition, we can struggle for that control. While we are the current management company of Mount Hood Golf Course and are requesting the use of a beverage cart, we know that this will not always be true. We believe that our beverage cart experience will allow us to create and implement an effective plan that can be used in the future management contracts to come our experience with beverage carts over the last 20 years in new hampshire where we own and operate four courses gives us the knowledge and expertise of how controlled sales from a beverage cart can improve our ability to manage alcohol in the course provide a better experience for our patrons and provide additional revenue for the park

▶ 30:22 Speaker 4: commission and for mass golf management thank you thank you ms foote do we have anyone else

▶ 30:34 Speaker 1: checking right now do not see any additional hands raised at this time

▶ 30:46 Speaker 2: at this time without objection i will close public comment

▶ 30:52 Jen Grigoraitis: shall i read the letter oh yes i'm sorry sure one letter that was a resident requested to have read into the record write a letter dated april 8th 2021 to mayor broder i am responding to an

▶ 31:01 Speaker 1: article that appeared in the melrose free press written by myron ditmer about allowing the sale of alcohol on a beverage cart i agree with everything written by myron and would like to add some more observations as a resident of melrose for 35 years i have lived in two neighborhoods both of which had unique characteristics my first neighborhood was where we raised our children and my second neighborhood is where we help raise our grandchildren the issue in my first neighborhood was the public drinking in the fells woods this was a problem for the local and state police several times a year the police would crack down on public drinking and make arrests when it got out of control the neighborhood i live in now next to mount hood has problems with public drinking with young people and constantly uses police resources to combat it i bring this up because a change allowing drinking in public areas will only exacerbate the problem i would like to share an event that occurred in my old neighborhood my young next door neighbors were celebrating a birthday with a group of relatives and friends the party was outside in the backyard and some of the attendees were out in the front lawn a patrol car came by and asked the people in the front to move to the yard because no public drinking was allowed hold that thought for a moment besides adult golfers using the golf course there are youth golf programs high school golf tournaments and functions for first communion confirmation weddings and graduations some of these events occur simultaneously with golfing there are over 40 residential homes that have but the golf course ask these tasks ask these taxpayers if they want more drinking golfers using the course liability must be consideration golfers are being served by a mobile cart the bartender has no idea who is drinking and how much at the end of the golf round the golfer now goes back to the club bar or it goes down to the fishing game bar and continues drinking who knows how many drinks this person has already had now the person gets into a car and drives through the residential streets of melrose after an entire day of drinking by the way the road leading into the fish and game is a public road i asked you to hold a thought earlier in this letter whoever heard of a public park allowing public drinking if the power is to be changed the bylaws for public drinking to accommodate the golf course consider the rippling effect it will have on public drinking across the city jack hud signature

▶ 33:16 Jen Grigoraitis: thank you ms foote um so just to confirm that without objection we will now close public comment okay seeing no objection the this committee has one order before us tonight which is order 2021-104 amending chapter 173 of the revised ordinances of the city of melrose and at this time i'll entertain a motion to suspend the rule so that we can hear from members