Public Comment

Transcript (~1 h 2 min @ 49:21)

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

▶ 49:19 Speaker 5: Yes.

▶ 49:22 Jen Grigoraitis: 11 yes 11 yes so those minutes are approved thank you counselor sanella um so at this time we'll move into the public comment portion of our meeting and this is when any member of the public can come forward and comment on any item on our agenda um that i know doing it in the digital format is a little different so i ask if you are logged in and interested in commenting that you raise your digital hand there should be a little hand icon that you can click and the madam clerk will pull you forward um we do request that public comment is limited to 10 minutes per member of the public and i believe we have quite a few folks looking to comment this evening so i will turn

▶ 50:04 Speaker 1: it over to the clerk thank you um madam president i will first call the um individuals who had indicated through email or voicemail that they were interested in speaking and then i'll also follow through with people raising their hands and some of you are doing both which is great um

▶ 50:26 Speaker 5: so first we have a motion to open public comment so we have a motion to open

▶ 50:37 Jen Grigoraitis: public by councillor Stewart seconded by councillor McLeer McLeer early madam Clerk, can you please call the roll?

▶ 50:44 Speaker 1: Sure. Sinella. Yes. Eccles. Yes. Garipay. Yes. Maladine. Yes. McMaster. Yes. McNaught. Yes. Migliorelli. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Tramontozzi. Yes. President Grigoraitis.

▶ 51:13 Speaker 1: Yes. All right, so public comment is open. There's a few people. Let me see if I can find. There's a lot of people logged in, so bear with me.

▶ 51:28 Jen Grigoraitis: Just while we're getting the tech piece squared away, if you're planning to speak in public comment, if you can please state your name and address for the record at the beginning of your comments, that would be helpful. Thank you.

▶ 51:43 Speaker 1: So, Maya Talwar-Hebert, I found you, and I know you indicated that you wanted to speak, so I will unmute you now.

▶ 51:51 Speaker 5: Hi there, can you hear me?

▶ 51:54 Speaker 3: Great. So my name is Maya. My address is 31 Stevens Road, and I've been a Melrose resident for my entire life. I first want to thank the Council for allowing me to speak, and I wanted to touch upon the recent proposal put forth by Mayor Broder, which was to allocate money meant for new police guns towards anti-bias training. I first want to speak to those members of the Council who voted against this recent proposal. I've heard a number of the Councillors purport that they are supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, and I want to note that being a supporter means listening to the voices of people of color. A central goal of the Black Lives Matter movement is to support the redistribution of wealth and services out of our policing and law enforcement institutions and towards community-led health and safety strategies. Listening to the voices of people of color is even more important in a predominantly white community like Melrose. Now to everyone on the council, I want to note that the call to defund the police is only half of the demand being put forth. It is also about shifting public funds to new services and new institutions such as mental health counselors who can respond to incidents without arms shifting funding to education and to housing all of which help to create security and safety for all and so yes implicit bias training can be a part of this narrative but it should certainly not be the end-all be-all of that line the fact that melrose does not have a large population of people of color is not by accident i would argue but rather a product of the community culture and policies put in place and not put in place by our legislators policies related to over policing and criminalization for sure but also affordable housing and i'll pause there as well as food security diversity in our educators and hiring practices as a person of color who grew up in melrose i can attest to the harm that is inevitably inevitably caused by growing up in an environment where there are so few other people of color i hope that those who have heard what i'm saying here today continue to support policies that create an environment in melrose that is open and safe to all residents in closing to paraphrase dr angela davis safety safeguarded by violence

▶ 54:22 Speaker 1: is not really safety thank you thank you next i will move on to nandini talwar i will unmute you

▶ 54:32 Speaker 1: now. Hi, thanks for allowing me to speak. My name is Nandini Talwar, and I too am a resident of 31 Stevens Road in Melrose. I've lived here for more than 30 years. And as I said to you in my letter, I am speaking today about my grave disappointment that the City Council voted to deny the reallocation of money away from police firearms and not towards the anti-racism efforts as the mayor had suggested. I do want to thank Mayor Broder and city councillors Jennifer Grigoraitis, Maya Jamaleddine, and Lila Miglorelli for your courage and leadership in taking a stand and supporting the reallocation of funds for this essential and necessary training, not only for our police officers, but for all our city employees. I, along with so many members of our community were so moved to see the incredible representation from community members at the recent standout for racial equality in Melrose. And judging from the signs that were displayed, there was an overwhelming support for Black Lives Matter. To the city councillors who voted against the reallocation of funds from new firearms to anti-racism efforts in our city, did you miss the messages in the standout for racial equality? Did you not hear the voices of the citizens you

▶ 55:55 Speaker 1: represent? Do you think that simply attending a vigil or a standout for racial equality is sufficient? I do not. Standing out is no longer sufficient. We need to show through our actions that we will no longer stand by and bear witness to bias and violence against marginalized members of our community that include black and brown people, the queer and trans community, our Muslim residents, those with mental illness and immigrants among others. It is essential that we listen to the voices of marginalized residents in our community. For many of these people police signal less safety not more. I want to share a little anecdote which was a very painful experience for me. I I am a physician. I'm a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist. I'm a woman of color. I'm a lesbian. I'm an immigrant to this country. Several years ago, I had an experience in my workplace where I was advised by my employer, by the legal department at my place of employment, and by the police department at the institution where I worked that I needed to file a police report with the Melrose Police Department regarding an issue concerning a member of the institution where I worked at the time. And without getting into details, I can share with you that I had an incredibly unpleasant interaction at the Melrose Police Department. I was treated in an incredibly dismissive manner. My concerns were treated as minor and unfounded, as though I was in the wrong office. And it was not until I was accompanied by a white male police sergeant from the institution where I worked that my concerns were taken seriously. I share this personal story with you to tell you that despite the annual diversity training that is received by the Melrose Police Department, I am confident that part of what occurred the day that I went into the police office to file a report was related to bias. perhaps implicit bias, and I'm confident that implicit bias exists throughout our society. None of us, not even myself, is free from implicit bias. Where we spend money now will decide what kind of city we will live in for decades to come. Decreasing money for firearms and investing in diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism efforts is just a minor small step toward creating a community where all of our residents feel safe. I am interested in hearing the rationale behind your vote. I'm also interested to learn more about the explicit impact of not purchasing new weapons for the police. I don't think $26,000 is going to come anywhere near what we need to do the work that we need to do within our community. I thank you for listening and for your time and consideration. Thank you.

▶ 59:07 Speaker 1: We'll now move on to Jason Chen. Jason, I'm unmuting you now.

▶ 59:13 Jason Chen: Okay. Thank you for the floor. Jason Chen. I live at 39 Woodland Avenue. And I have four messages for our community regarding the same issue. And the first is to my fellow citizens. We're hurting. And I'm hurting too. And I'm out protesting. I've been out five times in the past eight days.

▶ 59:32 Jason Chen: I'm also a veteran. I was not a badass Marine or an infantryman, but I was in the Navy, and on occasion I carried a service pistol. I understand the basics of firearms and managing people with firearms.

▶ 59:40 Speaker 4: I also recognize that being a cop is not an easy job.

▶ 59:42 Jason Chen: Sadly, there's lots of guns on the street, even in Melrose, and there's a lot of mental illness. And if I'm a cop walking into a situation, I would want a good service weapon that works 100% of the time. Any working person deserves good tools, including the police. my second message is to the city council and let's call this what it is it's bad timing if this was six weeks earlier we wouldn't be having this conversation over 26k our main goal now is to rebuild trust between the police and the people and first counselor master i appreciate you digging in and finding some reports to help us to help us understand that a nine millimeter is right for the force and i'm not a small arms expert but yes i agree you can't wrong with the bretta the glock 19 the six rp 226 or whatever you're going to and these are all good nine millimeters of the right for the job 26k is the right cost for 50 pistols a few hundred rounds and spare parts nine millimeter ammunition does save about a thousand dollars a year compared to the 10 millimeter ammunition but what concerns me is last week you tried to simplify it down to lower caliber equals more accurate equals innocent people killed on the playground and to be honest that is a bit dramatic and i think the good chief would agree if we didn't upgrade all 50 weapons now innocent bystanders would not be killed tomorrow police are trained well enough not to fire into playgrounds with kids second i read your fbi report or the fbi report that you referenced and several analyses of it that were reputable and saying that a smaller caliber round is always accurate is like saying a smaller car is always faster it doesn't take into account the engine the tires the design of the car the quality of its manufacturer more importantly the proficiency of its driver the nine millimeter is right for the force but not for the reasons you mentioned and the public should not be scared into spending this money my third message is to

▶ 1:01:40 Jason Chen: the policeman you're getting dragged through the mud for something others did to dishonor your uniform that's something that hopefully you would never do and that's not fair but i think you understand i can imagine you are non-plussed by the idea of implicit bias training it's wasted if it's shoved down your throat when i was in the navy i had i rolled my eyes plenty of times

▶ 1:02:00 Jason Chen: at mandatory training that was forced on me to check a box for the institution i even had to give terrible training on occasion to some sleepy sailors who did not want to be there for 26k in your time you should not get cookie cutter inclusion training the training the trainer should understand what you're up against and give you amazing implicit bias training. In return, I ask that you be open-minded and take it to heart and maybe after you've reflected on the training I would have a crusty sergeant or maybe your newest member come to the council and tell us what you thought or learned and I hope it's good. I want to know that our 26k or more was spent wisely and be straight with us and I think this would build trust with the people. my final message is for the police chief chief lyle chief we have not met you are by all accounts a stand-up chief and i hope your men and women follow you and not just do what you say and you are key to all this going forward i recommend this council give you the 26 000 for the service weapons upgrade but here's what i suggest you do with it you talk to your armor and figure out which of your 50 guns absolutely needs to be replaced you get some new weapons and ammo that rightly need for your team to be safe and you have a pile of money left over you get your officers in a room and you tell them they have a golden opportunity here you know the town better than anyone and you see it at its worst how would you and your officers spend that money to help people the most give that leftover money back to the city and for now tell us how to do the most good with it and i hope the council would listen and do exactly as you say and that's a patch story that would be an inspiring example for cities everywhere the police department gives part of its weapons upgrade budget back to the city to help those in need if you can rebuild this trust there's two things first the city wouldn't think twice about giving you the money you need in the future for nine millimeters or other or other equipment and second i would be honored to cover a few rounds of drinks for you and your team at the vfw i haven't checked this with my wife who is also a navy veteran but don't worry i have some cash stashed under the mattress for times like these

▶ 1:04:13 Speaker 1: thank you thank you mr chen if mr chen is still on can you please give me your address

▶ 1:04:29 Speaker 6: 39 woodland avenue thank you um next i'll bring nick lowe thank you uh nick lowe from 53 ferdinand street i'm speaking this evening to express my support for the mayor's proposal of funding diversity equity and inclusion training for city employees well i completely understand the importance of maintaining and from time to time replacing and upgrading police equipment this is really a question of priorities and clearly we need to take a hard look at our priorities there is a reason that events of the last few weeks have led to a massive conversation and actions being taken on a national scale that is to say implicit racial biases are real and they are deeply rooted throughout our culture and so normalized that many of us are not even aware of them myself included by the way believe me i'm new to this and this is uncomfortable will the department's firearms need to be upgraded at some point sure and a few weeks ago it might have seemed like a sensible way to use that part of the budget but that was a few weeks ago

▶ 1:05:37 Speaker 6: this world has changed a lot in a few weeks read the national headlines there is a crisis in this country not a new one by the way but it's a crisis we are finally talking about at scale and the voices of people of color are finally starting to be heard and we as one community out of many have an opportunity to do our part This crisis will not fix itself. The only way positive change will happen is if those in power recognize it and gain the understanding of what that need to change our system is. And let's be honest. That power in America sits with white men. It sits with me. It sits with about eight out of the 11 of you. That's the reality. And it is incumbent upon us to generate that change. Why? It's because we can and we should. We can be the allies and advocates that help support that change. And that begins with knowledge and understanding. So I'm asking you to take this opportunity. Let's be a city of leaders and show the communities around us that we are willing to do our part and take the first step on a long road. Let's do this training and start the long conversation that needs to happen here and every other community in this country to generate real and lasting change thank

▶ 1:07:14 Speaker 1: you for your time and attention thank you next I'll bring um I believe the name that says Conley clap is actually Bonnie clap who indicated that they would like to speak but they have their hand raised so I'll unmute them now go

▶ 1:07:32 Speaker 7: ahead good evening city councillors my name is Bonnie clap despite the fact that i seem to have registered myself as my older son thank you remote learning i live at 177 first street and i thank you very much for the opportunity to speak tonight after the unity

▶ 1:07:54 Speaker 5: rally rally last sunday i was filled with hope as approximately a thousand melrose residents lined linfels in solidarity for black lives but less than a week later after watching thursday

▶ 1:08:09 Speaker 5: City Council meeting, I was filled with despair. It's Rob Bell's definition of despair that I'm

▶ 1:08:13 Speaker 7: going to use here. Despair is believing that tomorrow will be just like today. What filled me most with despair was the tone that was set for the meeting from the opening remarks to the line of questioning with Chief Lyle. This quickly set the stage for an anti-police debate that I do not believe is true in Melrose. I consider myself a fairly well-informed community member and at no point have I ever heard an attack on the Melrose Police. I believe that friends and neighbours hold all Melrose Police officers in high esteem and think that they are doing a tremendous job keeping all residents safe.

▶ 1:08:54 Speaker 7: I had watched the meeting twice, both because I was shocked by the tone of it and to also understand Chief Lyle's firearm request. Chief Lyle presented his request reasonably and an upgrade to this tool of the trade did seem reasonable. What saddened me was that his request for an upgraded tool became pitted against another trade tool that the Melrose Police currently does not have implicit bias training. Many Councillors were questioning what had changed between the Mayor's original

▶ 1:09:28 Speaker 7: request to today i cannot speak for anyone else but myself but i personally know a lot of change has happened for myself in those weeks i have gone from great grief sadness and despair that yet another black person has been killed to an individual who is working her hardest to learn understand and take small steps towards change i do not believe that i am the only person in this community in this state and in this country who is going through this process it has been a process that includes shame and granting myself grace it is understanding that actions i may have taken on may 25th are not the same actions i'm going to take today i look at the mayor's act of revisiting his may 25th request with the same grace as i would hope that people would grant me i believe his memorandum reflects learning and understanding of what the needs and desires of our community and this nation are and he has acted accordingly i was filled with pride in our melrose community as i saw various posts from many of you counselors on your personal social media platforms and then from the entire city council on june 1st when you all acknowledged with unanimous support the recent national events by observing a moment of silence the melrose city council statement went on to say some may feel that what's happening at the national level has no bearing on the business of municipal government however every community is affected in some way by these issues including our own we as a council denounce racism and stand united in our commitment to working toward a more inclusive community. Messages such as these are heartwarming to read and I think that it is many people's reaction to horrific events. But now time has passed and I see in my own personal life that time can do two things. It gives us a chance to distance ourselves from the event or it gives us a chance to continue to work. Continuing to work to be coming towards an anti-racist takes time. It takes time to truly listen. It takes time to truly learn. It takes time to truly practice being an anti-racist. I do not feel that it is fair for the Council to be critical of our Mayor for taking that time. Weeks after the event, the time has come to be more than a cheerleader or an ally and to dig deeper and to work harder to find ways to make permanent change and to take action to give all city departments the necessary tools such as implicit bias training to make this change permanent thank you all very much for your time tonight thank you ms clapp next i'll bring sandy

▶ 1:12:32 Speaker 1: Sandy Dixon, I just lost her, so hold on. There we are. I'm unmuting you now, Ms. Dixon.

▶ 1:12:39 Speaker 1: Thank you very much. My name is Sandy Dixon and I live at 22 Martin Street. I'm going to read an email that I sent recently to the City Council. This email is in response to the June 11th City Council Appropriations Meeting where Mayor Roeder's request to reallocate twenty six thousand dollars of free cash from handgun purchases to citywide anti-bias training was addressed. The police chief and city councillor McMaster went to incredible lengths to outline the need for upgrading 14 year old handguns for the Melrose Police Department. Issues brought up by both included the fact that these guns have a 10-year warranty and have begun to fail and the replacement of these handguns is necessary for the safety of others stating that 70% of the time they missed their mark when fired. McMaster went as far as to say that if this operation isn't passed it will both compromise and quote undermine public safety and then posited a worst-case scenario of not only a school shooting happening in Melrose but an errant bullet from one of these guns hitting an innocent bystander. I just want to pause for a moment and note that it was stated that it's reactionary to respond to a recent murder, and the nationwide call for change in addressing racism. But it was fair game to try to scare us all by suggesting that we might have, as he said, quote, God forbid a school shooting. I would rest my stand on the fund's allocation in a moment, but I first want to state that it's my opinion that this display by Mr. McMaster was unconscionable, and he should take a thoughtful and reasonable look at his ability to manage his emotions during these very difficult conversations. Now, it sounds like police handguns have been a problem and are a serious public health risk and they've been a risk for many, many years. If this is the case, could you please help the city understand why this item has not been included in the city budget for the past four years? Why is it coming out of free cash? Why is it being asked for now? Because suddenly, according to Mr. McMaster, the proposal by the Mayor indicates that the police are being, quote, targeted and according to Mr. McNaught, this is, quote, a criticism of the Melrose Police. And somehow, not supporting this issue now, which has clearly been around for years is reactionary. A very quick and cursory look at a budget approved on December 3rd 2018 showed that when Melrose had free cash of the amount of 1.1 million dollars the police department used 163 thousand dollars of that to purchase three new police vehicles. Could some of that have been used for guns then? On June 3rd 2019 Melrose had 2.3 million dollars in free cash. Why didn't the police push to purchase guns then? If according to Mr. McMaster, Mr. De La Russo can quote, pick a rabbit out of a hat and finding money to support the city, why couldn't the city and police department work to secure these funds before we reach this dire program? I greatly appreciate the words of Ms. Jamaleddine and Ms. Migliorelli for stating clearly and unequivocally that this is not about disrespect of the NOLA's police department. Ms. Jamaleddine, Ms. Migliorelli, Ms. Gregoridis and Mayor Broder support citywide anti-bias training at this time. And it's clear that there's constituent support for this now. As Ms. Migliorelli stated, Melrose should, quote, put our money where our mouths are as we respond to the call for change and help communities address racism, policing, and safety. The silence of the other council members, particularly those who marched at the Black Lives Matter protest last weekend, was heard loudly and clearly, and their yes votes were extremely disappointing. Thank you very much. Thank you.

▶ 1:16:17 Speaker 5: Next, I'll bring Maureen Busby.

▶ 1:16:22 Speaker 1: Go ahead, Maureen. I'll bring Maureen Busby.

▶ 1:16:29 Speaker 1: Go ahead, Maureen. Good evening. And a special thank you to the city councilors for allowing us to speak to you this evening about this important issue. I'm paraphrasing slightly an email that I wrote earlier in the week, but for the purposes of a public meeting tonight, I'll read what I wrote with some edits. I was just made to hear of last week's eight to three vote against Mayor Broder's request redirect $26,000 to conduct implicit bias training for city employees rather than purchase new weapons for the police department. And I say implicit bias training intentionally. Diversity training, cultural competency, and all those other trainings are good and helpful in some ways certainly, but what we really need is a deep dive into implicit bias for me, for you, for all of us. We do not even know all the ways in which we exhibit our bias. I think we seen enough examples in recent weeks of explicit bias on equal policing downright police brutality directed at black americans these recent horrific examples were made visible only because of videos released to the public and are just the tip of the iceberg there are many more we don't see even police-involved crimes that get reported are often misreported just read the police report on injuries to Brianna Taylor? None? The blue line can be a wall of silence that protects some very bad cops. I am not saying any Melrose City employees are guilty of such brutality or such corrupt behavior. I've worked closely with Chief Lyle on a number of special projects and city programs. Just last week I dropped off, well before this discussion started, I dropped off $50 worth of Dunkin' Donuts gift cards for him to distribute to his staff at Seesaw Fit. It was intended as a modest thank you to our police department for the hard work they do day in and day out to show my gratitude and my support what i am saying today is not in any way a position or statement against our police officer officers it is a statement against systemic racism which exists here just as it exists in virtually every community in this country whether we realize it or not what i'm suggesting is that we all need to understand both that both implicit and explicit racial bias exists and that while the underlying cause may be systemic bias built into every facet of our lives government faking health care education policing and on and on and on racial bias and racial inequities continue to exist because of our collective ignorance because of revisionist history taught in our schools and or because we are not comfortable confronting these extremely uncomfortable issues in ways that we need to we all need this training not just the police all of us our employees board members and commission members change needs to start here in our community the operative word being start down the road we need to offer implicit bias training to all no roads residents and certainly teach it in our schools for now i'll settle for getting city employees started on the long road to understanding this complex issue but we need to start now not later not next year not sometime whenever not never no we need to start now i'm hoping you will reconsider both we can be an example to melrose residents neighboring cities and towns the rest of the state the rest of the country most importantly to our children we need to show very clearly that we understand these crucial and critical social justice issues or that we're at least willing to try to and then we need to act i'm guessing there are grants that could cover the purchase of new weapons or the expense of implicit bias training that would be great but it would not send the message about what kind of community we are you can do that we need you to be the representatives and leaders we elected you to be and hope that you would be

▶ 1:20:26 Speaker 5: thank you ms busby and just for the record can you state your address yes 54 west highland avenue

▶ 1:20:38 Speaker 1: Thank you. Next in queue, we have Manjula Karamchetti. I will unmute you now. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me.

▶ 1:20:47 Manjula Karamcheti: I'm Manjula Karamchetti, 24 Botolph Street. I am a proud Ward 1 resident, school counselor, former school district administrator in Malden and Lexington, and I'm currently the Director of Equity and Student Support at the WW Graduate School of Teaching and Learning at MIT. I'm speaking tonight in regards to Order 2020-106, free cash to the police department, but also in regards to last Thursday's City Council Appropriations Committee meeting. Another Black man, Rashard Brooks, was murdered by police with guns this weekend last week our city council had the opportunity to wait on replacing the police department's 14 year old guns and start getting serious about the need for anti-bias training in elrose i've heard the debates and discussions mayor broder's memo was last minute 26 000 isn't enough money to pay for anti-bias training the current guns are less accurate though that one confuses me as guns don't shoot themselves people shoot guns our city is led mostly by white individuals our schools are led mostly by white individuals and our community is mostly white as well i live off of franklin street and spend a lot of time yelling at cars that are driving way too fast up and down the street i can say that when i see cars pulled over by the police the majority of those people pulled over are people of color i pay attention and i notice every time this happens when my non-white husband goes running he says hi to everyone he encounters and rarely gets a nod a smile a hello or a wave except on occasion when our kids are with him but even that is rare at a physically distanced event in my neighborhood a person of color drove by in a car and someone joked that it must have been a delivery man giving takeout on a saturday night and in the schools my kids have yet to have a teacher of color and will likely grab rose high never having had one teacher of color and will still be called the red raiders with indian feathers on the boosters trailer and concession stand these may be considered my questions but they happen every day in melrose however i have had the honor of facilitating a few diversity equity inclusion and anti-racism meetings in this city and there are many many citizens who are ready willing and able to do the work that needs to be done in Melrose to make our city a city that is truly one open to all as our leaders in Melrose you have the opportunity to make a strong statement that you know racism exists in Melrose and that you care about people of color and you really believe black lives matter to be clear i do not believe in defunding the police but i do believe in reimagining and reforming policing so no more black and brown kids and adults have to die i ask you to vote for starting the work of anti-racism in our city and not for more guns in our city by approving the mayor's request for 26 000 to be moved from the police department to the city's hr department this money could be used to develop a multi-pronged strategic plan for addressing bias discrimination and racism in our city schools and community it certainly isn't everything but is it it is a start and we need you to start right now thank you very much i appreciate your time thank you i believe we

▶ 1:24:37 Speaker 1: still have a few more folks in queue next we have eugenia gibbons ms gibbons i will unmute you now

▶ 1:24:49 Speaker 3: hi there can you hear me can you hear me yes we can okay great thank you uh good evening and thank you for taking the time to hear from me this evening and also from others from the public my name is eugenia gibbons i'm in a constituent of ward 5 and i live at 98 east wyoming ab An earlier speaker really captured perfectly what I, a black Melrosean whose loved ones are also law enforcement officers, have been grappling with since bearing witness to the false dichotomy that was presented at last Thursday's meeting. At the end of the day, this really comes down to, as I believe it was Mr. Chen said, timing and the restoration of trust, required clarity around the urgency of the need Chief Lyle requested be met, the efficacy of training, and how best to leverage the small amount of money at our disposal to meet multiple needs and to have the greatest impact. Like many, I would have supported the proposed reallocation of 26K from replacement firearms to citywide implicit bias training, and I was also disappointed by the initial vote. However, as inopportune a moment as this is to be purchasing new firearms, they are 14 years old. and so it wasn't actually the outcome of the vote that i found so disheartening even though that would not have been my preferred choice instead what was most upsetting during the 40-minute discussion was the inflammatory rhetoric and hyperbolized what-ifs and worst-case scenarios used to mischaracterize the request as anti-police those were offensive and unnecessarily divisive ironically they also underscored the need for investment in the equity and inclusion training and services that triggered the discussion in the first place i commend counselors mcnaught Jamaleddine and Migliorelli for attempting to refocus the conversation when given the opportunity and for reminding all that supporting the police and working to make the city's administrative departments more diverse equitable and inclusive are not mutually exclusive endeavors I do not envy the position you all find yourselves in this evening. Whether you're considering holding firm on your vote or changing it, I ask you to consider to what end. If you hold firm, please consider the recommendation made by Mr. Chen to balance meeting the immediate needs of the police department in accordance with Chief Lyle's request and longer-term goals. Similarly, if you change your vote, please consider that reallocation for an unspecified purpose will do nothing to move our city closer to confronting structural racism here which is a commitment that you have all stated you share implicit bias training is the call that continues to be made and while implicit bias training is a valuable professional development tool on its own it will not meet the challenge of confronting systemic racism it needs to live within a larger framework that guides the city's equity work that framework needs to see clear outcomes and must include the integration of resources and planning towards achieving measurable results i'm concerned that simply reallocating the 26 000 now without specifying that those dollars be used how those dollars be used will simply check a box it will ultimately be an insufficient amount invested inadequately and that in the long term is more unacceptable than authorizing replacement of firearms in the immediate term regardless of how this vote goes this evening the real con a real conversation needs to be had about how this body the administration and members of the community can and will work together to ensure that the city budget reflects the values of this community and the shared commitment to fully integrate equity diversity and inclusion into all aspects of decision making several of you asked last week what has happened in a few short days to change course to that i would respond nothing and also everything our community is well positioned to lead by example and demonstrate what is possible with commitment and collaboration as counselor migliorelli said it's time to put our money where our mouths are i urge you to please do so thank you thank you next i will unmute manisha

▶ 1:29:13 Speaker 3: budra hello good evening all um nice to be with you this evening and thank you for the opportunity to comment um i'm noting that we've had one two three four five six seven eight nine i think

▶ 1:29:29 Manisha Bewtra: people comment among those five and now six um are people of color including me and i feel like that That should tell you a little bit of something about who's being heard and who's not in in the vote you took last week. And I'm hoping that you'll reconsider. I just wanted to note that it's unfair to make that this an attack against the individuals on our police force. I personally have an excellent relationship with Chief Lyle as well as many other Melrose Police Department officers. My personal sense has been that these folks signed up for this job because we do want to protect and serve.

▶ 1:30:09 Speaker 3: So, I do care about keeping our officers safe from harm. Just as I wish for all in our community to stay safe. To stay safe from harm, as we're all talking about, there's a nationwide conversation. Happening right now on the nature of policing. we've underfunded other aspects of community needs and diverted resources to policing from the federal level down to the local, from city to city, and state to state. The things that our police officers are expected to respond to should not all be within the scopes of their jobs, though I do thank them for shouldering so much for us. And just because this might be a nationwide trend, I know we must also look at the realities of Melrose as well. It can be both true that our officers have shouldered too much with not enough resources while also supporting the effort to reallocate some funds. It's unconscionable that our police headquarters is a dated building that is not handicap accessible in addition to the needs of our fire stations and we do need to address our public safety capital needs. That said, that doesn't mean that reallocating these funds is inappropriate and I believe that it's worth this initial investment in implicit bias training. Again, reiterating some of what

▶ 1:31:35 Speaker 3: folks before me have said, last week's comments by the counselors who voted to move forward with the original free cash appropriation request rather than investing in implicit bias training as well as I would say some of the silence by other counselors, were largely disappointing at best. It was isolating and frustrating to hear racially coded language, sexist language, as well as other exclusionary language. These comments themselves pointed to the need, as I think Eugenie had just said, for implicit advice training, because in saying them, either didn't hear the dog whistles you were using or perhaps you didn't care. But I know all of you and I want to believe that you do care and you just don't see. You don't live in different skin. I implore you to consider the experiences of people who do. Furthermore, our police here in Melrose are not free of bias either. While canvassing last summer, I spoke with many Melrose residents, largely people of color, who pointed to experiences with racial profiling they either experienced themselves as long time or recent residents or that they witnessed. I want to emphasize that there's a difference between

▶ 1:32:54 Speaker 3: racism which is sort of talked about as a binary if you're either racist or you're not versus what we've been talking about which is anti-racism. We all live in a culture that we are a bit blind to at times. The racism is there and it's lifelong work to eradicate it. I think you all know that I have done a lot of this work and I know I have my own biases with regards to all the isms, including racism. Furthermore, there's a difference between diversity training and implicit bias training. Again, diversity is about just learning that there's different people. Implicit bias is partially about looking within and learning how much of this culture that we've absorbed and what can we do to do better. I appreciated Councillor McNaught statements about wanting a more substantial investment, and I agree. This is going to be an ongoing effort with systems change, but at the same time, I want to thank Councillors Michael Urelli, Jamala Dean, and Grigoraitis for supporting the effort to reallocate those funds because we've got to start somewhere. And thank you to Mayor Broder as well for getting the ball rolling. It's neither too late nor too early for us to start doing the right thing. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Again, it's Manisha Bhutra, 330 Grove Street. Thank you, Ms. Bhutra.

▶ 1:34:31 Jen Grigoraitis: I believe that is the end of our speakers for public comment. If there's anyone else online who wishes to speak, if you can please make yourself known.

▶ 1:34:44 Speaker 1: President Greger, a few more people have raised their hand. Thank you.

▶ 1:34:55 Speaker 1: I will bring, let me just double check, Jennifer Appleyard on next, I believe. Her name is getting cut off.

▶ 1:35:04 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. This is Jennifer Aplio. Can you hear me okay?

▶ 1:35:10 Speaker 5: Yes.

▶ 1:35:10 Speaker 3: Okay. I'm a resident of Beach Ave, 158 Beach Ave in Ward 7. Thank you for the opportunity to join you tonight. I would request that the City Council not appropriate funds to the Police Department weapons upgrade, as has been referenced, and instead repurpose those funds to anti-racism, anti-bias, implicit bias training. specifically given the times that we're in with wide support against unchecked police power particularly against non-white residents of communities across the country the unequivocal evidence of deep-seated institutional bias across our society melrose as well as across the country and the deep pain that black and brown community members are feeling due to police brutality that they really frankly can't get away from videos of or stories of and reference on a on a daily basis I believe it's extremely poor choice to proceed with this funding of these weapons upgrade at this time and further if the city council is serious about anti-bias and deconstructing institutional racism that is an effort that takes skill practice and thoughtful reflection and And frankly, there's no time to lose. And so I would urge the City Council to vote with the women of the City Council last week who voted to support this funding change. Thank you for your service to the City and for hearing me tonight.

▶ 1:36:35 Speaker 5: Thank you.

▶ 1:36:39 Speaker 1: President Grigoraitis, we have Jerry Moroz next. I will unmute you, Mr. Moroz.

▶ 1:36:44 Speaker 6: Hi, thank you for hearing me tonight. I want to talk about two topics. want to talk about the topic that all the other speakers have talked about but also some about water and sewer um first it's unfortunate that this issue has been framed as this false dichotomy that it's either one or the other um you know we've been spending weeks and weeks talking about an 88 million dollar budget three million dollars of free cash um what are the priorities um you know the mayor didn't make this a priority in his budget nor in the free cash proposals and And we all understand what's changed in the last few weeks and why this might be an important thing, but to put it in the context of a defund the police type of an issue, I don't believe was appropriate or desired for the community. Melrose has defunded our police for years and years and years. There's no disputing that. The problem is that we haven't used the money that we save from defunding the police to do something real for the community.

▶ 1:37:57 Speaker 6: Use the money on a lot of feel-good things a lot. We use the money on a lot of things that really don't go to the core of solving the problems in our city. But they feel good, they sound good. There's a lot of surface politics in Melrose that we want to make it look good. Don't we look marvelous? Rather than digging into some of the core issues that we can solve.

▶ 1:38:23 Speaker 6: We do have a real class inequity in Melrose, and in our politics it's prevalent. I spoke with you about that last week. The water and sewer rates are not the mechanism by which we should be funding our city, but yet our city has for many years overspent its authorized amount of spending by putting a tax on the rate payers in Melrose.

▶ 1:38:52 Speaker 6: It was interesting, after the meeting last week, I happened to look at the direct expenditures of personnel in the water and sewer department are about 1.473 million. The indirect expenditures are $150,000 more than that, 1.623 million. Much of that 1.623 million, as I've argued before, is basically a money grab by the city the ratepayers in order to fund things in the city that the city wasn't honest about wanting to prioritize and fund.

▶ 1:39:37 Speaker 6: This kind of, if you will, subvert taxation or a lack of prioritization of what our city wants to do and not do, because we go after money like that, is what needs to end. On top of that $1.623 million, there's another $400,000 to $500,000 that the city charges its rate payers. And again, it's a regressive tax. The people who use the most water are not necessarily the people with the highest property wealth. And the premise of our state and its funding is that property wealth is what pays the bill from municipalities.

▶ 1:40:21 Speaker 6: It puzzles me that Melrose in the politics here is always just floating on the surface and it's not digging in in the water and sewer realm to inflow and infiltration issues. Nobody cares, has cared about that. Nobody cares about investing to make the city better. Nobody seems to apparently care to be honest with the population about what we're doing and how we're spending the money and this idea of false premises that comes up with the supposed trade-off between ammunition and implicit bias training. You know, I have heard this so many years, I'm sick of it, that I remember for years and years, you know, in a $28 million school budget, the whole budget was boiled down by the school committee and by the superintendent to, oh, well, can we afford an elementary library media specialist or can we afford another wellness teacher at the middle school again it was a false dichotomy what I wish would happen and this is for the next year's budget is that maybe through the year the City Council have conversations about each department and what they do in the relative priorities of funding various things including implicit bias training including diversity training and that we figure out in advance what the priorities are of the city, and then we craft a budget that reflects those priorities with some authenticity.

▶ 1:42:01 Speaker 6: Whether we're talking about handguns, ammunition, or implicit bias training, it's only going to be a few more months before we have another $3 or $4 million of free cash sitting there waiting to be spent. We're spending about $3 million of free cash right now. And yes, the timing was unfortunate, but there obviously was something else that could have been reduced to some degree. And I won't even give them the respect by saying what types of things, but we put a lot of money into things that were not required, were not necessary, we did them anyway and the danger of doing that is that when you have something real that comes forward something important and that we want to make a priority we've already wasted the money and the money is no longer there because we spent it I hope that every bit of money that we spend and as you as you go into your budget conversation tonight I know it's basically a rubber stamp for you guys that you know you wanted you want to keep what you have because you've been over it before in terms of the city budget in the water and sewer but I hope if anything this budget conversation from what's going on with the the issue that everybody is so vocal about tonight is that there is a deeper way a more sophisticated way a more nuanced way of having conversations that get to the core of what's important instead of staying on the political surface of what looks nice and wonderful and will you get a lot of good fluffy emails about so I thank you for the whole budget process of listening to my conversations and my positions I was certainly I got I have to say I was disappointed that last week when I raised the issue of class bias the water sewer rates that not one of you picked up on that directly and had a conversation about it I come here to make my input into the public process trusting that that input will be well received and considered I in from conversation last week it didn't sound to me that any person even tried to consider it or brought it up explicitly to consider it and if you just dismissed it out of hand without addressing it I find that is disrespectful so I'm always willing to engage about the issues that I raise and I think a couple of the city councilors who have contacted me and I appreciate the contact and the time that they've spent to learn about what I say I want to say that the argument that oh we'll do something with it next year I've heard that for six or seven or 20 years in Melrose so if you don't do it today don't assume it's gonna get done anyway thank you for your time and have a good night thank you mr. Moreau's just

▶ 1:45:00 Speaker 5: for the record can you state your address please sorry I mean I'm you didn't

▶ 1:45:11 Speaker 1: know mr. Moreau's are you still there yeah 62 Mount Vernon Street is what I

▶ 1:45:21 Speaker 1: said thank you very much anyone else madam clerk we have Alistair me Alistair move hold on one second all right mr. Mook you're unmuted no you're not yes

▶ 1:45:37 Speaker 2: you are okay now yes sorry I didn't plan to speak tonight I think a lot of people spoke a lot more eloquently earlier tonight instead of many of the things that I've been thinking um I I do want to push back a little bit on my friend and neighbor Jerry Mraz though that he the way he presented this is that that the issue was presented as to the to the council's counselors as being a an issue of defunding the police I don't I don't think it was presented that way I think it was presented as a how do we spend the end of our free cash in the budget issue and when it reached the council is when it became framed as a this is either you're for the police or you're not which was unfortunate and I think my sense in talking to some counselors and and talking to folks around town is that very few people feel very happy about how things went at the meeting on Thursday I don't think anybody wants to be cast in the role in Melrose of being somebody who's pushing back against anti-racism training at the same time it seems like there's a need here to be listening closely to the community and paying attention to national events and I want to just bring up to two sort of logistical points one is that it's absolutely true that twenty six thousand dollars is not enough to pay for this kind of training this kind of this money is that it would be a down payment on a larger spending that we're gonna have to do down the road. And the fact that it's not a full amount isn't a reason not to put money towards it. At the same time, as Eugenia Gibbons said earlier, this money can't be just spent willy-nilly. Throwing money at the problem will not solve it. There is absolutely a need across city departments for implicit bias training as part of a larger framework of anti-racism work and I think it's important to to make part of the story that people in town are aware of is that Melrose has had two civil rights investigations in our schools in the last six years that that doesn't jive with most of the towns in this area it points to the fact that we've had real systemic problems in Melrose around issues of racial bias and discrimination and it wasn't just the incidents in the classrooms it was also how it was handled citywide and the those those cases were expensive they cost the city money and at least in the first case the civil rights suit that was brought Melrose was found guilty of that infraction so this is obviously much bigger this is not this is not about the police in Melrose and and I haven't talk to anybody in Melrose who feels like that is the focal point. This is about the fact that we have an almost completely white city government, an almost completely white school administration, and almost no teachers of color in the classroom or on the police force. And if there's no people of color in the room to help point out things that any of us who are not people of color are not going to see then we can't know what we don't know so one way forward is for the city to start thinking more seriously about how to create some diversity in our city government and in our schools which is sometimes easier said than done but another really important piece of that is to think about what implicit bias training can do to help us avoid these situations in the future because Melrose police don't want to run into these situations where they're accused of civil rights infractions. Melrose teachers certainly don't want to be in a position where they find themselves being sued by the State Department of Education. So this isn't punishing anybody. This is about giving our city workers the tools they need to help avoid these situations and to be in a better position in the future to be to be able to serve our residents of color that is all uh i'll say and i didn't say my address sorry i'm at 63 nowell road

▶ 1:50:05 Speaker 5: depending on who you ask now or no thank you madam clerk do we have anyone else in queue

▶ 1:50:18 Speaker 5: i believe that is everyone all right at this time i'll entertain a motion to close public comment

▶ 1:50:24 Jen Grigoraitis: motion to close public comment second we have a motion to close public comment by councillor stewart seconded by councillor sanella madam clerk can you please call the role

▶ 1:50:31 Speaker 7: Sorry.

▶ 1:50:35 Speaker 1: Councillor Sinella? Yes. Councillor Eccles? Yes. Councillor Garipay?

▶ 1:50:43 Speaker 2: Yes.

▶ 1:50:44 Speaker 1: Councillor Tomaladean? Yes. Councillor McMaster?

▶ 1:50:50 Speaker 2: Yes.

▶ 1:50:51 Speaker 1: Councillor McNaught?

▶ 1:50:52 Speaker 2: Yes.

▶ 1:50:53 Speaker 1: Councillor Migliorelli? Yes. Councillor Stewart?

▶ 1:50:57 Speaker 2: Yes.

▶ 1:50:58 Speaker 1: Councillor Thomas? Yes. Councillor Tramontozzi? Yes.