← City Council · 2019-08-01 · City Council Special Meeting
Public Comment
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
Transcript
▶ 9:30 Peter D. Mortimer: room we have a quorum and can proceed to business but before we proceed to business we open the floor for public comment and a motion to open the floor for public comment has been made by alderman's werco and duly seconded by alderman Letter garabedian all in favor of opening the floor for public comment please say aye aye any opposed hearing none public comment is now open the limit is 10 minutes per person please state your name and address for the record and i would ask that we keep the public comment on tonight's agenda which is a resolution regarding certain aspects of brazil street namely to have an environmental inspection independent paid for by the city and to continue certain lodging for some of the residents of brazil street so please keep it to that subject during your public participation mr kenny i see you're ready to be our first public commentator this evening please proceed it's a pleasure people
▶ 10:34 Speaker 5: you're gonna miss this peter when you retire i'm gonna miss you i've gotten used to you
▶ 10:40 Speaker 5: thank you sir you're welcome my name is ted kenny i reside at 1062 main street merrill's mass let me write my name in here before i forget i'm thankful that you're having your
▶ 10:55 Speaker 5: second meeting here hopefully the folks on brazil street will get a little more information
▶ 11:03 Speaker 5: so they have a clearer understanding if the city is going to fund i want to use the word fund loosely to have their homes checked the proper way i think what's important here is as gail and fernery had said at the last meeting it was the perfect storm you know when you have two meetings like this it was one hell of a storm okay i think what's important is that these folks really need some answers i know myself if that happened to my family and the city health inspector cleared me to move in there i'd look at her and say are you for real do you have any idea where all that
▶ 11:47 Speaker 5: sewage went do you understand how a building is put together do you realize what the ramifications
▶ 11:58 Speaker 5: are it's not cleaned up right someone can get sick you know to use the language that was used two weeks ago is that well i called the state i did this i did that and met all the expectations well i have to tell you something i don't agree you know i had a debate with a friend of mine
▶ 12:13 Speaker 5: a few nights ago about how about if this was a restaurant what would the standard be It's like apples and bananas, I guess, two different places, but not really. A human being goes to a restaurant and they sit there and they have dinner. A person goes to their home, they sit there and they have dinner. So we're dealing with food. We're not only dealing with food, we're dealing with where they sleep, where they shower, where they eat, where they raise their family, and they want to be whole.
▶ 12:52 Speaker 5: How can you be whole when you have to turn to your insurance company, put out the money, especially if you don't have it, to have this done? It's easy for the city to say, well, you know, there's limitations, we only can do this, we're not giving money away. Yeah, I get it. I'm a taxpayer. I've been here 22 years. Okay? But when was the last time you had a fiasco like this and it made so much news?
▶ 13:19 Speaker 5: We have two news channels here tonight. We have people in the back here that are going to speak. Okay? That should be an eye awakening. Okay? You should be concerned. Okay? All of you. You know, it's election year for mayor, board of aldermen, and anything else. Okay. I get it. Okay. And I understand where some of you are lobbying and how you're lobbying because you're trying to put your point across. You're trying to ask tough questions. You're trying to get answers. These folks want answers. You know, you're putting them up in hotels, motels or whatever. You're taking care of it. And I think that's good. We should be taking care of that. but the real question has to be raised here and there'll be a debate or somewhat of a debate who knows okay does the city fund we really go back and we really check these houses i don't care how they were put together i don't care how old they are we had a serious problem
▶ 14:16 Speaker 5: and to say that we hired a company to come in and just clean it all up they're certified to
▶ 14:26 Speaker 5: take care of it you got me shaking my head because the company certified what does that mean do you know what the certification is for some of these companies I didn't hear anybody ask that question it's a very good question and actually you probably should have had them here to address exactly what they did and what they used to clean these places up and what's acceptable and what's not acceptable okay you know mode's a very dangerous thing okay very dangerous do you know much of cost to remove mode it's not it's not cheap you can't even be in the house when you have it done it's not cheap okay you know i think i think i think the city really needs to look at
▶ 15:14 Speaker 5: this more they need you really need to talk about because i i i'll tell you something in all honesty okay it didn't affect me but trying to learn about this has not been the easiest thing in the world it's like it's a blackout okay I remember a few years ago on Mother's Day weekend we had massive flooding here in Marlowe's everything was done people were taken care of okay there was a plan in place we have a deputy mayor I don't know what that person does but Gil wasn't feeling well so I guess he didn't step up to the plate but that's besides the point okay you voted for this position you fund the position okay the board of all all right you know one of the things I hope that comes out of this over time not gonna happen tonight not gonna happen tomorrow you have a real plan you have people in position to make decisions safety decision because I think a lot of decisions weren't made weren't looked at okay and it's mind-boggling you know to me it was like if a tree fell on my house hit my chimney the fire department would come in and check the CEO and they found CEO I could not live there okay but god damn it if I live on Brazil Street yeah I walked around I looked at
▶ 16:44 Speaker 5: everything oh that looks okay wow looks spotless to me you really truthfully had me shaking my head because the standard should be just as high as it would be for a restaurant here okay these restaurant owners in this community go through quite a bit to make sure the place is clean and people can go there a person's house that was damaged by an unfortunate accident that
▶ 17:13 Speaker 5: forced them out of their homes forced them to a hotel or their friend's house or a cousin's house or whatever is sad i feel very sorry for these folks right now especially the couple kids that spoke a couple weeks ago the little kids that said a lot to me okay but you know i think there's one more thing i really want to improvise here and say and say it in the proper way in a very respectful way i think the dpw did what they could do as he had said i listened to him i've seen i've met this man many times but i think there's something else missing to this right now and there's not a lot of information on what's really going to happen on brazil street so this never happens again and if we have a problem there the community should be aware of it and whatever the cost could be the community should be aware of it it's not it shouldn't be a secret here okay that's why people come to speak it's this whole thing has been i don't know i don't say hushed up i don't think it has i think everybody on the board of alderman everybody is trying to do everything that they really need to do okay but it's time to do what needs to be done and help these folks these folks should not have to put a dime out of the pocket they have to you should come out and tell them you have to pay for it fight your insurance company then your insurance company will fight our insurance company let's be honest here now let's stop playing this game because that's what's being played a game as far as i'm concerned okay things need to be done you may not like what i said i'm sorry but i believe in saying what i feel okay i i really sorry for these people more information needs to come out you know if they have to get
▶ 18:58 Speaker 5: attorneys and litigate it it just turns into a mess this shouldn't turn into a mess they're They're already living in a mess. Their lives are turned upside down. Let's make them whole. Let's make this problem and solve it and work as a team, not working against each other. Okay? Thank you very much for your time, folks. Thank you.
▶ 19:19 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you, Mr. Kenney. Thank you.
▶ 19:27 Speaker 3: Good evening. I'm Linda Philpott. I live on Brazil Street in Melrose. I've been here for like five generations in Melrose. And I love Melrose. my whole family has and we believe it's a great city but seeing this the way it's handled doesn't make me proud because it was my house or yours I think we have to be fear to everybody in the city no matter where they are and I think all I can say is I agree with it he says and everybody else but that should be inspected thoroughly and those people should be safe to go in their
▶ 20:10 Speaker 3: homes and there's so many other things that could be going on in their houses but others will talk about it I'm sure. Thank you Ms. Philpott. Good evening
▶ 20:43 Speaker 6: everybody. My name is Peja Stojcic and I live on a 34 Brazil Street. I'm a physician and I have a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. We moved to Melrose a year ago my wife and a three and a half year old kid and on the first weekend when we came here four neighbors on Brazil Street came to greet us and to say hi and to to meet us including Shawn who was living who's living across the street and I think our experience so far with this city was amazing including the recent Melrose summer stroll where we all gathered and had a lot of fun together but the values of the city in my opinion are not just expressed in the moments of celebration they're also expressed in the moments of crisis and what I can speak about from the medical perspective and from what is my profession I work for the ripple foundation and my focus is specifically on community health and addressing community health issues that's what I've been doing for the last 10 years and in medicine there is one interesting thing when you examine a patient or or look at the public health problem, the only thing you can find, and after the examination, is that you can find no evidence of disease. It doesn't mean that disease doesn't exist. It only means that there's no evidence for you to confirm that there is a disease. So in the same fashion here, when a Department of Public Health of Boston is saying there are no reference values for certain things, how to assess those homes, are they livable or not, that only means that there are no reference values. It doesn't mean that those homes are safe for living. So I really, really invite you to support our neighbor Shawn resolution and Alderman resolution because I think that resolution can help at least mitigate the risk of some seniors and kids who are living on in those houses who who have to get in back in in terms of their health issues so again I'm just telling you like the fact that there are no reference value for this doesn't mean that you know coming in and just looking around is enough of an inspection for somebody to come in come back in it only means that there are no reference values where you can you can assess that and quite honestly the reason why there are no reference values is that not a common thing to have that kind of situation so I will
▶ 23:24 Speaker 6: finish by saying that you know I come from a country that I spent my childhood in a country that was affected by war my close cousin died as a result of consequences of a four thousand four thousand pounds bomb hitting their house It didn't explode it, but it affected their living of course as you can imagine and As many stories like that that happened in my country in the Balkans in in Yugoslavia at the time One thing was really really striking and it was that it's not What it's not what hurts are those bombs or the effects of the disasters that we can experience It's the lack of solidarity of the government in the community so I invite you to strongly consider that Melrose is a city that I'm gonna be part of hopefully because we bought a house and we're gonna live here for the years to come to show solidarity in this moment by supporting the residents and securing that they are really really you know that we do everything that we can to determine are those houses safe for living and to support them by showing solidarity and paying for the cost and anything that might occur out of this accident that happened in our city so thank you for the opportunity to address and I invite you to vote today in favor of our neighbor Shawn and alderman in his
▶ 25:14 Speaker 7: resolution so thank you thank you sir good evening my name is Rosanna gang and I I reside at 47 Brazil Street and I've been following this since it started not just because uh they're my neighbors but you know i'm uh i'm in melrose and i just love the community i can't imagine what our neighbors down the street have gone through and are going through so and i was a bit surprised to hear that the residence has been sort of approved to be inhabited again. As a mother and as a practicing doctor in the Philippines and actually I am a professor of health and sciences here in different universities including Lesley University and Boston University. Not that I think I'm an expert but I've talked a lot about diseases in my classes and this just reminded me of the sick building syndrome when I talked about the Katrina situation back then it clearly reminded me of that particular lecture and I'm just scared that you know even if it looks like it's inhabitable you know there are I could speak science all night but I want to spare you from that but I'm just scared that you know this could end up in my lectures because there's really a lot of things that need to be considered that a regular health inspector really may not be aware of and I really do feel strongly that an expert on environmental health should be should should clear the building the street before you let a family or you know anybody get in there live in their house again where again they serve their food they sleep they shower I just couldn't imagine myself bringing my children back in my home if this happened to me without a professional without an environmental health expert clearing it so that's it yeah I hope that you know decision will come after all of this as we express our concerns for our neighbors and forestry
▶ 27:32 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you thank you did you get the name and address for the record could you please could you please state your name and address for the record thank you thank you very much
▶ 27:55 Speaker 5: yep my name is janine venuti um as this isn't the first time where do you live where do you live can you give us 39 out a month okay um as this isn't the first incident of sewer backing up into a resident my request is for the city to create a detailed plan on how they'll address this in the future should it happen because in all likelihood it's going to happen again as it's happened just this year multiple times my other request is for the city to put online a list by every by street the age of every sewer and water line so that every resident in meadows can assess the risk that they're facing and perhaps make some adjustments on their end to mitigate any damage
▶ 28:59 Speaker 8: good evening my name is michael gresky i'm a resident of 23 brazil street in melrose good
▶ 29:08 Speaker 3: good evening i'm sorry i said good evening good evening you said good evening so i said good
▶ 29:13 Speaker 8: evening other members of my family could not be here this evening however i can assure all of you that their sentiments are certainly shared in the following so we are a peaceful happy and generous family we've resided in the community for over 60 years collectively However, when we see injustice upheld at the very highest levels of our government, we aren't given a choice except to vocalize our disappointment in the very leadership that is in place to represent our community. Thank you to some of the aldermen tonight who have been so very diligent in helping to understand the very severity of the issues on Brazil Street and the empathy they have have shown to our neighbors. Our neighborhood would like to extend our gratitude to Shawn McMaster, who resides on Brazil Street. As for the rest of the administration, it becomes evident as the days go on that a lesson is perhaps in order on the understanding of what it means to be a community and not hide behind a thinly veiled curtain of what has been termed sovereign immunity. The amount of resources, both financial and inhuman power, already spent deliberating fault is despicable. As it stands, it has been an excruciatingly long period of time where families with children, elderly, and veterans have been displaced from the only place they have to live. Why, in a community as wealthy as Melrose is, allowing this to happen? And I emphasize wealth because we are a community of wealth. We have great schools, wonderful government in place, great restaurants, a vibrant downtown, a vibrant community. And it's a privilege to live in such a community. why are we allowing this to happen not one of those families that are displaced because a protocol was followed cares about the good work the Department of Public Works has done across the rest of the city and the amount of clay pipe that's been replaced over the past three years it's a waste of time of taxpayer dollars to continue an infantile blame game, a game which has left four families homeless. It brings shame to our community and the signs that I drive by every day that say Melrose Cares should be taken off the city streets
▶ 32:11 Speaker 8: immediately. Our family continues to urge our government that an independent and and unbiased expert should be brought in to evaluate the state of these four homes that have been devastated. The safety of our neighbors, our children, and community should be of paramount concern to our government. Our government was designed to work for the people of Melrose, and it has been designed and upheld at the very highest offices in our nation. I believe the residents of Brazil Street, especially those families displaced, are owed a very clearly defined roadmap from our leadership and those city departments that will be responsible for upholding that roadmap to get them back into their homes quickly and make the necessary repairs to all of Brazil Street and quite honestly conduct a full postmortem on the protocols and procedures for crisis management. of which the city very clearly and blatantly failed that test here I want
▶ 33:24 Speaker 8: to leave you with one final thought sometimes doing the right thing is hard
▶ 33:30 Speaker 8: it's hard it sometimes makes you disliked or unpopular or even hated but I've always believed Melrose to be a community of values a community of the character of courage and commitment. I urge every one of you here tonight and those that don't have a voice or don't have the confidence to have a voice to continue to uphold those values for the future of our community because it is what makes us great. I thank each and every one of you.
▶ 34:28 Speaker 3: Thank you, sir.
▶ 34:45 Speaker 3: Hello. Good evening. Good evening.
▶ 34:48 Speaker 8: My name is Julie Salvato and I am at 9 Brazil Street. I wasn't planning to speak so bear with me because I'm not good at public speaking which you'll see in a second. So my house is the house that was in the video. That's me taking the video of the toilet screaming to my five-year-old daughter who's back there to get out of bed. It was the first day of summer so we slept in and this is what we woke up to.
▶ 35:13 Speaker 8: All I really have to say is that I would so appreciate this being passed. It is not a place that I want to be anymore. I don't feel like it's safe. I don't feel like it's happy. I don't want my daughter there at all. We are the house that has been told it's habitable. We have no floors. We have no walls. We have nothing. We have a new toilet. With the exception of that, the house is a disaster. I just go back to what the guy from Servpro said, and he was wonderful. He was great to us, which was that after 24 to 48 hours, that it was toxic to your person, that it was level three contamination. Now Ruth from the Board of Health did come in. I sat and had a meeting with the mayor the two Thursdays after. According to what they put in front of me, she did do everything that was asked of her. There was electricity, there was a working toilet, there was running water, but ultimately that's just not good enough. So things that happened after sewage filled the house And after she had said that the house was fine, our house filled with what Chris from Servpro told me, which was normal, was sewage roaches. We had roaches all over the house. And I don't know if that's normal to anybody else, but that's not normal to me. You know, ants, whatever, but we never had roaches before. I called the city back and they told me what Chris said, which was that it happens, it was humid. Ultimately, I additionally know that the girl across the street was told that her house was habitable she then found out a couple days later that her HVAC system was completely filled with sewage and then the Board of Health after that said oh no it's actually not habitable and now she's still not back in her house so who's to say that she didn't make an additional mistake and I know I've been told that there is no additional testing but ultimately I just don't feel like that is a good enough answer these are tiny houses we have a living room we have two bedrooms we have a bathroom in kitchen and wall to wall was covered with feces there's no nicer way to say it and I just I really hope this gets passed because I just I don't even want to be in my own house and that's not a normal feeling to feel thanks thank you
▶ 37:47 Peter D. Mortimer: ma'am seeing no further members of the public wishing to come forward and offer comment is there a motion please motion
▶ 37:56 Peter D. Mortimer: to close public comment second alderman Forbes has made a motion to close public comment duly seconded by alderman boy cell all in favor of closing public comment please say aye aye any opposed hearing none public comment is now