Public Comment

Transcript (~23 min @ 1:07:25)

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

▶ 1:07:16 Speaker 4: I pledge allegiance to the flag, united states of america and to the republic for which stands one nation under god indivisible

▶ 1:07:28 Speaker 1: with liberty and justice for all thank you

▶ 1:07:35 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: we have a motion to open the floor for public comment second a motion to open the floor for public comment made by alderman mortimer seconded by alderman boisselle all in favor aye any opposed we are now in the portion of our meeting where any member of the public can come before us

▶ 1:08:02 Speaker 3: to speak on any order on our agenda please good evening hi my name is helen chisholm and i live um at 34 gould street in melrose i've only come to really talk about a couple of things it's not going to take long um you've been speaking tonight about um the Charter okay and I don't know how long the talk goes on about changing things in the Charter but I know that one of the things that's already been discussed and it was voted down was the the changing of the name for this body from alderman to council or councilmen or councilwoman whatever it is if it's already been voted I don't know why it's bring being brought back up I'm sure there are other things within the Charter that need to be brought back up that's my comment on that okay now the next thing is when you're at home and

▶ 1:09:04 Speaker 3: you're watching this okay there were certain things that I don't know if anybody's I've told you this okay that you don't we don't understand you're taking money from accounts and all they are is numbers and being transferred over to other numbers okay is it at all possible that maybe you can tell us what these accounts are because I am really sick and tired of us having a huge storm okay and all of a sudden after one cleanup we have no more money left if you're taking money from the snow removal and putting it someplace else i think it's crazy we're in new england we're going to have a good winter we're going to have a bad winter but you've got to leave money there you can't i know your budget comes in and you you put money in there you put so much but if you left the money in for a couple of years we wouldn't have to see that in the in the newspaper do you understand there

▶ 1:10:13 Speaker 3: you all understand you can't talk to me right we cannot have a back-and-forth

▶ 1:10:18 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: but we appreciate your feedback and we'll start but that there is a big

▶ 1:10:21 Speaker 3: thing I just don't understand that I should have to worry whether I'm going to be able to get out of my street because we don't have any money and then okay we're in the red for snow removal it doesn't make any sense we're not living in California we're living in New England and the out the lot very last thing is we've just had a great big override okay some people are happy some people are not happy okay just get on and do whatever needs to be done to get things taken care of within this city thank you good evening good evening all

▶ 1:11:29 Maya Jamaleddine: my name is Maya Jamal Dean 10 Meroz Street I'm the chair of the Meroz Human Rita Commission and I'm representing the members of the Meroz Commission of on women and the members of the Human Rita Commission as you

▶ 1:11:52 Maya Jamaleddine: are aware Meadows is the last municipality in Massachusetts to call its legislative branch the Board of Aldermen changing the name of changing the name from Board of Aldermen to a more gender-neutral term City City Council will not change the important work that Meadows legislative body does instead by adopting a more modern and inclusive name we demonstrate Meadows commitment in making our city more equitable to all people. While the name Board of Aldermen holds a historic reference, it's an antiquated and non-inclusive term that projects a perception around who we as a community actively involve. With a term like alderman derived from the old English title of all the men literally meaning elder man Meadows legislative branch does not reflect the fact that in Meadows approximately 52 percent of the population identifies as female it's important for Meadows to demonstrate to all its citizens including through how its names it names its boards that it government represents all its people. The members of the Maros Commission on Women and the Maros Human Rita Commission supports changing the name of Maros legislative branch from a Board of Aldermen to a City Council. With a gender-neutral term, the Maros City Council will continue its important work without the hurdle of non-inclusive labels. Thank you for your dedication to Melrose. Sincerely, the members of the Melrose Commission on Women, the members of the Human

▶ 1:14:22 Speaker 2: Rita Commission. Thank you all. Thank you. Good evening. I'm reading an email from my boyfriend, Chris Call, who is one of the crossing guards here in Melrose. And before I start, I just want to say that Alderman McMaster already replied to us, and that's fine. And then we talked to Chief Lyle this morning, so we've had some responses. But he read an article, and this was Friday morning that talks of the Board of Aldermen possibly moving to changing the name to a more gender-neutral title such as City Council I'm fine with that I suppose I'm not here to grill you all on something as silly as in title nor do I care what title or name your positions have as long as you get the job done I don't care what you call yourselves I guess I'm writing because of the fact that something as silly as this to me will be taking up time and debate when in past I him and many other residents of Melrose have contacted some of you regarding safety concerns that I have yet to see or hear about being worked on I'm realistic and know that your folks receive an overwhelming amount of requests concerns and comments and cannot address them all but it bothers me that you're willing to waste time and effort on something such as this that in no way will affect any real change aside from making some people feel better when I personally along with so many other residents have requested counsel or action there's a mentality of that is just how it's been I've noticed when trying to create change when it's very selective I've reached out to two members of your board concerning a serious safety issue that involves the children of the city I won't go into detail here regarding that concern they know who they are and know the issues in my correspondence I have stated the issues asked for counsel on how I would go about assisting and made a few suggestions that was met with a generic we're working on it and two weeks after the fact a second response that was genuine much longer but said the same thing along with a few attached emails from other residents with similar concerns but from a convenience point of view versus a safety point of view I then made the suggestion that one of you folks come spend a morning or two with me so you can first hand get an idea from all perspectives in a real-time situation that was met with silence the topic kept getting brushed off with we're working on it or in talks with kinds of responses I've made it very clear that I was willing to do the leg work towards some sort some kind of anything just tell me what I need to do for X Y & Z and I get nothing back a lot of this seems to be a selective use of that's just how it's been mentality one of my suggestions was met with in the past we decided we can't do that because that's just how it's been well the title of alderman is just how it has been though you're willing to waste time on that according to my experience dealing with the alderman of the city can be summed up with plows are much more important than the safety of the children, followed then by the sounds of crickets. I only go into that much detail to stress that I do not in any way shape or form care if you decide that the title of alderman should be changed. What I'm saying is this, if you're not willing to in real time and from a real world point of view be willing to make a real effort to create some kind of change that relates to the safety of the children of Melrose, do not waste time and the taxpayers money on nonsense such as the title or name of something please also apply that to other real-world issues and our concerns other residents have contacted you about the safety of our children are far more important than feelings any individual has regarding anything and I'm reminded of that every time I have to grab hold of a child and forcefully move them out of a way of vehicle that will not slow down or yield to the crosswalk you also wanted me to add that he this is a concern with safety issues it's not anything about traffic and he has noted that when there is no traffic there is a high rate of speed this is on west wyoming and today alone in the afternoon he almost got hit twice and a fender bender also occurred while he was on duty so just wanted to put that forth and get that on the record i know it was all emailed to you all thank you good evening my name's mark viola oh can you hear

▶ 1:18:35 Speaker 1: me uh from 83 upham street ward 4. just want to say a few words in support of the

▶ 1:18:43 Speaker 1: proposal to change the name from board of alderman to city council first of all i did send an email and thank you i got responses from a good number of you so i thank you for your attention to what i wrote just to reiterate a couple of things i see this as an opportunity for the city

▶ 1:19:12 Speaker 1: in a lot of ways there are two things that I think about when I think about it like a healthy city one that has tradition and one that has ideals and tradition is looking back and ideals is all about looking forward and moving forward and knowing what to let go of I fully support this petition to change the name from the very outmoded Board of Aldermen to City Council. It's really a lot about our ideal of being one community open to all. What I wrote was

▶ 1:19:55 Speaker 1: key to that openness is the support of equality of gender at all levels of municipal administration and city government a title a title has power

▶ 1:20:10 Speaker 1: words and language have power at the beginning of the meeting we all stood and you know we said the anthem we said the Pledge of Allegiance we say the anthem you know we sing sing the words sporting events to declare what our ideals are and what we're about words have power and words that tacitly communicate to people especially young girls that you know positions of influence and aspiration are inherently male is something that we should really rethink and leaving even to the rearview mirror a lot of people are like well you know it's about tradition and we're gonna have that tradition it's gonna live on you know it's gonna live on in our records and documents recordings and and whatnot we're not going to lose that we're always going to have that tradition but like I said this is a real opportunity because as we move forward and we evolve our ideals it will be increasingly a liability to our striving to be an open city if we continue to hold on to certain certain terms that I think can be can be harmful so and for those reasons I support this petition by this initiative thank you thank you welcome

▶ 1:21:59 Leila Migliorelli: hi I'm Lila Migliorelli I live at 25 Dartmouth Road and Ward 4 so I would

▶ 1:22:15 Leila Migliorelli: like to lend my personal support to change the name of our Board of Aldermen to City Council. Alderman is an archaic, gender-specific term, and we are the last such municipality in Massachusetts to retain this name. While many argue that it's just a name or it holds some sort of old-time charm, I don't believe this is the case at all. Words matter and titles matter, and a city whose motto is one community open to all should not have aldermen governing it. Change can be hard, but also necessary when confronted with the reality that the times in which we live in are moving beyond just accepting outdated language and non-inclusive terminology without question asking those who may not conform to those roles to just put up with it is simply not acceptable tonight I'd like to urge the board to stay consistent with our city's motto and our commitment to inclusivity by changing the name to City Council thank you thank

▶ 1:23:25 Speaker 3: you my name is Jessica Buster I live at 164 Derby Road as you know I'm a member of the Commission on women of my right but I'm here tonight to speak on my own behalf I have spoken to this body about this particular topic before so I'll keep it pretty brief you may recall my opinion on whether or not quaint is something complimentary short note it isn't but primarily I would just like to say words matter representation really matters and when somebody says to you this thing is important to me and this thing bothers me this is a problem and you turn around and say well it's not important to me or it's not a problem to me that is not a respectful response so I continue to a juror you to to change

▶ 1:24:19 Speaker 3: the name thank you thank you good evening good evening I'm Ellen

▶ 1:24:29 Speaker 5: Ruthstrom I live at 15 Vine Street in Morris and people have been saying lots of wonderful things that I can heartily support I too would like the the board to consider changing the name to City Council I think of Melrose as a city that is very forward-thinking and has shown in many different instances that this is a city to contend with and that we have positive things to do and positive reasons for people to come to Melrose I moved to Melrose six years ago and I have seen a lot of great activity here in the city but to think that

▶ 1:25:24 Speaker 5: that Melrose is the last city in Massachusetts not to make this change seems to be a mistake.

▶ 1:25:44 Speaker 5: And it's such an easy mistake to fix. And I know, as was mentioned, you folks have lots of important things that you should be spending time dealing with and this may seem like an unimportant thing but obviously there are people who do take this seriously and who do want to feel more represented here and more included and so I think this topic has value to be on this agenda but it also to me feels like this is an easy one, folks. This is an easy one to take care of and get on and get back to the really serious things that you do have to contend with. Be modern, Melrose. Make a change. Thank you. Good evening. Good

▶ 1:27:07 Speaker 3: evening. My name is Rolda Kissel and I live at 3 Cottage Street. I'm a a Commissioner on the Melrose Commission of Women. I'm a Lincoln parent. My views are my own. It seems simplified, but I'd ask those before me who identify as male to imagine a scenario. Tomorrow morning, you're at work and you're approached by a colleague at the water cooler. How was your evening? Oh, it was good. It was busy. I had a meeting. Really? For what? Oh, I'm an alderwoman in my city and I had an alderwoman meeting last night. Of course, my scenario is ridiculous because in a long history of patriarchy this title would never be imposed on on a man but imagine as if it was your female peers are asked to do this every day in the age of me too with a record number of women running for positions one might argue that this detail in our city is minor and nitpicking but less we forget that despite incredible advances in gender equality gender equality in this issue in this country is real and jarring the United States Congress is still only 23.7% women. There is still a measurable pay gap. At Fortune 500 companies-

▶ 1:28:12 Speaker 4: What gap? I missed that word.

▶ 1:28:14 Speaker 3: Pay gap.

▶ 1:28:15 Speaker 4: Pay gap. Thank you very much.

▶ 1:28:16 Speaker 3: In Fortune 500 companies, there are more men named John serving as CEOs than the combination of all women in these roles. As an academic advisor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, I facilitate conversations on diversity, and inclusion with future educators research on this topic cites all sites the importance of representation for empowering marginalized populations in media in classrooms in government words matter using inclusive language is critical for equality the only research that I need is the kind of thing that happened on my own street I was walking down cottage Street with my son and my daughter during the previous election cycle when we walked by one of your signs one of my children asked me what it was and I explained that there is a campaign for those who want to be city leaders and the sign was encouraging our neighborhood to vote for that person my precocious three-year-old said I want to be a city letter leader to which my son who is old enough to read replied you can't why not I asked him because mom alderman it says alderman only the boys can do it words batter and I encourage you to take this simple step to change the title of alderman to a more inclusive one thank you thank you

▶ 1:29:40 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: there any other members of the public wishing to speak this evening closed

▶ 1:29:46 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: public comment madam president second the motion of closed public comment made by alderman Mortimer seconded by alderman Boyce L all in favor aye any opposed that concludes the public comment this evening thank you all for