REPORTS - RULE 53

Transcript (~14 min @ 52:55)

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▶ 52:49 Michael P. Zwirko: alderman Mortimer it has been seconded by alderman McMaster on discussion all those in favor of the motion aye aye any opposed that order passes we now rule excuse me we now move to item seven which is reports under rule 53 alderman voyzel i will be talking about the

▶ 53:12 Robert A. Boisselle: traffic commission of the meeting of september 26 2018 the minutes for the june and the august meeting uh were approved and they are listed on the traffic commission's website at this time you can look at them for for for past reference this was an interesting meeting i mean half of this board showed up for for their constituents for this particular session and it was about attended by about 55 to 58 constituents and individuals who are sitting in the audience and it was quite an evening first item on the agenda which is probably unique for Melrose another uniqueness is the reconstruction of the traffic pattern of at Howard Street and Green Street intersection and Howard Street and Clifford Street and Elm section intersections Thorp been all in that particular area Thorp a great deal of reorganization going on and the creation of a roundabout this is basically a new name for a rotary it's very compact very unique and it's was quite a particular subject for that evening the funding is probably 60% there and the other 40% will probably come from the city depending on the projects and what when funds become available but the Clifford and Elm Street is being redesigned Howard Green Street a roundabout has is also going to have a truck skirt and if people who are aware of that particular area wonders how would how can you have a rotary in this particular area but the way this particular it looks like a archery target you have the yellow in the center and the outer rings is a skirt you might say where trucks can go into to make that turn so it was quite a interesting they actually had a movie from the Amherst and Northampton area where you have the roundabout in an operation and this particular area of Green Street and

▶ 55:34 Robert A. Boisselle: Howard Street is very unfriendly to pedestrians and traffic seems to move very quickly through the area with this new roundabout the vehicles are going to be slowed down the roads are narrow to to a particular point of view there will be some loss of a parking spaces about six to eight but it will be safer for the pedestrians and Thorp going to be a lot of landscaping that's going to be done in that particular area the traffic study there was was some discussion concerning the traffic study which was taken in mid-august and if you listen to the residents Thorp very little traffic that occurs there come September 1st when the school is open for the middle it becomes a thruway for the middle school the Franklin school the Roosevelt schools and traffic is backed up from Main Street almost to the Fells way depending on which way you're going so they're going to be doing a new study sometime this month to take into accommodation that the new traffic that's there number of residences showed up for it some were there were some against the roundabouts but the majority weren't there because of the public safety and the traffic islands that were going to be created for the pedestrians to get through the area so the funding part of its coming from the street fund this is a grant that's coming from the state and the city funding will be discussed in this room probably sometime in the future and the vote was approved for the concept to continue on with the project also for no stop signs one way Thorp going to be to change on one way on clifford street at this point items number two and three are going to be taken together because this was brought forward by our alderman big masters concerning his ward in the little sprouts area at 40 washington streets with all the development in the area Thorp a lot of children in the area going to that particular uh activity and they were looking for a crosswalk and a safety zone a safety zone a traffic safety zone and that was approved and they're going to right now from 25 street 20 from brazil street is 25 miles to malden that's going to be changed that's going to be the new traffic zone that traffic speed is not going to be down to almost 20 miles at this point frankly the housing in the area 37 children across the street from the Little Sprouts attend this particular group at 40 Washington Street, and Thorp 85 children total.

▶ 58:28 Robert A. Boisselle: The fourth request was to make an intersection at Cottage Street and Hurd Street a three-way stop. was having some discussion but the it was not sorry I have to turn the wrong

▶ 58:54 Robert A. Boisselle: page this was denied by the Commission it was opposed by a number of residents in that particular area residents for number five residents requested to add a stop sign at the bottom of Day Street as it enters Albion Street this was passed there will be a stop sign on day Street there was a city request to remove the first parking space from the corner of Greenwood Street on Franklin Street for safety reasons and that was approved and the use it's but basically the first parking space that's there the seventh and final one is request by residents to make Warwick Road a one-way from Perkins Street to the Linfels Parkway or a do not enter there was I was really surprised there was a traffic study of almost 3,000 cars a day traveling this particular route and that was really outstanding there was a number of individuals who were against this particular project of making it a one-way and the Commission finally made a decision to deny the request for a one-way from Perkins to Linfels Parkway or do not enter sign was also included in that the next traffic Commission meeting is tentatively scheduled now for December 19th and the agenda will be on coming up within the next November at that point and that's the end of the

▶ 1:00:25 Michael P. Zwirko: traffic Commission report Thank You alderman boys all for that brief update at this time are there any other members of the alderman Bewtra another report so

▶ 1:00:34 Manisha Bewtra: on September 25th I attended the regional collaboration meeting for our Melrose natural hazard mitigation plan the city is working with CDM Smith to conduct this this planning effort it's following a effort through a state grant called the municipal vulnerability program in which a number of community members and city staff got together in June to discuss citywide vulnerability and this meeting was focused on natural hazards including flooding severe weather fire earthquake invasive species and really looking at local and regional impacts we talked about emergency response evacuation plans special considerations for vulnerable populations such as seniors chronically ill disabled people non-english-speaking people low-income we thought about pets how to involve faith-based organizations thinking about our transportation infrastructure residential and commercial properties fire and police stations City Hall Memorial Hall emergency shelters school and childcare facilities Melrose-Wakefield Hospital pharmacies gas infrastructure electrical and power infrastructure fuel sources food sources electricity and communications infrastructure sewer pump stations water and sewer pipelines and storm water drain drainage infrastructure and what we did was we

▶ 1:02:26 Manisha Bewtra: looked through we were given a matrix sort of just to help us brainstorm of all these different areas to consider to see if things were missing and where we may add detail certainly if anyone here or any members of the public would like to weigh in feel free to email me and I'll make sure that that gets in the right hands with our city engineer the folks who attended the meeting included city Sydney our a city engineer DPW director office of planning community development director representatives from Melrose Police Department area fire departments including Saugus and Stoneham a representative from Verizon from the MBTA our state representative and several others were invited as well MEMA, our state emergency management agency, has just completed a statewide hazard mitigation plan, so that's going to be complementing this effort, and this natural hazards mitigation plan is going to include considerations for climate change. Also underway, or shortly to be underway, is a comprehensive emergency management plan that the city will be undertaking one of the questions that we um that came up that i asked actually was um you know just following with the gas explosions that happened in the merrimack valley those weren't natural hazards and wouldn't be covered by this plan but are there going to be plans for us to discuss those other things and i was really pleased to um learn that we are going to be undertaking a comprehensive emergency management plan following this effort our city engineer also reminded folks that we have what is called a code red system which is a community notification enrollment system which we realize Thorp a lot of opportunities for communicating to the public resources that already exist and a lot of what we talked about is not only how to address the hazards but how to get the word out so that Thorp a clear clear messaging but also that you know folks know what to do in the event of the need to evacuate particularly natural hazards being not events that are likely to just affect us here within our city boundaries but may have a more

▶ 1:05:11 Michael P. Zwirko: regional impact Thorp no Thorp no public Thorp no public comment at this time Thorp no public Thorp Thorp no public comment at this time thank you

▶ 1:05:20 Manisha Bewtra: you may continue alderman Dutra thank you the code red system is a notification system which if you go to Melrose police net you are welcome to sign up again this came up during the conversation and I think the city will be getting the word out to folks that that exists as well but I looked it up myself and that is where you can find it you can click on if you go to Melrose police net click on the words code red it'll take you to a separate site and yeah it was a really good discussion again getting a lot of information on the table CDM Smith is going to take all that call it down make some sense out of of it and then come back to the city with additional next steps this is

▶ 1:06:17 Manisha Bewtra: following a there was a an initial vulnerability assessment findings report that has already been published which this is kind of taking those findings and then turning them into the action plan thank you for that update ultimate

▶ 1:06:30 Michael P. Zwirko: and looking forward to forthcoming updates should there be any to the those that you referenced so thank you for your service on that committee I would also note at this time that alderman Lipper Garabedian is unable to attend this evening she is under the weather she did have an update to provide she will provide that update at our next regularly regularly scheduled full board meeting which is scheduled for October 15th are there any other aldermen here that wish to provide a report on any committees or commissions of which they