Public Comment

Transcript (~10 min @ 2:00)

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

▶ 1:57 Speaker 1: Hold on. Hold on.

▶ 2:00 Maya Jamaleddine: And, um, so public comment is now open. Uh, do we have anyone from, um, public comment from, uh, the public that would wishes to speak? Please raise your digital, uh, or your virtual, um, hand.

▶ 2:22 Speaker 1: Do we have anyone wishing to speak? Madam Clerk? Um, I see that there was somebody that was on, and I don't know if she just wants to, hold on. Let me see. Hold on one second. Kara.

▶ 2:39 Speaker 1: Hello. Hi, how are you? Did you wanna speak during public comment?

▶ 2:43 Speaker 4: Yeah, this is for the updated Snow Ordinance. Yes. Hi, Kara Oberg. Um, I live on Tap Street. I had emailed my comments earlier, but I fully support an updated snow ordinance that clears our sidewalks, um, for people who are walking and rolling. It's definitely an accessibility and equity issue. Um, in the past couple of storms, at least a quarter of my neighborhood is not shoveled, and these are private residents, single and two family homes. Um, I sent all the photos to the counselors, um, on this meeting and my own D three ward counselor. Um, it is an equity and it is a safety issue. Forcing someone to go in the middle of the street because the sidewalk isn't cleared is just not okay. And as, uh, elected officials, I beg of you to, um, update this extremely dated, outdated ordinance. A third of Mel Melrose. People in Melrose don't drive or can't drive. We need to start thinking about these people at the forefront of all decision making. Thank you.

▶ 3:49 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Ms. Oberg. And, um, we have, um, uh, another,

▶ 3:56 Speaker 1: uh, participant to speak. Tim Co. Hi, Tim. Hi. Can you hear me all right? Yep. Great. Uh, uh, hi everybody. My name's Tim Cody. I live over on, uh, Argyle Street. I'm in, uh, ward seven. Uh, and, and I'm, uh, I'm excited to speak to you again. I spoke to you, uh, last time. Uh, I believe it was the last time committee met, uh, or the subcommittee met, uh, about the, uh, snow shoveling, uh, issue. Um, so last time I spoke, I told the, the story of, of, of my, my daughter, uh, who's nine, who goes to the Hoover School, and the number of times that she's slipped, the time that we slipped, coming back when I was also pushing my then 1-year-old and almost lost control of the, uh, uh, control of the, the, the, the baby carriage. Uh, but the, the thing I wanted to emphasize tonight is, uh, not only my support for this, but sort of, uh, to, to, to encourage everybody to think about what we are trying to, uh, achieve with this. What's the outcome? Uh, and the outcome is, and I think I'm echoing what, um, my neighbor Kara mentioned, uh, just a bit ago. Uh, which that we want to create a safe walking environment for everybody. Uh, walking, rolling environment for everybody. Uh, so many students, uh, we don't have a busing system, uh, in Melrose. So students will drive, or they'll bike, or they often walk. As I mentioned, my, my daughter does currently, my, my eldest, I'll have two more who will be entering the school system in a few short years. Uh, and they'll be joining her. So students, seniors, getting exercise, uh, and then folks commuting. Uh, we live in a community where we are very rich in our public transit options, the ability to go to, uh, Oak Grove, uh, to any one of the computer rail stations. Uh, and then of course, taking the bus, uh, and making it safe for folks to get around in those ways, in particular, among others, uh, I think is, is we have to keep in mind the goal that we're trying to achieve. So how can we achieve this? We can make it known that it's everybody's responsibility updating the ordinance, um, at, at, you know, uh, the, the proposed language that I have seen, uh, includes, uh, an enforcement mechanism. Um, uh, but then there was debate last time about removing the enforcement mechanism. We could definitely do that, um, and make it known that it's everybody's responsibility. I'd like to highlight a couple of issues I see with that. Uh, number one is that folks should already know, right? If you, after a snowstorm walk out your front door and your walk isn't shoveled, and you look up and down the street and you see, Hey, my walk is the only one that's not shoveled. Uh, there's already a degree of neighborly pressure, uh, that occurs there, and it clearly is not working, uh, for those folks. Um, and I would also point out that on my daughter's walk to school, when I've walked with her to school, the points where she's slipped and fallen, uh, it's serial offenders and we're talking single family hope. She walks from our, our home on Argyle Street to the Hoover School. Uh, there are a couple of, uh, duplexes and, and multi-families, but by and large, we're talking single family homes. That is where she is fallen. It's serial offenders. The neighborly pressure is not working. Um, and I remember mentioned in, in the, in the last meeting, uh, that the potential punishment already exists. There's the potential for a civil lawsuit. Uh, to me, I think that's a pretty, um, unfair burden to be placing on a person who has slipped and fallen, probably hurt them, uh, hurt themselves, uh, depending upon their age and their level of frailty, potentially even, uh, caused a hospital stay, is to then say, Hey, if you would like some recompense, uh, if we need to find a way to, uh, enforce, uh, that folks should take responsibility and shove their own walks, you must now file a civil lawsuit. Um, so that's, those are the issues that I see with, with not having enforcement. Uh, and then there's the issues with enforcement, of course, which is that it could create, uh, a negative financial impact on somebody who can't, uh, either afford it or maybe they're not able. Uh, so I also see that side of things, even though I did speak sort of, um, vociferously in support of, of, of an enforcement mechanism. I guess what I'm saying here is we need a mechanism to, uh, to, uh, ensure that folks are, uh, held accountable. Um, and, you know, if, if that includes for an enforcement mechanism, which I support, great, uh, if, if, if the first step that we take is having, uh, um, a, um, uh, um, uh, something on the books that says, Hey, you've got to do this. This is more than just neighborly pressure, then that is also great. I think that is a good first step. Um, alright. I, I, I think I've spoken a lot. Hopefully I haven't run too off the rails and, and, uh, cause too many eye rolls. But, but thank you for, for taking the time to, uh, to, to listen to me.

▶ 8:31 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you so much Mr. Cody. I, uh, we appreciate your input and, you know, we value, um, you sharing with us your, um, personal, uh, experience, um, and impact on from this, uh, ordinance. Um, anyone else that wishing to speak?

▶ 8:53 Speaker 1: Ellen? Hi. Hi. Hi. Can you speak?

▶ 9:00 Speaker 5: Sure. Um, and I, I did send a letter in. It's, I think the last one in the long list of attachments to it, but I live on Line Street, um, right near downtown. That's why we moved here. So we could walk everywhere, you know, to, and stay in Melrose to do the thing, you know, to do our everyday errands. And, um, you know, I just think what's really important is to create the norm. That it's, it's expected that people are gonna shovel their sidewalks. And, um, even if we don't give out, you know, or we don't find people that much, you know, you give them warnings or something and you focus on repeat offenders. The important thing is just to create that the, you know, the what's considered acceptable behavior. And I think a lot of times people think, oh, I shoveled from my driveway to the front door, so I've done all I had to do. But you need to be thinking about encouraging people to do the 36 inches across and, and from the one end of the property line to another, um, it just has to be part of the responsibilities of being a homeowner and, um, living in a civil society where you're thinking about other people. So, please, um, you know, do something if you, I would, I hope you don't remove the fines, but if it, whatever it takes to just get something done that shows that some setting some norms and that it's not acceptable, um, you know, to keep, to make the streets dangerous for other people. So, anyway, that's all I wanna say. Thank you very much.

▶ 10:43 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Ms. Kat. And, uh, do we have anyone else?

▶ 10:50 Speaker 1: A c is Patrick from the cable station. Um, I think everybody had the opportunity to speak. Awesome. Um, and, uh, do I have a motion to close public comment?

▶ 11:06 Speaker 6: So moved. Second.

▶ 11:11 Maya Jamaleddine: Do we have a motion, uh, made by Councilor Vandiver? Seconded by Vice Chair Romanul public comment. Uh, Madam Clerk.

▶ 11:19 Speaker 1: Okay. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Vandiver. Yes. President Moore.