APPT-2024-6 : Appointment of Rebecca Blumenthal, 50 Stillman Road, to the Historical Commission for a term to expire on the last day of February 2025

Transcript (~6 min @ 14:22)

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

▶ 14:10 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, okay. Well, now we are going to move on to our second appointment. This is Appointment 2024 dash six, appointment of Rebecca Blumenthal, 50 Stillman Road to the Historical Commission for a term to expire on the last day of February, 2025. We are still under the suspension of the rule. So, mayor Broder, please go ahead and introduce the candidate.

▶ 14:34 Paul Brodeur: Thank you again, Madam Chair. I wanna note that these 20 plus folks are also here in passionate support of her reco Blumenthal, so she can take, uh, take a position on the, uh, historic commission. Uh, as you all know, I mean, you're all, I think, think familiar with the work of the commission and the real opportunities that, that it provides for us to learn, uh, about our culture, about, uh, and I mean, and in, you know, in in broad brush and in very specific instances, the opportunity to grow for it, to grow and change as folks have different interests, uh, is, is critical right to the, to its success, um, is Blumenthal has an exceptional, uh, an exceptional resume. And, and I, I, I know you don't always have a lot of time to, to, uh, to check this out, but in addition to some, um, international experience that I find that I find fascinating, um, she has been involved with, um, with Historic New England, um, her, her, uh, educational background, deans at Salem State. Uh, she, she is an educator with a concentration, um, in history. Um, she also attended, uh, excuse that was a master's, also attended, um, brown University. One of the many places I could not get in if there was an opportunity to, um, to do that. But, um, I, I really couldn't be more excited because as we, uh, and I'll say this of our next candidate up as well, the education piece, that skillset, that ability to, um, you know, formulate concepts, communicate them well, um, really allows the commission to be more than what I think some people think of it as maybe a, a boutique set of interests. So, you know, if, if you don't have a Victorian home, then what the heck do these people do? That is not at all the case. And I know that Rebecca is going to bring, uh, exceptional energy and leadership to an already very strong group.

▶ 16:50 Speaker 4: Great. Thank you for considering me this evening. Um, I first became, um, aware of the Melrose Historical Commission, um, as, uh, probably a lot of people do, uh, through the Victorian Fair. Um, the outreach that they do there, participating in their scavenger hunts and, um, the walking tours, um, all pre covid. And I think like, uh, a lot of Melrose was moved by their social outreach that they did on, um, social media, um, during 2020 and 2021 with their, um, write-ups, um, relating the, just the history of the homes with the PE people that live there. Um, and so when they posted this back in February, I, um, leap at the opportunity to become involved with the committee. Um, my own background has been, uh, generally, um, in education one way or another. Most, uh, recently, um, as a high school history teacher, uh, although I have had a long hiatus, uh, raising my daughter, um, since then, that counts. Yeah,

▶ 17:46 Speaker 3: That's an educational

▶ 17:47 Speaker 4: Of a kind, right? But, um, I also was able to, um, indulge my own, uh, interest in New England history and AR architecture and, um, my own personal interest in genealogy with, um, uh, a stint with, uh, new England, um, historic New England as well, interpreting, um, homes, historic homes up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. But, um, through all that, I, uh, think I could bring, um, you know, my particular skillset, um, as you know, in education and historical interpretation, um, hopefully can be an asset, uh, to the committee. And, um, I hope that, um, I think with the time and the bandwidth they have to com to commit to it, that could be an asset as well. So thank you.

▶ 18:28 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you so much. Any questions from our counselors?

▶ 18:34 Ryan Williams: Councillor Williams. Thank you. Um, I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about what your expectation is for what you'll be doing on the historic commission if you're approved.

▶ 18:44 Speaker 4: Well, that's interesting 'cause I, I've only had the one conversation with Kimberly back, um, in May, I believe, about what the commission does. Um, so I did go back and read the last year's worth of minutes of, um, what they, what they have been up to, up to. Um, she's referring

▶ 18:59 Speaker 3: To the chair of the commission. Yeah,

▶ 19:01 Speaker 4: Sorry. Yes. Oh, that's, sorry. Um, and, um, I, you know, I know I'm aware of their sort of annual, um, things that they like to do with the genealogy of the homes, you know, researching the homes and, um, the other Victorian Fear Outreach, they, I think they tried to do again this year, but didn't quite did that yet. Yeah. Didn't make, not maybe next year. Um, but I hope to, you know, contribute to those things. But I also, um, um, you know, it seems like some of the committee members have bring their own personal passion into individual niche projects as well, within the committee. And, um, I'm not really sure where I would fit into that, but I do have some, you know, general ideas of like, maybe oral histories and things like that, that I might be able to, um, you know, contribute to.

▶ 19:45 Ryan Williams: That's great. Just in time for the library. Very good. Any other? Thank you. Oh,

▶ 19:49 Speaker 1: Any other questions? Councillor Stewart? Thank

▶ 19:53 Robb Stewart: You, Madam Chair. Mad chair. Uh, given her, um, qualifications or desire and willingness to, uh, volunteer, I will make a recommendation, uh, for the, uh, full counsel.

▶ 20:05 Speaker 4: Second.

▶ 20:06 Speaker 1: So we have a recommendation from Councilor Stewart, seconded by Councilor Williams. Any discussion? All in favor?

▶ 20:14 Speaker 1: Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

▶ 20:17 Manjula Karamcheti: This recommendation carries appreciate, thank you for being here with us tonight. Thank you. This appointment will be moved to full council. I love it.

▶ 20:29 Speaker 5: This is pretty, I should come every night.

▶ 20:31 Speaker 3: This is awesome. Yeah,

▶ 20:34 Speaker 1: I know. I, this is the best. Um, okay, friends,

▶ 20:38 Speaker 1: we have one more appointment you can go.