City Council — 2017-03-20

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 8:40 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Robert A. Boisselle present · Ward 4 Alderman; Donald L. Conn Jr. present · President, Alderman at Large; Scott M. Forbes present · Ward 7 Alderman; Gail Infurna present · Ward 5 Alderman; Jennifer L. Lemmerman present · Ward 2 Alderman; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis present · Alderman at Large; Monica C. Medeiros present · Alderman at Large; Peter D. Mortimer present · Ward 6 Alderman; John N. Tramontozzi present · Ward 1 Alderman; Francis X. Wright Jr. present · Ward 3 Alderman; Michael P. Zwirko present · Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● MARCH 20, 2017 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Regular Meeting 7:45 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176

ORDER-2017-112 Opening Statement Regular Meeting of the Board of Aldermen to be held on Monday, March 20, 2017 at 7:45 P.M. in the Aldermanic Chamber, City Hall, Melrose, MA Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Robert A. Boisselle Ward 4 Alderman Present Scott M. Forbes Ward 7 Alderman Present Gail M. Infurna Ward 5 Alderman Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Ward 2 Alderman Present Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Alderman at Large Present Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Present Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President, Alderman at Large Present

ORDER-2017-111 Citizens Petition Free Petition of Patricia A. DeAngelis in Accordance with Section 8-1 of the Melrose City Charter Placed on File

ORDER-2017-110 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid for Gas Main Extension at intersection of Bellevue Ave from Lynn Fells Parkway - Install 105 feet of 6" Plastic Low Pressure Gas Main as shown on Plan GP-MEL 1150617-17-33, dated 2/14/2017 Tabled Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2017-113 License - Hackney License City of Melrose Page 1 3/30/2017 1:18 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen March 20, 2017 Application of MD Salauddin & Raisul Kaiser Wahidi d/b/a On Time Airport Service for a Livery Service License (2) vehicles at 67 West Wyoming Avenue, Apt 3, Melrose, MA Assigned to Committee Protection and License Committee

ORDER-2017-109 Appropriation An Appropriation from the Contract Stabilization fund in the amount of $213,259.09 to Police, Salary and Wages and Overtime to fund the FY16 and FY17 Patrol Officers contract. Passed City of Melrose Page 2 3/30/2017 1:18 PM

Transcript

▶ 9:32 speak please mr shea could you call the roll please folks what we're going to do is when the public hearing starts i'm going to ask everybody to come up and sign at that time so please stop signing the sheet until we get going just take it away mary rita why don't you just pull the papers away we're going to sign in when we start thank you okay if anybody's out in the hall if you could try to come in and find a seat that would be much appreciated ms o'shea could you call the role alderman brazil here here alderman poebs here here alderman ferner here here alderman lemmerman here here alderman macatima gomes here here alderman medeiros here here alderman mortimer here here alderman Tramontozzi here here alderman wright here here alderman

▶ 10:33 zirko here here president Conn here here eleven present okay we have a quorum could everybody please rise and join me in saluting the flag to the room i pledge allegiance to the magestates of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god and indivisible with liberty and justice for all in accordance with the massachusetts open meeting law this meeting is being videotaped and will be broadcast on melrose cable television alvin inferno the president has a point of personal privilege if i could just ask you and i know mmtv is listening to if they could put the audio on in the room here because where people are out in the hallway and there's so many people in the room well we'd like everybody who can possibly come in to try to come in and take a seat

▶ 11:24 please no knowing that this is not public participation with the hearing i'll make a motion to open the floor for public participation alderman mortimer moves for public uh public participation the motion is seconded by alderman Zwirko on the motion all those in favor all right anyone opposed this is a portion of our meeting where people who wish to speak relative to any order that is on our agenda may come forward and speak we also will be having a public hearing at 8 p.m and anybody who wants to speak at the public hearing will be given an opportunity to speak at that time on the issue that's on for public hearing is there anyone who wishes to speak at this time motion to close public participation president alderman mortimer moves to close public

▶ 12:11 participation motion is seconded by alderman Boisselle on the motion all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes public participation portion of our meeting is hereby concluded okay if we could please have communications from his honor the mayor and other city officials there's an answer there's order number 2017-110 petition of national grid for gas main extension at intersection of bellevue ave from lintfels parkway to install 105 feet of six inch plastic low pressure gas main as shown on plan gp dash mel one one five zero six one seven dash one seven dash three three dated february fourteenth two thousand seventeen this order was laid on the table at our last meeting haldeman inferno thank you very much mr president i make a motion um

▶ 13:10 to remove this from the table second alderman inferno moves to remove the order from the table motion is seconded by alderman mortimer on the motion all those in favor aye anyone opposed motion passes the order is removed from the table alderman inferno and now i'm going to make a motion to return it to the table as we do have a public hearing on april 3rd second the motion to return the order to the table alderman inferno moves to return order 2017-110 to the table motion seconded by alderman mortimer on the motion is there anyone any discussion all those in favor aye anyone opposed motion passes the order is returned to the table okay if we could proceed to new business please order number 2017 dash 1 1 3 application

▶ 13:57 Peter D. Mortimer: of MD Saladin and Raziel Kaiser Wahidi doing business as on-time airport service for a livery service license for two vehicles at 67 West Wyoming Avenue apartment 3 Melrose Mass this order will go to the committee on protection and license. Do we have any orders to submit out of order this evening? Are there any orders from committee? Mr. President, I make a motion to take order 2017-109. It is an appropriation from the Contract Stabilization Fund in the amount of $213,259.09 to police salary and wages and overtime to fund the fiscal year 16 and fiscal year 17 patrol officers contract. I move that that order be taken from committee. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves that we remove order 2017-109 from the table.

▶ 14:57 Motion is seconded by Alderman Forbes. Is there any discussion on the motion? All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. The order is removed from committee and it comes with us from a recommendation from passage made earlier this evening by the Appropriations Committee. Mr. President, I make a motion for passage in accordance with the committee's recommendation. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of the order. The motion is seconded by Alderman Boycelle. Is there any discussion on the motion? Ms. O'Shea, could you call the roll, please? Alderman Boycelle? Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferno? Yes. Yes. Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis?

▶ 15:39 Michael P. Zwirko: Yes. Yes. Alderman Medeiros? Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? yes alderman wright yes yes yes president khan yes yes 11 yes that order passes do we have any reports from outside committees by any alderman who are Member of outside committees thank you mr president Late tuesday the committee to review the current charter of the city of melrose met we had our initial meeting we at that meeting we scheduled the following four meetings the next meeting will be this wednesday march 22nd at mount hood starting at 7 30. we believe that that meeting will conclude around nine we will be uh taking people's uh the publics and the Member of the committee as well feedback on any potential changes edits there too that city charter if

▶ 16:33 Michael P. Zwirko: they feel so inclined uh the following meeting after that will be here in the aldermanic chamber on march 29th the following wednesday also at 7 30 p.m more to come on that but the committee The committee's just off and running, and we would appreciate any feedback that the public may have. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else with any committee reports this evening? Yeah, I think we're going to need to recess this meeting until 8 PM, at which time we'll conduct a public hearing. Mr. President? If I may ask, Alderman Inferno, would you have any reports from the Traffic Commission? Sure, I'll be glad to. Thanks for being here. The Traffic Commission met last week with a very big meeting, big agenda.

▶ 17:15 Gail Infurna: we did unanimously support lowering the speeding the speeding to 25 miles an hour throughout the city of Melrose except for Howard Street because that's a state thing but we're looking into that and that will be effective as of June 1st for one year we'll evaluate it in one year thank you anyone else I have question you mentioned throughout the city is the fellsway included in that the fellsway is not included in that just want to clarify that yeah thank you yeah it's not because it's dcr chair would entertain a motion for brief recess so second alderman forbes moves for brief recess seconded by alderman mortimer on the motion all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes we'll be in recess for approximately two minutes at which time we'll come back and start the public

▶ 18:06 carry okay thank you very much anybody who's outside the room could try to come there's a vacant seat up here to the left of the podium welcome to the Board of Aldermen this evening folks this is a public hearing that we're going to have this evening relative to a citizen petition that's been filed in accordance with paragraph 8.1 of our city charter, which allows 50 voters to petition the Board of Aldermen to hold a public hearing on an issue that they wish to put before us. The way the public hearing will be conducted is we will ask people one at a time to come to the center of the room. I'd ask you to sign your name and your address on the sign-in sheet. Under our rules, no person is allowed to speak for more than 10 minutes, and I would ask

▶ 23:35 you as we start for everybody to be respectful so that everybody who's here gets a fair chance to be heard relative to any opinion. I know some of the issues in our country now are somewhat contentious, but here at this meeting tonight what we want to do is have a a good civil dialogue relative to the order that is before us that all being said ms camoso could you please read the order for us the full letter yes please the petition petition to adopt a policy to make melrose a sanctuary city honorable Member of the board of aldermen enclosed is a free petition as described in section 8-1 of the the city of Melrose charter which petition contains 223 original signatures of registered voters of the city of Melrose and in most cases their

▶ 24:29 street addresses in which seeks passage of a measure which would require Melrose to adopt the following policy no officer or employee of the Melrose Police Department may arrest or detain an individual solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer or an administrative warrant no officer or employee of the Melrose Police Department may continue to detain an individual solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer or an administrative warrant once that individual has been released from local custody nothing in this policy shall limit the exchange of information regarding citizenship or immigration status as permitted by federal law the signatories to the petition respectfully request that the Board of Aldermen hold

▶ 25:13 a hearing as required by section 8-1 not later than six weeks after the filing of the petition with the city clerk thank you for your consideration very truly yours patricia a deangelis 33 west hill ave thank you and the signatures were certified by the election office to make sure that there were 50 people who were registered voters who signed and as we get going tonight um if you could come forward state your name sign on to the petition and the other thing for those of you who have never been to one of our meetings before this is our opportunity to hear from the public so sometimes people come in who've never been here before to one of our meetings and they think that we're going to have a back and forth discussion with you and what we're

▶ 26:01 doing tonight is a public hearing where we're only listening to your input so frequently people ask us questions and get offended if we don't immediately answer and we can't because it's a public hearing this is the public's opportunity to speak on this order so who would like to kick it off and speak anyone who come to the podium please anybody who wants to come forward folks you can remain seating if you want that we're going to we're going to stay we're going to stay here until everybody everybody has an opportunity to be heard good evening um my name is manisha Butcher I live at I don't know if I do I state that I live on Grove Street I'm here representing the Human Rights Commission I currently serve in the

▶ 26:58 Manisha Bewtra: capacity of vice chair chair Adam LaFrance could not be here tonight so I'm serving in his place and with me our fellow human rights commissioners thank you for holding this hearing and thank you to the petitioner and all those who signed for bringing this to a public hearing uh many you may have seen that we issued a statement recently in support of declaring melrose a sanctuary city the statement incorporates on the first page our authority as the human rights commission to to take this position i won't read through all of that it's you know referencing referencing um our uh part of the city of melrose city code um i'll skip to page two and i have extra copies which i can distribute um after i

▶ 27:49 Manisha Bewtra: speak so actually not to interrupt you but do you want any correspondence that we've received from city officials or citizens to the board of aldermen has been made a part of the record okay the motto of the city of melrose is one community open to all while the city already operates as a sanctuary city with respect to its law enforcement practices the melrose human rights commission which is made up of 11 melrose residents appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the board of aldermen finds that declaring and designating melrose as a sanctuary city is critical to uphold holding the city motto this statement is intended to signal to anyone who feels targeted by hateful rhetoric and is fearful of living openly that our community denounces hatred and welcomes all

▶ 28:39 Manisha Bewtra: this commission having heard from the people of Melrose and after careful consideration of the concerns regarding such a declaration finds that one community open to all cannot ring true unless we foster a cultural climate in which the very uniqueness and traditions of all people are shared and celebrated freely helping us all to weave the mosaic that truly makes Melrose great cultivating an appreciation for diversity cannot happen when there are Member of our community who are afraid to publicly share their values and traditions for fear of persecution and afraid to leave their homes and disclose their existence for fear of being detained formally designating Melrose a sanctuary city will help to ensure that all people who visit work or reside in

▶ 29:29 Manisha Bewtra: Melrose feel included valued and free which is the true measure of a city that lives up to the promise of one community open to all. As Mayor Dolan stated at the Melrose Human Rights Commission International Welcome Potluck in November 2016, we as a community must encourage standing up for the vulnerable but also standing up to ourselves and confronting our own fears and insecurities. We must remain faithful to the words on the Great Seal of the united states e pluribus unum out of many one history will judge where we stood at this pivotal moment in our city's progress the words of martin luther king jr still ring true today history will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition

▶ 30:19 Manisha Bewtra: was not the strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people given the duty of this commission to uphold the human rights of all persons in melrose so as to cultivate an atmosphere of mutual understanding to promote goodwill minimize discrimination and promote understanding of diverse cultures and for the reasons cited herein it is the recommendation of this commission to the board of aldermen of the city of melrose that it support designating melrose a sanctuary city thank you sir good evening my name is paul crowley i don't have prepared remarks so i'm going to be definitely winging this but i find the whole idea of declaring melrose a sanctuary city troubling

▶ 31:18 and the people that want to declare that sanctuary city don't even have the courage of their convictions to call it that my experience has been such as it is and i can only speak for myself is that i'm concerned this is not a political issue but i am concerned from both a matter of economics as a 42 years resident of mellows with my wife we had three boys who went through the mellows school system it's a matter of economics to me and a matter of public safety from everything that i've been since have seen any place that seems has a reputation as being a good place to hide and this has nothing to do in my mind civil rights or treating people equally i i don't want to see melrose turn into a situations that i see like when i go to lynn lawrence everett even

▶ 32:09 somerville and i own property in somerville and they're a sanctuary city and the real estate property values have been have been affected i don't want to see anybody persecuted i don't want to see anybody picked on or anything but i also don't want to have this city be represented by people that come here just knowing it's a good place to hide and get up get off the radar and i've anytime i've seen anything with any sanctuary cities it hasn't been a lot of good good things happening and again i'm not interested in persecuting anybody i just don't want to see a haven for people that we don't want in this city thank you thank you my name is arnold koch i live on cranmore lane i agree with the mayor that designated melrose a sanctuary city is

▶ 33:20 counterproductive a hyper political term that could cause division in the community and focus attention on the people the petition aims to protect in my opinion creating a mero sanctuary city is a faulty solution in search of a problem. Deportation of illegal aliens is not a recent issue. An article in the Sunday Globe magazine by Neil Swidy points out that President Obama presided over a massive deportation of immigrants with criminal records, some with just traffic violations. Where were the demonstrations and petitions for sanctuary cities then? Three final points. First, I doubt that owning a home in a sanctuary city would be a plus. Chances are the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, will target sanctuary

▶ 34:13 cities that refuse to cooperate with the federal law. Cities that want to keep their illegal aliens probably can keep them, but lose their federal grants. For a community trying to avoid an override, that's not a good outcome. Second, local attorneys representing illegal aliens under threat of arrest by ISIS in a sanctuary city will be more in demand than before at the expense of others in longer need of assistance. Finally, the Melrose Free Press website carried a statement by some Melrose clergy supporting the sanctuary city designation. In case anyone thought they were speaking for their congregation, were not. Unfortunately, some people did. As one clergy told me, quote, we each signed as

▶ 35:03 individuals. Congregation affiliation is for information purposes only. As they say, perception is reality. Do we really want to protect an image of Melrose beyond our borders like Professor Harold Hill would say that there's trouble in River City? I think not. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I'm Stacy Lanier. I'm the pastor of First United Methodist Church and I offer this letter which has been signed by a number of other clergy Member in the city. As leaders of faith communities in Melrose, we support efforts to add the city of Melrose to the over 300 sanctuary jurisdictions in our nation. We affirm and we applaud the police department's current practices which protect individuals from harassment, arrest, or detention based on

▶ 36:03 their immigration status, and we encourage the department to create policies which formalize these practices. As people of faith, we affirm the worth, dignity, value, and rights of all persons regardless of their race, religion, nationality, or immigration status. Immigrants and their children are important and valued Member of our community. We denounce the rise of xenophobic, racist, and violent reactions against immigrants in some places and we support efforts in our city to build relationships among people of diverse ethnicities and cultures. We call upon our elected officials to continue to make Melrose a safe and welcoming place and to put into place policies which will assure our residents that Melrose is truly one city open to all and this

▶ 37:01 is signed by myself Stacey Lanier First United Methodist Church Reverend Beth Horne of the Highland Congregational Church Reverend Dr. Anita Farber Robertson from the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church Reverend Esther Bowen who is a chaplain, Reverend Dominic Taranowski, First Congregational Church, Rabbi Arnie Fertig, Temple Beth Shalom, and Reverend Jay Libby, a chaplain associated with the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church. Thank you. Thank you. And as everybody comes in, could you please remember to sign in on the sign-in sheet, please? My name is Peter Giannino. I live at 570 Lebanon Street here in Melrose I've been a resident here for 60 years I am wholeheartedly opposed to this proposal I think is un-American probably unconstitutional

▶ 38:10 and I don't understand why people don't understand the word illegal there are they can sugarcoat the name with undocumented aliens but they are illegal aliens it is also unfair to all of those legal immigrants who had to get in line and wait for months and months and pay a lot of money to get that green card and to legally come here so it is it is greatly unfair to them and I think that summarizes what my views are. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Fraser Horry and with me is my wife Diane. We reside on West Highland Avenue and have been Melrose residents for over 23 years. Tonight I am here to voice my adamant opposition to the proposal to make the city of Melrose a sanctuary city. I have read many articles both pro and

▶ 40:04 articles regarding this issue. Some were valid, others were not valid. There are many reasons against the sanctuary city, but due to time constraints here tonight I shall only give you two personal reasons why I think Melrose should not be designated a sanctuary city. Firstly, I am an American citizen, but my family, My father, mother, siblings, and I immigrated to this country. To come to this country, we each began and completed a long, drawn-out process. We followed the rules and obeyed the law. In other words, we showed respect for America's laws and the rule of law, but illegal aliens have started their lives in America by showing absolutely no respect for America's laws, by being untruthful, and by disobeying laws of the country

▶ 41:17 in which they seek to live. I do not understand what is so difficult about a concept that illegal aliens are breaking the law, period. Designating Melrose as a sanctuary city has negative collateral effects. As a former legal immigrant, I submit that a sanctuary city would breed disrespect for the rule of law. It would condone the principle that people, including elected officials, can decide themselves what laws they will disobey if they dislike the laws and what laws they will obey. Is that really the type of community value message that you want to send? Is that the type of message that you want to teach to the kids of Melrose? I think not. I also submit a sanctuary city will essentially

▶ 42:24 facilitate and encourage illegal immigration. sanctuary sanctuary label is and will be unfair and unjust to all legal immigrants including myself my second reason against the sanctuary city I suggest is an obvious and very relevant question does Melrose really need the designation of a sanctuary city or put another way is there a rationale is there a clear and existing situation or any cogent reason that calls for the political title of sanctuary city if there is one I wish somebody would give me an example because I see no reason speculation and supposition are not enough in summation please do not pass a proposal that will create potential problems for the city and those who govern it and which in all likelihood

▶ 43:35 will involve the expenditures of limited city resources and finances we don't need yet another referendum to override two and a half. Please do not pass a proposal that will create conflicts among neighbors, pit neighbors against neighbors. Depending on the purpose you strive for community activism is a a laudable endeavor but ladies and gentlemen a sanctuary label has no commendable merit thank you thank you hi my name is amanda humphrey i live at 354 upham street unit number seven i don't know that i either support or don't support the term of sanctuary city but i think the term itself is problematic it has no real legal definition it varies from city to city where it is applied the term has spread to college campuses and several college campuses have started to call

▶ 44:57 themselves sanctuary campuses recently drew faust from harvard university determined that she would not give harvard the title of sanctuary campus although she has been a vocal advocate for student rights, especially the students of illegal immigrants. One of the things that she said in declining to name Harvard a sanctuary campus was that it might be a false or misleading statement, leading students to believe that they have a greater protection under the law than they have. And so I question that by just using the blanket term of sanctuary city, if we will be leading people to think that they have rights or safeties or protections that may not be legally enforceable under the law and I think that it's an important

▶ 45:46 consideration that our policies and the term sanctuary city may not be in alignment it also jeopardizes our potential federal funding which is sure to become smaller and smaller if we think about it we could look at our policies and procedures and amend those to more closely reflect what we believe a sanctuary city should be and to act as a sanctuary city without choosing a nomenclature which has no legal definition. Thank you. Good evening Maya Jamal Deant and Monroe Street. Today I stand in this room to represent not only myself and my kids but also I'm representing my immigrants friends refugees and Muslim regardless what is their paper status. I would like to explain to everyone to my lovely friend that support diversity and welcome

▶ 47:06 Maya Jamaleddine: immigrants but yet don't see the need of declaring Maros a sanctuary city also to my neighbors who are afraid to have a Muslim family live on this on the same street or to host a refugee also to the customer that refused to have a Muslim woman serve her or to this kid who asked his Muslim friend if his parents are terrorists and if they carry guns. And he added, all what Muslims do is war and fights. Not only that, my words are directed to our police department that always treated us with dignity and showed us support and love. Chief Lyle, I'm very blessed to live in a community that you serve in. We love our police department and officers in Maros, but what you didn't hear yet from our lovely friends and families because they are afraid to speak up for many reasons

▶ 48:06 Maya Jamaleddine: that we have been asked by co-workers strangers and neighbors about our status we have been told to go back to our countries they promised us to deport us at this time sanctuary city is not political to us its moral act it's equal an executive order to stop people taking over our police roles once we tell those people that this city is sanctuary they will stop or at least they will think twice before they open their mouth and now i would like to ask mayor dolan chief lyle and board of alderman to support my request and if this petition is not suitable to you please help us work on a resolution that will make us feel welcomed and equal to any other human we are people who live in this country and serve it with the best of our ability I'm a mom employee wife

▶ 49:08 Maya Jamaleddine: loyal citizen friend neighbor homeowner taxpayer I serve and love this community and best of all I'm a human who deserve to live in peace without being questioned discriminated or threatened last but not least I'm sure that each one of you is probably saying we don't have those act here in Maros and yes my answer for all of you is yes we do my dear friends and I'm that Muslim neighbor I'm the mom of a child who was asked by his friend if his parents are terrorists and yes my other Muslim friend who is afraid to leave her house was threatened by a customer and was told to go back to her country this young young girl was born and raised here she's 20 years old but just because she chose to be covered she

▶ 49:58 was threatened treated that way with your help and support we will feel as a Muslim American citizen immigrant refugees and human safe and welcome in a sanctuary city thank you thank you my name is Andy Ravens I live on Harvard Street. I'm a fairly new resident to Melrose, been here only 29 years. I am a first-generation American. My parents came here, legally immigrants, from displaced camps in Germany. When they came to the United States, they were discriminated against. Not as bad as it is these days because of their language barriers, they hung with their own people, and it was hard for them to get involved in the community it was not through lack of trying but it was by non-acceptance of the neighbors as time went on through hard work dedication learning the language they

▶ 51:16 became accepted slowly maybe not fully accepted but they became accepted i've become accepted and i'm just a good old citizen the need the first speaker spoke about how immigrants are not accepted in the united states especially ones of different race or religions and that's true it's not a good thing it's a bad thing but the acceptance cannot be affected by a law it's accepted by us looking at our neighbors and being tolerant and being of the nature to understand them and listen to them that's how you learn it makes us all better people having a law designating a sanctuary city will not help anything it may actually divide us more we just need to be tolerant of each other and respective of each other and move on forward

▶ 52:10 that's what makes this country great being a legal citizen or illegals immigrant shouldn't import be important you have to accept the person there's really lousy citizens in the united states that probably should be deported but their stay here there's immigrants that are here they're legally the shop probably should be citizens because they're great people but a law to make it a sanctuary city in my viewpoint is useless we need to learn how to tolerate each other learning through the schools through the clergy and just looking in the mirror and being kind to each other and understanding that's it thank you my name is mary clark i live on first street and i'm in favor of uh designating melrose as a sanctuary city i wanted to clarify that the um the application of

▶ 53:23 the immigration laws is a federal responsibility so nothing that we do in melrose would prevent ICE agents from coming into Melrose and arresting undocumented immigrants that they consider are ready for deportation. So the issue in being a sanctuary city is about the role of our own police, whether our own police would be involved in arresting or detaining undocumented immigrants. I'm not in favor of our police our own local police being involved in those issues I want our local police to be involved in our own local law and order and not in Enforcing the immigration laws, which are a federal responsibility Thank you. Thank you. Hello. My name is Jim Garrett. I live on arts more Road I'm in favor I would like to I guess amplify the previous speaker by mentioning a scenario

▶ 54:46 that hasn't come up suppose that a crime is committed and a undocumented alien is is a witness if the police department is effectively deputized by federal authorities by ice which is a function for which they're not trained and not funded what would happen the that that witness would would live in fear of the police and the and would not come forward this puts this puts our law enforcement as it is at a disadvantage I think that's not the role we want our police to be to be in I do believe in the rule of law I do believe in the right of the government to control whose whose inners our country and if someone's not here through the appropriate channels ideally they should they should be taken out however I think

▶ 55:49 we've gotten to this situation because our economy is effectively dependent on immigrant illegal immigrant labor that's that's just the way it is and the federal authorities the federal powers that be have have utterly failed to come up with an adequate resolution to this and we on the local level have to deal with the consequences so I'm sympathetic to my fellow citizens who who are concerned about the rule of law I would like the law at the federal level to be resolved in a reasonable way but until it is I think we have to come up with a strategy at our local level that is going to work in favor of law enforcement thank you very much thank you good evening Member of the board of Alderman and Chief Lyle and thank you for taking this time to hear from the

▶ 56:58 community. My name is Jane Allen and I'm here tonight to speak in support of declaring Melrose a sanctuary city. I speak to you as a lifelong resident of Melrose as someone who is educated here from the Beebe School through Melrose High School and whose children are now in the Melrose public school system. My family and I are Member of the First United Methodist Church here in Melrose and my husband and I are co-lead leaders of that church. I'm not here to speak on behalf of my church but I mentioned my affiliation because it contributes to my perspective on this issue and I'd like to echo the statement made by the leaders of Melrose's faith community in the letter to the Free Press by affirming

▶ 57:42 the current practices of Melrose Police Department which protect everyone they encounter regardless of their immigration status. One of the things I've heard said in public discussion about why we should or should not declare Melrose a sanctuary city is that we already behave like one. We already adhere to the practices outlined in the proposal that has been put forth, so there's no need to formalize things with a potentially controversial label. This is the same reason that some people gave in response to the movement within our church several years ago when we wanted to welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. They were uncomfortable. They said, well we're very welcoming, can't we just say all are welcome? We talked about that a lot as a

▶ 58:33 church and we concluded that if you want to truly welcome people who face ongoing ongoing, and pervasive discrimination, you need to do so explicitly, with intentionality. I would like to see Melrose make the decision to be intentionally welcoming to people of all religions, colors, and backgrounds, and specifically at this moment in time, when they have been made to feel unwelcome by many people and in many places throughout the country, to immigrants. I mentioned the letter from the faith community but these words from the statement on this issue by the Melrose Human Rights Commission also resonated for me let us live up to the promise one community open to all I think this is the right thing to do and I ask you to join me in supporting the proposal to

▶ 59:24 declare Melrose a sanctuary city thank you thank you thank you for the opportunity to speak I'm Deborah Rosati from Porter Street and I'm proud to be a a 27-year resident of Melrose where all opinions are respected and considered I'm also proud to be part of a community where all are welcome to reside participate educate our children work dine shop and spend time with our family and friends to apply a label of sanctuary city a term that lacks any clear definition implies that we have been anything but the welcoming community that we've always been. I have the utmost trust and respect for our administration, elected officials, and our law enforcement community, and know that they will act in

▶ 1:00:26 the best interest of Melrose and its residents, whatever the opportunity or challenge. I trust that existing policy provides a balance between the rights of individuals and the protection of our residents. In lieu of assigning a meaningless political label, let us continue as we have always been otherwise unlabeled one community welcome to all thank you hi my name is Mary Landrigan I've been a resident of Melrose for over 20 years on Porter Street I raised my children here I'm also a lawyer so I do have respect for the rule of law however I am here to strongly voiced my support for Melrose becoming a sanctuary city for some of the same reasons that Marty Walsh designated Boston as a sanctuary city.

▶ 1:01:43 Immigrants are now living in fear. They're being rounded up indiscriminately regardless of whether they're criminals, whether they're not criminals. There are people who have been here, they were brought here as children, so they still don't have their legal status they're being rounded up I think what made me feel like we had to make a statement was when I heard about a woman in Texas who was seeking a restraining order against her abusive husband and ice came in and took her away because she didn't have her documents in place so what is going on right now is creating a society in which I think many immigrants live in fear they live in fear that they will be rounded up indiscriminately they live in

▶ 1:02:37 fear that they will be viewed as criminals because we've heard a lot about immigrants being criminals well I know many prosecutors who under Obama were prosecuting and deporting immigrants who were criminals this is not something new this new enforcement effort has targeted families it's targeted a wide range of people and a lot of people are living in fear and I think that it is so unjust that it is important for Melrose to join Boston and other sanctuary cities and make a statement that immigrants should not have to live in fear and that indeed the immigrants that we have in our town should feel like they're safe here I do I want to note though that I really respect the mayor and the police for not you know for making sure that they have

▶ 1:03:36 respected the rights of immigrants to date but I do feel that conditions have deteriorated to a point where it is important to make a statement and not sit back passively while people are persecuted thank you thank you thank you for this opportunity to speak about this very important matter I have been my name is Leda Williams I have been a Melrose resident for almost 25 years and And I have seen a lot of changes in Melrose. When we first moved here, there was no Johnny Foodmaster. The grocery store that is now Whole Foods was boarded up. There were very few. There were certainly no chains in Melrose at that time. There were a lot of mom-and-pop stores. I think maybe there was a Friendly's.

▶ 1:04:59 That was about it. i have to say that i'm an immigrant my parents are immigrants i'm a citizen and i'm a lawyer so i appreciate being an officer of the court i appreciate everything that this country has stood for for all these years melrose is my home i never lived any place longer than six years i've lived in melrose now as i said over over 20 almost 25. i have been made to feel at home here i have made this my home um you know there have been a few incidents along the way but pretty much um you know i i stayed because uh we're happy here a lot of good people in melrose regardless of how they feel about this situation about this issue or other issues for me I think as I have come to experience within the last two years or so I have noticed a level of

▶ 1:06:15 discourse that affects about undocumented immigrants that affects me as well I think that hearing about people getting shot just for being different you don't have people asking for people's papers before they take out their gun now that might seem like oh that's a very extreme example but I will tell you that this filters not just from people not just for people who are undocumented but it also filters out this is a slippery slope there is an atmosphere that's created I think where I do not feel as safe I used to walk down the streets of Melrose some guy yelled at me I was like oh whatever you know he's crazy or whatever nowadays someone yells at me and I think oh I should probably get home and that's really unsettling to me and I

▶ 1:07:13 hope it's unsettling for you too there are a couple of things about being a sanctuary city which I think are really important one as I said that you recognize that it doesn't affect only undocumented people it affects everyone who feels different and and for me I mean I am a lawyer I have access to resources but I still that doesn't make a bit of difference when I walk down the street the other thing I think that's really important is when you think about the people that you care about and the people who you trust what you think what I think about is when push comes to shove this person is going to be there for me you know what in my mind this resolution is push comes to shove and and the reason that i feel that way is because there are a lot of people around

▶ 1:08:21 who i've heard tonight that we don't need this because um melrose takes uh the appropriate steps in not um enforcing um the rules necessarily unless people are uh unless the undocumented people are um are you know violent felons and i and and that's great because i totally appreciate that but i also understand that there are two sides to to the sanctuary city issue if you declare this a sanctuary city you will also have people becoming more trusting i didn't know that there were you know i guess i never had a reason to think about it i didn't know that there they wouldn't that our police would not enforce um those types of things necessarily i think if you say that we are a city that is welcoming and and that we are a sanctuary

▶ 1:09:20 city i think more people will understand that and seeing it as a resolution of a of a town is very important. I think undocumented people, to the extent that they hear, and I really don't know what the extent is, but when you include those people, they are more likely to appeal to the processes of law. For example, as was mentioned, the woman who was looking for a protective order, if she wasn't, now, you know, people are afraid to go out and be seen. They're afraid to go to parades for their own holidays because you know they're afraid that they're going to be picked up um i guess the other thing that i've heard tonight is that there is this um feeling that oh as long as we don't really say that we're a sanctuary city it's okay well you know what

▶ 1:10:14 But it's really important that you say it not only to me, to other people who want to be part of America, but also because these things always trickle down. There's evidence that turning into a sanctuary city or that accepted the... There's been evidence that police chiefs have found that there is a down tick in crime because um undocumented people are more willing to work with the police departments i think there's an article in the la times that talks about including la that um uh they have seen more of the community policing itself in the sense that they pick out the violent people and they report them and they're more likely to cooperate with their local police to get those people out because they're not

▶ 1:11:13 afraid of reporting crimes or of being helpful to the police i think that's a good thing the the final thing that i'd like to talk about is that there is a sense that this is bringing something to the forefront that wasn't there before and i i can tell you that this has always been there there's an undercurrent you're you know there are a lot of good people and i understand from a perspective if you're not different how you can see like what's the big deal you know but when you are different it's a big deal it you live it every day and um so what i'm asking all of you is that you consider this from the issue of the people who are not um saying it doesn't matter you know so you have people who are different like me and i'm asking you and telling

▶ 1:12:14 you it makes a big difference to me even though i've been here in melrose for 20 years i the fact that i feel less safe today is pretty incredible even to me um it's frightening um so i ask that you support the sanctuary city resolution thank you very much thank you good evening my name is lisa bellew i'm a i guess you could say i'm a lifelong resident of melrose i grew up here i left for a couple years for school or whatnot but i'm raising my own family here now i have two small children i think i live in alderman Tramontozzi district our ward ward one um I signed the petition in support of the sanctuary city designation with severe reservations. I'm also an attorney. I support the rule of law.

▶ 1:13:33 I know that we have great leadership in our community. Chief Lyle is an excellent chief of police. I know Member of the force personally. I also don't think that the, I also was sensitive to the fact that potentially the genesis of petition was political it was potentially in my field my feeling was that it was a reaction to the election and there was a lot of negative feeling because of the outcome of the election so that was one of my first reservations so I looked into sanctuary cities I tried to understand more about what they actually mean and what I determined is that Melrose is already doing an excellent job operating as such but the executive order that the president issued President Trump issued says it doesn't necessarily matter whether or

▶ 1:14:29 not your community is formally or informally a sanctuary city if they decide if you know whether or not the federal funding will be restricted so whether or not we decide to adopt a designation sanctuary city may or may not impact our federal funding status that's the first point they wanted to make and the other point I wanted to make is that what we've heard here today is in the point the the voices that I've heard here today the ones that make the most difference to me are the voices that we don't typically hear in this room having grown up here I can say that from experience this is a very white community and sometimes it takes leaving the community to realize how isolated we truly are in our experience I mean my neighborhood wasn't just white it was

▶ 1:15:24 all Catholic okay we have to be open to the fears and concerns that are being voiced by the Member of our community that are brave enough to come here today and talk about this openly we also have to be cognizant of the fact that there are very many people of our community that stayed home tonight and I'm not saying that this petition is the petition we should adopt in that to this week this term you the alderman serves and that you should necessarily take this road today but I really ask you I appeal to you today that this should be the beginning of a conversation in our community that we should be talking about ways that people that live here feel feel safer could feel heard in the public schools we all know what happened in the high school civil rights

▶ 1:16:22 violations you know covered mothers should feel comfortable walking their children to school in the morning if this is their reality then that really troubles me it breaks my heart and I mean the only silver lining I can say here is that this petition say what you will about it the way it was handled I disagree with but it started this conversation which is so important to our community and I just hope we can continue that and I personally would love to work on a community effort to do that so so thank you thank you I live up at 10 Lincoln Street I hear the phrase open to all I've heard from a few years now at this time it should be open to all law-abiding people if you're not obeying the law you won't run into trouble with the police and you won't

▶ 1:17:40 have to, if you're an illegal alien, your condition won't be brought up to the local police or to the federal police, and you won't have to face this. I think this talk of sanctuary city or illegal illegal immigrants is something that's being discussed around the country, just like in here, which is wonderful, but jumping into sanctuary cities without first talking out the alternatives I don't think it's an emergency situation it's an emergency for illegal aliens but I will say that our police department here was excellent and if you make this a sanctuary city you're gonna put a lot of pressure on the police and they used to work up with the federal, state, and other local police departments.

▶ 1:18:39 Oh, I think their input into this should be to some degree. And also, it's an important issue, and I would expect that the next step would be put it to the voters, go through the normal channels. Wait a minute. Oh, I'm surprised to see the churches speaking up. They seem to be organized. And sometimes you can't get the churches to speak up on much of anything publicly. And I guess that's about it. Hi, my name is Alice Shattuck. I live at 140 Grove Street in Melrose. I came tonight to speak in opposition to adopting this order to become a so-called sanctuary city. Somebody earlier this evening said that it's important when we're telling people that they're welcome in our community that we tell them explicitly

▶ 1:20:01 that they're welcome in our community. And so I will say it right now explicitly, I welcome you to Melrose regardless of creed, color, national origin, all the categories that we have for people, I welcome you. I just told you my address. If you don't feel welcome, come and knock on my door and we'll have a cup of coffee and we'll talk things over. I will, I reject the idea that Melrose has not been a welcoming community. It's been a welcoming community at least since the time I moved here six years ago and I've always loved the fact that our motto is one community open to all and I think that if the order in front of us tonight were that we should be a community that welcomes all people that that you

▶ 1:20:49 wouldn't see the crowd here that you see in front of you and that would not be a divisive issue but that's not what this order says it doesn't say we're a community that's welcoming it specifically is an order that is telling our police officers how to do their jobs and saying that if they don't do them in a certain way that they are not welcoming that they're not tolerant and equates that with bigotry with harassment with discrimination all which are things that I don't think are true of our police department I think we have an excellent police department here with a really great relationship with the community I think that I they're trustworthy and I believe in them to use the legal tools at their disposal judiciously fairly and without

▶ 1:21:36 discrimination against the citizens of Melrose the message that this order sends to me is that we are a community that doesn't care about following certain laws and that's not a message that I agree with this term sanctuary city is so politicized and has come to mean that you have a certain disagreement with specific immigration laws of the United States and while I think that that's a great debate to have I think components of our immigration system are very broken right now in the United States and and that's an important debate and I think that the people of Melrose should talk about it and think about it I don't think that picking a side in that fight at this moment in history is the right thing for Melrose as a city to be doing so I thank

▶ 1:22:27 you for your time and that those are my feelings on the matter hi Julie D Lillo 13th Circuit Street and I will reiterate with what Alice said you can come knock on my door as well and I would have a cup of coffee with you I think that's a great sentiment so I am here opposing the petition for sanctuary city. Over the last year and a half, Melrose has received many accolades and recognition for being one of the hottest zip codes, one of the hottest real estate markets, one of the safest cities. We have received those because of who we are today. It's not only our diversity of race, ethnicity, national origin, but it's our diversity of thoughts and ideas. labeling the city as a sanctuary city will stifle some of those ideas and thoughts it will stifle

▶ 1:23:38 people coming here people whether people want to believe it or not have strong opinions about the term sanctuary city and what it means because even though this petition is specific to how our Police Force Act, the term sanctuary city and other places across this country means different things. And people will associate that with Melrose. And we will not be the hottest zip code, the hottest real estate market, because our ideas and our thoughts, because we are different, will be stifled. I feel like, you know, I said this, I think, before is sometimes I'm afraid to speak as the opposition during the election because I wasn't voting the same way as someone I was verbally attacked by email called names because I

▶ 1:24:36 wasn't voting similar to someone it made me we I heard people talking about being afraid well that causes a little angst with me and whether I want to come forward and put my name on a piece of paper with my address knowing that there are people that are going to do that not because of my race my religion my national origin but because I had a different idea and that's sometimes that's just who we are the police aren't going to stop that I'm not calling the police to stop that sanctuary city isn't going to stop that person from saying things to me that's not going to happen from the name sanctuary city that's going to happen because we want to be neighbors friends and family our police force act with honesty and integrity and they will always do that they're not

▶ 1:25:30 going to be detaining people we've heard it we've heard it here so designating us as a sanctuary city will it's going to stop the diversity from coming here people with different thoughts and ideas because they're going to look at us they're not going to want to come here there's going to be a certain section of people certain type of people that do and a certain type of people that don't but right now we have proof people want to come here I have a friend at work who is looking to buy in Melrose he stands at open houses with 50 60 people that may not happen tomorrow if we vote this in because people are going to stop wanting to come here i mentioned to him that this this hearing was happening tonight and he took a

▶ 1:26:18 step back that will happen so this is i think somebody said it before this is a this is a term that is fraught with emotion it will divide this city and we don't want that we want to stay the community we are we want people helping people when you look out on the mass the melrose community page and you see people thanking people they don't know for doing something kind helping them out that's what we want to keep that's our community and that's that's where we should stay thank you good evening my friends jim bennett 45 wentworth road pleasure to speak to you all i'm speaking tonight uh on behalf of this resolution in favor of this resolution and let me just tell you why we are so blessed in this city first of all to have chief lyle here

▶ 1:27:25 who informed me just a few days ago we spoke of the phone yes that's right great to see you face to face sir inform me he's never handed anybody over to ice he never will hand anybody over to ice that is marvelous news for everyone in our city we are so fortunate to have mayor rob dolan who has been such a supporter of diversity and immigration to this city so why do we need this if we know that everything that's being asked in this petition will already be done by the police. And it is for this reason that we have to decide at this moment what sort of city do you want to be? And more importantly, what message do you want to send to all the people around Melrose, all the people who work in Melrose, who visit Melrose, who want to live

▶ 1:28:05 in Melrose? There are so many people of different nationalities who have to go to our hospital for help. There are so many people who work here, so many landscaping crews. I don't know what their national origin is or what their legal status is but I have a feeling that some of them are not here legally and I shouldn't say this it's just landscaping crews because let's face it there are professional people here who have overstayed on their green cards maybe people who are actually working in that hospital healing bodies as well and those people should not be afraid to go to Chief Lyle and here's the issue that if you leave this room tonight and you decide or you table it tonight and you do this on another night and say we don't want to be a sanctuary city

▶ 1:28:48 you'll all have good reasons for doing that some of them reasons that I respect very much but the news that will go out is that this is the town that rejected being a sanctuary city and people will make assumptions about that just like they make assumptions when they hear that this is the town where we've had two civil rights discrimination lawsuits in the high school that's bad news for this town because everyone's been mentioning how long they lived here I grew up here myself and it seems like my whole life at least since the mid 90s I've been looking at this slogan one community open to all but let's face it this is the case with every city slogan everywhere that is aspirational it is not a statement of fact it is a statement of where we want to be and on

▶ 1:29:31 this particular night I think we are at a moment where you get to be part of a a very important conversation on where do we want to be. Do we want to be that city on the hill? Do we want to be the city that is one community open to all? Because look, you good folks here, you probably never see this many people here, do you? You are here night after night discussing things that would bore us all to tears, but that are so essential. Water rates, water mains, everything having to do with water, sewer, what have you, right? You never see us, you work so hard, but here is the fact. 100 years from now, 50 years from now, 10, 5 years from now, everyone will forget everything you ever did about the sewers.

▶ 1:30:12 It's a fact. But this vote you take today, I can say this because I happen to serve on the Historical Commission here in Melrose, people ask me historical facts all the time, a century from now, people will be very interested to know what you did at this moment. This is the sort of vote they'll say, hmm, what was Melrose deciding what it was going to be in 2017? And I can't tell you what you choose for us to be. That is your job as elected officials. But I hope you look inside your heart, and you look inside your head, you listen to everything people have said tonight, and I hope you come to the right decision. Hi. I didn't plan on speaking tonight. I'm April. I recently moved here. I live on Allen Street, I mean, sorry, Allen Place.

▶ 1:31:11 And I wanted to speak because of the fact that I'm new. I've been here about a year and a half, and I have felt every bit as welcomed as everyone has described it. I'm also humble enough to never assume that that is the experience that everyone who is in this community feels. So I'm glad that so many other people feel like this is a very welcoming place and they can walk around, rock down Main Street and they are greeted and everyone is so kind. But that is not everyone's experience and I really just want to make sure that those of us who have had a good experience and therefore also are the ones who are going to most feel comfortable coming up and speaking out and putting our names on a list and having our

▶ 1:31:47 voices and faces recorded do not drown out those people who have not had that experience and so I just ask that you list that you do add weight to the people who have not had that experience you do not assume that the only people who have spoken about having a negative experience are the only ones who have had that experience I have a lot of thoughts and I will but because I didn't plan to speak I don't think I would be very articulate about them so I really want to just say that the only thing I would add is that there's been a lot of discussion about laws and being a good lead about being a good citizen that follows laws and I'm the daughter of a cop thought of a female cop during a time when there weren't female cops and we've had a lot of laws put in place we

▶ 1:32:31 have a loss have not always been positive many people have been discriminated against many people have been unjust many people have not had abilities to access protections because of loss so the idea that some that because something's law is a good or bad thing and it says something about a person who lives under that how they live under that law does not say something about the quality of that person whether or not that person belong should be our neighbor whether or not that it doesn't say anything about the integrity of that person some laws maybe it does but just the simple fact that there is a law does not speak to the integrity of a person and how they live under it so that's the one thing I'd want to add to it but I also realize

▶ 1:33:09 that's more of a federal level so i will move on thank you oh if i wasn't clear i support calling it a sanctuary city good evening my name is david mclaughlin i've been a melrose resident for 35 years i've raised my family here my son who's with me attended all melrose public schools and graduated melrose high school i've been extremely involved in the community over the years i've coached refereed participated sponsored melrose youth hockey soccer incarnation baseball learned escape programs melrose bay booth melrose y coaching basketball melrose jv in varsity baseball so clearly i have a pretty good insight of what's been going on in the community for the past 35 years melrose is currently enjoying some solid economic growth along with some positive

▶ 1:34:23 recognition with numerous awards over the past several years boston magazine 2017 best places to live north of boston 2016 wallet hubs of america best small cities 26 in the country and number two in the state that's absolutely phenomenal 2015 realtor.com names melrose the hottest market in the country but please remember times are not always good here in melrose we've We've suffered through years of budget cuts, along with declining property values. Melrose had the reputation of having a sub-par school system for a long, long time. We had to deal with Proposition 2 1⁄2 and all its overrides. I mention these issues, but people tend to have short memories when it comes to these type of events, for it took a long time of proper planning, execution, and tax revenue

▶ 1:35:15 to get us where we are today. has always been one community open to all, and I've witnessed it over the years. I support Mayor Dolan's comment where he cautions us against adopting the title of Sanctuary City for this term as hyperpolitical. I've been in here 35 years. This is my first time I've ever been here. I haven't felt the need. So this is how political this issue is. This will cause division in the community. I've seen this. I've been born and raised in Somerville. I've seen what that term has done. My relatives are still in Somerville. It's not a good thing, and I would not want to see this happen in Melrose. In addition, Melrose should not have to run the risk, no matter how small it is today,

▶ 1:35:55 to have its federal funding reduced or possibly eliminated. Remember, we have 3.75 more years until the next presidential election. These reductions or eliminations, if they do occur, is a result of a vote here tonight. So there's only two ways to make up this shortfall. if it occurs, local taxes and reduced services. None of these options are appealing to any Melrose resident. In closing, I urge this Board of Aldermen to reject the sanctuary city. Recommendation is that Melrose has always been a community open to all and we don't need a label to describe what we do and what we feel in this community. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Alfreda Doyle. I live on 98 Crescent Avenue and I've been in this country for 60 years.

▶ 1:36:56 and legally and I live in Melrose for 50 years I think I already said that but anyway I came to say that anybody that wants to come to this country can come to this country legally but we don't need illegals when I first came here in In my application, it said, if I don't abide by the law, I will be deported. It's not happening anymore. And we don't know who the heck is in here, in our country. And all they want to do is kill us. Anyway, I want to know right now, the sanctuary city, I want to tell you that I'm very much against it, and so is my husband. And that's all I have to say. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Brian McAllister-Grand. I live on 22 Tappan Street. Been here for six years.

▶ 1:38:17 I know you're all probably pretty tired tonight after hearing so many comments, so I won't make this too long at all. I'm in strong support of the sanctuary city designation. I think the one thing that I could add, I think I've been moved by the eloquent statements of people who feel that they're in fear walking down the street purely because of they look different that sort of pales in comparison to for me for any other reason that's a safety issue and that's a moral issue but I will add one thing and that's that I've heard a few times both in the pro side and against side that Melrose is the hottest zip code that our economic standing is at stake and I do sympathize a little bit with that argument, but I've lived a very comfortable life. I suspect many people in

▶ 1:39:08 this room have lived a very comfortable life most of their life. I can go purchase anything pretty much I want after this conversation. I live, we all, you know, many of us live extremely comfortable lives. I don't think that we need to be the hottest zip code or worry so much about our Boston Magazine official standing. I think we can afford one more open house where someone doesn't over-bid each other. What I really hear when I hear the hottest zip code is that we should be more like Winchester and less like something else, which basically means white and gentrified. So that's just one piece I'll add to the conversation. please put the economic piece of this a little bit lower than the moral piece of

▶ 1:39:58 this thank you hi I'm Chris falling I live on Sewall Street I've listened to a lot of people here tonight I haven't heard one illegal come here and say that why they think that this is needed I haven't heard from one you know where's the need to make this happen if they're not here saying how how much they need this to be a sanctuary city I don't see them here tonight the only thing I would ask is that if this does move forward that it's that the voters are left to decide this thank you thank you hi Jason Cornelis East Emerson Street Ward 4 welcome to all Melrose is welcome to all and I think the last couple of years we've seen that I've met people from that moved here from Colorado I've met

▶ 1:41:11 people that have moved here from California people from closer to home Somerville Arlington Cambridge and we've welcomed all these people I think that this sanctuary city petition is really a non-issue as we've heard I'm I'll be brief because it's getting late but you know we've heard from the mayor and we've heard from the chief and it's really the policies if it's a non non issue and just to bring up the federal aid I haven't already I someone might have mentioned it but I think it's close to 2.3 million dollars we get from the federal government so that's uh that's a lot to make up if we end up losing that because of two words sanctuary city so obviously I'm against the petition cut it short and thank you good evening Eric Wildman 33 Norman Road I'll be brief I

▶ 1:42:27 had sent message message to the board earlier with my comment so I just want to make one point that wasn't has been made so I figured to be good to make it in the publicly the comment was made earlier there's actually been incredibly eloquent comments tonight on both sides of the issue both the comment was made earlier that we usually don't see this many people here this this topic in genders in motion on both sides legitimate emotion on both sides and it was also a comment that you know we get bored with sewer rates and things like that that's you guys usually do you know another city municipal matters the mundane so my question I think the question it's important for the Member of the board to to think about as a practical legislative body of the city

▶ 1:43:17 of Melrose if this order passes what changes tomorrow as a practical matter what changes in the actions in the work that the city of Melrose Police Department does on a daily basis to my mind other than and we've discussed the label whether it's warranted or not the rationale for that or not to my mind there is no difference this order has no practical impact on what the men and women of the Morales Police Department do now my other fear is if we however this moves forward is if this does move forward that the next petition they'll be coming before the Board of Aldermen would be to rescind sanctuary city order and then we have a debate and discussion about that I think the conversation thus

▶ 1:44:13 far has been has frankly has been positive for the city of Norris we now understand there's an understanding of this community what the attitude and the policies of Norris Peace Department do I think that's a good thing I think people have talked about limiting fear of what goes on what might happen I think we're educated more where I think this this this would say what you will about the petition whether you agree with it or not this has spurred a conversation I think it's been helpful for the city of Morris and I think we can take take away from that. So, absent any practical change that this order would actually operationally mean for the men and women of the Marvelous Peace Department, I don't see it. I would

▶ 1:44:54 suspect that the sanctuary label, whether you agree or disagree, and I think it does have different meanings to different people, I think it has possibly a false sense of security. not going to change attitudes that won't that won't change if an individual feels that they the sanctuary city designation is not going to make someone not discriminate against them because they look they look different they act differently have a different accent that's that's not I'm sorry that simply is not the case so for that reason I would hope that the Board of Aldermen do not approve this order thank you I'm Betsy Garrett I live at 70 arts more Road I'm gonna be very brief about this the petition itself the title says

▶ 1:45:45 petition to make the city of Melrose a sanctuary city the word sanctuary city is nowhere in the petition itself and so I support the wording of the petition I think if we take out the wording the label sanctuary city I think we take that off the petition is much more palatable to our town and so I I encourage the aldermen to think about using the words to make explicit what Chief Lyle and what Mayor Dolan have said we already do, to make that explicit, to make people understand that they feel that they are safe, that they can trust law enforcement, they can trust the mayor to respect them. But I think if we just take off that label, I think it would be more palatable to Melrose. Good evening, everybody.

▶ 1:47:01 My name is Kevin Voltour. I'm a documented immigrant from Everett. i've been in melrose for 38 years i've been very happy here i've heard cogent arguments on both sides of the issue here tonight the one thing that keeps on bothering me is and i've heard from a number of lawyers up here is every time they say the word immigrant they never include the word illegal everybody here i think including myself is favor is in favor of legal immigration if people are coming here because you know after breaking the law i'm sorry i think that's a problem no matter which way you look at it i'm also have to say that i'm ashamed that this is the first time i've been in this building I shouldn't say building but this room in the 38 years I lived here and I hope to make

▶ 1:48:02 my presence a little bit more frequently and I do have to say that the people that have represented me in the city all these years have been extremely good this is a this is just a fantastic place and understand why people want to come here it's just a it's a great place and um i can guarantee i'll be dying here so anyway thank you for listening to me and again i am against the designation of sanctuary city my name is john cronin i live in 99 west wyoming avenue in melrose i'll be very brief i'm against the proposal and my big overriding fear is if we're not careful we're going to set race relationships back 60 years thank you hi good evening my name is lynn kelly i live at 24 melbourne ave and i'm a long time melrose resident i was hoping tonight at

▶ 1:49:55 this meeting looking around this room i was looking for two individuals i was looking for kate steinly and also matthew denise but i don't see them here i firmly believe that the united States is a nation of laws. I, as an American, choose to abide by our laws. Illegal is not an undocumented immigrant. It is someone who is here against our laws, and every day they break their laws. A drug dealer is not an unlicensed pharmacist, and I would not commit a crime and call any one of you here on this board and ask you to assist me in hiding up that crime by aiding and abetting me. You would refuse because you would be breaking the law. It's not fair for those that have followed our laws to be pushed aside in order

▶ 1:50:44 to reward illegal aliens who circumvent the process to gain entry to this country. I brought up the name Kate Steinle because she is from San Francisco and she's no longer with us. Kate Steinle was 31 years old and walking in the beautiful sanctuary city of San Francisco with her father and one of their historic peers when a shot rang out, ricocheted off a cement barrier and struck her her last words before she passed at the age of 31 was dad please help me a mile away in the same sanctuary city police captured juan francisco lopez sanchez 41 years of age at that time he had been deported from the united states five times and had made his way illegally back into this country ice had requested an immigration

▶ 1:51:34 detainer to be notified of his latest release from a federal prison, but because San Francisco was a sanctuary city, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez was afforded protection under the Fourth Amendment right of illegal search and seizure, so was not able to be divulged to ICE that he was being released. He went on to murder that young woman. I'm also looking around the room tonight to look for Matthew Denise because if San Francisco was a little bit too far away for you I asked you to look no further than Milford Massachusetts in 2011 Matthew was on his way home from work looking forward to seeing his girlfriend soon-to-be fiancee of eight years to tell how his day was to see his mom and do whatever however that night as he was going home on his motorcycle

▶ 1:52:24 an illegal immigrant a criminal who is an unlicensed driver not allowed to be here in the United States and drunk behind the wheel endangering his own son who was in the backseat slammed into Matthew as he blew through a stop sign and then he panicked and what he did is he dragged Nicholas to his death but once again because of the sanctuary city status he was arrested in 2008 three years previous to this infraction that took Matthew's life he played the system had it been divulged of his status for the arrest of the breaking and entering he should have been deported once again he played the system better than a concert pianist now Matthew Denise is dead his girlfriend is a widow his mother was without a son Kate Steinle has left her parents her family her

▶ 1:53:19 friends but it's all because of the sanctuary city status that the illegal criminal was protected and I would like to ask any one of the 223 people who signed this petition this evening that if right here in Melrose if Milford or San Francisco is not far enough away for you and the hottest zip code I want to ask every one of these people who signed the petition if it was your child who was struck killed murdered assaulted by someone who shouldn't have been here what would be your first response well what are they doing here they shouldn't even be here this never should have happened you are correct it never should have happened and nor should this city be given the designation of a sanctuary city I have not had one of my friends who is looking for housing call

▶ 1:54:07 me up and talk about the hottest zip code and then put on there oh but wait a minute are you guys gonna be sanctuary okay it is a political term that can be a time bomb here in this city okay you've heard both sides here back and forth and I'm here to give you a little bit of information of what happens when when local law enforcement officials are not allowed to reach out to hire. If you pull me over in my car and find out that I'm an unlicensed driver or that I'm driving on a suspended license, you're going to arrest me. If you arrest somebody who is not a citizen of this country, then they should be arrested and then they should go. I mean, that's tortious interference, but by their actions,

▶ 1:54:48 there were devastating consequences and reactions that affected Kate and Matthew. so I respectively just please don't it's like it's like Disney World it's like we're all waiting in line to go on the ride you know Melrose is the hottest place Melrose is like Disney and then all of a sudden people just want to start jumping in front of the line because they want to get on the ride well then what happens that happening the ride gets overcrowded and then it gets shut down and then mayhem breaks loose but I guarantee you if something happens to one of the residents here in Mars who signed that petition at the hands of a criminal illegal i'm just i would be like well you know you signed for it you wanted

▶ 1:55:32 that you wanted the status thank you my name is scott lefton um i live on orient avenue i bought a house in melrose with my wife 33 years ago we raised three children here they've all come up through the public schools in melrose we love melrose and are very happy to live here and And I just wanted to say that we also, at least I, not speaking for my wife, support the designation of sanctuary city. I did not necessarily do that before this evening, but having heard both sides speaking eloquently tonight, I know how I've made up my mind, and I do hope that you will do the right thing and the moral thing and put Melrose on the right side of history by designating it as a sanctuary city. Thank you.

▶ 1:56:41 Hi, my name is Diane Horry, and I live on West Highland Ave. husband was up speaking earlier but i just wanted to make a couple of points that concern me everything here concerns me that's been said but especially the fact that um if if we are considered a sanctuary city there's a we might lose federal funding and if that happens someone had spoken about it before how are we going to make that up the taxes are going to have to go up these children that these illegal people have are going to be going to our melrose public school systems as the schools that are overstretched already with closed schools we're putting in pods i mean so now we're going to increase that um the because they're not going

▶ 1:57:26 to be really ed they're not educated and they're here illegally they probably won't have these high paying jobs so they're gonna end up getting like the sports all these sports activities they will have to go up i mean everything's going to go up and um so i just wanted to say that i am against it and as far as uh this woman here who spoke over here my father was murdered by an illegal alien who had been deported and came back and um and he shouldn't have been here and i don't and i'm not saying that all illegal aliens are criminals but we are going to get our share here in melrose Thank you. Good evening. My name's Rosemary Ma. I live at 23 Lodge Avenue. I want to say we have a fine police force. And I totally disagree with this.

▶ 1:58:28 from a safety and security place of i think the last speaker mentioned we don't know who's going to be here who's going to feel it's an umbrella for illegal whether they're criminal or not criminal we won't know and i feel by putting the risk of over two million dollars at risk if the president decides to withhold federal funds that's what will happen and who's left to make that up i think the last person just said that it will be us the homeowners not the illegals not the churches but the homeowners so um for my own safety and security i called boston to mayor walsh and said i will not be coming to boston to eat or spend my money I do not feel safe I don't know who's around the streets and they don't keep

▶ 1:59:30 track so thank you very much thank you Laura Cantor South Ave I'm a 24 year resident of Melrose and I was one of the signers of the petition and because I was I got a very nice letter from Mayor Dolan explaining the current operating practice of the city with regards to immigration and that it is simply not to pursue or detain somebody solely on the basis of their immigration status and that is consistent with what the petition requests it is simply to formalize what is already the very good operating procedure of the city and I think as a business person and as an administrator good operating practice should be written into a good operating procedure and with that I fully support the petition. Thank you. My name is Tara Pope. I live in Woodcrest Drive,

▶ 2:00:57 Melrose. I wasn't gonna talk tonight. I was just coming to listen, but I think after listening to everything, I just had one quick thing to say. I don't support it being a sanctuary city. Not that I'm not welcoming of everyone. I honestly want my son to grow up somewhere where it's diverse and learn different cultures. I have no problem with that, but I come back to a lot what a lot of people have said. This actual petition is about protecting people that are illegal in this country so if they don't get caught doing something wrong we're not going to bother them and I think that's exactly how it should be I have a friend who has a husband who for a while was illegal in this country but he had a

▶ 2:01:33 business he was supporting the community he never did anything wrong and I think that was okay he's now since become legal I think the problem is is it right now this country is in a place where everybody wants it to be a line about race or immigration or things like that and that and I just believe that we shouldn't need to put a political term around it if the police department everybody's already doing this the way that everyone thinks we should be doing it we should just continue doing that I don't think we need to make it a political fact to get everybody riled up I think it will divide the city in a big way and I just feel that people need to just take a step back not make it a bigger issue about race and just make it about what it is if you do something

▶ 2:02:12 wrong you commit a crime you get caught you're not supposed to be here you go home if you commit a crime you are supposed to be here you're gonna go to jail so it's just that's just the way i think it should work so i support i do not support this petition for that reason my name is maria martin i live on altamont alvin melrose i've lived here for 12 years i'm raising three boys here and i just think why fix something that isn't broken i've sat here and listened to everybody say how they love melrose they love being a part of the city the culture and yet you want to place this label on it for no reason and i'm just i'm so so opposed, I just can't even say how against it I am. Hello, my name is Stuart Lanier.

▶ 2:03:10 I live here on Main Street. Yeah, I know this has been a very rich experience hearing these eloquent speakers here this evening. I think a couple of points that I would like to try to add to the conversation are that there is no argument that the immigration system of our country is desperately broken And that our country has actually created economic incentives for many, many people to come here apart from the actual legal process. And the way the current system works is the people who employ them are not sought out. It's these vulnerable people who actually are probably, in most cases, fleeing some kind of desperate economic circumstance to come to a better place that are the people that we're talking about.

▶ 2:04:01 And so I want to say that if Melrose's aspirational statement is one city open to all, then there's always going to be a growing edge to that. And that's going to involve doing something other than just reinforcing the comfort of the people who are already here. and so if we want to learn and discover what it means to be open to all then I think is very important that we listen to people that are already who are not not most welcome right now we've heard from two or three of those folks here tonight and I find it actually quite disturbing that there are others who who are a part of the comfort zone of Melrose coming and saying we're open to all we're open to all and yet there are some people of color who have spoken and

▶ 2:04:48 said it doesn't really always feel open to all and so i think if you wanted to really learn and understand what it means to be a community that is open to all then there might ought to be a safe space to ask people who are vulnerable what it's like to be in this community so that would be a recommendation there's other some other statements that have been made that are to the effect of this designation being protective of criminals, it is my understanding that there's nothing in the statement that would protect a criminal. There's no commitment there that would protect a criminal. It's basically validating what is already in practice. And so in effect, folks who are saying that this would protect criminals and make possible

▶ 2:05:35 violent crime, that's actually disparaging the current practice. And this proposal is simply to validate the current practice. Another statement has been made to the effect that it almost seems to be an assumption among many that there'd be a loss of federal funds. I'm not sure that that's the case because I believe there have been rulings to the effect the federal government cannot require local entities to enforce its laws or its policies. And so the withholding of funds to a community that refused to do that I think would be unconstitutional, but I am not a lawyer. So I would strongly ask you to be as others have appealed to you, to step up to this really moment in history that we're in right now.

▶ 2:06:29 I think it really is a time in history in which many people, us as individuals and in our own daily lives, in our work and in the community, where we're going to more and more have to step up and actually not be the milquetoast, wishy-washy, nice folks that Martin Luther King Jr., as was quoted earlier, said were actually the worst problem that he dealt with was the folks who were actually just kind of like wanting everybody to be nice when actually it was time for folks to step up for the sake of justice. Thank you. I'm in favor of the petition. Thank you, sir. My name is Mike Stankiewicz. I wasn't going to speak tonight, but I feel compelled to do so. I've been in Melrose for about four years.

▶ 2:07:37 I have a three-year-old son, I have my own practice in Melrose, I'm an attorney, and heard good points made and I don't I don't dismiss the opposition to the petition however I haven't heard anyone talking that's opposing the position saying they want a policy that's different in this city and so this issue isn't about changing the current policy the issue is about fostering a community where the individuals who are already here feel appreciated and I don't see how taking unless there's an opposition that's gonna have a deportation force that's gonna remove these people anyone who's here is illegally is still gonna stay here so as a community I think it's our responsibility to lift people up and

▶ 2:08:28 if people are gonna be here we might as well create and foster an environment where we can empower people especially people who are of diverse talents who are unique who you know don't fit the traditional mold of Melrose I want my son to walk down the street and appreciate everyone for being a human not looking at someone assessing whether they're illegal or not legal and I think in order to cultivate that type of atmosphere this this this petition needs to be supported you know I've heard I've heard people talk about fears and anxieties and I'm reminded of the statement I've heard and I used all the time in my life it's if you're not acting out of love you're acting out of fear and I don't think fear has been or ever will be a reason to act you know I

▶ 2:09:23 just go back to all the times in history where there were pivotal moments of whether to be inclusive or not whether it was with the civil rights and in african-americans in history judged the people that were inclusive years ago when the debate was on gay marriage again it came to fruition that people that were inclusive were the ones that ultimately society gravitated towards and for me this issue is very clear-cut I think that um I think that we have a duty and obligation to protect those most vulnerable around us and no one's suggesting that anyone that's illegal is going to be deported so let's create an atmosphere where these people that are here feel empowered and can share their talents and

▶ 2:10:10 uniqueness and i think that's a community that everyone would like to be in thank you thank you hey my name is orla duffy i live in park street i actually came here tonight to listen but felt compelled to speak up in opposition to this i guess i don't really fit the bill to oppose it as I am an immigrant but I'm proud to sit here tonight and say I'm not an American citizen and I'm proud of that but I just feel like this could become more to just split people in this community up more as what I think we've seen tonight I'm also concerned about losing funding our schools are already you know we're putting pods in I'm also concerned about the funding that it might take to teach kids with English as a second language and economically

▶ 2:11:21 that's a big concern of mine but I just wanted to say tonight I'm opposed to it thank you how's everybody doing my name is Pete Navarra Crescent Ave and a real quick just to I have a vocal cord issue so if I'm not loud enough sorry about that I'm here in support of the spirit of this petition whether we call it sanctuary city I'm in favor of that but I do think that that's a trigger word for a lot of people have you seen here I think I've heard three different definitions of sanctuary city in hindsight we're not when I look over what's happening across our state there's legislation currently going on called the Massachusetts safe communities act that a lot of communities that are trying to figure out what their designation is are

▶ 2:12:20 starting to look at and possibly have followed I'm looking at that as a a potential compromise for the situation that we're looking at here i am in support of not discriminating against your religion where you come from if you're walking down the street and wearing hijab i mean i don't expect the police to just pull you over and start looking at your credentials i also support that if you're breaking the law regardless of whether you're a citizen or not or illegal or not that due process should take a take hold and if that means chief lyle arresting somebody and then that turns out to be that they need to be deported that's the case but if you're not breaking the law i don't think you should necessarily be pulled

▶ 2:13:01 over just because of the way you look your religion or anything like that i do support that melrose is a safe community and i support that we are one community open to all thank you anyone else wishes to speak before we close the public portion of the hearing Hi. Good evening. My name is Robert Alfiero. I am Melrose resident, 425 Lebanon Street in Melrose, Ward 6. I had emailed the Board of Aldermen this past weekend. I have some concerns about the sanctuary city. I think that while it's wonderful that we should continue to welcome people here, we should know who is here and we should maintain law and order. So I would just urge this body to exercise caution before they move forward and that's all I have to say about this

▶ 2:14:11 Thank you, sir. Thank you. My name is Ted Cummings live in 93 Howard Street I'm just here to voice my opposition to this for a couple of reasons We could spend all night nobody on this side of the room or that side of the room is gonna Settle the immigration issue here tonight. No one's gonna convince Someone else or change their mind over that issue. And so to me, it's really not about immigration it's about the law so i heard someone say earlier what kind of a community do we want to live in well do we want to live in a community that we abide by the law or we don't even immigrants want to know what the law is and that they're protected even everybody should be treated the same that's what i hear everybody saying that we should be treated equally

▶ 2:15:08 Now, I could be wrong, but isn't the woman holding the scales of justice, isn't she blindfolded? She's blindfolded for a reason. We're supposed to get equal treatment under the law, not special treatment under the law. Now, I feel bad, the woman that spoke earlier, their son, somebody made a stupid comment to him on the playground. Kids have been making stupid comments to each other on playgrounds as long as they've been playgrounds. There isn't a person in this room that somebody didn't say something offensive to them, including myself, on the playground. You're not going to change that. You can write whatever you want. You can put whatever signs on the foulsway that you want. That's not going to change.

▶ 2:15:50 That's just kids being kids. It's wrong. I don't condone it. If I heard a kid, and I've done it myself, if I see a kid picking on a kid in front of Rite Aid, I've told them, hey, knock it off. It's not right. I don't think there's anybody in this room that would say we support that. Yeah, we want people being picked on, but that's not what we're here talking about. We're either going to obey the law or we're not going to obey the law. And so it really comes down to a couple of things for me. When you make one group special, you make someone else less special. It's the yin and the yang, whatever you want to call it, the universe. Everything equals out. So if every person you think you're going to make comfortable and feel good,

▶ 2:16:29 you're making someone else uncomfortable and not feel good. So what are you really accomplishing? You're not accomplishing anything in the big scheme of things except inflaming the community, turning neighbor against neighbor. It's already happened without even doing this. You want to talk about splitting families apart. I hear that, the argument all the time. We shouldn't be splitting up families. You've got families that are living together that are being split up over these issues. So what's the difference if you split up this person or that person? We're still divided. So who are you helping? so you can't treat one person special and and without taking away and making somebody else less special and the last comment i would make is that the people that i've talked to that are

▶ 2:17:11 opposed to this it has nothing to do with race or this that or feeling guilty about making a good living and living in a nice community i don't feel bad that i've made a good living and bought my house and paid my taxes i don't feel bad for that for one minute if this guy wants to sell me his house at a little bit of a discount when he's ready, I'm happy to buy it. Nothing wrong with that. Doesn't make me a bad person, okay? So we need to stop all the, you know, everyone who's in support of this, I always hear them saying we need to stop putting labels on people and this and that. Everyone that's come up here in support of it, not everybody, but some, the tone of the racism and this, it's got nothing to do with it. The people that I've talked to don't want this

▶ 2:17:55 because they don't think it's right that you feel, and whether it's reality or not, it's how people feel. That's what this is all about. This woman feels unsafe. This person feels disenfranchised. That's what we're really talking about is how people feel. So if we're going to divide us up around the city, that these are the people that are for it and these are the persons that are against it, the next step is who's going to be the moral judge and gets to decide that your feelings are more important than yours. This woman has problems. Her problem happens to be immigration. I got problems on my own. You've got problems. You've got problems. Everybody in this room has a problem. We could all come up here and we could have 953 laws to keep us all. You can't live like that. We have to live one nation under the law and the law applies to all of us.

▶ 2:18:43 So I just think that's what it is. And so there was a woman here earlier that left that said that, you know, over the last couple of years, you know, someone yelled out the window at her because she looked different, or this woman's being treated differently because she doesn't look like the other people. You want to see an escalation of that? Pass this order, because as soon as you start making people feel like maybe it has nothing to do with race. Maybe it's that people feel like you got something special that I didn't after i worked my whole life paid my taxes did everything i was told i was supposed to do obey the law stay out of trouble keep my yard clean i'm nice to my neighbors what more do you

▶ 2:19:22 want you know that's that's what this is about so you can't fly this just flies in the face of people that put their head down and worked every single day for 30 or 40 years they thought they were living by the law they were told we're supposed to obey the law and now all of a sudden you don't have to pay the law if you're in this little special group so if you want those people to really feel ostracized and not welcome to a community single them out as people that got something special that nobody else got because that's exactly what's going to happen to them so you're not going to make anything better it's going to make things worse this isn't going to help anybody this is only going to make a few people feel good and if the other side of the

▶ 2:20:01 room is going to feel just as bad so we're still on the scale nothing is going to change so this is the equivalent of hanging up a sign we could take the take the sign down on fellsway and we'll just say you know i'm a really good person put that sign up so instead of doing that to everybody how about we just let the 223 people that sign this they're welcome put a sign in your yard that says i'm a really good person problem solved that's all i have to say i feel very emotional right now and I hope I can hold myself together I can't imagine trying to diminish the child's experience of being of having their identity their identity defamed in such a way in this city and that it is taken as oh kids just do that

▶ 2:21:26 to each other. We are all adults in this room, and adults are to set the tone of our society for our children, and we are supposed to be making it clear what is moral, and what is what is the way we want to live and to and to just say that a child who gets insulted by other children that that's okay and and okay let's have order in the chamber please we've had a very respectful discussion this evening let's not let it take let's not deteriorate at this point okay we're gonna have one person speaking at a time ma'am you have the floor but my point is that it is important for us as citizens of Melrose to set the tone for our city so that there is an understanding of what is what we hold dear and to me I want to

▶ 2:22:50 believe that every person in this city will be respected, will feel safe. I'm a member of the LGBTQ community and one of the reasons that I felt safe in living in Melrose was because of an action that was taken in this city just a few years ago and that there was very visibly taking a stand to be inclusive of the LGBT community. That made me feel good to move into this community. And I feel the same in terms of people of other difference, that they can feel good about living in a community that respects and admires difference. And I know we have this wonderful city motto that is not in my head right now. Thank you. Open to all. And yet, and this is not to discredit the people sitting in this honorable chamber

▶ 2:23:56 right now at these honorable desks. I've been in this room a couple of times. And when I look around this room, I really wonder about that motto. Is it open to all? And not to say that these wonderful people don't have a wonderful reason to be on a wall. But is this chamber to make that feeling of acceptance and inclusion that we all want people to feel in this community? My name is Ellen Ruthstrom. I live at 15 Vine Street. So this is a little daunting to be here in front of everybody. I'm sure it is for other people. I've heard people today with tears in their voice. I can feel what is happening on both sides. And I just feel like, for me, this has been a very difficult decision. Oh, and by the way, my name is Crystal Dawn.

▶ 2:25:23 Forgot that part. So this has been a very difficult decision for me to say I oppose or I support, because whether you say the word illegal or whether you say the word legal, we are talking about people. But at the same time, I have to say that I oppose Melrose becoming a sanctuary city because I want to think about the Melrose residents first. Now, there was someone who spoke earlier about other people who mentioned defunding and that that may not be a reality. but what I'm thinking of is it could very likely become a very real possibility and if it does become a possibility then what programs are going to be cut I'm a veteran our veterans benefits going to be cut elder services the hospital the local hospital tax is going to be increased I

▶ 2:26:22 mean those are the things that I think of and I think those are the things that a lot of other people think of so as hard as it was for me to come to this decision that's the decision that i i came here to say to mayor dolan i'm not sure exactly where he is and the other elected officials so there you have it thank you thank you my name is lisa burns i live at 241 west emerson street i've lived in melrose for 10 years i moved here with my husband after we got married we have three young kids in the elementary schools schools here i am opposed to making melrose a sanctuary city there's a couple couple reasons for that i think first of all we have laws they need to be enforced i think the melrose police chief and the team do a great job keeping our city safe i think

▶ 2:27:34 they need to know who's in the city to be able to do their jobs and i need i think they need to have the flexibility to enforce the laws as they see fit second we talked about it's been mentioned a number of times that there's a possibility of losing some public funding as a parent with kids in the school system that is certainly not a risk that i think our city can afford to take even if it's not a definitive yes we're definitely going to lose funding or no or not i don't think it's a risk we can take I go to the PTO meetings and I see parents you know working hard to raise money for extra programs for our schools the schools are on a tight budget enrollments increasing you know people thought that the schools

▶ 2:28:22 were underfunded we had a override that did not pass I think being called a sanctuary city you know could just exacerbate the funding problem as well on top of losing federal funding so for these reasons I'm opposed this is um my name is Beth Hampson I live at 45 Harold Street and this is clearly a really challenging topic at a really challenging time in our nation where we are divided in so many ways around so many issues and for me it comes down to where we are in this moment in history. It seems to me that we're at a pivotal time in this moment where people are being othered, singled out for how they look, where they come from, who they worship, and I really feel that we have a moral responsibility to stand up for those people

▶ 2:29:37 being othered in our country. And so I am in support of being a sanctuary city. Thank you. Thank you for your time, sir. And I know it's late, everyone. I'm sorry. I'm a resident of Melrose here, a town which my husband and I love very much. Grew up in Methuen, which is near Lawrence, and that town certainly went downhill. oh sorry sorry sir good evening sir thank you for your time I'm a resident of Melrose a town which my husband and I love very much we don't support Melrose being a sanctuary city why is it not illegal for undocumented immigrants to be here if an officer wants to check if someone is here legally why not isn't it only to protect the country, even from terrorists as well? Is it to protect all of us for something which I'm for,

▶ 2:31:01 to protect us? What's sad is how I've heard how many people have died from someone here illegally. That's very sad. And that is the point with it being legal. I'm all for one nation, everyone together. We're all human beings under God. We're all the same. We're all one person. you make it a sanctuary city what happens when someone dies from that illegal alien again explain that to the family what if it happened to yours thank you and god bless thank you could you state your name please ma'am michelle mcintyre thank you hello my name is david mclaughlin jr i live on cedarwood lane i'm a born and raised melrose resident i've lived here my entire life all wonderful 31 years and it's been fantastic i'll keep this short and sweet in respect to

▶ 2:31:53 everybody's time here i think my father earlier spoke to almost all the points that i would have brought up so i just wanted to take the chance uh and say that i'm strongly opposed to this and i would urge you not to pass this is there anyone else who hasn't spoken who would like to speak before we wrap this portion of the meeting up okay alderman inferno has made a motion to complete the public hearing motion is seconded by alderman forbes all those in favor aye aye one opposed before we move on on behalf of the board I would like to thank everybody who spoke tonight for the most part this was a very thoughtful and respectful discussion and it's much appreciated by the Board of Aldermen the order is before you what's your pleasure if the motion is to spend the

▶ 2:33:10 rules to bring the chief forward please second Alderman McAteer-Margolis moves to suspend the rules to hear from Chief Lyall motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer on the motion all those in All right. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Good evening. Good evening, Chief. Thanks. Certainly everybody received the letter that I sent out today electronically. I think that a lot of that has already been explained tonight. I will certainly fill you in on the practices of the police department. What we do currently, I've been a police officer nearly 31 years. 31 years there's been one incident involving myself as a supervisor dealing with the clearinghouse in Vermont I don't know their exact name it's a

▶ 2:34:05 clearinghouse for immigration customs and I was asked to hold a detainer on someone and we had someone under arrest for a charge and I told them that everybody that is under arrest in Massachusetts or in the most police department is subject to bail so the rest assure the folks in the audience here that anybody that's arrested by the Melrose police is subject to bail no matter what the charges and it's up to a bail commission to set that charge or no bill so then back to that incident and I basically told them at that point I said listen this guy's getting billed in an hour you want to take him come take him if not pick him up a Malden court tomorrow morning and that's the only incident in 31 years for me so as far as our practices in the Melrose police

▶ 2:34:51 Police Department, we have no authority to basically enforce federal immigration law. It's a civil action, it's a federal civil action, and I have no authority, my officers have no authority, the Melrose Police Department has no authority to enforce that. one I can give you multiple examples if you'd like as far as some incidents or some scenarios that you would like I'm here for fact-finding only so please fire away okay we have any questions comments or discussion Alderman Boyce L in the petition in the first activity there's a couple words I like to get a little definition from in the aspects of a individual who's been arrested and fingerprinted through this process if it comes up as an immigration detainer this

▶ 2:36:06 and versus the administrative warrant which one would hold that individual at in your control if it's a civil action we have no authority to hold that person If it involves clearly a felony or a federal crime other than a civil, certainly we could hold that person temporarily until they made arrangements. But first and foremost, that person has to be in our custody for anything to occur. So if somebody was involved in an armed robbery and they were under arrest, and when we process that person in our booking room, every single person that goes to the Melrose Police Department under arrest is fingerprinted. that generally triggers any type of federal action at that point it goes out nationwide so if somebody's wanted in California for something it'll show if

▶ 2:36:56 Robert A. Boisselle: there's a detainer if there's any type of a federal action that'll also come up because it goes to the FBI Homeland Security immigration so on and so forth so to answer your question if it's a civil action we have no authority if it's a federal action for a federal crime certainly they would be calling us saying we're coming immediately to pick you up pick her up or him up or whatever it may be so the administrative or the immigration detainer is an optional holding while the administrative warrant would actually keep that individual in custody we have no authority if it's a civil action and when i say that so i don't know what the warrant is so i i really can't define it but wouldn't the administrative warrant just when would you receive it indicate the type of uh

▶ 2:37:44 crime that was a felony certainly i'm not a lawyer here so i'm just trying to get back here capital crime certainly we're going to hold a person but if it's a civil action we don't have the authority that person is subject to bail um just like anyone else that's in our custody but if that individual went to the bailing the following morning and the aspects of a detainer versus a warrant would have an effect on the bailing process that's up to the bail commissioner they set the bill so it takes it off it's an independent person so there's a bail fee a basic fee of forty dollars and it goes up if they deem the person a dangerous individual to society they'll say no bill we're going to hold that person until the next court date the next morning a friday would be monday

▶ 2:38:26 on a holiday it would be a tuesday and that's the way it goes uh so the administrative board has a little more edge to the uh it depends on what that actual warrants for so if it's a civil obviously we have no authority to hold that person okay thank you thank you chief thank you thank you thank you mr president and thank you chief for being here tonight oh you're welcome question if um my house was uh broken into and um the assailant was uh later uh captured um and that assailant was an illegal immigrant what would happen well if the person was under arrest if there was a criminal charge against that individual the person be processed by the the Melrose Police Department we would find out any federal action during the

▶ 2:39:10 booking process which when the individual is fingerprinted we will get an alert or a phone call they would say we'd like to hold that person you know and then we always explain that you know that person's subject to bail so and so forth and you know they give you a period of time to come down and retrieve them we could have somebody in our cells for you know an armed robbery and there's a detainer in that person and immigration ice comes down they could that person out of the cell we have no control over that but if that person's subject to bill they may be billed depending on what the bill commissioner says they uh could pick that person up that night or they could go to you know malden district court in the morning and retrieve that

▶ 2:39:50 Michael P. Zwirko: person and and chief what would happen if this order this petition passed tonight and uh the same scenario happened tomorrow uh the same process would take place and um i have a question now it may be difficult to answer it's really an economic question um i understand that we received a letter on customs yes agency i brought it i don't i don't have copies but i can certainly scan it and send everybody and uh could you summarize the contents of that letter and then also uh discuss uh if we were to employ the practices requested in that letter what those costs would be i can give you a basis um the latest the letter is dated february 20th directed to me from u.s customs border patrol in boston asking us if we wanted to participate in their

▶ 2:40:35 program to assist them in holding detainees this is well this part i find funny up to 12 to 24 hours and that may or may not occur at a cost of about 20 99 a day we would get reimbursed and the overtime for me in a 12-hour period around that was about $1,200 it's not a good financial decision on that it's about $1,000 a day yes and the liability when you when we house detainees it's a big big concern for us we generally make 15 to 20 minute rings on our prisoners to make sure that they're they're okay and nothing changes of their mental state or their physical state why they're down in our cell block in my understanding chief and you might be able to answer this but that the variations of that letter or copies of that letter were also

▶ 2:41:29 Michael P. Zwirko: sent to other uh police departments in the greater boston area as well as boston yes and and are we playing i have talked to some of my fellow chiefs and not one agency has gone on board that i know um i also just want to say i appreciate the work that you and the men and women of the police department do i think we live in a safe community and i know you guys work very very hard to treat everyone here with the utmost respect regardless of of any creed religion whatsoever i know you do a lot of community outreach every month with Member of the community you have open meetings you live here in melrose i believe you graduated from melrose high yes i did the first one of that old high school congrats 1976 yes i just wanted to say thank you for that those are all the questions

▶ 2:42:17 Francis X. Wright Jr.: i had for the chief at this time mr president thank you i have alderman wright next please thank you mr. president chief you've described the process that we have which is basically reflected in this petition I just want to make sure everyone understands what you'll do in certain circumstances if ice issues a detainer request on an individual who has an outstanding criminal warrant will you We detain the person. In a criminal action? Yes. If it's a criminal action, certainly, because certainly the reason we fingerprint everybody, I'm going to go off a little bit here. The reason we fingerprint anybody, God forbid, I would never want to see a criminal that violated somebody's rights or a serious felony in any part of the country to let go free.

▶ 2:43:14 I'll use a sex offender. We certainly don't want to let a sex offender from any other part of this country go free that is wanted in another state. That is why. I would say, yes, we would be holding that person. And if you were to arrest somebody for a serious crime, would you honor a nice detainer? There would be another police action to even get to that level. So there would be some other type of action for us to even find out what that individual is wanted for by immigration. So there would be an armed robbery. There would be something. There could be a suspended license, a motor vehicle accident, a drunk driving. There has to be some type of action. No, that's how you arrest them. You arrest them for a serious crime, whatever that serious crime may be.

▶ 2:44:00 Francis X. Wright Jr.: If that occurs, would you then detain them for ICE, if they had a detainer request? Yes, there would be a combination because of the action that they caused in the city of Monroe. Okay, and if that person was a registrant on the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry? There'd be a difficult question because I don't think they'd be walking the streets anyways. Okay. But if they were? That would be unique. Yes. Certainly, we would hold that person. Okay. And if they're on a terrorist watch list? That's a whole different ballgame, but yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Alderman Medeiros. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. I just, I wanted to mention, I had emailed you last Friday and you responded asking,

▶ 2:44:45 Monica C. Medeiros: In fact, how many times an officer or employee of the Melrose Police Department has arrested or detained an individual solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer or administrative warrant? And how many times has an officer or employee of the Melrose Police Department continued to detain an individual solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer or an administrative warrant once that individual has been released from local custody? And I kind of went through that to read it because that is the language that's in this petition to make Melrose Sanctuary City. Yes. And, you know, you did answer me, Chief, but if you could answer me again. So I went through our records management system, which is basically a computer system.

▶ 2:45:30 Monica C. Medeiros: I went back five years. I found zero. So then I went back ten years and I found zero. And I said I felt there was no point to go back any further. I could go back probably 18 or 19 years, and then our records management system went to the old pen and paper, which would be a daunting task. But I think the answer is zero. Zero. So what this petition seeks to do is not happening in Melrose right now. No. And it hasn't happened in the last 10 years that we have records. I would say probably even further back. I would comfortably say in 20 years, 25 years. I would have heard about something like this through Melrose Police Department as a small agency. I would have heard about it. And if we pass or don't pass this, we're not going to stop cooperating with the federal government.

▶ 2:46:18 Monica C. Medeiros: No, I have an officer now assigned to the DEA task force for a reason, because it's a force multiplier for the Melrose Police Department if we're doing an investigation for drugs, which is, you know, it's an epidemic in New England right now, in Massachusetts, in Melrose. It's everywhere. So, yes, I have a working relationship with them, the FBI, in Chelsea now, the new offices in Chelsea, certainly. MS. And, of course, you know, we support the safety and maintain the safety of our residents. And I know you described a little bit about the process of, you know, how things go, and I think you just went through some of it with Alderman Wright. MR. Yes. MS. But if somebody – nobody's being pulled over or – hopefully not if they

▶ 2:47:01 They go 26 miles an hour, but nobody's being pulled over randomly to check their immigration status or anything like that as a current practice or being stopped to check immigration status. I will say the same thing that I said to the reporter over there on her computer. I asked her, and she was in my office a couple weeks ago, could you tell me what an illegal alien looks like? And she looked at me very puzzled, right, Jen? and I finally I let her off the hook and I said it looks like everybody else everybody else in this room so we could not do that effectively and if somebody does get arrested and to be detained you have to basically be arrested or taken under protective custody because you either or you had there has to be a

▶ 2:47:52 police action for us to even get to that next level and when we start doing the booking process is the same for something that is arrested or in a protective custody somebody that has consumed too much alcohol they are still processed the same way obviously the end result is they get to walk out when they when they sober up you know some 12 hours late up to 12 hours and you explained to me that that process is that everybody is fingerprinted everybody is fingerprinted because it was I said to all them and right we do not want to let someone go that does not belong on the streets and so they go through a system and they're checked on a national database yes fingerprinted and if somebody is not here legally and does have a civil warrant or anything

▶ 2:48:41 like that that the federal government is alerted that they are there in the Melrose Police Department well we would say to them is that every person that's arrested by the Melrose Police Department is subject to bail there's an independent person is going to hear the facts are surrounding this this case arrest and that person is going to make a determination whether the bill is $40 which is they call it a personal or no bill but the federal government would be alerted that that person is is in the Norris the police department has been just by the fingerprints along by the fingerprints along just by the And would there be any way to stop the federal government from being alerted that that person was there?

▶ 2:49:25 Not when they're fingerprinted. It's, you don't turn back from fingerprints, I'm sorry. For what reason? In order to use the database, we basically have to. Generally, when an officer stops a motorist anywhere for any violation, you know, they run the plate, they run the owner. First, people don't know who's driving the vehicle, so we run the owner status of the vehicle. And then the next step is when we introduce ourselves to the operator, when you're going 26. Rita. Warning. Don't speed. So we would run somebody through. The federal government might be alerted. They can choose whether or not to take action to pick that person up or not. That's entirely up to them to contact us, say, hey, we want to hold that person.

▶ 2:50:13 we want to come and take that person and if we wanted to not communicate with the federal government that that person was there then we wouldn't really be able to fingerprint them we would not be telling the truth if we told them that yes and we wouldn't know whether they did have a criminal history or a civil history if we didn't fingerprint them well when you fingerprint somebody we do it we run it a simple name and a date of birth will give you pretty much anybody's criminal history so we'll know your driving record by your name and date of birth. Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman McAteer-Margolis, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Chief, for being here and for reassuring us of the

▶ 2:50:56 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: great job that your officers do. But just in terms of going forward, you did send us a letter today. You emailed us, and you spoke to kind of implementing this policy that you've been that's been codified and can you just talk a little bit about what you're doing going forward with your officers um to make sure that everybody's on the same page and that not that um there seems to be any doubt but just so that i'll say this that last year lieutenant norton is is my primary uh accreditation manager for the meadows police department and we're going We're going to put some additional layers in there, so there's more eyes on our policies and procedures as we go forward. So they may pick up something that I picked up recently on one of our policies.

▶ 2:51:53 That there's other eyes I'm looking at to make sure that all our T's are crossed and our I's are dotted. General terms, no typos. We do have two policies that we have created relative to immigration. as an immigration policy basically follows up the past practice that we've been using for many, many years. And another one that came about, which may be interesting to some of the folks in the audience, it's called U-Visa. And this was an act that was done not long ago by the federal government where somebody that has questionable immigration status in this country and is a victim of a serious crime a felony with the petition they can get an extended visa for up to four years and also if it's a

▶ 2:52:49 cooperating witness within a federal capital crime they also can get an extended visa I would say that apply to Melrose as far as victims of domestic violence and Melrose is a very very welcoming community as far as victims of domestic violence and so chief that would kind of create a little bit more of a safety net for people who might be here with an expired visa or might be concerned about coming forward well I think my big concern about this whole thing today and is it and I think one one speaker touched on it that I would be concerned that some some person has a I'm using the word questionable immigration status I'll leave it at that a questionable immigration status they see crimes going on in their in their neighborhood their their housing

▶ 2:53:42 wherever they're living and they're afraid to come forward and so those crimes are going to continue because that and that person is going to live in fear somebody else mentioned about the fear of crime is worse than crime itself and that bothers me that folks will not be coming forward to assist the police department and calling that that crime in their neighborhood that's my big concern and i think with the with different segments in our community i think the meadows police has uh reached out to those folks as best we can certainly our doors open my office doors opens any day i did get a lot of emails and correspondence from residents as far as this subject tonight do you have any thoughts on how you you know as the chief and as a department might follow

▶ 2:54:31 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: up as you know we know that you you do a lot of community policing already as Alderman Zwirko mentioned and certainly with your neighborhood meetings and meetings at schools is there anything that you can think of that you know this board could support you with or the Human Rights Commission or to make people who don't feel safe feel safer is there is there any talk to Adam from the Human Rights Commission he could not attend tonight but he and I had a brief conversation and I said you know we generally suspend our community meetings for the summit because I don't want to be there by myself so and there's a couple all men that know that but the meeting in May I said why don't we open up to anybody who wants to talk about community relations in our community at the May meeting.

▶ 2:55:22 That's fine with me. I will not be available for the April one. I will be away on a quasi-vacation with a group of 11 guys. We do our annual trip. I've already said too much because they're probably watching at home. And I'll get it tomorrow. Too much information. But anyway, so this month's meeting, since we're talking about it, unfortunately, is about drugs again we're having a knock-in training next next Wednesday night it's open to anybody in the community from 6 to 8 o'clock and I have 50 doses of Naxolone or more commonly known as knock-in donated to the Melrose Police Department we're going to give out that night so please spread the word and we'd love to see everybody go and I don't want to take any of that back with

▶ 2:56:02 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: me but anyway so back to your subject and I had to put a plug in it was getting it was going in now or later our main meeting would be a great meeting that anybody that's welcome that wants to talk about relations, how we can reprove them, certainly. There was one speaker that came up tonight. She wants to assist us with social media. She's an attorney. She's a local attorney. I won't mention her dad's name because many, many folks on the board know who her father was. It's nice to see the next generation following in the service of their predecessors. The president New the father very well as well. Yes, yes. No, but I mean, I think we saw tonight, and I want to just comment on the level of civility, which I think was outstanding and certainly harkens back to the days of Mayor Guerrero 20 plus years ago when he decided that we were going to try to have a more civil community.

▶ 2:56:58 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: And I think this is a good start, and I think whatever you can do as a leader of public safety in the community to assure people on both sides, because we have people who are certainly here as legal immigrants who don't necessarily feel safe, and we have people who have been here all their lives who, because of the stories they hear, they don't feel safe. So, I think it's an issue that we do need to address, and I'm sure that you and your team can help us figure out ways to do that. I will say this, that the Melville Police Department is another resource for this community. Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Further discussion? Alderman Forbes. Thank you, Mr. President. I read your letter a couple of times before the meeting, and I just wanted to single out a paragraph.

▶ 2:57:53 Scott M. Forbes: as an initial matter of the policy the petition seeks to have adopted already exists as a long-standing practice in the Melrose Police Department. In fact, this practice has been in existence for several decades, at least to the time of my arrival in the force almost 31 years ago. Melrose officers are acutely aware of and are trained on the best practices for handling these types of situations, particularly given the sensitive issues involved. so whether or not this order passes or does not pass your practice is not going to change it's still business as usual um in the in the in regards to how you're going to be able to handle situations on a day-to-day basis am i correct in saying that yes you are okay

▶ 2:58:39 Francis X. Wright Jr.: thank you mr president thank you further discussions hey the order's before you what's pleasure the point of order mr president what's your point of order because this is the the method in which this came to us as a petition is this an up excuse me is this petition open to amendment no no this is a citizen petition we have no no ability to modify a citizen petition Thank you. Further discussion? Alderman Wright. Thank you, Mr. President. We've heard a lot of people speak on both sides of this very eloquently. I guess I find myself, as a lawyer, agreeing with a lot of what the lawyers said here, which is that the body of the petition reflects that which the police department is already doing it's the term sanctuary city that engenders so

▶ 2:59:52 Francis X. Wright Jr.: much of a reaction and that's on both sides I think but I think it's important for us to understand that, you know, the petition is asking us basically to, as a city and as a police department, because it asks not that we pass an ordinance, but that we, that the city have a policy, which I believe is what the chief is saying he is going to codify. And, you know, the term sanctuary does mean a lot of different things in a lot of different places across this country. It comes to us from the Middle Ages when sanctuary meant that no matter what heinous crime you may have committed, who you were fleeing from politically, you could you could seek shelter, you could seek protection in a church or a castle. And that's not what's happening here. That's why I asked the

▶ 3:00:54 Francis X. Wright Jr.: chief about all those different points. Chief, would you detain someone for ICE? if there's a warrant if there's a criminal arrest if there's a sex offender if there's a someone's on a terrorist watch list that's not going to occur what we're really talking about here is is language that's more akin to what the state of California passed in 2014 three years ago and that's what they called the trust act and people touched on it tonight the chief just touched on it, which is it's meant to engender trust, trust so that if somebody is in our community as an immigrant, legal or illegal, that they feel that they can safely call upon the Melrose Police, that if they're a victim of a crime or a witness of a crime, that they

▶ 3:01:48 Francis X. Wright Jr.: don't have to have fear that if I call the police and I hang around and the police show up and they want my identifying information because i'm the victim or because i'm the witness that that's going to start a process that i'm going to somehow get caught up in a net and be deported so i'd rather say nothing i'll stay back and because i didn't report the crime that person who committed it citizen immigrant illegal immigrant legal immigrant will still be in our community i guess to me i've heard a lot of people talking and i understand where they're coming from where they say let's just leave things alone let's melrose is open to all melrose is welcoming and things won't change if we just leave things alone um but we things weren't

▶ 3:02:48 Francis X. Wright Jr.: left alone this petition was filed so Jeannie can't be put back into the bottle we have to deal with this and to me to me this is a legacy issue I agree with the gentleman who said it doesn't matter what else we do as Member of this board our children our grandchildren people 100 years from now may look back as a matter of history as to what we do this evening and it it's unfortunate that what what we've got before us has been labeled the sanctuary city because that does mean a lot of different things but if I look at if I look at the body of the language the substance of what we're being asked to pass tonight and when I say pass it we're not passing it as a law we're off I would offer as a resolution that we we resolve to support this petition as it

▶ 3:03:56 Michael P. Zwirko: reflects the actions set forth tonight also in the chief's letter codifying a policy reflecting the present practice of the Melrose Police Department thank Thank you, Mr. President, and I'd also like to say thank you to Alderman Wright. I think you raised some really, really good points there. This petition arrived to us. No member of the Board of Aldermen brought this forward on their own, so this is what we have to make a dispositive motion on in one way or the other. I will say that for the last month, this issue has consumed most of my conversations with residents, conversations with my friends, conversations with family, conversations with coworkers, most conversations in the media. Melrose is not going to be immune to the issues that the cities and towns face.

▶ 3:05:06 Michael P. Zwirko: gonna have we're gonna we're gonna have these these conversations um i actually think it's a good conversation that we've had tonight i too want to echo the statements that i was really proud of everyone excuse me and the points of view that they they spread um i learned a lot i spent four and a half hours yesterday meeting with two people i had some very difficult conversations with them and about a week and a half ago i finally started to coalesce around where I was going to be with this and I know people have it's late but I really took a lot of time in this and I just do want to say that you know I didn't run for public service because I wanted to take an opinion on immigration status you know quite frankly I thought I was gonna be tinkering with a water bill but

▶ 3:05:56 Michael P. Zwirko: you know here we are and one of the reasons I entered public service was because I was so sick and tired of everything being a win or a loss especially excuse me especially when we're talking about people's lives instead I wanted to bring more conversations to the process conversations which often aren't taken contemporarily today and I often speak with anybody at any time about anything and I think it's important to do that you know understanding and conversing can actually create a solution here so anyways we're here tonight to speak about this petition as I've already stated I've done things outside of this office that have been at either rallies or vigils in support of many of the issues that people feel concerned about

▶ 3:06:43 Michael P. Zwirko: or have fear of I attend as many Human Rights Committee events as possible I I think it's very important for us to practice what we preach. I know that many people in this room have done the same. I cannot support this petition as written. And I support it for many reasons, mainly of which I am fearful that this will make us somewhat of a target. I'm also worried that Member in our community will fear that this designation may actually do, in fact, more harm that is intended to do when you hear about sanctuary city that's the banner that gets thrown across the sticker and you know it very well may be a headline tomorrow I do agree with Frank right to a certain extent that you know this is a legacy moment but I also do think in the continual search for

▶ 3:07:35 Michael P. Zwirko: compromise that there is a way in which we can actually satisfy this the fact of the matter is is that sanctuary cities differ from city to city Newton's a welcoming community that's what they passed Beverly recently put out a declaration from their mayor Quincy rejected it Boston approved it Somerville approved it lots of there's a patchwork going across the Commonwealth there's a bill that sits before the Senate in Massachusetts right now there's going to be a lot more activity on this I think that there can be even more activity on this here in Melrose it doesn't always need to come before this board changes don't always need to come from Congress changes can come from from ourselves and how we act in closing should we reject this petition that was

▶ 3:08:20 Gail Infurna: brought before us tonight I would like to work with Alderman Wright Member of the community on a resolution that speaks to what we as a community stand for and want to see amongst ourselves but I cannot support this petition as written thank you mr president thank you baldman inferno for the first time thank you very much mr president um first of all i want to thank everybody for coming here this evening um and for the people who worked hard to submit this um resolution and bring it forward i do believe in the people's right to uh their vote to have their voices heard i also think those that i also thank those um that have come forward to speak this evening and sit here for a couple of hours and

▶ 3:09:08 Gail Infurna: i got to tell you in my uh 19th year of serving on this board of alderman i have never had such an audience or had such long public participation so um i think it should be commended and people are very brave to come out and speak their opinions no matter what side of the issue you have been on as i worked my way through this and it's been one that i've kind of been going back and forth with I I thought and we did hear this today also from somebody of the public some member of the public what will change tomorrow morning if we pass this or you know and as we heard from Chief Lyle tonight nothing really will change tomorrow morning or thereafter we heard that what this petition is seeking already exists here in Melrose and I'm very proud of that

▶ 3:10:00 Gail Infurna: this will not change the way Melrose will continue to do business what it may do is harm our federal funding while we have heard you know we don't know whether it will or not you know what keeping up with the news and what's happening down in Washington you can't keep up with it on a minute-by-minute basis so I think we have to keep in mind that the possibility could could be there I'm not going to take that chance when and pass a resolution that the purposes already exist we're already doing what's happening I wrote down all sorts of things here this evening I believe in the functions and I believe that the Melrose functions in the spirit of this resolution every day we heard that this evening and one of the things that I did hear from the public and I

▶ 3:10:56 Gail Infurna: actually as people were speaking I kind of thought to myself people need to be feel welcomed I'm not quite sure if that's really what's before us this evening I don't know where sanctuary city and welcoming and the duties of the police all kind of tie in about feeling welcomed so I think we're dealing with many issues here and that that kind of can happen so I just want to make sure I wasn't missing anything but that's kind of what I've heard so tonight what the story is being told is while there well people may have fears for their safety that they should feel better that these conversations have taken place tonight and for the past probably several months probably since November and they should

▶ 3:11:44 Gail Infurna: really feel good that these conversations have taken place and in Melrose in a very civilized way our and our Melrose police functions like this on an everyday basis we should be very proud of that so with that all being said it's a long night but I support the spirit of this resolution but I will not be voting to support the resolution and for Melrose to become a sanctuary city I I do thank everybody who has come out and spoken this, but nothing will change. We will continue on and probably continue to make Melrose even better because of this evening. Thank you. Alderman Forbes. Thank you, Ms. President. First and foremost, I think we can all agree that any act of discrimination, prejudice, racism in our community,

▶ 3:12:40 Scott M. Forbes: anybody who is arrested for acts like that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law I know we heard stories tonight some people have personal stories I think everybody's in agreement whether you're for this issue or against that issue that's not tolerated in the city of Melrose I don't think any city official here or anybody from the police department anybody in this room would disagree with that statement we heard a lot tonight night that Melrose is a open community to all I know some people may not feel that way but how do we get to a better place how do we move Melrose in the in the right direction we do a lot of things that are positive in this community we have a lot of different groups we have clergy groups we have

▶ 3:13:26 Scott M. Forbes: community involvement in order for us to move forward we need to practice is kindness compassion and tolerance we need to be inclusive that's the way we move forward and it's about people so when I heard about the order tonight it would it occurred to me that the maker of the order should be happy or content and satisfied that we're currently enforcing what's being requested in her petition this is something the Meadows Police Department has done for the last 31 years as stated by Chief Lyle and it's only when we try to put labels and use certain terms when people become passionate to express their voice of support or opposition I'm not a fan of labels I that my personal opinion is is I I'm not in support of this order it is a good dialogue it's a dialogue we need

▶ 3:14:31 Scott M. Forbes: have moving forward this is the first step in what i think are going to be many steps but as the order is written tonight i i cannot support it i think that the term sanctuary city is divisive and i guess that's the way our politics is now it's it's good versus evil it's it's you plot one group against another group we can have conversations and we can try to move forward and And I hope that's what we can do at the local level. Thank you, Mr. President. The President. Mr. Anyone else? I'll go back to Tia Margolis for the second time. Tia Margolis Thank you, Mr. President. I'm the daughter of an immigrant who came here when there were signs up that said no Irish need apply. And he worked very hard to overcome that.

▶ 3:15:25 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: And regardless of maybe how welcoming this country was to him and made available opportunities to him, I think there were always times when his perception was that he wasn't wanted. So I understand how perception can be different for people who have a different, come from a different reality. And I think that we need to acknowledge that. I also think that we as immigrants need to acknowledge that the people who are here have a different perception of what they're doing and how they are treating us and you. And I do think that the term sanctuary city is a very political football right now. I'm happy, I was happy to hear Attorney General Maura Healey last week talk about her office and their defense of people's rights,

▶ 3:16:35 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: people's right to not be discriminated against and her enforcement of that. So I think that we do have some safety nets in place, but I also think that, as Alderman Wright has said, this is sort of a legacy moment. And I think that Melrose, you know, when we wanna say we're one community open to all, we wanna walk the walk when we talk the talk. I don't expect that this order is going to pass, but I will say in my heart of hearts, I would like it to pass. I would like it to be able to be amended without the language Sanctuary City. But since it can't be amended in that fashion, Um, I also would be very happy to support a resolution, um, that, uh, sets out the language that the Board of Aldermen feels comfortable supporting that I think would satisfy the

▶ 3:17:38 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: different factions of this community so that people know and we can all be on the same page, that we can be respectful of each other, that we can be civil to each other, even if we don't always agree on every topic. With that in mind, if there is no one else left to speak, I would make a motion to place this order on file. Mr. President. Alderman McAteer-Margolis is making a motion to place the order on file. Second. Point of order. I have a motion for a resolution. I'm sorry. Was that a second? I don't think a motion for a resolution relative to this petition would be in order. would ask that we table the matter then so we can get a from the city solicitor as to how this matter can move forward or not as the case may be I mean I would

▶ 3:18:29 be of the opinion another order could be filed adopting a resolution okay we we have a motion that's just been made to place the order on file that's been seconded by Alderman Vision does the maker or the seconder want to remove their motion or second or do you wish to proceed on the motion mr. president could we did did alderman just as a point of order did alderman Rita make that as a as a motion with us was there a second to that I know you've made a motion that's been seconded Alderman Wright has indicated that he would like to see the order tabled I have to entertain your motion before I can entertain another motion unless you wish to withdraw your motion and Alderman Boisselle wishes to withdraw his second.

▶ 3:19:18 Monica C. Medeiros: But there would be a rule, but the chair would rule that a subsequent order would be in order after this meeting, subsequent to a resolution? Well, it's the opinion of the chair that we cannot amend a citizen petition. That's the ruling of the chair. I'll withdraw my motion. Are you withdrawing your second, Alderman Boisselle? No. Okay, so the motion stands. Is there discussion on the motion to place the order on file? Thank you. Thank you very much. I wanted to take a moment, too, to thank all the people who have come out to speak tonight and to the many who wrote in to us and, of course, to those who brought this petition forward. And I think it's been a great exercise in public and civic involvement. It's certainly the largest crowd that I've seen and the latest crowd that I've seen here.

▶ 3:20:23 Monica C. Medeiros: so thank you all for staying normally people come and then take off so that being said you know we we're in a situation in nationally and politically it's been very inflamed and I think that this petition whether it was intended to or not just the the term sanctuary city kind of follows suit with that and it's It's a label that does mean many things to many different people. The language and the body of what is to actually be changed is not anything that's really being changed. Chief Lyle has pointed out to us that we have not had any such infractions or incidents of this in 20 years in Melrose. There's no authority for this Melrose police to actually hold anybody on a civil warrant. And unfortunately, I think the heat of the national discussion has brought even some

▶ 3:21:37 Monica C. Medeiros: of the signers to have sort of a misunderstanding of what this petition would do. I think it also creates a misunderstanding from those who oppose it as to what it is. And it just exacerbates an already tense political situation that we're all trying to heal from and come back together again as a community after a tough election. So I just, we're going to take a vote today and I think it's important to say that, you know, I thank everybody for bringing this forward, but I don't support this right now. Thank you. Alderman Lemmerman for the first time. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to take one moment to say that I appreciate Alderman Wright efforts to see if this was something that could move forward, you know, taking out the language

▶ 3:22:27 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: of sanctuaries that was causing the issue. When I've looked at this issue, I've tried to look at it from two angles of both the goal that I understand it as stated in sort of making a statement as a community that want to make but then also from the lens of how this affects the police department and and how they do their work which is critical that we're supporting their ability to do their work and I think from what I've been hearing this is something that they are doing I think it is important to make a statement I think that I agree that the the language is written has caused an issue but that it is still important that we try to to in my opinion I would would like to support the spirit of this so I if a resolution later is

▶ 3:23:15 introduced I would happily support that I would like to see it though see if there's an opportunity to still reach the goal through this particular order that was brought forth by by residents thank you thank you any further discussion it is a motion that's been made and duly seconded to place this order on file all those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye aye any opposed the order passes uh the motion passes the order will be placed on file i think that concludes our business this evening mr president second uh water moves to adjourn Motion is seconded by Alderman Zwerchel. The meeting is hereby adjourned.

City Council — 2017-03-20

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