Remarks by Christopher M. Peckham, Sr.
79 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 4
“Do you want to recognize the citation for us? Let me go ahead with it.”
“Okay. I had a neighbor, he moved a couple of years ago, a young man named Mason. And the reason for the city citation is he came up to me a few years ago with the idea of a dog park at the location of the old Kennedy Park pool. And fast forward a few years, I took Mason on a tour of the government center. Yeah, much better, thank you.”
“The drive in this young man is unbelievable. If we had more young kids this age in an era where a lot of our crime in the city is being committed by juveniles, we need more kids like Mason. So I recognize Mason with the city citation just for that reason. Don't give up because you have my support with the dog park. I think that's a wonderful idea. I know the mayor probably hasn't written you back, but join the club. So I will reach out to him to see what's going on. With that being said, I would like to recognize Mason, the City of Fall River, Massachusetts City Council official citation. Be…”
“Thank you, Council President. I want to thank you. Your business is a huge asset to the city. My daughter, when she was younger, bought a trumpet from you guys. And you've been here. You dedicated your business here, which we scream for all the time. We want people to do that. I can tell you that I've been in constant communication recently with the chief. And I obviously can't say publicly what the conversation was, but there is, I call it a T, and it's South Main Street, and it runs all the way up to the rail trail behind Walmart. And that seems to be one of our biggest issues is I don't…”
“Good evening. Good evening, sir. One question I have is, who's paying for these things?”
“Not that I know of. Okay, because I had asked that question during council council canyons meeting, and I was told that no money goes to the harm reduction through the city. But like Council Deon just said, indirectly, it's all tax money. Total disagreement with it. Council forever just said she wonders if we're enabling. We might as well shoot it for him. just can't i can't we got so many issues and it's we actually feed the fire um this needs to end we got diabetics that can't afford their medication but we're giving out stuff for people to shoot dope make that make sense to me i appreciate…”
“So what was the 30 days for? What are they looking at? This has been months. So this just didn't go to public works. This was in my committee for months. There's been hundreds of emails, literally, phone calls. I've been down there with the media. What are they figuring out? Did they tell you what they need to figure out?”
“Yeah, well, this has been months, literally. I couldn't get anybody to talk about it for the first month or two, but I was working with you guys. It's kicking the can down the road. That's what this is. And ultimately, I want to apologize to you and your neighborhood for this. And the reason for that is you guys are the victims of political favors. That's what I was told, that that road was done for political favors for decades. And one day, the mayor woke up and said, I'm done doing political favors, and he left you guys stranded. That's not right. We had the fire department down there,…”
“I was told by Ann, the mayor, and everybody that I've talked to that it was a political favor for a political party that lived on the water. If you know it differently, you've been around for 30 years.”
“She's got comments while I'm talking. She needs to respect me.”
“Counselor, it's time to retire. With that said, we need to move this forward. I'm sick of talking about it. What committee does it go to next? So, Council President, I would like an answer by tomorrow from the administration as to what is going on with this, where it sits, and exactly where it stands. Because if we don't, we're going to be here in three months talking about the same issues.”
“Thank you. Add Corporation Council Rumsey to that list of people that told me this was a political favor. Public record, please. Understood. Thank you, Council. You yield? I yield.”
“I wasn't on the council, but I had heard a rumor. Didn't we accept two vehicles from the Bristol County Sheriff's Office as a donation for our Veterans Service Department? Does anybody recall that?”
“Madam Clerk, can we find out where those vehicles are? I would like to know. I would like to see the donations slip from the Bristol County Sheriff's Office to the City of Fall River, and then I would like to see where those vehicles ended up afterwards. Because we're sitting here talking about vehicles and rides. You know what this is? A lack of leadership, like I keep saying over and over again. How this man can sit upstairs on the sixth floor and know that his elderly and his veterans aren't getting rides to the supermarket? I mean, is that leading with heart? Is that what we call it?…”
“i can't volunteer to drive a car how about the mayor on the sixth floor can he come down and drive the vehicle to bring these veterans and seniors to their appointments grocery stores i don't know maybe the sherries in the morning one of the two he can probably bring him somewhere to eat Can I tell you? No, I'm talking.”
“Yeah, it's fine. One of my biggest pet peeves is being cut off, and I think that's quite apparent at this point. Go ahead.”
“With that being said, I want to know what the bans are. Understood. I yield. Thank you.”
“The public safety meeting for the City Council Committee on Public Safety, September 15th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Clerk, call the roll. Councilor Canuel? Here. Councilor Raposo? Here. Chair Peckham? Pursuant to open meeting, or any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived by those present, and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. First item on agenda is citizens input. Nobody on the list for citizens…”
“And Chris Peckham, Chair. So I believe this was your resolution, correct, Councillor? It was. So if you want to open up with this, that would be fantastic.”
“When I did my prior job, I was the fire and health and safety officer for the Bridgewater Complex, and my job every morning was to go around to each unit and inspect the AEDs, so it was a morning test. So that's one question I have is... How often are we testing these? Are we doing it daily, which I believe most of the companies recommend, weekly, monthly? And then on the flip side to that is if we buy these and we put them in the little leagues and something goes wrong, are we responsible?”
“I understand. I think there's many questions that would have to be asked in the logistics of this manpower. Like you said, the ability to house these units in cold weather.”
“Motion to list item four from the table. Second. Motion to list item number four from the table as it may be seconded. Item number four is a resolution to convene with the administration, police chief, chief of emergency medical services, chief of emergency management agency. the Administrator of Community Utilities, the Interim Director of the Department of Community Maintenance, the Director of City Operations, and the Director of Traffic and Parking to discuss the development of a strategic emergency response plan, Tables 429 of 26. And go around the table. She's done with you.”
“Ian O'Neill-Sousa, city administrator. So I know that last time we sat and discussed this topic, I just asked maybe to run a list, keep a running list of things, ideas maybe, as to what we could put in this room, what this room needs. maybe a list of upgrades. If you don't have that, I was supposed to send an email as a reminder, so I apologize for that. I forgot to. But if we can go around the table, if this idea is for this room, I'd love to hear them, jot them down, get a running list, and then maybe chop away at this little by little. You know, there's no money up front to take care of…”
“right yeah um so with that phone i know it's completely separate my biggest push for up here and i know we've had conversations was a second dispatch location so god forbid something happened at the police station we'd have a backup you know we could send our dispatches um do you think that would be a large feat in itself that'd be a question for you chris i think right yeah i think that would be”
“I laugh every time. So New Bedford is still a lot back up? Yes. That was insanity to me back then.”