Remarks by Gerry Martin
22 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
- Play at 45:06
“Thank you, Madam President. On September 24th, Councilor Santanello and I had a joint subcommittee meeting of Public Safety and Health and Human Services talking about the recent ban of Kratom. It was a follow-up meeting. specifically the confiscation thereof. The state and Governor Healy's office stated that we aren't allowed to confiscate it from the stores that are currently selling them. They are scheduled A1, and as you guys all got in the letters, people have overdosed from it. There's some... scary side effects. So I was just talking with the law department attorney, um, Danielle…”
CITY COUNCIL · Oct 5, 2026
- Play at 44:28
“THANK YOU, MR. VICE PRESIDENT. HAD A COUPLE MEETINGS OF PUBLIC SAFETY OVER THE SUMMER. ONE WAS JUST KIND OF LIKE A GENERAL UPDATE IN REGARDS TO JUST LIKE PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE CITY. I WAS JOINED IN PERSON WITH COUNSELOR DAVILA, CAPTAIN BRIAN Bellaviv, can't pronounce last name, excuse me, Dave Robillette, Sergeant Dave Robillette, Sergeant Daniel Johnson, Erica Swallows, and then Nazir Islam. AND VIRTUALLY WE WERE JOINED BY COUNSELOR BROWN, COUNCIL PRESIDENT WHITFIELD, ERICA CRUZ AND SHIRLEY. IT WAS A REALLY INFORMATIVE MEETING ABOUT DATA COLLECTION, INFORMATION AND JUST…”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 59:09
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:19:05
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:40:57
“I JUST WANT TO FIRST OFF THANK MY COLLEAGUE COUNSELOR HURST FOR WORKING ALONG WITH ME ON THIS ORDINANCE. WE HAD BOTH BEEN WORKING ON IT INDEPENDENTLY AND ONCE WE REALIZED THAT WE DECIDED TO COME TOGETHER AND COME UP WITH THE BEST SOLUTION FOR THE RESIDENTS. This is essentially something that we're mimicking with other communities. Chicopee, West Springfield have adopted stricter ordinances for door-to-door sales, peddlers, particularly like the solar panels. I'm sure everybody has either had run-ins with them. or have heard people who've had run-ins with them. They've become much more…”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:50:46
“Yeah, it's pretty much like commercial vendors. You know, in the ordinance, it particularly protects You know, religious affiliates, charitable organizations, political candidates. I know I'd be out of a job. I mean, I knocked on everybody's door three times. So it does have those protections in there, Counselor Walsh.”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:51:17
“No, particularly the commercial vendors. The commercial vendors would be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. So if you were, you know, the pest control or the solar panels or those notorious industries, you would fall subject to that ordinance in that time frame.”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:54:49
“Any of you two want to answer that? TO MY KNOWLEDGE, COUNSELOR, WE DID NOT INCORPORATE ANY PROVISIONS ON SUNDAYS.”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:55:43
“sorry counselor it's not that they have to notify ahead of time it's that if they do if they are persistent if they are using these predatory tactics to notify ideally an ordinance officer and then you know we do implement the fines and I do believe there was a provision if they don't pay the fines or if they keep racking them up that we could revoke the license or the police department could revoke that license your mic”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:40:31
“Thank you, Mr. Vice President. And thank you, Counselor Click-Bruce, for bringing this initiative. I do think it is obviously a very important topic of conversation we all hear regularly. from a lot of constituents about you know people you know disregarding safety and flying through and speeding through the city of springfield um we just want to make sure we feel safe on our own in our own streets so i'd be happy to support this initiative however um we as a body feel necessary i would also be open to um holding it in a public safety meeting if uh YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY WITH COUNSELOR CLIP…”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:01:09
“Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I don't know. I just, when I put my name on the ballot, I never thought it would be like this between everybody. whether it was, you know, and this is coming from both sides, the establishment and the counter-establishment. It's been a brutal year of people calling people names, throwing accusations. It's just wrong. It's politics as usual. We should be better than this. We should be serving the people of Springfield. And this is just a distraction. I was almost impressed that we were going to go through a whole meeting without this drama.”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:01:49
“And again, it's coming from both sides. And I defended people on both sides. It just, it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart for the residents and they deserve better. And I, whether we vote on it tonight, a month from now, let's just, let's move, let's move past it. Let's get past the politics as usual. Let's serve the city.”
CITY COUNCIL · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:29
“Yeah, first and foremost, I want to Thank publicly Keith O'Connor, Michael Jacob, Maurice. I mean, they've been outstanding public servants. You know, recently I've had a particular issue that's raised a lot of concerns on Great Crest Road. They were wicked attentive to it and they went full force. And I do appreciate that work when all things work together, they're on top. But my big gripe as a whole is the repeat offenders, people who are repeated these violent, these ordinance violations and how we can hold them accountable and make sure that we continue to have respect for them. our…”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 17:04
“I just, I wanted to go back to something Commissioner Desolates had said earlier. I believe you may have answered it, but I was writing, so I might not have cashed it. So I know you said $600,000 of the total amount of tickets was issued. You don't know how much of that $600,000 was actually collected.”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 18:02
“I see. So that information of how much was actually collected would come from the collector's office. They don't have any lines of communication with you guys in your department to say if a ticket was actually collected on or not? Would that be helpful to you guys?”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 23:23
“No, I think Commissioner Desolates and Councilor Govan, you know, raising excellent points about, you know, if they're not paying the tickets, what can we do? And something I had mentioned in the last meeting was this city initiative for Operation Clean Sweep. And I'm glad Attorney Shea is here for me to bounce these things off of because this is when the city brought back in 2009, 70 cases and in 2010, 118 cases before the housing court in Springfield. where they can bring in these habitual offenders, these negligent properties, these ordinance violators in and, you know, get these court…”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 24:37
“Yes, like people who have tickets that have been open for all these times.”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 25:21
“Do you know how many cases are brought from the city? I'd have to find that out.”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 32:56
“So just a quick clarifying question. That fine, is that just for out-of-town plates, or is that for anybody who's dumping, illegal dumping, or is that for ordinance violations, generally speaking, or is that just you're in a car, you're dropping off these tires on the side of the road, and you're moving on? How does that break down?”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 33:25
“Does it matter where they're from or where their car is?”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 49:07
“You can email Counselor Dabbler, Counselor LaVar Walsh, and we can just forward it and put it on an email chain with the police officer to get a quicker response to that too.”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026
- Play at 55:14
“Um, again, thank you Mr. chair. I do want to again, thank. All department heads and a lot of partner for being here being so responsive again on an individual basis as I. Raised an issue you guys were very prompt in addressing it, but I just. Yeah, just having that follow through and making sure these repeat violators are stopped because it just. I want people to have respect for our neighborhoods and our cities. I do appreciate all the hard work, but let's work harder and let's get the job done. So thank you again and thank you for your time.”
CITY COUNCIL · Aug 3, 2026