Remarks by Matthew McLaughlin
26 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
Resolution with a split vote, I love it. I think there's two things that are true here, is this work needs to get done and it's going to be very expensive and not everyone can afford it. I feel like the city has led the way on infrastructure, on managing sewage, on managing our sewers, doing work that is 100 years overdue. And year after year we have voted for rate increases to pay for this and we were told just a couple years ago Once we reach this rate We're gonna flatten out we're not gonna have to do it and then the very next year told that we're gonna basically be voting for 100%…
Through the chair, Director Raish, what are you here for today?
So Director Raish has been giving us great presentations for at least my time here. And I know the amount of work he's done and the city's done on this I've expressed consistently my desire to see a regional solution to Address on the financing which isn't to say that the work doesn't have to be done.
Councillor McLaughlin. I feel very entitled today, Mr. President. And I feel like we're ahead of schedule, so I'm going to make a big speech.
Yes. So, Councilman Ewan Campin will address a lot of this in his committee report for the Land Use Committee, but this comes out of our discussion with ADUs and triple-deckers and condos. I made a very passionate... Case for the use of condos in the community, which allows homeowner opportunities for people like me who can't afford a full house, as are most people in the city, I would say, at this point. And one of the things that makes a condo different than a regular rental unit is our condo conversion ordinance, which is the strongest in the state, which is really the only way we can…
I'll be quicker about this because we all know the situation with the local fires City of Boston recently had a similar fire And a city council has submitted a resolution similar to this to ensure that these businesses are being taken care of I know the city's doing a lot already I would just like to discuss it to make sure we're not missing anything and leaving people behind I'd like this to go to public health Okay, any other discussion?
Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to remember Teresa Hussey of Rush Street, lifelong Somerville resident, multi-generation Somerville resident, former employee of the city of Somerville, just all around great person, mother, grandmother. I went to high school with her son, played football with him. Her daughter also served in the military in the U.S. Army, and she's very proud of her grandson that she helped raise as well. Just a really great person, very genuine person, very honest and direct. And took a lot of pride in her work I put it place orders as a counselor all the time and she'd…
questions I just need to point out you used a whole lot of words to say that we've got to get rid of more words in our code of ordinances mr. president through you to councillor McLaughlin I am nothing if not loquacious yes big undertaking thank you for this I do say on the positive I will say I hope that a revision of the ordinances will lead to the valid legitimate ordinances that we have that don't always get enforced. Maybe it'll be more clear and easy to understand, and we can get a vacant storefronts ordinance, for example, to be enforced, or many other ordinances that we spend a lot of…
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
So the issue is, is that the city now owns this building, which very similar to the armory. It's like, hooray, we own this building. Now we can do something with it. And now there's a number of liability issues that go with it, with who owns the property, who gets to have a key, for example. So there are issues that make it difficult to allow just random people to have access to this building. But when I discussed this with the city, it was understood that they would not be ending meetings until we found a replacement for them. And it doesn't sound like that's happening. So that's what's…
I think it's worth to, well, why don't we approve the item tonight? in housing and then I can take it up in public health. Does that make sense? Because I have a whole separate issue with the use of the building itself.
Councillor McLaughlin. Thank you, Mr. President. We did meet. We met mostly to discuss the warming center that many people were interested in learning about. Unfortunately, we weren't able to discuss that item due to the fire in Teal Square and many city officials had to. That obviously took priority, so we weren't able to discuss that. I am going to schedule another meeting soon so that we can have a full discussion. One item that did get discussion is that the Commission of Public Works invest in trash barrels with latches to address rodent issues. We discussed this issue. DPW is looking…
Thank you, Mr. President. Since this is becoming real now, I'll give my thoughts on it since I'm not on the Legislative Matters Committee. I'm glad to see, first of all, the administration is open to discussing it with the council how to move forward and laying out some options. Something I didn't see discussed or I saw a little bit that I would like to see come out of civilian review is the concept of restorative justice, having something that we're discussing about punishment, the ability to to fire someone or not, but lots of times I feel like some interactions with police and the public…
Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, a number of activists in the community approached me to talk about mitotonic dystrophy, which is a genetic multi-system disorder that's caused progressive muscle weakness in individuals. It's impacted by about 1 in 2,100 people. and I want to take the moment to recognize the struggle of this and the residents who care about this issue. I do believe the mayor was going to speak. Oh, there he is. The mayor, I'd like to give him a moment to speak, but then I'd also like to sponsor a speaker as well after that.
Council would like to sign on any other discussion council McLaughlin back to you I would at some point like to pause for a photo but I know there's another another event item with speakers so if you want to proceed to the next one if not I would like to pause for a photo at some point I think now would be a good time for a photo let's take a brief recess so we can take some pictures and then we'll come right back to business
Thank you, Mr. President. I can see the Encore Casino from my house right in my backyard, so I think I live the closest to it, and I was trying to decide whether I was going to tell the story about me opposing the casino, but someone just mentioned it. I remember years ago, I went to Everett, and I was speaking against the casino for a number of reasons because I just thought it was there was a better location on the table at the time. When I spoke, there was this roar of cat hisses from the audience just basically disagreeing with me, respectfully disagreeing. Those voices were from labor.…
I guess if we're making speeches about committee reports, I'll weigh in. The UCTF is all in Ward 1, and I do want to just point out that one of the things I'm happy with is that I got East Broadway included in the UCTF zone. It was originally just going to be Assembly Row and a few spots on East Broadway. but I really wanted to make sure that was a priority, and I appreciate the city helping me out with that, because we've got a number of vacant lots on East Broadway. Majority, about 70% immigrant-owned businesses. We're trying to revitalize that area, make it a place to hang out and to be…
So, Mr. President, I'd like this referred to the Public Health and Safety Committee, where I have a meeting scheduled for September 30th, 6.30 p.m. I would ask Director Nigel Williams to take into consideration everything said tonight and have prepared response from the city, and we can discuss it then.
I too have an announcement to make. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.
All right, we will stand in recess for five minutes or whatever it takes to hopefully address this audio question.
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'll just speak on all three of them because I feel like every item applied to me directly in one form or another at one point. My mother was a janitor at MIT, represented by 32BJ. My brother was a security guard at Harvard, represented by 32BJ. I went to Tufts University, was a groundskeeper and a custodian at two different points. And at the opposite end of all of these are the most powerful institutions in the region. who have plenty of money to take care of the working people who do all the work around here in this community. So I just want to sign on to all…
Thank you, Mr. President. I'll also sign on and note that I was riding my bike here today going down Cross Street and the 80 bus was coming right towards me. Not anywhere near a Green Line station. Cross Street, Pearl Street, a lot of these areas. You could be standing in front of the entrance to the Green Line station in East Somerville and not be near the train because you got to walk about six minutes down this long path just to get there. Not accessible area at all. And I don't want to see this bus leave. I don't want to see any buses leave. What's frustrating to me with the fact that the…
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Councillor Laughlin. Oh, where to begin on this one, Mr. President, on the subject of unenforced ordinances. Well, first, just some background for people who might have went around when the Airbnb ordinance was passed a few years ago. First of all, one of the things I found is interesting is then we heard from ISD that they're not enforcing the vacant properties ordinance because they're very busy enforcing the Airbnb ordinance. Just as a subject on this, a few years ago, I was a part of the whole conversation where some of us were there about how to make this policy. And I came up with…