Remarks by Naima Sait
22 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
Yeah, through you, Mr. President. First, I'd like to thank you for this. This is very helpful. Thank you for the transparency. It's the first ACUCN smile since I got on the council. So this is very helpful to see what we'll be doing this year, next year, and the next few years. I had a few questions, but before that, I really appreciate seeing schools. These buildings have been neglected for decades. Making sure we have a plan for that, this is a great first step. Of course, the cost here, now we can all see it, is very high. The first question here, because we're maintaining really old…
And can you just, to the public, tell us the reasoning behind that, why gas powered when the goal is, I know this is more like an emergency, like you had to do something.
Yeah, thank you, Director. You've shared this before in the School Building Facilities and Maintenance Committee, but this is helpful for the public, because we're asked this question a lot. This goes in opposition to our goals as a city, so thank you for... The power and space. Yeah, we need to get them ready. And the other question I had, so similar to my colleagues you know, looking at the street and sidewalk program that for FY 27 is almost 10 million. Um, which, you know, is really high. And I'm just wondering if, is it because we're outsourcing that a lot? Is that, is it part of it? You…
Okay, thank you. This is really great to hear because this is something that the body has been asking for for years, so I'm glad we are starting that, and we hope we'll do more of it. And the last question I had is about the fleet. You have discussed this a little bit, but... What I want to ask is, are we looking into electrifying some of the fleet? And looking at the priorities, we have the DPW roof. DPW roof, electrical panels go there, and wouldn't electrifying some of the fleet be all part of, you know, a great plan?
Thank you, and I look forward to learning more about that.
Mr. President, I was just going to add, I forgot, the armory roof. I'm really glad to see in the priority pipeline the armory roof. I understand that this, you know, we're going to need to look into, like, funding. But, again, I really appreciate that this is being, this made it to the list. This is making sure, you know, like, seeing just like we have been listening I've been listening to artists. This is the space that the whole community is using, so making sure that roof is addressed. Yeah, so I'm really glad to see this.
Through you Mr. President, traffic and parking, we had a public hearing regarding construction parking permits and the impact of current enforcement policy on neighborhood residents. We heard from the abutters and the residents on those streets. And what we requested from the administration is that we have staff from ISD, from SPD, from engineering and parking. So everyone is there. Everyone is hearing the same version of what's happening. And it was helpful to hear suggestions from the residents. And there was no discussion. In the committee, it was just a public hearing, so we are going to…
Through you, Mr. President. Yeah, so, as you know, I'm the World Councilor, so I've been following this for years at this point. When I first got on the Council, January, this was the first order I put in, the Council order, which is securing leases for the Armory tenants. Yeah, I'm very excited about this moment. I want to thank the administration and everyone who's worked on this. And I'm looking forward to this next chapter, and I'm really glad you're joining the team and you will be, you know, the... you know, the connection, right, between, you know, the city and all these tenants,…
Thank you, Mr. President. First, I would like to thank PSAF staff, our land use analyst, Samantha, our policy analyst, Brandon, for working with me on this amendment. I would also like to thank my constituent, Denise Provo, whose experience helped to bring this issue to my attention and staff's attention. It was like a year and a half ago, or two years at this point. If you have been to Denise's yard, you know that she has one of the biggest silver maple trees in the city. She's been taking care of the tree for decades. The whole neighborhood gets to enjoy the tree. The tree is over 150…
Through you, Mr. President, this is another issue that was brought to attention by Ward 5 constituents. We know that now with the Mass Save programs, we have more neighbors applying and benefiting to get heat pumps or insulation. And yeah, with the summer's getting warmer, Yeah, we have just more applications with MassSave. Therefore, people also have to pull permits to get that work done. We know that program also had a huge cut recently, and MassSave now works with just 15 contractors for installation, and then if you're doing heat pumps, the chances that you go with them, too. So... Making…
Yeah, we'll just add one more thing, Mr. President, and someone who had heat pumps installed a few months ago. You know, working with contractors who are HVAC contractors, you know, a lot of them, they're doing this one-man show. They do everything. They don't have administrative staff. They certainly don't have the time to go through a website and, you know, look for documents. And, you know, some English is not necessarily your first language.
Thank you, Mr. President. So this is a grant that we apply for every year. Before it comes before us again for approval, usually the last one you approved it in January of this year, I would like to hear from SPD about the financial breakdown of how this grant was used, the areas of education, enforcement, And I think it's a good practice for us once a year to have an opportunity to discuss ways the community can best benefit from this grant by identifying the current needs and, yeah, improving our practices. I would like to send this to traffic and parking, Mr. President.
Through you, Mr. President, Traffic and Parking Committee met with all three members present. We discussed the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee's public comment regarding the bus network redesign. The MBTA Board of Directors previously voted to endorse the system redesign, which included changes to Route 80. But the MBTA has more recently been committed to fine-tuning the proposal and being open to feedback. We discussed that losing the current 80 bus route would be a major loss for supporting the 115 Sagamore School. We learned that the Western Pearl Street reconstruction was…
Yeah, Mr. President, if you can read item 4.7, 4.8, and 4.9 together. Very well.
Yeah, through Mr. President. I would like to have all these sent to traffic and parking. I just want to say the conversation will happen there. I just want to say a few things about it. So the Kennedy, as we know, the Kennedy community, school community, they have an awesome design, new design on street now with bike lane. They've been there the second week of school and it's really great to see so many parents biking there, students. So the reason I put these items forward, there were some challenges the second full week of school. Well, the first full week, there were some challenges there.…
Just on that, Mr. President. Yeah, I would just add that. We already got a yes for that, which is great. Bike racks are happening. It's just going to take some time to order them, and we don't know exactly how many. And also mobility, they always show up to traffic and parking, so this is another, you know, it's like, it's, you know, we have a system, but thank you, Councilor Link.
Yeah, through you, Mr. President. So I feel very strongly about this intersection as I used to live right at this intersection and something I see all the time, especially during the baseball season when there are games, there's so many kids crossing that intersection to get to 7-Eleven to get a drink, you know, or something, a snack. So this is, yeah. This is something that I would like mobility staff to look into, because right now you can take a right, yeah, on red, and I think that needs to change.
So I'd like to send that to traffic and parking.
Through you, Mr. President. So we had the conversation about the teen center in school building facilities and maintenance, and yeah, Yeah, so as we know, we don't have a building that's available for a teen center. And we got a confirmation from Director Rage, I think almost 100% sure that it's not going to happen in the next five years. Because, again, we're dealing with buildings. So I think... That's when I asked if staff are looking into Somerville High the next five years. We need something. Yeah, so I think I would like to send this to the finance committee because it has to do with…
Mr. President, I would just add one more thing. I think also when I heard arguments that all students are already there in the building all day until 2.30. And as a former teacher will say, and you heard this especially from students during COVID, To a lot of our students, high school students, that building is everything to them. It is home, like literally home. That's where they get their food. That's their community. And really remote learning shall confirm that. They don't have internet at home. They rely on those spaces to do their homework, to be connected to the internet. And again,…
Through you, Mr. President. First, I would like to thank Councillor Klingin for bringing this resolution forward. And, yeah, I want to say that your strike right now is incredibly inspiring. Keep up the fight. You will win. And we stand with you and we support you.
Yeah, through you, Mr. President. First, also glad to see this on the agenda. I'm glad we're discussing this without any delays, as the mayor has promised back in June that we'll be discussing this right after we come back from recess. So really glad to see this. Yeah, I will say that. Yes, the community has been asking for civilian oversight for years now. A lot of work was done with the community, so let's make sure as we do in this process that we include all those recommendations and all the work that was done with the counselors. And in terms of some things that I would like to see, very…