City Council - Raw Citizen Questions

146 questions for the City Council candidates were received from the community via our website and drop boxes before the August 31 deadline.

The questions below are presented verbatim as submitted by Medford citizens.  This is the raw material for the formal candidate questionnaire, submitted to the candidates Sept 17.

1. What are your views on the involvement of local law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws?
2. What do you think of the laws governing the ability to serve alcohol in restaurants/pubs in Medford? Would you consider ammending the laws to allow for fewer than 99 seats in order to serve hard liquor?
3. How do you intend to understand your constituents desires and concerns (i.e. will you actively solicit constituent views? How?
4. Why are you running for public office?
5. What will you do to improve Medford's official new website? The events calendar is almost empty. and there is no feedback link provided, among many other problems.
6. Medford loses a lot of revenue (compared to Somerville) by not enforcing parking laws. What will you do to improve the situation?
7. What do you see as the number one problem in Medford, and what would be your solution?
8. Getting around Medford on foot is a challenge! Drivers who don't stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, broken sidewalks, crossing the on and off ramps of Route 93, where drivers fail to yield or to even expect to find a walker crossing, walking under Route 93 on Riverside Avenue, not to mention the difficulty of trying to cross through Medford Square at the intersection of Salem, Main, Riverside, Forest and High Streets. It takes as many as three different light signals to traverse this area, while cars whiz by as you are stuck in the median waiting for the next light to change. I know about revitalizing Medford Square, and having greater access to the Mystic River, but I think most important is guaranteeing citizens a safe and walkable city.
9. How does Medford collaborate with the DCR to clean up the trash in the areas around the lakes? Is there a way to organize citizens to do that work?
10. Is it possible to have a median priced bistro/bar in West Medford Sq. (there's a $$$ restaurant which is great...but folks, it's time.
11. Can the city planning dept. go before itself to raise building height in West Medford Sq. to 6 stories - perhaps by increasing the tax base we can improve our schools.
12. What have you done to promote the realization of an Arts Center in Medford?
13. What will you do to promote the arts and artists of Medford?
14. What will you do the promote the enlivenment of Medford Square?
15. How would you improve the traffic and parking congestion in Medford Square?
16. Where do you stand on affordable housing in Medford, and do you support inclusionary zoning?
17. What concrete plans do the candidates have for lowering the cost of water for homeowners.  What are seniors living on fixed incomes and wanting to live in their homes to do? Real answers are needed
18. Most cities and towns the size of Medford have several full-time Planners working for them. For example, Somerville's planning budget is $1.7 million/year, 10 times Medford's OCD Budget. Will you support the hiring of Planners to deal with Medford Square Revitalization and the Green Line?
19. Medford commissioned a Master Plan for Medford Square in 2005, yet vitually no progress has been made in over two years. When will we see real. tangible progress?
20. Would you support the restoration of the Brooks Estate with a multi-million dollar City Bond if you knew that the entire bond would be paid back, including interest, by the funds generated by the restoration of the Brooks Estate with 15-20 years?
21. Medford has had a parking problem for decades. People are parking illegally across the City and getting away with it. What is your plan to fix the problem? Why don't we have parking control officers like Somerville, which generated $3 million in profit for Somerville in 2006?
22. The City of Medford has been sitting on the sidelines regarding the Green Line, holding only one informational meeting in two years. Do you support the Green Line extension, and if so, how far do you want to see it go?
23. What specific actions will you take to: Identify and replace storm sewers in Medford that send sewage into the Mystic under heavy rain conditions
24. What is your position on bicycle paths and bike lanes on existing roads in Medford
25. What is your position on the extension of the Green Line to the Mystic and why - what will you do about parking?
26. What do you see as the most important quality of life issues in Medford and how do you propose these issues are dealt with or approached?
27. New England Coffee in Malden produces a very strong odor that affects those of us living in Ward One. How would you get them to stop polluting our air?
28. What steps will you take to improve the utilization and programming of Chevalier Theater?
29. What measures would you take to improve the city's relationship with Tufts University?'
30. Are there any city services that need significant improvement, and if so, how do you propose to improve them?
31. We just got our first summer water/sewer bill, OUCH! This bill is 3 x higher due to filling the pool and lawn irrigation. I do not mind paying for the water it is the sewer charge that is incorrectly being assessed on outside water.  Is there any possibility or traction gaining on a second water meter for outside water use or pro-rating the sewer charge based on spring, winter and fall water bills? Both of these options were discussed when the new water meters were being put in over the last year or so, but I have not seen or heard of any action on this issue.  thanks, L.P.
32. Just what does the city council do for us taxpayers in a positive way???
33. What will you do about the sharply increasing costs of the MWRA water bills and sewage charges???  we were promised by the former engineer that we would be able to have second meters put in for those with sprinlers - what will you do to assist us
34. Where do you see the future of public transportation in Medford? Are there any plans to decrease congestion (i.e., increase bus routes and encourage MBTA to finish greenline subway expansion into Medford)?
35. What is you position on mandatory driving tests for older adults (ref. Senator Joyce's bill #2065)? At what age would you think it appropriate for drivers to be required to participate in such a program?
36. What is your position in increasing the credit for the Senior Executive Work Program? Increasing eligibility for Clause 41A?
37. What is your position on municipal retirees becoming re-employed by the city without being subject to earning restrictions (ref. Senate bill # 1637)?
38. What is your position on the idea of establishing an exemption for senior citizens from any possible Proposition 2 1/2 overrides (ref. Senate bill #1697 %26 #2840)?
39. When will Medford residents be able to install a second water meter?
40. Security grates. Do you think it is possible and/or practical to ban exterior security grates on retail storefronts? Given that interior grates or other security measures off equal protection and would meet insurance requirements; do you think it would be in the interest of the city to take this move in favor of aesthetics, and if so how would you approach it?
41. How will you actively support and further the expansion of public transportation including the Green Line Extension to West Medford?
42. In Sunday Aug.2nd Globe Medford was listed as the second highest Communnity with Property Crime Rate, in Middlesex County. What can the Mayor and the Council do to help bring that down?
43. Has there been any serious thought about constructing sound barriers along the east and west sides of I-93 between Somerville and the Fells? I live about a quarter mile to the west of 93 (and have for 8 years), and the road noise is almost always terrible. Even with the windows closed, I often have to wear earplugs to be able to go to sleep at night. Has this concern been raised by other Medford residents? What would we, as a community, have to do to make a noise abatement project happen? Have there been any studies conducted about this issue?
44. What special acts are you doing to bring a new restaurant to downtown?
45. 1) If you support building a garage in Medford square behind Colleen's, why? 2. If it were to be shown that a majority of the citizens did not support building a garage behind Colleen's, would you change your mind?
46. Since people violate the parking rules in the square, without much of a consequence, would you support hiring a parking enforcer (who would be paid out of the funds he/she collects) to free up spaces in the square?
47. What might you do to advocate for Medford residents' access to the proposed Green line extension?
48. What are you going to do to speed up the Green line extension process?'
49. What is your position on changing the government of the city to include Ward representation? Not necessarially to go back to the PLAN E government. If the city retains having all councillors and school committee members at large (as it does now), what is your position on changing the election procedures to include some sort of run-off or weighted voting?
50. Medford families are leaving our City because they cannot afford to rent or buy a home in Medford anymore.  The City has taken some positive steps to prevent this problem, but we need to do much more. What new policies and programs would you work to implement n order to address this problem?
51. Recently figures were published for the amount of a city's revenue that is devoted to cultural spending. Medford was not in the lowest group but it was low. What is your feeling about devoting more revenue than currently to music, art, theatre and other cultural expenses?
52. In 5 years where do you see the Chevalier Theater being in terms of renovations, organ restoration and bookings? What will your role be in all this? The city rightly touts the Chevalier as a gem but seems disinterested in doing anything to help it even though the city owns it. (Money for new seats was procured by the state delegation, so no credit for that can be taken on the city level.)
53. The Chevaliar Theater belongs to the city; it's a fixture of Medford Sq. and it stays closed for lack of bookings. Tell me what you're going to do clearly!
54. Medford took over the Condon Shell from the state recently. Why aren't there regular concerts or other events there?
55. The Medford Public Library is staffed by very good people, but it has no money and apparently it even has to turn overdue-book fines over to the city treasury! What's your vision for the library and what are you doing to make it a reality?
56. Are you in favor of conducting mini-council meetings in different neighborhoods and outside of city hall to address particular issues in the various neighborhoods?
57. City agencies don't communicate well with each other. How can that be improved and how do you see that benefiting Medford?
58. For years the public relationship between the city council and the mayor has been chilly and sometimes hostile. Medford's city charter clearly spells out the authority both parties have and how they should interact with each other, but still they squabble over process and make Medford generally look foolish. Why is this? Are the council and mayor simply unwilling or incapable of doing their job properly? I am perplexed.
59. Why do you think people don't go to city council meetings?
60. Why do you think that in a city as diverse as Medford the city council does not have any representation by people of color, people of low income, gay people, people of foreign birth, etc.?
61. How will you become more visible in Medford communities and how will you make Medford government more transparent?
62. Ward representation..why not?
63. Why are so many obviously important agenda issues "Tabled" and so much of the Council agenda taken up by condolences, congratulatory resolutions, and similar items?
64. Why have the number of voting locations in Medford been reduced? That makes it harder for many people to vote.
65. Would you appropriate (or ask the Mayor to ask you to do so) specific funding for a full-time, professional planner for the Medford Square project?
66. Many Medford residents would volunteer their time and skills to improve the city if there were someone coordinating volunteer projects at the city level. What would you do to encourage more citizen participation instead of just citizen griping? If a resident has a good idea they would like to pursue, they should be able to go talk to someone at City Hall who will help them contact the right person for approval or just go ahead and approve it. If a resident has time and/or skills that they are willing to volunteer, they should be able to sign up to be contacted when a project needs some help.
67. Is there still any possibility of an arts center or a live-work housing complex in Medford? Over the past few years, the Boston Redevelopment Authority has worked with the City of Boston to make hundreds of units available in Boston for artists, and as far as I know, Medford has done exactly nothing to nurture the arts in our city. This sends a message that Medford doesn't care about the arts, whichh isn't a good one if we want to keep our communities diverse, healthy, and vibrant.
68. Why is it that places like Lawrence, Haverhill, Providence, Chelsea, Waltham, Manchester (NH) and New Bedford understand that providing artists with studio and living space opportunities is a major building block to urban revitalization, while Medford did absolutely nothing for artists during the school sell-off? Looking back do you think this was a wise move on Medford’s part? Why or why not?
69. With the continuing growth in the Wellington area, particularly Station Landing and the Rivers Edge, would you support the construction of a new fire station with both an engine company and a ladder company manning it? One idea I have heard would be to sell both the Salem Street Station at 26 Riverside Ave Station and relocate those apparatus to a new Wellington Fire Station.
70. It seems that the mayor makes decisions in a vacuum, gets them funded and that's that. The Council seems to be totally left out of the loop. Is this a good example of urban planning? If so, what are you doing make matters any better?
71. How do you bring more life to Medford Square?
72. Timeline for Medford Square revitalization?
73. When will the revitalization of Medford Square happen?
74. Why doesn't the city promote and support a variety of businesses in Medford Square- not just banks? Things that would give downtown a stronger evening vitality?
75. The Medford Square master plan is three years old now. What have you done to help implement *any* of its recommendations? For instance, what are you doing to recirculate traffic, link the river to the square, introduce outdoor seating and entertainment venues, or diversify the square through a combination of residential and business development?
76. What are you going to do with Medford Square? Are you going to make it two way with parking in the back?
77. What is your vision for Medford Square? What are the steps that need to be taken to achieve this vision? What are the obstacles to achieving this goal and how will you achieve them?
78. What role do you see you / the Council playing in the revitalization of Medford Square?
79. When is something truly going to to happen in Medfors Square as far as revilalization?
80. What would you do to make the Mystic River accessible to more people? Public boat launches? Public docks? Water taxis? Occasional river tours? Duck boats? Water quality monitoring and a water quality hotline so we can check whether it's even safe to be on the water?'
81. Why is the city wasting money on a parking garage on Governors Avenue when installation of parking meters would have been a more effective means to keep spaces open while raising revenue for the city? This seems stupid, but I’m certain you can explain.
82. We have a burgeoning business community in Medford and often businesses and residences are in such proximity to one another that problems of trash, noise, parking, esthetics, etc. are being created. How would you bring the two together to discuss and ameliorate any problems or concerns that exist?
83. Harvard Street in South Medford has been problematic for decades. Heavy trucking traverses the street day and night. The flow and speed of traffic presents another great danger. The sidewalks are in such disrepair along the street that pedestrian travel is treacherous and ill-advised. Added to this, some residents of the street have no place to park. How would you solve these problems, and would you be in favor of creating bus stop parallel parking in front of the Kennedy/Lincoln school complex, integrating it as a requirement of any development on that property?
84. When is "Ames" going to be replaced with a store?
85. The City of Medford has taken control of the Hormel site as part of the new school program. The football stadium and track have been improved as well as little league and soccer fields. Would you actively support Medford taking control of the Loconte Rink as well?
86. Before the development of Station Landing, there was supposed to have been an evaluation of the traffic patterns at Wellington Circle. News reports at the time acknowledged that this area has been a problem since the 1950's. I have never heard the results of the saftey study that was going to be done. Was a study done?
87. Why can't the city plan street and sidewalk renovations so that during the construction process power lines can be buried and street trees planted? It would help densely populated neighborhoods like ours look a lot better in the long run and it would be cheaper than treating roads, sidewalks, power lines and trees as separate projects.
88. TeleCom City was touted as job creating development for the City. Many businesses were taken by eniment domain and are no longer on the tax rolls and millions spent on road improvements to Corparation Way, yet the only visable development is a Boat House for Tufts University. Is there a new plan for this area or are we still dealing with pie in the sky dreams??
89. 3) What's your vision for West Medford Square? It seems like one more urban center that is far below its potential.
90. What can Medford do on a city-wide level to help residents plant more trees, reduce their car usage, reduce their energy usage, and improve our local environment?
91. Graffiti and litter have taken hold of many areas of our City. This is a quality of life issue and detracts from the character of our City. What steps can and will you take to aggressively deal with this problem?
92. Why has Medford not cleaned up the recent plague of graffiti? If graffiti gets cleaned up quickly, that reduces future vandalism. The current approach of ignoring it just encourages more vandalism.
93. The city likes to brag about how many parks it has, but they are not up to par- some have graffiti, the playgrounds are rundown, and the fields are worn out. For example, Morrison Park- there has been graffiti on the sign for a long time and the city no longer bothers to put the tennis nets up due to vandalism and the cops dont have the time to patrol the area to keep the vandals from wrecking the park. Whats the point of having all of these parks if they cant be maintained? How can the city do a better job in maintaining its many parks so the residents can enjoy them as theyre meant to be enjoyed?
94. Please state what you believe are the three biggest environmental problems in Medford, what you have done to help solve them and what you would do during the next two year if you were elected to office?
95. What do you think is the most important environmental issue in Medford? How do you stand on that?
96. What are your main environmental concerns for Medford?
97. What can/will you do to make Medford a more environmentally-friendly city?'
98. Where have all the trees gone??? The policy that homeowners get to decide if a tree goes up or down is detimental to the general appearance and air quality of the city-why isn't there a city wide policy to plant trees - the sidewalk is a public way and does not come under the jurisdiction of homeowners - the current policy is nonsense -will there be change?
99. Anyone can see that the Mystic River running through to Medford Square is dying. What have you done about it and what specifically are you going to do about it over the next two years?
100. How is it that the city council could have passed a 500-page school budget last month without reading it? Is this an example of responsible politics in your opinion?
101. Would you make Medford's annual budget more transparent so we can see where our money goes?
102. We have a diligent, yet overworked, code enforcement department. Are you willing to commit a portion of the budget to hiring more code enforcement officers to work with the building department and the board of health to improve the environmental and day-today quality of life of the residents of Medford?
103. Do you plan to increase property taxes, or how likely is it that property taxes will increase?
104. Do you receive healthcare benefits from the City of Medford, and, if so, what do they cost the taxpayers?
105. Do you support the inclusion of Medford into the new statewide healthcare insurance plan (where cities band together to save on healthcare costs)? If so, when would you want this to happen (by what date)?
106. Medford is America's 4th oldest city, yet surrounding communities have government that actively support historical societies and historical tourism. What can you as a Medford candidate do to support the MHS and take advantage of the robust historical tourism in the Boston area?'
107. What is your vision for the Brooks Estate?
108. Why do we not have a choice as to which cable company we choose? Why is there a monopoly that creates higher charges to Medford residents?'
109. Why can't the city of Medford be wireless?'
110. We have seen wonderful improvements in repaving some local roads recently and fixing some hazardous sidewalks. Is there a master plan for this sort of work that residents can see and make suggestions for?
111. What are you going to do about the condition of the roads? Will you label the streets?
112. Can you convince the utilities to fix hazardous utility poles and remove the unsightly double poles?
113. the cities roads and sidewalks are in disrepair - south medford is in a crisis of traffic and infrastructure needs - what measures will be taken to restore this section of the city?
114. Why don't the police ever kick people out of the playgrounds at night when they are supposed to be closed at night? That would reduce the vandalism and drug problems, so that children don't arrive the next morning to broken equipment, spray-painted curses, used needles in the grass, and piles of trash.
115. What do you think of Medford's liquor laws? Any plans to change them?
116. In the past, city council decisions have been held to be in violation of the law. In the future, would you vote in a manner that was best for the City, but in violation of the law? Why or why not?
117. What became of the beautiful wooden benches in the council chambers?'
118. When are you going to take parking seriously in Medford and like most cities have parking meters and parking enforcement instituted?
119. How would you accomplish the creation of a parking and traffic enforcement division in the city in order to address issues such as illegal parking and other problems that plague our neighborhoods?
120. Why is there essentially no parking enforcement in Medford? The city is losing enormous sums in tickets.
121. How are you planning on addressing the parking issues in Medford Square?
122. Why bother with permit parking if it is not enforced? Can we expect enforcement on this matter?
123. How do you plan to support families and their children?
124. How do you plan to support local businesses?
125. You have been assigned the task of improving and centralizing responses by the police, the mayor and the city council to issues and problems throughout the city. How would you do this?
126. And is there any code in effect which would eject residents of public housing in the event of violent or criminal behavior within its confines? If there is none currently, would you support such a code?
127. What new ideas do you have with regard to ensuring public safety and an improved response in each neighborhood to issues such as theft, vandalism, drug-related crime, etc.?
128. Youth loitering has become a serious problem both in the downtown square and in many neighborhoods. With our current limited police force, what will you do to address the problem of loitering, noise, garbage, and the quality of life issues created by unsupervised youth?'
129. How would you instigate an effective and consistent response to traffic violations that imperil pedestrians and other drivers, such as speeding, ignoring red lights, drunk driving, etc.?
130. Over the past 10 years my husband and I have seen the number of cars driving through our neighborhood skyrocket because it seems that everyone needs a car (or two or three). The only way out of this distressing trend is to have an alternative way for people to go from Point A to Point B. Given all that and the fact that train transportation is much cleaner than car transportation, why are you leaving it to citizens to investigate the feasibility of introducing the Green Line to Medford? The council's current "wait and see" attitude is cowardly and I think a disservice to Medford. What do you PROMISE to do over the next two years to help out?'
131. Do you support the Green Line extension?
132. Would you support the appointment of a liaison from our city to the Green Line MBTA project? Somerville has been very active in this regard. Where has Medford been on an official basis?
133. We currently have commuter rail service from Boston servicing West Medford as well as bus service to this area. Spending millions of taxpayer dollars to extend the Green Line to West Medford seems redundent and imprudent fiscally. Why would you not push for those transportation dollars to be spent improving our current transportation infrastructure instead of pushing for trolley service through an existing transportation corridor??
134. What is your stance on the green line expansion?
135. What would you do to help get the Green Line extended to Medford Hillside instead of delayed over and over?
136. Can we get more/any T stops in Medford?'
137. Route 93 cuts Medford in two parts. Traffic around 93 and the square is fierce and dangerous for pedestrians and cars. How will you improve this situation?
138. In the seventeen years that I have been a Medford Resident the traffic in this area has continued to get worse. What does the future hold for Wellington Circle's traffic flow? Is there anything going to be done to make that area safer for motorists as well as the ever- increasing number of pedestrians that Station Landing and its new businesses are generating?
139. What can you do to make Medford Square a dynamic place that people would actually want to go to? So many people are frustrated that, despite revitalization attempts, the square is still not pedestrian-friendly, has few venues for late evening activities, and a surfeit of banks, real estate offices, and the like that do nothing to attract new people.
140. Will you support extension of the green line into Medford AND what are your thoughts about the terminus location?'
141. Are you in favor of putting a windmill next to one of our schools for educational/energy purposes? If not, why not?
142. The U.S. constitution mandates a separation of Church and State, however, public schools in Medford have the day off on the Catholic holiday of Good Friday. This seems to be a fairly blatant violation of this principal. Winchester recently voted to hold school on Good Friday as do a number of other communities in Massachusetts. Given that Medford families come from a many different religious practices, would you support a decision to hold school on Good Friday in the Medford public schools? If not, would you support the school system not holding classes on major religious holidays of other religious such as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and similar Muslim holidays?'
143. Medford is increasingly diverse, however, as a resident and a parent, I feel that much work needs to be done to educate Medford residents and communities about living in harmony with others, learning to respect and celebrate the city's cultural diversity, and most importantly to ensure that our children grow in a hate-free environment. What are your plans to educate Medford residents about the value of diversity and to ensure that our city is hate-free?'
144. Despite great efforts and the current recycling program, in the city, Medford still has a long way to go to be a truly green community with appropriate recycling and environmentally friendly policies and practices. What are your plans to: A). Improve environmental and recycling efforts in the schools, such as changing the school lunch programs to use environmentally friendly containers (like biodegradable or recyclable trays, cups, etc)? B). Support improved recycling by businesses and institutions in the city? C). Ensure that the city and it's agencies become a model for an environmentally friendly community?
145. As a candidate for the city council or school committee please state what you believe the council's/committee's three weaknesses are and how you plan to correct them over the next two years.
146. I was watching and hearing from other sources that schools may extend the school days..Question..What about after school activities, such as sports or religious ed, or scouts..when and how are the kids supposed to have time to eat dinner, go to their activities and do homework? By the time they are all done, they may not get to bed until real late..and how much more is really expected for them to learn. How much of a difference will it make..also, as far as the busses, I heard that some cities are posing a bus fee.. a phenomenial (sp?) one at the least..how are families supposed to pay for that, especially ones that don't make a whole lot of money..these are just curious questions. I hope they can and will be answered.