City Council Recap, 12/3/24

Video on Medford Community Media

Video on YouTube

Meeting agenda

We began by congratulating the MHS football team for beating Malden at the Thanksgiving game, and for clinching the Greater Boston League championship. We also congratulated the Medford Mustang Marching Band on their NESBA championship. 

We then formally accepted a generous donation that was offered by a community member to go towards installing lights on the Mystic River Footbridge this holiday season in honor of our much beloved and recently departed City Messenger, Larry Lepore. 

We referred the Community Control over Public Surveillance (CCOPS) ordinance to Committee in order to review residents’ suggestions for adjustments and amendments. This ordinance is pretty new, it was passed in 2023. For those interested in background, here’s more about the CCOPS ordinance from my Council blog. The Committee meeting will be 6pm on Wednesday, 12/11. 

The public hearing on the proposed amendments to the Mystic Avenue Corridor District was continued to our next regular meeting, because the Community Development Board hasn’t sent us their review & recommendations yet. 

We approved two common victualler’s licenses, one new and one just a transfer of ownership. 

We then unanimously passed a resolution led by Councilor Lazzaro urging DCR and DOT to lower the speed limits on the state highways that are under their jurisdictions and within Medford’s boundaries. Our ask is 25MPH, the same speed limit as the rest of the City. We were joined by several road and pedestrian safety advocates from the community. Here’s the text of the original resolution. 

Whereas, speed is one of the most important factors in traffic safety and crashes that occur at lower speeds cause less injury, and;

Whereas, a pedestrian hit by a car traveling 40 MPH has a 1 in 10 chance of surviving a crash, while a pedestrian hit by a car traveling 20 MPH has a 9 in 10 chance of surviving, and;

Whereas, Medford has set a citywide speed limit of 25 MPH on city-controlled streets, and;

Whereas, Medford has a high proportion of state-controlled roads, including Mystic Valley and Alewife Brook Parkways (Route 16), Route 28, Route 38, and High Street (Route 60), which are Medford’s busiest thoroughfares, connecting Medford with surrounding towns and I-93, and passing through residential and commercial areas, impacting the safety of people walking, cycling, taking transit and driving to school, work, parks, grocery stores, natural spaces and city squares, and;

Whereas, Massachusetts General Law Chapter 90, Section 18 allows City Councils to petition state agencies to “modify the speed limit on a state highway within their geographic boundaries,” now, therefore: 

Be it Resolved by the Medford City Council that we respectfully request and recommend that the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and Massachusetts Department of Transportation set the speed limit on Route 16, Route 28, Route 38, and Route 60 in Medford at 25 MPH.

As many folks know, just the next morning after the meeting, a pedestrian was struck by a car and badly injured on Mystic Valley Parkway. Horrifying, sad and infuriating that these roads are so unsafe and harmful. The work is far from done here; we urgently need DCR/DOT to step up, take responsibility for these roads, and work with the City to make our community safer.