Quincy City Council: September 8, 2025

Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening, folks. I'd like to call to order the September 8th, 6.30 p.m. public hearing to order. This public hearing is for Council Order 2025-098, Utility of Grant Location, National Grid, Verizon, Washington Street, at Southern Ottery and Beacon Street. So at this point, I'd like anybody who would like to speak in favor or opposition to come to the podium. State your name and address. If you do not wish to speak but would like your support or opposition recorded, please sign in on the sheet on the table at the back of the chamber. So with that, anybody would like to speak in favor or against? Okay.

seeing none um i'm going to call the meeting uh over at 6 31 and we'll be back at 6 35 for the finance committee meeting thank you good evening i'd like to call the uh finance committee meeting to order this evening uh in regards to 2025 074 the land disposition agreement for 1620 hancock street jen can you call a roll Councillor ash councillor king councillor campbell

Councillor Devine. Present. Councillor DiBona. Present. Councillor Harris. Present. Councillor Young. Present. Councillor Newton. Present. Chairman McCarthy.

Present.

Thank you.

Could you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Also, the open meeting law language pursuant to the open meeting law. Any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived by those present and deemed ignored and permissible. We had a meeting on this back in June. I know there were a few questions on the LDA at 1620. I'm going to open it up with Mr. Walker just to kind of give a recap and we have in the audience Brian Golden, who is a legal representative with the city. Also Mr. Fatsy's is here this evening and Janet Peck in the city solicitor. So feel free to bring anybody up to the podium if you feel like you have a Mr. Walker doesn't cover, but I'll go to Mr. Walker right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, counselors. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you again on behalf of Mayor Koch on this matter that was first discussed last June. Benefit to everyone, I'm not going to repeat the entire presentation. from before the summer, but I did want to, before the council continues its deliberation, provide a bit of a refresher on what we discussed last June. In the meantime, I think Iowa, the mayor himself, has spoken to each of you directly over the course of the summer. Really appreciate those conversations that were had and the questions that were asked and hopefully continue that progress tonight. First, just orientating ourselves again, this is 1620 Hancock Street, a property that was about 11,000 square feet destroyed by a fire in 2002. and it was never put back to any kind of use. It sat fallow, blighted, and vacant for upwards of more than 20 years. Using its urban redevelopment authority and with the approval of this body, the city took the property by eminent domain for $2.2 million in 2022. A private developer, and this is a key piece to this, subsequently to that, a developer came to an agreement for the adjacent property which then leads to the potential of coupling these two, that vacant property folks will know as the former Coleman site, the former Blockbuster site, the former Good Health site. That brought redevelopment to reality, and that triggered the process that we're undergoing right now, and ultimately this land disposition agreement. As I mentioned last time, it's helpful to view an LDA as a purchase and sale agreement. It sets the conditions for which the city will ultimately close on the sale of the property. We talked a little bit about those conditions. I'm not gonna go over all of them again, but essentially the key piece is that it sets the conditions calling for a permitted, so the condition is essentially a permitted, developable piece of property under a certain amount of time in a certain timeline. Those are sort of the key trigger points to when the city will go closed on the property. As I mentioned last time, it's that permitted redevelopment that really is at the heart of the delta that all of you have asked about between the $2.2 million purchase price, taking price, paid by the city, and the $1.8 million that we're selling it for. And I'll walk through that piece again because it's important. Eminent domain when it's done for urban renewal, it's essentially done in a vacuum. The way the courts look at it, You don't consider many outside factors. You don't consider a lot of mitigating factors. You're basically advised by the courts to get the highest and best value potential out of the site. So those appraisals and that process comes up a little bit differently than it would under this scenario, which is the disposition sale. The appraisal done for this LDA is not done in a vacuum. It considers all the facts that we deal with on redevelopment on a regular basis. It considers the fact that the city limits, the city controls redevelopment. All those factors from the design guidelines in the downtown to the requirements for public improvements to the permitting guidelines within the planning department. All of those things are mitigating factors, and all of those contribute to the price of the property, and that's where you see the difference between the $2.2 million and the $1.8 million. Now, the bigger question is what is the value getting out of the city, out of this proposition? Again, as I mentioned last time, this is a site that sat vacant, blighted in producing $12,000 in property taxes. When all is said and done here, the two properties together seven hundred thousand dollars in property taxes produced the city of quincy and that's not to mention excise tax from folks registering their cars in the facility in the building meals tax for any possible restaurant that's uh part of this project in addition you'll note that the lda makes the developer responsible for public improvements around the site including new and expanded sidewalks per our downtown guidelines That in and of itself is a seven-figure contribution. These are things that would not be happening if we were not in front of this body with the land disposition agreement. So the value is unquestionably there. Again, $12,000 in taxes compared to $700,000 in taxes. Councils, this is textbook urban renewal. This is why urban renewal was created. We're taking a blighted, vacant piece of property that has been a drag on the downtown for almost a generation. And what the end result is a $75 million investment in regular annual taxes paying into the city of Quincy. This is what urban renewal is about. This is also probably those councils with the past experience on LDAs, this is probably the cleanest, most straightforward LDA we've had. There have been a number of LDAs that have been quite complicated that have come with substantial public investment, the DIF funding. There's been tricky land use and land assemblage as part of some of our LDAs in the past. This is not. This is straightforward. We are selling a piece of property for it to be developed to enhance the downtown. As Chairman McCarthy mentioned, we have Brian Golden and Sean Nahill from our legal team help craft this agreement. We have Mr. Fatsy, Mr. Stevens here from the planning department to answer any questions as well as myself. With that, I would throw it back to the body.

Thank you, Mr. Walker. Thank you for the summary. I'll open it up to my colleagues. I'll start with Waterford Councilor Jim Devine.

I mean, I'll start. I'd like to make a motion to approve. I think It'd be good to get this started and get that moving so we can clearly get more taxes going, but we can go from there.

Okay, on the motion, any, okay, we got a few. Let me just check this side, Wilton. Yeah. Councilor Campbell.

I think I just have a couple questions. So this 32,000 square feet, this area, that's what the area is, and is that limited to other opportunities to have that grow, or is this going to be just exclusive to that area?

This property will be, Council, I think it's roughly 11,000 square feet. This particular property will be part of the development together with the parcel next door. The future holds potential for the furtherance in that block, but for now, This conveyance applies only to that one project.

Okay. And this is being paid out of the dip fund? Yes. And which generation was that?

Well, actually, we're selling this piece of property, so we're going to make a little bit of revenue on this one. But, yes, that is money that goes back, the revenue. So within the past year, we've generated, I believe, between this and the projects on the General's Bridge side of Hancock Street, upwards of $8 to $9 million in revenue that can be pumped directly back into the downtown. And you raise a good point. I see where you're going with the financing of downtown. As this body knows, we use, when we do public improvements that are publicly funded, not part of the private development project, we use what's called district improvement financing. It's a state program. And what that does, it allows us to borrow money and use the anticipated new tax growth and the actual new tax growth from the development to pay for those improvements. So everything that you have, approved and all the progress that this body together with the mayor have made over the last 15 years has all been financed through that program so when folks look at their tax bills in the fall in the winter that money is not coming out of that the downtown has its own financing system where the taxes in the downtown pay for the public improvements in the downtown

OK, I think any idea with the anticipated. Shovel in the ground moment happens or.

Three Mr. Chairman, I I would imagine first quarter of next year.

OK, great thank you. Thank you, Council Chair recognizes Councilor Devine and then Councilor Ash.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I just want to just kind of go back in history just a little bit because we spoke about this back in June 2025 for any viewers that are. kind of just picking up this information tonight just to get back a little bit history of the Tasso's Pizza that burned down back in 2002. It was a nice establishment that was a family-run business in the city of Quincy and they provided great service, great pizzas, great subs, that little pinball machine in there. And then it burned down in 2002 and it sat blight basically for the last 23 years. Next door to it, you had the prior Coleman's blockbuster video, and then now it's Good Health over the years. This was the beginning of the start in the summertime. We had the nice sidewalk sale many years ago. This was the beginning of it, starting from basically that part of Coleman's all the way down through the downtown Hancock Street corridor. Back in 2018, myself and former Ward 4 Councillor Brian Palmucci put forward a resolution asking the mayor to somehow spike or move forward on a lot of properties in the Hancock Street corridor. which right now presently have the Accardys and the Slaters doing a lot of work where the existing old child world used to be in that particular corridor. And then it moved down to where we are in Coleman's, which extended the URDP over the last few years. These properties sat vacant. They sat blighted for many, many of years. And if you can look at something right now and you can see it as you look at Kilroy Square and the parking garage that's out in front of there today, it took some time to build. And if you're driven by the General's Bridge lately, hopefully you drove by it tonight, you saw that there's five stories of a garage getting built next to the General's Bridge and a lot of construction going on. to the north side of it, which is the Atlantic Development property, which is being built as well. These properties take time to come up, but you see the progress. And as a council, we're sitting up here for a blight property for 23 years. What's the next step? We just leave it sitting there for another couple years and not have any progress? We're coming in the post-COVID era here, five and a half years out of that 2020 March. And the good thing about Quincy is we were the leaders out there. We continued to build. We didn't sit back like other communities, other towns, other cities, and stop work. We continued to work, and that's where we are today. But it's a tangible product out there. You can actually feel it. You can hold it, you can see it, it's there. You see the development happening in the downtown. This is our economic engine that's gonna move it forward. This is another piece of the puzzle, another piece of the pie to move it forward. Council Palmucci is no longer here, but into fruition, hopefully, some of the things that we instituted back then, the mayor and the administration has taken forward with some of our suggestions. At the time, back in 2018, it was a very bold statement to ask the mayor to start taking properties if you had to because no one's doing anything with them. But we're starting to get a grip on some things in the downtown. I want to thank you for listening. So for me, it's kind of a no-brainer. $12,000 on the payroll right now, on the books right now, and you could potentially get to $700,000. dollars in taxes. So this is a blighted property that's been sitting there for quite a while. So for me, I think it's a very important move to move the city forward. A lot of the other parcels in the downtown have done their part. And unfortunately, it takes time to build. the revitalization of the downtown is is coming to fruition look at the hancock adams common right outside here did anyone think it was going to be all these different activities and stuff so starting from this part of the hancock street all the way down to coleman's the old former coleman's is where this is this property in this parcels lies so just wanted to give a little brief history of Growing up in Quincy and using these establishments, Tassos Pizza, Coleman's to buy my sneakers and sporting stuff for school. They bring back a lot of memories, but it's been sitting there blighted for quite a while. And we need to continue to move Quincy forward. A lot of other areas of the city, I would be more hesitant. It's not in the right area. It takes away from the character of the neighborhood. This particular area is where we need to get economic growth. This is going to help our tax roll. This is going to help our city as a whole. But I just want to move back on, you know, you see the development now. Over my last 10 years of being on the council, we've come a long way and I want to continue to move it forward. So for me, this is a no brainer. I'm going to be supporting this tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. Chair recognizes Councilor Ash.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the summer recess to go over the LDA and the appraisal. I know I mentioned back in June, of course, I think with the headline being the delta between the purchase price in 22 and the proposed appraised value of the property now, that's, of course, what's on everybody's mind, notwithstanding the language of the actual LDA, but rather the appraisal. When I, oh, I'm sorry. First, Mr. Walker, I believe the purchase price proposed is $1.9 million, correct?

I apologize. Thank you. Through you, Mr. Chairman, I misspoke. It is $1.9, not $1.8.

Thank you.

When I looked at the appraisals that are on page, I'm sorry, the comparable sales on page 46 of the appraisal, at least with respect to sales two, three, and four, these are properties on Washington Street, McGrath Highway, and Hancock Street. I did stay away from sale one just because there is a discrepancy in that particular sale. quote, comparable sale due to buildable acres and surplus land. The average purchase price for sales two, three, and four, by my calculations, not being, of course, a certified appraiser or an expert in real estate appraisal, that was $141 per square foot. It looks like this particular property at 1620 is 166 and change per square foot. Again, I'm using a very basic approach to looking at the comparable sales that are listed in the appraisal and trying to see the differences in that land in those sales that are noted on page 46. My question would be for Mr. Walker, when we're talking about $700,000 in potential property taxes, is that both lots together, I assume $1620,000 and $1630,000? Correct, sir.

I think in June I had suggested $550,000, and I think that was one property, not necessarily the two of them together. But $750,000 is the...

the number 700 we're looking at and so if this LDA goes through and we're talking about an assessed value at 1.9 million for I'm sorry an appraised value at 1.9 million do you know or is there anybody here that could speak to what that assessed value would be like it right out of the gate after this purchase Because I know that.

That's a question for the assessors, but I believe that that first assessment when a building is fully occupied and functioning is more closely reflected of an appraisal than any other assessment normally would be because you're right out of the box at that time. You're not looking at comps necessarily where you are looking at comps, but not in the same way you would. It's a new building. But that, generally speaking, would be a question for the assessors.

Okay. if a property changes hands, is that, grounds for a reassessment or an adjustment of the assessed value I guess my question is if this sale goes through are we going to see an immediate increase or an immediate property tax property taxes coming into the city at that commercial rate you do you do you see it a little bit before full occupancy too you see it throughout the construction period too there's different calculations again I'm getting

just a touch beyond my skis relative to how the assessors work, but there is a process to which it's no longer being taxed as a vacant piece of property. Once the developer has stuff on site and stuff is going vertical, you are now getting a calculation of property taxes. Certainly not the same as it will be when the building is done and occupied, but it sort of levels up throughout the process. So, you know, I don't think it's unfair to say, you know, by this time next year, we'll be producing more tax revenue than has been produced on that site in many, many years.

Thank you. my i took a few properties that i noticed they're residential but um but by notwithstanding that classification properties that sold uh recently and then what the new assessed value is and from what i could see it looks like there's roughly an 80 percent um it's it's usually point around 0.8 if you will so a property sells for say 600 000 we'll use raw numbers a property sells for 500 000 We can usually see that the property is assessed at around 400, very round, very basic. I don't mean to create a seminar in appraisals, but those are the few residential properties that recently sold. That's what I noticed. We were somewhere between a .75 and a .85. So I guess my question was, if this property changes hands at 1.9, and we can say the assessed value is using that round formula, say 1.55, would we see that 35K in property taxes this year, or would we be waiting? And if it's not a question that you can answer, that's fine. I'm just trying to wrap my head around the... the tax incentive here. But I guess without any of that as the background, I'm working right now on a separate issue that has to do with parking lot appraisals or empty land appraisals. the details of that are not necessarily up for something to discuss, but given my recent, given my recent exposure to these appraisals, I understand that the risk associated with the property changing hands a few years ago and that process, and I, again, all my questions have been answered, Appreciate the summer to look at this more in depth. Thank you.

All set. Thanks, Councillor. Chair recognizes Councillor Yank.

you mr chairman yeah i mean i am i'm looking at the the draft plans for this space and um not unlike my colleagues right trying to ensure that the benefit of having another piece of property come onto our tax uh payrolls is great right i mean i'm not thrilled that the retail space is so small i mean i think i have um probably sounded like a broken record time and again about increasing our commercial footprint, but at any rate, any time we get any retail space on the tax rolls, I'm excited about. And so, I think for me, what I've learned in my time looking at different LDAs is that I do understand that there's a lot that can happen between uh when we look at an lda and then the actual closing happening and then finalized plans and then different costs going up etc etc etc so you know i've learned in that time to when i'm going through the ldas always look very carefully at you know what is the protection that the city has if worst case scenario or something happens that we ultimately always maintain control right to the very end and i see that that's um very early on in the ldas that makes me excited You know, to Councillor Campbell's point, we were just talking after he was chatting that, you know, we, again, understand that there's that time in between, you know, getting this approved and then trying to get something built. And it's like, let's get this done if we're going to do it, right, and get these things on the tax roll. So, you know, it says in here that they have... 120 days within the closing to actually get a shovel in the ground, right? And get started, which I think is great. And then they have, I believe from there about two, two and a half years to get this done. So, I mean, this is, this is going to be, you know, very clear, right? That unless there's says in here, right? Like some act of God or act of terrorism, like they have to get this done. And I appreciate the expediency that we're putting onto them in this, in this legal document. It also says in here that at the time of the closing, we can actually place the purchase price into a separate escrow account. Again, just to have that protection in place that should we need to purchase the property back because even with the best intentions, things happen, right? If the developer changes plans on us, if they do something significantly different than what we expect of them and what we want of the property, that we do have not only, again, the legal document that says we can purchase the property back, but the finances to do it as well. And I'm just curious about it. Could you just go over logistically what that looks like? So we have the closing and then where do the funds come from and then if we do need to purchase the property back, it does say less any cost that we incur, right? So I assume we're gonna put a conservative amount in there and likely, again, this is all worst case in here, right? If we had to buy it back, we wouldn't use the full amount that's in that escrow account. So could you just walk me through where those funds would be coming from and then what happens with the remaining funds if we don't end up using it?

So if we don't end up using, if the purchase goes free and clear and the project happens and we, Are satisfied that the conditions of the LDA are met the city takes that money out of escrow and it flows into it has to be used For capital expenses it has to be used in the downtown Under accordance with state law and how disposition of property works so it ultimately would flow back into the diff if for some reason It falls apart and we do need to purchase the property back. You know, we do have the ability to keeping that money in escrow. There's no plans for this immediately. So we would certainly keep that in escrow and until we see an occupancy permit is probably the key trigger to that, that we're free and clear and that money can drop back into the city funding.

okay but it's going to say that you'd mentioned again it's going to be um funded from and go back to the diff right and so there's this again given the area where it is we're still staying true to that commitment that anything in this downtown contributing into the the um improvements here right it's going to continue to be funded despite the correct correct all right thank you i just again i i always want to make sure right that yes you hope for the best we understand obviously given even some LDAs that we had that has gone on years with projects down here, right? That, yes, the acts of God's happened and, you know, things that are unforeseen, but always, always, always hoping for the best and just making sure that we have protections in place to purchase land back. There's only so much of it left, right? And so I always want to make sure that we maintain control until we see something 100% completed to, you know, our satisfaction. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Councillor. So I have a motion by Councillor Devine, and before we go, just a couple of comments. I think Councillor Devine hit on a few things, and it has to do with long-term. All these moves that we've made with LDAs in the past, people can see the progress that's been made here in Quincy and Quincy Square. And that blighted area down there for 23 years, It's time to make a move, and as Mr. Walker has said, long-term, it looks like a winner. It looks like something that, again, will really spruce up, which I consider that really, that's a gateway into Quincy Square there at Firestone. So with that, no more, any more conversation. All those in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. That concludes the Finance Committee meeting at 7.04. Thank you. Thank you. Absent at another at an appointment this evening. Yeah, I I don't know anybody had an appointment. OK, I'd like to open up the City Council meeting at 7.05. Madam Clerk, can you call a roll?

Councillor Ash. Present. Councillor Campbell. Present. Councillor Devine. Present. Councillor DiBona. Present. Councillor Harris. Present. Councillor Liang. Present. Councillor Mukasey. Present. Councillor Minton. Present. Eight members, you have a quorum.

Thank you. Can we all stand for a moment of silence, please? This evening, the moment of silence, I really ask everybody to keep their prayers well. We have had some recent shootings out in Minnesota at the Annunciation School and a few other locations. And let's all say a quick little prayer that that slows down and stops at some point. Thank you. Thank you very much. Can we turn to the Pledge of Allegiance?

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Would you read the open meeting law, Madam Clerk?

Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived, by those present and are deemed acknowledged impermissible.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, what's the first item on the agenda?

2025-100, a gift for $7,500 from Copeland Family Foundation to the animal shelter.

Motion approved by Councillor Harris, second by Councillor Devona. Can we get a roll call vote?

Councillor Ash. Yes. Councillor Campbell. Yes. Councillor Devine. Yes. Councillor Devona. Yes. Councillor Harris. Yes. Councillor Liang. Yes. Councillor McCarthy.

Yes.

Councillor Minton. Yes. Eight members.

Thank you, second item.

2025-101 a gift for $10,000 from Copeland Family Foundation to dare.

Motion by Council ever second by Council of the Bonner.

Please call the roll counter ash counter Campbell Councillor Devine Council of the Bonner. Yes, Councilor Harris Council Liang Councilor McCarthy. Yes Council Minton. Eight members.

Thank you. Next item is the approval of previous meeting minutes, the 16th of June and July 21st. Could I get a motion? Motion by Councilor Harris. Second by Councilor DeBarna. All those in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. Communications and reports from the mayor and other city clerk. Do you have anything?

Yes, I do. A couple of traffic requests to refer to Ordinance Committee for Advertising. Ward 2, Councilor Ash, add no parking on the odd side of Oak Street. Ward 4, Councilor Devine, add no parking any time between 53 and 55 Sonomi Road. and Nelson Street. Ward 4, Councilor Devine, at Hancock Parking, excuse me, at 57 Buckley Street. We also have three utility requests to refer to Public Works Committee for scheduling and advertising. Grant of location, National Grid, Verizon, West Quantum Street at Arlington Street. Grant of location, National Grid, Verizon, Federal Avenue, Goddard Street. National Granted Location National Grid, Chubbuck Street at Washington Street and Raycroft Ave.

Thank you. Next item is unfinished business and proceeding meetings. Seeing none. Reports of committees. I'm going to go to Councilor Harris and then we'll have the Finance Committee will have a discussion.

We held a public hearing prior to this evening's council meeting on the following 2025-098 utility grant allocation, Verizon Washington Street and Southern Ottery and Beacon Street. A positive recommendation from the Public Works Committee. Motion for approval.

Motion by Councillor Harris, second by Councillor Liang. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed, the ayes have it. That's it. That's it. Yes. Thank you. Finance Committee, Council Liang.

Vice Chair, Finance Committee, I'd like to just report out that earlier this evening we had a meeting to discuss 2025-074, order land disposition agreement, 1620 Hancock Street, positive recommendation out of committee.

Motion by Council Liang, second by Councilor Devine. All those in favor? Roll call. Sorry.

roll call madam clerk Councillor ash Councilor Campbell Councillor Devine council de bono yes Councilor Harris council liang yes Councilor McCarthy yes council minton yes eight members thank you

Thank you very much. Next item, presentation of petitions.

If I could, I just have, I just switch over to ordinance for a moment. No worries, I have two out of ordinance committee I'd like to report out.

I'm on the move here.

Hey, you know, I'm right there with you. All right, so out of ordinance committee now 2025-077 for Ward 4, remove handicapped parking at 65 Lurton Street, pause the recommendation out of committee.

Motion made by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Campbell. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it.

Thank you. And then the last one, 2025-097 out of Ward 6 at Handicap Parking at 301 Billing Street, positive recommendation out of committee.

Motion made by Councilor Liang, seconded by Councilor Harris. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it. We're good, right?

Yes, thank you.

Thank you. Next item, presentation of petitions, memorials, and remonstrances. Councilor Campbell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I have someone that it's been a long summer, so I'm sure we're going to miss some people on the way. But we have a wake coming up this Wednesday for a very close friend, I think, of the city. She's lived in the city for a number of years. She Betsy Daly. She was an Olympio out of Quincy Point and a huge family. and just a sweet, sweet lady. She was my CCD teacher back in the day, and her son Phil and I have been best friends since sixth grade, and she was one of those ladies that I really, really enjoyed being around. She was sweet. She worked at Quincy City Hospital for a number of years. She graduated in 1968 from Quincy High School, and someone that I know she adored her children, Kelly, Phil, and... The entire family, they're just absolutely positively beautiful. They have seven grandchildren. Her husband pre-deceased her, but he was someone that I know adored her and someone that I know that's going to be missed very, very much so. I think, did I mention Kathleen, her sister Kathy? Katie, I should say. But they're great, great family and people. I know that that over the years I'm sure you've come across a daily or a D'Olympio. And if you have, you were pretty lucky because they're about as good of a group of people that you're going to meet. So I want to just send my condolences to the family and wish them all the best.

Thank you, Council. Check. Chair recognizes Councillor Ash.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm saddened to report the death of Mary Buccella, 92, 92 years of age, most recently lived at 1000 Southern Artery and had for at least, I want to say at least 15 years or so. But Mary, her maiden name, Bersani, was a lifelong resident of Quincy. She passed on Monday, August 25th at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth. She was born in Quincy. She graduated from Boston Trade School, became a talented hairdresser. She notably worked at the hair salon at A Thousand Southern Artery before becoming a tenant and being very active. She was a friend of my late grandmother. She was a staple in the building. She'll certainly be missed. If any of the folks listening would like to pay their respects, there's a memorial service at Pine Hill Cemetery on Friday, September 12th at 11.30 a.m. So certainly my thoughts and prayers go out to Mary's children, her daughter Cheryl, and Bill out of Norfolk. Certainly thinking of the Bocelli, Bersani, and Cook family this week. On a positive note, I wanted to congratulate Councilor Devine on finishing his 50-mile challenge walk in support of the fight against MS that he completed last weekend with his daughter, Grace, down the Cape. Or actually, it may have been just yesterday you completed it. I got back on Sunday. Got back on Sunday. So he had a nice fundraiser in support of that, and I love that you guys, that you and your daughter do that together in honor of

some of your family members so certainly congratulations ninth year in a row my daughter said one day she wanted to um do a bigger walk we used to do a 10k my sister started doing and i said sure i'll see i'll chaperone you and uh not thinking she'd find one she came back to me five five minutes later and said here we'll do this one 50 miles i was like ooh but I enjoy it, and we've made a lot of headway. We made, the group that went out this weekend made 600 and something thousand dollars towards the MS Society, which helps out greatly, but it's more about the awareness, and we have people from all over the country walking, so thank you for recognizing that.

Well deserved. And then lastly, happy 80th birthday to Frank Brillo. Mr. Brillo, as many of you know and love, Frank Brillo, he turned 80 on September 3rd. He had an 80th. birthday party, which I was happy to attend over the weekend. I will say I did invite myself, but that's okay, because I couldn't resist the chance to say happy birthday to Frank. Mr. Brillo, again, turned 80 on September 3rd, attended St. Joseph's School in Quincy Point until grade eight, went to the Vietnam War, came back with a Purple Heart, has a great great story throughout the city in different roles in raising his children in Quincy Point. And while I will spare the lengthy remarks, all very well deserved, I think folks would be remiss if I did not mention that Coach Brillo led the Quincy Point Point Panthers to a record-setting 19 championships. So that was certainly the highlight. Of course, secondary to the Purple Heart and his amazing family. So I would, you know, certainly happy 80th to Frank, and I wanted to recognize that as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Dabana?

Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to allude a little bit about this summer and how nice it was. I want to give kudos to the Quincy 400 Committee. We had a nice, beautiful concert right outside here at Hancocks Adams Common here with the Dropkick Murphys over the summer. It was fantastic. I think it was 11,000 folks were out there. Kudos to the Quincy Police Department for doing a really good job. kudos to the downtown district department, Mary Cahill and the gang. And then we floated right over to Veterans Memorial Stadium for the Darius Rucker and the John Fogerty concerts, which were, I don't even call them home runs, I call them grand slams. Folks were leaving the concerts going, are we gonna do this next year? That was the sentiment out there. kudos to the Quincy 400 Committee, Mayor Koch, Park Department, Dave Murphy and the gang, and then Hancock Adams Common right outside here with Chavares and all the concerts and events that we were able to enjoy all throughout the summer. Then you go down to Pageant Field and you got the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater. Kudos to the friends of the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater. It was beautiful, beautiful concerts with thousands upon thousands of people enjoying their Friday nights. We had a rain out on a Friday night over Labor Day and they came back on Sunday and I couldn't believe how many folks were out there enjoying themselves, families. seniors, just enjoying it. And the Wednesdays at Wollaston Beach were also a nice one, nice Wednesdays over at the beach. I know like some of my colleagues have attended these events. I mean, where we've come tonight to where we've been over the last 10 years has been unbelievable. We have to kind of, you know, not only Mayor Koch and his administration, but we have to take a little bit of credit for that as a council. A lot of these things are flourishing because we're moving the city forward in the right direction and we got to keep it going. So I just want to say kudos to everybody involved with these beautiful events that we had over the summer for everybody to enjoy and hopefully Quincy 400 will continue to do things stuff through the end of the year. But just wanted to allude that it was a nice sentiment out there. People were really congratulating us that we were actually doing these activities that we had never done before. So we opened the doorway up for a new avenue. Quincy's going in the right direction. Thank you.

Thanks, Councilor. It was a nice summer.

Councilor Devine. Knowles comments there. Great job. Thank you for doing that. But I wanted to include traffic department. They were hugely implemental to all of that and it went pretty seamlessly because we have an amazing traffic department too. So thank you.

Thank you, Council. Thank you. Next item is motions, orders and resolutions. Seeing none, scheduling committee meetings and public hearings. Monday, September 15th, City Council 630. Monday, October 6th, City Council 630. And October 20th, 630, City Council meeting. With that, motion to adjourn. Motion by Nina. All those in favor? We adjourn at 720.

Thank you.