City Council 01/27/2026

Welcome to the Worcester City Council meeting. If you can, let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, They threw through the night that our flag was still there.

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave and the home of the brave.

Do a roll call. Councilor Bregman?

Here.

Councilor Bilotta?

Here.

Councilor Economou? Here. Councilor Fresolo?

Here.

Councilor King? Here. Councilor Mitra? Here. Councilor Ojeda? Councilor Rivera? Here. Councilor Rosen? Here. Councilor Toomey? Here. And Mayor Petty?

Here. Thank you, we have a proclamation for the General Henry Knox and the noble train of the artillery day. whereas in the winter of 1775 to 1776, Colonel Henry Knox, a 25-year-old Boston bookseller turned Continental Army officer undertook one of the most most daring logistical feats of the American Revolution. Transport of 60 tons of cannons and artillery. whereas in April 1775, Henry Knox and his wife, Lucy Fokker Knox, removed to Worcester for safety. whereas this noble train of artillery consisting of 59 cannons, mortars, howitzers was transported by boat,

Horse, and Ox-Drawn Sleds over 300 miles of frozen lakes, snow-covered mountains, and rugged terrain, including through central Massachusetts to provide General George Washington with the necessary firepower to break the siege of Boston. Whereas in January 1776, this historic procession traveled through Worcester area with local teamsters and residents providing assistance in driving the oxen and maneuvering the cannons. demonstrating the vital partnership between local communities and the Continental Army in the struggle for independence. whereas the successful arrived of the artillery allowed for the fortification of Dorchester Heights in March 1776 directly resulting in the British evacuation of Boston on March 17th, a decisive early victory for the American colonies. Whereas on January 31st, 2026, marks the 205th anniversary of historic journey through our region,

which is being honored by reenactors traveling from Elm Park to the Worcester Common to celebrate the bravery of those who risk everything for liberty. Now therefore I Joseph M. Petty, Mayor of the City of Worcester hereby proclaim January 31st, 2026 as General Henry Knox in the noble train of artillery day in the City of Worcester encourage all citizens to recognize the invaluable contributions of General Henry Knox and the local residents who ensured our nation's independence. With us today, we have Deborah Nurse is with us and we have the proclamation. Councilor Bergman, do you want to give that to? Yeah, give us the itinerary for this weekend.

Okay. I think we need some pictures. Oh, I'll get a picture.

I think it's a good picture.

Thank you, Mayor Petty and Councillors. On behalf of the Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution, I want to thank you for this proclamation. We are very excited about Saturday. and the entire procession as it makes its way to Dorchester Heights on weather and a night just like this. So thank you again and we look forward to celebrating with all of you on Saturday.

Something occurring from Elm Park? You doing the walk in Worcester?

I've been informed by the city clerk that it's going to be dependent upon snow removal and road work. So we're keeping our options open, but regardless, here at City Hall, we'll have the teams come down and show up so people can take pictures and that kind of thing. And we'll have the reenactors here as well. And we have a 2 o'clock commemoration indoors at the AC Marriott, which we'd love to see you at as well.

Thank you.

I think Lieutenant Governor's coming was the last I heard. Good opportunity to remind people just how important this history is to our region. So thank you for your support. Thank you.

Next item is approve the minutes of January 13th, 2026.

Roll call. Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta?

Yes.

Councilor Economou. Yes. Councilor Fresolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. Public participation, the person may speak no more than two minutes. Any items appearing on the agenda?

Mr. Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Rule 39, items of public interest at every meeting of the City Council under public participation portion of the agenda. the Chair shall recognize any person seeking such recognition for the purpose of addressing the City Council on any eligible item on the agenda for the meeting both in person and remotely. Any person who wishes to speak more than one agenda item shall combine their testimony on all items to one appearance at the microphone. The time for speaking shall exceed two minutes for any one speaker or 30 minutes for all speakers. Rule 40 petitions. On the first occasion that a petition appears before the City Council, the primary petition may address the City Council for no more than three minutes on the subject of their petition. Thank you.

Did your name and state of residence and item number?

Yes, Fred Nathan. 7F, the item about the short-term and long-term traffic calming measures. you can put all the traffic calming, you can put speed bumps, speed humps, whatever you wanna call them. If people are gonna speed, they're still gonna speed. What you really need for traffic calming, you put more cops on the street. Plain and simple. Not rocket science here, people. 8-35A. So, yes. What exactly is the U.S. Economic Development Administration Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance Program,

What exactly is it all about that the city will receive two and a half million dollars? Just curious, just food for thought. I think I got two more here. Oh yes. Absolutely. 9-A, $7 million for replacement or roof repairs on two different schools We're just going to keep on spending money on roofs. We got to have a lot more schools replaced eventually. Obviously, Burncoat. Just curious. What is the city's liability to the point of how many billions of dollars are we deep in terms of all the different bonds that have been going out?

and the last item is 10A, the issue about the tips. If there is a company that the city is doing business with, we need to make sure that companies that we give money helping on their taxes are doing the right thing. Mr. Mayor, Mr. City Manager, City Council we need to make sure they're doing the right thing.

Did you name city residents and item number?

Abby Morenolero, she, her, Worcester resident, District 4, 10A, no tips for big corporations, 11A. Rent control is important. They've been raising my rent and making me pay more for rent, and I don't like that. I want to stay in Worcester. I don't want to have to pay too much to stay here, you know, so please have some rent control. All right, 11C, food is also important because, you know, I, like many other Worcester residents, need to eat and, you know, it's important to have, you know, a food program in place. All right, 11F. Office of Housing Stability.

Yes, housing stability is important to keep people in their homes, like myself. to have, you know, Housing stability you know I think housing stability is really important you know for any city you know to have some stability you know like really and 11i the DOJ report you know let's have civilian citizen review board and accountability you know we need to have a citizen review board and dropped the charges on El Hadjij and Ashley Spring. You know, they are good people that were helping people in Worcester who came here from another country.

And America is a nation of immigrants, and we welcome immigrants here in Worcester, Massachusetts. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name's Gary Hunter. First thing I'd like to mention is 10A. I don't know what's going on here. We gotta vote or get off the pot. This is the third week we've been talking about it. Most people that have spoken about it doesn't want our tax to go to this company. So please consider tonight to vote on that. The next one is 11I, police reports. As you know, we just haven't heard, the people have not heard any results of the DOJ report. I don't know why it's been hidden and people shake their heads, oh, this again? No, it's gotta come up until we hear some accountability. If I was a police officer, You wondered why a lot of them are leaving. It's because they get a bad reputation by not showing accountability.

It looks like all the police are bad. I saw that one of the commissions voted on, I think it was the Civil Rights Commission that voted for Civilian Review Board five to one. We're going to keep talking about this until it finally happens. You say we have things in place to cover that, but how has that worked? It hasn't worked. even the head of the union seems to be running the police department and he's been charged many times with overusing his authority. We need the Civilian Review Board. The one good thing I would like to bring up is the people that were working out on the streets this weekend. This storm was horrible. they were horrible and I know sand doesn't work and salt doesn't work under 20 degrees. They were working hard and I want to commend them for the job they did and the hours they worked.

And next thing, Free Attell, and Fear now.

Thank you.

Steve Hart, District 1, 10A. This issue has given me a lot of time to educate myself on this city, how things operate. And I'm a realist. I know the votes are there. However, I think the people of Worcester need to learn more about how this system works. Respectfully, the city manager has consistently stated that we need 8,000 to 10,000 new units in the next 10 years, give or take. That's 1,000 a year. Well, I haven't seen evidence of where that mandate comes from specifically. Also, building more housing is not something I've seen stabilizes rent. Not even sets up the market to stabilize rent. I hear things about supply and demand.

I don't think anyone's rent is going to stay the same or go down in the city. Regarding Mankiti Group, They present themselves as a very large corporation, very well-heeled, very experienced, Unfortunately, when they bought that property seven years ago, they didn't ask for a handout then. They're asking for a handout now. And it's not even a handout. It's just money they don't want to leave on the table. They're in. They're in the power position. They have the trump card with this city right now. And it doesn't speak well in terms of putting together a thousand units a year when any developer is going to come in and want that same deal. That's going to be business as usual in this city for any large developer to come in.

I think that this sort of information, although it's my own personal take on it, is important for people, particularly the voters to know. Thank you.

Thank you. names, city residents, and item number.

Darnell Dunn, I'm the Director of Business Recruitment for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. I'm here to speak about item 10A, so I appreciate your time. This item has been held under privilege in the last two council sessions in part because of what we see as misperceptions that I'd like to briefly address. First, that the Mankiti Group has been sitting on this property. The property was purchased from the former Shaxx owners in 2017, initially identified as a site for a cultural center. before pivoting to a mixed use development. When financial conditions changed, this project changed. Any office to residential conversion is going to be complicated, costly, complex, and they required more state funding to do that. It takes time to qualify for these things at the state level.

And throughout the process, they stayed in good standing with the city by paying their property taxes. Secondly, regarding the subcontractor, 204 Main Street. They're a minority-owned contractor that's done $35 million in contracted work since 2015. They had an issue with the city. It was handled seriously. They paid the fine. And now they continue to work on projects both private and state and federal projects all over Massachusetts currently. And finally, as it relates to tie agreements, these are not tax breaks in the way that they're being presented. on the docket today is to be approved for a reduction, not a reduction in their tax liability. They continue to pay their taxes. What you're being asked to approve is the difference between the property's current value and the value post conversion. that will be phased into their assessment over a 10-year period.

Upon completion, the Mankiti Group will have invested $73 million in the Central Business District of Worcester, 27 alone on this project, and we hope that you can find a way to approve it. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, thank you everyone. We are gonna go on to petitions. 7A to 7D. I'm sorry, 7A to 7B. C and D, we're gonna send to Public Works. Seven B is motion to withdraw. Roll call.

Councilor Bergman?

Yes.

Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economou.

Yes.

Councilor Fresolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. 7E to 7K, we're going to refer to the Traffic and Parking Committee. That was a roll call.

Councilor Bergman. Yes. Councilor Bilotta. Yes. Councilor Economou. Yes. Councilor Fresolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. Here on 8.2a, recommending appointments of Pingxing Chen and Toyin Akumbuli to the Community Development Advisory Committee. and also recommending the reappointments of Steve Hill and Joe Wallen to the Community Development Advisory Committee. Take those questions on a roll call. Roll call.

Yes. Councilor Bergman. Yes. Councilor Bilotta. Yes. Councilor Economou. Yes. Councilor Fresolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda.

Yes.

Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty.

Yes. Public Works is next. There's Transmitting Information, communication from Robert to Keep Worcester Clean. Any questions on Keep Worcester Clean? It's a very detailed report. Commissioner, good job over the weekend, thank you. And how are our reservoirs looking? Better this year, with the snow? Okay, thank you. We'll send that report to Public Works, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economou. Yes. Councilor Fresolo. Yes. Councilor King. Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Rivera, Councilor Rosen, Councilor Toomey, and Mayor Petty.

Yes. We have finance items. 8.35 A through G, 8.36 A and B, 8.57 A through C. Motion is to adopt on the roll. Mr. Chairman. 8.37 A through C. Councilor King.

We can just take 8.36b out.

Okay, everything except 8.36b, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. And Mayor Petty?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is the Becker College, Seaver Street property, is that correct?

Mr. Manager?

Okay, I'm through chair to administration. You just give a explanation as to the $200,000 funding limit increase. I know that we had some debate here on the council floors related to Seaver Street. and the needs of Worcester Public Schools, the needs of the municipality. And I was under the impression that that had gone out to bid. So I'd like a motion with a report back on that process. but in terms of this for clarification, if you could explain this item to the chair.

Mr. Manager?

Yes, thank you. Through the Chair to the Councilor. So as part of the acquisition of the properties, the Becker properties, we created a revolving fund for the purposes of maintenance of the property. and those funds were actually acquired through the rental of those properties to Clark University and Worcester State. So the lease to those properties created a revolving fund account to provide maintenance to those properties. that fund has been depleted in terms of the maintenance. And so we needed to add additional funding to continue on the anticipated costs related to the maintenance of those properties.

Thank you. And through the Chair, when was that fund depleted? Because I know it hasn't been occupied in probably a year, year and a half, two years.

Yeah. I could have our CFO, he could probably provide a little bit more context. Tim.

Through the chair, I don't have the number in front of me, but this is the remnants of that fund. What we're looking to do is spend down the remaining dollars that are in there. for the outstanding maintenance and operations needs within the buildings. Once this fiscal year is done, we anticipate all funds will be depleted out of the account. So there is still some funding in there today, but this allowance will allow us to spend it down fully.

And through the Chair, what's the yearly cost, annual cost?

through the chair it's varied by years when Clark and Becker sorry Clark and Worcester State were in the buildings there were higher costs there were and so forth. There were HVAC needs that had to be addressed. There were operational issues that were raised by the tenants that the city took care of. it's probably a few hundred thousand as you know we look at things like utilities and maintenance and other costs within the buildings but I'd have to get you that number in terms of an actual annual cost or an average annual cost over the last few years.

Thank you, and do you have an idea of the amount of contribution from Worcester State and Clark that was made through their agreements to the chair?

Through the chair, if you give me a minute, I could pull it. So through the chair, it was based on the leases that had been set up with the two institutions. Clark's. Lease resulted in payments totaling approximately $643,000, whereas Worcester State's payments totaled approximately $360,000.

That was over the course of multiple years while they were there.

Okay, thank you. Just wanted to make sure I had all the information, otherwise I would not be able to support this. As you know, I've had differences with the city administration and a small majority of councilors as relates to this property that was promised at some points in time to Worcester Public Schools that we were promised to have a Archives there and other city departments such as Department of Youth Division. I know that one of the buildings served for some time as we were doing renovation here for a law department. Diversity Officer, et cetera. So I'm very much interested in this property. Just want to make sure that my motion includes both buildings. as it relates to this. And look forward to discussing this in my meetings with the city manager. Thank you.

Thank you. So we will adopt this in the roll call. I'm off to two motions. Filed by Councilor King. Roll call.

Burgman, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Petty.

Yes. 9A is a roll call for MSPA approved solar repair funding.

Roll call.

Please note for the record that Councilor Ojeda has

Bergeman, yes, Councilor Bilotta, yes, Councilor Economou, yes, Councilor Fresolo, yes, Councilor King, yes, Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda recused himself. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. And Mayor Petty? Yes. Reconsideration? Councilor Bergman? No. Councilor Bilotta? No. Councilor Economou. No. Councilor Fresolo.

No.

Councilor King.

No.

Councilor Mitra.

No.

Councilor Hayden recused himself. Councilor Rivera. No. Councilor Rosen. No. Councilor Toomey. No. And Mayor Petty.

No. City Manager recommends the approval of the Housing Development Certified Project Application Tax Income Exemption Agreement for 401-409 Main Street. which held under privilege, and the motion is to refer this to Economic Development. Roll call. Councilor Keene, do you want to speak on it?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want clarification for the public person. There was no confusion about this particular matter. contrary to public statements to that effect. I will say that this time has given us the opportunity, not just myself, but the city administration, Office of the Mayor, Mankiti and other stakeholders, unions, et cetera, to have further dialogue as relates to the importance of a responsible development ordinance, Mr. Chairman. In addition to that, we were able to express repeated concerns as related to the subcontractors. There was some difference of opinion with respect to some of the specifics as related to the subcontractors. and the resolution of that particular issue.

So there was a difference with what the city was reporting, what Mankiti was reporting, but we certainly were able to further explain that this concern isn't simply related to the wage theft, but that we want responsible developers that make sure that their contractors are on a consistent basis being responsible themselves. And while we understand that that subcontractor has taken on additional duties, the most welcoming way that we can present ourselves as an elected body is to be consistent, to be transparent with our expectations. and I encourage folks to engage with us, Mr. Chairman. So with that, I'm certainly comfortable with this going to committee with Chairman

Bergman, you know, and Any additional enhanced monitoring that the city can provide would be great. Mr. Manager's team has been good with this discussion, the economic development team. But make no mistake about it, this wasn't simply held. there's a lot of work that's gone on these last couple of weeks, Mr. Chairman, and I stand by that decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Bilotta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I just wanted to kind of echo what my colleague, Councilor King, said. We had some really good discussions with Mankini and appreciate the information from Economic Development and City Manager's office. I know we want to spur development downtown and we are doing that through tax breaks and obviously that's a great tool that we have and I think it also provides us some leverage too to make sure that we have that developers are honoring the responsible development ordinance and that they're taking concerns seriously. So I look forward to discussing this on the committee, but I do think we have an opportunity as a council to try to push for you know more accountability so thank you thank you council council bergman

I'm just gonna be brief and say that I'm glad to hear the matters going forward. I've heard nothing new personally in the last week. Sounds like a couple of my colleagues may have reached McKitty Group. We'll find out in subcommittee if they did. If they didn't, I'm not so sure what we've accomplished holding this over the last week. I hear all sorts of explanations on how important it was to get additional information. Perhaps my colleagues did get additional information. I could tell you the chair of the committee I've seen nothing in addition other than an email last week which reiterated some of the same concerns which I'm not dismissing but I've said consistently over the last three weeks all those concerns will be addressed as they always are in the subcommittee. So the last two weeks of kicking the can down the road and holding it I have the privilege of every one of my colleagues, but I don't accept the explanation that it was to get additional information because if additional information was gathered, I've been kept out of the loop, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, so the motion is to send it to committee.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? No. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo?

Yes.

Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda?

Yes.

Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. And Mayor Petty? Yes.

And that brings us to the end of the meeting, so motions to adjourn, roll call. Mr. Chairman. Councilor King.

Yes, I'd like to take off the table. 11E.

Okay, 11E. I request the Standing Committee on Public Service and Trim Station to meet with the WRITA Administrator to provide City Council a report concerning the WRITA's Winter Weather to plan, especially including information as to how snow removal will be removed at each of the bus stops that are going to be placed on file. Councilor, that's a roll call. So in order to take it off the table, you need a roll call, a majority vote. And to take it off the table, no discussion can happen on the piece until we take it off the table.

Mr. Chairman, 11E is what you said.

Can I read the right one?

You might be correct. I just couldn't hear you.

11-8.

Thank you.

Okay, roll call. Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra. Yes. Councilor Ojeda. Yes. Councilor Rivera. Yes. Councilor Rosen. Yes. Councilor Toomey. Yes. Mayor Petty.

We have a, I don't know, it was pointed out that we have a couple more WRTAs. Do you want to take them all or just that one? D, relative to the removal of bus routes.

No, no, just the E. You see, okay, this is still E. Yes, regarding the snow.

Okay, Councilor King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to move this forward with a report. We'd like to move this forward, this item. is about, as you mentioned, the WRTA's winter weather plan. as we have been challenged this week and beyond with snow removal, public safety, pedestrian safety, school safety, motor vehicle safety, public transportation safety, all those things. and driving through the city, we can see that there's a heightened concern at our local bus stops as relates to clearing a space for folks to congregate. We have folks standing in the street. There's certainly a city. and we're just like that in the formal report to go to the appropriate committee, Mr. Chairman.

folks that are relying on transportation to get to and fro for work, for essential job. it's increasingly challenging. And during times like we've had where the advice has been to stay in your car, stay out of the roads, if you're required to go, to work. What better way than to use the public transportation, Mr. Chairman. So we'd like to report that way as soon as possible, hopefully by the next meeting. so we can get an idea of that and I'm sure that the appropriate committee would deal with it expeditiously, thank you.

Thank you, so send out the committee, Public Service and Transportation. All those in favor, I'm sorry, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Yes. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. And Mayor Petty?

Yes. So we have two more, Councilor Fresolo followed by Councilor Bilotta. Councilor Bilotta, do you have something on the agenda you wanna do now or?

I just want to make a motion to take 11D off the table and send it to committee.

Okay, let's do that first. Motion to take 11D off the table. Roll call.

It's your order.

It may be, but there's a lot of items on here. I don't have them memorized.

Okay, roll call. Councillor Bergman? Yes. Councillor Bilotta? Yes. Councillor Economou? Yes. Councillor Fresolo? Yes. Councillor King? Yes. Councillor Mitra? Yes. Councillor Ojeda? Yes. Council Rivera. Yes. Council Rosen. Yes. Council Toomey. Yes. And Mayor Petty. Yes. Council Bilotta.

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to make a motion to send this to the community and public service and transportation. Okay, roll call.

Brueggemann, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Petty. Yes. Councilor Fresolo.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through you to my colleagues, the administration, the general public. Thursday night I was

I'm going to have to, before you go on, you have to ask for a motion as a suspension if you want to bring something in. Okay, so we need a motion, I'm sorry, we need a motion to suspend the rules.

I'd like to make a motion to suspend rules, please.

Okay, roll call. Burgman, Bilotta, Economou, Fresolo, King, Mitra, Ojeda, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Petty. Yes.

Do you have a motion that you want to? Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Mr. Chairman, Thursday night I was home and I was taking in the school committee meeting and a member of the school committee asked the superintendent if the 30 plus parking spots that were created at Roosevelt School were for dedicated for the parents to come off Grafton Street and the superintendent's answer was no. I found that alarming. Mr. Chairman, I sat through two PowerPoint presentations from the school department at the Grafton Hill Neighborhood Association explaining what the money that was that the previous city council had came through for the project and they gave a PowerPoint and the gentleman specifically said

and told us at the Neighborhood Association that the money would be spent for that purpose to bring the cars off Grafton Street. So I'm only rising to inform the general public that that is the purpose as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to get an answer from the manager as well. and we are having mixed messages here when the superintendent of schools answers in the negative that that's not what that project and the money was secured for. So I'll leave it there but Again, I found it alarming and I wanted to bring it up tonight to allow my colleagues and the administration the information that I witnessed watching the school committee meeting.

Thank you. So you want to get a report on that from the administration?

Unless he wants to comment tonight, a report would be fine, yes.

Mr. Manager.

Through the Chair to the Council, since the beginning of this project, the acquisition of the property and the additional funding to develop the property The intended purposes was to try to find ways to get the vehicles from the street into the lot so that we can be able to reduce the impact on the actual main street, main corridor of Granston Street. whether it was for additional parking for the parents or a better way to route the parents and also the buses. So the entire project was a mindset to remove the vehicles from Grafton Street to be able to have a better flow of transportation and spaces in the actual car lot. that's the intent that we've been always tried to have to be able to try to navigate some of the challenges on Grafton Street.

Councilor King on this?

Yeah, what's his motion? The motion's a report.

I don't think he needs one now.

No, I don't need a report, Mr. Chairman. It was just my reason for standing and under suspension was to... just relay the information that I viewed at the school committee meeting and hopefully We will definitely get into a conversation with the superintendent and make sure that from this point on it's drilled home that those added parking spots were put in for the relief of the public safety issue on Grafton Street. Thank you.

Councilor King. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like a report on this. It's a safety issue, so it's definitely very timely. you know I've been out over the years to Roosevelt's I have a number of others but in the last week or so I've been out there three or four times been out there with the Commissioner had some discussions short discussions with the Councilor here but we'd like a report I'd like that to come to the Education Committee if possible I know we have traffic and parking Mr. Chairman I'll be to your discretion but this is an opportunity to intersect with the schools. We're hearing one thing from the city manager and our counselor, District 3, who's actually also my counselor, testifying as to something. that is incongruent with what's coming from us and from our appointed official. So that would be particularly helpful, Mr. Chairman. In addition to that, I can testify that there has been improvement from that project.

It's certainly not anywhere near what it needs to be. The safety concerns are there. They've been referenced already. I've been able to witness no traffic, no parking signs that are already there in front of Batteries Unlimited, in front of other businesses. They're already there. They're already posted. I know further down there's already no parking. We have a 90-day pilot that we're talking about here, Mr. Chairman. I think that from my conversations with a number of parents and grandparents, that's an extremely long time to hear back from the city Mr. Chairman so I'd also like to make an additional motion that we consider expediting our position on this to less than 90 days and perhaps 30 to 45 days, Mr. Chairman. It's caused a lot of issues with the parents.

Now, from the communication I've had with the district councilor, the communication I spoke, I met and observed with the principal last week and the commissioners and the deputy commissioner over there, There's a lot of challenges. I know that there's supposed to be a meeting on Monday, but I think it might have been canceled. I'm not sure because of the snow. But I know that there's upcoming meetings with the city intersecting with the schools, Mr. Chairman. And I don't know what that communication looks like for the District Councilor, for myself as Chair of Education or the Chair of Traffic and Park, and just want to make sure and just kind of voice to the administration that whatever that appropriate committee is that those meetings get conveyed so those so that a member if it's more than one member it's a violation over meeting laws but a member may attend if they so choose. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, so we're gonna send the reports, but I think the council's asking to look at the 90-day situation, because the council already took a vote on 90 days, so you can't really... vote again on the item until another 90 days is passed under our rules, but I think the order is to ask them to see if you can move it if it works out, right? Okay.

The other item before us was 90 days. So if that means I need to make a motion less than 90 days, it's not the same item.

So that would be a motion. Okay, I'm gonna send that to the administration. Roll call.

Bergman. Yes. Councilor Bilotta. Councilor Bilotta. Yes, sorry. Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo? Yes. Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen?

Yes.

Councilor Toomey? Yes. And Mayor Petty?

Yes, we have a motion to adjourn.

We're under suspension.

Yeah, we're under suspension. Councilor Bergman?

want to remind everyone it's easy to overlook it with all the activity that's going on that tomorrow night at the Cornerstone Bank building across from Elm Park we're going to have a Neighborhood discussion. Everybody's invited as to the status of Elm Park and the future plans to enhance and try to bring back Historic Park to its former glory. I'm hopeful to have through the city manager and through Rob Antonelli, the significant members of the pertinent departments to have a good discussion. And I know a lot of people have been asking me and my colleagues what's happening with Elm Park, so tomorrow night's a golden opportunity to find out.

Okay, what time is that? Six o'clock. Six o'clock. Okay, motion to adjourn, roll call.

Councilor Bergman? Yes. Councilor Bilotta? Bilotta?

He's already gone.

Yes.

Councilor Economou? Yes. Councilor Fresolo?

Yes.

Councilor King? Yes. Councilor Mitra? Yes. Councilor Ojeda? Yes. Councilor Rivera? Yes. Councilor Rosen? Yes. Councilor Toomey? Yes. Mayor Petty?

Yes, thank you