6:10: Street hawker ordinance items are referred to subcommittee for further discussion with no debate. We’re waiting for the spin from both sides, but Phil Palmieri is talking to restaurant owners who support the tight ordinance. Essentially, this kills the current ordinance proposal for a month, and allows time for advocates of a looser ordinance to hammer out an acceptable agreement. (Also: Barbara Haller is absent this week, and she could easily be the deciding 6th vote.)
6:29: All about pools right now. Councilors love pools, blah blah blah. Spray parks are an option, blah. Essentially, the city is calling for several pools to be shutdown, and some replaced with spray parks. It’ll allow for better longterm maintenance for the pools we keep, they say, and allow good resources for kids. Basically, Gary Rosen has summed the issue up best so far: The proposal to shut some pools and open spray parks is just a City Administration plan, and it still needs to be discussed by the council subcommittees and council as a whole.
6:40: Everyone is giving their two cents on pools, spray parks, and fiscal responsibility. It sounds like a few councilors are doing the cake and eating it thing, and calling for combination pools and spray parks. “We need balance,” says Joff Smith.
7:11: Wyman-Gordon is going to have further expansion—the first answer the city has gotten from them in a while. See the full report.
7:20: Wow. We NEVER saw this one coming. (Snicker). Germain is asking for an official bid process for a longterm beeh venda at Green Hill Golf Course.
7:25: Councilor Germain is all about PILOT. Seriously. Oh wait, what’s that? He just held his own item. Nevermind.
7:26: Councilor Toomey wants the US rowing championships to be held at Lake Quinsig. Good call.
7:35: Councilor Clancy wants to know how city services will be affected if the state income tax is abandoned. Of course, he says, it would hurt school side more than city side. Because, as we all know, the schools aren’t part of the city.
7:38: Toomey is really staking her claim as the eco friendly/fitness/ councilor. Zip Cars, bike friendly city, improved websites, rowing championships. Now, she’s calling for a comprehensive look at how to make the city more bike friendly, and set regulations for Vespas and the like.
7:46: Mayor Lukes is concerned about businesses operated out of homes, specifically the advertising in front of them. It “changes the character” of neighborhoods, she says. But we can’t help but wonder if her concern includes former homes used as businesses, like her law office.
7:51: Biggy here. The realignment of the fire department stations and apparatus. The big news? As some feared, the Providence Street Fire Station will be closing, and its equipment sent to Franklin Street and McKeon Road. But Providence Street will remain in service as an EMS ambulance hub, operated by UMass Memorial. Predictably, Councilor Clancy is pissed, and calling for a ladder truck to stay at Providence St.
8:01: Now State Rep John Fresolo is on the floor, making an appearance in opposition to the fire station closing. He’s saying he wouldn’t have advocated as strongly for funding for the new Franklin Street station if he knew it meant the closing of Providence Street. He’s also suggesting that the Union/Vernon Hill neighborhoods are being targeted because of their exceptionally low voter turnout.
8:19: Petty is bringing up what’s been all the rage on the talk shows and message boards this week—what the hell was the jet flyover noise on Friday night. People are “very concerned” he says.
8:22: Rosen wants the skating rink to be available this winter, mostly to “show the naysayers that people are anxious to go down to the common for skating…” and not give them another year to bitch.
8:27: Rushton wants a breakdown of the arrests at Irish Times that were highlighted in Police Chief Gemme’s adult entertainment report. (The Times had about 250 arrests over the course of a year, much more than anyone else). He wants by hour, by type, and if the arrests were inside or outside the club. (This sounds like it is mostly to clear the air for Irish Times, which reportedly felt unfairly targeted at the time).
8:30: Meeting adjourned.
1 Comment
July 8, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Yes, those schools keep “their fingers on the scale”
And we wonder why there’s such a problem with communication between the city administration and the school administration.