Urging Medford Residents to Visit the City Council and Speak Up about City Issues

The natives are restless, but the villagers have yet to storm the castle. I am requesting that residents start showing up and speaking to their elected officials in an effort to move Medford in the right direction.  In a city of approximately 56,000 people it is incredible that less than a dozen people on average attend the meetings of the Medford City council, held every Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. Howard Alden Memorial Chambers 2nd Flloor, City Hall - 85 Geo. P. Hasset Drive.

Why is this important?   The Mayor has been in office close to 25 years.  He seems to respond only when the constituents show up and let their voices be heard. 

The City Councilors have an obligation to residents and with all the problems we are faced with - potholes galore, crosswalks unpainted, a diminshed police force and a dilapidated police station, a DPW yard that could be utilized in a more efficient way, and boards and commissions that - in some cases - barely function. Do you even know what the Cable TV Commission is and what it is supposed to do?

This is a resource that is called "the people's forum," yet few people are aware that the cable TV subscribers (ostensibly) pay for the broadcasts on the Government Channel, which recently moved from Channel 16 Comcast to Channel 22. 

A Committee of the Whole meeting is scheduled on Tuesday June 19, 2012 at 6:00PM with School Superintendent Roy Belson (cousin of Norman Greenbaum of "Spirit in the Sky" fame). That will be held in Room 207, next to the City Solicitor's office and across the hall from one of the doors to the Mayor's office.

You are invited to sit in at the Committee of the Whole as well as the 7 PM Council meeting in Alden Chambers. 

For years I've been e mailing residents to come to the Council chambers and speak their minds.  Some people show up, others choose to watch the councilors speak on the TV, but this message is that you need to do more than just watch from the sidelines.  We have some very serious issues facing Medford in 2012, dozens and dozens of people need to show up and need to speak up.

It isn't easy.  Certain City Councilors have ways of interjecting to throw the public off balance...a familiar "Point of information" is often used - not to inform - but to silence people some elected officials don't want to hear from.  The Council President also has a manner about him which is unique, to say the least.  Don't let his gavel scare you, or his use of the Council rules when it serves him, not always when it serves you.

Which is all the more reason you need to get up and over to City Hall...after June the hearings go to about once a month until September. 

Familiarize yourself with the City Council rules http://medford.org/Pages/MedfordMA_Council/City%20Council%20Rules.pdf

I especially like Rule 17

RULES OF DEBATE
Rule 17.
Upon all debatable matters a Councillor shall speak no more than three (3) times
or more than fifteen (15) minutes on the same issue. Any citizen or petitioner
shall be limited to ten (10) minutes.

Bring your stopwatch and see if you get your 600 seconds in front of the City Council of Medford.