De and Joan, you are correct. The litter around Medford is out of control. The one good thing city hall has done (though it is the way the Mayor did it, without transparency) is those big recycling bins where the paper stuff and plastic flying around your street can be recycled. As for the poster above, yes it is PRECINCTS in the town of Winchester, "ward" was just an error; when I taped the Winchester town meeting it had residents as well as all the elected individuals there in an organized and vibrant meeting. And it was a three camera shoot with real people manning the cameras and a real director. There are also good points by "Ron" and "Keith" here, including the main essay. A suggestion I've made to the City Council is that citizens go visit other city and town councils and see how their models work. We have 57,000 or so residents who never, ever show up to the city council. I've kept tabs on the attendance at city hall during council meetings and it is beyond weak. Being involved in public access in other communities I have volunteered my time to videotape other events, including Winchester's town council. This is so refreshing and is more inclusive. AND YOU CAN LOOK AT A TOWN MODEL AND A CITY MODEL AND FIND A WAY TO MAKE YOUR COMMUNITY OPERATE MORE EFFICIENTLY. And then there's a chance that just one party - the Democratic party in Medford, for example, won't be running the show. It is clear that I am a progressive, but Medford is a dictatorship with little growth and absolutely no chance for "crop rotation." Actually attending the majority of council meetings ( a good chance that I attended more council meetings last year than the man-who-would-be-president of the council 2014), actually going to other communities and sitting in on board meetings of the public access stations or meeting with management and volunteering to videotape government meetings gives me a perspective few in Medford have. It takes hard work to bring about change. I've logged well over 100 hours, possibly closer to 200 hours or more, at the city council and school committee meetings and committee of the whole, as well as board meetings of the Medford Housing Authority and have a lot of videotape (including committee of the whole, which is not taped in Medford unless a citizen does it) It takes hard work and, sadly, the majority of the 57,000 in Medford don't care to participate.
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Frank, McGlynn will happily offer parking violations to those
who didn't vote for him! When National Grid blocked my driveway I had
to park on the street. They gave me a ticket. It was absurd. So I hand
scribbled a 2 page note (real psycho lettering) to Parking Hearing
Officer Diane McLeod (of the Human Rights Commission, she doubles as
parking officer) to meet me at the city council to discuss it. She -
appropriately - just squashed the false ticket. Makes ya wonder when
you see cars in bus stops and crosswalks that get away with it (Haines
Sq. Dunkin Donuts take note: that crosswalk is SO dangerous) that maybe I
was targeted for a ticket for speaking up so much. Think about it, no
tickets for a bus stop, but a dude parking on his own side street when
National Grid (with an officer there) block his driveway, and HE's the
one who gets a ticket. No public safety violation, no crosswalk, no bus
stop, and no access to his own driveway. And he gets a ticket.
