10.10.2023 Fall River City Council

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public city council please come to order clerk will call the RO council is kadim Dion here Kilby here La Liberty here P here Pereira here Roso here Washington here president Kamar here just want to state that Council kadim and Council pel had spoken to me prior to today's meeting they will be here for the 7 o'clock meeting they just had prior commitments uh Council has a commitment that he can't be here for six

and Council Bel will be here at 7 okay pursu to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible motion open

the public hearing second motion open the public meeting has been made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries item number one we have Massachusetts electric company and variz in New England and Incorporated for newly jointly owned pole locations and relocations as follows on Locust Street install two jointly owned poles on Locust Street install two jointly owned anchors on

Locust Street relocate one jointly own pole on Locust Street due to the location of the new diamond Regional Vocational Technical High School National Grid is proposing to install two new jointly owned poles and two anchors and relocate one jointly owned pole on Street poll number

78-3650 ft from the existing pole 78-2 in accordance with the provisions with the plan number three 079 3991 are there any proponents to this poll location any proponents come on down

please please state your name and address for the record sure Aaron Roy 1250 Bri and Point Road and Somerset um so for this um this petition um this full for the new diamond Regional uh technical vocation High School um within new location of the the school will be um there a few existing polls on um Locust Street uh one poll 783 will have to be relocated out of the proposed driveway um with a new anchor

um and new polls 7821 and 78-22 all will be needed for uh the service of the new school itself um that's why we're proposing for those new polls um yeah that's pretty much that's pretty much what we have um just the small case of relocation and uh two new sets just want one quick question gentleman was say he was going to speak in since his input time he wanted to

look at the plans he just want to make sure that none of these poles or the anchors were going to be blocking his driveway he is a resident of locust street across the street from Diamond Regional High School so none of your locations are going to block anyone's existing driveways correct yes sir thank you just want to make sure that was perfectly clear thank you so much are there any opponents to this public

hearing any opponents hearing none we move on to item number two c Innovation LLC 711 711 Pleasant Street for the removal of curbing as follows at 7-Eleven Pleasant Street existing opening is 18 ft curb to be removed is 9 ft there's no additional curb to be added combined opening proposed after alteration is 27 feet the applicant proposes to extend the existing 18t curb opening by an

additional 9 ft on the west side for a total opening for the location will be total opening for location will be 27 ft are there any proponents to this public heing any proponents seeing none are there any opponents to this public hearing any opponents seeing none motion to close entertain a motion to CL close the public hearing all in favor I any opposed public hearing is now closed and we need a break we'll go

right into Finance no go ahead city council committee on finance will please come to order clerk will call the RO Council kadim Dion here Kilby here La Liberty here peler Herrera here raposo here Washington here president C here pursu to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are

therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or UNP perceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible before we begin the committee on finance a number of people have spoke have signed up to speak prior to finance and a few individuals are going to speak after Finance um one of the individuals and I want to remind everyone you have three

minutes to speak is Mike Heron subject matter Bank Street arming can you just clarify the address excuse me can you just clarify the address it's 454 53 Stafford Road thank you first of all uh grow up in a political family I know it's a sacrifice a commitment that all of you make as just want to say that I appreciate all of that whether we agree or we disagree but tonight I'm here to talk about a

very special building and what apparently is going to happen to happen to it market rate housing is a new buzzword around here and it seems like we're doing all that we can to accommodate it but when is it going to end when is enough enough if you're out there and you're living and meeting the people that I am you know that rents out around all time I for the good people that lived here

and raised their families here we need more market rate rate housing to continue to price them on the market because of commuter rail promis to was 30 40 years ago it's finally going to come down here and it's going to be answer for contractors and landlords and absentee landlords and all of it but that's one way to look at it I'm going to look at it from a different perspective for

River talks about valuing their culture and their history but if you look at some of our decisions over the last decades we don't fora has made huge mistakes in dealing with historic buildings the dery theater the Capitol Theater the Park Theater and and five or six other room that we all said just what the bank Army says it's unfixable we can't do it it's not a good way to spend the money but I think if we

could go back and look in a rear of your mirror and talk to all those municipalities that made decisions like that imagine how valuable that would be today we got sold an economic Kine for a courthouse when Main Street could have been seven or eight theaters down there but we made that decision with them and we we've we we built a city hall over a flowing river in a waterfall can you imagine what that

would be if we had that asset today L's making uh uh money off the river and the river activities and you ever seen that River it's like a pile of mud okay hear the river go to the raw martini and listen to it run it's there and it's real we built a high school on Elby Street in the 70s that didn't have a window that opened up okay so it's so I'm here today to

talk to you about saving one of the last historic and culturally significant iconic buildings that the city owns 20 seconds I didn't know there was a time three minutes unless they want to make a motion W the rules wave the rules motion to wave the rules second have made second all in favor I okay any uh you can keep going Michael thank you John the historical and cultural value was significant TI bonneil to the

kennedies to some of sports greatest entertainers Hulk Hogan war heroes dery basketball milikin youth league hundreds of thousands of kids took free Judo classes and karate classes and basketball classes and soccer and baseball and boxing and arts and GED and job training and life skills and CPR and all of it all took place in that building the structure in the footprint is uniquely Four Rivers but we're about

to lose that today apparently when you talk about what can happen to it the old V is actually older than the bank shamri but it's been repurposed from an Olympic boxer that died in the plane track Andre McCoy in New Bedford it's called the McCoy Center and when I first did that video to protest the Armory being repurposed being redone for M how it my friends from I said come up and see what

we did with ours and when I walked in there adult basketball children's basketball Fool's ball volleyball exercise classes senior Zumba from top to bottom downstairs Immunization Clinics job skills life trading upstairs computer labs research places it is a fully functioning youth center and Community Center where you can play sports exercise has enough room and is built for it just like we have here

okay okay and and and the last thing we talk about downtown and bringing people to downtown has anybody driven downtown on on a Friday or Saturday night recently this tumbleweeds Plymouth thriving downtown the Memorial Hall Auditorium MMA marches big- time comedians concerts capacity less than what the bank Street Army would could be less the new bedf the ziton theater those old cobblestone streets that we

used to have that we made a decision to pave over are now part of a thriving downtown district in edford so today in front of you I ask you please don't make the same mistakes that others who have sat there have and please take into the cultural historical and educational opportunity that that building can offer thank you for your time I appreciate it thank you thank next we have Alan mcumber subject

matter Bank Street Armory need a motion to wave the rules as out of town resident motion to wave the rules second motion to wave the rules Mee second all in favor I any opposed motion carries hello everyone good evening Michael thank you I appreciate your comments uh and I respect the um debate around this important decision uh I did come before you uh the last meeting and asked you to

take a vote uh I didn't realize there was a super majority needed um but those are the rules and I and I respect that I'm here tonight to ask if you could um afford my proposal something I put a considerable amount of work into a full vote from the council this evening uh and I'll just offer a few other comments regarding the sale price and uh the assessment my assessment

anyway of what the choic is in front of us uh in 1976 roughly 50 years ago the city of Fall River bought the Armory from the state of Massachusetts for a dollar uh today there's a proposal before you to sell it for $200,000 that's $199,000 more than what you paid for the Lin Armory is currently under Redevelopment for housing that particular Armory was sold to the developer for a

dollar in Newton there is another Armory up for redevelopment into housing that was so will be sold to a developer for a dollar in addition this town of new Newton is contributing $3 million of their CPA funds to complete the project if there's any debate about a fair price it it's not whether it's 200,000 or 400,000 a fair price is really a dollar that's what the market is bearing on selling an

Armory um the offer before you is $200,000 if you reject my proposal please have the wherewithal to request $300,000 in CPA funds to begin to uh save the building water infiltration from fail gutters coping in roof drains is absolutely destroying the property right now the armoring is City owned it's blighted it's boarded up and it's an abandoned building in a neighborhood with a homeless

shelter and a project housing project can you believe the Armory is the problem property if you're serious about saving the Armory please get out there and replace the rotting plywood over the windows without $300,000 of CPA funding the building's going to deteriorate until it needs to be demolished the alternative I believe is to accept my proposal take the $200,000 secure a 15 million investment

in the downtown 20 seconds motion way of the rule second matter motion we the rules remain second all in favor any opposed motion carries keep going thank you take the $200,000 $15 million in investment in downtown and get eight affordable housing units for veterans there's an infant esal probability that a reputable developer with a proper skill set can top my offer and preserve the property

sure you want to demolish it you can get a better price than $200,000 but but I don't think that's what we're debating for this particular project this Redevelopment has so many architectural and financial challenges you can't even begin to mention them working with the city I can save the Armory and have it stand as a gateway to the city for another Century tonight I ask you to please consider and vote for my

proposal back I just have one question has there been have you seen an appraisal of the property with the banker is there appraisal any any particular amount of dollars I have not so you don't have any appraisal we don't know what its value is okay all right thank

you next we have Alexander Silva subject matter Bank Street

Armory hello uh Alexander Silva 148 purchas Street members of the city council after the council's vote last meeting and continued community support for exploring other possibilities I ask that the council not rush forward the proposal to sell the bank Street Armory the city should not be operating on any self-induced deadline and that's what tonight's vote is farer has a terrible

track record when it comes to selling historic go city property and this process should be improved not rushed to ensure the best outcomes for all far residents uh sighning the Bedford Street police station as an example of what could happen to the Armory should not be used to scare the public if anything the city should learn from its past mistakes with the police station since the city

is largely responsible for its current condition after choosing to never stabilize the structure as it's doing with the Armory the city has known about the armory's poor condition for many years deferring maintenance under the premise that others have also deferred m maintenance continuously loses more value for Fall River whereas stabilization efforts uh would provide the city with time for the armory's best

Redevelopment stabilization efforts to make the Armory weather tight and halt further deterioration would only be a fraction of the total 10 to 12 million repair costs that's only been cited so far the city could go out to bid again and advertise the project Beyond Statewide Publications to better attract National developers uh the city could advertise in the Massachusetts Central register under the Design Services

category as well as the real estate category to expand the pool of applicants to include potential National development teams uh perhaps the city could remove restrictive requirements in the RFP such as the $20,000 bid deposit required to even submit a response there should be a higher standard there should be higher standards and expectations when selling city property specifically because uh the overall Community

investment cannot be measured by the market value of a property which ignores the initial publicly funded construction costs and years of upkeep as well as historical cultural and social significance now is the time for the city to invest in itself and stabilize the bank Street Armory solicit Community input and come up with the best plan to redevelop the building into the community focal point it had been for

decades I ask that the city council recommend the Army proposal to the subcommittee on real estate for proper discussion as it should have been done at the onet of this process one would think uh this would give residents in the city time to evaluate what the army best future is for Fall River thank you thank you thank you next we have Kelly Buchanan subject matter illegal

encampments good evening I'm here tonight to follow up on the progress concerning my grievance regarding the legal encampments within our city specifically the encampments located just below Kennedy PK please advise on the progress that has been made since my last appearance as the legal encampments continue to grow in size again I thank you for your time consideration and attention in this

matter thank you thank you counc C2 CC yeah I just want to make one statement um just because people aren't hearing things doesn't mean that people aren't actively researching and trying to come up with Solutions um I'm hoping sooner than later um there will be something to consider I don't want to get into the details at this point in time but we are uh looking into measures to hopefully um help this

situation and I like I told you guys before I'm going to be here every time so you're going to see this face every time fighting for my community I'm not saying that you guys aren't doing anything but I'm making sure I'm keeping the the pressure on holding you guys responsible thank you I I just have a question the last time Miss fanan was here I did put in I had already put in a resolution and we

kind of talked about it and the resolution was there that ended up going to the mayor and to your committee is that in your committee uh councelor Dion I'm not sure I didn't I don't believe it was sent to okay because you said something so I was wondering if you knew something more than we knew because my knowledge was it went to the mayor's office and we're waiting for the mayor

to come down with something so if you know something that we don't know you know I know that they're looking at what the legalities are I don't know what the city's doing I know what I'm doing okay all right I wasn't sure uh what that was I know that some property state property there's other venues for that some are city property I know uh National Grid Liberty they knocked down and and pulled people out

of there because it was with their property they have a right to do that but I agree with what you said before if you cannot be in the park after a certain time then you need to leave or you'll be charged with trespassing I think that's something that I've talked to the mayor about I feel strongly about I also spoke with State Rep Allan Sylvia I spoke with him um actually I

think it was the Tuesday the last meeting I was here and I didn't bring it up but he said he reached out to is it the MBTA uh I'm not sure I I didn't bring my note for that and I apologize but he did reach out to somebody that Jean Fox okay thank you that has the tracks right and they're not going to come and Wast their time taking out the brush and stuff because apparently they

did it in new beod and they only moved 50 yards down the track well then clear it all you know we're taxpayers we shouldn't have to be living like this I'm you know and I'm going to be here every time all right thank you so much thank you Kelly thank you thanks appreciate it thank you thank you next we have Sue cadero subject matter noise and lights at Sullivan

Drive are you Sheila I'm Sheila okay so you both coming down together sign them separately good evening good evening hi sir we're having problem you just take your name and address please for the record ladies Susan cadero 181 South Main Streeter Mass she dou field 181 South Main Street River you each have three minutes please proceed okay um we reside at 181 South Main Street and every

weekend we're bothered with noises and fights from the cultural center and the piano bar up the street you're woken up at4 2 in the morning till like 4:30 you call the police no one shows and this is an ongoing issue they need to have security there at the end of the night to break up everything that's going on in that back parking lot they fight with each other there's so intoxicated plus they're driving

which is another issue um besides that we have mega bicycles on the sidewalk I can't tell you how many times I'm almost gotten hit by them I don't see well so if I get up I'm watching for bicycles coming at you 40 I mean they are speeding on the sidewalk not only on the sidewalk but they're in the road popping wheelies somebody's going to get get run over and we are elderly we do have issues they

should not be on our sidewalks and then if you try to ask them they get very nasty with you and I don't know what they can do about that but that's going to stop soon but somebody is going to get hurt and I just hate it's not a child worse than us thank you thank you so much Council kby if you feel comfortable with the I would just ask that you leave your

telephone numbers with the clerk so I can follow up I'm chairman Public Safety I want to follow up with the chief kby thank you it's a start okay thank you next we have Wendy cavalo and Joan

Derby does a hand on this side Wendy you can go around that way there's a ramp yeah but get your scooter

I

my brother gab here for the same thing can he sit here with me yeah he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to but he can he's welcome to you can come down off your like

and I'm here for the same reason as Susan for the noise in the back of the clubs they're fighting they're arguing they're knes out there there's guns out there and this is constantly every weekend we call the police the police never come takes an hour to two hours before anything's done and this is every every weekend violence women fighting men fighting these elderly people getting woken up 2:00 in the morning

till 4:00 in in the morning so that's what's going on with them and another thing I'm here for the drug trafficking on Sullivan Drive I was walking I was my scooter going down there's a lady and a man doing drugs shooting up smoking crack cocaine right there on the tables they don't seem to care they're out there drinking there's elderly people the HUD in the building Academy building and

nothing seems to be done and it's every single day they go into the the parking garage in there they're doing their drugs in there also and dying and dying they get a couple of people over old e and nothing seems to be done the police come they warn them about they drinking and that's it nothing's being done the drug addiction is being this being sold out there they know it and they know it

nothing but nothing's being done that solivan drive needs to be cleaned up very soon big time before somebody else passes away gets killed because of drugs it's every single day and a lot of them are homeless a lot of the homeless people every single day it's ridiculous there's trash all over the place the other day we were there we found a set of works in the bushes we had to pick it

up and throw them away break the news throw them away there's people they live there with their children that come around something has to be done about that Sullivant drive it's really really getting bad not really it is that's all I have to say about that thank you thank you very much thank you Mr President I think it's appropriate to perhaps file a resolution uh for the end of this meeting for the issue at

Sullivan Drive in the issue on South Main Street and that resolution should go to uh Public Safety and let these people come in and be heard if it's easier to have a public safety meeting downtown in that area so that you can hear from the elderly what's going on and have the police go because I don't know if thew I'll put in a resolution then and it can go to Public Safety thank you

thank you very much thank you could I stand yes I mean I'm sure it looks like I'm sitting anyhow that's okay yeah so my name is Gary cavalo I live at K Mills my girlfriend lives at H the building up to where my sister was speaking I'm an ex drug addict I've been clean for 22 years congratulations congratulations and I'm with my girlfriend I've been with for 18 years she's unfortunately very ill I see

that Alleyway I I live around there many people know me and a lot of them guys out there they're viciously threatening people like my sister when they said it she said you're going to call the cops and now they they they gang up on it because people don't want to defend the area because they're scared they're not scaring me away but they're bringing it to me like they want to call the cops

arm me I went down the stairs to go into the garage to get the car two crackheads are sitting down with the jacket with the crack on the thing I happened to step on it cuz I was trying to get down the stairs and they call the cops on me cuz I threatened them you're going to have me arrested I say that be a cold day in hell that I'd

go to jail for a punk ass thing like that really I've done all that stuff but this is beyond reason the people in the city hundreds of elderly handicapped disabled people threatened to even come out of that building crackhead smoking do brightening I never even done that kind of crazy stuff and that's incredible all right but it really needs to be cleaned up not just brushed off people need to

go up to you I'm getting myself into a point where I'm going to end up with hand cups on thank you very much I hope I don't have come back here this is not really me but somebody has to say something and then somebody has to really do something thank you thank you appreciate it and you're right something does need to get done and we'll file a resolution and then we'll send to the commit Public

Safety and see what we can do the rest of the individual want willing to speak after committee on finance therefore we'll go on to item number there one more joh D John dy I know yeah okay right thank you she already checked off item number two discussion with the mayor request the order amending the for Waterfront urban renewal plan to allow inclusion of lots 0-22 d009 and 0-23 d004 as properties for acquisition

disposition and develop Redevelopment referred 926 2023 come down please Mr President may I say something before uh Mr Fiola comes down he can have a seat you can no he can sit he can come um but the last meeting that we had I made a motion to approve the possibility of acquiring that I believe it was seconded by councilor Kilby and when you called the RO you said motion to refer but that's not the

motion that I made I don't know if there was an error there probably was councelor I apologize but usually a lot of councilors make a motion to approve on items that should be referred so I said the appropriate motion would be to refer to the committee right but then there wasn't a second on that so I was a little confused I don't mind that he's here to talk about it but I was just unclear I wanted

to mention it thank you I appreciate it I yield thank you Mr fola do you want to uh thank you Mr President uh good evening council members um appreciate the opportunity appear before you tonight uh on this issue so before you tonight you have a request uh from the U Redevelopment Authority uh to amend the existing Waterfront urban renewal plan specifically the requests uh concerns

the identifications of two properties along the ball Street one property being uh located loc ated on the corner of Turner and Deval Street it's a property owned by Liberty Utilities and the second property is just located uh south of that pel and it's an existing gas station along theal Street um the Redevelopment Authority has moved forward with a public hearing on this process which they convened to discuss

this in the event that somebody would like to attend the public hearing was duly noticed and also um posted and uh there was no people there's no one that showed up in objection to the um to the particular um request by the Redevelopment Authority uh secondly the issue is also gone before the for of a planning board and it was unanimously approved by the uh planning board itself which brings us here to the council

tonight what we're asking for what the Redevelopment Authority is asking for specifically is just the ability to potentially acquire these PES of land if necessary to complement the existing uh developments that have taken place along Deval Street namely in a form of the Route 79 revitalization as you all know that's a project that's currently underway that can uh has a price tag of about $135

million with regard to the elimination of that uh overhead uh roadway that was there and resulting in the creation of approximately 19 to 22 new developable Acres uh as time moves forward I think we'd like to have the ability to meet with those Property Owners to see if if sale of those properties can be facilitated for private development purposes sometimes you know you run into roadblocks with those types of things

and collectively you know other decisions have to be made in terms of the size of those right now the let me back up right now the existing urban renewal plan that was approved by the council has about 52 pels that have been identified for potential acquisition um I don't see the Redevelopment Authority acquiring that many properties if any uh but they do reserve the right to do that the the

addition of these two Pils represent you know a minute portion of those 52 Pils themselves and in terms of acreage it's probably less than a half acre in size between the two pels so these are not big properties uh per se um they are strategically located in terms of overall development the Liberty proel on a corner of Deval and Pierce is actually uh a contaminated piece of property uh there's an aul and activity

juice limitation that's going to be filed on that which means that that property could stay in its current state and I think if you go by there we would all agree that there's probably a better and higher use for that property but again what's before you tonight does not mean that the eminent domain would be forthcoming it just opens up the possibility towards that Avenue in the event that friendly purchase and sale

agreements can't be reached CTO good evening good evening um I'm not going to say that I have any objection to this because I don't but I do have a few questions sure um one of my questions being in the paperwork we received it stated the acquisition by the f will provide maximum opportunity for privately financed Urban revital revitalization but then in the next paragraph it states that the two passes

are right for redevelopment but will require public investment what are we looking at public investment private investment a combination of the two I would I didn't prepare that paperwork Sarah did but my my interpretation would be private investment would be private investment no public monies no okay and then well excuse me unless unless there are eminent domain taking requirements then it would public

money no City money but through the Redevelopment Authority right right for acquisition of the property not for for acquisition and subsequent disposition right correct um and then it's also mentioned that uh potential housing units um could go there but yet Turner Street needs some serious remediation it needs to be remediated so if in the event that it was used for housing there'd have to be a full cleanup of

that pule and and you believe that's possible yes I do yep okay and I was going to ask about the other 51 Parcels but you already brought it up and uh so an ongoing question because we've met with the state and with our city planner in regards to the 79 project and we keep asking um has it been determined who the ultimate Authority will be when it comes to determining what developers will be

accepted for the parcels of land that will become available when this project is is completed I believe you just I think I think at the present time there's 10 open Lots but there will be more with the Acquisitions no so the Route 79 project itself would result in 20 excuse me 19 to 22 developable Acres um those currently represent about 10 plots themselves which could be further subdivided for additional utilization

the Redevelopment Authority through its own um initiative and through the expenditure of its own funds will be commissioning a master plan uh for the development of Route 79 um that master plan will be testing such things as the demand for housing the demand for commercial use uh retail use restaurant use as well as potential Hotel use okay um so those studies will help guide you

know what the overall development plan may be it's not set in stone because nobody owns it the state still owns it but it's sort of access guidelines during the course of that process itself there'll also be ample time for public input by the public as the plan is being developed so there'll be uh the input of the public will be generated as a result of public meetings with the community to

determine what their take is on the property itself but right now the state owns it and the state needs to make a determination as to how they're going to dispose of that property um there's three potential um disposition uh scenarios uh the way I see it one would be for them to devel uh transfer it to mass development uh the second one could be to the Redevelopment Authority or the third could be to the

city okay and that's yet to be determined that is correct um has there been any more discussion in terms of or is this good also um coming in the future um I know way back when at a public meeting I attended the low medium and high density was discussed um which determines how many stories a unit is it could be anywhere from five stories to 20 Stories the taller the building the higher the density has

there been any more discussion about that because obviously that determines how many people we're bringing into the city as well correct so uh right now the area itself is in a wtod uh zoning uh initiative so I think you can build up to 80 no excuse me you would need a special permit to go up to 80 ft okay I don't Envision and it's only my personal opinion um I don't Envision um buildings

being more than six possibly seven stories high because of a couple things one we don't want to certainly impact views as people are going up the hill secondly uh we don't want to wall off the Waterfront from the um you know from the city we just took down you know those those ramps we don't want to recreate a different uh sort of area um and thirdly if we go up Seven it only

because it' have to incorporate parking underneath as opposed to having it elsewhere so I think you know the good models there are the recent Rivers residen at River's Edge as terms of height maybe one additional story on top of that but at least in my opinion I don't think anybody's thinking of skyscrapers or 10 12 15 so we're going to be staying lower to uh closer to the low density possibly the beginning of a

medium density population yeah only because I think that fits within the overall framework you know I don't think we want to we're not Boston we're not Providence we're fall we want our own right and we want our own identity we want something that's in keeping with the city okay thank you I appreciate that with that I yield thank you Mr F no one else has any CC seat 6 cc vice

president per I just uh I'm just concerned with parking but when you said parking will be below you know what I've seen too I've seen wraparounds mhm underneath and then parking up above so that you could have different storefronts so people walked by ice cream or coffee shop that kind of thing and then on the top they've had design work that's done to kind of hide yeah the cars or keep you know the Sun or or

snow or whatever out of that I think that looks very pretty in other places that I've been and I think the master plan the master plan is going to look at some of the I think at some you know there's going to be some flat surface parking there primarily in that area of Turner Street because there's going to be the CSO chamber that's going to be located so you can't put a building on

top of that so there'll be some flat surface parking there at a minimum moving forward there may be a need for a garage at some in one of somewhere along that 19 to 22 acre pel um and thirdly you know the whole and we we haven't really grasped this as yet as of a city but people are Downs I know as strange as it sounds people are downsizing with cars there's different modes of

transport ation um the age bracket between 18 and 34 are taking longer to get their licenses it's not like when I was grown up you couldn't wait till you were 16 to get your license right now things are changing a little bit people are using Ubers more you need a commute a rail people are walking a little bit more I'm not saying we're going to like Cambridge and other cities Newton and

even Boston have eliminated parking requirements I don't think we're there yet but I do think moving long term you may see less depend y upon a car right for people to get around I don't know if it's less dependency or the fact that you know I have three teenage daughters 18 and granddaughters 18 19 and 20 and getting a car for them was a cars are more expensive than they were when you

and I were driving my first car cost me 50 bucks and I paid cash but insurance yeah for younger drivers insurance is you know out of control so I used an Uber for the first time today there you go now I have the app you're Trend Setter now I don't know Trend Setter but um thank you with that I yield I make is anyone out I heard I heard you sold that $50 cut to your

husband you're still using it today for $75 75 C see too yeah I'm sorry I have one more question are are you still having discussions in terms of putting a satellite station for the train south of the brag so technically that's still on within the South Coast rail plan honestly and realistically I don't think you're going to see that come forward that plan was developed be you know before the gates of the city was

actually in place and they were going to use the gates of the city where the gates had a safer parking so now that parking is no longer there it was only going to be a seasonal um extension from the Pier Street location down to that uh that area there so I don't see that happening but the state has not taken that off the table okay thank you again I you Mr F just real

quick do you know when the state will make a determination whe they're going to give it to mass development give it to I would think within that so the construction is supposed to be completed in 2026 so I would think within the next you know year to 18 months I think that's probably when I identifying that if it does go to mass development or the office of Economic Development not the

office the Redevelopment Authority the Redevelopment Authority apologize if it go to revelop does the council have any role in disposition of any of the lands or is it strictly out of our control and it would be similar to anytime so the area itself is within an urban renewal area right okay okay so that would lend you know to some thought process of having it being controlled and disposed

of by the Redevelopment authorities to oppos to the city so the city we have no say the city always has a saying things because ultimately the city's always approving various things whether but you won't need any approvals from the city council not for the land sale no so the the so when it says you know the problem with not the problem the challenge with this city disposing of land bid

procedures and other types of things and confusion conflicts all this other stuff so sometimes it's just easier to have a master plan where everybody agrees with and then implement the plan because CH you know going through a public bid procedure for dis disposition of PL of land may not in the overall best interest in my opinion of the city so if it goes to mass development on your entity then not my entity the

Redevelopment Authority the Redevelopment Authority I apologize again I can get to enough trouble then if it goes there you don't need to request a bid you can just look at the proposal and take what you believe or the entity that gets it beli so long as it so long so long it would be in accordance with zoning and other Provisions you know building Cod and all so you don't need to do the three

bidding process where it comes to the city council it be referred to the commun on real estate then they have to it's just like to to to to make an analogy would be Sim similar to the technology park yeah when the when the Redevelopment authority dispos of the property for Amazon or for raw Seafoods or mass bio or those other parel the marijuana place so what's up there because it was in an urban renewal plan

and legislation was granted towards that end the Redevelopment Authority did that and yeah the city's control on that is don't forget the Redevelopment Authority is a five member board one member is appointed by the governor and four members are nominated by the mayor but confirmed by the city council so the city in essence would be given transferring that authority to members that you would have

confirmed right so there is that connection with the city it's not you know it's not anybody can be on a Redevelopment Authority Council actually dictates by vote of yes or down who's going to be on that Redevelopment Authority yeah I just want to make it clear because there are a lot of people out there that believe that the city council communion real estate will regardless of who where it goes have a

say and I'm telling people that we won't have a say if it doesn't come to the city council correct yep just make sure I got my fact straight thank you very much there any further questions motion to refer motion to refer second Sarah no refer to full Council for Action second motion has me to refer the full Council for action and seconded all in favor any opposed MOJ Finance motion

carries thank you very much before we adj Finance we're going to have other people still want to speak councelor so we're not going toj just quite yet the three other individuals have signed up first Jeffy gendro subject matter thanks Street

Armory thank you Mr President good evening councils so uh tonight there was a agenda to give approval on the banks for Armory so my understanding was the mayor wasn't going to pressure the councils recently but apparently he's asking the uh councils to do it tonight my issue is this is wrong in my opinion and I guess you've seen tonight several people have asking you to vote no on this this is our building this is

the People's Building that been should be used for the public not for marck red Housen we are tired of seeing this going around everything's being used for apartments now when I was younger going to that place going to see shows wrestling events you know just events for the for everybody people were being there for entertainment whether if it's Arts all that so now we have a gentleman who wants to use it for Market

housing and you know we keep hearing that there's no money to put into that I opinion there is money to be used for it you can get grants because of it historic if you vote Yes on this a lot of people in the city are going to be really disappointed and they won't forget this I won't forget this and I approve I know I give so much uh respect to Linda Pereira because she

wants to see that continue on as a a place for the people to go to and so do I and I you know we can have a disagreement and stuff but this one is to me is very important because there's nothing else to be used for in the city anymore downtown as what uh earlier today there's nothing to go to do downtown when you want to come down to Fall River what is there to do

so I'm asking to please vote no on this or better get I'm ask and maybe one of the councilors I don't know if you can to maybe object this let's work together on this there's money that we can put into this it's not just about money okay this is a place for everyone to go for an Emer even if there's an emergency issues like homeless people we can use that for the

winter there's things to be used for this not for apartments so please vote vote now on this thank you thank you I just want to make it perfectly clear that no councelor has mentioned to me I've heard of the mayor pressuring anyone to vote either way on this so I just want to make it clear that I don't I know he said it and I don't I don't have not heard anyone make that suggestion to

me next we have Sam S subject matter Bank Street

Armory hello everyone I have a Sam Sutter 259 Dexter Street I have a short statement to read but before I do I would like to address a couple of things that Mr mumber said I've known him for around 15 years he compared Fall River to Newton let's face it there's no comparison Newton's median average household income is 990,000 Fall Rivers is onethird of that so that's that doesn't work

secondly he said 300,000 to fix problems right away that's 1% of the $30 million in arpa money that's still left 1% so um I want to Echo what I've heard others say council president honorable city council I believe we're here to talk about far more than the bank Street Armory I believe we're here to talk about our priorities as a city and your priorities as our Representatives do we keep

something that the people of Fall River clearly want to keep or do we again sacrifice our history our community the very Spirit of the city on the altar of more market rate housing here's an article from the Fall River Herald from December 1st 2020 where Paul gugan said and I quote that's what we need people downtown I want something that's going to be a community center in the middle

of the city what happened did the developers get to Paul Coogan again or did he just forget about the people people of Fall River I've heard the excuses not reasons for not putting our Citizens first we can't maintain our buildings I say why not last time I checked we spend millions of dollars paying a maintenance department on both the city side and the school side has anyone ever been held accountable for

non-performance by you or in the school department seems to me that's a a flimsy excuse not a reason I'll close by addressing comments about getting a a return on our investment of 400,000 first of all let's remember the money invested is the people's money and the people clearly want to keep this piece of their history intact and under their control keeping the Armory is a vote for the people of

Fall River selling it is a serious mistake that cannot be reversed invest in the people of Fall River keep the Armory do the right thing thank you thank you please that's okay next we have NE Nelson Vasquez subject matter

yory good evening good evening everyone um you know good great comments tonight regarding the bank Tre Armory rightfully so you know in regards to that article that he referred to you know was also in this article not not only did he wanted this to be redeveloped into an invent Center but it was also in this article that this building could not be sold anything less than the assess value

for that building and as of fy2 FY 23 the assess value for that building is $260,400 already of red flag you know it's been a lot of talk about you know market rate housing and and the tax benefit that they're claiming with this hdp you know what concerns me is the fact that these these developers when they claim this and we've seen this all over the news uh locally you know this is

what concerns me not only do they receive a tie for no less than 5 years and no more than 20 years so within that time frame they can get like a nice sweet 10-year deal whatever the case may be you know agreed upon by the Gateway City but this is what gets me and this is the tax benefit that they get and this is why the bank Street Armory is worth more than this

it's a local option real estate tax exemption on all or part of the increased property value resulting from improvements so to me is that not only are are they being subsidized with the state and the taxpayers locally but also getting this so and as we know that the market will reflect that and everyone around these properties their tax is going to go up and meanwhile you have these these properties in the cities and

and Fall River is not even going to be retrieving any real property tax revenue from these properties the building is worth more than than just converting into mostly market rate housing you know I could go on you know when you look at the updated Opera dispersements I mean he's spent $4.5 million on salaries and wages I mean the the the list goes on you know the money was there the money is still

there to fix their Bank Armory and and to and to prove the value of this place okay this was dated you know back when uh championship wrestling when this building was being used you know Saturday May 3rd 8:00 P.M bangry Armory fall over Main Event Pat Patterson versus Hulk Hogan I mean we we all know what needs to be done we need to do right by the city we need to do right by the

residents of today and for future future Generations that want to call this place home and that is saving the bangry Army for the people for the culture and for its history and that's all I want to say tonight thank you thank you there being no one left to speak I like a motion tojin Finance motion tojin Finance second second motion tojin Finance has made in seconded all in favor I any opposed finances now

adjourned regular city council meeting will begin in five minutes five city council please come to order CL will call the RO Council Kim here Dion here kby here Li Liberty here paler here Pereira here Roso here Washington here president Kamar here will everyone in the council chair please rise for a moment of Silent

prayer please remain standing for salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that

such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and not deemed acknowledged and permissible Madam clerk the first item before you is the mayor's request for confirmation of the reappointment of Ls Ferrera to the Conservation Commission to approve motion to confirm has been made second and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion

carries item two is a communication from the mayor in an order regarding the bank Street omry Proposal review and recommendation motion to approve the proposal second motion to approve has remain in seconded on the motion Council C2 Council Dion so first I'd like to say that my comments and questions have nothing at all to do with my vote or whether I agree to sell or not sell the Armory my concern is the

process are we setting a precedent is this what we're going to do moving forward every time the city council takes a vote and the vote um does not meet expectations or the intended result we're asked to put it right back on and vote on it again I don't believe that's the way it is supposed to be Was the vote that we took executed properly yes was it a legal vote Yes did it conform to Mass General

law and Charter guidelines yes page 24 in the charter under definitions a measure any ordinance order or other vote Vote or proceeding adopted or which might be adopted by the city council or the school committee page

29 let's see where is it page 29 um the city let's see sorry all right I just lost it oh right here measures I'm sorry section 2-9 ordinances and other measures a measures no measure shall be passed finally on the date on which it is introduced except in the case of an emergency except as otherwise provided by the charter every adopted measure shall become effective at the expiration of 10

days after adoption or upon the signature of the mayor whichever occurs first no ordinance shall be amended or repealed except by another ordinance adopted in accordance with the charter as provided in the initiative and referendum procedures this section shall not apply to resolutions so this vote which was a measure became effective 10 days after the adoption so to Simply Now turn

around and say well I want it revoted on doesn't work that way it can't work that way I mean what are we going to do every time we turn around somebody doesn't like like the way that the council as a body votes it can just be I want you to take another vote and I'd like to make another

Point city ordinance chapter 2 Administration Article 2 city council division 2 meetings motion to reconsider a question having been been taken it shall be in order for any member of the city council voting with the majority to move a reconsideration at the same meeting or at the next meeting provided the subject of the vote has not passed out of the custody of the city council no more than one motion to

reconsider shall be entertained there was a motion to reconsider at the last meeting that was was approved and we voted I it really bothers me when we don't follow Mass General law when we don't follow the charter why because we don't like the outcome of something or we just want to change something or we want to be heard a second time uh I mean even if a new proposal was being presented would be a whole

different story but that's not what the situ situation is and then my last comment will be in the letter to the mayor from the city administrator it was pointed out that the matter was before the Council on September 26th with only seven counselors in attendance why that was even noted and what the pertinence of that statement was I really don't know because we passed a 392 million budget and there

were not nine counselors here and it didn't matter then and with that I yield thank you cc to CC yeah I'll follow up on that because she's absolutely correct because I did a lot of research on this and I've got to tell you the letter from Mr Akens was on October the 4th and that letter was to the mayor asking the mayor to resubmit I have never in all my years on this

Council had a city administrator write a letter to the mayor to tell the mayor what to do that's number one I find that City administrator talks to the mayor and they come up with something or they feed off of each other on what would be good I understand that but a letter and I agree I don't care if there were five councils if there was a quorum and something passes it passes right now this

resubmittal you cannot resubmit because the vote that was taken two weeks ago was done we had we don't have that on here anymore it's dead it's done the only way they could do this is to come in in and resubmit it through a new order from the mayor coming down that's the only way that it can be done so I and I would like a legal opinion on this

so my motion would be to table get a legal opinion and move from there if they want to send it down after they can send it down but send it down the right way I mean I you know how I feel I want to keep the Armory everybody's talked about you know the cultural educational all the the benefits there it's putting a group together to facilitate that and that can be done but in for River for

some reason we always throw roadblocks in the way of doing something rather than figuring out what the solution is to do it what nobody's talked about is the fact that the veterans have that building too that was dedicated to the veterans and we really haven't talked much about that so my motion would be to table and I'm going to be honest if the motion to table fails I will object

because this cannot be here this is not the procedure that it should be so the motion I make is a motion to table is there a second on the motion to table we just I don't want to stifle conversation say I mean can we have conversation and then make the motion motion take president over that okay no com it's your motion so hold on there's a motion on the floor to

adopt T I would just table we we're going to be able to discuss this later my colleague in seat number two doesn't want to stifle uh debate so if I make a motion table and I get a second all debate stops so In fairness to our colleagues if they want to speak on it they can speak on it and if the motion to table gets a second after fine if it

doesn't I'm going to object she I yield telling you what I'm going to Doc oh council president didn't Corporation Council email us his opinion on this and can you read that do you have that Madam Clerk and I talked to him about it and I think councel Council has the floor please okay I'm not aware of any legal Authority that would prevent the mayor from resubmitting an item or issue to

the city council for consideration the president of the council would of course be responsible for placing the proposed item or issue on the agenda the city council could also reconsider a vote pursuant to section 278 of the code of the city of full river which allows for any member of the council voting with a majority to move for a reconsideration at the same or next meeting the full

text of chapter of section 2-7 is below and did we already do a reconsideration on this vote Yes we did yeah we did M we can you make it official did we or did we not the last meeting there was um a request for a reconsideration because when it presented it was loan order I announced it as a loan order not an an order okay so there was a motion to

reconsider the vote and then was the vote retaken Yes yes one coun thank you I mean I got a couple of things to say but before I do that am I missing the timing it seems like folks want to table this just to push off discussion for two weeks like I I don't understand what that what that does so is there you can table it longer than two weeks

no no I I understand that but it just it to me it doesn't make any sense like am I missing the political game that we're playing it we either act on it up or down tbling it objecting it just brings it to the next council meeting we're going to still have to take this vote I mean what so what what's what's the purpose of objecting and waiting for two

weeks I guess and and I'm and I'm being serious I just no listen I agree it comes up the next meeting two weeks if she tables it then it's comes up whenever the council lifts her from the table going forward do but we would still have to at some point we would have to still vote on it correct right and I I guess through you to the um City administrator

is there a deadline by tbling it do you miss a deadline or anything like that no I don't believe there is a deadline other than the developer wants to do it that's what I'm I'm just trying to understand what what objecting to this like what do we what do we gain from it well there's no rush or there's no waor there's no City deadine but I believe there are deadlines from Mr

correct there you go okay the develop counc seat six CC PR I'm sorry did you yield oh no I apologize C SE one you have the floor so I I I do just want to I'm going to support this whether we object or don't object we vote on it in two weeks and I've said it before I do not like the proposal that's before us right I I've said that I'm going to say

it again I don't think it's the best proposal before us however um I do not have faith in the city to do what's right for that building right we M see the police station in the um shape that it's in God we we have counselors who have time and time again for the last five years have supported new buildings for DPW new fire stations we we were talking about Stanley we were talking

about Central fire talking about trying to get loan uh Bond authorization before us to to start working on those buildings that we currently have and I've heard you know the arguments of folks coming down before us and talking talking about the funding and we've got this and and they don't understand why it's not taking place well number one there's not a whole lot of money in the budget every year we go through this

budget I mean we talk about parks and wrecks there's $1,000 doll set aside for parks in the city we we've talked about that for five years time and time again I've heard about the OPA money we've spent I think to my recollection all of the Lost Revenue so the OPA money that we have left of the $30 million is is to be used for water and sewer infrastructure which last time I check there's not

going to be right there's not going to be uh for the uh for the bank Bank Street armoring Broadband infrastructure nope premium pay no uh address negative uh economic impacts and that's for assistance to workers families and businesses that's a no and support public health so the $3 million that's aside set aside cannot be used for the bank re armor so I understand that there's probably some addition grants we

talked about Community preservation uh act money you know I brought that up I I've asked to to take a look at whether or not there's a possibility of using that money because I want to see other things uh done with this building but to be quite honest if if there's no willingness from the administration to move on this building the building is going to sit there it's sat there it's

been vacant and if we continue to allow it to be vacant it's going to it's just going to deteriorate even more the money that we've put aside from CPC has only been used to kind of stabilize where where it's at you know a new roof things of that nature and we're going to continue to do that and that's just preventative stuff to keep that that building going so if we don't take

a vote on this then the building's going to sit there and I I know we can come back and say that we want to see you know the the building being used for all this this stuff whether it's veterans or uh recreational purposes or um Community Event Center but you're not going to find anybody and I and I challenge if please somebody proved me wrong I challenge somebody to come back down and

show me somebody who is willing to develop that and um you know make that building keep it historical without making a profit that's the reality of the situation and we went out there was there was a RFP that was put out whether you know folks feel like that it needs to be a national RFP that's fine but you you we've met the state requirement in terms of putting out property for disposal right went into the central

register you have people looking at the central register every single day that are looking to get property on the cheap and that's what that's what we're doing we're not we're not selling these properties and I mean we sold how many schools $5,000 $10,000 people made a boatload of money $1,000 people made a boat load boatload of money on city property developing housing so if we

think that we're going to actually sell the properties for market value we're just kidding ourselves that's not the way it works in the public sector we can try to sit here and say that that's what's going to take place but at the end of the day we need to do a bid it's a bid process and if people are not willing to bid and give us market value on the property then we're just going to

continue to sit and hold this property so from my standpoint while I don't like the the uh proposal that's before us what I will say is is that we've got a state of emergency right we've got a housing crisis we we have folks coming down to us talking about the homeless we need 200,000 units by 2030 just to meet the the demand um the state spends $45 million a month on temporary housing $45

million a month on temporary housing so there's a state of emergency and if anybody is going to say that there isn't then you know i' I'd argue the fact that we've we've got the statistics to prove that $45 million a month for temporary housing is a whole lot of money that the state is is ponying up to try to figure out this housing crisis so again while I don't necessarily like the proposal

before us it does meet some of the concerns that we have from a from a state of emergency standpoint with the housing crisis um it gets it back on the tax roll and more importantly it preserves the building which I think that building needs to be preserved I don't know how many times I go on Facebook and I look at all these uh old photos of the city of Fall River and I

said what what what's happened right the before and after and I I think we're we're losing um what forer was was and I just don't want to see it with you know with this building I think it's uh you know it's it's a jewel um and it's something that we should be proud of and it's a staple of FL River I think everybody knows where the bank Street Armory is and I and I appreciate everybody's um

you know sentimental value with everything that's gone on there from wrestling to basketball to uh parades and and you know I want to preserve it just as much as anybody else but if we if we honestly think that city council is just going to sit here and say we want to see this we want to see this we've been doing that for the last 10 years asking asking for buildings to get

um you know preserved and and improved asking for more money into into the budgets and it just doesn't happen so um I for one will be supporting it I don't don't disagree with the arguments that are before us I I think to a motion to to object just to kick it for two weeks to take this vote again doesn't make any sense to me so we either vote for it there's either two-thirds vote to to

approve it and we move on or it fails and then and then we really need to talk about what the next the next option is going to be but I I gotta be honest I don't I don't know where the sense of urgency was two years ago right this building hasn't just become vacant it's been vacant for a very long time and now all of a sudden we got somebody who's

willing to velop the property you know we don't like what's going to be in there and so we're just going to take it off the table and let it just sit vacant doesn't make any sense to me um so you know it's it's taxpayer money you know the statement that you know if you vote against this somehow you're not voting for the for the people of Far River I I find that a little ridiculous I think

any vote that we take we're always at least in our minds of voting a certain way that we think is benefiting the residents of Far River in the city so regardless of which way this go goes I personally feel like we just need to to move forward with this and let the development take place again not the development I would like to see but um I I just don't want to see the the

building deteriorate more than what it is with that a yield thank you councel I will point out this though when we sold those schools in the past I bet the school department wishes they had one or two of them now I don't disagree good point St good point Council who has their hand up next well I'll be really quick council is a tough to follow I mean his thought process and his articulating um the issue perfectly

um I agree with everything he said um so I don't think well she uh Council prayer can you know object to this but uh definitely not doing the people's business if you do that I can we here to vote that's why we get elected we get elected to vote and you don't object for something out of spite counselor so I hope excuse me professional we've had a great year so far excuse me I just hope

that I've seen it before not by by some others and in terms of just objecting because the votes AR there it's a spite she say that so I think she g a specific reason CC president I'm I'm going to finish in a second thank you um so we get elected to vote I thank you counc C ccce thank you I oh Leo go ahead I'll respond after oh you you call me or you I think you

called counc five Council pelan okay you know I find it uh actually crazy that you know I come out tonight and literally worried about this for a week we missed the last vote I don't know you need uh six votes nobody said you need six votes it passed and I got a call from Ray heag because he's watching the TV for me he yeah past 43 so we're all set he's all said we're

going to we're going to save the Army you got to save the Army that's what you got to do is uh do what you got to do you know we we got the police station on beit Street you you know what happened down there it's year after year and then the mayor puts his nose in he says well you didn't get enough money for that Reb it they rebid it we got 40,000 I believe

they rebid it it comes up to 160,000 so you take the money you get the short end of the stick guy comes in he wants to do the best he can with the station but he just can't do it he can't he couldn't get the permits he couldn't get this it falls apart now we're stuck with the building now what do we do now well I guess we're going to have to

vote to knock it down probably a million million and a quarter and uh you know it uh if they had the right idea should have give it to Anthony cadero would have been all set besides the point this is in the same class but the guy who wants to save the Armory has a good track record uh throughout the city uh with the dery tech school and a couple other buildings

that he set up and uh it does all right and you know he worked hard on this he was here a couple of weeks ago hey guys you know time goes on and on and the prices of lumber everything goes up give me a vote can you give us a vote we're here tonight again what are we going to do we're going to say hey let's wait a couple more weeks uh maybe three more

weeks he's got to be disgusted he's going to spend 13 million to save it and uh to put families in there and uh we're going to say no he's going to get disgusted and just turn around and do nothing we had trouble getting somebody to buy it we got one bid 200,000 so we got 200,000 like he said there was a lot of places they gave you for a dollar all well and good but you

got to think about the monies that he's going to spend in there the people he going to put to work the building that he's going to save the taxes that he's going to pay and it's Unique because he's got a couple of places all in that area and ready to knock this over uh all in that and everything can watch everything now he's got a couple of ideas on on the post off office

garage uh when it materialized for parking and uh some apartments on the top all well and good and I really believe if we don't give him the vote or we don't give him the opportunity to prove that he can do what he can do with that building and he can save that building and I think um you know Linda and mention we can take the cover money uh maybe four or five million oh well and

good you can do that you can do that you can throw it in there and then you can put more money in there and all well and good what happens after that what are you going to do after what you going to sell it rent it give it to the kids I don't know what they're going to do so I think the only way we can save this building is go Mr

Mona uh that's how I feel and tonight for me to come here and sit here and say well we're going to table it to me I mean it's you're right you can vote anywh you want anywh you want you're going to vote this up you're going to vote it down let's do something vote it up or down what's two weeks going to make what's two weeks going to make you want to table it you table it

okay so I'll have to jump around for the next two weeks make sure I'm healthy enough to get down here to give it a vote you know but uh I don't want to put any pressure on anybody but uh I want to get this done I want to get this done you know what I mean uh I'm getting tired I know retirement's right around the corner but tonight I'm very that

happy that if we can't get a vote out of here tonight and and Allan must be just as disgusted because he spent a lot of lot of money he worked a lot of people he worked at all the project and and doing everything he had for this particular building and and it's a tough deal because he don't have all the parking that he needs but he's got the other ideas to make the parking make it

better a lawyer I talked to a lawyer last week and he says you know what I seen I seen somebody coming out of that the Dy tech building there and the're young couple walking a dog actually walking a dog downtown family is moving in it's not older people it's younger people too they're coming in I said you got to be kidding me actually walking the dog downtown and coming out of that building

I was surprised it was only a little dog though I was a big dog you know it's a little dog but uh really uh it's amazing what can be done with that building it's amazing if we can let him do it and if he can do it and it' be sad day in for River when we lose that building because the city don't have the money to upkeep that particular building it's been empty

what 215 216 whatever use it for storage Let It Go the roof is leaking uh everything's wrong with it he I think he's nuts to do it he's going to fix the roof fix this fix that where's all this money coming from I don't know but he says he's willing to do it give him a chance to save the building by everybody he's not going to change the outside of the building he's

going to do the inside of the building he's going to do it right and and that's just how I feel you know it it bothers me that if I'm going to lose the building it does bother me I don't want to lose the building I want to do it right for change with that I he thank you C for C Liberty thank you um I agree with uh everyone that has spoken before

me about um voting in favor of this proposal it's probably not what most of us want to see but Mr mber is a proven developer he's already proven it at Commonwealth Landing he's proving it at 64 Jeffrey Street if you look at that building if you just go on their website if you haven't seen it it's beautiful um and I fully believe that he's going to do the same thing with the Armory and

that is going to be the way that we save it uh we can Cobble together funds absolutely put keep putting bandaids on this building it's been vacant since 2015 um as much as Mr mumber has proven that he's a good developer the city has proven that we can't take care of our buildings this one in particular and um you know I give the mayor credit he's made it very clear this building is not

going to be a priority in in the next fiscal year or maybe even the one after that we've got dery we've got Diamond um he's been very straightforward about it he's been straightforward about it in an election year um that's that's just not the priority I'm going to be voting yes I hope we take the vote tonight and um and move it along with that I yeld thank you Council C8 Council Washington I just

want to um second what council lvo said um the it's not a priority for the city um to keep this building I think every single one of us want to save this building we all want to save this building I um this is I agree with councilor kadim it's not the best proposal but it's a proposal that we have it's and I think it's the best way to save a beautiful building a priority

for me people talk about the the finan we have Opera money we can throw the rest of the Opera money into it our men and women on Leon Street need that building fixed for me that's a priority we have men and women working in subpar situations down there that's a priority the safety and the care of our men and women the best way for me to save this is and to take the burden if

we if we try to see and leave the building there and let it for been sitting there for eight years um how are we going to sustain it so we we find you know a couple of million dolls to keep it what do we do to sustain it that's going to be another taxing another burden on the people um we have to take that burden off I think for me I can

speak for me I love that building it's a beautiful building what is the best way to preserve that which is the only way that's come before us become before me is this proposal there's nothing else I think all the ideas are great an event center but but where does the money come from and where how is it sustained and and that that hasn't come before me to see that but um I want nothing more to

save this building and not lose an opportunity that we have to save the building and um and and and and take the burden off the the taxpayers long term so with that I yield thank you did you have your hand up one thank you I'm not going to really have any added value to to these statements but I I did have a goal that I wanted to use a Winston Church Hill uh quote for this Council

year so I'm just going to throw it out there so uh Winston Church Hill once said that uh those that fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it and I'm sure he stole that from somebody um so I'm going to say that it is not lost on me um that we have a very eerie uh scenario before us uh that is very similar to the uh the police station you

know we have a fora developer who is willing to take at a obviously a discounted rate you know a low price I think it was $25,000 at the time or even I wasn't around I've heard it a million times uh developer Tony cadiro uh and we passed on that and the building was given to somebody else we don't have anybody else here but it never got developed it's now sitting there and

here we are fast forward I don't know 20 30 years we've got another city developer uh it's not Tony cadiro but somebody who has worked with Tony cadiro and has done its development in the city uh that has put a proposal in and now we have the opportunity to uh take a vote to to to give a property so that the property can be uh saved and developed and here we are so we either learn from

history or we're doomed to repeat it so what I will say is I know it was getting contentious um I think every single one of us want to see the building saved right so it's just whether or not um which approach we're going to we're going to go with so you know I think whatever side you're on it's um obviously in the best interest of the city trying to get that that building

saved so with that I yield just want to make a comment councelor you had your story of about what happened in the past with the police station I I it was telephone right just I don't know it was it was a different scenario but close enough yeah um hold on one for the point if I could I don't know if someone yeah someone else wants to speak Council seat six Council vice president do you want to

speak I think Andrew wanted to speak before me I see hand up hand up C se s counos on sorry one thing the only thing I'm going to say it's very simple long-term planning so the building has been empty for a while there's been no long-term planning to fix it and my biggest gripe that I've had when this first came up was what is the alternative plan now with respect to my

colleagues who have some thoughts on what it could be my thing is what is the plan so there could be a lot of things we could do with it however there's nothing on paper that says this is what what would happen Is it feasible could we do it longterm your return on what could be spent it's a lot of wh ifs that I'm not comfortable going with the wh ifs and again with no

disrespect to my colleagues I just think that the one thing that sometimes we don't do very well is the long-term plan in pce and right now in front of us there's only one long-term plan I don't see anything alternative so I know i' I've hit it around my head a few times and and I Echo what council Kadeem said as well um I think could the proposal be we better yes do we have an

alternative in front of us no and I'm not convinced that right now it's going to be a reality to have an alternative I'm not seeing it I'm not hearing it so I'm I'm sticking to where I voted last time right now and I think to councelor pel's point we need to move forward we need to take a vote and get rolling with this that I yield thank you Council coun

six CC Vice per this is what I'm going to say when my colleague in seat number one said I don't know what the objection is for the objection is because this did not come to us the right way two weeks ago we voted on it it was dead so you can't have a proposal come in now and say you want to resubmit it and to my colleague in three number three do you

ever say that I vote for something keep I'm terribly offended by that because that was my reason for objecting not to hold up a vote but that when we do something we should be following proper procedure and this was not properly followed we don't have anything in our wheelhouse here on the Armory right now but a letter to say they want to resubmit then it needs to be resubmitted

I stay by my I stand by my counc Council seat 6 the flo stand counc seat 6 has the floor counc with that I yield thank you me no no no unless you have your hand up you want to speak again no I said too much already listen we've spoken hard and long enough I think everyone knows where everyone stands I just think it's extremely ironic that everyone want to save this building the only difference

is some want to save it for one purpose and others want to save it for another purpose but we all want to save the building I understand that I get it um not going to elect you from Podium we all have a tough vote to do so C C6 vice president you have but let me add this because some of what was said here is true this Council should be telling the

mayor we have a desire to look at an alternative what has Administration come up with with an alternative for this can we rent places there can we rent some spots can we put people together how do they do it in other communities they think outside of the box and they come up with Solutions we're not good for coming up with Solutions and I think the mayor's lack of desire to look at anything other than

just this is sad for me personally and I like a lot of the things the mayor has done but on this one here I really feel he's let the community down in my opinion that give give us something else to go by give us something else and I'm I'm saddened that that hasn't happened and we're right we don't know how to plan for the future but we don't have one other historic building in this

entire city that we own how sad is that how sad is that we care about kids we care about youth we care about the elderly really put your money where your mouth is if you really care about them I just think more could be done and for us not to look at other avenues to do it is a little disheartening but the way this came to us tonight is not legal the way

it came to us tonight because we have nothing on here to look at resubmitting because we don't have anything here it died with that I yield I I will make one comment I know we talk about long-term planning and I think one thing that everyone has to understand is that we can talk about what the is doing right now but this is not slowly falling on his shoulders no we've had six Mayors

five I'm sorry five Mayors in the last seven years one that spoke today a former mayor that had no plan either what to do with this building so let's just get it out there this is not something that the mayor's trying to you know I think he was dealt with this it's been out there some of us had have been around for a little while I was G for two years came back but it's still there

has not been long-ter planning because it's very tough to plan then you have five different people making decisions and you have different councils every two years you're not going to see long-term planning in a city that has two-year terms for the mayor and city council and I'm for two-year terms unless you can all stay on the same page and put a plan together that's going to work because it's very difficult there

was a plan out there years ago when a new Administration took place and he T he totally wanted to put something different in its place the first day he was elected because the prior mayor that was his idea not this other mayor's idea so things changed it's very difficult for a city like this with twoyear elections twoyear terms to have any kind of long-term planning it's very difficult the only

mayor that I spoke to about the Armory was Bob career he had a plan for it and he wasn't around long enough than two terms one term years but he had a plan so like I said this is this is fell in his lap he had an offer he felt you know what I can dispose this building that's what he's looking to do I I respect that don't agree with it I'm not going to

support it but he's not the only one that had an opportunity to do something with this building and yet chose not others chose not to do anything with it so we'll we'll say you know that's not totally falling on his shoulders with that we have a motion just one more one question C3 con k I apologize um it just triggered a thought in terms of u a perfect example of I

think what many of us want to see accomplish with the Armory is the uh anybody recall in the 80s the academy building you know us old enough some of us old enough to be around I I I remember that place just literally decaying cement different things just falling off the building and then it was revived for a different use but it was revived and it was the Talk of the Town beautiful beautiful

Academy building so I look at it's a for me it's a terrific analogy different use yes um and that's the disagreement I think what we have I'm not going to drag my feet on the on a solid proposal from a uh a reputable developer who I think actually has a lot of pride in seeing this Al this this accomplished because he has a neighboring property as C politi so this is a matter of uh a

passion for him um he's a businessman of course he wouldn't be doing this if he wasn't going to make a profit off of it but hey um so I I said enough tonight I apologize to my my colleague and friend C per if I got a little passionate but um I just I think at a matter as a matter of fness to to object to this is just losing out an opportunity for

others to to vote on the subject and I I think we should at least vote on it if someone's AG grieved by the decision that um this wasn't a legal vote to take then the Agri party if it's another potential developer step up and you know try to challenge the the purchased that that would be the normal cost if it's an illegal vote which um I I and I will say this council president

I anticipated maybe that's why I showed a little bit of frustration I anticipated that a council would object to this tonight and um I will through the president I will ask Council seat one did did you have any conversations in terms with the administration we don't need to be questioning conversations do you feel Council gem that an objection is is u in in order to object to um this

recent so it's res I'm just asking the question whether it's an appropriate thing to do he's the lawyer well I'm a lawyer but I don't have all the answers coun I didn't research it and I'm not I'm not paid to research this councelor you can so I I I'm going to let the votes go as they may I've set my piece and if someone wants to object so be it it's her

prerogative to do it very much C4 Council Liberty we have a letter from Corporation Council that says this can go on the agenda correct and there's nothing wrong with voting on it correct I yield thank you just Council Kilby I just wanted to State one thing I know you you and I are the same age you remember the academy build I hope you didn't forget that dery old dery high school it's a beautiful Courthouse still

in the public domain you want to read my notes my friend I read your notes from here that was another example I could read it from here we're good The Rock Street here you go all right motion has been made and seconded no I made a motion to table but there wasn't a second right the motion that made in second it was a motion to adopt second it was point of information I don't know

did I thought she withdrew her motion table did you withdraw your motion to table no I I thought I was going to get a second but councelor Dion felt that she wanted all of our colleagues to be able to speak on it I don't have a second there is right now the motion on the table that we have before us and the clerk can correct me if I'm wrong but

the motion we have is to adopt us it was motion to adopt and it was seconded and that's where discussion took place and then during discussion you brought up that you would wanted to table it and you said because other people hadn't spoken yet you withdrew that table motion so that people could weigh in on a matter so now I'm going back to the original motion which is the only motion

we have before us right now which is a motion to adopt the order before us okay can I ask a question of the absolutely we can still have discuss Madam clerk this is before us for the first time this evening because the last time it died so this motion motion to adopt I can object on that because this is the first time it's come to us correct yes thank you motion has been made and seconded on

the motion roll call on the motion to adopt councilor kadim yes Dion no Kilby yes La Liberty yes peler yes Pereira object move on to next order business please may be excused Mr President you may coun item three is the FY 24 quarter 1 bu report motion to refer to committee on finance motion to refer to committee on finance as made and seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the traffic commission

recommending amendments to the traffic ordinances motion commit an legislation would be appropriate motion has been made is there a second is there a second on the motion second second all in favor I any opposed motion carries I have a communication from the board of election commissioner and the warrant for the election to be held on November 7th motion to adopt second motion to adopt as a made in

second all in favor I any opposed motion carries have the order granting permission to Mass Electric in Verizon New England for jointly owned pole location on Locus Street motion adopt second motion to adopt as M second all in favor I any opposed motion carries item seven is the order granting permission to C Innovation l LC for removal of curbing at 711 Pleasant Street motion to adopt second motion to

adopt that's made second all in favor I I any opposed motion carries have the police Chiefs report on licenses motion approve second motion to as made in second all in favor I any opposed motion carries have request for the renewal of an auto repair shop license on behalf of John maderis at 96 698 Alden Street motion to adopt motion to adopt as Mee seconded all in favor any opposed motion

carries item 10 are applications for the renewal of auto repair shop licenses on behalf of Robert surara at 2113 pekham Street and Roy Ola at 101 price please motion to adopt second motion to adopt as made in second all in favor any opposed motion carries have a number of claims motion to refer to Corporation Council motion refer to Corporation Council has a meeting second on I any

opposed motion carries we have minutes of the committee on finance held on September 26th motion to approve second motion to approve the minut and finance 7 26 as a made in second it all in favor I any opposed motion carries we have some items that were presented after the agenda deadline so we do have an emergency Preamble in order to hear the um Grant orders motion for emergency Preamble

motion to adopt emergency Preamble has a made in second second on on roll call on the Preamble councilor kadim yes I'm sorry hold on councilor C2 Council D you have a question yeah I just had one question um and I I applaud everybody that put it for the grants don't get me wrong I'm just a little curious how Brooklyn Lawrence Framingham and New Bedford all received between 211,000 to a quarter of a million

dollars each and Fall River only got 7,400 for the cameras I mean I find that very odd and I don't understand why our award was so small um I don't even know if anybody has an answer for it but that just kind of jumped out at me I would have liked to have thought we could have been supported better than that but again I still applaud him for putting in for the uh grant that I yield

Council seat 7 Council propose on I'm I'm just curious to the to my colleague's point is it simply because the request was small for docking stations doesn't sound like a very expensive type of request so I don't know if that has anything to do with the fact of being a small Grant do we can we get an answer on that is it possible not now C we're in the middle of a road call

quite honestly for an emergency Preble so is the answer no excuse me the answer no council this Preamble allows you to discuss these matters and we're in the middle of the vote pre thank you I thank you roll call on adoption of the emergency Preamble Council kadim yes Dion yes Kilby yes Liberty yes keler Perera yes Roso yes Washington yes president Comm yes now is there a motion to adopt motion to adopt second second

Council seat seven Council propos on now now I get correct can I get the question my answer to my question correct do we do we what is the question councelor if the reason for the 7,400 grant is because the request is not a big request I'm just curious motion to wave the rules and have Mr uh Atkins come down we can I'm not sure he have the answer he wasn't prepared to speak

on this he may know but motion to wave the rules and I don't like waving the rules in a new council meeting I'll tell you that I hate it haven't come down answer his question there you go there you go he doesn't know thank you I Yi do you want to table the council you want to no I just asked the question that's all thank you I yield it motion to adopt has an made and seconded

all in favor I any opposed motion carries committee on finance at a meeting held on October 10th voted unanimously to recommend that the attached order be referred to the full Council for action with Council peler absent and not voting this is the order relating to the water urban renewal plan Amendment motion to adopt second motion to adopt has made seconded all in favor I any opposed motion carries

and lastly we have a resolution that was filed this evening whereas residents living at 181 South Main Street have expressed concerned with noise lights and illicit activity after hours from nearby clubs and Alleyways in the bar area excuse me in the area of 181 South Main Street and Old Second Street now whereas residents have filed reports with the fall of police department but

feel more needs to be done as the issues continue and at times there is no police response when the complaints are filed according to these residents now therefore be it resolved that the Committee on Public Safety meet with the chief of police a representative of the administration area residents and any other interested parties to discuss this public safety matter motion to refer

Democrat refer to Public Safety public safy motion refer to Public Safety has been made and seconded all in favor any opposed motion carries so we have motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion to ad seconded all in favor any oppos City c is now jined good night everybody why youy hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

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