3 26 2025 Redevelopment Authority

person went to the opening meeting line.

Any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium.

Attendees are therefore advised that such recording or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unpersceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. Roll call. John Ericson, Joan Medeiros, Ben Fidleberg, Ian Keane.

Also attending are Sarah Page, executive director, John Cofflin, legal counsel, Ken Fowler, administrative consultant, and Karen Martin, project manager. First item is approval of the open minutes, open session minutes from February 26, 25. If there aren't any comments on those, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Second. Second John Harrison. Yes. Joan Medeiros. Yes. Ken Fleberg. Yes. And Keane. Yes. Thank you.

Uh financial report. Karen's going to update. Um the only thing I was going to say there is that we've um uh started the 2024. I'm not started, but they've opened up the session for the 2024 audit and I'm starting to pull stuff together and get it in there, but it'll take a while to get all the numbers um uploaded and everything. But we're in the works with it and I'm hoping to have at the

next meeting um which I'll give you guys advanced copy of the um Okay, thank you. Um you guys have the March 2025. Okay, thank you. Um you guys have the March 2025 warrant which totals payments of $56,746.65. Uh are there any questions?

Yeah, I'm Joan Medeiros. Yes.

Don't mind me.

Yeah I'm joius. Don't mind me.

And Kenas, a long day, John.

Uh, okay. Cathotic protection. Uh, Karen. All right. So, we are getting into the thick of it with cathotic protection. We um the uh it was published today in the central register that we're going to have the bid package ready for April 2nd. It's um the legal notice will be in this out Sunday and it's also on combis. The So the package will be ready April 2nd. The pre- bid will be ready there's going to be a

pre-bid on site April 9th, rain or shine. And then the bid is due um April 17th. and then uh depending on um hope we're hoping to be able to present at the board meeting the following week our um proposed contractor. But what I want to do is give you a heads up on the scope and how the bid's going to look so that when we get to the meeting on the

23rd, you'll have an idea of um what we need to do to to make a decision. So, I brought down these are the draft um the draft plans uh for the cathotic protection which um they're finalizing as we speak. We're hopefully going to get them if not what's probably Friday morning.

Probably Friday morning. Today's Wednesday. We'll probably get them Friday morning um and to give the final look over. But basically the the premise of the work is to um extend the life of the steel pilings that are holding up the city pier. So we um the order of importance of trying to prevent further corrosion is the real thrust of the project which is um installing the anodess. Um, and there's

been a design and engineering done that we will need 109 anodess. And the anodess are going to be

located all along the sides of the pier.

These black lines are the anodess, and they're basically just a heavy kind of brick. They're like 5 in wide, 5 in deep by like 3 feet long, and they weigh like 90 lbs each. So, nothing super fancy, but so they're going to be installed um all along um the perimeter of the bulkhead about a foot above the um the uh the underwater ground. And that will protect everything that's submerged in

the water. And the installation of those includes there's going to be a continuity weld at the top of the sheeting which is they call it it's a knuckle weld. Um it will include that and it will include um testing and um there'll be some welding of the tabs to the of the anodess to the sheet piling and then there'll be epoxy put on those welds to protect it. So that's the basic base

bid. We have also added two alternates and the reason we did it for the alternates because even with just installing the anodess it looks like we are going to go over our budget that's in the grant. So there is some contingency money but until we get real numbers it's just you know like throwing darts on a dart board. You just don't know where it's going to come in. So what we're doing for the alternates and

they're kind of in the priority that the corrosion um engineer wanted them in.

The first bid is to install what we call this epoxy coating um to the interlocks. I should have brought a better picture. Um the interlocks of the sheet piling which um that's the knuckle weld. So the sheet piling looks it goes in and out like you know like a kind of like ribbon candy in a weird way. and the interlocks are wherever there's overlaps and that's that's part of the structural integrity

of the piling itself. So we will be coating what we call the interlocks and it's about an 8 in wide band that we'll be coating and we'll be doing that in this area here which is basically 2 ft above the mean low water line which is this dotted line here up to the underside of the deck. We've got pricing in our alternates for the It's going to be all based on a square foot unit price

and it's going to be in the areas where we're already starting to see corrosion and what is presumed to be the areas that will be most impacted by corrosion and those areas are right here. I've highlighted them in pink.

It's all the basically the southern facing exposures where you get more wave action and then um which causes more splash up above um the high tide line.

So that's the area that will corrode um quicker than just exposed upper parts of the pylon. But this the pink is this southern exposure and then right around here is also the worst areas. So depending where the pricing comes in, we can we can add more square footage if we think it's necessary or not. The other alternate price, and I think they're going to be like I don't know if it's

going to be alternate one, alternate 2, or alternate A, alternate B. I'm not sure how that's going to look yet. But the second pricing is what we call the intertitle area. And that intertitle area gets a special kind of epoxy. It's called a splash zone epoxy. And it's like a mastic. It's a It's a two-part thing. You ball together kind of like I'm going to call it Play-Doh, but that's probably not going to be the best

the best comparison. And that's going to be installed basically in this pink zone here, which is basically 2 ft. It's just where this the other epoxy coating starts and then um 6 in below the main low water line. And there is some protection in this area as the tide rises and falls because the anode the current is carried in that water but there will still be um corrosion when

you know the tide is low and there's you know it's just getting splashed. So um so that's the two alternates and like I say depending on where the pricing all comes in and um how much we have in the contingency we can add more square footage or we can do some of this work later. We did, one of the things that we did do proactively was include in our permitting to do the whole um the whole

um project. So we wouldn't have to go back for more permitting. And then if we were to go out for it again, depending on whether we wanted to do this would just be potentially a you know a painting company doing this coating, you would need a diver to do that um intertital area with a splash stone epoxy. So, I'm just trying to lay that out so that you guys understand when we

bring the um bids to get bids in for um our next board meeting so that we can hopefully make a decision and um get the project rolling.

So, that is where this stands. Any questions on that? Can you refresh my memory on amendment number one? What What's that for? I forgot.

Amendment one for contract. Oh, that's going to be for bid support and construction management. Okay.

Karen, quick question on Yes. that process. So, the anodess that restructures the actual pier itself, it doesn't restructure it. What it does is it's it's a um it's a sacrificial pro process where the anodess take the corrosion. It's got to do with current and it's, you know, it's a battery kind of basically. And so those things will corrode. Those will corrode before the steel piling will corrode. Got it. And

so um and it gives and in about what they say is it's going to give us 20 years of protection.

That's what they Yes. So that's what they that's what they anticipate. Every situation is different. Um so you know they say that it should give you about 20 years of protection.

Is there a reason why we didn't do this when we installed it? I would assume money. We didn't have the money. Yeah, that would be my guess. That was a long time ago. Was that 2005 years ago? Six years ago. 16. It was bid in 16 187.

Well, now we're in the place to do it.

Does the manufacturer guarantee the 20 years or That's what the requirement is for the product that's being specified.

warranty being asked for then. Yeah. So there's a certain warranty period that comes with that with that product. This is if you if you go out most she piling do not have does not have this. So we're taking this is a very proactive measure.

Yeah. And the corrosion guy did say that we're doing it at like really the if you're not doing it right at install we're doing it at a good time when the corrosion hasn't gotten so far gone like we will get the full benefit of the system. So So I have a couple questions.

The alternates are sounding like unit pricing. They're like square foot prices. Yes. Yeah. So they're not doing it as unit pricing. They're doing it as alternates. Usually when I see alternates, it's like for a set quantity and then you have unit prices. So the set quantities that they're doing it on are the pink areas. Okay. The sub. So they do have a set quantity. They do have a set. I'm go back to say, "Hey,

can you do this much more at this price?" You know what I mean? So I'm go back to say hey can you do this much more at this price you know what I mean so I'm extra quantity we can do unit prices as part of it and then that extra quantity we can do unit prices as part of it and then that you don't have to necessarily accept the contractor's unit

pricing but if it is a good price then it's already set in the bid and then when if you need to do a change order you can have you already have but I think that the challenge is we're Um, it's not a it's it's square footage.

Yeah. So, it's tough to It's tough to quantify to quantify. Right. So, we tried to identify the amount of square footage that's there there as opposed to like x amount of widgets. Right. Right.

So, it's not a unit. It's more of a Yeah. No, we've done it with square footed.

Yeah. It's a little bit trickier. Not tricky. It's a little bit un more unusual. Right. And so have they said like if we don't do the two alternate items whether you should go back and do them at a later date or it does it like you do it now or you don't do it at all.

So that's the so it's so the biggest thing the driving force panel know is mother nature. Right. Right. So mother nature's biggest can't control mother nature. Right.

Yeah. Um, so the thing is is that the anodes are by and uh far what the corrosion engineer um recommends. We could stop there and that's what our original intent was going to be. But they also then suggested that if we wanted to take some extra steps to really ensure everything, it would be that coating in the splash area and then um the um that heavier epoxy material in the intertital area. Okay. um and in the

in the areas of worst exposure because the area minimum we need is in the base bid and that the others are kind of belt and suspenders type of of products that could be added and there is coating on the sheet piling. There is ex there is existing not going of you know the tide um but it's not going of you know the tide um but it's not going to expose it doesn't have the southern way

back so and the same and the north side is fairly protected too with that so um so that's why the plan was to attack those areas as a priority what was the price that they quoted for the enemies or the enemies we don't have have a quoted price yet for the bid. We have um some budget numbers, but who knows what that until you get the actual bid numbers. No indication or um so the for

the anodes themselves, they're saying they should come in somewhere around 213 215,000cl to get a really good price on that. What was that? Including installation. That includes Yeah. the whole system, furnish and install and everything. And then there's mobilization and demobilization.

Yeah.

What was the initial investment for the pier?

Oh gosh. How much did you spend? The whole pier itself. The extension. The what? That extension. This whole How much was How much was Bisco's contract?

Uh well, Bisco's contract was probably 2 I'm just going by memory here, but it was a while ago. Probably 2 close to 7 million. I dealt with every the whole P is close to probably 6 million what they were million. Yeah. So money well spent protected.

Well, a lot of that was decontamination, right? And this is a hazardous waste. Probably close to $4 million is decontamination.

Probably close to $4 million is decontamination.

Don't forget the good news. I think we're north of 790 when we think about what we spend. It could be project. Yeah, it could be. Yeah. At the end of that's not even that's not even counted in contract. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, so really this is the outer sheathing of the pier. Yeah. All that sheet piling that you see like if you're if you're sitting at the cove having a drink and you look over and you see the top of the deck and then you see all the metal part on the that goes into the water. That's where the water splashes up. That's all the piling that'll be protected by this.

And and that's the only part of the pier that really gets hit by water except for the dock. the rest of it is high. So unless it's a flood, I mean, it is in a flood zone, it, you know, you could have a massive hurricane and have water hit the um the top of the pier, but nobody, I think, has seen that in memory.

Don't put any facas on it. No facas, please.

So, so then I need a a motion to approve. Well, wait a minute. I got to talk about the amendment. So, as part of um moving forward with the project, we need FA's um initial contract was just for the design and engineering of the system. And now that it is going out to bid, we're going to need them to do help with some bid support and then actually jump into construction management. And

I've talked to Carlos um he's a local um rep from FO. And what we're initially thinking is we could um start with a um a time and material not to exceed $36,000 for that. And um cuz part of it is the unknown with what obviously if we add scope to the anodess like if we do the coding and we do the um the intertitle zone that's going to make the project longer and there'll be more

construction management. So until we actually um pin down the true scope of work um within the contract, we just thought at least this way we can kick off and have an ability to have them bill and feel comfortable to get reimbursed. And so we're asking for an amendment number one to the contract, which John looked at today, um that they will proceed at time and material billing with um they gave us their

billable rates and that's attached to the amendment. I did not bring copies to everyone. I can send it to everyone though. But did um did the rest of the board get the specs? The specs? No. No, cuz they're not finalized yet. Okay. So, we do have the specs, you know, if you guys had any specific questions. We don't have them yet, but they're working on products and procedures and everything.

So, uh are you done? I'm done.

Right. So, so again, I I'll entertain a motion to approve amendment number one of FA Infrastructure and Environment LLC agreement for the bid, support, and construction management services associated with the cathotic protection work in the amount not to exceed 36,000 and to authorize the chair to sign the amendment which Karen just described.

Motion to approve. Second. Second. John Erikson. Yes. John Medeiros. Yes. Ben Fleberg. Yes. and Keen is okay. Thank you. Karen's gonna talk about some spit. So, you want me to let me announce the good news? Sure. You go.

Yes. Okay.

So Joe Mclofflin, our um licensed site um professional uh LSP uh talked with us I don't know month or two ago and agreement for the bid sport and construction management services associated with the cathotic protection work in the amount not to exceed 36,000 and to authorize the chair to sign the amendment which Karen just described.

Motion to approve. Second. Second. John Ericson. Yes. John Madurus. Yes.

Benberg. Yes. And Keane. Yes.

Okay. Thank you. Karen's going to talk about the spit. So, you want me to let me announce the good news? Sure.

You go. Yes. Okay.

So Joe Mclofflin, our um licensed site um professional uh LSP uh talked with us I don't know month or two ago and said Beta the engineering firm wanted to um propose city pier as a brownfield um as a exceptional brownfield field project to this group that um is a Brownfield um uh it's an environmental business council of New England and they give awards about brownfields of all

different kinds and my first question to him was you know I looked at their website and some of them are these massive projects text and he said, "Well, the um we're going to get a 2025 James Ferrell award as Brownfield's remediation project of the year."

And so the reason that ours um elevated above others is that we cleaned a brown field. We turned it into a beautiful space. People are using it and there's just a great story there.

And so we are invited to a celebration to receive an Apex Award on Wednesday, June 4th from 4 to 7:30 at the City Winery in Boston. And so we're in the meantime going to send them lots of information about um what we did. We need to send them pictures. we need to do a little podcast with them. So, we have um a variety of ways that we'll get um recognition from this and um we're

asked to bring our team and so we need to invite eight for free and then you have to buy tickets after that. I think Bisco Construction was eight for free and then you have to buy tickets after that. I think Bisco Construction was was the team. They're the ones that did all the They were Yeah, they were on They're the ones that did all the environmentals. Right. Right. But it isn't just the environmental. It you

know it could be um we could invite PAR.

They thought we could invite MAS. Well, PAR is they think PAR will be there with their own table, right? But we could so a number of us go up to the stage and one person accepts the award.

So, we need to talk about how we want to do that. Get a trophy or a plaque or something. Yeah, some kind of plaque.

What we have to do is check would be preferable.

I know.

So, I think Beta will get more uh mileage more PR and mileage out of it than we will. But it is um you know it is nice to get recognition and I asked Ken if we should agree with Beta to apply and he thought we should. So um do people think they're going to want to go to this winery event? It's a trek for a brown take the train.

I was just Can you just email us all the I'll email you. What time is the event?

It's um 4 to 7:30 on Wednesday, June 4th. So, you may be able to tack it on to things you otherwise want to do. I would assume you are going to come since you lived through. I don't know. We'll Yeah, if my schedule permits. Yeah, I'll do that.

I thought you were buying a table. Yeah.

You going to buy a table? We get in. No, we get in free. We get in free and it's $400 a person unless you're a member and we're not members. So there must be a dinner or something for the 400. I think so. Open bar or something. Yeah, I think it's I think it's um it might not cover any. We shouldn't have to pay 400. Um they're assuming that we might be able

to get some free seats at the par table as well.

And it really depends if you want to take a chunk of time out to go to Brownfield Awards.

Joan, what do you think? I'm just taking it all in, Sarah. And June is way too far right now.

Pressing things to worry about today, honestly. I know.

So, um, I will send you information about that. Any questions or should we move on? No, that's great news.

It is good. It's good to be recognized.

Yeah. Yeah. Who's coordinating with the vendors as to whether we have like Disco or like who's I think she will once we give her the contact information. No, we have to decide which ones we want to have.

That's why I said once we give her the contact information, she'll talk to people for free. So, you got to figure out who's on the list. Well, they they supposedly will do all that. They're like logistically the people who are running the event or but we have to decide who we want to recognize and who we don't. Right. But once we give her that list, she'll coordinate whether they're going to come and get there or

whatever and how many people and all of that. Yeah. Yeah. But the problem on our part is who do we want to include? Like do we include MAS? You have to. I if it was up to me it'd be Bisco and and it would be Beta. That would be it.

But it isn't just the brownfield piece.

It's what happened afterward as Yeah.

But so the design team was beta for the last phase of improvements. Mhm. And Bisco did all the heavy work with the guy in regard to the environmental remediation and the sheep piling. Before that it was primarily testing and and permitting. And then we had some issues with a couple of the subcontractors at that time and then we terminated them, right?

Otherwise, it's like a long list of irrigation. No, you don't need you wouldn't need those people. But MAS did a major you got to see who wants to go.

Well, the question is were you happy with MAS? Right. Right. I don't know. I don't think personally speaking I don't I don't I reserve opin my opinion on that yeah I mean that's what I thought I thought that would be a big question for whoever wants to join you need a list of eight because after that they pay include include the mayor yeah the mayor definitely needs to be included yes

who else might we not be thinking of And you need to look at the delegation. The delegation who funded the thing, right? Right. Eight seats would go fast. Eight seats would go fast. Much seapport council.

That's really the lieutenant governor.

Yeah. I don't think I don't know. Yeah.

I don't think she would want to come.

They don't always remember it's the legislature that funds the programs, right? Without the money, there's no separate. That's true. Right.

Okay. Thanks. Um, did you want to talk about Pleasant Street? I got to talk about Northfield. Oh, skip that. We've got you off. I jumped in with this award. Oh. Oh, you never Yeah, you never Yeah, it's not that exciting, but still an update. So, um, on Northfield, we are plotting along. Um, we should hopefully have permitting. Lara should be wrapping up the permitting this week and we

should be getting it the first part of next week. Um and uh we are going Friday to look at granite and once we figure out how much granite we will have available to us from the city um Eric can start finalizing um the drawings for the the improvements on this the spit or point or whatever we want to call it.

And um and then Bill is trying to get a date from um GEI as to when they're going to have uh the drawings and bid package ready for the moorings that new mooring fields and the dinghy docks. So we are making progress there and we're still hoping to apply for a seapport economic council grant in June for the work and we're hoping that our big one grant comes through. Yes, marine fisheries will come through. It's a

federal grant. Lots of people in the federal fish and wildlife have been let go. So that may mean it's a slower decision makingaking process. So far, the money has not been cut in that program. If the program still exists, our person in Massachusetts thinks we'll definitely get the grant, but he thinks it's possible it could be delayed all the way until August. Before all the cuts started happening, he had thought

that we would know in February or March, and now he has no idea when we'll know.

So, our desire to just start and get going so that they'd be in for this season, this summer season, is probably not realistic anymore.

So, we're just still keeping our fingers crossed that that will come through and we're hoping that state the state still feels that funding in the seapport council can go forward even though we know the state will need to be filling in other gaps potentially. So, What makes your contact think that we'll be able to get the funding? I think you said by August. Is that just an assumption? Is it Well, he said that in

the past, you know, he had told us that typically the decisions are made in March and you'll know May, you know, in March potentially or May or June. And now he's saying that it has been known to be delayed until August. And he's not giving us any guarantees. He's just saying that as far as they know, the funds are still there in this federal department and it may be delayed because

there are many less staff right now. Um, but we have no guarantees.

So, we're just calling him every month and chatting at him. So, um Pleasant Street Karen, you didn't want to talk about the um the water? No, no, no. The um access that you got? No, we talked about that last time. Okay, fine. Yeah.

So, I think the major news right now is that uh Emily Inis gave us a new revised urban renewal plan that addressed issues that the reviewer at um the housing department had brought up and addressed issues that Meepa had um asked lots of questions about and we've kind of restructured it um in in response to that we're going to have and the decision point we're going to have the decision point we're going to have

is that the lieutenant governor's office is working with NEPA and I'm in touch with them about every week the lieutenant governor's office and it's been determined that it's an administrative issue that can be addressed to remove the requirement that urban renewal plans go through this extensive MEPA process. And so the question now is does Emily send this off uh to Ty and Bond and have Mass Housing spend 20,000 or

more on Taiin Bond doing all kinds of speculative analysis about a speculative plan or do we wait and see if this administrative fix goes through quickly and we can just not go through all that NEPA process. So, a lot of us have been working for a year to try to get people in the state to understand how how um how doing this kind of analysis of urban renewal plans just doesn't make

sense. And we've really succeeded in convincing a number of people. It went in this new report called unlocking housing. That was a report the governor asked all state agencies to work on or send representatives to work on that identified all the policies that keep housing from happening. And they highlighted MEPA or they, you know, did a good piece on MEPA and their effect on housing. and they put urban renewal

plans in there as something that should be changed. So, so we're going to have to decide. We don't want to wait endlessly to get our urban renewal plan done. So, if we hear that they can change this in a month, then we probably wouldn't want to go ahead and have Tyin Bond start doing this. But if they continue to not exactly know, then we may want to go ahead. But it would be

unfortunate if we went through all of that and then it changed and we could have just waited. But um so I'll bring more to you next um meeting. I'm supposed to get more real information about what this administrative solution is going to take.

Um, so that's a confusing situation. Are there any questions on that? No.

Okay. We've all heard way more about this than we want.

So, the better news is that we've uh sent in uh today three uh pro three paragraphs. Uh well, we sent in others, but for Pleasant Street, uh we put in expressions of interest with um the state through their onestop grant program. And it's one stop because they have they're now doing it once a year. And every agency that makes grants um for housing infrastructure um the kind of work that the city and

the redevelopment authority do all go in and Ken puts in some for with private developers. Um, so the city and the redevelopment authority have developed this process where we start meeting in January and we talk about what might we want to apply for. And so you do this really simple um expression of interest and then what they do is they come back to you and say your project would not be

competitive or your project would be competitive if you did this. Um and they tell you if you're they may suggest that you apply in a different place. So, we're assuming mass development might fund one or two of these, but they may say, "Well, you really should go to the housing department or um we think that we've psyched it out and that um we know what response they'll have, but we have put

in two proposals for Pleasant Street and they're both related to getting down into the nitty-gritty of what it will take to acquire, demolish. Um, you know, we're we're thinking about going to three property owners for numerous properties that need to be demolished so that we could build 25 unit apartment buildings. And you know, we're not going to build them.

We're we're trying to get properties ready so that we could attract developers that can imagine, okay, you know, you've gotten owners interested.

Maybe we've got appraisals done and we'll just get that process moving along so that we'll be more ready to really encourage developers to come and do development. they this may involve assessing some of the rehabs on Pleasant Street. Um, and it really is to develop a kind of development plan that prioritizes buildings that looks at how how to really approach this.

So, um, so there's a planning grant you can get that's, um, 150,000 and then there's another grant you could get for 50,000. That's real estate feasibility analysis basically.

So, we applied for both. We put in interest for both. We're assuming they'll tell us this is appropriate for this one or for that one. probably not for both. Um, so that's one piece we're working on. And then the vacant storefront program that the redevelopment authority had been a part of years ago.

Um, so we're an approved storefront community, but they've really revamped this program and made it far more um usable. And so we are putting in a request for 50,000 for vacant storefronts. And it's just a tax credit, but what it allows you to do is attract a business, say, "Here's this vacant storefront. We can provide you money for your um fitting it out for signage." And so the beauty of this new program is

it's really flexible. You could use the whole 50,000 for one company if you had a huge storefront and you wanted to fill it and they needed to do a whole lot of work. Um or you could do, you know, 10 $5,000 grants for more minimal work. So, um how does it who's the tax credit go to? It goes to the business you've attracted, not the owner. So the business, the tenant is paying rent, the

pen, the tenant who's paying rent gets the tax credit. It's a state tax credit.

Yes.

And I suppose if the owner of the building would it be whoever pays for the improvement? I don't know. That's I don't know. What are you asking? Would it be if whoever paid for the improvement? You know what I mean? Yeah.

Yeah. And sometimes the owners would pay for it, but cuz a lot of these people tax credits always a slippery slope as to whether or not how valuable they are to a company. I know, right? Yeah. True.

Yeah. I think unless you have, you know, unless you need the tax credit to offset your revenues, right? I think it should be a grant. Yeah. And I don't know how feasible it really is, but um whatever. Well, it's worth exploring.

Yeah. So the the $150,000 figure that you referenced, that's for the acquisition and the demolition of No, not acquisition, just planning. These are just planning grants.

So does it actually does it physically replace the existing storefront or just they just go with what's there on the building?

Um I think you could use these funds to replace the storefront.

um they revamped the program and I'm not sure um we know all the ins and outs of it.

If if they come back and they say apply for the storefront program, then we get to talk with people more and ask more questions and you know get clearer and you know it's going so it's going to be a lot of work probably to find a match between storefronts and businesses and especially businesses that can actually use the tax credits.

So I unless you can sell the tax credits. Yeah. Syndicate the storefront tax credit. Seriously, then that's real money.

Yeah. Then it's like 90 cents on a dollar that they could probably get in return for.

So So we will be hearing in about a week what they suggest we do going forward on these. And then you know um the PLA the planning and engineering department, the water and sewer department had both applied for funds that would also affect streets and infrastructure in Pleasant Street and other parts of the city. So lots of proposals will be going in which is great.

So um I think that is about what we can talk about on Pleasant Street now. Um so the Deval Street corridor master plan um is we have a final draft and um Ken, Johnny, Dan, Karen and I reviewed a close to final draft recently. sent a lot of recommendations and um changes we want wanted made and today we got the new plan. So we'll be going through that and it should be in good shape.

And um then for the north downtown um report, one thing I wanted to highlight that we talk about, you know, VIVA gives a lot of presentation when we meet on the north downtown work and restaurant week this time includes 25 restaurants and it's April 4th through 13.

And so it's really expanded and the restaurants that are involved in our downtown in you know north downtown initiative are very involved in it and excited about it. The great news about this initiative is that our new fellow Nick is really organizing the group very well.

really managing the meetings well, bringing um a kind of PowerPoint to walk us through what people had um said in their surveys were the highest priorities and what we might do about those highest priorities, which is just really wonderful. And we have really active um property owners and business owners in this neighborhood coming to every meeting. And um the restaurants are now hosting us. So um we went to the

Irish pub, the St. James uh for a breakfast meeting the other day. We're going to townhouse next time. Um, and we've gone to others and Bank Five is really excited about this and involved and inviting us to their grand opening and really sees this as important to the opening of their new facility.

and um people who are working with um uh the people who are living in um safe step but um there are some facilities that serve people who are homeless and you know there were concerns about people hanging out at the library and different things. So me leaders of that group are coming to the meetings and they really understand the neighborhood. So they really spoke up the other day about realities on North

Main Street and safety that kept coming up. So um so it's a very different um level of engagement than we had in the group we were doing for um South Main Street and it's just very exciting to see how active and engaged everybody is. Jamie Karum is engaged. He's talking about things that he wants to see happen. There's a lot of concern about trash and that it isn't you have trash

cans but the trash isn't getting put into them. It's either being pulled out by the wind out of the trash cans or you know there's just um issues and so some of the owners are making commitments to work more on that.

Um, and let's see, there are a couple of other Oh, one thing that uh business owners have raised is wanting a different way for you to be able to pay for your parking, not just having to have exactly where they're talking about, but we just finished with um exactly where they're talking about, but we just finished with um the planning and engineering department, a big parking study and um in that parking

study the connect with so I I think they're people are going to connect with so I I think they're people are going to connect with Dan and the engineering department and see if there's a linkage there that this group can kind of help the city take next steps on those more digital uh approaches to parking payment. And um oh the other thing is that there were a number of concerns expressed about

public safety and people crossing the streets and you know lighting's a concern. Um so for the traffic issues and crosswalks and all of that, um the group is going to the um traffic meeting that you know we sometimes have here before our meeting and asking the police motor vehicle enforcement unit to look at um safety if do crash reports, you know, are there lots of accidents in certain

places that can really uh give you a good picture. And then we think that um the group will collaborate with the city to go for a SERPED grant. They're our regional planning agency and they often um do they do big traffic studies and so we may get them engaged.

So, I could tell you lots more, but I think that's enough. John, it's still quarters outside your office, isn't it?

So, no, that one they converted that part of North Main to the kiosk. The problem is it's not there's no app on the phone. So, you've got to walk to the kiosk, put in the money, walk back to the car. When you want to fill it, it's back. You know, if you go to Providence or other places, you can just Right.

Yeah. do it. So, that's what's that's what's missing. And there's still quarters on Bank Street. Yes. someone.

So, there's a lot of just meters around a few kiosks mixed in, you know. Well, don't you need You can't do that here on your phone. You can be sitting in a restaurant and add another two hours to the And you can't do that here on your phone. You can be sitting in a restaurant and add another two hours to the And you can't do that here. So, it's just a matter of cost. Yeah. Those at

the time, it's all a matter of technology, right? So, the ones the kiosks that are there are not the most costly and the most expensive kiosk, right? the ones that are more mobile app oriented are more expensive.

And then it was a big trans it was a big transformation just to go to that kiosk.

One step, one step at a time, right?

Because people, you know, were used to meters and now it's, you know, they're finally getting used to the kiosk. Next step, next step is, you know, it's all baby steps, right?

So uh if there's no further matters for the open session, the chair makes a finding that open session would have a detrimental effect on negotiating position of the public body. The purpose of the executive session is to improve the executive session minutes from February 26 25 and discuss strategy with respect to a potential real estate transaction for property located 45 Anowan Street Fall River the V Street

Carter Fall River and the Pleasant Street Carter Flint neighborhood of Fall River. Therefore, I will entertain a motion to enter into executive session and we will not return to open session.

So move. Second. Second John Erikson.

Yes. John Medeiros. Yes. Fleberg. Yes.

And yes. Thank you.