##VIDEO ID:4ejJZHwGK0g## familiar with the location as well as uh the uh business I have no questions thank you Captain Delany good evening we're we're familiar with the business we have no questions than thank you um director Ruiz um Good Luck no questions thank you yes um I also don't have issues I eat there at least once a week when I don't want to cook so thank you um I would like to make a motion to approve on this transfer second moral made a motion to approve a Happy Meal llc at 297 at 297 South Broadway where it used to be cavalo restaurant second by commissioner Le commissioner malal how do you vote Yes commissioner Le how do you vote Yes motion passed and one thing again like the other business cavalo has to sign the license before November 30th and the process for the new license will continue until you get the new one yes okay I I heard you say in the last uh llcc in in I just correct okay thank you so we got to pay for well let's say we got to yeah I'm got to submit it to the abcc okay and during the process cavalo has to sign for the actual legal license pay the yeah have to s your renal for cabalo yeah we sent we sent already the emails okay so after uh November 1st K start to do the the process to renew okay okay all right all right thank you good luck thank you thank you w this is a long package okay okay okay uh the following item on the agenda we have Julio contas um DBA who's applying to change a location for a wholesale dealer license office space only at 11 Jordan Street um thank you could you please state your name um and the reason for the change J okay um jio contas and the reason for the change um is because the the new space um just has a little bit more space and it also allows me to like park my car it's just a little bit more comfortable for my business um commissioner L yes I have a couple questions it's really a house with an alleyway like a driveway going down to three garages right and where they do detailing right now right um yes I'm not sure we can give you a license with being inside of a house okay so yeah so he's clarifying and showing that it is not um a home it's a commercial building and he has the print out right now what it looks like all right my mistake I thought it was the White House the next door to it then right okay um I'm going to go down the line commissioner lar is that cool no more question okay thank you um officer Cano I'm familiar with the location as well as the um petitioner I have no questions okay Captain Del best of luck doing business in the City of Lawrence get no questions director Ruiz a wholesale dealer office space only so okay gra okay um we just amig we're just clarifying that we're not going to be adding any cars to that space it's just a parking space um for for's car cool um commissioner Le I make a motion we pass I will second the motion commissioner made a motion to approve Pro ex change of address for uh Julio contas DBA JC AO import uh 11 Jordan Street second by commissioner Morales commissioner Le how do you vote Yes commissioner Morales how do you vote Yes motion pass okay you can process tomorrow the payment and you will get your new license okay thank you all right gra good night thank you okay the following item on the agenda we have um Express liquor Mark Inc who's applying to add a dab name at 103 Broadway Street um is there a a chatel Patel here they're not here okay so what I will do is I'll make a motion to amend this um to table this item for the next meeting second commissioner morale made a motion to table Express Leal Mark in a 103 Broadway and Lawrence second by commiss yes commiss yes October 23rd meeting okay thank you great thank you table matter okay okay okay sorry the next item on the agenda we have international book fair Inc who's applying for one- day wine and malt license hi this is Sarah pz hi Sarah how are you good how are you good um could you please tell me a little bit about um the reason for the application and your events for the day okay so um International book fair has been around for 18 years this is our 18 year anniversary and we're going to do an event at the 15 Union Street The Hub and we're going to be selling um s single do single dose single units um beers and and wines um on that event is from it's next Saturday the 19 from 7 to 11: great thank you um commissioner do you have any questions I have no questions for thank you cap officer can do you have any questions I'm familiar with the event I have no questions thank you Captain delini good evening a question to the applicant through the chair is this uh on the sixth floor no the first floor the hop first floor 105 okay wish you the best of luck thank you thank you director Ruiz no questions good luck thank you awesome great um I'd like to make a motion to approve this license second commissioner Morales made a motion to approve and one day alcohol license for 15 Union three international book fair second by commun commun Morales how do you vote Yes commissioner Le how do you vote motion pass congratulation you can pass tomorrow to pick up your license thank you and good luck okay um that is that's all the items for this evening um the next LIC licensing board meeting will be held on Wednesday October 23rd at 5:30 p.m. um I would like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting second commissioner Morales made a motion to adjourn the meeting meting second by commissioner commissioner Morales how you vote Yes commissioner how you vote meeting adjourned thank you very much all for coming thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e spe good evening and welcome to the budget and finance committee today is Wednesday October 9th it is now 6:13 p.m. to my right I have the vice chair of this committee councelor Vivian marmal to my left I have councelor Wendy lzone pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2020 is this on okay pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of the budget and finance committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend here in the city council chamber or use any of our social media Accounts at this point please join me in the pledge FL of the United States of America the stand na where is all right counselors we do not have any minutes to approve the First new business item is item 45224 the authorization to ex to expend $240,000 for the of the mvpc EPA revolving Loan Fund to demolish Florence Street Garage which is a city-owned property and we have our land land use planner Mr Dan McCarthy here with us today Mr McCarthy you have the floor Dr Mary M Valley Planning Commission so good evening uh councilors the um um actually um Mr Rick vanderberg who is our LSP working on this project was is joining me tonight U he's stuck on trafficking on the highway he's running a little bit late but I think we're all familiar with the project we've talked about um this is the Florence Street Garage um This was um up on as a different item um seever uh about a month ago and it it lost because of the loan required six votes uh at that time the EPA came back to us and this is um that there's a very particular situation with the both the funding and with the project that we're talking about and they offered to give us a 0% loan um and which which they've never done before um part of the reason is petroleum funding uh as a resource uh has been has been phased out by EPA they now include everything is just hazardous materials so there's no petroleum specific but this this is one of the last types of events where there is petroleum and strictly petroleum um it's a case where we have a garage that's been utilize the the owners of that garage are pouring um oil and other um Auto products directly into the uh soil and we have a large contamination beneath the building another another um another type of use that the is typically not um approved by EPA is demolition of buildings uh EPA usually concentrates on soil contaminations not buildings but they agreed to let us use this money for demolition because so that we can get to the soil beneath the uh beneath the surface and testing it and the the uh the idea is to use the proceeds uh from the EPA Grant to test the soil and and clean up that area um as the allware it's a a neighborhood that has suffered a lot of industrial uses over the part West Street is one of our main automotive repair sections of the city and uh this is just a little um a little ways in cleaning up that area it also it it gets rid of a very dangerous building um the conditions on this loan are that we must spend this by the end of this calendar year we currently have a demolition uh expert uh Demolition Company um that um is waiting for the cont for a contract to begin um and they think the demolition should take about two weeks so we're confident that we could get this project done within the time set by the by the uh EPA um if we if the money isn't accepted by the City of Lawrence it goes back to EPA and disappears okay thank you Council has any questions or comments Council lone hi uh thank you Madame chair so this loan is uh zero interest zero the loone portion of it zero interest um 40% of it is a grant we get the money and don't have to pay it back at all the 60% of it is a loan and it's at 0% over the first two years and the intention is to pay it back over two years any other questions or comments see n I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion to send to the full council with a for recommendation motion has been made is there a second second seconded by the Vice chair discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you thank you all right next item is item 43-24 the authorization to expend $300,000 for the the municipal clean or efficient energy initiative of the marac valley renewal from the Massachusetts Attorney General's office and this is brought To Us by our city engineer I don't know if Mr Rosario is here with us today I don't see him no councilors can I have a motion to table motion to table motion has there a second second proberly second all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it all right next item is item 44-22 24 the authorization to expend 623,000 oh Martha's not here Alicia's here you have the floor good evening counselors I am here on behalf of Martha Hol who could not be here this evening can you tell us a bit about this Grant and and what it's going to be used for so um we've been working for a couple of years with the Masson motion and um the great Lawrence Family Health Center and with information received on the on Health Data from the center we applied for this Grant and was funded last year um so this is the second of two years uh the the CDC is asking us to look at conditions around um physical activity physical environment breastfeeding and um nutrition and they've made specific stipulations so for breastfeeding for breastfeeding we're just looking at Continuum of Care we know that um breast initiation of breastfeeding is at at 92% in the first few days of a of a of an infant's life but once mom goes back to work it drops to 25% so we're looking to see how we can work with employers to really um in uh keep that Continuum once mom goes back to work so we're going to be working with um employers across the the community um starting in the Tower Hill area to see how they can support how we can support them so that they can support moms who are returning from maternity leave and who would like to continue to breastfeed their young ones um and there are different ways that they can do that so we'll explore with them ways that they can do that um creating policies and procedures for their workplace as they see fit um in whatever way they see fit because they're there are different um ways that we can customize that around nutrition we're looking at increasing um access to fresh fruit and vegetables there's a fresh fruit veggie incentive program that they're asking us to take a look at and see how we can coordinate um an increase in um in in in that program um getting more people to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables um right now we're pursuing hip since it's the it's it's already funded through the state um the healthy hip is the healthy incentive program um that snap recipients have um and so it's it's it's a it's a mechanism of funding that's already there um we will be looking at Future ways to in the future at ways to pay for that same incentive for people who are not covered by hip um but since most of our community are hip recipients we're we're starting there and then we'll Branch out working with the the great allarm Family Health Center to do that um alongside that we we're asked to look at Food Service guidelines um we're starting with charitable organizations and what we're asked to do is to see if there are ways that with with food with a charitable food organization come to what they call choice choice markets um those are when people are able the the the clients are able to go in and choose what they um what they what they want from from the shelves more like super market shopping but not paying for it um so that's the that's the gold standard uh we're working with uh we're starting with bread and Roses um bread and Roses Lazarus house um and Neighbors in need and then we'll we'll Branch into other charitable organizations as we look at that um and again the whole idea is to look at policies systems that are in place um how we can support them to to improve those if they need um improvements um as well as how do we change the environment so how are we changing the behaviors um for the people who are coming to these places as well as how are we um giving them giving them information that they can act on so whether it's by by um leaving posters or small um cards how are we doing that and then for physical activity we're asked to look at the physical environment as well as um what we can do to make changes so people become more active over time um and so right now we we're just think we're thinking in the way of everyday everyday activ um everyday activities to to daily destination so how are we incre um improving the environmental space so that people feel feel comfortable and secure going out for a walk riding their bike jogging doing whatever they do getting out of the cars and being more physically active so we're looking to see how to increase physical activity again starting in the Tower Hill area and then moving um to another uh designated location we're starting in the Tower Hill area because given the information we got from um the great alence Family Health Center that's the area of most need it has the highest incidences of diabetes hypertension and chronic kidney disease so that's the information that we're acting on thank you councelor any question questions or comments council president are you do you have a question uh yeah for okay councelor marmo all right thank you so much M Miller in describing the data as to why you were targeting lower Tower Hill because that is kind of like my line of questioning um with that data though um how do you plan on putting into action into offering your servic to uh the recipients that would benefit from this grant are you like are you working with any other organizations to or is are you working solely with greater lawence Family Health C no um so we are working with the great allwen Family Health Center glcs so any any um organization that impacts what we're trying to do so we're working with mvpc the planning department G and groundwork Lawrence for the physical activity physical Environ environment space we're working with the with um the for the Food Service guidelines as a charitable organizations I just mentioned Neighbors in need bread and roses and Lazarus house for the fruit and veggie incentive program we're working with the UMass nutrition extension program we're working with greaten Family Health Center we're working with um there's one more with Wick okay um so so so it depends on we're working with different people B based on and then for the the breastfeeding we're working with G Lawrence Family Health Center Wick and Lawrence General Hospital okay thank you so much for that clarification um looking at this memo um and we're also working with the public schools amazing thank you looking at this memo I'm noticing also that um it is indicated that this uh Grant will go towards nutrition Street design connectivity and phys activ the street design do you mind tapping into what does that mean what does that entail so again if you're if you're asking people to do something you sort of have to give them the the method to do it and so if we're asking people to go out for walks or do whatever we have to make sure that the environment is inviting to that and so over the years we've been talking with community members they don't feel safe the sidewalk isn't clean it's broken so looking to improve all those spaces and then to connect them so it's it it what what if you have a sidewalk that doesn't lead to anywhere then what's the use of a sidewalk so it's making sure that you can get to Everyday destinations so if I want to leave my house to go to the grocery store can I get there if I want to leave my house to go to school with my with my child can I get there if I want to leave my house go to the park can I get there so it's looking at those daily destinations where people go on a daily basis and what's the what does the connections look like from a walker biker perspective and if there if there's need for improvements how are we going to work to improve it so we're working with the community to come up with the ways that they they want their their their space to be improved okay thank you so much the like your answers are amazing and I appreciate the work that's being done to address those needs um so as of yet there hasn't been an analysis done um in terms of what streets um needs to be redesigned or what road like what side no so so we did a general assessment um we've we did we actually just did a walk through um with with um her name is escaping me from the neighborhood association we did a walk yesterday um and the tower theill neighborhood association I'm sorry I forgot I forgot her name Elsa Elsa um so we did a walk with Elsa um the mer Valley um groundwork lawence uh we we were hoping to get a few more people in but we weren't able to to get folks in but we did we did a walk through some of the streets um looking at what the C what the current conditions are I know that mer the merac valley Planning Commission and um our our mayor's Health task force staff was at the the recent Tower Hill um neighborhood block party and we're going to be speaking with the um the par the the congregation at the Lawrence evangelic Church um this this coming Sunday so we're we're trying to get as much Community input as we possibly can to determine which routes we start with where do we prioritize with my line of thank you so much you're welcome council president yes thank you thank you m shair um well I'm glad that um you guys are doing what you're doing uh that at these at these um locations I mean it is so important for uh for this location to be identified and study when it comes to the physical activities and when we come to uh data that is been identified it is it is amazing to hear that you know people at the Tower Hill area they have higher probability of of kidney disease and and higher uh um diabetes U numbers right uh yeah um and chronic kidney disease yeah which is associated with diabetes yeah it is it is it is um I've been I've been telling a lot of people that you know a lot of before we used to have a lot of data when it comes to that alington district and and I was always refer to the lower Tower Hill is the extension of the of that um of that area because I mean it's similar characteristic when it comes to how people leave how people move around the limitations and and and other aspects but I'm glad that you guys are doing this for sure so just to piggy back on what councel Mar was saying uh the connection between um the lower Tower Hill perhaps with the upper Tower Hill or areas that um might be designated or designed traditionally within the city of lawrens to do exercise perhaps the reservoir um I feel like sometime that is that is not a good connection between between the lower Tower Hill and the upper Tower Hill M uh because it's not sometime it's not a route well defined uh to get to perhaps uh the reservoir area why am I saying that well I live I live around there and if you think about it there is two ways to get from my house that is the way to get to the reservoir one that is very uphill that people it's kind of intimidated to take it and the other area that is if you take specific routs you might get there without being so much Tire because of the of the Hill MH uh or the rais on elevations so having potentially within the design uh of of the whole plan having routes that actually guide you from point A to point B and show the community as of how you can get to a specific places uh with it with a specific time distance uh that might help uh because that that that's that's something that is it have been done in the low and the on the downtown area perhaps um areas that you can walk in the downtown had been done like at the at the common Park if you go so many round so many so many U if you go around so many time and then you have so many miles something like that I think will help physical activity and will motivate people uh to take to take a to take a walk or to get a bike um and also I was I was wondering have you got in touch with any of the U uh cycling organizations that are in the City of Lawrence not yet not yet not we we well we're we're in touch with one but we we haven't for this this particular project no not yet yeah because I mean I think it will be it will be good to get in touch with uh with them because I mean they are riding bikes mhm um still still today they still riding bikes so I think it will be important to have that type of connection between between any type of grant that is uh related to cycling because the perspective that they might have have when it comes to uh that type of physical activity is different than somebody that just that just grab a bike to come to to the Cobia Perhaps it is a little different and not criticizing not criticizing the Cobia but I mean it is it is a little different you see it differently understood so basically probably have something like that in the plate and collaborate with that with this type of organization also will give you an insight as of how things get improve um and and going back to the infrastructure and how things get connected um specifically on the lower Tower Hill area I think that having an opportunity to connect the the the housing development that is around there uh with the all the areas around when it comes to sidewalk and how to uh motivate people to walk around that is specific uh the Mar m court and having this type of signage that says if you go around the mar mar Court this is the amount of activity you you you will get and this is potentially the amount of calorie you might burn that that will help a little bit uh when it comes to physical activities uh because you have you have that opportunity there already it does on in the center of the lower Tower Hill so that's that's something that I'm that I was thinking and perhaps uh the sidewalk right around right around there is something that need to be improved that um if you put it on your notes that might that might help thank you for that I've actually I have I've actually spoken with um the director for the C program um looking to talk with with her youth um because she did say to us that she has a a group that meets so that's something that's that's in the in the planning process as as we're coming together cuz this we just started year two but that's that's one person I spoke with um and she did indicate to me that she has a a teen group that meets it's a smaller group but I'm looking to see because we want to ensure that we're hearing all voices um we do also H we're also from the from the um the the neighborhood block party there uh uh Martha hold was able to connect with a couple of residents because one of the things that we're asked to do is to do true Community engagement and our proposal was to create a resident advisory committee um and so we're looking for different different perspectives on that committee so um I did reach out to the CIS pu um program and and we'll be having further conversations with them to get that youth youth voice into the conversations as well last question Madame chair I wanted to ask so you working with uh the Mar m Valley Commission on this Val plann commission yes so there is a way that they can provide you with the a buffer z uh that you can get that done through GIS a buffer zone that actually provide a walking distance from an specific Place perhaps they G met to see how far you can go and how far the students move around when it comes to physical activities and and also when it comes to walkability to schol with the youth that's something that they might able to that might be able to provide and that will be a great tool assess to uh to be able to identify the potential distance from different areas around dle med school okay all right I will check I will I will check into that all right great thank you thank you counc oh thank you Madame chair to you Madame chair she just u a are City councilors able to join your meetings when right now like you're going to start on Tower Hill your strategy meetings you mean no yeah well not it I know that you have different meetings so can any City councelor be part of the meetings absolutely okay so now you know my colleagues you are welcome to join the mayor task force I know that so I'm I was part of the maor heal task force H so that way you can get because they always have great information and great data um just to put it out there um you know as a console uh from District b i I would like to know what projects are happening in my area but I know you send invites um I know you do um Alicia just to um just be careful my suggestion with the churches cuz so of the local churches even though they are in our neighborhood people that attend those churches are not from that neighborhood just you know put it to put it out there be careful because we don't want to get suggestions to people that don't usually use our sidewalks we do we do have a criteria for for becoming a resident advisory Council thank you thank you uh and thank you for the great job that you do uh through the major head test for for the city and I know this is going to be great for to thank you thank you Council Mar m Miller you mentioned a tour that was done yesterday who put together this tour uh that was the mermaid Valley Planning Commission okay just going forward considering that uh a portion of Tower Hill uh I I represent um it would be amazing for the counselors that represent that District you know if it is uh appropriate appropriate but also if you if um you guys see fit and adequate to have our opinion um if you could invite myself and uh counselor Del Rosario to to join you guys yeah I have invited you to our walks but I I I will pass that on to Tony um to to make sure that you're a part of it yeah she she has you have you have a little cheerleader here next I know I I have to say Miss Miller I always appreciate when you're in front of us U advocating for something because you are always so well prepared and you know your data and you know you just know your stuff and you're very passionate so I I I love when you when you come before us thank you and if you ever want to see the map I can share that with you so you see what it looks like and why we chose the side that the the the the area that we chose um the the the whole premise is to start there because it's the highest need but as things start to improve Pro we'll look again with with great lawence since they serve most of our community at what what what's trending in what other space and then move on to that space I am curious um and I'll I'll I'll set I'll send I'll set up a meeting with you later on um to see data whatever data you have for for the South Lawrence area um it could be and I'll probably uh speak to councelor the plant too cuz it could be just the South lawence as a whole since there is a clinic in in District and perhaps him and I can meet um just it might it might not be the biggest need but I'll definitely be curious to see what what the data looks like in in those neighborhoods yeah I have that that is on the map okay all right so because we did the whole the whole city I'll connect with with Council the plant and um and we'll we'll we'll do like a South Lawrence thing with you okay oh there there is actually something coming to South Lawrence just on a different a different item chair recomend item number 4 45424 to be sent to full council with a favorable recommendation motion has been made probably second in discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I the eyes have it thank you thank you m thank you coun our next item is item 4 55-24 payment of Prior prior year invoice and the amount of $944 with 7 cents from Amazon and we have our city clerk Eileen Bernell here for this good evening counselors thank you for your time uh Eileen Bernell Mar City Clark 257 Mount Vernon Street um we had an invoice for Amazon um for some toner and printer ink last spring and it inadvertently got paid to the wrong vendor the vendor did reimburse us the money but Amazon still hasn't been paid for that amount so um just looking for your authorization since it's a prior year invoice to get that bill paid I'll make a motion to send it to the full councel with a fav recommendation motion has been made properly second in discussion see a none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you very much coun appreciate you're welcome next item is item 45624 appropriation transfer in the amount of 1,266 1836 from capital reserve fund to DPW capital improvements and we have our CFO here Mr aano I didn't even see him and it's true what Gio said the screen you can't really can't can't see any good evening counselors evening good evening uh this is the uh uh transfer um as part of our budget process we budget this amount we've budgeted 1,266 1836 in a capital reserve fund it's part of our general operating budget and we're required by Chapter 58 the acts of 2010 to budget uh um 1.5% of our prior year tax levy uh for Capital Improvement items uh so this is a request uh um by DPW to use the this is the entire amount for Capital Improvements related to the Essex Street project it's uh Road and Paving improvements and various improvements that uh the DBW director passed and he's going to the entire allocation this year will go towards that project Mr know is this I've had a few conversations with the DPW director and and he did inform me that a a capital Improvement item was coming down but I was under the impression that one and it might be a different item but I don't know if this is the same item or not but it was focused on sidewalks roads like it was more generic not that's that's another we haven't brought that down to the council yet we that would be another that's uh um several million dollars he's asking for so that would be new capital Improvement or Bond authorization this is just money uh that's already budgeted we can appropriate and get this project started this that's why he asked uh asked to use it out of this uh These funds are already available right Council has any questions council president uh just U through you m shair just just have the uh the details of the project uh to be sent to us uh next meeting yeah I'll ask the DB director to send it to you thank you no more questions any all right um I'll a motion I'll send I'll ask for more I mean a I'll place a motion to send it to the full Council what for recommend motion has been made is there properly second in discussion seeing none all those in favor say I the eyes have it um Vivan sorry councelor marmel item 45724 authorization to expend 17,1 161 with1 under the psap 911 training Grant and we have uh director Rosa from the Lawrence Police Department here with us today good evening city council Rosa shepher director of support service of the Lawrence Police Department um the Lawrence Police Department appli for the 911 training Grant and we were award the amount of one hire a instructor and to train our officers or anything related to the 911 dispatch and we will pay four classes a total 16 hours and um it will be it 16 hours for the classes plus the over uh plus the time is spent taking the training for the officers to the officers thank you Council has any questions council president um just a quick question is this is this money it's it's is or these trainings are the trainings that get that uh that the police take advantage of to be to be able to deal with anything related to 911 but is this relate this actually specialize uh a little deep into how to deal with a person with disabilities yes it does I do have a whole list that uh the agency sent us of the trainings that we can we need to uh go ahead and and choose which training they are going to take this year the question the reason that I'm asking this question is because I mean it was a petition from one of the local organizations from laen that asked uh us to seek uh for the police officers to be able to be trained uh on dealing with crisis related to uh people with disability sometime that sometime that is is not appropriate training uh when it comes to amount of people that get those training um some police departments they have one or two uh lens I believe you have more than that by the time that the question was asked but I want to make sure like that type of training still within the the uh within the book of priorities since that that could be something that we definitely need in cases uh specific cases related to uh people with disability okay yeah I can definitely pass that on to the uh officer that oversees that department again that we will just receive the Leist of the training that it will be given for fy2 we haven't chose the classes yet as we just got approved for this grant um just one one last thought do you mind once you get once you pick the classes do you mind sharing with the with us so we can share with the council and uh with the Ada coordinator so they know exactly what the police is been trained on can than appreciate it Council any other questions or comments seeing none I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion to send it to the full council with a fav recommendation motion has been made properly seconded discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it our next item is item 4 58-24 authorization to expend 5237 $373 uh for fy2 Municipal Road Safety Grant and we have director Shephard here you have the floor sure we apply for the Municipal Road safety program which is a grant um Pro uh funded through the uh National Highway saf traffic safety administration through the EOS uh in the amount of 52,2 $373 um this the the goal for this grant is to be able to provide education to the citizens on the D driving biking and walk Walking um and plus help with the uh uh uh help with the with the traffic as well councilors any questions or comments councelor marmel um are you to provide detail in terms of um let me see specific traffic enforcement related equipment um I I have such a big interest in terms of um how this would um what what does it entail like specifically especially in my district because we've had major issues in like um like streets such as Water Street in terms of um safety and um driving recklessly so I'm wondering how would this grant uh be a benefit to address those issues do a do that a specific Stree or just directly to the city it's specific to the city not I know I know my street is not the only affected Street um in my district is not the affected District um so in terms of what related equipment would this grant go towards to address those issues okay I can ask J to answer that question good evening councilors thank you J cillo Lieutenant Lawrence Police Department so again uh like uh Rosa explained the traffic Grant gives gives us uh money for campaigns usually there's six to eight campaigns which focuses on distracting driving speeding um sobriety checkpoints as well as uh reckless driving and impaired driving so there's usually six campaigns and those campaigns usually go uh on a monthly basis so again you might have in January you might start impair driving uh June July it was feeding uh so every campaign that comes up it runs for 30 days that gives us money for enforcement uh and again we try to Target cities uh cities streets which we're getting complaints from Top accident locations things of those those Natures as far as the um equipment uh I I believe we've been getting this grant for about four or five years uh the first couple years we're in dire need of radar guns and liar guns uh so we used the portion of the grant which I believe roughly is between 10,000 and 11,000 for equipment correct uh we use that to purchase uh liar guns radar guns what is the you said radar and what's the other gun Liar Liar it's just a different type of radar okay more advanced so we bought a combination of uh liar and radar those were distributed through uh you know the platoon as well as Community Police releasing and Special Operations so that officers could get out there and do some speed enforcement uh the the next popular item that we've been doing over the last few years is the portable speed boards which we're trying to get up in different neighborhoods and we've had a few issues with uh when we get the speed boards they they don't have the parts and but we are getting them up and we're getting them out uh we put a couple took two years because of the parts it's not your fault I agree so we did run into an issue with with parts and uh they're not having the proper hes we had there's been a lot of issues but we are rolling them out now they're getting out into the neighborhoods I see I'm getting the evil eye from Council Rodriguez he's been promised one we're going to get that up for him I promise uh so that's what we've been using the the equipment money on because again it's a very popular item uh it's a portable speed board so which means that we can put it up in your neighborhood we could keep it there for a little while we could move it to another spot in your neighborhood so it it they they they're very popular they run off of solar and they're easy for us to put up so that's what we've been buying with the grant over the last few years besides of portable speed boards has the department um in conjunction with the the mayor's office have you guys uh discussed any other type of method besides the speedboard such as I know I know coming up we're going to talk a little bit about in the next uh and the public safety we're going to talk a little bit about speeding and and and different U issues I can I can be happy to get into that but there you know again there's been some discussion about uh reducing the speed limit Citywide uh to 25 uh again I think uh it's it's you know it's something that would work but I think there's other and better Alternatives uh and proven methods that we've had over the years to address that and again I think that's something we should talk about about calming traffic patn so there's things we can do with the streets there's I know we we can't do speed bumps but there is a thing called speed humps when we you know when we're constructing new streets we can put those in there's speed cushions that doesn't affect Vehicles like that there's different things where we can you know move the track traffic patterns widen it I mean not widen it shorten it put different things to control the traffic I think those are the Avenues that we should really look at because again if we reduce the speed throughout the city we have to have people to enforce that okay and again the people that are L abiding are going to go the speed limit but you're going to have the people that don't and don't follow the rules and again a sign or a reduction in that speed is not going to do it I think physical adjustments to the roads would be a better shot again especially on areas where you have a straight shot like Mount Vernon Street that's where you could take advantage of speed humps or or speed cushions to slow people down you know or you know a Long Street like Essex Street it'd be perfect for Speed HS so those are the things that we really should be looking at uh you know speed calming issues on the streets that are a problem you know again I'm not opposed to lowering the speed limit I just don't think uh I've done a lot of research on it and again I can get into that now if you want but I was going to say that you know I know that was coming up in the next thing but uh there are a lot of measures we could take as a city to address some of the speeding issues and I think it'd be more effective so just to finalize um the last questioning considering that this topic will be discussed in public safety if if anything does get approved in terms of um the speed the reduction of speed limits or even the authorization of um including any of these other methods that you just mentioned which is the speed HPS and cushions which I didn't even know that's what they were called y could um could with this grant be added to um include these additional like well it's a good that's good we have enough money within this grant to include those items um as under the equipment unfortunately no because the budget was already approved by the state I will have we have to wait when they open the grand for FY 26 so whatever is on the budget that's what they approve and that's what we have to abide for but definitely a 4 426 I can't can uh talk with the uh with the project um project coordinator at the state level and ask if we can um if we can include that in the budget okay I mean it's considered a tra specific traffic enforcement related equipment so I'm thinking it's a big enough that I understand but yeah since since the bu was already approved for 525 we cannot we cannot make any Amendment to the to the grant but definitely for FY 26 I can um ask and and do a little more research to see if we can add that part into the into the grant okay any other questions or comments Council council president thank you mad chair uh well I'm I'm a little confused with with your last statement you're saying that the fiscal year was already approved in June right that's what you're referring to or you mean the budget for this specific Grant the budget for this specific Grant was already approved by the state that's how we were awarded this grant based on what I submitted to the to the state ah but then you went around it because you should get this things first the budget through I mean just to I mean next time just give us give us some opportunity to discuss this because we we we part of the community we hear a lot of complaints uh and a lot of issues that it might be productive to actually share with a gr like this come up in front of the police department and it's not necessarily because you're going to take into consideration every counselor's opinion but at least you open it up for uh for a potential uh out of the box opinion like coun M was saying like she's thinking like you know how we can improve this and I was also thinking about it because I thought I we have an opportunity to spend this money on all the things and one of the things that I was thinking is like when it comes to the PED of bike safety item that you have ,500 $1,451 I know that we in the city of lam we have it u a j walking law it's a $5 $5 a ticket for a J Walker haven't changing years but and I also know that you have a campaign that usually put somebody on the street usually CI is the one going across and then you pull people over to educate them when it comes to car jocking I mean uh w joing j walking j walking j j walking uh car joing is something j walking so essentially um uh having this type of do you have any campaign related to that within this gr perfect awesome that's I would like to see more of that because it's an issue so in addition to the campaigns I talked about there's a pedestrian Campaign which you're talking about which targets uh Vehicles not stopping in crosswalk so we do a lot of crosswalk operations and then there's a separate portion where uh it it allows us to do presentations in the schools so during the smart Cadet program we do a lot of presentations in the schools we discuss crosswalk safety we discuss bike safety there's money attached to that also to buy bike helmets which we distribute in the schools as well uh with with uh coloring books and stuff like that so there's there's a couple of different things built into the GR that allow for uh uh presentations and Community involvement okay perfect so and that was my line of thought because I mean uh when you have it is great when you do the this campaign um but I think it would be essential for us to start doing a campaign the other way around I think that people tend to believe sometime that just because they going ac they walking on the crosswalk they have the right to just walk in front of the front of the car because they have the green light because the even when the cars have the green lights and that's basically when it become an sometime it become an issue when it comes to um traffic jams and stuff like that because people go across everybody need to stop and they they don't get from point A to point B especially on Broadway Street or coming from the south when you have situations like that that's an issue so there is a way that we can actually do tickets for that but when we're doing the crosswalk safety we do address people walking aimlessly not using the crosswalks and again as part of the smart Cadet program that's one of the topics we talk about crosswalk safety using crosswalks things like that and when to use it what's that and when when is appropriate appropriate to use the the the crosswalk corre correct have you considered also a a bike safety item uh that kind people tend to not respect cyclers uh and because they think that cycling this the people that cycling should be in the sidewalk mhm uh and the reason that I'm saying this is because I I have a bike I have multiple bikes and and I do a good amount of Miles when I go on my bike um and the most dangerous two miles are here that's that's concerning I think I think that's a great idea and if you would be willing yeah you could serve you could serve as the Decoy for us no no no TR no truly I'm more than happy to I that would be great I think maybe we can put together an operation of awareness and you could be the decoy no by all means I truly I truly would like to see that happen I mean he's blushing he's blushing no no no not he loves the lieutenant and the thing is like it is dangerous to go in a bike here law he like everybody's like go to the sidewalk I said dud don't tell me to it I'm I'm down for it yeah let let's let's make something happen dur the summer you heard it that's going to be one un compromised yeah we'll definitely we can definitely do that that's something we should do yeah thank you thank you I appreciate it because I mean something that we need to educate our people a little more awareness great thank you sir councelor is any other questions or comments I mean I'll make council coun councelor marmel at ,8 so will be ordered for thisis Year yes I did request more but unfortunately the state reduced the budget and the equipment part because over 200 communities apply for this gruning specific they so they Revis the budget for absolutely everybody so a lot of people got reduce equipment the not the overtime but the equipment part was reduced by a lot of people just because of it was an overwhelming amount of application the this year for this specific Grand idea they emailed me and tell me that Unfortunately they needed to reduce the amount of equipment for my gr for this grinding is specific yes yeah I yeah I yeah I yeah yes I come up with a quantity but they at the end they decide how much you're willing to award and how many how much how many how many equipments I'm allowed to purchase no further questions I have I have a quick question can you um describe a bit what the winter impaired driving campaign is under Traffic Safety enforcement so winter winter uh impaired kind of focuses on uh the specific hours that we can do the operation and what they're looking for you to Target is uh you know driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs so usually um there's a restriction in the hours that we can we can send the hours offices out there and it's usually like I don't know 5: to 1:00 a.m. or something along those effects but again they're looking for uh you know impaired drivers and again A lot of times with that Grant uh we we couple and partner with the Massachusetts State Police uh and we we usually do a roadblock or uh you know a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in the city uh and usually we do a couple of those with them during the course of the year for impaired driving during those campaigns thank you councilor's any other questions or comments I'll make a motion to send this to the full council with have a recommendation well has May properly second in discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it last item director shepher item 50224 the authorization to expend $1,729 with 91 of the Buu of Justice assistance grant for bulletproof vests the Lawrence Police appli for uh for the uh for the bullet bulletproof best uh uh Grant and we would awarded $1,729 191 uh this grant will help us to buy up to 35 bullet bulletproof best for the officers that are either about to expire or already expire at this moment Council has any questions or comments just a quick question council president there is a requirement for the police officer to wear this uh this type ofet approve bullet uh best if there is a requirement yeah yes it is a requirement yes answer yes yes sir it's a requirement yep so the next question you can you respond the next question for me you want me to respond or yeah because you know the next you know the next question what's the next question I don't see everybody wearing those well um not everybody wears them uh I I don't think it's a policy okay um but we do ask officer to councelors any other questions or comments seeing none I'll send them I'll make a motion to motion has been made properly second in discussion see a none all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much see you next week all right councelors can I have a motion to adjourn for the second which has very properly seconded all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you so much e e e e e e e e e e e you could have figure good evening and welcome to the public safety meeting today is Wednesday October 9th it is now 7:16 p.m. voting members with us today we have councelor Gregory Del Rosario who's who has joined us through zoom and we have the council president jaavan Rodriguez pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of the Public Safety Committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend here in the city council chamber or use any of our social media accounts uh join me at this point please join me for the pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the repu for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all let me make sure councel De Rosario can you hear us well okay yes okay all right councelors we do not have any minutes to approve so we're going right into the new business our first item is item one 12517 establishing maximum motor vehicle speed Citywide to 25 mph request to amend chapter 10.26 and this was brought to us in 2017 by former council president Vasquez and now current and current council president Rodriguez council president you have the Flor oh well thank you Madame CL mad Madam chair for the opportunity to speak on this item U I was planning on being in the public talking about this item but now I'm I'm here to to make sure that we have cor uh to get this meeting um to get this meeting going well thank you again for uh for the opportunity this this this this item was uh put together back then in 2007 17 establishing the maximum um speed limits for the city of city-wise to 25 miles hours the most important part on on on this item was that uh the street that are already lower than 25 uh they going to stay lower than 25 and what I what I what the intent is to have uh school zones that are on under 25 miles an hour to stay like that and also the street that are above 25 miles an hour that are major Aral of the city of lens uh that we can define those and maintain those uh major arterial uh over 25 miles an hour as data shows that it is safe to drive on those major certies uh above 25 miles hour the intent is to I mean it was a report been done by a consultant that helped the city of L to identify uh mayor uh mayor mayor issues um that talk about uh different things that are essential uh when it comes to to uh data collection and when it comes to uh justification of as of why the City of Lawrence might be benefit uh from this and as I state previously back in 2017 I was on uh part of the my argument was that uh reducing the speed limit of the city of La is not going to be just one thing it's going to be multiple things a combination of of of multiple things that can benefit uh the education portion of it uh for the community that can benefit the infrastructure of um of the of the of the city of Len the signs the type of signs that we're going to be using uh on different locations throughout the city but more importantly is is is uh one of the biggest issue that we have uh is letting people know that the city of the city of L is serious about uh this important issue reducing the speed to 25 mil hour a lot of people going to talk about it but having people talk about an issue that's uh Civic engagement and and if we have that possibility through an item a lot of people going to be in favor of it other people going to be um against it and and and maybe other people going to be asking for more information when it comes to data as of why it will be benefit for the city of lawence to reduce the spit limit uh to 25 miles an hour um the report the content of the report talk about um the rationalization of the speeds of the speed limit government uh R uh rationalization drivers determinating uh reason uh reability and acceptability statistics um how to reduce the speed education enforcement and traffic calming uh decreasing the speed Post in order to decrease uh driving speed education educational education in driving and lowering the speed enforcement uh enforcing rotational speed limits importance of focus and enforcement of initiative and writing a comprehensive plan uh importance of the data speed enforement speed enforcement strategies uh importance of fundings and many other things that include were not limited to traffic aling measurement vertical deflection uh horizontal shift radway naring enclosures all that all that information is on this report that this report could be reflecting the current 2024 if we as a council decide to get an updated version of it it is a very comprehensive U uh report that it is um perhaps 7 years old but we can have the same company looking to current data and integrate those data so we can be able to make a determination based on a report that reflect the actions the measurement and the the potential benefit uh to the current city of Len seven years later um I think it's well overdue uh to have this type of uh measurement through out the entire city uh unless it's a specifi and I'm going to emphasize on that unless it's a specify if it is on the 25 miles hour perhaps school zones that will that will U stay like that and if it is in it's a road that is based on the different departments recommendation that is um eligible to maintain to go or to to maintain 25 or go above the 25 miles an hour Bas on recommendations um that will also be acceptable these these plans um I think that in road that are major arterials or and perhaps that are part of the U uh part of the gr of MDOT roads perhaps those are street that we should look into it when it comes to maintaining the Cent speed limit uh and also request any other Street uh that we believe there the city will be benefit from it if uh we reduce it I think that you know this this item is very important to the city of lens and it's I'm very passionate about it I mean I think that we should go and uh and and and look into this closely and that was one of the reason that I send it over to the Safety Committee to be able to further study on this item thank you council president I believe Lieutenant are you here to speak on this on both um I know that the chief was also invited is there a reason why he's not here tonight yeah so the the chief uh has asked me to come speak on this he had a pre previous engagement so um again good evening councilors uh prior to coming here I I kind of did a little uh homework and gathered some information regarding uh the uh speed change which is governed under chapter 218 uh 193 and 194 and again uh that's 917c which allows cities and towns to opt into reducing the statutory speed limit from 30 m hour to 25 M hour in thickly settled areas or business districts again uh like uh the councelor mentioned council president mentioned that would not affect any uh areas that are regulated like 20 mph zones and school districts or anything like that if you wanted to change any of those uh you would have to have an engineering study prior to changing those and it wouldn't supersede any existing posted speed limits uh in the city those would still go govern uh and be effective again there's two ways to do this you can opt in uh for the whole city or you can opt in for a street by Street or a district by District basis um I did contact several cities uh in towns that have opted in uh out of the 351 uh cities and towns in Massachusetts about 88 of them have opted in uh Andover Police Department is one of the only ones in the mar MAAC Valley that has opted in and they opted in for a Citywide or townwide change uh some of some of the other towns that and cities that I spoke to uh that opted in and and got some of their feedback uh again some of the feedback was you know it required a lot of new signage uh and it was very costly uh some of them uh you know seen no significant reduction in accidents uh or in the amount of complaints for speeding uh the enforcement they talked about was very tough to do Citywide uh they they felt like they didn't have enough officers uh to get out there Citywide and get it completed uh and then there was complaints on both sides so there was complaints that uh you know the speed limit shouldn't have been reduced and then there was a lot more complaints uh stating that you know people were speeding even at 25 so again there was no happy medium I guess yes so to speak uh they did put up a lot more portable speed signage as well like we talked about uh which is great making people aware of uh you know their speeds uh you know again I'm not quite sure if that slows everybody down but uh you know again I think the people who are law abiding citizens are going to follow the speed limit and the people that don't they're going to continue to speed no matter what the speed limit is I guess so again those are some of the things that uh you know I found out uh as far as the Lawrence Police Department we have a excellent crime analysis director and unit uh I did look into some of the stats as far as accidents fatal accidents pedestrian accidents uh from 2021 to 2024 we had seven fatal accidents in the city um a lot of them uh weren't related to speed there was one that I saw that was directly related to speed uh another one was speed as well as uh you know uh reckless driving and oui so uh we looked at that um and again we look at and monitor the top accident locations every year in the city and I think that's a is is it's a great thing to do because uh it allows us to address uh certain dangerous intersections in the city okay and again I'll give give you an example in 2022 uh Andover Street in South Broadway we had 18 accidents there again through education enforcement uh you know physical adjustments to the lights signage in 23 we had zero accidents there in 24 we have zero accidents so again this is this is an example of you know doing a combination of everything it's a combination of Education enforcement prevention intervention and Community involvement okay because again we've got a lot of people giving us uh you know uh examples of when the traffic was heavy there times when people are speeding so we could add address that enforcement so again I think that's a proven formula that works for the police department and I think we do a pretty good job of of addressing these issues we certainly don't uh you know we don't have a magic wand that stops all the speeding but again I I I think that's certainly uh you know a recipe that we have that really helps us out and reduces the number of accidents and again like we spoke I think there's other things we can do and that and like we talked about traffic caling measures where uh we we we introduce the uh speed humps or speed cushions uh that reduces speed on some of these roadways by 25% and reduces accidents by 133% uh again traffic Serv circles half closures different things of those Natures are some of the things that we can look at to reduce uh you know and and calm down the speeds as as well as the traffic so the enforcement piece of it Y is where I'm having a little bit of of um a bit of Doubt okay um I know the department is trying the best that they can and we see it however there is also a sense I mean what I what I what I've witnessed being on on on a ride along what I what I read what people uh residents of Lawrence write on social media about the police department and everything there there seems to be a lack of respect and it's like it's like oh just Lawrence Police it's just Lawrence Police like for example North Street on on Andover like right right at the end of Mal Veron when I take that street and and and I'm on it and I I make sure I'm you know I'm 25 miles an hour because I am scared of Andover police you know so that's the respect that I have for for I mean I have respect for police in general but you I think you you get you get what I'm trying to say um so how do we I I mean I guess this is I don't even think it's just an ongoing education yeah I'll just I'll just give you a brief example of again why you probably we don't have the enforcement we have right now we're down almost 30 police officers okay and again when we're down offices our first priority is Patrol right when that some 911 Rings our officer has to go there well when we don't have enough officers that are on patrol the specialty units are where we take okay so over the last three years I've gone from 17 Community police officers to three so again there's not a community police officer in every neighborhood association anymore okay there's not a community police officer on early early nights there's not a community police officer on the later shifts there's three of them on days mhm we do not have the bodies in a perfect world we would have have every officer in every neighborhood like we did in the past and again that officer addresses it officer pedalar who just retired was responsible for Prospect H every day I get a complaint from s where's the officer that was on Mazda Street every day where's the officer that was on Ferry Street every day well that was officer pedalo he retired he would give out 200 citations a month that's a lot of enforcement and guess what just like you just said every morning they would know at 8:00 that he would be there resp so guess what they did they slow down just like Andover has that car pocked right on right on the right on the border as you come over right they're waiting for people speeding mhh in a perfect world we have that but unfortunately right now we're down 30 police officers and again that affects the way we police we can't be as proactive with with our our traffic enforcement unfortunately right you know and again it's very very important but I I I'll tell you uh we do give out a lot of tickets I mean we average between six and 7,000 tickets a year I mean that's a lot of tickets so offices are out there but again in years past we had a lot of people proactively out there in community policing right we don't have that right and again the recipe to solve that is hiring more police officers and you know we're we're currently trying to do that it's a it's a it's a long process it's a tough process uh I know we're in the works of doing it um so I know we're not the only community no no suffering from this issue it's across it's across it's across the uh state but again the offices that are on patrol are very busy they're going call to call to call they don't have time for Selective enforcement that's where the specialty units come in and when you don't have the offices in in the specialty units you can't do the things you want to do you can't do the community involvement you want to do you can't do the traffic enforcement so again it's definitely something that we're aware of uh it's definitely something we will get back to but again you need the bodies to do that right and and that's just not where it is councel De Rosario do you have any questions or comments yes yes a little comment you guys hear me well yes so it it I respect what Lieutenant Zera says and I understand uh but there's times where you can see the violation right next to the police and they don't do anything seen it like let's put a simple it's simple it has nothing to do with it no parking Zone you see the guys with flashing lights and the police pass by look at them and they keep going and it's a it's it's an automatic violation and I said it once if we if we enforce 25% of the order that we have people won't pay taxes in Lo but that's okay um I'm all for it what they I'm more for it for uh what counil president is looking for but I'm going to express what I said the other day 2017 it's it's seven years ago um we should look into a new study which it might result in the it might give us the same result right but we should have a more up to-date um study when it comes to to the spe limits uh bringing it down so we cannot just base or go with this report it was done in in in 2017 which we know that our our entire city had changed so much from that time even though the violations and what we're looking for to do is the same then bring it down to 25 but we should do a more up toate um uh uh study on on this uh and again at the end of the day it those matter I'm with you uh Madame chair it doesn't matter how low do we put it if we don't have enforcement uh it regardless of what kind of ordinance we do what kind of changes we do what kind of law we Implement if we don't have enforcement it's it's worthless to to do things invest the money because Lieutenant zero says that some of the community says there's a lot of money in signage but if we ticket this people that's speeding we'll make our money back I mean it's it's speeding 24/7 if you do I know with short staff on the police station but if you do a school zones only on this missile you will make your money people don't respect the speed limits on school zone people don't respect the stop signs on the school buses and and you don't see a police officer and I know we're busy I know we're extremely busy and short but you don't see a police officers around in school on that time of the dismissal and early arrivals on the arrivals also uh people seems to be stressed out and and fast in the morning because they got to get to work they don't they don't they don't realize that they are in a school zone and there's a school bus and there's kids but there's no enforcements at all at 7 o'clock in the morning you don't see no cops around a school at school and at 2 3 p.m. you don't see so regardless of what we do if we don't have the enforcement it's worthless honestly speaking with all the respect what we do here at the city thank you thank you councelor you council president Oh I thought you were um so I think coun L rosari was stating what what I wanted to what I was trying to say about their respect towards the officers um and I and I going to piggy back a little bit with what councelor devario said I've also seen where there's been some violations and some officers don't even get out of their car I've seen it on exus street so so that so that so that then creates the Facebook post that I see in the Lawrence pages is saying well Lawrence Police don't don't do anything I mean they they're just there and that creates a lack of respect and people continue to violate our laws and you know so that I so it's it's it's perhaps an internal communication that the Lawrence Police should have and I know you guys have a lot but a continuous um conversation and educational component with with your own offices within your own team um but it it is happening and people are posting it out there and and it's just it's not helping our situation cuz we're all trying to to work together to resolve this because it's affecting all of us and that's we'll def I definitely pass it on to guys but again if there's ever any complaints or any issues you know take a car number call call the OIC that's in charge we'll address the issue you know it's better for us to address it just like when somebody says they call the police department and oh they got bad service well all the lines are recorded so again we want that information because we want to provide the best customer service right so again get us the information we're not going to we're not going to tell oh counsel font they called or this one oh it's okay cuz that's me doing my job you can but it allows us to address that officer you know the guy in 417 just drove by you know a traffic Act that's not acceptable right right I mean if there if there's some if there's a law being broken we want to address it again you know that doesn't mean the office is going to get suspended but again maybe some verbal counseling maybe you know some some some you know Ming y you know so yeah we encourage that so again if you see something let us know you all have my number uh you have the chief's number you have members of the command staff's number let us know we'll address it because again that's not an image that we want to portray right and to to uh Council De Rosario just quickly I I did have a conversation with Lieutenant cillo last week pertaining to school zones and it's something that the Department's aware of and and I know you guys are working towards that so it's probably a conversation you might want to have with them later on um and again that's another tough issue for us we try to address that I have to bring offices in from community policing early to address that and that's not a problem get us the information and we'll do it but unfortunately right now we're moving offices is around on a Case by case basis because of the shortage so again whenever you get you know you're seeing something at a certain school at dismissal get me the information you saw it we got it done so again it's you know it's it's not an easy fix but we we can work together to get it Sol so I have a question but it might require for us to bundle to the two items cuz we have another item that's pertaining to the speed limit which has a similar proposal but with a a pilot program for one specific area so see we're saying now I mean we have the data um or SE a seven-year-old data that counselors are asking for an up an updated version well in in the in the meantime is is there possibility to do a pilot program to see if this works so I think it would be appropriate to bundle these two together um I don't know how the members of the Safety Committee feels but I'm open to hearing your your suggest your comments Council De Rosario I mean with the other proposal we discussed it yesterday on uh ordinance and to me I'm not agreeing with that proposal because that proposal is only uh facing one one specific specific area which some of us could agree with me or not in that area I mean a pilot program it's it's it's not going to work people don't speed back there people people don't drive fast back there it's just driving test and behind the R&B so if we combine we have the conversation open we we table it if we combine some streets they actually have real traffic like I said not just in my district but I mentioned Prospect Street I mentioned Park Street they have real traffic that's where a pilot program might work because if you put it back there with with uh council plan is asking for and and the way he said it well I got elected to do this district and that I agree with that that's great but it's only one city so we got to put it into where the real traffic is happening and that's when you're going to see if the pilot program worked uh you can not just narrow it in just one area or one District you got to ID this real streets problem what people are really speeding um and and yeah we can bundle it up and we can do it all over and we can some of us can you know ask to ask some streets if we want to do a pilot program again I I I'm all for it for the reduce of the speed in the city I'm all for it but we need to do it the right way I mean we need to do an update uh study uh we need to put real streets where real traffic is happening and and we can go from there uh and that's what it's but I I think yeah we we might be able to bundle it up and and do a new study on thank you councelor council president thank you Madame chair I mean uh well essentially the two proposals even though they similar they probably be have different content I think that we should keep it as EAS and that we can we can provide different studies and move forward with uh what is probably convenient for the city uh but I think that where we are right now with this study I think that we should get it updated and and provide provide us with the asual more up to-date data uh but not necessarily um uh bundling it because I mean this is not a pilot program this is a this is adopting of a law yeah and I'm not sure I'm not I didn't read anywhere in the law that you could do a pilot program I mean you could opt in on certain streets but I don't believe there was anything in there and I I can research with uh you know what Mass do to see if there's but I don't see anything in the law that allows you to do a program so you can do individual you can opt in for individual for individual so I can make a request for like Hamlet Street Hamer street umet street every street that we I did not know that so now that I know that yeah so there's there's two ways you can do it you can do a Citywide optin and you or you can do a uh Street by Street District by District yeah and that's why that's why I was saying before that uh if we believe that there is s Street that we should keep it out uh like perhaps major artilla of the city uh that it will be convenient to keep it at 30 m hour or if we focus on just minor Street and we Define what minor Street on the definition uh what you know which is basically our neighborhoods nobody should be go over 25 miles hours within a neighborhood that it could be kids knowing the fact that we are so so congested uh I think that even though because I I understand the the enforcement portion of it but I also understand that we as a council we need to do put the tools in hands of the police department and then once we get to that point we'll be able to do what we need to do and and again if you did if you did a street by Street I mean enforcement becomes a lot easier you right uh and and you know the other the other thing you know I have in here you know if you were to take on a street by Street maybe maybe you do a survey of the residents in that neighborhood uh pre and post you know to see what you know if anything has changed what their thoughts are on it I mean that might also be helpful to I already have some pre for Hamlet streets there you go yeah I mean you know a free and a post survey might work too uh on certain streets in in you know in the districts or in your neighborhood my chair I would like to uh send correspond with this report to the engineering department of the City of Lawrence uh to contact the company or to contact somebody that can update it update this report with the up toate data and be able to provide it to to us the engineering department before you make the official motion council president I do want to make a comment to council D rosari about what he said in terms of speeding in in these in these neighborhoods um Council De Rosario the there the there's the differences between some of the districts and um so for example issues that myself and Council the plant have in our district we don't have busy roads or or traffic congested areas or I have Andover Street and and South Broadway but where we typically see most of the speeding is in these little neighborhood streets where they're they're racing um flying by other cars or going around cars and and stuff like that because it's it's a quieter neighborhood it's a quieter area in terms of traffic so some people take advantage of that um so there it's it's a different type of of traffic and and issues for every every District so I just wanted to make that make that clear no and and and and I agree uh but at the end of the day it's six square miles it's one city um it it it in in and in every District there's small streets I mean M council president lives in small streets and I know that when they drive behind that they fly you know I have a small street right next to me right Bass Street it's it's it's a less than two blocks if you park at on Mark vehicle there you might get HS of tickets there people flying through Bas Street and it's a small Street and I know they use it but there's there's what what I came to say is it's a there's BC streets I'm not talking about like main roads but there's BC Street in different places to I mean to just put a pilot program and if I could say well let's do a pilot program in this four Street in my district I will find it unfair to be honest it's only six square miles there's only one city and we all experience the same thing so if we eventually I heard Lieutenant zero said that we might not be able to we might be able yeah we we need to incorporate not just one district and block it in into there how about if nothing happen while this bio program happens what data we going to bring back you know you don't you don't get a ticket through there what data are you going to bring back because that might happen people say well they they target well they target and speed in this area so let's don't speed and then you a year doing a pilot program what kind of data are you going to bring back you're going to tell me that it works and you're going to implement it in the busy area so I think that we should you know nine of us we should get together eventually if we're going to do if a pilot program as possible and bring those little streets that we have in our neighborhood and put it all together said you know this this let's try it in this in this streets or select Street up there in some streets in our districts like like lieuten says and put it in and see what happens throughout the year but we definitely need a new study on I actually I I was going to to mentioned that to perhaps to do a pilot an area in each district however we're now with the information that Lieutenant cillo mentioned that that might not even be part of the law so so we'll talk more about it later on but council president yeah I think that uh through you m sh I think that you know having an opportunity we have a tremendous opportunity here to be able to uh do something positive for the city of lawence in general it's a matter of just acting in and acting out on street that we believe shouldn't be 25 miles hour should be lower than 2025 we set schools on and we adapt in a in a in a base by base uh scenario uh I think that with the new study I think that we should look into major arterial and minor Arial Minor Road major roads to see if they stay out um because it might be beneficial for that traffic gen that might produce the the City by itself and agreeing with councelor the Rosario we are we're a short Street I mean we're short I we're 6 M square mile 6.7 square mile and and and some locations where they have um less congested area they tend to speed more some locations that were they have less respect uh they tend to speed more so different scenarios different situations and I think that that will be reflected uh uh when it comes to the new traffic data traffic study that we might do that will be essential to be able to make a determination Citywide adopting a specific Street and taking so now so with that said M chair I would like to make a motion to send this report to to the city um to the city engineer and his team to be able to uh get this this uh this um report up to date and be able to provide us with a specific needs uh that actually help us to produce adopt this potential law motion has been made is there a second second proberly seconded discussion discussion Council dezario we can also we can also pick it back right on the the police department I mean they they do or they have great data that we can also use like Lieutenant zero just provide us with some data of some streets and acent also he said that they've been we ride so much tickets a year so where are those small streets that we getting lots of tickets or some of the tickets for speeding so we also should get a data from the police department because they also drive on an everyday basis throughout our city um probably more than than our city engineer so we should we should rely on that if as possible for that data to help us ID those problem streaks that we might upend on on this speed a new speed limit I I think that might be um more appropriate to to to motion under the the pilot program item because it's District specific so that way we can we can go a little bit further what oh we can use it or we can do both okay do you I'm assuming that you know that item will require as well so we're going to be using data from the police department so then council president can you amend what you can you amend your your motion to include correspondents to also the police department to to send us data yeah I will with motion to uh for the police department to uh send us or to work to directly with that uh with the crime analysis uh with the U City engineering department and crime analysis in combination to be able to provide us with um a specific data that reflect the current situation on the city of L okay motion do you have that Maria motion amend has been seconded any any further questions or comments seeing none uh we got to do a roll call Council the Rosario yes council president yes and the chair votes in the affirmative all right thank you I think that settles that one can I have a motion to table item so move item 125-1 17 motion has been made is there a second probably second and all those in oh councelor De Rosario yes council president rguez yes and the chair votes in the affirmative councelors can I have a motion to table item 49-24 business district safety initiative by Captain Maurice agular and Lieutenant Dan Fleming um Captain agular is not available tonight Move Motion has been made properly seconded um coun the Rosario yes Council council president Rodriguez yes and the chair votes in the affirmative right our last item is item 49624 speed limit pilot project act by councelor Mark the plant we don't actually this is not the last item we do have an item to un table now that I'm looking at officer can almost almost forgot Council plan you have you have the the floor thank you very much members of the committee Mark plant Lauren city council so um I heard I'm not sure how much I missed but I got I think I got the flavor of what the early discussion was about and I think it's important just to kind of update this committee on what happened last night uh Council go was president at the meeting uh one of the things that that I think it's important for this committee to know um is that when we had our discussion of the ordinance committee meeting um there was interest in other parts of the city also being included on that and I thought that was an excellent idea so we decided to table the matter for the ordinance committee last night uh we all had a homework assignment that I'm willing to extend to this committee and to any other counselors frankly for them to piggyback on this so if there are some streets Hamlin Street for example are there any other blocks of streets that you want to see how that would work how would 25 mph work in in this area so you can do a test no pun intended a test drive in that section to see how that works that way not only do I think you doing a good job by getting the data more up to date data fully supportive that we need that to make informed decisions that's great but we also should be seeing with our own eyes and what's happening before we go full out um I think what councilor Rodriguez council president Rodriguez has before this uh since 2017 is a good uh I think it complements what I'm doing I don't think they necessarily need to be separate separate um conflicting what we could do is if we if we go ahead and go with a pilot projects and everybody S at the at large counselors can pick whatever they want as well so they can really get a sense as to what's going on in that section we as counsellors can learn a lot from I don't know how many months is six months we can determine how long we want to keep it and then if we like it we can tweak it we can do certain things and we can figure out what's going on with the police with enforcement you rightfully mentioned because without enforcement it's it's it's it's key it's in critical so and then if we like that then I think Council council president Rodriguez's idea of having something more Global fits in so I don't I I see him as complimentary not as conflicting I think it could be step one and then step two um I understand that there's no pilot project that was my verbiage to put on there I identified in your packet you will see the streets that were listed uh we all have our reasons um counselor from District C had uh he had some opinions regarding District F about where he thought were the best places to go what he thought might be a good place um I respect those opinions um but but we all make our decisions based on things that we feel are critical were important um and so and from constituent feedback pardon me and the constituent feedback that we've received as District Council 100% Council uh Council chair so because I went to a neighbor association meeting and I believe you were there officer I asked that question we actually the people there wanted so I knew that was going to work for that group um and I had a call from somebody else outside of that area saying I watched your meeting what about my street I said you know something great I would love to let find out let's see how this works first and if we can apply it to other streets I'm definitely going to be on board I'm definitely going to be supporting that um so I just I just want to make sure that that um that I think this would I think this would play well with the current Mass general laws that the officer Lieutenant uh Cilla was mentioning um that we would identify the streets we would include those in and and then we then we work on it um so I hope that answers your question and I and I I think it works well with the state law I think it works well with council president and it should work well with all nine of us as we decide what streets we think are the streets we want to focus on the short term and then see if we can expand thank you councelor do you have any questions or comments seeing none I have a question for lieutenant Sero so if we were to go if we were to do this while we we go through the process of updating the reports and and all of that how going back to the law Y how do we how do we go about this so again if you went if you opted in for a street by Street basis you would get we got it yeah you would you would do you would you would get the streets that you want add it to that uh we would have to obviously forward those to Mass DOT they would review them make sure none of them were state highways they were all statutory there was no you know exceptions or special uh laws that we were breaking and then those those uh streets would become 25 mph uh speed limit statutory reduce from 30 to 25 okay so Bill Ricker does Street certain streets so they're one of the one of the communities out of the 88 that does certain streets there are a lot on the list that do just specific streets not Citywide mhm okay counselors your any thoughts okay well um I think it's it's good to see what would work what would not um I'm not necessarily opposed to this idea um but like it was mentioned this is a a group effort so if if we're going to do this then um I would like to hear the opinions of the Safety Committee members um on this no comments I mean the Rosario didn't we already put a motion and send to get information and get the study done and involved with police so I mean we the work's already started so we just need to get the feedback from those departments and see okay where we go from there all right so and again maybe we get we get together with some of your n you know some of your your constituents as well and see if there's streets they have suggestions on I don't think that's a that's a bad thing either you know Council Council of plant's done that in his district on some streets he's hearing from other people again Council Del resar should do the same thing all nine should again there could be exactly yeah there could be eight or 10 streets 12 streets 15 streets that we we opt Into You Know by a street by Street basis instead of doing it Citywide I'm definitely curious I I actually keep a a list of all the streets that I get complaints on on when it comes to to speeding and traffic whether if it's through Facebook Instagram email text whatever it is I I have I have it in my in my phone and um if once we do get the re the report from the police department um and the city engineer I think that that will be helpful to determine again what clusters going toest we get complaints I can tell you that they're addressed and a lot of times when we address the complaint it's fixed yeah yeah and again it might need maintenance over the years uh you know but there's no magic pill we'll you know we continue with the maintenance but enforcement signage uh again adjustments to the roadway like we talked about those are all things that that work uh four-way stock TOS yeah what's funny well weuse work I tried to get one in my we we had an accident uh two two weeks ago I believe in the Beacon Street and mour Street intersection that that wasn't that wasn't pretty um blew the the four the way the four four-way stops and I I I went to DPW I'm like I want what council the plant has because it forces them to stop unfortunately I couldn't get it because I have four school bus stops right in that inter on that intersection and it interferes with the buses but we we came up with another solution that I'm I'm I'm satisfied with I invented that by the way I think it's I mean it's not visually appealing but because it's in the middle it forces people to stop and it forces people to slow down one of those physical adjustment barriers that are CU again somebody looks they don't know what it is so they stop right I slow down yep do you have something it works no just says about speed limits when you speed when you reduce the speed limit stop sign that's that's not that's not the intent but I mean that's fine that's another topic okay so this is what we'll do we'll we'll table this item we'll wait for the for the report back from the city engineer and and lawren police that way we'll have data to help us determine whether or not to just go directly if a Citywide directly into Citywide um speed limit is is more suitable or if we should do District byd district um pilot I know that's not the appropriate term but pilot programs um to see if if if a Citywide change is appropriate for our community does that sound good um Council Del Rosario council president Rodriguez y yep okay so can I get a motion to table item 49624 so move motion has been made properly seconded um roll call Council De Rosario yes council president Rodriguez yes and the chair votes in the affirmative thank you you might want to stay for the next one yeah just a case all right uh councilors can I have a motion we we have one one other individual here a motion to untable item 43923 motion has been made properly is there a second second properly seconded um roll call Council De Rosario yes council president r guys yes and the chair votes yes so item 43923 is a 30second delay at all traffic lights slash all directions synchronized and this was brought to us by Officer Abel goo back in November on November 8th 2023 we were supposed to I mean we I believe we did send this out for a review but I don't think we ever got an answer back from the city engineer however officer K is here with us tonight tonight because he's he's done some further review of this and he wants to update the committee on on this item officer you have the floor good evening councilors uh I just wanted to uh address the issue that a lot of the things that we're trying to do to make the city better safer um not only for the pedestrians but also for the motorists and for the First Responders that go to these accidents that we have on a daily basis I just want to remind you that uh from my studying and presenting to you which is in your packets um the monthly stats that you have we get no less than 190 accidents every single month from November till now every single month so you think about the traffic jams the traffic accidents the injuries the uh damage to property the unfortunate situations that people find themselves having to rent a car and go through the ordeal of waiting for the car to get fixed it's just astronomical if we can entertain even putting it for 15 seconds of a delay not 30 seconds it might make a big difference just enough to clear the intersection so that people are not expecting that the light will change immediately and continue on their way and unfortunately be broadsided or hit somebody or hurt somebody the most important thing is is letting people cross nowadays the traffic light will will change you're taking a left or a right people are not looking when they're crossing the street and it just it's very difficult to navigate with the amount of people that are here the vehicles that are are going you know to and from and I just want to please uh see if we can get some kind of answer from the city engineer and also from DPW and most importantly the fire department who does the traffic study so that they can let us know how simple is it to put a traffic light with a timer that's going to delay and allow us to better serve our community which is only 6 miles you know in in diameter in distance and when you think about the square the distance and the amount of people I I don't think I think this would help as well as what um lieutenant is doing and and Council of plant trying to slow the uh traffic everything works in hand and these little we can do it we don't have to do every s traffic light but we can start at Major intersections or at locations that we have major major accidents I think that it's a start and I think it's very feasible it's being done and it it is done in third world countries uh this you know I went to Costa Rica recently and they had and it's for 3 minutes so it it's it's about looking at the the whole picture and I think this would be a start we don't have to do every single traffic light but at least we can start at certain locations that are major problems for us have a lot of accient Broadway Street and unfortunately those locations are going to be the ones that are the busiest South Broadway at Andover uh water at Broadway um you know Jackson at havil locations that are really difficult to deal with yeah so I I just I'm I'm asking for your assistance and trying to get an answer from our counterparts to bring this together and see what we can do thank you I know before I go to the Safety Committee members Council the plant briefly thank you I just want to Echo with the what the officer are saying I there are two priorities I have during this term one of them is the five corners one the most dangerous intersection in the entire city and um if we're able to somehow I know there there's looking for Grants to try to to systematically deal with that intersection the fatality took place less than three years ago now at 2:00 in the morning uh I'm sure we all remember that but if we can do something like that delay at least a shortterm tweak that could help with that intersection before we have a much bigger comprehensive uh answer I support what the officer is trying trying to accomplish and I hope that this committee does as well thank you and that's all our thank you lieutenant sillo so I think I maybe share a little light on this um so I've been involved in the with the grant writer regarding the major intersections along with the fire department uh a lot of these intersections the the lights are old they're Antiquated they can't get the pot from so that's the first thing uh the newer lights the Traffic Division in the the fire department cannot set them they have to go through a state state program and it's been an act of Congress to try to get some of these new lights changed and I know the fire department has been trying to do that but the signal division cannot do that and again uh you know I'm only privy to this because I was in the meeting but to reconstruct a whole intersection with new lights is about an over a million dollar per intersection so again it's not a quick simple fix unfortunately and a lot of the lights in the city are very old that's when sometimes you see that they get hit and they don't go back up is because they can't get the pots from so it's definitely a problem uh it's definitely an issue that uh we're working on I believe we applied for a grant uh we could try to get some more I could get some more information regarding that but the first phase of the grant was a study of the intersections that needed updating we provided them with the top accent locations and one of those accident locations was the five Conners as well as the other accidental locations that we see frequently that the cause of the accidents are actually the lights like officer Cano was talking about so again it's a simple fix but it's not a simple F because of the cost thank you so that's kind of where we are council president sure um thank you m essentially um when you when you design a an intersection the traffic light on that intersection what you do in the way that you design it and I want to I want to speak as an engineer now is that you actually have the least amount of red that is required on every approach and why the Traffic Engineers do this is because every time that you add every second that you add to the red that means that there is people delay people want to go from point A to point B uh but you have actually basion traffic count you don't do you don't do green and red time based on what what you think it's based on the traffic count for the peak hour that you you do it based on count traffic cter specifically during during a specific amount of time and based on 15 minute block and then you determine your traffic your your your your traffic where the most concentrated amount of traffic during that time your peak hour and essentially you reduce the amount of red as much you can but there is there is an all red within the traffic uh within within the traffic light uh system or design uh and and usually that's within 3 second to 4 second that's to clear up the intersection essentially uh the last time we have this discussion I put on my phone with a 30 second 30 second uh uh 30 second timer and um it is it is it is something that I definitely respect officer Cano for bringing this up because it's it's a concerning situation that we have in the city of L and the safy portion of it I definitely understand um I also I also cannot stop thinking about how this get designed uh because I'm exposed to it in a daily basis and and and um and essentially it is a good initiative because we're thinking about what the potential of how we can improve our city uh but I think it will be worth it to hear from the professionals as how this this could be done I mean and not definitely not going to say that I'm opposed to it because at the end of the day the intention of the proponent is it's what matters and how we can get things done within uh as a joint effort that what is important and I definitely congratulate uh uh whoever make a determination of how we can improve the city and and that's that's the police department uh always have have done that thank you Council der Rosario do you have any questions or comments yes I when I when they presented the idea I was looking at the cameras you see my colleague Mal plan I say this will be a great pilot program for the five corners um we need to find somehow to get some delays on this lights in in in places like that regardless of what kind of studies do we need to do or where are we going to get the money from that's an issue that we have in the city um and when it comes and when the idea comes from the police department regard will bring it in this case is AEL Cano you got to take into consideration how serious this is it wasn't a cont is it it's it's a police officer bringing this and say can we get this done uh to prevent uh accidents and prevent losing life you know and and all the accident bring so we need to find somehow how to implement like he said I mean 10 15 seconds if it's not a full 30 um you guys know how I speak sometimes I come home and I say why did I say that I regret signs I got like the the the P department is the one to control out out set of lights or the traffic lights uh why are they the one doing it um I don't know how that you know I don't understand how that got there um it will be more an expert somebody that is up to date with with all the changes and we might be able to get all the parts on time and and get all this thing on time with the state or whatever it is but it's the fire department they a sweet life of units to me to me I don't know how that works but to me honestly colleages don't makes no sense but it's been like that forever right that's but uh we need to look into that too uh our lights gets broken they also because parts or whatever it takes too long to fix them that's another issue but we need somehow to try to implement some type of delay on our satellites and again you might have those people that Rush Russian Russian it doesn't matter if you put an hour delay they're going to be russan and that comes the enforcement the enforcement the five corners would to prevent some accidents and all that stuff so at the end of the day we're going to end up the same thing you're going to do a delays on the lights but it's going to be people rushing who's going to enforce after that but we need to find somehow I don't know we need to talk to to to find some money and and and get some delays from some lights in the city thank you thank you officer Conor are you willing to change your proposal to a 15sec delay absolutely that was me doing a a 15sec absolutely we're looking to try and make this work and again I'm not I just put 30 seconds because in other situations I've seen a minute Ian I've seen 2 minutes 3 minutes I said well 30 seconds isn't that long MH considering right depends right right but 15 seconds and do a trial see how that works I'm absolutely willing to give that a try Okay council president through you I think that maybe the the the police department invite me over when you do that I want to see it definitely it's the I would like to be part of it to witness it let's uh let's bring let's bring mot as well they have a traffic department District 4 that they they they probably willing to to come and see this the story awesome okay so considering also what liutenant Sello said this this is It's a simple fix but also not at the same time um I still think we should send this up for a review and get some get in some answer so can I get a motion to send correspondence to the city engineer the fire department and is there police in the police department yeah yeah I'm looking I'm just I'm just cuz I know it's the fire we certainly have the fire department signal Division and and somebody that's knowledgeable the license I mean uh but if we if we need to do like a like a tryy out and then you guys are the only one that can stop traffic yeah so we should we certainly should be involved but the fight upon we we have to have discussion with them to even try to get this off the ground okay so the city engineer the signal the fire department Department fire department and the police department okay definitely make the motion motion has been made is there a second second proberly second in discussion seeing none all those in favor oh roll call C Ario yes council president Rodriguez yes and the chair votes yes and at this point can I have a motion to table item to retable item number 430 43923 motion has been made property seconded roll call councelor dezario yes council president Rodriguez yes and the chair votes in the affirmative thank you my chair quick U do we have any any any other item to out of the tail matter no all right because I mean last time we actually sent correspondents to the police department to give us some updates but I mean maybe we can refer to that and then next meeting we can have them come with that data yeah I think I think I remember what data I have to go back into my emails I remember that is sending those um councils can I have a motion to adjourn so move motions made there second properly seconded roll call councelor the rosar yes Council council president Rodriguez and the chair votes yes thank you so much Council have a great night e