##VIDEO ID:UGIg-DwAtxs## uh good evening counselors uh my name is Les brell I reside at 257 Mount Vernon Street in South Lawrence I've been there almost almost 30 years um I run a National Organization also called stop predatory gambling which is based here in Lawrence at 60 Island Street and I'm here tonight because actually I should say before I even did this I was the chairman of the planning board for seven years in the city um and I served as a chief of staff to Massachusetts state senator Sue Tucker for seven 7 and a half years and uh and she was really the first person to introduced me to the issue of predatory gambling both in Massachusetts and around our country so I'm here tonight because I recently and I want to thank counselor infon for um filing this this resolution but the the reason behind this resolution is is a major Casino project proposed at the Rockingham Mall casino um it it is it's one of this the company calls Live casino they have casinos up and down the east coast and this is a a company that they're not targeting Southern New Hampshire with that project they want that location to Target especially Lawrence residents and in their own traffic study as it says in the resolution 77% of the of the traffic is going to come from the south and a major part of that's going to come from the city of Lawrence and so very quickly this matters so much it's 90% of the business model for this type of Casino okay and this is from our own Massachusetts gambling commission showed that 90% of the Revenue comes from citizens who are either addicted or at risk for addiction so the business model is based on exploiting people it's not the Casual Gambler it's based on the out of- control Gambler and the other big piece of it our own Massachusetts gambling commission showed that the impact of casinos here in this state that the closer you are to the casino it has a major impact on discretionary income businesses that rely on discretionary income and show that 45 and the stats in the resolution 45 to I want to say up to 82% of the Revenue uh that came in the casino that patrons acknowledged they would have spent in other locations like restaurants bars and nightclubs so like that's going to so the money that citizens lose in Lawrence not only does it affect their pocketbooks themselves but it's going to affect our local economy the restaurants here nightclubs Etc so those are to two major reasons why and I could talk for a long time about it I won't do that and I invite councel to say a few words as well but I'm grateful for your support tonight thank Mr berell I just want to emphasize um for me uh the most important uh data point is the addiction part of it um in our community we are faced with numerous of different um addictions or or I would say challenges that our residents face and um if we can do something about that if we if we could not um I guess add more gasoline um if we can do some prevention then the I think this might be one one of those cases so um I am in support I'm also obviously in support of not um jeopardizing or damaging our local economy in any way but for me the most important thing is it was the um addiction data point once I spoke to Mr Bern thank you than I just uh well very well written um resolution a lot of research a lot of data on there uh so me ask one question I'll open it up to to my colleagues so uh that location previously was a location that many of our older residents may remember the Rockingham Park where they actually used to gamble on horse and bed on horse racing so some people may say historically there been gambling over there we're just going to resume the gambling that we had before can you explain why it's an important question that's why we had gambling before but this is different as some why is this different and I will say when I was in high school in college I actually was somebody who actually went to Rockingham racetrack M frequently it was it would go the races were every 20 minutes you know three or four times a week they'd have the races we had a great time never was a big game I've never won anything thankfully um in terms I would have got addicted to it because it was easy money if I ever won but so actually as someone who I've never even question the issue but just to be clear for anyone participating this and watching this this is paramutual that Rockingham Park is paramutual gambling horse racing is you know like this way the odds go off at 2 to one and when more money comes in on horse number five the odds change like it's called paramutual gambling it's it's not you're not going against the house when you're in in a casino situation it's a high-speed type of gambling the kind of gambling that's coming in here people are going in the casino four to five times a week losing $100 $200 every time they go you know you know highp Speed playing 600 times an hour in many instances every 5 Seconds they're pressing the button the experience of playing Big Time casino gambling in 2024 is 180° different than the experience of of horse racing or that type that that is a form of gambling but it's like comparing look at the forms of hardcore drugs right cocaine heroin fentanyl which are actually by the way W gambling addiction is considered as serious an addiction as those addictions those hardcore drugs we don't compare them to taking you know a Tylenol or a baby aspirin a St Joseph baby aspirin they're both forms of drugs technically but the intense impact on someone's finances the impact on someone's brain chemistry all is 100° different uh than it is on a big time casino gambling so I hope that answers your question it does and my last question I lied I I had two questions I guess so my last one is is what you're expecting to see in Salem New Hampshire are are wheelers looking at electronic gaming as far as like pushing buttons or are we looking at table games as well yeah so if you're looking at if you anyone who's been to where sebr DOD track used to be is now become a big time Casino so that's kind of with at a minimum in the short term and that's what it's going to look like they have table games up there and other forms of gambling but this company that's coming in from out of state this Live casino company they are not a charitable gambling company they're not they're not going up there to do you know low stakes machines that that is a full-scale casino company they have every intention of getting into that location overturning New Hampshire state law and legalizing fullscale legalized casinos in New Hampshire like that's the end game the end game isn't isn't what they're proposing there the end game is to build a fullscale massive Casino project right on our board tarting these communities and what's in the proposals current in before New Hampshire right now is just electronic games where you just pressing the they they have electron they have table game type they poker type games that type of stuff already in New Hampshire but in terms of like big time it's called Clash three type of gambling high stakes it's not it's not the high stakes they don't have like a you know like a $500 table Yeah like yeah so you go on a big time Casino they have high stakes gambling so this is going to be for Lawrence this is still high Stak so you're still losing 100 bucks 200 bucks a pop um but but it's not um it's not the kind of highlevel class three big time casino gambling where they make the most money on so I don't that answers your question but it's still still casino gambling the experience is the same but you can't right now you can't wage your huge amounts like you can and other so I'm sorry I'm not explaining myself well so will there be cuper there will there will there be somebody shuffling cards and playing poker is there going to be dice are people going to be rolling at the crabs table are there going to be like not just not just the ding ding ding where you can do that simult it's both the the full gaming with the cards and the dice and everything else and the roulette wheel all those things in addition to the The Zing DS okay so so the brook what you see at the brook is kind of what that model is it's it's definitely almost like the casino experience without the high stakes that a regular Casino has and the goal is to get the that high level to overturn the New Hampshire state law and that's that's the end game there's other big players that are circling New Hampshire now as well gotcha councel any other questions comments counil president I see Council Del Rosario go ahead sir uh thank you and through you uh chair um comment and then I I have a question um our colleague Stephanie uh councelor Infante mentioned the part of the addiction which is it's it's one of the part why I'm I am in favor um all the things that I am we've been helping our small business even last week we provide funding for our small business if a business of this capability come so close to us uh it's going to hurt or it's going to impact somehow our local small business that we've been trying to help for so long and we still trying to give them funding so they can pick up and run at the business so hopefully we can take this into consideration and and and this is one also one of the reason why I I'm in full support if you guys noticed in the past two and a half years I've been vocal about a small business and also entrepreneur uh while supporting uh the mayor initiative to try to help and support and fund all these small businesses so we cannot or we could try not to allow any of these big businesses to come and hurt our city uh or small businesses so I'm all in support and the question that I have is what can we get now that this proposal it's it's here with us how can we help or what what is what is Mr Bernard expecting uh to come out of this meeting and and get done uh or how can we help him if I may CH apply um Council Rosario so what what we will get out of this um to answer for both uh Mr bernau and myself what we would get out of this is to show um support from surrounding Community to to Really to give a little bit of pressure to the state of New Hampshire and the Salem um the town of Salem to to for them to listen our to listen to our voices for them to realize that this proposal or this business is not only going to affect them but also their surrounding communities and as we know working in local government um things get done when you work together whether you're in the same same state or not so that's that's that's the outcome that we're hoping to achieve man and just one out a key point about is if anyone who followed the New Hampshire Governor's race and all the polit politics in New Hampshire the campaign this past cycle was the ex exact quote don't Mass it up and by that means when they say Mass it up they're talking about cities like Lawrence and they blame Lawrence for all New Hampshire's problems they're blaming it on our city and so now they're going to put up a casino that's going to make intensify those problems even though they New Hampshire Bears a lot of responsibility for those they blame our community for that so to WR to the council Reserve that's right to your point that's why it matters so much it sends a message to the people of Salem and to the state of New Hampshire that it's not fair what you're saying is not true about don't Mass it up more importantly don't put a a business that's going to hurt the citizens the same things you complain about up there about cities like ours it's just going to make all those problems worse okay thank you thank you chair I'm all support of this uh competition and big economy uh due to the fact that once again we've been trying to help our small businesses to go up after the pandemic and and we cannot allow anything that is going to hurt our economy uh near our city thank you and may I add if I could chair uh may I add council De Rosario um we we are all aware especially the city councils that we work 100% at the local level we're we're aware that that some um aspects of our local economy of of our local businesses um could improve in some areas but even with that whether we disagree or agree in C on some of those problems the fact that we're here and advocating for even those type of businesses and and we're recognizing the impact that's going to have overall um speaks volumes very good Council Santiago yes and we was talking about employee we was talking about economy and that's a new business and I represent some constituent and they request me if it there is how big will be the casino and how H can impact for the ER employees because a lot of people right now they are unemployment or they are looking for a job and if is the big is that is a new opportunity for they can get a jab over there so um if I may u through you chair uh councelor Santiago even with e even if if this project were to pass by um from Salem there's no guarantee that residents of the City of Lawrence will will be employed I mean even here at the local level we you've we've been part of the debates with with companies and and business owners to ensure that Lawrence residents gets tired unfortunately in this in this scenario this is not a business that's going to open the City of Lawrence we cannot guarantee and we can't force them to hire um Personnel from the city of arms and and I would just add there are when it comes to these job numbers this is a business that creates far more addicted gamblers than the people who actually work there so what what the trade-off is for so a small amount of people get get a a low-paying job whereas thousands and thousands of other citizens suffer life-changing addictions so that's the trade-off and those are numbers every state every state that's gone down this road they have higher numbers of people who are addicted to the to the business than people actually work there and the last thing I'll say because we're in lence you know this is a city one of the most famous things in American history in labor history was the bread and Roses strike okay and what that I growing up never understood what that meant what bread and Roses meant bread and Roses means you know jobs with dignity okay these are jobs you know labor movement always talking about jobs with Justice these Casino jobs are jobs with Injustice because they're based on human suffering and your financial loss and and and your suffering to my expense and that's not what our community is built on that's not what our Region's built on so it's a great question important question but I hope that answers it okay so councils we typically don't have this is not a public hearing this is not an opportunity this is an opportunity for us to discuss the issues and take a vote however it is customary at this hearing level to if somebody from the audience wishes to speak it's up to the chair as whether or not they want to recognize the individuals and we do um I don't have any opposition to doing that but I would just ask if if if somebody wishes to speak Mr Hester I see your hand up I will ask you Mr Hester to keep your comments brief and to the point please come forward I I'll get to that later with the two I know you're not here for this but go ahead being simple just knowing a little bit about Rockingham Park being on the backside and gambling and the big uh the big uh what I call the elite the billionaires they're going to put this together in simple terms I think what the um what was just presented was when you deal with parameters and you deal with horse racing you dealing with the public you the the the racetrack industry everybody every body wins because you're playing against you're playing against the public it's not like a casino very simple the numbers are stacked against you you never beat the house okay and it goes back down to Blackjack there's cards and it goes to Reading cards and all those mathematical numbers and it's just a losing proposition and I'll put it to a simple scenario I never play the lottery you know why I may win if I went and picked a number but your chance of probability are very slim and it goes to Pascal's mathematical Theory okay uh I'll leave it at that thank you but Mr Collins did you wish to speak on this matter same same rules just kind of keep right to the point tell you exactly what you're looking for uh thank you for the opportunity Bill Collins one pla Court uh I'm impressed by Mr heser Hester uh graduate of the Lawrence vocational school and his knowledge of Pascal's Theory mathematics um the only thing I uh thing that really I'd like to speak on is the way this is worded it says resolution against proposed Rockingham Mall casino to protect Lawrence residents of businesses and and Les Bernell high regard for him I know he's been doing this job for a long time nothing against him I believe he I believe he's a uh paid lobbyist for the anti- Gam industry I don't see any balance any other side to this if you councilors are going to consider this I think hope you'll consider inviting the proponents of casino gambling here because when I see the word here protect Lawrence residence do I need protection college grad a senior citizen a veteran I think I can make up my own mind in this free market economy how I'd like to spend my money and there is addiction in every facet of life gambling is no uh exception with this kind of uh down on the farm attitude where the master is looking down to protect his people people Lawrence in this place protect Lawrence residence there's a reason the perception of Lawrence is so low by people in the outside do you ever wonder why we don't get value pack coupons in the mail and all your neighbors and your relatives doing with th and and over not they get all kinds of coupon and Deals CU they are perceived to have value and they are perceived to know how to spend their money and make rational decisions and apparently we are not so it's not just the gambling issue that people want to protect us from we don't get a lot of the perks that our neighbors do and we have to change that have faith in the people who are people know how to spend their money they know how to spend it wisely not to mention the many many jobs JS that will come about from having a casino like that in s New Hampshire thank you Mr President thank you very much if there's no more comments on this I'll I'll ask uh to call I would like to make just one more comment at a at a respect to my colleague go ahead Council vice president thank you um just after hearing the two uh our our two constituents speak I would like to add and this is my last comment um we're recently also experiencing a lot of safety public safety concerns we're seeing um especially on social media many videos and photos of accidents that are happening at all hours of the day and night and um this is just locally um if we have a closer Casino that's going to add on to those rates um when when you compare a casino that's in Nashville New Hampshire which is there's one currently there in a casino in ever the the The Encore casino typically at least from people that I know around here they take Ubers over there um because they know that they're going to be um participating in adult activities like drinking and Etc however when you're just 10 minutes down the street or 15 minutes down the street you're more inclined to drive which will result in drinking and driving as well it will at the end um add on to I know that this is uh a concern for all nine of us counselors and we get calls and and emails about it I know for sure every day so that's I arest my case thank you uh without that I'm going to ask the clerk to uh please call the role there's a motion there's a motion to approve somebody made a motion is there a motion on the floor I think there is Del Rosario Pat is there a motion on the floor do someone make a motion on this I think you made a motion no motion yet no motion yet I'm looking for a motion motion to send for for c for favor recommendation I want to H give give it the opportunity for my college so a motion been made to send full councel with fa recommendation I'm looking for a second second you second by Council delario any further discussion see no further discussion Miss Waters please call the RO is your light on Pat council ad Del Rosario yes Council Santiago yes um I will inform that Council Vice chair Reyes is now with us so please call the role for vice chair ryes Vice chair Reyes yes and the chair votes affirmative it's going to the full council with favorable recommendation thank you I I see that we have um we're going to go to the top because we have a city we like to get our Council vice president is there any other issues as a courtesy to my colleagues are there any other issues on the agenda this evening you want to disc discuss which are they um the first item I don't have the agenda With Me Myself and Council Vivian marmel uh Grant criteria that's the first one so document 5924 City Grant uh Grant criteria go ahead Vice chair vice president thank you I'm actually I'm looking for this committee to um withdraw this item for the time being until um Council marmel and I do a little bit more brainstorming on it you want us to withdraw it yeah is there a motion to withdraw motion to withdraw the item 51 1924 there a second second second by Council Del Rosario discussion see no discussion clerk please call the role yes Council arus yes coun Del Rosario yes sh yes motion carries what your other item vice president it's the last item on a new business I I don't have the the agenda item with the doc if there's no objection we'll take document at 5402 24 a dedication of the corner in honor of and how do you pronounce the gentleman's first name Achilles Achilles Achilles knowledge espanosa espanosa at Trenton Street and Park Street uh go ahead vice president thank you thank you for allowing me to speak on this and I just want to um for the record I'm not the only sponsor on this item I also have the district City Council Wendy lzone um councelor GG De Rosario and mayor Deena um in support of this of this dedication uh we recently had a an unexpected loss in the community um knowledge Achilles better known as knowledge uh was a staple in our music culture in the City of Lawrence I also U I submitted a document that has a bit more of information on his background and what and what he has done for the community um many counselors who who who have who did not know of him or of his music did notice the public outcry um once this news broke out with one being councelor lzone um and councelor the Rosario I actually have here um his family members and his closest friends to speak more about um how he has helped the community and how his music has impacted um our culture before and now uh thank you um good evening uh my name is genan menz uh 73a milk stream I'll just ask you to take your cover off inside the chambers thank you um yeah like um vice president councelor Stephanie said um knowledge um he was a huge role model in the city um he did a lot for the community um his music we like to say is timeless um he had a huge impact uh for me especially you know as a child you know young listening to his music listening to uh Jason Ruiz who's um um we uh like to say we work for the fire department as well me and Jason and uh we got closer as we you know we started working here and um they they were huge you know I mean my kids I have kids now that um still listen to his music and this was around my time when I was in high school back in 2011 and um I feel like just having this opportunity to get something you know honor knowledge in this street I feel like it would be huge for our community um kids get to see how much of an impact he' had in our community and they can strive to be the same way and I feel like that would that would be huge for you know our youth you know to be able to do that um so you know I'm really for this I really hope that we can definitely consider it um I think it'll be great um I think that's all um his sister is here as well good evening Council my name is Stephanie Espinosa uh my brother Achilles basically said one time that knowledge was power even if he didn't spell it right and I think that the support that we've received from Lawrence after his passing um has basically proven that fact uh to our family so um growing growing up in Lawrence my brother basically channeled his passion for music and you know his competitive nature he built this remarkable career and um you know it was it's so much more act ful than even I myself realized he was just my little brother but to so many people he meant so much he was such a proud Latino Proud of where he came from you know he basically used his talents to uplift and Inspire the community his friends our family members um so it's no surprise that he you know has had the reach that he did have um he was a true Beacon of creativity he was committed to committed to the youth he attended you know sporting events to cheer them on he attended you know events so that he could perform at these events and he basically you know built this Legacy that we feel was so profound that we would love to see Lawrence just you know remember that so that he can continue to shine even though he's not here with us so um once again I'd like to thank the City of Lawrence for all the love and support that our family has received and you know thank you so much for your time okay uh I guess we can ask questions at this point I I I'm not aware and by way my condolences to the family I believe this is a recent loss um so um how how old was he before he passed how old was he 39 um if there was if there was one thing that you could say about him that really if you had to put one thing on the sign if we if this thing passes or that one thing on the sign be if you wanted somebody from Lawrence 50 years from now in the year 2074 many of us won't be I know I won't be around but some of us may not be around either to read something what is it going to say that's going to talk about your brother knowledge is power that's pretty much it he did everything he could to learn everything about anything that was important to him anything that was important to anybody around him so that he can help educate them and get them through whatever they they were needing at the time so it was literally knowledge that's why his name was what it was he was just very well educated in so many different ways in so many aspects and you know anything you went to went to him for he would figure it out he would find a way to help you even if he knew nothing about it he became educated on the topic just so he can help you so I think it should say that knowledge is power uh did he was he born in Lawrence he was not we were actually born in in Camp Pendleton in California our father's a marine so uh we moved here in the80s and we went we both attended the Ley we attended the Oliver I myself attended Lawrence High he unfortunately did not cuz they had lost their accreditation at that point and he ended up going to whor Tech and havil um he spent years moving basically back and forth so he would leave Lawrence but he would always come back he actually passed here in Lawrence he was here doing a performance uh days before his pass ing U he spent a lot of time here even though he lived in Florida it was kind of crazy how much he came back to town but he was always here where did he live in Lawrence uh we we actually live on Trenton Street our family home is still there 40 Trenton right on the corner of Park in Trenton our father still lives in the home so I mean we're we're about to consider essentially what is a legacy um he has passed and it's very difficult and awkward quite frankly since he he has passed so recently to have a a discussion about this without bringing emotion into this and it's a it's very challenging and awkward and I want to honor the fact that you're here thank you um but it's it's a I have to ask some questions and sometimes they're not they're not meant they're meant to be in a way to to have a better understanding so 39 is an awfully young yes age um if we're going to be honoring him part of his story is that he died at at a young age was it unexpected was it a health issue he had health issues he did he um was he was suffering from depression um but he also became overweight because of it he was more focused on helping other people than himself unfortunately um but he he was suffering from health conditions and pretty much I think just the travel back and forth probably got the better of him okay um I got a comment regarding just the corners in general which has less to do with your brother more to do with us as a city and what we're doing um on that um love the city we're about to potentially honor him what were the reasons for him and there are good reasons no one's forced to stay in our city for their entire life so please don't that this is a great country and we can move wherever we want to move to why did he decide to leave the city so basically I moved first to Tampa I basically found a job there and he kind of didn't want to be away from his mother which was my mother as well and my daughter his daughter is here as well but he wasn't spending a lot of time with her unfortunately due to unforeseen situations but he basically wanted to be close to us cuz we had moved away and we were pretty much like his backbones we basically got him through a lot so he pretty much needed us but at the same time he loved it here so much that he would leave us to come visit them and to spend time with them and do the music here and CU you know the kids here and the energy here was just something he was never going to get in Tampa we were there but that's all that was there honestly so he just kept coming back home to Lawrence I gotta uh this is a question for the one of the sponsors the vice president so uh how unique is this individual um when it comes to what he provided to the city because this is all about our city and about the residents how unique if if and the reason why I'm asking is I I'll give you the background if there's 75 other people that have made music that have inspired people and that have done all that stuff are we now going to have 75 Corners in the city name for 75 people who have a similar contribution level uh to the city so I'm trying to figure out what is it about this gentleman that is saying yeah forget about whatever the number is this person right here Rises to a certain level that I we think as a city we need to remember him that why basically why did he how did he put Lawrence on the map that's how I'm translating it um without even though locally or regionally um he was he was a big name and and helped our youth but comparing him let's let's for example compare him to uh Nikki Jam or do Dominic Martis who had a who had or have a bigger career than than he had I think the most unique thing about knowledge is that he had someone and I'm sure some some of the counselors may know but rapper cardi B who's an huge International sensation she plays his music she has his music on his Instagram played his music during her daughter's birthday party and that's someone who's like all the way up here like Nicki Jam level up up there and um for someone to be from Lawrence to still come home to make and produce his music and to have and to get the attention of an artist like that um speaks volumes okay and then we're going to release this did you want to say something go right ahead um first I want to say thank you to um we just had his wake recently on Wednesday and um I want to say thank you to the ones that you know were helped out and help planned it out and actually allowed us to have the type of weight that we had and it really just amazed me and surprising just how many people came out how peaceful it was you know we had uh something intimate and close between 3 and 5 with the family and then from 5 to8 we had it open to the public and you should have seen it the amount of people that came and what was so unique about it is just that we got to play his music outside and how many people knew his music how many people just felt the the the love you know I mean for him and a lot of people didn't even know him personally I knew him personally and it was just amazing the different age groups is what really got to me so I got a chance to like look around and see just the different ages and I'm like looking at certain kids and stuff and I'm like you weren't even born probably during this music and it's crazy that you're you're listening to it and the other day like my daughter and my um niece was listening to his music and I'm like do you guys even know who that is and just to go back a little bit the reason he was out here was because my 15-year-old niece wanted him to perform a herin so I actually paid for his flight so he can come out here and he can have that performance and unfortunately he ended up passing a few days after but it's just amazing that she wanted him there and it like that's just saw how much of an impact he was not was just what he was doing in the community just his music used to speak for him so you know that's just to go on top of what everybody was saying and how unique he was you know what I mean thank you I was going to finish a couple more thoughts and okay I want to say right now you want to say it I was going to finish my thoughts you want to do it now okay so just I had a comment just to speak on his impact sure um just is really just to speak on the topic of his impact he has two your name your name please Juan poino Juan Paulino you hear from the city for the record what what what's your address well I don't live in the city anymore I live in holl okay but I used to live in the city go right ahead but I I was raised with him he has two major Platinum selling artists which is French Montana and Rick Ross two major songs with them and music videos at the same time what's the streams at for the music video for the French yeah over over millions of views on on that um they charged us for the song they took their they gave us the money back and they put it on their album also they offered him from a 10-day tour in London he's on YouTube Tim Westwood is a big um this jockey over there speaking in regards to him so he's Global just so okay super thank you so I'm going to give the floor to Council sanago in just one second so the bigger question here I just think I just need to put this on the floor right so it's been said this this is not to diminish the testimony that we heard this evening for starters because clearly he's been very impactful to many people and this is probably to the tip of the iceberg so I acknowledge that and respect that the other part of it is there's two elements that that that cause me just a chance just to pause number one we are this his passing is so recent the emotion is still there and sometimes s we need time I think to provide context is the power of this individual as you in from our city does that have the kind of staying power that maybe a year or two from now has so maybe it's not going to be the same passion that now because everything is so fresh but will that if we didn't do anything this month or next month would there still will be a year or two from now that same desire and that to me is a certain test as well when we when we say that yeah that person was in our community didn't has an impact but it it happened 5 years 10 years ago two years ago it's not diminishing it's still there well that's that says something to me because that impact is in it's it's it's powerful right now we don't know that and that's an issue it could very well be and sometimes we are in a difficult spot because it's when I see a family member who just lost someone I've got the last thing I want to do is say no you're in you're in some pain right now and we're not in the position we don't want to inflict more pain we want to provide relief and Solace and peace that's what we want to do but I I feel compelled to at least say that number one the second element has nothing to do with this particular with this with with this dedic is all of a sudden we are doing an awful lot of these recently and the people that I'm talking to are saying is that all you guys are doing just Square dedication Park dedications I mean what about this that I mean there's a perception right or wrong there's a perception that we're just doing a bunch and it it just seems like and and I can't when you start the first one two or three or so but at some point we're getting to four five and six and I'm I saying that this individual is not knowledge is not worthy of it but I have to say how many more are we going to do like now and why are we doing this all right now and and I don't I don't have an answer to that I'm not a sponsor of this so I I can't tell you why that's happening but I can tell you that we're doing an awful lot um and it and sometimes s it's it's hard to justify the numbers of doing this regardless of this individual so I I throw that out there I think if I may if you wanted and then I'm going to go to council s Santiago I think uh when I when I called Council lzone um to ask her for her support on this as a district counselor I think she said it she said it perfectly she said um I I would like to see someone of your generation get honored um I am not of that generation so I'm not fully aware of of the impact but I have seen it online and even my own son shared his passing uh when I spoke to I originally thought that area um was councelor de Rosario's area which is why councelor de Rosario's name is is is on as a co-sponsor um when I called him he said the same thing he's like I'm not from this generation um but I I'm seeing this everywhere from people that I would have never like imagined that they knew and when we talk so when we talk about Lawrence's history it's not just um people who who may have served in military um Services it's not it's not just a city counselor who may have served and and and um and left a positive impact it's other areas that we may not all be familiar with and and I am with you and I'm I'm one of the C ERS that have spoken out against all the all the um uh recognitions that we've been doing um but I wouldn't be here if I didn't know the ACT if I didn't know the actual impact of the community I wouldn't be advocating for an an an individual um so I guess that's that's that's my answer to that Council Santiago first of all I want to say I'm sorry for your loss and really this is the hard time for the family is not like we expecting like that but some constituent are mentioning me who is him my my constituent I have some volunteers they play music they do community service and maybe they expect to recognize but they ask me if it there's a requirement to to be a honor for the corner and and I have to to listen my constituents I really apologize but I am no agreed thank you thank you councelor okay Council Del Rosario thank you to you chair um we represent our people and sometimes s our people send us messages to us and we try not to see it or we intentionally ignore those calls or those messages that they send us when I got the call the first thing I thought I I I tell counil fantes I'm not from that era I don't know who he was and that's that's not my district but I'm hearing my people asking for this I wasn't able to go to the service Wednesday I was working but I saw it online and if and I'm sorry that I'm going to use this if this would be an election we all would be going for it because that would be all votes right there there was so many people crying singing dancing um mean like the firefighter said it was peaceful too cuz it it it brought you peace because it was something different and down in the city and the only way this is happening is this community got together unfortunately it was because this gentleman or this artist died and and we should get together more often when people are alive and it only happens when tragedy happened and when that hits our our our community but it's also tell you when our community is together and at this point in time from Twin uh colie con constituents of every District they were there too they were there paying tribute to this artist that I didn't have the chance to meet or to listen to his music but I not I would never deny something that my community asked for and they show me by getting together not just our community there's a gentleman there they used to live in the city and it's from hav when it's here his family is from outside they they moved out of the city and they here asking for one last piece so we can keep remember this artist that it's an impact to the community why is it an impact to the community because if I want to congregate a 100 people I won't be able to do it it was more than myself as was more but but he was able to put our city together even though it was a TR strategy but he did put out our people together all ages if you haven't seen it it should be online somewhere all ages older than me younger than me constituents all of them regardless if they're in the city or not so with that said and that's why I'm on I'm own support and I know we've been having this talk that we've been dedicating Corners we've been dedicating Corners I've been in the city for 30 years and I remember back in my days when they used to dedicate corners and nobody never complains about and today we can make a difference and we can tell our young people that if they are real and they make an impack in the city eventually we will remember them forever so I'm fully supporting this idea thank you thank you counselor uh if there's no other comments from counselors I think we're done I think we got pretty good information here um I'm going to be looking for so you Mr President CH yes I do see you councelor Vice chair please go ahead yes I have my hands over there I see it go ahead so I don't want to repeat what my colleagues say right now uh cons the Rosario but I want to mention I'm fully supported because when we do a dedication when we had the opportunity to uh to recognize the dedication to our constituent um especially for me I'm I'm fully because uh when we uh dedicated a corner or part for different person in our community is because uh they deserve uh they do a wonderful contrib contribution uh to our community and we need to to to bring him back we need to to change it just a little bit uh because when we do a recognition and dedication is awesome it's not only for the family be here it's also for our community to impire another member uh our youth to see uh what we do for for the people do a great contribute contribution in our community I'm fully supportive this proposal thank you Vice chair I'm looking for a motion to send this up to the full Council without a recommendation there there a motion motion to sent to the full council with a favorable recommendation there's a motion to sent up to the full Council seconded by councelor Vice chair so made by Council Del raro seconded by Vice chair Reyes any further discussion see none I'll ask the clerk to please call the role Council Del Rosario yes Council Aras yes Council Santiago no chair chair votes no 22 I'm looking for motion to send this up to the full Council without a recommendation is there a motion so Move Motion made is there a second seconded by Vice chair Reyes made by Council Del rosaro made the motion seconded by Vice chair Reyes any discussion see none clerk please call the role councilor Rees yes councel Del Rosario yes councilor Santiago no chair yes motion to send this up passes or goes to the full Council thank you counselors you're welcome uh is that a counc vice president are you are you are you you done good uh thank you the next item we're going to take off is you're welcome is the um document 520 um Mr McCarthy's got this approve the amendment to the city zoning ordinance to allow accessory dwelling units as permitted use Mr McCarthy thank you for your patience yeah um Daniel McCarthy from the planning department on behalf of this um I had sent the email to um the members earlier uh requesting that this matter be tabled okay uh this is a change in the zoning ordinance that requires uh a public hearing and review by the Lawrence planning board before it comes to city council it's scheduled for a hearing in front of the Lawrence planning board on December 4th and I'll be bringing it back uh with a recommendation from them at that time that's I don't think that's going to be a problem before I look for a motion to have this thing tabled I think I would be U it would be help are you going to make the second same recommendation of the housing committee tomorrow yes okay and I think that's the only thing on the docket tomorrow am I right for the housing I think that's all they're dealing with tomorrow yes I saw that I would I would encourage you to let the vi the chair know that uh so if that's the only thing there's no sense of bringing everybody here tomorrow to hear what you just said which is that so please make um chair marmal a we that and then she can make the decision as to whether or not she wants to cancel the meeting or continue on if you wouldn't mind doing that but for our purposes this evening I'm not letting you go all that quickly can you and can you give us I know you're not going to give an opinion just give us a two-minute overview of this and we're going to go into more depth but I just think it's important that we at least hear what the issue is and then can we will wait to see what the planning board says are you prepared to just say what this issue is and how we got here certainly um the state has um uh passed a um an Omnibus um housing program and it considers one of those elements is uh call the accessory dwelling unit uh provision which allows uh by right accessory dwelling units in all um single family residential districts uh this the administration uh realizing a situation that we currently have in the city with numerous apartments that are being built in that in in attics and and basements and and other parts of the house that weren't uniformly would like to correct that and the proposal is to allow accessory dwelling units uh by right for also for two and three bedroom uh three unit houses as well as allow multiple uh units by special permit from the U planning board so that's what the proposal is there is a ordinance that's already been drafted to be incorporated you should have a copy of that with the details um I will make that available to everyone um and again we it's going to be go for the planning board okay uh for debate when is the planning board meeting on that do you do you know that is it's Wednesday December 4th thank you do you have any other so I'm looking for a motion to to table this matter is there a motion motion to table motion made by councel Santiago is there a second second seconded by Council Del Rosario clerk please call the role councilor Rosario yes councilor Reyes yes Council Santiago yes Chaya plant yes motion tables Mr McCarthy you're here right now are there any other matters that you have on the agenda that you wish to take 522 of 24 document 520 if there's no objection we're going to go to document 52224 which is the approval of a grant of utility easements to the Lazarus house construction [Music] project did we all get one of these did we all get one okay thank you if you could put two aside for the vice chair Rees and Council Dela Rari that would be helpful thank [Applause] you and if you have an extra copy if you can give that to Pat you have an extra for Pat I can give mind when I'm done if you don't have one okay sir what do you here for this evening you're with that this okay great great thank you oh thank you what is your name Cruz Mr Cruz yes do you work with the Lazarus house yes I'm the director of operation you are welcome again Mr McCarthy so the in the package that you received there there should be two documents I just gave you two larger copies of those the lodge plans so the first one is a site plan and that shows the location of the house and the property lines and and that is that is the one with the yellow area marked in yellow which shows the area of where we're talking about the easement the second plan is the HVAC schematic plan which shows the installation of four HVAC units that are going to go on the exterior of this building to provide heating and air conditioning for the new develop the new project that's going on so Lazarus house is in the process of redeveloping this uh old Victorian home uh they put in um hundreds of thousands of dollars of work into this house rehabbing this uh for a facility for for uh for housing for the for the neighborhood um the other document you have here smaller one is two documents stable together um councils uh the councils at home don't have a copy of this but this is just a portion of your lodger documents um and the reason I I phot do me a favor the camera is looking for just put the paper right in front of your mic nope NOP lower well just put it one place he'll figure it out little higher little that's good right there just leave it there leave it there for about a minute and go ahead go ahead M Mr McCarthy continue speaking okay so if you can see in in that Circle in yellow there's a line there and this is a land survey that was just done recently showing the property line at 2' 7 in if you look at the the schematic behind you it'll show you that there's a concrete apron running alongside the house that the hvacs are going to be mounted to and put that to the cameras my colleagues may be watching this and so I I want them to at least be able to see it and you point to the yellow if you don't mind what you're can you leave it Point can you point to where you see the yellow I see the yellow perfect and that's where your concrete walkway is going to be and that and that says 3et 2 in mhm so that's a portion of the easement that we're talking about about there's a 7 in um ex the concrete will be going 7 in to into the property of the city this is the general dunan school um there's also going to be a an easement for um construction because to to do the installation and pour it they're obviously going to have to stand on city property to to install this so the HVAC system if you look at it um will not be in city property only the concrete apron so so this is a temp this is a temporary easement to allow construction work to take place is that what this is all about so people can go there step on property that that that they're not that they don't own and be able to do work great and and is the and which which school is it the general Donovan School general dunan school that's the property it's a city property and so they need permission from the city to step on our property it's City on property to go ahead and do the work that you just are outlining here yes along that little stretch of land if if you look if you look at this it indicates that the the H track equipment itself y will be at 2 feet 4 Ines from the building so it will be one inch within their boundaries so they don't need an easement for the equipment just for the concrete apron just so the only thing that's going to be per more permanent is that concrete apron that concrete apron will be a permanent easement yes that's great okay and just so we're clear if this doesn't happen What happens to the project um they they need this to supply the um air conditioning and the heating for this home and there's no other um logical or important uh area to place this in this is in an open area if you look on the the the plans the other sides of the house are much smaller so there's four units that are being installed at different spaces along to get as much um of the um heating and air conditioning to the building as possible so this is the only location where they can go uh in a reasonable Manner and so just the number of you're talking about four units at this location the four yes four so this is not at the general Donovan school but it's that older house that's right next door to it on the corner right right it's a it's a property identified as 155 Franklin Street it's at the intersection of Franklin and cross street it's that that point it is okay there's a there's a religious statue in the front if I remember correctly is that right it was yes that's correct okay um okay so four is it how many I'm I'm curious you know my passion regarding housing in the city so how many units are we talking about here do you know that I'm just trying to get a sense of what the impacts are can you just come forward so they can talk to them so my colleagues can hear you who aren't here sure so the development is going to be five transitional and your name because I'm not sure everybody knows who you are my name is Miguel Cruz I'm the director of operations for Lazarus health ministries thank you um what we're building there is transitional housing uh again for homeless people um at low low uh cost to them and uh it's going to be five units that we're going to have on the property okay and and they're essentially just for singles or are looking like two or three people per unit yes family family family transitional Health shelter gotcha okay all right I'm set so is there a is there a motion Mr chair U Mr Del Rosario thank you thank you to you and it's it's good to clarify that this transitional housing it's a great program the L house has for two years family get educated financially f family get educated when it comes to everything that is going on in the city and in two years most of the family are prepar to move into their own apartment and sometimes buying the own houses it's it's we need to clarify that it's not like a regular shelter where people in and go in and out on an everyday basis uh I encourage my colleagues to take a trip to the Capernaum uh Capernaum place that they have which is transitional housing and it's only for for 2 years and people have to go through their through their educational system uh and go out and work and they also pay low low rent and in two years most of the family that are going there are ready to move into their own houses or to be able to rent apartment even with the bank account uh saving money because they they they it's a great program we need we need to highlight that because when we talk about uh shelter we believe there a regular shelter where people's going to go a family is going to go and going to sleep two days or two no no this is a transitional housing program that is is very effective so once again I encourage my colleagues to take a trip or a tour into the capernum place for lazaros house and see what this transitional houseing it's all about and this is an extension of what they've been doing for a few years and also uh some of us or whoever doesn't know the Donovan school is the Donovan school but it's not being used as a school so there's no kids there taking classes so when it comes to this easement I encourage you guys to to send it with a favorable recommendation so they can get this remodelation uh done for this lovely program that they are helping people to get on their fee and also getting Financial education and all type of education in that program thank you thank you um Mr Del Rosario uh recommended that those of us on the council if we're so inclined maybe tour facility to have a better idea as to what this means and this is not like the others this is something different I for one if offered an invitation would accept that invitation I we gladly look at whether it's the capernum place I think is what he suggested or whatever it's called I I'm so if that's something that you would like to arrange I am certainly willing to go ahead and take a look so I can be more informed about it having said that do we do we have a number of how many transitional housing units do we have in the city today do we know I don't know how many we have outside of Lazarus house but Lazarus house the kerum place has 20 unit apartments at this time I I don't know what the City offers but that that I definitely know that and and that's helpful I just the reason why I asked the question is is this is another example of we don't know what we have in the city we we we we say we I'm not going to go into my diet tribe uh my colleagues have all heard it many times I'm going to spare them this evening going into more of the details but this is what is pertinent right now we don't know how many transitional units we have we know L now has 20 do we consider the lha properties transitionary or do we consider those permanent what do we consider to be transitionary housing in the style that we're talking that Mr Del Rosario was just alluding to that is more of a two-year program as opposed to a two-day program so um I'd like to know that as we as a city are are this vote will impact five more places on top of how many which we don't know maybe maybe all it is is 20 maybe now we have 25 is that a big number I don't know but if we look at the whole thing maybe that has an impact so that's the Genesis of my question um that's that so um if you want to follow through with me later if that's of interest to you I'm I'm happy to do I don't mean to put you on the spot M always said take a tour and all of a sudden I'm like yeah I'll do we welcome everyone we welcome everyone we've had the mayor come by we've had different people come by we welcome everyone to see what Lazarus house does uh we do it different from every other shelter that you hear uh in the state or anywhere um and L's name is synonymous I mean we people know us for 41 years uh we've been serving the community happy to do that are there any I'm looking for either a motion or a question or a comment by any Council any committee members yeah time and and and through you and I appreciate the time and this is one of the program that I support because when I went there I mean I have my personal I have my personal experience with lro's house 30 years ago right I was a kid arriving to the city but when I went and T the place cuz when I when people talk about lzos house we believe or we we tend to think that it's a regular shelter right it's a shelter it's a regular shelter and that's why I encourage my colleagues to go and take the tour Co Carmen or he can arrange anything and you guys can take the tour and you you going to see what a different type of shelter or what a different type of program they run and that's why I'm in support of that cuz when I went it's called the capernum place when I went to the capernum place with I would I because I thought it was a private owned property right it's it's it's a complex with 20 apartment like like he said 20 units right and I thought every time I passed through there and seen it I thought it was a developer a developer that build that over and it's making money out of it it it it's beautiful it's well done and and when I learn about the program what do they do or or how the family gets there and how they come out of there I say no but my colleagues need to know and some of us have been there and we got the invite for Lazaro's house many times all of us um but some of us think it's just a regular shelter um I was at the fundraiser uh last Saturday if I'm not mistaken they did a fundraiser at the at the end over country clock and I never seen anything like it before either they rais almost $600,000 in two hours and those are people that believe in wo's houses so I encourage once again some of my colleagues that hasn't been there to go there and check that out um it's not a regular shelter it's a program it's a program that actually works and you can hear the people talking and and and and where they are how they got to Lazaro's house and where they are now very good so I once again I encourage you guys to to take the tour and learn a little bit more of this so we don't put Lazaro's house as as a regular shelter like every other shelter that we have in the city because it's totally totally different and with that said I will uh present a motion to send the full counil with a favorable recommendation motion May there a second seconded by Vice chair Reyes any discussion further discussion uh seeing no for I am going to be voting yes on this uh which is maybe a shock to some um only because I want to take a look at it but I reserve my right at the full Council I'm not flip-flopping um want I want to send this up to the full Council but I also want to learn more about this my vote may be yes on the full Council or may be no in the full Council but I will be casting a vote on the full Council that I can assure you um motion been made and properly second roll call vote please councilor Del Rosario yes Council Rees yes Santiago yes chair llant chair votes yes hear my card motion passes thank you councils thank is that it Mr McCarthy we done okay good that is it for me thank you have a good night appreciate it appreciate all your work that you do for us uh let's see thank you again and have a good evening good night councilor we're going to go to the top of the agenda docment 52324 you know what this is that 52324 handicap parking at 163 Spruce Street I'm looking for a motion to send this up or send this to the send this to the police department for their review motion made second second motion made by Council Santiago second by Council Del Rosario discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I I oppos no oh sorry roll call vote please everything's got a roll call sorry yes please everything Council Reas yes councelor Del Rosario yes councelor Santiago yes chair the plant yes motion carries next document is document 5 2424 handicap parking one I'm sorry 42 Andover Street looking for motion to sent to the police department motion made by Council Santiago second seconded by Council Del Rosario discussion seeing none please call the RO yes councilor Del Rosario yes councelor Santiago yes CH yesion carries next one is a doc document number 5252 24 handycap parking at 21 Wendell Street looking for motion to send this to the police department motion made by Council Santiago seconded by Council Del Rosario discussion see none I'll call the question I won't call the question I'll ask the clerk to please call the role counc Rees yes counil Del Rosario yes Council Santiago yes chair La plant yes motion carries next document 5262 24 handicap parking 18 fton Street looking for motion to send to the to the police department for their review s motion made by councelor Santiago seconded by Council Del Rosario discussion CN clerk please call the role Council Reas yes councelor Del Rosario yes councilor Santiago yes and chair llant yes okay I think this one and the next one or go hand in hand um this is a doc document 5272 24 remove the handicap parking sign at 153 Willow Street counselors the the one before on Fon Street was a new one I I believe this individual was moving to a different location yes so I think they go to kind of go together but we still need to send it to the police do we I'm always conf um let me just take a look at that the background information I I I don't see the need for this to go to the police department um if I would I would encourage us to send this up to the full Council to order our public hearing the individual who has it in front of their house has asked that it be taken out and has another place I think it's pretty clearcut so I would that would be the motion I would I would encourage a motion to send to the full Council to order a public heing Soo motion made by Council Sago seconded by Vice chair Reyes discussion see none I call the question all in favor say I I oppose no uh I heard a no uh roll call vote please Council re yes Del Rosario yes yes yes the next document is document 52824 compensation for school committee members um there is nobody here to speak on this matter this evening um I'm going be looking for a motion to table this matter and encourage the uh council president to show up and provide some rationale for this um proposal motion to table motion to table and Senate correspondents toite to the president is that part of the motion yes motion made any A Letter of Invitation has been made and seconded by Vice chair reyes's discussion seeing none clerk please call the role councilor Reyes yes councelor Del Rosario yes Council Santiago yes CH of plan yes next document is 52924 oneway Columbus Avenue um I'm looking for a motion to send this to both the police department and to the DPW w/ city engineer for their review so motion made by S councelor Santiago second seconded by Council Del Rosario discussion see none clerk please call the role Council Aras yes Council Del Rosario yes Council Santiago yes La plant yes next document is 53024 this is No Parking On Warwick street from havl Street to Daws Street on the odd side looking um I think it's just a police looking to send this to the police department for their review so motion made by Council Santiago second seconded by Vice chair Reyes discussion see none clerk please call the role Sano yes councilor Rees yes yes councelor delar yes what about Council santiag you already vote yeah and I'm going to vote Yes on that one yep document 53124 oneway Tenny street from Arlington Street to Witman Street looking for a motion to send this both to the police department and for the DPW city engineer for their reviews is there a motion so much motion made by councelor Santiago is there a second second second by Council Del Rosario discussion see no discussion Clerk please call the role Council Rees yes Council Del Rosario yes Council of Santiago yes CH La plant yes uh next document is document uh 53224 a resident parking on brami street uh so I'm going to presume this is braam fil Street both sides full street because in our background information it does not have a limitation so I'm presuming it's the entire street I'm not sure if this is a Long Street or a short street but uh Council Vice chair Reyes before we make a motion on this is uh is has it been your experience Vice chair that this go to any departments for their review for example this this the police department uh can you repeat the item please sure this is 53224 resident parking on bramfield street and the question is has it been your experience that we go to a whether it's the police or city engineer either one or the other for their review before adopting we can s with the city engineer that's the pro all right so let's go with that looking for a motion to send this document for the city engineer for their review so motion made by Council Santiago is there a second second second by Vice chair Reyes discussion see none I'll call the question oh I won't call the question I keep doing that out of habit uh Pat please call the role Council Rees yes yes yes yes next document is document number 53324 this is resident parking at 73 Irving Avenue um look of so um again doesn't doesn't say if it's a any side of the street whole street part of the street it just has it one person's address that's going to be interesting um we're we are relatively new on the resident parking I know that sounds kind of odd typically we do the entire either block of the street and we typically just don't do like one street address uh this is unique it has one street address 73 Irving AB as opposed to all of Irving AB for the block um I guess we could send that to the DP I I don't think there's anything unlawful with that but I think that if we start going down this road of having just one unit or one house on one street you can imagine what that might mean in the future yeah so um let's let me let me let me provide this as a suggestion let's let's send this to the police dep uh to the DP DPW for their review we can get that back and then we can have a con you know what we're going to do is this I'm going to make I'm going to ask if we do both just for that one address and I will also ask for the entire the entire block so we can have both so we can not delay things and then we could have a discussion at this committee based on what we receed for a response does that make sense so I'm looking for a motion to send to the DPW their review for 73 Irving Avenue and the entire that block of Irving Avenue so motion made by Council Santiago is there a second second seconded by Vice chair as discussion see none I'll call I'll ask the clerk to please call the role Council councilor Rees yes Council De Rosario yes Council Santiago yes CH La plant yes motion carries next is 53424 resident parking Trinity Street uh looking for a motion to send and again no no particular block uh looking for a motion to send this to the DPW um DPW engineering for their review is there a motion some motion made by Council Santiago second second by Council Vice chair Reyes discussion see none clerk please call the role Council Rees yes Council yes counc yes yes next is 5352 24 no parking here we go one side of buswell street and according to the memo we received by Council Luzon the ambulance and firet truck can't enter the street which is the reason why she's looking for one side of the street it doesn't say which side but I'm looking for a motion to send this to the DPW DPW engineering office for their review so motion made by Council Santiago second seconded by Vice chair Reyes discussion CN clerk please call the role Council Rees yes Council Del Rosario yes Council of Santiago yes chayla plant yes next document 53624 this is uh no overnight parking on the south side of Southside at 396 Water Street again um I am I guess we can send this to the um to the PO the police department for their review we're dealing with one address on Water Street uh I guess we do we do things like this for businesses where we'll say you know between this point and that point 15minute parking half hour we so we kind of do this on in other places so this is not necessarily unusual so um I guess to honor councel marma I'm looking for a motion to send this to the police department for their review so motion made by councelor Santiago is there a second by Council Del Rosario discuss discussion see none clerk uh please call the RO councilor Rees yes Council Del Rosario yes count Santiago yes Chaya plant yes next item is 53724 four-way stop intersection of Milton and L Street that's easy looking to send that one to the to the police department for their review s motion made by councelor Santiago second seconded by Vice chair Reyes discussion see none clerk please call the role Council Reyes yes Council Del Rosario yes Santiago yes CH yes the next item is 53824 Earth Day Clean Up April 19th 2025 7:00 a.m. to 300 P p.m. at the campaign common there is nobody here to speak on this matter it's been our position at least in this committee to table this matter that is on April 19th there I think there's a little there's there's plenty of time so I'm looking for a motion to table and invite the groundwork Lawrence to a a ordinance committee meeting motion to table motion to table and send correspondents to to groundw Lawrence inviting them sended second motion made and seconded by councelor Vice chair AR Rees discussion see none clerk please call the role Council Rees yes Council Del Rosario yes councelor Santiago yes Chaya plant yes um that we have this one thing give me a second counselors there's a item in our packet we have three things in our packet I'm looking at them now for the first time um bear with me if there's no one of this document 2223 let me see if I can find that document in our agenda thank you I see it Council if there's no objection I'm going to be deal we're going to be taking off the January 17th 2023 table matters document 2223 it's a one-way conversion of Winter Street northbound from Essex Street toward low street we have received correspondence um and our packets from the city engineer I will read this into the record for my colleagues who may not have it in front of them so good evening counselors in response to the request made by council president gavan Rodriguez documented under 2223 received on April 13 2023 regarding the proposal to convert Winter Street to into a one-way road heading Northbound from essx street toward L Street after assessing the current traffic flow and congestion patterns in the area I recommend implementing this change this change to improve traffic conditions at the Winter Street and Essex Street intersection currently the intersection of winter and Essex Street experiences frequent congestion especially during peak hours the four-way stop setup causes significant traffic delays as Vehicles queue up particularly When approaching Winter Street by making Winter Street a oneway road Northbound we anticipate the traffic flow will become smoother significantly reducing the bottle effect caused by Vehicles entering from multiple directions this adjustment should alleviate the Jam at the four-way intersection and enhance overall efficiencies in the area if the council approves this this proposal our next steps would include conducting public Outreach to inform residents and businesses adjusting signage and implementing appropriate Road markings to clearly guide the new one-way Direction additionally we will monitor traffic patterns following the change to ensure the desired outcome is achieved please let me know if you like any further information on count on your support to the city council in improving the city's traffic management so that is the um that is the recommendation for this item sent To Us by acting city engineer Theo Rosario um based on this recommendation I'm looking for um we can go whichever way you want um he does approve of it so we could send this up to the full Council now that we have this I don't think there's anything else we're looking for as far as police it would need a public hearing motion to send to the full Council to order public hearing motion made by Council Del seconded by Council Santiago discussion see none clerk please call the RO Council Rees yes councelor Del Rosario yes councelor Santiago yes Chaya plant yes we have two more of these next one is document 27824 the title is oneway Street on East havil Street in front of the partham school was put on by councelor Pano back in 2021 Senator Pano now if you bear with me I'll read this as quick as possible so we have it on the record the Department of Public Works opposes the proposed conversion of East haval Street in front of the param school into a one-way Street as a key arterial Road East havil Street is essential to Lawrence's infrastructure connecting Route 110 with the neighboring cities of methan and havl restricting a section of the street to one-way traffic would likely cause congestion by concentrating vehicle flow in a single Direction leading the bottlenecks and disrupting overall traffic circulation in the area the DPW emphasizes the importance of maintaining two-way traffic on East havil Street to ensure smooth and efficient Transit along this critical Gateway Corridor please also consider the state that that state has scheduled to a project to reconfigure figure of the intersection of marrison and East havil streets with work set to begin next year this upcoming Improvement project may impact traffic patterns and could offer additional solutions to address congestion and safety concerns in the area in the coming days I plan to visit invite the school superintendent to the site to explore alternative solutions that address the current issues with pickup and drop off at the partham school um that's this Ascent of it so I'm going to be looking for a motion to withdraw this motion to withdraw motion made by councelor Del Rosario seconded by Council Vice chair Reyes discussion that's number 27 27821 is on the final page page seven on December 7th 2021 is the date motion has been properly made it's been properly seconded uh clerk please call the role councilor Rees yes councelor Del Rosario yes Council Santiago no no councelor uh Chaya plan yes uh 3 to one motion sent up to the full Council to withdraw the last item does not have a number it's actually council delar is one of your items uh it's uh parking on the south side of Alder Street between Lawrence Street and Spruce Street House of delare are does that sound familiar to you yes uh it's been in the agenda for over a year uh I don't have the number with myself here but um it was by over package um all right I am I'm looking for it now uh you are you saying it was in 2023 or 2024 I remember do you remember when the National Night Out came out again to uh to do it that we took a Mima boss and we draw by uh that was the so that was last year I believe that's 2023 that was not this year all right yeah I said it's been in the agenda for over a year y so that helps I'm looking number we're looking for it I don't have it looking I don't well we're looking this is for Lawrence Street and I'm going to search here the emails that I sent to engineer because I also send plenty emails about that too excellent thank you to the engineer good thank you for um it's item 9723 9723 I don't know which bit is it but it's item 9723 97 9723 9723 now we're looking for that it's and that's not jumping at us to be honest um it's not in order I'm not seeing it I'm looking if everybody else would help me look so another few more set of eyes will be helpful coun I'm not I'm not seeing that on our on our packet which is unfortunate I don't see uh this this memo was sent on September 13th so this has been in our package here for a little bit of 2024 so couple months ago and I think and to be honest CH I think we already discussed that and we were waiting for a public hearing for that already so I don't know and I was about to ask questions about that item because I have there was a death there was a shooting because uh Ro rage on that street a year ago um and we and I remember that we went through it and there was waiting for a public hearing and I've been holding the constituents till we get the public hearing and I was about to ask questions so honestly speaking I I I don't know how we can get items to disappear out of the agenda um great question so Council we can't talk there's nothing we can do with it here you you're probably right it maybe at the full Council level um I'm sure you could look into that a little bit more um and just and if it's at the full Council level you can do what you need to do to get that to a public hearing so but it's not it's not on the agenda so there's nothing we can do at this level no we don't we don't have it so um there's that so before we adjourn this evening one more just bit of housekeeping we do have minutes from October 8th 2024 I'm looking for a motion to approve the minutes from October 8th motion to motion made by Council uh Santiago second by Vice chair Reyes discussion see no discussion clerk please call the role Council Aras yes Council Del Rosario yes counc Santiago yes CH La plant yes um at this point I'm looking for is there any other matters before the committee if there isn't any I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adust to motion made by Council Sano seconded by Vice chair Reyes discussion see no discussion clerk please call the role councelor Reyes yes Dr Del Rosario yes Santiago yes CH yes motion carries good night everyone and thank you thank you good night thank you happy good night good night e