 Please come to order. Precinct three. Please come in. Please come to order. Alright Mr. O'Connor you have the floor. Please come in and sit down Mr. O'Connor. Come on. Mr. Stiding. Alright please Mr. O'Connor has the floor. Alright everybody sit down come on. Alright go ahead Mr. O'Connor. James O'Connor precinct 19. I just have a couple of comments and then I have a question. Can we shut the doors hold on Jim. Can we shut the doors in the back so those people don't want to sit down and come in. I'll restart the clock for you. Thank you. Okay go ahead. When we talk about these issues about parking. The first thing that came to mind when I was looking at the presentation that Mr. Harrington gave us was there was a Vermont license plate. Vermont's kind of a long commute. It's probably not somebody that lives here. I used to live in Vermont. And I can say that my question is about whether or not people are parking where we're not enforcing regulations so that it's what I would consider selective enforcement. That's like telling people like an animal farm all things were equal but some animals are more equal than others. Now certainly I don't believe that the suggestion that the municipal government officials or fire fighters or anyone else that happens to park in the cemetery is not going to be exempted from a ticket. But the second question about this is the commonwealth has certain laws about auto excise tax. It has certain regulations about parking permits that we give to town residents to park in our town lots overnight. And if the picture is correct that Mr. Harrington put up that Vermont vehicle sits there for days on end. It may be a residence who says I don't have to pay for parking because I can park in the cemetery. Nobody there is going to complain. But the fact is as we've heard from one of our fellow speakers we have a concern. These people have gladly paid through their bereaved for perpetual care. They have a voice. They're entitled to receive the benefits that they paid for. And every time we talk about legislation we try to protect the rights of others. So I think that's kind of an issue that we need to address selective enforcement, breach of protection of those that have paid for perpetual care. And that we don't want to abet tax evaders. We don't want to acknowledge okay you can park over there because nobody's going to look. So I suggested to the petitioner that maybe we table the article but he asked that we take a vote tonight. So I'm going to defer to his initiative because he put a lot of work into this. But I do think that we do need to consider protecting those people. So I want to ask the board of select. If any one of you would care to speak. You have to talk into the mic sir. Mr. Moderator. Yes sir. Could you ask the board of select who would like to come forward to tell us how we could enforce this to protect those that have paid for this right? Mr. Byrne? Well I think the only person who could we answer the enforcement issue a number of times it's the police have to enforce it. Well the police enforce it but there's a question of. You're basically asking are they going to. The parking. The parking commission is going to do something about this. Yes. Mr. Byrne. Stephen Byrne board of select and chair. Yes I do think that we especially after how contentious or not contentious but how long this debate has been and how it's clearly. A very serious issue to everyone in town. I think that chief Ryan was correct that there are some extenuating circumstances right now and that following the conclusion of those circumstances. We will take the appropriate measures to look into the cemetery parking concerns. Thank you. Thank you. Well I hope whatever the vote outcome is tonight that we do that because those people that can't speak that paid for this. May consider this a breach of trust. And when we do that we don't really act as legislators do we because our intention is to give everybody equal rights. So I think this issue has been aired and I think it's important to consider how we do our business to make sure that everybody is taken care of. Thank you. Thank you. Peter Fuller. Peter Fuller precinct 20. The proponent of the substitute motion when he presented to us the other night made a claim that there are presently no regulations on parking in the cemetery. So I said to myself I'm going to check this. So I went on the town website and looked at the Cemetery Commission regulations. Looked at the select man's parking rules and orders and sure enough he's right. There's nothing in either place that specifically regulates prohibits conditions parking in the cemetery. So we're left with a situation now where there's some no parking signs. It's a bit of a mystery how they got there and the default is people park in the cemetery like they can't find a space. I'll go park in the cemetery. So this is a tough decision on this substitute motion. It's not a perfect instrument but I'm going to vote for it. I think it gives us a chance as the legislative voice of the town to lay down a marker that says we don't like what's going on now. We don't like that using the cemetery is a temporary parking lot for people who are inconvenienced by street congestion or construction is the proper thing to do. It goes against the whole purpose, the whole idea, the whole dignity of the cemetery and it needs to stop. So I'm going to vote for it. I hope it passes. If it doesn't pass, I hope the Cemetery Commission and or the Selectman whoever wants to assert some jurisdiction writes some rules that make the spirit of this substitute motion happen. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ted Paluso. Ted Paluso, a precinct six. Somebody told me tonight I talked simply. And when I look at a cemetery, I say to myself, is there anybody in this room, police chief, employees of the town, everybody in this room who would go out of their way to disrespect a dead person? I don't think so. I think what we might be faced with here is something fell between the cracks of the system of committees and commissions. And if I'm reading this right, and this young man here told me just now that we don't have a law that says you cannot park there. Then we need a law that can park there. Does it need a bylaw? I don't know. But if that's the only way you're going to get it, then I think we should have a law that says you're not allowed to park in the cemetery unless you're on cemetery business. It's easy, right? Parking is a big problem everywhere where I came from. It was a big problem. And now you get into a whole issue of enforcement. Well, you know what? If the law isn't on the books, how can you enforce it? So we got to get it on the books somehow. And if this is the only way it's going to happen, then let it happen. Once you have it on the books, we have to trust our police department, who I believe do a good job overall. And we have to trust that they will enforce it fairly. And that's the way I see it. So if we're using something that is, you know, like a, what do you call it, a huge hammer to put in a little tiny nail because something got missed along the way with this, with these commissions and committees that we have, let's correct it tonight and get it over with already, okay? Thank you, sir. Sean Harrington? Sean Harrington, producing 15. I would like to move to amend Mr. Harrington's substitute motion by striking the words conducting cemetery business and replacing them with visiting the cemetery. Is that possible, Mr. Moderator? That's small enough to do. Second. All right. Thank you. You have that in writing? Hopefully by changing those three simple words, we can stop any possible dilemma police officers would have if this is voted on by town meeting. A few months ago, a very good friend of mine passed away, who was a long time, it's an activist, was back in the fall. I went to, when we went to have the funeral for him, we noticed that there were cars parked in the cemetery near the spot that didn't belong in the cemetery. I should rephrase that, that we didn't see anyone with those cars or in the cemetery, in that vicinity of the cemetery that could have owned those cars. One of the people who were in attendance was a former mayor of one of the large cities near, or next to our, one of our neighbors. After the cemetery service was over, I began to talk to the former mayor who asked me, he said, son, can you tell me, are those cars belonging to anyone here for the funeral? I said, well, no, I assume that they're parking there. And he said, so that's how they do it in Arlington, huh? So that's how we do it in Arlington. That was one of the few times I ever felt ashamed of saying, I was from Arlington, that a former elected official of another town, not even an elected official, someone visiting the town, thought that's how Arlington treats their dead, that's how Arlington pays respect to those who have died. To quote Sir William Gladstone, show me the way in which a society treats their dead. And I will show you with mathematical exactness how they treat their laws, how they treat their living, and the morals of that society. What are we saying about our town? We have people parking in the cemetery, not for cemetery purposes, not there for any, for want of a better word, positive use of the cemetery. I mean, we could get into splitting hairs saying that, oh, well, what if I'm bird watching or what if I'm this or that? I think we can all say that those are positive uses of the cemetery. They're not abuses. We're using the cemetery. If anything, honoring the dead, honoring such a place of great beauty, of calmness, a place of great thought by using the cemetery for those reasons. Parking in the cemetery and leaving your car there solely so it's a less of a walk to get to your car is an abuse in my mind. And if there is problem with the community safety building having parking, then I would recommend we put parking for the community safety building only on Mystic Street. If we want to solve that problem, it's an easy solution that we can look at. I'm amazed we're even having this debate, really. I mean, let's put it this way. For my English class in college, we had to do a problem solution essay and present it to our class. I did it exactly on this issue in which the teacher had it that he would give his own conclusion and then all of our classmates would then give their ideas for solutions to the problem. Do you know what they said? Put in a lot to have people stop parking in the cemetery. If people from Charlestown and Somerville and Boston and the South Shore can understand that, why is it that we can't? Let's have some respect for the dead. Let's try to use the cemetery for positive use. Let's stop the abuse. I really ask you to vote for this substitute motion. So Arlington has not looked at a community as that former mayor said of, that's how they do it. Let's prove them wrong. Let's prove them wrong that that's not how Arlington does it. We don't tolerate that and we will no longer tolerate that. Thank you. All right, so he's made a substitute motion to strike out the words conducting cemetery business and inserting the words visiting the cemetery in their place. Do I have a second on that? Okay. Mr. Berger. Eric, is he here tonight? Brian Hasbrook. Thank you, Mr. moderator. I'm Brian Hasbrook from precinct nine and I have a disclosure. I'm actually in a butter of the cemetery. I'm on Sherbourne Street and the back of my house faces the cemetery. I see it every day. I also go out for a run in the morning and at the end of my run I walk through the cemetery for mystic. I've walked all over the place and I want to correct a few impressions that might have been made from previous speakers. First of all, I don't believe there has been an abuse of parking in the cemetery. I also think or I am confident that once the construction in mystic avenue and the public safety building is over, that the parking problem on station will be greatly reduced. I recommend that you vote against the original substitute motion. I think the previous speaker suggestion for the amendment that it be clarified to visiting the cemetery. I think it's a good idea. I need time to think about it. We have a long tradition in this country dating back to the 19th century of cemeteries being used for passive recreation. Many of our cemeteries including Mount Pleasant are situated in sites that are, for lack of a better term, just simply beautiful. As you walk through the cemetery and rise up onto the hill, I think it's back on Laurel Avenue back there, you get up on the hill and you see the Mystic Lake before you and at different times of the year it's simply beautiful. From time to time people will visit and they'll park their cars there. There are at least six benches around the cemetery. From time to time people will park and just sit. I don't know whether they have a loved one that is buried nearby. I just think it's nice that they can go there and sit. Right now the staff, the cemetery commission and the staff that work there, if there is a funeral coming through they can go up to someone who's sitting at a bench and saying, you know, look we have a funeral, could you come back tomorrow? Occasionally there might be a problem and perhaps Sageham Avenue was a special problem for a while where it's not as simple as that. A car is parked, the person isn't there, you know, maybe they're a commuter, maybe they've just gone for a long walk. In my experience and I'm there a lot, I have not seen, with the exception of the Sageham Avenue area, I haven't seen regular parking. You know, people are just doing this all the time. It is by and large respected. So I think we're on the right track with this, trying to narrow it a little bit. At this point I'm inclined to suggest to vote no and continue to support the status quo a little bit longer. I agree with police chief Ryan. We're going to get some more experience on this as the projects have wound down. And I'd like for us to come back and reconsider that. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Bolts? No, no, you're not up. I'm just recognizing you. I'm just saying, yeah, you're on the list. Hi, Barbara Bolts, precinct nine. I appreciate the remarks of the previous speaker because I too, I live on Medford street adjacent to the cemetery, and I walk in the cemetery two or three times a week at least. I also have never seen the problem that's been described, although I can't say that it doesn't exist because I don't walk there every day or 24 hours a day. But let me tell you something interesting. When I walk in the cemetery, I see very few cars parked. And when I do see a car, I see someone at a grave site or someone sitting on a bench reading a book. I don't see anyone defiling anything. Yes, the roads are in bad shape. But as far as a perpetual care, the cemetery workers, they're mowing, they're raking, they take good care of that cemetery. And I'd like to enlighten you as to what the signs at the cemetery really say, because when this debate began the other night, I went over there yesterday and looked at the sign on Medford street at each of the three gates. When you drive into the cemetery, there's a sign. The first one is big letters, speed limit 15. Well, needless to say, that's not observed when people use it to cut through between Mystic and Medford. That's the worst thing about walking. Then there's another sign that says hours gone to dusk, but as has been pointed out, the gates are never closed. There are gates, but they're never closed. I don't know if anybody goes in there after dusk. I certainly don't. The next sign underneath it is written in much smaller letters. Anyone driving in won't even read it because they won't even see it. It says prohibited practices. Then it says in capital letters N-O, no consumption of alcohol, no dogs allowed, no motorized recreational vehicles. Then it says in big letters only persons with cemetery business allowed on grounds. Underneath that in all capital letters it says violators are subject to arrest. Per order Arlington Cemetery Commission. It says not one word about parking, not one word. There are no parking signs in the cemetery contrary to what people have told you tonight. I enjoy walking in the cemetery for reasons other people have said. It's quiet, it's beautiful. Right now in the springtime the trees are blooming, the birds are singing, you're walking along the mill brook, you come to the wetlands. It's beautiful. I know people go there birding. People also walk their dogs in the cemetery. I've never seen one off leash. But according to this they shouldn't be there either. I shouldn't be there either because I'm not on cemetery business. So perhaps these rules have to be changed and amended somewhat. But I am absolutely opposed to this substitute motion because I don't think, number one I don't think it's enforceable. And number two it would keep people from parking there and reading and walking and enjoying the beauty and the tranquility of the cemetery. So I urge you to vote no on this substitute motion. Thank you. Thank you, madam. Mr. Deist. John Deist, precinct 13. It's very clear to everyone here that Stephen Harrington has done us a service. He's pointed out a very difficult problem. I was, when I went to the cemetery, when I saw his presentation at the previous meeting, I was appalled at some of the views of what looked like destruction of the area where this parking is. I have to confess, however, I went down there today and that region that 150 feet or so at the beginning is no better or no worse in my opinion from other places in the cemetery. It's pretty much the same. And I urge any of you to go down and take a look for yourselves. I don't know about the parking. Stephen has looked at the parking a good deal more than I have. We've been told that it's a temporary problem. We've also been told that the people in the town who are responsible for parking, that is to say the selectmen, are going to solve the problem. Well, guess what? If they don't solve the problem in a year from now, we get to haul them over the calls rather beautifully. So I think, I think that what we should do is take them at their word. And hopefully they will come back with us with a solution that answers any number of problems that are brought up here tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Mr. Fisher. Andrew Fisher, precinct six. I feel whipsawed by this a bit. I mean, first thing I have to say is it turns out I'm a scoff law because I often work out of my brother's shop, which is in the old Rosen Inc. building. And learned from Mr. Herrmann and a town official that that road is also probably, well, actually it is part of the cemetery. So I think that I want to make a motion to table. And I tell you the reason is I think I'd like to vote yes, just to show that we're hearing that this can be dealt with. But we're also hearing that the Cemetery Commission itself has had this problem for seven years. So it's likely to pass. And it's a law that's like a sledgehammer. And what are they supposed to do with it? So, and I think that town meeting does a disservice to itself by making such laws. And so at risk of, you know, making everything a torture, I move to table this for two weeks and I move that we recommend, I mean, I'm sorry I didn't have it wherewithal to do a resolution, but if I were to do a resolution, I would recommend that the Cemetery Commission, the proponent, other interested parties, the enforcement parties, sit down and hammer something out that does work. Because I think we're going to pass something that doesn't work tonight. So I'm making a motion to table for two weeks. That's a motion to postpone. The motion of the tables we just put in the table and let it sit till you feel like taking it off. Motion to table is to a date certain, excuse me, postpone is to a date certain. I mean, in a way, if we vote yes, or even if we vote no, we're basically saying to the select I don't want you to fix it in a year and might as well just say fix it in two weeks. So what do you want to do, Andy? I'm making a motion to table, to postpone till two weeks from tonight. I can't do the math, I'm sorry. 7.14. I hope we're not in session on the 14th. How about the 12th? It's fine with me. May 12th. Fine with me. Okay, so it's a motion to postpone to May 12th. I have a second. All in favor please say yes. Yes. Opposed? No. Okay, you lose. Oh, well, thank you anyway. Phil Goff, new guy. Hi, Phil Goff, precinct seven. Some of you are going to hate me and I apologize. I know many of you have waited patiently to speak, but I do think town meeting has a lot of business tonight and for the rest of the spring. So I want to move to terminate debate on this article. All matters before. You said too many words. All you can say to terminate is I'm motion to terminate debate. All matters before the article. Otherwise you can't make motion to terminate debate. So you may as well say something else and then move on. May I still ask a question? You can. You still have time. I want to recommend that perhaps someone after me moves to terminate debate. But I do want to ask, and this is a serious question because I know that a lot of the discussion has been that this has been a problem during construction and I can understand why. Can anyone speak to this, the parking problem in the cemetery, whether it did exist and if so, how bad it was prior to any construction at the public safety building? Wait, first of all. Either a town official or perhaps Mr. Andrews. Chief Ryan, he has the best view of that street in the world. Thank you, Mr. Mollerheader. Frederick Ryan, chief of police. I do have a good view. It's a glimpse into my future, right? In all of our future. From my perspective, the fire apparatus does park there during training exercises and that has been ongoing prior to the construction. The personal vehicular traffic that parks there in that short distance is a direct result of the construction. Employees from the community safety building. The residents that live on Mystic Street park on Sageham as well as the driveway into the cemetery routinely and they've done that prior to construction as well. Thank you. With all due respect to the chief, Mr. Mollerheader, am I able to ask a question, the same question perhaps to be answered by in a butter or someone with second opinion, perhaps even Mr. Harrington. Is that allowed? I'll address it to Mr. Harrington as long as he gets his answer short and sweet and doesn't argue them. And then I'll be done. And I've learned my lesson. It's not vertical. Stephen Harrington, precinct 13. I'd ask to put up the presentation again that I showed. No, just do answer the question and don't argue the point. Let me, I'd ask to put it up again because in that half of the pictures were not during construction. They were during December or they were, you know, after the construction ended. The Cemetery Commission record goes back to 2007 when they said it was a long standing problem long before any construction. As early as this winter, there were cars parked in there every single day. That's all I'll do. That's the answer. Thank you. Okay. Now, another new guy, Mr. Cardin. Again, if someone wants to terminate debate, all they can say is I move to terminate debate in the article and all matters before it. Nothing else. Len Cardin, precinct 20. I move to terminate debate on article 12 and all matters before us. Good job, Mr. Cardin. We have a motion to terminate debate. Excuse me. Is it seconded? Okay. So, Mr. Flynn, can you turn your magic machine on for us? Motion to terminate debate. It's a two-thirds vote. Okay. Go ahead and vote now. Eight times up. Confirmative 23 and a negative debate is terminated. 84. That's enough of that. Now, we have two substitute motions. We have... Dude, I'm in charge. We have Mr. Stephen Harrington's initial substitute motion, and then we have an amendment made by Mr. Sean Harrington. Because we don't have anything before us but Mr. Harrington Stevens, we're going to vote on his first. If that prevails, then we're going to vote on Mr. Sean's Harrington to see if we want to change the wording. Well, we don't have anything to vote on yet. You want to vote on the amendment first? Yes. All right, fine. I think it's kind of backwards either way would work. So, we're first going to vote on Sean Harrington's amendment, which... So, he's changing his words. Visiting the cemetery. That's what he's doing. Changing those three words. From conducting cemetery business to visiting the cemetery. Y'all understand that? Okay. Mr. Flynn, this is a simple majority. Why does this keep clearing? This is Sean's. We have to fix this because it cleared on us. Ready? Okay. Go ahead and vote on Sean's. One, yes, two, no. One, okay. All right, it is amended. 161 to 48. So, it is amended. Now, we have the substitute motion of Stephen Harrington as amended by Sean's. So, no person shall park any vehicle in Mount Pleasant Cemetery except when visiting the cemetery any person who violates this provision shall be subject to a fine of $25 for the first violation. $50 for the second violation. $50 for each subsequent violation. You ready over there? Ready? Okay. Go ahead. One, yes, two, no. Three, abstain. Five seconds left. Two, one, zero. Times up. And 90, yes, 115, no, it fails. All five of you go to stand. Okay. Five people stand. Two to screens, please. Oh, look, they fixed Bob Junior and Bob Senior. Okay. That's a negative vote on the article. It closes article 12. Moves us to article 13. You don't want that, do you? Do you need Sean's? Yes. What's your point of order? Oh. Oh, it failed. All right. Thank you very much for that. We have the recommended vote of the board of selection for no action. Yes? Yes. Opposed? No. My vote is a recommended vote of no action prevails. So that brings us to article 13. We have for us a recommended vote of the board of selection to establish a poet laureate for the town of Arlington. Mr. Byrne. This one shouldn't be as contentious I would hope. We can hope not. Thank you, Mr. moderator. Steve Byrne, board of selection. So the board voted to or we are asking you to join us in voting to institute a poet laureate for the town of Arlington. We believe it's a great way to honor an artist in the community and it further shows our continued support for the arts the entire arts community. It's a volunteer position and the individual that is selected must be living in Arlington and we hope that you'll join us. We think it's just a great dedication. Thank you. Mr. Heyner. Bill Heyner, precinct two. Is this for a set period of time or is it for life? Steve Byrne, board of selection. It is for up to three years. Annually renewable for up to three years. Thank you. Okay. Mr. McKinney. Mr. McKinney. Did you sing a song a couple of years ago? Lawrence McKinney. Precinct seven. No, that was that was a verse. I rise to question this new article. A question I have a tiny particle. I think there is nothing worth to confuse poetry with verse. Verse is simple. Every time you write a sentence it must rhyme. Poetry is special powers. Yates said it took him 17 hours at least to write a decent one. It really is not a lot of fun. So if we must select a bard it's going to be very hard to choose who is to choose you see to decide what is good poetry. Do we bring a bard a prof, a teacher? What is the most important feature? And to end this and to show what's worse I will recite a perfect verse. There was one lady written by my father, I might add there about an orchestral person there is one lady in the bunch to take her see her takes no special hunch nor sight particularly sharp she is the lass who hugs the harp she has to have an early supper she is the longest tuner upper and proceeds to wind up the affair until the conductor's nod her frown since her to stroking up and down and after these chromatic bits she simply sits and sits and sits a harpist must have lots of pluck a black silk costume and a truck that is verse and I certainly hope that we have someone appointed who knows the difference we've seen something is clever and by the way you can ask many classical harpists a harpist must have lots of pluck and they'll come back with that little line that's how famous it got so verse can be catchy but I would like to suggest that there be some way of deciding who is supposed to decide whether there's going to be something elegiac or hallmark that's all thank you very much sir Mr. Deist okay after that of course do you want to speak to the article oh sir do you want to speak to the article he's kind of trying out to him Bill Kaplan precinct six I have a question does does the poet laureate have to be a poet or is this just we just pick somebody who may Mr. Byrne well we don't pick someone it is someone appointed by a majority vote of the board of library trustees the school committee the Arlington commission on well maybe the Arlington commission on art arts and culture depending on if they get their name change a town meeting member appointed by the town moderator and the town manager but there's no limit we could be somebody could be a video artist or a sculptor so should we maybe not call it poet laureate well this position is in several communities as a poet laureate and I don't think they've had any issues I have another as far as I'm concerned they're going to be a poet so my vote is a poet I can have a suggestion that maybe we've already got a measure of bark before we create another ridiculous position maybe we can swap one for the other or something that's not before us right now I don't think it's that ridiculous so position thank you gentlemen in blue over here yep it should be pretty non-controversial Nathan Swilling you can call me Nate I move to terminate debate we have a motion to terminate debate answer in second if all in favor please say yes yes it is a two-thirds vote and I so declare it we have a force to recommend the vote of the board of selectmen establishing a poet laureate for the town of Ireland can all in favor please say yes yes it is a unit it's not a unit it's a majority vote and I so declare it that terminates article 13 it brings us to article 14 public music busking yeah no not till Monday this is a busking Mr. Koch's favor you're going to speak to the Steve yeah do you want to you don't have to okay go for it thank you Mr. moderator so the board voted in favor of this and it will we believe that allowing individuals to perform on our streets is a great way to make our community a little more vibrant I think it's important to note that the current bylaws do allow for music to be played currently on public ways with the approval of the board of selectmen and this warrant is it is really more comprehensive and better explains what is expected from the street performers in town and I hope you'll join us in supporting it and I think at our meeting we had a great wave of support and I think it will be a nice addition to the town especially a nice weather thank you go for it you've been waiting for this for years I'm Ted Sharp precinct 7 I you may remember I spoke out on the floor of town meeting a year ago in favor of remedying this obvious injustice that the bylaw says you can perform music it singles out music as an expressive medium with a license from the selectmen however I'm doing crazy enough I think that's actually the best and if you ask the selectmen for a license they say well what you want to perform when do you want to perform whenever I feel like it I want to bust I want to play music on the street whenever the spirit moves me they just sort of look at you funny nobody has ever asked you have to have a license but you can't get a license because of the situation it's just it's not very nice to say you have to have a license and then not have licenses available and I mean it is a constitutionally protected form of expression in First Amendment rights anyway this is not the most important thing we're going to be dealing with in town meeting I understand that I'm going to try to be brief have you ever gone to Harvard Square Davis Square Quincy Market you go there because there are great shops and great places to dine but there's also stuff happening on the street it's kind of fun busking is something that is an amenity it adds something to the community the performers love it you immediately know how well you're doing because people either pass you on by or they stand there for a minute and listen it's great for the audience you get to hear some good music occasionally not all the time and you can keep moving if you don't like what you're hearing and I won't tell you what happens to me when I do it and the tourists love it they say oh how colorful what a vibrant place this is this is really a fun thing I guess we're not in Kansas anymore so the process is going to be simple they say I'm interested in a permit they'll give you a permit and a sheet of paper that defines the most obvious forms of obnoxious behavior that won't be tolerated and if you're irritating they take away your permit and that's that it's going to be a simple effective system the selectmen will establish reasonable regulations you're not going to be able to cover every contingency and stick with me just a minute here I can see the wheels turning you're thinking oh my gosh are we going to have a 50 piece brass band with a megawatt amplification system blocking the entrance to the capital theater no you're not you're not because I'm the only person crazy enough to even have expressed an interest this is not a big deal the best case scenario is that we'll share in a little bit of the fun the worst case scenario and it's believe in my heart a heart's the most likely scenario nothing much will happen so the current bylaw singles out music you know we don't have jugglers with flaming chainsaws riding unicycles it's not going to happen don't single out the worst case scenario in your mind and try to perfect this in some way that covers all contingencies let's just get this done we're correcting an obvious injustice we'll have some fun if we're lucky if we're very unlucky nothing will happen thank you very much thank you Mr. Sharp Mr. Trembly Ed you really want to talk to this Ed Trembly precinct 19 I'm actually I'm used to find that there was somebody who actually was trying to play because I can't remember hearing anybody play and I kind of wish people would I mean has there been a problem with I guess I'm hearing that there has been a problem with getting a permit I was not even aware that we had permits for this I thought the question was we were going to create permits so so we already have permits for this is this right Mr. moderator got me ok it only covers music it only covers music why do we even have permits at all well if they're really bad we want to get rid of them we can pull their permit well if they're really bad people just walk away and don't give them any money and then they'll leave on their own accord but is there ever going to be a fee attached to this Doug or no fee and how tough is it going to be to get a permit I mean I kind of I used to like when I was young and there was spontaneous entertainment at Harvard Square I thoroughly enjoyed going down and watching when I start hearing about fees and permit or I guess no fees but hearing about permits I think my gosh they're going to kill off whatever attempted music we have here in Arlington like they kind of killed off the entertainment at Harvard Square it's not nearly what it used to be and so would it be possible just to eliminate music and have no fees no permits if you want to play show up and play Mr. Heim wants to address that Mr. Towne Council wants to address that Doug Heim Towne Council I think it's important to note that there already is a bylaw that requires a permit process whether that permit process is developed into regulations and things like that there currently is a bylaw in public music the major things that this bylaw would help us with is expanding it to other forms of art and I think that I don't want to speak for anybody but the bylaw is also oriented around encouraging public music and not making it look quite as discouraging as the current language looks in section 18 there are reasonable time, place and manner restrictions that people express concern about and those are the types of things that go into a regulation of this type of activity but nothing that is overly burdensome from regulation or a licensing standpoint frankly I don't think anybody would be playing music at nine o'clock at night because there's nothing open anyways is it possible to take the to kill off the whole music thing and just have this a free and open forum so if somebody feels the need to desire to play music they can go do that without having to go through all this regulatory stuff is that possible you'd have to come back next year with a warrant article to get rid of the bylaw alright thank you Mr. Leonard Mr. Sean Harrington Sean Harrington precinct 15 I'm just hoping that oh by the way my clock is not on I'm just hoping that I'm fine with this I actually like the idea of having music out in our Arlington center but I'm just hoping we're not going to get in a huge thing about noise and what level they're supposed to be at and all that stuff so my first question is is are they allowed to have amps at all or are they I mean is there going to be any regulation on amps seeing as we're now starting to have more detail com council is going to address your issue Doug Hymetown council the bylaws only oriented towards changing the existing language to make it a little bit more welcoming and to expanding it to beyond music the regulations that the lectern would then promulgate pursuant to the bylaw would address those types of issues and I'm sure that would be done in a public hearing where people could express their views alright so currently there's nothing in the bylaws about noise regulation or amps or anything like that I'm assuming this was right before that but I don't want to say that there's nothing in the town bylaws about noise but there's nothing about there's nothing in the current bylaws that exists or in this new bylaw that specifically says other than reasonable times place and level of respect for residential neighbors and things like that so all those things would have to be worked out pursuant to specific regulations to address those types of concerns if you're out alright thank you very much like I said I think that's a good thing I just don't want to you know we know how people love to come and hear about noise or bug zappers or whatever it's like I don't want to be here next town meeting having someone say you know a bear caution playing an elect a keytar outside was playing too loud for me to or whatever you know so hopefully we can pass this and no one in town meeting will try to put any real noise regulation on it so we keep on this because like the forever issue of music being played thank you very much Mr. Coral thank you very much Mr. moderator Joseph Curo precinct 15 also a member of the board a selectman I did bring this proposal before the board and I want to thank my colleagues for supporting it and Mr. Sharp had come and testified on it to Mr. Tremblay's point I know it's a little counterintuitive but when we did some research on this some of the communities have the most vibrant street performance cultures are the ones that do have regulations on the books and I think the town council actually accurately expressed it the idea is that this is really setting out a statement that we encourage some of this behavior and it doesn't just involve busking in just my two years on the board we've had a number of situations we've had some proposals for street festivals and such that have come to us we kind of make up the rules each time they come and we set out the parameters and set the conditions on an ad hoc basis this will set up a framework whereby we can adopt a common set of regulations that any group or individual that comes to us can adhere to will have it already set in place the intention is that if town meetings should pass this the Board of Selecting would adopt a more comprehensive set of regulations to address some of the questions that Mr. Harrington raised and some other questions that I'm sure a number of you have Mr. Heim helped me on this we did research some other ordinances we just felt that placing this in the regulatory realm would actually give us more flexibility to address certain situations for example I just give you for example without debating the regulations themselves some ordinances specifically for lack of a better word cordon off or specify after public hearing areas where this behavior is not encouraged regulations tend to address noise amplification hours you know how close to buildings you can be to make sure that there's free passage on the public ways it's for all of these reasons so should town meeting support this and I hope that you will my understanding is that the Board will then work on adopting regulations to actually implement it so that when Mr. Sharpe or another individual visits our office we do have actually a set of rules that we can issue to them and they can acknowledge receipt thank you very much thank you Mr. Moore Christopher Moore precinct 14 motion to terminate debate motion to terminate debate on matter on the article on matters before it all in favor please say yes opposed it's unanimous vote to terminate debate and so declare it we now have a force to recommend a vote of Board of Selectment for public music please say yes opposed it's unanimous vote and so declare it at terminate article 40 yes ma'am what's your point of privilege Ms. Fiore how about if we reserve that the announcements and resolutions is an article I'd like to get to tonight because the people have been waiting all evening I know but you're but these are citizens of the town frankly Elsie please can we wait till tonight you're the gentleman did make fun of your position I castigate him for doing that I know but they come forward this isn't an actual point of personal privilege though point of personal privilege is the hall is uncomfortable someone is noisy the gentleman was rude I agree with you Elsie Fiore precinct too this is the third year I've had the honor of being the measure of wooden back prior to that Mars held the role his wife held the role for years and I don't know somebody else did for years the reason I'm I don't mind being people laughing it doesn't bother me I laugh to myself sometimes at funny things however the every city in town has to have a measure of wooden back it's a I gather part of the state law and in the olden days the measure of wooden back had a you know office downtown so you can get 12 bags and if somebody it covers wood and back and also charcoal I found out when I was appointed and looked into it so you can get 12 bags of charcoal for instance and if you think you've been cheated you would call them measure of wooden back and the same for a court of wood has to they have to be a certain width and length and if you've been cheated because they cut a the measure of wooden back would get paid by the person whose materials he's examining so it is really you can laugh all you want I don't mind I laugh like I said I laugh at things but it is a real position so if any of you are appointed after me remember that you are a real person in a real position thank you thank you Mrs. Fiori I have produced article 15 cultural commission Mr. Byrne what are you trying to do here change the name? yes it is a simple name change the cultural commission and the cultural council often get confused so this is the change name to the Arlington commission on arts and culture ACAC to alleviate that confusion anybody else wish to address the article this is Costa Barbara Costa precinct 10 I'm actually one of the co-chairs of the cultural commission which we'd like to now be called Arlington commission on arts and culture it's really a minor thing we're just making a baby step towards separating ourselves for just clarification purposes we think it's we really want to make an effort to gather all the different arts groups in town to be an umbrella of sorts and that's our mission and we want to separate it we don't give money we don't have money we don't have a penny actually and the arts council I mean the cultural council does give does administer funds that come from the Massachusetts cultural council they're one of the things we want to do on the we want to be by the way called not ACAC but culture comm that's what we're going to that's our short name so we're culture comm like there's one other con-com and I just want to we want to help you understand what all the different ways are that the arts organizations work together in town we were very happy that Mr. Byrne referred to the arts flourishing in Arlington and we think so too that's all I wanted to say this is a really straightforward issue thank you thank you anyone else wish to address the article okay we have the recommended vote of the Board of Selectment to rename the cultural commission to commission on arts and culture all in favor please say yes opposed it's a unanimous vote and I so declare it that closes article 15 and brings us to article 16 distro conner you get the big chair I'm going to step down on this one because of I've been representing the people and there's a conflict of interest and they're my friends we have before us article 16 is Miss Long present or attorney Leone Mr. Chaplain thank you very much I am going to yield shortly to Mr. Chaplain but I just want to say that the board fully supports the work Mr. Chaplain has done as well as the components of this article so without further ado thank you Adam Chaplain town manager so I want to begin by calling your attention to the supplemental report of the Board of Selectment this year's Monday evening contained within that supplemental report is the recommended vote along with an agreement that has been executed between the town and the article components that you're going to hear about tonight so warrant article 16 was filed by 10 registered voters and involves a request from the owners of the property at 55 Venner Road for the town to release exterior lines which were taken in 1942 so shown on the screen behind me is a map of the property with the exterior lines shown in red so you can see the dotted red lines and the top red line matches the parcel boundary on the top part of that map so these exterior lines allow the town to hold the property as unbuildable so that a roadway could be constructed at a future date the current property owners purchased the property in 1955 the town no longer has any intention of constructing a roadway on this property so on behalf of the Board of Selectment I negotiated with the property owners and their legal council in regard to terms by which the town might consider releasing the exterior lines and this discussion was informed by a prior debate of town meeting in 2006 in regard to this very matter at that time concerns in regard to impact on a butters were discussed and there were also concerns raised in regards to the appropriate financial compensation of the town if they were to release the exterior lines in regards to the concerns of a butters the owner of the property at 55 Venner Road has reached an agreement to sell a portion of the property to the most immediate a butter to serve as a buffer zone for potential development on the site if the exterior lines were to be released in regard to financial concerns I took the position that in order to consider releasing the exterior lines that the town should be compensated for the present value of the amount that the town paid for the property rights in 1942 the amount paid in 1942 was $2,161 in today's dollars the value is approximately $30,000 I also took the position that the town should be compensated for the tax revenue that it is foregone since the lot has been classified as unbuildable should the town release the exterior lines the lot will become unbuildable and the current property owners who have enjoyed the benefit of the lot as open space for the past 60 years will now get the financial benefit of the lot becoming buildable however in mass general law there is a precedent for a concept called rollback taxes which apply to situations where a property's use or allowance of use has changed property taxes can be rolled back and collected so though these laws don't speak to this specific situation they guided my thinking while negotiating the matter with the property owners so based on this we looked at the amount of taxes that the property owners would have paid had the lot been buildable going back to the year 2000 so the past 15 years and this amounted to approximately $35,000 so based upon these two figures the $30,000 based on the present value of the amount paid by the town for acquiring the rights in 1942 and also the $35,000 amount based on the reduced taxes we have entered into an agreement again that was placed on the chairs Monday night with the property owners which would release the exterior lines in exchange for compensation to the town and the total amount of $65,000 the Board of Selectment has moved favorable action in regard to this matter and I also respectfully ask the town meeting approve the release of the exterior lines in accordance with the terms of the agreement and I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone might have I've spent several years since I've stood here I'm going to ask you tonight to allow Denise Long and her mother Mary Kukaris the owners of the property John Leone Precinct 8 I even forgot my own rules so I'm going to ask that you yep I'm going to ask that you allow Mary and you're trying to get it I even labeled the buttons start well I'm going to keep going so I'm going to ask that you listen to Mary and Denise and eventually vote in favor to release the property lines they've been trying to sell the property for several years they're unable to do so because title insurance companies will not write title insurance which basically precludes them from being able to sell the property Mary can no longer live in the home she wants to sell it, move on to a condo in Arlington and we've arranged a good benefit for the town we've established a precedent of actually that rollback taxes which is something that's never been done before in Arlington as far as I know so we hope we're setting a precedent for the future that we the town will have something to lean on that says this is what we've done in the past the bill the lot is actually about 18, 19,000 square feet it could be three buildable lots agreement with the abutters to sell them 2,500 square feet which would lower the total square footage to less than the amount needed for three so there'll only be two buildable lots left this satisfies the neighborhood, satisfies the abutters Denise herself is in a butter of the home so she doesn't want to see dense things built there either so if you'll just hear what she has to say and please vote in favor of this hi Denise Long, I live at 48 Pleasantview Road this is my mother Mary Kokaris she has worked for the town of Arlington for 31 years in the counseling services department at Arlington High School and we submitted this warrant article on her behalf article 16 my parents have lived at 55 Venner for actually 52 years originally when the warrant article was proposed it was in order to build a handicapped accessible house on their other lot because my father had been ailing however since then a year and a half ago my father has passed away and my mother has a bad back so she's particularly challenged by living there in part because the existing house is an upside down house it has a kitchen, full bath and master bedroom on the second floor ultimately it was her need for one for a living situation that was the reason that she put her house on the market last year however even in this hot real estate market the house did not sell each time the offers fell through at the purchase and sale and the buyer's attorney said that the existence and location of the paper road made the property unsalable one attorney mom hired suggested that we as sellers get title insurance on behalf of the buyers but even that was a dead end the title insurers themselves said the paper road was a titling blemish and made the property ineligible for title insurance and the owner's mom had to take the property off the market all the attorneys however kept saying the same thing that the only way to make the property saleable was to have the easement restriction removed and that only the town had the authority to do so and that's why we're here tonight asking for your help as Mr. Chapter Lane said we've worked with them to come up with an agreement in order to address any concerns the removal of the easement restriction would cause we've reached an agreement to reimburse the town for the money we've paid for the restriction and the bulk of the forfeited back taxes and we've worked out agreement with Donner and her husband in order to sell 2,500 square feet to them to ensure that my mom has done everything within her financial means to preserve the character of the neighborhood and we would appreciate your consideration of her warming article thank you gentlemen in front of Mr. Garbley to the left of Mr. Garbley I can't think of his name the gentleman with the black, yes come forward please thank you Mr. Moderator Michael Ruderman just a simple question town has taken the position that it wants to be repaid for the amount of money that it spent back in 1942 brought to the present day but the rollback taxes are calculated on a 15 year period somewhere between 15 years and 1942 how do we decide that it was going to be a 15 year rollback period Mr. chapterling Adam chapterling town manager the main decision was made through the negotiation with the property owners both a reasonable factor of what seemed to be a reasonable amount but also what was what was you know set in that MGL as precedent again this is not what is covered by that general law but it did allow for some precedent and there was a term I believe in two different options of a period of I think of a 10 and a 15 year option so that's what guided me in that regard Mr. Gilligan did you raise your hand no sir there was someone right behind you in the red I can't see who it is is there any further debate yes sir come forward E.J. Harris precinct 5 so to be clear the general laws of the Commonwealth don't actually entitle the town to rollback taxes is that correct Adam chapterling yes that is correct is it the general intention of the leadership of the town to collect taxes and payments to which it is not ordinarily entitled by law Adam chapterling town manager I have not dealt with an analogous situation that's an answer so I think it's easy to see how this happened right the town leaders decided 70 years ago before the vast majority of us were born that they might want to build a road here the housing boom comes after the war things change but I hope we all agree that forcible takings should only happen for important and exigent public purposes in retrospect this was neither and yet the town proposes to profit from that taking the town apparently managed this taking incorrectly for 60 years by not redressing it's the incorrect taking in that entire period so what we are asking a town landholder to do in accepting this payment is to compensate us for our mistake and our mismanagement I say we're asking them to do it that's not actually true we're demanding it as a surcharge on the just settlement of an interest we never needed and shouldn't have there is a word for that in English it's extortion this deal bothers me it really bothers me a lot I think the concept that we are entitled to take back taxes taxes that we never assessed that the law does not entitle us to release a property so that a town landholder can sell it is frankly disgusting this deal makes my stomach turn if it does you as well I hope you'll vote no tonight if you do I will serve notice of reconsideration that will allow plenty of time for the town manager and the property holders to go back and settle a deal that doesn't involve a taking based on our mistake from a town from a landholder at the point of a gun he can come back with a new number we can reconsider we can release the property in the next week I think it's easy to imagine that that's easily done I encourage you to vote no I think this sets a hugely problematic precedent and the fact that we're talking about it as a precedent as a taking that we can do and then profit from is incredibly problematic and I urge you to oppose Mr. Fuller Peter Fuller precinct 20 $65,000 town's done nothing to get that money this is a great deal we should help the homeowner out and vote yes end of story thank you Mr. Smith Scott Smith precinct 5 move the question with a motion to terminate debate I haven't tried these clickers let's do the clickers what's that oh it's a two-thirds vote we have 20 seconds we're ready we're taking a vote to terminate debate what did he do I pressed the timer hold on John what did you do to this thing it doesn't seem to work we'll take a voice vote we'll take a voice vote in favor of termination to debate yes all against no chairs in doubt we'll have to take a vote if you can show me the clock thing I pressed this button the other moderator actually cleared the machine before he left we'll take a vote now terminate debate okay debate is closed we here have a termination we'll take the question all in favor what where's the timer three okay thank you okay the question before us is article 16 to release the exterior lines provide the easement and accept the agreement is proposed by the town manager and the proponents so we'll start to vote vote is closed motion carries it's a affirmative vote and I so declare it we have a motion to adjourn all in favor of adjournment motion for reconsiderations we didn't do we have any resolutions motions for reconsideration article 16 okay all in favor all in favor please say aye for Monday okay come back Monday start at 8 o'clock