December 1, 2025 • 41 mins
The city of Medford has unveiled a plan that would move trash pickup to every other week instead of every week starting in July 2027. The change is part of the city’s expansion of its composting program. The city believes that a biweekly schedule would reduce waste and save money. Would you be in favor of a biweekly trash pickup? Why or why not?
*Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has denied our invitation to join the conversation*
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Boston's Beech Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, we are back to the eleven o'clock hour.
My name is Dan Ray. This is Nightside, and we're
dealing with issues that truly do affect people. If you
happen to live in Medford. There is a proposal which
we're talking about tonight, that trash pick up in Medford
(00:27):
at this moment, as we understand, it is scheduled to
go from a weekly pick up routine to a bi
monthly pickup routine, meaning instead of being picked up every week,
it would be picked up every other week. Obviously, people
in Medford are upset about that. I'd love to know
(00:50):
if you live in Medford how you feel, and if
you don't live in Medford, I'd love to know how
you would feel if indeed it would impact you. Let
me get back to David Chelmston. Dave, I held you over.
Thank you very much for doing that. If others want
to join the conversation. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six seven nine. Do you think we're heading in
(01:13):
this direction not only in Medford but in other communities? Possibly?
I mean, I don't get it. Uh One of the
primary things that government should do is provide for the
safety of its citizens. And the safety includes more than
fire and police. It also includes trash pickup, because without
(01:33):
trash pickup, you're going to have you're going to have
more rodent activity.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
As you mentioned, Oh yeah, I mean Dan that that
just sounds totally unhygienic. If you think about what one
family can do for Thanksgiving, uh, you know, garbage production
and what that what your garbage output for a big
family at Thanksgiving might look like in the summer when
(02:02):
the bin is closed and the sun.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Is beating down.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And I thought during the break, what if the family
as a little baby. You know, babies have to do
what they do. And if you don't have a service,
you rely on trash pickup. It's just the fact of life.
But add to that height density, urban style living. Okay,
(02:27):
that's the thing. And then as you go out to
the suburbs, you're more vulnerable to windstorms. Anyone's vulnerable to
wind storms. But if you don't have the monster barrel,
or even if you do and it gets knocked over,
that's a disaster.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well. The other thing too, that you have now maybe
not so much in Medford, but I suspect Medford has
their share as well. All of a sudden, we see
that because of a lot of the policies that have
been implemented, we see that coyotes are becoming more familiar
in our communities. You know, I don't think what I
(03:03):
lived in Hyde Park in Readville many years ago, that
you ever heard about a coyote. Now every day you
hear about a coyote walking down the street, and worse
than that, you hear about bears being in communities. Nature
is coming back at us. It's almost as if nature
(03:26):
wants to retake what we now are comfortable. This is
where we live. I just don't understand. Again, I don't
want to be unfair to the mayor because they were
kind enough. Sometimes when you reach out to these politicians,
they don't even give you the courtesy of a response.
We did get the courtesy of her public relations communications
(03:49):
guy today, Mayor Brianna. I don't even know how to
pronounce her name Lungo Cohen Kohane. I'm not sure it's
an odd spelling, eh N. I don't want to mispronounce
her name, but that's the best I can do. So
I want to hear from people if this craziness in Medford.
(04:10):
I think it's nuts that they're even considering it, never
mind that they might actually implement it, but to have
a contract side, which apparently they do, and they're supposed
to go into effect in June of July of two
thousand and twenty seven. Let me tell you, it seems
(04:30):
to me that that and I would have asked the
mayor this is what gives her the right to do
this without consulting with their city council, or for that matter,
without putting under the ballot and having voters in Medford
way in, this is something that affects everybody equally. Everybody
should have had a vote on this in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, this is like a waste treatment plan, very important
that everyone has access to it. And if you mishandle it,
you're going to be in trouble and vermin and that
type of stuff is permanent. Once it starts, it doesn't stop. Yeah,
it's job security for the exterminators. But once you've got it,
(05:15):
good luck getting rid of it.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, we have found that out in Boston. Over the years,
the rat population in Boston has only increased no matter
what they do. And again we're going to talk to
some people from Boston as well. Dave, I appreciate you
call so much. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Thanks buddy, talk to you soon, good night when we
get back. Speaking about Boston, Tom and allst that is
(05:37):
up next. If you'd like to join the conversation. How
would you react if a proposal like this was actually
considered seriously in your community. I'm assuming that everyone within
the sound of my voice, unless you live in a
community where you have to take your own trash and
(05:58):
refuge to the dump, I can't believe that there would
be virtually anyone in favor of something this insane. Six one,
and I'm trying to be a little temperate in my
remarks here. Six one, seven two, five four ten thirty
six months seven nine three one ten thirty. Uh. If
(06:18):
you're from Medford and I do have Angela from Medford,
we're going to talk to her after we talk to Tom,
and I got room for you, whether you're from Medford
or elsewhere. Six one, seven two, five four to ten
thirty six month seven nine three one ten thirty. I
am back after a few nights off. Feel free. Uh,
I won't bite your head off. I want to know
what you think, because it is outrageous to me. And
(06:40):
if it's not outrageous to you, and you think this
is a step in the right direction, feel free to
let us know. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Tom, I know Allston, you live there. There is a
rodent problem in Allston. What would your neigh would you
and your neighbors say if all of a sudden Boston
decided to go from a weekly well, we just lost
Oh we got him on this other one, Tom, I
got you here. I'm sorry you moved from one line
to the other. I don't know if you heard it.
(07:17):
I said, you live in Austin. I'm familiar with Allstin
And what would your neighbors in Austin say if somehow
the city of boss has said we got a great idea,
We're going to go from weekly trash pickup to every
other week.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
How do you think that would flow your neighborhood, Dan,
They would say it's a very they would say it's
a very bad idea. And you know, unfortunately, in the
Allston neighborhood, the Austin Brighton neighborhood. We have the nickname
of being rat City because of how many rats we
have going in and out of our barrels. And you know,
I couldn't agree with your previous call of more, Dave,
(07:49):
he hit the nail on the head. What if you
have young kids? My wife and I we have a
we have a young son, you know, he's about to
turn two years old. I live in a two family.
My sister lives below me and she has, you know,
two kids under the age of three. The diapers alone,
and you know, all the wipes, I mean that takes
up half a bend every single week, you know. And yeah,
(08:11):
in the summertime, if you let this out there and
the heat and your barrels are overflowing, you're gonna you're
gonna have a rat problem. You're gonna put the burden
onto the residents to buy new trash receptacles. And if
they don't want to buy the barrels, they're just gonna
stack the bags and you'll invite the rats and all
the road. And so it's a terrible idea.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, why do you think again, I just don't. As
we did invite the Mayor of Medford to come on tonight,
and they were kind enough to say she had a
prior commitment, which I tend to believe is true. I
always believe people tell me the truth. But you know,
where do these ideas come from? I mean, I assume
(08:50):
that people live who live in the community had the
guts to stand up like you're doing right now and
telling us how you view this. Who comes up with
these ideas? Y?
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Yeah, and you know it might be a short term
six lowering the cost of the waste pickup, but you're
you're going to be paying for it on the other
end with the rodent mitigation. I mean, it's a it
is a serious problem. And once once the you know,
the rats get into your neighborhood or other rodents, they
know that they have a reliable food source. If they
know that the barrels are only being picked up once
(09:22):
every two weeks and you got you know, garbage sys
sitting there, they're they're going to come in. And then
it's with the City of Boston. You know, the city
doesn't pay for our rodent mitigation on our private property.
That has to be done by the homeowner, and it's
going to put the burden on the citizens of Medford
to clean up this. This rodent message is going to
(09:43):
come from this bad policy.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
But but just one point I want to make in
that is that I have never heard about any community
lowering their real estate taxes by saying, you know, if
they said, Okay, we're going to uh cut in half
our trash pick up and we're also going to give
you a break on your property taxes, but that never happens.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I don't see it. I don't think we'll see that
in Medford either.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So yeah, absolutely not. Hey Tom, I appreciate your calling in.
Thanks so much for listening, and best of luck. You've
got to be a very busy household there between your
family and your sister's family, It's got to be a
lot of fun for you guys, so make the most
of it and.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Enjoy I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Thanks Dan, Thanks Tom, talking to you soon. Let me
go next to Angela, who's calling in from Medford. Hey Angela, welcome.
How are you tonight?
Speaker 5 (10:35):
I am very good. How are you? Tom?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Dan? Tom was the last caller. I'm the guy that
runs the number.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
I heard his name and I said it because it
was on my mind.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
How to promise? Uh, well, I'm doing fine. I think
I'm doing better than a lot of people in Medford.
What do you know about this?
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Well, I have lived in Memphid since I was five,
and that's sixteen nine years, because I'm seventy four, okay,
and this is the worst mayor I've ever seen in method.
I've never voted for her, and I'm sorry that she
got in this last election. She is never available and
everything she does, along with the city council, they always
(11:20):
propose things, send it through, agree on it, approve it
without input from the residents of the city. They do
everything backwards.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, I don't understand how do people like this? And
this may have been elected, I believe, and also re elected.
She's been there for a little while.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Well, there was controversy and not this past election, but
the last one, and we had a recount and we're
trying to get a recount now on both her and
the city councilors who got in. There's a lot of
things going on in effod that out right. I've been
here sixty nine years and I have been at city
Hall to meetings constantly the last three or four years
(12:07):
till twelve o'clock one o'clock in the morning that go
on and on, and they never hear or listen to
the residents. We can speak, and they don't take any
of our concerns or any of our suggestions or anything
that we come in to talk to. This is all
I don't know what it is. It's just not for meffort,
(12:30):
and we're trying to turn it around. We tried to
turn it around this last election. It didn't work somehow,
and we're still investigating it. I want to tell you something.
I've lived here sixty nine years. I lived in a
house three streets away from the Stick River. Never ever
seen a rat in my neighborhood. The last three years,
(12:52):
I've not only seen them, I found a dead one
in my yard and that is unusual. And I am
so upset since we started this compost thing, since we
started with this mayor. She's she's got so much construction
so wants to congest the city. I'll tell you there's
a lot of mysterious things going on in Method that's
(13:14):
not for Method residents. And we're all up and arms,
but we don't get any say because six of the
city councilors are like minded. The mirror is never available
to listen to anybody. And she not only has her
cohorts in city hall. They fired the new solicitor we
(13:35):
got in and now she has her own firm as
our lawyer consultants. She I don't know what's going on
in method. I am so disappointed, but I am fighting
hot to bring back my city that I love so much,
beautiful city.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
We did it, as you probably know, we did a
story on your city council race and I follow that
very closely, and your councilors, the folks the the opposition slate,
came very close to winning. There wasn't much of a difference,
but clearly there's a group of people there who voted
for all of the councilors who were the incumbents, and
(14:13):
then folks like yourself voted against the councilors who are incumbents.
But not everybody in Medford voted. And that's always the
tragedy in these elections, that when people don't take the
time to vote and their side loses.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
You were understand.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I remember you you calling in that night, and you know,
it just is tough. Once the power of the incumbency
is is very influential in these decisions. And look, this
is not the Medford that I knew. I knew Medford
very well when the mcglenn's were mayor, Yes, you know,
(14:55):
and the city seemed to be run pretty fairly. As
I said head at the time, my sense was that
there's a group who would like to turn Medford into
more of a Summerville or a Cambridge.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
In terms of yes, you are totally I would lose.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You would lose everything that that Medford has represented over
the years.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Well, I'm going to put it out there that it's
sad that some people did not get to vote. However,
there was a lot of misinformation put out by the incumbents.
And I'm saying all six but one. One is an
incumbent that was on the office side and he got
(15:41):
in by the skin of his teeth. Thank god, we
still have one in there. But the other six put
out misinformation about the candidates that will endures to go
oppose them. And we didn't expect all of them to
come in. But we had top three in the primary
of our candidates, and then all of a sudden in
the regular election, they're not even in the top eight.
(16:06):
I mean, that's sad. That's that's had to understand.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
No understand, But but you gotta make sure on those
elections that you get your voters out in overwhelming numbers.
Overwhelming numbers. Oh yeah, so that nobody.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
My neighbors and I went out and personally put over
a thousand flyers out throughout out part of the city
along with other residents who walked around and put out
the information.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
No, I know, I know that you were very much
involved in it. All I'm just saying is that on
these elections you have to leave nothing to chance, and
you're you're in a state where there's a real influx
of people who have come into Massachusetts from Uh. Look,
your congresswoman is from Colorado. I believe your congress woman's
(16:59):
Catherine Clark. She's from Colorado. Iana Presley's from Chicago. Mayor
Wu is also from Chicago. Our junior senator is from Oklahoma.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
It's like, oh, I understand that, I understand and and
I used to like Catherine Clark, and I do know
some of them who are from Methficad are in you know,
government for us and everything. And to be honest with you,
like I said, I've been very involved since I was five,
and my father was very involved growing up in the
(17:33):
city with him. I went to a lot of places
I knew all the MEAs in fact missed when Mayor
mc glenn was the mayor his last year, he actually
came down to my neighborhood when they were putting back
my street after they did the water pipes, and he
allowed us to replace the street as it was, to
(17:54):
repair as it was, with grass on the sidewalks and
trees along the street and every thing.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I mean, she is never available, and well again, you
gotta you gotta figure out, Angela. You gotta figure out
when the next time, if someone is is not serving
the interest of you and your your neighbors, you guys
got to get together. Angela. I hate to do this
to you. Have been a great caller as always. I
thank you for calling tonight. But I gotta keep rolling here.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
I know, I understand. I just want to say one thing.
A lot of residents I spoke to were all against this.
We're gonna fight this. I know it's a done deal,
but we're still gonna fight it because this isn't right.
And I'm not opposed to taking all my trash and
jumping it on city Hall.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
That's my plan.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Okay, Well, make sure you do it under the cover
of darkness so they don't come after you. Don't.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
No, I'm not a shame. I know you speaking pan
and every city around us a watch out and have
all these people coming to their city.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So Angela, I know you were speaking. I'm trying to
get a word.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
We have to stop it. I'm sorry, we have to.
I'm just so proud.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I'm trying to keep you out of jail. Angela. I'm
just saying that I know you.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Definitely I won't go to chail.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
I won't.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Okay, I'm gonna let you go because I can't get
a word in Agewis. But I do appreciate your call nonetheless,
Thanks for much.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
I'm just saying that there's a lot of us.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I'm not sure if you can hear me at this point, Angela,
but I want to be very polite, and i'd like
to wish you a good night and wish you best
elect before and again, I know you were speaking metaphorically.
Thanks good night. Uh it's one of those nights, folks.
Six one seven two four thirty six one seven. I'm
glad Angela called. You can see how strongly she feels.
(19:45):
But the point is it's so difficult. It is difficult,
that old saying you can't fight city hall. And it's
difficult because when you elect people, or when you choose
not to get involved, and others elect people who do
not have your point of view or your interest or
(20:06):
their vision of where they want to take Medford or
your community is in a different direction. What do you do?
I mean, if you're not there every two years or
every four years when there are municipal elections. I have
preached here on nights side for years that the most
(20:27):
important election is not the presidential election. That's an important election,
but the most important elections are your local elections. Your
school board, your city council, your school decide. Your school
board decides who the principal is, who the superintendent of
the schools are, what are their values? Same way with
the city council. They've made vote on all of these
(20:50):
very important issues. How many times a week do you
have trash pickup in Medford? The headline in the Herald
from last week was Medford's the national laughing stock, because
it was joked about by one of the late night comedians. Look,
if you're listening in Medford tonight and you think this
(21:10):
is a great idea to cut back your trash pickup
from two weeks from every week to once every two weeks.
Make the case, tell me why if you are outraged,
as Angela clearly is, support her, give me your point
of view. And if you live in another community, I
would love to know what would you do if all
(21:31):
of a sudden, you're elected officials, your city council, your
board of aldermen said we're going to go to a
pickup trash every other week. Imagine what that would do
to your community. This is the basic responsibility of government
to keep your community safe, whether it's with an alert
police department, a good emergency responders, a competent fire department,
(21:58):
and also trash pay up. Because without trash pickup on
a regular weekly basis, you know that the rat problem
is going to explode and you're going to have other
animals in your neck, in your community. Here's the eye
wide open lines. Feel free to join the conversation. Six one, seven, two, five,
(22:18):
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten
thirty Feel free light them up back Right after.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
This, It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
We talked about the murder trial of Brian Walsh earlier tonight.
We're talking now about a plan in Medford to reduce
trash pickup from once every week to every other week,
which I think is absolutely insane. We did invite the
mayor to come on the show tonight. Her press person
did respond and said that she had a prior commitment.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Let me go.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Oh, we just lost Frank and Boston was holding on
and we lost Franks in Boston. So Frank, if you
want to call back, you waited a while there, We'll
be more than happy to accommodate you feel free and
put you to the head of the line. Of the meantime,
I would love to get some of you to comment
on what's going on in Medford, whether you're from Medford
or somewhere else. I think it's an insane idea to
think that trash pickup can be reduced from a weekly
(23:20):
uh trash pickup a weekly visit to an every other
week visit. This is, to me, to my way of thinking,
an absolute insane idea. If if Medford is thinking about
trying to save a few dollars, I think it is
a misplaced priority. And if Frank, if you got if
(23:46):
you got disconnected and you want to get back, give
us a call six one seven, two, five four ten
thirty or six one seven nine three thirty. Let me
go to Kennon Waltam. Hey, Ken, thanks for calling in.
How are you tonight?
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Great? How you doing there?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Well? I'm doing better I think than most people in
Medford are tonight. This is a crazy idea. I'm sure
you have weekly trash pickup in Waltham, right?
Speaker 7 (24:12):
We do?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
And what what mean a response in Waltham if all
of a sudden the mayor or the city council or
whomever said we're going to back off from a weekly
pickup to every other week.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
Yeah, I think there'd be some concern. We certainly have
a rat problem in Waltham. I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Hear that.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Yeah, yeah, we do? You know I did. I don't
really have a I forgot what the word is. I
don't have major feelings on this one way or another
because I'm somewhat ignorant. But I did just look online
to see if this has been done anywhere else. Yeah,
and apparently in Portland, Oregon, they've been doing this since
(24:58):
twenty eleven.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It doesn't surprise me that that would happen at Portland
or go ahead.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Well, they're claiming. The claim is that it's a success.
They've increased composting and recycling, which they still do every week,
and they claim that their landsfill reduction has been a
forty percent decrease. So I mean, I think the claim
obviously is let's get the food off to the side
(25:30):
and get that taken up every week in the trash,
which hopefully doesn't attract rats and other critters. We can
do every two weeks to encourage people to do more composting. Again,
I'm not I have no idea how correct this is.
I just this online and presenting another space.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
You've done some research for me here, which I appreciate.
I'm not surprised that Portland, Oregon, which is a very
progressive city, has decided, once they have control of the
mayor's office, that we're going to do it their way.
I know, you know I live in a community like Waltham.
(26:15):
I don't live in Waltham, but I'm sure yours is
the same. You're supposed to put your trash in for us,
it's a blue barrel, and you're supposed to put your
recyclables in a green Barrel. I'm a big believer in that.
I really am. When I see someone toss something out
of car window, whether it's a cigarette or you know,
(26:38):
a coke pink can or a PEPSI can, I want
to like pull the car over. That's how I feel
about that stuff. I feel that I'm as much of
an environmentalist as anyone. But when you start trying to
impose on people. If there were people in Portland who said, look,
I'm all with this, you know, pick my trash up
(27:00):
every other week, Well do it on a voluntary basis,
you know, you know, I just think that the left,
the progressive left, nothing will be voluntary when they when
they get in power, they will impose their ideas. And
if you really want to lead by example, they lead
by example. Can you identify with what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
There, Ken, Well, I guess so. I mean, I can
definitely and I don't. Again, I don't have a strong
position on this, but I know when we first started
recycling forty years ago or so I think is when
I remember starting to do it, you know, there was
(27:44):
a lot of pushbacklet like nobody's going to separate their trash.
And now I think, like you you know, most people
are uncomfortable throwing away you know, if they threw away
their coke can in the regular trash and not in recycling.
So I'm not really sure. I wonder if the problem
because I I'm sorry to bring national politics into this,
(28:08):
but I thought what the Biden administration was worse at
than anything was messaging. And maybe that's the problem in Metfrige.
You know that they I was reading the mayor statement
on this too, and she said, you know, they got
some sort of grant for a couple hundred thousand dollars
to do this and increase the composting. And she's saying, well,
you know, let everyone, let's you know, band together and
(28:30):
give it a chance, and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I really don't let me ask you. You can educate me.
I don't really understand what they need by composting. I
know that there are some people who live in you know,
in a rural community. They will have somewhere in their
backyard where they will take, you know, far from the house,
they will take garbage and then they'll put you know,
(28:55):
potato peels and apple cores and things like that into
a compost pile. That's composting. Correct, Yes, I.
Speaker 6 (29:05):
Mean it's basically just about all food waste.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Okay, fine, but how do you do that in a
wallfam or in a Newton where or or in a
Medford where people live in much closer proximity. I mean,
if you live in a rural area, I'm with you
on that. That's fine. Again, make it voluntary, But how
do you impose that on people who live on half
(29:29):
acre or quarter acre or eighth of an acre? Wats?
Speaker 6 (29:34):
So I do have some familiarity with this, and I
know like my children, the one who lives in New
York City and the other in Manchester, are big composters.
And one piece of advice they share with me don't
put cheese in there, you know, because it'll attract like
mice and other credits.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, So what is your You said you have a
son or a daughter in New York City? Where do
they Where do they put their compost that they live in?
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Yeah, I mean they have they have a yard. Uh,
and they have one of those containers that they put
out back and they can compost the food and it
really isn't a problem. I mean it is very self
contained and uh, there's no smell or anything.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
What is the container underground?
Speaker 6 (30:23):
Nope, No, it's above ground.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
The reason I say that is when I was a child,
I can remember that garbage men used to walk through
the backyard and you headed underground container. They would open
the lid to the container, they would pull the trash
the trash can up and they would dump the trash
into like a cart or something. It was. Again, if
(30:51):
if it works, fine, But all I'm just saying is
when you told me it was Portland, Oregon, it reinforced
every stereotype that I hold about Portland, Oregon. If you
get my drift, by the.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
Way, you may be totally right. I again, I dog
in the fight. That's what I keep saying. I don't
have a real dog in the fight.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Because but you provided information and I appreciate that.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
What I can tell you also is.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Did we lose him there? Yeah, try to try to
get it. He's calling back on the other line. He's
on the other line there, Grab him on two. Go ahead,
put him up here. Rob, Let's go same guy. Ken,
we lost you there?
Speaker 6 (31:38):
I'm back, Yeah, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Don't know what happened. We're having all sorts of electronic problems.
Tonight with our live stream, and you're like the third
of four. Yeah, we've had a bunch of callers who
got cut off. Finish up that point. You were making
that point, and feel free to finish that one up.
Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
So the other thing I can tell you in Walton,
so you can like in your kitchen, you put it
in a specialized you know, uh, it's like a small
bucket and it's got lining in it that's carbon or something.
I'm probably mucking this up, but it doesn't smell. And
then I know, like my neighbors who compost, you better.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Have a Darberg's disposal. Though that's much too electric for
the folks in Portland, I'm sure.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
Right right, But but I know in Waltham too, and
it's private. In Waltham you can compost and then you
put your stuff out every week in a green bucket
and you know a private company'll come and pick it up.
So and so you have to pay for that, right
yeah in Waltham.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, it's not always going to cost always going to cost. Hey,
I'm up on my break, buddy. Thank you for calling.
You provide it really important information. I appreciate you taking
the time, particularly on a slow Monday night here we
were up against the Patriots and Giantston and I think
all of a sudden, everybody's become a Patriot fan, if
you get my drift. Not that not that they're front
(33:04):
runners at all, but but you know, you know, some
of those people, I'm sure at Jillette and I think
that we're disappointed when of me were Tom Brady or
Bill Belichick was they haven't been particularly interested in the
Patriots for the last couple of years. But they're all
on board now that they're eleven and two or ten
and two or whatever the hell they are now, I
(33:25):
think it's a level two.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
I can't thank you, Dan, and who would have thought
it would take the Celtics twenty games to have more
wins than the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
But you know what, I think, whatever again, it's you know,
sports is important. I like sports, but I think the
issues we're talking about here are much more important to people.
Thanks can't talk soon?
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Good ye all right?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I know some of you are having trouble getting through
tonight as I see calls come in and calls drop off.
I have one more section segment coming up. We are
talking about Medford going from weekly trash pickup to I
guess it's by weekly or by bi monthly, whichever that
(34:10):
is six one, seven, two ten thirty, six one seven ninety.
What would you do if all of a sudden you
were used to weekly trash pickup in your community and
the city or town managers, mayors, al themen, city councils, whatever,
decided that it was in the best interest of everyone
Uh to back off, and instead of being getting your
(34:34):
tress picked up every week, it would be picked up
just every two weeks. I would go nuts, And I'm
going nuts on these lines because I'm looking at people.
Maureen from Worcester just dropped off. We lost Frank from Boston.
We have in trouble rob Uh tonight electronically as well
as well as the streaming. You've rebooted it twice. Well,
(34:54):
I don't know, folks, give us give us a shot here.
Love to see if I could get a few more
at the end of the show here. But people are
calling in. Rob puts them on hold and they're being disconnected.
We've had more calls tonight disconnected than I've ever seen before.
But you know, we have our our technical people working
on it, and hopefully by tomorrow night, it will be
(35:17):
totally resolved six one, seven, four ten thirty six one seven, nine,
three thirty Back on night set after.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
This, It's Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Okay, back to the cause, We're go going to go
to Maureene in Winchester. Maureen, what's the trash pickup situation
in Winchester?
Speaker 5 (35:36):
Oh my god, where's this world coming to?
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Unbelievable? Remember what happens in Medford often happens in Winchester.
Speaker 7 (35:48):
Well, it's the next story. You know, every place is
having a roadent problem, Boston, Winchester, Medford. So I'm hoping
that when this changes that all of our Norwegian rats
and mice will be going to Medford because you're right
beside each other.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Right, Well, maybe this is really an effort by Medford
to take the pressure off you guys. I never thought
of it like that.
Speaker 7 (36:14):
So yeah, I used to live in Medford, and I
still own property in Medford, and I understand that a
lot of people were really unhappy with the mayor, but
she ran or is running uncontested. And I went to
a board meeting virtually and a lot of elders were
(36:36):
very upset about the CPA tax coming in and they
couldn't afford all the increases. And I was watching that
on zoom and I literally saw some of the city
council members, while of them were younger, were on their
cell phones and actually seemed to be laughing at the
elders who lived all their life.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
In Medford, and I thought that totally gets.
Speaker 7 (37:01):
Yeah, And so I'm just like wondering what's going on
with Medford. I wouldn't mind living there again in the future.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
I really liked the.
Speaker 7 (37:11):
Diversity and a lot of things that Medford has to offer.
And I think, like you were talking about the days
of McGlenn back, I've always heard how great that was.
And even in Winchester, I hear about how the compost
was put in the ground and the town would come
around and take out the compost. Right, And now I
see the squirrels fighting over a tomato and my neighbor's
(37:33):
compost their backyard.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Well you know again, you know, things have consequences. It's
as simple as that.
Speaker 7 (37:41):
And it was.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Interesting when Ken called and talked about how they're doing
what they're doing in Portland. It doesn't surprise me. Portland
is a very radical city and it's no longer the
great city that it used to be in my opinion.
And well, we'll have to see what happened in Medford. Mauren.
Thanks for taking the time to call in tonight. We've
(38:03):
had a lot of problems with the phones tonight, and
anybody go through should get like an extra accommendation medal.
Speaker 7 (38:10):
Okay, yeah, but I think there's going to be a
real problem that we're already having problems with rodents in
Medford and it's going to get worse. And I think
that they need responsible people in office, and I think
they need to have pay respect for long time taxpayers.
(38:31):
And I need to talk to your office because somebody
showing a green laser my eye while I was driving
on Grove Street in Medford two weeks ago tomorrow, so
I injured my eyes. So that's another saying going on
that we need to be aware of. But yeah, I'll
let you take some other calls, but.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You give Rob will give you my direct line, give
me a call the wrong and I'll call you back. Okay, Rob, Rob,
give Mareen my direct line. Thanks. Thanks, thank you, Maureen.
I appreciate it. Don't hang up. John is in New York.
John you're gonna wrap the hour for us tonight. You
should be thankful you living in New York and not
in Massachusetts.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
How are you?
Speaker 7 (39:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (39:11):
I have an independent private sanitation guy that picks up
my garbage once a week.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
And how much did they charge you?
Speaker 8 (39:20):
It's causing me fifty bucks a months.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
That's not bad. That's not bad because we pay huge
real estate taxes in Massachusetts and you don't have to
pay for your trash pickup. But now they're talking about
cutting it from once and once a week to once
every other week. And they're not gonna they're not gonna
give you. They're gonna save a few bucks, but they're
(39:45):
not gonna give it back to the taxpayers. That's what
goes on in Massachusetts. Fifty dollars is pretty reasonable, at
least by Massachusets standards.
Speaker 8 (39:55):
Massachusetts is known as Taxachusetts. I guess you know about that.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Oh yeah, we know about that. And guess what it
is an apt description of the comonwalth of Massachusetts. We
have an out goo problem. We have more people leaving
Massachusetts than staying than coming into Massachusetts. It's a state
that is going down the tubes, and it's going down
the tubes quickly, and we better turn it around. We're
(40:21):
a one party state and things are done here by Fiat,
not by democracy with a small d Okay, whatever the
people in charge one and impose, they impose, Rob, how'm
me doing in time here? Yeah? You know, just real quick.
Speaker 8 (40:38):
Your technical problem is when you call on the nine
three one number you get it sounds electronic. It sounds
like you're talking to a fax machine. I told Rob
about it. And also your iHeart app with your program
wasn't available until about ten minutes ago.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Okay, John, I got ten seconds left. They got to
let you go. But please thank you for passing that on.
Apparently our seven eight one number has not been working
all night. Thank you. John talked soon. We will get
things squared away tomorrow. Crack team is working on it
right now. My name is Dan Ray. And there's always
all dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's
why Pale Charlie Rays who passed fifteen years going forby.
(41:16):
That's why your pets are a past. They loved you
and you love them. You'll see them again see again
tomorrow night. Everybody stay dry in Massachusetts. Tomorrow I'll be
on Facebook and make a few comments in just a moment,
It's Nightside with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Boston's Beech Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, we are back to the eleven o'clock hour.
My name is Dan Ray. This is Nightside, and we're
dealing with issues that truly do affect people. If you
happen to live in Medford. There is a proposal which
we're talking about tonight, that trash pick up in Medford
(00:27):
at this moment, as we understand, it is scheduled to
go from a weekly pick up routine to a bi
monthly pickup routine, meaning instead of being picked up every week,
it would be picked up every other week. Obviously, people
in Medford are upset about that. I'd love to know
(00:50):
if you live in Medford how you feel, and if
you don't live in Medford, I'd love to know how
you would feel if indeed it would impact you. Let
me get back to David Chelmston. Dave, I held you over.
Thank you very much for doing that. If others want
to join the conversation. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six seven nine. Do you think we're heading in
(01:13):
this direction not only in Medford but in other communities? Possibly?
I mean, I don't get it. Uh One of the
primary things that government should do is provide for the
safety of its citizens. And the safety includes more than
fire and police. It also includes trash pickup, because without
(01:33):
trash pickup, you're going to have you're going to have
more rodent activity.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
As you mentioned, Oh yeah, I mean Dan that that
just sounds totally unhygienic. If you think about what one
family can do for Thanksgiving, uh, you know, garbage production
and what that what your garbage output for a big
family at Thanksgiving might look like in the summer when
(02:02):
the bin is closed and the sun.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Is beating down.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
And I thought during the break, what if the family
as a little baby. You know, babies have to do
what they do. And if you don't have a service,
you rely on trash pickup. It's just the fact of life.
But add to that height density, urban style living. Okay,
(02:27):
that's the thing. And then as you go out to
the suburbs, you're more vulnerable to windstorms. Anyone's vulnerable to
wind storms. But if you don't have the monster barrel,
or even if you do and it gets knocked over,
that's a disaster.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well. The other thing too, that you have now maybe
not so much in Medford, but I suspect Medford has
their share as well. All of a sudden, we see
that because of a lot of the policies that have
been implemented, we see that coyotes are becoming more familiar
in our communities. You know, I don't think what I
(03:03):
lived in Hyde Park in Readville many years ago, that
you ever heard about a coyote. Now every day you
hear about a coyote walking down the street, and worse
than that, you hear about bears being in communities. Nature
is coming back at us. It's almost as if nature
(03:26):
wants to retake what we now are comfortable. This is
where we live. I just don't understand. Again, I don't
want to be unfair to the mayor because they were
kind enough. Sometimes when you reach out to these politicians,
they don't even give you the courtesy of a response.
We did get the courtesy of her public relations communications
(03:49):
guy today, Mayor Brianna. I don't even know how to
pronounce her name Lungo Cohen Kohane. I'm not sure it's
an odd spelling, eh N. I don't want to mispronounce
her name, but that's the best I can do. So
I want to hear from people if this craziness in Medford.
(04:10):
I think it's nuts that they're even considering it, never
mind that they might actually implement it, but to have
a contract side, which apparently they do, and they're supposed
to go into effect in June of July of two
thousand and twenty seven. Let me tell you, it seems
(04:30):
to me that that and I would have asked the
mayor this is what gives her the right to do
this without consulting with their city council, or for that matter,
without putting under the ballot and having voters in Medford
way in, this is something that affects everybody equally. Everybody
should have had a vote on this in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, this is like a waste treatment plan, very important
that everyone has access to it. And if you mishandle it,
you're going to be in trouble and vermin and that
type of stuff is permanent. Once it starts, it doesn't stop. Yeah,
it's job security for the exterminators. But once you've got it,
(05:15):
good luck getting rid of it.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, we have found that out in Boston. Over the years,
the rat population in Boston has only increased no matter
what they do. And again we're going to talk to
some people from Boston as well. Dave, I appreciate you
call so much. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Thanks buddy, talk to you soon, good night when we
get back. Speaking about Boston, Tom and allst that is
(05:37):
up next. If you'd like to join the conversation. How
would you react if a proposal like this was actually
considered seriously in your community. I'm assuming that everyone within
the sound of my voice, unless you live in a
community where you have to take your own trash and
(05:58):
refuge to the dump, I can't believe that there would
be virtually anyone in favor of something this insane. Six one,
and I'm trying to be a little temperate in my
remarks here. Six one, seven two, five four ten thirty
six months seven nine three one ten thirty. Uh. If
(06:18):
you're from Medford and I do have Angela from Medford,
we're going to talk to her after we talk to Tom,
and I got room for you, whether you're from Medford
or elsewhere. Six one, seven two, five four to ten
thirty six month seven nine three one ten thirty. I
am back after a few nights off. Feel free. Uh,
I won't bite your head off. I want to know
what you think, because it is outrageous to me. And
(06:40):
if it's not outrageous to you, and you think this
is a step in the right direction, feel free to
let us know. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Tom, I know Allston, you live there. There is a
rodent problem in Allston. What would your neigh would you
and your neighbors say if all of a sudden Boston
decided to go from a weekly well, we just lost
Oh we got him on this other one, Tom, I
got you here. I'm sorry you moved from one line
to the other. I don't know if you heard it.
(07:17):
I said, you live in Austin. I'm familiar with Allstin
And what would your neighbors in Austin say if somehow
the city of boss has said we got a great idea,
We're going to go from weekly trash pickup to every
other week.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
How do you think that would flow your neighborhood, Dan,
They would say it's a very they would say it's
a very bad idea. And you know, unfortunately, in the
Allston neighborhood, the Austin Brighton neighborhood. We have the nickname
of being rat City because of how many rats we
have going in and out of our barrels. And you know,
I couldn't agree with your previous call of more, Dave,
(07:49):
he hit the nail on the head. What if you
have young kids? My wife and I we have a
we have a young son, you know, he's about to
turn two years old. I live in a two family.
My sister lives below me and she has, you know,
two kids under the age of three. The diapers alone,
and you know, all the wipes, I mean that takes
up half a bend every single week, you know. And yeah,
(08:11):
in the summertime, if you let this out there and
the heat and your barrels are overflowing, you're gonna you're
gonna have a rat problem. You're gonna put the burden
onto the residents to buy new trash receptacles. And if
they don't want to buy the barrels, they're just gonna
stack the bags and you'll invite the rats and all
the road. And so it's a terrible idea.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, why do you think again, I just don't. As
we did invite the Mayor of Medford to come on tonight,
and they were kind enough to say she had a
prior commitment, which I tend to believe is true. I
always believe people tell me the truth. But you know,
where do these ideas come from? I mean, I assume
(08:50):
that people live who live in the community had the
guts to stand up like you're doing right now and
telling us how you view this. Who comes up with
these ideas? Y?
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Yeah, and you know it might be a short term
six lowering the cost of the waste pickup, but you're
you're going to be paying for it on the other
end with the rodent mitigation. I mean, it's a it
is a serious problem. And once once the you know,
the rats get into your neighborhood or other rodents, they
know that they have a reliable food source. If they
know that the barrels are only being picked up once
(09:22):
every two weeks and you got you know, garbage sys
sitting there, they're they're going to come in. And then
it's with the City of Boston. You know, the city
doesn't pay for our rodent mitigation on our private property.
That has to be done by the homeowner, and it's
going to put the burden on the citizens of Medford
to clean up this. This rodent message is going to
(09:43):
come from this bad policy.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
But but just one point I want to make in
that is that I have never heard about any community
lowering their real estate taxes by saying, you know, if
they said, Okay, we're going to uh cut in half
our trash pick up and we're also going to give
you a break on your property taxes, but that never happens.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
I don't see it. I don't think we'll see that
in Medford either.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So yeah, absolutely not. Hey Tom, I appreciate your calling in.
Thanks so much for listening, and best of luck. You've
got to be a very busy household there between your
family and your sister's family, It's got to be a
lot of fun for you guys, so make the most
of it and.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Enjoy I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Thanks Dan, Thanks Tom, talking to you soon. Let me
go next to Angela, who's calling in from Medford. Hey Angela, welcome.
How are you tonight?
Speaker 5 (10:35):
I am very good. How are you? Tom?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Dan? Tom was the last caller. I'm the guy that
runs the number.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
I heard his name and I said it because it
was on my mind.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
How to promise? Uh, well, I'm doing fine. I think
I'm doing better than a lot of people in Medford.
What do you know about this?
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Well, I have lived in Memphid since I was five,
and that's sixteen nine years, because I'm seventy four, okay,
and this is the worst mayor I've ever seen in method.
I've never voted for her, and I'm sorry that she
got in this last election. She is never available and
everything she does, along with the city council, they always
(11:20):
propose things, send it through, agree on it, approve it
without input from the residents of the city. They do
everything backwards.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, I don't understand how do people like this? And
this may have been elected, I believe, and also re elected.
She's been there for a little while.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Well, there was controversy and not this past election, but
the last one, and we had a recount and we're
trying to get a recount now on both her and
the city councilors who got in. There's a lot of
things going on in effod that out right. I've been
here sixty nine years and I have been at city
Hall to meetings constantly the last three or four years
(12:07):
till twelve o'clock one o'clock in the morning that go
on and on, and they never hear or listen to
the residents. We can speak, and they don't take any
of our concerns or any of our suggestions or anything
that we come in to talk to. This is all
I don't know what it is. It's just not for meffort,
(12:30):
and we're trying to turn it around. We tried to
turn it around this last election. It didn't work somehow,
and we're still investigating it. I want to tell you something.
I've lived here sixty nine years. I lived in a
house three streets away from the Stick River. Never ever
seen a rat in my neighborhood. The last three years,
(12:52):
I've not only seen them, I found a dead one
in my yard and that is unusual. And I am
so upset since we started this compost thing, since we
started with this mayor. She's she's got so much construction
so wants to congest the city. I'll tell you there's
a lot of mysterious things going on in Method that's
(13:14):
not for Method residents. And we're all up and arms,
but we don't get any say because six of the
city councilors are like minded. The mirror is never available
to listen to anybody. And she not only has her
cohorts in city hall. They fired the new solicitor we
(13:35):
got in and now she has her own firm as
our lawyer consultants. She I don't know what's going on
in method. I am so disappointed, but I am fighting
hot to bring back my city that I love so much,
beautiful city.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
We did it, as you probably know, we did a
story on your city council race and I follow that
very closely, and your councilors, the folks the the opposition slate,
came very close to winning. There wasn't much of a difference,
but clearly there's a group of people there who voted
for all of the councilors who were the incumbents, and
(14:13):
then folks like yourself voted against the councilors who are incumbents.
But not everybody in Medford voted. And that's always the
tragedy in these elections, that when people don't take the
time to vote and their side loses.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
You were understand.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I remember you you calling in that night, and you know,
it just is tough. Once the power of the incumbency
is is very influential in these decisions. And look, this
is not the Medford that I knew. I knew Medford
very well when the mcglenn's were mayor, Yes, you know,
(14:55):
and the city seemed to be run pretty fairly. As
I said head at the time, my sense was that
there's a group who would like to turn Medford into
more of a Summerville or a Cambridge.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
In terms of yes, you are totally I would lose.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You would lose everything that that Medford has represented over
the years.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Well, I'm going to put it out there that it's
sad that some people did not get to vote. However,
there was a lot of misinformation put out by the incumbents.
And I'm saying all six but one. One is an
incumbent that was on the office side and he got
(15:41):
in by the skin of his teeth. Thank god, we
still have one in there. But the other six put
out misinformation about the candidates that will endures to go
oppose them. And we didn't expect all of them to
come in. But we had top three in the primary
of our candidates, and then all of a sudden in
the regular election, they're not even in the top eight.
(16:06):
I mean, that's sad. That's that's had to understand.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
No understand, But but you gotta make sure on those
elections that you get your voters out in overwhelming numbers.
Overwhelming numbers. Oh yeah, so that nobody.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
My neighbors and I went out and personally put over
a thousand flyers out throughout out part of the city
along with other residents who walked around and put out
the information.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
No, I know, I know that you were very much
involved in it. All I'm just saying is that on
these elections you have to leave nothing to chance, and
you're you're in a state where there's a real influx
of people who have come into Massachusetts from Uh. Look,
your congresswoman is from Colorado. I believe your congress woman's
(16:59):
Catherine Clark. She's from Colorado. Iana Presley's from Chicago. Mayor
Wu is also from Chicago. Our junior senator is from Oklahoma.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
It's like, oh, I understand that, I understand and and
I used to like Catherine Clark, and I do know
some of them who are from Methficad are in you know,
government for us and everything. And to be honest with you,
like I said, I've been very involved since I was five,
and my father was very involved growing up in the
(17:33):
city with him. I went to a lot of places
I knew all the MEAs in fact missed when Mayor
mc glenn was the mayor his last year, he actually
came down to my neighborhood when they were putting back
my street after they did the water pipes, and he
allowed us to replace the street as it was, to
(17:54):
repair as it was, with grass on the sidewalks and
trees along the street and every thing.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I mean, she is never available, and well again, you
gotta you gotta figure out, Angela. You gotta figure out
when the next time, if someone is is not serving
the interest of you and your your neighbors, you guys
got to get together. Angela. I hate to do this
to you. Have been a great caller as always. I
thank you for calling tonight. But I gotta keep rolling here.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
I know, I understand. I just want to say one thing.
A lot of residents I spoke to were all against this.
We're gonna fight this. I know it's a done deal,
but we're still gonna fight it because this isn't right.
And I'm not opposed to taking all my trash and
jumping it on city Hall.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
That's my plan.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Okay, Well, make sure you do it under the cover
of darkness so they don't come after you. Don't.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
No, I'm not a shame. I know you speaking pan
and every city around us a watch out and have
all these people coming to their city.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So Angela, I know you were speaking. I'm trying to
get a word.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
We have to stop it. I'm sorry, we have to.
I'm just so proud.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I'm trying to keep you out of jail. Angela. I'm
just saying that I know you.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Definitely I won't go to chail.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
I won't.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Okay, I'm gonna let you go because I can't get
a word in Agewis. But I do appreciate your call nonetheless,
Thanks for much.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
I'm just saying that there's a lot of us.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I'm not sure if you can hear me at this point, Angela,
but I want to be very polite, and i'd like
to wish you a good night and wish you best
elect before and again, I know you were speaking metaphorically.
Thanks good night. Uh it's one of those nights, folks.
Six one seven two four thirty six one seven. I'm
glad Angela called. You can see how strongly she feels.
(19:45):
But the point is it's so difficult. It is difficult,
that old saying you can't fight city hall. And it's
difficult because when you elect people, or when you choose
not to get involved, and others elect people who do
not have your point of view or your interest or
(20:06):
their vision of where they want to take Medford or
your community is in a different direction. What do you do?
I mean, if you're not there every two years or
every four years when there are municipal elections. I have
preached here on nights side for years that the most
(20:27):
important election is not the presidential election. That's an important election,
but the most important elections are your local elections. Your
school board, your city council, your school decide. Your school
board decides who the principal is, who the superintendent of
the schools are, what are their values? Same way with
the city council. They've made vote on all of these
(20:50):
very important issues. How many times a week do you
have trash pickup in Medford? The headline in the Herald
from last week was Medford's the national laughing stock, because
it was joked about by one of the late night comedians. Look,
if you're listening in Medford tonight and you think this
(21:10):
is a great idea to cut back your trash pickup
from two weeks from every week to once every two weeks.
Make the case, tell me why if you are outraged,
as Angela clearly is, support her, give me your point
of view. And if you live in another community, I
would love to know what would you do if all
(21:31):
of a sudden, you're elected officials, your city council, your
board of aldermen said we're going to go to a
pickup trash every other week. Imagine what that would do
to your community. This is the basic responsibility of government
to keep your community safe, whether it's with an alert
police department, a good emergency responders, a competent fire department,
(21:58):
and also trash pay up. Because without trash pickup on
a regular weekly basis, you know that the rat problem
is going to explode and you're going to have other
animals in your neck, in your community. Here's the eye
wide open lines. Feel free to join the conversation. Six one, seven, two, five,
(22:18):
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten
thirty Feel free light them up back Right after.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
This, It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
We talked about the murder trial of Brian Walsh earlier tonight.
We're talking now about a plan in Medford to reduce
trash pickup from once every week to every other week,
which I think is absolutely insane. We did invite the
mayor to come on the show tonight. Her press person
did respond and said that she had a prior commitment.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Let me go.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Oh, we just lost Frank and Boston was holding on
and we lost Franks in Boston. So Frank, if you
want to call back, you waited a while there, We'll
be more than happy to accommodate you feel free and
put you to the head of the line. Of the meantime,
I would love to get some of you to comment
on what's going on in Medford, whether you're from Medford
or somewhere else. I think it's an insane idea to
think that trash pickup can be reduced from a weekly
(23:20):
uh trash pickup a weekly visit to an every other
week visit. This is, to me, to my way of thinking,
an absolute insane idea. If if Medford is thinking about
trying to save a few dollars, I think it is
a misplaced priority. And if Frank, if you got if
(23:46):
you got disconnected and you want to get back, give
us a call six one seven, two, five four ten
thirty or six one seven nine three thirty. Let me
go to Kennon Waltam. Hey, Ken, thanks for calling in.
How are you tonight?
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Great? How you doing there?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Well? I'm doing better I think than most people in
Medford are tonight. This is a crazy idea. I'm sure
you have weekly trash pickup in Waltham, right?
Speaker 7 (24:12):
We do?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
And what what mean a response in Waltham if all
of a sudden the mayor or the city council or
whomever said we're going to back off from a weekly
pickup to every other week.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
Yeah, I think there'd be some concern. We certainly have
a rat problem in Waltham. I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Hear that.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Yeah, yeah, we do? You know I did. I don't
really have a I forgot what the word is. I
don't have major feelings on this one way or another
because I'm somewhat ignorant. But I did just look online
to see if this has been done anywhere else. Yeah,
and apparently in Portland, Oregon, they've been doing this since
(24:58):
twenty eleven.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It doesn't surprise me that that would happen at Portland
or go ahead.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Well, they're claiming. The claim is that it's a success.
They've increased composting and recycling, which they still do every week,
and they claim that their landsfill reduction has been a
forty percent decrease. So I mean, I think the claim
obviously is let's get the food off to the side
(25:30):
and get that taken up every week in the trash,
which hopefully doesn't attract rats and other critters. We can
do every two weeks to encourage people to do more composting. Again,
I'm not I have no idea how correct this is.
I just this online and presenting another space.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
You've done some research for me here, which I appreciate.
I'm not surprised that Portland, Oregon, which is a very
progressive city, has decided, once they have control of the
mayor's office, that we're going to do it their way.
I know, you know I live in a community like Waltham.
(26:15):
I don't live in Waltham, but I'm sure yours is
the same. You're supposed to put your trash in for us,
it's a blue barrel, and you're supposed to put your
recyclables in a green Barrel. I'm a big believer in that.
I really am. When I see someone toss something out
of car window, whether it's a cigarette or you know,
(26:38):
a coke pink can or a PEPSI can, I want
to like pull the car over. That's how I feel
about that stuff. I feel that I'm as much of
an environmentalist as anyone. But when you start trying to
impose on people. If there were people in Portland who said, look,
I'm all with this, you know, pick my trash up
(27:00):
every other week, Well do it on a voluntary basis,
you know, you know, I just think that the left,
the progressive left, nothing will be voluntary when they when
they get in power, they will impose their ideas. And
if you really want to lead by example, they lead
by example. Can you identify with what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
There, Ken, Well, I guess so. I mean, I can
definitely and I don't. Again, I don't have a strong
position on this, but I know when we first started
recycling forty years ago or so I think is when
I remember starting to do it, you know, there was
(27:44):
a lot of pushbacklet like nobody's going to separate their trash.
And now I think, like you you know, most people
are uncomfortable throwing away you know, if they threw away
their coke can in the regular trash and not in recycling.
So I'm not really sure. I wonder if the problem
because I I'm sorry to bring national politics into this,
(28:08):
but I thought what the Biden administration was worse at
than anything was messaging. And maybe that's the problem in Metfrige.
You know that they I was reading the mayor statement
on this too, and she said, you know, they got
some sort of grant for a couple hundred thousand dollars
to do this and increase the composting. And she's saying, well,
you know, let everyone, let's you know, band together and
(28:30):
give it a chance, and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I really don't let me ask you. You can educate me.
I don't really understand what they need by composting. I
know that there are some people who live in you know,
in a rural community. They will have somewhere in their
backyard where they will take, you know, far from the house,
they will take garbage and then they'll put you know,
(28:55):
potato peels and apple cores and things like that into
a compost pile. That's composting. Correct, Yes, I.
Speaker 6 (29:05):
Mean it's basically just about all food waste.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Okay, fine, but how do you do that in a
wallfam or in a Newton where or or in a
Medford where people live in much closer proximity. I mean,
if you live in a rural area, I'm with you
on that. That's fine. Again, make it voluntary, But how
do you impose that on people who live on half
(29:29):
acre or quarter acre or eighth of an acre? Wats?
Speaker 6 (29:34):
So I do have some familiarity with this, and I
know like my children, the one who lives in New
York City and the other in Manchester, are big composters.
And one piece of advice they share with me don't
put cheese in there, you know, because it'll attract like
mice and other credits.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, So what is your You said you have a
son or a daughter in New York City? Where do
they Where do they put their compost that they live in?
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (30:04):
Yeah, I mean they have they have a yard. Uh,
and they have one of those containers that they put
out back and they can compost the food and it
really isn't a problem. I mean it is very self
contained and uh, there's no smell or anything.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
What is the container underground?
Speaker 6 (30:23):
Nope, No, it's above ground.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
The reason I say that is when I was a child,
I can remember that garbage men used to walk through
the backyard and you headed underground container. They would open
the lid to the container, they would pull the trash
the trash can up and they would dump the trash
into like a cart or something. It was. Again, if
(30:51):
if it works, fine, But all I'm just saying is
when you told me it was Portland, Oregon, it reinforced
every stereotype that I hold about Portland, Oregon. If you
get my drift, by the.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
Way, you may be totally right. I again, I dog
in the fight. That's what I keep saying. I don't
have a real dog in the fight.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Because but you provided information and I appreciate that.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
What I can tell you also is.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Did we lose him there? Yeah, try to try to
get it. He's calling back on the other line. He's
on the other line there, Grab him on two. Go ahead,
put him up here. Rob, Let's go same guy. Ken,
we lost you there?
Speaker 6 (31:38):
I'm back, Yeah, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Don't know what happened. We're having all sorts of electronic problems.
Tonight with our live stream, and you're like the third
of four. Yeah, we've had a bunch of callers who
got cut off. Finish up that point. You were making
that point, and feel free to finish that one up.
Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
So the other thing I can tell you in Walton,
so you can like in your kitchen, you put it
in a specialized you know, uh, it's like a small
bucket and it's got lining in it that's carbon or something.
I'm probably mucking this up, but it doesn't smell. And
then I know, like my neighbors who compost, you better.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Have a Darberg's disposal. Though that's much too electric for
the folks in Portland, I'm sure.
Speaker 6 (32:24):
Right right, But but I know in Waltham too, and
it's private. In Waltham you can compost and then you
put your stuff out every week in a green bucket
and you know a private company'll come and pick it up.
So and so you have to pay for that, right
yeah in Waltham.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, it's not always going to cost always going to cost. Hey,
I'm up on my break, buddy. Thank you for calling.
You provide it really important information. I appreciate you taking
the time, particularly on a slow Monday night here we
were up against the Patriots and Giantston and I think
all of a sudden, everybody's become a Patriot fan, if
you get my drift. Not that not that they're front
(33:04):
runners at all, but but you know, you know, some
of those people, I'm sure at Jillette and I think
that we're disappointed when of me were Tom Brady or
Bill Belichick was they haven't been particularly interested in the
Patriots for the last couple of years. But they're all
on board now that they're eleven and two or ten
and two or whatever the hell they are now, I
(33:25):
think it's a level two.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
I can't thank you, Dan, and who would have thought
it would take the Celtics twenty games to have more
wins than the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
But you know what, I think, whatever again, it's you know,
sports is important. I like sports, but I think the
issues we're talking about here are much more important to people.
Thanks can't talk soon?
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Good ye all right?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I know some of you are having trouble getting through
tonight as I see calls come in and calls drop off.
I have one more section segment coming up. We are
talking about Medford going from weekly trash pickup to I
guess it's by weekly or by bi monthly, whichever that
(34:10):
is six one, seven, two ten thirty, six one seven ninety.
What would you do if all of a sudden you
were used to weekly trash pickup in your community and
the city or town managers, mayors, al themen, city councils, whatever,
decided that it was in the best interest of everyone
Uh to back off, and instead of being getting your
(34:34):
tress picked up every week, it would be picked up
just every two weeks. I would go nuts, And I'm
going nuts on these lines because I'm looking at people.
Maureen from Worcester just dropped off. We lost Frank from Boston.
We have in trouble rob Uh tonight electronically as well
as well as the streaming. You've rebooted it twice. Well,
(34:54):
I don't know, folks, give us give us a shot here.
Love to see if I could get a few more
at the end of the show here. But people are
calling in. Rob puts them on hold and they're being disconnected.
We've had more calls tonight disconnected than I've ever seen before.
But you know, we have our our technical people working
on it, and hopefully by tomorrow night, it will be
(35:17):
totally resolved six one, seven, four ten thirty six one seven, nine,
three thirty Back on night set after.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
This, It's Night Side with Dan Ray, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Okay, back to the cause, We're go going to go
to Maureene in Winchester. Maureen, what's the trash pickup situation
in Winchester?
Speaker 5 (35:36):
Oh my god, where's this world coming to?
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Unbelievable? Remember what happens in Medford often happens in Winchester.
Speaker 7 (35:48):
Well, it's the next story. You know, every place is
having a roadent problem, Boston, Winchester, Medford. So I'm hoping
that when this changes that all of our Norwegian rats
and mice will be going to Medford because you're right
beside each other.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Right, Well, maybe this is really an effort by Medford
to take the pressure off you guys. I never thought
of it like that.
Speaker 7 (36:14):
So yeah, I used to live in Medford, and I
still own property in Medford, and I understand that a
lot of people were really unhappy with the mayor, but
she ran or is running uncontested. And I went to
a board meeting virtually and a lot of elders were
(36:36):
very upset about the CPA tax coming in and they
couldn't afford all the increases. And I was watching that
on zoom and I literally saw some of the city
council members, while of them were younger, were on their
cell phones and actually seemed to be laughing at the
elders who lived all their life.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
In Medford, and I thought that totally gets.
Speaker 7 (37:01):
Yeah, And so I'm just like wondering what's going on
with Medford. I wouldn't mind living there again in the future.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
I really liked the.
Speaker 7 (37:11):
Diversity and a lot of things that Medford has to offer.
And I think, like you were talking about the days
of McGlenn back, I've always heard how great that was.
And even in Winchester, I hear about how the compost
was put in the ground and the town would come
around and take out the compost. Right, And now I
see the squirrels fighting over a tomato and my neighbor's
(37:33):
compost their backyard.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Well you know again, you know, things have consequences. It's
as simple as that.
Speaker 7 (37:41):
And it was.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Interesting when Ken called and talked about how they're doing
what they're doing in Portland. It doesn't surprise me. Portland
is a very radical city and it's no longer the
great city that it used to be in my opinion.
And well, we'll have to see what happened in Medford. Mauren.
Thanks for taking the time to call in tonight. We've
(38:03):
had a lot of problems with the phones tonight, and
anybody go through should get like an extra accommendation medal.
Speaker 7 (38:10):
Okay, yeah, but I think there's going to be a
real problem that we're already having problems with rodents in
Medford and it's going to get worse. And I think
that they need responsible people in office, and I think
they need to have pay respect for long time taxpayers.
(38:31):
And I need to talk to your office because somebody
showing a green laser my eye while I was driving
on Grove Street in Medford two weeks ago tomorrow, so
I injured my eyes. So that's another saying going on
that we need to be aware of. But yeah, I'll
let you take some other calls, but.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You give Rob will give you my direct line, give
me a call the wrong and I'll call you back. Okay, Rob, Rob,
give Mareen my direct line. Thanks. Thanks, thank you, Maureen.
I appreciate it. Don't hang up. John is in New York.
John you're gonna wrap the hour for us tonight. You
should be thankful you living in New York and not
in Massachusetts.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
How are you?
Speaker 7 (39:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (39:11):
I have an independent private sanitation guy that picks up
my garbage once a week.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
And how much did they charge you?
Speaker 8 (39:20):
It's causing me fifty bucks a months.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
That's not bad. That's not bad because we pay huge
real estate taxes in Massachusetts and you don't have to
pay for your trash pickup. But now they're talking about
cutting it from once and once a week to once
every other week. And they're not gonna they're not gonna
give you. They're gonna save a few bucks, but they're
(39:45):
not gonna give it back to the taxpayers. That's what
goes on in Massachusetts. Fifty dollars is pretty reasonable, at
least by Massachusets standards.
Speaker 8 (39:55):
Massachusetts is known as Taxachusetts. I guess you know about that.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Oh yeah, we know about that. And guess what it
is an apt description of the comonwalth of Massachusetts. We
have an out goo problem. We have more people leaving
Massachusetts than staying than coming into Massachusetts. It's a state
that is going down the tubes, and it's going down
the tubes quickly, and we better turn it around. We're
(40:21):
a one party state and things are done here by Fiat,
not by democracy with a small d Okay, whatever the
people in charge one and impose, they impose, Rob, how'm
me doing in time here? Yeah? You know, just real quick.
Speaker 8 (40:38):
Your technical problem is when you call on the nine
three one number you get it sounds electronic. It sounds
like you're talking to a fax machine. I told Rob
about it. And also your iHeart app with your program
wasn't available until about ten minutes ago.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Okay, John, I got ten seconds left. They got to
let you go. But please thank you for passing that on.
Apparently our seven eight one number has not been working
all night. Thank you. John talked soon. We will get
things squared away tomorrow. Crack team is working on it
right now. My name is Dan Ray. And there's always
all dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's
why Pale Charlie Rays who passed fifteen years going forby.
(41:16):
That's why your pets are a past. They loved you
and you love them. You'll see them again see again
tomorrow night. Everybody stay dry in Massachusetts. Tomorrow I'll be
on Facebook and make a few comments in just a moment,
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