October 29, 2025 • 39 mins
A group of Medford residents are challenging the Medford City Council over proposed zoning changes in the city. Some of those residents are now running to serve on the Medford City Council because they fear the proposed zoning changes would impact the character of Medford. We invited community members to join the conversation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WVZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, as I'm sure most of you who listen to
Nightside know, we often like to go to a specific
city or town and look at an issue that might
be affecting that city or town, not only because it
affects part of our listener base, but also what affects
one community might very well be coming up on an
(00:30):
agenda in another community. So we're going to take you
to Medford, Massachusetts and the home actually of the WBZ
iHeart Studios. Our studios are physically in Medford. We're no
longer in soldiers Field Road. For those of you who
have known about WBZ for a long time, and there's
a there's a battle for the future of Medford. Medford
(00:53):
is a great community, a lot of neighborhoods, a lot
of families who have been there for generation. I have
many friends in Medford. But like things in a lot
of cities, there are people who move in and they
want to change our community and with us. Tonight is
a longtime resident of Medford. She's running for city council
(01:18):
in Medford. Her name is Melanie Trengalli. I've spoken with
Melanie a couple of times over the last year and
asked her to keep in touch with me. Melanie. For
those who aren't familiar with Medford, why don't you give
us a little bit of a description of the community
that you love so much.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Sure, Hi, I'm Medford of the community about fifty eight
fifty eight to sixty thousand residents. We have a number
of different neighborhoods, from single family neighborhoods to two family
neighborhoods throughout the city. And so we have the South
(01:55):
South Medford which is very which was founded by Italians,
heavily two families. We have West Medford that borders Winchester
that is a lot of single families, the lawns of
States and Brooks of States single families have both in
heights also a large single families. And then the Tough area.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Also also if I'm not mistaken, in West Medford, Uh,
there was really a thriving middle class black community. Hopefully
it is still there. You know people, doctors, lawyers, and
college professors. I over the years have interviewed many individuals,
(02:36):
not on issues dealing with Medford, but I'm dealing with
academic or economic issues, and they often if they lived
in West Medford, they in many cases happen to be minority.
So it's a it's a pretty vibrant what I'm trying
to get at. And it's a pretty vibrant community. It's
it's not a Wellesley as it were, which is I
(02:56):
don't know, a community with a two acre lots for
the most part, it's it's but it's a great community
that has families have deep roots there. So what's going
on in Medford that at this point has become an
issue in this upcoming election. You have a group I
guess who ran two years ago as sort of a
(03:20):
slate on the for city Council and the group titled
itself for at least most of the members who were
elected title themselves as members of something called Our Revolution.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yes, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So what is their goal? What is their purpose?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Our Revolution is a platform that was started by is
a spin off of the Bernie Sanders. It's actually there
is a national platform. The platform here Our Revolution is local.
It's a very progressive organization with very progressive policies, and
there are running on changing the zoning in Medford now,
(04:03):
mostly changing the zoning to get rid of our single
family zone single family neighborhoods, and to change a lot
of our two family neighborhoods into three and four neighborhoods,
extremely high density neighborhoods, eventually removing parking minimums and becoming
like some of all in Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Why would why are these people who are longtime residents
newer residents? These are these are people who are elected
though with city councilors. We need to acknowledge that if
they've come in with ideas like this which would change
the you know, the character of the community. What what
(04:45):
is that? What is the purpose? I mean, there's there's
a lot of things that can be impacted in a
in a in a city like Medford. You work to
improve the schools, you your work to build community centers.
There's a lot of things that I think everybody would
agree upon. This seems to me to be a fairly
divisive position that this group has taken to in effect
(05:06):
change the character of Medford and turn it into sort
of an adjunct of Somerville or Cambridge, which are lovely communities,
but they're very different from Medford.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, they're very different from Medford, and it is very divisive.
There are many people that I've been talking to on
the campaign trail, and a lot of other people that
I'm running with. We've been talking on the campaign trail.
The people don't want to lose their neighborhoods. They don't
want to lose the characters. They want to keep the
neighborhoods as they are. They don't want high density, they
don't they some of many of them have actually moved
(05:39):
from some of Old Cambridge to this neighborhood because they
wanted left density. They wanted the nice yards in the
backyards and the kids playing in the streets. So we're
working to really protect that, me and the other people
that are running and for our Revolution group. They talk
a lot of afordability in building housing for affordability, but
(06:02):
we have housing that is being built in Medford. There's
actually eleven hundred homes being eleven hundred apartments in the
pipeline to be built in the next couple weeks, in
the next year or so, and out of those, two
hundred and fifty of them will be affordable.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Okay, well, here's what I'd like to do. I think
you've sort of put this out fairly clearly. If there's
anyone who's listening and who's a member of our revolution
and wants make the case for changing the character of Medford,
changing the neighborhoods. They're welcome to call. At the same
(06:41):
time if there are people who support your effort. The
election is on Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, Your mayor is running unopposed. So people who are
going to come out and vote, I assume are going
to be motivated to come out either for this agenda
that is currently being advocated by the incumbent city councilors,
or they're going to want some change and bring more
(07:12):
I guess traditional members of the community. I don't know
if that's a fair way to describe you and your
group and aren't, but it's kind of an interesting it's
an interesting fight, and that's why I want to talk
about it tonight. So let's you and I will take
a break and UH, let's open up phone lines six
two five thirty. UH. There's also two phone lines that
(07:35):
are available at six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
I'd love to talk about this for an hour and
get a sense of what people in Medford are thinking.
I have a lot of listeners in Medford. UH. If
you agree with Melanie. Feel free to uh, Melanie, you're
you're somebody who has has had a career in marketing
(07:56):
and now you're you find yourself running for elective office
a little different experience. Maybe there's some crossover talents that
as somebody who's involved in marketing has doesn't effect. You're
marketing yourself and you're marketing your ideas.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Right, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I am marketing myself and my ideas. I chose to run.
I did run two years ago, and I came in.
I came in I think eighth or ninth, and I
chose to run again, specifically for the zoning reasons. I
live in a single family zone. I used to, and
(08:34):
there's nothing wrong with two families. My first home was
a two family and mentored. I loved my neighborhood, lived
there for twenty years, brought up our four kids, but
we always wanted to move to a single family with
a slightly larger yard, a little bit more room, and
we finally found a place that we love. And the
house next door to me is a double lot, and
if this zoning were to go through, they could actually
(08:56):
put up about ten to fifteen units. And I didn't
move here for that.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
When you say ten to fifteen news, I mean ten
small homes or two or three multi family homes.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It could so it's about.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
A combination, maybe a combination combination.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
It's about a fourteen thousand square foot lot, and some
of the recommendations they're making is allowing up to three
units on a three thousand square foot lot.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well, let me just say this. An acre is about
forty thousand square feet. So if you're going to put
three houses on a lot, that's a third of an acre,
thirteen thou being a third of boy, it's going to
be pretty tight quarters, that's for sure. Melanie. Let's take
a break and let's get folks, get these phone lines going.
Coming right back with my guest, Melanie Tringali. You're running
(09:46):
at large. There are no district councilors in Medford. It's
an at large election, and I'm going to follow this
and see what happens. And I want to hear from
people tonight from Medford or elsewhere. You've had a similar
situation from another community, you can weigh in as well.
And if someone is out there representing our revolution and
(10:07):
they want to jump on, that's fine too. We're coming
back on night Side. Six. The only line right now
is six one seven. There's one line right there, coming
back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray. I'm w BZ,
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Melanie, we got full lines. Let's go and see what
people in Medford have to think, and we're going to
take them as they come in. All set, you.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Ready, yep? Ok here we go.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
All right, come on, Melanie, you're ready, Let's go. Okay, dope,
be nervous. Let's go to Patrick in Medford. Hey, Patrick,
welcome your first this hour on Nightside the Redhead sir.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Hey, Dan, good to be here. This is Patrick Clerkin.
I'm actually another one of the candidates for city council
here in Medford, another one of the independent candidates.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
All right, how long have you been in Medford?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
I've been here for eight years now, so I'm on
thirty two. I actually grew up in North Reading, so
I'm a north Shore guy.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
But now I know that the positions of city councilor
are well, probably a full time job, but they don't
pay like a full time job. What do you do
for a living? If I could ask?
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Yeah, So basically, if I wasn't running a campaign, I
would be doing mechanical engineering contract work, but they've done
a lot of handyman work recently because that's more flexible.
That was actually kind of my entry point into a
lot of the local civic stuff is you develop a
word of mouth network when you do handyman work and
(11:35):
you meet a lot of your neighbors and they tell
you their frustrations with local politics.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Good for you, Good for you. Well, you're on with Melani.
Feel free to comment, say whatever you like, ask a question.
The floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Well, Hey, Patrick, how are you going?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Let let let's get Patrick going here first, Melanie hold on,
go ahead, Patrick.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Well, I was just going to say, I think Melanie
did a really good job of laying the groundwork of
what's going on here. We're at a pretty pivotal moment
where this rezoning issue in the city is sort of
the centerpiece of a lot of the issues that are
happening here, and there's just a lot of imbalance within
(12:24):
the city, and the zoning issue demonstrates the imbalance between
the city overall and the neighborhoods. And the group that
Melanie referenced, this our revolution group, I think that they
I don't think. I know that they have a strong
emphasis on the overall needs of the city and trying
to push those pretty aggressively. And the problem with that
(12:50):
is the communications really broke down and there were no
neighborhood impact studies done as to how these things would
affect the people that are the immediate of butters per se.
You know, if you're trying to cram density into the thoroughfares,
the corridors, I should say that's the natural place to
(13:12):
do it. But there's kind of this attitude that some
people have, like I don't know if you've ever seen
the movie Shrek, where Lord Farquaad says, some of you
may die, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make,
you know, there's sort of some people's there's sort of
some people's attitude of like, hey, ain't my property. It's
it's the city that benefits, you know. But it's different
if you're in that area or if it's your house
(13:32):
that's been well well.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The other thing. I mean, there's an interesting race going
on in New York with this guy Mindami. I'm not
suggesting that Mendami is the same as the folks here
with our revolution, but I suspect they're on the same
side of the street politically. Mindamie isn't about socialist and
as Margaret Thatcher said, the only thing wrong with socialism
eventually you run out of other people's money.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, so there are you know, I
won't go deep, deep down the rabbit hole on this,
but basically I've done a you know, there's part of
me that is a avid investigative journalist, and so I
kind of forensically have tried to figure out what's what's
going on in Medford and how it got to this
point and whatnot. And yeah, there are definitely overlaps with
(14:18):
with some of the goals, the Democrat socialist goals, and
I think that.
Speaker 7 (14:25):
My issue is.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
So some of this originated with a frustration in the
city of some of the people felt like the issues
of their concern, particularly the progressives, the more progressive people
felt like their issues weren't really getting addressed and historically
and Medford it was sort of like a boys club
and a smoke filled room, and so they were trying
(14:49):
to unmarginalize themselves basically, and all, you know, all I
get that, that's that's totally fine, and getting your voice
out there. But I feel like the kind of of
Faustian bargain that they made was anchoring to a national
organization that might have some quid pro quos if it.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Helps, you know, I'm assuming Patrick. I want to ask Melanie, Melanie,
you don't feel like you're in some sort of a
boys club here in Medford.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
I assume, right, No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean no, I don't. I think, you know, going
back to the goals of our revolution is to really
bring density into the city, and there's a lot of
people here, I think, old and new residents that like
the neighborhood fail. I've had two people in the past
(15:39):
two days where I've campaigned, have come up to me
and said, I'm voting for you. One woman said, I'm
voting for you because I want to continue to grow
up in a nice neighborhood and help my kids have
a nice neighborhood to grow up and play in, you know.
And that's what it comes down to, really comes down
to protecting the neighborhoods and why people live here.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Well, that's why people have moved there, Patrick, Patrick, do
you do you have a website that you'd like to
have people check out since you're a candidate.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Yeah, it's a clerk in that's C L E R
K I N and then the number four Medford dot com.
Pretty simple.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Okay, Well, well, Patrick, appreciate your coming on tonight. And UH,
at a city like Medford need someone who can do
the sort of work you do. And uh, and I
need listeners who are in your age range. And I
really appreciate you taking the time to call the night.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
I'm working on it, spreading the word.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Thanks Dan, Thanks so much, Patrick, appreciate it. Let me
keep rolling here. Let me get one more in Melanie
before we got to go to the break. Let me
go to William in Medford. William you were next on
light side, go right, hitshop.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
Hi Dan, Yeah, we spoke in the end of July.
Actually I was on with Melanie. Okay, and congratulations to Melodie. Melanie.
We had a you know, we had our Plmary election.
We needed to reduce the field from from seventeen down
to fourteen, and three of the independent candidates actually came
(17:11):
out on top of that preliminary election, which is encouraging.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
When you say three of the independent candidates, I mean
three of the candidates who are associated on your side
of the argument.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Yeah, I mean we like to you know, we don't
like to think of the non o AR candidates as
a slate. We we think that they have independent voices
there they are unified in the sense of, you know,
of stopping this rezoning and taking a step back. But
you know, we, uh we we don't like the fact
(17:44):
that the OAR has a single voice. And and you know,
when they when they were a majority, you know, didn't
listen to the uh comments of people in the neighborhoods,
and you know, they basically had car blanche to do
what they wanted. And uh so, yeah, Melanie was in
(18:05):
the top three. That was very encouraging. And I will
say that, you know, we're continuing to canvass the neighborhoods
and distributing flyers and and and when we talked to people,
we're still finding, even in West Medford where where the
impact is high, that many people are still unaware of
the you know, the radical of zoning plans. And so
(18:28):
you know, we're still trying to get the word out
before the election. The voting is open now, actually their
early voting, but we're trying to get the word out
to make sure people understand, you know, what the stakes are.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Who were the three UH members.
Speaker 7 (18:44):
George George Carpelli is the is the one non our incumbent,
and he came out on top, and we we we
had Rick Carvillo decide. Carvello decide to run. He he
was a candidate for mayor, is very popular. He came
out second, and then Melanie came in third, and we
(19:05):
had you know, of course the preliminary election doesn't have
as much turnout as the as the as the full election,
but but the votes were distributed pretty evenly across the city,
and you know, we're hoping that the results reflect but
we'd really like, you know, to to break the majority
(19:25):
o R is to get for independent at least for
independent candidates on UH you know seated.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Well, those folks can call in tonight as the as
the the folks from our revolution. Kind of absurd, kind
of appropriately William Best of what is what is your website? Oh?
Speaker 7 (19:49):
I don't have a website. I'm just I'm just a
concerned citizen that.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Okay, so you're not running, Okay, fine, if you're not running.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Not running, Nope, just one of the people that are
working to get these independent folks elected.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Good well, thank you very much for your participation. Again,
people everybody likes to sit and complain about election results,
but they don't do anything either as a candidate or
Supporters are just as important as candidates. Every candidate needs
lots of supporters, that's for sure. Thank you so much.
Will you appreciate your time and thanks for listening to Nightside.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
Thank you. Tick.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
All right, we're going to come right back. Jill and
Medford will be up next. The only line open is
six one, seven, two, ten thirty. We're coming right back
on Nightside right after the news.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
My guest is Melanie Trindallie. She is on running for
city council in Medford. We are more than happy to
have you direct your questions to Melanie. She knows a
lot more about Medford than I do. Let me go
to Jill in Medford. Jillia next on Nightside, Melanie Trindalli's
with us.
Speaker 9 (20:58):
Go right ahead, Jill, Well, this is a topic I've
been thinking about. I lived in Medford when my twenties
for in a triple decker next to two triple deckers
and I saved up my money so I could move
to Medford and buy a house and have a garden
and everything. And I voted in this city council that
(21:19):
wants all this density, and I feel tricked by them
because it wasn't really clear. My neighbors didn't seem to
know what was really going on. But they're really pushing
this density. They have a lot of community meetings, but
they just ask us about the details. They don't really
take on the real question and how it's going to
(21:40):
affect people in my neighborhood. I live in West Medford.
You could build two triple deckers on either side of
me and some additional units. I mean, it would make
the neighborhood a place I wouldn't want to live.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
You're going to change your vote in November.
Speaker 9 (21:57):
Well, I already voted, and I took a list of
all the people that are in the city council except
for George and voted against them, and I voted the
rest of them inca. I want to change things back.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well, Jilla, I hope you'll continue to listen to Night
Side because we like to do stories like this and
like to help communities again. The name our Revolution is
a little off putting to me to begin with.
Speaker 9 (22:26):
Well, you know, I voted for them because they said
affordable housing, and I like.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
That.
Speaker 9 (22:32):
I think that's reasonable. But I thought they were talking
about putting these additional unit, maybe an additional unit so
your parents could live there or your child could live there,
you know, a very stable sort of situation, not a
like rentals on either side of you kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Well, the measure that I know our families and they
love to be able to you know, they're in the
homes where they grew up with the parents you know,
have passed on or whatever, and they intend, you know,
pass those homes onto that children. That's the stability of Medford.
But again it's like these candidates come around, We're going
to do free buses, free groceries. Everything's going to be free,
(23:11):
free this, free that for everything else. And a lot
of people say, oh, so it's pretty good to me,
doesn't closely anything.
Speaker 9 (23:17):
Well, you know that I live across my house is
almost one hundred years old, and across the street from
me is a house from seventeen eighty and diagonally across
the street is a Paul Revere Revolution meetinghouse. So this
is a neighborhood that's established for a while, and people
(23:39):
are people are They're into their houses, they're into fixing
them up, they're into the city. You know that it's
not a transient population at all.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Well, Jill, what you need to do is let your
neighbors know that this is an important election and it's
important vote and give them the list of the people
that you feel will do the best job for your neighborhood.
Speaker 9 (24:00):
Yes, that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Absolutely. I mean, you vote if they tricked you or
misled you, you want to make sure other people are
not tricked or misled as well. Thanks, Jill, I appreciate
your call very much. Say hi to Say hi to
one of the candidates, Melanie Tringalli. I hope you voted
for Melanie already.
Speaker 9 (24:17):
Yes, Melanie. I actually got a signed from her because
I wanted to make sure people got in who were
independent thinkers.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
All right like that. Thanks you appreciate your time. Thank
you so much.
Speaker 10 (24:28):
Thank you got to keep rolling here.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Let me go to I got full lines A one
line open now six seven thirty. Let me go to
Robert in Medford. Robert, You're next on Night Side with
Melanie Tringalli.
Speaker 11 (24:39):
Go right ahead, Robert, Hey, thanks for thanks for having me.
My wife Emily and I moved to Medford last year
where we're in her mid thirties. I'm a homeowner. I
actually am doing canvassing for all the independent candidates. I've
been doing door knocking for Melanie along with the six
(25:00):
other independent candidates. And zoning's really on my mind. And
you know, one thing I just love to share is,
you know, we have a lot of opportunities in Medford
right now to unite on increasing our commercial base. From
what I understand from people who live in Medford, you know,
(25:22):
we used to have a higher percentage of our tax
base in the commercial industry, commercial industrial industry. That's gone
down over time. And we just had three tax overrides,
you know, last year. And I live right near Route
thirty eight, which is just basically like kind of like
a commercial wasteland.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
There's a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Familiar with, yes, sir, you've described it accurately, yep.
Speaker 11 (25:46):
And you know, I just I really think the city
should be focusing on the commercial areas first. Like Melanie said,
there's already housing being built in Medford. You know, I
don't think the increased density that's been proposed by our revolution,
you know, is sustainable in the in the way they're
(26:09):
putting it out to be.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Right now, Well, thank you so much, Robert for your call.
And it's great that you're in your mid thirties. I
don't know I've ever had you as a as a
caller to my program, but I hope you become a
regular caller and a regular listener because you're you're the
sort of person who actually gives me hope for the future.
All four callings so far have been extraordinarily articulate and
(26:33):
focused on their points. You obviously are committed citizens in Medford,
and that's why I'm doing this hour tonight.
Speaker 11 (26:42):
Have a great night, Robert, thank you, thanks for having
me very well.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Quick break here, my guest is Melanie Tringhali. If you'd
like to ask Melanie a question about her campaign or
about any of the issues, she knows it a lot
better than I do. The only line open is six one,
seven nine already that'll get you through. Coming right back
on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
We're talking about the future of Medford, Massachusetts, and our
guest is Melanie TRANGOLLI, we have full lines. I'd love
to get everybody in who's on the line, So I'm
going to ask everybody just to tighten it up a
little bit. Let me go right to Nick and Midford.
He's been waiting the longest. Nick, You're next on Nightside
with Melanie Tringlly.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Go right ahead, Nick, Dan, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (27:29):
More than my name is?
Speaker 4 (27:31):
My name is Nick. I'm one of the other city
council candidates running in this election.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
What your what's your last name? Nick?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Gileo? G I you r l E oh all right?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
And what what has made you a candidate? What what
has made you decide to run for this office.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
So a lot of different things, but especially the zoning.
And I'm very happy to hear you doing this segment tonight.
One of the points I wanted to raise is just
the impact of this zoning that we don't understand due
to a lack of studies that have been done. Typically
studies are done before any major zoning changes are implemented,
looking at, you know, the economic impact. There's also impact
(28:13):
on essential city services like fire ems, whether or not
our schools can handle the increase in residence. Were really
we haven't had any of this done, and it's really
remarkable that they want to make these massive changes without
having studies done on what that impact would be.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, again, a lot of folks on the left like
to talk about autocracy, orism, authoritism, autocracy, and they practice
it when they get some power. So glad you're running.
How old are you are you? How this your first
foray into politics?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yes it is. I'm under thirty, believe.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It or not. That's okay. Believe you're in your twenties. Okay,
good for you, Good for you. Who knows, maybe you'll
be mayor someday. You never know who you could be,
maybe you become a US senator. I mean, you just
never know. What do you do for a living?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Start small Starwood City Council?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I get it. Well, that's the way to do it.
What do you do for a living?
Speaker 4 (29:14):
If I could ask, I'm an attorney?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
You're an attorney? All right? I am as well. Well, Look,
thanks for calling in. And what's your website so we
can help you get in touch with people can get
in touch with you.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Sure, it's Nick G for Medford dot Com.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
That's a good that's smart man. Nick G forro Medford
dot com. Nick, appreciate it very much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Let's keep rolling here, going to go to Trish in Medford. Hi, Trish,
welcome back.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
How are you Hi?
Speaker 10 (29:45):
How are you Dan? Thanks so much for having me so.
One of my big concerns here is along the lines
with Nick, is they haven't done the correct amount of studies.
And recently in Summerville, I'm sure you'll recall within I
would say the past month they had a huge fire
that starts it in a home and it spread to
two other houses, and I spoke to one of the
fire department men there and he said that that was
(30:08):
due specifically to the radical rezoning changes that have taken
place in Summerville, because they've minimized the easement between the
homes to like five to eight feet, and so that
is the exact same thing that they're trying to put
in here. And then just the other night, and Melanie
may remember who it was, one of the Hour Revolution
(30:28):
got up and said they're smart enough not to say
defund the police and the firemen, but they do say
let's have more first responders, less less police, and we
need more social workers as first responders. That's code for
defund the police.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
That type of thing.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Next time someone is breaking in your house with a
gut or a knife, you need a social working You
certainly don't need a police officer, right right.
Speaker 10 (30:56):
Yeah, it's just crazy, They're all that's crazy. And our
current president of the city Council has been endorsed for
this election by the Democratic Socialists of America. So, I
mean it's coming out clear.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Well, we're connecting some dots tonight, Trisha, are you running
or are you a supporter at this point?
Speaker 10 (31:16):
No, I am a supporter at this point. And so
you know, we just have to take over the whole
city council. I mean, all seven seats need to slip period.
Well otherwise, you know, I mean we've already tried, they've
already tried to put a method one dispensary down our
throats and all.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It's all part of the package. It's all part of
the package. It's as simple as that. And if you
want to destroy Medford as it has existed now for
a long time, you know, our revolution sounds like a
perfect way to destroy the tradition and the history.
Speaker 10 (31:49):
Their new goal, their new goal is no cars in
Medford in ten years.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Perfect. That's perfect.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean now we're going to single roads.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, that's not for bikes. That's that's that's not going
to hurt like jobs of auto workers at all. By
the way, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 10 (32:05):
And they just spent one of our current counselors just
spent seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars redoing the rotary
and now we find out that it's potentially isn't even
wasn't even done appropriately so that you can't even get
an eight a large truck, let alone a fire engine
around the rotary because the curvature isn't the correct.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Oh god, you know you know that sign that people
have on their desk, it's just playing ahead and the
last three letters are running off the side. That's what
we're talking about. Trish, I got three more. I'm going
to try to get to love your calls. Thanks so much.
Keep listening to night Side. Thank you so much. We're
going to go next to Paul in Medford. Paul, you
were next to Nightside.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Welcome, Hi Din, Hi Paul, Trish, Melanie, how are you.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Melanie's on the line.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Get right ahead, Hi, Paul, I'm all show a candidate
with Melanie and again.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Is your last name? Is your last name? The you're
the son of? From the state representative Paul Donado.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
I am, yes, I am say how.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Do your dad? I know your dad very well, and
I hope, uh, I hope you he is supporting you,
and I hope he's supporting the others as well.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
He is, he is definitely supporting us.
Speaker 12 (33:17):
What made me, I've been, as you know, our lifetime
method resident born here. What made me jump into the
race is the radical rezoning. It's just I'm against residential rezoning.
I don't want to see someone just put you know,
solar panels on their house and they build a skyscraper
(33:38):
on either side, and then the person that just put
solar panels doesn't get solar anymore because of the radical rezoning.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, no, I am Paul. I got to tell you this. Uh.
I know Medford. I've had friends in Medford for decades.
I know that city as well as any other non resident,
any non resident, and I think that the push here
is to turn Medford into an adjunct to Somerville and Cambridge.
(34:08):
And Somerville and Cambridge are wonderful communities, but Medford is
also a wonderful community, and it's great to have diversity
amongst different communities in that part of the Greater Boston area.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
So best time trying to take away into diversity. That's
the problem.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Keep me posted, Paul, okay, and say hey Dad for me.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Okay, I will thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
Great job, Melanie, thank you, Thanks Dan.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
All right, very welcome.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Okay, I got two more. I'm going to try to
get it both in, starting with Nate in Medford. Nate,
you're next on nightside. Melanie Trengali is listening.
Speaker 8 (34:42):
Go right ahead, Nate, Hi, Dan, my name's Nate Meret.
I'm also another city council candidate running with Melanie and
Paul and Nick.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
And what's your What is your website? So we've got
to be fair to everybody. What's your website?
Speaker 8 (34:55):
Yes, sir, I don't have a website. I'm on Facebook, Nate,
my last name Merrit Emas and Mike E. R Rit.
And then you can look up city council for Medford.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
And you want to merit people's votes. I get that.
That's a good campaign slogan.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
Two r's two teas though, Yes, that's okay, I understand it.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
But that's, you know, trying to help you out here.
Pal stay with me.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
Absolutely, they'll remember your name.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
They'll remember your name if you merit their vote.
Speaker 8 (35:23):
The park Way in Connecticut, the merit park Way that
goes down through Connecticut to New York.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
That one.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Keep it local, Nade, keep it local. Well, good, best
of luck. Do you have a question or comment from Melanie?
She's doing a great job.
Speaker 8 (35:38):
Yeah, absolutely, she's a great job. And I really appreciate
your time bringing up a topic, especially with zoning. I
moved here in twenty fourteen, bought my house. I have
a now I have a wife and two small children.
I'm in my mid forties and we chose Medford because
it was a chance to own and I like my
neighborhood the way it is. And I'm actually on the
east side of the city and it's a mix of
(36:01):
single and two family homes right, And I'm concerned, just
like other parents are, you know, how do we afford
what we have? And I've got a big heart, but
I also understand the costs between daycare and owning a
home renting a home. And I want to see you
an opportunity for other young parents that I know be
(36:21):
able to buy a place with a patrograss sounds great.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Look. I hope you merit people's votes, Nate merrit and
I got to get one more in here before I
have wrapped the hour. Thanks, thank you, thank you much.
Let me go to Jan and Medford. Jen, you are
right under the wire here. You haven't waited very long,
but I got about a minute for you.
Speaker 13 (36:38):
Go right ahead, Hi Dan, thank you, Hi Melanie. I
am a resident of West Medford, been here for about
forty years. My husband's been here for over sixty years.
And this radical rezoning has really really caused an uproar
(36:59):
in the city. I don't you know, this all our spur.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Our revolution, and they mean it exactly.
Speaker 13 (37:12):
Yeah, they talk about density and affordability, but anything that's
being built is not going to be affordable. And they also,
you know, they keep saying, oh, you know, don't worry
about it. Just because we you know, we're proposing this zoning,
it doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
What I would say, Jen, we're flat out of time.
I want to say good night to Melanie and thank her,
but I also want to thank you for calling, and
I hope you alert your neighbors. Be the equivalent of
paul Revere. Become a Pauline Revere.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
Trust me or that we have we have, we go,
we go to door.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Thanks Jen, thank you so much. Thank you, Melanie. Thanks
for being back in touch with me. I've enjoyed tonight.
It's been great to hear from all of the candidates
and your supporters. Please keep me in touch next week.
This election is next Tuesday. There's open voting. Now, how
can people vote if they're not going to vote on Tuesday,
(38:07):
how can they get to the polls tomorrow? Over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
We do have early voting at city Hall in city chambers.
They're open pretty much every day between now and I
think Saturday, Friday or Saturday. I have to double check
on that. And then obviously there's voting on Tuesday from
seven to eight at any one of the awards or
precincts for the city. And thank you for having us.
(38:32):
I really appreciate it. Dan, remember the independent candidates. If
you want to save your neighborhoods and protect your neighborhoods
in the City of Measured, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
You want to maintain the character of a great city.
It's as simple as that. And keep us posted. Thanks Melanie,
I appreciate your time. Tonight we will talk again.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Thank you, Dan, have a good luck.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Pleasure. Thanks, good night. All right, we're done for the night.
We're going to go back and we're going to talk
with Lightning. Lady Lightning at the producer of Nightside, is
going to make a special guest appearance next hour. She
had a very special visitor in her yard early this week. Lions,
Tigers and Bear Bear's where do you hear the story?
Coming back on Nightside right after this
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WVZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, as I'm sure most of you who listen to
Nightside know, we often like to go to a specific
city or town and look at an issue that might
be affecting that city or town, not only because it
affects part of our listener base, but also what affects
one community might very well be coming up on an
(00:30):
agenda in another community. So we're going to take you
to Medford, Massachusetts and the home actually of the WBZ
iHeart Studios. Our studios are physically in Medford. We're no
longer in soldiers Field Road. For those of you who
have known about WBZ for a long time, and there's
a there's a battle for the future of Medford. Medford
(00:53):
is a great community, a lot of neighborhoods, a lot
of families who have been there for generation. I have
many friends in Medford. But like things in a lot
of cities, there are people who move in and they
want to change our community and with us. Tonight is
a longtime resident of Medford. She's running for city council
(01:18):
in Medford. Her name is Melanie Trengalli. I've spoken with
Melanie a couple of times over the last year and
asked her to keep in touch with me. Melanie. For
those who aren't familiar with Medford, why don't you give
us a little bit of a description of the community
that you love so much.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Sure, Hi, I'm Medford of the community about fifty eight
fifty eight to sixty thousand residents. We have a number
of different neighborhoods, from single family neighborhoods to two family
neighborhoods throughout the city. And so we have the South
(01:55):
South Medford which is very which was founded by Italians,
heavily two families. We have West Medford that borders Winchester
that is a lot of single families, the lawns of
States and Brooks of States single families have both in
heights also a large single families. And then the Tough area.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Also also if I'm not mistaken, in West Medford, Uh,
there was really a thriving middle class black community. Hopefully
it is still there. You know people, doctors, lawyers, and
college professors. I over the years have interviewed many individuals,
(02:36):
not on issues dealing with Medford, but I'm dealing with
academic or economic issues, and they often if they lived
in West Medford, they in many cases happen to be minority.
So it's a it's a pretty vibrant what I'm trying
to get at. And it's a pretty vibrant community. It's
it's not a Wellesley as it were, which is I
(02:56):
don't know, a community with a two acre lots for
the most part, it's it's but it's a great community
that has families have deep roots there. So what's going
on in Medford that at this point has become an
issue in this upcoming election. You have a group I
guess who ran two years ago as sort of a
(03:20):
slate on the for city Council and the group titled
itself for at least most of the members who were
elected title themselves as members of something called Our Revolution.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yes, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So what is their goal? What is their purpose?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Our Revolution is a platform that was started by is
a spin off of the Bernie Sanders. It's actually there
is a national platform. The platform here Our Revolution is local.
It's a very progressive organization with very progressive policies, and
there are running on changing the zoning in Medford now,
(04:03):
mostly changing the zoning to get rid of our single
family zone single family neighborhoods, and to change a lot
of our two family neighborhoods into three and four neighborhoods,
extremely high density neighborhoods, eventually removing parking minimums and becoming
like some of all in Cambridge.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Why would why are these people who are longtime residents
newer residents? These are these are people who are elected
though with city councilors. We need to acknowledge that if
they've come in with ideas like this which would change
the you know, the character of the community. What what
(04:45):
is that? What is the purpose? I mean, there's there's
a lot of things that can be impacted in a
in a in a city like Medford. You work to
improve the schools, you your work to build community centers.
There's a lot of things that I think everybody would
agree upon. This seems to me to be a fairly
divisive position that this group has taken to in effect
(05:06):
change the character of Medford and turn it into sort
of an adjunct of Somerville or Cambridge, which are lovely communities,
but they're very different from Medford.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, they're very different from Medford, and it is very divisive.
There are many people that I've been talking to on
the campaign trail, and a lot of other people that
I'm running with. We've been talking on the campaign trail.
The people don't want to lose their neighborhoods. They don't
want to lose the characters. They want to keep the
neighborhoods as they are. They don't want high density, they
don't they some of many of them have actually moved
(05:39):
from some of Old Cambridge to this neighborhood because they
wanted left density. They wanted the nice yards in the
backyards and the kids playing in the streets. So we're
working to really protect that, me and the other people
that are running and for our Revolution group. They talk
a lot of afordability in building housing for affordability, but
(06:02):
we have housing that is being built in Medford. There's
actually eleven hundred homes being eleven hundred apartments in the
pipeline to be built in the next couple weeks, in
the next year or so, and out of those, two
hundred and fifty of them will be affordable.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Okay, well, here's what I'd like to do. I think
you've sort of put this out fairly clearly. If there's
anyone who's listening and who's a member of our revolution
and wants make the case for changing the character of Medford,
changing the neighborhoods. They're welcome to call. At the same
(06:41):
time if there are people who support your effort. The
election is on Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, Your mayor is running unopposed. So people who are
going to come out and vote, I assume are going
to be motivated to come out either for this agenda
that is currently being advocated by the incumbent city councilors,
or they're going to want some change and bring more
(07:12):
I guess traditional members of the community. I don't know
if that's a fair way to describe you and your
group and aren't, but it's kind of an interesting it's
an interesting fight, and that's why I want to talk
about it tonight. So let's you and I will take
a break and UH, let's open up phone lines six
two five thirty. UH. There's also two phone lines that
(07:35):
are available at six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
I'd love to talk about this for an hour and
get a sense of what people in Medford are thinking.
I have a lot of listeners in Medford. UH. If
you agree with Melanie. Feel free to uh, Melanie, you're
you're somebody who has has had a career in marketing
(07:56):
and now you're you find yourself running for elective office
a little different experience. Maybe there's some crossover talents that
as somebody who's involved in marketing has doesn't effect. You're
marketing yourself and you're marketing your ideas.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Right, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I am marketing myself and my ideas. I chose to run.
I did run two years ago, and I came in.
I came in I think eighth or ninth, and I
chose to run again, specifically for the zoning reasons. I
live in a single family zone. I used to, and
(08:34):
there's nothing wrong with two families. My first home was
a two family and mentored. I loved my neighborhood, lived
there for twenty years, brought up our four kids, but
we always wanted to move to a single family with
a slightly larger yard, a little bit more room, and
we finally found a place that we love. And the
house next door to me is a double lot, and
if this zoning were to go through, they could actually
(08:56):
put up about ten to fifteen units. And I didn't
move here for that.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
When you say ten to fifteen news, I mean ten
small homes or two or three multi family homes.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It could so it's about.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
A combination, maybe a combination combination.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
It's about a fourteen thousand square foot lot, and some
of the recommendations they're making is allowing up to three
units on a three thousand square foot lot.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well, let me just say this. An acre is about
forty thousand square feet. So if you're going to put
three houses on a lot, that's a third of an acre,
thirteen thou being a third of boy, it's going to
be pretty tight quarters, that's for sure. Melanie. Let's take
a break and let's get folks, get these phone lines going.
Coming right back with my guest, Melanie Tringali. You're running
(09:46):
at large. There are no district councilors in Medford. It's
an at large election, and I'm going to follow this
and see what happens. And I want to hear from
people tonight from Medford or elsewhere. You've had a similar
situation from another community, you can weigh in as well.
And if someone is out there representing our revolution and
(10:07):
they want to jump on, that's fine too. We're coming
back on night Side. Six. The only line right now
is six one seven. There's one line right there, coming
back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray. I'm w BZ,
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Melanie, we got full lines. Let's go and see what
people in Medford have to think, and we're going to
take them as they come in. All set, you.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Ready, yep? Ok here we go.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
All right, come on, Melanie, you're ready, Let's go. Okay, dope,
be nervous. Let's go to Patrick in Medford. Hey, Patrick,
welcome your first this hour on Nightside the Redhead sir.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Hey, Dan, good to be here. This is Patrick Clerkin.
I'm actually another one of the candidates for city council
here in Medford, another one of the independent candidates.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
All right, how long have you been in Medford?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
I've been here for eight years now, so I'm on
thirty two. I actually grew up in North Reading, so
I'm a north Shore guy.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
But now I know that the positions of city councilor
are well, probably a full time job, but they don't
pay like a full time job. What do you do
for a living? If I could ask?
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Yeah, So basically, if I wasn't running a campaign, I
would be doing mechanical engineering contract work, but they've done
a lot of handyman work recently because that's more flexible.
That was actually kind of my entry point into a
lot of the local civic stuff is you develop a
word of mouth network when you do handyman work and
(11:35):
you meet a lot of your neighbors and they tell
you their frustrations with local politics.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Good for you, Good for you. Well, you're on with Melani.
Feel free to comment, say whatever you like, ask a question.
The floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Well, Hey, Patrick, how are you going?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Let let let's get Patrick going here first, Melanie hold on,
go ahead, Patrick.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Well, I was just going to say, I think Melanie
did a really good job of laying the groundwork of
what's going on here. We're at a pretty pivotal moment
where this rezoning issue in the city is sort of
the centerpiece of a lot of the issues that are
happening here, and there's just a lot of imbalance within
(12:24):
the city, and the zoning issue demonstrates the imbalance between
the city overall and the neighborhoods. And the group that
Melanie referenced, this our revolution group, I think that they
I don't think. I know that they have a strong
emphasis on the overall needs of the city and trying
to push those pretty aggressively. And the problem with that
(12:50):
is the communications really broke down and there were no
neighborhood impact studies done as to how these things would
affect the people that are the immediate of butters per se.
You know, if you're trying to cram density into the thoroughfares,
the corridors, I should say that's the natural place to
(13:12):
do it. But there's kind of this attitude that some
people have, like I don't know if you've ever seen
the movie Shrek, where Lord Farquaad says, some of you
may die, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make,
you know, there's sort of some people's there's sort of
some people's attitude of like, hey, ain't my property. It's
it's the city that benefits, you know. But it's different
if you're in that area or if it's your house
(13:32):
that's been well well.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
The other thing. I mean, there's an interesting race going
on in New York with this guy Mindami. I'm not
suggesting that Mendami is the same as the folks here
with our revolution, but I suspect they're on the same
side of the street politically. Mindamie isn't about socialist and
as Margaret Thatcher said, the only thing wrong with socialism
eventually you run out of other people's money.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, so there are you know, I
won't go deep, deep down the rabbit hole on this,
but basically I've done a you know, there's part of
me that is a avid investigative journalist, and so I
kind of forensically have tried to figure out what's what's
going on in Medford and how it got to this
point and whatnot. And yeah, there are definitely overlaps with
(14:18):
with some of the goals, the Democrat socialist goals, and
I think that.
Speaker 7 (14:25):
My issue is.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
So some of this originated with a frustration in the
city of some of the people felt like the issues
of their concern, particularly the progressives, the more progressive people
felt like their issues weren't really getting addressed and historically
and Medford it was sort of like a boys club
and a smoke filled room, and so they were trying
(14:49):
to unmarginalize themselves basically, and all, you know, all I
get that, that's that's totally fine, and getting your voice
out there. But I feel like the kind of of
Faustian bargain that they made was anchoring to a national
organization that might have some quid pro quos if it.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Helps, you know, I'm assuming Patrick. I want to ask Melanie, Melanie,
you don't feel like you're in some sort of a
boys club here in Medford.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
I assume, right, No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I mean no, I don't. I think, you know, going
back to the goals of our revolution is to really
bring density into the city, and there's a lot of
people here, I think, old and new residents that like
the neighborhood fail. I've had two people in the past
(15:39):
two days where I've campaigned, have come up to me
and said, I'm voting for you. One woman said, I'm
voting for you because I want to continue to grow
up in a nice neighborhood and help my kids have
a nice neighborhood to grow up and play in, you know.
And that's what it comes down to, really comes down
to protecting the neighborhoods and why people live here.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Well, that's why people have moved there, Patrick, Patrick, do
you do you have a website that you'd like to
have people check out since you're a candidate.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Yeah, it's a clerk in that's C L E R
K I N and then the number four Medford dot com.
Pretty simple.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Okay, Well, well, Patrick, appreciate your coming on tonight. And UH,
at a city like Medford need someone who can do
the sort of work you do. And uh, and I
need listeners who are in your age range. And I
really appreciate you taking the time to call the night.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
I'm working on it, spreading the word.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Thanks Dan, Thanks so much, Patrick, appreciate it. Let me
keep rolling here. Let me get one more in Melanie
before we got to go to the break. Let me
go to William in Medford. William you were next on
light side, go right, hitshop.
Speaker 7 (16:48):
Hi Dan, Yeah, we spoke in the end of July.
Actually I was on with Melanie. Okay, and congratulations to Melodie. Melanie.
We had a you know, we had our Plmary election.
We needed to reduce the field from from seventeen down
to fourteen, and three of the independent candidates actually came
(17:11):
out on top of that preliminary election, which is encouraging.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
When you say three of the independent candidates, I mean
three of the candidates who are associated on your side
of the argument.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Yeah, I mean we like to you know, we don't
like to think of the non o AR candidates as
a slate. We we think that they have independent voices
there they are unified in the sense of, you know,
of stopping this rezoning and taking a step back. But
you know, we, uh we we don't like the fact
(17:44):
that the OAR has a single voice. And and you know,
when they when they were a majority, you know, didn't
listen to the uh comments of people in the neighborhoods,
and you know, they basically had car blanche to do
what they wanted. And uh so, yeah, Melanie was in
(18:05):
the top three. That was very encouraging. And I will
say that, you know, we're continuing to canvass the neighborhoods
and distributing flyers and and and when we talked to people,
we're still finding, even in West Medford where where the
impact is high, that many people are still unaware of
the you know, the radical of zoning plans. And so
(18:28):
you know, we're still trying to get the word out
before the election. The voting is open now, actually their
early voting, but we're trying to get the word out
to make sure people understand, you know, what the stakes are.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Who were the three UH members.
Speaker 7 (18:44):
George George Carpelli is the is the one non our incumbent,
and he came out on top, and we we we
had Rick Carvillo decide. Carvello decide to run. He he
was a candidate for mayor, is very popular. He came
out second, and then Melanie came in third, and we
(19:05):
had you know, of course the preliminary election doesn't have
as much turnout as the as the as the full election,
but but the votes were distributed pretty evenly across the city,
and you know, we're hoping that the results reflect but
we'd really like, you know, to to break the majority
(19:25):
o R is to get for independent at least for
independent candidates on UH you know seated.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Well, those folks can call in tonight as the as
the the folks from our revolution. Kind of absurd, kind
of appropriately William Best of what is what is your website? Oh?
Speaker 7 (19:49):
I don't have a website. I'm just I'm just a
concerned citizen that.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Okay, so you're not running, Okay, fine, if you're not running.
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Not running, Nope, just one of the people that are
working to get these independent folks elected.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Good well, thank you very much for your participation. Again,
people everybody likes to sit and complain about election results,
but they don't do anything either as a candidate or
Supporters are just as important as candidates. Every candidate needs
lots of supporters, that's for sure. Thank you so much.
Will you appreciate your time and thanks for listening to Nightside.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
Thank you. Tick.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
All right, we're going to come right back. Jill and
Medford will be up next. The only line open is
six one, seven, two, ten thirty. We're coming right back
on Nightside right after the news.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
My guest is Melanie Trindallie. She is on running for
city council in Medford. We are more than happy to
have you direct your questions to Melanie. She knows a
lot more about Medford than I do. Let me go
to Jill in Medford. Jillia next on Nightside, Melanie Trindalli's
with us.
Speaker 9 (20:58):
Go right ahead, Jill, Well, this is a topic I've
been thinking about. I lived in Medford when my twenties
for in a triple decker next to two triple deckers
and I saved up my money so I could move
to Medford and buy a house and have a garden
and everything. And I voted in this city council that
(21:19):
wants all this density, and I feel tricked by them
because it wasn't really clear. My neighbors didn't seem to
know what was really going on. But they're really pushing
this density. They have a lot of community meetings, but
they just ask us about the details. They don't really
take on the real question and how it's going to
(21:40):
affect people in my neighborhood. I live in West Medford.
You could build two triple deckers on either side of
me and some additional units. I mean, it would make
the neighborhood a place I wouldn't want to live.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
You're going to change your vote in November.
Speaker 9 (21:57):
Well, I already voted, and I took a list of
all the people that are in the city council except
for George and voted against them, and I voted the
rest of them inca. I want to change things back.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well, Jilla, I hope you'll continue to listen to Night
Side because we like to do stories like this and
like to help communities again. The name our Revolution is
a little off putting to me to begin with.
Speaker 9 (22:26):
Well, you know, I voted for them because they said
affordable housing, and I like.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
That.
Speaker 9 (22:32):
I think that's reasonable. But I thought they were talking
about putting these additional unit, maybe an additional unit so
your parents could live there or your child could live there,
you know, a very stable sort of situation, not a
like rentals on either side of you kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Well, the measure that I know our families and they
love to be able to you know, they're in the
homes where they grew up with the parents you know,
have passed on or whatever, and they intend, you know,
pass those homes onto that children. That's the stability of Medford.
But again it's like these candidates come around, We're going
to do free buses, free groceries. Everything's going to be free,
(23:11):
free this, free that for everything else. And a lot
of people say, oh, so it's pretty good to me,
doesn't closely anything.
Speaker 9 (23:17):
Well, you know that I live across my house is
almost one hundred years old, and across the street from
me is a house from seventeen eighty and diagonally across
the street is a Paul Revere Revolution meetinghouse. So this
is a neighborhood that's established for a while, and people
(23:39):
are people are They're into their houses, they're into fixing
them up, they're into the city. You know that it's
not a transient population at all.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Well, Jill, what you need to do is let your
neighbors know that this is an important election and it's
important vote and give them the list of the people
that you feel will do the best job for your neighborhood.
Speaker 9 (24:00):
Yes, that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Absolutely. I mean, you vote if they tricked you or
misled you, you want to make sure other people are
not tricked or misled as well. Thanks, Jill, I appreciate
your call very much. Say hi to Say hi to
one of the candidates, Melanie Tringalli. I hope you voted
for Melanie already.
Speaker 9 (24:17):
Yes, Melanie. I actually got a signed from her because
I wanted to make sure people got in who were
independent thinkers.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
All right like that. Thanks you appreciate your time. Thank
you so much.
Speaker 10 (24:28):
Thank you got to keep rolling here.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Let me go to I got full lines A one
line open now six seven thirty. Let me go to
Robert in Medford. Robert, You're next on Night Side with
Melanie Tringalli.
Speaker 11 (24:39):
Go right ahead, Robert, Hey, thanks for thanks for having me.
My wife Emily and I moved to Medford last year
where we're in her mid thirties. I'm a homeowner. I
actually am doing canvassing for all the independent candidates. I've
been doing door knocking for Melanie along with the six
(25:00):
other independent candidates. And zoning's really on my mind. And
you know, one thing I just love to share is,
you know, we have a lot of opportunities in Medford
right now to unite on increasing our commercial base. From
what I understand from people who live in Medford, you know,
(25:22):
we used to have a higher percentage of our tax
base in the commercial industry, commercial industrial industry. That's gone
down over time. And we just had three tax overrides,
you know, last year. And I live right near Route
thirty eight, which is just basically like kind of like
a commercial wasteland.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
There's a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Familiar with, yes, sir, you've described it accurately, yep.
Speaker 11 (25:46):
And you know, I just I really think the city
should be focusing on the commercial areas first. Like Melanie said,
there's already housing being built in Medford. You know, I
don't think the increased density that's been proposed by our revolution,
you know, is sustainable in the in the way they're
(26:09):
putting it out to be.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Right now, Well, thank you so much, Robert for your call.
And it's great that you're in your mid thirties. I
don't know I've ever had you as a as a
caller to my program, but I hope you become a
regular caller and a regular listener because you're you're the
sort of person who actually gives me hope for the future.
All four callings so far have been extraordinarily articulate and
(26:33):
focused on their points. You obviously are committed citizens in Medford,
and that's why I'm doing this hour tonight.
Speaker 11 (26:42):
Have a great night, Robert, thank you, thanks for having
me very well.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Quick break here, my guest is Melanie Tringhali. If you'd
like to ask Melanie a question about her campaign or
about any of the issues, she knows it a lot
better than I do. The only line open is six one,
seven nine already that'll get you through. Coming right back
on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
We're talking about the future of Medford, Massachusetts, and our
guest is Melanie TRANGOLLI, we have full lines. I'd love
to get everybody in who's on the line, So I'm
going to ask everybody just to tighten it up a
little bit. Let me go right to Nick and Midford.
He's been waiting the longest. Nick, You're next on Nightside
with Melanie Tringlly.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Go right ahead, Nick, Dan, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (27:29):
More than my name is?
Speaker 4 (27:31):
My name is Nick. I'm one of the other city
council candidates running in this election.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
What your what's your last name? Nick?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Gileo? G I you r l E oh all right?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
And what what has made you a candidate? What what
has made you decide to run for this office.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
So a lot of different things, but especially the zoning.
And I'm very happy to hear you doing this segment tonight.
One of the points I wanted to raise is just
the impact of this zoning that we don't understand due
to a lack of studies that have been done. Typically
studies are done before any major zoning changes are implemented,
looking at, you know, the economic impact. There's also impact
(28:13):
on essential city services like fire ems, whether or not
our schools can handle the increase in residence. Were really
we haven't had any of this done, and it's really
remarkable that they want to make these massive changes without
having studies done on what that impact would be.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, again, a lot of folks on the left like
to talk about autocracy, orism, authoritism, autocracy, and they practice
it when they get some power. So glad you're running.
How old are you are you? How this your first
foray into politics?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yes it is. I'm under thirty, believe.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It or not. That's okay. Believe you're in your twenties. Okay,
good for you, Good for you. Who knows, maybe you'll
be mayor someday. You never know who you could be,
maybe you become a US senator. I mean, you just
never know. What do you do for a living?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Start small Starwood City Council?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
I get it. Well, that's the way to do it.
What do you do for a living?
Speaker 4 (29:14):
If I could ask, I'm an attorney?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
You're an attorney? All right? I am as well. Well, Look,
thanks for calling in. And what's your website so we
can help you get in touch with people can get
in touch with you.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Sure, it's Nick G for Medford dot Com.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
That's a good that's smart man. Nick G forro Medford
dot com. Nick, appreciate it very much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Let's keep rolling here, going to go to Trish in Medford. Hi, Trish,
welcome back.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
How are you Hi?
Speaker 10 (29:45):
How are you Dan? Thanks so much for having me so.
One of my big concerns here is along the lines
with Nick, is they haven't done the correct amount of studies.
And recently in Summerville, I'm sure you'll recall within I
would say the past month they had a huge fire
that starts it in a home and it spread to
two other houses, and I spoke to one of the
fire department men there and he said that that was
(30:08):
due specifically to the radical rezoning changes that have taken
place in Summerville, because they've minimized the easement between the
homes to like five to eight feet, and so that
is the exact same thing that they're trying to put
in here. And then just the other night, and Melanie
may remember who it was, one of the Hour Revolution
(30:28):
got up and said they're smart enough not to say
defund the police and the firemen, but they do say
let's have more first responders, less less police, and we
need more social workers as first responders. That's code for
defund the police.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
That type of thing.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Next time someone is breaking in your house with a
gut or a knife, you need a social working You
certainly don't need a police officer, right right.
Speaker 10 (30:56):
Yeah, it's just crazy, They're all that's crazy. And our
current president of the city Council has been endorsed for
this election by the Democratic Socialists of America. So, I
mean it's coming out clear.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Well, we're connecting some dots tonight, Trisha, are you running
or are you a supporter at this point?
Speaker 10 (31:16):
No, I am a supporter at this point. And so
you know, we just have to take over the whole
city council. I mean, all seven seats need to slip period.
Well otherwise, you know, I mean we've already tried, they've
already tried to put a method one dispensary down our
throats and all.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It's all part of the package. It's all part of
the package. It's as simple as that. And if you
want to destroy Medford as it has existed now for
a long time, you know, our revolution sounds like a
perfect way to destroy the tradition and the history.
Speaker 10 (31:49):
Their new goal, their new goal is no cars in
Medford in ten years.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Perfect. That's perfect.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Yeah, I mean now we're going to single roads.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, that's not for bikes. That's that's that's not going
to hurt like jobs of auto workers at all. By
the way, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 10 (32:05):
And they just spent one of our current counselors just
spent seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars redoing the rotary
and now we find out that it's potentially isn't even
wasn't even done appropriately so that you can't even get
an eight a large truck, let alone a fire engine
around the rotary because the curvature isn't the correct.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Oh god, you know you know that sign that people
have on their desk, it's just playing ahead and the
last three letters are running off the side. That's what
we're talking about. Trish, I got three more. I'm going
to try to get to love your calls. Thanks so much.
Keep listening to night Side. Thank you so much. We're
going to go next to Paul in Medford. Paul, you
were next to Nightside.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Welcome, Hi Din, Hi Paul, Trish, Melanie, how are you.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Melanie's on the line.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Get right ahead, Hi, Paul, I'm all show a candidate
with Melanie and again.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Is your last name? Is your last name? The you're
the son of? From the state representative Paul Donado.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
I am, yes, I am say how.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Do your dad? I know your dad very well, and
I hope, uh, I hope you he is supporting you,
and I hope he's supporting the others as well.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
He is, he is definitely supporting us.
Speaker 12 (33:17):
What made me, I've been, as you know, our lifetime
method resident born here. What made me jump into the
race is the radical rezoning. It's just I'm against residential rezoning.
I don't want to see someone just put you know,
solar panels on their house and they build a skyscraper
(33:38):
on either side, and then the person that just put
solar panels doesn't get solar anymore because of the radical rezoning.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, no, I am Paul. I got to tell you this. Uh.
I know Medford. I've had friends in Medford for decades.
I know that city as well as any other non resident,
any non resident, and I think that the push here
is to turn Medford into an adjunct to Somerville and Cambridge.
(34:08):
And Somerville and Cambridge are wonderful communities, but Medford is
also a wonderful community, and it's great to have diversity
amongst different communities in that part of the Greater Boston area.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
So best time trying to take away into diversity. That's
the problem.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Keep me posted, Paul, okay, and say hey Dad for me.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Okay, I will thank you very much.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
Great job, Melanie, thank you, Thanks Dan.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
All right, very welcome.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Okay, I got two more. I'm going to try to
get it both in, starting with Nate in Medford. Nate,
you're next on nightside. Melanie Trengali is listening.
Speaker 8 (34:42):
Go right ahead, Nate, Hi, Dan, my name's Nate Meret.
I'm also another city council candidate running with Melanie and
Paul and Nick.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
And what's your What is your website? So we've got
to be fair to everybody. What's your website?
Speaker 8 (34:55):
Yes, sir, I don't have a website. I'm on Facebook, Nate,
my last name Merrit Emas and Mike E. R Rit.
And then you can look up city council for Medford.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
And you want to merit people's votes. I get that.
That's a good campaign slogan.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
Two r's two teas though, Yes, that's okay, I understand it.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
But that's, you know, trying to help you out here.
Pal stay with me.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
Absolutely, they'll remember your name.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
They'll remember your name if you merit their vote.
Speaker 8 (35:23):
The park Way in Connecticut, the merit park Way that
goes down through Connecticut to New York.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
That one.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Keep it local, Nade, keep it local. Well, good, best
of luck. Do you have a question or comment from Melanie?
She's doing a great job.
Speaker 8 (35:38):
Yeah, absolutely, she's a great job. And I really appreciate
your time bringing up a topic, especially with zoning. I
moved here in twenty fourteen, bought my house. I have
a now I have a wife and two small children.
I'm in my mid forties and we chose Medford because
it was a chance to own and I like my
neighborhood the way it is. And I'm actually on the
east side of the city and it's a mix of
(36:01):
single and two family homes right, And I'm concerned, just
like other parents are, you know, how do we afford
what we have? And I've got a big heart, but
I also understand the costs between daycare and owning a
home renting a home. And I want to see you
an opportunity for other young parents that I know be
(36:21):
able to buy a place with a patrograss sounds great.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Look. I hope you merit people's votes, Nate merrit and
I got to get one more in here before I
have wrapped the hour. Thanks, thank you, thank you much.
Let me go to Jan and Medford. Jen, you are
right under the wire here. You haven't waited very long,
but I got about a minute for you.
Speaker 13 (36:38):
Go right ahead, Hi Dan, thank you, Hi Melanie. I
am a resident of West Medford, been here for about
forty years. My husband's been here for over sixty years.
And this radical rezoning has really really caused an uproar
(36:59):
in the city. I don't you know, this all our spur.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Our revolution, and they mean it exactly.
Speaker 13 (37:12):
Yeah, they talk about density and affordability, but anything that's
being built is not going to be affordable. And they also,
you know, they keep saying, oh, you know, don't worry
about it. Just because we you know, we're proposing this zoning,
it doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
What I would say, Jen, we're flat out of time.
I want to say good night to Melanie and thank her,
but I also want to thank you for calling, and
I hope you alert your neighbors. Be the equivalent of
paul Revere. Become a Pauline Revere.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
Trust me or that we have we have, we go,
we go to door.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Thanks Jen, thank you so much. Thank you, Melanie. Thanks
for being back in touch with me. I've enjoyed tonight.
It's been great to hear from all of the candidates
and your supporters. Please keep me in touch next week.
This election is next Tuesday. There's open voting. Now, how
can people vote if they're not going to vote on Tuesday,
(38:07):
how can they get to the polls tomorrow? Over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
We do have early voting at city Hall in city chambers.
They're open pretty much every day between now and I
think Saturday, Friday or Saturday. I have to double check
on that. And then obviously there's voting on Tuesday from
seven to eight at any one of the awards or
precincts for the city. And thank you for having us.
(38:32):
I really appreciate it. Dan, remember the independent candidates. If
you want to save your neighborhoods and protect your neighborhoods
in the City of Measured, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
You want to maintain the character of a great city.
It's as simple as that. And keep us posted. Thanks Melanie,
I appreciate your time. Tonight we will talk again.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Thank you, Dan, have a good luck.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Pleasure. Thanks, good night. All right, we're done for the night.
We're going to go back and we're going to talk
with Lightning. Lady Lightning at the producer of Nightside, is
going to make a special guest appearance next hour. She
had a very special visitor in her yard early this week. Lions,
Tigers and Bear Bear's where do you hear the story?
Coming back on Nightside right after this
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