Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Buenosia's Boston comanming muy special.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is the city of Chelsea that's visiting.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Us today, and it's so special because I am so
fond of the city. I have seen a lot of
my friends work from the Lativa setting up their shop there,
helping a lot of our Latino community and other immigrants
that have come and settled in that beautiful city. It's
(00:29):
so close to Boston, and it's growing, and it's growing
not just building new housing, but also developing a lot
of the great projects as the city has and today
with us Les and benita a FIVEL Maltes, welcome Fidel.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
In Bueno dias a Chelsea, the good morning Boston. It
is a privilege to be here and and speak about
our city, our story, and more importantly, our future.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Sophiel every time that I have a guest, and I'm
very pleased that you're here as soon as Latino it's
in charge of the city and you are doing a
phenomenal job.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Tell me who is FIVEL maltees?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Would you Sea Gavi is a he since seramente but
that Joe no sol lacomonia in Tea and Chelsea ptimental
lamonia migrante La Comonia Latina. So I also am an immigrant.
(01:46):
I came to this country when I was seven, Okay,
I am. I was born in Managua. Uh And, as
you can imagine, I was born in the eighties and
and that was really.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Hard time for but for Nicaragua, it was a time
of war.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It was a time of love civil war, right, and
and a lot of immigration happened uh out of NIKADAA
was into the US at the time because it was
it was a really challenging time. My family came to Miami,
so I don't know. Yes, in the three or five
we moved to Alapada, which is it's actually very similar
(02:24):
to to Chelsea. Uh And and after Alpada, we moved Hialiah,
which which is very similar to Chelsea in terms of
a melting zone.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
What brought you to Boston?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
It was a long story or you.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Know, short enough.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, it's like the Golden Road of so so I
I uh, I'm from Nicaraga. I went to college at
Lafaya College. I wanted to be an engineer. I wanted
to build things. I wanted to improve improved systems, improved infrastructure.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Uh, you're so good at what you do.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
It's it's critical to build right, and we're building people,
we're building systems. After after I joined the private sector
for a long time, my wife got a job in
Chelsea and Chelsea so okay, I am here because in Chelsea,
but I am also here because of my wife. Her
(03:23):
name is Maria Ellen Power. We went to high school
together and in our marriage is really a partnership.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Amazing. See, I love to hear all those love stories.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Not too long ago, we had a guest and he's
actually Junior Pepen who works for the Red Sox.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And guess what brought him here?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
His wife Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So La moreso we have something going on that we
make men like move everything continents.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
So when you come to the city of Chelsea, what
comes to mind is history, right you are talking about Nikara.
I'm Mexican. Our countries are very much so based in history.
You have like the Spaniards when they came over and
took over our land, and then you have all these
revolution and independence in these fights. But when you talk
(04:15):
about Chelsea, it actually brings memories of what the US
is today. What is like to be in that city
with such amount of history.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Chelsea is such an incredible community. Last year, in twenty
twenty four, we celebrated our four hundred university. Chelsea is
actually older than Boston by a couple of years, right,
Chelsea's settled, like.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Nobody heard, Like everybody pay attention. Four hundred years.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Four hundred years of history, you know, of community building
and four hundred years of transitions.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Right, Chelsea. I think.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
In many ways it is the best Cinderella story of
the Commonwealth.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
As you know, in the eighties, Chelsea was wasn't a
dark place. It was marred by corruption, by a lot
of bad institutions and the state that came.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
In school and Chelsea and it's like, I don't know
if I should go there, but I'm telling you it's
such a beautiful place. Nowadays, I love it. Chelsea is
one of my favorite places.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
And my job is to is to really lead the
communication change of Chelsea, Manta, Chelsea, La Metta, Chelsea, Cambier, Chelsea,
like I say Aracosa.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
So when you say four hundred years, you're talking about
that it got settled, established.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So Chelsea was established in sixteen twenty four and at
the time, Chelsea was bigger so actually Revere, who is
our neighbor in the north, was called North Chelsea at
the time, it was a neighborhood fact of Chelsea. Absolutely,
so we we have seen a lot of changes in
that time and a lot of different waves of people.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So they immigration, You're absolutely right because even in the
north shore of Massachusetts, and if you think about like
where everybody started settling, from the Irish to the English
and like now immigrants, they are very much so considered
Latinos because we're the majority of the minority. But there's
so many other communities, like what happened in Chelsea, who
(06:29):
established their first and then next and how did they evolve?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, if you can imagine Chelsea, Chelsea is the gateway
to Boston, right, So at the time it was you know,
those who couldn't afford Boston but had to work in Boston,
right came to Chelsea and established. We are are so
close from Boston now now it's it's just over the
Toy Bridge, right Lolindo Chelsea la henta cambiao, and see
(07:01):
it in La Cambelle. We are people who who help
each other, right who who who come out and and
and really bond over our shared history. At one point,
Chelsea had the most slenigogues of in the country. Imagine that, right,
And even today there is such a legacy of the
(07:22):
Jewish community in Chelsea. We we still have several temples,
I know it. It is the month of all that. Yeah,
it is the month of Ramadan as well.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And and just a couple of weeks ago we we
celebrated with our Muslim community as well in Chelsea. Uh.
We have a very large mosque called the Al Huda Society.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Right.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And this is the the the story that we're trying
to share about Chelsea. Chelsea is a melting pot, but
it is really a community of all of all of.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
All peoplescood chat that you belong there. Like if you
think about Chelsea, even though it sounds, you know, for
the people that are not familiar with the history. Now
that the two fifty is coming, that the celebration of
the two hundred and fifty, that universary of the United States.
If you bring up Chelsea and then four hundred years
(08:18):
of the establishment of this beautiful city, what are your
plans to celebrate? Like, what are you doing in order
for people to come and join and you know, find
out what's happening restaurant wise. I know I have a
friend that they've been building hotels and she feels very
procaus she was part of this video that they just start.
Like you guys, I don't know if it was last
(08:39):
year or some time ago, A beautiful video that you
put together about the city is so colorful.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
What is happening now with all these celebrations, what's Chelsea
all about? As far as like the community and events?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Last year was absolutely incredible or four hundreds that was
here uh at our Heart Radio and we had our
Chelsea Day celebration. We had fireworks uh uh overseeing the water. Uh.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
It was an incredible year.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
This year we are going to do even more mass
mass lass I.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Memorial Day.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
As you know, Chelsea played a huge role in the
revolutionary time. The Battle of the Chelsea Creek really started
the revolution, right and and and what happened is, uh,
there was a big boat by the British that sank
on on the Chelsea Creek. And in that boat had
(09:48):
not sank in the Chelsea Creek, the Battle of Bunker
Hill would have happened in Chelsea, right and and and
history might have been a little different, a little different,
a little different. So what we are doing is one
Memorial Day weekend, we are re enacting that battle. So
we're gonna have a really big ship that is gonna come.
(10:09):
It's a colonial area uhhip, it's called a schooner, a schooner, so.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Historia, Like, we are teaching everybody the history of Boston,
not only for the city of Chelsea as well, but
for the people that live here.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
You have to feel proud.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You have to feel so proud because this is where
everything started for the entire country and there are communities
as old as you know what you're saying about the
Jewish community. And then what is the next generation that's
settled in Chelsea see.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Him?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Okay, Chelsea specifically is uh is very Central American, but
we also Haveria Dominicanos. You know, our population from Colombia
is growing as well as Venezuela. But but I think
(11:21):
overwhelmingly the the the majority of Latinos Chelsea are from
from Central America like me uh, Nicaragua.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So for those that don't know, like in the Hispanic
community or the Latino community, we actually are in different pockets.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Right, you have Firmingham, it's a lot of Brazilian.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Then you have Woosters, a lot of Puerto Ricans, and
you have you know, the East Boston and Chelsea.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
That's all Central Americas.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
That you go to Lawrence and it's Dominican Republic all over.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So what I love about.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Chelsea and this probably you're gonna tell me more of
what your plan is, but los Centro Americanos we love soccer.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Absolutely, Smoha, look at Auritaka and Chelousasando our first comprehensive
master plan since nineteen seventy. Right. So Chelsea, as you
can imagine, is a growing city, is a city with
(12:26):
a lot of demands both on traffic, on infrastructure, on roadway,
and what we are trying to do is create a
plan that that really brings us all together. And the
first thing that we we had to do was was
find a word, find out a message, right, and what
we did is we picked Chelsea Palante, Palante, chelousing forward,
(12:52):
moving forward absolutely absolutely, and to us, Palante means let's go,
let's go together. But let's go doesn't matter where you're
from or you know what what your social backrin exactly.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Palante.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It's also a battle cry as you can imagine, in
the Battle of the Chelsea Creek, we could have been
there and said palante, right, because because it's it's a
it's a movement, if it's an emotion, right, it's a
story that we're telling with, which is Chelsea bapalante.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I love that word because a lot of people, even
when you're talking about somebody's personality, you say like, oh,
it's an l palante, like you're so in the moment, going,
you know, getting hustling. And that's what Chelsea is all about.
And when I think of the city exactly that comes
to my hard workers, a lot of people that are
(13:47):
that left their families to come here and make a
living so they can survive. I mean, I can't even
tell you the stories that I've also heard from Gladys
and her organization and every time that there's a need,
for example, the pandemic back then in the twenties in
twenty twenty, they were so united.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Was one of the cities that.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Got more COVID cases, but also they helped each other
the most, and that's probably why it was so bad.
And what I like about that is Fidel, that you
are here today sharing the word of what the city
is doing.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But I want to propose something for you.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
When these big events come up to the city, like
in this case is the World Cup, right, you're talking
about Sie de Partidos, there's seven games that are coming
into Jillette Stadium. But Gando Sonac Grandez like people. You
need to understand that they are already bookings all over
the New England region, not just Boston or Massachusetts. They're
(14:49):
like all the way down into Maryland, Pennsylvania, like even Maine.
Because there's going to be no way that Oz is
a big city. We can have the infrastructure to hold
over through million visitors, that's right. That turns into over
four hundred billion dollars in revenue for the city. You
need to help me help our community maximize and capitalize
(15:15):
on those opportunities.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
And I'll tell you that we Chelsea are are all in.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
In other words, we are Palante, right, and this is
why we're we're starting to plan now, right and and uh,
another campaign that is is mixed is our Discovered Chelsea campaign.
Nice and what I brought you was was a the
symbol of Discovered Chelsea, right that this is what we
(15:43):
are trying to do.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Camera absolutely right, Chelsea. Chelsea is very close to Boston.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Right. We are an extension of Boston if you are
in many ways. And if we can leverage right our
proximity to Logan Airport, if if we can leverage our
proximity to to to the uh the community of Boston.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I think it makes everyone stronger.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
But uns Blant, I love that, So, Fidel, what is
your goal after you embrace all of these campaigns as
as a Nicara one, as a citizen of this beautiful
city and a resident, what is your personal mission and.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Purpose?
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Absolutely? And this is why my work is so personal
to me. But I came to this country as an immigrant.
My mother is is a is a janitor at a
furniture store, right, and I saw, uh the sacrifice that
she made to get me where I am today. And
this is her story is not unique. Her her story
(16:51):
is a story of Chelsea. My success is not unique,
but my success is the success of Chelsea. We come
to this country to work. We come to the country
to improve the lives of everyone, especially our children. Right.
And this is what I'm I'm trying to share both
inside of our community but also outside of our community.
(17:12):
We are the immigrant community is here to stay. We
are here to contribute. We are here to lead this
country forward, provide economic opportunities in the future, and also
to be the leaders of the future. Right.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I have no doubt that Chelsea will continue to create
amazing leadership that is invested in the community.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So you're talking about a very specific word leadership. Right.
Leaders are the ones that set the standards, that actually
show with actions what you are doing in order for
others to follow. What can our community do Because it's
very easy to be on your place and just say
and share like we're doing a B and C and
(18:01):
the city is committed, right, But us as residents of Chelsea,
we need to do our part too. What can the
residents do in order to help you chart Chelsea Palante?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
You know you mentioned the COVID nineteen pandemic, right Chelsea.
Chelsea at one point had the highest case rate in
the country. Chelsea is a community that that that that
never is defeated. Right.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
We're a community that that bands together. We we support
our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
At the time, I was a Commissioner of Public Works
and I can tell you that I worked very closely
with Glady's on the food lines.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Right, so we, uh, we know that in cases.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Of emergency, audience can imagine that if you're not in
that area or you have not experienced what those foodlines
you're talking about almost ten thousand people.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
It was an incredible think incredibly.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Incredible lines and lines and lines of people.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You guys were there with the cold, sweating everything, and
it was so impactful.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Absolutely, but it wasn't work. It was not the work
of one person. It was not the work of one organization.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
It was really the work of an entire city, of
an entire community with leaders, Yes, leaders like Gladius. Of
course our city manager at the time was uh Tom Ambrosino. Uh,
it was it was serving leadership. It was uh, you know,
leaders focus not on themselves. Uh, leaders focus on on
(19:38):
the greater good.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And as a business, I'm thinking outside the box here
because the the World Cup is coming and I want to,
you know, maximize my opportunity. What is Chelsea doing to
support small businesses.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
We're we're doing a lot. We just launched a entrepreneur program.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
We know that that that launching your own business is hard.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Right. There's a lot of paperwork involved in it, in
the actual process. Uh, And there's a lot of second assistance.
It is absolutely is terrifying. So with in partnership with
our our Chamber of Commerce, who is incredible. Right, our
Chamber of Commerce is on Broadway. It is led by
people from Chelsea.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Look at.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Me, and.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
I don't know what's okay in folk is.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
As you can imagine, right that a lot of people
are going to come to Chelsea and I want to
say it at a hotel, right, and and we want
them to come and stay at our hotels, but we
also want them to shop in Chelsea. We want them
to have a meal in Chelsea, have have.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Is yeah, or and share the amazing cuisine that we
have in Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
And you know, I was thinking the other day because
I was driving by the New East Boston area, right
where they developed all these beautiful buildings on the waterfront.
I was like, we're running out of waterfront, especially in Boston.
I looked into investing in Chelsea because I thought like,
there's nowhere to go with Chelsea's next that's right, what
(21:33):
is happening there? Like what's happening with housing? What are
you building? Are you really looking into having some waterfront properties?
Are you still very industrial? Because Chelsea is very industrial.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Chelsea is very industrial. Over half over fifty percent of
our tax space is industrial. You know, if you can
imagine that that that helps our residents, right because the
more industrial tax space that we have, uh, the lower taxes.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
So it is this balance of wanting to keep the
benefits of industrial while also uh leveraging the opportunities that
we have.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
So so basically.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
This is why we are launching our comprehensive master plan.
Right a little plank. Chelsea Palante is not going to
be me uh imposing my views of the community. Our
goal is to have a city wide conversation. We want
to hear from residents what they think Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So should look where can they reach you? Where can
they find all the activities that Chelsea is hosting. What
can people do in order to be part of Chelsea Palante.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
So we launched a website panol is Palante that Chelsea
m a dot org.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Right. So it's a beautiful website.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
We are are are really trying to weave the colors,
the vibrancy and the energy of our We'll share.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
All that information our social media and we'll share it
also on our description. Fidel I am just so excited
with everything that's happening, Like these couple of years that
are coming for me, I'm like, I'm ready to get
the party started also at Charlie. But also what I
want to make sure is that people take advantage of
learning the history of our state, our country. It's very
(23:33):
important to know where we come from, where we are establishing.
Our children need to hear this. Just Savasa Wollstone is
bringing all these resources because we want to educate our
community and make sure that we are having smart conversations
that we know how important these celebrations are and what
the cities are doing like Chelsea to put together these
(23:56):
efforts are grandios. They are like really important for us
to acknowledge the hard work, to acknowledge that the community
deserves these type of celebrations. And last but not least,
when I have my guests, they sit in that chair
and they have a question for the following guest, I'm
(24:17):
going to ask you what my last guest asked, So
that's your question.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
So that was Junior Penn from the Red Sox is
here and his question was like what have you done
to feel proud of your heritage?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And that's such a beautiful story, a beautiful question question
because it talks about what Chelsea is right and Chelsea
is heritage. Chelsea is honoring our past while looking forward
to who we are today and who we are going
to be. So last year we had a year long
(24:58):
celebration of that of honor drink of honoring our heritage, right,
and it was the four hundred years right of celebrating
who has come before. Now we are honoring our heritage
by launching forward, by launching Palante.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
So you know, it's something that obviously needs to be inclusive, right.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
We need to include the voices of everyone, of women,
of Latinos, African Americans, of Muslim people.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
It's got to be a a united front by all means.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Ye, what's that question? So the next guest, what is
a question that you would like to ask them?
Speaker 4 (25:43):
Yeah, it's something that I think about a lot a lot.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
I'm a runner, so I use running as a as
recharging myself, as distressing as as I'm plugging. And in
this time of a lot of news that can be
a lot of this stress can be negative and stressful. Uh.
I always ask our staff, our residents, how are you recharging?
(26:06):
How are you recharging question.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yes, I can wait for our next guest to ask
that question. Fidel, it was such a pleasure compas caused
us Dan Chelsea per comparts to Historia Kamonica.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
It's a very big honor for media.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Hosts you here to have you and share all the
history that we have in our country, especially in the
city of Chelsea.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
And I hope to have you here again very very soon.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Absolutely, thank you for having me as an honor to
share my story personally but also the story of Chelsea.
And I leave you with with our flyer that is
discovered Chelsea. We encourage everyone to visit Chelsea. Chelsea is
an amazing community. It has amazing foods, it has a
lot of hotels. Uh and and we we welcome you to.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Chelsea, Joam and then toon says Babonos Palante. Let's go,
let's move forward, and don't forget to download the iHeart
app and pre select keep Basa Wolston as your favorite podcast.
Remember it's important for you to share this information, so
just click the link or you can use a red
button and talk back and tell us what you think
(27:19):
of Chelsea. Thank you again, Fidel, and we'll see you
next Sunday