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It has been a long time coming, after an extensive hiatus, the Mystic Payers Revival will be presenting the play – Much Ado About Nothing! This all takes place next Friday and Saturday July 26 and July 27.
Despite the “tickets now available” this event is FREE! Just show up, the curtain rises at 5:30pm tonight and Saturday!
The performance will be held at the Condon Shell in Medford.
The following is a repost from Nick’s facebook account.
Many residents have become distrustful of the Council and do not feel heard. From reducing public speaking time to very late running meetings and last-minute agenda changes, there are good reasons for this. Here are 6 solutions Nick proposes to improve transparency between the Council and members of the public:
1. Increase Public Speaking Time: Under the current Council, public speaking time was reduced last year to only 3 minutes per speaker. When Nick is elected, the very first resolution he will propose will be to increase public speaking time to 5 minutes per speaker. Residents should not feel rushed at the podium and deserve an adequate amount of time to express their thoughts.
2. Reduce Councilor Speaking Time: Councilors often deliver lengthy, verbose speeches that flatter, grandstand, and do not get to the point. This causes Council meetings to drag on at length before public comment is opened, often discouraging residents from staying and voicing what they have to say. Nick supports limiting their remarks to no more than 10 minutes per paper and calling on the Council President to strictly enforce this limit. The less councilors are speaking, and the more members of the public are, the better.
3. No More Late Running Meetings: Members of the public have to work, attend school, and commit to other obligations the day after meetings and cannot wait all night to speak for a few minutes on an item. Nick supports a hard cap of 11 PM for all meetings (subject to rules suspension). Any outstanding agenda items are automatically tabled to the next meeting or a special meeting. When elected, Nick will move to table papers on significant community issues that do not get to public comment before 10 PM.
4. No More Last Minute Agenda Changes: Nick supports requiring the Council agenda to be finalized no later than the morning of the day of a meeting. Members of the public should have adequate notice of agenda items so they can come to meetings prepared to voice their thoughts on them. When elected, Nick will call out efforts to “sneak in” papers to the agenda the public was not given sufficient advanced notice of, such as hours before the start of a meeting.
5. Direct Responses to Public Comments: Councilors serving on the current Council too often totally ignore public comments because they are in opposition to their preexisting beliefs. Nick will directly respond to public comments, including by answering questions asked for the record, affirming that concerns that should be investigated will be investigated, and following up at subsequent public meetings on the results of investigations. Nick will call out councilors who do not adhere to their democratic duty to address what the public has to say.
6. Compliance with Massachusetts Public Records Law: Members of the public have a right under the Massachusetts Public Records Law to request public records from the Council. Nick will ensure the Council complies in good faith with the law and responds fully to all lawful requests for public records. He will ensure members of the public who feel records requests have not been fully and adequately responded to have an opportunity to be heard before having to seek legal recourse with the courts.
You can find his facebook page – Nick Giurleo for Medford City Council
Link – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575246882228
We had suspended our posts and shows as John had fallen ill. However, he is on the fast track and is getting better by the day. Let’s wish John a speedy recovery, from your family here at Medford Happenings! We were supposed to have Page Buldini as our guest this week but will rebook her for another day. We’ll post more information as we get it. Programming note we will be posting our interview with Nicole Branley soon. Nicole of course, is running as a member of the school committee.
Tonight three Arts groups met at the ACM (Arts Collaborative Medford) home on Mystic ave to discuss their futures and possible mergers. This past year the couple that had been in charge of the city reknown West Medford Open Studios have decided to step down from this long standing project. After 25 years the couple had been looking for another group to take on the West Medford Open Studios and the ACM have taken up the torch. However, in order to coordinate this new event, WMOS will not be showing this year but will be back in 2026.
Arts Medford has been around for 30+ years and had joined in the talks to consider a merger. Along with the ACM and AM, CACHE has also been invited to join this collaboration. This is a big deal because each group brings its own strengths and unique events to the table. Each group has also realized that in the new climate, money gets tighter and its more of a self preservation move if each is to survive in the coming years. Tonight was the first step in identifying these strengths and what each has to offer the residents of Medford.
Among the ideas that were discussed is how each can keep their identity in a collaboration. There were breakout groups that discussed overlap and where weaknesses could become a foundation to build upon. Early impressions out of the gate is the direction of this meeting. Everyone was largely in agreement of the way forward, each group was a pleasure to work with and the hopes are high in terms of this possible merger working out. It appears each group is eager to make this work. In the coming weeks they will be able to start sharing out details but for now, this post is going to have to do.
Most importantly, among the other issues discussed tonight, they will be playing host to the independent candidate night! There should be details shared out after Monday night, very much more to come!
For now, check out each site to see what they offer:
ACM – Arts Collaborative Medford – https://artscollabmedford.org/
Arts Medford – https://artsmedford.org/welcome
CACHE – https://www.cacheinmedford.org/
You could not have asked for a more perfect day! Saturday afternoon from 12pm to 4pm, the West Medford Community Center put on their annual BBQ. While tickets to this event were somewhat hard to find, that may be on purpose. As the doors opened, it was clear this place was going to be packed and immediately!
There were some tickets available at the door but those ran out quickly. What makes this event so special is that ALL of the food prepared at this event is homemade. Let me say that again – HOMEMADE! You had your choice of ribs or chicken, then you get a heaping of rice, a side of corn, potato salad, regular salad, watermelon and a drink.
The food was simply outstanding! You would be hard pressed to find any place that makes food of this high quality. The event planners knocked this out of the park! If you were looking for desert, they were selling baked goods and the choices ranged from cookies, brownies, everything was there! Cookies could be bought for .50, when was the last time you could buy anything for fifty cents? All proceeds of course go back in to the community center.
It should be noted that West Medford gets it right. People speak about community but WM executes it. All were welcome to this event and everyone knew just about everyone who showed up. Props to the independent candidates who showed up to this event. Talk about politics were discussed but most importantly, the candidates took the time to talk to people at this event and not at them. They also listened. The real goal was to have fun and enjoy this moment.
Among the city council hopefuls were Patrick Clerkin, Nick Giurleo, Page Buldini, Melanie Tringali and just announced, Rick Caraviello! Again today wasn’t about politics, it was about people, food and memories!
Getting back to community, West Medford was home to the famous West Medford Open Studios. They also have various events throughout the year. The community center is also home to a lot of senior events. More importantly, Medford’s own Terri Lyne Carrington world renowned jazz drummer has featured her – Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and the group of musicians she brings to this event are world class.
While we are here, you cannot talk about West Medford without bringing up Terry Carter, he is one of the Poet Laureates for the City of Medford. This man has been a prominent member of the community his entire life. You can hear it in his poems, his live events when performing with a jazz band and everyone knows who is he. He features a live show every first Friday of the month in a show called – Words and Music. We will be inviting him to the Medford Happenings show as soon as we can book him! For more information on Terry, check out his site – Terry Carter The Brown Skinned Poet
Resident Medford historian Dee Morris (pictured above) gave a walking tour titled “The Birth of the Library Neighborhood”. Fresh off of celebrating the Medford Public Library’s 150th Anniversary, this walking tour was the perfect supplement to this celebration. The talk began on the patio outside of the library and then the tour started along High street and stopped at 185 High street, which was a former rectory. The tour then crossed the street and headed back to the library, with stops along the way at important notable sites and homes.
The stories in just this small block of homes and churches included a love story, salacious relationships, the start of an all-girls school, generous support from the Brooks brothers (yes the very ones who are tied to the Brooks Estate in West Medford. The tour includes prominent names such as Magoun, Adams and Brooks. What was the most important take away from this tour was about resilience. There were a lot of failures a lot of over coming of obstacles and of course community. From the most prominent, wealthy residents to the poor and less fortunate, status was pushed aside to make Medford a better place. Some of those very elements still exist today.
Dee will be hosting at least two more tours again. One will be in August and the other scheduled for September. Please visit the Medford Public Library for more information. We hope to see you at the next one!
Library Neighborhood Historical Walking Tour
August 10th, Nick Giurleo will be hosting a fundraising event for his campaign. You’ll remember Nick was our guest a couple of weeks ago and of course we’ve posted the video below. It is important to help out the independent candidates who need your support. Nick hopes to bring his legal expertise to the city council if elected, more information about Nick can be found on his website – https://www.nickgformedford.com/home
Everyone’s invited to Paul Donato Jr. fundraiser. The money raised will go towards his campaign for Medford City Council. Check out his website for more information around his platform and of course if you haven’t seen him on our show, the interview is below!
It has been a long time coming, after an extensive hiatus, the Mystic Payers Revival will be presenting the play – Much Ado About Nothing! This all takes place next Friday and Saturday July 26 and July 27.
Tickets for the event are found on Eventbrite.
The performance will be held at the Condon Shell in Medford.
If you’re looking for something for your kids to do, send them to the Medford Public Library tomorrow! This event was well attended when this was presented last year! As we approach the mid point of the Summer, there is always something to do at the library, check out their massive events page – https://medfordlibrary.org/events/
Medford Happenings 