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ACM Affordable Housing CACHE City Council Candidate Condon Shell Deep Cuts Events Calendar Friends of the Medford Public Library Podcast fundraiser George Scarpelli Gotta Know Medford independent candidates Jonathan Fagen Medford Brewing Company Medford Charter Medford City Counci Medford Farmers Market Medford Happenings Medford Historical Society Medford Jazz Festival Medford Public Library Medford School Committee Candidate Medford Soap Company Melanie Tringali Milva McDonald Mrs. Murphys Mystic Players Revival Nate Merritt Nick Giurleo Oktoberfest Page Buldini Patrick Clerkin Paul Donato Jr. Pilot Program Rick Caraviello Sam Sednek Terry Carter The Ford Tavern Things to do Tufts Community Day Tufts University Week Ahead West Medford Community Center yART Sale Zoning
Last Friday we had Melanie Tringali visit our studios and she sat down with John Petrella to discuss everything from zoning to lessons learned regarding her last attempt at running for city council. She also discussed the budget and “free” money and asks for accountability with tax payer money. Another issue she discusses are the issues around the last election process. The video is below, we will update this site when Melanie’s website is up and running, very much more to come.
509 Main St, Medford, MA 02155
Open Wednesday thru Sunday
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
(781) 396-2313
I discovered this bakery roughly three years ago and it is the perfect ‘elevated’ French bakery. Flakey pastries, not overly sugared and flavorful! They have a wide array of bakery staples like croissants, breads, cookies and cakes. Both breakfast items and lunch items are offered and their menu is updated frequently keeping you informed of the days specials or limited runs.
Flamenkuche (shown above), can be best described as a ham and cheese bagel but it is so much more than that. The bread is light and airy and delicious! I finished off my breakfast with a “Paris Brest” (below) which I originally misread as Paris Best, which it could have been. The mousse was light and the pastry was flaky and lightly sweet.
Yes you can spend an irresponsible amount of money here but it is worth every dime. Be forewarned, the pastries here can be a little pricey and Saturday mornings will have a line of roughly 20 – 30 people waiting to get in but if you plan accordingly, you won’t be disappointed. This is clearly one of Medford’s best!
The Medford Historical Society featured a new exhibit roughly three weeks ago. This is an event that is open to the public and is free. As you can read at the bottom of the poster they are only open on Sundays from 1pm to 4pm. The tour itself is self guided and is displayed on the main floor.
There are banners representing each ethnic group and their journey to the city of Medford, whether they arrived seeking a better life from various parts of the world of to the Native American Indians who had settled the region before settlers arrived from England, mostly everyone is accounted for. The exhibit is also interactive. At the bottom of each banner is a QR code that if you point your smart device, you will get an audio clip giving you more details on the particular group.
Of course the Historical Society also displays other artifacts from Medford’s past including prominent women who played vital parts in the city’s history. There is also a large scale diorama on display showing early colonial Medford and what it looking like in the city square. There is plenty to see. Also notable, within the past year a large cache of civil war era photos were discovered and had been sent out to get digitized, those should be available for viewing shortly.
While the admission is free, please consider donating what you can because the money goes back to the upkeep of both the building and for future displays and events. This is a nice way to spend an afternoon in an air conditioned building. Lets not forget it is within walking distance to many restaurants after your visit.
For more details please visit their website – The Medford Historical Society.
Just released yesterday, the new podcast for the Friends of the Medford Public Library. The purpose of the podcast is to highlight upcoming events and resources of the library. For example, the podcast was recorded in full at the library’s own podcasting studio! This is among the many examples of things you can do in our library.
Who are the Friends of the Medford Public Library? In short this is a group of members who ensure that the library has everything it needs to be a fully functioning library. They help supplement or pick up the tab for items that may not be funded in full. For more details check out their “About Us” page. The board is presided over by Julia Hendrix and frankly, this may be the most fun board in the city!
This episode the host is Bruce Patterson and his co-hosts for the inaugural run is Sam Sednek (Associate Director of the library) and Mouse (Coordinator of the Makerspace). They discuss in detail about the upcoming Maker Fair which will be August 24th. If you haven’t checked out this part of the library please do. There are also programs for kids and teens in this space, whether its creating stuffed ‘franken toys’ or working with materials or utilizing our 3D printer, this can all be done at the library, this is your resource!
If you are not a member of the Friends of the public library, please consider becoming one – https://friendsofmedfordlibrary.org/Membership
There are always plenty of volunteer opportunities as well, they would love to have you join!
The podcast can be found here – Episode one of the Friends of the Medford Library Podcast.
At 9:00am this morning, residents from West Medford gathered to discuss the zoning issue. Among the residents were City Council hopefuls – Page Buldini, Melanie Tringali and Nate Merritt. It was clear from the outset, the most concerning issue again was regarding how quickly this is going. A decision like this should take much more time, thoughtful and proper planning and resident communication and involvement.
Flyers were distributed to inform the public in better detail what is included in the proposed zoning changes and what is being excluded. You can see a copy of the flyer here – http://tinyurl.com/slow-rezone It is important that you to read the second page of this pdf. You can give the city your input now. YOU MUST ACT NOW – July 23rd may be the last time you can register your concerns with the Mayor and City Hall.
If you could not attend the last zoning meeting at city hall the link to the video of the event is posted below:
https://medford.vod.castus.tv/vod/?video=8e50d8d9-e8ca-4748-b8ad-d1fb76937261
Just about all independent candidates spoke at this event. If you don’t have time to listen to all 4 hours, the candidates and their time in the video are next to their names:
Nick Giurleo: 1hr 7mins
Nate Merritt 1hr 23mins
Patrick Clerkin 2hr 12mins
Melanie Tringali 2hr 43mins
Page Buldini 2hr 52mins
Zac Chertok 3hr 7mins
Paul Donato Jr was in attendance but was unable to comment.
Board Comments return at 3hours 39mins
Last night Medford residents gathered at city hall to hear about the plans regarding the updates for zoning. The evening started off ominously with technical delays with zoom. The actual meeting which was supposed to begin at 6:30pm didn’t kick off until 7:00pm.
In attendance were city council hopefuls – Patrick Clerkin, Page Buldini, Melanie Tringali, Nick Giurleo, Paul Donato Jr and Nate Merritt. Rough count shows nearly 100 people physically in attendance. There were no rough numbers regarding zoom attendees.
The meeting was symbolic of the entire process, meaning it was very rushed. While planning has been going on since April of last year, one of the challenges is around communications. Residents only recently received their quarterly tax bill along with an increase to their current rate. Included with this tax bill was a piece of paper referring residents to the zoning section on the city’s website – https://www.medfordma.org/departments/planning-development-sustainability/zoning
When the meeting did proceed, it was clear from the outset, everyone was in agreement, the time line and proposed changes to the zoning ordinance is happening much too quickly to allow for proper implementation. Members of the Community Development Board to the Mayor to the residents in attendance stated their concerns with the speed for which this process was moving along.
Among the common questions were, what are the actual benefits the residents will see? On the surface, this looks to be a money generating effort, while benefitting the city overall, has a very heavy cost. The residents will not see a break on their tax bill. Most importantly and this cannot be understated, this development may not result in actual affordable housing. More does not equal affordability. The current infrastructure is not in place (sewer and water lines) to handle the increase in development, however the city cannot realize the full impact until a complete report and studies are in place.
You can read as much about this project by checking out the city’s website. However, with something as important as this change is, you owe it to yourself to be present at these meetings, however note, the time for public comment and voicing your concerns is closing rapidly. At minimum reach out to your representatives, reach out to the mayor and ask these questions. We will post the video of last night’s event as it becomes available.
The agenda for last nights event can also be found at the link below
https://www.medfordma.org/departments/planning-development-sustainability/zoning
Page will be our guest in a couple weeks, however in the meantime check out the podcast and of course visit Page’s site for more information regarding her bid for Medford City Council.
The podcast can be found here – Medford Bytes
website: www.electpagebuldini.com
email: pagebuldini@gmail.com
Instagram: pagebuldini
Facebook: Page Buldini for Medford City Council
Today is going to be another hot one. If you need a place to go there are many places you can go to. The public library is always a good choice. The senior center on Riverside drive and oddly enough the police station has a community room.
Reminder, tomorrow there will be another chance to sit in on the zoning committee meeting which kicks off at 6:30, the meeting will be held at city hall
Voter registration. Currently there are only 19k registered voters for the upcoming city elections. If you or someone you know hasn’t registered yet, you can get more information here – https://www.medfordma.org/departments/elections-commission.
From the elections commission website:
Voter registration options include:
Online via www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleidx.htm
Visiting the Elections Commission Office at Medford City Hall, Room 102.
Requesting a voter registration card via email elections@medford-ma.gov
Requesting a voter registration card to be mailed, by calling 781-393-2490.
Please be aware the voter registration deadlines still apply.
In addition, branches of the state Registry of Motor Vehicles, social service agencies and military recruitment offices provide voter registration services.
The elections are only a short 4 months away. We will be putting up a candidate information page shortly so be on the look out for that.
I hope everyone had a great 4th! This is the time of year where the 4th usually means we are at the midway point of the Summer. Last Monday June 30th, the Medford Public Library celebrated 150 years on High Street. The party was well attended as various luminaries showed up, of course the Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, State Rep Paul Donato to name a couple. The event was slated for two hours. The first hour was dedicated to talks around the origins of how the library came to be and the second hour was to allow folks to mix and talk about how the library has meant to themselves as well as the residents of the city of Medford.
While this was about celebration, there was a note of sadness as Barbara Kerr, long standing director of the library had announced that she was stepping down in April of 2026. She is the best of what Medford has to offer. Under her stewardship, she has done an outstanding job in guiding the library from its somewhat humble beginnings, to dealing with Covid, to overseeing what is now a world class library. Roughly 500+ visit the library in person each day! The calendar of events is only matched by the CACHE events calendar. There is literally something for everyone.
Overall this was a fun event and one that we hope will still be around when we hit the next milestone of 200 Years! As always, the library can still use your help, there is currently a fund raiser $150 for 150 years, if you have the ability to donate, please consider doing so. More information can be found here – https://www.medfordpubliclibraryfoundation.org/150years
Above are post cards showing the evolution of the public library.
Reminder this event is happening today, hope to see you there!
This past Friday, we spoke with Paul Donato Jr and we had a pleasant discussion around why he entered the race, the platform he is running on and what he hopes to bring to the Medford City Council. We will be posting his video as soon as its available. Just a heads up we are not having a show this week as the 4th is of course, a holiday!
Medford Happenings 