Board of Aldermen 02-22-2022 Page 29
PERIOD FOR GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
Laurie Ortolano
Laurie Orlando, 41 Berkeley Street. | want to address the barriers. On December 8" when we had an Infrastructure
Committee meeting, Director Cummings said that he was happy to facilitate a working group and it would be a public
meeting where it would be publicly noticed. Alderman O'Brien stated, “It's my intention probably, maybe to have it as a full
committee but I'm willing to appoint committee members. | would encourage that it's open to members of the public, the
stakeholders. We've got to have the stakeholders. We got to have you people at the meeting to really tell us. To come to
the Aldermen meeting like this is really not the kind of place it's putting the horse - the horse got out of the barn a bit. So off
we go on the ninth with we're going to get this committee done and it's an urgent thing on the eighth. On the ninth, | wrote a
question. | asked O'Brien you know, what's going on? How does this committee really get appointed? | was told after
January 9'" when the board is sworn in will do with it. And then he said, “As stated earlier, it's a work in progress with a keen
eye on the calendar for a solution that stated with an eye on the calendar. | assure you it is a project of high priority and it
will be done.” | looked on the calendar. It was never posted.
On January 12", | wrote an e-mail to Alderman O'Brien and Cummings requesting an update and had a committee been
selected, and general questions on the format, and | worded as a Right to Know. | never got a response but | did learn last
week that on the 11 Cummings received an e-mail from Marylou Blaisdell that informed him of an upcoming meeting on the
14" - two days later with the DIC to discuss the barrier issue. Nobody was told. | was never told through that Right to Know.
This meeting was never posted on the digital city calendar.
On January 26, we had an Infrastructure meeting. Barriers went out on the agenda. It was very strange, weird. | spoke at
the end. | was the only member of the public there. At the end, | said I’m confused with this is an emergency. What's going
on? Alderman O'Brien waited till the very last comments and said there's an organization that's been around probably since
the inception of Main Street and we're relying on them for citizen input. He went on to say we need stakeholders and | might
have a few names | can give you. | feel it was very deceptive not to state who that group was. You didn't even say it was a
public group. | didn't know who you were talking about. I've never been to a DIC meeting. The last set of minutes online are
from April of 2021 and there has never been a committee report...
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
30 seconds
Laurie Ortolano
...submitted to the Board of Aldermen since last year. This goes on and on with deception and Right to Knows. | was
tasked by people in this city to try and tell them when something was happening. | did everything | could to do that and | got
duped because nothing was posted. I'm very disappointed at the underhanded nature. We gave you about $50 million to
improve the downtown with an art center, with a walkway, with School Street project, and now we're hearing...
Donna Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager
Your time is up.
Laurie Ortolano
...i/f we don't give you the sidewalks, it's not good enough. | think we gave you enough. Thank you.
Michael O'Connor
It's Michael O'Connor, 42 Berkeley Street. Thank you. Good evening. My comment is on the method being used to
advance the extended outdoor dining proposal offered by Mr. Cummings. His letter to the Committee of Infrastructure, a
Chairman in your in your agenda, states and | quote, “We waited for some time to see if interested parties would offer
anything as an alternative but to date no alternative arose.” This assertion is striking and Mr. Cummings lack of mentioned
when and how could interested parties have been able to submit their input. Many citizens voiced their concerns at the
Committee on Infrastructure meeting referred to on December 8". From those minutes, you could notice not only alternative
suggestions but an emerging voice for compromise. Hence, what was then proposed was tabled. You should know in those
minutes both Chairman O'Brien and Mr. Cummings stated that in January there will be a working group formed and the
motion would be brought back.
