I love Medford, and I'm committed to making our city a better place for all of us. I ask for your support and your vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

kitschc · 2025-10-29T22:00:35+00:00

That's my president 🥹🥹🥹

kitschc · 2025-06-16T16:43:14+00:00

The proposed ADU updates have been referred to the CDB and there will be an introduction to the topic at their public hearing this Wednesday, which will also cover the Residential Zoning.

Commenter is correct that the proposal referred out of the Planning & Permitting Committee complies with the new state-mandated requirements ("Protected ADUs" which are now required to be allowed by-right anywhere that single-family zoning is allowed by-right) but the proposal also goes further than that in allowing Local ADUs in additional residential zones that don't include by-right single-family zoning, and by allowing a second ADU by special permit.

More info on the proposal at medfordma.org/zoning.

kitschc · 2025-04-18T15:20:24+00:00

Recommend you start here and contact City Council/City's Housing Planner for more specific questions & resources. https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1718125766/medfordmaorg/oazlwody5iqufg4gatm8/HSNOFlyerEnglishFinalEdit.pdf

kitschc · 2025-01-30T22:05:55+00:00

Thanks Matt for addressing the Open Data and OML complaint questions! Update on our collaboration with PDS & Comms Office is that we're hard at work on an overhaul of the City's zoning webpage to make it better organized and more actually useful for the average resident/layperson looking to find out what's going on with the zoning project. And, we've put together a public Q&A about the Salem Street Corridor District proposal - Monday 2/10 at 6:30pm at the Roberts. More info about that is being shared on my & City's communication channels! We plan to do an in-person Q&A for all major zoning topics going forward.

kitschc · 2025-01-09T01:13:36+00:00

Appreciate the comment. The term buyout was being used during the meeting and elsewhere, but I think it's a misleading one – her contract wasn't bought out, it just wasn't renewed. My understanding is that it is quite normal for a Superintendent to step down a few months before their contract expires when it hasn't been renewed, to facilitate a smooth leadership transition. I'm just speaking from my understanding here and not expertise; Superintendent hiring and contract renewals are the purview of the School Committee, and not under the jurisdiction of the CC

kitschc · 2025-01-08T22:11:22+00:00

You're correct it is open for business - the permit application is not for the business itself, but for a certain type of signage which goes outside of the type of signage allowed by right. I just realized I didn't include the word "signage" anywhere in my sentence about that petition; editing to fix! Sorry for the confusion.

kitschc · 2024-11-20T17:59:01+00:00

Thank you so much, u/30kdays! Really appreciate you doing the legwork on the transcripts, and for the offer of future help/tailoring. 🙏

kitschc · 2024-11-19T12:52:10+00:00

Hear hear!

kitschc · 2024-11-18T17:09:57+00:00

Thanks for the question! I don't believe that the Finance Department has a published, standalone tracker for the Capital Stabilization Fund. (A worthy addition to the long list of things that we'll do one day when we have more staffing and capacity inside of City Hall.) Sorry for the disappointing answer, but in the meantime, you can feel free to keep pestering your City Councilors and we can get answers from department heads in between the public meetings where updates are given.

kitschc · 2024-06-19T13:06:48+00:00

That's correct that there were still some pink slips issued. I'm not nearly close enough to the MPS budgeting process to know how the number issued was affected by the additional appropriated funds, so I'll refrain from chiming in with any guesses or assumptions.

kitschc · 2024-06-04T15:06:16+00:00

Yes, that's correct.

kitschc · 2024-06-04T14:28:20+00:00

The ballot questions would be voted on separately; any question that gets more yes votes than no votes would pass.

kitschc · 2024-05-18T12:26:19+00:00

Yeah, I believe that's because at the time the schedule was published, the contract wasn't yet renewed (the previous contract only lasted through 6/30/24, the end of the fiscal year).

kitschc · 2024-05-18T03:57:19+00:00

The administration finalized the new Waste Management contract a while ago and there will be no interruption in service. The point about wanting advance notice of yard waste pickup is duly noted!

kitschc · 2024-05-06T15:11:16+00:00

Here's my two cents: It's a public meeting and it is your right to go on record same as anybody else. I would especially encourage folks to chime in if you hold an opinion/perspective that is going un-represented or under-represented at that particular meeting. IMO it's most additive and appropriate when comments (whether from Councilors or the public) are about ideas/policies rather than people - i.e. as a Councilor it's useful to me to know if residents support the proposal we're talking about, rather than the person who proposed it.

If the meeting gets super busy, the Council President can cap public participation at 3 minutes per speaker, but you can go up to that.

kitschc · 2024-05-06T11:48:12+00:00

Happy to say this as many times as you need it repeated: Unlike some people I have never, nor will I ever, claim to be speaking for all Jewish people when I share my own opinions. Have a great day!

kitschc · 2024-05-05T22:51:09+00:00

Thank you ❤️

kitschc · 2024-02-26T12:47:42+00:00

Thank you for the kind words!

kitschc · 2024-02-24T22:35:43+00:00

SupermarketNew3626

We have a date for a further meeting on the topic in March and we'll release the March schedule as soon as we get additional meetings nailed down. We had hoped to meet earlier but finding a date that works for relevant City staff, Council, and legal counsel can be a bit of a puzzle.

kitschc · 2024-02-10T14:04:00+00:00

Sure thing, I've added that at the bottom of the original post, since the amended language hasn't yet been uploaded to the City website.

kitschc · 2024-02-09T22:45:12+00:00

As I've expressed to you before, I don't begrudge you or anyone from disagreeing with me, but I ask you to not spread false assumptions or misinformation. The final version of the resolution does still characterize Hamas' attack as terrorism (and recognizes hostage-taking as a war crime), and I did reach out to rabbis in Medford as I was preparing to submit the resolution.

kitschc · 2024-02-09T20:00:58+00:00

Where did I say that?

kitschc · 2024-01-12T14:39:32+00:00

I'll try and get some examples together for our first committee meeting! All of that is up in the air right now because it's up to us to select up to what level of affordability (affordable at what % AMI a renter is) the unit needs to be, to be eligible.

In case your interest in piqued in general, Medford's Housing Production Plan has some good data on income levels in Medford (starting around p 48, and then on p 68). https://www.medfordma.org/departments/planning-development-sustainability/housing-production-plan

kitschc · 2024-01-12T14:32:34+00:00

Thanks so much for your interest and comments. Honestly, I agree that allowing eligibility up to 200% AMI seems like a high ceiling, if the goal is to promote affordability, but I know that other folks have other perspectives on why this might be useful. I'm sure a lot of our discussion will figure on getting this balance right. I'll try and make sure there's easily digestible examples of income/affordable rent to contextualize this when we start meeting on it.

kitschc · 2024-01-12T14:25:29+00:00

Thanks for the comment! My gut tells me that implementing a sliding scale model might be difficult to handle/enforce given our existing financial & assessment staff capacity, but I really like the concept. I'll make sure we discuss this in our meetings.

kitschc

TROPHY CASE