The City Council meeting is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The agenda is here.
This week: Guns, drugs, apartments, Lincoln Square
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/91727574825
Public and Private Streets: The mayor proposes that the private street Passway One be made public. This will go to the Planning Board.
Constables: The Manager is appointing or re-appointing four constables: Ariel Mercado, Raymond Semidei, John Gaimari, and Richard Mattioli.
Tax Breaks: The Manager would like the Council to approve a $4 million, 15 year tax break for the $73 million project to turn the mostly unused office tower One Chestnut Place (22 Elm Street) into 198 apartments. As part of the deal, the developers would turn the abutting and mostly unused office building into 22 apartments that would be “affordable” for the next 30 years. (As usual, this housing is “affordable” by average county income, not city income, and so in context is not anything like “affordable.”) This will go to the Economic Development Committee for discussion.
Lincoln Square Memorial: The Commissioner of Public Works has a report on the city’s plan to move the WWI memorial in Lincoln Square (which he calls “the whispering wall”) a bit west to its original location, and make it a little more inviting to pedestrians.
Drug Trafficking: The WPD reports that in 2023 there were 46 drug trafficking arrests. It also notes that half of fentanyl seizures have xylazine/“tranq” mixed in, a dangerous drug not affected by narcan.
Guns and Crime: The WPD reports that in 2023 they seized 115 firearms “connected with criminal activity,” 102 handguns and 13 rifles or shotguns. “15 were ‘Ghost’ guns, which are not identifiable by serial numbers.”
“Quality of Life” Team: The Manager has a report on Dan Cahill’s interdepartmental “Quality of Life” team, who try to solve problems around illegal dumping and vacant buildings and things like that. They visited a lot of problem properties and picked up a lot of trash in 2023.