It was demanded by a yes =voter that any no voter better have and better have a very good reason why there was a no vote. I call on you.. You tell me why 5.18 million. I call on you to tell me why I should be thrown from town buy this large sum.. I call on you to justify why my family will have to sacrifice food and other certain things. I call on you to explain why Taymor ignores the bullying problem.. I call on you why 6% makes sense when the region average is what 2,2 and the nation average is even less. I call on you to tell my kids that the will have less because my tx bill has gone so high I can no longer afford to live in town. I call on you to tell the people th truth. Get your facts from legitimate sites, get your ideas from the popular and get your facts straight because I really want to hear you tell family why they are no longer good enough for melrose?
All the money in the world won't buy me but will it buy you!
I call on you to explain what you just said!
Sure...Are we using the information that was denied us when Monica asked for it or general research we did... 2015 the override called for 2.1 million. It failed. 2016 Melrose was reported as having some of the highest increase in MCAS scores in the region. You can google Melrose School placements and see the information about the school.. The Ratio issue when and if you look in some it records at 15.1 and another at 20.2..The ratio issue is simple preference. You don't like that there I an extra kid or two in the class that is not fact or justification for adding such a large amount of teachers. I would argue about the para professionals and the enormous increase but there is no data showing a certain influx of student that would require that. Moving on to the 6%..Melrose I right in line with schools comparable in size, median income and number of residents unlike when Taymore wants to use Concord schools systems. The income is far and above as well as numerous other ones she has used. So if you look up Melrose School placements and research you will see her numbers with this schools show a far superior income base. The regional norm is 2.2% so why 6%.. the teachers union will negotiate an increase plus they will get steps and lanes so we are dishing that money out why? Hw much were the PODS? Several million and that was a year ago. Now we are reopening the BEBE when it was said there is no chance of saving it. Why now? The pods were to give us a 5-10 year period where we would be able to develop a plan. The number 5.18 which is 585 a year..the Mayor originally was at 275 why the massive change. Also we have paid how much in lawsuits for some of these teachers are we being held to such expenditures with the increased premium because of the amount the insurance paid out for these? Melrose High School graduated 98% and had 30.8% go to what the newspaper considered "prestigious colleges." Places like Harvard, Yale, Cornel, so on. Taymore during the override said task task about floaters but yet the school fourlished with them and in the same sentence it was said she did not need four teachers nd laid them off..Weird? I do not have it all in front of me but I needed to respond because I was simply wondering why we have to prove anything.. I vote no so I am not asking anyone for money or any help or anything.. My kids are great, doing well..so why do I have to say anything it is YOU and the YES that are asking for 585 bucks from every citizen of Melrose and asking the town to get 5.18 million.. it is not me. So I look at it as you need ti convince me. So now the library is neglected or will you vote yes when they need 10 million for that? The Police station is deplorable..what are you doing for them? My question to us is your doomsday is a false. It has been proven by more than one entity there is no ratio issue, people just don't like 22 when the norm is higher. Once again it is simply the will to succeed and money does not buy success. So I work two jobs in private sector have a high deductible insurance plan with only one to choose from while now the school has a bunch and covers 84% of the cost. I get less than 50% and YOU are asking me for 585 a year and want me to make an explanation? It is You asking for money to be thrown at the schools with hopes it generates success? Steve Jobs did it in a basement. Then I will be told I'm not for the children or a 3D printer is important because it is modern technology..WHAT? Kids go to Ivy League schools and never have regular computers. Melrose truly wants to become the "hot" spot. The tax portion and stating because of our high rate of residential unlike surrounding areas with commercial, yet any commercial building is turned into a condo. Allegory or Hypocrisy? Didn't Dolan tell us the town nd schools were in great shape. That is spoken from our last elected =Mayor, did you vote for him? I can't ask about the current Mayor because no one voted for her. Here is Mayor Dolan and Taymore preaching the schools are great and the town nd then asking for 5.18 million.. I would love some of the information Moinca wished for to better argue the point or if I had my notes but I am not home. I had to reply because it has driven crazy that I have to explain anything. I don't want 585 from you a year. I am not asking you for money, causing you finical hardships. Maybe you can afford it so power to you but my kids success will be short lived because these tax hikes are pushing us from the town. So you want to throw my money at the school in hope of success while I wan to save it so I can stay in town and continue with the success we are already having..Can anyone explain that? Why bother...It was just a "simple" question. Monica also pressed some serious over charges that never got clarified 30,000 here or there. What about the cost to place workers in the BEBE? No new police department from you end? a library for people to learn? This number is a joke..so is not having a plan so we don't keep doing this..Taymore said that at the last meeting. That there was no clear plan for the future. Not clear but yet the 5.18 was so very clear in her voting and projections. My brain spins from the tire swing this town has me on..Your turn to explain why I should pay 585 or leave town so that you can thrown money in the air and hope?
https://www.schooldigger.com/go/MA/city/Melrose/search.aspx
This one compares to surrounding regions
http://melrose.wickedlocal.com/news/20160831/study-melrose-schools-have-most-improved-test-scores-in-region
That one is after the 2015 override failed yet we had most improved MCAS scores.
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ma/melrose/schools
I like this one because it talks about if you are looking at schools when you are looking for move.. the ratio is interesting.
Maybe the alderman have better sources and such but I have read both sides and I have ask my questions with ZERO answers. Seems to be the going trend..people ask but get ZERO... Once again if you have something to say besides the money makes our kids succeed I am all ears but every year its the same speeches with the same rhetoric and absolute lack of information.
People on social security or disability? What about them?
How any elected official in this town can look a Melrose firefighter in the eye is beyond me. YES, YES, YES One Melrose except if you are a member of the MFD.
Can't argue with that. Now visit the PD. It's in worse shape than Amenhotep's tomb.
We all await your answer..you are the one asking for 5.18 million so lets hear why!
Now its your turn for 5.18 million reasons why...
Dude, paragraphs please. That is some unreadable garbage. Makes you look a bit nuts also. Seems like it might have had some interesting stats in it, but it reads like getting preached to by a filthy mentally ill hobo. Clean it up!
I have read your posts. You lob insults and start a sentence with DUDE.. You use WTF often..Spell your words, what are brining to the board or are you here to simply insult..What is someone on this board has mental health issues. I beg you end your ignorance, offer insight not insults and top your text ling jargon makes you sound unintelligent.. if you have facts them state them and if you want to edit peoples posts, edit yours first..UNREAL. But your name is nutshell so makes sense.
I read it and it and found that there was time and effort put into it, yes no paragraphs but this is a discussion not a college class. I support it!
Checks and Balances, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Forgive me... please add something... your more than welcome to provide anything other than insults, but then again people like you find courage behind words typed on a computer. It’s a forum you can add things or provide information against or for. But obviously your a moron because you can only insult. The beat part of it all, your cowardice. You afraid to present a fact or maybe more afraid to accept the facts?
Can’t wait for this override to go down in flames.....again. We’re a middle-class community, if you want a grade A school system go to an affluent community.
Much of the talk in Melrose of late has centered on the upcoming tax override vote, with each side of the debate making their presence known and stating their respective cases to all who will listen.
It is what it is.
Melrose taxpayers pay OVERRIDE increases every year via their water and sewer bills. One of the many reasons the Schools Only Override will go up in flames, is the shenanigans Dolan and his feckless band of men and women implemened (including Illegitimate Gail) regarding water charges. Many taxpayers consider their yearly water bill increase an Override charge. Because of these outrageous bills, many residents can’t afford an Override for anything else. Residents do not trust Melrose politicians and City Hall staff whose track record on fiscal transparency speaks for itself. Monica was the only one who questioned the games and was treated with disrespect and ignored. Taxpayers kept and will keep MM in office.
"Monica was the only one who questioned the games and was treated with disrespect and ignored. Taxpayers kept and will keep MM in office."
Absolutely true.
The rest of the sheeple sitting in that chamber sat there complicit when their hired CFO openly insulted Ms. Medeiros, calling her "ignorant," among other things, when she dared to insist that he provide data that she had requested months earlier. HE should have been fired on the spot for such unprofessional and unethical conduct! Every single one of the other BOA members should have been held to task for allowing such open bullying and flagrant unprofessionalism from the city's chief financial officer. Where were the hypocrites from MAAV? Answer: they couldn't have cared less, as per usual, because they are part and parcel of this hypocritical and corrupt administration! This is the typical conduct of both boards when anyone dares to question their fake constructs, their unsupportable data, their flimsy rationales for decisions that affect every taxpayer and resident.
Well, note to Melrose officials (if you're reading, and we know you are!): there may be a lot of really gullible and/or craven residents, but there are more of us who are actually paying attention and will not approve your latest scheme. And we will most certainly continue to vote in the ONLY elected official currently who can be counted on to represent us honestly and earnestly, Monica Medeiros.
Wow. That's awful. Do you have a link to the BOA meeting at which that happened...and any idea how far in?
found it:
https://vimeo.com/148648101
BOA Dec 10, 2015
some stuff surrounding that time:
where transparency dies
Dec 13, 2015 - 7:25PM
Re: Aldermen Meeting
http://www.mmtv3.org/index.php?categoryid=28
Check at 1 hour and thirty five minutes into the meeting where the our CFO, Pat Dello Russo "respectfully disagrees" with Alderman Monica Medeiros that he should present orders to the alderman with a brief summary of what the order is for when presented to the alderman and posted for the general public so that there will be some basic understanding of what the request for additional money is all about. Of course, the Mayor's hand selected CFO respectfully disagreed and believes that the information in the orders is more than adequate for the public and the board to make a decision. Really Pat???.
From: PATRICK DELLO RUSSO Melrose, MA 02176 Chief Financial Officer
To: Mayor Robert Dolan From: Patrick Dello Russo Meeting Date: December 10, 2015 Subject: Available Free Cash $1,292,665.29 Order #: ORDER-2016-60
An Appropriation of $1,292,665.29 From Available Free Cash to Various Accounts as set forth within
FINANCIAL IMPACT:An Appropriation of $1,292,665.29 From Available Free Cash to Various Accounts as set forth within
12/07/15 19054-490000 · School Other Funding Sources $640,000.00
12/07/15 16204-490000 · School , Medicaid Fund, Transfer In $300,000.00
12/07/15 019313-551058 · Cap Outlay Pine Banks Ballfield #2 $65,662.78
12/07/15 84014-490000 · Stabilization Trust Fund $50,000.00
12/07/15 84074-490000 · OPEB Trust Fund $50,000.00
12/07/15 84064-490000 · Suits & Claims Stabilization fund $50,000.00
12/07/15 019313-551044 · Cap Outlay Pine Banks Ballfield #1 $50,000.00
12/07/15 013012-547300 · Essex North Shore Agricultural $15,943.55
12/07/15 014022-527700 · Municipal building repair $14,500.00
12/07/15 011552-591015 · IT Prior Year $14,500.00
12/07/15 011352-529000 · Auditr Exp Professional Services $9,750.00
12/07/15 011512-591015 · City Solicitor Prior Year Bills $6,901.00
12/07/15 012112-527305 · Pol Exp Radio Systems Upgrade $6,545.16
12/07/15 011622-525102 · Elec Exp Accuvote Maintenance $4,700.00
12/07/15 011612-529000 · Ctyclk Exp Professional Services $4,000.00
12/07/15 011611-513000 · Ctyclk Sal Overtime $3,500.00
12/07/15 016932-591015 · Memorial Hall Prior year bills $3,012.80
3.8
Packet Pg. 61
Order 2016-60 Meeting of December 10, 2015
Updated: 12/2/2015 1:10 PM by Kerriann Golden Page 2
12/07/15 011622-529000 · Elec Exp Professional Services $2,700.00
12/07/15 012112-535500 · Pol Exp Uniforms $950.00
12/07/15 01-324001 · Available Free Cash ($1,292,665.29)
So Pat; this is enough information to understand what these funds are for? Really??[:-?]
Transparency be ****ed
Dec 13, 2015 - 9:26PM
Re: Aldermen Meeting
Check 1 hour 46 minutes into the meeting if you really want to see the sparks fly.[:-|]
MFD
Dec 13, 2015 - 10:36PM
Re: Aldermen Meeting
That blow-up which occurred at 1:46 of the BOA meeting last week was actually the 2nd time that Della Russo had a sarcastic answer to a statement made by Ms. Medeiros. His disgraceful retort to Ms. Medeiros at 1:46 should earn him a reprimand - his comments to Ms. Medeiros were totally out-of-line for someone in his position. He could have used another approach which would have neutralized her negative comment about him.
disgusted
Dec 14, 2015 - 1:14PM
Re: Aldermen Meeting
PdR is an obsequious slimebag. He oozes unctuousness and sanctimonious discharge. Ms. M was fully justified to say that it was dishonest to portray the numbers the way they were portrayed and to fail to produce full disclosure the many times she respectfully asked both during the budget cycle and since then. For PdR to say he found her "ignorant" and "disgusting" should be cause for immediate dismissal, as he was grossly insubordinate and disrespectful to his direct superior, and on tv to boot. Furthermore, all those on the BOA who sat by and allowed this should be sanctioned as well. It was totally predictable that Morty would be the a$$hat that he always is, but it was inexcusable for him not to shut down PdR immediately for his grotesquely inappropriate conduct. Jackie's call for remembering all are supposedly "on the same side" rang hollow and ineffectual, especially given her own disrespectful conduct towards Ms. M on numerous occasions. They should all be ashamed for their failures to second motions (even for the purpose of discussion, just out of courtesy and simple respect), or take seriously the many thoughtful orders Ms. M has put forward over the years, which they too often allow to die on the vine because they don't want to do the heavy lifting of looking at the various issues with any degree of seriousness.
The public spoke loudly and clearly about its respect for Ms. Medeiros, hence her number one vote-getter status the past two elections. Apparently the rest of the BOA just doesn't get it (or even pay attention to all the blanks by their own names).
These elected and paid officials are way past due for a reckoning, which will happen, one way or another. The scandals that have been brewing for a long time are all coming to a head.
Not only should PdR be sanctioned, but so should the superintendent and school business manager for failing to do basic due diligence and answer questions from their bosses, the elected officials. They should also be severely sanctioned, as should the city solicitor, all misbehaving and inappropriate city executives--CT, JP, PdR, & RvC--for failing to answer the questions of Mrs. CKK on the School Committee and backing the creation of illegal norms that empower the SC chair to violate the rights of elected officials to their due free access to city records and the public to its right to public information. This is the major issue that confronts Melrose right now, whether or not anyone officially acknowledges it. This purposeful blocking of transperency and accountability, even to those who are required to sign warrants paying the bills, all under the various guises constructed by a dunce city solicitor and a totally corrupt city administration, is how the city is trying to block access to even more egregious issues--like the grotesque coverup around civil rights and SPED litigation or legal challenges.
Mr. DR deserves condemnation for his disgraceful conduct towards Ms. Medeiros. Similarly the school bosses deserve condemnation, as does the bulk of the school committee. These small-town bullies are extending the limits of their thuggery, and the city just sits around worrying about the football team's latest loss instead of storming the aldermanic chamber and demanding redress for the increasing cases of gross misconduct on the part of our officials.
Clown out
Dec 16, 2015 - 8:29PM
Re: Aldermen Meeting
To be honest Clown Patrol, Melrose residents are sick and tired of Mayor Dolan's handpicked hand-me-down losers from Everett and Plymouth and of course the local losers that find pleasure (with the Mayor's blessing) in being obnoxious,
anti-transparent and unaccountable to the residents here. You think the Mayor would get the point with his override initiative being shot town 2 to 1 and 30% of the voters voting against him, despite running uncontested. When is the last time that ever happened to a Mayor anywhere in New England?? So get into your little city-owned clown car, drive back to city hall and lick the boots of the guy in the second floor corner office if that is what gives you pleasure....
Clown Control to major Rob
Dec 17, 2015 - 9:11PM
Re: Aldermen Meeting
Monica got over six hundred write-in votes without saying a word or sticking a sign into a lawn. Another 20% of voters had the opportunity to vote for Dolan but were so disgusted, they didn't even bother. When 30% of voters in the booth don't vote for an incumbent who runs unopposed, they are sending a message. When they vote 2 to 1 against your centerpiece initiative (the override) they are sending a message. There are many capable Melrosians who could run for Mayor if they didn't have to divest themselves of their family businesses, their law practices, their futures. Dolan's clever strategy to call for an amendment to the City Charter to prevent future competitors and to increase the term to fours years was essentially handing himself a patronage position in city government for good. Likewise, gaining control over the school committee created a bottomless pit of patronage positions in the school system available to him to reward supporters.
Look around you. He's got so many Melrosians beholden to him via favors: GIC insurance for aldermen and their families with 10 years of service, multiple politicians with spouses or children on the city payroll, MEFers beholden to him for the $10,000 annual "grant" from the taxpayer's pockets....on and on....Ask yourselves who is funding all those favors to his supporters. That's right, you and I.
Watching that BOA meeting (starting at 1 hour and 45 minutes) it's clear how little has changed.
Now JLB works as the new asst to the mayor, shilling for the override and nauseating call for colleagiality, just as she did the last time around as a BOA member. She stood up to RD one particular time and was actually heroic then in naming the bullying for exactly what it was. Here she sat watching it happen and tried to equate MM's call for appropriate transparency and due diligence from highly paid city officials with PDR's unprofessional targeted bullying of MM. Just gross! And PM's "leadership" is icing on that gross cake.
The "financial troubles" the BOA referred to in 2015 are tolling the same fear-mongering bells now, and just as disingenuously if not more so, if that's possible.
Gee, all those doom and gloom projections for that disastrous override attempt really came to pass, didn't they, especially when $3.5 million in "free cash" showed up just a few months after that spectacular (and warranted) defeat!
How is it that the powers that be would not schedule or pay for a Special Election for something as critically important as replacing the mayor for two years, but suddenly the city can afford to do this for another override referendum?
As far as many of us are concerned, if the city wants an override and special election, it can first prove the facts of the matter with a full forensic audit (and yes, that is costly, also). This local administration has played fast and loose with plenty of "alternate facts" for the last 15 years, and it's time for some real accountability. They want an override, so they can produce actual provable facts, and that doesn't mean the kind of obviously incomplete and/or outright false representations that have come from this administration, city solicitor, city auditor, board of aldermen, and certainly a proven lying/cheating school committee and superintendent. These are the same ones who conspired to keep inconvenient truths like many federal civil rights violations from the public and even an elected official! So there is absolutely no reason to trust those who are now calling for another override based on similar lines of hand-wringing as before. Do a full and complete audit with a reputable, not-in-the-tank firm and prove the facts. Only then might there be any credibility from this Trumpian Melrose city government.
If the override fails again, I think we'll be having the same discussions again, pretty soon.Stay warm!
ANOTHER OVERRIDE ? WAKE UP MELROSE
Excerpts from the Atlantic Magazine's May issue cover story: "The secret shame of the middle class" by Neal Gabler:
"Since 2013, the federal reserve board has conducted a survey to 'monitor the financial and economic status of American consumers.' The answer to one question was astonishing. The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all.
"A 2014 Bankrate survey, echoing the Fed’s data, found that only 38 percent of Americans would cover a $1,000 emergency-room visit or $500 car repair with money they’d saved. Two reports published last year by the Pew Charitable Trusts found, respectively, that 55 percent of households didn’t have enough liquid savings to replace a month’s worth of lost income, and that of the 56 percent of people who said they’d worried about their finances in the previous year, 71 percent were concerned about having enough money to cover everyday expenses.
"A similar study conducted by Annamaria Lusardi of George Washington University, Peter Tufano of Oxford, and Daniel Schneider, then of Princeton, asked individuals whether they could “come up with” $2,000 within 30 days for an unanticipated expense. They found that slightly more than one-quarter could not, and another 19 percent could do so only if they pawned possessions or took out payday loans. The conclusion: Nearly half of American adults are “financially fragile” and “living very close to the financial edge.”
"Jacob Hacker of Yale, measured the number of households that had lost a quarter or more of their “available income” in a given year—income minus medical expenses and interest on debt—and found that in each year from 2001 to 2012, at least one in five had suffered such a loss and couldn’t compensate by digging into savings.
"The American Psychological Association's 2014 survey on stress in the United States found 54 percent of Americans said they had just enough or not enough money each month to meet their expenses—found money to be the country’s No. 1 stressor. Seventy-two percent of adults reported feeling stressed about money at least some of the time, and nearly a quarter rated their stress “extreme.”
"Thirty-two percent of the survey respondents said they couldn’t afford to live a healthy lifestyle, and 21 percent said they were so financially strapped that they had forgone a doctor’s visit, or considered doing so, in the previous year.
“Financial insecurity is associated with depression, anxiety, and a loss of personal control that leads to marital difficulties,” says Brad Klontz, the financial psychologist.
"A 2014 New York Times poll found that only 64 percent of Americans said they believed in the American dream—the lowest figure in nearly two decades."
You come to this site as do others because it provides information and insight on the schools and city government that city hall and the school department simply refuses to release. Over the last several years the worst this city has to offer spent hundreds and thousands of dollars attempting to obstruct public records laws and open meeting laws to the point that our own elected representatives on the school committee and in the aldermanic chamber have had to file multiple complaints with the AG's Office and Secretary of State's office just to get even basic information in order to make informed decisions on important votes.
The difference between you and others who come to this site is that you and your cabal use the information to figure out how do damage control and prevent future leaks of city/school administrator malfeasance and stupidity.
The others on this site use the information to better our city and schools and make informed decisions on important future override decisions and elections.
The others on this site use the information to better our city and schools and make informed decisions on important future override decisions and elections.
Thinking before you speak or do something. It's about knowing that every day, the choices we make can and will affect our lives. It's about being accountable for our choices in life. We have the right to make our decisions every day, and every day is a new day. But there will come a day when our lives will end, and we will be accountable for all of the things we have said and done.
Let the games begin.
Much of the talk in Melrose of late has centered on the upcoming tax override vote, with each side of the debate making their presence known and stating their respective cases to all who will listen.
The override debate has dominated civic discussion in Melrose ever since the Board of Aldermen agreed to this tax override vote.April 2 2019 Tuesday .
The others on this site use the information to better our city and schools and make informed decisions on important future override decisions and elections.
Tracey Cruickshank posted this on Melrose Community Page:
"As a former School Committee member and School Building Committee member, I am committed to making sure our good schools not only to stay that way, but also improve."
This is a direct quote from the website of Melrose Alderman-at-Large, Monica Medeiros and yet I believe it's been months since we've heard her comment on the issue of the Override.
She is currently the Aldermanic liaison to the school committee according to this past week's Melrose Free Press. Shouldn't she have an opinion on the state of our city as related to the state of our schools? Ms. Medeiros also claims on her website that she believes in transparency, yet what have we heard from her regarding the issue of the Override? In the fall, Ms. Medeiros said she didn't have all the facts, all the numbers, but clearly that isn't the case currently. The facts are out there and the numbers are clear. Let's hear from the rest of our city leaders. Mayor Infurna, Mike Zwirko, Jen Lemmerman, Manisha Bewtra, Frank Wright, Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Peter Mortimer have all been transparent. Time to step up Monica Medeiros.April 2 2019 Tuesday .Plaese go vote yes or no.
Much of the talk in Melrose of late has centered on the upcoming tax override vote, with each side of the debate making their presence known and stating their respective cases to all who will listen.
Faced with a Recession, what part of "We Can't afford It" do they not understand ?
Is MBMM one of the Alderman who received health insurance benefits for years ? Just read her article on override!
April 30, 2019. There is currently $1.46million in reserves in the water & sewer enterprise funds.
Agreed