All language subtitles for HomeistheHouse

Is it an emergency situation
that you would need

an oncall animal control officer
to go there?

Do you by any chance know if your parents
were married at the time of your birth?

She wants to speak about food tax.

Is the control box or open or missing?

So we just got a call from Boston
Fire reporting a one alarm fire at 33

Browning Ave. in Dorchester,

and there�s no displacements
at this time.

Just wait one moment while I do
some research for you.

I�m going to open up a case for
the Parks Department. They deal with trees.

I got a call from Boston Police. The intersection of
the VFW Parkway and LaGrange Street in West Roxbury.

The traffic signal is out.
I just want to confirm that you had it.

I have a constituent that�s asking about road
maintenance. Is it OK if I put him through?

Is it a stray dog?

She said she couldn�t see a visible cause.
Like there was no down wires or anything.

But the whole block appears to be out.

Is it blocking both the roadway
and the sidewalk?

Constituent�s saying her landlord turned
off her electricity to her apartment.

She said that she�s going back and forth
with him. They�re in court

with something and she thinks
she turned it off on him.

I had a meeting with
some community activists.

One of the biggest pushbacks I got was

not on the police.
It�s after the police do their thing,

after an incident happens,
what�s the follow up on trauma?

We have the counselors obviously and police
have their counselors too I explained

in the police walks, works with the family
through I think the burial.

And then what happens after that.

And what happens to the greater community. Like
what happens to the group of friends and...

And I know we�re taking,
I�m taking criticism for Carlos Henriquez.

Part of the role for Carlos
Henriquez was going to be

to coordinate services to make sure
that there�s follow up. So, for example...

Kind of like Operation and Support.

When there�s something going on in the community,
whether it�s a development or street cleaning,

or whatever, Jerome�s shop
O&S goes in and does their thing

and they�re working with Planning and
Development and they�re working with the Housing.

With all the different departments and they�re
kind of the constant in the neighborhood.

And I thought
- and it hasn�t fully vetted yet - but

I thought of doing something like that
around the streets.

When the police, when your work
is done, what happens then?

And we�re not going in and and we have
public safety doing their thing for a while

working to keep areas calm and combat violence and
the street workers are out there doing their thing.

But there�s not coordination necessarily
of services.

So when a person gets killed and there�s a
lot of indirect concern and, wreckage of that,

we don�t have a coordinated effort per se
to coordinate that.

I thought of Carlos�s work in returning
citizens and working different areas

could slowly build up capacity
and bring on individuals, like O&S,

that will be actually
the intake coordinators in the community

and work with everyone
that needs to work with.

Because I think what happens now is
when we have, like we did few months ago

we had 8 people killed in 10 days,

everyone�s looking for a blame.

Police get blamed because the violence is up.
Street workers get blamed because they�re not there.

Trauma councilors get blamed
because they�re not there.

City gets blamed because it�s happened
in the city. Everyone�s blaming.

Our thing is: can we coordinate services so
there�s a better coordination of services

to follow these families through

and maybe get into a family
and see that: Wow,

there�s really some difficult
situations here and can we help them

individually to connect them
to services as things move on.

That�s the intention behind Carlos�s role.

And that�s... whether it's Carlos,
whoever it is...

He was the person that I thought of
because he understands the streets

and he understands the community,
and he�s done the work

both as prior to being elected
and after elected.

He�s done a lot of difference at work,

that�s kind of why I think
the missing link here.

I think we have a lot
of great things going on,

the police department
does some great programing.

It does some great programming.

I think that there�s an opportunity now
through, not necessarily through Nora�s office,

but what Nora�s doing
and how do we tie it in?

Because you can�t do it, and Nora needs
to have a contact. "Who should I call?"

Instead of me calling Marty

and Will and Chris and Mark and

Danny and Conan and Jerome
and Laurie and me,

is there one person she can contact that can
actually help pull all this stuff together

and that will be a liaison
in the neighborhood.

- I like that.
- That�s what I�d look at.

That came out of a conversation with...

Danny put a meeting together and the room
was a very honest meeting.

It was a very honest... people in the
community were very... it wasn�t a bad meeting.

It was one of those direct meetings and people
didn�t understand all the work that we�re doing.

And I don�t think we do

a good enough job of telling that story,
what we actually do in the city

We also don�t do a good job
of tying it all in together.

That�s where I think
we want to go with that.

So, I�m just letting you know
that I�ve got a list of people.

So, you guys, if anyone wants to come in
you may just want to let me know so I can

give the Mayor the list of people

that need to see him before the weekend.

What is the budget? The budget is a set of
financial documents. It�s how we spend money,

how we raise money, how we decide
how to pay everyone�s salary.

But it�s also a statement of priorities.

It's one annual time a year that the city can
take a pause and take stock of what�s going on,

what are the decisions we�ve made,
the decisions we need to make,

how is the city changing
and how do we make investments to do that.

The budget refers to both the day to day
operational side of things,

so that�s everyone�s salaries, that�s what you
pay for utilities, that�s what you pay for heat.

It also means the capital plan
which is what we do for five years,

big projects, like roads and bridges and
schools and all the big stuff that you see.

Boston�s budget parameters.
By that we mean,

we can�t do everything that
everybody wants all at the same time.

The reason that is,
is because we live in a really

kind of constrained fiscally

tight structure. What I mean by that is we
can�t run a deficit like the Federal government.

The State law requires us
to have a balanced budget every year

and we are capped in what we can raise
in our own revenues.

We�re capped
by our property tax at 2,5 %,

we also don�t have the ability
to say raise an income tax

like other cities across the country
or the State.

So we�re living within a pretty tight
fiscally constrained world.

Which means we have to make strategic
investments. We have to make priorities,

to make tradeoffs
�between what those things are.

The reason that that is a good thing
at the end of the day

is because when there is an economic
downturn like there was in 2010,

we do a lot better than the State, a lot better
than other cities and towns across the country.

A lot of other seasoned towns had massive
layoffs in 2010 when the economy tanked.

The State obviously
ran a billion dollar budget deficit.

This city, because of the way it�s run

and because of the way the history
of financial management has gone,

actually came out on the
other side pretty unscathed.

And frankly we avoided a lot
of the pitfalls and a lot of the

negative consequences that came
with the economic recession in 2010.

What do we have for revenue
at the end of the day?

We collect money in different buckets
as you can see here.

The FY19 budget is about 3.3 billion.

70 % of that comes from property taxes.
State aide makes up of about

13 % and then we have other revenue, excises,
local permits, all these other types of things

that are out there in the world.

Property tax is vital. Property tax is not only
2,5 % we grow every year on our existing property,

but also what we call new growth
which is the new buildings, new residential

all the new construction that comes
into the city every year,

which is a little bit harder to predict,
but at the end of the day

is a lot of what we build our bread and
butter on. That�s how we�ve been able to make

strategic investments over the last few years
and continue to kind of push the city forward.

State aid is on there at 13 %.

Ten years ago,
that used to be about 20 %.

And 20 years ago, it used to be 30 %.

So that means that the State
used to represent a much bigger

portion of our budget: that�s both a decrease
in what we call State aid at the end of the day,

and property taxes has been
so strong in the last few years.

That actually helped increase
our reliance as well.

So overall we�re in a growing environment.

We grow about 4 or 5 % every year.

Both from the property tax and
other strategic revenue initiatives

that we push forward in the last year.

Moving onto how we spend
the $3.3 billion dollars.

It�s in basically 5 big buckets right now.

There�s obviously a lot of complexity
that goes into each of those.

The first one should be
familiar for everyone.

Education represents about 40 % of the
budget. That�s both BPS and Charter Schools.

Obviously both of those have been
increasing since the Mayor�s been in office.

$200 million more per year for public
schools as a part of the last budget

and our charter assessment is up
another $100 million dollars in that time.

So since the Mayor�s been in office,

education spending has increased by about $300
million which is something to be proud of.

Public safety, that�s Police and Fire.
They make up about 20 % of the budget.

City departments. That�s things like streets,
Public Health, Parks and everyone in this room.

We make up the smallest portion of this
budget, but it�s an important part of it.

And it�s something that we tried to grow
a lot more, but there are a lot of demands

on many different parts of the City budget.

Fixed costs like pensions and debt service

and then finally Healthcare that support
all the other city departments

are basically how we spend the majority of
that 3.3 billion on the operating budget side.

The other big piece of the budget
that we have is the capital plan.

Right here is a map of what we have from
a top down view ofl the different types

of projects that we have out there.

It�s a 2.4 billion dollar plan over 5 years
to invest in roads and bridges

and schools and libraries
and all the great things that you have.

A lot of folks,
especially in the rating agency world

and people who buy our debt
want to see that we�re making

investments in places that we planned for.

That�s why the Mayor committed 10 %
of all new capital funding

towards climate resiliency. We have
the billion dollar Public School plan

and a whole host of other things that
we�re investing in. The annual capital plan

is over a 5 year period because these
projects are typically bigger in scope.

We borrow money for them and we pay for it on
the operating budget side for debt service.

So they�re companion piece
to the operating budget,

but something that goes
through the very similar process to

what we do on the operating side.

We have come to join
Becka and Molly in marriage,

a wedding is a joyful celebration
of the promises you make today.

Learning to love each other
and live together in harmony

is one of the greatest challenges
of a marriage.

But know that love, trust and loyalty are
the foundation of a happy enduring marriage.

Remember to listen, respect, encourage
and inspire one another.

Support each other dreams
as you build your lives together.

Comfort one another during times of
struggle. Laugh together during times of joy.

Now if you want to face each other
we�ll do vows.

I Becka.

Take thee Molly.

To be my wedded wife.

And I promise to be.

A loving and faithful wife.

Through joy and sorrow.

Sickness and health

To love and to cherish.

From this day forward.

Now do you Becka take thee Molly
here present to be your wife?

Excellent. All right Molly�s turn.
I, Molly.

Now, do you Molly take thee Becka
here present to be your wife?

Excellent. Now we�re going
to go on to the rings.

These rings are a symbol of eternity
and made by your friend.

The unbroken circle, it represents
the unbroken circle of love.

Today you�ve chosen to exchange rings

as a sign of your love for one another and
the seal of the promises you make today.

You�re going to repeat these vows after me

and then the last line

you�re going to put the ring on Molly�s
finger when you say "with this ring".

This is my favorite part.

Just as this ring.

Encircles your finger.

So does my love.

Encircle your heart.

Now you can place it on her finger
and say/: "With this ring

I thee wed.

Molly�s turn. "Just as this ring.

Now, with this ring.

I thee wed.

Perfect.

In as much as Becka and Molly
have exchanged rings,

have consented to matrimony and vows,

by the authority vested in me
by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

I now pronounce you hus...

married.

Here we go. Stand together.

Smile.

Let me show you what we got.

I want to congratulate

Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox

and the entire organization for an
incredible run. 119 wins from start to finish

I didn�t realize until last night that they
had won the Spring Training Leagues

and the regular leagues and then obviously
the World Series last night,

it�s exciting here in the City of Boston.

I want to congratulate Red Sox Nation
for our 9th World Championship in Boston.

This is an all-time great team that we had. I
think a lot of people enjoyed watching this team.

Everybody contributed.

I was talking to people
on the way to work this morning

and thinking about everybody in this whole team.
Everyone had a special play in this World Series.

Congratulations to the entire team
for your resilience

and your positivity, and the way you carried
yourself on the field and off the field.

And even last night
during the interview session.

Thank you to all the players
for the great work they did.

These players are role models and we
want to celebrate them in Boston style.

A championship duck boat parade
will take place on Wednesday,

starting at 11:00 on Boylston Street
by Fenway Park.

We hope to see a big crowd out there,

but we do have a few messages out there.

Do not try to drive to the parade.
Take public transportation.

They�ll be traffic and parking restrictions
surrounding the route.

We�re working on a web page.

It will be up in a little bit.
It will be Boston.gov/Redsoxparade.

As far as safety goes,
be respectful of the City.

Be respectful of the property, of the
people, of the businesses, be respectful

of the Red Sox. We are a City of champions
so let�s celebrate like champions.

I�m going to turn the microphone over
to Commissioner Gross.

And then we�re going to turn it over
to Chief Green

and then I�ll open it up for questions
that people might have.

Thank you Your Honor.

Good morning everyone.

Well, I'll say congratulations
not only to the Red Sox,

but the City of Boston.
We would ask everyone to act

responsibly and be respectful

of the other revelers in the parade.

Also we will have full coverage
in our neighborhoods.

But for those attending the parade,
no public drinking.

Alcohol will not be tolerated.

And you should know this. This should be
common sense, but no weapons at all either.

So we fully expect

to have a great parade.
It�s time to celebrate.

Well now I�ll turn it over to Chief Green.

Thank you Commissioner.

You know this doesn�t get old. I think this
is my 11th Championship in the last 16 years?

It just doesn�t get old.

That being said, the transit police
are well experienced

and prepared for special events
such as Wednesday�s parade.

We encourage everyone
as the Mayor says, to

come in the City of Boston,
utilizing the MBTA transit system.

We will have increased coverage,
both uniformed and in plain clothes

throughout the system
to ensure a safe and travel by all.

We ask our riders
to be respectful to one another

and especially mindful of
those with young children,

the elderly and people with disabilities
as you utilize the MBTA transit system.

And as the Commissioner stated, alcohol

consumption and or unruly behavior
will not be tolerated at all on the MBTA.

Currently we got updates from the brick.

There are no known
credible threats to this event.

With that being said,
we also ask our riders to

please if you see something, say something.

Nothing�s too small.
We need you to be our extra eyes out there.

Contact us immediately and we will send
an officer out to investigate.

With your help

we can have a safe
and enjoyable celebration.

So, the goal of the taskforce
is really to focus

on eviction prevention.

We would like to meet 4 times.
This is the second meeting.

And ultimately to put together a list of

recommendations for public comment
by Spring of 2019.

And then to present those recommendations
to the Mayor

and to the City Council.

With some sort of legislation
to come out of it.

What�s the total amount for the awards,
roughly?

2.5 million dollars.
So put two and a half million dollars out

for tenancy stability and eviction
prevention, it�s a sizable commitment.

Our office has also been working
in conjunction

with the Neighborhood Housing Department
here in DND.

And to put together an eviction prevention
policy that is required for all landlords,

or all property

prospectors who are looking to purchase
property or bid on property here in Boston.

That policy was implemented and it
went out in the Request for proposals for

September of this year.

The proposals that we�ve received
are now under review

and we�ll try to figure out exactly

how effective that was
during the first implementation of it.

The same policy was out
under our Dudley Square RFP,

and that I believe is wrapping up today.

Those proposals, the Dudley proposals
are due today.

Which is very exciting
and like Dominique said,

there was a very clear requirement
that anyone submitting for land,

submitting proposals
for the four sites in Dudley,

had to provide a proposal
on how they were going to...

how their development was going to
not contribute to displacement

and including, if they were going to develop
housing, an eviction prevention plan.

So it was very, very, specific language

and before you leave,
I�ll make sure you have a copy.

The Neighbourghood Housing proposals:
if you want money from us,

you�re going to tell us how you�re going...
what�s your eviction prevention plan,

and Dominique�s shop is reviewing them
right now with NHD.

And if they�re not adequate

we�re going to have to make it a deficiency
if we really love the proposal,

or not fund the proposal altogether.

Really asking new developers
of new developments

to tell us how they�re really going
to reduce evictions.

We cannot just scratch things
on the surface

because they usually come back a
few years later, stronger, deeper, uglier.

In the meantime
those folks who are facing eviction,

they keep facing eviction all
of their lives. I know someone

from the age of 12, she faced eviction.

And now she�s 39 and she�s
facing eviction again. So it�s a cycle.

If we really want to fix it
we should think about

community land trust also,
have a site for it.

What we need is more, in my opinion,
we need more housing.

More and more housing.
You can�t have enough.

And everything you do short of that

and that�s just one way of thinking about
it, but everything you do short of that,

is gap filling kind of thing.

Not that it�s not necessary,
but I guess what I�m wondering

based on what I�ve heard so far is,
it sounds like we�re...

It�s so easy to move broader than simply
what are we doing about evictions.

I�m asking the question: are we focused
on the eviction question or are we

morphing into,
or is it part of the mandate here?

How are we going to fix the big problem?

Until we have enough
of affordable housing for everyone,

we need the office of housing stability
and to work on evictions

because not everybody�s safe.

But we do have a housing plan.
It�s pretty robust in the City,

I can share it with you about increasing
housing overall. Increasing affordable housing,

preservation, getting people to buy homes.

So, we�ve done a lot of work
on more of the systemic issues.

But we still get 100 calls a week
from people that are

in market rate housing
that are getting their rents increased.

Or, are in subsidized housing,

but have fallen behind in their rents,
et cetera.

There�s a special sort of work
that we�re all doing that is not

fixing our larger housing issues.
Does that make some sense?

Say there�s 30,000 notices to quit
served in Boston every year.

It�s what we are estimating.

I think the challenge
with early intervention

is that it�s super valuable, super necessary,
probably more effective and opens up

the target population that you could serve
to be large enough

that it�s impossible to even conceive
of how to serve them.

1,100 households
who were in subsidized housing

actually went to court,
somehow didn�t get raft,

didn�t get anything else,
did get evicted. In a year.

The thing that we also know is that
subsidized household who were evicted

are not eligible for Emergency Assistance.

Which to me just makes them
the red alarm population.

And so to some extent
there is a benefit to...

I think that there is a benefit
to focusing on that population

above all else if only for that reason.

If you get evicted from subsidized housing,

or you have a housing voucher
and you get evicted,

you can�t access family shelter at
the State. You have no safeguard.

You make the lowest income

and you�ve been evicted probably
for rent arrearage, small amounts.

And you have absolutely nowhere to go
because you can�t access the shelter system.

For three years.

What could we do to intervene sooner?

And what I thought was...

I guess it�s reinventing the wheel,
except we haven�t invented it yet.

I think we do a particularly bad job
of informing and persuading.

Maybe the small landlords in particular
are informed that there are resources,

but persuading them to actually use them?

The small landlord groups seem to feel
like they�re battled

and they approach everything
from that point of view.

And it�s just economics.

It would make so much more sense
to be able to say,

We�re not going to hit you over the head.
You don�t have to do this.

But if you know somebody�s chronically
late, or somebody�s not budgeting,

or somebody is falling behind,
catching up every 4 to 6 months,

clearly that�s not a good business model.

Bring them to us, we�ll help them budget.
You bring them to us early.

We�ll do this
and it�s so much more cost efficient.

But we don�t do anything.

Because I was talking to
the Citylife Group, I said,

could Citylife see its way to holding
itself out to that. I�m not sure because...

But somebody should be able to say,

on a more intimate basis than simply
"we�ve got a website":

Here�s what we can use.

Here�s how to do it and I think that�s
the only way you�re going to get to them.

If we're really concerned about
what we�re doing,

we need to also think about
community land trust.

For those folks who really can�t do anything,
they could go there and it will be a safe zone.

And it could go from generation to generation.
Why can�t we do that? Other places have done it.

That�s good.

Everybody gets the first round.
But you can only get one.

What do you want? You want pie now?

Apple, cherry...
What kind do you want, sir?

Not right now. You have to come back
the second time. Let everybody go through.

Let some more people get to have some.
That�s all I got. Thank you.

M'am, no problem.

I don�t mean for nobody to get mad
but I gotta get enough for everybody.

Please don�t take the ice.
No, go on with that, go.

If you take it, the rest won�t be cold.

Any questions?

I�m a victim of PC scam.

I thought it was Microsoft and it wasn�t,

it turned out to be some scammers.

I actually gave them my name,
my card. I need help.

Don�t give any information out
over the phone.

If somebody says it�s your doctor:
"send me a letter".

If somebody says, you�re going to shut
your cable off tomorrow: send me a letter.

Don�t give them your email.
Tell them to send you a letter.

Serve it. If they say you owe money,
send a constable.

"Send somebody down, petition me".
Don�t even bother.

You�re going to get letters in your house.
If you own your home.

My mother gets them. Because I go to her
house and do her bills and I get the mail

There�s always: oh, you can earn
a lot of money on your home.

Or we can give you a mortgage
a low interest mortgage.

Just don�t believe any of this stuff.

Unless it comes from the City,
from the Counselor�s office or our office,

or something that your civic association
might have talked about.

Do not give anybody any information.

The Counsel was talking about scams.
Somebody might call and say to you:

we have your grandson.

We�re not going to give him back
until you give us money.

Your instant reaction is:
"Is it Billy or Bob?"

I got Billy.

That�s all they need

and they will frighten you into
you will think that they�re kidnapped.

There are literally people
that do this from other parts of the world.

They scam people and people
will give them money, they�ll run around,

get money and they�ll give it to somebody.
So do not, do not do that.

If Eversource calls you for a deal:

"Can I have your name and number?".

Call your City counselor, call the Mayor�s
office and say does Eversource have a deal?

Does Comcast have a deal?
Does RNC Cable have a deal?

Does whatever it is,
make sure you follow up.

I�m going to follow up with you.
Emily�s going to get your information.

And we�ll get on it today and we�ll
find out, we�ll contact the authorities.

We also have a couple police officers, so
if we need to take the next step we will.

From my area in Lower Mills,

those calls and those phone numbers
and those people knock on the door.

They come into the station.

And they report it to the police department and
they take it over to the detective department.

But the thing about it is nothing
never get back to me or anybody else.

What has taken place
since we reported this?

And the calls and the number thing,
you could have them right there.

So how do we handle that to get some
response to what we�re trying to stop?

One thing I would suggest, maybe what we�ll
do is at one of the meetings coming up,

I�ll ask Nora Bastian to come in.

Nora is the new Superintendent.

Her role is community policing.
Her role is, under community policing,

to follow the Elderly Department.
As far as going out to districts.

So we�ll ask Nora to come to
your next meeting and she can explain

and come up with a process.
There might not have been a process.

My experience has been
that the information flows back and forth.

But we�re going to make sure
that it really does flow back and forth.

If you make a complaint at a civic
association, you should get a call back

because it's reporting it into a black hole,
if you�re not getting information back.

And then you can share the information
with other people.

We�ll have Nora come to the next meeting.

If you live in a BHA Housing Development
and you�re not getting a response,

my advice are two things.

Number one is call your complaint into 311.
Because 311 is the City hotline.

And it�s a public information
and it�s in my office.

I see it up on the wall.

I will follow up
and say what�s going on with that?

Number two, reach out
to the Elderly Commission.

There�s been times where I�ve gone
to different events.

Some of you have grabbed me
about situations

that might not be related
to the Elderly Commission,

but the advocacy there, they will call over.
And when they call over, I�m calling over.

It�s important to you to use those different
steps. If you�re not getting somewhere,

and you live somewhere,
you call 311 and make a public,

and when they ask you why�d you do that?
The man told me to.

And if you see me in the street grab me
and tell me what the problem is.

Because I guarantee you by the time I get
in the car and to the next stop after this,

somebody at the BHA
will be talking to me. All right?

Questions over here
then I�ll come back this way.

Now I had medicine that I actually need

and they want me to pay

a co-pay of 65 dollars that I can�t afford.

And I need that medicine
and I don�t know what to do about it.

We have to really think about here,

in Massachusetts, at the Legislative level
and in Congress at the congressional level

to do something about
pharmaceutical costs.

They�re out of control.

My father passed away in 2008,
but before he passed away...

and I didn�t know
what a "donut hole" was until then.

He was on a pill, once a day for prostate.

It was $500 a month, the prescription.

So for the first five months of the year,

it was covered a 100 %
by his health insurance.

The next $2500 dollars as you know,
the Donut Hole,

the next 5 months was out of pocket.

And then the last 2 months of the year
were covered by insurance again.

What Obamacare did, what the Affordable
Care Act did was close the Donut hole.

And that Donut hole now is there,
but what they�ve done is...

I don�t know what the right answer is, but
they�ve done something with prescriptions

that you end up paying more out of pocket.

I haven�t seen it in any of my prescriptions,
but it happens to seniors all the time.

So we do have to think about legislatively
how do we file something

that closes that gap for you.
Because many of you,

all of us, as you get older you take
prescriptions for high blood pressure,

for cholesterol, whatever it is you have.

It�s important that we understand
there�s more health risk as you get older.

Because the body breaks down a little bit.

There�s more chance that you�re going
to be on a prescription as you get older.

And we need to make
sure that that�s covered.

The answer is we have to look legislatively
fixing that.

One of the reasons why
we have the Elderly Commission

is to advocate on your behalf. The
people that work for the City work for you.

They�re there to service
you. So take advantage

of that opportunity.

Take advantage of that office. Ask
questions. They�ll get the answers.

And if we got to a point where,
what I�d like to do,

I�ll have to double the size of the Elderly
Commission because the amount of calls they get.

Believe it or not, we don�t get
that many calls. We get a lot of calls,

but not as many as there are people
in Boston that are over 60 years old.

We need a bigger budget.

We�ll get the budget there,
but we need you to use the office

because I�d rather you talk to
one of the specialists we have

and get a benefit
than be taken advantage of.

That�s why they�re there. They�re
there for you. They work for you.

Our primary purpose is to help people

with the situations you might have.
So, please, call them.

As usual, it was busy night
last night on Halloween

and just be aware of any kind of violence
that might extend from it.

Townsend and Warren: there was a firearm
recovered at 7 p.m. with an arrest.

There was a person shot and stabbed
at 137 Center Street.

There was a large party,
a couple hundred people.

Full notes on the person shot,
but they�re probably going to survive.

The gang unit then had a car chase through H
block of Bailey Associates, so be aware of that.

And around 3 a.m. this morning,

the K-car got a firearm arrest
in Upham�s Corner.

And that was,

I don�t know if it�s related,
but there was a violent assault up there.

That was the reason why people
were up there and led to a firearm arrest.

Any issues?

Concerns? Check your assignments.

Let�s have a good day. Fall out.

I had a chance,

over the last 5 years to get to know
almost every single person in this room.

And what�s amazing is that we have
developers in this room

and housing developers in this room,
that believe in resiliency.

And that are here month after month
after month after month,

after meeting after meeting
I should say.

We have developers developing buildings
in town? that believe in resiliency.

We have folks that work in the area of
whatever it is and you come back here.

We have Universities. We have Universities.

Boston University is one of our great
partners, and we have construction companies.

And to me it�s special.
This room�s a special room

in the sense of the commitment
by the people in this room.

Since I�ve been Mayor, a lot of natural disasters
have happened in different cities across America.

Houston kind of...

hit me a little different.

I was talking to Mayor Turner
as it was going on and...

when he was talking about his City,
he was a brand new Mayor,

literally brand new
Mayor in his first term.

The people of Boston wanted
to send things out to Houston,

we were going to send one tractor trailer down, we
ended up sending 18 tractor trailers of stuff down.

And I thought to myself:
what if that was Boston?

And it wasn�t the giving to Houston
that struck me,

it was the need in Houston
that struck me.

It was the 18 trucks going down there
and that wasn�t enough.

When you think about 18 tractor trailers from
Boston and other places around the country,

that wasn�t enough and I thought to myself:

where are we in our city? Where are we in
the City? Not in the Green Ribbon Commission,

not on the global plans, not working
with the State. Where are we in the City?

So we have, I don�t have it here
with us today...

We have a plan that literally protects

the harbor, protects the shoreline,
creates 47 miles of shoreline.

We talk a lot about bringing people
back to the water.

This plan brings people back to the water.

This plan allows people access to the water where
we have 67 acres of new open space on Boston Harbor.

It creates 122 acres of
revitalized open space in the waterfront.

It�s about protections and connections.

So when people like you in this room
look at what�s happening,

you know that we�re protecting

what we have to protect
in our neighborhoods.

We�re protecting Charlestown
and East Boston and South Boston.

We�re protecting downtown, North End,
the Dorchester coastline.

We�re protecting Roxbury.

We�re protecting the South End. We�re protecting
all of those different neighborhoods in our city

that it�s important for us to do.

What we�re doing here is
I think important for the future.

I think it�s time for us to take
this conversation beyond our walls.

I think it�s time to take this conversation
to the editorial boards.

And let them understand fully
what�s happening here.

Because the first
editorial that came out...

in all due respect, a nice editorial, but it was:
how to pay for it? Who�s going to pay for it?

The question�s not Who�s going to
pay for it? How�s this going to happen?

It�s not about who�s going to pay for it.
It needs to happen.

The editorial needs to say, and the press needs
to start and other people need to start saying:

'This has to happen'.
It�s not about the costs.

It�s not about whose going put up
he biggest chunk of money,

its how do we get everyone together
to put this plan together?

The Green Ribbon Commission
is vital in this work.

As we continue to move forward
in this work,

we need to help convey the urgency and
bring diverse partners into our strategy.

We need to talk to all of our schools,
not some of our schools.

We need to talk to all of our museums,
not some of our museums.

We need to make sure all of our hospitals understand
the importance of this, not some of the hospitals.

And more importantly we need to make
business people know that this is really

important for them as well.
It�s important for us,

for the health and safety of our residents
are at stake.

Making sure that Houston,

Puerto Rico, Florida, New Orleans,

Louisiana, Florida again,.

New York, all of those different cities
and areas had a storm.

If you talk to Mitch Landrieu the former Mayor of New
Orleans who wasn�t the mayor when Katrina happened,

he said if they addressed this
20 years earlier

the outcome might have been different.
It still would have been bad

because Katrina was a bad storm,
but it would have been not as detrimental.

We have to think about that now and think
about, how do we prevent that from happening?

We need to work with other leaders, with other
elected officials. We need to let the legislature

know and the city council know
the importance

of focusing on the work
that we�re doing here today.

We know that mitigation is resilience.

It�s about the impacts here in Boston and it�s about
the example we set for the nation and the world,

By showing that it can be done
we can improve public health, create jobs

and also help people in our neighborhoods.

We can also show the way

and help rally the global community
to do their part.

I know that what we wanted to do here
is be a leader in the country

and a leader in the world here in Boston
as far as resiliency.

And now that we have the plan it�s about,
what�s the next steps

and what�s the actions? We know we
don�t have a national government, at least

a leader down in Washington, a president that
does understand the importance of resiliency.

We know that we don�t have the commitments
right now in the EPA down in Washington

that understands the importance of
resiliency and what we�re doing here.

Even if we had the greatest champion in Washington,
it�s still incumbent upon cities and towns

across America to carry out the plan.

I do think it�s important first
that we start

to take this conversation outside this room
and have real conversations.

I would suggest that we go

to editorial boards of the news outlets.

I would suggest that we start talking
to more business leaders.

I would suggest that we start thinking
about how do we amp up this plan

so it�s not just the people
on the inside crowd,

whether it�s the Chamber of
Commerce or here at the Commission.

We need to take this
conversation beyond this.

So what are we here for today?

- Fire blocking.
- OK, so the rough inspection?

When are you guys looking to insulate?

Insulate next week.

Next week you have on schedule.

On schedule for Monday.

So you�re thinking Monday.

Monday, Tuesday. He said two, two
and a half days he�d have it all wiped out.

- What are you doing, spray foam?
- Spray foam, closed cell.

Closed cell on the exterior.

So you�re thinking that if all goes well
today, you have them scheduled for Monday.

For Monday. I spoke with him earlier, he
said two, two and a half days to wrap it all.

He�ll send two crews.

I�m going to be off on Thursday.

If we could get you may be, well provided
he sends two crews Monday.

All right. So then you�ll just email me.

And let me know how that goes.

And if Wednesday comes around and I have
time I�ll squeeze you in to keep it going.

So all the fire blocking�s done.
All the penetration.

- Fire caulking.
- Use the caulk and the 3M caulking?

- No foam, right?
- No foam.

Now what do we do down the basement is
extended living spaces as a part of this unit?

Extended living space for the first floor
master suite, master bath, master shower...

- And this is fully sprinkled, right?
- Fully sprinkled.

This was new underground plumbing.

We had our plumbing inspection yesterday,
so we can close out.

So he got a look at it?

This is a master bedroom.

Master bedroom, master closet,
master bath, laundry.

- Extended from that unit up above.
- Correct.

And then you have this door here
for your egress?

What are we going to do with this here?
How are you going...

It�s going to be a drain here
with a wet bell on the bottom.

And it�s going to be two steps up.

We�re going to get all that stuff
and some flagstones or something.

Are you going to patio this?

All the way out to the back.

Fire caulking is done.
All the penetrations.

And then this is all getting closed cell.

And then as I said they�ll be
all batts in between.

Where�s your sprinkler head down here?

One there, there�s one over here.
This is to go outside underneath the deck.

So that�s going to go out.

There�s one on each floor.

- Exterior, right?
- Exterior.

Low temperature.

What are you doing for railings here?

The railings are all on the second floor.

- Iron?
- It�s iron railings, the wire.

That�s not a bad view.
Are these going to be sold or rentals?

These are condos.

So you�re going to put them
on the market when you�re done.

- No roof deck?
- There is a roof deck.

- How�s the access?
- There�s going to be a spiral.

That�s on the plans?

Then this is all being spray foamed, right?

This is what you�re using, right?

Let�s get on the second floor.

And then with this over here Brendan,
you�re going to box this all out.

So you�re going to come off,
box out that sprinkler, right.

It will all be boxed in.

And then you have all your heads here.
And then that.

You�re going to need
some ledger lock on that right?

It�s not a bad view
until that building gets built.

Have you seen any plans for that one yet?

It�ll probably go up just as high.

Take a picture of this, Brendan.
Someone�s going to throw this out.

Take a picture
and make a copy for the record.

Hold onto that.

So you�re all set Brendan. Give me a shout
early next week. It�s a short week.

If 16 year old

have services at Bridge, and they�re
connected to the services at Bridge,

if they�re no longer served by Bridge they
don�t have a relationship with Bridge anymore.

So it�s like how do we...
and I�m not sure how we do this.

This is why we need the RFP,
the definition is like

it has to be not connected to the services
that they�re getting.

Because once the services go away
the relationship goes away,

Which is what keeps young people in the cycle
because they don�t have long term relationships.

So the challenge

that the RFP�s addressing,
the first one is that unfortunately,

the scope of services for youth or young
adults experiencing homelessness is limited.

Not only in Boston,
but across the country.

And most services around people experiencing
homelessness are services for adults.

And so the adult shelter system,

unfortunately sometimes is the place where

18, 19, 20 year old find themselves
if they�re homeless on the street,

dealing with behavioral health challenges,
end up finding themselves in a shelter.

What we�re trying to do
is to tell these shelters:

the services, the environment
and the culture are created for adults

who may experience chronic homelessness,
who are 40.

It's different for a 19 year old

who we know statistically - and
I think this would be in the RFP -

is more likely to be LGBTQ,
more likely to be people of color,

experiencing other issues.

What we want to say is the challenge here
is that the gap of services

to meet the specific needs of youth and young
adults experiencing homelessness is great

and multiple parts.
Mayor Walsh�s plan is working on that.

However, in the meantime we know youth and young
adults already find themselves in the adult shelters.

We�re trying to say is that in an ideal
world we want youth and young adult shelters.

But in the meantime, the city�s plan is to not just wait
until we have those shelters, or have those services.

We�re going to meet the needs
of youth and young adults today.

We want these shelters to do that.

That�s the challenge or the need
we�re trying to meet in that first one.

And to be fair we want the shelters
to think about how they�re doing this

in a way that what do they need to do
to do better? You know what I mean?

You know this better than I. Some types of
shelters will say, well we have a separate space.

Like upstairs in the corner these 10 beds
are meant for 18 to 24 year olds.

OK, I guess a separate space is important.

But when I have to get through all the chaos
of the shelter to get to the separate space,

I still have to go downstairs
to the kitchen to eat.

To go to the shared bathroom.

And at night there�s only one
person upstairs, or one staff person.

How are they thinking about the fact that youth
and young adults are vulnerable in these spaces?

So we want them to say we know it�s a gap.

We have to say this because we know our funders
don�t agree with us. It�s not a long term solution.

But that�s where they find themselves today
so we�re going to meet them where they�re at.

So this solution that you would envision...

We�re talking about physical space.
We�re talking about policies and practices.

We�re talking about competencies of staff.

We�re talking about

how we do outreach
and engagement and connection.

All the stuff we know about. How do you
make a space youth friendly? Same thing.

How do we think about all those things that we
already know? I think that�s how you would bucket it.

We�re talking about space,
about policies and practices.

They're concerned about
the onetime funding? I get it.

There�s a lot you can do with
onetime funding in all of those buckets.

That then they have to sustain post that.

So I think that�s what that is.

And would you like for me to stay

a little bit away from programing
because it�s not multiyear funding?

On the challenge that
RFP�s trying to address

is that we know that young adults
experiencing homelessness lack

the social capital and the personal
connections with caring adults in their lives

to help them navigate
the challenges that exist.

So to help them access opportunity, but avoid
the challenges that are in front of them.

And that too many of the relationships and
this comes from youth and young adult voices,

too many of those relationships are
relationships based on the provision of service.

And what young people have told us through this
process is they need more permanent connections

that are not tied to a service,
not a case manager, not a clinician,

not a behavioral health specialist
at the community center, whatever,

but people who just care about me
and my wellbeing, separate from that.

Permanent connections,

the more relationships young adults have,
the more likely they are to be successful

and overcome these challenges.
And so that�s what we�re trying to address.

That youth and young adults need this
especially LGBTQ

and youth of color who are more likely
to experience homelessness.

Program folks, five dollars here.

Get a program for the World Series
champions, folks. Five dollars here.

Program folks. Get a program for the World
Series champions folks. Five dollars here.

Comes with your free bumper sticker.
Best team ever.

Red Sox parade folks,

get a program, 5 dollars
for the World Series champions.

119 wins, 108 during the regular season, 11 more
in the post season to bring the championship home.

Thank everyone for coming herein today. I wanna
thank the Red Sox, an incredible organization

starting with the ownership down to
our general manager. I had the chance

to go to Puerto Rico with Alex Cora in the very beginning
of the season and I saw what type of person he was.

He�s an amazing man, an amazing team, with
the best fans in the world. Go Red Sox!

- Mayor Walsh, how you doing?
- This is great. I�m doing good. I can�t complain.

It�s the World Series, Red Sox parade,
people are happy, what else can you ask for?

This isn�t our first rodeo. As a friend of mine
in LA said, didn�t you guys invent the rodeo?

I think we did. I was saying that earlier today
in the car, driving to the police roll call,

Other cities are dying for one and we�ve had 11
in the last 14 years or 15 years. It�s amazing.

- Everyone�s won one too which is incredible.
- So much goes into this.

What does it do for the city?

Sports is so engrained
in the City of Boston.

When there�s a parade in the city,
what does it do for the City,

despite all the logistics
and all the issues that go into it?

When our teams are doing well,
it�s good for the city,

for the restaurants, the bars, all the
different venues. The excitement in the city.

The team's being part of the community, so
that�s another important part of these teams.

They�re part of our neighborhoods
and community.

It�s great for the city,
and the parade keeps the spirit up

and I think today in the world of
politics and what�s going on in the world,

the horrible incident that happened
in Pittsburgh, I think something like this

makes you realize
to be positive and move forward.

Thank you for being proud of who you are
and where you�re from.

And as I look around the room,
a lot of you are the future leaders

of the City. You might not see that, you might not
understand where your pathway�s going to take you,

but it�s going to take you
to amazing places.

So when you think about advancement,
when you think about moving forward,

it�s about who you are as a person and the
commitment you have to your own professional career

in being recognized and realized and
involved and engaged and moving forward.

Whatever you do there are opportunities.

When you think about the Latino community,

when I first became the Mayor, I spent a lot
of time, I still do, but I spent a lot of time

with organizations particularly
Latino community organizations

that felt that they were underrepresented or
not represented in a lot of different places.

And we sat down
and we really started to look at

Boards and Commissions and staff and who�s
around and how we�re doing, what�s going on.

And making a real concerted effort
to change that reality. Not image, reality.

To make sure our people have opportunities
within City government.

And as I think about you,
all of you in this room,

I think about being future leaders
in the business sector,

future leaders in the nonprofit sector.

This is a starting point. Some people are going to stay,
come from the City, work their whole career in the City

and I commend you for
that and love you for that.

Some of you will say it�s time to move
to something else.

And go into the business sector.

And that's honestly what you have to start
thinking about how we do things.

And how you advance yourself, number one.
First and foremost.

Second piece is Latino pride.

And I think that is really important.
These service projects are about education.

They�re about pride.

One of the thing that�s special
about Latino community

is that you are a diverse community
within your community.

Because as you we�re going around here
and everyone�s introducing themselves,

every time Columbia was mentioned.

There are some Venezuelan�s here that were
excited. The Mexicans seem really excited as well.

So there is a sense of pride.

And I think for us in the City,
doing these service projects,

you�re doing it because
you�re trying to help people,

but what you�re also doing is
you�re teaching people about government.

You�re also teaching people
about what can be possible.

You�re also creating opportunities
to open doors.

How do you take your expertise
and what you know as a person,

as your heritage and your nationality

and also what you�ve learned, whether
it�s been in school, if you were born here,

if you weren�t born here,
what you learned at home and take it

to the community
and give people opportunities.

The day that Trump came down

with the ban, I looked up at the screen,
I saw what was going on and I�m like

what�s he doing today? And Dan says:
you know he�s doing a Muslin ban

and he�s banning against immigrants.

I said let�s do a press conference.
When? I said in a half hour.

I said I want every single immigrant that
works in the building standing behind me

and I want every first generation person

in there as well, because I didn�t think I had enough
immigrant community behind me to fill the room.

We were out in the hall,
out in the hallway, it was packed.

That was a proud moment

because I was standing amongst my peers

because I might be the Mayor,
but I�m a public employee.

We�re no different.
And I was proud of that moment.

And that has nothing to do...
So I�m proud of where my heritage is.

And I think back to comparing,
maybe doing a little history of the Irish.

In the end of the 19th century
Irish were called dogs,

servants, slaves, pigs, monkeys, animals.

If you look at the portrayal of Irish
people back then it was completely racist.

And a group of people got together and
started to think about being a power broker.

And they slowly but surely started to go into
cities around America and they got elected to

town councils, city councils
and then a couple legislatures.

And eventually continued to build up a brief
of support and understood who they were,

and next thing they�re Mayors.

And that�s really what every community that
comes to this country has done over time.

And you don�t settle at politics.

Our job is to represent and support
the people of Boston.

That�s our job.

Whether it�s for, through somebody or
directly for somebody, that�s what our job is.

And when you�re a public employee
you have responsibility for that.

And I think that everyone in this room is more
motivated than the average person at City Hall

in a lot of different ways,
and take that motivation,

take that desire and keep that moving
forward. Because that�s who we have to be.

This car doesn�t have
an active registration.

I should have brought my passport, but
that wouldn�t have been any good either.

So to get married it costs $75 cash
on the date of the ceremony.

So you can only park at the meter
between those times. 12 to eight.

I�m looking to get an Allston Brighton
parking pass.

It doesn�t have your Boston address.

There are 3 fairly significant master plans
that are happening in

city departments right now
that we�re going to be a part of.

The first one
is the Boston Public Library.

They�re starting a master planning process
in the spring to look at the McKim Building

which is the old building of the library.

Specifically for interest to our community
is looking at the front entrance.

As we know,

thanks to great advocacy of the Board
and an individual Boston resident

they installed a semi-permanent ramp
earlier this year

so that the front entrance
is now accessible.

However,
they want to build a permanent ramp,

a very nice artistic structure so they don�t
have a temporary metal ramp up there for long.

So that�s going to be worked
into the master plan.

And also there are two meeting rooms
in the library

in the old McKim Building, that the only way you can
access them right now is with a lift, a vertical lift.

That is the Map Room
and the Commonwealth Salon.

We�re going to be looking at those areas to
see if there�s a way to improve accessibility.

Unfortunately there was a meeting scheduled

a few weeks ago to give updates
on the PCA Program,

scheduled by Mass Health
and there was some communication

where the Library staff
told the people at Mass Health

the room was accessible and it was one of
these rooms which is technically accessible

but when you have 20 and 30 people
coming in wheelchairs, trying to go up

that lift,
it was not very accessible, so...

I�m working on communication
with the library and looking at

different strategies
to try to improve accessibility.

Another master plan that�s happening
is the Parks Department

is working on a master plan
for Boston Common.

There is a large barrier in the Common

that we�ve been interested in working on
for a long time.

And that is the set of steps
at the Shaw Memorial

which go from the Common up to
Beacon Street, across from the State House.

Right now if you�re in the Common
and you can�t use the steps,

there�s no way to get to the State House
except to go back to Tremont Street

and walk all around up Park Street
to Beacon Street.

So it�s a really long path of travel
and even that path is not very accessible.

So, we had worked with the Parks Department
for a few years

to try to get some measurements of slopes

and come up with some design concepts to either
do a ramp or an exterior elevator in the Common.

So this will be included
in the Master planning.

I heard you say on the Master Plan
regarding the Boston Common

with the steps going up to the State House
that input would be valuable.

I get complaints all the time as the ADA
Coordinator at the State House. Would it help if I

got a letter from the State House
saying that we would appreciate

those steps be made be accessible?

Yes, I definitely think a collaboration
between the City and the State

because it�s definitely the State House
which is part of the Freedom Trail.

When they have people with disabilities
on the Freedom Trail they have to detour

and they can�t go on the standard route.

It happens almost every day.

So I think we can definitely
collaborate on that.

I�ll put together a letter and have it signed
by the Superintendent of the State House.

Great.

To me this is personal.

When I was seven years old
I was diagnosed with cancer.

For 4 years I was treated at the Children�s
Hospital in Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

And the people that were in our corner
every single day, the doctors were there,

but around the clock it was the nurses.

It was the nurses who we got to know.
It was the nurses who comforted my parents.

It was the nurses who helped everybody.
It was the nurses that held my hand.

It was the nurses that did everything
in my life and I never forgot that.

And it�s something that�s really important
for all of us never to forget.

Because in a time of need in the hospital
it�s the nurses that show up at your bedside.

It�s the nurses that comfort your families.
It�s the nurses that are there for you.

And I want to thank you for that. And I want
to let you know that that�s why I�m here today.

Because when I needed to be taken care of
and my family needed to be taken care of,

it was the nurses that
took care of my family.

So thank you for that.

Pedro and I have talked
pretty extensively about

some of the work that�s been being done
on the opioid crisis in Boston.

Pedro expressed a
particular interest in that work

and in exploring how we might
use public art to inform or tell a story,

or whatever it is we want to do
about that particular crisis.

I told him the last time we met
about a couple things in particular.

The Engagement Center and also the effort
to build a Recovery Campus on Long Island.

And thought it would be a good idea to put
together this particular team who are working

on arts and culture and the Recovery Campus
and the whole host of other things

to have a conversation and see
if there�s something we might be

thinking about doing in art and recovery.

Something small or something significant, I don�t know.
But it seems there�s a great opportunity if there are

patrons around who might like to help us

tell the story of the Recovery
Campus or of the Engagement Center.

So I�d like to try and figure out how to,

if that�s something that you want
to explore, how to get you access to

these two places.

What�s interesting is that Long Island, if you
think about being the place that is the long term,

sort of recovery place for people,

kind of completing our continuum of care
that we offer as a city.

The Engagement Center is really the low end. It
is the thing that starts the continuum of care.

In bureaucratic speak called
a low threshold space because

even people who are kicked out of shelters,
people kicked out of programs,

are allowed to be there.
You can be

in any state of mind
as long as you�re respecting the space.

You can come and sleep,
you can come and play games.

You�ll see some pictures.

What�s interesting is that we try
to make the best of what we had.

It was a storage tent basically.

Like with a structure.
Like it has air conditioning and it has

things you�d find in a building,
but it�s still canvas.

And so, very quickly

the most random assortment of ragtag gang
of people in the City from many departments

came together and figured out
what to do with this space

to make it habitable, but more importantly
to make it a place that people wanted to be.

Because we really wanted this
to be a place

where you�re not on the recovery spectrum
yet. You�re no necessarily wanting recovery.

Maybe you are, maybe you aren�t.
It�s just a place for people to go

so that they�re not on the streets,

so they�re not in danger of falling into the
highway, because that�s where this is located.

And just a place where people could

be their full selves. It�s important to
people. It�s home for a lot of people.

To follow up on what Sabrina said,

you were talking about your art in a way
that we�ve been talking about

some of the artistic approaches here and
we sort of discussed around a civic art.

It�s art that is not just public. It�s not just
there to see, but rather there�s some purpose,

or the artist or the community
can articulate

this is doing, this is this.
This is how we�re going to put it to use.

And here it�s not just
because it looks nice.

It�s the little teeny things
that like push people into recovery.

The little breath of fresh air. Being able to talk
to somebody that gives some meaning to your day.

And that is totally what this space
could always use.

We�re year 2 into this.

We put some money in the capital budget
for a permanent space at some point,

but we have no idea how long
it�s going to take to actually do that.

In the meantime, this space
is being very well utilized.

To the point where things are wearing out
faster than we would like them to.

So very cognizant of trying
to make sure that the place is

welcoming
and a good place for people to be.

But the administration is committed to

keeping an engagement center in some form
up and running pretty much permanently.

There are a number of people
who have found their way

to recovery
through the Engagement Center.

It�s like Steven said, it�s a low
threshold space. These are folks who

might not have even thought about that yet.

But at least having the ability
to ask for help,

makes it I think probably a little bit more
likely that you might actually ask for help.

A friendly space
allows you to take that first step.

- Springboard. Not even a step.
- Springboard.

Because there�s no
expectation of recovery.

It�s not like most other services, you don�t
go there because you�re ready necessarily.

You can go there just to get your snack,

but then over enough time maybe that
will be the thing that springs you forward.

You got everything from 'hey I�m looking for
a coed space that I can be with my partner'

to 'I�ve been barred from all the
other spaces that the City provides,

but I definitely need to access

fruit cups in order to deal with
my low blood sugar.'

This space offered that opportunity
to provide that for them.

And then sort of ease them back
into being a part of

whatever they may have not been
a part of before.

It acted like an incredibly interesting mediation
space for some, a social space for other,

a living room, a pit stop,

a sort of community
and again being in that meeting,

hearing everyone talk about this
is like a family.

So I think we�re in
a really interesting point where

yes, we�re trying to think about
how to refresh the space as a city,

trying to think about what does it mean to keep
the Engagement Center? What does that look like?

Does that mean more of them? Does it mean
a better version of what we have right now?

All that aside, also thinking about how do we
tell the story about what�s happening here?

Both on the level of the humanizing folks
and meeting people where they are,

but also functionally we�ve done something
here that clearly is filling a gap and a need

and really what�s the story that
Boston�s trying to tell around recovery?

Being such an epicenter, regionally?

So I think there�s some interesting
connections to think about.

How do we talk about this?
How do we talk

about Long Island?

Obviously there�s a political side to all of
this too because this exists in a neighborhood.

The South End neighborhood
has been very good

about accepting the
amount of social services

that have to be absorbed
by that community because

the shelter is in that a neighborhood. There�s
a methadone clinic in that neighborhood.

So this is the corner of
Melnea Cass and Mass Ave.

People call it methadone mile.
We call it Recovery Road.

We need to do a better
job of telling the story,

also lifting up the neighbors in
the South End who�ve been good

about absorbing all of this activity that not
every neighborhood would be so open to receiving.

It goes a long way that most people have
substance use disorders somewhere in their family.

Most people probably have it pretty
close in their families, so that helps,

but we owe it to them to tell a story
about why this is needed.

This is sort of a short term, it�s big for us,
but it�s also small and short term when you...

in the context of the Recovery Campus
on Long Island.

Much longer term project.

It calls for the rebuilding of a bridge
and obviously there�s a

a court case
that�s going to go on about that,

an argument between two municipalities
about how that gets done.

But Long Island was a place where a lot of
programs like this existed for many years.

And the Mayor�s made it
clear that he wants to build

this Recovery Campus which will serve
long term residential programs in recovery.

Where it used to be there was a homeless shelter,
at least one homeless shelter, maybe two.

There was 2 shelters out there.

So where it used to be
there would be a night shelter.

That�s not going to be the case anymore. It�s
going to be focused on long term recovery.

It�s residential as opposed to

shuttling homeless people out at night and
bringing them back into the City in the morning.

So there�s a whole, where I actually
don�t know what the latest update is on

when we could even expect a bridge to be
rebuilt, but it�s at least 3 or 4 years out.

In the meantime we�re thinking
about programming,

assessing the viability
of all the buildings that are out there

and trying to figure out how
to tell the story of Long Island.

Because we definitely have a story that
we need to tell because we need to build

political will to actually
make the Recovery Campus happen.

So that it can serve not just Bostonians,

but people dealing with substance use
disorders from around the greater Boston area.

So there�s some great opportunity there for storytelling
and we�re very much in the beginning stages of that.

I think I�ve mentioned Swoon in the past.

Swoon she was actually,
I mean this is public.

She was raised by...
her parents were addicts.

Heroin if I remember correctly.

So it�s a topic that she�s very attuned to
and I think

she�s made it clear
that she wants to dedicate

maybe the rest of her career to
really looking at addiction and trauma.

And how you know,
trauma leads to addiction.

So the project I did with her in
Philadelphia, she worked with

men at Graterford State Prison

Inmates, of the largest state prison, maximum
security prison in the state of Pennsylvania.

Women in a re-entry program and...

I�m sorry.

Women in halfway house
and a re-entry program.

The most important thing
was the element of telling the story.

She worked with participants
to teach them how to tell their story.

And we were all crying. It was so...

you know, powerful.

I think that the oral histories

are very important.

The portrayal of people
who we often forget about,

disregard, are really important
tools for humanization.

So much of recovery

is about story telling anyway.
Who knows what tomorrow might bring

and so I think the more that
we can use these stories

to put them out there, but also to
really put at the center of all this work,

the idea of storytelling.
Or, the idea of like owning your story

and sharing it.

I think a fan belt inside the generator

caught fire. So,

they extinguished it. I think they shut the
power off. They�re on their way down now.

I just want to give a brief background
of how this event came to be.

For those of you familiar with Sebastian Junger,
who�s a writer, his last book was called Tribe.

In this book he explores
the concept around homecoming

and belonging
within the Veterans community.

And he often talks about
how the best thing a community can do

for our Veterans is to listen to their stories
without judgment and with full support.

And this is what this Town Hall
is intended to do.

This is a community forum

aiming to establish greater understanding
between local Veterans

and the friends and neighbors
that they fought for.

We took care of English and American
soldiers when they came back from the front.

Some of the soldier�s wounds would heal
and they were able to get up,

but most of them were bed patients.

We helped the soldiers recuperate

from physical and mental injuries.

Back then we called it shell shock.

We tried to keep the soldier�s spirits up.

Many of the soldiers had lost a leg or
an arm or sometimes both legs and arms.

Those men were sent to Walter Reed to
receive artificial limbs and appendages.

I had a patient
who wrote a letter to his wife

to tell her that he had lost his leg.

He was worried that she wouldn�t want him