Among 13 Citizens Articles: Leaf Blowers, Self-Serve Gas, Overnight Parking, Diversity

Arlington MA

23 February, 2022

3:11 PM

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Your Arlington Last Updated: 21 February 2022 Written by Bob Sprague UPDATED Feb. 21: Town Meeting gives everyone in Arlington a chance to have a voice in government, from Town Hall to the public. While the full list of articles for this spring's annual meeting is not yet available, though Select Board hearings begin Wednesday, Feb. 23, YourArlington is publishing basic information about 13 articles brought by citizens. Issues raised include leaf blowers, self-service gas stations, overnight parking, rodenticides, diversity and face surveillance. Here is a basic listing of articles followed by the chief proponents and how to reach them. Each has been asked to provide further information. Amendment to noise bylaw regarding gas-powered leaf blowers "To see if the town will vote to Amend Title V, Article 12 ("Noise Abatement") to further regulate or prohibit the use of internal combustion-powered leaf blowers; or take any action related thereto. Anne Goodwin, 67 Menotomy Road (781-883-8450), and Alicia Russell, 21 Hopkins Road (617-583-3137) Conversion of gas station dispensing pumps to self -service operation To amend the existing bylaw requiring gas station owners to have an attendant pump gasoline to a self service gas station operation without the need for a gas station attendant to do so. Elias Elkhaouli, 125 Broadway (617-320-4227) Establish a town committee to examine budgetary impact of overnight parking To see if the town will vote to establish a committee of the Town Meeting to examine the cost of enforcement of the town's prohibition of overnight parking, and revenues collected through fines and perm its. The committee will report recommendations for the equitable and efficient administration and enforcement of the overnight parking prohibition, or take any action related thereto." Paul Schlichtman, 47 Mystic St., 8C (617-755-4300) Resolution establishing an integrated pest-management policy for town land, prohibitions and public education about rodenticide To see if the town will vote to encourage adoption of a unified Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Policy for the town that in part prohibits the use of certain rodenticides on town properties, including second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs); provides for waivers: provides for educating the public about rodenticide hazards to human health and the ecosystem and IPM alternatives; and further establishes such definitions and provisions necessary to effectuate a policy to protect Arlington's citizens, children, wildlife and ecosystem. Elaine M. Crowder, 2 Glenbrook Lane #17 (781-648-1927) Phase out of certain toxic rodenticides on public/private property, with reporting requirement and public education To see if the town will vote to amend Title VIII of the town bylaws to add a new article that 1) by Jan. 1, 2024, phases out the use and application of certain rodenticides, including second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs), either by town employees or by private contractors on all private and public property in the Town of Arlington except as allowed by the Board of Health to remediate a public health condition; 2) requires all licensed certified applicators of rodenticides to provide written notification to the Board of Health whenever certain rodenticides, including SGARs, are used within the town; provides for both waivers and penalties for compliance;3) provides for educating the public about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) best practices and the hazards of rodenticides to human health and the ecosystem during but not limited to licensing, permitting, and inspectional activities; and further establishes such definitions and provisions necessary to effectuate such a bylaw; or take any action related thereto. Elaine M. Crowder Resolution/commitment to increase diversity in town appointments To see if the town will vote to deepen Arlington's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by resolving that it is the desire of Town Meeting that the Town's appointing authorities prioritize and center the communal goal of increasing the diversity of Town boards and committees by intentionally identifying, inviting and appointing qualified applicants from underrepresented groups to fill openings, such that these public bodies reflect racial, economic and other forms of diversity; or take any action related thereto. Elizabeth Dray, 130 Jason St. (617-584-9428) Prohibit face surveillance To see if the town will vote to amend Title I of the town bylaws to prohibit the use of face surveillance by the Town of Arlington , including departments and officials, or take any action related thereto. Ezra Fischer, 32 Thorndike St. (732-429-8802) Alewife Brook is a valuable natural resource To see if the town will vote to endorse a resolution declaring that the Alewife Brook in East Arlington is a "valuable natural resource area for Arlington residents, but degraded by sewage contaminated discharges from the Combined Sewer Outfalls (CSO) that then can flood onto Arlington lands and houses; and further urging town officials to engage with this problem and the regulatory process and to take actions to clean up Alewife Brook so that it can become a beautiful asset and a safe place to live near; or take any action related thereto. Kristin L. Anderson, 12 Upland Road West (781-266-8048) Code enforcement To see if the town will vote to grant enforcement power to a code enforcement officer, in the Department of Planning and Community Development, for the purpose of enforcing provisions of the town bylaws and zoning bylaws that do not pertain to building standards, or take any action related thereto. Paul Schlichtman Noise abatement To see if the town will vote to amend the town bylaws by replacing Title V Article 12 Noise Abatement with Title VIII Article 11 Noise Abatement, and to further regulate non-emergency work by the Arlington Department of Public Works, public utilities, and/or their contractors, or take any action related thereto. Paul Schlichtman Magliozzi Boulevard To see if the town will vote to designate an unnamed public way, located between 49 Spring St. and the Route 2 Frontage Road, as Magliozzi Boulevard, or take any action related thereto. Paul Schlichtman Resolution in support of the Mass. Fair Share Constitutional amendment To see if the town to support the Mass. Fair Share Constitutional amendment, which would create an additional tax of 4 percentage points on the portion of a person's annual income over $1 million. The new revenue would be spent on "quality public education and affordable public colleges and universities, and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and public transportation." Linda Hanson, 11 Webster St. (781-799-8163) Establish a committee on insurance costs and issues To see if the town will vote to establish a committee to examine current issues related to insurance, and undertake a survey of the costs of auto and property insurance premiums and claims of Arlington residents. These issues shall include, but not be limited to, cost and efficiency, the possibility of consolidation, and timely public access to information; or take any action related thereto. Andrew Fischer, no address listed (781-439-2600) Any town resident can submit an article for Town Meeting so long as he or she presents a petition with signatures of 10 registered voters by the town clerk's deadline, which this year was Jan. 28. Proponents are advised to have Town Counsel Doug Heim review their copy before submission. Make your case If you are the designated proponent of the 13 articles above, please provide a maximum of 500 words to support your issue. Your edited comments will be published here. Resolution in support of the Massachusetts Fair Share Amendment Linda Hanson of 11 Webster St. presented this information. The Fair Share Amendment, on the ballot in November 2022, would provide sustained funding for two critical areas of the state budget: public education and transportation. The state constitutional amendment would allow the Commonwealth to impose an additional 4-percent tax on annual income over $1 million, generating approximately $2 billion in revenue each and every year. This warrant article is part of an effort to inform the public about this important opportunity. Imagine what this additional funding could do for families, our workforce, and the climate. Public education dollars could be directed toward universal public preschool, helping alleviate the high cost of child care for working parents and providing important social, emotional and academic support for all children. Money could also be directed toward fully funding the Student Opportunities Act – which the Massachusetts Legislature recently passed to better reflect the actual cost of educating students. Finally, money could be directed toward our public institutions of higher learning, allowing students to graduate from a community or state college or university without a crippling amount of debt. We also need substantial funding to make a dent in our chronically underfunded public transportation sector, including money to fund proposed expansions to the system and adaptations to make the system more climate resilient. Efforts to alleviate climate change by improving our public transportation system and creating more alternative transit capabilities, like safer bike lanes, will take a higher level of sustained funding. By asking a little more from those in the best position to support increased state revenue, we can make transformative changes in our state's public education and transportation sectors for our families and workforce. Over the past decades, income inequality has increased in Massachusetts. The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of all income in Massachusetts. You need to make $582,774 to be counted among the top 1 percent of earners. While income for the top 1 percent has grown 340 percent between 1979 and 2015, it grew by only 9 percent for those in the bottom 20th percentile (MassBudget and Policy Center). The new surtax would only kick in for income that exceeds $1 million and would affect less than 1 percent of Massachusetts residents. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide ongoing, sustained investment in these critical areas. I hope you will join me by supporting the resolution in favor of the Mass. Fair Share Amendment at Town Meeting this April. For more information, please go to this FAQ on the Fair Share Amendment. Insurance study Andrew Fischer, Precinct 6 former meeting member, filed this article, and he explains why. Contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The town manager's budget message for fiscal 2020, '21, '22 and for next year each include a commitment to "Pursue new revenue sources." Our structural deficit is now about $4 million. Last year's report of the Finance Committee to Town Meeting for fiscal '22 foresees an override of "nearly $20 million if we don't have additional sources of revenue or reduced expenses." A review of what Arlingtonians currently spend for auto and property insurance premiums might well yield a new revenue source. Here are some estimates of the town's current insurance costs: Arlington collects excise tax on some 29,000 vehicles each year. At $1,100 average annual cost to insure a vehicle in Massachusetts, the total cost would be about $30 million a year for premiums. Even if insurance costs only $700 on average per year, that's still $21 million for premiums for the town - about $1 million per precinct. Statewide, Massachusetts has about 4 million motor vehicles, costing about $4 billion to insure. For property insurance, the state Division of Insurance reports Arlington spent $15.9 million on home owner insurance in 2019, the latest year for which I found a report on the state website. Thus, our auto and property insurance costs could be about $35 million to $40 million. That's a lot of money we spend as a community. Are our claims in line with the cost of our premiums? The Arlington Fire Department is called to most high-cost incidents resulting in insurance claims, from house fires to auto accidents. It records an estimate of the total cost of each incident in Arlington in the annual report to Town Meeting. These estimates are by trained claims adjusters; they are meant only to convey a ballpark estimate of the probable cost of each loss. Some of the incident reports omit the estimate. They also do not include run-of-the-mill property insurance losses, such as "water damage." For 2011 to 2020, these estimates averaged $3.9 million. This average included the nearly $5 million fire at Arizona Terrace of 2015, in which a resident died, and 36 of 114 apartments were destroyed. Suppose Arlington's total losses were $8 million, double our best estimate. This is still less than 25 percent of the total we pay for premiums. His statement emphasize: "We simply do not know if our cost of claims is in line with premiums. These numbers beg for answers. Arlington could be a pioneer by examining our insurance processes from the bottom up, and by learning if some form of community-based, statewide, self-insured public option is at all feasible." Self-insurance is a common approach among many organizations. Arlington self-insures for workers compensation, handling the administration in-house. Massachusetts self-insures its fleet of cars and trucks. Large employers often self-fund for liability, workers compensation and health insurance, often with third-party administrators doing the clerical work. The approach is established and deserves consideration based on accurate data. Self-insurance means that an organization commits to paying the costs of its own insurance losses by setting aside enough money to pay for those losses, instead of paying a premium to an insurance company. The organization can also purchase reinsurance, which provides security in the event of catastrophic claims. Some experts will protest that each company can have only a small percentage of vehicles in each ZIP code, so no single company suffers high damages in the case of a hurricane, for example. This is why the large geographic area of a statewide network would be necessary, to have the scale to pay for severe disasters. Reinsurance would still be purchased. The public auto insurance program of British Columbia, with 3.2 million vehicles, shows this can be done. This article asks Arlington to take a first step to learn the facts about local insurance. YourArlington.com has provided news and opinion about Arlington, Mass., since 2006. Publisher Bob Sprague is a former editor at The Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Arlington Advocate. Read more at https://www.yourarlington.com/about.