News

By SCOTT JACKSON

Five residents have put their names forward as candidates to fill the vacant Ward 2 seat on the Quincy City Council, including a member of the city’s school board and the college board of governors.

Brad Croall, the former Ward 2 councillor, resigned from the seat earlier this week. The council will select an appointment to serve out the remainder of his term, which expires at the end of the year.

Ward 2 residents had until noon Friday to express interest in the seat. The five who did so are: Anthony Andronico of 46 Endicott St.; Richard C. Ash of 14 Mound St.; Kenneth Augen, Esq., of 200 Falls Blvd.; Mary Jo Brogna, MSN, RN of 24 Alden St.; and Dana Harkin of 39 Ave.

Andronico is a member of the Quincy School Committee. He is finishing his first four-year term on the school board and is currently its vice chairman.

Brogna is a member of the Quincy College board of governors. She served on the board from 2007 to 2016 and was reappointed to it in 2018.

The City Council will meet Monday night to fill the vacant seat. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held remotely via Zoom. The meeting ID number is 862 3982 7493 and the phone number for those wishing to call into the meeting is 646-558-8656.

Whoever is appointed to the seat will be eligible to seek a full two-year term in the fall municipal election.

The last councillor to resign during his term was Daniel Raymondi, who left the Ward 2 seat in 2011 to become the city’s commissioner of public works. Councillors later appointed Francis Orlando to fill the remainder of Raymondi’s term.

Orlando did not seek election to a full term that fall. Croall ran for and won the seat that year and held the seat until his resignation.

By SCOTT JACKSON

With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations trending in the right direction, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday announced the state’s overnight stay-at-home advisory and an order requiring many businesses to close at 9:30 p.m. will be lifted beginning on Monday.

A separate order reducing capacity at most businesses statewide will remain in effect for at least two more weeks.

During a State House press conference, Baker said COVID-19 related hospitalizations have decreased by 10 percent since they peaked earlier this month. There were 2,209 such individuals in hospitals on Thursday, down from 2,428 on Jan. 4. The seven-day average of new cases has dropped by 30 percent, from 6,120 to 4,528 and the positive test rate has fallen 33 percent from 8.7 percent to 5.8 percent.

“We all know we are not out of the woods yet by any means, but things do appear to be getting better here in Massachusetts,” the governor said.

“Vaccines are reaching residents. Positive case rates and hospitalizations have stabilized. Those trends are moving in the right direction. As a result, we believe it is OK and it is time to start a gradual easing of some of the restrictions we put in place in the fall.”

The overnight stay-at-home advisory – which asks residents to remain at home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. daily – was put in place in November along with the order requiring many businesses, such as restaurants, liquor stores, adult-use marijuana stores, personal services, gyms and cultural, entertainment and recreational facilities to close at 9:30 p.m. Baker said both orders would be lifted effective Monday.

A separate order, requiring many businesses to run at 25 percent capacity, will remain in effect for least another two weeks until Feb. 8. That order, which applies to nearly every business in the state, including retailers, restaurants, offices, gyms and houses of worship, among others, has been in effect since Dec. 26.

Baker said those restrictions could be revisited if the numbers continue to trend in the right direction.

“As hospitals continue to stabilize over the holidays and the average positive case rate declines, we hope to see those trends continue moving forward,” he said. “If they do, we will be back to talk about lifting some of those restrictions that are currently in place as soon as it makes sense to do so, so that people can get back to work and back to normal over the coming months.”

By SCOTT JACKSON

City officials are targeting a 51-acre area within Wollaston Center – including stretches of Hancock Street, Newport Avenue and Beale Street – for redevelopment using a similar process that has unfolded in Quincy Center.

“Wollaston at this point I think needs a little bit more help from the city,” said Rob Stevens, the city’s deputy planning director. “Once we do that, I believe there will be a brighter future ahead.”

Stevens provided city councillors with an overview of the new urban development plan for Wollaston Center on Tuesday, after Mayor Thomas Koch formally proposed it. A similar urban revitalization and development plan is already in place for Quincy Center and has been used to guide the development efforts that have taken place in the downtown district in recent years.

The new plan for Wollaston requires approval from the City Council and Planning Board and will also be vetted by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development before it could take effect.

The public will be able to comment on the plan during future public hearings and a citizens advisory committee will be established as part of the review process, Stevens said. He noted the city has hosted several community meetings in recent years to discuss the future of Wollaston Center and input from those meetings helped shape the proposed plan.

Stevens opened his presentation by showing two aerial images of the district, one recent and one from 1977, to highlight how little development has taken place in the area.

“A Dunkin’ Donuts was developed in the last 40 years and then we had one multi-family building that was developed in the last 40 years,” Stevens said, also noting the Wollaston MBTA station has been renovated during that time.

Both aerial images also show a dark spot in part of what is now the CVS parking lot. Stevens said that dark spot is a puddle that is indicative of stormwater drainage issues that occur in Wollaston Center.

Jef Fasser of the BSC Group, the consultant that helped develop the urban development plan for Wollaston, described the area as “decadent,” meaning it qualifies for such a plan under the state’s regulations. He said 75 percent of buildings in the area are 80 or more years old, and 85 percent of buildings are 50 or more years old.

“Old doesn’t mean bad, but old is a thing we look at it because if buildings are older and they haven’t been kept up to date, then they in many cases are not meeting current code, do not have current utilities and other services that would be necessary for businesses to move into them…and therefore are either underutilized or vacant,” Fasser said.

He also noted several buildings have been demolished in recent years and not replaced, namely the Wollaston Theater on Beale Street and three buildings on Newport Avenue that were destroyed or badly damaged by a five-alarm fire in 2019.

The development plan identifies those parcels for acquisition, along with several adjacent parcels. The city would flip those parcels to a developer who would construct multi-story, mixed-use buildings in their place.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car location on Beale Street, which is within the CVS parking lot, would also be targeted for acquisition. The city would keep that land and build a stormwater control station on site.

Fasser suggested additional development could take place on surface parking lots, including those used at the CVS, the Wollaston MBTA station, and Tobin Towers, where the Quincy Housing Authority has expressed an interest in building new housing.

The urban redevelopment plan includes an estimated gross cost of $50.76 million. More than half that amount, $32.03 million, would be spent on public improvements, including roadways and other infrastructure, new green spaces and a stormwater control station.

The plan also anticipates the city would spend $7 million to buy the various parcels identified for acquisition. It also estimates paying $1.5 million in relocation fees to the businesses and residents who currently use those parcels.

The city projects it will then flip those properties to a developer for a combined $7.5 million, which would be deducted from the gross cost to give a net cost of $43.26 million for the project of which the city has $300,000 available.

Stevens said the city would look to use state and federal money to pay for remaining cost of the project. The administration could also propose creating a district improvement financing district, also known as a DIF district, for Wollaston Center.  The DIF program would allow the city to issue bonds that would be paid back using new tax revenue generated within Wollaston. The city is using a DIF program to fund public improvements in Quincy Center.

Ward 5 Councillor Charles Phelan Jr., who represents part of Wollaston Center, said he looked forward to the public process to review the new redevelopment plan. He said parking regulations and height restrictions would be among the issues that would be addressed during that process.

“I think there is a going to be a lot of give and take,” Phelan said.

Phelan also noted he owns a business, the Hamel-Lydon funeral chapel, within the proposed urban development district, and has asked City Solicitor Jim Timmins to determine what impact that would have on his ability to vote on the matter going forward.

By SCOTT JACKSON

City councillors on Tuesday approved creating a new Department of Social Justice and Equity after more than 30 residents voiced their support for doing so at a public hearing.

The measure will now go to Mayor Thomas Koch for approval. Koch would also be responsible for setting a salary for the department’s lone employee, a director, and appointing that individual to the position. The new director would be tasked to, “create equity and inclusion among all populations in Quincy.”

A spokesman for the mayor did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Councillors Nina Liang, Brian Palmucci and Noel DiBona first introduced an ordinance creating the new department in November. Liang and Palmucci – along with Councillors Brad Croall and Anne Mahoney – had hosted a series of community meetings last summer to discuss inequality and injustice with residents, and the proposed department was partially inspired by those meetings.

Palmucci said, “Quincy has always been and must always be a city with open arms and a loving heart,” that has welcomed generations of immigrants from the around the world.

“This legislation does nothing more than codify that principle and put someone in charge of ensuring that we carry those ideals forward for the next 100 years,” he said.

Palmucci said while Quincy isn’t facing the problems some communities are facing, such as rampant police brutality, the proposed department “is about acknowledging we can do better.” He pointed out that flyers supporting white supremacist propaganda were recently left at some mailboxes in the city.

“We can create a department tasked with helping those harmed by such things, like the little girl who opens her mailbox to find that propaganda and wonder why someone hates her and brings that to her home,” Palmucci said.

Liang, whose parents came to the United States from China, said various departments in the city are already taking steps to ensure equity and inclusion for all residents. She was concerned, however, that those efforts were secondary to other items the departments are tasked with overseeing.

“The creation of this department, I think, will help create a dedicated focus on this effort and will also serve ultimately as a bridge between every resident of this city and all of the work that the departments are doing and everything that is going on in city government right now,” Liang said.

Ward 3 Councillor Ian Cain, the only Black person to serve on the council, said he supported the spirit of the ordinance but questioned if it went far enough. The new department head, he noted, would be tasked with logging concerns raised by residents, but the ordinance doesn’t explain what happens after such concerns are brought forward.

“What I’m hearing from the people who provided their experiences tonight, is they are looking for enforcement of some kind. I don’t think that department is going to have this,” Cain said. “Is this just a department that is going to be taking calls and reports and creating a list…what do you do with that?”

Cain asked Palmucci to withdraw his motion to approve the ordinance. Palmucci declined to do so but said he would be willing to work with Cain to address those concerns going forward.

In the end, councillors approved creating the new department in an 8-1 vote, with Ward 1 Councillor David McCarthy opposed.

“We all keep saying this is a step in the right direction – this is a leap into a very vague ordinance,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy also suggested the city’s constituent services staff could be tasked with the duties that would be assigned to the new department.

“I always thought constituent services would get the phone calls with complaints about anything,” he said. “Why wouldn’t we build a position in that department, or try to with the administration, to get it off the ground?”

Palmucci said having a department dedicated to the issues of social justice and equity, even if that department consists of just one person, would help it work with various other city departments. Liang said having a dedicated department would ensure whoever is appointed to the position has the appropriate education and experience.

The public hearing portion of the meeting lasted more than 90 minutes. Some 100 people tuned into the hearing on Zoom with more than 30 speaking in support of the ordinance.

The Rev. Doug Gray, the pastor of the First Church of Squantum, said he and his family were excited to move to Quincy because of the city’s diversity.

“We have indeed found that…but the darker side of diversity we have also found here, and that is real racism and prejudice,” Gray said.

“The forces of racism are well entrenched in our police force and in our neighborhoods. Like many white people, I have a hard time seeing it sometimes because I don’t face that kind of discrimination myself, but without a doubt that discrimination is there.”

Resident Kate Campbell said her daughter recently visited a Walgreens in the city and left the store “hysterical because someone chose to call her some very unkind words.”

“I think about this department so much because I had no one to call,” Campbell said. “My daughter is 15 and this is probably the fourth or fifth merchant since she was 10 years old that she had to deal with…somebody who felt it would make them feel better to call her ‘corona’ or call her that lousy Chinese slur or to say, ‘I’m sorry, we only accept money from our own kind.’”

In addition to those who spoke in favor of the new department during the public hearing, Councillor Anne Mahoney said 22 residents wrote letters in support as well.

One resident, John Rodophele, spoke against creating the department. He said he would favor hiring more people to work in constituent services.

By SCOTT JACKSON

An 18-year-old Dorchester man has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a 17-year-old shooting victim from Dorchester who was found dead inside a vehicle on Victory Road in Quincy on Friday night.

The Boston Police Department responded to a report of shots fired in the area of 29 Ferndale St. in Dorchester around 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Officers on scene were advised that a possible suspect vehicle fled prior to their arrival, Boston police said.

A vehicle matching that description was later found on Victory Road in Quincy by the Quincy Police Department. A juvenile male victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound was inside the vehicle at that time, according to Boston police. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene, and he has been identified as Akeem Polimis, age 17, of Dorchester, Boston police said.

Boston police said they arrested an 18-year-old Dorchester man, Juan Nazario, in connection with the incident around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. He has been charged with murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.

Nazario will be arraigned on those charges in the Dorchester District Court.

The Boston Police Homicide Unit continues to investigate this incident in conjunction with the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office along with members of the Massachusetts State Police and the Quincy Police Department.

Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of all those who wish to assist this investigation in an anonymous manner.

To those who find themselves in need of emotional support or simply needing to talk to someone about distressing events in our community, the Boston Neighborhood Trauma Team (NTT) provides free, private support 24/7 at (617) 431-0125 or by visiting BPHC.org/trauma.

By SCOTT JACKSON

City councillors will hold a special meeting on Jan. 25 to fill the Ward 2 seat that Brad Croall will be vacating next week.

The Jan. 25 meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. that evening and it will be held remotely via Zoom. The meeting ID number is 862 3982 7493 and the phone number for those wishing to call into the meeting is 646-558-8656.

Residents seeking appointment to the Ward 2 seat need to submit a written letter of intent and their resume to both City Clerk Nicole Crispo at ncrispo@quincyma.gov and Clerk of Committees Jennifer Manning at jmanning@quincyma.gov by noon on Jan. 22. Only voters currently registered within Ward 2 are eligible for the seat.

The appointed individual will be eligible to serve out the remainder of Croall’s term, which expires at the end of the year.

Croall on Monday announced his intention to resign from the Ward 2 seat, effective Jan. 19. He has served on the council since 2012.

City Solicitor Jim Timmins, in a memo to councillors, said the procedure to fill the remainder of Croall’s term is dictated by a 1953 special act. That state law, Timmins wrote, says that the vacant seat should be filled by the defeated candidate who garnered the highest number of votes in the most recent municipal election.

Croall ran unopposed in the 2019 city election, however, meaning the decision will instead be left to his former colleagues on the council. A simple majority vote of the remaining councillors will be needed to appoint the new Ward 2 councillor; Timmins said that means five votes will be necessary to select the new councillor, regardless of how many members are present and vote at the special meeting.

One potential candidate, School Committee member Douglas Gutro, told the Sun earlier this week he would not seek to be appointed to the Ward 2 seat nor run for it in the fall municipal election. Gutro previously served on the City Council, first representing Ward 5 and then later an at-large seat.

“When I was a ward councillor, it was fantastic, but I am content where I am now,” Gutro said, adding that he would likely run for a second four-year term on the school board in the fall.

The last councillor to resign during his term was Daniel Raymondi, who left the Ward 2 seat in 2011 to become the city’s commissioner of public works. Councillors later appointed Francis Orlando to fill the remainder of Raymondi’s term.

Orlando did not seek election to a full term that fall. Croall ran for and won the seat that year, besting Steven Perdios by 56 votes. Croall was unopposed in the 2013 election, then defeated James Connors by a 45-percent margin in 2015, and was unopposed in 2017 and 2019.

By SCOTT JACKSON

City councillors could approve new rules regulating short-term rentals in Quincy as soon as next week.

Ward 5 Councillor Charles Phelan Jr. introduced the legislation to regulate short-term rentals in September, at which point the item was referred to the ordinance committee. The committee, which includes all nine councillors, unanimously approved a revised version of the ordinance on Monday after two hours of discussion.

A final vote on the bill was not taken that night, however, at the request of Ward 4 Councillor Brian Palmucci, who said he wanted more information about its impact on existing short-term rental operators in the city first. A final vote on the matter could come as soon as the council’s meeting on Jan. 19.

The committee on Monday also approved adopting portions of state law authorizing a local 6 percent excise tax on short-term rentals plus a 3 percent community-impact fee. Those items are also awaiting a final vote.

The committee reviewed the ordinance for the first time in October. During Monday’s meeting, Assistant City Solicitor Stephen Durkin introduced several amendments – all of which were approved – based on feedback from councillors at the earlier session.

The proposed ordinance would regulate short-term rentals, defined as a rental of up to 31 days. The ordinance would apply to short-term rentals offered through companies like Airbnb and Vrbo as well as those offered privately without a broker.

As proposed, the ordinance would prohibit short-term rentals within parts of the city zoned as Residence A, where only single-family homes are allowed by-right. An amendment approved on Monday would also make residential units that are not the operators’ primary residence ineligible to be rented on a short-term basis, though operators can rent out a separate unit located within the same dwelling as their primary residence, for instance one of the units in a two-family home.

“That would exclude what are called professionally managed properties,” Durkin explained.

Palmucci said he found 211 available short-term rentals in Quincy offered through various companies, primarily Airbnb. Of those, 130 are listed on a state-run registry for short-term rentals established by a 2019 law. He was uncertain how many of those 130 are within Residence A neighborhoods because the information he has access to includes only the street name, not a full address.

Without hearing from those property owners who would be impacted, Palmucci said he could not vote in favor of final passage of the legislation but was OK moving it out of committee.

“[I’m] having a hard time voting on legislation that could cost someone their livelihood, especially in these times, without hearing from them directly or knowing the actual impact,” he said.

Palmucci suggested he could be OK with the owner of a home in a Residence A neighborhood renting it out for a couple weeks a year while they are away on vacation – something the ordinance would prohibit as written – while he be more opposed to such a home being rented on a short-term basis year-round by a professional operator.

He added that nearly one-third of the registered short-term rentals in the city are within Ward 4, his ward, but he has received few complaints about them.

Other councillors who spoke during the committee meeting said they have had the opposite experience with short-term rentals in their wards.

Ward 6 Councillor William Harris said the residents he represents were desperate for the new rules to be enacted. He said homes in the ward are being rented for weekend parties, which he likened to college fraternity parties.

“They are doing the wrong thing and we need to stop it,” Harris said. “We need to protect Residence A. We need to protect neighborhoods even if they are not Residence A from this happening, from frat parties taking place where people have lived their whole lives.”

Phelan, the Ward 5 councillor who introduced the ordinance, said police have had to breakup parties inside short-term rentals in his ward, even amid the pandemic. He said the legislation should be approved in the near future.

“I don’t mind if we go a meeting or two just to iron out all the language, but we need to bring this forward before the pandemic is in our rear view mirror – before people start to rent these things,” he said.

Palmucci said the problematic rentals his colleagues spoke of are unlikely to be the ones who are registered with the state. Because state law requires they be registered, he said the city could shut them down today.

In addition to prohibiting short-term rentals within Residence A areas, the ordinance would also require operators of short-term rentals to register with the city directly.  The Inspectional Services Department would be tasked with maintaining the registry and also enforcing the rules of the ordinance. The department would be able to assess fines of $200 per day for offering an ineligible unit as a short-term rental. Violations of the ordinance or other city codes, such as noise violations, would be subject to a $100 fine per day. The registration could be revoked for two violations within six months or three violations within 12 months.

The Inspectional Services Department and Fire Department would both be responsible for inspecting units after an owner seeks to register them. During the Jan. 11 meeting, councillors voted to have the Health Department inspect the units as well.

The original version of the ordinance direct abutters be notified of a pending application for a short-term rental. Councillors changed that so ward councillors would receive notifications along with all property owners within 300 feet.

Chris Walker, Mayor Thomas Koch’s chief of staff, told councillors it would likely take the Inspectional Services Department 30 to 60 days to get the registry up and running after the ordinance is passed.

Council President Nina Liang proposed an amendment to the ordinance, which her colleagues approved, giving it an effective of date of March 15. That could be amended again going forward.

By SCOTT JACKSON

Massachusetts will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines to the 94,000 residents and staff at various congregate care facilities – including shelters, houses of correction and residential special-education schools – next week.

State officials also announced that residents and workers at certain public and private low-income senior housing developments, such as those operated by local housing authorities, would have access to the vaccine sooner than originally anticipated.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders discussed plans to vaccinate the residents and staff in congregate care settings during a press conference on Wednesday. The residents and staff within congregate care facilities are the fourth group in phase one to have access to the vaccine, following frontline health care workers, residents and staff at long-term care facilities like nursing homes, and first responders.

Baker said the state is prioritizing vaccinations for those in congregate care settings, “because they serve vulnerable populations in densely populated settings, which means are at significant risk of contracting COVID-19.”

“The staff are also high-risk for exposure at these facilities and many of them do amazing work and it is important they are vaccinated to protect themselves and their families,” the governor added.

When asked why a convicted murderer or other inmate would have access to the vaccine ahead of other members of the public, Baker responded that “congregate facilities are congregate facilities,” and that there are “4,500 public employees who work in the state’s correctional system who are every bit as much at risk as the people who are inmates there.”

The governor said vaccinations for correctional staff alone would not be adequate because there a number of other people – including attorneys, advocates and family members – who come and go from the prisons and jails.

“I don’t think you can draw a bright line that says you’re only going to vaccinate one half of a population and not the other when in fact there are other people who do come in and out,” he said.

Congregate care facilities can administer the vaccine in one of three ways. Their own staff can administer the vaccine, provided they meet the criteria to do so; they can partner with a provider, such as a pharmacy or community health care center; or they can use mass vaccinations sites the state will be creating in the coming weeks.

The first such mass vaccination site will open next week at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Baker said his administration is looking to announce additional sites in the coming days.

Two more groups remain in the in first phase of the state’s three-phased plan – home-based health care workers and health care workers doing non-COVID-19 facing care.

Sudders on Wednesday said residents and workers within residences owned by local housing authorities and certain other low-income senior housing developments will now have access to the vaccine in the first step of phase two, along with individuals with two or more comorbidities and those ages 75 and up.

Phase two of the state’s vaccination program is expected to begin in February as originally planned, Baker said.

Other groups included in phase two are certain essential workers – early education and K-12 teachers and staff, public works employees, public health workers and those in the food, agriculture and sanitation fields. Next up would be individuals over the age of 65 followed by individuals with one comorbidity.

The general public would have access to the vaccine in the third and final phase, which could begin in April.

By SCOTT JACKSON

Quincy police and federal authorities worked together to dismantle a large-scale illegal pill manufacturing operation in Wollaston.

The Quincy Police Department’s Drug Control Unit was investigating a possible drug trafficking operation based out of a rental garage facility located in the residential area of Wollaston on Jan. 6, according to Sgt. Karyn Barkas.

She said detectives discovered a large-scale, illegal pill manufacturing operation based in a single-stall rental garage on the property. Detectives also discovered a large quantity of fentanyl, powder base precursors, and commercial-grade pharmaceutical pill presses and machinery used in manufacturing. All of these illegal items were self-contained in a portable trailer.

Detectives secured the site and determined there was no danger to the public, Barkas stated Detectives then contacted the Quincy police detective task force officer assigned to the Boston office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This activated the DEA Clandestine Lab Response Team. The decision was made to tow the trailer and secure it at police headquarters. Barkas said.

The purpose of the response team is to professionally and safely dismantle the equipment, along with the neutralization and disposal of all chemicals associated with the operation, she stated.

The partnership between Quincy police and DEA, along with the collaboration of the task force officer initiative, demonstrates the importance of local and federal agencies working together to ensure the safety of our communities and the proper disposal of illegal materials, Barkas said.

Quincy police continue to investigate the matter along with federal officials, she said.