It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBSY, Boston's news radio home NCALL.
I hope you have a great time off on. Tonight is my last night for the broadcast year, and I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, Happy hon happy coons, and whatever you and your family celebrate. I hope it's a great twenty twenty five for you. It's been a pleasure working with you for the entirety of twenty twenty four and we will meet again on the other side of the new year. Good evening, everybody, and
welcome on in. I'm Dan Ray, the host of night Side, and I will be here all the way until midnight. We have a very special show for you tonight. We have topic coming up in the first hour that I think affects one hundred and seventy seven communities here in eastern Massachusetts. We've talked about it before, and that is the so called MBTA Communities Act, which the state is trying to dictate and override the zoning provisions in one hundred and seventy seven community is going to be talking
with Brendan Wilde of Marshfield. Voters in Marshfield this week restated this strong opposition to participating in this situation, this law that's being imposed upon them. If you are aware of it, stay with us. If you not, will explain it, and then you can tell us what you think of it,
simple as that. Coming up at nine o'clock tonight, an extraordinary story about a local businessman who literally is putting his life on the line to protect his business and getting very little support from the city to which he pays a lot of property taxes, commercial property taxes. Will explain all of that. This is something that needs to
be focused on. And then tonight, the last two hours of my broadcast year, we do our annual This will be the twelfth annual Night Side Charity Combine, in which we will introduce you to about twenty actually precisely twenty great charities of all stripes, of all sorts, big, small, well known, less well known, and they'll explain what their mission is and how they accomplish that mission, and perhaps what help you might be able to provide them, either
as a volunteer if it particularly piqued your interest, or as someone who would like to contribute. As we move toward the end of the year, people like to make contributions to charities. There can be some tax benefit to most people who do that. If you idemis your tax deductions come April. You know what I'm talking about. So we'll get to all of that. It's really a full show tonight, and we're going to start it off by talking about the MBTA Communities Act. This was past back.
I guess was think whether it's twenty twenty one or twenty twenty, it's been on the books for a while. It's met with a lot of resistance from communities, probably foremost in that fight. You have a Wakefield has been opposed to it for a long time, Shrewsbury, Milton, Massachusetts, and most importantly for us tonight, Marshfield with us as Brendan Wilde Brendan welcome back Tonight's side. Brendan was with
us last spring. The community of Marshfield, a town meeting on April twenty second, chose not to adopt the MBTA Communities Act, but that didn't discourage the heads of the folks up on Beacon Hill and their minions and in the town of Marshfield, and they put it on the ballot this week. Brendan, it's been a long fight but you're still standing. How are you tonight?
I'm doing very well, Dan, thank you for having me on. So it has been a long fight, and I just wanted to say it wasn't on the ballot, it was another town meeting. I don't know if this was the special town meeting and the April one was the annual or vice.
Versa, but okay, okay, So either way, it was a vote of the citizenry.
Yes, correct, okay, And.
In both instances people had to show up at town hall or at a high school and cast their vote. So in April this was voted down two eighty nine to one sixty nine. It's a pretty good margin, not quite two to one. And then on Monday night it was shot down with greater numbers, shot down four eighteen to two twenty one.
That's correct.
Why are the leaders of Marshfield not happy or not satisfied to listen to how their their residents, their taxpayers, their voters are feel on this issue. What's going on?
So, if my memory serves me correct, the April meeting was a special town meeting that they implemented knowing that if we didn't pass it in April, they would still have this annual town meeting in December. Wow, okay, so I kind of understand their strategy with that. The problem here is nothing changed on our end terms of how we would approach the bill. We were asked to show up a second time to vote for the exact, same
identical thing. None of our concerns were addressed. So I think that's why the townspeople, you know, showed up and spoke again. This is we already told you once you're not going to get lucky with us doing our Christmas shopping on a Monday night. You know, the townspeople showed out and like you said, it was better the second time around.
You folks in Marshfield. Also back in the spring, I think you have a three member board of Selectment and every third year or every year, one of those members are up for re election. And you ousted an incumbent. Your forces ousted an incumbent. So now you're going to probably have another election dealing with another incumbent who has been going against the wishes of the people in Marshfield next spring. Let's take a couple of steps back, and let's for people. There's a lot of people who don't
understand what's going on here. So let's just try to explain this as best I understand it. There are one hundred and seventy seven or so communities in eastern Massachusetts that either have MBTA service or their town is an abutted to a butter to a town that has MBTA service or is adjacent to the butter. So it covers most of eastern Massachusetts. And the nexus that they're trying to establish is because there's MBTA service, we want more
people living in those towns. Is that the underlying theory of why they're pushing this, why Beacon Hill, Charlie Baker and now more Heay have been pushing this as strongly as they as they have, That is.
How most of the citizens of the state and interpret it, I believe. So, okay, we can we can go off on a tangent on how the MBTA runs.
They're they're doing as well as they can uh and and and their improvements being made in the m b t A. That's fine. But the point is that the zoning in a community as to what type of the community what it wants to be, whether it's a suburban community or an urban community or a rural community. That's what's called local zoning laws. Correct.
Correct.
So, for example, if you live in if you live in a rural community and you don't want a strip mall in your community, and you do not want commercial activity in your community, it has to get past the zoning laws of your town. Pretty simple. It's it's the
most elementary purpose of a local community. Other than than that, I don't know what purpose a local community has to even form if they're not going to sort of maintain some sort of semblance of what the community is intended to be right or wrong.
I can't disagree with that. Why bother having town government if you're not going to let us govern?
Yeah, okay, So my second question is, there's no suggestion that I have heard from anywhere, from anywhere, that any Massachusetts community has deprived any citizen of their constitutional right to live in a community. I mean, we're not talking about some sort of redlining from the nineteen sixties or seventies where people of different backgrounds couldn't get mortgages from certain banks in certain areas of communities. There's no constitutional provision.
This is not a piece of civil rights legislation in any shape or form. That's as I understand that. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
Now. I understand it as you do. I think it's a it's a screen for more housing and nothing more.
Yeah. No, I mean, look, developers and politicians have good relationships. Developers support politicians, and sometimes developers need the ability to build more property. And there's a whole bunch of places where things can be built here in Massachusetts and elsewhere. I just see this as as such an overreach of state government imposing on local communities how those local communities
will govern themselves. I wish I could see it somehow differently, but I just that's it's to me, it's it's it's the most obvious abuse of state authority that I can ever imagine, for no purpose, no purpose at all.
I agree with you there, and I would also like to bring up I think one of one of the argument of argument arguments that their side has is adding housing will bring the cost of housing down. I don't. I don't see that happening. Look at cars on a car dealer shop, look at iPhones, the endless supply of these things. The price is the price, the cost to build a house, the costs for the lots those things
aren't going down. So to just throw up a bunch of high rise apartments, it's not going to bring prices down, it.
Might be question so here, So here's my question. If if you have bought a house in Marshfield that let's say you paid a half a million dollars for a couple of years ago. By infusing more housing into Marshfield, how can that not bring down the cost of housing? How can not that bring down the property value of the properties that are there now? Because obviously it becomes more common if if you've got a whole bunch of
housing in a town like Marshfield. Isn't that basic? I think, supplying to me of economics.
It is. But but you're talking about bringing the property value down. The property values will drop, but the affordability is what I'm talking about. Or a coastal community. Coastal communities cost more to live in than landlocked communities. There's there's lots of factors that play that. I'm not saying. I do think property values do plumit the more you saturated town with they do more, and the residents traffic,
all those things. But but to to say that adding will will make everything affordable, that's that's where I hang my hat. I do not believe that.
Well, it's going to make I think it's going to make the the value of whatever these are rental units or condominium units or whatever they are. You're going to have an infusion of people, which means you're going to have a more demand on your school system, there's going to be more demand on police activities. All it's going to do is increase the size, increase increase the density
of the community. So a town like Marshfield, which I don't know if I would call it, I kind of call it ex suburban, meaning in which it's not your suburban town like Braintree or Milton just next to Boston, but it's far enough away so it's it's it's not suburban, but it's not rural. And that's why I use the term x suburban suburbia. You know, you're living far enough away from the city, may be working in the city, whatever,
but you've chosen that lifestyle to live there. And I don't understand why anybody in Marshfield or in any one of these communities would vote in favor of this. The only reason that people are voting in favor of it is because the state has threatened to withhold grants, taxpayer funded grants to Marshfield. That's my belief.
It's it's not a belief, it's the truth.
All right, Let's pause on that. I want to talk about that. I want to talk about that, the threats that have been posed, that have been imposed on you and upon other communities, on all one hundred and seventy seven communities, either comply with our dictate or we will penalize you. That's what Beacon Hill is saying. We'll be back. My guest from Marshfield is Brendan wild who has been standing firm in that community, as that community has stood
firm against the NBTA Communities Act. Back on Nightside right after this. If you'd like to join us, the only lines we have open right now are six point seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. We will get to all of our callers who are there, I promise, And if you're dialing now, and if you have a different point of view, feel free to join the conversation.
Back on night Side now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
We're talking with Brendan Wilde. He is a resident at Marshfield and he's opposed to the MVTA Communities Act. Brendan, what threats are. This is the state directing towards you.
So, yes, I'm with you. It's been h grants, grants that are not already ear marked. These are grants that we may or may not get, but they're not they're not grants that we've already signed up for that we already have coming to them. So the point being whether or not we were going to get them is a mystery.
Yeah. So basically they're threatening you that if they're saying, do this and you'll get the grants. If you don't do it, you won't get the grants. That's correct, And that's that those grants are funded not by Mara Healey or by Charlie Baker. They're funded by taxpayers people who live in Marshfield and in other cities and towns in Massachusetts. It just to me is is an absolute abuse of authority to make you to force you to do something.
You know, again, you're not doing anything illegal here. All they're saying is you're going to do it our way. We will impose our point of view on and the people in Marshfield are saying no. So I still under say why anyone in Marshall would vote yes for it. Let's do this, Let's get some phone calls. Okay, I'm gonna go start it off, Brendan, if you're ready, Let's go to Kerry and Milton. Milton is also very much opposed to this. Carrie, welcome first is our night side. Thank you all with Brendan.
Wild Hi Dan, Hi, Brendon, can you guys hear me?
Okay here you find go right ahead?
Okay, great. So to thein one of the things, as you said, which I agree one hundred percent, is this is government overreach, right, And Brendan said something which is totally my sentiment is if we have town by laws and planning boards and zoning you know sort of, what is the purpose if the big government on Beacon Hill is going to try to you know, bigfoot you and say yeah, well but this is what we expect. In
my opinion, it is government overreach. And I think one thing end to me, which I thought was even more fantastic. His victory on Monday happened to be the two hundred and fifty first anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. So I mean that was the resistance movement against government overreach, and I think in Marshfields and here milt In that has been our concerns if you know about some of
this zoning. And as you rightly pointed out, Marshield is much further away from you know, these of the hub, meaning Boston, so it is not it is not urban at all, and it is like you said, it's kind of ex suburban if you will, if I got your word correctly.
Yeah, ex urbia is it is sort of a little it's kind of out there. It's a in a further ring, but it's where people have chosen to live and they like whatever the lifestyle is. I know Marshfield a little bit. They have some you know, commercial place places there where people can get lunch and get breakfast and dinners and
all of that. But you know, they want Marshfield to be Marshfield and to infuse whatever How many units of housing would Marshfield be compelled to build if this were to have passed in Marshfield, Brendan, did they ever give you a specific number?
They did? I don't have it right in front of me, but it was over a thousand some.
Of the documents. I think it had been fifteen hundred.
They said for Marshfield, what about meltit carry?
What are they demanding for Milton? How much? How many units?
It's more like two thousand of Milton.
Okay, No, I'll tell you if I could just go ahead, could I.
Just interject really quick? So the town Planning Board, I do want to give them credit, the town Planning Board. The spot that they put this in Marshfield wouldn't have allowed for the fifteen hundred that they wanted it would have. It would have only allowed for three hundred extra units. Whatever, whatever it was, it was a good spot to put it in. So we were really given the best possible option from our town planner. The no vote was a no vote to the state.
Yeah. I will tell you this, if if you guys had voted yes on the three hundred, they're becoming at you a year from now, for another three hundred, and the year after that, for another three hundred, they just stop. They just stop. And anybody who thought, well, we fed the beast and they're going to be happy, No, they're not. No, They're they're not simple simple at Kerry Kerry, are you folks? In Milton. You you're still fighting.
It too, right, We are, indeed, yes, if you know that States sued us to Originally, it was the last December that our elected town meeting, we have a representative town meeting who did not represent us very well. They hoped to accept the edicts from Beacon Hill to build this,
you know, significant amount of housing in our town. And to the contrast to what Brendan just mentioned about the town planners of Marshfield, the place where they did suggest creating this overlay district, if they as they called it here in Milton, they might have called it the sam and Marshfield was already quite congested, but the thing Dan so many of us were very unhappy about that, and so we gathered pretty quickly in short order because we
needed to do it pretty quickly, gather enough signatures to get a referendum ballot question, which we had on. It was this casual for February thirteenth, but a snowstorm like what seems to be happening right now pushed us out a day. So for me anyway, and many people have Milton, it was the best Valentine's Day gift ever because on
February fourteenth, much more. A huge number of people turned out for our vote, many more than even a typical more than the town election, more than even a presidential election usually. So it was a big number. And I think the numbers in Marshfield showing the second vote for them, it said they did not forget about it. And even more people, it seems if you look at the ratio there came out for on Monday, on the anniversary as the tea party to say this, which great.
Keep up the fight, Carrie and Milton, you got you have an example here in Marshfield. They're holding strong. Thanks Gerry, appreciate you called Mary.
Thanks Merry Christmas. Everybody, all right, have a great night.
Good night. We take a quick break. Here's the news in the bottom of the hour. Back with my guests Brendan Wilde, a town resident in Marshfield who is very much involved in the fight against the implementation of the forceful implementation of the MBTA Communities Act, with Ray on.
Boston's News Radio.
Let's get back to the phones. My guest is Brendan wild He's from Marshfield. I just don't understand. I know that people say there's a housing shortage. I get it. But there's more people leaving Massachusetts now that are coming in. So it seems to me that that housing shortage might be disappearing as a result of again the crazy tax policies in this state. Let's go to Bob and Wakefield. Bob, welcome next to Nightside. I know Wakefield. He says, good, Bob,
how you doing. Say ahead to Brendan White.
Hey, Brendan, congratulations, good for you. It's a big fight out there. But this is actually ridiculous. Just a little update on where this thing came from. Dan. This was a Charlie Baker's Economic Economic Development Bill h fifty two fifty. It came up for a vote January sixth, twenty twenty one, in the closing hours of the twenty nineteen twenty twenty
two legislation session. The bill passed the House one hundred and forty three to four at four am in the morning, and cleared the Senate forty to zero at four fifteen. They did this thing in the middle of the night. Right at the tail end, this bill was buried. It was literally this little this little show was buried in a two hundred page bill. It was just three paragraphs and this was all done in the middle of the night. So we've been fighting this in Wakefield, you know, and
it's absolutely insane. So going just a little little update in Wakefield. At the Springtown meeting group of us, we actually put uh, we opposed this this sole side show that was put together by the Planning Board, which which was for some reason or other, was actually in favor of this, uh for our town, which is ridiculous. But anyway, we won by twenty three votes dowd. It was two thirty to two hundred and seventy excuse me, two hundred and seven. Uh. And it wasn't good enough of the town.
So the Selectman which is now town which is now called the now town Council, they weren't happy, uh, And so they brought it back in the fall, and they stacked the town meeting and they in the town meeting. By the way, it was eight o'clock on a Saturday morning, that's what they did. And believe it or not, they had all their buddies in there, and uh, we lost it. It was three oh nine to two four, So five hundred people showed up at eight o'clock in the morning
on a Saturday for this thing. Or because they couldn't They just couldn't handle you know, you know, us winning this thing.
And tell me what that comes down to. It shows that democracy is a farce in your town. It would be as if a hypothetically, let's assume that the Democrats on November fifth said we don't like the result of the the election of Donald Trump on November fifth, We're going to rerun the presidential election on December eleventh. Yeah, and that and that time Kamal Harris wins. There, see, we want it so now, I mean this is you have a vote, and you live or you die with
the vote. You don't keep just bringing it back, you know, in another form or another version to slam it through a town. I hope that you guys in Wakefield get together and straighten out your town government.
Well, we're going to have to bring it back again because I don't want one square inch of our town to be controlled by the state. There's there's they have absolutely no no, there is absolutely nothing that that we're going to get out of this whole thing. It's an unfunded mandate. Our school schools are screwed up, right, And I brought it up to town me. I told these guys, I don't know how how many ways they don't understand it. Our schools are completely full. We're going to have to
build another elementary school or two. The they want to add another two thousand housing units in Wakefield. We've already got a thousand units that are under construction, permitted, or are currently currently going into occupancy. And this is absolutely insane. It's unsustainable. This is absolutely insane. But they're following a trend. Dam this is going across the entire country. Uh, you know, this is nothing new for Massachusetts. This is just this
is they've they've screwed up the middle cities. Uh, you know, and now they want to Now now they're coming after the suburbs. They're actually they're going after the single family zoning. They they they absolutely are there there. It's an attack on the single family's owning. That's exactly what this is.
Well, there's there's also interest here. I mean, you know, the developers, builders and.
All of them were tell me about it, you know, Uh.
Okay, I mean that's you know, follow the money, follow the money.
I did. I did. Bankers and tradesmen. Uh they're they're
they're they're the big guys. From Boston here and uh, and they were they they were giddy about this and I've got I don't have it right in front of my hands here, but yeah, they were really happy about I was quoted in that you know that they could build literally you could tear down a little single family house in one of these districts and you can you could build a three story building with parking on the first level and uh, two apartments on the second level,
two apartments on the third level, and oh, by the way, and a rooftop deck. That's that it's baked into this thing, and you could, you know, and they were so happy with this thing, and you know, I've got it was absolutely insane.
Well it'll change, it'll change communities forever, Bob, I got pat. Okay, Yeah, when I say change, I mean ruin. I'm just I'm using, you know, a kind term. Thanks Bob, I got to keep running here. Okay, thank you. So we go to Brian in Shrewsbury. Brian, your next another community, Brian, go right ahead. Okay, I got Brian on two lines here. I think let me try Brian here. We had the same thing last night, Rob, Brian and Shrewsbury Brian, are you there?
I am here, Okay, got you some.
Reason you were showing up on two lines. Go ahead, Brian, You're next on nights.
Compatriots of mine. We filed a referendum in Shrewsbury that similar to Milton, the town meeting members voted in a small town meeting, special town meeting. We really just hit the amount of people that needed to show up for a quorum, you know, they voted for this MBTA zone and we had a short amount of time in just like Milton, we got referendums Thanksgiving week we were out
in the freezing cold in our town. We got eighteen hundred signatures which was enough to get certified and we have a referendum now on the ballot here in Shrewsbury. We did run into the select Board making sure to fast track that'll that that you know, referendum election as soon as possible, so we will have it in the beginning of February. February third, I think is the date. It's the first Tuesday in February.
Can be posted on that and let's have you on a couple of weeks ahead of time and talk about it. I still don't know anyone who can explain to me what the benefits are to towns like Milton, Wakefield, Shrewsbury. I don't. I'm just or Marshfield. What's the benefit?
You know that the town bureaucrats, the people that run these towns, they're more afraid of the state. So the reason that they pushed the election, the referendum forward, has nothing to do with what we the people think about overbuilding in town, and we have a lot of overbuilding.
Their answer is solely, it's the law, and we took an oath to uphold the law, and so we just have to do whatever they tell us to do, which is a ridiculous argument because you actually are supposed to represent the people of the town and the town is saying we don't like this. But that's the and Dan, it's primarily fear. It's fear. Are these grants. You know, they've they've they've gotten on the they've gotten on that
drip of the grants. They can't get off, so they're a little addicted, and now now they're afraid, you know, and that's generally where it is. I'm one of our select board members actually works in Andrea Campbell's office, you know, who's obviously threatening to sue everybody and has Sude Milton, you know, the Attorney General, so you know, we you know,
they're obviously connected and they want this. I think they want this because more housing means more money, means more power, right even in towns people love that power.
Wow, well, just amazing. Uh, it is amazing that all of this has has transpired on everyone's noses and very few people in some of these communities realize what's going on. They're going to work every day, you know, they're commuting forty five minutes or an hour to get to work or more, spending forty hours fifty hours a week working, come home with the weekends, and all they want to do is watch the Patriots or something like that, and
they're unaware of what's going on around them. And I'm hoping that by doing shows like this with you, with Brendan and others, we can sort of be the modern day Paul Revere's Paul Reverers of the world and let people know what the heck's going on.
So true, people don't actually know, you know, the average person has no idea this is happening in their towns.
Most of them not a clue, not a clue. And at the end of the day, when when they when the value of their their property goes down because simply there's more housing, cheaper housing in the town, and they're going to say, gee, you know, I paid half a million dollars for this house, so I thought I'd be able to make seven hundred, you know, get seven hundred thousand. I have hold it for five years or ten years, and the most they can possibly get is, you know,
four point fifty. A lot of people don't realize there's an economic impact as well.
Yeah, all right.
Thank you as much as always. Thank you my friend who talks.
To appreciate it, right, you bet you?
All right, Brenda, let's stay one more segment here, I gotta take quick break. We got Yanna in Marshfield, Greg and Shrewsbury coming up. And if anyone else wants to try to get in six one, seven thirty, the only lines that are open coming back on night.
Side Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
We get a lot of calls. Let's keep rolling on this very quickly, folks. We want to ask you to push it. I know even wait in a long time. But let's go to Vanna in Marshfield. YadA, excuse me, YadA in Marshfield.
Ahead, YadA, Hey Dan, Merry Christmas. Happy everything got.
Back at you real quick.
Just for the record, we have our annual sound meeting in April. Our specialty is usually in October, so I think this one was an extra special anyway, that being said, I am curious if the original legislation which you did say was for signed by Charlie Breaker, if it da included these penalties of you know, if you don't do this, we're going to take you know, deny your grand funding. And the gentleman who said that they you know, we're
addicted to the drip of grand funding. In the case of Marshfield, it's our sea walls and it's to the sum of millions of dollars.
So I don't know the answer. Let me let me see we have, Brendan.
But I have which is.
Hold. Yeah, I want to try to get an answer for your question. First of all, Brendan, do you know if that was in the original legislation has that been added as an emolument At.
This point, I honestly cannot answer that. And I would also say I think Janna would have a better better grasp on that than me.
Okay, So then my other point is I mean, I just said like I'm curious. I'm curious to know. I don't know the answer, but I would like to say that I wish that all the people in Marshfield who fought this, and all the people all over the state who are fighting this, would fight Massachusetts Chapter forty B, which is forcing communities all over the state to how to developers who can override our local zoning laws and build whatever the heck they want.
You know what, do me a favor, Yana. It's late in the show. I wish you called earlier. You send me some materials on that. Rob will give you my direct number and we can do something on that when I get back after January.
On January first heard of Okay, it sounds good to me.
Okay, Rob will give you my direct line and you can call me and send me an email. Give Yanna Rob my email and my direct line. Thank you, Yanam. Let me go next to Greg and Shrewsbury. Greg, want to get you and a couple of others in go right ahead?
Yeah, Hey, Dan, how's it going? Yeah, one thing I just wanted to highlight as just the incessant on the grands. Grants were in the original bill, just to answer that question on the legislation, but they are specific. But what the state has done now is now they're using this big umbrella and they're stating that you have to be compliant with Massachusetts law to be eligible with a whole bunch of other grants. So they're using that very broad right definition and say, well three A is a law.
So now we're going to include nineteen I think now with the housing the other economic bond bill. Now with housing bill, there's like another twenty six grants they're trying
to throw in increase the size of the stick. Oh yeah, the stick is getting bigger and bigger because there's so many towns who are fighting back and saying no. And that's what I really enjoyed about this whole process, especially with Shrewsbury and O'Brien was not talking about our referendum, but we got those best practices from Milton because we
were talking to the communities. We're communicating with other towns their strength and numbers in the communities, and I think more and more people need to do this for other
initiatives throughout the state, because you're not alone. And I think we as residents and and those residents of the Commonwealth should gang together a lot more and come up with other ways to fight as a larger group and not just look at ourselves as whether I'm from Winthrop or I'm oh, yeah, Cruse bearing because we don't do that enough. We just don't see it enough, because people will just get too stuck in their own day.
In unity, there is strength, and at this point you have the goliath of the state of Massachusetts coming down individually on one hundred and seventy seven cities in towns. I hope you'll keep in contact with me on this, Greg because you provided an answer to Yada's question. It doesn't surprise me that answer. It sounds makes a lot
of sense. All it is. It's a throut. It's really the equivalent of extortion by the state against the cities and towns saying we're going to withhold from you funds that you should have a right to have unless you.
Comply exactly, and then all these local select board members and they don't want to. They really are fear based leaders. And we see fear based leadership all across not only the Commonwealth but even fetterally. And you know, we got to have some stronger leaders, you know, that are that are representing us as we the people, because that is
really what's left us. And if one thing we can do in the new year, right, I think is is remember how we were founded here in Massachusetts and go back to those times and not be based on fear and do what we want as people and and lead ourselves and not rely on others.
I could agree with you more. Greg. Thanks a great call, really great call. Let's talk soon. Okay, thank you much appreciate going to try to get to everybody in here. We'll see what we can do. Alex, you've called very late, You've got a little time, go ahead, Alex.
Yes, yes, letically claim so. In my view, the state of Massachusetts has a lot of resources to solve the housing prot opium. And so my question is why is the state of Massachusetts it gives so many so much subsidized houses to immigrants co prodoxically illegal or who came from temporary visa for example from Ukraine, oh who came from sports such ship and sports mast provide housing for.
Okay, than I think that's an interesting point. Maybe that's what's behind all of this. Although the law did pass, and again the waiting hours of the legislative section I believe in in twenty twenty, and that was really before the immigration crisis has blown up. But your instincts are absolutely true, Alex. We're limited funds and we have to help people here in Massachusetts. Alex, I gotta keep going. I got a couple more like to try to get
him in. Okay, Oh great, thanks you, thank you for calling, Alex. Appreciate it very much. Let me go next to Tracy and Gloucester. Tracy, you're next on nights Side with my guest Brendan Wild of Marshall.
Go ahead, Tracy, Hi, Dan, thank you so much for doing this and for keeping this subject on the front lines. I'm in Gloucester and we're a city. Most of the people we've been talking to are in the towns and they have town meetings. We have a city council of nine members, and two of them were told to recuse them selves from the vote because they live in the districts, which that would bothers me too. I mean, we're no
longer a neighborhood or award. We're now districts. But two of the city council members were told to rechoose themselves. So the rest of the city council voted seven to zero four three A.
And they first of all, they should not have been forced to recuse themselves. In my opinion, this their residents and their representatives leadership.
That's right.
They own property and they would have benefited from it was the excuse. But all the other councilors live in the other wards, so you know they live on the outskirts.
What you got to do. What you got to do, Tracy, is elect other representatives. If you don't feel your.
Counselors positively, positively.
Absolutely get out there one go ahead. You got to be quick with no.
I was the city council for two weeks. I was a city coastlor for two years. I won by two votes, three votes, but one was in question, you know, because they recount run again. Come on, okay, just just listen. Though I've lived here in my house for sixty five years, I run the city council and they moved the ward lines on me. So they moved he districted me out of my wood it's called Jerry Mandry Tracy.
I am fine, out of time. I wish you had called early, you said, a fascinating caller.
Yes, I will call again and.
Do something with you. All right, thank you. I appreciate it, my pleasure. I appreciate you call. Have a great weekend. Okay. To the callers in the line, wish you called earlier. Brendan, keep up the fight in Marshfield and anything we can do to help you out, please let me know.
Okay, absolutely, that sounds good. Dan, thank you so much.
Again. I know it's tough fighting city Hall and it's really tough fighting the state House, but you'll win eventually because I think the merits of the argument only on your side of this case. So hang with it. And if you live in Marshfield, please support Brendan. And if you live in the other communities, look at what's going on and understand that you're being extorted by the state. You're a Simples. They're putting a gun to your head.
Thank you, Brendan. Merry Christmas. Yuh god. Okay, thanks, Brendan, appreciate it. All right, we get back go talk about another side of this coin. Here in Massachusetts, crime serious crime that is not being prosecuted properly. We'll explain it all right after the nine o'clock news