City of Melrose Annual Report

ANGIER L. GOODWIN. MAYOR CITY OF MELROSE MASSACHUSETTS Annual Reports 1922 WITH Mayor’s Inaugural Address Delivered January 2nd, 1922 PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE CITY CLERK AND SPECIAL COMMITTEE THE COPLEY PRESS, Melrose. Mass. 1923 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Boston Public Library https://archive.org/details/cityofmelroseann1922mel INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF Hon. Angier L. Goodwin Mayor of Melrose, Massachusetts JANUARY SECOND NINETEEN HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO Mr. President and Members of the Board of Aldermen: We start today a new year in the civic life of Melrose. Problems of considerable moment are calling for consideration. There has never been a time in the history of the city when it has been more essential for its officials to exercise their highest judgment. The tax payers look to us to keep the tax rate down, and yet we know that there are certain automatic increases in some city departments, and we are also confronted with the fact that there will be a decrease in the amount we shall receive from the State for corporation taxes. The conclusion is inevitable that we must make every effort to keep at a minimum the amount to be raised by taxation for current expenses. But our responsibility is not only to the tax-payer of today; it is also to the citizen of tomorrow. We must go forward as a municipality. If we try to stand still, we shall go backward. We must be progressive. Many public improvements have been foregone in the past few years, which are now crying for attention. Some of these we should start this year. And this is our task; to exercise economy and at the same time be progressive; to give our people those public improvements which they see provided in other cities, and still act as faithful stewards of the municipal corporation purse which is placed in our hands as trustees for the tax-payers who pay the bills. This responsibility ought to be a sobering influence and insure our most careful and conscientious study of the problems which are before us. Your Honorable Board have before you the matter of new school buildings. At an early date I shall submit to you certain facts and fig- ures concerning the necessary land to be acquired and I shall hope that no obstacles may arise to prevent an early start in the erection of the proposed addition to the Warren School and a new building in Ward Seven. This will carry out the plan we had in mind and in pur- suance of which the Legislature granted us authority to borrow two hundred thousand dollars outside the debt limit. The matter is of 4 CITY OF MELROSE first importance and until the appropriation is made to cover this initial step in our School building program we ought not to go very- far in contemplation of other large enterprises. One of the first major matters to engage your attention v- ill be the proposed Memorial city hall. You will be able to approach a consideration of this question with two well established facts before you which are beyond dispute. First, the need of better accommodations for the municipal departments in city hall, and second, the desirability of an early determination of the form of memorial to be given by the city in commemoration of the valorous services of the veterans of the world war. The present city hall is woefully inadequate for the decent dispatch of public business. Those who are responsible for the discharge of this business are the sufferers in the first instance, but the tax-payers, for whom the business is done, are the real sufferers in the long run. I will not enumerate specific examples of over-crowding, for it is a matter of common knowledge. Almost every department is tremend- ously handicapped by inadequate conditions. The citizens are entitled to a certain degree of privacy when they come to city hall on business and there is very little privacy possible under present conditions. Very few communities as progressive as ours would have tolerated so long the transaction of its public business under conditions so out of date. I believe our people are ready to approve a plan to combine in one structure quarters in which the various city departments may function in adequate and modern surroundings, and quarters to be dedicated to our heroes of the world war and used by them as a per- manent headquarters. This proposition is so important, however, that it should have your most careful consideration before final action, and every reasonable opportunity should be afforded the citizens to examine and discuss with you such preliminary plans as you may have before you. I urge once more the creating of a Board of Assessments Review to consist of fourteen citizens to be appointed, two from each ward, to pass upon the work of the Assessors in the valuation of real estate. A similar plan has been carried out in other cities with good results, and I firmly believe that this plan would result in a better feeling among our citizens as to the uniformity of valuation. In my Inaugural Address of a year ago I recommended the passage of an ordinance to restrict the character of buildings on certain streets. Such ordinance failed of passage upon the rendering of an opinion of the former city solicitor that such action would be unconstitutional. It appears that this objection is now removed by an opinion of the Justices of the Supreme Court, and I recommend your early attention MAYOR’S ADDRESS to this very important matter. We should lose no time in zoning the city and thus regulate the character of buildings with reference to the particular location, in the interests of the proper future development of the community. Among the things which I think the city has outgrown is the giving of the fire alarm and no-school signal by the stroke of a bell. I recommend instead the installation of a fire whistle. I suggest that you make a careful study of the nomenclature of Melrose streets. Much confusion results from similarity of names. Certain streets are known by numbers, this being the remains of a somewhat ancient system of nomenclature which has since broken down and leaves a rather absurd situation. There is considerable confusion in the case of two sets of numbers on a street with the same name lying partly in Melrose and partly in Stoneham. That portion of this street which lies in Melrose should be renamed. A study of this situation will probably show a multiplication of confusing names and I believe such study would be well worth while. I submit for your careful consideration the question of setting apart a suitable space on city land for a municipal camp-ground. Auto- mobile touring with camp equipment is a western idea entirely out of the experimental stage, and has now taken a firm hold on every part of the country. I predict that Massachusetts cities within a very few years will be providing facilities for automobile campers. So far as I am advised the City of Springfield is the only one in the Common- wealth thus far to do this. I would like to see Melrose one of the first to follow. I am of the opinion that we would find our Board of Trade ready and eager to assume such slight burdens of this under- taking as a municipality, under Massachusetts laws, might be pro- hibited from doing. The question of street railway transportation remains a bother- some one, and there is probably scant solace in the fact that the problem is not peculiar to Melrose, but exists in neighboring cities and towns. The public trustees have encountered difficulties which are readily apparent; on the other hand they have had a considerable time in which to bring about improvements in the service. Whether there has been any improvement is open to doubt. In the meantime we have been very patient. It is my purpose to begin with this new year to press vigorously for at least some tangible betterment of our street railway accommodations. We cannot in fairness, I suppose, expect a lower fare. I believe we have a right to expect the maintenance of a regular schedule of running time, a more flexible fare zoning, extra transfer privileges and the restoration of a through service to Everett Station of the Elevated. This I shall ask for. 6 CITY OF MELROSE I renew the recommendation which I made a year ago for the creation of a Recreation Commission to encourage, promote and regulate outdoor sports. This Board would supplement and not duplicate the activities of the Park Commission, the School Committee, the Board of Trade, and various other unofficial organizations. We have scarcely commenced to realize the value of giving to our boys and girls, to our young people, and to our outdoor enthusiasts of all ages, the utmost, consistent with our financial ability, in opportunities to engage in the various health-giving sports and games to be enjoyed in the open. Our playgrounds and possibly other vacant spaces should be sprayed for skating, space on Ell Pond kept free from snow, hockey developed, and a carnival held once every winter for exhibitions and contests in skating, skiing, snowshoeing and toboganning. Various summer sports even more readily suggest themselves, including tennis, facilities for which we ought to provide to meet the present insistent demand. All these things make for better health, and help to insure a better citizenship of tomorrow, and the promotion and regulations of recreation deserves to be placed in the hands of a special administrative board.

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