Town council to take up sidewalk and parking measures

Town Council President Jim Letterie introduced several quality of life measures for future discussion under new business at last week’s town council meeting.

One of the items that will be sent to committee is a sidewalk improvement plan discussion.

“It’s been mentioned in the past that over the years, through no fault of anybody we have planted trees in wrong places, whether it be in parks or sidewalks that may not be conducive,” said Letterie.

Going through the neighborhoods, Letterie said there are a handful of instances where trees are coming up through the concrete sidewalks and causing safety issues.

Letterie said he wants to encourage the town to come up with some kind of process which protects both the tree canopy in Winthrop, but also does not create safety or accessibility issues with the sidewalks.

“We expect homeowners to shovel their walks and maintain their property, and we get pretty tough on them in the winter,” said Letterie. “They should expect the same from us, they should expect a sidewalk that is accessible, that is walkable, that if there is damage to somebody’s property it should be addressed. I can name a handful of these right off the bat and I’m sure there’s more – maybe it involves some sort of linkage to the homeowners, maybe it doesn’t.”

Letterie sent the issue to the public health and safety subcommittee.

The council president also sent a request to look at resident parking stickers for small commercial vehicles to the rules and ordinance subcommittee.

“This has been talked about since we started resident parking stickers,” said Letterie. “We have a lot of small business owners – plumbers, electricians, contractors – that have … maybe under a three-quarter of a ton truck or van and maybe they pay a little more, whatever it is, I think that this is something that needs to be looked at.”

Letterie said the town has many small business owners who pay the same property tax rate as homeowners.

“There would be restrictions, you don’t want an 18-wheeler parking on sidewalks or a big two-ton truck, but I think that this is something that should be looked at,” said Letterie.

Letterie also requested that the town get more information from the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) about clean up and other issues at the town’s DCR beach property.

“They came before us here … last year and said they were going to put out ramps for walking to the ocean, they were going to provide us with a cleaning schedule, and I might have missed it, but I didn’t see any of that happen,” said Letterie.

Town Manager Tony Marino said he did reach out to the DCR and said there would be beach cleanings on Mondays once summer gets underway and DCR has more staffing. Marino said he also had the same concerns about the ramps at the beach that Letterie raised, but said he was expecting more information from the DCR.

In other business, the council referred an increase for the in-town taxi rates from $8 to $10 for any licensed taxi rides within the borders of Winthrop to the finance subcommittee.

Letterie noted that the council may also want to reconsider how it approves taxi rate increases given the rise of rideshare apps and programs.

The council also took time to thank Ronald Vecchia for his 50 years of service to the town.

Vecchia most recently served as chair of the license commission, and submitted a letter to the council asking he not be reappointed.

“I have served this community for over the last 50 years in elected and appointed positions, as well, serving in many community and fraternal organizations, and now it is time to call it a day,” Vecchia stated. “I started as an elected town meeting member and was appointed to the conversation commission.”

Vecchia also served on the board of health, board of selectmen, school committee, and as council president.

“I am proud of my service to this community, having served on each school building committee, as well as the Miller’s Field reconstruction committee,” he stated. “I consider it an extreme honor to serve the citizens of Winthrop and hope I have contributed in some way to make this community the wonderful seashore community it is.”

Letterie thanked Vecchia for serving the community with love and passion for 50 years and noted that his grandson is continuing the family commitment to town service by starting his first term on the citizens’ finance commission.