Seniors are being shortchanged on parking. The definition of “free,” as written in the American Heritage Dictionary, means costing nothing, gratuitous.

During August of 2015 while campaigning for mayor, Stephanie Muccini Burke announced that seniors should be exempt from paying at parking kiosks/meters. She made the same declaration at one of the mayoral debates.

Now, on April 12, the mayor requested the Traffic Commission to implement a senior citizen parking permit for seniors 65 or older with a fee of $25 to be charged to get a pass to park for specified time periods. The Traffic Commission approved 5-0 the mayor’s request.

Fact: Social Security recognizes a senior starting at age 62. Apparently, by choosing age 65, this has now turned into another city disguised, revenue enhancer at the expense of our senior citizens.

It is a shame that this type of political posturing took place during the past mayoral campaign for it is now proving to be quite obvious that seniors will not get free parking as promised. Twenty-five dollars to pay to park does not equate to free parking. Free means free.

Public access television

Since early 2013 to date, we, the Comcast and Verizon cable subscribers, have been charged a monthly public access fee totaling some $500,000 and we, the subscribers, still have no access station.

Likewise, as of this date, the mayor has failed to seek and secure an outside independent accounting of any records, bank statements, meeting minutes and equipment accounting for the past five years, at minimum, of the individuals who ran TV3 out of business.

Regarding the city’s lack of providing public access TV, the on-going question since 2013 has been, why has the city failed to do its job and mandate that public access be available as contractually allowed?

Now, the mayor wants to spend the subscribers $500,000 that is sitting in the city’s cable account since 2013 to build a public access studio at Medford High School without any public input. Why?

I don’t believe the Medford High location to be in the best interest of our subscribers and citizens for the following reasons:

Location, location, location — that is the primary success staple of any business.

Examples as to why this location should not be used: its public access is not on a main street that is centrally located, the entrance way is not well lit and it is not easily accessible to walk up the hill to and from the high school.

Also, it presents a winter problem of ice and snow needing to be cleared at all times on the hill and walkway to the school’s front and side entrances. It presents a safety security problem for after school hours and nighttime lighting being at a minimum. All safety hazards!

As a major positive contrast to the Medford High location, the Medford Public Library serves as the best location for a public access studio. It is centrally located within our city, it has walking convenience within our city’s downtown area, and it is handicap accessible to being easily available for front door entrance by bus and cab transportation. It offers a great, additional, public, educational opportunity for community public access.

The recent comments by some that a library restriction dating back to March of 1875 needs to be reviewed regarding any library re-use is fair comment. But let us look exactly to what the restriction says. It says exactly that the library’s future use shall be for “the sole use and accommodation of a free public circulating library.”

Now, as we examine what the library has expanded into over the past 141 years, it’s way more than books on the shelves. It has expanded to service and provide our citizens with newspapers, entertainment records, CD’s, DVD’s, newspaper tape inventories, computer usage and the availability of using the back room for social gatherings. It has also allowed for open, political, party gatherings.

The library itself contains material that offers information regarding public access and the cable PEG operating system.

Additionally, the access studio could teach residents skills in studio computer direction, camera work, setting up lighting, tripods, set design, writing scripts and more.

While at location, it could document Medford’s history which can then be transcribed into books or put on the shelves as DVDs or put into a cyber-library or transferred into whatever future technology offers.

With this said, I feel most assuredly that the use of our public library for a public access studio falls well within the term of being educational and within the restriction writing that the library has to be “for the sole use and accommodation of a free public circulating library.”

The Massachusetts Department of Education has recognized that computer training and the teachings for a broadcasting studio operation for job opportunities comes under educational teaching.

The Medford High Vocational School location, as is presently being entertained, could be a satellite location for a student’s learning of production and access operations as a school program offering, separate and distinct from the public access studio.

This opportunity for community public access to be better located and more readily available should not be squandered away.

Also, with the city owning the property, annual rental payments to an outside, private, real-estate location will not have to be entertained therefore providing for more revenue to maintain, upgrade equipment and continuously offer to the community programs that showcase our city and the families and subscribers that watch public access TV.

On April 18, I presented my comments before the Medford City Council to put our public access, which we have not had since 2013, at the library being a place that is centrally located and is educationally and community available for anyone who chooses to learn and engage in the process of public access.

It would be a wonderful example of how our city fully realized the community potential of its public library being much more easily accessible and not being pigeon holed up at the high school primarily for a limited amount of interested students.

— Robert M. Penta is a former member of the Medford City Council.