Getting Real - Cliff Ponte

Cliff: 00:01

My name is Cliff Ponte. I am a Fall River politician, city council president. I am an entrepreneur, own a number of businesses in the city. And I wanted to start this podcast because I wanted to shine a light on Fall River, have discussions about where Fall River is at, the people that make it, the people who are part of it, the people who might be popular and heck, maybe the people who aren't as popular. That is what I am trying to have this podcast encompass.

Cliff: 00:30

Real stories, real accountability, some fun along the way, and hopefully for you to see a little different side of me is not this big stuck up cocky arrogant individual. Maybe a person who is real, who does the same things you do, but also is perceived as being a little rough around the edges or cocky and arrogant when I don't intend to be. I'm just focused on what I need to do. Search for getting real wherever you subscribe to your podcasts. Once again, welcome to another episode.

Cliff: 01:10

We are having an absolute blast with this because we're meeting influential, we're talking to influential people, you're getting to know influential people. People who are elected officials, people who give back to the community that they're in, people who are fighting and advocating for the good in our community that we sometimes don't see. Sometimes we get lost in, not intentionally, but we have a tendency to sometimes do that. But what I gotta say, and I can say this as an elected official and somebody who's been through all of it, all of it, and I mean all of it, right? I was the council president when we had a mayor that went to jail.

Cliff: 01:48

Right? I saw it all. I had press following me. It was a dark place in the city's history. Separate and apart from your, if you're a fan or if you're a supporter of that group of people, that's okay.

Cliff: 02:05

But I went through it. And and there was nothing easy about that. And and so I've had the ability to kinda see this city rise to an occasion when it was needed the most. It speaks loudly. We're a city of hills and mills, but I'll tell you, we're also a city of people who care about a community, who come together, where organizations matter, who have a platform for people to come to city council meetings or call a mayor or call a rep or call somebody that say you're advocating for something that is important and let's make this community a little bit better.

Cliff: 02:45

And over the last couple of weeks, we've seen and leading to weeks, we've got to know an individual who is the next guest on our podcast, Marcel Riley. Marcel, welcome.

Will Flanagan: 02:59

Thanks. Thanks for having me, Cliff.

Cliff: 03:00

And for people who don't know you, I'll start it and you can kinda chime in and finish it off and put a bow on your introduction is that there was a playground that you are advocating for and you are fundraising for and you were trying to get money from the city. You still are. There's some counselors who at the last meeting as a result of councilor Kenuel's resolution are trying to find ways to get you more money for what you're looking for. Granted, it's not going to you, but it's going to better a part of Fall River. Absolutely.

Cliff: 03:36

And there was a reason why you wanted to go and start this playground and I want to dig into that. But you are the perfect example of a person who saw a need, who had lived through some stuff. And now you're here today in a different spot than you were at just months ago, a month ago, weeks ago.

Will Flanagan: 03:57

Absolutely.

Cliff: 03:57

And you saw firsthand how this community reacts to people in need, who reacts to seeing how things roll. And that's what I wanna get into. So who are you? Where did you come from? Because I don't think I've ever met you up until the last couple

Will Flanagan: 04:12

of months.

Cliff: 04:12

Yeah. Yeah.

Will Flanagan: 04:13

We weren't familiar with each other.

Cliff: 04:14

Tell your story.

Will Flanagan: 04:15

Yeah. So, my name is Marcel Riley. I'm I'm I'm just a maintenance man. You know, I work at Bay Village in Fall River, and I'm as Fall River as they come. My dad's a retired DPW worker.

Will Flanagan: 04:27

He worked DPW for forty years, retired. My mom's a retired male lady from the Flint. George E. Riley Mae's on Stephen Street, he's named after my grandfather. He's a retired maintenance man from Housing Authority.

Will Flanagan: 04:38

Cool. So, we're entrenched here, know, we've been here and we love the city, you know, my whole family does and I grew up in Corky Row and yeah, my life changed like two years ago. Was just normal guy just going through, you know, life normally watching and watching football and baseball and then I had a beautiful little girl and she was diagnosed with autism, you know, that changed that changed I thought I knew everything about parenting until that happened, know, I had a couple kids before her so I was like okay, we've had another one to the team, no big deal and it changed everything, know, showed us a whole different world. And shortly after that, my fiance was diagnosed with stage four lung and brain cancer. She's 39, she's just like me, as far as they come, Diamond graduate, her dad's a retired lieutenant of police department, and, like you said about the city coming running, when she was diagnosed, they came running, you know, comedy show, her aunts, Sharon Furtado from Firefighters Life, they had a fundraiser for her and they came to our aid.

Will Flanagan: 05:45

And I just wanted to like pay that back when I saw a chance with this park, you know, what the city did for us. But and, yeah. So, I started advocating once, like you said, we've seen open space, there's a need for it. My daughter is a century seeker like other kids on the spectrum, and, it's gonna be a beautiful thing when we're done.

Cliff: 06:06

Now, where is the for people who don't know, I mean, they're probably elected officials who don't even know where this is going. Where is this going?

Will Flanagan: 06:12

This is at Abbott Court. It's Abbott Court, the little space that they were creating is called Mae's Playground. I'm humbled that they decided to call it that, but it's Abbott Court. It's a park that's been

Cliff: 06:22

there for years. That's in the South End?

Will Flanagan: 06:24

South End, South End.

Cliff: 06:25

Off of South Main Street?

Will Flanagan: 06:26

Yeah, Birch And King Philip Beautiful Park, two baseball fields that they use, Maplewood Park uses them, Kennedy Park uses them, a little skate park, a basketball court, you know, and it's always filled with kids and they it was I used to take my daughter to the swings, but it was an old one in swingset, it tore it down for good reasons, so the space was empty and opportunity was there to do this.

Cliff: 06:49

Okay. So, your daughter was born.

Will Flanagan: 06:51

Yeah.

Cliff: 06:52

And what what did you just drive by the park one day and you're like, this is what we're gonna do?

Will Flanagan: 06:58

No. We no. Yeah. There's a little backstory to that too. She like, you know, we used to go there and when when you get when a child has autism, they rest around age three.

Will Flanagan: 07:08

So we were going to that park before they tore it down, having fun on the swing, she was saying her first few words before she regressed. She got the diagnosis of autism, and, you know, that changed for us because she didn't play with toys the normal way. She played with like textures of something, or the way something spins, the intricacies. I started learning about that. But once my girlfriend was diagnosed, we couldn't go to Noah's place or the one in Little Compton, these century parks, these all inclusion parks.

Will Flanagan: 07:38

So I started building one in my backyard and I got to work, I started learning about century panels and texture boards and busy boards and regulation, little regulation spaces and, you know, because it's, that's my daughter's sport, know, it's like any other father. Their kid plays baseball or their kid plays basketball, my friend pays his backyard for for his son to get better at basketball. Same thing, you know, same concept. So I just got to work and I I kinda, you know, went a little overboard in maintenance man and I build a big busy board and texture board and spinny board and I made a little video and it took off and the need out there was immediate because people responded, like, could you do this for my kid? You know, like, I'll take a busy board.

Will Flanagan: 08:25

You know, I'll take a texture panel and I And I seen that and I knew that that space was open at Columbus Park. So I knew that, you know, the city is great with parks, you know, we have a bunch of great parks. So I said I said, I better get to it because they'll probably put something up there before it's too late. And I got a petition going and we got 1,500 signatures quickly and yeah.

Cliff: 08:48

So it all started with a petition?

Will Flanagan: 08:49

Yes. Yep.

Cliff: 08:50

And where were you? Were you just at CVS getting signatures? How did that go?

Will Flanagan: 08:54

Happened was right after I decided like, you know, this would be great, Sam Reid reached out, she wanted to do a story on this, on my backyard.

Cliff: 09:02

And Sam Reid is somebody out of a TV station?

Will Flanagan: 09:04

Yeah, she's channel ten anchor and so she did a segment called Show Me Something Good And I was like, you gotta help me push this, you know? And she did. And immediately we got like 500 signatures. And then this, the community started to respond. You know, we had influential people in the city saying, hey, let's go, you know, get on board with this.

Will Flanagan: 09:22

And yeah, we got 1,500 signatures after the Herald News did a piece on my yard, that's when City Hall called and

Cliff: 09:30

So, mayor reached out?

Will Flanagan: 09:31

Yeah, the mayor's office reached out.

Cliff: 09:32

Really? Yeah, yeah. And how did that go? What was the conversation?

Will Flanagan: 09:35

Yeah, that was great. I had help with a guy named Stu Gilfelin. He designed Tivant and Town Farms. Okay. Right?

Will Flanagan: 09:43

Beautiful pot, pickleball. And he started like he started off like me. He just wanted his swing set, you know, and and so he gave me a game plan and he went in there with me, with with my fiancee Jess, and we sat down with Mike Dion, Al Oliveira, Jasmine Pereira, Grant Rider, who's been great throughout this process, and Amir. And, you know, it was a little sell because they didn't know what Century Pock is. It's new for a lot of people.

Will Flanagan: 10:07

It's new for a lot of things. For a lot of people for, know, you have to explain it, like what Century play is and stuff. So they were you know, they listened to what I had to say and it just made too much sense not to do. You know what I mean? It just made too much sense.

Will Flanagan: 10:21

We had our eye on we came prepared. We had our eye on a certain grant that we thought we can get, that we thought we could raise the funds for the match. So, you know, like, there's no reason to say no. And to their credit, as soon as they said yes, and they've been full speed ahead with it, finding grants like the CPC grant, disability commission, you know, PRC grant, which we just applied for. That's the chunk of it, you know?

Will Flanagan: 10:49

Like, I know it says like, you know, dad raises a million dollars, but, you know, I didn't raise a million dollars. I had the idea and I had a community that helped me, like, that came and said, Yes, let's do this, you know, the needs there. I mean, when this park's done, you can walk by at any time to get food for your soul because it's like when you see special needs kids and kids that aren't on a spectrum playing together, it's just, it's awesome. So, it wasn't a hard sell at all. It wasn't a hard sell at all.

Cliff: 11:21

So, when you go to Mae's Playground, when it's done, I'm assuming that this project started by being a smaller project that has developed into something a little bit bigger.

Will Flanagan: 11:33

Right? Absolutely.

Cliff: 11:35

What was the plan at first, and where is it going now?

Will Flanagan: 11:38

At first, I was hoping with the PARC grants $402,100,000 dollar match, my spills are $600,000 park. That was my like, what what my hope was. And I thought we would have to do it in phases. You know? I thought it might take years.

Will Flanagan: 11:53

You know? I see how long parks take. You know? I did my research. And this is a different park too.

Will Flanagan: 11:58

It's not easy to construct. You know? Everything has to be thought of, the flow of it, the way apparatuses face, the foundation, every screw has to be buried. It's double the price of a park, you know, a regular park. Regulations, you know?

Will Flanagan: 12:13

All inclusive. And so I thought it was like, to be honest, I thought it was impossible. Like, really, I thought it was a good idea, hopefully somebody did something with it. And to support, it's just been amazing. So right now, we're looking to build the best possible park we can in that space for these kids.

Cliff: 12:31

How much so so you were gonna do something small scale. Yeah. Now, when we get into the funding in a minute, but where is it gonna go now? Like, is it is it larger than it was originally planned?

Will Flanagan: 12:43

We're not looking to stuff stuff in there and make it like because like I said, everything's sort of we have, like, people, like, that think of the way how much space needs to be apart apart from each apparatus, the way these kids play, having each apparatus face each other, space in between, color coding our foundation. So we don't want to just, like, stuff something new in there, but there's a lot of things you can do that can help out a parent, like a fencing, you know, maybe a fencing area inside a fence. We didn't plan on putting new fences up, and now we do, And that's crucial because that's the first thing that parents are asking me, you know, is it fenced in? My kids are gonna hope her like my daughter is. She sees open field, she just wants to take off.

Will Flanagan: 13:24

So that's very important. So, yeah, there's certain things that we can do to more shade, for instance. You're gonna

Cliff: 13:30

plant trees? Yes. Stuff like that. Who's gonna maintain this?

Will Flanagan: 13:34

We're hoping that we can have a maintenance fund when we're done with this. We're hoping that. But it's city property. I don't own this property so they're gonna maintain it, you know, and I'm hoping that I'm in that park every day talking to the community out there, talking to the skateboarders, talking to the basketball players and like, I'm like, listen man, we're building something special here, mean, you guys on board and they're on board with the purple bags helping me clean up when I go out That's awesome. And they're surrounding neighbors, I met them all, the homeowners, and they can't wait.

Will Flanagan: 14:02

So, I'm hoping that it's a community thing that like people went there, you know.

Cliff: 14:08

So where is the project at right now?

Will Flanagan: 14:11

Right now.

Cliff: 14:11

It started working?

Will Flanagan: 14:12

Yep. No. No. We gotta put it out for bid first, you know, so we're getting all the funds together. The CPC grant we have, you know, which That was that was $2.50, and Mike Dion's matching that, right, out of his So

Cliff: 14:24

we you have 500.

Will Flanagan: 14:25

Yep. And then then then we got the disability commission that reached out, so that's still pending, but they reached out, so that as you know, we're very confident about that. The PARC grant, that's the one that we gotta wait on, like every you apply for it in June, you gotta wait like every other city, but every other city uses it, you know, and this is what better cause to use it for? Okay. So we're confident we're gonna get that.

Will Flanagan: 14:46

And that that brings us, you know, closer to like 900 right there.

Cliff: 14:49

Just with that?

Will Flanagan: 14:50

Yeah. And then with all the funding we're doing now, we're gonna be over 1,000,000, you know, with the pending grants.

Cliff: 15:01

So you have some grants that you've started. You've got some things in the works. Yep. You also have raised how much as of today?

Will Flanagan: 15:13

From the commitments. We gotta I takes a little bit of time to get out there and collect them all. Of course. But with commitments, and we we we will be at that shortfall from the state, that 90,000. Okay.

Cliff: 15:25

So would you have exceeded that?

Will Flanagan: 15:27

No. We didn't exceed it. With commitments, like, there's no reason to anyway.

Cliff: 15:31

You know

Will Flanagan: 15:31

what I mean? There's other people that need help out there. There's veterans, there's elderly. Know, Mike's generous offer, he wants to extend it to them. So, yeah, with all the commitments that reached out literally within a week that wanted to help, we'll be there.

Cliff: 15:48

So for people who are maybe interested or not, I guess my question is the money that you're getting

Will Flanagan: 15:54

Yep.

Cliff: 15:55

Where is it going right now?

Will Flanagan: 15:57

Far River Greater Greater Fall River Recreation Committee.

Cliff: 16:01

And who's is there a committee? Is it a nonprofit organization?

Will Flanagan: 16:04

Yeah. That's Mike Dion's I'm not too familiar with who runs a nonprofit, but it's CD Rec, you know? Okay.

Cliff: 16:10

So it's through CD Rec?

Will Flanagan: 16:11

Yes. It's they're handling the nonprofit all the money. Okay. So Very when we started this idea and we said we're gonna get on a website, immediately they reached out, Mike used that nonprofit, they posted on their page how to donate, we got a website and, yeah, so all the money goes to them.

Cliff: 16:28

Okay. Great. So, the vision, the long term vision in your eyes, started something small, it's gonna get a little bit bigger. What is it gonna look like? When I go down there for the ribbon cutting, what in your eyes is it gonna look like?

Will Flanagan: 16:45

You're gonna walk in, you're gonna see a communication board to your left immediately. You know, Braille has everything from feelings to what a kid might wanna play that day where he can just point to it, he or she can just point to it. You know, the demo are typical in every park like this. We're gonna have one of those. So, they're actually, that's being donated by the Flutie Foundation, and they reached out, they wanna be a Really?

Will Flanagan: 17:05

Part And they're awesome.

Cliff: 17:09

Doug Flutie's Foundation.

Will Flanagan: 17:10

Yeah, yeah. Wow, that's awesome. They're the pinnacle when it comes to autism awareness in

Cliff: 17:13

Massachusetts. Really?

Will Flanagan: 17:15

They reached out in the beginning of this whole process and, yeah, they've been a helping hand. But then we're gonna have, if you pivot to the right towards the baseball fields, that's where you're gonna have pretend to play, and that's really big for kids on this planet. What does that mean? Pretend to play, so you'll have fire truck, pretend fire trucks, ice cream carts, storefronts, and where these kids imagine and create and, you know, all observers, kids that don't participate right away will watch other kids making believe, you know, that they're selling ice cream or they're putting out a fire and kids, like my daughter, might not participate but she's soaking it all up and learning and then she'll get in there when she's ready. Then when you come around the right, we'll have water tables, that's gonna be big, you know, because water tables is soothing experience for kids down the spectrum.

Will Flanagan: 18:08

Water is huge for kids on the spectrum. It's soothing, you'll see kids, they'll just run their fingers in it and just stand there and so that's gonna be a big plus for it. Then you're gonna come around, we're gonna have our century panels, is huge. Now those things are, like, could be texture panels, spinning panels, little mazes, and these kids will try to figure them out and play them. And what's great about these things is kids on a spectrum, they love them.

Will Flanagan: 18:35

They just they're fascinated by them. So you're gonna see these kids playing together, and they face each other, and the way they're gonna be patented, they're zigzag. So when you're running in and out of the mazes, you're gonna be running into each other. They have no choice but to play with each other and interact with each other. Then at the corner near the basketball court, we're gonna have a regulation hut, it's called.

Will Flanagan: 18:52

And that's a small area where maybe a parent can go in if their kid's having a hard time, if not ready for it, if it's a little too chaotic or they need a break, and that's a huge deal. Kids on a spectrum, they need to regulate, you know, especially from a meltdown or something they're not used to, you know, so that's huge. And then we're gonna have the all inclusive stuff, you know, handicap accessible swings where you can roll up on wheelchair, hook up your wheelchair to the swing, and you'll be able to be just like anybody else. All inclusive merry-go-round where you can wheel, again, can wheel on, it's ground level, and it's easy to spin. And then we'll have a sensory dome, where there's ground effects for a kid, two to four, that could play on them, and then each level is for like four to six up to 12 years old.

Will Flanagan: 19:39

And my dream is one day I'm gonna walk by the end, I'm gonna see a kid off the spectrum helping on a kid get off that first level that he's been on for months. And his mom's been trying to coach him up there, but then it took that one kid not on a spectrum to help him up, you know, and mom will never forget that, you know what I'm saying? So, yeah. That's awesome.

Cliff: 19:57

What else is that? Is there more?

Will Flanagan: 19:59

Yeah, that's about a picnic table, it's a regular park accessories that you'll have. Seesaw, oh, a custom seesaw, autism seesaw, that's like, it's what they are is that they're really, really wide and easy to access, and any just one child can ride them, and they can pile on them in the middle or you can have 20 children on them. So, one of those things too, so

Cliff: 20:21

When are you expecting this to begin after your bid? When is this when are we gonna walk in here and be able to use this?

Will Flanagan: 20:27

My hope is spring.

Cliff: 20:29

Next spring.

Will Flanagan: 20:29

Yeah. Next spring, we'll be out there. My hope. Like the know, it's a reality early summer. He said he he thinks, but if everything goes smooth, we will be out finished.

Cliff: 20:43

What what is one thing you think you've learned from all of this? Like, you've been through so much, but, like, what what what do you think has happened that has made it come together for you? Like, like, do you realize how strong this community is now? Maybe you didn't realize it before?

Will Flanagan: 20:57

I've always seen them rally full of things, you know, when when when it come when it comes down to it, my city. Right? But to be like to see it firsthand, it's hard to put in words, you know? If I talk about it, I'll get emotional because it's like my they're coming and making sure my daughter's counted, you know what I mean? And they saw what happened and they came, the cavalry came, you know?

Will Flanagan: 21:19

And yeah, it's beautiful. It's amazing.

Cliff: 21:22

Everybody matters, you know, and you gotta be credited for the resiliency that you've put into all of this, right?

Will Flanagan: 21:29

Thank you.

Cliff: 21:29

And the people that you've, you know, the community impact that you've had, just yourself, has been able to bring a community together for a cause that it might not impact everybody every day, but it's impacting a group of individuals or children that are now going to have a place where they could learn, they could enjoy themselves and separate some of the struggles that they may be having and might have to live with for the

Will Flanagan: 21:55

rest of New their story. I work at Bay Village, I'm a maintenance guy, right? I take care of them, they're my people over there, right? I love my job. And there's a mom there, right, that was very helpful to me when my daughter was first diagnosed because I would see her daughter stimming and I would see her daughter doing the same manures as my daughter was, and my daughter wasn't diagnosed yet, so I was asking all kinds of questions, she was very open with me.

Will Flanagan: 22:18

She helped me out a lot. And that's the type of community the autism community is. We learn more of each other than we do from doctors or anybody else. We learn by asking and sharing each other's wins and victories. And she has two daughters on a spectrum.

Will Flanagan: 22:32

I mean, a daughter and a son, two kids on the spectrum. And she saves up to go to Noah's place every year, right, since they built that place. That's it, that's her kids' Disney World. And she takes two buses and Uber and stays out there all day and it's so hard for

Cliff: 22:47

her. Where is Noah's Playground?

Will Flanagan: 22:48

It's in Fairhaven, right? And I know that was like the model that I looked at when I was trying to get this done. And I just, every day I think about how this would be for us, this park, you know, would be, how great it would be for someone like her, you know what I mean? And there's 25 families like that at Bay Village, just like mine. So, like, that's who we're doing it for, you know?

Cliff: 23:10

Well, I'll tell you, don't know if you watched the last city council meeting, but a councilor, Councillor Lecanuel did file a resolution. Then Councillor Gadim took the floor kinda echoing the same sentiments as Councillor Lecanuel did and said, I'm sorry, is this a city park?

Will Flanagan: 23:25

Yep, I heard

Cliff: 23:26

it. And we were all looking at each other, yep, it is. And why aren't we paying for it? I get that. Listen, I know if everybody had a project, we would have no money that we had to take care of everybody's project.

Cliff: 23:39

But this is something that's different.

Will Flanagan: 23:41

That's

Cliff: 23:42

right. And this is something that impacts, it's in a park that, to be quite honest, could have used some, not economic development, but could have used some improvements. And I think what Mae's Playground brings to Abbot Court is something different. And I think it's something that the city should be investing in.

Will Flanagan: 24:00

Right? Absolutely.

Cliff: 24:01

So the city council does have the ability, and just so you're aware, to advocate for this. And you're waiting on a lot of what ifs right now. You're waiting on maybe you'll get $400,000 Maybe you'll get this. What I think we should just do, just as one city councilor, is put the money in and let's go. Right?

Cliff: 24:17

And this is separate and apart. My office, I told you this, wants to donate to the cause. Not necessarily for the public's, you know, all of the stuff that comes with it, but it's because that's what my office wanted to do. And that's what the agents wanted to do because they're paying attention. And Mike, much like my organization and others, we love to give back to the community.

Cliff: 24:39

And you've seen a lot of that, you've seen a lot of people come together and wanna give back. And speak to that, like how has it been?

Will Flanagan: 24:48

If something experienced like that don't change you as a man, nothing is, you know? Like to see that generosity and people in the stories I've heard where, you know, I'm doing this because I got two nieces on spectrum, know, I'm in their circle. Just hearing people's victories and why. I got a special education teacher that I don't want to take her money, she's retired, but she just keeps calling me every day, like, I wanna be a part of this, you know, this is what I fought for, like, and I worked hard for my whole life, so I need to be a part of this. And like, that's just, oh man, I can't tell you how many tears I've shed and how many like stories we shed, and it's just been like something you can't put in words, right?

Cliff: 25:29

Yeah, and I think that's great. What you've been able to do is remarkable. I'll just tell you as we wrap up and tell you this is that when you have a community of people that care about making a community better, and you have a group of people or an individual or organization that wants to see the city succeed and rises to the occasion, it's remarkable. It's remarkable. And for the people who are saying that this city is gross or this city's weak or this city has high crime or this city has shitty schools, Listen, you can't find a gateway city in the commonwealth or in the country that doesn't have its struggles.

Cliff: 26:15

You're never gonna find a city that doesn't have politicians who might have differences of opinion and might advocate for a better different policy perspective. That is what makes things in communities bigger and better.

Will Flanagan: 26:31

Absolutely. And

Cliff: 26:31

listen, I ran for mayor, I lost. But is the city of Far River better when I ran for mayor? Yes. Because I said in that race what should have happened, and it ended up happening. Right?

Cliff: 26:41

And we have and things advocated. You advocated for things, and it made Coogan a better mayor those two years because I I held his feet to the fire. Right? That isn't necessarily what we're talking about here, but this goes to show when causes happen, when people come together and when things percolate and when a community is struggling and you see people rise to help, where can you find that anywhere else?

Will Flanagan: 27:05

It's like, to me, I really, like I've been saying preaching since day one, like this is more than a park, you know, because of what it's gonna provide. Like, it really can, and there could be legs and autism awareness, everything, all of it that's wrapped up into this deal. So I'd be preaching if they wanted then to see my city respond the way they have. It's just been unbelievable. And I can't, like I can't thank them enough, my family can't thank them enough, you know?

Will Flanagan: 27:34

Families like mine can't thank them enough, and to see, because there's so much divisiveness in this world, and this is something that I haven't met one person that is not on board with, you know Right. What I Oh, one person, you know, like a stable. But, you know, until then, it's been smooth sailing because that's what this project's about. And we're coming together for something, you know what I mean? We really are.

Will Flanagan: 28:00

And it's awesome. It's awesome to see.

Cliff: 28:02

That's

Will Flanagan: 28:02

great. Like, make no mistake about it. You know, this isn't a nonprofit, like my nonprofit or this isn't anything like that. This is a municipal project and wouldn't have been able to get done without them. So all funds I collect get rolled out to Greater Fall River Recreation Committee, and then they go into that nonprofit.

Will Flanagan: 28:22

And, yeah, I'm humbled that they let me be involved in the design, you know, in looking at the vendors. And because I'm talking to these parents every day and these special education teachers, and they're telling me what they need and stuff like that. So I'm humbled that they let me have that input. But make no doubt about about it. We gotta put it out for bid.

Will Flanagan: 28:45

It's a project, you know? We gotta follow the guidelines on where it comes up, I'm sure there'll be hiccups. I'm sure that we won't like any other project. But, yeah, it's it's I'm humbled by what they let me do and how they let me help. But, when it comes down to it, I'm just a maintenance man.

Will Flanagan: 29:02

There's things above my pay grade that are gonna get done here, and, I'm I'm but it will get done. Will get done.

Cliff: 29:09

That's great. Well, listen, you are the pinnacle of what Fall River really is. You're you're you're part of Fall River's story. It's people like you that have made this community a better better place to live, a better place to enjoy, what you've been able to do here is nothing short of remarkable. You're a humble guy, you're not looking for all the pop and circumstance that comes with it, but you've led a movement.

Cliff: 29:41

And you're giving a voice for a select group of people, children, individuals who might not otherwise have had this opportunity.

Will Flanagan: 29:50

Thank you. That means a lot, I appreciate it.

Cliff: 29:52

And that speaks to you as a person, I'm happy that I've been able to get to know you from my standpoint. We'll do whatever we can do to continue to help from a political standpoint and also from a standpoint of being a business owner myself.

Will Flanagan: 30:10

You, Greg.

Cliff: 30:10

Anything you wanna add before we sign off?

Will Flanagan: 30:12

I just want my city to know just how appreciative we are. You know, not just me, I hear it every day. Like, I hear from people from as young kids as young as eight years old that are, happy this is gonna get done to retire special education teachers, and it's I just can't thank you enough and we're a we're a strong city, I love my city and, yeah, I thank you.

Cliff: 30:37

Well, you've made it an even better place. Thank So keep keep fighting and and keep doing what you do.

Will Flanagan: 30:42

You can find us at maceplayground.org or our Facebook page, maceplayground. No apostrophe on the website, maceplayground.org.

Cliff: 30:50

Alright. Well, thank you so much for tuning into this episode of our podcast. Many more episodes coming your way.