Monthly Archives: September 2011

NSTAR responsive about pole

Posted on September 13, 2011 | Comments Off on NSTAR responsive about pole

NSTAR’s Barry Salvucci already had someone look at the second pole I called him about removing yesterday, and he just called to report that to get that second pole removed the Medfield Fire Department must first get its line off that pole, then Verizon and Comcast must get their lines off.  He reports that NSTAR’s lines are already off the pole. In the words of Pogo, “we have met the enemy, and it is us.”

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Posted in Information

Myron McLane donates Robert McCarthy’s anvil

Posted on September 12, 2011 | Comments Off on Myron McLane donates Robert McCarthy’s anvil

Thanks to Myron McLane for donating to the Town of Medfield the anvil that formerly belonged to blacksmith Robert McCarthy.  It is the same anvil that Myron McLane used when he first apprenticed with Robert McCarthy right out of high school decades ago, and which he made a point of buying when McCarthy’s shop was auctioned off, so as to preserve this piece of Medfield history.

The anvil memorial for former blacksmith Robert McCarthy is to be unveiled at 12:30 PM on Medfield Day on Jane’s Avenue, in front of where Mr. McCarthy had his blacksmith shop.

Being a blacksmith, Mr. McLane also knows a thing or two about how to fabricate things, and he designed and  made the anvil memorial.

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Posted in History, Information

Utility Poles in Medfield are all Verizon Controlled

Posted on September 12, 2011 | 2 comments

I just asked NSTAR to fix a double pole that takes away from the new anvil memorial for former blacksmith Robert McCarthy that is to be unveiled at 12:30 on Medfield Day on Jane’s Avenue, and I learned that Verizon controls all Medfield poles.  The utilities must have divided  up the towns – who knew.

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Posted in Information

BoS to meet with Army Core of Engineers re MSH

Posted on September 12, 2011 | Comments Off on BoS to meet with Army Core of Engineers re MSH

At the request of the Board of Selectmen, Mike Sullivan has scheduled a meeting between the Board of Selectmen and the Army Core of Engineers about the Core’s permit for DCAM to conduct clean up work in the Charles River.

10:00AM,  9/19/2011
Army Corp meeting at Medfield Town House

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Posted in Medfield State Hospital

Two Appeals of ConCom’s MSH Decision

Posted on September 12, 2011 | Comments Off on Two Appeals of ConCom’s MSH Decision

Two appeals have been taken of the Conservation Commission’s granting of an Order of Conditions (OOC) to DCAM to do the work in the Charles River and on its adjoining river bank.

The Charles River Watershed Association and The Trustees of the Reservation jointly appealed – https://medfield02052.blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/20110908-crwa-sooc-submitted-ltr9-8-11.pdf

Ten Medfield residents also appealed that Medfield Conservation Commission (ConCom) Order of Conditions (OOC) – https://medfield02052.blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/20110908-wjm-sooc-completepetitionsubmission.pdf

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Posted in Medfield State Hospital

Weekly Political Report – Week Ending September 9, 2011

Posted on September 12, 2011 | Comments Off on Weekly Political Report – Week Ending September 9, 2011

Expanded Gambling Bill Advances in House

On Thursday, the House gave initial approval to legislation that would authorize three casinos and one slot parlor in Massachusetts. The bill received a favorable report from the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, clearing the way for floor debate to begin next Wednesday. The House Ways and Means Committee made a few technical changes to the bill produced by the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies but did not add any substantive amendments.

With debate on the bill scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, the deadline for filing amendments was 3 p.m. Friday.

 

WBUR Poll Shows Brown with Lead over Democratic Contenders

According to a poll released by WBUR this week, Sen. Scott Brown holds a 9 point lead over rumored candidate Elizabeth Warren. The poll, which found that support for Brown and Warren is split by 44-35 margin, surveyed 500 likely 2012 general election voters. The poll also showed Brown leading Bob Massie 45-29, Setti Warren 46-28 and Alan Khazei 45-30. Almost a quarter of those surveyed did not express a preference for any of the candidates. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.
Attorney General Certifies 23 of 31 Proposed Ballot Questions

Attorney General Martha Coakley announced on Wednesday that 23 of the 31 filed petitions had received certification—the first major hurdle in qualifying as a ballot question for the statewide election. To obtain a letter of certification from the Attorney General, a petition must pertain to an acceptable subject matter. Initiative petitions relating to religion, judges, the courts, particular localities of the Commonwealth, specific appropriations, and certain provisions of the state constitution’s Declaration of Rights are prohibited from certification.  Petitions may not be substantially similar to any ballot measure that appeared on the ballot in either of the preceding two elections

 

To advance further, petition proponents must gather 68,911 signatures by late November. If proponents are successful, the petition is reviewed by the Legislature, which must take action by May 4, 2012. If the Legislature chooses not to act, proponents must gather an additional 11,485 signatures to secure a spot on the 2012 ballot.

 

Coakley certified 23 of 31 ballot questions, covering 17 different topics. Questions that will proceed to the signature-gathering phase include:

 

  • Sanctioning and regulating medical marijuana
  • Empowering terminally ill patients to take life-ending drugs
  • Expanding the state’s bottle recycling law
  • Forcing auto manufacturers to share additional diagnostic information with repair shops
  • Repealing the individual mandate for Massachusetts residents to obtain health insurance
  • Permitting more food stores to sell beer and wine
  • Prohibiting auto insurers from adjusting premiums based on socioeconomic factors
  • Establishing consequences for teacher evaluations

The Attorney General rejected several initiative proposals, including a proposal to authorize three Massachusetts casinos and a petition that aims to force competitive bidding for energy contracts.

 

John Nunnari, Assoc AIA
Executive Director, AIA MA
jnunnari@architects.org
617-951-1433 x263
617-951-0845 (fax)

MA Chapter of American Institute of Architects
The Architects Building
52 Broad Street, Boston MA 02109-4301
www.architects.org

 

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Posted in Weekly Mass Political Summaries

DEP Approved DCAM MSH Clean Up

Posted on September 9, 2011 | Comments Off on DEP Approved DCAM MSH Clean Up

The Massachusetts DEP yesterday approved the DCAM proposed clean up of the Medfield State Hospital C&D area that will cap the waste material, instead of remove it as the town requested.  Monitoring is required, and “additional remedial action alternatives will be required to maintain conditions of No Substantial Hazard or No Significant Risk” if problems are noted.

Link to DEP’s approval – https://medfield02052.blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/20110908-dep-2-3020799-medfield-cd-irap-approval-09-08-2011.pdf

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Posted in Medfield State Hospital

MSH clean Up – Yesterday’s Final DCAM Report Defines the Problems and Solutions

Posted on September 9, 2011 | Comments Off on MSH clean Up – Yesterday’s Final DCAM Report Defines the Problems and Solutions

Last night the DCAM handed out two reports (that combined were about 5″ thick documents) to the attendees at the PIP meeting at the Town House, as they presented those Phase II and Phase III reports.  These two documents are the Draft Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment and the Draft Phase III Evaluation/Selection of Remedial Alternatives, respectively, the summary of the clean up problems at the Medfield State Hospital and the proposed solutions.  The solutions are basically a combination of the previously announced temporary fix of the C&D area, plus the newly presented solution to treating the VOC’s by pumping air into the ground to oxidize away the VOC’s – the VOC’s are thereby transformed from a liquid into a gas.

The Phase II and Phase III documents will hopefully be added to the town’s and/or the DEP’s website.  This is a link to the DCAM’s PowerPoint slides from the meeting last night – https://medfield02052.blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/20110908-dcam-powerpoint-slides-of-phase-ii-iii-reports.pdf

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Posted in Medfield State Hospital

Paramedics? Plus Three Good Ideas from Other Towns

Posted on September 8, 2011 | 1 comment

Suggestions I made to Mike Sullivan on the telephone this afternoon:

  • To examine whether Medfield should upgrade its ambulance services from its current EMT level to paramedic services.  The town currently provide EMT services, and, as this layman understands the differences, the paramedics would be able to stabilize patients and administer medications to the patients before they are transported.  There are issues as to how much more it would cost to implement a paramedic service, and whether the residents would want to that higher amount to get that higher level of ambulance service.
  • Get a copy of Westborough’s debris management plan, to see if it would help us to develop a plan on how to handle all the debris when a hurricane actually does hit Medfield.  I have been reading Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto, and most things seem to work much better when one has made a list in advance.  I started a little bit of the storm clean up discussion this week at the Board of Selectmen meeting, about where we should draw the line as to what the DPW clears away after a storm and what is beyond what we expect them to pick up.  Do we want the DPW to help residents by picking up branches from the side of roads placed there by the residents?  Mike, Ann and Mark all said no.  Seeing what the DPW did after Irene made me realize just what a good job they did and how well our town government seemed to work to get the town running after the storm – a nice example of government working well.  Nonetheless, it would be good to have a good checklist on how to do it if the storm is worse.
  • Get a copy of Northeastern University’s Economic Development Self Assessment Tool to evaluate it to determine whether it would be useful exercise for Medfield to use to evaluate our strengths, our weaknesses, and to stimulate a discussion about what we are doing.
  • Investigate whether the smart phone app developed by a Peabody police detective’s to facilitate community reporting would be useful to our residents and to the Medfield Police Department.

I saw the last three items discussed in the recent issue of The Beacon, the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s monthly magazine, which is usually a stimulating source of ideas.

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New Comments to DEP by CRWA and Bill Massaro

Posted on September 6, 2011 | Comments Off on New Comments to DEP by CRWA and Bill Massaro

New Comments, about DCAM’s proposed clean up of the C&D area, to DEP by

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Posted in Medfield State Hospital