Posted onOctober 19, 2016|Comments Off on Mega Meeting on Mega-B
Last night at the 550 seat Medfield High School auditorium, a standing room only crowd that I estimated at 800-1,000 openly hostile Medfield residents listened to and then grilled John Kelly and his development team, headed by Jeff Engler, about Kelly’s proposed 200 unit 40B development on Dale Street for almost four hours, starting at 7PM. Medfield.TV recorded the meeting, as they do almost all selectmen meetings, but they were not able to broadcast it live from the MHS.
The meeting started with a short summary presentation by the developer team, but most of the night was taken up by residents questioning the developer. No resident present appeared satisfied with any of the explanations provided. Senator Timilty and Representatives Denise Garlick and Shawn Dooley all spoke. Senator Timilty delivered an impassioned speech that promised the residents that he would do all he could to defeat the proposal. The Representatives also promised to support the town’s defense.
The architect admitted that his instructions were to design a 200 unit (the maximum allowed by statute) project. The consultant and developer both admitted that 200 units is not their ultimate goal, but both refused to suggest what number of units would be acceptable to them. The developer, who lives in Sherborn, said that this was his first project in the United States, but that his group has a history of development in Ireland. Kelly commented that he wanted to do a “good project,” one he could be proud of, which drew strong negative reactions due to his dramatically out of scale proposal.
The Town of Medfield will continue to pursue many separate goals and options, so as to keep as many options open to the town as possible. The residents’ first goal would be to block this proposal.
Several residents suggested the need to town residents to donate to a fund to fight against this proposal, and the proposed option is to create a town gift account to be set up to receive donations that the town will use to hire expertise to oppose this and any other 40B developments. Any such donation can be made by mailing a check to the Treasurer/Collector at the Town House and noting in the memo line that it is for the “40B gift account.”
Posted onOctober 18, 2016|Comments Off on 5 year old post on affordable housing
First, I noticed today that the links to Facebook and LinkedIn had stopped working, so if you read my posts there you missed some.
Second, a reader today asked a question that made me search the archives of my blog, and once I learned how, I started looking around a little – I found this post from 2/14/2012 –
40B strategies – ideas I had to help meet the 10% threshold
Over the twelve years that I have been a selectman, I have, of course, recognized the issues that flow from G. L. c. 40B and the 40B developments I saw effecting other towns, so I have had possible solutions percolating in my mind. Also, I feel that as a matter of essential justice, that it is correct and proper for our society to provide affordable housing. Given those starting points, I have made several suggestions over the years about ways for Medfield to make progress on meeting the 10% affordable housing threshold, that exempts towns from unwanted 40B developments.
The first proposal came from what I believe may have been at the first Massachusetts Municipal Association annual convention I attended, and I did not learn about the MMA for several years after becoming a selectman, so maybe around 2003 or 2004. The Falmouth Housing Authority’s director was a presenter at that first MMA meeting I attended, and he told about Falmouth’s planned and systematic conversion of existing housing into affordable housing. When the proper housing became available, Falmouth would buy it and convert it into affordable housing. This technique has the benefit of creating affordable housing without changing the impacts on and/or densities of existing neighborhoods. When I presented that idea to my colleagues, I specifically recall suggesting that the Town of Medfield should be buying every unit at Medfield Gardens that came on the market, in an effort do what we could to meet our 10% affordable housing threshold. Another time when I saw a newspaper ad offering for sale a six unit property on Green Street (almost at North Street), I suggested that the town buy it to convert to affordable housing. Converting existing housing makes for a long road to get us over 10%, unless most of Medfield Gardens suddenly became available, but such a plan could be part of a larger strategy.
Second, there is vacant land next to Tilden Village, which I understand is controlled by the Medfield Housing Authority. I suggested that the town should sponsor building more elderly housing on that location. Medfield can certainly use more elderly housing, and the municipal budget impacts would be minimal. Where the facilities at Tilden Village already exist, for the new construction there would be savings from not having to construct what already exists there – i.e. no need for an additional administrative office and community meeting room. I was told that the then Medfield Housing Authority was not interested in doing so.
The third proposal I made was for the town to build affordable housing on other town owned land. The town itself owns parcels all over town.
There was no interest expressed in pursuing any of these ideas.
Comments Off on 5 year old post on affordable housing
Posted onOctober 18, 2016|Comments Off on Mega-B to BoS tonight (at MHS)
Below is my daily email reminder of the day’s Town of Medfield meetings, which town service I heartily recommend to all (sign up at the town website) –
Minutes: Medfield Energy Committee: October 13, 2016 at Town DPW Building
Attendees: Fred Bunger, Lee Alinsky, Pete Peterson, Paul Fechtelkotter, Cynthia Greene
1. September 8 energy committee minutes accepted.
2. Next steps on Green Communities. Paul reported that all the schools, town hall and library audits are done and Sam Nutter is working on completing the reports. Paul will call Sam on 10/4/16 to check on the status of the reports. The Pfaff Center is still to be done. The Dale Street School was audited a year ago and Sam will work with that information. There is a question if the auditors went back to the Council on Aging.
• Sam will use FY 15 as a baseline and we will be able to take credit for some of the LED change outs that have happened at the Library already.
• There are 23 thermostats at the library and Columbia gas will not give incentives to swap them out as they are programmable, but it might make sense to replace them anyway as the current set up is not energy efficient.
• Axum Teferra at MAPC asked for the narrative reports and the spreadsheets by building and projects be submitted to her by October 14. There is a call with Axum on 10-18 at 11 am.
• On Oct 21 a letter from the town approving the energy reduction plan is needed. Fred Bunger will work on this. The school’s energy reduction plan needs to be approved by the Superintendent. The rest of the plan needs to be approved by the Board of Selectmen. Meeting with the Board is scheduled for 11/15/16.
• Reports still to be done: The DPW building, diesel and gasoline, wastewater treatment plant and drinking water. Maurice Goulet to follow-up. Any reduction in water pumping costs due to the new water tower should be included as an energy improvement project.
• The new Public Safety Building energy efficiency vs the old buildings is to be calculated. Andrew and Axum to follow-up.
• There are no big projects that will get us to the 20% and so we expect there will be lots of little projects. We will have to determine the timing of the projects. Fred Bunger suggested we use the funds from the initial grant to replace the energy management systems at the schools and then do the higher ROI projects later and solicit additional grant funds to cover them.
3. Garage Solar. Green Skies did not meet the DCAM certification so the garage solar will be rebid.
4. Solarize Medfield. We are in Tier 3 with 75 kilowatts signed up.
5. LED streetlight maintenance. Fred Davis has made contact, but has not received responses.
6. Public Safety Building. The solar system will be on line the end of November and so will make the 1/8/17 deadline for SRECs.
7. Meeting adjourned at 8:10
Next meetings –October 27 to go over Green Communities submissions and November 10, regular monthly meeting.
It has gone on long enough. Uzo Aduba is just its most recent known victim. For far too long Medfield has been confused for Medford.
I will suggest that the Town of Medfield respectfully request that the City of Medford change its name to avoid any further confusion between our two municipalities. If the City of Medford balks, I will regretfully need to follow up by asking to have town counsel sue the City of Medford for injunctive relief asking that Medford cease and desist from its use of such a confusing name.
Legally, the issue is whether there is public confusion caused by the use of a similar name within a similar geographic area, and if there is such public confusion (which 12,200 Medfield residents’ testimony will document), then the first in time user within a given geographic area gets to use its name.
Exhibit A & B above, clearly show that Medfield’s use preceded Medford’s by 241 years. It is unfortunate that Medford residents made such a poor choice of an initial name for their lovely city, but fortunately they have only had a mere 124 years of its use, so getting accustomed to their subsequent name should not require great effort. As Medford will clearly either need to change its name or move its city out of Massachusetts.
Ewan McGregor and Uzo Aduba in “American Pastoral.”
By Ed Symkus Globe Correspondent October 14, 2016
TORONTO — Uzo Aduba was all set to have a career singing classical music, studying voice performance at Boston University, when the theater beckoned. A move to New York led to stage roles ranging from “Translations of Xhosa” to a revival of “Godspell.” Parlaying that into television and film work proved difficult, but one day she got a phone call offering her the part of Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the then-new show “Orange Is the New Black,” for which she’s since won two Emmys. Last year another phone call, from actor and first-time director Ewan McGregor, resulted in her first major film role, as Vicky, in the screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Philip Roth novel “American Pastoral,” which opens on Friday.
Set in the politically and racially tumultuous late 1960s and early ‘70s, the story follows the travails of the Levov family: successful businessman Seymour (McGregor), his less-than-stable wife, Dawn (Jennifer Connelly), and their daughter, Merry (Dakota Fanning). She becomes radicalized, is accused of a series of New Jersey bombings, then disappears. Aduba plays Vicky, the office manager and right-hand-woman at Seymour’s factory, and the calming center of the family’s and the film’s emotional storm.
Aduba, 35, spoke at the Toronto International Film Festival about her work and the film.
Q. Your official bio states that you’re from Boston, but in interviews you’ve always said you’re from a small New England town. Where did you grow up?
A. I’m from Medfield. I don’t usually say it because often when I do, people say, “Oh, I know it.” I say, “It’s so small I’m not sure you do.” Then they say, “Yeah, Tufts, Medford.” So I know they don’t know it. And it’s OK to say Boston. My dog is named Fenway Bark.
Q. How did your dreams of being a singer turn into an acting career?
A. Actually, I did some acting very early. The first show I ever did was “Caps for Sale,” when I was in day care, and around that time I was an angel in a nativity play. In high school I auditioned for “The Secret Garden” and got a part as a ghost. But I always sang. I was singing in church, and in my choir in middle school and high school, and it felt natural to go into drama in high school, because there were musicals. I was pursuing singing and musical theater, and my voice sang more naturally in its upper register in a classical capacity.
Q. So when you went to BU it was more for singing than acting?
A. Yes. I was studying classical voice performance there, but in that program you also have to take acting. In addition to voice lessons, theory, ear training, and music history, you also had to take Shakespeare and movement. So on Fridays, we’d have a class in movement, and we’d be doing things like rolling around on the ground, and on another day we’d have music history, learning about Rachmaninoff. And I thought, “I like the rolling on the ground part better.” I felt that when I moved to New York, this is what I’d be doing.
Q. You did a lot of stage work there, then “Orange Is the New Black” happened, and now you’ve broken into film. How did the part of Vicky come to you?
A. My agents brought me the script, and I loved it, and loved the story. Then I got a phone call from Ewan. He was talking about the script, and I remember his enthusiasm and his passion for the story and for what he was trying to say and communicate. It was infectious and exciting, and who doesn’t want to be in an environment like that? So I said yes.
Q. Introduce Vicky.
A. She’s a woman who works alongside Ewan’s character, Seymour, at his handmade glove factory. We’re watching her life at a time when this country is in a state of change and transition, at a time when people of her make are supposed to be sort of relegated to the back seat of our culture, but is, because of the Levov family, very empowered at her workplace. She is able to stand in her full, authentic self, and she’s a very self-possessed woman, full of opinions, that she’s happy to offer, whether solicited or not [laughs].
Q. You don’t have a lot of scenes, but we get to know your character pretty well. Did you add much to the script?
A. Not really. I just thought she sang so loudly with the little that she had to say. I felt she was a person who was emphatic about whatever it was she wanted to state. She is clear, and she is fearless. And I know women who are like that — certainly in my own home — who have no problem speaking their opinions. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity for a number of voices we haven’t heard from, from that time or since, to give them as loud a voice as I possibly could.
Q. You got to sing last year when you played Glinda on the TV broadcast of “The Wiz Live.” Are there plans to do a concert any time down the road?
A. Oh, I don’t know. I would love to do a concert, but as an artist, I don’t like doing something just for the sake of doing it. I think if it feels motivated by a need to say or do something, that concert will happen.
MEC Meeting Minutes : September 8th, 2016 at Town DPW Building
Attendance: Fred Bunger, Pete Peterson, Marie Nolan, Fred Davis, Maciej Konieczny, Paul Fechtelkotter, Lee Alinsky, Cynthia Greene, Mike Sullivan, Maurice Goulet, Mark Cerel(Town Counsel), Andrew Seaman(by phone)
DPW Building Solar Contract: Green Skies bid of $333,000 was selected over the $470,000 bid of Absolute Renewable Energy for the 149 KW Solar PV on the DPW garage. The Green Skies construction schedule will not begin until March 2017 which will miss the SREC II, lowering SREC value by 20%. However, the price is within the $390,000 allocated for the project and the difference between the two bids is more than makes up for the lower SREC value. Mark Cerel reviewed the proposed contract with Green Skies to point out that the required DCAM certificate was not included. The Energy Committee voted 6 for, 0 nay with 1 abstention to recommend the Select Board accept the Green Skies contract subject to receiving the DCAM certification. Select Board will consider the contract Sept 20.
Previous Minutes. August 11th MEC meeting minutes accepted.
Solarize Medfield. Sign-ups have reached Tier 1 (25KW) with 4 purchases. Planning on Sept 21 Solar 101 at MHS and time with Lions and MEMO in September. Booth for Medfield Day planned and staffed with Energy Committee members..
20 % Energy Reduction Plan for Green Communities:
META Grant and MAPC Assistance: Awaiting DOER approval of META grant. Contact from Axum Teferra of MAPC indicates they are ready to help Medfield prepare the Green Communities application to DOER. Will have a kickoff as soon as META grant approved.
Schools. RISE audits planned for Sept 21 & 22 at MHS, Blake Middle School first, then Wheelock and Memorial. Paul Fechtelkotter handling arrangements with Mike LaFrancesca and Sam Nutter of RISE. Building Management systems upgrade is under study by Mike LaFrancesca with expected 5 to 15% energy improvement. Jerry McCarty of Weston was named new Facilities Manager and will start officially in late October. Jerry will arrange to send Weston examples of building energy improvement projects.
Library &Town Hall : audits to be arranged by Paul F. with Eric Iafolla for Sept 21 or 22 depending upon time available after schools audits.
COA/ The Center: RISE audit completed with only minor recommendations.
DPW / Gasoline and Diesel: Maurice Goulet looking at 2015 usage and speculating 2015 winter usage was exceptionally high. He will follow up on energy reduction programs when he has access to Mass Energy Insight.
WWTP and Water Dept : no progress
Lighting Audit: Fred D. reported that the lighting audits of the Library, Town Hall and DPW building by AECOM were reviewed with Derek Brown and would be redone with equivalent lighting levels. Discussed motion sensors and other controls to reduce lighting costs.
LED Streetlights: Funding to assist Towns in switching to LED may become available from DOER. Still reviewing maintenance contract questionnaire. Energy Committee will work on proposal for 2017 Town Meeting.
MassEnergy Insight; Awaiting access approval for Energy Committee, Mike F and Jerry McCarty.
Meeting adjourned at 9:20
Minutes respectfully submitted by Fred Bunger.
DRAFT
Medfield Energy Committee
Thursday October 13th, 2016
7:30 PM Town Garage
Agenda
Acceptance of September 11th MEC meeting minutes
Next steps Green Communities 20% Energy Improvement Plan
RISE Energy Audit Report Status – Paul
Energy improvement projects
Schools – Mike LaFrancesca & Jerry McCarty
DPW building, Diesel/Gasoline – Maurice Goulet
Library, Town Hall, Pfaff & Center– Mike S.
WWTP & Water – Fred B & Andrew
Public Safety building –
Other energy reduction projects
– Approval at Select Board Meeting October
– Approval by School Superintendent
Documentation for: -Andrew
GC criteria #1 & #2 Solar Zoning & Expedited Permitting
GC criteria #4 Energy Efficient Vehicle Policy
GC criteria #5 Stretch Code
– Energy Manager’s report:
Garage Solar contract/schedule – Andrew/ Maurice
Solarize Medfield Status Marie
LED Streetlight Maintenance Contracts – Fred D
Other business
Next meeting November 11th, 2016 at 7:30 DPW conference room
Dear Subscriber,The number of people suffering, and all too often dying, from prescription drug abuse is staggering. And the epidemic is growing exponentially, fueled by the prevalence of opiate painkillers. Here’s an overview on cause and prevention.
Information that makes us safer These newsletters are based on a simple idea – the more each one of us knows, the better off each us will be. Each newsletter focuses on a topic that relates to the health, wellness, and safety of each of us, our families, and our friends. I hope that you will find the information both interesting and informative, and that each month you can take away at least some nugget, that can make you or your family more secure.
Remember, the safer you remain, the less likely is that you will need the courts, as legal claims are generally only needed when proper safety measures were missing.
Pete
“You Should Know” Risk and Prevention Guide
Opiate Drug Abuse, Deaths Soar Along with Drug Company Profits
Opioid abuse has killed 165,000 Americans since 1999, including legendary musician Prince. Learn more.
In April, musician and icon Prince died in his home from an accidental overdose of the prescription opioid fentanyl. In September, U.S. soccer superstar Abby Wambach revealed her long struggle with substance abuse and prescription drug addiction after an arrest for driving under the influence.
High-profile stories like these are waking up all Americans to an exploding public health crisis. Overdose deaths from prescription opiates have quadrupled since 1999, claiming the lives of an estimated 165,000 people. At the same time, sales of these prescription drugs have also quadrupled, generating record profits for drug companies.
Wading through the dangers of addiction while also dealing with serious pain can be an overwhelming challenge. You should know how to protect yourself and your loved ones from those who may have profits – not your well-being – as their top priority.
Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, killing 14,000 people in 2014 alone.
1,000 Per Day
Every day, more than 1,000 people are treated in emergency rooms for misusing prescription opioids. Overdose rates were highest among people aged 25 to 54 years.
$1.98 Billion
Sales of opioids reached an estimated $1.98 billion in 2014. Meanwhile, drug companies spent $880 million nationwide since 2006 fighting restrictions on opioids.
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The Politics of Pain
The heroin addiction that eventually killed Cameron Weiss started when the 18-year-old was prescribed painkillers for a wrestling injury. Jennifer Weiss-Burke, Cameron’s mother, is now hoping to change state laws and prevent tragedy for others. View video.
Pain Pill Dangers: Dispelling the Myths
Consumer Reports investigates the myths surrounding prescription opioids, including misinformation about the risk of addiction. View video.
Obama Calls for More Recovery Services
President Obama teams up with Grammy winner Macklemore to speak about opioid addiction and present solutions for those looking to curb this epidemic. View video.
What’s Your Prescription Painkiller Experience?
Take our survey on prescription opioid use, and we’ll enter your name into a drawing for a free iPod Shuffle.
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I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
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