To the editor:
This letter is urge all to come to the first forum hosted by the Campus Master Planning Committee on Thursday, Oct. 15 from 7-9 p.m. in the Brooks Gym.
Lincoln is about to engage as a whole in crafting a new, big idea. There is an opportunity to create a legacy project that will serve now and for generations to come. This is the type of project that Lincoln has been famous for—big-picture, holistic thinking, and making large, long-term investments.
The campus on Ballfield Road has evolved since the creation of the ballfield in 1938. The ballfield was a visionary Lincoln resident’s effort to create a space that would bring together all ages, religions and economic backgrounds to play together and celebrate community while cheering on our baseball team, the Lincoln Mohawks. Over the years, the use of the campus has expanded to include schools, daycare, after-school care, a pool and other recreation, and Town Meetings and elections, all the while remaining a campus to serve the entire community.
Now, we have an opportunity to reimagine our campus so that it might better serve all our needs and create a true “heart of Lincoln,” all the while respecting its campus feel as its buildings frame the ballfield.
We must take care to respect that aesthetic but not have it tie our hands regarding the actual buildings and the potential offered by each area. Uses for specific sites might not be what we now imagine. Building heights might not remain the same. Parking and circulation will be challenges, but let us think carefully of how we have been challenged in the past, and how we have found creative solutions.
Designing to address school programmatic needs must be paramount, as that will be the single largest investment on the campus. We must not restrict our thinking to the existing building footprints, configurations, and heights. We may be able to best meet needs with a design yet to be imagined. And we may decide it best to keep footprints as they are. But all choices should be informed by robust dialogue.
We need to keep open minds, to think holistically, to think big, to think long-term. Opportunities like this are once in a lifetime, and a first for this campus. So come to the forum and bring a robust imagination; listen carefully to the findings of the Campus Master Planning Committee and to the work of previous committees, most recently the Community Center Study Committee.
Those who have served and continue to serve on these committees deserve our thanks and our attention. We will be there to do just that, and to take the opportunity to create a lasting legacy. Carpe diem!
Sincerely,
Sara Mattes
71 Conant Rd.
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
Leave a Reply