By Joanne and George Carlisle
At the recent meeting of Lincoln’s Planning Board, we thought the presentations by The Commons, where we’ve lived for five years, were excellent. But we were surprised and horrified by the negativity, even mean-spiritedness, of many residents’ comments. We are great supporters of the emerging proposal for expansion, and we want to be sure that readers of the Lincoln Squirrel know that a recent survey showed that a significant majority of our residents understand and support the current proposal.
After the January 2023 initial proposal by our new nonprofit ownership, we have been given continuing surveys and individual, small, and large group meetings to learn of the need, advantages, and many considerations discussed by our Resident Council and Steering Committee and ownership/management. And we have given many of our own suggestions.
During our professional years before retirement, we learned the benefits of communal living in the many boarding schools we served. Kindness and trust and truth-telling — exactly the things we value most here at The Commons. We are especially pleased that The Commons offers such a rich mix of residents and staff — professionally, geographically, spiritually and in personal gifts and experiences.
Going forward, we are confident the expansion proposal which emerges will of course meet all of Lincoln’s town requirements while continuing, through the PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes] program, our significant contribution to the tax base and providing some additional affordable living apartments. It will also benefit considerably our financial strength, and our ability to stay competitive in the world of growing demand for continuing care retirement communities.
Thank you for this chance to share our support and enthusiasm for plans for expansion at The Commons!
“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.
The majority of The Commons residents are NOT in favor of the expansion proposal. How unkind and unfair of you to say that the majority is for it on a public platform. I have a parent living there and she is not for it and all of her friends are equally against it. It is people like you who assume to speak for the whole without checking the reality who cause great harm to those around you. I am sure you can safely write the grossly wrong propaganda you stated in your letter because your home will be safe and not affected by any of the construction chaos and loss of the beautiful green space on the property. Shame on you.