My Turn: Vote “no” on community center and “re-scope” the project

Dear friends and neighbors,

The June 25th Town Meeting will decide whether to fund an additional $2.33 million for the Community Center. We urge you to vote “no” — not because we oppose better facilities for our community programs, but because we believe that this project has fundamental issues that additional money won’t fix. We are speaking up now because we are at a decision point, and this is the time to raise our voices, noting that constructive disagreement is part of healthy discourse and vibrant government. Democracy works when we all participate.

For those of you in a rush, here’s the TL;DR:

1. Please come to the upcoming Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, June 25 from 6:30-9:30pm. However you vote, please vote! There will be childcare available from 6:00-9:00pm in pod C (the LEAP pod). The community center will be the  first warrant up for voting, and:

• • A “yes” vote would see it move forward (with additional $2.33 million funding required from the town), but we feel that this increased funding still won’t solve the fundamental issues that we outline below.
  • A “no” vote will pause construction and allow for a new process to revisit the entire concept.

2. We are in favor of a “no” vote to pause and re-scope the project because:

• This isn’t the community center that the town voted to fund. The original vision that we voted on described a “gathering place and activity center” that would “attract residents of all ages to gather for coffee and meetings and informal activities.” The reality: budget constraints have forced cuts that moved us far from this vision. The building design is now essentially an office building for three separate groups sharing utilities. The only unscheduled public space available to all residents is a lobby, labeled the “community gathering” space. All other spaces will be used “if scheduling allows” and by appointment only. In addition, there’s no gym or lecture hall or other typical community center functionality in the design.
• It’s designed for yesterday’s needs, not tomorrow’s growth.
  • LEAP already has waitlists of 10+ families and can serve only 104 kids at capacity — no room for the growing families moving to Lincoln.
  • Council on Aging currently serves ~200-300 people but wants to reach our 1,875+ seniors — impossible in this constrained space.
  • Recreation will similarly hit capacity limits with no expansion possible.
• Timing, functionality, location, and operations present fundamental challenges:
  • The timing of this construction brings more deep disruption to kids who have already been disrupted twice in their elementary school years (school renovation + COVID)
  • With the current design, LEAP will lose substantial functionality and autonomy, and the current budget (even with the proposed increase in funding) does not replace existing resources (e.g., play spaces, furniture)
  • The location has not been reconsidered in over a decade, and may not reflect the priorities of current town residents
  • There is no existing plan for operations, conflict resolution, and mixed use from co-location.
• The “sunk cost” trap. Yes, we’ve invested ~$2 million in planning. But spending another $26 million+ to build the wrong solution compounds that mistake rather than fixing it. Good money after bad isn’t fiscal responsibility — it’s how small mistakes become massive ones.
• Bottom line: We’re being asked to spend $26million + on a building that won’t serve our community’s real needs, and creates new problems we don’t currently have. Each program deserves proper, dedicated facilities — not a compromise that serves none of them well.

3. There is a new Town Meeting Survey to figure out how to make our meetings function better. Please take it!

We have taken the time to write out our thoughts and thought process in detail in this document starting on page 3, with a lot of homework behind each point. We invite and encourage correction on any misunderstandings or misinformation, and we invite and encourage dialogue from those of you who disagree with us.

According to a recent (June 10) memo from the Community Center Building Committee: The “alternative [to the Community Center] would likely require reconsidering a significant investment in Bemis Hall and Hartwell Pods — a comparable cost to the community center but a loss of shared function spaces and addition of 2+ years to the schedule.” To us, this is a vastly preferred alternative and actually addresses most of the problems we have identified above and below. We would love to hear your point of view, and are open to changing our opinions if there are compelling arguments to do so.

However you vote, please vote. Democracy works when we all participate. The vote: June 25th, 6:30-9:30pm (childcare available 6:00-9:00pm, pod C).

Sincerely,

Randi Rotjan and Jeff Chabot, 267 Concord Rd.
Kristin and Carlos Ramirez, 9 Giles Rd.

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“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.