The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

government

Letter to the editor: vote no on ‘dark skies’ again

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To the editor:

Article 34 at Town Meeting on Saturday is a replay of last year’s failed effort by the Planning Board to limit the choice of light fixtures and bulbs used outside homes and businesses. It should be defeated for these reasons:

  • It limits the selection of outdoor fixtures to those that do not emit light upward, even if the fixture is under an overhang (such as a porch) that prevents light from beaming up.
  • Although existing fixtures are exempt, existing bulbs are not. The proposed by-law states without exception that “All exterior lamps shall have a Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) value of 3000K or below,” and “Exterior lights on residential properties shall have a maximum output of 900 lumens,” the equivalent of a 60-watt incandescent bulb. All bulbs that fail to comply will have to be replaced immediately. Existing fixtures will have to comply if replaced.
  • The limit of 900 lumens is not adequate for outdoor security lights. Bulbs in the street lights in Lincoln’s condominium communities undoubtedly exceed this limit, so will have to be replaced with bulbs that provide less illumination.
  • Federal law requires that American flags flown at night be lighted. The proposal has no exception for this. This point was raised at last year’s town meeting, so the omission must be intentional. “Take your flag down at night,” was the Planning Board’s response last year.
  • The changes, if adopted, will have no discernable effect on the night sky. A dark rural Lincoln will still bask in the glow of the brightly lit urban areas that surround it. How much restriction on our personal liberties must we endure for no effect?

Sincerely,

Michael R. Coppock
214 Aspen Circle

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters 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 Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Letter to the editor: Craig seeks support for Board of Selectman

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To the editor:

While a bit belated, I would like to thank the Lincoln PTO for organizing and hosting the recent “Meet the Candidates” forum. The forum provided a great opportunity for all of the candidates (myself included) seeking positions on various town boards and committees to introduce ourselves to those in attendance and to each other.

As many of you are aware, I am running for the open seat on the Board of Selectmen. Since announcing my candidacy a few months ago, I have had the pleasure of meeting and hearing from many fellow Lincolnites about issues of importance to them. Listening to the needs and values of the town is at the core of the mission statement to the Board of Selectmen, and if elected, I look forward to the opportunity to continue this critical function.

I would also be remiss if I did not remind and encourage everyone to attend Town Meeting this coming Saturday. Each year, Town Meeting provides all of us the opportunity to participate and vote on issues concerning the governance of our town. Important discussions about town finances, potential school and community center building projects, as well as several citizen petitions, will take place. All of that, and a boxed lunch at an affordable price! I hope to see you all there.

Lastly, I once again ask for your support at our town election on March 28.

Sincerely,

James Craig
10 Farrar 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 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.

Letter to the editor: Solomon seeks Bemis trustee vote

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To the editor:

Good morning. I am the “outside” candidate for Bemis Trustee, Stan(ley J.) Solomon. My wife is Susan Solomon. We have lived at The Commons for approaching five years. Before that we lived in Lexington for over 50 years, where I spent my spare time with Boy Scout Troop 119 while Susan was a Town Meeting member, on the Conservation Commission and Tree Committee, and president of the Lexington LWV. We both were Garden Club members.

We were serious hikers and less serious cross-country skiers. I added downhill skiing and whitewater paddling. We have hiked Lincoln trails for some 40 years; I was gifted with leadership of Professor Dirk Struik’s Appalachian Mountain Club walk behind Walden in the (now) conservation land when he aged.

I was born in eastern Ohio (Youngstown) and Susan grew up in South Brookline. I came to Boston for MIT; Susan went to Simmons. I am a physicist and worked in industry on semiconductor process development. My name is associated with ion implantation and also solar cell development. Susan worked in factory automation. Her name is not associated with the famous Lucy episode.

I am a candidate for Bemis trustee because I was invited to run. After looking at a short list of past Bemis speakers, I was honored to have been asked. I accepted and did go beyond The Commons for nomination signatures.

My opponent, in a March 13 Lincoln Squirrel letter, amply covered the history and recent accomplishments of the Bemis and Todd Trusts. Any expansion would be superfluous. She, a former trustee who moved on to higher office, appears to have some information on the Trustees’ current plans. As I do not, I find it impossible to give a specific answer as what I anticipate being able to do for them. However, I do not see that as detrimental.

Given past Trustees’ actions record and what I assume are the Bemis Trust’s constraints, it appears that a trustee’s function is simply to select one or more desirable, affordable and available individuals or groups to perform in Lincoln. (It has been explained that the job included physical management of that performance as well.)

Ability to harmoniously work in a group setting would seem to be a prime requisite. I believe I can answer the call there. Beyond this capability, I suspect that knowledge of “important” persons is a desirable asset. Because I am, I suspect, from a rather different background, I believe I can more adequately broaden the pool of potential candidates than can those who would have introduced names when they had a prior opportunity.

I do have one operational difference with my opponent. She expressed at a recent PTO meeting that she wants the Bemis Trustees to be more “interactive” with other Lincoln town boards and committees to produce better “harmony.” I totally oppose this for two reasons. These “interactees” would have been elected or appointed to manage a specific function themselves, not to do so with the advice and consent of another group. Further, I am sure that for Bemis Trustees to participate in this sort of interaction would certainly exceed powers delineated in the trusts.

As I am a few months from being 85, you can be assured that, if elected, I will not be a perennial candidate rattling around Lincoln politics.

Sincerely,

Stan Solomon
1 Harvest Circle, Ste. 231

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters 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.

Letter to the editor: support uniform U.S gun laws

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To the editor:

The lack of uniform gun laws means that all of us are subject to a flood of weaponry purchased in the least restrictive states, in many cases without background checks on the buyers. This is inexcusable. There are uniform national and comprehensive federal background check procedures and data within the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), linked to the national terrorist watch and no-fly lists. We must enact uniform gun laws to take advantage of this and other critical information. As it stands now, unqualified buyers, including potential terrorists and the mentally ill, can freely buy guns at gun shows, on the Internet, and in retail stores in states with weak or nonexistent gun safety laws.

Warrant article 36 in our March 19 Town Meeting, which seeks endorsement of “A Petition to the U.S. Congress to Adopt a Uniform National Gun Safety Law,” encourages our federal elected officials to eliminate state-by-state differences that permit the spread of lethal weapons through illegal sales and trafficking. Let’s give ourselves a chance to enforce reasonable laws and keep weapons out of the hands of people we know should not have them.

Sincerely,

Peter Pease
40 Huckleberry Hill

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters 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.

Letter to the editor: be careful on Article 36

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To the editor:

Warrant Article 36 petitions Congress to enact “uniform national gun safety laws.” If such laws were enacted, it is likely that they would be significantly less restrictive than those of Massachusetts, and that Congress would invoke the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, thereby replacing Massachusetts gun laws with the weaker U.S. law. What a dream for the NRA; what a nightmare for Massachusetts.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Coppock
214 Aspen Circle

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters 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.

Letter to the editor: vote Gladstone for Planning Board

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(Editor’s note: there are three candidates for two seats on the Planning Board at the town election later this month. Links to their letters are at the end of this post.)

To the editor:

I would like to offer my strong support for Steve Gladstone, candidate for the Planning Board.

Steve served with me recently on the Community Center Study Committee, where his insight and thoughtful decision-making was critical to our weekly committee work, our findings and our 2015 written report to the town. He is highly intelligent, polite, a real pleasure to work with, and cares deeply about our town and its cultural and physical landscape.  We are all fortunate that Steve is willing to serve on this very important town board, and I hope that you will join with me in supporting him.

Penny Billings (former selectman, chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and chair of the Community Center Study Committee)
Lincoln Road

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters 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.

Letter to the editor: vote yes on Article 36

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To the editor:

We in Massachusetts are fortunate that our Commonwealth has one of the strongest set of gun safety regulations in the country, thanks to a law passed by our legislature in 2014. But one large loophole remains: it is impossible to prevent criminals and gun traffickers from buying or obtaining guns in other states with looser laws and bringing them over the state line to threaten our safety. That is why a group of concerned Lincoln residents have submitted Article 36 for your review at Town Meeting.

Article 36 does not include any specific gun or ammunition restrictions or other elements that might alarm responsible gun owners concerned about self-protection, hunting or sport. It simply asks our elected federal representatives to pass a federal law setting sensible gun safety standards for all states to prevent interstate gun trafficking and protect public health nationwide. Such a law would include elements from the Massachusetts law and/or similar laws passed recently in Connecticut and New York, which already have been judged constitutional by the courts.

I urge you to vote “yes” on Article 36 as one sensible step toward a safer and more civilized nation for us all.

Sincerely,

Joanna Hopkins
7 Linway 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 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.

Letter to the editor: Mattes seeks support as Bemis trustee

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To the editor:

I am writing to ask the citizens of Lincoln for your support of my candidacy for the Bemis Trust at the polls on Monday, March 28. (This year, the election follows our Annual Town Meeting by one week.) In the 1990s, I was honored to serve as a Bemis trustee.

The Bemis Trust is an example of the generosity of one of Lincoln’s luminaries: George Bemis. In 1892, Mr. Bemis provided money for “a new Town Hall in which shall be a room of sufficient capacity and proper construction for public lectures… and to provide an annual course of public lectures in said Hall of an instructive and elevating character,” resulting in the Bemis Free Lecture Series. In 1982, another generous Lincolnite, John Todd, left a bequest to complement the Bemis endowment and expand the charge to provide “entertainment and recreation.”

The series has brought the town together to be entertained and to both listen to and discuss important topics of the day. I would hope, if honored with election this year, to work with fellow trustees to continue that tradition and to continue the tradition of collaboration with other town organizations, both public and private. In my past life as a trustee, we worked with the Lincoln Public Schools and the PTO to bring programs to the classroom and the lecture hall. Who can forget the wolves of “Mission: Wolf” walking around a circle of children seated on the floor of the Smith gym!

We also co-sponsored, with the Rural Land Foundation (RLF) and Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, a memorable evening with Warren Flint, Sr., who shared stories of Lincoln and how our innovative land conservation efforts came to be. Also, the Bemis Trust worked with the Planning Board and the RLF to bring a weekend of events, culminating in several hundred Lincolnites coming together in an all-day charrette to dream and reimagine the future for our commercial retail center—brought to reality as The Mall at Lincoln Station.

The Bemis Trust has brought us memorable events over the years, and the current trustees have some exciting event planned for this spring and fall. I would be honored and delighted to join them for future planning. I ask for your consideration and your vote on Monday, March 28.

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 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.

Letter to the editor: support gun law resolution at Town Meeting

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To the editor:

We have all been shocked at the horror of gun violence in America, shocked again at the refusal of Congress to enact responsible common sense gun safety regulations, and shocked a third time at the immoral resistance of the NRA leadership and the gun manufacturer’s lobby to any suggestion of more appropriate gun safety regulation even in the face of the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Warrant article 36 (see pg. 69 in the warrant) at the March 19 Town Meeting, which seeks support for “A Petition to the U S. Congress to Adopt a Uniform National Gun Safety Law Applying Equally to All States,” encourages our federal elected officials to pursue uniform national regulations to finally establish a more humane standard for gun safety applying equally to all states.

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Letter to the editor: Special-ed may not ‘make the cut’ at future Minuteman

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To the editor:

At the Special Town Meeting, Minuteman high School’s Dr. Ed Bouquillon presented a slide I initially thought was disingenuous and absurd. The slide showed Minuteman’s costs decreasing while costs at other voc/tec schools are rising. I later realized it may have been the most insightful slide presented that night.

We saw at the meeting that all three new vocational-technical (Chapter 74) schools in Massachusetts were undersubscribed before new construction and now have waiting lists. If the trend continues, and given this data on neighboring schools along with Gov. Baker’s commitment to vocational education, the new Minuteman school will soon be at capacity.

The new Minuteman High School is being built for 628 students, a significant decrease from the present number of 800. State regulation requires Chapter 74 schools to accept students based on a five-point evaluation process, with “in-district” students being given priority. Legally, schools cannot deny acceptance based on the student having an Individual Education Plan (IEP). However, given the smaller school size coupled with the increased demand, it is safe to say a large percentage of students with IEPs will be no longer make the cut. This is significant because as also noted at the meeting, Minuteman’s current student population includes 47 percent students with an IEP.

The decreasing percentage of students at Minuteman with IEPs will result in lower costs. This will start an interesting feedback loop: with a greater number of high-achieving students attending the school, more higher-achieving students will be attracted to the school, again reducing the number of students with special needs. Students with IEPs will either stay in their comprehensive high school or go to other Chapter 74 schools, increasing their costs while the top students are drawn to Minuteman.

It appears that the mid-2020s end game is Minuteman becoming an elite vocational-technical school focused on hands-on STEM education, attracting the top students while other voc-tech schools pick up the education and costs of students with a higher level of need—students who no longer make the cut at Minuteman. Lincoln students who have in the past benefited the most from attending Minuteman may no longer be eligible.

This brings us full circle to Dr. Bouquillon’s slide showing reduced costs at Minuteman and increasing costs at surrounding voc/tec schools. This is simple game theory (gentrification of vocational-technical education). How disappointing that no one, not even Minuteman, mentioned this likely outcome at the meeting. We in Lincoln will soon be left hosting an elite vocational-technical high school featuring hands-on STEM education and our children who traditionally had the most gain from attending Minuteman will not be able to participate.

Sincerely,

Bob Antia
165 South Great 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 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.