My Turn

By Laura Berland

Last Thursday a group hosted by Lincoln residents Tom and Edith Risser came to Bemis Hall to make a presentation on “election integrity.” I decided to go see what it was all about.

Upon entering Bemis, a man who seemed to be involved in the logistics of the event, upon seeing my mask, asked me if I was sick (not in a caring way.) I responded “No, and I’m trying to keep it that way.” To which he responded, “Good luck with that.” Not off to a good start. Over the next few hours we would hear a lot about our individual liberties being eroded, but I guess my individual decision to protect myself from deadly disease is an affront to others’ “liberty” and not worthy of respect.

The first speaker spent a long time questioning the legitimacy of the voting process in Massachusetts, deriding the evils of mail-in voting (haven’t members of the military voted via mail for a long time?) and urging the audience to oppose the implementation of permanent mail-in voting. She suggested that many town clerks across the Commonwealth are hiding something, although it wasn’t clear exactly what they are hiding. The speaker reported that one clerk told her “she had seen things.” The speaker didn’t share what those “things” were. She also took issue with Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s well-documented grants across the country for voting logistics in 2020. Zuckerberg is a name that can certainly rile folks up.

The second speaker suggested nefarious things were going on in Rhode Island, particularly at universities. We saw lots of charts and slides and heard lots of phrases like “this raises questions” and “this is interesting” and “we’re not making any accusations, but we really need to look into this.”

What we weren’t shown was any actual evidence of voter fraud. No reams of ballots that demonstrated that dead people voted, or people voted in more than one place or that voting machines were manipulated. There was no explanation of how their claims of voter fraud squared with the results from Cyber Ninjas, the company hired by the Arizona GOP-led Senate to carry out the audit (and which received roughly $6 million in donations from Trump supporters). Cyber Ninja issued results showing that Biden should have been credited with 99 more votes and Trump’s total was improperly inflated by 261 ballots.

The third speaker revealed what seemed to be the underlying objective of this exercise when the Biden bashing started. These folks clearly were not happy with the results of the 2020 election. Well, I didn’t like the results of the 2016 election, but I didn’t question the vote tally. The third speaker told us that because he saw 55,000 people at a Trump rally the night before the election (and he assured us that he knew what 55,000 people looked like), that there was no way Trump could have lost fair and square.

By this time, I was worn down with fatigue, so I departed, thereby missing the star attraction of the evening — a man dressed up in full Revolutionary War garb. This guy looked impressive, tall, and commanding, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be getting any new information. I was beginning to think this all fell into the realm of theater. I love theater but not theater pretending to be something else.

When I go into cast my vote in Lincoln, I’m always impressed by the organized process and how confident I feel in our voting system. We all want our elections to be fraud-free and fair, but if you can’t point to an actual problem, then there’s no fix to be made. Simply undermining confidence in the voting process by suggesting that nefarious things are going on is a danger to our democracy and, to that extent, we should pay attention to this effort.

“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.

Dear Lincoln neighbors,

Happy spring! The ongoing mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Conference of Lincoln and Weston is to provide emergency financial assistance to individuals and families in our communities who live in dire need of food and financial assistance. We provide food to prevent hunger. We aid with financial support and location of resources to prevent homelessness or inability to meet even basic expenses. Our scholarship program makes it possible for people to become qualified to apply for better employment and change their financial instability. You may be surprised that SVdP supports about 250 people with our food pantry. The need is real. The only way SVdP can continue this vital work is by receiving donations.

On Tuesday, May 24 at 6 p.m., join our community to gather on the grass for music al fresco at Pierce Park. Suggested donation is $50 per person (or more!) You can sign up here or mail a check payable to St. Vincent de Paul to SVdP, PO Box 324, Lincoln, MA 01773. The Ogden Codman Trust is challenging SVdP to raise $15,000, which it will match. Help us reach our goal and support our work. Bring your own chair, beverages, and picnic. We will raffle great prizes. This is an evening to relax and enjoy music by Brian Moll, Mara Bonde, Sandra Piques Eddy, and the Kemp Harris Band.

Are you interested in becoming a sponsor of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Lincoln and Weston?  For a donation of $1,000 or more, we will display your name or business logo (as your wish) with special thanks as a “Sponsor of SVdP”  at the event, on our website, and on our Facebook page. Email svdplincolnweston@gmail.com for details.

Can’t join us that evening but still would like to support this important fundraising challenge? No problem — donate by clicking here and writing “Spring Concert” in the “additional notes” field upon check out.

Thank you for your generosity!

Peace and blessings,

Karen Salvucci (6 Stratford Way, Lincoln)
President, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Lincoln and Weston

“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.

To the editor:

It is a great honor to serve Lincoln as your new Postmaster. In my years with the United States Postal Service, I have seen first-hand the role the postal service plays connecting neighbors and our community to the nation. Our post offices serve as a lifeline for our small businesses to reach customers no matter where they are.

Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s leadership and “Delivering For America,” the postal service’s 10-year plan, we are maintaining universal six-day mail delivery and expanded seven-day package delivery, stabilizing our workforce, and spurring innovation to meet the needs of our modern customers.

From an incredibly successful 2021 holiday mail and shipping season to our current role delivering Covid-19 test kits, the postal service continues to provide a vital service for our nation and our community in Lincoln.

On behalf of the 650,000 men and women of the United States Postal Service, I thank you for continuing to support the postal service. Providing reliable mail delivery while strengthening the future of this treasured institution is our commitment to you.

Sincerely,

Gerald Dichiara
Lincoln USPS Postmaster

“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.

To the editor:

As I grew up in Lincoln, I witnessed the town’s innovative and thoughtful decision-making as it navigated change while maintaining its unique rural character. I left Lincoln for school and work in 1975 and returned in 2000, happy to see that the town had continued its tradition of carefully managing growth and change.

I served on the Planning Board from 2003 to 2008 as we shepherded several significant projects towards successful completion: the redevelopment of the Mall at Lincoln Station, the creation of the South Lincoln overlay district, The Commons in Lincoln senior living community, and Minuteman Commons. To advance the town’s work on housing diversity, we required that The Commons senior living community and Minuteman Commons include a substantial number of affordable units. This was not done just to meet the state’s 40B requirements for affordable housing but because it was the right thing to do.

Other volunteer positions that I have held include School Committee (in Garrison, N.Y.) and the board of Codman Farm. 

Today, we are again in a period where we must creatively manage change so that the hard work of those who came before us and the values that we all cherish are not lost. We must do so in a way that is responsive to the changes we see around us and strengthens our own community.

I live on our family farm on Lexington Road. With extended family, we grow hay, sweet corn, and pumpkins, and in the spring we make maple syrup. Professionally, I work at Draper Lab. I am a physicist by training and a farmer at heart.

Again, I would like to offer my service to the town at this exciting and challenging time and would appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Ephraim Flint
Lexington Rd.

“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.

By Paul Shorb

On behalf of the Green Energy Committee, I encourage Lincoln voters to attend Town Meeting on March 26 and support the motion that will be offered under warrant article 31. The full text is here.

The warrant article and motion would authorize (but not require) Lincoln to restrict the use of fossil fuels in new buildings and major modifications. If approved at Town Meeting, the next step would be submitting a “home rule petition” to the state legislature, as is currently required for a town to exercise such authority. If approved by the state legislature, Lincoln could adopt a new bylaw at a subsequent Town Meeting. That would happen only after an appropriate town-wide deliberative process to determine the most appropriate details for such a bylaw.

The idea is to begin the process of shifting our building stock from burning fossil fuels to operating entirely on electricity while we also move to increasingly generate our electricity from clean renewable energy. These are two of the important changes needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Fossil fuels used for buildings cause about one-third of Lincoln’s emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The good news is that with current technology, all-electric heating, cooling, and cooking is economical, comfortable, reliable, and safe. In fact, when building new, going all-electric can save money on both up-front installation costs and operating costs compared to relying on gas or other fossil fuels. Related good news is that Lincoln residents can already get “100% green” electricity, which increases the amount of renewable energy on our electric grid (sign up here.)

Eventually, existing buildings will also need to convert to all-electric, for the same reasons.  This motion would not generally require retrofitting existing buildings — that’s a problem we need to address separately. One exception is that the new bylaw could be applied to “major modifications,” which some other towns have defined to mean “gut” renovations that redo at least 75% of the building floor area.

As noted above, the details of the new bylaw would remain to be developed though additional public processes in Lincoln. For example, Lincoln could choose to still allow installing an emergency generator powered by fossil fuels such as propane or natural gas, and could authorize other exceptions from the general prohibition on new fossil fuel hookups.

More information on the above is available at the links collected here.

The Green Energy Committee took the lead on drafting the motion, with input from the Select Board, town staff, and town counsel. We are grateful for the endorsements received to date from the Planning Board, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust board, Lincoln Mothers Out Front, St. Anne’s in-the-Field Climate Justice Ministry, and FPL Green at First Parish in Lincoln. Please join us in supporting Article 31 at Town Meeting to start moving us towards a safer climate future.

Shorb is chair of the Lincoln Green Energy Committee.

“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.

We are writing to urge you to join us and vote for for Jim Hutchinson for the Select Board.

As former Selects, we have experienced the joys and challenges of serving. The challenge was to honor the vision statement of the town, as we worked to build consensus within the town and at Town Meeting. While we were the CEOs of the day-to-day operations, we also were charged to be leaders while following the will of the town as expressed in Town Meeting votes.

We believe Jim has the deep experience to address the challenges the town will face in the years ahead. His work on the Finance Committee, liaison to the Capital Planning Committee, the Green Energy Committee, and the Water Commission has him in a unique position to have a more holistic understanding of the impacts of proposed projects that the town is currently discussing.

But most important, Jim has demonstrated a temperament that is thoughtful and respectful and inclusive, and these are critical qualities to bring to the role of Select Board.

For these reasons, we urge you to join us in voting for Jim Hutchinson for the Select Board.

Respectfully,

Penny Billings
Noah Eckhouse
Sara Mattes
Beth Ries
Peter Sugar

“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.

To the editor:

In my 14 years as a resident of Lincoln, I have come to deeply appreciate Lincoln’s long tradition of being proactive in anticipating and adapting to change. We as a town have often taken advantage of new opportunities long before other towns seem to even be aware such opportunities exist. In my mind, this (and the often drawn out and tedious but necessary consensus-building that goes with it) is part of the often extolled, sometimes derided, but never concretely defined “Lincoln Way.”

We have long shown ourselves to be a town determined to address problems before they become crises. We spend a great deal of time and effort discussing and wrestling with the challenges presented by the changing world around us. We are often recognized (and emulated) for providing direction and leadership in the face of change. I see all of these qualities active in the recent WIDE and IDEA initiatives to encourage diversity and inclusion; in SLPAC’s work to revitalize the Lincoln Station area; and in our decades-long efforts to balance and strengthen our often competing goals of historic preservation, the conservation of our open space, and the preservation and promotion of affordable housing.

I am often amazed (but no longer surprised) at the deep bench of professional skill and experience that many or most past and present members of our town’s boards, commissions and committees bring to the table in this work. I am also impressed with how humble most of these folks are: their focus is on serving the best interests of the town as best they can — not self-promotion.

In my opinion, Margaret Olson and Steve Gladstone exemplify all of this. They have proven to be creative, and hardworking guardians of our town’s best interests and “the Lincoln way” through their presence on the Planning Board: working hard to find a viable path forward in the face of ever changing and often competing economic, environmental, political, cultural, and legislative agendas. They are both good listeners, hard and reliable workers, and their professional backgrounds provide valuable points of view and skills in support of this work.

Both were important contributors in the successful development, vetting, and town meeting approval of Oriole Landing; in the development and ongoing work of SLPAC; in simplifying our planning and permitting processes; in making our zoning laws fairer and easier to understand and implement; and in promoting affordable and safe housing for all of Lincoln’s residents. Neither of them are “flashy” or eager to grab the spotlight, but the results of their work benefit us every day.

Steve and Margaret are respected and valued members of the Planning Board and are important allies in the complex challenge of promoting and supporting increased diversity, inclusion, and equity within Lincoln. Please join me on March 28 in voting to allow them to continue doing so.

Sincerely,

Allen Vander Meulen
30 Beaver Pond Rd.

“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.

To the Town of Lincoln:

After six engaging years on the Planning Board, I would like to continue with the productive work of this group. My goal is to insist upon and to help to craft consensus-driven solutions by eliciting and utilizing the views of as many people and groups as possible and melding them into the best possible outcome.

Since arriving in Lincoln 15 years ago, Susan and I have found great pleasure and satisfaction in our involvement with townsfolk, governance, and of course the character and landscape of this remarkable community.

Professionally, two graduate degrees in scientific fields supported my responsibilities as Director of Research Operations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. I served on the management team responsible for a complex, interdependent research enterprise with a $325 million budget. As a director in the Office of Science and Technology, I was intimately involved with budgeting, strategic planning, space/resource allocation, and implementation of diverse critical functions. My later career included a similar function at MGH, the management team at a pharmaceutical startup, and consultant in the biomedical research arena.

My official experience on town governance began 12 years ago with the Facilities Coordinating Committee. Identifying usage patterns, availability, capabilities and limitations of our critical meeting spaces led to deeper engagement in the town’s management and social processes. I was selected as one of the three at-large members of the Community Center Study Committee, and was the Planning Board representative on the Community Center Planning & Preliminary Design Committee. I intend to continue to advocate for the community center that our town deserves and needs.

Lincoln enjoys a distinct rural character unique among towns so near Boston. It is a fundamental aspect of our special town spirit — one that deserves to be understood, respected and refined to “keep Lincoln Lincoln.” Yet we must and will evolve as times change. One key role of the Planning Board is to look ahead, anticipating what threats and opportunities the future may present and how Lincoln might most effectively engage them. The mindful management of land, services and community by committed and attentive citizens is central to my thoughts. The town’s future successes and character depend in great part on how effectively we embrace and respond to emerging ideas and approaches as they support this guiding principle.

With the help of other volunteers and staff, the Planning Board has streamlined the permitting aspect of its activities, making them more efficient and less burdensome for applicants while continuing to protect the interests of all affected parties.

Volunteers have ever been the backbone of Lincoln’s community spirit. I am enthusiastic to continue my involvement on the Planning Board. It is my hope that this note gives the voters of Lincoln greater familiarity with me, both personally and professionally. Please call or email with your thoughts, questions, or concerns. And please do vote, do volunteer and do get involved in the thoughtful evolution this exceptional town! 

Sincerely, 

Steve Gladstone 
67 Winter St.. Lincoln
617-784-9731 
steve.gladstone@gmail.com 

“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.