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The proposed town budget for fiscal 2023 (click to enlarge).

Following are some of the spending-related warrant articles that will be voted on at the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, March 26.

The proposed town budget for fiscal 2023 is 3.0% higher than last year’s. A summary (right) can be found on page 8 of the Financial Section and Warrant, with a detailed breakdown beginning on page 57.

Voters will be asked to approve spending $1.18 million from Community Preservation Act funds on 14 line items. Debt service for the Town Office Building renovation ($304,660) and the Wang property purchase ($111,550) accounts for 35% of the total. The largest other requests are $310,000 for Town Hall athletic field drainage improvements, $205,000 for library parapet repairs, and $119,950 for improvements to access to Codman Community Farm (in concert with $210,000 already approved for driveway work in 2020 but never spent due to the pandemic).

Projects that will be funded by the Community Preservation Fund if voters approve at the March 26 Town Meeting.

Debt service for fiscal 2023, excluding debt service for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and after application of a proposed Capital Planning Committee offset, is $4,32, representing a very slight decrease versus FY22. About 90% of the town’s debt service is for the school building debt, most of which was bonded in February 2019. The second tranche of bonds were issued this month, with payments starting in September 2022. 

The Capital Planning Committee recommends spending $621,094 for 17 items, the most expensive of which is $240,000 for a heavy hook truck. The other items range in price from$4,902 for Lincoln’s share of a skid steer loader for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School to $60,000 for repairing the roof on one of the Hartwell pods.

Proposed cash capital expenditures (click to enlarge).

The committee is also seeking $154,866 for classroom, town buildings and library maintenance, plus $350,000 to remove the modular classrooms on the school campus. The cost for that removal plus field restoration are expected to be fully offset by future proceeds from sale of the modular classrooms. Another school district has offered to buy them for $550,000.

An example of a sign about advisory shoulders. See Farrar Road illustrations below.

Painted advisory shoulders will appear next month on Farrar Road as a one-year pilot project aimed at improving safety on certain roads in Lincoln.

Advisory shoulders are lanes marked with white dashed lines on either side of a road to indicate where bikes and pedestrians have the right of way. Vehicles can cross the lines to avoid traffic coming from the opposite direction but must yield to oncoming traffic if there are “vulnerable users” (bicyclists, pedestrians, or any other non-vehicle) ahead or alongside.

In November 2020, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) presented a proposal for trying advisory shoulders on Baker Bridge Road. “Ultimately, the working group decided, with resident input, that Baker Bridge Road is a complicated road, with sharp corners and hills, and we don’t collectively have enough experience with advisory shoulders in Lincoln yet to make that our pilot installation,” BPAC member Ginger Reiner said on Wednesday. Farrar Road is a walking route for residents that road as well as Oxbow, Route 126, Farrar Pond Village and the Lincoln Ridge condos, as well as being a cycling route. “We had broad support from abutters, the DPW, and police that Farrar was an appropriate location for advisory shoulders.”

Advisory shoulders have been proven to reduce vehicle speed, lower stress for those on foot or bike, and increase safety for all road users, according to the BPAC, adding that a recent study showed that advisory shoulders reduce vehicular crashes by 40%.

“It doesn’t change the way folks should use the road — it’s not like a stop sign or speed limit. It just advises about what’s safe,” BPAC member Bob Wolf told the Select Board in June 2021. 

The measure has been implemented in cities and towns across the nation as well as in Canada. Click here to see a video of how it works, or click here or an illustration. The photo gallery below shows how Farrar Road will look.

The Farrar Road design has been approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). A crosswalk to the Route 126 roadside path will be installed at a later date. BPAC members will reach out in August to collect feedback on the Farrar Road treatment from all roadway users.

The pilot is a collaboration of BPAC, Roadway & Traffic Committee, Department of Public Works, Police Department, Select Board, and the FHA. Anyone with questions or comments, please email lincoln-bpac@googlegroups.com.

Click on images for closeups views of each segment of Farrar Road:

Dear Lincolnites,

In the upcoming town election, I encourage you to vote for Cara Endyke-Doran for the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (L-S) School Committee. Cara is the current chair of the committee and, since becoming chair, has improved communications with the L-S parent community by sending more frequent updates and sharing goals and progress the L-S School Committee has made to support the school’s mission.

All four of Cara’s children have graduated from or are currently attending L-S. This provides an important insider’s view to the pulse of the students, parents, and staff.  She has an openness and willingness to hear constituents’ ideas, concerns, and feedback, enters into challenging discussions when necessary, and works to improve the school experience for all students regardless of what town they are from.

Over the course of the last three years, Cara Endyke-Doran has been involved in the information gathering and decision making surrounding Covid-19. As a public health professional, she provided valuable public health knowledge and perspective to the L-S district. In 2020, during the first summer of the pandemic, Cara provided leadership in advocating to Gov. Baker and the state Department of Early and Secondary Education regarding testing practices and protocols for local districts to help get students in school for the opening of the 2020-2021 school year. She initiated and led the committee’s Covid-19 Testing Subcommittee which put in place pool testing well before it was offered by the state. 

As chair of the Lincoln School Committee, I have been able to work with Cara and find her style collegial and collaborative. She openly shares lessons learned and thinks about the links between the “feeder schools” of the Lincoln and Sudbury middle school programs. While Cara lives in Sudbury, she represents the interests of both communities.

The last two years have been complicated to say the least, but Cara approaches her work on the L-S School Committee with enthusiasm and has a balanced, problem-solving approach. I strongly support Cara Endyke-Doran for LSRHS School Committee and know that she will continue to have a positive impact on the students, staff and families of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. I hope you will cast your ballot for Cara, too! Thank you.

Sincerely,

Tara Mitchell
Chair, Lincoln K-8 School Committee
67 Sandy 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.

Dear fellow Lincolnites,

We are writing to endorse Kim Rajdev for Lincoln School Committee.

Since moving to Lincoln five years ago with her husband and two young girls (entering third grade and kindergarten), Kim has taken an active role in supporting the schools. She has volunteered as a room parent in the Lincoln schools, and as a legal advisor to Lincoln Nursery School as part of the parent co-operative. Kim has gained experience working through many administrative policies of the school, and with her professional background as an engineer and attorney, she has had many opportunities to analyze challenging issues, reach consensus across a broad group of interests, and communicate the outcome.

We as parents fully support Kim’s commitment to inclusivity and productive dialogue and her dedication to advancing the strategic priorities of the Lincoln Public School. Please join us in voting for Kim on Monday, March 28.

With gratitude,

“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 friends, 

I am happy to announce that I am running for a second term on the Lincoln Sudbury Regional School Committee. If re-elected, I will continue to serve our school with the energy and enthusiasm needed to ensure Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School remains a place of optimal learning, growth, and development. 

My experiences over the past three years have given me valuable insights into the roles and responsibilities of the governing body and how best to support our school. For example, in my first year as a committee member, I chaired the L-S Covid-19 Testing subcommittee. Through our hard work and advocacy, L-S was one of the first schools in Massachusetts to offer Covid-19 testing to all its students and staff.

As the current L-S School Committee chair, I have led the committee to develop clear goals to ensure our actions align with L-S’s values, principles, and purpose. During this past year, the L-S School Committee has met several core duties of the governing body, such as renewed teacher contracts and updated governing policies. We have also supported in-person learning during the evolving Covid-19 pandemic with actions such as adding the Covid-19 vaccine as a requirement of employment at L-S. We have made progress toward achieving our goals, but there is more work to do. 

If re-elected, I have three priorities that I believe are essential for the L-S School Committee to work on: 

• Enhance student services. The utmost priority of the L-S School Committee is to ensure L-S meets the academic and social-emotional needs of our students, particularly during the evolving Covid-19 pandemic. This entails continuous monitoring and supporting flexible and responsive programming to serve our students, particularly social-emotional services.

• Improve our data-driven program monitoring, budgeting, and allocating of resources. Over the next three years, I would like to work with the L-S School Committee and our administration to improve the data monitoring of our school. The L-S School Committee needs clear metrics to ensure our programs respond to the needs of our diverse student body. These metrics will help us determine where we are doing well and where we should be allocating resources. 

• Maintain openness and flexibility. The past two years have taught us to expect the unexpected. Our faculty, staff, and students have shown a tremendous amount of resilience. I will support the L-S School Committee to ensure we are continuously monitoring and updating our policies and protocols to the evolving needs of our students. 

If re-elected, I will build on my experience and bring commitment and positive energy to the L-S School Committee. I will strive to ensure we provide access to an environment where our children and students learn and grow.

Check out my Facebook page (facebook.com/caraforLSSC) or contact me via email at caraforLSSC@gmail.com for more information about my campaign. 

Please vote for Cara Endyke-Doran for Lincoln Sudbury Regional School Committee on March 28, 2022. 

Thank you, 

Cara Endyke-Doran
28 Beechwood Ave., Sudbury

Dear Lincolnites,

I am asking for your vote for my re-election as a Trustee for the Bemis Free Lecture Series.

The Bemis Free Lecture Series began in 1892. It was held in Bemis Hall, which was built by Lincoln entrepreneur George Bemis. It was common for wealthy men of his era to leave a legacy of buildings, and George Bemis was no exception. Not only did he build the hall to be a town office and meeting place, but he also built the second floor to be a lecture and performance space, and he endowed a lecture series.

The lecture series was modeled after the Chautauqua movement of his time, which aimed to bring entertainment and culture to the masses. The Bemis Trust charge for the lectures states that the series was “to bring education and edification to the citizens of Lincoln.” The ordinary folk of Lincoln were to enjoy what previously had been reserved only for a wealthy and elite society. The endowment for the lecture series was doubled in 1982 by the bequest of native son John Todd, and the charge was expanded to include “entertainment and recreation.”

The series has hosted Robert Frost, Archibald Cox, John Kenneth Galbraith, Julie Taymor, Imago Theatre, Grace Paley, Dr. Benjamin Spock, the Steel Band of Blue Hill, Maine, a basketball clinic run by Dave Cowens, Mission: Wolf, Margaret Mead, Julia Glass, Michael Fitzgerald, and many others of great note.

These past two years have proved a serious challenge for an organization that has been known for live events. So, like many others, we pivoted to a webinar format.  In celebration of Juneeteenth, the Bemis Lecture Series and the Lincoln Historical Society hosted a virtual event with Professor Elise Lemire, who grew up in Lincoln and is author of Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts. Dr. Lemire’s presentation was titled: “Slavery in Lincoln: Reckoning with Our Past, Planning for a More Honest and Inclusive Future.” The live discussion was recorded and made available through Lincoln’s online video archive as well as YouTube. The YouTube video has already been viewed by over 670 people. Clearly, the Bemis Free Lecture Series has a wide reach!

We hope to return to live events as early as this summer and look forward to seeing you there!

If you have any questions, comments, and/or suggestions, please contact me at 781-259-04231 or samattes@gmail.com. Again, I ask for you vote on Monday, March. 28.

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant 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.

L-S Pops Concert on Thursday

The L-S Music Department presents their annual Pops Concert on Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. The String Orchestra’s program will include “Simple Gifts” arranged by Carrie L. Gruselle and a John Williams trilogy arranged by Calvin Custer. Symphonic Band will perform music from the motion picture “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Chicago: Pop and Rock Legends.” Concert Band will perform highlights from the Disney movie “Moana” as well as selections from “The Best of Journey.” The Treble Choir, Concert Choir, Combined L-S Choirs, and Singing Valentines quartets will perform songs by the Backstreet Boys, Queen, and Disney’s “Tangled.” 

Lincoln-Sudbury Friends of Music (LSFOM) will offer a pops concert-themed goodie bag for sale at the concert, which will air in both Sudbury and Lincoln on Comcast channel 9 / Verizon channel 32 and live-stream here.

Workshop on fostering antiracism in kids

Deep racial disparities persist in our society, and research tells us that children begin to notice and assign meaning to skin color by age 2. This makes racial literacy a critical part of preparing our children to lead lives as engaged, equity-minded problem-solvers in the world.

Geared for White or multiracial parents and caregivers, “ABCs of Racism: Fostering Antiracist Conversation and Action with Kids” on Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. will be led by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice group, and explores fundamental concepts of systemic racism, the barriers that block us from engaging with kids around race and racism, the social science of race awareness in children, and strategies to start and sustain antiracist and action in school and at home. Sponsored by the Lincoln Public Library. Email dleopold@minlib.net for the Zoom link. 

FELS talk on educational innovation and technology

FELS, the Foundation for Educators at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, will present its annual Faye Goldberg-Scheff Memorial Lecture on Thursday, March 24 at 7 p.m. in the lecture hall at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.

This year’s talk will focus on the impact of educational innovation and technology on teaching and learning in today’s diverse classroom. The evening will feature panelists who will approach the topics from a wide range of professional perspectives. They will share their thoughts about the challenges and opportunities in education via innovation, interventions, neuroscience, technology, and equity and inclusion that have arisen in the first two decades of this new century and their impacts on teaching and learning. Click here for details on the panelists.

Admission is $10. All proceeds will benefit FELS, a nonprofit organization that awards enrichment grants to L-S faculty and staff to pursue their professional and personal interests and passions.

WWP hosts events on Thoreau video game and Cape Cod walks

The Walden Woods Project will host two upcoming events: “Walden, a Game: A Virtual Experience” on Tuesday, March 29 from 7–8 p.m., and “Six Walks: A Conversation with Ben Shattuck” on Thursday, April 28 from 7–8 p.m.

Developer Tracy Fullerton, director emeritus of the USC Games program, will discuss the evolution and intention of the classroom computer game and provide a brief demonstration of the newest module, “Civil Disobedience.” Educators will speak to their experience using the game in the classroom, followed an audience Q&A. Click here to learn more and register.

With little more than a loaf of bread, brick of cheese, and a notebook, Shattuck set out to retrace Thoreau’s six walks through the Cape’s outer beaches from the elbow to Provincetown’s fingertip. Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau is a resounding tribute to the ways walking in nature can inspire us all. Join us for a reading and conversation about the book with Ben Shattuck, moderated by National Book Award Winner Nathaniel Philbrick. Click here to learn more and register.

Fellow Lincolnites: I urge you to cast your vote for Jim Hutchinson for Select Board in the upcoming town election on March 28.

I have served on both the Green Energy Committee and the Water Commission with Jim Hutchinson. When Jim volunteered to join the Water Commission, the Water Department was in dire straits. His expertise in the intricacies of municipal finance was critical as we dealt with the need for substantial capital investment, but equally important was his ability to quickly understand the issues and suggest the best way to tackle each one. After a year of his leadership, the department was back on track.

What really stood out to me, however, was that Jim treats every person with respect. Whether it is a new Water Department superintendent, a disgruntled water customer, a member of the department staff, or one of his fellow committee members, he listens deeply to their concerns and strives to reach consensus on all decisions. Moreover, Jim has no agenda but to do what is best for the town.

I believe that Jim offers just the right expertise and temperament to make an excellent member of the Select Board, and I urge you to vote for him on March 28.

Ruth Ann Hendrickson
Water Commissioner
253 Concord Rd., Lincoln

“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.