In the February 6 story headlined “Magic Garden gets ready to welcome Ducklings and Explorers,” Magic Garden co-founder Barbara Low’s name was misspelled.
In the February 5 story headlined “Who’s running for town office in March,” Town Clerk candidate Valerie Clerk’s name was inadvertently omitted from the list.
Both errors have been corrected in the original stories.
Magic Garden staff along with two of its founders get ready to open the new rooms. Left to right: assistant director Susan Scalisi, director Lori Leo, founding parents Barbara Low and Mary Jo Haggerty, Little Duckling teachers Karen Puglielli and Michele Landurand, and Little Explorer teachers Linda Pham, and Ligaya Ferguson. Click to enlarge, and see more photos below.
The sunny rooms are gleaming with brand-new toys, books, cribs, and tiny chairs—all ready for little children next month and a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 3:30 p.m.
Staff from the Magic Garden Children’s Center are busy preparing for the March 1 opening of two new rooms in a satellite location at the First Parish in Lincoln’s parish house on Bedford Road. For the first time, Magic Garden will care for babies age 2–15 months in its Little Ducklings room, as well as adding a Little Explorers room for toddlers age 15–24 months. Until now, the youngest kids at Magic Garden’s main Hartwell facility were 15 months old.
Two longtime teachers from the Hartwell facility—Michele Landurand, a pre-K teacher in the Starburst room for 27 years, and Karen Puglielli, a teacher in the Moonbeam room for 25 years—will staff the new rooms, along with two teacher aides.
Magic Garden has two rooms of its own in the parish house and will share two other rooms with the church’s education program. The renovations maximize the space with folding and sliding doors, and a wide exterior door was put in place of a window in case of emergency, when teachers will put the infants in one or two wheeled cribs and roll them outside.
One of the shared rooms has a wall-height bulletin board on wheels that can be swung back and forth 180 degrees for use by either set of children. Margit Griffith, the education director at First Parish, will lead Magic Garden’s music class, and there are also plans afoot to involve seniors (“grandfriends”) from the Council on Aging across the street.
Click images below to see larger versions. Photos by Alice Waugh.
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Here is a list of those who have filed appears with the Town Clerk to run for office in the March 25 election. Click here for links to the web pages for these boards and committees, which list current members. Candidates have until February 20 to withdraw in time to have their name not appear on the ballot.
| Board or Committee | Openings/terms | Candidates |
|---|---|---|
| Board of Assessors | One (3 years) | Laura Sander* |
| Board of Health | One (3 years) | Steven Kanner* |
| Board of Selectmen | One (3 years) | James Craig* |
| Cemetery Commission | One (3 years) | Conrad Todd* |
| Commissioners of Trust Funds | One (3 years) | Douglas B. Harding* |
| DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park Trustees | One (4 years) | Linda Hammett Ory* |
| Housing Commission | One (3 years) | Keith Gilbert* |
| Lincoln-Sudbury Regional District School Committee | Two (3 years) | Kevin J. Matthews,* Cara Endyke-Doran |
| One (1 year) | Candace Miller* | |
| Parks and Recreation Committee | One (3 years) | Anita Spieth |
| Planning Board | Two (3 years) | Margaret Olson,* Stephen Gladstone* |
| School Committee (PreK-8) | One (3 years) | Trintje Gnazzo** |
| One (2 years) | Susan Taylor | |
| One (1 year) | Adam Hogue** | |
| Town Clerk | One (3 years) | Valerie Fox** |
| Trustees of Bemis | One (3 years) | Sara Mattes* |
| Trustees of Lincoln Library | One (3 years) | Dennis Picker |
| Water Commission | One (3 years) | Heather Ring |
** previously appointed to fill vacancies in 2018 (Trintje Gnazzo replaced Jena Salon and Adam Hogue replaced Alvin Schmertzler; Valerie Fox replaced Susan Brooks)
Lincoln author Julie Dobrow on Monday, Jan. 28 will speak on Monday, Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. at Bemis Hall about her new book, After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America’s Greatest Poet — a mother/daughter biography of Mabel and her only child, Millicent Todd Bingham. This book tells the story of Mabel and Millicent’s fascinating lives that pushed the boundaries of what women of their respective eras did, how Mabel’s 13-year-long love affair with Emily’s brother Austin led her to the Emily Dickinson work that defined her career and her life, and how Mabel and Millicent’s own complex relationship complicated it all.
The Food Project will offer two Winter Institutes, bringing together social-justice-minded youth development and agriculture professionals from around the country and the world. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation is the sponsor of the both weekends (a session on January 3–February 2 was added to accommodate demand after the February 7–9 session was filled).
The three-day Institute is packed with activities, workshops, and conversations for participants to learn about youth leadership and sustainable agriculture from The Food Project’s staff and youth as well as from each other. To learn more about the 2019 Winter Institute including how to register, click here.
The Food Project has long been a leader in youth development, healthy food access, and sustainable agriculture. Rather than replicating its work elsewhere, the organization provides training and tools to other organizations and people who are developing similar models, specific to the needs of their own communities.
Join veteran journalist, author, and activist Wen Stephenson as he leads a frank conversation about responding to climate catastrophe—with a little help from Buddha, Jesus, and the prophets—on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church.
In a recent program, Stephenson, drawing from Zen Buddhist and Christian tradition, reflected on how we might still speak and act with honesty and compassion in the face of dire scientific and political realities. “According to climate science,” Stephenson said, “it’s almost certainly too late to stop ‘catastrophic’ climate change on some scale; it’s already happening. But that same science tells us there’s still a wide range of possible futures. Just how catastrophic it will get and how fast is unknown, and still depends a great deal on what human beings do—most importantly, what we do politically—in the coming years.”
Guests who arrive at 6:30 will be served a light vegetarian supper. The program, which is free and open to the public, will begin shortly after 7 p.m.
Care Dimensions, the region’s largest provider of hospice care, will hold training classes for those interested in becoming volunteers to greet visitors and help out at the Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln, as well as visit patients in their homes. Two training options are available: Wednesday and Friday afternoons, February 27–March 22, from 1–3:30 p.m. at the Lincoln hospice house (125 Winter St.) or on Tuesday and Thursdays, February 26–March 21, from 6–8:30 p.m. at Microsoft Corp., 5 Wayside Rd., Burlington. To register or to learn more, call 781-373-6509 or email MSu-Leland@CareDimensions.org.
It’s time to update your favorite paper-based search engine, the iconic Lincoln Directory. The volume is compiled by the Friends of the Library biennially and contains the telephone numbers of residents, local businesses, and town offices. A yellow card was mailed to residents with instructions on updating or adding your information and for businesses to take advantage the advertising space. To update your information via email or to learn about volunteering or advertising, email LincolnPhoneBook@gmail.com. The Lincoln Directory is mailed free to every household in Lincoln. The deadline for updates is March 1.
In the obituaries published on January 17, Martha Loomis Grabill’s name was spelled incorrectly. The error has been corrected in the original post.
Martha Loomis Grabill, 96 (January 13) — a celebration of her life will be held at the First Parish in Lincoln in the spring. Click here for full obituary.
Eleanor Jean (Fee) McKnight, 85 (January 9) — Children include Richard McKnight of Lincoln. Click here for full obituary.
Karen A. Coye, 65 (January 7) — Naples, Maine resident grew up in Lincoln. Click here for full obituary.
James Nicholson, 79 (December 26) — founder and leader of several medical-device startup companies. Click here for full obituary.
 Martha Grabill |
 Eleanor McKnight |
 Karen Coye |
 James Nicholson |
A government employee at the January 10 “Stop the Shutdown” rally in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Many families in Lincoln are feeling the pinch of the ongoing government shutdown, but town-wide efforts are underway to try to help those who are being affected.
The efforts arose as a result of a rapidly organized community meeting on January 14. At the meeting were representatives of the Lincoln Public Schools, the Council on Aging (COA), the Lincoln Family Association (LFA), Minuteman National Historical Park (MMNHP), and the Lincoln Food Pantry, as well as several other individuals.
Among those affected during the shutdown are 73 Coast Guard families who are housed at Hanscom Air Force Base and all but a few of the 17 employees at MMNHP. (Those in the Air Force and other branches of the military are deemed essential government employees and have not been furloughed, but Coast Guard members, including those who work in Boston and live at Hanscom, are not being paid.) Many people who work for government contractors are also missing their paychecks.
The LFA has set up a government shutdown page on its website where people can find out how to help, or can reach out if they need help themselves. Among the needs that have been identified thus far:
Donors may send checks to the new Hanscom Families Support Fund or to the existing Legacy Fund, which serves the same purpose for children at the Lincoln School. Write the name of the fund on the check and mail to Lincoln Public Schools Business Office, 6 Ballfield Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773.
Adam Hodges-LeClaire (left), son of Ruth Hodges and John LeClaire of Trapelo Road, and Donald Hafner gather trash collected at Minute Man National Historical Park (click to enlarge).
Meanwhile, volunteers at MMNHP have already pitched in to collect trash. Last week at the park, a group of historical interpreters in full 18th-century costume (including Lincoln Minute Men Captain Donald Hafner and three other Minute Men) spent a morning collecting and removing about 100 pounds of rubbish from the Battle Road trail along the 1.5 miles from the Hanscom access road to the Brooks Tavern. A few days before, another group did the same along the mile of the Battle Road from the Paul Revere Capture site to the Minute Man Visitor Center.
“As you might imagine, we historical re-enactors are very devoted to passing along the heritage of our nation’s founding, and so for us, the Battle Road is hallowed ground, to be respected and preserved,” Hafner said. Those interested in helping out can email him at hafner@bc.edu.
There are also programs to help furloughed veterans, seniors, Coast Guard members, and others of any age experiencing financial hardship. For more information on how to donate or to get help, see the government shutdown page on the LFA website or call the COA at 781-259-8811.
Homelessness or near-homelessness here in Lincoln? It’s happening more and more often, so a new initiative will provide temporary housing and other help for families at risk.
The Staying at Home in Lincoln project will allow Lincoln residents who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to stay in temporary emergency housing while social services staff from the town work to arrange permanent housing, as well as any services and benefits required to ensure that the resident will be successful in their new home. This temporary housing could include area hotels or motels, assisted living facilities, or other supportive housing.
The Commons in Lincoln will provide funding for the project, and the Council on Aging and The Commons will work together to craft the program model.
As a retirement community, The Commons has close ties with the COA and its programs, but the connection goes deeper. “We’re part of the Lincoln community, and the Staying at Home project will help us stay engaged with Lincoln and also help address a community need that goes to the heart of helping our neighbors,” said Reynaldo LeBlanc, campus executive director at The Commons. “The project is an opportunity to help residents in the community of all ages, and when [COA Director Carolyn Bottum] reached out to see if we were interested, it was a no-brainer.”
In the past, the COA and the St. Vincent de Paul Society have offered rental assistance to residents at risk of eviction because of inability to pay rent due to some extraordinary circumstance. However, the town organizations has recently seen an increase in residents who are homeless or close to it for other reasons including domestic violence and elder abuse, mental illness or physical disabilities, natural disaster, and legal issues. In the last five years, the COA has dealt with 10 situations of homelessness or near-homelessness in Lincoln (one each in 2014 and 2015, two in 2017 and six in 2018).
“We think that this is probably the tip of the iceberg — there are likely other residents who simply never asked for help and so we weren’t aware of their situations. Because we’re the COA and seniors may be more likely to come to us, there may be more younger people we’ve missed,” Bottum said.
Eight of the 10 cases are seniors, one is a single mother, and one is a family with two parents (both with school-age children). In both family cases, both parents are working but don’t make enough money to take care of emergencies that arise or keep up with rent while waiting for subsidized housing.
What’s become of those 10 cases since 2014? One passed away while waiting for subsidized housing’ three were able to find subsidized or other appropriate housing in Lincoln after waits of some months, five moved out of town, and one continues to be at risk of eviction until subsidized housing opens up.
Starting later this month, drivers heading toward Concord Center from the Meriam’s Corner area will be detoured as the town of Concord performs roadway and drainage improvements along Cambridge Turnpike between Lexington Road and Route 2A.
The work will necessitate intermittent and occasional full road closure during daytime work hours. When Cambridge Turnpike is closed, eastbound traffic will be detoured to Bypass Road Lincoln via Lexington Road Concord (see map below). Westbound traffic will be detoured to Walden Street via Route 2.
Lincoln police will monitor the detour routes and coordinate with Concord police to minimize any impact on Lincoln’s roadways. The project is expected to take about a year.
Traffic will be detoured around a segment of Cambridge Turnpike (solid line), with Bypass Road in Lincoln bearing some of the eastbound Route 2 traffic (click map to enlarge).
To the editor:
The midterm elections of 2018 have sparked new interest in a process of voting for candidates known as ranked-choice voting (RCV).
An August 7 editorial in the Boston Globe asserts, “The Massachusetts legislature would be wise to adopt ranked-choice voting, coupled with a robust voter education campaign for statewide elections.” Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin has revealed that he is open to the idea of RCV. Some have suggested that RCV might be an appropriate issue for a ballot question. But why all of a sudden are we just now hearing about ranked-choice voting?
Interest is surging in Massachusetts because of two specific elections, one in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District and the other in Massachusetts’s 3rd Congressional District. Why Maine? In 2016, Maine became the first state to enact ranked-choice voting for statewide elections for governor, state legislature, and Congress. The state used RCV for the first time in November 2018 when the votes for the top two of four contenders in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District were too close to declare one a lawful victor. The process of RCV ultimately proved effective and efficient in determining the winner without resorting to a runoff.
Why is there now interest in the seat in the 3rd Massachusetts District, which Niki Tsongas held for a decade? There were ten individuals competing in the Democratic primary. Because of the distribution of votes among all ten, and since no candidate achieved a majority, a runoff was required for the top two. RCV would likely have resolved the election without a costly and time-consuming recount.
How does RCV work? Instead of picking just one candidate, ranked-choice voting allows you to rank the candidates on the ballot — as many or as few as you like — in your order of preference. If one person gets 50 percent of the vote, no further action is necessary. If no candidate gets 50 percent or more of first-choice votes, then the last-place candidate is eliminated and that candidate’s votes automatically get reallocated to the second choice listed on those ballots. RCV ensures that whoever wins has the support of the majority of voters and not just an electoral plurality.
Supporters believe that RCV frees voters from being pressured to choose between two or more preferences, and solves the problem of “spoiler” candidates who don’t actually reflect a majority of overall voter preference. According to Eric Maskin, a Nobel prize-winning Harvard economist, RCV gives all voters the opportunity to cast their vote according to their individual preference as well as a means to determine which candidate is most preferred by a majority of all votes cast. The method has been used by the Cambridge City Council since 1941 as well as in municipal elections in Memphis, San Francisco and Minneapolis and in parliamentary elections in Australia and Ireland, as well as in the recent midterm Congressional vote in Maine.
Closer to home, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization, Voter Choice Massachusetts, is dedicated to educating the public and fostering legislative support for RCV. Supporters believe that RCV frees voters from being pressured to choose between two or more candidates, and solves the problem of “spoiler” candidates who don’t actually reflect a majority of overall voter preference.
Lincoln residents are proud of their grassroots politics, cherish their Town Meeting, and treasure their civic activism. On January 20, we in Lincoln have an opportunity to learn from a nonpartisan expert, Jim Henderson, board member of Voter Choice Massachusetts, the pros and cons of RCV and its relevance to Massachusetts. We hope you will join the discussion and help us all to reflect on the utility and value of RCV for statewide elections in Massachusetts on Sunday, Jan. 20 at 3 p.m. in Bemis Hall.
Sincerely,
Barbara Slayter and Gary Davis
Co-chairs, Lincoln Democratic Town Committee
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.