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

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Strike up the band (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Lincoln School musicians directed by music teacher Karen Sheppard were one of seven schools, colleges, and local musicians who gave holiday performances at the Watertown Mall shortly before Christmas. Other schools were Boston University Academy, Perkins School for the Blind, St. Jude’s School, Belmont Hill School, and Watertown middle and high schools. It was the first year that the Lincoln School performed.

Above (front row, left to right): Simon Karty, Kalash Manandhar, Elizabeth Cooke, Sebastiano D’Ambrosio, Sage Gorman, and Hunjun Lee. bStanding in back: Georgia Buendia and Alexandar Balogh.

Standing in back (left to right): percussionists Nicholas Volpone, Georgia Buendia, Aubie Wells, and Alexander Balogh. Front row: Karen Sheppard (conductor), Sebastiano D’Ambrosio, Hunjun Lee, Nina Gill, and Olivia Wilkinson.

South Lincoln efforts continue with workshop for businesses

As part of a larger effort to revitalize the Lincoln Station area, the town is sponsoring a free workshop for Lincoln’s storefront business owners titled “Retail Best Practices: The Power of Presentation” on Wednesday, Jan. 9 from 8–9:30 a.m. at the Rural Land Foundation office at Lincoln Station (145 Lincoln Rd., second floor).

The session led by Christine Moynihan of Retail Visioning. Her program aims to help business owners improve the look and feel of their establishments as well as the customer experience and business planning and marketing in print and online. Attendees are also invited to participate in a private one-on-one free consultation with Moynihan in January or early February and could be eligible to receive a small grant to help implement recommendations made by the consultant.

For more information about the program or to register, contact Jennifer Burney, Director Planning and Land Use, at burneyj@lincolntown.org or 781-259-2684. Registration is not required but seating may be limited.

Funding for the workshop comes from a grant awarded to the South Lincoln Planning and Implementation Committee, which is steering several simultaneous projects aimed at revitalizing the area around Lincoln Station.

Other SLPIC projects

The MBTA subcommittee has recommended a list of improvements to the train station and commuter parking lots and expects to receive $500,000 from the state to pay for a study to design those improvements. The group is soliciting opinions as to whether the inbound and outbound train stops should be on the same side of the tracks, and whether non-Lincoln residents, or whether out-of-town commuters would be willing to pay for parking using a smartphone app. People can respond on the South Lincoln Revitalization Project website or by texting 781-702-3466.

Another SLPIC subcommittee is looking at zoning changes in South Lincoln that would encourage residential or mixed-use development in the area. The town hired Weston & Sampson more than a year ago to look at options for relocating and/or consolidating DPW operations on Lewis Street. Among the possibilities: moving the entire DPW to the transfer station, or co-locating some DPW functions on other land near Hanscom Field.

The study was expected to take only three months but is still not finished; the firm is expected to provide an update to SLPIC in January. “The work has taken longer due to the amount of parcels they had to review and apply the analysis to,” Burney said. “Unfortunately, projects often take longer than expected.”

Much of the study has consisted at examining and rating other possible DPW sites in town, as well as costs associated with any relocation. However, some North Lincoln residents have already voiced concerns about the idea of moving some or all of the DPW’s functions to the transfer station site.

With the help of grants, SLPIC’s Wayfinding Team has already installed wayfinding signs and a “pocket park” with a kiosk and bike repair station next to the railroad tracks. Among the items on the group’s to-do list for 2019: conducting a parking and sewer feasibility study, and seeking funds to spruce up the park-like area between Donelan’s and Lincoln Woods. A June 2017 report presented design ideas along with a cost estimate of $100,000.

Girl Scouts spearhead successful donation program for seniors

Girl Scouts collect donations for Lincoln seniors from fellow students at the Lincoln School.

Thanks to a donation drive by the Lincoln Girl Scouts, 28 bags “full to the brim” with donated items will be distributed to needy seniors in Lincoln, said Council on Aging Director Carolyn Bottum.

The Scouts teamed up with the Lincoln Council on Aging to host a holiday gift basket drive during the weeks before Thanksgiving to benefit homebound, frail, and economically disadvantaged seniors living in Lincoln. The Scouts collected donations of toiletries, cleaning supplies, socks, and helpful household items that COA staff will deliver on home visits. Many other Lincoln residents donated items to the COA as well.

For two weeks, the girls stood in the foyer of the Lincoln School during arrival time to greet and solicit participation from their peers,. They also made morning announcements on the PA system to the school and even spent an afternoon outside Donelan’s getting the word out to local residents.

The hands-on, goal-oriented project taught Scouts marketing and social skills even as they learned about the importance of giving back—and they were impressed by the amount of donations they collected. During the “sorting party,” one girl exclaimed “We did this! Because of us, over 40 homes will get a beautiful gift basket with all this stuff!”

This was the second year that the COA has assembled gift bags but the first in which the Girl Scouts played a leading role. Girl Scout troop leader Tomasina Lucchese noted that the group is thankful to the entire community and especially the COA “for all the wonderful work they do all year round.”

Pierce House needs help with First Day 2019

Lincoln residents and their guests are invited to First Day 2019 on January 1, 2019 from 1–5 p.m. at the Pierce House—and organizers need help in making the annual event happen.

The drop-in event celebration, which is a great way to meet neighbors and fellow Lincolnites, features food, desserts, refreshments, children’s activities, and music by the Ancient Mariners. Last year’s event, initially threatened by a lack of funding, came together with the support of town organizations, private citizens, and volunteers; this year, more volunteers are needed for setup, serving, and cleanup. Though the actual event runs from 1–5 p.m., organizers need hands to help from 10 a.m–7 p.m. Please click this volunteer signup form to pick a task and time slot.

Financial contributions are also needed; if you can donate to the celebration, please contact Nancy Beach at nancy@piercehouse.com or 781-259-9757.

Correction

Two numbers in the table showing the December 3 election results were transposed, resulting in incorrect totals in the table and accompanying article. The correct total voting percentages were 68 percent voting yes and 32 percent voting no. The table and article have been updated to reflect this correction.

And the winner is…

Jal David Mehta won the Lincoln Squirrel’s Town Meeting “guess the vote percentage” contest. He submitted a guess of 84 percent “yes” and 16 percent “no.”

Perhaps due to the sometimes angsty debate on LincolnTalk, only 10 of the 18 guesses predicted the school project vote would even clear the required two-thirds threshold. No one was so pessimistic as to predict the measure would not win a simply majority, though the lowest “yes” guess came close (51 percent to 49 percent). The full list of submissions can be found below.

Jal is now the proud owner of a year’s subscription to the Lincoln Squirrel for himself or to give as a gift—a $48 value. Thanks to all who played!

"Yes""No"
84%16%
78%22%
78%21%
74%26%
72%28%
70%30%
68%32%
68%32%
67%33%
67%33%
65%35%
63.21%36.79%*
63%37%
60%40%
59%41%
56%44%
54%40%
51%49%

* (an inside engineering joke, we’re told)

School project bonding approved in ballot vote

In unofficial results for the December 3 ballot vote, a comfortable majority of Lincoln residents gave the go-ahead for the $92.9 million Lincoln School project—though the margin was not as large as the one at the December 1 Special Town Meeting.

Sixty-five percent of Lincoln voters who cast a ballot voted yes, clearing the way for the town to borrow $88.5 million to renovate and partially rebuild the Lincoln School. The 68%–32% margin easily cleared the required hurdle for a simple majority—though it was notably lower than the 89%–11% margin at Saturday’s vote, which required a two-thirds majority to pass.

The election saw a 35 percent turnout of Lincoln’s 4,797 registered voters.

Early next year, the Finance Committee will determine what amounts of the total to borrow and when. The final interest rate won’t be known until just before the first bond purchase. The panel has been using interest rates of 4% and 5% to estimate the range of property tax increases (currently 17.2%–19.4%), though the full impact of the increase will not occur right away.

Precinct 1Precinct 2Totals
Yes7453991,144
No341196537
1,0865951,681

Click here to see a map of Lincoln’s voting precincts.

 

School project passes Town Meeting by 89%–11% margin

A floor plan of the revitalized Lincoln School from early November (click to enlarge).

The $93.9 million school project won the required two-thirds majority vote with ease at a December 1 Special Town Meeting, with the highest-ever attendance for such an event and a civil discussion of the issues.

In the end, the vote wasn’t as close as some had expected—89 percent to 11 percent—and the tone of the meeting remained calm, despite earlier debate that sometimes got heated on LincolnTalk and elsewhere. Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden noted at the start that there was “increased tension and anxiety leading up to this morning—we all need to take a deep breath.”

An hour and a half after the floor was opened for questions and comments, there were still a dozen residents lined up at each of two microphones patiently waiting their turn to speak when resident John Mendelson called the question. The standing vote of residents in a packed Brooks auditorium/lecture hall plus hundreds more in the adjoining gym resulted in a vote of 806–100 in favor of the motion to borrow $88.5 million for renovations and new construction at the Lincoln School.

The vote was orderly and counted methodically, unlike the last school project bonding vote in 2012. At that meeting, the usual voice vote was inconclusive and the subsequent standing vote was arguably affected by the fact that the gym overflow space was not available for voters and fire codes prevented a few people from getting back into the auditorium for the final vote.

The tone of comments on Saturday was civil, with no hostility in statements or reactions, though several comments received spontaneous ovations and whoops of approval—notably when resident Ken Mitchell called for “a little more Lincoln walk and little less LincolnTalk.”

One resident asked questions why the town was no longer pursuing state funding to help fund the project. Selectman (and former School Building Committee chair) Jennifer Glass explained (as she did in this letter to the editor in March 2017) that the competition for funds from schools that are in worse shape than Lincoln’s in terms of physical condition or overcrowding had grown so much that it was unlikely the town would get funding before the school deteriorated even further.

“It came to a point where the School Committee felt the risk was starting to become far greater that we would have some kind of incident that would close the school. It was a town decision in 2017 to go on our own,” she said.

But the large tax increase that will be required to pay for the school had many residents worried that some homeowners—even those who support the goals of the school project—would be forced to sell their property, leading to less economic diversity in Lincoln.

“This is not about us vs. them; this is about stewardship of whole town,” said Chris Burns, noting that Lincoln households occupied by seniors are expected to double  while those with young children are expected to drop significantly by 2030.

Resident John Kimball made a motion to change the figures in the main motion so that the total project cost would be no more than $74 million and the borrowing amount would be $68.6 million. “Where are the budget vigilantes in town today? We should honor our history of fiscal responsibility,” he said. “I agree that school is dysfunctional, decrepit and inefficient… but that is not a reason to approve the project which is unreasonable in cost, unfair in its impact and ineffective in improving education.”

“This is what we voted on in June—we were presented with a menu of options and budgets,” responded Kathryn Anagnostakis. “To relitigate this at this point…” But the rest of her comment was drowned out by cheers and applause.

“The amendment doesn’t do enough,” Vincent Cannistraro said, adding that the project “fundamentally scares me… If you have too much shock to your ecosystem at once, the result is disastrous. If this project goes through, we will look a lot less like Lincoln and lot more like Sudbury, where you move as soon as your kid finishes high school. I can give you 100 reasons why this solution won’t work, but you can’t give one example of a town that exposes [itself] to a 15–20 percent tax increase for 30 years for a single project. The children of Lincoln deserve an education second to none. Please vote no for the future of the town.”

Kimball’s amendment was soundly defeated on a voice vote.

Regarding the argument that the project will boost property values, “that’s no reason for finding a school of this magnitude, in my opinion,” said Sharon Antia. “We need a new community center and a DPW. To put all our money in this bucket and then say after the fact we’ll look at how to be a more welcoming community for a diverse population…  I find it hard to believe we’ll work on it afterwards.”

However, as reflected in the final vote, the comments in favor of the project outnumbered those against. Some of those remarks:

  • “Rigorous economic research shows that funding school structures raises home values more than the cost of the project—it pays for itself,” said Ben Shiller, echoing an argument he made in a November 7 letter to the editor.
  • Until recently, schools including Lincoln’s were designed with the idea that students were “vessels to be filled with information given by a teacher at the head of the classroom,” DJ Mitchell said. “But the world we’re preparing them for is vastly different. Information is at their fingertips—there’s no need to cram it all in their heads. Children need to be able to collaborate, think critically, be problem solvers, tinker about, make adjustments and even fail. It’s messy work not always suited to a contained classroom.”
  • Long-time kindergarten teacher Becky Estin (who received a spontaneous standing ovation when she said she had taught at the school for 39 years) said teachers have been involved with the planning process from the start and fully support the project. “Some of us were a little confused why it’s taken so long to repair these buildings… given how great the need is,” she said, citing power outages and odors that necessitated classes being moved. “We deeply, deeply care about our jobs… but we can’t help your children in spaces that don’t allow us to be innovative and creative.”
  • “I believe Ms, Estin could make magical things happen in a closet,” Jal Mehta said. “But to make learning dynamic, interconnected, and flexible, need spaces that are dynamic, interconnected, and flexible.” He urged the town to vigorously explore options for tax relief for those who need it so “we can support both our youngest residents and our oldest.”
  • The net-zero energy efficiency of the new building is crucial, said Alex Chatfield, because global climate change “is no longer a crisis to be faced in future—it’s happening in plain site and happening now… it’s our intergenerational responsibility not just to provide a decent education, but a safe planet to live on.”
  • Liz Wilkinson, a veteran teacher at Concord-Carlisle High School, said that the improved air quality and temperature in the new school building made “a dramatic difference in teaching and learning effectiveness,” and that features such as hubs and learning commons are essential to 21st-century education that calls for “collective, flexible, and project-based learning.”
  • Though the tax hike required by the project is significant, Lincoln’s taxes have actually been relatively low in recent years as the town has not invested enough in its schools and infrastructure, Ginger Reiner said. “What we’re experiencing is just recalibrating our taxes to be more in line with what our [neighboring towns] are,” she said. “We’ve essentially been borrowing against our future selves [and have] artificially suppressed out taxes”—remarks that were met with vigorous applause.

Correction

A November 28 Lincoln Squirrel article titled “Opinions and debate reach a crescendo as school vote nears” incorrectly stated that Philip Greenspun was banned from LincolnTalk. In fact, he was placed on moderation, meaning he could still submit posts at any time, but those posts had to be approved by a moderator before being distributed to the listserv members. The original article has been changed to reflect this correction.

Opinions and debate reach a crescendo as school vote nears

Years of study and planning—along with weeks and months of vigorous debate and opinions in the form of LincolnTalk posts, roadside signs, mailings, and websites—will culminate in votes on funding the Lincoln School project this Saturday, Dec. 1 and Monday, Dec. 3.

Roadside campaign signs saying “Vote Yes: Our Town, Our School, Our Kids” have been distributed around town by the Friends of the Lincoln School Project (FLSP), which is not affiliated with the School Building Committee or other town officials. Other signs and car magnets urging a “yes” vote have been distributed by the Lincoln School Foundation.

Hans Bitter and Bryce Wells are the two official members of the FLSP per legal requirements for a Ballot Question Committee, though about two dozen residents have donated time and/or money, they said in an email to the Lincoln Squirrel. While most of the volunteers have children at the Lincoln School, though most of those kids will have moved onto high school by the time the project is completed, they added.

The organization has spent about $3,000 on the yard signs and mailings, and any leftover cash will be donated to the Lincoln PTO, they said.

“Our focus was to make sure people knew that there was an important vote and to rally those who support the project. The yard signs and the mailing were physical embodiments of that focus, but the outreach was person to person—phone calls, emails, conversations in parking lots, Donelan’s, soccer fields, and more,” Bitter and Wells said. “Our group is also very concerned about the potential financial hardship some of our neighbors will face and so we are exploring other creative options to assist those in need.”

Arguments and information fly

Hundreds of emails about the school project and its impact on taxpayers have been exchanged on LincolnTalk, with passionate arguments both in favor of and against the project. Resident Philip Greenspun, who was a frequent poster until he was put on moderation status by moderators from LincolnTalk earlier this year, created a website called the Lincoln School Improvement Committee, which claims about a dozen members and dissects public documents to argue against the need for the project.

One post on the site argues that “mental gymnastics [are] required to support the Lincoln School Building projects” while another says the project is akin to a religion for which “facts and logic are not persuasive… If we rename the ‘School Building Committee’ the ‘Church of School Building’ and re-title the members as ‘Temple Priests,’ will the whole debate then make sense?”

Dozens of other residents, including Finance Committee member Andy Payne and SBC Vice Chair Kim Bodnar, have written lengthy posts on LincolnTalk and the SBC website blog answering questions and arguing that the project is crucial to the Lincoln School and the town as a whole and cannot be delayed further.

Meanwhile, a working group has been looking at programs employed by other area towns to help soften the impact of major property tax increases on seniors with limited means. If voters approve the school funding, property taxes are expected to rise by 17.2 percent to 19.4 percent, though not all of that in the first year. Determining factors will include the interest rate at the time of actual bonding, and the details of the timing and amounts of bonds as determined by the Finance Committee. The working group consists of Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Selectman Jennifer Glass, FinCom member Gina Halsted, and Carolyn Bottum, director of the Lincoln Council on Aging.

There is but a single question to be voted on at Saturday’s Special Town Meeting and Monday’s ballot vote: whether to appropriate $88.5 million for the project. For the borrowing to go forward, two-thirds of voters must vote “yes” at Town Meeting on Saturday and a simple majority must do the same at the ballot vote on Monday. If either vote fails to meet the threshold, the town can schedule another vote of that type in an attempt to win approval, since the sequence of votes doesn’t matter.

On Monday, polls will be open in the Smith gym from 7:30 a.m.–8 p.m.

Town Meeting details

Officials have posted this web page with links to the documents and slides that will be used at Town Meeting. Direct links are below:

Special Town Meeting slides:

Child care

  • For children under the age of 5, the Lincoln Family Association (LFA) will host a drop-in playgroup event for kids and parents (no drop-offs) in Hartwell Pod A from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. There will be toys and nut-free snacks. The cost per child is $5, payable in cash at the door. Parents will be notified when the vote is about to happens so they can get back to the auditorium or gym in time. Click here to register your child.
  • Registration for child care for children older than 5 at LEAP has closed.

Arrival and seating

  • All Lincoln residents wishing to vote must sign in starting at 8 a.m. outside the Brooks auditorium. You may leave and return after singing in and getting your hand stamped.
  • There will be overflow seating and a video link in the Reed Gym. Residents in the gym may vote when the time comes, but they must go to the auditorium if they wish to speak before the vote.

Order of the meeting

  • The meeting opens at 9 a.m. with presentations by chairs of the School Building, Finance, Capital Planning, and Green Energy Committees. Representatives of the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen will then speak briefly (see links to slides above).
  • Discussion and debate are expected to begin at around 10:30 and could last two hours or more.
  • Anyone in the Reed Gym who wishes to speak must come to one of the microphones in the Brooks Auditorium.
  • Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden asks residents to keep comments and questions to no more than two minutes, and to let others have a chance to speak before coming to the microphone a second time.

Voting

  • Before any vote, there will be a 10-minute break to ensure that people are seated and the volunteers who do the counting are in place, after which the doors to the gym and auditorium will close, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave until the counts are completed.
  • At the start of the voting, everyone must be seated, and non-voters will be asked to sit in specific areas of the halls.
  • All voting will be done by a standing count.