In the January 18 News Acorns, the Zoom registration link for the LincFam dance party was incorrect. The correct link is here. The original post has been updated.
News acorns
Free Covid-19 PCR testing available
The Town of Lincoln will continue to provide free Covid-19 PCR drive-through testing at the Pierce House on Wednesday, Jan. 19:
- 3:30–4 p.m. — seniors (age 60+). Please call the Council on Aging & Human Services at 781-259-8811 to schedule a time.
- 4– 6 p.m. — all ages. Advance registration is required; registrations can be completed online here.
More testing dates will be added as needed. This testing program is not for those already diagnosed with COVID (even a positive home rapid test). Please follow public health isolation protocols and the guidance of your primary care physician. This program is for Lincoln residents, employees, and school children who:
- have symptoms concerning for COVID-19
- have been identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19
- may have been exposed to COVID-19
- have traveled recently
At your scheduled time, please pull up to the main entrance to the Pierce House on the back circular driveway). Clinic volunteers will pass materials through your car window for you to self-swab and package your sample for collection. Results are normally available within 36 hours via email. If you have special needs or require assistance, please email Fire Chief Brian Young at brian.young@lincolntown.org.
Virtual concert/dance party for young kids
Join LincFam (the Lincoln Family Association) and Kat Chapman for a virtual concert and dance party on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. Click here to register for the event. To join LincFam, follow these directions to create a profile on the Tinyhood platform, which offers parenting classes and information. If finances prevent you from joining, please log into your Tinyhood account and click the “Pay as You May” membership option.
Mass Audubon names new regional director
Mass Audubon has named Scott McCue as its new Metro West Regional Director, where he will have oversight of the wildlife sanctuaries Broadmoor in Natick, Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, Habitat Education Center in Belmont, and Waseeka in Hopkinton. He succeeds Renata Pomponi, who has been promoted to Senior Regional Director for the statewide conservation organization’s Metro Boston wildlife sanctuaries and programs.
McCue brings substantial experience in nonprofit management and education leadership to his role with Mass Audubon. He served as Chief Operating Officer and Dean of the Sposato Graduate School of Education until 2020 and, before that, he led a grade 6–12 grade public school in Boston. He’s also worked with New England Forestry Foundation.
“Opera for Everyone” on Saturday
Watch the comic opera “Don Pasquale” by Gaetano Donizetti on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. via Zoom with opera lecturer Erika Reitshamer. Click here to join the Zoom meeting (meeting ID: 859 3645 9225, passcode: 958308). Sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library.
“Red Alert for the Planet”
On Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., MetroWest Climate Solutions will host a free webinar, “Red Alert for the Planet,” with Phil Giudice, who has 45 years of experience in the energy industry as a geologist, entrepreneur, executive, board director and energy official in state and federal roles. Most recently, Giudice served as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy during the startup of the Biden-Harris administration. He’ll synthesize the results of two weeks of intense negotiations, describe why the UN Climate Change Conference (aka COP26) was important, and discuss where the U.S. will go from here. Click here to register.
Corporate sustainability expert Remke van Zadelhoff will serve as the Q&A moderator. As the founder of Good Clout Consulting, she helps small and medium-sized companies drive and scale positive social and environmental impact. She is also co-founder of the Weston Sustainability Action Group (SWAG).
MetroWest Climate Solutions is a local partnership of organizations and congregations including First Parish in Wayland, First Parish Church in Weston, First Parish in Lincoln, the Congregational Church of Weston, SWAG, and a growing list of communities and individuals.
Donate to gift bag drive for domestic violence roundtable
Each February, the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable collects items for Valentine’s Day and fills gift bags for women, men and children temporarily living in local domestic violence shelters and transitional housing programs: REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, The Second Step, and Voices Against Violence. The bags are decorated by the children from Sudbury Extended Day. Due to Covid 19 restrictions, we will not be inviting donors to join us this year in assembling the gift bags. Gift cards for CVS, Target, Market Basket, gas etc., are appreciated. Other useful items:
- For mothers and teens — full size bath products, fuzzy socks, cosmetics, nail polish, hair products, journals, etc.
- For children — playing cards, art supplies, small toys, small stuffed animals, model cars, educational items.
- For babies — toys, rattles, baby cups, baby socks, bibs, baby body products.
In past years, the Roundtable has provided as many as 125 bags for families in shelter and transitional housing. If you’re interested in contributing to the Valentine’s Day collection and have questions, please email info@dvrt.org. Donations may be left in the collection baskets provided at Sudbury Wine and Spirits in the Rugged Bear Plaza (410 Boston Post Rd., Sudbury) or at Spirits of Maynard (4 Digital Way, Maynard next to Market Basket). Collections will start on January 22 and end on February 5.
My Turn: Jason Lee throws hat in ring for Water Commission
Hello Lincoln neighbors!
My name is Jason Lee and I have lived in Lincoln for one year with my 14-year-old twins. I love the town and would like to volunteer my time, skills, and abilities to keep it a great place for all residents. Thus, I am asking you to vote for me to fill the open position on the Board of Water Commissioners.
As you may know, Commissioner Jim Hutchinson has announced he is resigning his seat to run for the Select Board, and Commissioner Ruth Ann Hendrickson’s term is almost complete and she is running to fill Jim’s remaining two years. That leaves a three-year term empty and it needs to be filled.
It has been my pleasure to meet with Jim, Ruth Ann, and Commissioner Michelle Barnes to assess the job. I have also attended the last two commission meetings and read minutes from prior meetings. I believe the mission of the commission is important and that I can fill the open seat very well.
As you know, the governing functions of the town are performed by volunteers. I am willing to volunteer to be a Water Commissioner, and that is perhaps my most important qualification for the job. Other assets I bring to the task are:
- A PhD in social psychology from University of Michigan (to give me insight into the social dynamics that are part of any group)
- A decade working as a researcher and counsel for Congress in Washington, D.C. (back when there was a little more willingness to reach across the aisle for the common good)
- I have been a senior member of teams that determined and managed funding of health care research supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human Services (this should help with a significant part of the role, which entails making decisions about scoping and awarding grants and evaluating grantees’ performance to help accomplish mission-driven work).
- I currently direct a forum of individuals from diverse healthcare companies to develop standards for a global hospital enterprise architecture (“plays well in groups”).
Thank you for your vote! I hope we have a chance to say hello some day.
Sincerely,
Jason Lee
54 Conant Rd.
jasonslee.phd@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.
Road salt in Lincoln: How much is enough?
Road salt has been a hot topic of discussion on LincolnTalk recently. How is it used to treat Lincoln’s roads? How much salt is in town water? Is it harmful for the environment?
Lincoln’s Department of Public Works, like that in most other U.S. cities and towns where it snows, have been spreading salt crystals on roads for decades. Road salt (sodium chloride, the same chemical as table salt) lowers the freezing point of water, so ice and snow containing dissolved salt will melt at colder temperatures, resulting in roads that are wet rather than slippery and thus improving safety for vehicles.
About four or five years ago, Lincoln began applying a thin coating of salt water (brine) on roads before an anticipated storm, which appears as thin white stripes. This prevents ice and snow from immediately adhering to the roadway and “breaks that bond,” DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo said. Pre-treating roads with brine means that less road salt is needed during and after the storm.
In recent weeks, several residents have shared photos on LincolnTalk of what appeared to be heavy coatings of rock salt on some town roads. Around the same time, The New York Times and The Washington Post published stories about a study in the scientific journal Frontiers in the Ecology and Environment titled “Road salts, human safety, and the rising salinity of our fresh waters.” Road salt can damage plant life when it drains or plows push it to the side of the road, and too much sodium in drinking water over a period of years can be harmful to human health.
In the 1980s, there was enough concern over road salt that the amounts used in Lincoln were reduced, and signs appeared at the town line on some roads noting that “minimum salt is used in Lincoln” as a warning to drivers that the road they were on might suddenly get more slippery. But problems arising from under-salted roads caused the pendulum to swing back the other way.
“Some roads were just rutted ice in a particularly bad winter,” Water Commissioner Ruth Ann Hendrickson said. There have been at least two deaths in recent years after car accidents involving icy roads. George Elder died after his car skidded on Sandy Pond Road, according to the Boston Globe article published on March 4, 1984. There was another accident on icy Moccasin Hill where the driver was badly hurt, “and it really triggered people to say we need to have more” salt, she added.
How much salt does the DPW use? That depends on the weather and road conditions. “We try and use the least amount of material possible during winter storm events while doing our best to provide a safe transportation network,” Bibbo said. “Most winter storm events provide different sets of challenges and therefore require different treatment options. For example, a fast-moving snowstorm typically requires a different strategy than a rain-to-freeze event. Storms that produce mostly snow typically require more of a plowing technique than treatment. The weather conditions that we had in mid- and late December were challenging, with rain and mist repeatedly freezing on the roads.”
On Christmas Day, there was light snow and rain while the temperature hovered around freezing, and police reported several car accidents that morning. On January 5, while Lincoln didn’t see particularly hazardous conditions, a flash freeze caused numerous accidents in central and western Massachusetts despite road treatments. “I’ll tell you that I can speak for all our snow and ice managers that I’d rather get a foot of snow,” state Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver was quoted as saying.
Another variable is the ratio of sand to salt used on a given day. The DPW has piles of both (though the salt is covered, as required by the DEP), and the department decides what mixture to use for each weather event, Bibbo said. A higher proportion of salt is needed for icy conditions, whereas snow calls for less salt but more sand to aid in traction.
Occasionally there’s an accidental release of a large amount of the salt/sand mixture in one spot, “but we obviously try to avoid that at all costs,” Bibbo said. The DPW is looking into purchasing calibration equipment to more precisely control the rate at which the material is released as trucks drive over roads. The rate is now manually controlled by DPW crews based on their experience and road conditions, he added.
Asked about the use of road salt in environmentally sensitive areas, Bibbo said, “We don’t do anything different on roads near wetlands.” Roads are treated differently only according to traffic volume and speed, so main roads like Route 117 and Route 136 will get more total sand and salt. “The more minor roads typically may not be treated at the same frequency as the major roads, but all roads typically get treated,” he said.
Sodium in town water
The Lincoln Water Department tests untreated water from Flint’s Pond and the well on Tower Road (which provides about 30% of town water) once a year. The most recent water quality report shows that sodium levels ranged from 14.1 to 54.5 milligrams per liter or parts per million (ppm) in 2020. Unlike with some other chemicals and bacteria, there are no regulatory limits on sodium in drinking water, but the state DEP’s Office of Research and Standards guideline (ORSG) is 20 ppm.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also has nonenforceable guidelines for secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCLs) for various contaminants; exceeding those levels can cause cosmetic or aesthetic effects in drinking water. The SMCL for sodium is 250 ppm.
Interestingly, Lincoln’s higher 54.5 ppm sodium concentration is in water from the well, not Flint’s Pond, which abuts a portion of Sandy Pond Road, according to Darin LaFalam, Water Department superintendent. This could be due to mineral deposits in the Tower Road groundwater, he said.
“Detected levels of sodium are well within recommended limits. Nonetheless, people restricted to sodium intake of 500 mg/day due to health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or kidney failure should discuss with their doctors whether to drink Lincoln water,” the town’s 2020 report notes.
For healthy Americans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends consuming no more than 2,300 mg per day of sodium. In comparison, a liter of water from the Lincoln well contained a maximum of 54.5 mg in 2020. More than 70% of dietary sodium comes from processed and restaurant food, with 14% from naturally occurring sources and 11% from salt added during cooking or at the table.
Water from the well and pond water is not tested at different times of year, so it’s impossible to know whether sodium levels vary by season (for example, whether there’s more in the winter from road runoff into the pond). It was not immediately clear whether sodium levels in Lincoln’s drinking water have been steady, rising, or falling over the years.
“We will put this on the next Water Commission agenda to discuss whether there’s anything useful we can do. We need to take our time to understand the whole area of salt in groundwater,” Hendrickson said.
My Turn: Adam Hogue is running for Select Board
(Editor’s note: Hogue will compete for the open seat on the Select Board with Jim Hutchinson, who declared his candidacy earlier this month.)
Dear Lincoln community,
I am pleased to announce my candidacy for the open seat on the Board of Selects. I want to start by thanking James Craig for his years of service to the town.
Since moving to Lincoln nine years ago, I have been a very active member of our community. I have enjoyed helping to plan our Veterans Day events and our Fourth of July run, along with my involvement in other town events. I have also been a member of the School Committee for the last few years and serve on the Capital Planning Committee.
I want to serve on the Select Board because I want to bring positive change to Lincoln along with new ideas. While serving on our town committees, I have learned that we need fresh ideas to make our town even better while being fiscally responsible to the taxpayers of our town.
I look forward to a great campaign and meeting everyone on the campaign trail. I hope I can earn your vote!
Adam M. Hogue
50 Lincoln 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.
Bruno the serval, minus his bad leg, heads to a sanctuary
Bruno the serval cat is on his way to his forever home in Minnesota after successful surgery to amputate his right hind leg, which was broken in two places when he was rescued in Lincoln earlier this month.
Bruno was captured by workers from the MSPCA/Angell Memorial Hospital on January 4 in the garage of Martin Pierce and Mary Jo Haggerty on Partridge Lane after their Deerhaven Road neighbor, Vic Saleme, called in the alert. The thin, limping cat had been spotted several times in the same neighborhood in previous days.
Because of the pain he was experiencing, surgeons amputated his broken leg on January 12 and also neutered him (cats of all sizes adapt very well to having only three legs, the MSPCA noted). While he was awaiting surgery in his Boston enclosure, he enjoyed playing with balls and other toys (even gathering them into his bed at night), though he slept with his injured leg dangling out of his house because it was painful for him to bend or put weight on it. The MSPCA’s Instagram feed has a dedicated Bruno story with lots of photos, videos, and information based on questions submitted by users about Bruno and servals in general.
Servals are wild animals native to sub-Saharan Africa. The MSPCA has speculated that Bruno was acquired illegally as a pet or to breed Savannah cats (a cross between a serval and a domestic cat), and he either escaped or was abandoned when he became too much to handle. They emphasized that servals do not make good pets and are illegal to own or breed. Savannah cats are also illegal in Massachusetts unless they are at least four generations removed from the serval ancestor.
“Bruno’s story makes us both sad and mad,” says the Bruno page on the website of the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, MN, which reached out to the MSCPA to offer assistance when they heard Bruno’s story. “As more and more people believe that servals, bobcats and hybrids can be great pets, we’re seeing reports all over the country of ‘escaped’ exotics. These cats can’t survive on their own. Many have been declawed. All see humans as a source of food. Bruno is the poster child of the horrible things that can happen when they escape. We don’t know if he was hit by a car, but the breaks in his rear leg are extensive and could be months old. Can you imagine this poor cat trying to survive a bitter winter with a broken leg?”
Experts from the sanctuary confirmed that Bruno is a full-blood serval and not a hybrid.
“Not only will Bruno live out his live at a sanctuary that offers him a natural and safe habitat with heated, indoor buildings, but is going to a place that shares the MSPCA’s values: that wild animals do not exist for our entertainment,” Kara Holmquist, director of advocacy for the MSPCA, said in a statement.
Bruno, who is about a year old, was very thin when he was captured. Since X-rays revealed his injury was several months old, it’s a bit of a mystery as to how Bruno survived in the New England woods with his painful leg. MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin speculated that he may have foraged for scraps or handouts or perhaps hunted for small rodents and/or birds “to the extent that he could.”
Handouts were undoubtedly a big reason the serval hung out in the Lincoln neighborhood for a while. Saleme fed him Tyson chicken nuggets — and when Tyson saw the story, they FedExed him a dozen two-pound bags of nuggets packed in dry ice (see photo in gallery below).
After Bruno first came to the MSCPA, the organization set up a fund for donations to defray costs of his veterinary care, and animal lovers opened their wallets. “We’re happy to report that about $12,000 has come in from donors across the state. That’s far more than the $5,000 needed for his surgery so the balance will stay in a restricted account called Pet Care Assistance, which meets the medical needs of homeless animals in our shelters and is never used for things like salaries, building maintenance, etc.,” Halpin said.
The Wildcat Sanctuary also welcomes donations for general purposes or to sponsor a cat (though it’s unclear whether you can choose a specific animal by name).
Bruno will join 15 other servals and many more big cats at the sanctuary (go to this page and click on “Serval” to see photos). On January 16, the organization posted on its Facebook page about Bruno’s journey to Minnesota. “We will definitely do a more comprehensive video all about his surgery, his journey home, and how he was doing when he’s safe at his forever home at the Wildcat Sanctuary,” they wrote. “For now, all focus is on getting that little boy home safely.”
Public forum on how to spend $2.06 million in Covid-19 relief funding
Lincoln’s ARPA Working Group will hold a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. to discuss its initial recommendations and hear public comment on how best to spend the $2.06 million in Covid-19 relief funds that the town stands to get from the federal government.
The Select Board formed the group several months ago to develop a recommended spending plan for the money that the town will receive under the American Rescue Plan Act. Members have been wading through the extensive government regulations about what is eligible for funding and has compiled a list of specific projects that would qualify, based on applications listed on its web page.
If approved, almost two-thirds of the $2.06 million would go the the Water Department for capital projects. The costliest of those is a new Tower Road well for $600,000, which might otherwise necessitate bonding.
Conservation Department
- Repairs to the parking lot at Mt. Misery ($6,823)
Council on Aging and Human Services
- Additional mental health clinics ($12,000*)
- Create a half-time Town Social Worker position previously funded by grants ($106,228*)
- Adding to the Emergency Assistance Fund for those who need help paying for housing ($43,500)
Lincoln Public Schools
- An AIDE (Antiracism, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity) faculty residency whereby a faculty member would pause their teaching for a year to help teachers plan, observe and give feedback, model deeper learning and culturally responsive pedagogies, and support ongoing professional development and resource creation ($71,999 plus benefits*)
- Salary increases and retention bonuses for food service workers ($21,441*)
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
- Lincoln’s 15% share for a ventilation system improvement ($15,000)
Water Department
- Tower Road replacement well ($600,000)
- Bedford Road tank cover repair ($500,000)
- Distribution system repairs ($200,000)
General
- Covid-19 response contingency fund for future non-reimbursed costs relating to the pandemic ($386,420)
- A one-year consultant position shared by the schools and town to begin building Lincoln’s diversity program ($100,000*)
* Some level of ongoing funding required
After processing public reactions and suggestions, the Working Group will develop a set of final recommendations for consideration by the Select Board which, in its capacity as the town’s executive officer, will make the final determination on the spending plan.
The town has also applied for another $675,149 from two other Covid-19 relief funds (the CARES Act and FEMA).
Click here for the February 2 forum Zoom link (Meeting ID: 956 9986 3456, Passcode: 496711).
Police log for Jan. 1–8, 2022
January 1
Stonehedge Road (12:46 a.m.) — Caller reported that a friend who lives in Lincoln went hiking on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and had not been heard from. Officers went to the residence and found that the party was not due back home until later in the day. The party later called to report they were fine and did not have cell service where they were staying.
Mackintosh Lane (4:25 p.m.) — Caller reported cars illegally parked on MacIntosh Lane. Officer responded and the vehicles were parked legally on conservation property.
South Great Road (5:22 p.m.) — Sudbury police called asking Lincoln police to keep an eye out for a vehicle on Route 117 in which the driver had been making suicidal statements. Officers checked the area; Sudbury police made contact with the party.
January 2
Mackintosh Lane (4:57 p.m.) — Caller reported a vehicle parked illegally on Macintosh Lane. Officer responded and located the vehicle and advised the owner they couldn’t park there.
January 3
South Great Road (5:00 p.m.) — Caller reported a coyote in the middle of the roadway that could be rabid. Officer responded and was unable to locate the animal.
Bedford Road (5:09 p.m.) — Caller reported that the catalytic converter was stolen from their car in late December. The delay in reporting was due to being out of the country.
Deer Run Road (5:43 p.m.) — An elderly caller was confused about a call they’d received about missing an appointment. Officer met with the caller and assisted them.
January 4
Food Project (1:54 pm.) — Officer checked on a vehicle parked in the lot. Party check out OK.
Brooks Road (6:13 p.m.) — Report of a crash near Brooks Road. The crash occurred just over the town line into Concord and that town’s police handled it. Lincoln officers assisted with traffic; one person transported to the hospital
January 5
Minuteman Vocational Technical High School (7:30 a.m.) — Caller requested an officer come to the school for a reported former employee family member on the grounds who may be upset. While en route the caller, called back and cancelled the response. The party was a neighbor walking the grounds.
Codman Road (8:04 p.m.) — Caller requested a well-being check on a resident. Officer made contact and the party was fine.
January 6
Concord Road (9:35 a.m.) — The Conservation Department reported vehicle parked at the Food Project lot. Officer made contact and the party was in the process of leaving the area.
January 7
North Great Road (4:58 a.m.) — Report of a crash on Route 2A near the Concord town line. Officers responded; the crash was in Concord and that town’s police handled it.
Pierce House (2:11 p.m.) — Resident called to report they slid off the road at the Pierce House and they had called a tow service to pull them out.
January 8
I-95 south, Lexington (9:02 a.m.) — Officer reported a vehicle spun out on the ramp from I-95 south to Route 2 east due to the snow. State Police were notified.
State officials explain draft guidelines for multifamily housing
State housing officials made the case for multifamily zoning in MBTA communities and explained the draft compliance guidelines during a January 12 webinar.
New zoning rules require MBTA communities to allow multifamily housing of a given density in an area within half a mile of an MBTA station or bus stop, or face loss of eligibility for some state grants. For Lincoln, the requirement would be 750 multifamily units (the minimum number for all MBTA communities). The changes are part of a $262 million economic development bond bill passed in January 2021.
That bill has several other provisions and funding allocations that aim to alleviate the housing shortage in Massachusetts, which has among the highest and fastest-growing housing costs in the nation, said Michael Kennealy, Housing and Economic Development Secretary. Although the population has risen steadily, only half the building permits statewide were issued from 1990 to 2020 as in the preceding 30-year period, he noted.
“This has placed an incredible burden on our households and families all over the state” and is making Massachusetts less competitive with other “innovation economy” states, Kennealy said. The new law “is simply good climate policy, good transit policy, good housing policy, and good local economic development policy.”
Gov. Baker has said his administration will take a “thoughtful approach in developing compliance criteria” and that those criteria will “recognize that a multifamily district that is reasonable in one city or town may not be reasonable in another,” said Chris Kluchman, Deputy Director of the Community Services Division of the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
The officials emphasized that the law is unrelated to Chapter 40B, which allows developers to bypass local zoning in communities that do not meet the state minimum for affordable housing stock. It is also not a production mandate; “the actual unit production will depend on many factors,” Kluchman said.
Clark Ziegler, Executive Director at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, showed a slide with photos of “real-world examples of attractive multifamily housing,” including developments in Sudbury and Lexington (see slide deck below). “We need to show local residents that multifamily is not what they often fear, and that it can be knit into the fabric of any community to create vibrant neighborhoods,” he said.
Lincoln and other towns currently require a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting to approve changes to their zoning rules. The economic development bill reduces the voting approval threshold for approving certain zoning bylaw amendments (including creation of the multifamily district) and special permits to a simple majority. Nonetheless, the state realizes that “that can be a big lift,” so officials are offering technical assistance as well as grant programs for low- and moderate-income housing near public transit to help communities comply,” Ziegler said.
To be eligible for this year’s round of grants, towns must submit an online form by May 2. The public comment period for the draft guidelines closes on March 31. Once the final guidelines are established, MBTA communities must establish a compliant zoning district by 2023 or become ineligible for grants from the Housing Choice Initiative, the Local Capital Projects Fund, or the MassWorks infrastructure program.
The 750-unit mandate for Lincoln is “infeasible” and “jaw-dropping,” Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson said last week. After the webinar, she commented, “The most interesting part of that webinar is that the emphasis is on the zoning, not on what is feasible nor on housing production. That has some interesting implications that we will have to think about.”
Here are some of the slides from the January 2 webinar hosted by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (click on a slide to see larger versions and forward/back buttons):
My Turn: Thanks from president of domestic violence aid group
For the past two years, it has been my privilege to serve as president of the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable (SWLDVR) and see firsthand the courage, tenacity, commitment, and generosity of both those whom we support and the many who support the Roundtable.
Our mission is to promote safe and healthy relationships, raise public awareness about abusive and controlling behaviors, and end relationship abuse in all its forms. We could not move towards achieving our goals — to educate communities, support agencies that provide services to survivors of domestic abuse, network with other concerned groups, and mobilize community leaders — without the support of our communities.
The numbers of reported domestic abuse incidents have risen sharply during the pandemic, and strains on survivors and service providers have increased correspondingly.
In addition to everything else they face, survivors are experiencing job losses, health concerns, financial instability, and increased domestic pressures. As front-line workers, providers have continued their work while worrying about their own health, sick family members, and grieving the loss of loved ones.
And yet, amid all the darkness, the best of human nature has been displayed.
Financial donations have increased. The Holiday Gift Drive, Shower for Shelters, and the Valentine’s Gift Bag Project have been supported in ways that clearly demonstrate “the kindness of strangers,” the generosity of the community, and the enormous commitment of our volunteers.
During October (Domestic Violence Awareness Month), purple lights (the color of courage) illuminated public and private buildings in Sudbury, Wayland, Weston, Framingham, and Weston. Banners encouraging us to Shine a Light on domestic abuse were displayed in Sudbury, Wayland, and Lincoln. Residents of Lincoln placed purple bulbs in window lamps.
As we move into 2022 and on behalf of the Roundtable, I should like to thank firstly and most importantly, the community members of Sudbury, Wayland, and Lincoln who have shared their lived experiences, resources, and talents.
Next, we are deeply appreciative of the support received from town leaders, civic organizations, local businesses, and members of the faith communities.
Finally, thanks to the following for their continued support and generosity: the First Parish in Wayland Lydia Maria Child Fund, the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund, Brad Keyes of Keyes North Atlantic, Inc., the Saia Family of Sudbury Wine and Spirits, Ace Hardware Wayland, Lincoln Chief of Police Kevin Kennedy, and Lincoln Town Administrator Tim Higgins.
For information on ways to support the SWLDVR, or if you or someone you know needs help, please go to our website at www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org.
Sincerely,
Sue Rushfirth
President, Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable
P.O. Box 543
Sudbury, MA 01776
“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.