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

Marijuana forum could precede town votes in the fall

In advance of Wednesday’s public forum, the Marijuana Study Committee has released this FAQ document explaining the ramifications of the state’s 2016 vote to legalize recreational marijuana, the pros and cons of allowing marijuana businesses in Lincoln, and a town decision timeline. The forum takes place on Wednesday, April 25 from 7–9 p.m. in Town Hall.

After Lincoln residents approved the 2016 ballot question, the town imposed a temporary moratorium on cannabis businesses while it decides what to do about the issue. The moratorium expires in November and most likely cannot be renewed. Any town—including Lincoln—whose residents voted in favor of the measure in 2016 must take certain steps if it decides it doesn’t want to allow commercial medical or recreational cannabis cultivation, processing, or sales within its borders.

To enact a partial or full ban, a Town Meeting vote to adopt a zoning bylaw amendment restricting or banning cannabis businesses must pass by a two-thirds majority, followed by a simple majority at a town election. A partial ban could allow only one type of business use, such as cultivation, testing, manufacturing, or retail businesses to the exclusion of others. The town could also opt to do nothing, in which case the state could begin issuing licenses to qualified Lincoln‐based marijuana establishments of any type permitted by state statute. Lincoln voters cannot prohibit personal use or cultivation of marijuana.

Assuming that the June 9 Special Town Meeting on the school and community center projects is not expanded to include the marijuana question, there would be a second town forum in September, followed by a Special Town Meeting and special election in October, according to the committee’s FAQ document.

South Lincoln sidewalk, other improvements on the way

A new sidewalk will appear in coming weeks between the Cambridge Trust Co. building and St. Joseph’s Church.

Now that the weather is finally improving, a new sidewalk will soon be installed across from the Bank of America in South Lincoln, which pedestrians in the area have been requesting for years.

The sidewalk, which was removed during a road construction project eight years years ago and never replaced, is one of the projects funded by a $400,000 Complete Streets grant the town received last fall in an effort spearheaded by Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney and the South Lincoln Planning Implementation Committee (SLPIC).

The package of projects, which Burney said should be completed by September 2018, also includes informational kiosks, safety improvements to the intersection of Route 117 and Lincoln Road, wayfinding signs, and repairs to some sidewalks and roadside paths.

The South Lincoln Revitalization Project includes several SLPIC working teams that are looking at wayfinding, planning and zoning, the Department of Public Works site on Lewis Street, the MBTA station, and the green on the east side of the mall between Donelan’s and Lincoln Woods. The goals are outlined in this presentation made at the State of the Town meeting in November 2017.

The town plans to apply for a second $400,000 Complete Streets grant next fall to fund the following projects, according to Burney:

ProjectLocationFunding request
Complete Streets gap analysis and strategy for trails, sidewalks, biking, school bus routes, and places of interestTown-wide$108,000
Intersection improvements study and constructionIntersection of Lincoln Road and Codman Road$25,000
Bicycle improvementsTown-wide$50,000
Repaits to culvert, wooden pedestrian bridge, and sidewalkLincoln Road$20,000
Intersection improvements study and constructionFive Corners near library$40,000
Intersection improvements study and constructionIntersection of Route 117 and Tower Road$25,000
Parking lot study and improvements including pay kiosk and lightingLincoln Station commuter lot$132,000

New York Times art critic to lecture at deCordova

Holland Cotter

Award-winning New York Times art critic Holland Cotter will give the 2018 Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum on Wednesday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m. 

One of today’s foremost art critics, Cotter is known for his wide-ranging reviews of art that are marked by “acute observation, luminous writing, and dramatic storytelling,” as described by the Pulitzer Prize committee. Cotter plans to speak on the vital role of art in our current social and political moment and will also address the importance of growing up in the Boston area.

“When I was a kid in the late 1950s and early 1960s, deCordova was where I first saw modern art—Abstract Expressionism. I loved it enough to try my pre-teen hand at it. For a short while I took drawing lessons in an upstairs gallery in the museum’s main building. As it turned out, the hands-on part didn’t last, but the love did,” Cotter said.

Cotter, a Weston native, is a co-chief art critic for the New York Times, where he has been on staff since 1998. In 2009, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Cotter earned an A.B. from Harvard College, where he studied poetry with Robert Lowell. He later received an M.A. from the City University of New York in American modernism and an M.Phil. in early Indian Buddhist art from Columbia University, where he studied Sanskrit and taught Indian and Islamic art.

The Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture series was established in 1981 to consider topics broadly focused on changing attitudes towards 20th- and 21st-century art. The Cronin Lecture series is made possible by a generous grant to deCordova from the Grover J. Cronin Memorial Foundation.

Lecture attendees are welcome to arrive early for a casual reception with Holland Cotter at 6 p.m. Wine, beer, and nonalcoholic beverages will be served. Tickets (available online here) are $5 for deCordova members and students with ID, $10 for nonmembers. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fee fife fo fum? (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Before the annual Patriots Day “Lincoln Salute: A Festival of Fife & Drum Music” featuring some of the best fife and drum groups from New England, the United States, and abroad, the groups are invited to the Pierce House for a luncheon hosted by the 4-H Fifes & Drums and the Lincoln Minute Men. But it wasn’t the British Invasion.

Because fifers and drummers stood alongside officers and played a vital role in communication in 18th-century armies, it was important for officers to be able to identify musicians readily—so if the coat colors of the unit, for instance, were blue coats with red facings, then the musicians would wear red coats with blue facings, explained Don Hafner, a Belmont resident and professor of political science at Boston College.

Thus, the redcoats who appear to be invading the Pierce House are in fact “friendlies”—American fifers and drummers. And the young man in the blue coat with red facings (below right) from the William Diamond Junior Fife & Drum Corps is wearing what the regular soldiers would have worn (though as a musician, he really should have been in red as well, Hafner noted).

(Photos courtesy Nancy Beach)

The musicians gathered at the Brooks School Auditorium in Lincoln later in the afternoon (rather than Pierce Park in a concession to the weather) for a fife and drum concert. Other guests at this year’s event included the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps, the Colonial Williamsburg Fife & Drum Corps, the 1st Michigan Colonial Fife & Drum Corps, the Bluff Point Quahog Diggers, the Musick of Prescott’s Battalion, the Sudbury Ancients, and the Aleppo Pipe Band.

Hospice house in Lincoln welcomes first patients

Care Dimensions President and CEO Patricia Ahern (center), surrounded by board members and senior management staff, officially opens the new hospice house in Lincoln.

(Full disclosure: Lincoln Squirrel editor Alice Waugh is a volunteer at the Lincoln hospice house.)

Patients are starting to fill the newly opened Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln after it opened its doors at 125 Winter St. last week.

The project was approved in fall 2014 and broke ground two years later. Last month before the arrival of patients, the company hosted an open house for staff and volunteers to tour the 18-bed facility, which serves terminally ill individuals needing hospital-level care for pain and symptom management. Although the building is in Lincoln, vehicles use a driveway located just over the town line in Waltham.

“The Hospice House is not a hospital, nursing home or rehabilitation facility, but a home-like setting where hospice physicians, nurses and support staff provide 24-hour care and where visiting family members can spend quality time, including overnight stays, with their loved one,” explained Patricia Ahern, CEO and president of Care Dimensions. The nursing staff includes four hospice nurses who recently graduated from Care Dimensions’ hospice nurse residency program, which provides intensive training to nurses who are new to hospice and palliative care.

In addition to services from medical personnel, social workers and chaplains, Care Dimensions offers complementary therapies including massage, music and art therapy, Reiki, compassionate touch and pet therapy, as well as bereavement counseling for up to 13 months after the death of any hospice patient—even if that person was not a Care Dimensions patient.

The new facility includes sleeping couches in every patient room, two visitor kitchens and cafe areas, a fish tank, children’s play areas, fireplaces, patios off some patient rooms, a contemplation chapel, and a solarium. There are also personal touches such as afghans and prayer squares knitted by volunteers that patients and families may keep.

For the wider community, the hospice house has a conference room with new multimedia equipment that’s open for use to any nonprofit organization. The building also features artwork loaned by the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. This page has more information and a video tour of the Lincoln facility. Click here to learn about volunteering there, or with hospice patients in their homes or other facilities.

Photos of the Lincoln hospice house (click an image to enlarge):

hospice-room-1
hospice-solarium
hospice-play
hospice-pedi
hospice-art

News acorns

Hearing on tree removal

There will be a public hearing on Wednesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln DPW Office, 30 Lewis St., held by the tree warden, deputy tree warden and/or their designees to consider the removal of the below trees in the public right-of-way. This meeting is consistent with the requirements of the Shade Tree Act (MGL,c.87) and the Scenic Road Act. The trees have been marked with hearing notices and are being considered for removal because they are dead, in decline, or otherwise posing a safety or operational hazard. The trees are marked as to size and type along the following roads:

  • 81 Weston Rd., south side of road, 32″ ash
  • 81 Weston Rd., north side of road, 36″ ash
  • Sandy Pond Rd. at Lincoln Road intersection island, 14″ tree
  • 56 Sandy Pond Rd., 16″ tree
  • 196 Sandy Pond Rd., 18″ and 20″ oaks

Anyone with questions may call the Department of Public Works at 781-259-8999.

Codman Community Farms cleanup kicks off season

Some of the volunteers who helped out at a past Codman Community Farms spring cleanup.

Codman Community Farms (CCF) is getting ready for the spring and summer activities starting with spring cleanup on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22 from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Grab your gloves and lend a hand for an hour or an afternoon, learn more about 2018 farm plans and upcoming events, and bring a picnic or enjoy our potluck of snacks. Click here to sign up. If you’re interested in other volunteer opportunities such as building projects, egg collecting, egg washing, events and educational programs, general farm chores, the PYO flower garden, haying, mowing, etc., click here and CCF will contact you as the tasks unfold.

CCF also has a new CSA card to help support sustainable food production. Those who purchase a card for a lump sum payment get free money added to their card based on the purchase level. The card can be used anytime in the CCF Farm Store and the card never expires.  All products in the store can be purchased with the card on our self-checkout iPad terminal. Offer ends on May 31.

Also on the event horizon: Club Codman on May 19 at 8:30 p.m. and the Codman BBQ and campout on June 9-10.

Film on Israel/Palestinian media coverage

The GRALTA Foundation will host a screening of “The Occupation of the American Mind,” a 2016 documentary narrated by Pink Floyd founder and human rights activist Roger Waters, on Sunday, April 22 at 2 p.m. at the Lincoln Public Library and Wednesday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The film focuses how Israel-Palestine media coverage has both restricted and distorted our knowledge of the region. The film is especially timely in light of recent deaths in the Gaza Strip including that of 30-year-old photojournalist Yasser Murtaja, which was the subject of this New York Times editorial.

St. Anne’s screens “What Lies Upstream”

On Tuesday, April 24 at 6:30 p.m., the Climate Justice Film Series at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church continues with the documentary film “What Lies Upstream.” Investigative filmmaker Cullen Hoback travels to West Virginia to uncover the truth behind a massive chemical spill that left 300,000 people without drinking water for months. But when Hoback discovers a collusion between chemical corporations and the highest levels of government, the investigation spirals in a terrifying direction, and we learn the truth about what lies upstream of us all.

Newcomers’ dinner at First Parish

Whether you’re new to the First Parish in Lincoln community or have been coming for years, come to a festive, informal and informative Newcomers Dinner on Tuesday, April 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Donaldson Room of the Parish House (14 Bedford Rd.). Please RSVP to Joan Kimball at selenejck@gmail.com.

Correction

 

The articles headlined “Residents drill down on school, community center options before June vote” misstated Andy Payne’s position on the Finance Committee. He is vice chair, not the chairman. Also, the project to research long-term operating costs for a new school is being done jointly by the Finance Committee and the Capital Planning Committee, not just the CapComm.

There will be more discussion of this at two meetings on Monday, April 30. There will be a multiboard meeting starting at 6 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room to update the Campus Project Briefing Document and prepare for the June 9 Special Town Meeting, From 7:30–9 p.m. in the same location, the Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee will host a meeting looking at campus projects costs.

 

 
 

News acorns

PMC Kids Ride is on April 29

The fourth annual Lincoln-Sudbury PMC Kids Ride to help raise money for the Jimmy Fund and Dana Farber Cancer Center will be held on Sunday, April 29 at the Lincoln School campus on Ballfield Road. Kids aged 2–12 ask for donations from friends and family and then ride their bikes around the center green of the schools (or for little ones, a “village” in the Hartwell lot). The event will take place from 7:30–10:30 a.m., with a bike ride, bouncy house, ice cream and other fun activities. Organizers also welcome volunteers to help with the event; to sign up, contact the Parks and Recreation office at 781-259-0784.

Preregistration is $20 ($25 on the day of the event), and each rider must raise a minimum of $30. For more information, see the Lincoln-Sudbury PMC Kids Ride website or email pattylevy.pmckidslincoln@gmail.com.

Barbershop chorus performs on April 29

The New Sound Assembly.

The New Sound Assembly will perform “The Spirit of America in Song” on Sunday, April 29 at 2 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The New Sound Assembly, a 23-man chorus of singers, presents musical programs all over the region and in England and Ireland. The free hour-long performance for all ages will be a mix of barbershop songs, patriotic, and modern favorites. All songs are sung a capella in four-part classical barbershop harmony.

This program is supported by a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Hyltons honored at BU School of Law

Professors Maria and Keith Hylton.

Lincoln residents Keith Hylton, the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor at Boston University School of Law, and Professor of Law Maria O’Brien Hylton were honored with Trailblazer Awards from the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association (MBLA) at the organization’s 45th anniversary gala. The awards recognize “leaders who have enriched the legal profession and created career pathways for black lawyers,” according to the MBLA.

Keith Hylton is a prolific scholar across a broad spectrum of topics in law and economics, including tort law, antitrust, labor law, intellectual property, civil procedure, and empirical legal analysis. He has published five books and more than 100 articles in law and economics journals and is president of the American Law and Economics Association. Maria Hylton teaches courses on employment law, ERISA, contracts, and insurance law, and has numerous publications to her credit. She is the co-author of Cases and Materials on Employee Benefits Law and Using Civil Remedies for Criminal Behavior: Rationale, Case Studies, and Constitutional Issues.

The Food Project stages “Big Shindig”

The Lincoln-based Food Project will kick off its 27th growing season with the Big Shindig on Wednesday, April 25 at the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts. This fundraising event, supported by presenting sponsors Bank of America and Linda and Bill McQuillan, aims to raise $400,000 to support the Food Project’s critical work with youth, food, and community.

This year’s event will feature youth speakers from the Food Project’s Dirt Crew and Root Crew and Leadership Award honorees Cassandria Campbell and Jackson Renshaw, alumni of The Food Project and co-founders of Fresh Food Generation, a Boston-based food truck and catering company..

Proceeds from the Big Shindig will support the Food Project’s youth programming, sustainable agriculture on urban and suburban farms, food system change, promoting community economic strength, and the distribution of fresh produce to expand healthy food access throughout the Boston and North Shore regions. Tickets are on sale now. Visit thefoodproject.org/bigshindig to purchase tickets, get event details, and learn about sponsorship opportunities.

Since its founding, the Food Project has grown from a single two-acre farm in Lincoln to an organization that stewards 70 acres of urban and suburban farmland throughout greater Boston and the North Shore. To date, over 1,800 young people between the ages of 14 and 18 have served on the Food Project’s youth crews, and the organization has harvested nearly 4.5 million pounds of sustainably grown produce.

Little League T-Ball registration now open

Youth baseball in Lincoln starts with T-Ball, which is open to boys and girls currently in kindergarten and those starting kindergarten in the fall. Players will meet on the Smith School fields in Lincoln each Saturday morning from 10–11:30 a.m., right after in-town soccer. The basic mechanics of baseball are taught, and each week features a practice followed by a game. Opening day is Saturday, April 28 and the season runs through June 16. Registration and more information are available at www.LSBaseball.org, or contact Chris Andrysiak at 781-259-3719 or chriscoach33@gmail.com.

Residents drill down on school, community center options before June vote

This School Building Committee chart compares the six options on features and cost and also shows total estimated campus costs that include the community center. (click to enlarge).

Residents who packed two workshops on April 10 on the campus building projects were asked for feedback on six school concepts and three community center schemes in preparation for votes at a Special Town Meeting on June 9.

At that meeting, voters will be asked to choose from among the three community center ideas and an as-yet-unknown number of school concepts, though it will be at least two. Firm cost estimates for each will be presented, and there will be two votes in the fall to bond the project. To win approval, Town Meeting must approve by a two-thirds majority; a simple majority is required at the polls.

The footprint, features and cost of the school concepts are described in this six-page summary, which also includes an energy performance analysis for all but one of the concepts, and the added cost to bring each concept into compliance with the “stretch” code (a higher level of energy efficiency than the state’s base building code) and net-zero energy use.

The paper version of the six-page concept summary handed out at Tuesday’s meeting also listed the annual tax bill increase for the median Lincoln taxpayers based on a 4 percent of 5 percent bond interest rates:

School conceptEstimated costAnnual tax increase (4% interest)Annual tax increase (4% interest)Added cost for stretch code compliance/net zero energy efficiency, including solar
R
$49 million$1,329$1,494N/A
L1
$73 million$1,980$2,226N/A
L2
$79 million$2,142$2,409$0 / $6 million
L3
$89 million$2,413$2,714$0 / $6 million
C
$95 million$2,576$2,897$0 / $2 million
FPC
$109 millionAnalysis not yet performed for this optionAnalysis not yet performed for this optionAnalysis not yet performed for this option

Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall outlined the educational advantages of each of the six options:

Option R

  • There would be no educational improvement except for a more consistent temperature climate due to the heating system upgrade.

Option L1

  • The new dining commons between the Brooks gym and auditorium lobby could serve as a learning space for large groups.

Option L2

  • Bringing preK into the main school from Hartwell saves time for staff who serve both preK and K-8, as well as preK students who must sometimes cross the campus, and it also eases the integration of preK children into the school as well as faculty collaboration.
  • Two new flexible-use spaces on each side of the school.
  • Having a single, centrally located lower and middle school office and dining commons  also reduces travel time for students and staff.

Option L3

  • Hub spaces for grades 3-8 where classes can open out into larger collaboration or teaching spaces, and which allow more collaboration among teachers. At the new Hanscom Middle School, which includes hubs, “we find teachers are doing much more conscious planning together, and we see the impact of more integrated curricula being developed,” McFall said. For each grade, the hubs also “create a bit of a community within a community,” she added.
  • A larger commons space than previous concepts, and the space looks out onto the woods, which is less distracting for students.

Option C

  • Having two floors in part of the building reduces transition times for middle schoolers by shortening corridors. “The compactness helps with efficiencies and interactions for both faculty and students, as well as greater sustainability,” McFall said. “I feel like it’s a better design for education.”
  • More space for playing fields

Option FPC

  • Allows for the “optimal” educational program, with three more classrooms than the current school (or options L2, L3 and C), as well as hubs for all nine grades and more athletic field space.
  • This option was recently added at the request of residents who wanted to see what an “ideal” building would look like, so the design is still in flux and it may be more compact building with two floors in some places, McFall said.

Almost every elementary school in Massachusetts designs within the past 10 years includes small breakout rooms and/or larger hub spaces between classrooms, McFall said. The U.S Department of Defense’s education arm, which oversees construction of schools on military bases, mandated this type of design for the Hanscom school. “They did a lot of research, and they’re convinced of it—their analysis shows a true benefit,” McFall said.

Having hubs and breakout rooms “is the catalyst to change… an eruptor that makes you think something else is possible,” said resident Jen Holleran. “This is a generational opportunity.”

The Capital Planning Committee is now researching long-term operating costs for the various options, which would include estimating the financial value of making a greater up-front investment in a more sustainable design, Finance Committee chair Andy Payne said. Any savings on current utility costs would not help pay down the bond but would show up in slower growth in the school’s annual operating costs, he said.

Following the presentation, residents were asked to specify their two favorite options to help the School Building Committee gauge how many concepts should be presented for a vote on June 9. In 2012, the SBC offered only one option for an up-or-down vote that failed to garner the required two-thirds majority, “and we will not make the same mistake—we feel like we have to bring that choice to you,” said Selectman and former SBC chair Jennifer Glass.

Community center

Workshop attendees then saw the three latest concepts for a community center located on the Hartwell side of campus and were asked for feedback on paper. (The fourth concept on the Community Center Preliminary Planning and Design Committee website—putting the facility in renovated Smith school space—is no longer being considered.)

All are 23,000 square feet and include renovation of any remaining standalone Hartwell pods. Scheme 3 calls for having the community center linked to all three pods, with a resulting total cost ($13.5 million to $16.5 million) lower than the estimate for the other two options (both $15 million to $18 million).

There will be a multi-board meeting to discuss more details of how to finance the campus projects on Monday, April 30.

Letter to the editor: support new efforts on diversity and inclusion

To the editor:

In the wake of the Boston Globe article on METCO’s experience in Lincoln-Sudbury, a group of parents met to talk about their racial experiences in Lincoln. Many were past members of the METCO Coordinating Committee (MCC), some were parents of Lincoln children of color, and some from First Parish.

The group learned of a day when Lincoln demonstrated in support of the METCO program as it tackled racial disparities and created opportunities for our children to receive a diverse education. We learned of social events with Boston parents and a robust MCC that fostered relationships among Boston and Lincoln children. While some residents still hold these aspirations for our town and some provide unusual support for refugees, those days are not these days.

For over eight years, only three or four volunteers have carried out the work of the MCC. These parents labor with few resources, fewer chaperones, and limited funds to create healthy relationships for our school children. Challenges around communication, permission slips, scheduling, and transportation burden their social planning. They work creatively, but the number of social-educational opportunities is declining.

From the Lincoln parents of children of color, we heard heart-breaking stories of hate speech and hurt on the athletic fields, in classrooms, in Lincoln play spaces, and within our family organizations. Lincoln children have been put on “the Boston bus” because their race or ethnicity matched; classroom discussions of the Civil War have presented slaves as “the workers,” and playdates were offered to a white family but not to a parent of color who was equally new to town.

This group was welcomed by Lincoln school and town leaders who listened to and resonated with the need for a new generation of advocates to rebirth Lincoln’s investment in equity and inclusion. Dr. Darnisa Amante of the Disruptive Equity Education Project (DEEP) trains advocates to facilitate difficult conversations about diversity, and Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall is working with DEEP to train her leadership team through self-reflective small groups.

Welcome, inclusion, diversity and equity, of course, are not just school issues; they are town values. Our churches, athletic teams, recreation programs, social clubs, and town government should be places that ensure safety and offer discussions on difference.

Lincoln needs a new generation of social advocates to support its values of equity and inclusion. The DEEP website describes this work. A local foundation is interested in supporting such an endeavor, but it is looking for a financial investment from the Lincoln community. This note is to ask for your help to raise $12,000 to support this important work.

The METCO Coordinating Committee will sponsor these groups and can receive your donations. Please make checks payable to LINCOLN MCC and mark it for “The DEEP Project” (to distinguish it from their summer camp scholarship fundraising), and mail them to PO BOX 393, Lincoln, MA 01773.

Thank you for your investment in helping to create this important resource.

Sincerely,

Nick Covino (15 Mackintosh Lane, Lincoln) on behalf of Pilar Doughty, Moha Desai, Erica Gonella, Erin Muirhead, and 20 Lincoln neighbors

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.