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

Two commercial properties moving toward next chapter

By Alice Waugh

Two prominent commercial properties in South Lincoln will see some changes—and perhaps new tenants—in the coming months.

152 Lincoln Rd., formerly occupied by the Cambridge Trust Co. until the branch closed its doors last year, was purchased in November by Cambridge West Partners for $1,015,000. Meanwhile, the new owners of the mansard-roofed building at 2 Lewis St. are continuing renovations they began after they bought it from Sejfi Protopapa in November 2015 for $850,000.

152 Lincoln Rd.

The new owner at 152 Lincoln Rd. has hired KeyPoint Partners to find a replacement occupant for the 3,375-square-foot space in a building that is also home to Barrett Sotheby’s International Realty and other tenants. Decades ago, the Community Store, Lincoln’s grocery store before the mall across the street was built, occupied the entire building, which was faced with pink stucco.

Although the Cambridge Trust Co. is obviously set up as a bank, many kinds of businesses would work there, said KeyPoint’s Michael Branton. “Because it’s a fully built-out bank branch with teller stations and a drive-up window, a financial services tenant could move in easily. However, the property is suitable for a variety of uses, from retail to professional services to office,” he said.

The distinctive Lewis Street property, also known as the Wyman Cook House dating from 1870, currently has four commercial tenants, though one of them—a field office of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)—will leave in the spring now that its work overseeing the Route 2 project is almost complete. The other three businesses (the Lincoln Barber Shop, Lincoln Town Cleaners and the Travel Station) are tenants at will, and “everyone can stay as long as they’d like to,” said Christina Van Vleck, who co-owns the building with her husband David Nydam Jr.

Back in South Lincoln’s commercial heyday, the building was home to a post office and general store. More recent tenants have included a ski and bike shop, a cafe, and educational software company Lexia Learning Systems.

2 Lewis St.

The top two floors have been vacant for years, and the Van Vlecks are renovating it with the goal of moving their family into the 2,800-square-foot space. They’re also planning some work on the exterior, including exterior paintwork to change the familiar mint green. “We will definitely paint it a new color, which will be a welcome change for everyone,” Van Vleck said with a laugh. Depending on budget, future plans may include replacing the vestibule that was “pasted in the front of the building” with a more traditional front porch, and replacing the aluminum siding with wood or fiber cement siding.

Once the Van Vlecks and their three-year-old move in, “we hope to participate more actively by being landlords and helping foster businesses,” said Van Vleck, a graphic designer who works out of her home.

The Van Vlecks are talking to potential tenants for the 1,900-square-foot space currently occupied by MassDOT and hope to have one in place by early summer. “We very much hope that the building provides space for business owners living in Lincoln or neighboring communities to work close to home and, ideally, provides a service that meets a need within the local community,” Van Vleck said.

Early voting will probably cost the town starting in 2018

Lincoln had a very successful early voting turnout in 2016—so successful that there will have to be some voting adjustments and probably expenditures made before the next biennial election in 2018.

At almost 41 percent, Lincoln had the fifth-highest early voting turnout in Massachusetts in 2016, the first year in which early voting became available here. Municipalities are required to offer early voting during elections in even-numbered years for at least two weeks before Election Day. The measure is intended to maximize overall voter turnout and minimize crowd at polling places on the day, but Lincoln experienced some unintended consequences in November, as Town Clerk Susan Brooks explained to the Board of Selectmen on January 9.

Early voting was conducted in a conference room in the Town Office Building that proved barely adequate to the task. Handicapped regulations require a clearance of at least 36 inches from the AutoMARK handicapped-accessible voting machine, “and we had an inch to spare,” Brooks said.

Then, on the last day of early voting, monitors from the General Accounting Office appeared, “and we had to squeeze sideways down the hall” to get past a line of voters—right around the time a busload of senior citizens from The Commons arrived to vote. “There was a lot of traffic,” Brooks said.

Ideally, the location for early voting would be a lockable room large enough to accommodate the voting equipment so it doesn’t have to be wheeled back into secure storage at the end of each day, and it should also be centrally located and handicapped-accessible. The obvious choice, Brooks said, is the Donaldson Room. Since town government meetings are often held there at night, those meetings would probably have to take place in the Hartwell multipurpose room during the early-voting period, she said.

Another problem that arose during the November election was the strain on the staff of the Town Clerk’s office, Brooks said. Early voting “really makes your election a 16- or 17-day event, and whether we can continue to do it with an all-volunteer workforce [at the polls on Election Day] is a hard choice we need to be looking at… There’s a lot of enthusiasm for being election workers, but there’s a difference between volunteers and people who are paid to understand and administer election law.”

On Election Day, volunteers check voters in and out while the Town Clerk’s staff is on hand to deal with more complicated issues such as researching inactive voters, providing provisional ballots and having affidavits signed. “We were averaging one voter interaction every three minutes for all 100 hours that office was open,” with the result that the office’s other work got backed up, Brooks said. 

Lincoln is unusual in having election workers who are unpaid, so beginning with the 2018 election, the town will probably have to hire trained poll for the early voting period “who can be held accountable more intensively than our volunteer staff,” Brooks said. How much this will cost is anyone’s guess at this point, but she said her office will begin researching the issue.

State funding almost certainly will not available to offset some of this expense. The legislation was “artfully crafted” to avoid having the extra costs of early voting appear in the town’s expenses, since the Town Clerk’s staff is salaried and thus not eligible for overtime pay, Brooks said.

A third issue with early voting is electioneering policy. Current law prohibits displaying political signs or “attempts at political persuasion” within 150 feet of a polling place, but the Town Office Building is not considered a polling place. Also, the building is tricker to police than the Smith gym because it is a multi-floor building with two entrances as well as stairwells, conference rooms and other locations.

Selectmen disagreed about electioneering rules for the Town Office Building. Brooks proposed a policy that would prohibit electioneering within 16 feet of the outside entrances as well as in various foyers and hallways but that did not explicitly cover the entire interior of the building. Selectman Peter Braun proposed simplifying the language to prohibit electioneering anywhere inside the building as well as within 16 feet of the entrances.

But Selectman Renel Fredriksen objected to the amendment. “My concern is it could limit a couple of employees on the second floor from having a [political] conversation,” she said. “I basically object to doing more than we need to.”

The amended policy passed by a 2-1 vote, with Fredriksen voting against it.

Ms. G gets ready to strut her stuff

The incomparable Ms. G.

Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary is set to host their annual Groundhog Day event on Thursday, Feb. 2. Watch Ms. G, the Official State Groundhog of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, deliver her 10th prognostication.

The live groundhog forecast starts at 10 a.m., followed by winter activities such as meeting Drumlin Farm’s resident wildlife, exploring its trails, and learning how to identify animal tracks in the snow. Hot cocoa will be provided.

Featured Programs:

  • Learn the forecast for spring’s arrival from our woodchuck weather expert
  • Visit our resident wildlife and farm animals
  • Meet Don McCasland of Blue Hill Observatory Science Center
  • Learn about winter tracking
  • Make winter crafts to take home
  • Purchase produce grown right at Drumlin Farm

Admission is $9 for adults, and $6 for children ages 2–12 and seniors (free for Mass Audubon members). Activities are free with admission.

Arrow-nautical birds (Lincoln Through the Lens)

Geese huddle in a V formation. Photo by Harold McAleer

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

Obituary: Setha Olson, 87

Setha Olson

Setha G. Olson of Lincoln, formerly of Lexington, passed away on Jan. 13, 2017, leaving behind her husband of nearly 60 years, Eric Olson; her four children, Matt, Margaret, Sigrid and Charles Olson; and four grandchildren, Katherine and Erik Svetlichny, Benjamin and Peter Price-Olson.

From the day she was born, on June 18, 1929, Setha was always fiercely independent and highly intelligent. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in chemistry in 1951. She went to work as a polymer research chemist for Hercules Powder Co., registering many patents in the course of her work. She developed a rubber related to the one used in Super Balls and other toys, marveling that the bouncy polymers had finally found a commercial use.

After marrying Eric Olson, Setha left her job to raise four children and continued her interest in science. She was an active member of the League of Women Voters and was a leader in finding new methods of state financing for education, doing the mathematical analysis for their effort. She was an active advocate for services to the intellectually disabled and people with autism, helping to enact Chapter 766, the Massachusetts law for the education of people with autism, as well as later laws for the provision of services to the intellectually disabled.

When her children were in their teens, Setha returned to her chemistry career, working in microphotolithography for GCA Corp., a manufacturer of semiconductor equipment. She became a well-known figure in the field throughout the world. Upon retirement, she traveled extensively, visiting the Galapagos, Antarctica and Peru, trekking in the Himalayas and following the Silk Road. She will be greatly missed.

A private family funeral service will be held followed by interment at Westview Cemetery in Lexington. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Lurie Center for Autism.

Corrections and additions

  • In the January 17 article about the Winter Carnival, two events were listed under the wrong day. The PTO Bingo Night and the Multi-generational Singalong are on Friday, Jan. 27, not Saturday.
  • In the January 17 News Acorns, an item describing a January 26 event on civil disobedience with Jason and Jessica Packineau omitted one of the speakers. Jeffrey S. Cramer, Curator of Collections at Walden Woods Project and Thoreau, will speak about civil disobedience and how it relates to us today.
  • The Council on Aging has announced a new time for one of its January activities and a new activity. “World Hand Drumming for Fun and Well-being” has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 9:30 a.m. Jai Kaur (Annamaria San Antonio) will offer—as a gift or by donation—”Therapeutic Mini-Massage” on Friday, Jan. 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Bemis Hall.

The articles and related calendar events have been updated to reflect these changes.

 

News acorns

Inauguration Day meditation

The Lincoln Meditation Group will hold a special sitting on Friday, Jan. 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library’s Tarbell Room for the well-being of all people, the environment and our country. We will sit in silence, read a poem or two, and offer metta (prayers) for peace for all beings. Everyone is invited.

Talk on civil disobedience by Standing Rock visitors

Lincoln residents Jason and Jessica Packineau will lead a discussion about their recent activities at the Standing Rock in North Dakota and give a talk titled “What Role Does Civil Disobedience Play in Modern-day America?” and Jeffrey S. Cramer, Curator of Collections at Walden Woods Project and Thoreau, will speak about civil disobedience and how it relates to us today.]on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library. This lecture is part of the Thoreau Bicentennial Statewide Read Program. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau’s birth.

Film screening to benefit girls’ school in Afghanistan

Students Together Empowering Women, a club at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, will host a viewing of the documentary What Tomorrow Brings on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. in the L-S auditorium. The film tells the story of Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation in Afghanistan. The foundation and the school it supports embrace and promote education as the key to positive, peaceful change for current and future generations, empowering Afghan girls and young women to work toward bright futures in their own villages and beyond. Tickets are $8 for students and $15 for adults, and all proceeds will be donated to the Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation.

Adult ed and test prep classes at L-S

Registration is now open for adult and teen classes on test prep, interviewing and completing college applications as well as creative arts, fitness, home and garden, and financial matters. Click here for the catalog.

Climate change film at St. Anne’s

There will be a showing of the film Merchants of Doubt at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church on Tuesday, Jan. 31 as part of the church’s ongoing series of films on climate justice. This film examines the role of the fossil fuel industry in distorting and denying the science on climate change over several decades in order to prevent meaningful regulation of carbon emissions. It will help give a perspective on the choices the incoming administration is making for key cabinet posts like EPA and the Secretary of State.

A simple vegetarian soup supper will be served at 6:30 p.m. and the film will begin at 7 p.m. Donations will be accepted to help with the cost of screening rights.

Community discussion on book by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Come to a Lincoln/METCO community book discussion about Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates on Wednesday, Feb. 1 from 6-8:30 p.m. in the Brooks gym. The discussion will be facilitated by Lincoln School English teachers Hillary Skelton and Jenny Nam, as well as Jaime Moody, the school’s METCO academic advisor. The event will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner, but feel free to come anytime, as there will be various points at which late-comers can easily join the discussion. Please pre-register on the Lincoln METCO website.

Winter Carnival begins next Friday

Lincoln’s annual Winter Carnival kicks off on Friday, Jan. 27 with a showing of movie The Last Waltz and wraps up on Sunday, Jan. 27 with “CSI Lincoln: Tales from Police Blotters Past.” See this list or the Lincoln Squirrel calendar for a full list of activities.

Weekend-long activities

Snow Sculpture Contest 
Design and build a winter sculpture in your own front yard. Call to register with Parks & Recreation by 5 p.m. on Saturday (781 259-0784). Judging will take place on Sunday morning with awards to the best in show and superlative awards to all, so get creative!

Discover Drumlin Farm in the Winter
Visit our animals in their winter homes, look for wildlife tracks or other signs of animals in the snow, or check out our feeders at our wildlife blind by the deer enclosure. Drop-in naturalist programs take place on Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.. Free admission for residents. Call 781-259-2200 for more information.

Friday, Jan. 27

Generational Sing-Along for Kids and Seniors
3:30 p.m., Bemis Hall 
The LEAP After-School Program, the Lincoln Council on Aging, and Magic Garden Children’s Center invite residents of all ages to enjoy a free multigenerational Concert and Sing-Along! The program will include performances from each of the organizations and an audience sing-along at the end.

Lincoln PTO Family Bingo Night
5:30–7:30 p.m., Brooks Gym 
Come celebrate 10 years of Family Bingo Night with even more chances to win! Prizes awarded for each winning bingo board, awesome raffle prizes and free give-aways. Pizza dinner sales start at 5:30 p.m., with snacks and drinks available for purchase all night. Open to all. Free entry. Bingo cards are $5 for a 20-game multi-pack; raffle tickets are $1 each, six for $5, and 15 for $10.

FoMA Movie Night: Scorsese’s The Last Waltz 
7-9 p.m. Bemis Hall 
Step back in time to enjoy a defining rock event, the 1976 farewell concert of seminal rock group The Band. The film captures the aura that includes guest appearances by Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton and more. The New Yorker calls it “the most beautiful rock film ever made.”

Saturday, Jan. 28

Girl Scout Pancake Breakfast 
8-11 a.m., Stone Church
Start your Saturday off with some delicious pancakes with real maple syrup. $5 children under 12, $10 ages 12+, $30 family max. Plain, blueberry, chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup along with coffee, tea, orange juice, and fruit. Face painting and crafts for kids, and Girl Scout cookies will be on sale.

Snow Shoe Tours 
10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum 
Enjoy nature and art in winter and discover a fun and active way to explore the Sculpture Park. Tours are led by a deCordova Museum Guide and a trained EMS instructor. Visit decordova.org/calendar to purchase tickets. Adults: $15 for members or $25 for non-members plus $12 for snowshoe rental. Youths 8-18: $12 for members, $20 for non-members plus $12 for snowshoe rental.

Magic Garden Preschool Fun
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Magic Garden Children’s Center 
Come visit with friends and neighbors and enjoy carnival games, and arts and crafts activities. Located in the Hartwell building on the Lincoln School campus.

Community Skating and Bonfire 
Open skating, 12-1:30 p.m.; pick-up hockey, 1:30-3 p.m.
Cemetery Pond, Lexington Road
Enjoy skating, hot chocolate, and toasted marshmallows by the campfire. Bring your skates. Check www.lincolnrec.com for weather updates.

Lincoln Holistic Wellness Fair 
Noon to 3 p.m., Bemis Hall 
Lincoln wellness practitioners are hosting a drop-in “clinic” to help you learn about alternative/complementary medicine while experiencing a respite from cold, stress, or illness. Receive mini-treatments/assessments in acupuncture, therapeutic massage, foot reflexology, holistic nutrition, yoga, therapeutic touch, dowsing, Alexander technique and more. Healthy warm teas, muffins and treats will be available. Contact Jai Kaur Annamaria at asanajai@verizon.net with questions. 

LFA Energy Blaster
3-5 p.m., Brooks Gym 
Join your friends (and their parents) and burn some energy! Jump in a bounce house, create some art and try your skill at a variety of fun indoor games. Bring cash to enjoy healthy snacks. Fun and prizes for all! Free for Lincoln Family Association ’17 members; otherwise $10 per child. An LFA membership or renewal at the door includes admission, or renew now at www.lincfam.org.

Acoustic Coffeehouse 
7-10 p.m., Bemis Hall 
Lincoln’s annual night to showcase local musicians and performers. Coffee and desserts will be served. Seating reservations can be made at www.lincolnrec.com. Reservation for a table of eight is $160; general admission is $10. Doors open at 7 p.m. Seasoned performers and fresh talent are lined up, so come join us for a treasured community event!

Sunday, Jan. 29

Lindsay and Doodle, one of her puppet pals.

Lindsay and Her Puppet Pals
2-3 p.m., Lincoln Public Library 
Lindsay Aucella’s highly interactive, comedic performances feature larger-than-life, hand-crafted puppets to charm even the most timid audience members and provide memorable characters for positive short stories and skits. All ages.

Make Your Own Elf/Fairy Garden 
10:30 a.m. to noon, Carriage House at deCordova 
The title says it all… a great new event for children, so come join us! Sponsored by the Lincoln Nursery School and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

CSI Lincoln: Tales From Police Blotters Past 
3-5 p.m., Bemis Hall 
Don’t miss this chance to hear fascinating stories about dramatic events in Lincoln, such as the famous unsolved case of a missing woman and an infamous drug raid, as told by Chiefs Arena, Bowles, Mooney and Kennedy. Presented by the Lincoln Historical Society.

L-S invites community members to give career talks

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School is looking for community members to talk to students this spring about their career paths and the educational and professional requirements for their respective fields.

The 2016-17 speaker series began in November and has hosted speakers who work in engineering, mental health, banking, finance, alternative medicine, entrepreneurship and media/TV/film. The sessions occur in the Career Center at L-S during the Friday lunch block from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“Students stay for as long as they can and they have the opportunity to ask questions that will hopefully clarify the skills, values, and temperament needed to be successful in a given field,” said L-S Vocational Coordinator Andrea Falzone. “Our hope is that these sessions will expand students’ awareness of the wide range of career opportunities that exist.” Speakers do not need to have a current or former student at the high school.

Future speakers and tentative dates are below. For more information, contact Falzone at andrea_falzone@lsrhs.net.

  • January 27 — Sheila Webber, organizational behavior/industrial psychology
  • February 3 — Sheryl Kelleher, nurse practitioner and professor of nursing
  • February 10 — Dawn Solowey, lawyer
  • February 17 — Jinny Van Deusen, marketing/communications/development/nonprofits
  • March 3 — Sarah Davis, media/journalism/TV
  • March 10 — Alan Greenblatt, software development/entrepreneurship
  • March 17 — Lincoln Police Chief Kevin Kennedy, criminal justice
  • March 24 — Samantha Truex, biotech
  • March 31 — Marcia Ackley, civil engineering
  • April 7 — Jeanne Rosier-Smith, artist

Town to grapple once again with future of school project

At Town Meeting in March, residents will have yet another chance to chart a course for a multimillion-dollar school project—going it alone, or seeking partial state funding for the fifth time. But barring a major crisis at the Lincoln School, state funding is looking increasingly unlikely as the competition for grants gets fiercer by the year.

Lincoln won a $21 million grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority in 2009, contingent on a two-thirds majority approval from residents at Town Meeting—but that eventual 2012 vote fell short. The town has reapplied three times since then and been turned down each time. Just before Christmas, officials learned that the town was again denied entry into the state school funding pipeline.

As Lincoln officials are now realizing, the 2009 MSBA approval was at least partly a matter of luck because the MSBA as a funding entity had been created only the year before, and Lincoln was ready to pounce because it had recently done a facilities study and thus happened to have its “ducks in a row” more than many competing towns, School Committee Chair Jennifer Glass said at the January 9 Board of Selectmen meeting.

Glass and other Lincoln officials learned through recent conversations with the MSBA that nowadays, there is a “very high bar” for getting state funding approval. Most schools that were invited into the funding pipeline last year have a major structural deficiency to the extent that the building is uninhabitable (for example, a collapsed roof or flooding in the entire building), severe overcrowding, or a threatened loss of accreditation. This is something that usually happens only to high schools, Glass noted, and it was a significant factor in Minuteman High School getting its $44 million state pledge last year.

Each year, the MSBA evaluates a new set of applications; there is no waiting list or preference for schools like Lincoln’s that have previously won approval. “It’s a clean slate every year,” Glass said. “Our applications are very through and they understand our needs… we haven’t done anything wrong since [2009].”

Glass asked the selectmen to hold spots for two Town Meeting warrant questions: whether to reapply for MSBA funding, and whether to begin pursuing a town-funded project by spending $750,000 appropriated by voters in 2015 on a feasibility study. Theoretically, the town could do both; “we’re welcome to spend $750,000 of our own money and reapply [to the MSBA, but] if we were invited in, that feasibility study would be put on the shelf and we would start again,” since the state would require a newer one, Glass said.

Performing the feasibility study “does not commit us to any certain project or dollar amount,” Glass said. The final study would have to focus on one design for the school, but this time, there could be the “missing step [where we] narrow the choice down with a lot of public input,” Selectmen Peter Braun said. One reason cited for the 2012 defeat is that residents did not have enough say about the proposed project’s building and campus design, and many objected to the proposal for compromising the circular central ballfield.

“We need to put all the choices out there and let the people tell us,” Brain said.

Beginning with a multi-board meeting on Monday, Jan. 30, there will be a series of public conversations to consider the town’s options and to understand the choices in the context of Lincoln’s priorities and finances. These conversations will be ongoing; everyone’s input and questions are needed, and residents are encouraged to attend as many sessions as possible.

The schedule is as follows:

  • January 30 — Multi-board meeting, 7 p.m., Brooks Gym. This will be a joint meeting of the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee.
  • February 10 — Council on Aging public forum, , 12:30 p.m., Bemis Hall. Superintendent Becky McFall and School Committee Chair Jennifer Glass will discuss the Town Meeting warrant articles related to a building project, and give an overview of the FY18 school operating budget. In addition, Town Administrator Tim Higgins will give an overview of the FY18 town budget.
  • March 8 — Multi-board public forum, 7 p.m., location TBD — Hosted by the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee.
  • March 17 — Council on Aging public forum, 12:30 p.m., Bemis Hall. Superintendent Becky McFall and School Committee Chair Jennifer Glass will discuss the Town Meeting warrant articles related to a building project.