Yes, you read it right. A glance at the school calendar posted on the refrigerator said that October is Gay History Month at Natick High School. I wondered how the School Committee came to agreement on this one. And the other day, I posted a few questions, which came to mind.
“We were referred to the safety committee and selectmen, we’ve done the best we can. We’ve spent hundreds of hours on this,” she said. “Before people were saying it’s too short, now they’re saying it’s too long. There’s nothing else we can do at this point but see what Town Meeting says.”
Is Jeanne trying to craft an adjustment to the traffic lights at the Oak St. intersection, or maybe explain why the rail trail isn’t as good as what they have in other towns? Afraid not. I think maybe her neighbor’s dog has been bothering her quilting project.
It’s not easy, trying to legislate noisy neighbors, especially if you have to balance politics with it. (music from the neighbor’s guitar vs TCAN , or a neighbor’s lawn mower vs the one on the golf course, for example.) Of course to make matters even more silly, the Metrowest Daily News found the whole thing to be the most important piece of news today, and it was the headline on the front page of the Sunday paper.
It certainly has to make one ask if there’s something unusual in the Natick water. Wait, ignore that, or they might want to send out an RFP to hire a firm to poll the residents on what they think of noise. After all, there can never be too many frivolous ways to spend money.
Natick has approved the painting of a mural on the back wall of Building 19, I read in today’s newspaper. I think it’s a wonderful idea. The fact that when they built the school, they didn’t leave the trees and bushes which surrounded the property in place, thus made this necessary.
I remember for many years, there was a historical mural on the wall outside the auditorium at Kennedy Middle School. Painted by students in the early 1970’s it was a piece that gave the building a sense of tradition. I recall seeing it in the ’80s, and again in the ’90s, and I’m sure there were a lot of parents who went to see events in the building, who fondly remembered it from their childhood.
The last time I was in the school, for a Holiday pageant, it was gone. I guess traditions were made to be broken by those who have no sense of place, in a town, especially if they didn’t grow up here.
Nice display of furniture, kind of a Jetsons look. Look carefully, and you can see a lady coming toward the camera with a notebook under her arm. A couple of minutes after I took this picture, she came up to me and asked who I was. I told her I was a Natick neighbor, and she said, “taking pictures of the Mall is not allowed”. Ok, so what you see here, is all I have.
I like to follow the rules. But if you click on the picture, you can see more of what I got away with!
For those who think Natick is getting the ultimate in upscale and chic dining, don’t bother holding your breath. The Cheescake Factory is another chain, with 130 locations nationwide. They have a lot of selections on the menu, many very greasy. Which is why it tastes so good.
By the way, what happened to Nicholas? I saw a for lease sign there last week.
From today’s newspaper, comes the result of a poll of a little over 1000 of Natick’s 13,000 households. I’ll reprint the story first, then provide a link to the actual survey in PDF format. Those who would argue loudly for a new parking garage downtown, and spending money to buy and develop a two mile path running behind Bernardi Honda and a few homes, aka “rail trail” will be surprised that most residents aren’t interested in that “vision” but more concerned with education. Here’s the article:
“Natick residents value safety and education, survey finds
By Andrew J. Manuse/Daily News staff
Thu Sep 27, 2007, 01:05 PM EDT
Natick -
Most people move here and stay because of a low crime rate and the quality of schools; and they also enjoy the low tax rate, according to a random survey of 1,192 residents.
Kansas-based ETC Institute administered the strategic planning survey in July, and will present the results at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Wilson Middle School auditorium.
Natick’s Strategic Planning Oversight Committee, which is overseeing the Natick 360 process, anticipated 800 responses to the survey, which it commissioned. The 50 percent response rate of 1,192 residents across town has left organizers feeling the entire community is represented by the results, according to Craig Ross, co-chairman of the oversight committee.
Going forward, residents are evenly split on whether property taxes should be raised to cover the cost of public services, the survey found. While 61 percent of the public is willing to consider some increase in taxes, only 20 percent said they would pay more to keep the town from cutting services; 20 percent said they would pay more to cover rising costs, but would accept some service cuts; and 21 percent said the town should mostly cut services, but they would agree to pay modest tax increases.
Among the top priorities for survey respondents were improving educational outcomes for students, building a new high school, maintaining public safety services commensurate with growth, improving traffic flow on major routes and reducing negative impacts on the environment.
“The survey results will be used to inform Natick 360’s five sponsoring boards what the community is thinking,” Ross said.
The committee worked with Blackerby Associates to come up with the strategic options.
All of these efforts are leading to a final Natick 360 report that will state what the town valued historically, deems important currently and wants for its strategic direction in the next five years. The committee is hoping to seek final approval of the report by Thanksgiving from the sponsoring boards - the Board of Selectmen, Planning Board, Finance Committee, School Committee and Conservation Commission. Once the boards approve the report, it will go before spring Town Meeting for adoption.
Town Meeting allocated about $150,000 to Natick 360 and local businesses donated about $39,000 to the process. The money has been used to pay Blackerby and ETC Institute.”
My goodness!! They couldn’t find something important to spend $150,000 on? How about a power washing of the outside of Kennedy Middle School to start? I think you could get that, and new cushions on the auditorium seats for that money. The survey cost over $120 per opinion. Read the PDF to get an idea of the kind of questions 8 percent of the entire town’s households bothered to answer. They certainly aren’t bowled over by what the insiders think is important. Considering most agree a parking garage downtown isn’t a priority, and when you factor in the “I don’t know”, 85 percent aren’t awestruck by a rail trail either. This whole thing was part of an overall plan to maneuver money into projects like the parking garage to benefit a couple of businesses downtown. I’m not sure who’s that important except for the Middlesex Bank, which has connections to some of Natick’s biggest insiders. I have to smile at the results, as I’m sure there are a couple of people who were disappointed their plan didn’t work. There should be lots more people bothered by the waste of $150,000.
Here’s the link to the actual report http://util.wickedlocal.com/s/pdf/naticksupport.pdf
From the Edison News of September 1948, comes this photo of Sherwood Road in Natick, described as all-electric. These homes sold new in 1948 for about $16,000. My family couldn’t afford that much house, thus bought a cape style a half mile away in 1951 for $10,000. The capes were built by a man named Lowell on land formerly owned by Wyman’s Nursery. Here’s the picture of Sherwood, looking pretty sparse of landscaping. This view looks like it was taken from the Speen Street intersection. Post World War II Natick was growing fast.
Click on the picture above, to get to my Flickr pages for more views of the new “Natick” in the early evening.
Metrowest has never seen such beautiful landscaping. The new entrance to Natick on Speen Street is best seen in the early evening when the lights come on. The new Mall is truly a destination. Even the walkways around the Neiman Marcus building are inviting to anyone who wants to just take a walk.
I like the Nordstrom upright sign just before the tunnel, reminiscent of what were prevelent in downtowns of the thirties. It looks like the Cheesecake Factory will give the Route 9 side a new look too. I can imagine the wait there will be long, once it’s open.
Here’s a view of West Central St downtown, taken around the turn of the century. You can see the Legion building had a billboard on the roof, and the building to the left had a great Coca Cola ad painted on it’s bricks. 
The Cochituate Rail Trail Committee sent out the following to all those who may be interested. Sounds like they’re having fun, and maybe the hard-core ‘trailers’ in Natick would like to join this cult. Are there any energetic conservationists/environmentalists out there ready for a few brewskis? (you know who you are!) Anyway, here’s the message.
“Hello Everyone,
Who here likes beer? Well great, because John Harvard’s has just finished brewing a batch of their famous Rail Trail Ale!
This is the 3rd brewing of Rail Trail Ale, described as a hand-crafted medium bodied Brown Ale. In addition to serving Rail Trail Ale on tap, a limited number of 1 Liter bottles are available with a special peel off label. These take-home bottles are unique, and make a great gift for rail
trail fans.
John Harvard’s has been a dedicated supporter of the Cochituate Rail Trail and donates a portion of profits from Rail Trail Ale towards the development of the trail. During the past year, proceeds from Rail Trail Ale have totaled nearly $5,000.
So come down to John Harvard’s, enjoy a pint of Rail Trail Ale, and show your support for the CRT!!!
John Harvard’s Brew House is located in Shopper’s World Plaza, 1 Worcester Road, Framingham.
Thanks,
Framingham Cochituate Rail Trail Committee”
I was reading the MetroWest Daily News online today, with http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/x801796304
this story about bow hunting on town land. I wonder if anyone would entertain the idea of bow hunting on rail trail land, since wilderness is getting scarce in Natick? After all, wasn’t there a question about how off-road vehicles might be tearing through the land now?
I wondered how Framingham was doing with their volunteer efforts to keep the rail trail clean, and found it to be an enjoyable strole yesterday. I parked in the Carousel Office park and walked across Old Conn Path, to it’s entrance. People may not know, but Framingham got the trail for free, courtesy of the Mass Turnpike Authority and the MBTA. I wonder why Natick officials have spent these past several years maneuvering mitigation funds, as well as trying to hoist a CPA tax on the residents, when they could have asked for the same kind of consideration of the state.
Just a few thoughts for the readers.
