Around Natick

Last year, because of water damage over a lot of years caused large chunks of the Speen Street bridge to loosen and fall onto the train tracks below.

I would have expected that this instance would have triggered an investigation of the condition of the other bridges in town that go over the tracks. I guess not. For this is how the surface of the Boden Lane bridge looks now, and I don’t see any capital being allocated to it’s repair.

The Administration receives advice from the DPW on what the town’s most pressing needs are for Capital each year. Town Meeting votes approval for the expense.

Was it more important for town meeting to vote to spend $315,000 on a vacant lot on Mechanic St last year? Insiders with influence, like Selectman Joshua Ostroff, have ideas on this lot becoming a parking area for the rail trail someday. I guess their special interest is more important than current public safety. Meanwhile, water continues to leak between the exposed boards, weakening the bridge that gets many hundreds, if not thousands every day.

Here’s another view, up close.

The nails are starting to poke up through the boards. I bet they’re of historical interest. The Administrator may want to hire a consultant and name a committee to study the issue.  Isn’t that what they usually do when they don’t want to deal with an issue?

A couple of years ago, I thought Natick should make efforts to improve the streetscapes, by undergrounding utilities along many of the major roads through town. The section of Route 135 in the Henry Wilson district was an opportunity lost when the state made over that stretch of road. Another lost opportunity was the Speen Street improvements, and many blamed the failure on the fact that the bylaw I advocated for, hadn’t taken effect yet. Some would say you can’t make people improve things unless you legislate it. Others said (falsly) that the undergrounding of utilities would cost the homeowners huge increases in the electric bills as the utilities are regulated against passing along most of the cost.  I think the figure was a maximum 3 percent increase for such a project.

When examples to be admired, such as Wellesley’s undergrounding which makes a drive down any major route in that town a pleasure, were pointed out, some offered the excuse that Wellesley generates it’s own electricity, so they can afford it. Again, a false generalization intended to dismiss the idea as beyond Natick’s ability.

I began to wonder why Natick doesn’t have much influence when it comes to obtaining these kinds of improvements the way other towns can.  Grafton and Shrewsbury have also undertaken major undergrounding efforts in recent years.  Maybe we have officials who work for the cable companies and utilities. Maybe our state rep is ineffective. Maybe we don’t have the desire to improve the way our town looks to the commuter who just passes through.

Then I realized that maybe if Natick could begin a process of taking over control of it’s own resources, maybe eventually a drive up North Main Street could look as nice as a drive along Route 16 in Wellesley Hills. Look no further than the town now run by Phil Lemnios, our former leader. Hull Massachusetts has the right idea. Click on this link and read about a better way to do things.

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2345

A series of wind turbines in Natick could be the start of something big. There’s enough open space to do it, and the benefits are enormous. Only time will tell if the sincerity of those who express support for roadside improvement is there.

Here’s a view of the Route 27 Shopping Center from the early 1970s. There used to be a Thom McAnn Shoe store on the corner, where we’d get our new shoes to go back to school. It’s now home to Panera Bread. The Woolworths, which was located in the middle, just before the Stop & Shop was huge. Back in the early ’60s you could find all sorts of great toys in here, and into the 70’s they even sold Fiestaware dishes. JM Fields was the anchor store, now a Building 19.

Read this story in the Metrowest Daily News online by clicking this link. http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x175007329

Then wonder why in Natick, when the state was in the midst of fixing up Route 135 before turning it over to the town, our Selectmen didn’t think of doing the same. Read more »

Natick residents were told that a large chunk of Natick Mall mitigation money would be dedicated to improvements on Speen Street. Read more »

It’s too bad aesthetics aren’t the motivation when planning improvements in Natick. As one travels through what’s called the Henry Wilson Historic District in downtown Natick, one can’t help but notice the great efforts made to cut gaps through the trees in order to make room for the cablevision and wiring. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts spent several years upgrading the highway called Route 135, then turned it over to the town.
We now have one ugly stretch of road, all the way from the Framingham line to the Wellesley line. With the sole exception being the short section beginning at Main St and ending at Mulligan St. where they undergrounded the wires, removed the poles, and tried to give it a retro look using an old fashioned style lamposts.
I asked about the Speen Street improvements recently completed, wondering why the telephone poles and cables weren’t removed while the opportunity presented itself, and was told by a member of the Planning Board that “the new bylaw about undergrounding hadn’t taken effect yet.”
So much for “planning”, where it takes a bylaw to get improvements to be considered.
This reminds me of the higher standards in our neighboring town of Wellesley. I’ll have to admit I admire their style, and the manner in which they go about it. I often wish my hometown would do the same. I guess it’s envy. I’m sure there are people in Natick who have the same ideals, and wish we had the same abilities. We observe the difference as we travel Rte 135 past the College coming home to Natick, and as soon as the sign says “Natick”, the poles and cables appear, almost like an embarrassment. Every time I drive by the construction on the Rte 16 overpass in Wellesley Hills, I notice the attention being paid to detail. They dismantled the stone abuttments one by one, and numbered them. They widened the road above, then began the meticulous reconstruction, stone by stone, in order to ensure the distinctive Wellesley look. The job has taken a couple of years and counting. But then, we’ve been waiting even longer for our own bridge at Rte 27, haven’t we? Appreciation of roadside aesthetics begins with the relationships a town has with developers, and how strictly Zoning laws are enforced. A town that mixes commercial with residential, over many years, is going to look more like Rte 135 through Natick, than a similar road through Newton.

Don’t we wish that culture change would be as simple as building a Neiman Marcus? The town should take a lesson from the Mall developers and ask why that area is probably the best looking area of town.

As we reflect on the Rte 9 improvements that must happen with the Mathworks expansion, rather than say what’s best for traffic flow is too expensive, or too hard to coordinate, we should take a lesson from the bridge in Wellesley and say “no matter what, this is what would be best.

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 new Natick in front of Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, is remarkably pedestrian friendly, with it’s meandering sidewalk, tucked carefully beyond the reach of traffic on Speen St. behind clumps of birch trees and various plantings. Not so pedestrian friendly, is the section along route 9 as one passes from Natick into Framingham. I’ll call this the Western “Gateway” to Natick. Here’s a view in front of the Container Store looking west. I know, you’ll say there’s a sidewalk beside the road. That’s the problem. Looking a little to the right, there’s a wooded area, and with a bit of pruning and landscaping, that area could be an inviting pedestrian pathway between shopping areas.

Lots of green space could have acted as a buffer from the traffic on Route 9. Here’s the view looking eastward toward “Natick” or “The Collection”, which became the politically correct way of referring to the main shopping district of our town. (For those students in Indianapolis who are doing research for Vera Bradley, kindly email me with your questions on the topic of Natick’s parochialism, if you’d like.) It’s not very inviting nor safe feeling as cars and trucks rush by you on the highway. The green “open space” to the left looks so much more pedestrian friendly, and I can’t help but wonder why our Planners let this slide, forgotten in the many meetings and discussion on how much money should be spent on concrete in front of homes a mile south. Here’s a picture, I’ll call “what if” Natick’s Western Gateway, were as inviting to the pedestrian as the Speen Street, or “Northern Gateway” is today.

Put a few hedges between those trees, and you have a perfect walkway from Natick into Framingham. Or maybe just a stroll on a Sunday afternoon. Add a bike path alongside that sidewalk would have been the perfect touch, and Natick taxpayers wouldn’t even have to shell out a few million for it, like some insiders would have you do for a trail in another section of town.  It seems there are some who pay more attention to the gardener next door and how loud his lawnmower is.

What if? Imagine Natick residents enjoying the rail trail, as you see from this rendering of the area behind Home Depot. The future trail is just a few $million away. Just park in the Naked Fish parking lot, and you could go from there, through and past the old industrial park and the Cloverleaf Condo project, all the way to the railroad bridge that crosses route 9. Then behind lots of homes, until you cross Washington Ave near the Army Labs. Eventually, after passing behind an auto body shop and a few other warehouses, you’ll arrive at the spur that ends at the Natick Rail Station. An amazing trip of a couple of miles behind a lot of people’s houses. Eventually it will get paved and your adventure will last at least 15 minutes. It’s quite an experience for those who want a place to hike or ride their bikes. But is it worth several $million dollars of my tax dollars through a CPA surcharge? Boy am I glad that thing got voted down last year. Now I wonder why they restricted a huge chunk of Mall mitigation money toward the “trail”. It’s not really that exciting.

I wonder how much money it would cost to clean up the Fiske Pond, and build a “Jogging Trail” around it? At least running around a pond is more scenic than biking in people’s backyards along North Main St. Many people would enjoy hiking the town forest, beginning on Oak St. and ending on Bacon St near Marion. And we already own it.

To get a more accurate picture of a local trail’s popularity, pay a visit to the Cochituate branch, now open in Framingham. It’s actually not bicycle friendly. And the access points are few and far between, unless one parks in someone’s driveway. The bigger issue has to do with improvements, upkeep, insurance, lighting, safety, pavement, and probably more details than we can imagine.
For a usable emenity, for what amounts to only half a year, the annual cost to operate is up for much discussion. I’d hate to think the same people who decided what a profit making venture the golf course would be, are going to decide whether or not we spend even a dime on “right of way”. In Natick town officials have been behind the maneuvering to pay for the trail land, either through legislated use of Mall mitigation money, or the attempt to foist the CPA tax on everyone. At least Framingham arranged for the Mass Turnpike Authority and the MBTA to buy it.

I almost forgot. What town department will add rail trail operational costs and upkeep to it’s annual budget?

(Click on the picture for a larger view)
Just one look at this picture says more than any words can describe. Do you think the money assigned to roadway improvements helped this stretch look as nice at the area in front of Neiman Marcus? Maybe if the sidewalk had been enlarged on one side of the street, putting in a buffer of birch and brush, like they did about a 1/2 mile north would have made a difference. As it looks now, the concrete is like the carrot on the stick. And the big bucks a handful of insiders have steered into a special rail trail fund, sits waiting for “their” project.