Hello Lincoln, As a resident of the Town of Lincoln for @20 years who now resides in 01776 I can tell you it was always a struggle to read these discussions and know my voice is not really wanted. It is not what the town expects to have someone who gives a view that overturns the apple cart. So here I go again for the last time. Lincoln needs a Community Center, period. LEAP is a great program for working parents, my son was there for the early years and had a GREAT experience. The staff has always been at the highest level of care to the kids, including kids in sports, arts, and whatever other activities are needed for an afterschool program. People want to discuss the school commitment but yet forget the TOWN rejected State help to make it happen many years ago and ended up having to pay out of pocket to build a school that needed to be built. Even then they built as cheap as they could by building on the existing foundation(still @$93 Million dollars). So now we want to talk about a Community Center that will assist everyone. I have witnessed families who needed help in the Town suffer because they did not have these types of resources to provide a community area, shuttling people to Concord or Lexington is not a real option. So PAYING OUT OF POCKET FOR PRIVATE CARE was the only option to those families who pay taxes and respect the town. My guess is many who experience the same wish they had an area where people could meet to have a community atmosphere to help assume some of those costs and allow their parents to have a group who came out of the same experiences in life. Reminiscing on your life is part of getting old, sharing those experiences with others helps them stay young. People want to talk and talk and talk about solutions but not realize the real problem is not addressing the fact the problem is the community that does not want to help address the issues on the table. I defer to people like John Mendelson on the road issue (sorry John but I know you are best to inform the community on that issue) because he knows the real issues about bikes and the roads in Lincoln, but he has to resort to sarcasm to make his point. If Lincoln cared about the people more than the land it resides on it would say they want to offer a sustainable center for the community that is not a garden or saving the frogs or not allowing planes to take off or land at Hanscom. If the community really cared it would have built a new school BEFORE the ceilings leaked water on a fire detector at the front desk area and the toilets flooded on a regular basis as I PERSONALLY witnessed as my son progressed from Smith to Brooks where he was able to spend one year in the new facility which still did not build a new basketball court surface in the Brooks Gym. My grandfather used a riddle that he shared with all of his grandkids (and yes I all know this was not his creation but from Greek Mythology): What has one voice but goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening? He taught us a lesson that we understood as he suffered from Alzheimer's and my grandmother had to care for him which eventually took years and time off of her great and kind life. It is OUR job in society to plant the tree and care for our children and the elderly and that means providing a Community Center and cover the costs I am sure many in the town can afford. My suggestion is the Town and the people figure out how to plant a tree to provide the shade for those who will become old at some point by paying when they can, because as a Town you kicked the pooch on the School issue and kids suffered because the people of the Town could not realize a community means more than your garden and frogs. Do not make that mistake again, work as a community to figure out the solution and it does not mean putting the elderly in Bemis Hall basement and the LEAP kids in the attic of Pierce House.
All the Best,John Gregg01776
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