The Pierce house? I seem to recall tennis star, John McEnroe, having an expression for this ;)
I can’t imagine all the families whose kids participate in town events throughout the year coexisting in the same location - setting aside the traffic congestion and no doubt, everyone’s favorite proposed speed ‘humps’. Vic On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 8:04 PM Peter Buchthal <pbucht...@gmail.com> wrote: > My late father lived till he was 97 and was a big user of his local > Council on Aging. They were fantastic and helped us out is > innumerable ways as my late mother suffered from dementia. My father > enjoyed his weekly senior lunch followed by a competitive game of scrabble > with a local policeman. > > I support all Council on Aging programs, period. > > What I think the Community Center's committee hasn't yet made the case for > is the following: > > 1) Without real average and mean numbers to COA's programs, I can not get > behind the size of program rooms requested to provide all ongoing programs. > The COA has only provided min and max numbers with huge variations that > make over building very likely. Lincoln has a tendency to over build, that > is why our school is much, much larger than we really needed by any > standard. > > 2) The town has yet to disclose other competing capital expenditures in > the pipeline for the town's tax resources. I have heard rumors that we > soon will need to replace the drinking water pipes along many parts of the > town. I have heard other rumors on lincoln talk, that our repaving and > roadside path/bicycle safety wishes may also require additional town > borrowings. > > 3) The arguments for the Hartwell Community Center being made to the town > is a bit of a False Choice. We need to separate building or renovating a > Senior Center of the correct size with "If you don't support this project, > the town will never get a community center/ senior center that meets its > needs." > > I want to build a new or renovated facility that is the correct size for > our Senior Community. I have continuing doubts that it should be on the > Hartwell campus. My late father was a terrible driver and I can't imagine > purposefully placing our young children near senior drivers navigating > parking lots. I keep reading in the newspapers that seniors drivers often > have unintended accidents driving into buildings that involve putting > their foot down on the gas pedal instead of the brake. Why are we > unnecessarily setting ourselves up for a potential tragedy. > > Let's stop this rush to build and build a newly renovated Council on Aging > somewhere else in town like the Pierce House. > > > > Peter Buchthal > 71 Weston > > > > On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 12:12 PM sally kindleberger < > skindleber...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thank you John Gregg for your thoughtful ideas about the Community >> Center. We desperately need a Community Center that meets the needs of the >> *whole >> community.* This Build is a long time coming! If the town votes on a >> 50% or even 75% reduction in size from the original proposed 100% >> it will be a huge mistake. Programs won't be possible in the smaller >> spaces. Why build something that does not meet the needs of the town? And >> prices will only increase over time. If we continue to quibble and bring >> up the same arguments and the same suggestions over and over, again we will >> never have a Community Center. Prices will never come down. We need to >> bite the bullet and build a useful space that works for the community. >> Visit community centers in other towns like Arlington,Bedford, Belmont, >> and Wellesley,(And yes I know these are towns with bigger populations and >> more money.) But we can build something that meets our needs if we just >> do it. There are folks in this town with big houses and expensive cars. >> Let's all dig deep and fund the build. >> >> On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 9:44 AM Laura Crosby <lauracros...@comcast.net> >> wrote: >> >>> Thanks John , a lot to think about here. And yes, a good, well >>> researched plan is being picked apart to such a degree that it may never >>> happen. All of Lincoln could benefit greatly from a Community Center. And >>> it will never cost less than it will if we move forward now. >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> On Sep 14, 2023, at 7:53 AM, john gregg via Lincoln < >>> lincoln@lincolntalk.org> wrote: >>> >>> >>> If you build it they will come. >>> >>> >>> You have services but no facility which makes it harder on the Parks and >>> Rec staff or LEAP to provide quality services to everyone. You build a >>> school with up to date facilities to help encourage people to move to >>> Lincoln with children, you provide elderly services to keep families in the >>> town, or even as families grow older the parents need more assistance and >>> move back with the kids to help provide the necessary help instead of >>> living alone. It gives flexibility and leverage to attract people to the >>> town and then keep those people there instead of chasing people away >>> because the overall view of Lincoln is they are concerned with themselves, >>> not others, not a very diverse community of people live in the town. >>> >>> Lincoln is a beautiful town, lots of history. close to Boston but from >>> the outside people do not want to move to Lincoln unless you fit the >>> criteria. School population is going down for several reasons, we moved to >>> Lincoln for the school and LSHS. My belief is that Lincoln needs to take a >>> look in the mirror and ask if they just want to be a town where the >>> priority is to continue to make Lincoln less welcoming to others or make it >>> more welcoming. There is no need to run more studies, or take more census, >>> the need is to understand and provide the necessary services for children, >>> parents, and the elderly of the Town a Community Center makes Lincoln on >>> par with other surrounding towns to be more attractive to move into. >>> >>> If this was a discussion to put in EV Charging stations at the Commuter >>> Rail Parking lot for $10 Million dollars the project would already be under >>> way, why is it that hard to commit to provide positive services to the >>> community in general and society as a whole? A Community Center to house >>> programs for the elderly, LEAP facility for after school programs that help >>> working parents, a central housing area for Parks and Rec Staff to provide >>> other quality services makes a community more centralized and welcoming. >>> This entire discussion is eerily similar to the School discussion, at that >>> did not end well. >>> >>> “ The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over >>> again, but expecting different results” – Albert Einstein >>> >>> Thanks, >>> John >>> 01776 >>> >>> >>> On Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 07:08:44 PM EDT, Peter Buchthal < >>> pbucht...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> >>> Lynne, Karla and David make excellent points. One of the challenges the >>> town faces with the community center is the lack of trust in the building >>> committee to size >>> a COA/ParksRec building to meet our needs and not our wishes. I believe >>> the major hill the community is trying to climb is how many seniors >>> actually use the facilities today. >>> Parks and Recreation has provided actual attendance figures for all of >>> the activities. COA has provided only maximum and minimum numbers without >>> means or averages. The maximum and minimums for a particular activity can >>> vary greatly with the maximum being sometimes triple the minimum >>> headcount. For residents who are not awash in money, in may be hard to >>> justify building a larger council on aging for the occasional activities >>> that may need more space once every three months. Wayland, a town with >>> twice the senior population compared to Lincoln just built a new Senior >>> Center for 11 Million dollars. Their building that meets the needs of a >>> town with twice the senior population is 12,900 square feet. Our small, >>> medium and large Community Center proposals are 16K, 18K or 20+k. >>> >>> I believe the Building Committee should ask Fincom or the Select board >>> to fund a consultant to provide average and mean numbers from the COA >>> computer system so that the community can see the actual consistent usage >>> of today's COA. As someone who is familiar with computers, I believe the >>> town could easily also find several residents (representing different >>> groups within the town) who might volunteer their time to provide the >>> needed computer expertise to extract the needed average and mean numbers >>> from COAs computer system and generate more meaningful usage statistics for >>> the community. >>> >>> Let's not overbuild a public building again. >>> >>> Peter Buchthal >>> Weston Rd. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>> Browse the archives at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >>> -- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>> Browse the archives at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >>> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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