| Thank you Mr Gregg for the clarification that you are indeed a Lincoln taxpayer. On a side note: I personally am very much in favor of sharing facilities in our neighboring towns. For example The Beede Center in Concord and The Weston AIC are both fantastic facilities close by. I encourage people who are looking for community to consider a visit to either of these places. I am sure there are other meeting up venues around as well. Best, Carolyn Ryan Sent from my iPhone On Sep 17, 2023, at 8:33 AM, john gregg <jgreg...@yahoo.com> wrote:
To make it clear I am currently a resident of Sudbury and still own a property in Lincoln that I pay taxes on! I lived in Lincoln for @20 years and lived through the school fiasco where my child attended K-8 so I am giving my insight as to how the school debate is directly correlating to the Community Center discussion. Where I live now does not invalidate my views or thoughts on the subject which comes from a good place.
It is important that the Town of Lincoln make a decision in the best interest of all the residents of Lincoln. We had to endure years of my son going to a school that was way past its time and listen to a debate similar to this conversation, don't make the same mistake . A new school was needed many years ago and instead of accepting this fact it became a debate until finally all the parents of the kids in the school rallied to make it happen because the school was not safe nor functional. Not sure how this plays out but Pierce House or Bemis Hall do not and will not fill the needs of the elderly, LEAP as well as all the services of the Parks and Rec Dept and is not a responsible action nor is it giving back to society! A great idea would be to have a Town Fundraiser, an Auto Show at Peirce House with raffles and beautiful cars on the lawn.
The question for the community becomes can you build something that fills the needs of LEAP, Council on Aging, as well as the Parks and Rec Dept where it can be an investment, there are ways to make this pay for itself. The debate of the school was the same, why was it necessary to build a school that would be so costly? Well, it was an investment in the children of the community as well as the teachers to provide a safe, welcoming, and functional environment. This mean updating the buildings to have working electrical outlets, no leaky roofs, and more modern ways of utilizing space for a positive learning experience. No parent would have walked into Lincoln Schools in 2018 and chosen to pay taxes in Lincoln over say Weston or Wayland. But even then after everything was done the Brooks Gym still houses its original floor which was always unsafe for the kids to play on as it was more like an ice rink than a gym floor.
Here is a snippet of the School discussion to revisit, and please note the same underlying theme, where can the costs occur, how to cut corners to save money today. Also note once the problems got so severe the project needed to happen and it cost @$93 Million:
Four years earlier, the MSBA offered to pay $21 million toward a new school costing $49 million if residents agreed by a two-thirds majority to fund their share. But the margin at a Special Town Meeting in November 2012 was 370-321 votes (54 percent to 45 percent), so the funding offer was withdrawn and the town had to begin the process all over again. The MSBA also declined to offer funding in 2013 and 2015. At Town Meeting in March 2016, residents overwhelmingly approved the latest application to the MSBA. In 2014, consultants Dore and Whittier determined that the school needed immediate work costing $8.4 million including a new roof for the entire building, a new exterior wall for the Reed Gym, and a new boiler room and pumping equipment for the Smith building. However, even if residents approved funding for that work, the town would have to spend several million dollars more, because by state law, when school renovation costs exceed a certain percentage of the building’s assessed value, the building must also be brought up to current code for handicapped accessibility. For the Lincoln School, the trigger point in 2014 was about $6.5 million. Meeting only the immediate and near-term facilities needs of the school with no educational improvements or cafeteria would cost more than $27 million, the consultants said, while a comprehensive project meeting all facilities and educational needs would cost almost $60 million.
Best Regards, John Gregg Still Paying Taxes in Lincoln Reside in 01776 On Sep 17, 2023, at 6:55 AM, Carol Ryan <urch...@comcast.net> wrote:
Dear Lincoln , As a current home owner in Lincoln I would like to point out that the previous post has been written by a resident of Sudbury . It is my hope that careful consideration of how this project will impact the residents of Lincoln in all income brackets is at the top of the agenda. Carolyn Ryan Sent from my iPhone On Sep 16, 2023, at 2:25 PM, john gregg via Lincoln <lincoln@lincolntalk.org> wrote:
The best gift a town or society can give is to give back. Do you think the people who built Pierce home or Bemis Hall or LPS so many years ago were concerned about the family dichotomy of 2023? Nope, that is why they build a capsule to explain what things were like back then so when they take tehm down it can explain what the times were like many years ago.
I find it really concerning that the same people who enforced the shut down of a new school paid for by the State want to also now shut down a Community Center. New bathrooms and doorways in a building built before the people who lived through WWII is not the answer, and kids just need a place to grow, maybe a new Magic Garden Center for pre-K. Time to pay back Lincoln for all that land you accrued via the land you were given, I am sure everyone in the town agrees this land was taken from the Indians and the Native American respected their elders and raised their children to be leaders.
But yet the voices here want money for speed bumps than to allow the elderly a place to be able to have some comfort and the youth have a place to assimilate and attract young families to the TOWN who will pay the money to live in a safe town and a community who can have after school programs and and a Parks and Rec Department to function. I will also again speak highly of what the Parks and Rec Dept. provides; the pool and tennis courts are part of the Rec Dept,, basketball as well as many other activities. But yet lets refurbish Bemis Hall so the locals in Lincoln can feel good about themselves.
I honestly cannot comprehend how a kitchen that "catering standards so could also have coffee/tea & snacks available." is caring for people, that is what you do for guests you do not want to stay long or how your treat your dog or cat.
The Town has no options but to build a new building, with updated facilities mot spend millions to renovate something that is historic but not functional.
Best Regards, John Gregg
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