Hi Karla, Thanks for your message. I’d like to mention one thing….. Don’t know about your other statistics here but do have one correction: Weston MA does not have “an old building compared to Bemis.” They have a beautiful, relatively new, large building to house their community activities including space for their COA.
Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 12, 2022, at 11:17 AM, Karla Gravis <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Dear fellow Lincoln residents, > > I have closely followed the discussion around the $25M Community Center > proposal and would like to take the opportunity provided by the Committee’s > Vision memorandum to expose what I see as flaws in the process of proposal > selection. > > We need to remember that building this Center will represent an average 9% > increase in property taxes, which represents an additional $1,700 for the > average Lincoln homeowner every year. There needs to be a valuable need and > purpose to justify this burden on our families, and it is our duty to explore > more cost-responsible alternatives. > > The benchmarking process was based on a series of wrong assumptions. We lost > track of what other towns of our size were doing, and instead created a list > of requirements out of proportion to our size and needs. This project would > build a more expensive and bigger building than those found in towns many > times our population. Neighboring towns with populations up to three times > ours do not build Community Centers; their COA and PRD’s facilities share > modest dwellings with other town facilities, on a scale comparable to Bemis > Hall or Pierce House. Even for those towns that do have a community center, > the current Lincoln proposal is four times the median space per resident. The > disproportion is similar when we consider dedicated COA space per senior > resident. > > This morning’s letter still does not clarify the expected use of a building > of this scale. As has already been mentioned, a community is built by a > shared purpose, not by a building. What we need is more volunteers who are > interested in amplifying or creating communities of shared interest. We > already have more than enough space and facilities across our brand-new > school, Bemis Hall, the library and potentially Pierce House. Why not > renovate the pods and use one of them for this purpose? Even refurbishing all > three pods would be less than a fifth of the expense of the proposed new > community center. > > We struggle with a reduced commercial footprint. If folks are looking for a > place to have a cup of coffee, eat something, and see some friendly faces, > they can do that while they support local businesses like Twisted Tree or > Tack Room. > > The biggest issue I see with the communication sent this morning is the > so-called disqualification of Bemis Hall and Pierce House as alternatives. At > a State of the Town meeting eight years ago, a series of equivalent > proposals, in size and cost, were put in front of attendees and they were > asked to post a yellow dot on the poster representing their preferred option. > Pierce House was one of the options proposed and there was nothing that > disqualified it, as evidenced by the fact it was put to a vote. Attendees > were forced to make a false choice between, among others, the Hartwell campus > proposal, estimated at $9.5-13.5MM at the time, and a much-inflated Pierce > House proposal, estimated at $8-11MM due to the plan to build an attached > facility, excessive given our size. Pierce House was never objectively > disqualified, but simply passed over when presented with a much cheaper > Hartwell proposal. > > The studies referenced in the memo were conducted as long as a decade ago. > Obviously, there are a lot of new faces in town who might have different > opinions on how resources should be allocated and even those who have stayed > should have another say on the use of the town’s monies. Our resources now > are not what they were at that time, and perhaps neither are our needs, so > altered by new habits resulting from the pandemic. The cost of building the > Center has also multiplied since then. > > I urge residents to attend the Special Town Meeting in the Donaldson > Auditorium on November 30th at 7:30pm, and vote. Up until recently, the CCBC > seems to have been moving towards a narrow objective; it is imperative that a > wide range of perspectives be heard. > > > Town Pop. 65+ COA/PRD/CC facility COA/PRD/CC Sqft Sqft > per resident Dedicated COA space sqft Sqft per 100 seniors > Notes > Sherborn 4,324 692 No N/A 0 0 No > dedicated COA space, shares a couple of rooms in the town hall > Carlisle 5,181 958 No N/A 3,500 3.7 Old > private house, approximate sqft > Harvard 6,844 1,116 No N/A 4,813 4.3 19th > century house > Weston 11,666 2,427 Yes 22,000 1.9 9,000 3.7 Old > building comparable to Bemis Hall > Wayland 13,724 2,470 No N/A 2,500 1.0 The > town is considering a new facility with 3,000 sqft of COA space > Sudbury 19,059 2,935 Yes 22,079 1.2 5,754 2.0 > Estimated cost of $600/sqft (including pool & gym) vs. $1,000 for Lincoln > Concord 18,184 3,728 Yes 12,496 0.7 12,496 3.4 1917 > building shared with preschool > Newton 87,453 16,004 3 sports facilities N/A 33,000 > 2.1 COA cost of $19.5M, 20% less than Lincoln with 12x as many seniors > Median 1.2 2.7 > Lincoln 4,756 1,332 4,270 3.2 Bemis > Hall > Lincoln new proposal 23,500 4.9 11,750 8.8 Assumes 50% of > space devoted to COA > >> On Thu, Nov 10, 2022 at 8:37 AM Krystal Wood >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> Community Center Building Committee- November, 2022 >> >> The vision: what is a Community Center, and why would Lincoln want to build >> one? >> >> A Community Center not only reflects the community at whose heart it sits, it >> strengthens that community. A Community Center is a year-round, >> intergenerational >> gathering place and activity center. A Community Center is a locus for a >> wide variety of activities – health and fitness, social services, learning, >> eating, socializing, creating, playing, participating. A Community Center >> enriches the community by fostering organizational collaboration and by >> housing an array of programs, for all ages. >> >> At its heart, the Community Center is a home for the Lincoln Council on >> Aging & Human Services and the Parks & Recreation Department, both of which >> do much more than most people realize, and both of which run constrained >> programs in their current homes. The Community Center also provides a base >> for 25 other community organizations whose work is critical to the quality >> of life in Lincoln. But the vision of a Community Center on the Lincoln >> School campus is of a building that exists not only to serve important >> organizational needs and to optimize programming, though those might be >> adequate reasons for building a new building, it is also of a building that >> will attract residents of all ages to gather for coffee and meetings and >> informal activities. >> >> Lincoln has a sense of community – we have impromptu encounters at the >> transfer >> station and at Donelan’s, we have annual events like the Scarecrow Classic, >> the Girl >> Scouts Pancake Breakfast, the July 4 parade, and we have Town Meeting. But >> the >> everyday contribution of a Community Center to the life of the community and >> to the >> sense of community can be far greater, and the possibilities are exciting – >> because the number of people using the Center will be so much higher, >> because the range of >> activities will be much greater, because the opportunities for >> intergenerational >> interaction will expand, because the provision of social services will be >> improved and >> the organizations providing those services will be more robust. >> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to [email protected]. >> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. >> 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 [email protected]. > Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. > 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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