In the last few weeks, Lincolnites have engaged in a lively discussion on Lincoln Talk about the pros and cons of building a new Community Center. Some voices urge a “no” vote at the November 30 Special Town Meeting to stop the Town from spending $325,000 to hire an owner’s representative and an architect to flesh out the existing Community Center schematic designs.
To me, the idea of halting the project at this point fails to honor many aspects of the kind of democracy on which Lincoln prides itself. · First, it would simply discard the decade of hard work that resulted in the designs we have in hand today, effectively saying “Everything has changed, so the work of the past is invalid.” This seems short-sighted. The benefits of a Community Center have been well-documented and long promised to the residents of Lincoln. It seems unlikely that things have changed so much that we need a hard stop at this point. · Second, it doesn’t give the current Community Center Building Committee a chance to work with professionals to come up with complete proposals on which the Town can vote. Approving the expenditure to hire professionals to develop more complete designs doesn’t commit the Town to any design. Property taxes will NOT increase because of this vote. There will be another chance to vote on the final project, with much better information on costs, trade-offs against other Town priorities, and property tax impacts. · Finally, shutting the project down now does not give private fundraising a chance to tap into the generosity of Lincoln’s residents who may well be willing to make a significant contribution to the cost of the Community Center project in order to reduce the Town’s portion of the cost and the consequent burden on property taxpayers. I strongly urge everyone to come out to the Special Town Meeting on November 30 and vote in favor of moving the Community Center project to the next phase. In this way, we can give residents a chance to get a fair look at what a Community Center will provide and what it will cost. Call the Lincoln COA&HS at 781-259-8811 if you need a ride to the Town Meeting. Rhonda Swain
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