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In 2020 we will get a tax hike to reflect the new Fuller Middle School
currently being built. Framingham could have done better planning
with Farley Middle School by kicking out Mass Bay, but the school
committee decided that building a new school was better than using one
we already had.
There is already a significant effort to replace or rebuild Hemenway elementary school. The taxpayers might have thought that the old McAuliffe library would be sold but it is now being utilized (and maintained) by the Capital Projects and Facility Management people. How convenient! The Athenaeum, the old Saxonville firestation and the abandoned sewer pumping station all on one strip of land (Watson Place) could be sold, but the history freaks of Framingham will not sell any of them. The Athenaeum is costing us $2.4 million for renovation so we can have another meeting room. How exciting! For the city of Framingham to move its offices out of downtown Framingham established in 1926 is to abandon downtown revitalization and celebrate the Grand Closing of the largest public building in downtown. Fitts Insurance moved out across Union Ave after finding too much drug paraphernalia by their entrances. Looks like ReMax realty is about to ditch downtown. The reason to buy the Perini building is that there are too many people in the Memorial building. Has Framingham considered getting rid of excess people? Nope! The city of Framingham has no intention of selling the Memorial Building? It will become the Crown Jewel in their historic building collection, a small chunk of the Roman Empire, with extremely limitted use. Can it house the homeless? Probably not! What is the 50 year cost of maintaining the Memorial building? What is the annual cost on an employee basis? What is the annual cost on a square foot basis? How many properties does the city own that are either not utilized or underutilized? Will the Framingham police department began to feel unsafe and have enough parking if the Memorial Building is sold or abandoned? Will the Perini building need a new roof. Our school roofs are usually replaced every twenty years or so. How much in annual property tax revenues does Framingham lose (for twenty years) by buying it? ($318,000 a year). Will the Perini building survive the test of time for flooding due to it's proximity to the Sudbury river ? The flooding in 2010 was a close call. We can only hope the Perini building does not have a basement. Then there's that ticklish issue of that 500 foot flood prevention barrier that I prefer to call a dam in the backyard. When was it built and more to the point, why was it built? What flooding history can we get? Remember 2010?
Note video at 4:24 showing Perini dam.
The city might want to research the 100 year history of Bowditch Field and any floods it has experienced. What is the cost of maintaining the dam (river erosion) across 100 years. After all, we are replacing the Beaver Street bridge after only 98 years. I provide you with a high res photo of the dam. Examine closely the steel beam that parallels the water along the entire dam. Note the grass growing in that beam. How could that dirt (and grass seeds) have possibly settled in that nice steel beam? Note that the steel beam seems to be two feet below parking lot level.
Click to expand picture. This half-baked dam is meant to give you time to abandon the first floor. If Framingham chooses to buy this creature, I would like a large sign (eight feet above flood stage) indicating Mayor Spicer's name on it so we can remember who bought this ticket for the Titanic. We are fortunate that there are three flag poles we can use. Lastly, can we please place the tax collector's office (with all their records and computers) on the first floor on the river side? |
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hjw2001@gmail.com
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