Category: Around Town

The April edition of the Framingham Tales and Trivia program on FPAC-TV will be about “old objects that we have always kept.”

I have been invited to participate in the panel discussion for this show and am trying to decide what to bring and talk about.

I look around and see things in my home that we have had so long that they are literally like part of the woodwork, some we use, like an old iron doorstop from Nana’s house, or wedding presents used only special occasions.

What kinds of things have you kept? And why?

When I was grocery shopping, I noticed some flyers under the windshield wipers of several cars in the parking log.

I find it annoying and an invasion of privacy. (I don’t like finding door hangers on my front door, either.)

I only know of one time that someone told me that they responded to a flyer stuck under their wiper. Do people respond? Is it worth it? When the exhibit Bodies was in town, there were several occasions when I found a postcard about it on my car when I parked in Shoppers World. And they littered the parking lot.

It’s also illegal, according to Framingham’s Sign By-Law. I wonder if a sign inspector has ever fined a business for putting literature on a car.

The other day I happened to overhear bits of a conversation between a mother and daughter. The daughter, perhaps in middle school, was questioning why her mother was buying large quantities of colored paper.

The mother replied that she was volunteering. But why are you volunteering, the daughter asked. Why do it? The mother explained in brief that there was a project for the school and when a lot of people pitched in, the project would get done, to help out the school. That volunteering was a good thing to do.

It certainly was for the Stapleton School in Framingham. Thanks to the efforts of a parent volunteer, the school just received a $ 1500 donation from Bob’s Discount Furniture. Parent Michelle Baker had taken the time to submit a letter to Bob’s Random Acts of Kindness Program which each month randomly selects nominated organizations and give them a donation. Thanks to Baker’s letter, Stapleton School was chosen as a recipient this month.

Kudos to Baker and all parents who volunteer in large and small ways to support their schools. Not only are they helping their community, they are setting a good example to their children, that it’s not just about me, it’s about my community.

The Framingham History Center recently hosted a roundtable discussion about the Sarah Clayes House on Salem End Road.  The house, one of the oldest in Framingham, was built around 1693 by Peter and Sarah Clayes, who were one of several families impacted by the Salem Witch Trials that relocated to land then owned by (more…)

I recently noticed some collection bins for donations of clothing and shoes set up in the middle of the Shoppers World parking lot.

Then I thought about how Savers, a chain that sells used clothing, might open in the former CompUSA site.  Savers buys clothing in bulk from organizations such as Big Brother, Big Sister.

And I thought about St. Vincent de Paul and The Salvation Army and Goodwill and all the clothing seen at local rummage sales and yard sales.  Where does it all end up?  Where is the end of the “clothes” line?

I have heard of people finding little treasures in castoff clothing, but has anyone ever come across items of clothing in a store that they had donated to one of the larger charitable organizations and never expected to see again?

Saxonville has some great neighborhoods, but unfortunately, traffic and development threaten them.

In particular, Old Connecticut Path has been subject to a series of heavy traffic generators.  In the early 1990’s twenty odd towns were bringing truckloads of yard waste to create the mother of all compost piles at the New England Sand & Gravel site.  Then when neighbors and the Board of Health protested and ended that stream of trucks, the MetroWest Water Tunnel Project came along. 

Hundreds of trucks bearing equipment and gravel and tunnel rock were a daily sight along OCP for years.

Then the Planned Unit Development or PUD, with its (whittled down to) 525 units on the NE Sand & Gravel site, threatened to bring in more construction vehicles and later, residential traffic from PUD residents.  Neighbors, and the tanking economy, halted the PUD for the forseeable future.

Now there is the proposed concrete plant, that Paulini Loam wants to build behind Suburban Shell and near the cherished Reardon Park and hard fought for Cochituate Rail Trail.  The traffic from it could significantly impact OCP. 

So far the neighbors and Town have been able to fend off requests for a permit to build the plant.  But Paulini isn’t taking “No” for an answer and continues its quest working through a special permitting process with the ZBA. 

Residents are urged to attend the ZBA meeting on Dec. 9th and to sign the online permit at:  http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-special-permit-for-concrete-plant.html

One thing we do wonder about:  What happened to Save Our Towns, the group of Framingham and Wayland residents that were so intent on fighting the PUD because of the impact to the neighborhood?  This project could have a major impact on many of the same people affected by the  PUD.