Westwood Blog

Wednesday night's meeting to discuss the Town Charter packed 50 Carby Street with a group of familiar faces--the people in town who are most active and most involved in boards, commissions, and town government. We heard a number of comments touching on most of the questions I raised in my article on Tuesday. The issues are fairly familiar to those who have participated in town meeting/FinCom hearings/Board of Selectmen meetings in the past few years.

I will post the official minutes and possibly a video recording when I have it, but for now, here are my observations on the discussion...

The Mass. House voted today to ban texting and cell phone use while driving but allowed an exception for drivers who use hands-free devices. The bill also requires drivers over 75 years of age to renew their licenses in person (including a vision test) every 5 years.

While there is near unanimity in support of banning texting, the hands-free law is more controversial. Washington, D.C. enacted a hands-free law 5 years ago, and a recent study found no impact on safety. The issue--opponents of these bans argue--is distracted driving, not the idea that an accident occurs because the driver is dialing a number or doesn't have both hands on the wheel. Another study last month created even more controversy--as blogged about by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation--when it declared that cell phone bans don't accomplish anything.

Laws don't change behavior, but doing nothing is unacceptable as well. Perhaps this law will be passed this time (it was killed in the Senate when it last passed the House) and create some momentum towards discouraging distracted driving.

As part of the mission of the Westwood High Alumni Association, we present scholarships to deserving Westwood High School Seniors. Please help grow our scholarship fund by making a generous donation to the Westwood High Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.  All donations are deductible to the extent allowed by Federal and State Law.

The Westwood High Alumni Association, Inc. is a registered  501 (C) 3 nonprofit and is registered as a nonprofit with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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Jason Lee, Class of '88
President, WHAA

The Westwood Educational Foundation invites grant applications from individuals or organizations for projects which, in keeping with the mission statement of the Westwood Educational Foundation, will benefit the Westwood schools or community. Grant applications are due by March 1, 2010.

The WEF website contains detailed instructions in their Grant Application Overview describing the annual grant and mini-grant programs. To get a better sense of the types of programs that can be funded, check out the descriptions of grants from 2008-2009.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Right of Way Bureau, including Westwood resident and DOT Transportation Planner Linda Walsh, will receive the national 2010 Excellence in Right-of Way Award for Stewardship from the Federal Highway Administration. The award recognizes the bureau's outreach work with cities and towns across the Commonwealth to meet requirements for state and federal funding for highway construction projects.

Linda Walsh was also instrumental in bringing Safe Routes to Schools to the Downey School--the first school in Westwood to join this program.

Are Westwood residents ready to pay the equivalent of one lunch per month to see the Library renovated? My informal, scientifically baseless quick poll shows strong support for the Library, and I'm inclined to agree that the time is right to make an investment in our community infrastructure. But in an economy filled with doubt, are people going to be so quick to cast those "yes" votes?

A resident pointed out to me that my poll is inaccurate--the average cost per household will be be $106. But the schedule of payments--to finance $9.3 million over 20 years, assuming 5% interest and an average home value of $532,000, begins with a cost of $140 in the first year and declines to $73 by year 20.

Perhaps the reason many voters are suspicious of government efforts to solve problems is that they have concluded the government itself is more a problem than a solution. Well, tonight (Wednesday, February 3, at 7:30pm at 50 Carby Street) the Government Study Task Force will be holding a public hearing where Westwood residents are welcome to weigh in with their opinions and suggestions for changes to the Town Charter.

Here is a copy of the Town Charter. That might make for some fun reading on the train ride home tonight, but I thought I would stir things up a bit with a few of my own questions. Maybe some answers are obvious, but have they been asked in a context where there was an actual opportunity to do something about them?

I bet you just received a phone call from Town Hall about the Government Study Charter Review meeting. The Connect-CTY service is a way the town can broadcast a message to everyone in town, by phone and email. Here's a link to the company that provides the service, Blackboard Connect. For more info about adding/removing your number, see this older WestwoodBlog post...

I finally got around to writing up a privacy policy, terms of service and community guidelines. Please take a look at these to better understand how this site is intended to function in the community...

The Westwood real estate market appears to be a bit "stagnant" right now. Sellers are frustrated that they need to lower their expectations and price their homes based on the reality that buyers are consulting Zillow and not willing to pay much more than the assessed value of a home. Potential buyers face a quandary if they are moving because they have to sell also.

But there are "deals" to be had. I am not a Realtor and don't have any stake in this, but I did have a chance to check out this house in Islington several months ago and noticed the price has now dropped to $369,900. Is is an "unupgraded" ranch, but we thought it perfectly fine to move into as-is with the older style kitchen and bathrooms, a large amount of useful basement space, and a big lot that goes back to the street behind.

The only drawback we could see was that the location requires crossing Washington Street to get to the other neighborhoods, schools, etc. 17 Ford Place is just off Curtis Street in a compact little neighborhood of homes on short quiet streets. I'm posting some photos of the neighborhood below in a slideshow; you can check out the stats on the home at Westwood Realtor Barbara Shea McDonald's website.

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