Dave Atkins's blog

House
Hunt

There are six open houses in Westwood this weekend (so far), including 29 Spruce St, barely a block away from Martha Jones Elementary. 4/2.5/1890sf @489K. Open house Sunday, 3/14, 12-2pm. This is a great location--set back from Oak Street, convenient to the school and a short walk down Oak Street to Buckmaster Pond and the Sheehan School Soccer fields. After checking this one out, swing by 148 Oak St--a block further down Oak St. 3/2/1900sf @535K. Open house Sunday, 3/14, 1-3pm.

In the Downey school district, 402 East St will be open from 1-3 on Sunday 3/14. 4/2/1988sf @459K. This house is on the sidewalk side of East Street, making it an easy walk along East St to Smith Drive and down to Downey Elementary. This Islington commuter rail stop is just across East St and a short block up Carroll Ave.

Disclaimer: Please verify dates and times of open houses--the information here is current from MLS as of Wednesday night and reflects an arbitrary selection of homes--no endorsement, agency, etc. is meant to be implied.

Wednesday's
Parent

Don't miss the Westwood Recreation Department's "March into Summer" open house this Saturday. Each Spring, the Rec Department hosts an open house to help residents learn about the many summer programs available for all ages. Registration for programs can be done online immediately but if you register on either Saturday or Sunday and pay in full you will receive a 10% discount.

Everyone should have received a pink flyer in the mail listing all the programs, but if you have lost yours, download a PDF version from the town website. Then, go to the online registration system to reserve your space.

Read the directions on the town website...then go to the online registration system and click Register for Activities. Then, locate the category of activity such as "Playground/Summertastics" and click on the plus (+) to display the individual classes. Click on the class, then locate the "Register" button at the bottom of the screen. You may need to scroll down further within this window to find the correct section when there are multiple times offered. Click the button and register for the first class--afterwards you will be able to sign up for more without having to re-enter your information.

The Rec Department programs are a great value. If you can afford/predict your schedule to pay all in advance (cash, check, Visa/Mastercard), the extra 10% savings this weekend adds up--for example an entire summer of "7:30-5:30 Playground" costs $1360 - $136 = $1224 for 7 weeks of day-long "games, sports, crafts, outside water play and more."

Come to the open house on Saturday, March 13, between 10am and 2pm to learn more, meet staff and instructors, and get answers to any questions.

I'm not going to bother returning bottles anymore. The last straw for me came this Monday as, after driving around for a couple of weeks with a trunk full of beer bottles rattling on every bump, I finally decided to locate the redemption center I had heard of in Walpole. It is located at 747 Main Street (1A). I've called the phone number many times--no one ever answers, but I figured at 10am on a weekday--they had to be open. I was wrong.

For those who care, the hours of operation are Tuesday-Friday, 9am-4pm and Saturday, 9am-3pm. But be warned...after driving 6 miles down Route 1A, you will be greeted by this sign:

That's right...you will not even get your full 5 cents per bottle because the redemption center takes part of the deposit to pay their operating costs.

Now I know this sounds like an embarrassing waste of time and that's exactly my point. Retailers do not accept bottle and can brands they don't sell. Grocery stores, of course, can't take back beer bottles. My variety of choices means I ended up going to the Blanchards in West Roxbury as the only location that sells all the brands I had. I did net $8 for my trouble, and it was fun to hear all those bottles smashing. But I think, from here on out, I will just just put the bottles out in the recycle bins and hope the people who rummage through them don't wake me up.

The following video is a live feed from Town Meeting. This is a test by Westwood Community Access Television (WestCAT) to evaluate how meetings can be webcast....

Thanks for watching! (live video removed now that meeting is over)

The registration period for K-Ball has been EXTENDED thru March 28th. Go to http://www.westwoodlittleleague.com and click on "Register Online" on the left side of the screen to register today!

Boys and girls who are currently enrolled in kindergarten are eligible to play K-Ball--no exceptions will be made for younger or older players. Teams are generally 12-14 players per team.

The entire focus is development.  Kids are taught the basics of proper fielding & throwing mechanics, and learn to hit from a tee. Games are typically 3-innings where each team bats once through the line up each inning.

Games begin in late-April and run through early to mid June.  All games take place on the School Street fields and are held Monday - Friday at 5:30pm with some games on the weekend.  Every effort is made to avoid conflicts with spring sports such as soccer.

ALSO:  If there are any parents who would like to volunteer to coach, please indicate that with your information during the registration process.

I know it's way too early to think Spring is here, but this weekend's weather certainly gets everyone thinking about warmer times ahead. Sunday should be a repeat of Saturday, so get outside and enjoy it.

• Check out Greg Agnew's Dedham Country Store (open 10am-2pm in Dedham Square)
• go over to Hale Reservation for the family walking club from 1-2:30pm
• Or just hop on a bike and ride or walk around the neighborhood.

Little League and Spring Soccer will be starting soon...and I'd really like to add some sports coverage to this site. If you have any suggestions or would like to submit articles about local sports, let me know.

It's hardly news, but managing childcare is a challenge in Westwood or anywhere. The Early Childhood Office provides many resources including the Resource Directory (latest hardcopy version available at Main Library) which provides a starting point for researching options...but ultimately, every family is going to have their own requirements and will have to navigate the system as best they can.

When we first moved to Westwood, I worked in Boston and my wife raised our two children...then we had our third. We figured out the whole preschool lottery application process and had good experiences with St. John's Nursery, Dedham Community House, and Mothers' Morning Out. But our needs changed and we now find ourselves evaluating full-time options including Knowledge Beginnings and Next Generation Children's Center.

I'm not going to post "reviews" here but I'm going to start a weekly item I'll call "Wednesday's Parent," where I'll share a tip or two related to resources for families. I'm sure one could do an entire blog on that (and many people have) but I'd like to tag things that are specifically relevant and useful to Westwood. Feel free to send me suggestions...

Just a reminder...Monday night at 7pm, High School auditorium: Special Town Meeting to vote on whether to place an override on the ballot in April to fund the new library. There was a nice writeup in the Hometown Weekly summarizing the issues and there is also plenty of information on the Library website. Check it out and show up Monday night to share your opinion and vote.

The meeting will be videotaped by Westwood Community Access Television and while we do not yet control the signal from Comcast, we'll try to get it broadcast soon afterwards. I'm also working with our Executive Director and the High School to see if we can livestream it on the web. No promises there, but we will see what we can do.

Whatever your position and whatever the outcome of the meeting, this is an opportunity to discuss the issues in advance of the ultimate vote in April--if the measure passes Monday night, then it goes to the Town Election. So I'm sure the arguments for and against will not end Monday night.

The icon/painting next to this post is part of a new feature I'm launching. I'm going to publish certain weekly recurring features. This one is "Civic Agenda" and the idea is to post a short blurb about one government-related meeting each week. You can get the full list of events from the town website and/or many other sources, but I'll find one item to feature and provide a little more detail and context. The logo is from the painting by Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People. Perhaps the painting is a bit more passionate than we can expect (or desire) from a Town Meeting, but the day to day choices we make and the opportunities we have to build and shape our communities are the direct legacy of those who battled to secure these rights and freedoms. Our actions build the future.

Westwood is better off than many of the communities profiled in a Boston Globe series this week (Runaway health costs are rocking municipal budgets). Westwood certainly shares the pain of all communities as health care premiums have quadrupled in the past decade and currently represent about 7.6% of the proposed budget for FY11. Currently, the town is budgeting over $5 million to provide health insurance to 714 employees and retirees.

Some key differences between many of the towns profiled in the Globe story:

• Although Westwood does not purchase through the state's Group Insurance Commission, we do purchase health insurance through the West Suburban Health Group which results in lower group rates than towns "going it alone."
• Westwood covers only 60% of the HMO premium--unlike some towns that cover 90% or more of employee's health benefits. This 40% share also discourages some who have better alternatives through a working spouse or other eligibility.

Detailed information about the proposed budget may be downloaded from the town web site. Summary Detail

About a month ago, I created a Facebook fan page at:

http://www.facebook.com/westwoodblog/

I'm using it to provide shorter updates, post quick photos and links, and ask questions. I posted links to the Matt Brown fundraising efforts in Norwood and the news story about Westwood High student Paul Hanley's fatal auto accident this past weekend. I didn't know enough about those things to feel I could write a decent post here, but I wanted to share with people who are specifically interested in Westwood.

I also set up an "RSS/Blog" tab to display automated feeds. "News" shows links to any published news stories on other web sites in the Boston area that mention Westwood. "Jobs" is an automated search of indeed.com for any job within 5 miles of Westwood.