Recent comments

Yes, we accept any redeemable bottles and cans, preferably rinsed!

Thanks.

Jean

Dave & Joanie-

Thanks to Mary Masi-Phelps for bringing the blog and this issue to my attention.

Westwood Community in Action has produced a drug and alcohol-free all night graduation party for graduating seniors for the past 20 years.

There are several Saturdays a year, advertised in the Westwood Press, at which we collect redeemable cans and bottles from 9am to 12pm on the Nahatan Street side of the high school.

The next two collections for this year are:

March 27

May 15

We welcome all residents to donate their redeemable cans and bottles at these times.  The proceeds provide a substantial amount to defraying the cost of producing the party and we are pleased to provide this service to you.

 Jean Sharry

Co-Chair

WCIA

I haven't returned a bottle or can in over ten years, I just leave them for recycling. Adopted in 1984, the bottle bill was supposed to reduce trash, and frankly, it did. But the entire implementation of the bottle bill was half-assed from the very beginning because it only applied to carbonated beverages. As the market share for non-carbonated drinks grew the trash started piling up again.  I do see that the Governor has a budget proposal to expand the bottle bill.

http://www.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy10h1/exec10/hbudbrief27.htm

Agreed. Where can I get a Yard Sign saying VOTE NO to the New Library. I just think this is such irresponsible spending of money that they don't have...and my taxes have almost doubled in the three years I've lived in this town. I'm not willing to add to my already ridiculous tax bill for a library that is not necessary. Library's will be extinct in a matter of a few years. 

Hi All,

Just called Norwood Zoning Board of Appeals. Apparently, the meeting date has moved. The next hearing will take place on Tuesday, April 6 (not March 16).

Place: Norwood Town Hall (Ground Floor)
Time: 8:00 pm

I talked to Chris McKeown today and exchanged emails with Najib Habesch who was the engineering consultant who presented at the Downey School meeting in November 2008. (search this site for more articles here showing the background on this)

The meeting will be held on March 10, 2010 at 7:30 PM at the High School Professional Development Room. The engineer/consultant and town have been working to address the objections cited by the Norfolk County Commissioners when they denied Westwood's petition to allow the roadway changes. The purpose of the meeting next week is to update the Advisory group--comprised principally of residents of the Canton-Everett-Forbes area--before providing a general, public update.

Does it say who is sponsoring the meeting? Does anyone have an update on Westwood Station?

I received an email indicating there would be a traffic mitigation meeting on Wednesday, March 10 at 7:30 PM at a location to be determined. 

It has been a long time since the September 2008 meeting at the Downey School in which we all discussed various traffic mitigation steps. 

We had a subsequent meeting last year at the high school which held out hope of progress. 

Let's hope the March 10 meeting will bring some action.  

Health Concerns aside...The bigger issue is the potential impact on property values in the Forbes/Downey/Everett neighborhoods. 

This proposed tower at 100 feet high-much higher than the natural tree line/buidings in the immediate area. The site already is an eyesore...common sense dictates that this cell tower would certainly be a negative factor for most looking to buy a single family property in the 500 to 1 million K range with that in plain sight.

I attended a Board of Appeal of the Town of Norwood Public Hearing February 23 in regard to a variance request by T-Mobile, the Applicant. The long and the short of the request:

T-Mobile has leased a small parcel of land on the front lawn of Carl Hultman’s property on Everett to construct a giant 100 feet tower to install cell phone transmitters. The structure measures about 38 inches at the base and at 100’ tall it will tower over surrounding low rise structures like UPS and Walker. T-Mobile plans eventually to rent space on this tower to other cell service provider to co-locate their transmitters, so over time this tower will have many transmitters sending out a lot of Electromagnetic Radiation.

At 100 feet tall, some homes on the Forbes and Everett neighborhood as well as the Downey neighborhood may just stare straight at this monolith and the imbedded transmitters. If any of you have friends over at the Downey neighborhood, you may also want to alert them of this development.

I took the opportunity to express my views at the hearing to argue against the variance:

1) The Applicant should use one of the other locations already zoned for the purpose, and avoid huge cell phone towers from potentially sprouting up all over Norwood.

There are areas around already zoned for cell phone towers and transmitters, so the petitioner should perform upgrades and make it work at one of the existing sites.

2) There are residences in the proposed vicinity and an elementary school close by on Downey Street. With the long term health effect of electro magnetic radiation by no means certain, it is prudent to avoid close proximity and high concentration.

While there is no conclusive evidence of long term health risks in close proximity of cell phone towers, such health impact studies usually take tens of years of monitoring and analyses. And when they do come out, often every one regrets but no one knew better.

3) A 100 feet transmitter tower is a tall and huge structure. With this up on a hill (with surrounding low single storey buildings) it would stand out like a sore thumb that can be seen from great distance.

The immediate vicinity has only low single storey structures including plenty of single family houses just over the Norwood Westwood town line.

4) Finally, while T-Mobile claims signal coverage at Forbes and Everett is almost non-existent and this addition would fill the gap, I am currently on T-Mobile service and have no problem albeit not full bars so I can forego the improvement.

The Norwood Board of Appeal was not receptive to the applicant’s request for variance but the Applicant threatened that the Federal Telecommunications Act supersedes and they could always file with FCC to override Norwood’s objection. But I imagine in so doing the Applicant could open the hearing to a much broader and potentially more negative audience.

The hearing will resume on March 16 at the Norwood Town Hall if any one is interested.

I must now admit that I did not understand the full implications of the Colburn School in this process. It seems that all the state funding must be signed off by the Mass Historical Commission which has oversight of the Colburn School District. I was unaware of the memorandum of agreement between the MHC, the town of Westwood and the Board of Library Commissioners that established the parameters for approval of funding. Here is a link to meeting notes from January 10, 2010 BOS meeting specifically about this subject.