I spoke too soon and too optimistically. Because someone didn't show up for the right meeting, it looks like the Representative from Canton will continue his objection and hold the legislature hostage for another day or so while he awaits the appropriate obeisance.

Over 500 Canton residents attended a meeting hosted by Rep. Galvin at Canton High School in March 2007 to discuss the horrendous traffic impacts of Westwood Station. Westwood Selectmen were invited; they did not attend. The I-95 northbound off ramp will overburden Dedham St in Canton, creating a public safety nightmare on a street that is very narrow, and has an elementary school on it. Westwood has had ample notice that Canton objected to the complete lack of INFRASTRUCTURE planning by the Westwood Planning Board. You can't put in a mall the size of the Natick Mall and not consider how 50,000 cars a day are going to get to it. No one should be surprised by Galvin's actions. See www.futureofcanton.com for documents and links to the truth about traffic.

I just think there has to be a better way. This IS a project with regional impact-an impact that if managed well could be good for everyone. Instead, everyone is divided into camps of people who all feel excluded from the process. So, when they find an opportunity to erect a little roadblock, they do so. And then the developer and the town bulldoze it by invoking the "if we don't get what we need, it will be the end of the world" argument. There should be a regional government entity, comprised of Dedham, Westwood, and Canton with the power to administer the development of this project and insulated from the day-to-day political process which does nothing but polarize and antagonize the community. Planning out everything is pointless--who knows what the future will bring? But we need a process and means for the people who will live with this project to not just express opinions, but be involved in the day-to-day and year-to-year evolution of development in the "impact area." Lacking something like that which works, I think we will have more and more of these kind of crisis situations where someone finds a way to exploit the imperfect system to hold things up.

When the Westwood Selectmen went ahead and proposed closing Canton Street, I attended a meeting in Dedham to address the concerns. It was a meeting of Dedham, Westwood, Canton and Norwood selectmen. Westwood was the only town who did not have representation from their Board of Selectmen in attendence. They sent representation to speak on their behalf. Out of the 3 Selectmen not 1 attended. What kind of message does that send to other towns. Not a good one. These towns should all be working together that is true. But making that happen is another story altogether.