Thank You Annonymous

sorry i can't answer you without doing a new post, my settings or something still won't let me in even on my own blog hahahaha except if i am also anonymous. any way you are so right that there are always all kinds of stories many with almost no basis in fact, and others that are partially correct. whatever, anyway thanks for asking me directly. i do try to do that when i want to know something. this town and i bet almost any other town too have very well established rumor mills. sometimes repeating things can really hurt people whether they are true or not. it's funny we learned about that in CCD this week and the kids understood it so well. hopefully they will remember it as they grow up too. thanks again.

spread sheet is on old english blog check it out !

mike mullins did a very interesting cost and profit analysis on his blog. it is worth examinig---- i don't want it but if we get it i want the most money don't you ?? i definitley hope the selectmen look at it and ask someone to explain it fully. they better not make a costly move or they will surely regret it. leave your pens at home tues nite selectmen. nobody but you can sign that lease. you'll have nobody to blame and neither will we.

how nice??

thank you cliffy i appreciate your comment.i hope anonymous got what he or she wanted. again we don't know who you are... as for the other one, it must be difficult going about your life so angry. i honestly feel sorry for you. when people have comments like that i wonder what ever made you move here?? i think it is you who needs to change. take a deep breath and read what you wrote. you don't need to apologize or anything though you should. i also didn't need to respond in the first place, i am not in office so you are not entitled to dig at me that way. i once heard a wise old person say that a person of integrity expects to be believed and when they are not they let time prove them right. let's see,... how many hours has it been since town meeting???? i rest my case.

Responce to anonymous

hello anonymous too bad i don't know your name. at first i was kind of peeved at your question but as i thought about it for a second i realized you've given me an opportunity to set the record straight. so thank you. i sincerely mean that and you'll see why in a second. i am susan montgomery wright that is my official name at town hall. i am the oldest of 6 daughters of john and mary montgomery of 51 bradford st in holbrook. i am married to steve wright sr. we have 2 sons steve jr and nate.the woman you referred to as my grand mom is really steve's mom yvonne wright my mother in law. she is also linda austins grand mother. she is a great mother in law. she doesn't own the property steve and i always wanted to live on any more, mike mullins does. we love the pastures not because of what it was worth money wise but because steve's dad worked so hard to get it and because it is so beautiful. not maybe right now due to it's abuse by 4 wheelers etc but in it's natural state you won't find a nicer piece of property.that is why we were so in favor of mullins project too. we don't stand to gain one dime from his development as far as the land goes. we sold it long before he knew it existed. i think a little history lesson is called for here. but it is kind of a long story. i'll just answer the question. you asked if my motive was really to help the town or to protect the land; it is both. even if we were to move away and sadly if the transfer station comes in that is just what we will do; it is still not feasible for a town that is 7.3 sq miles to have a facility like the one proposed and not adversely affect the whole town especially like i said from the square to randolph over to avon and back to brookvile sq.we live in that area now and also if and when we go to english rd... by the way in case you're not aware where english rd is it is a tiny dead end street in the grove. it backs up to the cochato river, baird and maguire, and the south st well field. when we were fighting about baird and maguire it was to protect everyone but also to protect the place that we hoped to live eventually. we were very open about that just like i am now. the EPA and the DEP and the Army Corp all knew what our objective was.so did anyone else who asked me. we knew we couldn't keep the whole pastures for ourselves so this is as close as we could get to living there. as far as whether i am looking out for the town in general i will tell you another piece of history. back in the 80's we asked town meeting to rezone our property ( the pastures) to R4 so Campanelli the development Co could put in high quality condo's. we have had many, many offers to buy the land in the past. we always looked at the proposal and weighed it as to how it would impact the town and the land itself. if it wasn't good we didn't entertain it. steve and i got up at our first town meeting and promised that if the members rezoned the land we would not ever sell it for apartments. a deal for apartments came along after Campanelli went away. steve and i did everything in our power to get rid of them. it cost us a lot of money. one person whose name you would surely recognize told steve at a baseball game and i quote"what is the matter with you, why don't you take the money and run? these people are just a bunch of blue collar dummies who don't deserve any better." steves response was because we promised that's why. we have stood by that promise to this day. when we sold the land to family golf we thought they would put in a golf course. we had proposed one ourselves so we thought it would be good. it turned out that family golf was not the company we thought it was and thankfully they went belly up. that's how mike ended up getting it from the company who was holding it from family golfs bankruptcy in chicago. i hope this clears up your question. i know it was a long response but you asked me.

executive session comming up

it has come to my attention that there will be an executive session related to the trash transfer station. unless of course there is another matter related to leasing town owned property? at first glance i was outraged that they would do this after voting that they would keep this issue above board and in the public eye at all times.then i started hoping that maybe if they were not being watched they could speak more freely amongst themselves and tell rick that besides kathy there are at least two selectmen who are not comfortable with this issue as it is right now
the last member i haven't spoken to yet but i know he remembers another issue in the past where he listened to rick, town counsel, and another selectman who never could think for himself and was nothing but ricks mouthpiece..at that time we lost the cell towers and lo and behold didn't st joe's get it less than a month later???? i quit going to mass for 3 years over that one. i just couldn't stomach the hypocrisy. while i am trying to see the bright side to this there is still going to be a phone call made to the district attorney's office as this reason to go into executive session does not fall under the guidelines of the law regarding executive session.these guys think they can just do whatever they want. they are mistaken. part of the problem i think is that mike yunits came from the school committee and they had some pretty funky rules like telephone votes etc maybe he thinks this is ok i don't know, but it is not. hey all you bright light bulbs who didn't vote to make them hold up on this ...... what do you think now you gonna get a lot of new info after they vote ( if they dare to) i could just puke.

What Now?

Ok some people got their frustration out. Great, now where does that leave you? We have a board of Selectmen that tells us one thing and does another, we have a company that is doing for itself ( as it should ) and a group of town meeting members who vote not the information or lack thereof; but out of frustration. Who do you think is responsible to be sure we are getting the best facility and at the best price? it is not HELP and it is not me or you. it is the board of selectmen. it is also not mike yunits he wasn't elected by you, his job is to carry out the wishes of the board. but he is not accountable to you. We spoke to a couple members of the Board last night and are you aware that they are not ready to vote on this project as it is now?? i bet you didn't know that; i sure didn't. it makes me feel a little better but not much because they probably meant what they said but i haven't seen a whole lot of courage coming from them lately. this project is worth more money than you can imagine. i really mean that more than you can imagine. please watch the old english square website for a spread sheet that spells it all out right there in front of you. then tell me again why
you voted to allow this process to continue. i would love to tell you what we were told by jack walsh but he probably wouldn't admit to it and i guess you wouldn't believe me anyway. no matter how you feel about any individual when they take the time to get accurate information (to the best of their ability) for you , you should at least try to understand it before you ignore it. the root of the word ignorant is ignore. all the places in the world but especially the places in the US that have less than desirable facilities like trash transfer stations etc are located in towns and cities where you would say the people who live there are ignorant. i hope it's not too late for Holbrook.

Exactly What is Article 22 on the Warrant

Article 22 says - To see if the town will vote to preclude the board of selectmen from entering into any lease, sale or other agreement for the placing or permitting of a trash transfer station on Town owned property at 3 Phillips Rd in Holbrook, or take any other action thereon. Why is it important to pass this article? This proposal has been on the drawing board for over 2 years. As of this writing we have seen nothing regarding the impacts to our air quality, traffic, road wear and tear, loss of businesses currently located in the industrial park etc. We also don't know how much we stand to gain either. Isn't it the proponents job to convince us that this is good for us??? Is it our job to ferret out the information we need to make an informed intelligent decision? That is exactly what some of us have been doing and that is what drove us to make the selectmen slow down before they sign our quality of life away. Believe it or not they were under some pretty heavy pressure to sign the lease when they heard about our petition. HELP wanted the lease signed before we could bring it to the Selectmen's meeting to get on the warrant.This is our only opportunity to decide our fate. Last time these guys came to town meeting they asked us to allow the selectmen to investigate the idea and we were told they would just check it out don't worry there will be so many regulations etc to get thru you'll have plenty of comment time etc. In the lease that i saw which is only a draft they require the board to do all that is possible to help them get the necessary permits. They don't say get the best deal for the town they say help HELP do what's best for them.
Let's go thru this. Right now we have an enterprise account for the trash. That means it is funded by the sale of the blue bags. It flows through the budget but doesn't really get affected by it. HELP or more correctly REGUS INDUSTRIES proposed to give us trash pickup at no cost. That comes to $750,000 per year. The lease i saw calls for no tipping fee until they reach 400 tons of trash per day. After 400 tons per day they will pay $1 a ton up to 1,000 tons per day. Then we get $2 per ton. An average tipping fee currently could be in the range of $60 to $80 per ton. Take into consideration the construction costs etc and the daily running of the place and it still seems to me that there is a lot more money on the table here. Maybe I'm wrong i don't run a trash transfer station but i'd like to here their rationale, wouldn't you?? Also i object to the lease being for 99 years. That really amounts to a sale. I won't be here in 99 years will you? I'd say 20 yrs is more appropriate. There were no provisions for any increases in the dollars per ton as the years go on. I'm sure their customers will pay more as time goes on. Right now towns who have contracts with companies like SEMASS have increases built in and it's an accepted practice. Maybe it would make more sense to have them pay us a percentage of the gross sales then the increases would automatically be covered. What I'm trying to say is there is so much we don't know how can we allow them to go forward so blindly?? By the way does anybody know what 100 tons of trash looks like? I would like to know before we ok it wouldn't you? Does anybody know how many tons can safely and efficiently be processed in a day without stockpiling it ? I would like to know that too. If this article passes they have 5 almost 6 months before the Town Election. i certainly hope they can get the info we need by then. Believe me if they get the lease you will get NO information or input. Please see the comment on the previous post from Hopeful in Holbrook.

The Facts

hi cliffy thanks glad you like this blog. i actually do have the facts and will be happy to show anyone who wants to see them. i'll even give you or any one else copies too. all i want is for the cards as you call them to Be laid out on the table. it has been 2 years and we have absolutely no new info. this project has SOOOOO much more potential effect on the quality of life for the whole town; but you are right especially for this area from pleasant st down to the tracks on both sides of the road, over the tracks up to randolph square over all the way to so main in randolph down and over to brooks lumber area and up to brookville square. there have been other proposed developments that have bent over backwards to give info, get feedback and respond to that feedback. the very same officials that have raked them over the coals are giving carte blanch ( sic) to these guys. you have to ask the question WHY. other towns have spent huge sums of money to keep them out and we welcome them duhhh please don't tell me it's because that's all holbrook deserves 'cause i don't believe it. i know most people don't think so either. i really do know because i did go door to door with steve's mom. somebody has to be representing these people can no members of the board take an hour or two to do the same??? by the way tues nite it will be yvonne's 94th birthday i hope i can be as with it as she is when i'm that age.

HELP wants help?????

HELP wants help?????? i want help and maybe you will too when you find out how they disrespect you in their backroom illegal meetings. it is bad enough for them to try to do this but the selectmen who participated in these meetings ( in their words 4 out of 5) need to be held accountable. i know first hand that the open meeting law is sometimes cumbersome and a pain but it is the best safeguard that the people have. it is to be taken literaly and adhered to all the time, every time, no matter what. we have to be able to depend that all the towns business is done at the table at a public open meeting. otherwise what is the point of having elected officials.? if they want the town to be run by survival of the fittest like the old west ok but you better be prepared to live with what you will get.
i would like to give you a couple of quotes from HELP "i have communicated that desire.....most recently last thursday the selectmen (4/5 of them) the town administrator and others." they go on describing how they have almost all the people but wait let me quote them again, "We have a majority of the Selectmen, Town Government, Town Meeting, Ma DEP, Federal EPA, Ma municipal officials, and a large group of Holbrook and area residents, that are looking for innovative ways to develop the property, and have so far supported our project." do they really think they have a majority of the residents of this town on board with them?? if they really want to see what the residents think maybe they should go door to door like we did . then again if they did that they would actually hear from the people most affected and God knows they do not want to hear from them!!!!!!

Fund Raisers --- Looking for participants

a man i know helped raise the funds needed for the high school band to travel out of state for a competition. this was in buffalo ny and he didn't even know anyone there as he just moved there. he saw an article in the paper and offered this service. they took him up on it and the band got to the competition without paying out of pocket. just from the fund raiser. how this works is we get one volunteer from each school to be the lead person, the cost for this person is about $60. ( even that cost is refundable if you're not satisfied) of course the respective parent groups or other group
can pay for it in advance or reimburse if they want. all that happens next is anyone who wants to participate signs up for free with this person and purchases the things they would normally buy for their homes except they buy it through the designated volunteers web site. it is tracked by computer and on the following 15th of the month a check is cut for the profits from the sales. the check is made out to the person but he or she takes it and photocopies it and brings the photocopy and the cash or money order( suggested) to the chairman of whatever group is going to benefit. a lot of positive energy and excitement is generated as you watch the totals grow. you could get a giant thermometer or put it in a flyer or on a web site. it could be announced at the school committee meeting whatever the group chooses. the idea is when it gets started it is very easy to see the progress as you can check it online and actually watch the totals grow. everthing is 100% money back guaranteed and the prices are good and the quality is unbeatable. we can even double and triple dip with the same money by using a pay as you click site to get to it then you can even buy the types of foods that have the box top things you are already saving. in this day and age we must get creative so what do you say? who will step up first? my # is 781-767-1079 i'll be happy to go over it in detail for anyone interested. you will be amazed how much this generates!!

Management Team??????

In reading cliffy's blog i was struck by the term management team. i was told by a source that must remain nameless due to safety issues for them that the new manager of our not even voted on transfer station has been chosen and he is none other than the guy who stole water from the town of Avon, and more recently was fired from one of Regis industries sites in Ohio. what was he fired for you ask??? and if he was fired why in the world would a reputable company keep using him??? oh ya the reason he was fired...... he accepted radioactive waste that' s all just a little RADIOACTIVE WASTE. now think about it he got caught on that one how many more times did it slide through without anyone noticing?? wake up people we are dealing with a dangerous threat to this town and the people who live here. make no mistake while we are wringing our collective hands and wondering if maybe this is an easy way to get some cash they are moving as quickly as they possibly can, not to give us something to enhance our way of life but to earn them cash. again i'll say it as often as i need to i love it when businesses make money that's what makes the world go round but NOT on someone else's back. NO THANKS

Check Out The Link to Old English Square

Mike Mullins has posted his new renderings of how old english will look. they are not totally finished yet but you can see how the buildings will be laid out in relation to what is currently existing.
it is interesting too for anyone who is wondering why we are nervous about the trash transfer station. you can clearly see how close the industrial park is and mear rd which is shown is just a straight shot to phillips rd. steve and i also believe that the transfer station was the real intent for the eminent domain article last june. no way was there really going to be a golf course.. back in the mid nineties when we proposed the golf course it made sense. we already owned the land and only had to buy out some of the relatives. we could sit on it for the two years it would take to make it playable because we had private funding in place and at the time there were not enough golf courses around. since then there have been too many built so some are closing and the cost to buy it and then to construct it would have been too great. consequently after they owned it a magical deal would come up where the trash company could take it off the towns hands and make out like a bandit. at everyone elses expense.

another new blog check it out

there is another new blog to check out. it's address is www.freewebs.com/holbrookneedschange/ it is pretty cool. the format is funky and the info i saw looked to be complete and factual. i will try to do a link to it. i hope they will do the same. my attempts at linking haven't been too successful yet. so cliffy and new person thank you in advance for the help. i think the more chances we have as individual citizens to use our voice the stronger those voices will become. silence and apathy don't improve anything. my dad once found a great saying on a bathroom wall in boston, "every good and excellent thing stands moment by moment on the razors edge of danger and must be fought for." he scribbled it down and brought it home. it is something i carried around in my horn case for a long time.
we have something here in holbrook that is definitely good not quite excellent yet but it could be and if we don't fight for it it will be neither.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The name of this blog says it all. when you think of Holbrook's new horizons what is the picture in your mind?? is it of multiple trash trucks thundering down our streets or is it of nicer things like the homes we all take pride in, lawns that will someday be green again, trees that line streets and dot landscapes, kids riding bikes and playing up the park. oh my God maybe we will really get the shops and improvements we've been waiting so long for at old english.
the town hall looks great, the square came out nicely i think. of course there are always things people wish were done differently like underground utilities etc but still it is a huge improvement. the planning board despite all their unnecessary foolishness at times has gotten us some nice developments around town. i;m sure if you think about it there are some things to be proud of.
on the other hand if they give us the trash station what will we get? big very smelly trucks wrecking our already well used roads, many more sea gulls dropping every where, rats who, although we have our share already, will become very apparent, more runs by the frieght trains at union st crossing which will hold up traffic, and of course supposedly free or reduced rate trash pick up. that is a laugh!!!!!!!!!!! once they had their permits and whatever else in place we will get nothing. if you don't know already about how it works when a company gets designated as a rail something or other you need to check it out. it's a lot like 40b. no oversight on the local state or federal level. in other words absolutely no protection for you or me or our property values. oh ya and the supposed benefits they say they might give. after they transfer the company to a much larger one and you KNOW they will out goes their agreements. ask the town of marshfield who just got one how they like it !!!!!

Getting All the Facts..So You Really Want Them:?

We the citizens of Holbrook are coming up to a very important decision about the future of our town. the proponents of the trash transfer station i'm sure have their arguments in favor of it so i won't use this space for that. it's up to them to convince the people of their side.
The reasons against the transfer station are what i'm interested in. to be blunt i could care less what they think . i can't think of any reason that we should go forward with it. the money they supposedly will bring in will not outweigh the nasty conditions we would be stuck with. don't take my word for it though. very soon there will be a public meeting that we hope will be attended by as many people as can legally fit into it.
there will be people who have worked at Clean Harbors, SEMASS, and other waste sites as well as representatives from RATTS residents against trash transfer stations. this same idea has reared it's ugly head in other communities before Holbrook. we will be well served to hear how these other citizens won their fights to keep their towns free of this mess.
if you think just getting the questions on the town meeting was enough guess again. now comes the real serious fight. they will come at the hard working, over taxed, underfunded town employees and town meeting members with their rosy projections. we need hard facts and first hand witness accounts that show what we will really be faced with if this goes through.
as soon as i know when the meeting will be i'll post it here and we'll get it on cable and anywhere else we can to get the word out.

UPDATE 10-03-07

The selectmen met last night and went over the articles for the special town meeting on the 23rd. it actually was quite productive except for the endless drivel of the chooch they have runnning the communtiy development office. i was thankful he took so long though because it gave time to get the mass gen laws that applied to our efforts. it is too bad we needed them to push for our articles to go on but at last they are going to be heard and voted on.
the question for the ballot is actually already voted on. they promise it will go on i hope we can trust them. they did say it on tv in front of whoever watched so .......
this is not the end. there is a lot of information to be discussed before they give up. there is a lot of money riding on this let;s not forget it. for the moment the people have spoken.. now on to the next steps until we are free from the threat of this nasty idea.
as a housekeeping action for the blog i didn't know that you had to do some clicking on other pages for settings etc hopefully now people can write in. sorry i didn't mean to block you out.