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Local Groups helping Framingham
Sudbury Valley Trustees:
Please Join Today!
Callahan State Park
Nobscot Boy Scout Camp
Information and
Map
Tippling Rock Hiking Page and Map
Stearns Farm, CSA
Framingham Conservation Commission
Other Links:
Town
Of Framingham
Frambors
Massachusetts General Laws
Framingham Taxpayers Association
Boston
Globe
Metrowest Daily News
The Tab
DemocracyforAmerica-Ma (disclaimer:
I am a group member and the webmaster of this site)
Land in Framingham
Please check the
Massachusetts government website
describing the build out analysis of Framingham. In particular,
Map 3 shows a composite of Land that is developable,
potentially developable , possibly developable and constrained. It is
immediately apparent from this map that precinct I is where a majority of the
potentially developable land is, and it is essential for us to be proactive in
either such development or in the preservation of some of this land.
Town Issues
| 2/22/05 at the
Planning Board meeting I presented a critique of the town's
Housing Policy (adopted by the BoS in March of 2004, and not to be
confused with the Housing Action Plan, which was never adopted). The
critique was prepared by an ad hoc group of citizens (listed in the
report) convened by the Framingham Taxpayers Association. The critique
has been endorsed by a broad coalition of community leaders (listed in
the report).
The purpose of the critique is to highlight the need to rescind our
current Housing Policy. Town Meeting passed a resolution last fall
calling on the BoS to rescind the Housing Policy, but so far the BoS has
not acted on this resolution. By issuing the critique the broad group of
community leaders hope that the BoS will see the wisdom of rescinding
the current policy, which remains an impediment to moving forward in a
unified and constructive manner in the area of housing, and more broadly
master planning.
For those interested, the full text of the critique may be read on the
FTPA's website On the home page simply
click on the link to the Critique that is highlighted with a flashing
"NEW" sign.
Steve Kruger
Click to Read:
Arcade TIF: YES
This vote included approving Framingham as the first town or City in the
State to make use of a new Residential TIF Bylaw. In voting for this
article, TM approved a substantial tax break on the new arcade
development, however, our tax base will still increase from what it is
currently. In addition, we created a residential TIF zone in the
downtown area.
McAuliffe Library: YES
I voted to support the funding of a new branch library.
Over-55 Housing: NO
I voted against this particular by-law. While I support the concept
of over 55 housing and I appreciate the modifications, especially the
exclusion of wetlands from the open space land, I thought there were
additional modifications required.
I am
currently serving on the Citizens Advisory Committee for Housing. This
committee in a strictly advisory role supports the joint effort by the
Board of Selectman and the Planning Board in creating a new Housing Plan
for Framingham.
I was
recently appointed to the Social Service Pilot and Comparative Impact
Study Committee. Our first meeting was Tuesday August 2, 2005 and we
elected Bob Berman (TMM pct 4) as Chair, Yaakov Cohn (TMM pct 5) as
Vice-Chair and I will be serving as Clerk. Please stay up to date using
the information provided on this website!
Nobscot Development
Shillman
House
Prouty Farm: Land for Shillman House
In 2004, the
JCHE
applied to the Town to build a "friendly 40B" called
Shillman House on Edmands Road in
Framingham. This project was approved by the ZBA. Since this is in our
precinct I think it is important for all residents to inform themselves
of the issues, for and against, this development. I have tried to
include all known documents relating to this but if anyone has something
they would like to include please
contact me .
The main argument for the proposal was need for
elderly housing. Please
read the summary article. The
minutes of the Planning Board meeting regarding Shillman House can be
downloaded here.
The main arguments against the proposal was the change
in neighborhood zoning required, the intense density and size of the
structure and the lack of need. This
powerpoint presentation discusses
these issues. The picture below is from this presentation highlighting
the size of the building that is of concern for abutters.
Footprint of Shillman House will be Larger than
Edmands House (rand)
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I am pleased to report
that our CFO Mary Ellen Kelley has included
an analysis of our budget and charts similar
to the ones I have been creating. It seems
there is no longer a need for me to do this.
Thank you Mary Ellen.
Your report, written and oral, to the 2007
Annual Town Meeting was excellent!
Laurie Lee
FY06 General Fund
Revenue and Expenditure Summary
click here
For easy
reading, the large items for this budget can
be plotted as below:
Framingham Revenue's
Framingham's Expenses:
FY05 General Fund
Revenue and
Updated
for 2005 Final Numbers as published in FY'06
Budget
Expenditure Summary As Amended at
October 19, 2004 STM
For easy
reading, the large items for this budget can
be plotted as below:
Framingham Revenue's
Framingham's Expenses:
Moody's gives Framingham an A
Well actually,
Framingham is an Aa3 (Aaa is the best and Baa3 the worst). In order to
get an idea of what this rating means, I used the most current list,
October 2004,of
Moody's bond rating for Massachusetts. Of the
351 Cities and Towns in Massachusetts, only 257 had current ratings. Of these,
38 are cities and 219 are Towns and they are distributed as seen below:
|
Rating |
# Cities |
# Towns |
Total |
|
Aaa |
2 |
11 |
13 |
|
Aa1 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
|
Aa2 |
2 |
19 |
21 |
|
Aa3 |
2 |
38 |
40 |
|
A1 |
5 |
44 |
49 |
|
A2 |
7 |
57 |
64 |
|
A3 |
7 |
28 |
35 |
|
Baa1 |
6 |
10 |
16 |
|
Baa2 |
3 |
7 |
10 |
|
Baa3 |
3 |
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
38 |
219 |
25 |
Since there are so few cities compared
to towns I decided to chart them separately.
I looked at what percentage of the 38
Cities were in each Moody's rating.
I also looked at what percentage
of the 219 Towns were in each Moody's ratings.
From this one can conclude that
about 15% of the Towns are scored higher than Framingham. However, Framingham
is in the
top 17% bracket for Towns.
In addition, while it is difficult
to compare Cities to Towns in this situation, it is clear that the overall
Moody's rating for Cities is lower than for towns. Most likely this, and most of
the differences, can be attributed to Median Income Levels.
I am currently serving on the
Economic Development Industrial Corporation
(EDIC)
The EDIC
FY2007 Work Plan describes the goals for
the current year. These goals focus on areas all over town including:
In
addition, some projects we are currently working on include:
I
am currently serving on the
Community Development Block grant Committee
(CDBG)
The CDBG recently heard from the community on important projects that need CDBG
funding. These include outstanding programs that are currently running in our
community including:
-
ESL
-
Literacy
-
Student Jobs Program
-
Resiliency for Life
-
Metrowest Connections
Please view my 2007 Town Meeting
presentation
on Best Practice use of CDBG Funds
Please see
Housing Policy
and Housing
Distribution links for details of my contribution to this Town effort
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