Franklin Matters

Sunday, April 24, 2011

"major projects planned for this construction season"

Franklin is starting the first phase of a $7.25 million downtown improvement project with a $883,000 reconstruction of Emmons Street between Main Street and Hillside Road, Dean Avenue between Main and Ray streets, Ray Street and Depot Street, as well as the municipal parking lot near the Franklin/Dean College MBTA station.
Franklin Town Engineer Bill Yadisernia said the project includes sidewalks, curbing, paving, traffic lights and enhancements to stormwater treatment.

"That project is supposed to be done by the end of this year, and if not then next year," Yadisernia said. "But the majority will be done this year. That's the first phase of downtown, and the second phase will be the entire downtown area. The second phase is probably going to start in a year or two.

"There will be road closures, but they will be temporary," Yadisernia said. "We're not shutting down roads for a long period of time, but we may have to detour them."

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Cardi's Furniture an active supporter of HMEA

A real nice piece on the HMEA 10th Annual Independence Day on May 22.

HMEA holds 10th Annual Independence 5K: foxprovidence.com

For more info and to register visit the HMEA website

Thanks to Cardi's Furniture, one of many good sponsors for HMEA.

Franklin, MA

"I think that's a wonderful idea for Franklin"

"There's definitely an increased need with the economy," said Maureen Roy, a member of the pantry's board of directors who is organizing the phone drive. "People are making choices between buying food and paying the electric bill. ... We're just trying to make it possible for all people that need us to have access to healthy food choices."

The pantry, which serves about 400 people each month, is seeking volunteers to call residents to ask for donations on four days, from April 30 to May 3.

Small donations have a big impact since the pantry can buy 100 meals for $20 by leveraging the resources of the Greater Boston Food Bank, local supermarkets and other organizations. They hope to use some money raised at the phone-a-thon to buy produce, which is often more expensive than processed foods, she said.

Roy came up with the idea after reading about a program in Bedford where high school students call residents to raise money for a scholarship program, she said.

Team Leaders Needed

Hello Gardeners and Supporters!

Big News!

Build Day has been scheduled for Saturday May 7th!
More info will be sent next week, but right now,

We need Team Leaders to help the day run smoothly!
Please contact Chris Clay ASAP at hakai2@gmail.com to be a team leader,

The times are:
9-12 and 1-4.

We need your organizational skills (& drills if you can spare one!)

Have you read the blog lately? click on the link!

until next week,

Your Community Garden Dream Team
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Don't throw it out, Freecycle

Somehow I missed this article Friday morning:

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Don't throw it out, Freecycle

via The Milford Daily News News RSS by Brian Benson/Daily News staff on 4/22/11

Lorena Landry said she feels like she has a new kitchen, but she didn't spend thousands on appliances.

Things you can do from here:

Subscribe to The Milford Daily News News RSS using Google Reader
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Friday, April 22, 2011

Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong

Kathryn Schultz says:

"I call this error blindness. Most of the time, we don't have any kind of internal cue to let us know that we're wrong about something, until it's too late."

"This internal sense of rightness that we all experience so often is not a reliable guide to what is actually going on in the external world. And when we act like it is, and we stop entertaining the possibility that we could be wrong, well that's when we end up doing things like dumping 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, or torpedoing the global economy. So this is a huge practical problem. But it's also a huge social problem."

Will you think about being wrong today?

Franklin, MA

"recession hit and the project fell through"

In 2007, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved two variances for a mixed-use project by developer Antique Realty Corp. and builder Platinum Building, both Franklin-based companies.

Ross said no formal application was ever submitted to the Planning Board.
The plan called for a four-story building with parking below ground, shops and parking on the first floor, office space on floors two and three and residential space on the top floor, according to Zoning Board documents.

"I think everybody in the state was moving towards transit-oriented (mixed-use) development," said Daniel Lewis, of Antique Realty, a principal in the project. "The building had been vacant - it seemed like that would be the perfect spot for it."