2021 - Franklin Turkey Trot 5K Results | Second Wind Timing

Catching up to share the results of the Franklin Turkey Trot held on Thanksgiving morning. Over 600 pre-registered, more did so the day of the Trot, and almost 600 finished either running or walking (as I did).

On this #Giving Tuesday donations to the Franklin Food Pantry as welcomed!

Results ->  https://www.secondwindtiming.com/result-page/?id=187004#1_7AAEAD

PDF version of the results can be found ->  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A9X4qibb_5lz2lZe59RNM3_MJEI9GinY/view?usp=sharing

Donate to the Food Pantry online here ->   https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E188424&id=6

2021 - Franklin Turkey Trot 5K Results | Second Wind Timing

Charles Harrington scheduled for the Second Sunday Speaker Series - Dec 12

 Franklin native Charles Harrington joins us Sunday, December 12 to discuss his book A Contemplative Life: Essays and musings from the last of the Baby Boomers. Available at Amazon.

Charlie grew up in Franklin, attended St. Mary School, and was the middle child in the large Harrington family with four older brothers and four younger sisters. One reviewer writes: “Harrington is a talented story-teller and writes about his childhood, romances, addiction and losses to inspire readers to learn from his experiences. He includes personal letters, photographs and poems that make his stories come alive. Readers can relate to his experiences and reflect on what he learned from them.

We are excited to welcome Charlie back home and have him discuss his book, reflect on his life and share his memories of Franklin. 

We hope you will join us for this next chapter in our monthly Second Sunday Speaker Series. Doors open at 1:00 PM, admission is free, and the presentation will start at 1:15. 

Please bring a non-perishable item for the Franklin Food Pantry. 

Second Sunday Speaker Series - Dec 12 - Charles Harrington

Franklin, MA School Committee meeting - 11/23/21 - audio in two parts

FM #667-668 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 667-668 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares the Franklin, MA School Committee meeting held on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: the School Committee members were in the Council Chambers along with some of the public, other members of the public joined via conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

The recording of the public meeting runs two hours and fifteen minutes. The School Committee enters Executive Session (for approx. 45 minutes) and returns to the public meeting for about 1 minute before closing the meeting. 

I split the meeting into two segments:

• Part 1 - covers the opening, Superintendent’s Report and the MCAS presentation (~1 hour 7 mins)  https://player.captivate.fm/episode/9dd47a52-af7f-4d5f-8207-9fd5fd2fa1f8

• Part 2 - covers the Discussion Action items, the Discussion Only items, the consent agenda, through to the entry to Executive Session, from which they did return to open meeting (~ 1 hour and 8 mins) https://player.captivate.fm/episode/45ad92d0-1c23-4a65-b3d1-b437fc5ba5dc

 

Links to the meeting agenda and associated documents released for this meeting are included in the show notes. The link to my notes taken during the meeting is also provided.

Let’s listen to this segment of the School Committee meeting Nov 23, 2021

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School Committee Meeting packet folder ->  https://franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/november-23-2021-school-committee-meeting-packet…  

Meeting agenda doc ->  https://franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/scagenda_11-23-21.pdf…   

My notes captured during the meeting

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/11/recap-school-committee-hears-update-on.html 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

 

Franklin, MA School Committee meeting - 11/23/21 - audio in two parts

20 Reasons to Not Implement a Dual Tax Rate

20 Reasons to Not Implement a Dual Tax Rate

The issue of whether or not to have a dual tax rate is extremely complex, and can be deceptive. Unfortunately, the way a business is taxed is integrally different from the way a resident is taxed, which results, in itself, in a great deal of confusion. Many proponents do not have all the data needed to be fully informed concerning the long term (and often negative) effects a dual tax rate could consequently have on our local economy and home real estate values. The perception of immediate tax relief to homeowners often overshadows the true downwardly spiraling “ripple effect” such a move typically has on the local economy over time.

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce ask that you help us in our efforts to educate residents and businesses alike concerning the impact of a dual tax rate by reading the attached, which is a partial listing of the some of the many reasons why a dual tax rate would be a very bad idea in Franklin.

1. 
   
   A dual tax rate raises no additional money for essential Town services. NONE WHATSOEVER. The total tax levy in any city or town in Massachusetts is set by “Proposition 2 ½” regulations and the level of new growth in a town. Again, the total amount of overall tax dollars raised does not change in any way under a dual tax rate system.
2. 
   
   When property valuations increase overall, the dollar tax rate is lowered. Noting an often increasing valuation every three years, residents can become fearful that their overall tax bills will increase dramatically and in proportion to the amount their assessed value has been raised. However, this is not the case. The tax rate is, of necessity, lowered when this happens, as a direct result of the higher valuations, due to a fixed set total tax levy end amount. Indeed, in the last fifteen years in Franklin, the real value of the average single-family home in Town has more than doubled (from $175,000 to 385,000, or about 200%). Yet the tax bill of the average single-family homeowner has only increased by about 50% (from $2,406 to $3,530).
3. 
   
   Of 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, only about 100 or so, at any given time, have a dual tax rate in effect. There are many reasons why less than 30% of towns and cities in the state opt for a dual tax rate, some of which are detailed here.

4. 
   
   There is a known statistical ratio of number of for profit businesses to number of taxable residential units that should trigger a close look at whether a dual tax rate starts to make sense or not for a certain community, which is 30% business to 70% residential. Only if a town has reached the well-documented 30% level, and has among its major business taxpayers businesses that are difficult to move - such as power plants, or vast shopping malls - only then does it make sense to consider a dual tax rate. Franklin meets neither of these criteria.
5. 
   
   The current tax system is already neither fair nor equitable for businesses, for businesses pay toward such items as the Town’s school system and trash pick-up services, which they do not use. Residents have always received a greater value, dollar for dollar, from their tax payments, and still do so even now. Going to a dual tax classification system would further increase the inequity, would be a great injustice, and additionally continue to skew the ratio of payments made to services and benefits received.
6. 
   
   Under a dual tax rate system, because there is a ratio of approximately 80 homeowners per every 20 businesses in Franklin, homeowners would only see a small decrease in their taxes, whereas businesses would see a raise of some four times that, due to the 4 to 1 ratio.
7. 
   
   Over time, a dual tax rate may well decrease the amount of money available to the municipality for essential Town services, because it is a strong disincentive to local economic development, which is the real backbone of the overall tax base.
8. 
   
   Almost all local professionals and businesses have already suffered greatly from the poor economy nation-wide.
9. 
   
   Businesses and professionals have many costs of doing business that are invisible to the consumers, such as ever-increasing insurances costs (for property, errors and emissions, and health insurance coverage); licensing fees; innumerable additional taxes and fees; etc., on all levels, town, state and federal.
10. 
    
    In fact, Massachusetts is now known as one of the worst states, and many say the worst state, to do business in within the nation.
11. 
    
    If you look around Town, you will see many underutilized buildings and vacancies in our office parks and our Downtown; vacancies that are often of a long-term nature. You do not, however, see many houses vacant for long; houses turn over relatively quickly in Franklin, despite higher home values.
12. 
    
    A split tax rate is a significant sign to new and existing businesses that a Town is not “business-friendly”. It is often one of the first, if not the first, question that new businesses ask when looking to locate in a particular town.
13. 
    
    Conversely, a split tax rate is also an incentive to build more residential homes in a Town, which further increases the demands and burdens on a Town’s resources, such as the schools; whereas business growth adds to the tax base without utilizing a lot of these already limited resources. Overcrowding of schools is only one impact, although one of the most visible, of adding more homes in a town.

14. 
    
    Franklin does not face competition solely from other in-state communities to attract and retain necessary professionals, businesses and retail operations. In fact, many states in the country “court” our existing businesses and offer special incentives for them to relocate there. Furthermore, many businesses are moving entirely to other countries, whose governments are also courting them, such as Mexico, India or many of the Asian nations, where the cost of labor and other normal costs of doing business are so much lower. It is a fallacy to think that companies cannot or will not “jump ship”. They have and will.
15. 
    
    Some 80% of U.S. businesses are considered “small” businesses. Over 85% of United Chamber of Commerce members have five employees or fewer; and many are family run. Yet, because of triple-net leasing, unless a business or professional owns their own building (and most do not) they would most likely not be exempted from paying the burden of an increased dual tax rate under a split tax system. Also, even If they do own their own building, but do not solely occupy it, or do not meet other strict requirements, they might well have to pay the higher tax rate. The often cited “exemption for small business” - sometimes mentioned by proponents of a dual tax structure as a panacea for smaller businesses - goes only to those who meet certain low numbers of employees or low business values.
16. 
    
    Going to a dual tax rate can initiate a viscous cycle. Because business taxes are based differently from residential taxes (which are based on real estate property values), when the value of a business goes down – which it often does because of a higher tax rate – the commercial/industrial property tax base itself erodes, resulting in less and less tax dollars emanating from businesses. It is important to note that due to the nature of the commercial tax structure - which is mandated by law - the real value of the very entity that the commercial taxes are determined by often then decreases, and can continue to decrease, each year under a split tax rate system. As the overall commercial tax base erodes, it is entirely possible that the entire tax base could slowly erode with it, yet the need for critical municipal services, including police, fire and school departments, is still strong. Ultimately, home values can suffer over the long term, as a town becomes known as a less desirable place to live. While a dual tax format may seem as though it is a good way to temporarily “spread the pain” or “soften the blow” of increasing residential taxes, in the long term, it generally is not.
17. 
    
    Families in Franklin utilize local stores, businesses or professionals, who could then be forced to increase their pricing of goods and services to help combat their payment of any extra taxes. Town residents, in turn, would then pay more for these items. Ironically, the cost of these goods or services often has no tax deductibility, whereas property taxes do.
18. 
    
    Many area families are employed by local businesses, and employees suffer when their employer suffers, usually through loss of income and/or benefits.
19. 
    
    The vast number of local companies contribute greatly to our local youth and civic programs currently. Yet, when they are struggling to exist, they often cannot afford to give generously; and, if they are out of business, or have moved out of town, they will not be here to give anything at all.

20. 
    
    Assessed real estate values have escalated only because the true worth of residential property values in Town have escalated sharply. Home equity is a real and viable asset to homeowners, and companies doing business in our Town should not be penalized because of this; the values of their businesses have traditionally not gone up in times of a sluggish national marketplace, but rather down.

Thanks to Jack Lank, President of the United Regional Chamber of Commerce for confirming that while the numbers referenced may have changed since this was first shared here (2007), the arguments are still what he uses in conversation on this topic today. 

United Regional web page -> https://unitedregionalchamber.org/

Original post here -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2007/12/20-reasons-to-not-implement-dual-tax.html

Tax Classification hearing info ->    https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/uploads/6._tax_classification.pdf

The Franklin Matters view on the tax rate data ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/11/franklin-ma-fy-2022-tax-rate.html

Boston Globe: Ghost kitchens, Seal update (or lack thereof)

"Boston parking lots are turning into ‘ghost kitchen’ delivery hubs"

"The first time DoorDash delivery driver Rey Reyes arrived to pick up an order from a restaurant named Fuku in South Boston, he was surprised to find a large trailer in the back of a parking lot.

He was waiting on a spicy fried chicken sandwich with a side of waffle fries, but the trailer was also serving up boneless wings from Wings & Things, vegetable dumplings from Wow Bao, or grilled cheese from MrBeast Burger.

All from the same commercial kitchen inside the trailer, at the same address, and with no actual restaurant in sight."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/11/28/business/newest-ghost-kitchen-could-be-coming-parking-lot-near-you/

"Nearly a year later, panel rethinking Massachusetts’ state seal is behind schedule and still shorthanded"

"Since its creation 46 weeks ago, a state commission tasked with recommending changes to Massachusetts’ controversial state seal has met twice. It remains short one appointee, and a state legislator has argued it needs a staff and a budget, neither of which exists. A deadline to submit a report came and went nearly two months ago.

The product of decades of advocacy, the Special Commission Relative to the Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth has been bogged down by Beacon Hill’s familiar morass of bureaucratic hurdles, all while its members wrestle with lingering questions over its mission.

The circumstances have complicated not just when the panel will produce a new vision for Massachusetts’ official symbol but exactly what it will deliver."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/11/28/metro/nearly-year-later-panel-rethinking-massachusetts-state-seal-is-behind-schedule-still-shorthanded/

The Massachusetts State flag with the state seal flies in front of the State House.JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF

Franklin Youth Lacrosse registration is open! (updated)

Welcome to the Registration for the Spring 2022 season of the Boys Franklin Youth Lacrosse.

 

Your Registration Fee covers expenses necessary for the Franklin Youth Lacrosse Program to operate.   

Equipment, Coaching Education, Field Maintenance, Insurance, League Fees, Referee fees, Indoor Time, and Scholarships are among the expenses the organization has. 

 

To complete FYL Player Registration each player must be registered with MBYLL.  Please click on link and follow the instructions.... MBYLL PLAYER REGISTRATION 

More info on the registration process ->  http://www.franklinlax.com/Registration/Default.asp?n=121825&org=franklinlax.com

** Register link **  =>  http://www.franklinlax.com/app/index/list/?org=franklinlax.com

Home page for Franklin Youth Lacrosse ->  http://www.franklinlax.com/Default.asp?org=franklinlax.com

Franklin Youth Lacrosse registration is open! (updated)

 

Light Up Franklin 2021! Luminary Kits for Sale By Troop 126

On Friday, December 31st let’s transform our town into a beautiful winter community ! Come together and join us in celebrating this (and hopefully every) New Year’s Eve by lining our neighborhoods with candle luminaries!

Each $12 Kit contains supplies for 10 luminaries:
10 white bags, 10 votive candles, sand, and instructions

3 Ways to Participate & Order Your Luminary Kits:

1) Use QR code -> 

Luminary Kits for Sale By BSA Troop 126

2) Order online using this FORM  (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGsgcpEZsUaEh-8g8XMkqkHpZSFQy2NJmhNMyDcfo4xulyEQ/viewform)

3) Fill out the attached form and mail or drop off to:
 
BSA Troop 126 c/o Iris Park, 100 Beech St, Franklin, MA 02038 

Checks payable to: BSA Troop 126

or 
Pay by Venmo: @Iris-Park-6 (add “Light Up Franklin” and number of  kits ordered) 

Funds will support Franklin Food Pantry and BSA Troop 126, Franklin

Download the flyer -> 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CTPc75aPMUcZF8ZZ2VhMaO03NzUbpZP8/view?usp=sharing

Luminary Kits for Sale By Troop 126

St John’s Episcopal Church: Christmas and Epiphany services scheduled

Celebrate Christmas and Epiphany with us at St John’s Episcopal Church

Christmas Eve, December 24:
5pm - Children’s Pageant with Communion
Seating is limited due to COVID protocols, so please reserve space in advance at:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A054CAAAE29A7F58-christmas

9pm - Candlelight Service - no reservation required

Sunday, December 26:
10am - Holy Eucharist with Christmas Carols - no reservation required

Sunday, January 2, 2022:
10am - The Epiphany family service - no reservation required

Everyone is invited! Hope to see you there.

For more information:
Call 508-528-2387
Email Admin@StJohnsFranklinMA.org
Like us on Facebook at St John’s Episcopal Church
See our website at www.stjohnsfranklinma.org 

St John’s Episcopal Church: Celebrate Christmas and Epiphany services scheduled

FHS' Batla, Peng, Morrison, and Golden selected as Cross Country All-Stars; Duffy & Kucich as Honorable Mention

Here are the FHS athletes selected for recognition by the Hockomock League coaches. Links to the full listing of Hockomock athletes are provided.

"Below are the official 2021 Hockomock League Girls Cross Country All Stars, selected by the coaches in the league."

HOCKOMOCK LEAGUE MVP
Daphne Theiler, Sharon

HOCKOMOCK LEAGUE ALL STARS
Alexandra Batla, Franklin
Charlene Peng, Franklin
Fiona Morrison, Franklin

Honorable Mentions
Lily Duffy, Franklin

"Below are the official 2021 Hockomock League Boys Cross Country All Stars, selected by the coaches in the league."

HOCKOMOCK LEAGUE MVP
Owen McMorrow, Oliver Ames

HOCKOMOCK LEAGUE ALL STARS
Clancy Golden, Franklin

Honorable Mentions
Connor Kucich, Franklin

For the complete Hockomock League listing

• Boys Cross Country = https://hockomocksports.com/2021-hockomock-league-boys-cross-country-all-stars/
• Girls Cross Country = https://hockomocksports.com/2021-hockomock-league-girls-cross-country-all-stars/ 

FHS Panthers

FAA December Newsletter & Holiday Social Info

FAA Members, 

Attached please find a copy of the December FAA Newsletter with information about our upcoming Holiday Paint-Together meeting on Wednesday December 1st,  as well as numerous call to entries and local classes, member exhibition announcements and workshops.

We at the FAA would like to take this moment to remind readers that the pandemic has hit arts non-profits especially hard, and The Franklin Art Association is no exception. After the isolation of the past 2 years, we need art more than ever to remind us of our shared humanity and to bring us together. 

Please consider donating to the Franklin Art Association this Giving Tuesday November 30th, your support will help ensure that we can continue to bring fantastic programing to you and our entire community! 

Donations can be made in person at our Wednesday December 1st meeting or via mail at Franklin Art Association, 279 E. Central St. PMB#289 Franklin MA 02038.  The FAA is a registered non-profit if you would like a receipt for tax purposes you only need ask!

Hope to see everyone on Dec. 1st with holiday season cheer!!!

 Membership Renewal Form as of 2021-22.pdf

 FAA December 2021 newsletter.pdf