Funny quips ...

Board of Selectmen fails to respond to public pleas

A letter from Judith Grove to the Board of Selectmen following her presentation at the BOS meeting on February 14.

"On December 29, 2016 and January 17, 2017 I sent detailed e-mails to the Board of Selectmen about serious issues regarding 4 businesses at 350 Irving Street, which affect the residents and especially the taxpayers of Framingham. I received no response from you, so I spoke before you at your meeting on January 24th and gave you documents on the issues I raised. Still no response from any of you. This is my fourth attempt to get your attention.

Landscape Depot claims at ZBA meetings that their business is not considered a landscape business but says they are like Home Depot

"Here is a brief summary of the problems with the businesses operating on the toxic coal tar polluted property at 350 Irving Street, a former gas manufacturing plant:

     1. All the permit applications to the ZBA were incomplete or had false information.
     2. They applicants allowed their permits to expire for 6 years and paid no back fees or fines. Landscape Depot allowed 10 businesses to squat on the property and pay no taxes.
     3. No Personal Property (PP) taxes were paid for 15 years by the 14 businesses operating on this property and all of them were unknown to the Town Assessor’s office.
     4. Although being monitored by the Fire Department and the Board of Health’s Licensed Site Professional trying to teach them “Best Practices”, Landscape Depot had 2 more fires in 5 months.
     5. While they paid nothing to the town, we taxpayers paid the bill for the myriad Town services they consume from Town Manager to the Police, DPW, Inspectional Services, BOH, Legal Department and most of all the Fire Department (16 fires on toxic property in 6 years)

"I have repeatedly asked the Board of Selectmen the following questions:

     1. Will these businesses be made to pay their Personal Property taxes and back permit fees and taxes?
     2. Will they be charged for excessive use of our FD? (16 fires in 6 years)

"Since you did not respond I contacted the Assessor’s office and the Fire Department and obtained this information:

     1. The Assessor’s Department has billed LD $11,000 in PP taxes for the current year. They cannot bill them for missed PP taxes or Permit fees. Since LD has been in Framingham for 15 years, the Town has lost out on about $150,000 of tax money. This does not include lost revenue from the other 14 businesses that operated there.
     2. The Fire Department will now bill Landscape Depot for additional mulch fires.

Neighborhood frustrated with lack of responsibility, accountability and action of Government departments and Board of Selectmen

From S.T.O.P. reporter to new Fire Department Chief (December 30, 2016)

Hello Chief Hicks,

I am requesting a copy of the Fire Department report for the fire at Landscape Depot on November 28, 2016. We were unaware that this fire occurred until the December 13, 2016 ZBA meeting at which Mr. Mullen's lawyer made an opening statement that Landscape Depot should be given their Special Permit because they are following Best Practices and only had one fire, on July 4, 2016.

Mulch fire at Landscape Depot on November 28, 2016. Another mulch fire ocurred on July 4, 2016. Please read artucle here. http://framinghammatters.blogspot.com/2016/07/once-again-mulch-fires-at-350-irving.html

It was not until later, under direct questioning, that Mr. Mullen admitted a second fire occurred on November 28th. This additional fire made no difference to the ZBA. They read your statement of support for granting the permit because you wrote that LD is following Best Practices.

We presented the ZBA with a number of compelling reasons why the permit should have been denied. Since then, we have sent these reasons to the Board of Selectmen and now to the Fire Department. I have highlighted issues directly applicable to the Fire Department.

The ZBA's decision to continue to grant permits to Landscape Depot despite all the thoroughly researched information we presented to you at the December 13, 2016 ZBA meeting is appalling. We asked many questions and in the very least we deserve answers to them.

1. Why has the ZBA decided to grant a Special Permit to 4 businesses under the "Storage and Distribution" Use when according to the Zoning by-laws, this "Use" is only granted by the Planning Board?

2. When will you investigate the fact that Mr. Mullen is doing Asphalt, Brick and Concrete reclamation? (Please see attached photo). Shouldn't this zoning by-law "prohibited use" violate his lease? How much time will he be given to correct this? Chief Hicks - When you did inspections, were you aware the ABC is a prohibited use?

3. Attached are photos of the LD mulch fires on July 4th and November 28, 2016. There have now been 16 fires in 5 years which continue despite the monitoring by our Fire Department and the efforts of the Board of Health and its Licensed Site Professional to teach LD "Best Practices". According to Fire Chief, Hicks, the Fire Department has no record of mulch fires at any other landscape mulch operation in Framingham, including D & D which is a much larger business. How many fires are O.K. with the ZBA in this environmental justice neighborhood? How many more fires are needed to claim a violation of LD's lease? Chief Hicks - do you have a limit on the number of fires? Does LD have fire insurance? Have they filed any claims? Does the Insurance Company know about the excessive number of fires?

4. Who and when will the ZBA investigate to see who altered the data on the Treasurer/Collector Form in Landscape Depot's application packet after it was filed with the ZBA in September? This form falsely stated that LD had paid their personal property taxes. Go on-line to your ZBA site and you will find that this form is now blank. Perhaps this issue would be better addressed by the Town's Legal Department? Chief Hicks - The Treasurer form also asks if "Alarm Billing" is Current or Past Due. Has LD been billed for excessive calls? If not, why not?

5. Were you satisfied with Mr. Mullen's response when asked if he had paid his Personal Property Taxes? He said no one told him he owed any taxes even though he admitted he paid them for his businesses in other towns. After 15 years of not paying taxes and allowing 10 business to squat on his property and also not pay any taxes, when will Mr. Mullen inform the Assessor's Office that he is doing business in Framingham? Shouldn't non-payment of taxes violate a lease? Will Mr. Mullen also pay back taxes for the last 15 years?

6. The Purpose of Framingham's Zoning By-laws is "to protect and promote life, health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the residents of Framingham?" Please explain how the general welfare of Framingham's residents is being served by the ZBA giving another permit to Landscape Depot, a business that pollutes our air, pays no taxes and makes liberal use of the many departments our tax dollars support such as: the Fire, Police, DPW, Legal, Inspectional Services and the Board of Health? Chief Hicks - do you believe the ZBA if following the By-laws to provide for the general welfare of the residents of Framingham?

7. What, if anything, would violate Landscape Depot's lease?

8. Is the Town willing to accept the liability if any workers, customers or trespassers are harmed while being on the toxic 350 Irving Street site now and even more worrisome, while the clean-up is in progress? Chief Hicks - does it concern you that a fireman could be injured putting out mulch fires?

9. Why has the ZBA placed the profits of Landscape Depot above the interests of our community?"

Please watch the video of the December 13, 2016 ZBA meeting on the Town website for the complete story on this issue...

The taxpayers of Framingham are entitled to accountability from our Departments and Boards and especially from the Board of Selectmen since you are they appointing authority for the ZBA.

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NOTE:
On January 4, 2017, Framingham Fire Chief, Joseph C. Hicks, had replied to these issues by saying, "I have faith that the Town's administrative entities are providing for the general welfare of the community" and "Safety is the top priority in every response."

Do Framingham Government Departments operate like a hot dog stand?

“We run this Town like a HOT DOG STAND!” declared Zoning Board of Appeals Chair, Philip Ottaviani, at the December 13th meeting during which they heard Landscape Depot’s request to grant Special Permits for four businesses located on the 350 Irving Street toxic property which is owned by Eversource. He made this comment in response to the following facts which I presented:

   1. According the Assessor’s office the four businesses applying for permits were unknown to his office and have never paid any Personal Property (PP) taxes on their equipment. Landscape Depot, which has conducted business for 15 years in our Town, has front-end loaders, fork lifts, a trailer, office machine, equipment to grind yard waste into mulch etc.

   2. All the Permit Application packets were incomplete or had false information. Three of the applicants did not submit the Treasurer/Collector Form or left it blank. The Treasurer's forms were incomplete in previous years as well.

   3. The September 16, 2016 Landscape Depot Treasurer/Collector form was falsely checked as current for PP taxes paid while the application found on the ZBA on-line site is blank.

The latest Christmas decorating ideas from Dennison's (1924)

Browse through the actual pages of 
Dennison's Christmas Book

Fall Skatepark Public Design Meeting

Video of October 10, 2016 Skatepark Public Design Meeting held at the Memorial Building 

Preliminary design by Pillar Design

ZBA: Deny permits to Landscape Depot

by Judith Grove, Chair, Precinct 15

The purpose of the Zoning By-Laws is “to establish such regulations for the uses of land and structures as will protect and promote life, health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the residents of Framingham. The interpretation and application of the provisions of this By-Law shall be held to be minimum requirements, adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience, and overall general welfare.”    Section I Page 3

Town Meeting members protest health and safety concerns at 
Landscape Depot, 350 Irving Street on October 7.

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On October 24th the Zoning Board of Appeals will decide if they will grant Landscape Depot a five-year extension of the one-year Special Permit, they granted them on November 2, 2015 despite the fact that:

⦁ Mass DEP had listed 350 Irving Street as a Priority Disposal Site. From 1889-1967 it was the site of a Manufactured Gas. Large portions of this property, especially low-lying areas were filled with by-products of gas production - carcinogenic coal tar, creosote, arsenic, sulfur and cyanide compounds.

⦁ 2005 - MassDEP issued a Notice of Responsibility to NSTAR Gas. In 2008 NSTAR acquired the property to address the historical environmental conditions and paid Framingham $2 million in back taxes.

⦁ July 25, 2006 - the ZBA gave Landscape Depot (LD) and 3 other landscape, truck and tree companies a three-year Special Permit for storage of landscape equipment & supplies although this “Use” is under the purview of the Planning Board, not the ZBA. LD then allowed 10 other businesses to occupy this property. These businesses did not have permits.

⦁ 2010 - 2011 - NSTAR excavated and disposed of 2,400 tons of sediment & wetland soil saturated with tar. 

⦁ 2014 - When a group of Town Meeting Members (above photo) learned that LD’s mulch was sitting on contaminated land they raised their concerns at ZBA meetings that the mulch might also be contaminated and customers could be spreading it around their yards and in areas where children would be playing. 

Once again: volatile mulch fires at 350 Irving Street

What Framingham citizens have to say 
about the July 4th mulch fire at Landscape Depot:

     Um...... I'm shocked. Really. Following best practices?
     And I thought they said they would behave from now on. - KG

     No.....not at all..... ...this is a direct indication why the ZBA should have denied the special permits for all the companies who were operating WITHOUT a legal permit for years.....All we will get is a protective defensive ring around the present government in Framingham and how great they are all doing. The Health department has the power to shut the site down....I want to hear more excuses from the Board of Selectmen and the BOH and any other board why this site is not shut down. - LK
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NOTE: Is Landscape Depot a landscape business? Under Framingham laws, a landscape business is not allowed at 350 Irving Street.

Business owner of Landscape Depot states he does not have a landscape business. He goes further to say that his business is similar to Home Depot. They sell bags of mulch but Landscape Depot grinds questionable wood materials and manufactures what is described as safe Enviro-mulch. Readers: would you consider Landscape Depot a "landscape" business?

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     Our firefighters don't need to be put in harms way by a business that does not seem to value their health and safety. The neighbors don't need to be exposed to smoke and the potential danger of fire spreading.
     With these fires seeming almost routine, how can this not be a safety hazard that can be addressed by the town in a meaningful way? - LD

     As was agreed, best practices required Landscape Depot to turn the mulch piles often enough to relieve any heat build-up? I don't see any attempt today to move the mulch piles. Who is responsible? Who should be held accountable? Is the Framingham Fire Department too passive. What exactly is their role? Does the Fire Department plan to fine Landscape Depot for Framingham Firefighters' s time, equipment, source of water? - GL

Recycling do's and don'ts

Single Stream Recycling Program Recycling Carts

The town provides recycling service to residential dwelling of up to 4 dwelling units that receive trash service by the town. One recycling cart is provided to each residential unit. Recycling carts are town property.

Place your cart at the curb with the wheels and handles away from the street. The automated truck requires at least 3 feet of clearance on each side of the cart and 12 feet of overhead clearance. Only recyclables in the cart will be collected; do not overfill or jam cart full of recyclable.

Curbside Recycling Overview

Recyclables are collected by a contractor, E.L. Harveys & Sons, Inc., every other week. Recycling is now collected single stream; combine all items in your recycling cart. Recycling collection is now fully automated and only materials inside the cart will be collected.

J.J. Newberry Five and Dime in early Downtown Framingham

Early photograph of J.J. Newberry Five and Dime taken in 1938. Downtown Framingham was THE center for surrounding towns to shop. The advent of developments as Shoppers World in the 1950s and 1960s began the demise of the Downtown as a shopping mecca. The store was located at the corner of Concord and Howard Streets. The building remains today but the third floor was removed. Sad that historic buildings where stripped of detail during the 1950s taste for bland, modern architecture.

J.J. Newberry's was an American five and dime store chain in the 20th century. It was founded in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1911 by John Josiah Newberry (1877–1954). J.J. Newberry had learned the variety store business by working at S.H. Kress stores for 12 years between 1899 and 1911. There were seven stores in the chain by 1918.

View toward Howard Street on
Concord Street in the 1960s.

The company was a family business. J.J. Newberry was joined in management by his brothers C.T. Newberry and Edgar A. Newberry in 1919, at which time there were 17 stores with yearly sales of $500,000.  At the time of founder J.J. Newberry's death (1954), the chain had 475 stores. By 1961, the company operated 565 stores with total yearly sales of $291 million

JJ Newberry Co. was sold to McCrory Stores in 1972. It continued to operate under the Newberry name as a division of McCrory Stores. McCrory opened stores under the Newberry banner especially in the Northeast and California where the name had a strong presence. The demise of the company became evident following a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing in 1992.

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NOTE: In the nineteenth century, the Nobscott Building once stood at the same spot as the JJ Newberry store. The Nobscott Building originally housed the Post Office on the first floor and the District Court on the third floor. (1880)

Back to the drawing board

By Danielle Ameden
Metrowest Daily News, Framingham, Sunday, February 7, 2016


You wouldn't know George Lewis once had his own art gallery on Boston's Newbury Street, or that corporations such as Delta Airlines and Marriott Hotels snapped up his paintings.

He's a humble artist whose career took a back seat when he moved to Framingham 16 years ago and became a Town Meeting member and local activist.

Expanse, acrylic, 42"x54"

But with a new exhibition at Access Framingham's studios in Framingham Centre, Lewis is once again sharing his abstract works — some bright, some dark; some pastel, some acrylic – with the public.

Voyage, pastel

Lewis, 72, said it took a nudge from Francesca Cerutti-Harris, the station's assistant director, to get him to agree to a show.

“I knew in another life he had been an artist and I said, “You could hang your work here, we have an opening,’” Cerutti-Harris recalled. “He had to think about it a little bit.”

Lewis introduced his collection at a well-attended opening night on January 28. The exhibit remains up until March 15 at 4 Vernon St., open Wednesdays and Sundays from 4 to 7 p.m., and Thursdays and Fridays from noon to
4 p.m., or by appointment.

Light no.5, acrylic and sand, 36"x48"

(top left) Horizon Edge no.3, acrylic, 18"x18", (top right) At Dusk, acrylic, 18"x18",
(above left) Veil of Summer, acrylic, 18"x18", (above right) Passage, acrylic, 18"x18"

Lewis said he first got into art when he was studying piano and music education at New England Conservatory of Music and administrators approached him. “They asked if I would do some covers for their catalogs so I started working in pastels and it gave me the confidence to continue,” he said.

Former George Lewis Gallery at 20 Newbury Street, Boston

Lewis went on to open his own gallery with studio space in a coveted Boston location.

“This was my livelihood.” He said. “I started painting in the 1970s and I opened my gallery on Newbury Street in 1977 and was very successful selling my paintings around the country and various cities around the world.”

He said his works range up to 6 feet by 11 feet, and the “Usual size” is three by four.

He dabbles with different materials but likes to work primarily in acrylics, and his style has changed over the years to be less bright and colorful.

Lewis says his artwork is essentially abstract and has “kind of a mystical feeling where it’s a little hazy and quite a bit of depth.”

“I like to work with color and creating forms that appear to recede in the background or advance in the foreground,” he said.

Francesca Cerutti-Harris, Assistant Director of Access
Framingham with George Lewis

Cerutti-Harris said Lewis is a member of Access Framingham and seeing his talent blew her away. She said his collection is maybe the fifth to hang at the station’s new location.

“It’s very modern and it’s very different than anything we’ve had up so far,” Cerutti-Harris said. “It’s very interpretive and it’s interesting to see the different stages. He goes from being very colorful to being very dark.”

Lewis said he closed his Boston gallery after five years, not liking the feeling of being confined during the day. He stopped painting as much when he moved to Framingham in 2000 and got involved in local government, which absorbed all his time.

“I had kind of put my artwork to the side so a lot of people don’t really know that this is what I used to do,” Lewis said.

Garden, acrylic, 36"x48"

He suspects his fellow residents and Town Meeting members would be surprised to know that his paintings hang in banks, law firms and corporations around the country. Some came out to support him on the opening night of his exhibit.

He said the exhibit shows that he’s “not just an activist.”

But Framingham – and the Southside especially – are near and dear to his heart.

“I got really turned on to Framingham when I saw the potential,” he said.

He said he loves all the natural resources and long desired a connection from Farm Pond to downtown and a walking path through Cedar Woods, a project now coming to reality.

With his art exhibit now up, Lewis says he is going to search for other outlets for his work.

“I want to get back to painting and being creative,” he said.

(Highlight photo to enlarge)

350 Irving Street

A more suitable location for a Skatepark at Farm Pond

A slightly different location for a skatepark along Farm Pond was discussed at the December 17 Skateboard Advisory Committee meeting. It is located a bit further south from the original location.

Skatepark concept by George Lewis at the selected site

Railroad Six Sports Bar - family restaurant or dive?

Hoodwinking the Board of Selectmen?

On January 25, 2011, The applicant Salvatore Bellone and his attorney, Anthony Buono, spoke before the Board of Selectmen to discuss the nature of the Railroad Six Sports Bar and Grill.

Attorney Buono: "Mr. Bellone's intent is to make the Happy Swallow (Railroad Six Sports Bar) a family-oriented restaurant. He (Salvatore Bellone) is quite the spiritual and religious, and he would really like to change the nature of the clientele and scope of the business to something that is more family-oriented... It is NOT our intent to make it anything other than a family-oriented restaurant."

(In closing): "We are not interested in attracting anything other than a family clientele. It's a complete break from the past  and I think that that is really important for this Board to understand: It's a complete break from the past."

Mr. Giombetti: "We will look forward to a family restaurant"

Planning for Downtown Streetscape design

To enlarge, click on photo. Right click again to enlarge once more

Except for one open space at Concord and Howard Street, Downtown Framingham has a strong, unbroken streetscape of buildings from two to four storeys high. Maintaining a four-story height would provide density without causing shadows from tall buildings. Limestone and lighter color brick are predominant in the Central Business district. Maintaining similar volume and materials will create a harmonious appearance.

New construction along the main streets in Downtown should be no higher than existing 4-stories. If there is an unique case, a building design may be permitted up to 5-stories provided that it is stepped back 20’ from the front so that the additional height is not visible from across street level nor will it cause increased shadows. Construction of one-story structures is not permitted.

If designed properly, the current open space at the corner of Concord and Howard Streets could become the central focal point in Downtown Framingham. It is where the north-south axis meets with an east-west axis joining future development to Farm Pond and to the Dennison Building at Bishop Street.

It is important to reflect the details and materials of the downtown Common side to the opposite side of Concord Street. A new building at Concord and Howard would be set back approximately 30 feet to allow open space and outdoor cafe. Similar details of the Common would include duplicating the granite posts and metal rails along the street. Similar material, height and color of the TD Bank building would help create a strong east-west direction.

A new building at Concord and Howard could be a multi-business use of destination type businesses such as a small art theater and restaurant with outdoor cafe.

 See related article showing possibilities when incorporating FarmPond to Downtown:
http://framinghammatters.blogspot.com/2014/05/renaming-mt-wayte-plaza-to-farm-pond.html