Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Reading Board of Selectman candidate asks for your vote on April 2.
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Tuesday, March 26
Dear Editor, I am running for election to the Reading Board of Selectmen. As a resident for two decades, I have served in Town government for the past 10 years. As Selectman, I will leverage my experience on FinCom, RMLD’s Board of Commissioners and Town Meeting to seize the opportunities and tackle the challenges that lie before our community. I will bring to the Board of Selectmen: I have consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to open, efficient government in community service by: As Reading transitions to the new Town Manager, Bob LeLacheur, it is an ideal time to reassess our community and establish a strategic plan to support our priorities. We need to look closely at town policies and government structures to ensure they …
Friday, February 15, 2013
Residents Object.
A developer is interested in putting 60 units of affordable housing on north Main Street in Reading, just north of the town-owned Mattera Cabin and a group of residents told the Board of Selectmen Tuesday how they feel about the idea. They don’t want it. This area is an aquifer for the Ipswich River, with vernal pools, Richard Svirsky, a director of the Reading Open Land Trust, told the selectmen, and ties in to Bare Meadow and the use of the cabin. No application has been filed for the “Residences at Bare Meadow,” proposed for 1503 Main St., but a Development Review Team of town department heads, including planning, building, police, fire, engineering and health has reviewed a preliminary, conceptual plan and offered three and a half …
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Also: So why the post-blizzard clean-up mess?
Early bird gym-goers, take note. Three physical fitness facilities in Reading, including the soon-to-open Planet Fitness on Salem Street, near REI, now hold waivers to open at 5 a.m. weekdays. The Board of Selectmen Tuesday granted Planet Fitness and the Burbank YMCA off Birch Meadow Drive and the Reading Athletic Club on General Way a waiver to open before 6 a.m. weekdays. A town bylaw prohibits retail sales earlier than 6 a.m. The Board of Selectmen can grant a waiver if the selectmen deem sales during those hours “in the interest of public health safety and welfare" or "in the interest of public necessity or public convenience.” The Y and the athletic club have both been opening at 5 a.m. for 12 years, their administrators told the …
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Local opposition reportedly sends Clear Channel away.
The plug has been pulled on a possible electronic billboard on West Street, adjacent to Route 93. Given opposition to the sign, Clear Channel is no longer interested in that site, at the Mobile gas station, Board of Selectmen Chairman Stephen Goldy told Town Meeting Monday. Goldy said Clear Channel is no longer interested in the site after what he described as a “scare campaign” that included “misinformation” about the proposed zoning change and billboard that "pitted neighbor against neighbor." The sign might have brought the town between $25,000 and $50,000 a year in a “host” fee, a source of revenue proposed two years ago, according to the background to the warrant article, at a town Financial Forum comprised of the Board of Selectmen, …
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
One resident has pulled papers for the April election.
Selectmen Steve Goldy and Rick Schubert recently announced that they will not run for re-election this year. So far, only one resident has pulled papers for the April election. Goldy is the chairman of the board and and Schubert is the secretary. Goldy is not running again this year because he wants to spend more time with his family. He also mentioned, in a recent letter to the editor, that he missed meetings because his job requires a lot of travel. "This is unfair to all of you that elected me to do a job. The right thing to do is to let someone interested in making a full commitment have the opportunity to serve," he said. According to the Town Clerk's office, Daniel A. Ensminger is the only person that has pulled papers so far. …
Friday, September 28, 2012
12 all-day spaces to be marked for downtown business employees.
Drivers searching for a parking space in the lower Haven Street area take note: starting this coming Jan. 1, parking in the Brande Court parking lot behind 30 Haven St. will again be limited to two hours on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Except for employees of downtown businesses. They’ll be able to park all day in 12 specific spaces -- if they hold a special parking tag. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 Tuesday on those parking rule changes. In 2009, after the Atlantic Food Market left, the selectmen agreed to temporarily allow all-day parking in the lot, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner said. Since then, a building with commercial and residential tenants has been built on the Atlantic site. Those tenants have underground …
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Reading Selectmen to hold hearing Sept. 25.
One group’s music might be neighbors’ noise. Music reportedly added atmosphere at the opening games of a new flag football league this past Saturday evening at a Birch Meadow field, but the league for students through sixth graders needs a permit for a DJ and music at the rest of its games. Under the town’s amplified sound rules, the Recreation Committee approved a request from the group to use sound equipment once, on opening night. But under those rules, “The use of amplified sound is not intended to be a routine for recurring events, such as play by play announcements for sporting events and other repeated use of music and amplified sound.” The Board of Selectmen can grant a variance of that rule after a hearing. Even with a full agenda…
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Still a contentious issue.
Sell them? Or retire them? Renewable energy credits (RECs), that is. The selectmen discussed options Tuesday with Tony Capobianco, the town’s representative to the Citizens Advisory Board of the Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD). The decision could affect RMLD customers' rates. The light department’s advisory board originally voted 4-1 to retire the RECs in the name of sustainability, Capobianco told the selectmen. But, based on a “backlash” to that vote, the board voted to reconsider the vote, he said, and to meet with governing boards in the four communities that the light department serves: Reading, North Reading, Lynnfield and Wilmington. After “agonizing” over the issue, Capobianco said he voted to retire the RECs because he …
martha
10:11 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Yes, M I agree; less density can still accomplish goal of our town, but of course not of the developers more ›