Recently in Current Issues Category

Did you know that Spring 2012's Town Meeting Warrant may include a proposed Formula Business Restriction Zoning Bylaw for West Concord? (See at the bottom of this post for further resources, including the proposed bylaw and analyses.)

According to the HomeTown Advantage website (www.newrules.org/retail/), "a growing number of cities and towns are enacting policies that restrict the proliferation of "formula businesses" [i.e., chains and franchises] - stores and restaurants that have standardized services, décor, methods of operation, and other features that make them virtually identical to businesses elsewhere."  

The proposed zoning bylaw would limit the number of formula businesses in West Concord to the existing number. It also includes a store size cap for new formula businesses. This proposed bylaw therefore also pertains to "big box" stores, as the rationale to restrict these runs parallel to that of formula businesses.

The West Concord Task Force voted on Nov. 12th to adopt this proposed bylaw in spirit as a performance standard for the West Concord Master Plan, leaving an opportunity for the fine details to be worked out before Town Meeting.

Dozens of towns and cities across the country, including in Massachusetts, have adopted Formula Business Restrictions to preserve the unique character of their town centers, and to protect their small, local businesses.  Some examples: Nantucket, MA; York, ME; Bristol, RI; McCall, ID; Port Townsend, WA; San Juan Bautista, CA; Port Jefferson, NY; Northampton, Andover, and Boxborough MA - and more.


Here are some frequently asked questions about the proposed Formula Business Restriction and their answers.  Please see the links below for more information and cited sources.

What does this mean for West Concord?
Such a bylaw is one of the best tools to preserve West Concord's usefulness and character. A great deal of West Concord's beloved qualities are due to there being nearly 100% local, independently-owned businesses. Several proposals to redevelop large sections of the Village seriously threaten the local Indie state of affairs. Redevelopment will inevitably push rents higher because building costs will need to be recouped and profits made by owners.

But are formula business restriction bylaws legal?
Formula Business Restrictions are legally sound, and have been successfully enacted in scores of towns nationwide. Courts have ruled that preserving the distinctive community character is a legitimate public purpose for enacting a formula business restriction bylaw.

Of the dozens in existence, there have been only four court challenges (none in MA).  Of those, the courts ruled in favor of two.  In the two cases that were denied, the courts upheld the premise to protect the unique village character and small local businesses, but stated that the towns failed to provide sufficient evidence of defined Town goals and objectives that the restriction would support.

While legal interpretations may vary from state to state, there are, notably, precedents for both in Massachusetts (Formula Business Restriction - Nantucket; Store Size Cap - Andover, Boxborough, Northampton).

Is the store size cap legal?
Cities and towns have long had the authority -- through the zoning powers granted to them by state law -- to control the scale of development. Most municipal zoning codes are filled with provisions that regulate scale by, for example, restricting the height of buildings or setting a minimum acreage for house lots.

But don't chain and big box stores actually benefit communities more than harm them?
Absolutely not! There are many myths promoted by these chains that have actually been completely disproved by the facts. For example: formula stores eliminate more retail jobs than they create. Any tax benefits of big-box stores are negated by the cost of providing public services to these developments and declining tax revenue from existing commercial districts, which deteriorate or close down once chains come in. They shrink the local economy, and providing fewer -- not more -- shopping options and less competition.

If we restrict our downtowns and villages, we'll strangle their growth.
According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, more cities and towns are saying no to additional formula and big-box development, and are finding better ways to grow by creating and expanding local businesses. Far from impeding growth, these policies often attract new small businesses investment as entrepreneurs seek out viable locations.  Town Planners are encouraged to enact pro-local business polices (i.e. zoning bylaws and ordinances) before their local economy becomes threatened by the incursion of chains.

Why not allow the free market to determine how many formula businesses we have?
Our beloved local businesses would be quickly put out of existence by the overwhelming combined weight of the formula businesses. HomeTown Advantage points out that "[b]ecause they all like to follow one another, it's not uncommon for formula businesses to arrive in an area en masse, squeezing out independents and causing a speculative run-up in rents that results in the wholesale transformation of a business district almost overnight."

More Resources:
FormBusRestr v2 11.12.09 2.pdf
fivemyths.pdf

Attend preview and presentation of the West Concord Task Force's Master Plan recommendations for enhancements to the Village center including:

    • Transportation network and circulation
    • Streetscape and parking
    • Parks, open space, and trails
    • New development and redevelopment

Harvey Wheeler Community Center, Thurs., Nov. 19th 7-8:30PM*

* 7-7:30 Public preview (recommended)
* 7:30-8:30 Presentation and discussion

More information at: Town Website (concordma.gov) / "Links for Residents" / "West Concord Village Master Plan / Project Materials" and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WCTF_announcements

"Life in the Balance: Food for Thought," will be held on Friday, November 20, 7pm, at the Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden St., Concord. This forum will explore food issues and discuss ways to effect change at home, in our towns, regionally and nationally.

The featured speaker is Brian Donahue (American Environmental Studies, Brandeis University), along with Willow Blish (Slow Food Boston), Jim Catterton (Concord Agriculture Committee), Jen Hashley (Tufts University New Entry Sustainable Farming Project and Pete & Jen's Backyard Birds), and Charlotte Vallaeys (Farm & Food Policy Analyst, Cornucopia Institute). "Food for Thought" is free and open to all.
 
The Life in the Balance series is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle, ConcordCAN (Concord Climate Action Network), Carlisle Climate Action and Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education. For more information, visit http://lwvcc.com/lifeinthebalance.html, email Green_Initiatives@lwvcc.com or call 978-369-3842.
 
 

Gently used books in good condition, suitable for giving. Cook books, travel, garden, fiction, children's, holiday, poetry, sci fi, mystery, DVDs, CDs.  These are the crème de la crème of the library's donated books in pristine condition and suitable for gifts. Festive decorations in the library lobby and very careful sorting and display make this an enjoyable shopping experience. And you purchases benefit the library. Bargain prices, beautiful books!

Friday and Saturday, December 4 & 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, December 6, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 129 Main Street, friends@concordlibrary.org.

Photo: The original facade of the Concord Free Public Library.

 

We're just about at our one-year mark of the solar greenhouse in our backyard. I've not updated about this project for a while. Part of the reason is that I've been just so darned busy (some of which I will explain here very, very soon)...

Another reason I've not posted much about it is that after we had so much loss from late blight (and so EARLY it was!), the gloss was off the apple, so to speak.  It was not the most joyous summer gardening season.

However -- there is still plenty going on and we plan on going through the entire fall and winter with crops in the ground providing us with food! Which re-invigorates and energizes me.

We have 4 beds outdoors under floating row cover. More like BLOWING row cover.  It's hard to keep that stuff pinned down yet able to be opened for harvesting. But things are going just beautifully under the cover, which is rated to give about 6 degrees F and -- quite importantly -- some wind protection.

We have many different things growing splendidly outdoors under cover.  From memory (and I'll miss a few) they include: arugula, 2 types of bok choy, tatsoi, 2 types of turnips, broccoli raab, red mustard, 4 types of kale (Chinese, curly Siberian, red Russian, Tuscan), chard, napa-type cabbage, green and savoy heading cabbages, collards, mibuna, mixed chicories, beets, red choy sum, parsley, chives.  We are eating daily from these beds.

We closed up the greenhouse in mid-October when we had the first frosts. Inside, we had a touch of frost for the first time a few night ago -- I think that night it was 25F or so.  But only the nasturtiums got nipped (an outer row), and it wasn't a fully killing frost for them.  I have a variety of pepper plants (!) doing fine, and a few summer herbs and flowers, too.  Eggplants, cucumbers and basil couldn't deal with the lower temps and got moldy and sad; I took them out a couple of weeks ago. We seem to be running a month behind the first frost of mid-October.

I only just added row cover inside the greenhouse in a couple of areas last night, and then only where we still have the tender summer plants.   Also inside I have in addition to ALL the types I have outside, some leaf and semi-heading lettuces (could probably have them outside, too), miner's lettuce, sage, carrots, beets, leeks, scallions, 2 types of peas, red cabbage, red chard, and an additional type of chard whose frost tolerance is unknown to me.  We have regularly been eating from these beds, too.

I have every spot in the greenhouse beds planted; I will seed some things today that I had meant to seed a couple of weeks ago; they will go into the spots the summer plants will vacate -- though I have no idea how much longer these warm-ones will be doing well enough to keep in place.

At the moment, despite the cloudy day we're having today, the greenhouse is 20 degrees warmer than outdoors -- and there's no wind.  The heat in the earth after a few nice days plus the warmth of the (low) sunlight all allow it to be in the mid-60's indoors. And it's humid and fragrant from earth and growing things! Quite delightful.  

We had a class here on Saturday from the Audubon Society and Concord-Carlisle Adult Ed on Suburban Backyard Farming, and it was over 80 degrees (even with some ventilation open) in the greenhouse!  It was a great demonstration of what just a little plastic protection and temperature buffering from the earth will do for you.

Photos from top: Our largest sweet potato, planting grape vines in newly made lasagna garden beds (both ©2009 Don Stevenson), snow on the floating row cover on some obscenely early October date (©2009 Rich Stevenson)

Though in Concord "only" for 96 years, New England Deaconess is celebrating its 120th year of existence. Do you know how this organization, first in Boston, end up in Concord in the first place, and how it has played a vital role in the well being of our community for nearly a century? From the current plus an earlier iteration of the New England Deaconess website:

"It was 1910 when Charles W. Emerson, a nephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson, brought his ailing wife from Concord to the Deaconess Hospital in Boston. The care and attention his wife received so impressed Emerson, that he donated both land and money to build a cottage hospital in Concord to be run by the Deaconesses. Emerson's vision and resources, combined with the free care and nursing expertise of the Deaconesses, provided the citizens of Concord and the surrounding areas with an alternative to Boston health care.

"Later, when it became evident that a residence for the aging Deaconess family was needed, Emerson came to their aid by generously donating the land upon which he had intended to build a home with his wife. This residence, completed in 1913, eventually came to be known as the Deaconess Home."

"At this same time, Emerson learned that Mrs. Foucar, who lived across the street from the hospital site, wanted to make a generous donation for a home for the aging. Emerson was excited about the prospect of working with Mrs. Foucar and her daughter, to create a great center for human welfare comprised of both a hospital and a home for the aging in Concord.

"In 1911, the Deaconess Cottage Hospital in Concord opened, and N.E.D.A. ran it until 1924 when it was turned over to the citizens of Concord and renamed Emerson Hospital.  In November 1913, the Home for Aged Methodist Women, now Deaconess House, formally opened next door on what is now our Concord campus."

Yes, we burn the American flag in Concord.  But don't think it's out of protest or disrespect -- in fact, it's just the opposite.  Our flag burning is actually an act of respect: we retire worn flags with dignity and honor.  We do this every year on Veteran's day to thousands of flags, a ceremony that involves the involvement from every facet of our community.

Beautiful photos by Concordian Rich Stevenson of this year's ceremony are below. (click on any to see a larger view in a separate window). 

Photos: ©2009 Rich Stevenson, Local Color Images, all rights reserved.

By Court Booth, Director of Concord-Carlisle Regional Public Schools Adult & Community Education, http://www.ace.colonial.net, (978) 318-1540


"The American Landscape" is a special presentation by Alex MacLean at the Thoreau School, 29 Prairie Street, West Concord. All ages are invited to this free program at 7:30 PM.

Alex is a pilot and photographer who has flown over much of the United States documenting the landscape. His remarkable photos demonstrate the extent to which the human ecosystem and our economic and social well being are dependent upon our wise use of land and its resources. His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed environments.

The Concord Municipal Light Plant has a scheduled electric power outage beginning at 10:00 pm on Thursday, November 12th and running through 5:00 am in Friday, November 13th.
 
The outage will affect businesses and residents on Walden Street and may affect some businesses at the corner of Main Street, if their power comes from the Walden Street circuits.  The outage is necessary so the Light Plant can convert circuits that are underground and add protective equipment upgrades.  Streetlights on Walden Street and in the parking lot off of Walden Street will also be affected.
 
Please contact CMLP at 978-318-3116 if you have any questions.
 

Slowind Concert

Saturday, November 14, 7:30 p.m. Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main Street

Slowind (pictured above) is a wind quintet made up of soloists of the Slovene Philharmonic, an orchestra with a rich musical tradition since its beginnings more than 300 years ago in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In its long history, the orchestra's conductors have included Gustav Mahler, Fritz Reiner and Carlos Kleiber.

The musicians -Ales Kacjan, flute; Matej Sarc, oboe; Jurij Jenko, clarinet; Metod Tomac, french horn; Paolo Calligaris, bassoon--will perform works by Darius Milhuad, Vinko Globocar, Paul Hindemith, and Gyõrgy Ligeti.

Music From the Library is free, advance reservations required at  www.concordlibrary.org or 978-318-3301. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library.

Thursday Author: Historian Speaks at the Library

Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: A Borderland Massacre and the Violence of History. Jacoby, aprofessor at Brown University, will discuss his examination of US/Mexico border issues during the 19th century. Thursday, November 19, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Free. Main Library, 129 Main Street, Concord. For more information,  www.concordlibrary.org. Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library.