From: George Lewis
Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals,
Congratulations from the auto junk yards, auto repair, radiator repair,
auto storage, auto paint shops, used car dealers for work well done. You
have allowed us to make this part of Framingham a welcome door for us to do
as we please. With many thanks from landscape businesses, mulch, stockpile
and junk yards. You have allowed no limit to the number of businesses such
as ours. Yeah, so what if there's contamination complaints from the
Environmental Justice community. As long as it is business as usual for us.
With your help, the sky's the limit. For the rest of the community, our
legacy is below their feet.
MY RESPONSE
Many of these 'industrial' type businesses are properly located insofar as
they are located in a MANUFACTURING ZONE. As you're driving West on Rt 135
from Natick into Framingham, it's like you're driving from a forest road
into a concrete/asphalt/oil neighborhood, starting with that junk yard on
the right hand side just before the MWRTA facility.
I am speaking on this because of the MAPC project to revitalize Downtown
Framingham by building these mix use buildings with expensive apartments for
the young urban professionals to live in (and pay top dollar to rent)
knowing the kind of industrial neighbors they will have plenty of when they
relocate there...
...That railroad yard is a blight, but if we want the railroad company to
move out, we either pay them handsomely or they'll tell us to go fish and
they'll be within their right. There are so many other industrial blight
here that are grandfathered...
In my humble opinion, as long as we're willing to let all these industrial
blight to continue to exist, and not make a concerted effort to get
Eversource to clean up 350 Irving St, getting Downtown much more attractive
to the point where it will be a success... it's like trying to change a cat
into a dog.
While we're on the subject of 350 Irving St... let me give an analogy... We
have to dig up the floor in the Blumer Room in order to fix some major
problem. What Eversource propose with 350 Irving St, is analogous to moving
the furniture (which takes up 50-70% of the room floor space) to one side of
the room while digging up the other side, then when they're done with one
side, they move the furniture to the other side of the room to do the side
they did not get earlier because the furniture were there. It would be far
more efficient, in terms of time, to have ALL of the furniture moved
completely out of the Blumer room so they can dig up the whole floor to get
the job done much sooner. Likewise, Eversource should get EVERYONE and
EVERYTHING off 350 Irving St, so the proper cleanup can be done more
quickly. Beside, while that land is still toxic, EVERSOURCE HAS A MORAL DUTY
TO KEEP PEOPLE OFF THAT PROPERTY BECAUSE OF IT BEING A HEALTH HAZARD.
...Again, if Eversource continues to be a disrespectful neighbor to Downtown
Framingham and the Power-To-Be in the Town of Framingham continue to let
Eversource violate Town's bylaws with impunity, why would any young urban
professional in his or her right mind move in Downtown Framingham knowing
the situation at 350 Irving St as I and many others have described in
relation to it being a toxic waste site?
I will be blunt here: If the Power-To-Be continue to let Eversource skate
with 'business as usual' course, then I will inform as many would-be
investor and developers about 350 Irving St, hoping to get them either to
put pressure on the Power-To-Be to force Eversource to do the RIGHT thing,
or just simply get them to move on and look elsewhere to invest and develop.
I hope I don't have to this route.
William LaBarge
Town Meeting Member, Precinct 16 Chair
I am speaking only for myself and not necessarily for anyone else