Planning Livable Communities

Framingham will receive a $200,000 federal grant beginning Oct. 1 to help identify and environmentally assess 5 to 8 possibly contaminated sites for redevelopment. That was the word at a public hearing tonight aimed at explaining the Brownfield program and seeking public comment.

Don’t expect the transformation of vacant, dilapated properties into showcase projects anytime soon, though. This is expected to be at least a three-year process, that will also involve trying to match private landowners with developers for properties that are not already owned by the town.

Some of the sites covered by the brownfield program might not actually be contaminated at all. Suspicions of such problems could be enough to prevent development, and only detailed assessments would be able to answer such questions.

A “phase 1″ study at a targeted site might cost around $5,000 and would look at history of a parcel to investigate possible problems; a “phase 2″ follow-up might cost anywhere $15K to $80K and include actual sampling and possible clean-up plans.

Project Manager Gene Kennedy, from the town’s Community & Economic Development Department, expects 5 to 8 sites will be identified for initial study. There will be a steering committee to help select those sites, and public input will be sought throughout the process.

My comment: This is a community-wide program with planned emphasis on downtown and southeastern Framingham, but I’d like to see other areas of the town benefit as well. There are vacant parcels in desperate need of redevelopment in Saxonville (the old Saxonville Lumber site, the Texaco site in Nobscot, and so on). I don’t know how many of those parcels might qualify for this program, but as I said during tonight’s hearing, those of us living in these neighborhoods are taxpayers too.

One Town Meeting Member at tonight’s hearing said that several residents and TMMs want to ensure that redevelopment helps put properties back on the tax rolls, as opposed to tax-exempt uses.

This program is specifically for “hazardous substance” issues; there’s a separate federal program for petroleum problems. So it turns out that the Texaco site couldn’t be included in this grant program unless there were suspicions of other, non-gasoline-related environmental problems there. Hopefully the town will apply for funding to help with gasoline contamination as well.

A grant fact sheet says that Massachusetts lists 438 contaminated sites in Framingham. That sure sounds like a lot of sites, but it turns out that many sites still on the list have already been cleaned up; apparently once a site makes the list it’s never removed, even if the problems are long since solved. Sure wish they’d have a more accurate list…. Other parcels are merely suspected to have problems, but may not actually be contaminated.

Thkere’s an initial 30-day public comment period. For more info, head to www.framinghamma.gov/brownfields are contact Kennedy at 508-532-5455 or brownfields@framinghamma.gov.

Summer is the perfect time to slow down, change routine and try some different things – and not only when you’re on vacation. Mealtime is a great time to break the habit of junk-food takeout, or chemical-laden food-like substances purchased at big-box retailers and chain superstores. I’m a big fan of the French/Italian approach to food: natural, local, higher quality in smaller amounts, eaten slowly and with complete attention (i.e. not sitting at your desk or watching TV.)

The typical American lifestyle can make it tougher to buy and prepare quality, natural, local food than if, say, you live in a small village in Provence. However, it turns out that even in American suburbs — neither in farm country nor high-density population centers sporting abundant farmers markets and niche grocers — we can experience the joys of local food.

Here in Framingham, there’s a farmer’s market from 12:30 to 5:30 on Thursdays. Not exactly convenient for people who work 9-to-5 jobs, but several us decided to use our lunch break last Thursday to do a “field trip” to the market. I was delighted to see the eight or so stands pretty crowded (although less enthused about the lines, since we had to get back to work), and some of the produce was inspiring. I picked up some locally grown (outdoor variety done in the greenhouse) tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, along with some other goodies.

We also made a quick stop at B&R Artisan Bread, which I’ve recommended before. (Seriously, if you think that “bread” is the stuff you buy in plastic bags from a supermaket shelf that’s been manufactured someplace far away and trucked in, if you live in the Framingham area, you owe yourself a trip to B&R. It was only after they opened that I understood why my European friends couldn’t eat the the stuff I bought prepackaged at Stop & Shop.)

The next day, we took another “field trip,” this time down to Waverly Market. I’d read raves about it on This is Framingham but had never actually gone to, since the hours (closed evenings and Sundays) rule out much of my grocery shopping time. It was much larger than I expected; and the array of offerings — Italian and homemade pastas, cold cuts, cheese, olive oils, vinegars — made me wonder how I could possibly have lived in Framingham so long and not made it over there sooner! I bought more tomatoes — how could I resist the hand-lettered sign above them that boasted, “Tomatoes that taste like tomatoes!” as well as some artisan dried Italian pasta, and soft mozzarella cheese.

I made pasta with diced tomatoes, mozzarella and freshly picked basil from our garden, along with salad & homemade dressing (oil, vinegar, chopped garlic). The salad had sweet locally grown lettuce, cucumbers and basil. Along with a glass of (non-local) Tuscan wine, it was a simple but satisfying meal that truly pleased the senses and a perfect way to kick off a summer weekend, preparing me for a slower, relaxed pace. What — and how — we eat matters. “Low-fat,” chemical/corn-syrup-filled crap isn’t the answer.

Washington, D.C. is launching what Time magazine calls “America’s first high-tech bike-sharing program,” featuring “key-card locking systems and tracking devices to prevent theft.”

The idea is inspired by popular bike-sharing programs abroad, especially Paris’s Vélib. Notes Time:

“Although places like Copenhagen, Lyons and Barcelona are big on bike-sharing, the City of Lights boasts the crème de la crème, with 20,600 bikes and about 1,450 stations–four times the number of Parisian metro stops. It’s hard to walk more than two blocks without running into a bike rack, which helps explain why the program has already yielded a 5% drop in car traffic. Paris has also removed lots of parking spots to make way for bike stations.

But making things convenient for riders is a major production. Some 400 people work full-time to ensure that the Vélib program runs smoothly. Every day trucks have to move bikes around to meet rush-hour demands, and a barge along the Seine serves as a floating bike-repair shop. “

Not surprisingly, America’s first effort is very much more modest, with just 120 bicycles and 10 stations. However, city officials know that will need to scale up considerably in order for the program to be a serious commuting alternative.

In Paris, the effort is quite serious. “We conceived of this as a public-transportation system, so it operates as one,” Bernard Parisot, head of the company running Vélib, told Time. In contrast, most U.S. communities view cycling as a hobby indulged in by a few, and not a key mode of transport on par with autos or even subways. Then again, most U.S. communities view walking as an optional activity, not an important mode of transport, as evidenced by lack of snow clearing in winter, not to mention roadways actively hostile to people walking from place to place (case in point: it’s all but impossible for me to walk from my office to Shoppers World, less than a mile away, because of dangerous intersections and lack of sidewalks).

A few cities, though, are taking cycling seriously for transportation, such as Portland, Minneapolis and Denver, Time notes. “For bikes to become a mainstay of the morning rush, cities need to spend time and money expanding bike fleets and making streets safer for two-wheelers. That means creating dedicated bike lanes and ticketing cars that double-park in them.”

Perhaps soaring gasoline prices may finally create more pressure for municipal officials to take cycling, walking and mass transit more seriously as alternatives to the private automobile.

If you think about your favorite urban spaces, chances are good they’re “mixed use” in many ways. They likely encourage multiple forms of transit, not just the automobile; and they mix people living, working, shopping and relaxing so there’s street life throughout the day and evening. Add in some outdoor space and restaurants with outdoor cafe seating, and if it’s well designed, chances are you’ve got a space worth visiting.

That’s why I was so encouraged to see that Boston officials are thinking of putting some kind of sit-down eatery in Boston Common. Adding a place to enjoy lunch or dinner in the midst of the city’s green oasis is a great idea that, if done well, will make the Common more of an appealing destination. City officials reportedly traveled to New York City recently to check out a restaurant in Central Park.

“Boston officials, marveling at the vibrant scenes they found in New York, said they are exploring the idea of establishing a full-scale restaurant, a simple food kiosk, or something in between to attract diners to the Common,” the Boston Globe reported. Both parks were designed by famed landscape architect Frederic Law Olmstead.

Many other cities have eateries in their public parks, adding to the enjoyment of visiting. For example, Geneva’s botanical garden features an outdoor cafe (buy food inside, bring it out to your table) where you can get beer & wine as well as a nice lunch, and sit outside on a nice day.

“Mayor Chris Koos of Normal, IL, has introduced a resolution making the case that bicycling should be integrated into our nation’s transportation, climate, energy and health policy initiatives, for consideration and adoption at this year’s U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual meeting, June 20-24 in Miami,” according to American Bicyclist Update. Several mayors have already signed on as co-sponsors, including those in Denver, Redmond (Wash.), Santa Barbara, Minneapolis and Charleston (SC).

The resolution notes that since 1980, American miles driven has grown three times faster than the population; that 10% of all global oil production goes to fuel American driving; and that we could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from one percent to one and a half percent of all trips.

One of the major missed opportunities in Framingham was not leveraging the presence of the Sudbury River into our residential and commercial development patterns. It’s easy to spend hours in the Saxonville commercial district and not even notice the nearby river; you have to know about it in order to walk around and behind various buildings to get to the little park near the mill, or to find the Carol Getchell nature trail.

Contrast that with, say, Waltham, where there are obvious walking paths along the river from the heart of the business district, and where restaurants and housing were built to take advantage of being riverfront. Instead, we’ve got things like a car rental lot blocking views at one of the prime pieces of riverfront commercial real estate in Saxonville. Sigh. Hopefully, someday the old Saxonville Lumber site can be redeveloped to take better advantage of the nearby river. Outdoor cafe seating overlooking the water, anyone?

Meanwhile, if you long for the river to be better integrated into our community (as I do), we’ve got Riverfest! 2008 this weekend.  Framingham activities include a historic Saxonville walking tour Saturday at 1, an easy canoe trek from Framingham Centre to Saxonville Sunday at 10, and a bird walk along the Carol Getchell Nature Trail Sunday at 7 am.

Other nearby Riverfest activities include Concord River pontoon boat tours in Bedford, Assabet River Walk in Concord, Concord River Paddle (Bedford), History Paddle (Wayland), free canoe rides on the Sudbury River (Southborough), Twilight Canoe (Lincoln), rubber duck race (Sudbury) and lots more. The full listing of activities is here.

The Framingham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee’s next meeting is Tuesday, June 10, 7:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1 of the Memorial Building (Town Hall), 150 Concord Street. Looks like the main item on the agenda will be a working session to review draft chapters of the new Framingham Open Space and Recreation Plan that are relevant to pedestrians, hikers and bicyclists.

It is eye-opening to see how differently people view meals and mealtime in much of Europe vs. the U.S. To many people in Italy, France and elsewhere, meals are to be savored and unhurried. in the Northeast U.S., these days it seems that taking time out for meals is often considered extravagant, wasteful and even lazy.

When we first arrived in Italy, I noticed that my friends and I were always by far the quickest eaters wherever we were, in and out while everyone around us was still enjoying a less hurried meal. By the end of our trip, we had slipped into the rhythm of delightful hour and a half or longer dinners, and unrushed lunches. But that’s a hard habit to maintain once back home.

In Italy, many stores close at lunchtime, and even in Florence, the shops close by dinnertime despite the hordes of tourists still filling the streets. Yes, they could probably be making more money if they stayed open; but unless you’re in the food-service/hospitality industry, it’s expected that you’ll be having your meals during lunch and dinner, not working. Interesting and different perspective. I can’t describe the look one of my friends in Slovenia gave me when I explained that during my lunch break, I take a 20-minute walk, and then go back to my desk to eat because I’ve pretty much used up the break time I feel I can take. He couldn’t have been more appalled if I’d told him I eat my lunch in the toilet. There’s a completely different viewpoint about the importance of mealtime to living a civilized life.

Is there truly a good reason why I couldn’t leave later from work in exchange for taking a longer lunch break from time to time? I don’t think so. Much of this is self-imposed, because we live in a culture where if you’re not running around busy all the time, you fear being seen as not “hard-working” enough, not interested enough in “success.” The results of all this pressure have now filtered down to kids, where many “high-achieving” high school students now don’t take a break during the day, according to a story in yesterday’s New York Times. “I would never put lunch before work,” one junior told the Times, as she vowed to work through what will become a new mandatory lunch break. I find that sad.