reflects on selectmen term

By Laura Hayes Managing Editor

NORTHBOROUGH – With the end of his first term on the horizon, Selectman Scott Rogers recently sat down with the Community Advocate to discuss his time on the board.

He was on the board during the town’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he had the opportunity to participate in economic development endeavors, such as the ribbon cutting for Brilla Coffee, and speak at the 2022 Memorial Day ceremonies.

What Happened to “Save the White Cliffs”?

In response to a Letter on February 22, 2023, The Northborough Planning Board received a petition by citizens asking not to change the current split zoning on 167 Main Street a/k/a White Cliffs, the Town Planner proposed this change for the 2023 Warrant to help potential development of the lot. The citizens who signed the petition felt strongly that it was not in the best interest of the town. Its potential impact would be devastating to this area for many reasons.

most of the mansion for some of the apartments. There were no public comments allowed and the committee panel were allocated 2 questions each. Mansion restoration was not discussed.

Letters To The Editor

Metrowest Collaborative Development proposed a 40b housing project of 52 apartments to the White Cliffs Reuse Committee on January 12, 2023 that would include using

The usual concerns of developments are their impacts on the area and community. No questions were asked about traffic impacts or reports submitted regarding it. No questions were asked about the impact of additional goods and services, such as; police, fire, school and intersection re-engineering, that would impact our taxes. No breakdown of expected additional tax burdens were submitted or discussed. What does the town gain or lose in tax revenue?

There was no discussion of the purchase offer of only $100.

CPC funds ($2,400,000) were allocated in 2016 to purchase the land and the mansion for historic preservation. Add to that, Metrowest asked for an additional $800,000 of CPC funds from our affordable housing bank, with a potential continued ask, indefinitely.

The Reuse Committee spent little time discussing the pros and cons of the 3 offers. Rather than going to Town Meeting before the RFP was written and asking the Town what they wanted, this advisory committee voted 4 to 1 for Metrowest Collaborative Development. Now a Reuse Committee member is publicly promoting this project as “most viable”. Why?

How does this project preserve the land and the building or really benefit Northborough?

Anna Servideo Northborough

Town of Westborough, Irespectfully request that future candidate forums (like the one on March 5) be run by a bi-partisan commis- sion rather than the Democratic Town Committee. The questions asked reflected the national party talking points and avoided issues important to our town.

None of the questions asked anything about excellence in education.

Yet there were six questions about LGBTQ and nearly every other question focused on how we can be more diverse.

I am proud that I live in a town where my son’s friend in third grade 20 years ago, who was part of an immigrant family living in a small apartment, got the same excellent education as the kids in the big houses. That kid is now thriving in international business.

We have been diverse for a long time and should be proud of it. I believe LGBTQ kids should be respected just like all other kids. RESPECT has been a cornerstone of Westborough Schools for many, many years.

But our schools need to be free to focus on excellence once again after our Grade 3-8 ELA reading scores dropped 12 points as a result of COVID learning restrictions. Unfortunately, this does not match the national political narrative so my request to the School Committee got ignored when I asked them in December to reorder their goals to make this a priority.

And my question on same just didn’t get asked by our narrator on Sunday, who only asked questions approved by their national political party.

It’s time for Westborough to get back to focusing on what’s good for the kids of Westborough and stop focusing so much on the national political narrative.

I support Paula Matthieu for School Committee. As someone who spent her career as a teacher, I believe she will focus on maintaining our school’s focus on excellence. Regards,

Joe Considine Westborough