friends of the Fells begging you for money too?

[fellsbiker]

Did anyone else get a letter in the mail from the friends of the Fells, asking you for money to they can try and stop the guy who owns the land where that school used to be from building offices there? It wasn't addressed specifically to me, but to nature lovers at my house.* First I wonder if NEMBA is involved in this at all, and if they have any stance on the issue, officially or other wise? I think its a good idea, the guy owns the land, let him build, i bet the whole area will look beautiful when he's done. Furthermore, the fof are opposing improvements to Pond Street/Woodland RD. They claim these historic roadways should be left along. Have you ever been down pond street during rush hour? The traffic is backed up to the zoo!!! And that intersection is the most dangerous one in stoneham, more accidents happen there then anywhere else!! Those roads NEED to be improved ANYWAY, and we can get them fixed on this guy's dime if we let him build his buildings. Who wouldn't wanna work in an office building that was directly in the heart of the Fells*
Lastly, instead of just fighting against it, like the fof does so much, why not try and come up with some creative compromises for the issues. I think they should do a land swap. The area he wants to build at becomes part of the fells again, and they plant some trees and let it grow. Meanwhile, an area like the small strip of land where the skating rink is, he gets that land. Then he can build and have very easy direct access to the highway. Everyone could be happy. But the fof just has to be against EVERYTHING.


Title of the letter, "DON'T LET THE FELLS BE DESTROYED!". Yeah cause 3 building on privately owned land in the middle of the Fells and BAM, the fells will be ruined. Pssssshht. I wonder if they are going to send out these same ridiculous letters to fight against bikers, should NEMBA gain access to all the single track in the park? Please do NOT give the fof any money, if you were thinking about doing it. The fof is just like the MDC, only looking out for themselves, and not for the park.

[knucklebuste]

I notice whenever the MDC gets involved, singletrack gets turned into bicycle highways. They automatically assume that every biker wants to ride on paved bicycle highways. NOT
My fear is that the whole state will eventually turn into a rail trail (YAWN).
I have nothing against rail-trails. I ride with my daughter on them. However why can't they think about some of the riders that get bored out of their mind on rail-trails. This absolutely puts me into a rage. Why not have singletrack and rail-trails. I know this is somewhat off topic, but when I see those three letters (MDC) I start to get antsy. As for the fells, do whatever it takes to preserve it. I haven't actually been there, so I have no idea what it's like. These money hungry builders are out of control. Before you know it, the state will be nothing but a flat plot of homes with rail trails for all to enjoy. Thats what I fear the most.
Knuck

[T Grimble]

Speaking personally and not on behalf of NEMBA, I understand that the Friends of the Fells is not necessarily opposed to the project but the size of the project. The current proposal is to build nearly half a million square feet of office space. There have been numerous complaints (over 900 letters written to the EOEA). I have not read the letters nor do I wish to dig into such a deep pile of negativity but I understand that many are calling for a downsizing of the project. Think about it this way. If the project is 500,000sf there would be roughly 3500 people commuting in over 2000 cars every day. The developer is not being responsive to community pressure and the EOEA is not putting their foot down on the matter so I am glad the Friends are stepping up to the plate on this issue. You think Woodland Rd. and Pond Street are congested and dangerous now, wait until there are 2000 more cars out there. Hey! I don't agree with the Friends of the Fells views on mountain biking but I wouldn't characterize everything they do as being wrong.

-Tom

[CouchingTiger]

Hey, go hug some trees for chrissakes there hippie! You can't have progress w/out displacing (and maybe running over) a few squirrels ;)

Chopper ride tonight! 5:30pm we depart for the BIG CITY!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

-Couch



Speaking personally and not on behalf of NEMBA, I understand that the Friends of the Fells is not necessarily opposed to the project but the size of the project. The current proposal is to build nearly half a million square feet of office space. There have been numerous complaints (over 900 letters written to the EOEA). I have not read the letters nor do I wish to dig into such a deep pile of negativity but I understand that many are calling for a downsizing of the project. Think about it this way. If the project is 500,000sf there would be roughly 3500 people commuting in over 2000 cars every day. The developer is not being responsive to community pressure and the EOEA is not putting their foot down on the matter so I am glad the Friends are stepping up to the plate on this issue. You think Woodland Rd. and Pond Street are congested and dangerous now, wait until there are 2000 more cars out there. Hey! I don't agree with the Friends of the Fells views on mountain biking but I wouldn't characterize everything they do as being wrong.

-Tom

[fellsbiker]

I've read over a lot of what the friends of the fells has said, though I haven't read the builders actual proposal. But he seems to have a good system. He would improve the roads to handle the traffic, roads that need improvement anyway. Their claims of these extra cars ruining the fells and spot pond hold very little weight when rt 93 is directly on the other shore of spot pond, and according to the mass highway number, gets 184,000 cars a day in medford. There were 900 letter written but I can't help but think that most of them were probably people that blindly listen to the fof, and want to help the environment, so when they say write a letter, they do. I'm not just being anti-fof for the fun of it, I really feel like their just being jerks about this thing, and I also feel like their brochures begging for money and help in this matter are very very deceptive. I've written a two page letter I'm going to return to the friends with their brochure, with no money, and with a printer out of a certain site's who is info.