-Town Notes-
Published on January 12th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Election 2000...
The candidate pool continues to swell for the April 4, 2000, Town Election.
As of Monday morning, Jan. 10, incumbent Selectman Anthony C. Kennedy had pulled papers. So had incumbent School Committee member Marie T. Christie.
Incumbent Library Trustee Jane F. Francis will again throw her hat in the ring. She pulled papers Monday.
Robert E. Moreira, incumbent Constable, has also pulled papers for reelection.
Trees
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Manage-ment awarded Stoneham a $4,400 grant for tree-planting on Dec. 27 through the Mass ReLeaf Fund.
State money pays for the trees; the town requested 30 red maples and 15 Linden trees in the initial grant application. Stoneham agreed to spend $9,600 to plant and maintain the trees.
The planting will occur in 2000.
Archdiocese land
Selectmen voted unanimously for a 20-year extension of a provision restricting the use of 3.86 acres abutting MacArthur Road to cemetery use.
The town sold the land to the Archdiocese for one dollar in 1950. Recently, the Archdiocese offered to sell the property back to the town for use as a soccer field for several hundred thousand dollars. The town passed.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
The Stoneham Millennium Council is hosting a tribute assembly to King at 11 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2000, in the Town Hall Auditorium.
"Hopefully this will be the first annual Stoneham celebration of this day," Millennium Council member Paul McDonald said.
Cable competition
Tom Steel of RCN has presented the town with an application to provide cable service and a draft of a cable license.
"It's about time citizens have a choice," Selectman Pat Jordan said.
RCN offers cable, long distance and high speed Internet service. The company, according to Steel, proposes to build its own network in Stoneham to compete with MediaOne. But Steel said RCN can and has cooperated in the past with MediaOne to provide government services, such as covering meetings.
Town Counsel Bill Solomon said he would look over the draft license and discuss the matter with the board in February.
Franklin St. Reconstruction
Plans are before Mass Highway for reconstruction of the entire roadway, and people are concerned about everything from losing parking for businesses to traffic lights flashing in their bedrooms, but the reality is that nothing will happen for a long time.
Town Administrator Jeff Nutting said state funding for the project, which is one of the Metropolitan Planning Commission's Transportation Improvement Projects, will not come through for at least five years, possibly 10, or more.
"We have been waiting 14 years for state work on South Main Street," Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello said.
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