Tuesday, June 18, 2013
One selectman said he was not aware that the town's consultants would not be performing from-scratch, independent reports on water and transportation impacts. Another said the public meeting June 3 did little to help him evaluate the proposal.
Milford selectmen expressed disappointment Monday in aspects of the process for reviewing the Foxwoods Massachusetts casino application, particularly chairman William Buckley, who said he was not aware that the town's consultants would not be conducting their own studies of impacts including traffic and water consumption. The consultants hired on behalf of the town by attorneys Shefsky & Froelich instead will conduct what is called peer-review analyses, meaning they will be independently verifying data that is provided by consultants hired by the developer. And the water impact report will be based on a model established by the Milford Water Company, an independent utility that has had a strained relationsip with the town, over water rates…
Saturday, June 15, 2013
If the special election were today, who would you choose as our new U.S. senator?
A week from Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will decide who to elect in the special election to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. What we at Patch want to know is - if the election were today - who would you vote for? Democrat Ed Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez have been pullling out all the stops in the last two weeks as the latest polls show the gap is narrowing between the two. After weeks of relative quiet, the negative ads have started to clog the airways and both candidates have had high-profile folks stumping for them. Rudy Guiliani was in town last week putting his support behind Gomez and President Obama came to Boston this week showing his support for Markey. So tell us, if you had to vote today who…
Recap and analysis of the week in state government.
His was not the story of Deval Patrick, or Mitt Romney or Bill Weld. Argeo Paul Cellucci started local on the Board of Selectmen in his beloved town of Hudson and worked his way up: state representative, state senator, lieutenant governor, governor, ambassador. He was the Calvin Coolidge of his time, according to former Minority Leader Richard Tisei, and Democrats, Republicans and Canadians, alike, loved and respected him for it. Cellucci passed away last weekend after a battle with Lou Gehrig's disease at the age of 65, and on Thursday he became the 13th public figure to lie in state under the State House rotunda. The memorial service and public viewing for the former governor drew a who's-who to Beacon Hill, including Romney, Michael …
Friday, June 14, 2013
Patch offers mosquito prevention tips, and the map below shows the number of West Nile cases last summer.
After a particularly tough year for the West Nile virus in 2012, Massachusetts health officials are bracing for what could be another busy summer for the mosquito-borne illness. Although, with so many factors playing into the problem, the track of West Nile is not an easy one to predict, said Kevin Cranston, director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. “We can’t pin down all of the elements that go into why one season is bad and another season is not,” Cranston said. But if this summer is similar to last summer—marked by extended periods of very hot weather—some parts of the state could see a high number of cases as occurred in 2012. To give residents a sense of West Nile’s prevalence in …
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has 'pushed enormously hard' to make sure any casino will 'incorporate and enhance the rest of the community,' he said Tuesday.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has "pushed enormously hard" to make sure any casino will "incorporate and enhance the rest of the community," Chairman Stephen Crosby told area business and community leaders Tuesday. Crosby gave the keynote address at the 495/MetroWest Partnership's Annual Conference, "Ten Years of Collaboration — Decades of Results," at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Boston-Westborough. The partnership includes Milford, which faces a proposed $1 billion Foxwoods Massachusetts casino development. Crosby discussed "breaking the old model" of a casino, "which is a box in the middle of a space, that has no windows, no way to get out, no clocks, you bring everybody in and you make sure they don't go outside, and you get …
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The town will add correspondence, links to reports and other information about the proposed Foxwoods Massachusetts casino on a public website.
Milford has published a casino information website, with links to reports, documents and other data concerning the Foxwoods Massachusetts casino application. The site is now active — at http://casino.milford.ma.us — and will be updated frequently with new information in an effort to share information with the public, according to an overview statement. "The Board of Selectmen seeks to provide any and all pertinent information concerning Foxwoods, MA proposal to the residents of Milford in a timely manner," the statement reads. "Therefore, all information regarding the casino will be posted on this special information portal section of the Milford’s website as it is received. This posted information will include, among other things, …
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Milford Town Hall
52 Main St, Milford, MA
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Sunday, June 9, 2013
Holliston and Hopkinton are among the four towns that have signed on.
As Foxwoods Massachusetts developers begin to formalize their plans for a casino in Milford, leaders of several surrounding communities have signed an agreement to coordinate actions relevant to the proposal. So far Holliston, Hopkinton, Medway and Ashland have officially joined the MetroWest Anti-Casino Coalition, and according to Brian Herr, Hopkinton Selectman and chairman of the coalition, several other towns have expressed interest in participating. The agreement, which can be seen to the right of this post, outlines some of the goals and worries related to the casino proposal. Several concerns expressed include increased rates of drunken-driving, displacing of local businesses, elevated crime rates, increased traffic and …
Saturday, June 8, 2013
The state may approve 18 more giant lighted boards as a way to boost revenue. Is it worth the money if the light burns all night long?
Are you ready for digital billboards on state land across the commonwealth? The Department of Transportation wants the glowing house-sized signs on its property across the state, and the revenue they'll bring to the state, according to the Boston Globe. Under the current deal signed with Clear Channel, the state would get a cut of each billboard's revenue—either 25 percent or $90,00 per year, whichever is higher. But other states negotiated more lucrative deals. Current state law allows these digital billboards, but prohibits any animation. So you won't see the latest Geico lizard ad or anything like that, but you may see a rotating set of images. It also requires the sign's owner to set aside time for public service announcements. You may…
Recap and analysis of the week in state government.
It could have been a turning point in the race, the moment when the lights flicked on and the much-anticipated contest finally lived up to expectations for a U.S Senate race. Would Congressman Edward Markey finally slam the door on Gabriel Gomez and dash the GOP's dream of Scott Brown redux? Could Gomez shine, narrow the polls and entice national Republican donors to start paying attention? Instead, all anyone wanted to talk about Thursday morning was the thrilling Bruins double overtime victory in Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference finals. Tuukka Rask as a write-in? At long last, Markey and Gomez shared the same debate stage. In fact, they were so close to each other in the WBZ studios they practically shared a podium. It was all Markey…
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Gun control, health care, economy, foreign policy among major topics in first meeting of candidates.
Gabriel Gomez and U.S. Rep. Edward Markey engaged Wednesday in their first debate before the U.S. Senate special election this month, and the tone was markedly similar to the tone of the overall campaign thus far. Gomez, the Republican Cohasset businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL, and Markey, the Democratic Malden congressman since his election in 1976, jabbed at each other during the hour-long debate at WBZ-TV's studios and sponsored by the news station and the Boston Globe. Topics for the evening included gun control, health care, the economy, foreign policy, recent national political scandals, immigration and abortion. Time and again, Gomez pounded Markey for his years in Washington, painting the congressman as out of touch with Bay …
Mary MacDonald
11:01 pm on Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Just as a note, I received a complaint that a comment kept getting "rejected" by Patch. I am not rejecting comments. Something went wrong and many comments, on various stories, by various posters, have been swept into a rejected filter. It isn't the poster or the content. I'm restoring them and will let the engineers know. Sorry and thanks for your patience. more ›