Letters to the Editor

LETTER: Arlington Avocado Editor on Town Meeting Candidacy

The following is a Letter to the Editor from Kurt Fusaris, the editor of the Arlington Avocado, a Precinct 8 Town Meeting candidate and Pleasant Street resident.

My name is Kurt Fusaris. I write and edit the Arlington Avocado, which brings a lighter side to Arlington’s most pressing issues. I have decided to bring that same flavor to Town Hall as a member of Town Meeting from Precinct 8. I have lived in Arlington for almost six years, and I currently live on Pleasant Street. I have demonstrated a commitment to the community in which I am so proud to call home. I was also an employee here in Arlington for a year and a half, with temporary stints as both a speech-language pathologist and science teacher, respectively. Over the past six years, I have been inceasingly involved with town affairs. I am a member of the Arlington Cultural Council. I have worked on several campaigns, including the override …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

Selectmen Oppose Bottled-Water Ban for Arlington

The board voted against the proposed ban Monday. However, Town Meeting could still pass it next month with a substitute motion.

The proposed bottled-water ban for Arlington will go to Town Meeting next month without the support of the Board of Selectmen. On Monday, the board unanimously recommended a vote of no action on the ban article, despite praising the efforts of the three Arlington High seniors who brought it forward. “I really commend you for what you’ve done here, for the work you’ve done, but I’m going against you,” board chairman Kevin Greeley told the three students, Amy Currul, Sonia Zacher and Marina Milan. Currul (pictured center) presented the article to the board Monday. “Buying soda should not be the natural alternative to buying bottled water,” Currul said to the ban’s critics. “Carrying a reusable water bottle should be the natural alternative…

•  19 Comments
• Photos (1)

Lafawnduh

8:41 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Smartest thing you said all day :-)   more ›

Selectmen to Consider Two Controversial Warrant Articles Monday

Two issues that have been the talk of the town are set to go before the board.

The Board of Selectmen will consider two controversial Special Town Meeting warrant articles Monday evening, the bottled-water-ban and the leaf-blower-compromise articles, according to the agenda. Three Arlington High seniors, Amy Currul, Sonia Zacher and Marina Milan, submitted the bottled-water-ban article by petition, and they’ll also be the ones presenting the article to the board. The Board of Selectmen inserted the leaf-blower-compromise article, which was crafted by the 2012 Special Town Meeting Leaf Blower Committee. Both articles will be decided on by Town Meeting in late April. The Special Town Meeting portion of the regular Town Meeting starts on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. The board’s meeting is at 7:15 p.m. Monday, March 18…

•  6 Comments
• Photos (1)

Selectmen Support Self-Service Gasoline in Arlington in 4-1 Vote

See who cast the dissenting vote.

The Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 Monday night in support of the Town Meeting warrant article that would allow self-service gasoline in Arlington for the first time in the town’s history. “I enthusiastically support this,” Selectman Joseph Curro Jr. said Monday during the article’s hearing. Once Town Counsel Juliana Rice crafts the exact wording of the article, the board will take a final vote, most likely Monday, March 18, recommending “favorable action” on the article at Town Meeting in late April. Then, it’s up to Arlington’s 252 Town Meeting members to decide whether it passes or fails. Town Meeting member Carl Wagner, of Precinct 11, submitted the article by petition. On Monday, Wagner, an Arlington native and longtime resident, told …

•  10 Comments
• Photos (1)

Selectmen to Mull Self-Service Gasoline Tonight

Arlington's never had self-service gasoline but that could change this spring.

The Board of Selectmen will consider a Town Meeting warrant article tonight that would allow self-service gasoline in Arlington for the first time in the town’s history. Town Meeting member Carl Wagner, of Precinct 11, submitted the article by petition. The article will be decided on at Town Meeting in late April. Here is how the article (No. 14) appears on the draft of the Town Meeting warrant: ARTICLE 14 BYLAW AMENDMENT/TO ALLOW SELF-SERVE GASOLINE To see if Town Meeting will vote to amend the Town Bylaws to repeal Title V, Article 5 concerning self-serve gas dispensing or take any action related thereto. (Inserted at the request of Carl Wagner and ten registered voters) Similar articles have come before Town Meeting in recent years and …

•  16 Comments
• Photos (1)

You Ask... Patch Answers

How Do I Submit a Letter to the Editor to Arlington Patch?

We would love to have a robust Letters to the Editor section on the site; here is how you can help.

It’s a question we get asked a lot: “How do I submit a Letter to the Editor?” And with the Mass. Ave. Corridor Project, overnight parking and a host of candidates on the April ballot, and a bottled-water ban, revised leaf-blower ban, self-serve gasoline and medical-marijuana dispensaries set to go before Town Meeting later that month, we thought there was no better time to answer. (Don’t get us wrong, Letters to the Editor don’t have to be political. Sometimes the small issues resonate the most.) There are two ways to submit a Letter to the Editor to Arlington Patch: 1. As a blog post. Submitting a Letter to the Editor as a blog post is easy (really as simple as writing an email) and immediate (as soon as you hit “Approve,” it’ll be live …

• Photos (1)

POLL: Bottled-Water Ban for Arlington?

How would you vote?

Arlington Town Meeting members will vote on a bottled-water ban at a Special Town Meeting, beginning Wednesday, April 24. The ban would prohibit the sale of single-serving bottled water. It is being proposed by three Arlington High seniors – Amy Currul, Sonia Zacher and Marina Milan – for environmental reasons. Whether you’re one of Arlington’s 252 Town Meeting members or not, we want to know: How would you vote on the proposed bottled-water ban? (This poll is meant to be a temperature check; it’s not scientific.) Article 4, Bylaw Amendment, Sale of Drinking Water in Single-Serve PET Bottles To see if the Town will vote to amend the Town Bylaws to prohibit the sale of non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in single-serving polyethylene …

•  75 Comments
• Photos (1)

fran hering

5:30 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013

How about MONSANTO?????   more ›

Bottled-Water Ban Next for Arlington?

Three Arlington High seniors have gotten a bottled-water ban on this spring’s Special Town Meeting warrant.

Last spring, Town Meeting members put a seasonal ban on gas-powered leaf blowers in Arlington. This spring, they’ll get a chance to ban the sale of bottled water in town. Three Arlington High seniors, Amy Currul, Sonia Zacher and Marina Milan, collected enough signatures to place the proposed ban on this spring’s Special Town Meeting warrant. “[We] decided to pursue this because of our passion for environmental causes,” Currul wrote in a Tuesday email, “and because we feel water bottles have a hugely negative environmental impact and are something people can very easily remove from their life.” ----- Should Town Meeting ban the sale of bottled water in Arlington? Let us know by posting a comment below. ----- The three teenagers are members…

•  165 Comments
• Photos (1)

Kerrianne

8:13 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2013

I find it a bit ironic that you are criticizing poster's for bashing a high school student, when you just referred to all children who attend private school as scum. Bit hypocritical, no? In addition to that sentiment, I think it would be best to not use over arching generalizations to stereotype a segment of the population that attends private school. Thank you.   more ›

Leaf-Blower Committee Recommends Bylaw Amendment for Special Town Meeting

The recommendation, which drastically lessens the restrictions on leaf blowers from the currently approved seasonal ban, will go before the Board of Selectmen again on Monday, March 18, before heading to Special Town Meeting, Wednesday, April 24.

The 2012 Special Town Meeting Leaf Blower Committee, which was tasked with crafting a leaf-blower compromise, unveiled its recommended bylaw amendment Monday to the Board of Selectmen. The recommendation, which was not put forward unanimously by the committee, will now be discussed and voted on by the board on Monday, March 18, before going on to the Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, April 24. Arlington’s seasonal leaf-blower ban, which prohibits the use of gas-powered leaf blowers on private property from May 15 to Oct. 15, was passed at Town Meeting last May in a 95-85 vote. It was then upheld at a Special Election in July, and a Special Town Meeting in October, when the current leaf-blower committee was formed.  The ban has not been in…

•  17 Comments
• Photos (1)

Leaf-Blower Committee to Unveil Bylaw Compromise Tonight

The compromise was voted on almost unanimously by the committee, according to a representative from the Arlington Landscape Association.

The following was emailed to Arlington Patch by Joe Kerble, of Brothers Lawn Service, on behalf of the Arlington Landscape Association. As members of the Town of Arlington leaf blower compromise committee, we would like to invite you to a public meeting on Monday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. in Town Hall to see the result of all of our work to come up with a compromise leaf blower law for Arlington. You will see the proposed bylaw that was written and voted on almost unanimously by our committee of 13 citizens who set out to amend the current bylaw to reflect the views of the voters. This bylaw sets sensible guidelines and hours of operation that allows people to care for or have their property cared for the way they see fit while protecting the …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)