'It’s a lifelong commitment, even if we have to make unpopular decisions.'

-- Jillian Harvey

Final vote expected Monday

The Select Board on Nov. 22 unanimously voted to support the reprecincting map recommended by Arlington’s Reprecincting Working Group. The board meets again Monday, Nov. 29, to take a final vote.

The recommended map redraws precincts to accommodate future growth and provide opportunity for increased diversity in Town Meeting.

The other reprecincting option was the limited-change map, which makes only necessary changes to rebalance the population.  

See the map with limited changes as well as the one that was recommended.  

See all agenda documents related to precincts >>  

Adam and Rachel Estapa of Perception Optical, Arlington.

Adam Estapa had already passed two exams needed to become a licensed optician when he was stymied by the third: It was on paper, and he had to fill in little bubbles to show his answers. The problem was he couldn't see them very well.

Estapa, 41, is legally blind. The earlier exams were on the computer, where he could enlarge those omnipresent exam bubbles. But this test? The testers said no. He got a 35 and failed.

So he challenged the testing protocols and, with the help of the American Board of Opticianry was able to take the final test on the computer. He passed. Easily

Now he is the only legally blind optician in Massachusetts, he says. He and his wife, Rachel Estapa, opened Perception Optical at 60 Mass. Ave. in May 2020, two months after Covid hit town. While they have a range of clients, they especially enjoy helping people with low vision since Adam is well aware of some of their stumbling blocks.

The town Zoning Board of Appeals has approved, 5-0, the permit for the proposed development of Thorndike Place -- a key step for the long-stalled housing plan for the 17-acre Mugar site near Route 2.

Mugar: Most of it is the triangular tract west of Thorndike Field. / Google Earth

But the unanimous vote comes with a lengthy series of conditions to which the developer, Oaktree Development of North Cambridge, must adhere.

For a summary of the Monday, Nov. 22, session, see meeting notes by Steve Revilak, who is an associate board member and did not vote in this matter. He provides these notes as a public service.

The board has been meeting since April about the permit for the project, first proposed in 2015 and opposed by town officials from the start, largely because of flooding and traffic.

UPDATED Nov. 23: The Pop Arlington Holiday Market got underway Friday, Nov. 26, at the town visitor center at Uncle Sam Plaza.

Two vendors kick off the inaugural year. They are Choi & Moi and Marigold Bazaar.

Sustainable, hand-made baby clothes, shoes and accessories are on sale Nov. 26 through Dec. 9, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

UPDATED Nov. 22: As all Massachusetts residents 18 and older are eligible for a booster dose six months after their second vaccine, the town is the host for three clinics at Town Hall -- 10 to 2, Monday, Nov. 22; Tuesday, Nov. 30, and Monday, Dec. 6. Register here >> 

"We will be giving Moderna boosters for anyone previously fully vaccinated with J&J, Pfizer or Moderna at least six months prior," Town Director of Health and Human Services Christine Bongiorno wrote later on Nov. 19 in response to a question from YourArlington. The response clarifies the earlier suggestion that the booster is only for those who had received the Moderna vaccine.

Dates beyond the three scheduled could be added. 

To commemorate its 100th anniversary, Arlington BSA Scouts Troop 306 recently installed and dedicated a handcrafted picnic table to Magnolia Park (at left).

Weighing more than 600 pounds and spanning 12 feet, the table is crafted from a Dawn Redwood that was removed by the own as part of the Magnolia Park renovation and expansion of the community garden in 2017. 

'No place to take a break.' -- Stratton parent Rachel Ostrow

UPDATED Nov. 23: Space constraints at Stratton School became a top concern at the School Committee meeting Thursday, Nov. 18. The matter is expected to be pursued by the committee’s facilities subcommittee at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 22.

Two parents spoke to the topic during public comment at the meeting’s start. By longstanding practice, committee members rarely respond to public comment. 

“There is no place for students who need to take a break” to work on self-regulation, said Rachel Ostrow, who has two children at Stratton. “What a distressing situation it is.” She also said that the playground is “in disrepair” and that improving it is “an urgent need.”

Another Stratton parent, Brenda Mahoney, said that “space concerns” were in “dire need of attention” and that the campus “needs to be on par with the rest of the schools.”

The committee accepted the school-improvement plans from Dallin and Hardy schools as presented and agreed to accept the Stratton plan once the physical-plant concerns are removed from it, on the grounds that remedying these are beyond the purview of any single campus.