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- "For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future."
"For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future."
Welcome back!
Well… here we are. Counting down the days until we arrive at a new year using a 500 year-old, solar-based calendar with “months” that don’t correspond to our moon phases. One of the odd things about the Gregorian calendar is the complex system for leap years, which compensates for the fact that this solar-based calendar isn’t actually accurate to how long it takes for the Earth to orbit around the sun. Good work, everyone!
While there are many small flaws in the Gregorian calendar, it’s good enough to get the job done for much of the world. But is our complacency with astronomical imprecision just more fodder for the conspiracy-inclined crowd? We already have to send flat-earthers on free trips to Antartica to prove to them that our planet is an oblate spheroid. (Spoiler: it didn’t work.)
Okay - so here’s what we have for you this week:
Pinspiration To Open Sudbury Location
Sudbury Weekly 2024 Year In Review
SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup
Let’s get into it!
Pinspiration To Open Sudbury Location
By Kevin LaHaise
Crafters, artists and creatively-inclined residents take note! According to comments during a recent Board of Health meeting, Pinspiration will be opening a Sudbury location and is currently working its way through the permitting process locally. (33:33)
Pinspiration describes itself as a “DIY craft studio.” They offer a variety of different crafting projects and events at each studio across the country. Their Easton, MA location features projects ranging from a candle making package for date night, to a paint splatter experience and a large variety of DIY home decor projects. They also host parties for birthdays, bridal showers, as well as corporate team building events.
The company did not respond to a request for comment on the Sudbury location. However, Sudbury is listed as a “coming soon” location on their website here.
Sudbury Weekly 2024 Year In Review
By Kevin LaHaise
Over 400 stories were published in Sudbury Weekly in 2024. There was a mix of news, features, event submissions, op-eds and more. Here we are highlighting the news stories that chronicled key developments in Sudbury over the course of the year.
If there’s a coherent theme across all the stories, it’s hard to spot. There’s a lot of uncertainty and apprehension in many of the big stories. The Town has presented a challenging financial forecast in the years ahead. The schools are trying to meet ever-growing and ever-evolving student needs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, residents of all ages are feeling the squeeze from inflation and nationwide cost escalation.
While engulfed in all that uncertainty, there were noteworthy achievements and accomplishments. Sudbury’s Conservation Coordinator was honored with a Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Department of Public Works (DPW) achieved accreditation. Rail trail development has never moved as quickly in Sudbury as it seems to be moving these days. Major construction projects like the Fairbank Community Center are in the home stretch, while a renovation of the Atkinson pool is on the horizon.
Much of the transformative work happening in Sudbury was a long time coming. In some cases, this year’s developments were the result of over a decade of planning and advocacy. The slow-developing nature of those massive municipal projects tends to disguise the fundamental transformation they brought to the town as they approached completion. Just look at the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail for proof. Droves of residents are using the (technically not-open) rail trail on a daily basis. Sudbury was never known as a “walkable” town, but that changed massively in 2024, and is expected to change even more with the Mass Central Rail Trail going out to bid for construction in 2025.
Another remarkable change this year is over at the new Fairbank Community Center, where even residents who openly opposed or criticized the project are clamoring for even greater public access to the new building. (Town leadership has, since early 2024, indicated that they are working on a plan for room rentals and space sharing in the new building.) It took about a decade of fierce advocacy, fierce opposition, and a couple mulligans before voters approved a community center project. Now we’re nearly a year into a “soft opening,” and everybody wants to rent a room.
The public servants who keep Sudbury humming along have changed, too. There are new or new-ish department heads in Planning, Health, Finance and the DPW. A new Fire Chief will be selected in 2025, and Town Manager Andy Sheehan is rounding out his second year in Sudbury.
Change is in the air in Sudbury, but just how much of it?
Nearly 50 years ago, in December of 1975, the Sudbury Town Crier-Fence Viewer was in its first year of operation. The paper’s year in review, penned by Jean Gogolin, opened with a blunt assessment of the year:
“Even for Sudbury, 1975 seemed an unusually contentious year. The sniping was louder, the candidates more numerous, the litigation more serious and more expensive, the Town Meeting voter more skeptical. Perhaps the still-shaky economy had something to do with it; or the New England weather.”
Gogolin goes on to recap “budgetary firefighting” at Sudbury Public Schools, funding difficulties for the “Sudbus” in-town transportation service, debate about Town fees, Sudbury teachers contract negotiations that resulted in a six percent raise in the first year because it was tied to high inflation, a new fire chief, and a battle to expand telephone service.
Any of those sound familiar?
Gogolin’s feature ran in two parts, with the second part running on January 8, 1976. She concluded:
“While the nation celebrates its 200th birthday, Sudbury will have its 343rd. Whatever 1976 has in store for Sudbury, it’s probably happened before. Happy New Year.”
Was 2024 more of the same, or something new? Did any of it give us some hint about what’s coming our way next year?
Here are the highlights from the year that was…
January 2024
The year got off to a hot start with the contentious firearms business zoning bylaw; which ultimately garnered a majority at Annual Town Meeting, but failed to reach the higher threshold required to pass.
Changes to Valentine’s Day festivities in the Sudbury Public Schools ruffled some feathers among parents. Valentine’s Day celebrations proved to be just the tip of the iceberg for an intensifying climate in and around Sudbury Public Schools.
One of the more unifying local stories of the year - Athletic Director Dan Lee launched Lincoln-Sudbury’s Unified Sports program earlier this year, and it’s already expanding.
February 2024
One of the more fascinating election cycles in recent memory - the 2024 Town Election at one point had seven candidates for the Sudbury Public Schools School Committee.
Amidst a heated election cycle and growing public engagement around after-school care challenges in Sudbury, the school committee opted not to take up the issue.
Money stress is ‘par for the course’ in municipal government. But Sudbury joined the wave of municipalities sounding the alarms about cost escalation during the 2024 installment of “Capital Night.”
March 2024
The race for two seats on the Sudbury Public Schools Committee was unlike any in recent memory for Sudbury - but in a Presidential election year, aren’t all politics national?
Ellen Gitelman hit a home run in Sudbury Weekly’s first-ever review of a local production. (Spoiler: the Savoyards were great!)
2024 was the year of rail trails in Sudbury. The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail was still under construction, but that didn’t stop trail users from getting out there. Perhaps more important for the next phase of the Bruce Freeman and the Sudbury section of the Mass Central Rail Trail: design and construction timelines seemed to accelerate dramatically compared the arduous journey that preceded both trails.
With two contested races for high-profile boards, but multiple no-shows for the League of Women Voters of Sudbury Candidates Forums, the Town Election season was memorable, to say the least. The contested races weren’t particularly close, and turnout was very strong relative to recent years.
April 2024
School nurses continued their efforts to achieve pay parity with teachers this year. Though they were unsuccessful with their last contract, which went unresolved for multiple years following the Covid-19 pandemic, they’re already starting a new negotiation for the next contract.
The Sudbury Water District is rarely in the news - and it certainly didn’t want to be in the news for something like this.
The Select Board’s firearms business zoning bylaw went into Annual Town Meeting with support from the Planning Board and opposition from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
May 2024
After months of combative discussions, the Select Board’s bylaw came in for a crash landing at Annual Town Meeting.
2024 featured highs and lows for the Park and Recreation department. Programming options in the new community center are multiplying, but the department’s financial model emerged as a cause of great concern for the Park and Recreation Commission.
Curtis Middle School students had a strong showing in their civic action projects. In fact, advocacy to implement a district-wide composting program at Sudbury Public Schools is still ongoing.
It was touch-and-go for a while in summer 2024 - mosquitoes were ferocious and public health experts had to remain prepared in the event that gnarly diseases started spreading.
June 2024
Sustainability was a major theme throughout Town government this year. The greenhouse gas emissions inventory was a critical source of data to formulate a comprehensive plan for the Town.
The majority of the Sudbury Public Schools Committee opted for an old-fashioned approach to their committee meetings. The lack of a hybrid meeting option ruffled feathers for much of the year.
This story still hasn’t arrived at a conclusion - but the discussions have sprawled across the Historical Commission, Select Board and beyond.
Applying to college got a bit easier this year for Lincoln-Sudbury students.
After opposing the Select Board’s version that failed at Annual Town Meeting in May, the Zoning Board of Appeals teamed up with an “ad-hoc committee” of residents to develop their own bylaw.
July 2024
In something of a Sudbury tradition, a decades-old conversation resurfaced in 2024. Is momentum building behind a Town-facilitated single hauler?
Sudbury lost an iconic local restaurant in 2024, but a new concept looks to bring new life to the space.
The Department of Public Works achieved a rare and prestigious milestone this year.
August 2024
Sudbury’s Conservation Coordinator, Lori Capone, was honored by the Sudbury Valley Trustees.
Who thought stories about HVAC repairs would have this many plot twists?
By the end of the summer, after-school care had become the game of municipal hot-potato that nobody ever asked to play.
A new public swimming program was a short-lived pilot thanks to a curveball believed to be pitched by climate extremes.
The Bowker Store looms large, at least historically speaking, at the corner of Haynes and Pantry roads.
A short-lived staffing shortfall in the Sudbury Police Department provided an opening for rampant speculation, and discussion about letter-writing on both of Sudbury’s school committees.
September 2024
Something didn’t smell right at Cold Brook Crossing this summer. Residents demanded action.
State funding breathed new life into a duplex project that was indefinitely postponed at Annual Town Meeting earlier this year. As a result, some neighbors were reinvigorated in their opposition to the project.
In one of the more curious storylines of the year - Sudbury Public Schools spent much of the fall mired in a controversy that stemmed from their decision to openly discuss termination of the shared facilities department MOA with the Town of Sudbury.
The future of recreation in Sudbury looked uncertain when the Park and Recreation Commission dug into their department’s budget with Town Manager Andy Sheehan.
October 2024
The calendar year began with controversy around Valentine’s Day celebrations, but it came to a wrap with concerns around academic achievement in Sudbury Public Schools.
It was a tough end of the year for beloved local businesses.
Budget pressures were the focus of many board discussions this year. Town Manager Andy Sheehan was consistent in his communication about his budget strategy, and repeatedly called for fiscal discipline.
Affordable housing projects rarely avoid at least some level of controversy. In Sudbury, opposition came from many different perspectives.
It’s a contract year - and all the Town’s union contracts are due for negotiation. Town Manager Andy Sheehan has been methodically settling contracts so far, but there are more to go.
November 2024
Pour one out for Learning Express - a local staple known for complimentary gift wrapping and a thoughtful selection of toys and gifts.
As Sudbury goes, so goes the… Nope, not so much this cycle.
While some students and parents have advocated for more AP-courses from the College Board, the high school stood firm in its approach and provided a detailed explanation of the nuances of the situation.
A saga over resource sharing dominated much of the fourth quarter in Sudbury.
December 2024
Tuscan. Monkey. Bread. ‘Nuff said.
More money, more problems?
More students, more problems?
The SPS budget-building process was a bit complicated again this year, but they got it done.
Affordable housing was a source of disagreement throughout much of 2024. The Community Preservation Committee found itself at the center of a duplex debate, whether they asked to be there or not.
SudburyWeekly.com News Roundup
There was very little news this holiday-filled week. But we had a seasonally-themed opinion submission!
Parting Thoughts
There were no municipal meetings this week, and there are none scheduled for next week. We’ll see what pops up for local news in the week ahead, but don’t be surprised if we skip next Friday. Things look like they’ll be heating up rather quickly after that anyway…
Onward!