- The Sudbury Weekly Newsletter
- Posts
- It's already August
It's already August
Welcome back!
Lotus Blossom reopened this week, and all was right in the world. There was some other news, too. But who can read the news at a time like this?
Here’s what we have for you this week:
Much Needed Rain But Still Very Dry
SMILE Playground: A Work In Progress?
The Powers That Be
From the Sudbury DEI Commission: Building a More Inclusive School Community
Sustainability Committee Accelerates On Solar Projects
Let’s get into it!
Much Needed Rain But Still Very Dry
FEATURES
By John Palmieri
Lots of weather to talk about today for Sudbury. Overall we have had a very dry summer even with the 2.70 inches of rain from yesterday’s rainstorm. We are generally running in a deficit rainfall position for 2025. I did some year over year comparisons noted below. Lots of heat as well, so……yeah a good summer for time outdoors.
SMILE Playground: A Work In Progress?
NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise
The SMILE playground at Haskell Field in Sudbury is the only Sudbury playground under the jurisdiction of the Sudbury Park and Recreation department. All other playgrounds are school playgrounds, which are managed and maintained by the Sudbury Public Schools school district.
The Park and Recreation department has communicated plans to renovate the playground to residents over the course of 2025, but the final product has left some residents wondering what exactly the Town did with $285,000 appropriated by Town Meeting in 2021.
The Town Meeting article called for removal of a large tree at the center of the playground because the root system was damaging the poured-in-place rubberized surface. This posed an accessibility issue, but was also a tripping hazard. The article report in 2021 stated “The current PIP has ripped and cracked, and has been pushed up by the roots of the large tree in the park as well as trees which border the park on the outside of the fence. These uneven surfaces do not allow for wheelchairs to move easily throughout the playground and pose a tripping hazard. The tree in the center of the playground will be removed and replaced with a shade structure.”
The Powers That Be
FEATURES
By Rev. Eric Wolf
Exploring the intersection of sacred and secular.
Last week, I wrote about a type of powerful healing that — despite being accessible to us all, feels all-too-rare — the healing that comes from loving ourselves and others. In writing that, I also wrote a segment that didn’t make the edit, but it’s been on my mind all week because it contains a powerful reflection on fate and the paradox of power.
Tariff is Apparently George Lucas’ Favorite Word, Too
Despite the wild assertions of certain skeptics who blindly insisted that the labyrinthine macroeconomic tensions underpinning a tariff-laden conflict between a bloated bureaucratic regime and an enigmatic pan-galactic trade syndicate could never hold a child’s attention, the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy got something very right about why the dark side of the force is so seductive. I think the broader narrative of the first eight (and only canonical) movies shows that both the Jedi and the Sith greatly misunderstand the Force. The Light Side’s true gift isn’t detachment. The Dark Side’s true gift isn’t unlimited power — despite Palpatine’s monologuing about it.
Both Jedi and Sith fall prey to the same hubris — they think they can thwart fate.
From the Sudbury DEI Commission: Building a More Inclusive School Community
OPINION
By the Sudbury Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission
[This letter was originally sent to the Sudbury Public Schools School Committee and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School School Committee. It was submitted to Sudbury Weekly by Janine Taylor and Safa Khan on behalf of the Sudbury Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission.]
Dear Members of the School Committees,
On behalf of the Sudbury Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Commission, we are writing to follow up on the equity audit conducted by Tracey Benson Consulting across all five schools in our district. As outlined in the original scope of the project, this audit was not only intended to assess current practices but also to build internal capacity by providing training and development for district leadership and staff.
To that end, we would like to understand what recommendations were made and which of those have been implemented. Just as important, we hope to learn which recommendations have not been adopted and the reasoning behind those decisions. Transparency in this process is critical to maintaining accountability and to ensuring that all stakeholders can support the District’s equity goals.
Sustainability Committee Accelerates On Solar Projects
NEWS
By Kevin LaHaise
Following passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” in Washington, D.C., municipalities are scrambling to safe harbor solar projects before incentives for solar projects are phased out by the federal legislation. The process of safe harboring functionally locks in incentives and benefits under existing regulations before they go away.
For Sudbury’s Energy and Sustainability Committee, this means accelerating plans for four different projects including:
Solary Canopy at Haskell Field parking lot
Police Station Solar Roof
Firestation #2 Solar Roof
Firestation #3 Solar Roof
On Tuesday, July 22, the Sudbury Energy and Sustainability Committee voted unanimously to support safe harboring the projects at Haskell Field and the Police Station. It also voted unanimously to allocate funds for turnkey installations of solar roofs at fire stations #2 and #3. The votes came after discussion of the financial considerations of each project, and presentations by the contractors for each project.
Parting Thoughts
There’s more to report from this past week, so keep an eye on the website over the coming days. And there’s plenty on the Town Calendar next week; including an SPS School Committee meeting on Monday.
August has officially arrived. While we all hang on to summer just a little bit longer, the busy fall season is fast approaching. Here’s to a few more relaxing weeks before everyone goes back to the grind…
Onward!