Opening Statement, MetroWest Daily News editorial roundtable
Peter
C.S. Adams
August 4, 2005
First, I would like to say what STEPPS is not: we are not SMOC bashers, NIMBYs, “conservatives” (whatever that means), or fools. We are not against social services — we recognize the need for them and support appropriate, well-run social service facilities in all towns in Massachusetts.
What we are is a growing community of responsible citizens who are concerned about the disproportionate number of social services in Framingham compared to other communities.
When you place too many social service facilities in one area, you put enormous financial and social stress on that area. At first, facilities can be absorbed into the community and the community can recover, just as an ecosystem can. But eventually a community, like an ecosystem, can reach a point where it cannot absorb any more — a tipping point, if you will — and then even the smallest changes can have large results.
We believe Framingham is a stressed ecosystem and that this is a disservice to the town, its citizens, and the clients of the facilities hosted in our community.
We call on the leaders of the social service industry to recognize that they do harm as well as good and to seek balance in their approach. In the town of Framingham, that means honoring the call from Town Meeting for a moratorium on new social service facilities until the PILOT commission’s proposals have been voted on, honoring the town’s request for payment in lieu of taxes should that proposal be adopted, and voluntarily moving facilities — or siting new facilities — into towns without a large number of social service facilities, such as Natick, Ashland, Marlborough, and Sudbury.
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