* Sidewalks For Acton – A Round One Victory (Of Sorts)

Friends of Acton:

On Tuesday 2025-04-29, the Town of Acton voted and rejected ballot question #1 (https://actonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10550):

“Shall the Town of Acton be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one-half, so called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds issued in order to pay for the designing, constructing, equipping and furnishing a new public works facility to be located at 14 Forest Road, including all other costs incidental and related thereto?”

Some Actonians have complained that the above language is less than clear, but basically a “yes” vote means “yes to the prop 2.5 override, yes to the DPW borrowing” and a “no” vote means the opposite.

Preliminary election results (published election night at around 9:30pm) show 56.10% voted “no” and 39.88% voted “yes” on question 1, with all eight of Acton’s precincts voting “no” (https://ma-acton2.civicplus.com/Archive.aspx?ADID=21615).

On 2024-09-26, when I made my first public statement on the proposed DPW project, I did not intend to start any campaign. I simply wanted to have a dialog about sidewalks (in general) and Forest Road (in particular), but after six months of meetings and ten public statements (https://www.giantpeople.com/?s=Sidewalks+For+Acton+Public+Statement), the topic was never added to the Select Board agenda. On 2025-03-26, when ballots went to print with no mention of sidewalks, I was forced to pivot to a “Vote ‘No’ On 1” campaign (https://www.giantpeople.com/17579.html).

To be clear, I believe that the DPW workers deserve and need a new building (https://www.actonexchange.org/letters/letter-i-support-the-department-of-public-works-dpw-employees-of-acton/). But I believe that any DPW solution should be WIN-WIN-WIN: good for the DPW workers, good for the safety of DPW neighbors, and good for Acton taxpayers.

For example, my first house, in Eliot, Maine, was a lovely 900 sqft Cape. The Cape is a wonderful house because it is designed to be expanded. You can finish half of the basement, add a wing, or finish the attic into living space by adding one or more dormers. When my band, The MCats Band (https://www.mcatsband.org/), which was formed in 2005 to raise money for Acton’s McCarthy-Towne Elementary School, performed a gig in York, Maine, I got to visit my old house, which had been lovingly cared for and expanded (including with a second floor shed dormer). The crimson king maple out front? I planted that in 1991 (see photo, above).

I think that a thoughtful new design (presumably by a different designer) for the DPW building will more than pay for itself. A design that provides for expansion of both personnel and equipment space. That way, we don’t have to have a “trailers in the parking lot” situation, as we did for the undersized Douglas School (https://www.actonexchange.org/letters/letter-supporting-the-department-of-public-works-building/).

Over the coming weeks and months, I will be meeting with members of various Acton groups, including:

1. Acton Select Board
2. Acton Finance Committee (FinCom)
3. Acton DPW Building Committee
4. Acton Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

There is a better/faster/stronger solution out there. Let’s all work together to find it.

In closing, one of my favorite quotes about urban design:

“If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.”
-Fred Kent, Project for Public Spaces (https://www.pps.org/article/transportationasplace)

Thank you for your support.

Peace,
Erik
—
Erik J. Heels (he/him) <heels@alum.mit.edu>
17 Forest Rd., Acton MA 01720-4508
https://www.giantpeople.com/
cell: 978-761-7808
USAF Veteran
Actonian Since 1995