HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-11-13-2020-min (Demographic Change Subcommittee)Town of Lexington
Subcommittee on Demographic Change
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Reed Room, Town Office Building
Present: Pat Costello, Margaret Heitz, Albert Huang, Dan Krupka, John Lee, Peter Lee. Guests: Koren
Stembridge, Director of the Cary Memorial Library and Diamond Hayes, Sales Associate at William Raveis
in Lexington.
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m.
After incorporating two revisions, the minutes of its meeting on October 9, 2012 were approved.
Action Items (to be reported on at the next meeting):
• John Lee will contact Koren Stembridge to offer his services in selecting Korean books for the
Library.
• Diamond Hayes, with assistance from the Chinese American Association of Lexington, will help
Koren Stembridge in the administration of a Library survey among members Lexington's Chinese
community.
• Dan Krupka will make final edits to the interview guide and split the document into two parts:
o Demographic information —to be filled in by the interview subject prior to the interview
o Interview questions — to be filled in by the interviewer during the interview
• Asian members will review the draft consent letter (attached) and provide feedback to Dan.
They will then be asked to sign these letters prior to the pilot interviews on December 11.
Discussion with Koren Stembridge, Director of the Cary Memorial Library
• Service for Chinese residents
• The Library is in a favorable position to serve Lexington's Chinese population as it has two
members who speak Chinese. They can identify items to be acquired and communicate with
Chinese - speaking residents.
• The biggest sources of demand for the library services come from parents looking for Chinese
books for young children and from older Chinese residents, particularly those in Greeley
Village who do not speak English well. The latter come to the Library to read Chinese
newspapers and to borrow books. It's likely that many adult Chinese residents purchase
Chinese books on line rather than looking for them in the Library.
• The Library is attempting to grow its Chinese collection, and will be opening up additional
space, probably on the mezzanine level. Recognizing the need to reflect the Town's diversity,
it wishes to purchase some Chinese art.
• In cooperation with the Fire and Police Departments, the Library is working on the
emergency forms for use by residents with limited English capability.
• The Library has fostered the establishment of a program in conversational English for Chinese
speakers. It is led by English At Large, a Medford -based non - profit organization.
• Another service delivered to Chinese parents through the Library's Mandarin speakers is
advice regarding college choices, applications and financial aid.
• In developing its strategic plan, the Library wishes to obtain suggestions from the Chinese
community. Our guest, Diamond Hayes, volunteered that the Chinese Americans of
Lexington (CAAL) could help with this.
• Service for the Indian community
o The Library has long held a collection of Indian books. Nirmala Garimella is working with the
Library to identify acquisitions.
o Because the majority of Indian residents speak English, the demand for books from the
Indian community is not as great as it is from the Chinese community. There is, however,
demand for Indian films.
• Service for the Korean community
• Koren Stembridge has had discussions regarding Korean books with the editor of New
England Korean News.
• John Lee volunteered to advise the Library on Korean acquisitions.
• Library programs that reflect Lexington's diverse population
• The library is seeking ideas for programs that help Lexington residents learn about the
cultures of the Town's Asian communities.
• For one day, the Library staged an Indian wedding.
Discussion with Diamond Hayes, Sales Associate at William Raveis in
Lexington
• Diamond has been a real estate broker for 22 years, and thus understands what attracts people
— especially Asians, to Lexington
• As Diamond is very active in Lexington she has a unique insight into what our Subcommittee is
attempting to learn: She is, or has been, on the boards of CAAL and the Lexington Education
Foundation; a member of the Lexington Arts Council, First Parish in Lexington, Bridge
Elementary School PTA, Clarke Middle School PTA, and Friends of the Library.
• At the meeting she presented material on the impact of demographic change on the Lexington's
real estate market. Some important points are summarized below. For details, please read her
document, sent out with these minutes.
o The real estate market in Lexington for 2011 and for January through October 2012
• The number of transactions through October 2012 stands at 316. By comparison, the
total for all of 2011 was 283.
• Contractors are bidding up the price of properties suitable for tearing down or major
improvement.
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o A profile of the buyers, including statistics on Chinese, Indian and Korean buyers
■ Of the 316 single - family properties sold to -date in 2012, 37% were sold to Asians. The
breakdown is as follows: Chinese — 19.3 %; Indian — 15.8 %; Korean — 2 %. Koreans tend to
be renters as many do not expect to remain in Lexington indefinitely. There have been
no sales to Japanese in 2012. Most buyers in Lexington are second- or third -time buyers.
o The reasons Chinese families are moving to Lexington
■ The leading reason is the quality of the public schools.
■ Secondary reasons include convenient access to the employers
(" biotech / scientific /computer /medicine "); a more interesting downtown than Bedford or
Winchester; less rural than Concord.
• Diamond also offered her perception of the barriers to greater participation by the Asian
community in Lexington's affairs. In addition to any barriers faced by any family with two
working parents, she lists the following:
o If they are Chinese or Indian, most of their friends are also Chinese or Indian. And, since
there are few Asians on Town boards and committees, they have few links that would
stimulate them to get involved.
• Since they are almost all scientific or technical, they tend to be introverted and thus less
likely to be inclined to participate or to be interested in participating.
• Many of the Chinese are not fluent in English.
• Even if they were interested and without connections, the Town's web site is not helpful in
describing the process for joining a board or committee.
• Spots on committees tend to be filled by friends or acquaintances of committee members
• They consider the mandatory record keeping a burden, and thus prefer to participate in short
but intense projects such as the 300th Celebration.
• Novel opportunities for volunteer service. The following ideas were suggested
• Chinese - speaking tour guides
• Chinese speaking staff for the Evergreen Club (Chinese group at the Senior center)
Other actions
• We discussed how the interview guide should be used. Dan Krupka suggested that the
interviewers could change the words as long as the intent of the question was not changed. Pat
Costello recommended that any change in the wording would have to be indicated on the pages
turned in by the interviewers.
• We briefly examined the draft consent letter (sent out with the minutes), which had been
completed just before the meeting. Please see Action Items.
Next meeting
Our next meeting: December 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Parker Room. This very important meeting will be
devoted to training the interviewers (by Marian Cohen) and to pilot interviews.
The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
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Minutes submitted by Dan Krupka