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1987 Lexington Overview
<br />For a town with a rebellious background, Lexington
<br />performed in character last year. And while there
<br />were numerous confrontations, the most serious in-
<br />juries were restricted to dings in the municipal
<br />pocketbook.
<br />Unfortunately, it was the school system that gener-
<br />ated much of the heat. Town meeting challenged the
<br />schools' arithmetic in asking for a sizeable budget
<br />increase in the face of declining enrollments; the
<br />school committee held its ground, but in the end,
<br />and for the first time, retreated from town meeting
<br />leaving $150,000 behind.
<br />Superintendent Geoffrey Pierson left to take a new
<br />position in Austria after recommending that tenured
<br />high school principal Michael Waring step down.
<br />Waring's response; "see you in court," where the
<br />matter now resides. Then the teachers, citing
<br />meagre pay in comparison with some neighboring
<br />towns, struck for higher salaries. The week -long
<br />strike was a dubious "first" in the system's his-
<br />tory. Supported by many vocal parents, the teachers
<br />held their ground and won sizeable increases from
<br />the school committee. Last summer, the town mourned
<br />the death of the schools' music director, Joseph,
<br />"Mr. D" DiDomenico.
<br />How did the pupils react to all this? See the super-
<br />intendent's report starting on page 29 for an upbeat
<br />answer.
<br />On the housing front, the owners of Emerson Gardens
<br />ambushed its residents by going condominium. The
<br />move sparked a special town meeting that passed a
<br />by -law governing condo conversions, and created a
<br />committee to watch -dog it.
<br />The Council on Aging and other residents of the old
<br />Muzzey school building survived a bout of drafts and
<br />drips from leaky windows and roof, but both the
<br />Lexington Housing Authority and LexHAB scored gains
<br />in creating low -cost housing; see their reports for
<br />details.
<br />On the broad front of environmental matters, drum
<br />beating by Massport, operators of neighboring Hans-
<br />com Field, alerted citizens and selectmen to expan-
<br />sion plans. Selectmen responded by strengthening
<br />The Federal Constitution's 200th birthday was marked
<br />in town by a series of events starting in 1987 and
<br />extending into 1988. Here, Stella Liu and Miriam
<br />Butts of the Bicentennial Celebrations Committee
<br />oversee the planting of a dogwood, donated by
<br />Lexington Gardens, on the front lawn of Cary Memor-
<br />ial Library. Events started in September with
<br />church bell ringing, and included lectures, exhibits
<br />and classroom discussions.
<br />the old HATS committee and charging it to seek
<br />stronger ties with neighboring towns to grapple with
<br />airfield expansion and related area traffic and
<br />environmental concerns.
<br />The cost of carting away our communal trash burst
<br />its budgetary bounds, causing another special town
<br />meeting and creating a task force to seek solutions
<br />to trash, both plain and hazardous.
<br />On 28 acres near the Waltham line, ground was broken
<br />for Brookhaven, a private, life -care retirement
<br />community.
<br />On the opposite side of town, Pine Meadows Golf
<br />Course was sold to developer Mark Moore; designs for
<br />the 110 acres are still on the drawing board. Town
<br />meeting adopted new commercial zoning by -laws that
<br />shrunk building size and added other restrictions.
<br />Continued complaints of "I can't find a place to
<br />park downtown," kept the traffic /parking problem
<br />front and center, with yet more study promised. In
<br />a related observation, town records show that muni-
<br />cipal vehicles - police cruisers, DPW trucks,
<br />LEXPRESS and school buses - rolled up a total of
<br />1,205,808 miles on their appointed rounds in
<br />calendar '87. If you estimate that owners of the
<br />19,117 private wheels registered in town run up a
<br />modest 500 miles each on local streets, you get
<br />another 9,558,500 vehicle miles, for a total of
<br />10,764,308 not counting visitors!
<br />On the bright side, the crime rate dipped and the
<br />town reached into the ranks for its new DPW head,
<br />Richard Spiers. In other major office moves, long
<br />time town moderator Lincoln P. Cole stepped aside
<br />for Margery M. Battin, first woman to be elected to
<br />the position in Lexington. Bob Hutchinson traded in
<br />his town manager's job for a more prestigious model,
<br />head of the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles; his
<br />replacement, Rick White, an Arlington native and
<br />former Bedford Town Administrator, took over in
<br />November. At year end, the town eagerly awaited the
<br />selection and installation of a new school superin-
<br />tendent, and town meeting deliberations, destined to
<br />come up against the question of whether to blow the
<br />spending lid imposed by Prop. 2 1/2.
<br />Nam A
<br />2 Overview
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