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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1973-07-27-LBC-rpt.pdf i'`1` \s 3 To Board of Selectmen From. Kingston L Howard Date July 27, 1973 Subject Progress Report, Lexington Bicentennial Committee This is the third formal written progress report submitted to you by the Lexington Bicentennial Committee (LBC) The first dated December 23, 1971 and the second dated January 22, 1973 were prepared of our volition in anticipation of meetings we requested with you to discuss our appropriation requests to be presented to the annual town meetings of 1972 and 1973 This report has been precipitated by certain issues raised by the Town Manager and in the hopes of putting your minds at ease Issues Raised by Town Manager 1 At our regularly scheduled meeting of July 12, 1973, The Town Manager suggested that we review our philosophy of planning We have reviewed that section of our report to you dated January 22, 1973. " The LBC has taken the position that the Bicentennial Events of 1975 shall be of,by, and for the people of Lexington with provisions made to share the fruits of our work and our heritage with as many visitors as we can effectively accomodate The LBC is fully aware that Patriots Day of 1975 in Lexington will be a date of national and international significance re- gardless of how modest or how majestic our program may be for April 19, 1975 The LBC is availing itself of every known resource to cope with the impact arising as a function of the Town's historical legacy The LBC looks upon itself as a catalyst in the planning and execution of those Bicentennial activities of 1975 which the townspeople of Lexington have endorsed based upon the enthusiasm they have demon- strated toward the same or similar events used in the program for the 250th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Lexington in 1963 and recent Patriots Day and the annual commemorations sponsored by the Town Celebrations Committee The LBC has not considered superimposing upon the Town any extravagances of its own creation or any costly spectaculars suggested by sponsors outside the Town The LBC has not and does not intend to consider "professional"organizations to assist in program planning or administration Neither does the LBC intend to solicit professional performing groups to submit proposals on what they might like to stage in Lexington We will assist in obtaining outside resources that may be unavailable in Town, as in the case of the New England Opera Company and the locally authored musical dram "They Nobly Dar'd" In brief, the LBC feels that the Bicentennial activities of 1975 should be natural and reflect the contemporary spirit and interests of Lexington's Townspeople "' Upon review of the above stated philosophy of planning we find that it still reflects the thinking and dedication of the LBC We see no need for modifying it in any way 2 At our regularly scheduled meeting of July 12, 1973 the Town Manager asked us to consider if we had let our program planning objectives shift from ones basicall directed to Lexington people to ones intended to set a crowd record At his request we have reexamined our program and its objectives Upon review we find that our present scope of proposed program (Exhibit 1) is exactly the same as that presented to you and the annual town meeting in 1972 and earlier in 1973 The objectives remain unchanged and are consistant with our philosophy of planning described above In our opinion our proposed program meets - 2 - the minimal expectations of interested citizens of the Town of Lexington The alter- native would be to have no program at all We have consistently taken the position that if Lexington should decide to do nothing on April 19, 1975, visitors are still going to come in numbers beyond Town resources to control They will come to Lexington because they feel it is the place to be on that date They will come out of sincere desire to visit historic shrines on that historic date They will come in conjunction with visiting nearby towns which will be conducting programs They could come simply because of the notoriety associated with a do-nothing community with an important historical trust We are absolutely con- vinced that they will come regardless, and that we should be prepared with all necessary support forces and facility We are well aware that some actions we initiate (particularly the recommended invitation of the President of the United States to participate in 1975's Patriots Day Weekend) will have the effect of augmenting public awareness, interest, and numbers seeking access to Lexington However, such actions are never taken with the objective of establishing crowd records 3 At our regularly scheduled meeting of July 12, 1973, the Town Manager first questioned the ability to mount on April 19, 1975, a 5,000 marcher Centennial Legion Parade at 9 00 A.M in East Lexington and disband it in the area of Lexington Center in time for it not to interfere with the mounting of the 2 00 P.M. traditional afternoon parade at the high school Second, he questioned the need or desirability of having two parades on the one day In order to adequately answer the Town Manager's questions relative to the practicality of our proposed parade time-schedule, we requested the Town Celebrations Committee to make a fresh analysis of the plan The response from the Town Celebrations Commitee in brief is The present estimate is that Centennial Legion marchers will not exceed 3500 Based upon the Committee's experience in running morning and afternoon parades for many years there is no problem with the present plans or time- schedule However, there is concern about thearrival time of VIP's- and military units coming from Concord's morning parade The Committee, therefore, has changed the afternoon parade starting time to 2 30 P.M In answer to the Town Manager's second question relative to the need or desirability of the special Centennial Legion morning parade, our answer takes several dimensions First, logistically we feel that it is desirable to spread the crowd pressures into the morning hours so that the predetermined saturation point will be approached more gradually, rather than in a sudden surge at noon time Second, the parade will satisfy those townspeople who feel that Patriots'Day should "feature" the Minutemen and the parade route will satisfy traditionalists who believe parades should originate in East Lexington Third, the morning route will stimulate operations of refreshment facilities which will help spread the burden over a wider area during the entire day Fourth, the morning parade will allow the Centennial Legion to march at 18th Century cadence without disrupting other marching units as they do at that slow cadence when operating as a part of the afternoon parade In our judgement our decision to have both the Centennial Legion morning parade -3- was feasible and desirable in addition to the traditional afternoon parade for which with your permission invitations have already been issued to military units 4 You are aware of our response of June 7, 1973 to the Town Manager's memo to you dated May 14, 1973 entitled "The Gathering Cloud Around the Bicentennial" We remain confident that appropriate specialist units and facilities under military commanders willbe made available to the Town at federal expense and that certain National Guard units under command of the Governor will be made available at state expense This confidence has been reflected in our budget which_ has not changed since January of 1972 (Exhibit 2) We agree with the Town Manager's estimates that without the federal and state support(which we have been assured verbally will be forth coming) our budget is substantially underestimated and could advance to $200-$250,000 to insure proper controls and protection We continue to stand ready to firm up and formali these commitments with the cooperation of federal and state authorities when the time is considered appropriate by Town Officers responsible for safety and property protection Other Major Areas of Concern 1 General apathy among Lexington townspeople has beena concern of the LBC In spite of initiatives taken by LBC very few of the stronger organizations of town have committed to significent roles of participation We are now establishing a speakers bureau which will take every opportunity to address community groups on our planning philosophy and to solicit participation in our programming As 1975 draws close] we expect to attract greater interest, more supporters, and more critics 2 Lack of detailed logistical planning has been a concern to the LBC We have been encouraged by the expert time devoted in recent weeks to the special needs for Patriots' Day of 1975-76 by the Planning Board Although it is hard to measure any specific results as a result of the operation of the Middlesex Bicentennial Liaison Council, we believe its active existence has created worthwhile attention from other agencies with staff and funds As a matter of fact the recent establishment of a Bicentennial Committee by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) may eliminate any further need for the MBLC The joint services Bicentennial Coordin- ating Committee has recently established Construction, Communication, First Aid, Police and Food sub-committees, on each of which Lexington is represented These sub-committees are studying the common needs of Lexington and Concord We have also been encouraged by the proposed establishment by the state of a special corporation capable of receiving land and tangibles of towns and other entities which can be employed temporarily for such needs as peripheral parking The appointment of a liaison officer by the state to serve Lexington and Concord should be helpful 3 Lack of policy direction towards the needs of the two-year span of 1975-76 by the Planning Board continues to be of concern to the LBC Accomodations for automobile parking, recreational vehicles, and picnickers will be more greatly needed in 1976 than in 1975, in our judgment because a) the Northeast will be the family vacation trip target of the nation in it response to heavy national bicentennial build-up; and Th - 4 - b) the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal will pull considerable automobile traffic through New England 4 The work load and pressures are beginning to mount on the LBC to a point where we feel we should request permission to use a portion of the upper floor of the visitors Center for a desk, chair, telephone and files The Chamber of Commerce, we understand, would not object to sharing this space with us Committee Organization 1 The LBC currently consists of 14 regular, one leave of absence and one student ad hoc members all of whom you have appointed Of the active members seven are essentially working on staff or administrative aspects and nine are working on line or functional aspects Staff (Administrative) Line (Functional) Chairman Celebrations and Parades Vice Chairman Permanent Memorial Executive Secretary Arts & Culture Public Relations School Activities Governmental Relations Commercial Activities Regional Planning Youth Activities (ad hoc) Legal Affairs Facilities (logistics) Finance To round out the above organizations we shortly will request an appointment of an individual to take charge of Church Activities 2 The LBC has established nine sub-committees to date of which seven have at least a Chairman Government Relations Town Planning Parade Advisory System Planning Public Safety Program Book (open) VIP Accommodations Historical Records (open) Secretarial Although the above described organization evolved along the lines of the Town Manager's memo of July 17, 1970 entitled "Proposed Plan for Lexington-1975 Celebration", that memo was never presented to the LBC's Chairman as any sort of mandate by either the Town Manager or the Board of Selectmen 3 The LBC intended to establish an Executive Committee in Septmeber After receipt of the Town Manager's memo dated July 9, 1973 entitled "Bicentennial Committee Reorganization" the LBC advanced its schedule and was poised to act on the establishment of an Executive Committee at its meeting of July 26, 1973 Upon receipt of word from you to affect no form of reorganization until our meeting with you on August 6, 1973, we deferred action on the Executive Committee T1 Th cJr- 4 In the same memo of July 26, 1973 the Town Managersuggests that we review our scope of responsibilities Our understanding as expressed in our report to you dated January 22, 1973 is "The LBC, appointed by the Board of Selectmen in Septmber of 1971, was charged with the general responsibility ,for planning and administrating all activities in 1975 of a Bicentennial character in order to provide a suitable commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington The only expressed limitation imposed by the Board of Selectmen was that the LBC was not to interfere with the responsibilities of the Planning Board Planning Board responsibilities, of course, include making provisions for recreational vehicles, camping, picnicking, permanent parking, etc , all of which are important contributions in anticipating the Town's needs in 1975-76 " If you have any further limitations on LBC's scope of responsibilites we welcome your establishing them. We also would appreciate your clarifying any special authority the Town Manager has over the LBC since with authority must go responsibility and it is essential to understand where the LBC's responsibilities end and the Town Manager's begin Theme "Pride in our Past - Faith in our Future" has been selected as Lexington's Bicentennial Theme We expect the theme will permeate the events of 1975 Permanent Memorial Although at least two projects of a permanent memorial character are under study, it is not known if either will come to fruition Probing of the Battle Green A preliminary report of findings has been promised no later than September 24,1973 Arts & Culture Personal follow-ups with the Arts and Crafts Society, Masterworks Chorale, Garden Club, Scottish Rite, Cary Lecture Committee, and high school music and art departments has resulted in a number of projects under development VIP Invitations At our meeting of July 26, 1973 it was voted unanimously to request you to invite the President of the United States to participate in Lexington's Patriots ' Day weekend and that this invitation be issued no later than September 1, 1973 Lower level VIP invitations are under study in coordination with Concord - 6 - State Assistance A project under development with Masterworks Chorale and the musical drama "They Nobly Dar'd" were two substantially advanced projects available for submission for state matching funds at the time of receipt of state guidelines on July 10, 1973 Upon investigation it was found that neither of these projects qualified for state consideration As of this date we are not certain if we can document any project which will qualify Federal Assistance After study of the Federal Criteria, the report of the Town Manager is not encouraging Corporate Contributions and Participation Personal meetings have been conducted with Raytheon, Ginn- Xerox, Honeywell, Itek, Kennecott, Lexington Trust, Lexington Federal Savings and Depositors Trust Our program has been outlined to them and invitations to participate or contribute have been issued Replies have been promised by October 15, 1973 Workshop '75 This organization is studying ways of stimulating the intellectual and philosophical interests in the BicentennialTheir group is investigating the feasibility of a mural Adult Education We instigated the addition of a course on the history of Lexington as a part of the next Adult Education Program Commemorative Medallion Through the generosity of the Chamber of Commerce and with your cooperation, the design of the Bicentennial Commemorative Medallion is making satisfactory progress cc Town Manager LBC Members Appropriations Committee (Mrs Flynn) EXHIBIT 1 PROGRAM OF EVENTS - 1975 APRIL 18 Friday Evening special balls, dinners, receptions APRIL 19 Saturday a.m 5 30 a.m dawn reenactment 9-00 a.m Centennial Legion Parade p.m 2 00 p.m Traditional Patriots Day Parade evening receptions and program APRIL 20 Sunday a.m church events p.m dedication ceremonies APRIL 21 Monday a.m youth parade, sporting events OTHER PROBABLE EVENTS OF 1975 Other Holidays Independence Day Bunker Hill Day Veterans Day Columbus Day Regular Events Cary Lectures Masterworks Chorale Special Days Other Lexingtons Other Nations Special Performances Boston Pops They Nobly Dar'd Minutemen Musters Sound and Light Show EXHIBIT 2 Estimate of Expenses Bicentennial Year - 1975 Lexington, Massachusetts PATRIOT'S DAY WEEKEND, April 18-21 Concerts $ 1,000 Parade Units Transportation 3,000 Parade Units Meals and Refreshments 5,000 VIP Ball 2,000 VIP Luncheon 1,000 VIP Receptions 2,000 Permanent Memorial Dedication & Reception 1,000 Special Police 5,000 Special Firemen 2,000 Special Sanitation 2,000 Special Transportation & Parking 5,000 VIP Mementoes 2,000 VIP Accommodations 5,000 Patriot's Day Weekend Total $36,000 OTHER HOLIDAYS Independence Day 1,000 Veteran's Day 1,000 Columbus Day 1,000 Other Holiday 's Total 3,000 CONTINUING PERFORMING GROUPS Musical Drama 2,000 Sound and Light Show 2,000 Battle Reenactment Muster Sequence 2,000 Continuing Performance Total 6,000 SPECIAL DAYS Other Lexingtons 1,000 Other Nations 4,000 Total Special Days 5,000 SALARIES AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Executive Director 20,000 Two Secretaries 10,000 Transportation, Parking & Facilities Study 10,000 Total Salaries and Professional Services ?0,000 EXHIBIT 2 Th GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE Telephone, Telegraph & Re allocation $ 1,000 Advertising & Publicity 2,000 Printing 2,000 Invitations 1,000 Postage 1,0001,000 Supplies Travel, out-of-state 1,000 Plaques and Citations 1,000 Total General and Administrative $10,000 GRAND TOTAL $100,000