Category Archives: Activism

Activism, Newburyport, MA, taking direct action to achieve a political, social, cultural, artistic, end

Newburyport, Crow Lane Landfill, Let’s Put on Some More Pressure

Let’s kick this one up a notch.

The Crow Lane Landfill agreement that the DEP is making with the owner of New Ventures LLC (who could not be bothered to attend the meeting about this issue on Thursday, September 14, 2006) is unacceptable.

And it’s not as if the Mayor, the Newburyport City Council or State Representatives Mike Costello and State Senator Baddour aren’t doing everything they can, because they are.

I love the quote in the Newburyport Daily News September 15, 2006 on the meeting, “Nylen (New Ventures Attorney Richard “Chip” Nylen) said he agreed that odors were a nuisance, but dismissed claims that they cause health effects that residents have complained about…”

The Crow Lane Landfill reminds me a little of the movie “Erin Brockovich” where everyone knows that the toxic chemicals are not good.

Mr. Chip Nylen can be in denial all he wants, but believe me nausea, dry-heaves, headaches, difficulty breathing, this doesn’t work for me.

This strategy worked for the fight to save High Street, so maybe it would work for the Crow Lane Landfill (it’s worth a try folks.)

Two things… “Everyone has got a Mother”…and “The power is in the Cc’s.”

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1) Every time a stench report is made (or if you would like to write a general email of protest, that couldn’t hurt either,) email New Ventures with the details and then “Cc” it to Jack Morris at the Newburyport Health Department (Mr. Morris can keep a record,) and to Senator Kerry and to Senator Kennedy. We are going right to the top.

    • *New Ventures LLC:
      crowlanelandfill@verizon.net
      (Extra information : Phone # for owners Della and William Thibeault, Wood Waste of Boston, Everett, MA, (617) 387-3700, no website and the only email I could find was wwob8587@aol.com…these folks are hard to find.)

      *Jack Morris,
      Newburyport Health Department:
      jmorris@cityofnewburyport.com

      *Senator John Kerry:
      http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/contact/email.cfm

      *Senator Edward Kennedy:
      http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm

    • (At the moment Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry’s emails will not go through unless the web forms above are used. If someone knows better email addresses please let me know and I will change the email addresses above ASAP.)

    _________________________________________________________

    2) Every email contains what I call one of the “Mother buttons:”

    • *“I am so disappointed that New Ventures cannot bother to take the time….”

      *“It is so shameful that New Ventures LLC can not be bothered with the health of the citizens of Newburyport, MA…”

      *“How unfortunate that New Ventures is so selfish that it is unable to consider the children of Newburyport, MA…”

      *“We are at our wits end because New Ventures LLC has been so inconsiderate…”

    • Think of the worst thing that your Mother could have said to you and include that in every email that goes out to New Ventures and “Cc” it to Jack Morris at the Newburyport Health Department and Senator Kerry, Senator Kennedy. Write 3 variations and stick one of them at the end of every email, every time.
    __________________________________________________________

    It worked against MassHighway when it came to saving High Street maybe it has a chance of working here too.

    Mary Eaton
    Newburyport

    Newburyport, What Has Happened to a Beautiful City?

    I don’t believe I know Ellen Sklar-Abbott, but she wrote a terrific Letter to the Editor in yesterday’s Newburyport Daily News, August 29, 2006.

    The letter is headed “What happened to my city?”

    To quote from Ms Sklar-Abbott:

    “When I first moved here, there were very strong efforts to keep the downtown from being torn down and a Kmart from being built in Market Square! First it creeps in slowly, a McMansion here, a franchise there, then the charm and the land are gone forever. Don’t say it won’t happen here—it already has and it is so sad. Maybe some call it progress, I call it thoughtless.”

    I couldn’t agree more.

    And a very big “thank you” to Stephanie Chelf and the Newburyport Daily News for the front page story on Save Our Town in today’s Newburyport Daily News, August 30, 2006.

    Mary Eaton
    Newburyport

    Newburyport, Our Luck Has Changed

    We had been amazingly lucky for a long, long time. After Urban Renewal started in the 1970’s, people already in town and people who moved here were excited about restoring the rest of Newburyport’s Historic District.

    People were rescuing old, often neglected properties, some that had been broken up into apartments, and would repair and restore the structure.

    For quite a while we were pretty good stewards of our own unique American Story. We were lucky. And somehow our luck has changed.

    And, for a whole variety of reasons, we have no protection. There are no zoning amendments that protect our historic heritage. That’s crazy.

    I know I am going “on and on and on” about this, but I don’t want to lose what makes Newburyport MA unique.

    I think about what could have happened to High Street back in 1999. Part of what makes us economically vibrant would have been wiped out and we never, ever would have gotten it back.

    All the trees would have been gone and the road would have been straightened and narrowed. All the carriage steps and hitching posts that are scattered along the roadway, which are like hidden treasures, would have been wiped out. Along the Ridge from State Street to about Temple Street, people would have lost part of their property and a large retaining wall would have been put there to create another turning lane. Who knows what in the world would have happened to our statue of George Washington, no plan for that one.

    The same thing is happening now, only it’s happening incrementally. We are losing a house here a house there. Large oversize structures pepper Newburyport’s Historic District changing local neighborhood character. It is happening so slowly, we hardly notice that it’s happening at all until it is too late.

    What if we took all those changes and put them along High Street, the damage would not seem incremental—it would seem dramatic.

    So why aren’t we pestering our City government for amendments to the zoning code that protects what we have left? It seems like we need to start thinking about doing that.

    And since Christopher Ryan has decided not to be our next Planning Director, maybe it would be a good idea to start lobbying the Mayor (who picks Newburyport’s Planning Director) for someone who has a strong background in Historic Preservation and would know how to help us keep what we have—what makes us economically alive.

    Mary Eaton
    Newburyport

    Newburyport, Vertical Sprawl, Historic Heritage

    I keep thinking about an earlier post on the “positive aspects of infill.”

    It is my own impression that in the 1980’s and early to mid 1990’s we did experience positive infill. Houses in Newburyport’s Historic District were repaired and restored, reasonably sized additions were built; one could argue that the infill on a street like Lime Street, whether or not one agrees with the architectural style, actually helped lower crime in that area. In fact “infill” and restoration helped cut down on crime in Newburyport, something that “positive infill” is supposed to do.

    We are not alone in the fact that we are at the edge, if not over the edge of over development. Gentrification and displacement of lower and middle class families, along with the loss of neighborhood character are happening in other places the United States along with Newburyport, MA.

    There is now a new buzz word for what we are experiencing –“vertical sprawl.” From what I gather not everyone in the planning community likes the term “vertical sprawl,” but it appears to be catching on. People are sighting places like Brooklyn, NY…slightly larger than Newburyport, MA.

    And people are wrestling with this issue and what to do about it.

    I think in our community we could say, “wait a minute, there is a problem, let’s slow down and think about what is happening to Newburyport, MA.” That is my hope for Save Our Town—that we could raise public awareness and change the climate of demolition and replication to one of the protection of our historic heritage, which would include, historic structures, historic landscapes and local neighborhood character.

    I’ve talked to many folks who think that it’s too late—too much of Newburyport has been destroyed. It is my own opinion that there is still plenty left, and that if we speak up, we can make a difference. But we need to speak up now.

    So take a free bumper sticker and put it on your car. Take a flier and pass it on to your neighbors and friends. Sign the petition and let other people know about it. If we each do one small thing, I think that together we can make a really big difference.

    Mary Eaton
    Newburyport

    Save Our Town—Newburyport, MA bumper sticker

    Save Our Town—Newburyport, MA

    Ok folks, there’s a new citizens’ group—“Save Our Town.”

    Save Our Town came about one day when Sarah White, Steve Rudolph and Mary Eaton (yes, that’s me) were sitting around discussing issues in Newburyport, MA and were wondering what in the world to do.

    Save Our Town—Save Newburyport’s historic character, charm and beauty—Be the voice of responsible growth.

    Preserve Newburyport’s historic character, charm and beauty

    Save Our Town has its own website www.saveourtown.us .

    There are also free bumper stickers.

    Save Our Town—Newburyport, MA bumper sticker

    There is a Save Our Town flier and a Save Our Town petition.

    The Save Our Town petition says:
    “We the undersigned wish to preserve Newburyport’s historic buildings, landscapes, and local neighborhood character. We support responsible growth in Newburyport, Massachusetts.”

    You can contact Save Our Town at:
    info@saveourtown.us
    www.saveourtown.us

    Mary Eaton
    Newburyort

    Newburyport, Peter Miller and the High Street Email List

    I first met Peter Miller in early January 1999. We both went to a meeting about High Street, held in the Newburyport City Council chambers. Peter Miller and Maria Nortz had just moved to town.

    At that meeting, as I was making the decision to create Citizens to Save High Street, Peter Miller was taking down everyone’s email address. Now you have to remember, email was really new in 1999 ( yes, hard to fathom) and we all really wondered what the heck Peter Miller was up to.

    Peter Miller was ( and still is, sadly, he and Maria Nortz have moved out of town) one smart cookie.

    Peter Miller started the High Street email list, and I learned an awful lot from Mr. Miller. Peter Miller and the High Street email list were one of the very big inspirations for the Newburyport Political Blog.

    From Peter Miller, I learned about how to make the tone of a “email posting” civil by using the words “could, would, might, may.” I was just amazed at how an email posting changed when those few verbs were applied.

    Peter Miller also tried to make everyone look good, whether he agreed with them or not. He would make sure that the grammar was correct and that everything was spelled right. If he had questions about an email someone sent in, he would send it back and ask if they were sure that they would like it posted. If the answer came back “yes” that email was sent on to the High Street email list. And sometimes, after they had time to think about it, they often decided that maybe sending the email out to the High Street email list just wasn’t a good idea.

    After the fight to save High Street had settled down, I was amazed at how many people had read the High Street email list. People printed it, passed it around, saved it, even archived it as a part of the history of how High Street was saved.

    And the High Street email list also turned out to be an incredibly powerful political tool.

    So if the Newburyport Political Blog survives, it will be due in great part to what I learned from Peter Miller. And I sure wish Peter Miller and Maria Nortz would move back to town. I sure could use their wisdom, their expertise and help. And a lot of other people miss them too.

    Mary Eaton, Newburyport