I’m afraid I’m on a bit of a “tear” about this business of a Chapter 40B housing project on the 22 acre Woodman property on Low Street behind the Storey Avenue Shopping Plaza.

According to the Newburyport Daily News, on March 6, 2006, Mayor John Moak “plans to form a task force to study the future” of the Woodman property.

I am very suspicious of “task forces” and “special committees.” I think task forces are often used for political purposes by administrations to justify making politically unpopular decisions.

It has always been my opinion that the first Building Needs Committee that was assembled, was in great part assembled to justify closing the Kelly School. I always thought it was a great piece of political maneuvering, except that I’m a big fan of the Kelly School.( And btw, since there now seems to be even more momentum to close the Kelly School, feel free Kelly School parents and fans to use the Newburyport Political Blog to educate people on why keeping the Kelly School open is so important to the fabric of Newburyport, Massachusetts.)

Frankly, I feel the City of Newburyport has come up with an excellent idea of what to do with the Woodman property. Obviously the Open Space Committee and the “Planners” have put an enormous amount of thought and effort into what I am calling this “dilemma.” So forming a task force, in my mind, means that Mayor John Moak most probably has a whole other agenda and could be using a task force to get it implemented.

Now, if Mayor Moak forms a task force to look at what the City of Newburyport would do if plan A falls through, that would make sense to me. But forming a task force to look at the “plus and minuses of the land purchase” smells of political strategizing to me, and politically opening a huge “can of worms.” Again, what part of “you cannot negotiate with a Chapter 40B project” does the mayor not understand?

This does not mean I am not for affordable housing. I’m for affordable housing in a big way. In fact I think 10% of the housing stock for affordable housing is way too low, I’d like to see Newburyport have 25-30% affordable housing, “how about them apples.”

And as far as I’m concerned, Chapter 40B is mostly used by developers to make huge amounts of money, without taking into consideration the overall fabric of Massachusetts’ communities. I’d like to see our affordable housing be incorporated into the fabric of Newburyport, which has been the emphasis for the last 4 years ( and yes, I’m talking about Nick Cracknell’s leadership as Newburyport Planning Director on this particular issue.)

Mary Eaton, Newburyport