Arlington EATS to get $90k supporting work with farmers' market

Arlington EATS, at 117 Broadway, E. Arlington.

Arlington EATS is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. It is to receive $90,000 over three years to support its growing work with the Arlington Farmers’ Market (AFM), which opens June 14.

Arlington EATS’ mission is to engage the community in eliminating food insecurity and hunger in Arlington. Arlington EATS operates a number of programs to provide access to food, including:

• EATS Market, a food pantry and home delivery service designed to foster dignity;
• School-based programs, including vacation and summer groceries and snacks during the school day;
• Fresh Bucks, a voucher program at the AFM; and
• Partnerships with social service agencies and nonprofits that make resources more accessible to food-insecure residents.

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Mystic River Watershed Association awarded $90,000 Cummings grant

Fourth-grade students from Jada Simmons-Ononeme’s science class at the George Keverian School in Everett participated in MyRWA’s Storm Drain Design Project for the fourth year in a row.

The Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. MyRWA was selected from a total of 630 applicants during a competitive review process. It will receive $90,000 over three years, the association said.

The Mystic River watershed is a critical natural system that connects 21 communities to the ocean and provides much-needed benefits to the 600,000 people who live there. Every day, MyRWA works to protect water quality, restore important habitat, build climate resilience, transform parks and paths, and engage youth and community members.

“The Mystic River watershed is an amazing asset for our communities, and it is a great entry point for area youth to learn about science and the environmental issues,” said Patrick Herron, executive director of MyRWA, in a June 1 news release. “Thank you to the Cummings Foundation for recognizing the importance of connecting youth to nature in their backyard.”

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Minuteman public praises Clement, critiques Dawson, committee

• public schools
• school committee
• education

Superintendent-Director Kathleen Dawson

Principal George Clement

UPDATED June 2: Arlington residents and others the evening of May 25 extolled Minuteman High School Principal George Clement, excoriated district Superintendent-Director Kathleen Dawson and blasted the Minuteman School Committee for allowing the fraught situation to occur. 

The immensely popular Clement has been absent from his office in recent days, his employment status currently unclear. Dawson’s refusal to renew his contract, set to expire June 30, triggered a student walkout covered by three television stations, a unanimous faculty vote of no confidence in Dawson and two ongoing online petition drives on Change.org demanding, respectively, that officials keep Clement and dump Dawson, with total signatures exceeding 2,000.

At the May 25 meeting, in comments on the petition drives and in other ways, many people have suggested that Dawson’s consistently off-putting approach with her subordinates had motivated at least four other high-level managers to resign so far.

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Case of ex-inspections chief delayed until August

• inspections

The state Ethics Commission case alleging that a former Arlington official was involved in conflicts of interest is expected to be argued in August, not in June, as previously scheduled.

Eron L.A. Hackshaw, presiding officer in the case involving Michael F. Byrne, the town's former inspectional services director, denied a defense motion seeking an indefinite stay. "However, under the circumstances," the May 23 order says, "a reasonable continuance of the proceedings is warranted to accommodate respondent’s scheduled neuropsychological evaluation."

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Residents support business, shared space, multifamily housing near transit, survey says

• housing

UPDATED May 31: Arlington respondents overwhelmingly favor vibrant business districts and shared community space, with multifamily housing near public transit and the bike path, a town survey shows. See the numbers at right.

In March, more than 1,000 people participated in Arlington’s MBTA Communities Visioning Survey, created to collect public input and identify community goals and priorities regarding where multifamily housing should be allowed by right. 

According to Claire Ricker, Arlington’s director of planning and community development, the town received a $20,000 technical-assistance grant to hire planning consultant Utile to assist with siting and mapping the town’s multifamily (three-family or larger) districts and with developing appropriate use and density requirements.

Utile analyzed the data from the town’s MBTA survey and presented the results to the public at the MBTA Communities Working Group meeting on May 16. The consultant translated the results into an actionable design framework, which it provided in a summary analysis and two early draft plan maps.

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Covid incidence May 31: Wastewater number highest of 9 counties reporting but still low

UPDATED May 31: YourArlington continues to report a running tally of Covid-19 incidence regionally based on wastewater analysis by Biobot Analytics. These figures are in reverse chronological order toward the end of this ongoing column, along with an explanation of why most scientists consider wastewater analysis statistics to be valuable data.

This information may be of greater meaning now in mid-2023, as major organizations including many Massachusetts hospitals are ceasing universal masking mandates -- and many other measures of what is no longer officially a pandemic soon may no longer be kept at all.

Based on readings taken May 31, 2023, Middlesex County, where Arlington is located, is down again from the week prior, to 284, making it the highest of the nine counties reporting updated results this week. New numbers are not yet available from Franklin, Hampshire and Worcester counties.

Middlesex is higher than the nationwide average of 161 but still relatively low compared with highs over the past two winters.

All the numbers cited here represent Covid-19 virus concentration per mililiter of wastewater; however, this is not the same as the total number of Covid-19 infections, which is near-impossible to know. 

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