Vote YES on 5 for Community Preservation Act (CPA) It Benefits Us ALL.
More money is there for us right now:
All our neighboring communities are already in: Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge, Newton. Boston strongly supports a Yes on 5 this year as well – see YesBetterBoston.com. They have all made, and will continue to make, significant and creative improvements with their CPA funds. Our contributions will continue going to other towns if we vote no.
More than just a match:
Being part of the CPA not only provides matching funds, but also gives us the ability to leverage those funds with additional state and outside funding to make the dollars go even further. Belmont Village electrical and energy upgrades, Drake Village window replacement in Arlington, connecting paths along Charles River paths, see many examples at CommunityPreservation.org database. CPA encourages collaboration through regional projects and partnerships, where towns can even team up for improvements.
More leverage to buy and create open space:
CPA funds are being used by Waltham to acquire the Arrigo Farm, including a portion in Watertown. They purchased parcels adjoining Beaverbrook North Reservation and continue to identify ways to create open space.
More for the residents right now:
CPA allowed Newton to create homebuyer and rental assistance for city employees, individuals 55 years and older, veterans, families, and those with accessibility challenges, and more residents. Waltham CPA funds provided for energy-saving capital improvements at Whalen Apartments, and local rental vouchers.
More for creative preservation:
Newton also used CPA funds to restore and renovate the former Newton Corner Library, now home of their new Innovation Center in collaboration with MassChallenge and the Cambridge Innovation Center.
More for the schools right now:
School Committees have applied to use CPA funds for rehabilitation of school tennis courts and fields; school playgrounds are eligible too. Waltham used CPA funds to restore historic floors at the Whittemore Elementary School.
Visit www.InvestinWatertown.org
Submitted by Invest in Watertown
More examples of what other people have done.
Tell us exactly what you will do and how much it will cost. Tell us how long it will take to do. Tell us how many estimates you procured for each proposed project.
Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? Let’s pass the CPA first then the committee can tackle these questions.
Everyone knows you are against the CPA, but if it passes you should consider being a participant of the committee. It is easy to endlessly comment article and forums. Please consider taking all of this energy and apply it making the community better.
They could at least tell us how much money was spent on these projects, how long they took to complete, and did they issue any bonds (more debt) to finance any of these projects, thus ensnaring the communities into keeping the surcharge for decades!