Accountability and Planning

Some thoughts on a crisp Saturday morning.

There’s been a lot of talk about the proposed Sudbury Housing Authority project to tear down 4 houses in the Pine Lakes neighborhood and build 4 duplexes in their place. After researching about the project and talking to several concerned citizens, I’d like to offer this viewpoint. Although it may appear to be on the surface, this issue is not about affordable housing. It’s about accountability and planning.

Sudbury, as a community, has worked incredibly hard to reach and surpass the state guidelines for affordable housing. We’ve done such a good job that even the recently passed MBTA Communities Act is not really an issue for us (as it is for so many towns now) because we have surpassed previous state guidelines for affordable housing. We are not under any pressure to create more housing, a position that I’m guessing many towns envy.

This SHA proposal to tear down 4 houses and then rebuild 4 duplexes in their place has some concerning issues. First of all, the proposed project is over 4 Million dollars. Yes, there was a state grant of $1.2 Million, but we still need to come up with over $2.8 Million for this project. If you just do a high level analysis of that, that would be $2.8 Million / 4 = $700,000 just to build (this does not include land cost) each duplex. My adopted New England Sensibilities are exploding in my head.

But, price of construction aside. The real issue here is one of accountability and planning. Why is the SHA insisting that we need to demolish these houses? In fact, in one communication, the SHA said that they could repair one of the houses for about $150,000, but they chose not to do that. The houses are about the same age as many of the other houses in the area which are in good condition. It begs the question, what is different between these houses and their neighboring houses? One possible answer seems to be the maintenance. What has the maintenance plan been all these years? How much neglect has there been that it’s not worth saving these buildings anymore? And if that’s the case, what is to prevent the proposed new duplexes from meeting a similar fate? Where is the accountability for the current condition of these houses and what is the plan for not making the same mistakes again?

I’m not trying to lay blame. I’m just trying to point out that maybe we have a problem with the maintenance plan and we should address that problem first, instead of just forging ahead to demolish and rebuild.

Lack of accountability and planning is not a new theme in town.

We spent some $30 Million on a new community center. Did we have a maintenance and operation plan ahead of time? I wonder, because a beloved program, Terrific Twos, for which we built specific rooms (classroom, playroom, bathroom with tiny fixtures), is no longer available. We custom built rooms for this program but the program has been canceled. That seems to call into question whether or not there was an operations plan in place?

I won’t go beyond just mentioning that there doesn’t seem to be an operations plan for how community groups might use or rent a room in the new center…

But I will mention the shiny new Parks and Rec van parked at the community center that is decorated with a giant octopus. That was purchased with over $100,000 of ARPA funds to help transport kids to after school activities. Is there an actual operational plan for that? Has it transported anyone’s kids to anything? Or is it basically a $100,000 Halloween decoration?

Another example. We spent approximately $1.3 Million on new playgrounds for our elementary schools. And yet, this year and last year the kids at Noyes were unable to use the Teeter Totter and Raft Swing. Why? Who is accountable for the lack of maintenance on this new asset? And is there any plan to rectify the situation?

Another example. We are in the final stages of the new Rail Trail. People are using it and loving it. But is there a maintenance plan? Was there an increase to any town department budget to account for any maintenance or operational upkeep? Who will be accountable to clean up the graffiti, pick up the trash, and maintain the fencing?

At what point do we say, “Enough?”

We have a bunch of shiny new things, but no plan for maintaining. At some point, we just need to stop, take a breath, and assess our situation.

We live in a town where one of the most popular social media sites, Sudbury Curb Alert, is dedicated to reusing, regifting, and repurposing. This makes my adopted New England Sensibilities beam with joy. We are not a wasteful community. Let’s not just forge ahead trying to convince ourselves that magically “this time” things will just work out. Let’s dig in, let’s be accountable, let’s do better!