001[Music] all right good afternoon everyone um welcome to another edition of clocktown Chronicles uh your show your podcast for all things Ashland uh my name is Michael Herbert I'm your town manager and um very excited about today's program because we've got two very very special guests uh from our comprehensive plan steering committee we've got Roger Ro and then also Grant Lewis uh they are the co-chairs of the uh uh comprehensive plan steering committee and U we'll talk to them a little bit about the comprehensive plan and a little bit about themselves and how they got interested in Ashland and um in part of the committee but uh first before we get into that I just want to uh remind everybody that town meeting is going to be coming up on May 1st uh at 700
002p.m. at the Ashlin High School auditorium uh we will have more information about the warrant and all the articles that are going to be um on the warrant at town meeting uh that will be up online on our website and then also through our social media pages and um yeah we look forward to seeing you there that's uh just a reminder for everybody town meeting is our legislative body and it's where a lot of very very important uh decisions get made and so we really really need your input and really need your participation as as residents to uh make sure that this town goes in the direction that uh that you would like it to go in So speaking of directions we're going to talk about a comprehensive plan here with Stacy Stacy and rerry
003um and I was just uh I'll just ask you the question what is the comprehensive plan and get into why it's important for for our listeners well that's a big question um I'll I'll take a stab at it first um hi listeners I'm Stacy Grant Lewis uh the comprehensive plan uh that we've named The Envision ashin plan is your opportunity as Community uh residents participants to take the next steps to what Ashlin will look like over the next 10 years so this plan runs from 2025 through 2035 and Beyond um we've hired a consultant uh very Adept consultant to help lead us and guide us through this process on your committee sits 29 very very passionate community members me being one of them um we spend our evenings uh once a month uh working through
004structural Transportation community recreation open space sustainability all of the things that we think that we know are important to Ashton based on your commentary so um yeah that's a start rri hi I'm rajashri um and thank you for inviting me to this podcast of course um so with the comprehensive plan um I look at it as a forward thinking um document a forward thinking process where we're looking at a shared commitment where all of us are engaged in a shared vision of what we want this town to be um and we are acting together through this steering committee finding commonalities finding the differences I think that most of us they're you know we we're different uh but that important so that diverse voices are seen um they are audible they're credible and that we all
005make this plan what it is great great and so you know both of you mentioned the comprehensive plan steering committee Stacy you you mentioned the fact that it's 29 people right um so what is that committee composed of who who is it composed of so we have um representatives from all the Committees and councils town councils um we have representatives from five precincts me being one of them I'm from Precinct Five um there is the the select board members two of the select board members two of the planning board members and several others and you're there too I I yeah in full disclosure I'm I'm part of the committee too but nobody wants to hear me talk anymore and Peter Peter M M also is part of the yeah Peter Our Town planner Peter who
006actually has experience in comprehensive plan he's the planner so he he obviously does exactly Peter I believe has been through two himself in previous community so uh it's great to get his experience and his expertise uh as part of the committee right and um you know I think just to give a little insight uh into how you know the comprehensive plan committee that makeup was uh how that Constitution was um was arrived at was a very long process between the planning board and the select board and myself and Peter and really you know we it's a big committee which has its own challenges uh which we can talk about a little bit later but uh it was very very important to get as many diverse perspectives as part of this plan as possible and I
007think that's why it's it's got so much representation on it like you said rry I think we got six precincts now we used to have five now we got six um and then you know the rest are made up of uh different boards and committees like the like you said the select board the planning board but the cultural Council I represent the cultural Council yeah yes and like like you said Rog you're representing Precinct Five Stacy uh is part of the cultural Council uh you're representing uh the cultural Council on the on the committee yeah may I add that those of us who are representing precincts each one of us went through a rigorous selection process um because we were not part of any town to council we were not representing any committee as such
008so that process was long wor than a job interview oh gosh and somebody even checked my job you know the other professional space you know who you are so so it was a rigorous process did I tell you I put you through a full background investigation before we did I wouldn't be surprised I wouldn't be surprised we we made sure we couldn't uh couldn't have any Riff Raff on the committee no and I hid well you did well yes hid um for sure um so you know we talked a little bit about what the conference of plan is and you know why it it's so important but you know one of the things that that we talked about that's an important component of this is is public engagement yes and not just getting the opinions
009of the 29 members on the steering committee but uh Representatives voices from all different parts of the town and so what are some of the ways is you know the comprehensive plan steering committee what are some of the ways that uh we are utilizing to uh to get that input well we're in a really exciting phase right now phase two um there are four phases to the yes and uh we're in phase two public engagement and uh which will this part of the phase will wrap up on April 26th but that includes we're doing these focus groups with M which Michael will go through a little bit more in detail called meeting in a box and when we're meeting with small groups two to eight people at a time going through seven important questions asking
010for their feedback um for those of you who are a little shy and not able to attend a meeting in a box we also have a community survey I will say this community survey takes about 10 to 20 minutes depending on your in internet connection so just be aware um we have a crowd map which is kind of fun to use um where you can actually pin um areas of opportunity for yourself so for example if you wanted a sidewalk on Cedar Street you could actually go onto the crowd map and pin that there and say that's something that you want ex so um these are tools that were provided to us by our consultant um JM goson and their team um so each of these tools you know all the steering members are aware
011of these and they will be reaching out in the next few weeks until April 26 um and talk to you about how you can be involved and so please look out for them um engage with us in whatever way you feel comfortable um you know there are people who are writing to us at the comprehensive plan um steering email address I want to be in a meeting in a box and so it's it's very resident Le um and so um you know your voice needs to be counted um you know you have an idea about the future of the town about the present uh conditions for instance you know we did an uh a meeting in a box with seniors um there is a lot of excitement with the construction going on in town but
012then there are other voices who are not so excited I think I usually hear from those voices I heard both I heard both sides and it's important to have both sides because that's what is our Consolidated uh response system that goes into the data processing which the goson will handle but it's important to give that input and and lend that voice sure and so both of you have been involved in several of these uh focus groups that we're calling meetings in a box and um you know I know i' I've had my own experiences with them and and my own takeaways but um for both of you what has been the biggest surprise that has come out of these these focus groups I just want to add on to what rajeshri said there's so much
013that we don't know about our beautiful Town um there's so much history here um there are people have that have lived here their entire lives and people who are still considered new even though they've been here for 30 40 years so I think that unearthing that kind of information has been really exciting and then there's like the natural tension between that and people who have moved here more recently and who want to see progress in a different kind of way so I think kind of just surfacing that kind of information has been really enlightening exciting there is tension there and I just want everybody to know experiencing tension is not necessarily a bad thing we just need to hear from all parties involved right so that's been really exciting yeah for me um you know
014I was exposed to um this group of people who have lived in Ashland for a decade or so but were completely unaware of Town's offerings um they're a cultural group and they now want to be involved with what whatever going on in town they did the survey they did the meeting in a box and they want to take it forward so that has been exciting for me that I uh I was able to reach them but it also makes me wonder how many other groups are there that have not been reached and they really need to be front and center in this comprehensive planning process um and then there are other groups that are that have been vocal through and through um but they also realize that there is a certain set of questions and
015that kind of brings them in a certain at a certain Focus um and streamline their responses according to that so it's not a Haywire kind of a process when we when we are asking questions we do want the response that'll help the town plan better right right and just to kind of echo what both of you said um one of the most interesting Parts uh and surprising parts of this uh whole process is for me I I should say is with the steering committee itself and I take for the granted the fact that I know all of you but a lot of you didn't know each other as you started this process and I think for me one of the most exciting things or fun things to watch is to watch the steering committee members
016like build those relationships and um have you know get to know each other's perspectives uh Stacy I know like at the at the very early stage is uh you had a a good conversation with Carl hackinson who is one of those uh gentlemen who who have been here his family has been here for Generations Y and you come at it with uh varying uh perspectives about things um can you just talk a little bit about your approach you know how do you how do you approach those conversations and um you know making sure that you get your points across by but also being open-minded right um well I agree with you that the steering committee is kind of a microcosm of Ashland it's everyone who's passionate and willing to devote their time to this project
017that's on that steering committee so I want to Echo that sentiment I think open-mindedness is how I approach this process I'm a newbie uh in the sense that I've only been here for six years um I'm also I still think of a newbie to the state I've only been here for nine years I moved here from New York where I was a hardcore New Yorker for a very long time and I moved to this beautiful Town Ashland where it's just gorgeous open space very friendly neighbors very friendly and approachable Town management uh all the things that make you want to put down Roots so having an opportunity to even talk to Carl in on a one-on-one you know uh basis was really new to me and really enlightening really eye openening because Carl had a
018wealth of information to share and just a different perspective and I just kept thinking wow other people should know this you move here and you get kind of you know set in your ways with your kids and your neighbors and the church or the synagogue that you go to and that's your world but there was a world here before we moved here and there are people who are moving here now to this new world that is here now and so I just think that there are ways to connect those points and that's what really blew my mind like okay there's something to be really offered here for everyone yeah and and rry how how about you what can you tell me one of those conversations that really kind of opened your eyes and enlightened you
019to a perspective maybe you didn't have before well there was many such occasions but um you know I Echo um Stacy sentiments um I came to this country as a trailing spouse um and um which means if you do ever do a segment in on immigration MH that'll be a big one okay um uh but spouses who are wives are not allowed to uh to work for pay um but they're free to travel and do education so there were years when I spent not being counted um I did not have a Social Security I was given a tax ID because I was expected to pay taxes out of what I don't know um but not being able to stand up for myself um that was the hardest few years and around the same time as
020when we decided to move to Ashland okay we thought okay let's make a change because this is not helping us um I was volunteering in different places I was uh working with um a women's studies program at bu um and I would take the tea and I said what's the next town that we can afford a house in uh where there's the tea option um and that was Ashland it was affordable and we just drove around we said oh we like it so so with that you know I I started to look at different opportunities where I could use my talent I could use my background um and I found that people in Ashland were welcoming to that um they could have easily said no it's okay you're the trailing spouse U but that didn't
021happen and as with the immigration process it was a slow um process but when I first first came into um when I first came into the situation where everything was regulated for me and I I knew how to work my way through um the immigration process um I realized that there was so much more that I could do in town um and so when I have conversations with members of the steering about okay there's a health issue somebody is uh going on with um there's somebody who's passed on there's a personal aspect to each of these members on the steering that I connect with um and it's important for us as a as a community of steering members um to lean on each other because there are so many moments um that we feel like
022maybe we failed ourselves in this job um but I've I've seen how people support each other um through arguments through um discontent um and through communication barriers but the fact that everybody comes together because they have the good in themselves and they're looking at how Ashlin can be a better place no matter which direction they come from that has been really um enriching for me oh great great wow that was ratory for me I didn't know that about you yeah and I've known you for years rry and I I didn't you never asked I never asked yeah um but uh F that's one one of the reasons I love these conversations is you find out new things about people all the time and uh both of you have talked about you know some of the
023great opportunities that uh the conference of plan steering committee has has provided for you as individuals but um I just want to turn and pivot a little bit and and what do you think's been the biggest challenge uh well I think people are uncomfortable with tension I'm going to say that t- word again um I am a project manager by trade that's what I've done for a living for some time and uh in project management I can say that tension is a good trait but not everybody agrees that it is right so they're uncomfortable about how to navigate if they disagree or um if they are not aligned with the overall project there's like you know this tendency to think it's got to be black or it's got to be white when there's a lot
024of gray area in between so I think that's a human tendency and working through that that kind kind of discomfort can be a challenge with a group that large right so there are people who may feel like okay I just won't say anything or people who overcompensate and say too much um I think it's just navigating that kind of personal discomfort retention yeah what about you R yeah so um I've worked with Community engagement for a very long time even in my professional space so I was dying to get into this public engagement phase because this is what is the Crux of the matter um um but what I found challenging uh has been um that all voices are not loud enough in the committee that I couldn't hear from a few people that was
025gwing at me um that you know there are some members who are able to vocalize what they're feeling or what they're um intending to say but the others were not and they were holding back for a variety of reasons it's maybe their personality maybe what they heard wasn't yelling with them but individual connections helped in this manner so I would go up to each person and talk about what really works for them what really attracts them to be part of this um and I think now they're they're blooming yes in their roles um you know in the recently in the in the volunteers breakfast that you missed but Stacy and I were there I was doing a meeting in the box so excuse but it it was great because there was so many of the
026comprehensive members steering members who were there and each one of them got up um to talk about you know were they were publicizing the plan um on their own you know and so it just made me feel really proud for them except for Chuck Lids who forgot he was on on the comprehensive plan he's on multiple other he's on multiple other groups and he talked at length about that but I I told him we're going to give you a hard time so this is the hard time oh okay I think Chuck been a little under the weather so we can give him a pass on that Chuck Chuck who's a member of the sustainability committee and represents the sustainability committee on the comprehens of plan steering committee uh does a lot of great work he
027does for the town um we can pull his leg though though he's hat surgery I was about to say hopefully not the one that not the shoulder but the leg yes um yeah I think probably the biggest challenge from my perspective is just the size of the group I think and um well you put it together so you deal I know nobody nobody to blame but me so um but uh yeah it was something I I I will say I underestimated a little bit is you know how big of a challenge it is to make sure that you've got when you've got that big a group making sure that there's equal access to and opportunities to make comments and I think you're right I I think some of the more uh vocal people myself included
028um are used to like speaking you know in front of groups or part of committees and I think it's easy to take for granted that not everybody has that experience right right um but over time I feel like the trust is has just just bloomed like you said over time I think those people who are less comfortable uh are able to come up to both of us individually and they're taking on responsibilities can I do this can I do that and everything is so important and um it makes a significant change um to to the planning process and and I will say just uh you two are are co-chairs and I think uh both of you have done a really good job of kind of laying that foundation and making sure that there is that
029opportunity for people to uh to get engaged but um I think you know speaking of co-chairs what what made you both decide to kind of enter your throw your names in the in the Hat through our names you know what that's a good that's a good point not as chair but I threw my name for a member I wanted to be a member right yeah that's right you were kind of volunteered we volunte we were volunteered as somebody somebody recruited us Steve Steve recruited me gotcha MH and he said you know what she can do it and then you were recruited by Steve by Steve yeah so Steve it's all your fault Steve we're GNA we're going to blame you on this one so Steve's used to getting blame for things so uh he can
030take it he can take it take it I think we both uh there there was a vacancy um in in leading the plan initially and we we had said that you know we would do it temporarily until the group made a decision and their group made a decision and here we are still yeah uh leading so that's how that happened so I gotta I gotta ask you um you know these focus groups or when we've talked about the survey and and we get updates from goldon about our community engagement and public engagement and how we're doing on that but um I have noticed in the different focus groups that I've been a part of uh very common themes out and and I'm wondering if you two have had the same experience and if you have
031like what are some of those common themes that you've heard um so um they all love the open space and the green spaces here um some of them uh have talked about the roots they take from downtown area to milpond and then trolley Brook and Stony and stone stone park and you know so uh that has been really one of the common themes that I see um the other thing is um many of the groups are talking about places to gather yeah um you know this is a social Town yes um and they're looking for spaces uh sometimes they talk about restaurants that are available but it it's not like what it used to be there were opportunities earlier apparently um way before I was here so um they want a replacement of something called
032news news Ash the ash news news yeah so it's like Drop in have a coffee chat with people and leave um so that kind of opportunity and then the other opportunity for gathering for cultural groups yeah where do they perform there's no Auditorium um so that they're talking about you know is the Valentine's property available for that so there are these questions um one of the young students uh who I interviewed U from Ashen High School talked about the fact that older kids have no place to gather because younger kids will go to the swing set older kids will be mocked you the swing is not for you so they were talking about why not the Dairy Queen be changed into an arcade kind of a mall so you know they can be indoor outdoor
033spaces um so there are different populations who talk about different things it depends on their needs MH um but overall there are many positives about the present but there are also positive uh aspirations that I see um among the groups that I interviewed for sure and and Stacy what about you I don't think it's a coincidence that I've heard the same exact things um uh listeners should know that those three populations that you just described are the ones that are the largest in town so we have a a big teen population 19 and younger um we have older folks and we have those people who are under 50 and raising families here who want you know to have a place to go so I think people are excited about the possibility the potential of Ashlin
034being a more ambulatory place where you can walk around downtown and enjoy outside activities but yes they are looking for indoor spaces um to gather and I didn't know about the News Corp until I had my meeting in a box exact and how much people missed it and the bakery that was there um and so that brings me to another area of tension is history somehow having history integrated into the town so that people know where we came from and where we're going right I think um so I've heard very similar things especially when you talk about Gathering spaces indoor Gathering space yes you know we have uh we have the farmers market we have The Corner Spot Great Outdoor spaces but they're Outdoors so they're limited um and so there's definitely been a desire
035expressed by a lot of people to have indoor SP that we can utilize in some of the um less warmer months um the other thing that I've heard and Stacy you alluded to this uh is sidewalks yes um now I was hearing that before we even started doing the comprehensive plan but it's just amazing how consistent that theme is uh throughout the different groups that that we talk to and uh open space being another one as well preserving open space um I can tell you I'm surprised just because I I heard from I hear from a lot of people all the time um that's just that's part of my my job and it's actually one of the favorite parts of my job um but you know one of the things that I I kept on
036hearing from people was expansion to Playing Fields and but I'm not hearing that in the comprehensive plan process I haven't heard that but also you know I think we need to uh interview the younger crowd more um maybe we'll hear it from them and in in those cases they might have that need but we haven't heard it as yet right right so um just kind of pivoting to to to yourselves personally um you talked a little bit about how long you've been in town and What attracted you to Ashlin um talked a little bit about your your professional backgrounds a bit um but what do you like to do in your free time oh I like I like eating like eating okay a lot a lot eating and cooking and traveling when time permits um
037yeah okay yeah what about you Stacy I am a fitness nut self-proclaimed I work out quite a bit I love being outside with my dog you'll see me walking around town uh with my big white dog you can say hello please I love nature I love being in Ashen State Park in the Town Forest um and I love traveling as well I I'll be out of town a lot as R asri knows as the weather gets nicer uh but yeah yeah reading eating traveling and walking and then you know the other thing that uh strikes me when when I look at the comprehensive plan and and all that we're doing you know in the past in in my professional space I have critiqued Master plans critiqued and it's very easy to criticize it's very easy
038to do it yeah now I'm in the thick of the process um and I'm I'm part of this whole big team and you know we're we're going ahead with it it feels like how much I didn't know um and how much there is to learn um I'm I'm connecting different policies both International and National you know they talk about 15 minute city um oh yeah yeah you know and I think about the ashon town in that respect and yes in 15 minutes I could reach many places from um from downtown if I start walking I could reach many places I could hike I could go to restaurants um the farmer's market is on I could go there I could go to the library um I could go into the town hall for anything that I
039need so you know we are approximating that even though we're not a city and we're not an international in that sense um but the fact that so many of those realities are right here doable and thinkable too um that it's been amazing awesome awesome so I I got to ask you you know what do you think we can do to increase engag in the comprehensive plan process this be one of our our final questions but um really important I think people need to understand that for the focus groups you're encouraged to host these yourselves at home in your neighborhood um all you need are two other people um you'll be the person that enters the data onto the sheet we can you can drop the sheet off at Town Hall if you don't want to
040submit it electronically um but you're welcome to do that and share the the survey with your network as well we encourage that um I think people need to know that there's a tendency and I think it's human to just kind of say okay that's not for me um I won't be listen to anyway nothing's going to be done it's just that's the human tendency right so you kind of have to if you want to see change or if you want to be recognized step outside of your comfort zone and realize that that may not be true uh that we do want to hear from you we're taking the steps to hear from you and invite your participation I have never met a town management that's more accessible than the one we have right I would
041agree it's not multi-layered in the sense that you're going to get caught up in hierarchy so just you know come out let your voice be heard yeah you know it's a really good point that you bring out Stacy that um people sometimes feel like you know even if they say something that they're not heard and you know it surprises me because you know one of I mean if you look at all the stuff that we're doing in town now right I mean downtown project 126 project you know working on the Valentine estate you know some of the new buildings that we've built uh Mendes and the public safety building you know all of those have were born out of community dialogue right and a community desire I mean a lot of people say it's like
042my vision or whatever and it's really not I mean like whatever Vision I do have it's it's really an amalgamation of you know the different people that I hear from and and listen to so like your voices are heard I mean some of the things that you know you're seeing happening are a direct result of your feedback as as residents and right I think that also that people need to realize that um although we are the steering and it sounds so lofty um each one of us is also a resident right um we are resident first before we take on any responsibility to do anything else um and so as fellow residents I think think this is a collective um task to talk about what we want to see in this town um we have
043a shared Vision about how this town should look like it's a it's a commitment that we we give to the next Generations you know how many more years are we going to do this um it's the Next Generation that we have to be uh thoughtful about and what are we leaving behind um so everybody has a say and everybody um it's a public Le event it's not a town government um they may have put it together but it will not progress if the residents do not feel comfortable being part of it and so we are making every effort to open the doors um every steering member can be reached um and I think all the all the councils have to step up and start doing the meeting in a boxes to make it more accessible
044to people I agreed and I think that's a that's a that's it's a good one to end on uh Stacy and rry thank you so much for being a part of uh part of the show I had to hit the button you know I've gone the whole uh whole podcast without hitting the button so I had to hit that um and just to remind everybody um you know there's different ways to participate there's the crowd mapping there's the survey there's the meeting in the Box um if you want to get to the website um I what I founds the easiest way to do to do is to basically type in Envision Ashland into the Google machine and it that's the first link that comes up and that gives you access to to all of those
045they can also go into the town website and it has a blue Rider right on top correct um and that'll lead them to to the website and our meetings are public to one the next one is on the 18th of April 18th of April um yes they are public you can show up in person or you can show up via Zoom because we do uh H have them hybrid but um again thank you so much for being a part of the thank you for having us thank you for having us this has been fun and um again everybody uh make sure your voice is heard get involved uh Envision Ashland or comprehensive plan process let us know what you would like to see for Ashland in the next 10 years and um so oh before
046I forget uh if you have any um comments or if you have any questions you want us to answer on air uh we have an email address set up for um for this podcast it's clocktown Chronicles at Ashland mass.com I'm looking over at Melissa Hayes at communications coordinator she's giving me the nod that says yes Michael you did get the correct address so keep it kind keep it kind yeah kindness matters folks um all right uh everybody again thank you for being here thank you for listening and uh this is episode number two uh episode number three I haven't decided what we're going to do but uh it will no doubt be interesting and probably deal with some planning related aspects not comprehensive planning but some more acute planning uh things that we're we're going
047through today so anyway again my my name is Michael Herbert your town manager your host for clock toown Chronicles and I'll see you on the next episode