By Julie McCay Turner
Dateline: Monday, January 26, 2015
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has abandoned its plan to relocate its existing Crosby Drive salt shed to the cloverleaf at the intersection of Routes 3 and 62, according to a letter from Thomas J. Tinlin, Massachusetts Department of Transportation Chief of Highway Operations and Maintenance, that State Rep. Ken Gordon delivered to Chairman Margot Fleischman at the Selectmen’s 6 pm meeting on Monday, January 26, 2015.
When Fleischman read the MassDOT letter aloud, it became part of the public record for the meeting. She later shared the letter electronically with the other Selectmen, and also with The Bedford Citizen. Click here to read the entire MassDOT Letter to Bedford Selectmen.
Representative Gordon said earlier on Monday, “I applaud MassDOT and Chief Tinlin for coming to Bedford earlier this month, for listening to the concerns of the residents and town officials, and for responding. Our community members came to meetings, sent letters and emails and made phone calls. And our voices were heard.” Read Rep. Gordon’s salt shed statement from the Selectmen’s meeting.
The Selectmen were unanimous in their appreciation for Rep. Gordon’s efforts.
After notifying the Selectmen, Gordon met briefly with abutters, Conservation Commission members and others who have followed the salt shed issue over the past several weeks. Gordon noted that while Bedford is no longer under consideration for the salt shed, its final location will be a matter for MassDOT to arrange.
In thanking Gordon for his successful intervention, abutter Kara Cournoyer said, “No other news could have made coming out tonight worthwhile!”
MassDOT Press Release
At the same time Chief Tinlin’s letter was being read during the Selectmen’s meeting, MassDOT released a press statement via email.
In the press release, Tinlin states, “During our process of conducting our due diligence in planning to relocate our existing maintenance depot, we received a tremendous amount of constructive and helpful feedback from the Bedford Board of Selectmen and residents who were willing to engage in a dialog with us on our plans.
“After months of consideration and with assistance from Representative Kenneth Gordon working with us to find a solution, we have made a determination to end our efforts to relocate our depot in Bedford to the westerly lobe area of the on-ramp for Route 3 south.”
MassDOT’s message continued, ““The decision to relocate the Bedford Depot was the result of a month long process of evaluating various alternative sites. While MassDOT maintains the core mission of keeping highways safe, the Department also strives to be a good neighbor wherever possible.
“We appreciate the insight our discussions have yielded, which has been extremely valuable to us in informing our plans moving forward as we seek to evaluate other alternatives, excluding the westerly lobe area of the onramp for Route 3 South,” Chief Tinlin said.”
Click to read the full text of MassDOT’s January 26 salt shed press release.
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Whether one agrees with Ken Gordon or not, it is pretty clear from Gordon’s active engagement in local issues to see how badly Bedford was under represented and ignored the prior decade and a half by our former state representative Charles Murphy.
Thank you Ken Gordon for making one huge, community preserving contribution after another to Bedford. I am so thankful that you choose to use your position to tackle difficult issues by carrying the voice of a small town to the state government. I’m glad I voted for you, and I hope to keep voting for you forever.
Many thanks to all of You who cared enough to go out in the face of this, impending possible Large Blizzard, to receive the Very Welcome news of the Abandonment of this Project, which would have Impacted Our community with as yet, Unknown True Damages, as the-Years-Rolled-On… Thank You, Mr Gordon, for your Diligence in pursuing this Potentially-harmful intrusion upon Our Town…. ” Well Done; Good and Faithful and Caring Citizens-ALL “…..