 Do Wellesley’s candidates for Town offices share your values?
Find out at an afternoon with the candidates. Join folks on March 8th from 4:30-6:00pm at the Village Church to hear from, and meet the candidates. This is just ahead of the March 17th date when Wellesley heads to the polls to elect candidates to variety of important Town Board positions. Be there. Listen, ask questions.  New Year. New time to act. TOGETHER
On January 14, hundreds of people from across MA will descend on Beacon Hill to demand that our legislators do everything they can to promote a clean energy future. The stakes have never been higher. Massachusetts needs to step up and lead. Join a group from Wellesley to meet with our representatives and senators to make the case for clean energy and environmental justice. Encourage them to pass environmental justice bills as well as the H.2810 carbon pricing bill. You will feel -- and sleep -- better after stepping up to act on climate. You can RSVP here, and see the Facebook event here. If you are interested in carpooling and/or training in together from Wellesley, email info@SustainableWellesley.com for more info. Full schedule is below. Please note that events overlap, so simply choose where to go based on your own time/interests. Lobby Day Activities 10:30 - 11:30AM: Lobby Day Orientation & Overview - downstairs at the Paulist Center (5 Park. Ave, Boston, MA) 11:30AM - 4:00PM: Meetings with State Reps and Senator - various State House offices 12:00 - 2:00PM: Lobby Day HQ is open - State House, Room 437 Rallies, Hearings, and Solidarity Opportunities 10:30 - 3:30PM: Housing/Rent Control Hearing - State House, Gardner Auditorium 12:00 - 12:30PM: Gov. Baker Anti-Fossil Fuel Action - Outside Governor Baker's State House office on the 3rd Floor 1:00PM: Housing/Rent Control Rally - Statehouse front steps (near Hooker entrance) 1:00PM: Carbon Pricing Hearing - State House, Room A2 (no scheduled end time)  Now that our children are back in school and we have a little free time, we encourage you to take some time to do something that matters to you.
We invite you to come meet us for a Wellesley Green Schools Coffee this Thursday at 10am at 16 Framer Rd. Many of us saw and read some startling things over the holidays that have us concerned (or more concerned) about our climate. As the inspiring 16 year old climate activist Greta Thunberg says, "I started to do something... to make a difference. It makes you feel a lot better.” Come meet us, discuss your concerns and learn about things you and your family can do. Together, actions small and large, we can make a difference.  Wellesley now has its own public bike repair station. Tools and all!
It is centrally located and accessible on RT 16, next to the Wellesley Police Station, where many people cycle past daily- students, commuters and recreational cyclists alike. We are grateful to many of you who helped Sustainable Wellesley crowd source funding for this bike repair station. A huge thank you the Wellesley Police Department, Wellesley Department of Public Works, and Landry's for everything they did to support making it safer and easier for people to bike in and around our community. Get out your bike and give it a test drive.  Just kidding. Lets reduce our WASTE Wellesley!
Zero Waste Wellesley Challenge is a new town-wide challenge to reduce the use of household single use plastics by 50% in 2020 in response to the world-wide plastic waste crisis. Every month we will address the item-of-the-month to stop buying and then crowd-source replacement items that are not single-use plastic and are sustainable. At the end of the month, we will take those best reviewed and liked products to the local stores and petition them to carry them on their shelves. January’s item-of-the-month is plastic single use bottles for water and seltzer. Some of the single use plastic items we will be challenging Wellesley households to replace in the coming months will be laundry detergent, dish detergent, dishwasher detergent, toothpaste, dish sponges, plastic wrap, household cleaning bottles, body soap bottles, shampoo and conditioner bottles. Additionally, Zero Waste Wellesley Challenge will be partnering with local stores to give local zero waste classes and tours to further educate the community. Please join us at Zero Waste Wellesley Challenge on Facebook or email info@sustainablewellesley.com for more information. This will be fun!  Want to be part of the decision making that happens in Town?
Get your nomination papers and run for a Wellesley Town Elected office! Simply go to the Town Clerk's Office at Town Hall and get your papers. There are a variety of openings. Share your insight on the Library, School, Recreation, Planning, Housing, Health, Public Works, Natural Resources boards and committees, and or be a Town Meeting Member. To see the full list of positions up for election, click here.  How can the Town of Wellesley improve its streets for all users?
Recently, the Town received a $35,000 grant to participate in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Mass DOT) Complete Streets Funding Program, which is intended to help communities provide safe and accessible options for all travel modes – walking, biking, transit and vehicles – for people of all ages and abilities. Complete Streets also contribute to the quality of life in our community by providing important links between home, school, work, play and retail areas through improved, more accessible walking, biking, and driving routes. These improvements may be large-scale or more focused on specific transportation modes. Money from the Complete Streets program provides technical assistance and construction funding to eligible cities and towns, such as Wellesley. In May 2019, the Board of Selectmen approved a town-wide Complete Streets policy that will guide the Town in incorporating and implementing Complete Streets principles in future plans for and decisions about transportation projects in our community. In tandem with this policy, the Town is currently working to identify and develop a list of priority Complete Streets projects with help from the community. All users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, motorists, commercial and emergency vehicle operators, and individuals of all ages and abilities are encouraged to provide comments. Specific issues of interest to the Town include: key areas to focus on, barriers to mobility, using transportation modes other than driving, and any other potential ideas. To provide input and submit comments, visit Wellesley’s Complete Streets portal and use the interactive map. The portal is open now and will remain open until late January. There is no limit to the number of times users may submit comments. The information that is received will be shared at a Town-wide public hearing to be scheduled later this winter, and will help further shape Wellesley’s Complete Streets planning.  What regional public transportation challenges should be addressed in the future?
The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is asking for input from local communities to help shape Destination 2040, a long-range public transportation plan for the Boston region. Make your voice heard. Take this public survey to give input on your priorities for investing in future transportation projects. All answers are confidential. Look Into Solar - Cash In Before Incentives Expire  Here is a holiday gift for your whole family and for the planet.
Using solar to power a home creates less than 1/10 the carbon footprint per kilowatt hour than grid-powered electricity. Not only is solar energy healthier for the climate, but it makes financial sense too. Thanks to federal and state tax credits as well as a town rebate through Wellesley’s Municipal Light Plant (MLP), upfront costs of installation can be reduced by 2/3. The federal government allows taxpayers to deduct 30% of solar-power installation cost, Massachusetts credits $1,000 and the MLP rebates up to $12,000 per installation (at $1200 per installed kilowatt of solar generation - up to 10 kilowatts DC). A typical home installation, with 35 roof panels, can cost approximately $36,000 without rebates but a net cost of $12,000 with them. To take advantage of these incentives, move soon as the MLP rebate is set to expire July of 2020. To learn more, go to www.energysage.com to obtain a preliminary assessment your home's viability for solar panels. Energy Sage also provides a series of pre-approved vendor bids. From there, one can calculate the upfront investment, rebates and credits, and life-cycle gains, and get assistance filing forms and pulling permits. This holiday gift is a way of doing your part to deal with climate change, while providing a sound investment. Plus, Zillow estimates that adding solar to a home increases it value by 4.1%.  Swing by Roche Brothers in Wellesley on Saturday, November 23rd from 10am-2pm to learn about kitchen composting and the Wellesley RDF's Food Waste Program. Volunteers from Sustainable Wellesley will be on hand to demo the process and answer all of your questions. In addition, from 1pm on Leslie Richman zero-waste lifestyle coach will also be there to answer additional questions you might have about plastic-reduced and plastic-free grocery shopping and more!
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