RobertXGillis

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter, 1/2013

I read with interest the news that the Foxborough Lions Club is talking about the possibility of upgrading the two aging signboards at the top and bottom of Foxboro Common with electronic signs.

Since we’re talking about Foxboro Common, itself to many residents (myself included) sacred ground, many people will have a thought on this one.

I hope the debate is lively — it means people care. I hope that people will voice their opinion at selectmen meetings, in local coffee shops, and especially, in the op/ed section of the Reporter. And I pray the debate is much more civil than more recent debates on other issues.

First and foremost, thank you to the Foxborogh Lions for creating and maintaining these iconic and gorgeous signs. For me, they are as much a part of the Common as the memorials, flagpole, wrought-iron fence design, and the bandstand.

The existing signs hand lettered signs are elegant, informative, and fit right in with the Common atmosphere without being obtrusive or distracting, and provide needed community information.

But how to go forward? Upgrading to electric signs, at first glance, makes perfect sense. The existing process is intensively manual — someone goes out to the signs, opens them up, removes the letters, retrieves the new needed letters, spells out the new message, and locks up the signs. Every two weeks.

I am sure the task is, to put it mildly, a bit of a drag. It cannot be fun to update the signs in the rain, snow and cold. Also, the manual nature of the signs prohibits any “late breaking news,” for example, a storm emergency, a cancellation of an event, and so on. I know that the Jaycees would love the ability to make a late-breaking announcement that a concert had been canceled due to rain that day. And I recall many instances where weather conditions could (and did) force postponement of the Founders Day parade or fireworks — an update on an electronic sign would be a godsend to get the word out to the town quickly.

Also, assuming power remains on in town (this writer said with just a drop of sarcasm); an electronic sign would be invaluable during community emergencies to broadcast shelter information or emergency instructions, and more.

An electronic sign would make updating the information a snap, eliminate a lot of manual effort and the drudgery and expense for anyone to even go out with the boxes of letters to spell out new messages, and add a lively sign for visitors and residents to see. It all seems win-win and these are all good reasons to go the electric sign route.

But…

…this is Foxboro Common, and I well understand the great desire to preserve not only the beauty of the area but its historic visual character. Our Common is in many ways the outdoor community center of the town, and a garden in the center of stone and mortar — an oasis, if you will, much like Boston Common and the Public Gardens. It MUST be preserved.

(I myself wrote a sternly worded column some years back saying that all the new street signs marred the beauty of the Common, an opinion I still stand by.)

So a change to an electric sign — even a partial change, means we lose an iconic part of our Common and a signature part of our community.

The more lights we add, the more we distract from the natural beauty. I agree. I get it.

So is there room for compromise and balance, old and new, historical and practical? Can we move forward with a new sign and still preserve the beauty and stateliness of the Common?

I believe so. Because I think that if we put in a few restrictions / caveats, an electronic sign can move comfortably into our Common and be a welcome and useful addition.

My thoughts are as follows:

• If at all possible, replace only the section of the sign that contains the current “manual” letters. The existing “Foxborough” and “Lions” framework would remain, and the electronic portion would replace the center, as shown in the illustration in this newspaper a few weeks back. A combination of new and old.
• The messages should be stationary, like they are today — two or three messages that do not move, flash, change colors, bounce, or blink or make happy faces. Anything else would be distracting to drivers around the Common. We don’t want people slowing down to catch the message they just missed. This isn’t a billboard.
• I read that the intensity of the illumination of the messages could be adjusted; that is excellent. Keep the lights at a brightness level for readability but not too distracting.
• Shut the sign off at 10pm. This would conserve electricity and not distract from their beautifully lit memorials on the Common now. We can’t read the existing signs by darkness, so nothing really changes here.
• Finally, on game or concert days, perhaps the signs can display a useful message to help regulate traffic, for example, GILLETTE STADIUM TRAFFIC STAY LEFT or something.

These are just my thoughts; as a 22 year Foxboro resident who has come to call this gem home, I am VERY aware that we want to preserve the Common, but in this case I think some compromises could get us a much-needed electric sign, and still preserve the character and beauty of the Common.

So…

These are my thoughts — what are yours? You live here, and most of you love the Common. What do you think? Unlike some other recent issues facing us, here’s a nice topic we can all discuss without getting into battles (I hope).

I would love to read your thoughts on these pages. Let the comments and ideas begin!

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter, 4/2012

Do you remember Gary Larson’s often bizarre and always hilarious “Far Side” comic strip? It always made me laugh, and I wanted to reflect on one of my favorites because it’s apropos to today’s topic. In the panel, nuclear mushroom clouds are bursting everywhere, and Earth is a radioactive wasteland. Two people emerge from a bomb shelter and the man exclaims joyfully, “Thank God, Sylvia, we’re alive!”

The last time I saw that one, I thought, “What a great metaphor for Foxboro, 2012.”

Every time I read the news — and I read all of it — I’m seeing our town become more divided over the casino issue, and what I fear is an out and out war, in which the victors will inherit a broken wasteland of hatred, resentment, and bad feelings that will last generations. One side will win the casino battle, as the survivors survey the scorched earth and bloodied landscape and rejoice, “We won!”

Don’t believe me? Let’s start with the death threats. Yes, the DEATH THREATS being made against two selectman. Two leaders of Foxboro (and implicitly, their loved ones) have been threatened with violence and murder. Over what? Their vote on whether or not to support a new business on Route One, a casino/resort.

That is PATHETIC.

We all knew this fight would get ugly and no one is naïve enough to believe we haven’t seen the worst yet, but DEATH THREATS? Are you kidding me?!!! This is FOXBORO!

For this development to continue, there is a very long process that must be followed and laws that must be adhered to, and finally, and most importantly, the zoning laws on route one would need to be changed by a two-thirds majority of the town vote. We are YEARS away from that and people are already acting like blood enemies.

Good God in Heaven, we’re better than this. Behavior on both sides has been BEYOND reprehensible. We don’t even have a host agreement and already lawsuits and injunctions are being filed. How about we just declare martial law? Or meet on the common and battle it out in a gang rumble and kick the tar out of each other?

This town’s behavior — for or against this casino — is causing a literal division in Foxboro that WILL NOT HEAL over time. WE WILL NOT GET PAST THIS ONE. WE WILL NOT RECOVER FROM THIS.

Times change, people change, towns change, but this situation has all the makings of a civil war where this beloved Gem of Norfolk County will become unrecognizable, a place to be avoided. People are starting to HATE each other. People are threatening each other.

Every generation worries about the future. Casino or not, I fear that in less than ten years Foxboro will be unrecognizable, and a place no one wants to live.

Casino or not, we need to be civil, we need to act like we give a damn about our town and each other.

People of Foxboro, proponents and opponents of the Casino — look in the mirror: The greatest threat to Foxboro is US. We’re running out of time before it all falls apart. Please don’t let this happen. We’re better than this.

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 4/2012

You live in Foxboro, it’s 2am and you’ve just been woken out of a sound sleep because you heard a very loud noise in the backyard. Do you go back to sleep, ignoring the noise and hope everything will be OK, or do you get up, go to the window, and see what’s going on?

If you have a lick of common sense you go to the window. Oh, just a dog passing through the yard. You go back to bed. A guy in a hockey mask with a chain saw? Time to call the police.

What did you just do? You realized that something was happening close to home, something that you didn’t understand, so you went to investigate, to be AWARE of what was going on. Ignoring the noise would not change the fact that something was in your back yard at 2am.

On a related note (really), I am writing today to encourage everyone that you really need to start making an effort to read the Foxboro Reporter.

Now, full disclosure as usual: I am not, nor have I ever been, an employee of the Foxboro Reporter or the Sun Chronicle. I am a professional computer programmer who STRINGS for the paper – that is, I send in my columns and they are kind enough to publish them and pay me a small sum. Don’t tell Bill, but I’d probably do it for free – in 16 years writing here, I am forever grateful for the privilege.

So no, I am not telling you to read the Reporter to up subscription numbers. I’m saying you MUST stay informed, and the Reporter is the paper of record in our town, and you would be unwise to ignore the primary source of town news.

In two decades living here, I have heard this paper called, “The Distorter,” and have met more than several folks who refuse to read this paper because of a disagreement with an editor, writer, or how a story was presented. Some of their reasons make sense to me; others are just people holding grudges over perceived slights.

And every news outlet – print or video or web – always has a bias, a slant, a way of presenting the news – read the same story in the Herald and Globe on the same day and it’s obvious. Newspapers and media outlets try to be unbiased, with mixed results. But I think the Foxboro Reporter gets it right far more often than people give it credit for. No sucking up here — read that disclosure above again – but I honestly think the Reporter is a damn good newspaper, and that the staff can get such a comprehensive snapshot of the town news out on time every Thursday is incredibly impressive.

Recently, I hear people saying they don’t read the paper because of all the anger, hatred, bile, etc about the Casino.

These are the same people who don’t follow the presidential campaign for the same reasons.

That choice is valid but foolish.

The fact remains that the news and happenings – indeed, the future, of Foxboro, is being played out in these pages and I submit to you that you need to know what’s going on.

Now, obviously the Casino story has been dominating these pages for some time, and the tone of the guest writers and columnists and letters to the editor runs the gamut from thoughtful, well-spoken, and insightful, and then others are on the other end and are patronizing, accusing, venomous, hateful, or firing salvos of obvious propaganda. To be honest, it can be overwhelming and draining. Who wants to read through all that anger and conflict and confusion? Life is stressful enough, who needs it?

That is a legitimate point. No matter how news-savvy you want to be, it’s always a good idea, once in a while, to unplug, disconnect, or just put the paper down some days.

But I submit to you today that you cannot, you must not, ignore the Foxboro news these days. The future of Foxboro is being played out. And not just about a Casino. In a few years, it will be something else. And years later, something else.

You live here. Your children go to school here, your friends are here, you vote here, you pay taxes here, and yet — you don’t read the paper. You’re sick of the dog park. Or the school politics. Or the local politics. Or the billboards. Or the town hall. Or the meals tax. Or the casino story. Or the plan to build a nuclear power plant on Foxboro Common. Or whatever.

You’re making a mistake. This is your home. This is your future. And you need to know what is going on, what people are saying, what people are doing, what is being reported. You need to know what just made that noise in your backyard.

To paraphrase something Lee Iacocca once said in his book, “Talking Straight,” read as much as you can, from as many sources as you can, and don’t believe any one source. That’s good advice. Read this paper. Read others. Watch the Foxboro Cable Access coverage of selectman and town meetings. Get online and read Foxbough Patch. If a TV station is running a Foxboro story, watch it. Get as many opinions and news sources as you can. And for God’s sake TALK to each other. But stay in the game.

In short, deliberately avoiding Foxboro news stories is foolish. Reading this paper these days can be difficult, but NOT staying informed on what is happening in your hometown is unwise.

I once heard there is an ancient adage that says: “He who does not know what he does not know is a fool to be shunned.”

We’re not all going to get along all the time, but stay informed. Decisions are not only made by those who show up, they are made by people who understand what’s going on around them. Whatever your opinion on any matter, you need to make it known, you need to be involved, and you need to understand what’s happening in the old hometown.

Think about it, OK?

End of speech.

by Robert Gillis

Published in the Foxboro Reporter 2/2012

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I’m gassing up my car and a National Grid truck pulls into the lot. And then I realized, when was the last time I even thought about what happened to Foxboro last year, when we had two power outages in two months, and both outages lasted over five days? And as I drove away I thought — what happened? Where did Foxboro’s outrage go? Where did the demand for answers go? Why have we heard virtually nothing? What happened to all that anger after the days without power?

And then I remembered… Ah — the casino debate.

We — Americans in the 21st century — are so busy, so multitasked, so in a rush to move on to the next thing, that we have become ridiculously distractible. Our attention span for the double power outage debacle seemed to end as soon as the lights came back on and we were all “heard” at the town meeting.

Have we forgotten last year? Two power outages. The first was in August during Hurricane Irene, when this town — the entire town — lost power for the better part of a week, along with states up and down the Eastern seaboard. Hurricanes hit every year and utilities know that. Clearly, the power companies were grievously unprepared. And their response was abysmal and negligent, especially in our town. Remember? No response from National Grid. No National Grid trucks spotted until days later.

Foxboro’s power outage and the lack of response was at the top of the news for a week.

We all lived through it; you remember the spoiled food, life threatening emergencies, medical crisis, safety concerns, evacuation of seniors, and all the attendant issues and drama during that long, dark week. It was well documented and reported and I need not repeat it here. We as a town were united in our anger and outrage.

We wanted answers.

Barely two months later, an October Nor’easter — a pitifully small storm by local standards — hit, and again, incredulously, we lost power for almost a week. Again, no response from National Grid. Again, no National Grid trucks spotted until days later. Again, seniors evacuated. Spoiled food. Pitch black streets at night. Life-threatening emergencies. Shelters opened. And worse, unlike August, we now had the very real problem of how to heat our homes. For almost a week.

And this time, a Brookfield woman died from hypothermia.

We all lived through it — you were there.

And in each crisis, our selectmen, our fire and police, town management, and so many volunteers and good souls did an outstanding job to maintain order, protect us, feed us, and got things done… That hard work will always be remembered. They were there for us. We as a town were united.

In November, representatives from National Grid met with the town of Foxboro — just an hour or so after parts of the town had lost power again. The outrage and anger was apparent immediately, but the meeting was civil as citizen after citizen spoke at the microphone expressing their fury at National Grid for the grievously lacking response to both storms. Town government demanded answers.

Again, you remember it well; I do not need to detail it here.

But as each person spoke, the National Grid representative had no answers. She would get back to us. She would look into that. She agreed it wasn’t right what had happened. She didn’t have that information with her. She couldn’t speak to that point. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know but would find out. She scribbled in her notebook.

And to be truthful, I really felt bad for her — she was clearly the sacrificial lamb that National Grid sent to Foxboro. Where was National Grid president Marcy Reed? Where was anyone who COULD answer our questions?

And a good friend of mine, a fellow resident who I will not embarrass by name, and a person who has never said an unkind word to anyone, looked at the National Grid rep and said, “I don’t believe you.” This friend, a person of integrity, had enough and told the rep that he did not believe a word coming out of her mouth. And the room burst into applause. And then another resident said the same thing: We don’t believe you.

We all felt that way. Appeasement would come through action and answers, not empty promises.

We went home or switched off the FCA coverage of the meeting, and we, united Foxboro, were, for the moment, hopeful that the answers would be found, plans put into place, and this long outage would not be repeated.

And then the casino debate began — all attention focused on that, splintering this town into warring factions, and public meetings became so out of control that only pitchforks, torches and cries of “burn the witch!” were missing. (You know I am not being funny here). The behavior at the casino meetings had none of the restraint, respect or decorum at the National Grid meeting. No, these meetings were textbook “How NOT to get things done, how NOT to have a civil debate.”

What the hell happened? Look, the casino question is absolutely important to this town and must be addressed, hopefully in a more civil manner, and it will be — over time. I’m not asking that we all join hands and sing kumbaya. We as a town — any town — will always be faced with issues and questions that, in some situations, may divide us for a time. A dog park. A casino. And whatever comes up next. And next. Such is life. I don’t like the way many people (on either side of the issues) are conducting themselves, but that’s a discussion for another time.

But what happened to our united town, demanding answers to the outrage of two power outages? Why have there been sporadic, unexplained outages since? Where are the answers to what happened? What are the plans that this will never happen again? Where is the plan that shows us in the next outage how National Grid will get the power restored quickly? What changes will be made, are being made? What contingencies are in place? How can we as a town help?

I am suggesting for your consideration that in our rush to move on to the next thing, the next problem, the next issue, the next whatever, we as a town seems to have forgotten all about two catastrophic power failures last year and our righteous demand for answers. Friends, we were almost a week without power — TWICE. This isn’t about spoiled food and inconvenience and not having TV. It’s about safety. It’s about being able to heat the house. It’s about the babies and the elderly and the sick. When the very safety of Foxboro is compromised twice, I think we can agree that we should continue to press for answers, to continue to demand reassurances, and unite in our desire for the common good.

I, for one, get nervous every time that snow is in the forecast. Tell me YOU don’t. The power IS going to go out again. We all know it is. How many days will we be willing to put up with the time? Five? Ten? Must there be avoidable injuries? Does someone in our town have to freeze to death, does there have to be a preventable tragedy, for this to stick?

Last year we citizens of Foxboro were united in our quest for answers — we were justifiably angry — but united and civil. We must not let the “question du jour” (WHATEVER that question may be) distract from the fact that the National Grid outages are still unanswered, still unresolved, still without concrete plans so that it never happens again.

THAT is what we, as a town, should be angry about. THAT is what we should be fighting for.

Update Thursday, March 8, 2012: After this ran, National Grid president Marcy Reed sent a personal letter to the Foxboro Reporter detailing work that had been done (and was being done) to update Foxboro on National Grid’s progress [click here to read it]. I really appreciated that she took the time to do this, and I ran this letter to the editor in the following week’s edition:

To the editor,

I would like to personally say thank you to Marcy Reed, President of National Grid, for her letter last week, “National Grid working to restore confidence of columnist, town” in response to my recent column about Foxboro’s double power outages.

Ms. Reed’s personal letter to this newspaper addressed many of the power outage questions and concerns I brought up in my column — concerns we as a town share after the nightmare we endured last year. Foxboro felt very abandoned twice last year.

Ms. Reed’s letter helped to restore confidence (at least to me) that National Grid IS working so that our week-long outages don’t occur again, and that contingency plans for future power outages are in place or being worked out.

Her letter listing details of the efforts that HAVE been made, and the description of ongoing work and plans with the town, was really all most of us have been asking for. Foxboro just wants to be kept in the loop and know that the fixes ARE being worked on, that plans ARE in place and that National Grid and town leadership are communicating. If I may suggest, an occasional update such as the one she sent would certainly help restore confidence across town that we are “in the loop.”

I appreciated that she took time to personally write and give Foxboro a detailed update. Ms. Reed’s letter made a difference, at least to me. Again, my sincere thanks for the response.