Welcome!!! View Comment

This is the coolest thing ever! Just scanned the site, read the white-paper. Bravo to Grafton for getting behind this type of innovation. I can't even imagine what our little installation of this greenhouse could mean for all of Blackstone Valley if successful! Couple this with some solar power and our little park will be amazingly green and off the grid:) Love It!!! p.s. I think tours or even something just to update folks on the volume of water being processed, what is being filtered or not would be very worthwhile! View Comment

I guess my 1st question who in there right mind would rent to this individual? I am assuming the apartment complex this person resides in has children under the age of 14 who deserve to live in a safe environment. Next, how do we go about recommending this type of town ordinance? View Comment

Well I don't think its on par with the aarson issue they have off the center and in north:) As long as we find the people responsible and are clear this will not be tolerated - this image of this will fade fast. View Comment

Care to share who the 'We' is in your 2nd sentence above? View Comment

I am both schocked and saddened. Everyone here in Southie is very very excited about the Park! If anyone is willing to throw together a small fund to use as a REWARD for information leading to the arrest and prosecution my husband and I would love to help. View Comment

Yes the entire town would vote through an increase to equally operate all three branches View Comment

Mark, I think we are in violent agreement. We were fortunate enough to have a library system that only the biggest cities have and decided - to go backwards? To what end. If we had the choice why wouldn't we keep our branch system in place? The residents need easy access - not more square footage. I am still not sure where all of the pent up demand is coming from that has been reported by the Library Trustees. I work remotely and have often worked out of the library for days at a time and if I see 10 people come and go in a 7.5 stretch I would be surprised. View Comment

I am curious why you say that? Boston has 26 branches they seem to deliver the materials to the people where they need them. Tufts[Vet] has its own library, each of the schools has their own library all considered branches by the MA-Library. Are you suggesting they should close their doors? Honestly, the Trustees talked about how the library in the center was never intended to serve the whole town. We know that - it was designed as part of a system. If we are going to abandon the branch system - close all three(3) branches and start over. View Comment

A couple of thoughts on the infamous vote.... -1st When 2/3 of your voters show up and vote No - it is time to go back to the drawing board - clearly you missed the mark. My concern is, why was this such a surprise to the Trustees? I can't imagine they didn't know how little support they had for their proposal - the people who will pay for this library were very clear it did not meet any of their requirements and yet they insisted on moving forward. How much did this whole event cost? -2nd Let's re-visit all of the numbers & requirements that drove this project right off the proverbial tracks. Based on the project plan- summarily rejected by the town's residents - it appears the Trustees are unclear about what the town wants and needs out of its library system. Why not take 18mos to find out what the town's residents really need once the new highschool library is in place, full day kindergarten is underway and the grade school has re-org'd. All of these changes significantly impact their consumers and were not addressed on the 1st pass. It will most likely change the need for a 29k sq ft facility in the middle of town and who knows it may even warrant a branch system. Just my .02 View Comment

BRAVO! View Comment

This bears repeating..... Being ADA compliant - this was an issue prior to receiving the grant, prior to all this library expansion talk, and if the vote comes back NO, will be an issue going forward. The resolution to this issue seems to be buried into the expansion, but if the vote comes back NO, what is the plan? Nelson Library - this library was removed from library system along with the library in South Grafton. It is owned by the town but run by volunteers (unless I got my facts wrong). It seems that if we have money to invest in the library, then efforts should be made to bring this library back into the system. To spend money at the center library, to talk about hiring staff for the new expansion while Nelson continues to be run by volunteers just seems wrong. Re-open [as promised] the SG library and Nelson libraries. View Comment

For those of you who are new to this discussion - please keep in mind that there are many of us who are still waiting for our library branches to re-open. We were assured during the Jan-2009 meeting with DW and her team that they would consider this if circumstances changed. Per the 11/26/2008 noticed published in the Grafton News the branches were being closed because of recent resignations and a hiring freeze. If the hiring freeze is no longer - why didnt the Trustees hire the staff needed to re-open the branches View Comment

For those of you who are new to this discussion - please keep in mind that there are many of us who are still waiting for our library branches to re-open. We were assured during the Jan-2009 meeting with DW and her team that they would consider this if circumstances changed. Per the 11/26/2008 noticed published in the Grafton News the branches were being closed because of recent resignations and a hiring freeze. If the hiring freeze is no longer - why didnt the Trustees hire the staff needed to re-open the branches. View Comment

I would love to. Unfortunately I don't live in the Center. I could however when there was a library within a mile of my home and my children's school. View Comment

Why don't branches work? My goodness some communities resort to BookMobiles in the absence of branches. The objective is to bring the books and Internet access to the libraries patrons. View Comment

I am still unclear – why the State is offering the Town of Grafton 5mil dollars when we recently closed two(2) local branches because of non-use. Why did we pursue this grant money given our decision to close the branches and why did the State offer? The trustees are under the misguided impression that by opening the new behemoth library this will somehow replace the old ones. Building a 29k foot library in the center of town only serves the residents within the immediate area. This is why large library systems open branches to make the library and its services available to all of the town’s customers in all of its geographic areas. We decided readership had dwindled such that we didn’t need our branches and could simply make do with one library. If circumstances have changed such that we now need 29sqft of space why wouldn’t the town re-open its branches along with a new library in the center? Why opt for one mega 29ksqft library? It is unrealistic to think any of our grade school kids and/or seniors with limited transportation options will be able to take advantage of the mega-library in its planned location. I would encourage all of our neighbors to think of the impact closing the branch libraries has had on each end of town and that we are in effect DENYING residents with limited resources access to library services. Thank you. View Comment

Wouldn't the town and its demographic be better served if we re-opened ALL of the branches and made all three handicap friendly. The three libraries gave us roughly 15k sq ft of space and made it possible for all of the town's residents to access the library. View Comment

+1 Michael. Please re-open the South and North branches and provide realistic access to all of Grafton's residents. View Comment

Thank you Mr. & Mrs. Flynn, Like you I almost fell over when I read the 1st of the group's Facts, 'There has been a significant upsurge in Grafton Library usage in the last five years demonstrating the need for an expanded facility' Isn't this the exact same rationale the Trustees used to close our historic South Grafton library and the Nelson Library!!! Fact 4 regarding ADA compliance is a laughable - didn't they have this with Nelson! And they could have had this just as easily with South.But they would rather scrap all three buildings and erect some new monstrosity! I can't imagine there is anyone who thinks additional library brick and mortar will positively impact their real estate value. The concept of a brick and mortar library itself is archaic and another building is not necessary in this town. One last thought, who did pay for this collateral? I look forward to discussing this further in the coming months. Thank you. Michelle Cadrin-Msumba View Comment