TOUJOURS
LACHAT
(First half of "About Town" column April 11, 2013 in Weston
FORUM)
Toujours Lachat. I am reminded that some wonderful Weston
volunteers are at work on behalf of all of us.
For the past fifteen years in Weston, we have had a dream.
That
someday the Juliana Lachat Preserve, including homestead, barns, and
fields, will become a place for community identity.
I have long felt that the initial purchase of the 34 acre lower
fields parcel might very well have been the finest act by a Special
Town Meeting. Ever. The people unanimously cried out “yes,”
and the
land was ours!
And now, here we are with a new generation of Westonites, in a
new century, in difficult financial times, and still stepping up to the
plate. Bravo to the Lachat Oversight Committee! These are
thinkers,
visionaries, and very practical people, too. And they are armed
with
ideas gleaned from the work of the grass-roots “Friends of Lachat.”
Furthermore, they understand that in a year when the Board of
Finance has felt it necessary to reduce our school budget, this is no
time to return to the well for public money. With the able
assistance
of the Board of Selectmen, they are fashioning a very reasonable plan
that will rely on grants and in-kind and monetary contributions to fund
new activities, and the in-place Lachat maintenance moneys for other
needs.
It is good to be able to dream. Which is one reason Lachat
is
so important to all Westonites. Check out the Committee’s “Master
Planning Draft” on the Town of Weston website!
