This Is Framingham

Tonight I went to the “Gangs in MetroWest” presentation/discussion at Framingham Union Hospital.
Deputy Chief Ken Ferguson gave a very informative presentation that showed examples of gang presence from tagging/graffiti , the types of gang members that are in Framingham and what the police are doing about it.  While there are gang members in Framingham, we were told it is actually a small amount considering the size of our town and the FPD wants to control it before gangs actually settle in.

There was an interesting discussion after the presentation about getting to the source of the problem, which really is encouraging kids to get involved in positove activities and not gangs in the first place.  This involves community outreach programs, proactive school resource officers, and community networking as well as looking at family life and trying to help bring in positive reinforcement in kids lives and don’t want to join gangs to get praise.

It was really interesting, I feel educated on this subject that I don’t know much about and have a added respect for what the Framingham Police do to make our town safer.

The Framingham League of Women Voters are sponsoring an event to discuss and learn about gangs in the MetroWest area, of course no better place to have this event than downtown Framingham.   This is my hood so I’ll be very interested to hear what the Framingham Police will be presenting and if anyone else is interested, here is the flyer:

I’m so sad Chris Walsh didn’t win the State Rep election, all I could muster up was this clip art image.
But I would like to congratulate Pam Richardson and hope she really works hard to make Framingham live up to it’s potential, especially in downtown.  I’m looking forward to seeing how Pam will make this happen.

On Tuesday, September 16th, elections for State Representative will be held.  For what it’s worth, I’m voting for Chris Walsh.  I put a lot of thought into this, I have friends who are voting for other people and enjoyed learning about all of the candidates and while all three have good qualities, I ended up deciding on Chris because of his spoken interest in making downtown a better place which, as many readers know, I live downtown and that’s really important to me. 
You can check out his website to learn more about him: http://www.electchriswalsh.com/

As most people have seen, there is an abundance of can collectors in Framingham.  Particularly where I live, in in the downtown area.  I have mixed feelings about this.   I kind of feel like somehow it makes the area look not so great to have people pushing shopping carts full of cans, or walking with big full trash bags carried “santa-style” over their shoulders visiting house to house.  But part of me thinks “Why not?”.  If people are going to just throw away or recycle the cans, they might as well get some money if the original owners aren’t going to redeem them.  But then I wonder, is it worth it?  I’m guessing it is, but it takes 1,000 cans to make $50 so this must be a full-time job because it must take a lot of can hunting to get 1,000. 
Every trash day morning I hear the rattle of  a shopping cart coming down my street and it eventually stops in front of our house.  Technically there is nothing wrong with it, but it does feel a little weird to see someone pick through your trash/recycle.  I have to say though, the lady who can-collects on our street  is very mindful of putting anything that fell out onto the ground back into the trash and leaving it as she found it and securing the lid back on the trash can.  So I appreciate that and really have no problem with it because of that courtesy.  If the person who lets their dog poop where ever it wants had the same consideration, that would be nice.

Ethan and I went to check out  Flag Day at Chushing Park.  Despite the heat, it was really nice to walk around have something interesting going on at the park.

There were tents with vendors and information tables set up by the entrance. We didn’t end up buying anything but  there was a good variety of tables set up with merchandise, crafts and kids treats.

We really enjoyed was the Civil War camps that were set up in preparation for the fictional “Battle of  Farm Pond” staged just for this event.  

As we walked through the camps,  I was impressed how no one looked like they were about to faint considering the heavy clothing they were wearing and how hot it was.  We were breaking a sweat just wearing shorts and T-shirts so I can imagine how hot these folks were.

The camps are realistically functioning and they do everything from chopping wood for the fires they cook with, to hanging laundry.

Flag Day will go on again through tomorrow,  Sunday the 15th too so if you missed it today you can still check it out.

The other day, the Metro West Humane Society was kind enough to let me come in and take some pictures and tell me about their cat shelter.  They run a no-kill facility and have set adoption hours on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.   This is right on the Framingham/Ashland line on 126.  Technically it’s in Ashland, but again, this is a “very special” TIF post : )

Before I came here I was afraid I would be depressed seeing a bunch of cats in cages and meowing to be let out, but this wasn’t the case at all.   I was surprised/impressed with the free roaming space for the cats.  Some cats were just walking around in the halls and other cats are kept in community rooms.  Only those cats that have to be, are in cages but even then the cages are very roomy and are like a double-suite rooms with a bed on one side and a door they can walk through to get to the other “room”.

The cats here seemed so content and comfortable and the MWHS does such a great job at keeping the rooms clean and supplying them with multiple food/waterbowls, litterboxes, toys and beds that the cats that share a room do not have to fight over anything.  In fact it was interesting to see so many cats getting along.  Maybe it’s just because my cat hates other cats and won’t let us get a new one, but it was nice to see so many cats getting a long in the same building.

Here’s some pictures from my visit:

There is also a gift shop where manufactured and hand-made items are for sale and all profits go to the shelter of course.

There is also a wall you can buy a tile in memory of a pet and it have their name up on the Cat Walk wall.

They always welcome financial donations but are just as grateful for any dry and canned food donations as well.

And finally, I’d like to mention their event on Saturday, June 7th.  The 11th annual Walk for Animals

For everything you would want to know about the Metro West Humane Society, including adoption hours, cat profiles and other events please visit their website http://www.webpaws.com/mwhs