SMOC isn’t there to make things better for the poor/disabled of Framingham; they’re a state subcontractor that purchases the houses that the state then uses to bring in people from all over. It’s not a rich Framingham/poor Framingham issue; it’s the town being unfairly expected to shoulder the burden for the rest of Eastern Massachusetts at the expense of anyone who pays taxes in the town. Do a comparison of social services in Framingham versus the rest of the state and it’s very clear that we have a disproportionate number of these facilities. The town is central, it’s on the commuter rail, and the housing is relatively cheap for this part of MA, making it quite attractive for SMOC to buy up property and once it’s in their possession, the residents of the neighborhoods in question have no recourse as to how that property is used. Dropping wet shelters, sex offender re-entry houses, and narcotics addiction treatment houses into residential neighborhoods is questionable at best, and if SMOC wants to use the town in that manner, they should either provide their own services to support those facilities or they should have to pay for the larger amount of services they draw from the community.

They use the “You hate the poor and disabled” line quite often, and the more liberal they know you are, the more they use it. Stick to the facts of the debate and don’t let them move you off your stance with a slur against your character.

No one is saying kick the little retarded child out of town. The problem is the social service places are dropping in large numbers of certain programs into Framingham which leads to the reputation we have. A reputation which is not helping our Real Estate values. It is time for Framingham to tell the surrounding towns we are tired of taking care of all your social problems - it is time to start taking care of your own.

In terms of the whole pride in the “working class” town that some people want it to be. It seems like it is some type of Badge of Honor to be considered in the same ranks as Lowell, New Bedford, or Brockton - but an absolute sin if you want to aspire to be like Wayland.

We try to teach our children to aspire to be better - Framingham needs to do the same.

Also I’d like to say it’s not so much that I support smoc, the non profit sector is worth over a trillion, yes trillion, dollars making it the seventh largest economy in the world, there’s money and agendas being made in that camp to be sure.

My concern is the people who, for better or worse depend on that industry to get by, those folks are just as much a part of framingham as and business owner, resident, and damn sure more so than an out of town developer of business.

Anyway not to get totally side tracked by the politics, but thanks for your thoughtful reply, and once again, thanks for this blog.

In the end, its your blog and I’d read it no matter you politics, because frankly I love this blog.

Of course this is nothing new there has always been a divide between the working poor in framingham and those who are shall we say, well off. That plays out everywhere. The thing that kills me is that when propert values drop, people blame the poor and dienfranchised and seldom the big businesses that abandon the towns. It’s like being pissed at undoccumented workers and not having much to say about companies like walmart shipping our manufacturing jobs overseas, or the disgusting antilabor practices of starbucks.

I think there should be a balance, my family has lived in framingham for generations, my grandmother still lives in the house she raised my father and aunts on winter st. I understand concerns about property values when you put your whole life into a home. That said the history of framingham, at least for my family is working class, and the wealthy have always put the boot to us despite always having more to go around thanthe people working for them.

I just think its sad that property is a bigger concern than people.