Search Results for: wellesley square clock

Wellesley Square clock is alive and ticking

January 12, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

If you’ve been missing the Wellesley Square street clock, which the town sent out for repairs late last year, it’s time to take a look at the newly reinstalled and restored beauty. An Electric Time Co. truck rolled into town early this morning with the two-dial street clock crated and secured in the back of Medfield business’ vehicle. Between David Cintolo, the venerable company’s go-to guy for installations all over the region, and the Wellesley Department of Public Works crew members, the 15-foot cast aluminum clock was put in place in just over an hour.

(Thanks to Wellesley DPW’s Kevin Collins for the swell video.)

The clock looks fabulous and refreshed after its several months at the spa (as would we all with the kind of pampering such time would allow.) For its spa treatments the clock was stripped down, sandblasted, painted, and had certain parts replaced and upgraded (sounds like heaven).

Wellesley Square clock — The over 15-foot clock has stood in Wellesley Square since 1998.

Fun facts about Roman numeral IIII

Back when I was in elementary school, Roman numerals were drilled into me as efficiently as the multiplication tables. One thing I thought I knew for sure was that 1 = I; 2 = II; 3= III; and, wait for it, 4= IV.

Behold, the Wellesley Square clock expresses 4 as IIII. Was this a case of a paint job gone awry?

Nope.

According to Electric Time Clock’s website, “There does not seem to be a definitive reason why the number four is represented by IIII rather than IV, but it is how the dials on tower clocks have been done for centuries.”

It goes on to say that possible reasons include IV was commonly used to notate the Roman god Jupiter (in Latin, Ivpiter), and the numeral IIII was used to differentiate between the lowly number and the exalted god; visually, IIII forms better symmetry with the VIII on the other side of the clock, as well as creating radial symmetry in that only I appears in the first four hours, V only appears in the second four hours, and X only appears in the last four hours; IV is oddly positioned and difficult to read from the normal angle where four appears; and/or Romans simply preferred IIII as they largely avoided subtraction.

Thank you Swellesley Report supporters & on to Year Sweet 16

Wellesley Square clock coming back

January 9, 2021 by Bob Brown 4 Comments

The Wellesley Square two-dial street clock, which went into the shop four months ago, will be making its comeback on Tuesday, Jan. 10. And thanks to Electric Time Co., the clock is looking fine indeed.

The plan by Medfield’s Electric Time was to strip down the clock, sandblast it, paint it, and replace or upgrade parts as needed.

The clock, which has stood in Wellesley Square since 1998, stands over 15 feet tall.

Wellesley Square clock won’t be showing its faces around here in a bit

August 27, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Don’t be alarmed if you notice the 2-dial Wellesley Square clock disappearing in coming weeks. It’s getting a facelift and more.

This Wellesley landmark is being completely renovated and hopefully will be back before the holiday season, says the Department of Public Works’ Mike Quinn, who is superintendent of the Park & Highway Division.

The clock will be reworked by Medfield’s Electric Time Co., which has been in operation since the early 1900s and has an electric clock museum at its facility.

Electric Time’s Susan Weisenfeld says the plan is to strip down the clock, sandblast it, paint and replace or upgrade parts as needed. “When complete, it will look brand new,” she says.

Electric Time has been Wellesley’s go-to clock company over the years. It made clocks at Wellesley High, Town Hall, Playhouse Square, Needham Bank & more.

Repair time at Clocktower Park, too

Separately, Wellesley’s Park & Tree Division has been busy with the Isaac Sprague Memorial Tower at Elm (or Clocktower) Park in Wellesley Hills.

The iconic clock tower and park are on the National Register of Historic Places, so they need to keep up appearances like so many in town. The tower was built back in 1928 to house a clock and bell given to the town in 1874.

The town has been repairing the staircase leading up to the bell, and working to fix the bell’s chime equipment in hopes of allowing it to ring by year end. Electric Time provided Wellesley with a new bell hammer.

The town also has been fixing up the wood around the top of the bell tower to make it look great. The copper roof is set for renovation by next summer.

We had the pleasure of going up into the clocktower to visit the bell and clock a few years back, and hope to do so again when it’s all spruced up and COVID-19 rules allow.

Meanwhile, Elm Park is also getting a new look itself with an outdoor dining parklet taking shape thanks to grant funding.

Time out for Wellesley Square’s giant clock

September 3, 2020 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Word was that the Wellesley Municipal Light Plant and Department of Public Works would be removing the iconic two-dial street clock in Wellesley Square for renovation at 8AM on Thursday, and the crew didn’t waste any time.

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#Wellesley Square’s street clock is headed to the shop for repairs @electrictimecompany (video courtesy of DPW’s Kevin Collins)

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With the aid of Medfield’s Electric Time Co., which will be giving the clock a makeover before the holiday season, the clock face and post were up and out of the ground within an hour. The clock, which has stood in Wellesley Square since 1998, stands over 15 feet tall. While Electric Time wasn’t sure how much the clock weighed, its current two-dial clocks weigh 562 pounds.

I stood near town landscape planner Cricket Vlass, who despite her faith in the MLP and DPW couldn’t bear to watch the entire operation carried out within and above her bright flower plantings. Now the flower patch surrounds just the remaining clock innards and base.

DPW’s Kevin Collins said he anticipated the team having to use a backhoe to haul out the clock. But the MLP displayed its bucket truck wizardry in plucking the clock face and post from their stations once assorted fastenings were removed and power was disconnected.

wellesley square clock removal

Time out for #Wellesley Square’s giant clock https://t.co/jJs0c1ftU6 @tower_clocks pic.twitter.com/ejPrncYq2X

— swellesley (@swellesley) September 3, 2020

The plan by Electric Time now is to strip down the clock, sandblast it, paint it, and replace or upgrade parts as needed.

Here’s the original drawing for the clock, shared by Electric Time:

electric clock drawing — Original Wellesley Square street clock drawing (via Electric Time)

Clock fixed: Time no longer standing still in Wellesley Square

February 4, 2016 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

wellesley square clock stuck at night — Wellesley Square’s Central Street clock on Wednesday night

When a Swellesley reader wrote to us last night asking if the powers that be at our esteemed operation knew “who to call to fix the Central Street clock that is only right 2x/day these days” we hopped right on it. After all, if there’s one thing Wellesley doesn’t want to be known for it’s being behind the times.

We shot out emails to the Wellesley Department of Public Works as well as to the Wellesley Square Merchants’ Association. And then this morning at 7:20 we stopped by to inspect the Wellesley Square clock ourselves. To our surprise, the time on the clock was correct, but then we looked back at the photo sent by the reader and saw that the time shown on the clock was 7:20 there, too. So coincidentally, we just happened to show up there during one of the clock’s two most shining moments of the day. When we drove by a little later in the AM, though, we noticed the clock was still at 7:20.

After that we reached out to one of the nearby business tenants as well as the area property manager to see if they might have an answer. But as the property manager suspected, this was a job for the town.

Wellesley Deputy Director Terry Connolly got back to us saying that “With a little help from [Wellesley Municipal Light Plant] and Electric Time Company (company we purchased the clock from), I’m happy to report the clock is fixed.”

WELLESLEY EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Sprague Memorial Clock Tower

Nearly half of Wellesley’s available restaurant alcohol licenses are gathering dust

January 13, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Wellesley has many beloved and frequented restaurants, some of which sell booze and some of which don’t. But town officials recognize that it could boost Wellesley’s economy and energize its dining scene if even more restaurants could be encouraged to open here.

Among the possible Annual Town Meeting articles being discussed is one that would reduce the number of restaurant seats required for an establishment to apply for a license to serve alcohol from 50 to 30 or even 25. This could appeal to smaller existing restaurants and attract the sorts of boutique restaurants that residents often need to head out of town to find currently.

Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop said during this week’s regular Select Board meeting that the town has the authority to issue 29 all-alcohol and 6 beer-and-wine licenses, but that 16 of those aren’t being used (Wellesley also has licenses for clubs, like Wellesley Country Club, and grocery stores.)

Wellesley voters in 2012 approved the reduction in seats required to apply for an alcohol license from 100 to 50, but Takara is the only eatery in town to take advantage of that rule since then.

Takara, Wellesley — Takara on Linden Street

The question is whether restaurants with between 30 and 50 seats might be game for applying for alcohol licenses if they qualified. This could include businesses like Cafe Mangal, Old School Pizzeria, Coconut Thai, and potentially newcomers.

Board member Beth Sullivan Woods and Assistant Executive Director Amy Frigulietti have reached out to restaurant owners and landlords in town, as well as the the president of the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber, to get feedback on this topic. They’ve also been researching the latest practices in other communities.

“[T]here really is a trend moving towards smaller restaurants,” Frigulietiti said during the Select Board meeting. It’s not just smaller restaurants, but more of a mix, from taco shops to bistros serving high quality food from new chefs, she said. “They’re just looking for a small footprint to do that work,” she said.

In talking to landlords, the town is finding that Wellesley is missing out on opportunities to fill vacant storefronts, since its regulations don’t fit with restaurants’ plans. Not to mention that taxes and rents are high, and business restrictions exist such as requiring patrons to buy food if they want alcohol (aka, “intent to dine”).

“You’re seeing a move out of the cities and people are looking as they come out into the suburbs for… small restaurant experiences and not traveling so far,” Sullivan Woods said. “So we are losing our residents going to other communities to dine.”

Research continues into this issue, including whether the magic number for restaurants seats is 30 or something else.

Board member Colette Aufranc commented that from her research into how other communities handle liquor licenses she has seen that they really treat them as an essential element of economic development. “I think this is one of the tools in our toolbox that we can use to help our downtown,” she said, noting that alcohol sales are a proven way for businesses to improve their profit margins. Increased restaurant sales wouldn’t hurt the town’s coffers either, she said.

Broader issues

The proposal to reduce the number of seats required to serve alcohol was not intended to change the town’s current rules requiring patrons to buy food if they want to consume alcohol on premises, Sullivan Woods emphasized. But discussion of the proposal at the board meeting did expand into a broader one.

Board Chair Marjorie Freiman said she understands the appeal of attracting small cozy restaurants, but said something about all of this doesn’t add up and that she’d like to hear more. Among other things, she wonders why more restaurants haven’t applied for licenses at the 50-seat-and-above-level.

“I would also like to know where this is all headed as a package deal (sorry for the pun),” she said. “But I’d like to know what the plan is for this writ large, as opposed to doing it incrementally. Because if that’s the objective, to get rid of ‘intent to dine,’ and have places where people can just have a snack and drink, I would like to know, and I think we should be transparent about it…”

Board member Tom Ulfelder also raised the issue of how any such changes could also affect the town’s development agreement with Linden Square property manager Federal Reality, and the mix of restaurants allowed there. Freiman followed with: “I think we need to look at how it would impact every class of establishment that can, or may, serve alcohol.”

This entire discussion might invite the town to revisit the “intent to dine” rule in town that requires patrons to order food if they want to order drinks. This restriction has put the kibosh on possible business ventures in town, said Jop, including an Eataly-like outfit at The Belclare and a Kings-like entertainment venue where the VW dealership operates.

“As models have sort of evolved, we can’t accommodate those business models. So it is something I would say the board should consider because there are a lot of models out there…,” she said. “I’ve said it before, Economic Development… 101 the #1 rule: When in doubt, add alcohol.”

Jop said you could have imagined having a craft beer truck hunker down at the Shared Streets parklet the town set up over the summer at Clocktower Park, giving people an option to grab a brew to go along with food from nearby restaurants that don’t serve alcohol. “You could imagine it anywhere else but here,” she said.

This all goes back to gauging the public’s appetite from moving further away from the town’s historically conservative approach to alcohol sales.

Though as Sullivan Woods noted, at least for now, due to state rules during the pandemic, everyone is operating on an intent to dine basis. “So it’s not as abnormal as it was a year ago,” she said, and that makes it “not as bad” for property owners to market Wellesley to restaurants.

The Select Board is looking to sign the Annual Town Meeting warrant on Jan. 25, so it will be determined then whether the article on seat reductions will go to Town Meeting.

Thank you Swellesley Report supporters & on to Year Sweet 16

Wellesley celebrates the holidays with trees and more trees

December 5, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley has a nice 37-year streak going as a Tree City USA designee, and this holiday season the town is doubling down on that.

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We took a spin through Wellesley Square, Linden Square, and Church Square earlier this week to nab photos of Wellesley merchants’ Festival of Trees before too many cars were parked alongside them to mess up the pics.