The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

For Wellesley DPW, “Old Town Road” song is no hit

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Good thing we had a GPS. Otherwise, how else would we have found Old Town Road in the Wellesley Farms area? There were no street signs left, just metal stumps from the posts that used to be at intersections with Ox Bow Road on one end and Dean Road at the other.

old town road dean
Remains of the Old Town Road street sign post in Wellesley

 

Ever since Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” song exploded into our ears this past spring, Old Town Road street signs have become a hot item in Wellesley and elsewhere. (Walpole police say they haven’t heard about this being an issue in their town. We haven’t heard back from Holliston cops, though suspect this is an issue some communities would rather not call attention to).

Old Town Road signs have been swiped at least 3 times in Wellesley since spring at the start of what’s now an 18-week stretch of the Lil Nas X song being atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It looks like Wellesley is letting the chart-topping song cool off before replacing signs there now.

The Wellesley Department of Public Works has been busy this summer with a zillion projects focused on upkeep of roads, sidewalks and more. The last thing they need is people purposefully making new work for them, but that’s what whoever is knocking down or taking signs like these is creating. We saw the street sign for Intervale Road on the ground earlier this summer, and hear Ledyard Street and Greenlawn Avenue signs have been among victims, too. Other prized signs include those of streets with names of colleges like Colgate and Harvard.

According to the Wellesley DPW, the problem comes and goes, but there has been an increase this summer. “The behavior is likely the work of individuals playing pranks, but it costs the Town a lot of time and money to locate, repair — and where the signs and posts are damaged — replace, and reinstall the signs,” says Stephanie Hawkinson, the town’s communications and project manager.

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Wellesley DPW workers replacing a street sign

 

Targeted signs have been discarded everywhere from residents’ yards to town parks to wooded areas to wetlands. The 12-foot-long posts are sometimes stolen along with the signs, though handier vandals have hacksawed off the signs.

A Costly Prank

Wellesley expects to lose a a few signs each winter as casualties of plows, and that’s built into the budget. It’s these additional sign thefts and damages that add strain, as replacement costs are significant.

The DPW provided these figures:

  • Street Sign (x2 for view from both sides) = ~$50-75  ($100-150 total)
  • Green (sometimes Black) Post (12’ galvanized square post with die-cut knockouts) = $50
  • Galvanized Anchor with Hardware = $15
  • Rain cap, mounting bracket, hardware kit = $6

Other signs that have been known to disappear:

  • Stop Sign 30” = $75
  • Deer Crossing Sign 30” = $90
  • Do Not Enter 30” = $75
  • One way Sign (two-sided)  = $80

And don’t forget about the labor costs. The day rate (8 hours) for a skilled laborer plus equipment costs =  $680.  This could be broken down into an hourly rate but then other considerations have to be taken for preparation, ordering, mobilization, travel, etc. In general, ordering, assembly and installation of a complete post & sign (not the anchor) takes about 2 hours.  If a new anchor needs to be installed, then a call to DigSafe must be made, and that includes marking the intended installation spot.  After the 3-day wait, the anchor is installed, which could add up to an hour depending on the digging.

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(Wellesley could borrow a page from Sicamous, British Columbia, which has responded to a rash of Old Town Road sign thefts there by producing replicas of the signs and selling them for $25 apiece, according to DH News, Vancouver. Wellesley’s Highway Dept. notes that the town’s signs are purchased from a Taunton company and individuals could buy their own Old Town Road signs from the same source.)

Old Town Road
Before: Old Town Road sign (Google Maps)

 

old town road oxbow
Old Town Road and Ox Bow Road intersection, minus any street signs

 

Not to be overlooked, beyond the financial cost, is that first responders rely on street signs to get to emergencies. Sure, first responders have GPS, but if the signs are missing or moved, it can delay response times.

“[It] could mean life or death for someone in need,” Hawkinson says. “I know it sounds dramatic, but it’s a very real and frightening possibility.”

While Old Town Road continues to ride atop the music charts (“Ridin’ on a horse, ha, You can whip your Porsche…”), luckily for Wellesley we have no street signs in town bearing names of some of the other current hits like “Sucker” and “Ran$om.”

old town road wellesley
There are at least some signs that you’re on Old Town Road

 

P.S. We knew this story would go viral, and we’d like to thank news outlets like Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe and NECN for giving us credit as the original source.

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Wellesley Police log: Library patrons creeped out; suspicious apartment listing; kid accidentally locked in car

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Pollinator garden, Wellesley Police DepartmentWellesley Police Log for 7/29/19-8/3/19

Arrests

On July 29, 2019 at 3:40 p.m. Officer Mankavech was dispatched to a residence on Bristol Road for a male party making threats to some landscapers.  Upon arrival the male party was gone when Officer Mankavech arrived.  The reporting party identified the male party as and stated that he appeared to be intoxicated and left driving a black Acura.  At 5:51 p.m. officers were dispatched to the area of 530 Washington Street for a report of a 2-car motor vehicle accident where an Acura was involved and left the scene.  Officer Mankavech located the vehicle on Weston Road and stopped it.  When he spoke with the driver he appeared to be moving slowly and there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, his speech was slurred, he was extremely unsteady on his feet and could not walk without stopping to keep his balance.  He was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights and held on $200 bail.

Incidents

On July 30, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. Officer Shore spoke with a female reporting party who stated she had listed an apartment for rent in Wellesley and was informed by another Wellesley resident that there was a posting on Craigslist for the same apartment that appeared suspicious.  The ad had different contact information.  The reporting party contacted Craigslist and the ad was removed.  She was advised to file a report with the police department to document the incident.

On July 30, 2019 at 2:38 p.m. Officer Hughes was dispatched to Wellesley Free Library about a suspicious male party who was asking women personal questions and making them feel uncomfortable.  The male party from Hudson was issued a letter of no trespass.  The report is incomplete at this time and no further information is available.

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On July 31, 2019 at 1:40 p.m. the Wellesley Police Department and Fire Department were dispatched to a residence for a small child that was locked inside a vehicle in a garage.  The vehicle door had been accidentally locked as the parent was removing another child from the vehicle.  The fire department was able to open the door to the vehicle and the child appeared to be fine.

On July 31, 2019 at 10:30 p.m. Officer Poirier was dispatched to the area of Washington Street in the hills for a report of an elderly female party walking in her nightgown.  Officers located the female party on Washington Street at Maugus avenue.  She was unable to provide officers with her name and did not know where she was coming from.  The female party was transported to the hospital and the hospital emergency room staff were able to identify her.  A family member was contacted and indicated that she has dementia and has never wandered off like that before.  He responded to the hospital. 

[Read more…]

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Disruption Games: Wellesley entrepreneur’s new book seeks to spark smart change

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Trond UndheimWellesley resident Trond Undheim describes his most spectacular failure as an internet incubator he started as a Ph.D. student in Norway that was 20 years ahead of its time. The venture helped dozens of startups, but not enough went public or got bought to cover the incubator’s growth expenses.

“The entrepreneurship bug had not yet hit the region,” laments Undheim, whose new book Disruption Games offers insights into innovating based on personal examples of business failure and success as well as lessons learned from observing and analyzing others’ experiences.

Undheim’s career has been varied, including stints with the European Commission, Oracle and various start-ups. While not all of his ventures have been winners, he’s had his fair share of successes. Among them: helping startups become unicorns (private companies with valuations of at least $1B) through his work as director of MIT’s Startup Exchange.

“I’ve failed or changed course a number of times and I’m getting to some more of those in my book,” he says. “In fact, when I use the term failure, sometimes that’s what it means (and that’s of course not easy to handle). Other times it is more of a temporary setback that acts as a catalyst to even more significant and focused efforts that pay off more than the original pursuit you set off with.”

Elusive Failure Stories

Writing about failures can be a challenge, Undheim acknowledges, as many are reluctant to discuss such painful parts of their past. I saw this myself for years as a tech business journalist, with potential interview subjects too worried about bad short-term PR or legal ramifications to be forthcoming. But there’s definitely an appetite for such stories (there’s even a locally-recorded podcast called Failure that focuses on this subject).

“It is not easy, and I’m still finalizing some interviews,” Undheim says. “What I’ve found is that founders who since have become successful are much more likely to share their story (no surprise).”

Undheim is marketing his pre-published new book to entrepreneurs and executives through a crowdfunding platform that will introduce Disruption Games to a bunch of publishers if enough people contribute. The book’s contents include lessons learned from startups that go bust, corporate innovation activities that fail, and missed opportunities and misunderstandings that happen when startups and corporations collaborate.

Undheim self-published an earlier book, Leadership From Below, back in 2008.

“That book took me a year to write, but I had to publish it on the one Saturday that I was not working for the European Commission (my boss said publishing a book was not allowed for EU bureaucrats) and not for Oracle (I was joining a job for them in London and did not want to start a conversation about permission to publish a book on day one of my employment). Hence, I went for an early self-publishing route.”

Hopefully, Undheim will have success with his new book. He took away these lessons from publishing his previous one:

“The experience with Leadership From Below was mostly positive. I got a ton of speaking requests in the years following the book (probably for 3-5 years). To know that the message resonated with a variety of people was very satisfying.”

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Natick coordinates with Wellesley on water main work

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A Swellesley reader asked why imminent construction activity regarding a water main project in the Bacon Street/Rte. 135 area of Natick would also impact Wellesley. We reached out to the Wellesley Department of Public Works to find out, and here’s what the DPW’s Bill Shaughnessy shared with us:

“The answer to your question is that the Town of Natick,Department of Public Works contracted with W. Walsh Company to rehabilitate water mains through cleaning and lining along East Central Street and Bacon Street both in Natick and in Wellesley.  The mains in Wellesley are Natick mains and the drinking water is from their wells.  Natick’s engineer contacted both the Natick and Wellesley police to get approval of the detour plan.  Natick also contacted the DPW to make us aware that they would need to close the road to dig access pits to do the work.

The following notification is also being issued today:

NOTIFICATION

EAST CENTRAL & BACON STREET

WATER MAIN CLEANING LINING PROJECT

Bacon Street from Central Street (Route 135) in Wellesley to Oak Street in Natick is closed to through traffic 8:30 am to 3:00 pm this week (August 5 to 9, 2019).

The Town of Natick, Department of Public Works contracted with W. Walsh Company (Contractor), 32 Walton Street, Attleboro, MA 02703, to rehabilitate water mains through cleaning and lining along East Central Street and Bacon Street both in Natick and in Wellesley.

Bacon Street will be open to traffic starting Friday night.  However there may be delays next week as the traffic may be restricted to one lane to complete the project.

The detour routes are as follows:

Vehicles traveling east on Rt 135 intending to turn onto Bacon will be detoured into Natick and directed to turn right onto Mansfield Street, then Marion Street then onto Bacon Street.

Vehicles traveling south on Oak Street in Natick and intending to turn down Bacon to Rt 135 will be detoured through Marion Street and onto Rt 135 in Natick.

We appreciate your forbearance with this important drinking water quality project.  If you have any questions, or concerns throughout the project, please do not hesitate to contact Natick’s Project Manager, Gregory Eldridge from Haley and Ward, Inc. at (978) 648-6025 or email him at [email protected]

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