Man About Canton: It Just Costs Too Much!

DID YOU KNOW …

The cost of bringing a family of four to a Boston Red Sox game is getting ridiculous. According to Team Marketing Research of Chicago, it will cost you an average of $337, which is the highest cost in Major League Baseball. This year, your favorite Fenway frank will cost you $5, up $1 from last year, and it will cost $8.25 for a beer and $4 for bottled water. Again, this is the most expensive in baseball. However, believe it or not, it is actually cheaper to take your family of four to a Red Sox game than to a Patriots game ($597.26), a Celtics game ($392.60), or to a Bruins game ($352.26), according to the research company. The highest cost to take a family of four to a sporting event is the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs at $626.45 — and like the Red Sox, they continue to sell out. Makes you wonder about sports-crazed fans. For MAC, he would rather watch the games on television. It’s a lot cheaper.

Speaking of high costs, according to another research company, families in the northeast spend an average of $1,944 on a junior or senior high school prom, while southern families spend $1,047, western families $744, and midwestern families $696.

The National Affordable Housing Management Association has awarded Peabody Properties, the Braintree-based real estate management firm, with a national “community of quality” designation. Peabody manages 42 properties in the state, including Lamplighter Village on Route 138 in Canton.

The existing Canton school bus policy will remain in effect for next year with no increase in user fees. Under the policy, bus transportation is free for students in grades 1-6 who live more than two miles from their respective school. The fee for one student is $200, for a second student $185, and $165 for a third student, with a family cap of $550. In the town of Sharon, the school committee recently voted to raise the bus fee from $512 to $544 for one student, but if the student rides only one away the fee will be $370, up from $256.

Harvey Robbins Productions will hold an “oldies concert” at Prowse Farm in Canton on July 7.

Massachusetts is now considered the most heavily Catholic state in the United States, outranking Rhode Island.

The Halfway Cafe is hosting a 5K (3.1-mile) road race on Sunday, June 10, starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Village Shoppes at Cobb’s Corner. The $25 registration fee will benefit the local charity Cops for Kids with Cancer. Runners and walkers are encouraged to sign up at www.halfway5k.com.

The House of Representatives recently passed a bill to investigate, study, and report on the possibilities of putting tolls on the express lanes of I-93.

The United States produces 13 percent of the world’s beer. Only China, at 23 percent, ranks higher. The state where the most beer is consumed per person is New Hampshire, followed by Montana, which employs more brewers than any other state.

There are some towns that had crowded election ballots. Walpole had six people running for two seats on the Board of Selectmen and five people vying for three school committee spots, while in Hingham, one contestant ran for three positions and lost all three.

Canton town meeting voters approved two transfers totaling $650,000 to be used toward the purchase and renovation of the Knights of Columbus Hall at 500 Pleasant Street. One transfer — from an ATM appropriation in 2005 — matched the purchase price of $450,000. The second transfer of $200,000 from the assessors overlay account will be used to renovate the building into a new Canton senior center.

This past week, two homes for sale in Massachusetts made headlines. One was a single-family property in Nantucket with an asking price of $59 million. The waterfront property features 20 rooms and nine and a half baths on a 70-acre parcel. Also making headlines was a house in Sudbury that Babe Ruth owned from 1922-1926. The two-acre, 5,124-square-foot home has been modernized and is listed at $1.65 million. The Babe called his property the Home Plate Farm. The baseball legend sold the property in 1926 after divorcing his wife, Helen.

Last year, only 1,876 voters went to the polls in the town of Foxboro’s annual election. This year, 6,196 voters, or 58 percent of the registered voters, went to the polls, driven by the casino issue. And the casino opponents prevailed, electing two selectmen opposed to the Wynn Resorts Casino plans to build on property owned by Patriots owner Bob Kraft. Former state Representative Virginia Coppola topped all candidates with 3,608 votes. She also outspent all candidates, reporting more than $10,000 in campaign expenses. Coppola received 58.2 percent of the vote.

A friend is not a shadow who is present only when the sun shines.

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=13663

Posted by Joe DeFelice on May 16 2012. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.