Man About Canton: March 13 Edition

Did you know …

The first phase of the 130-acre University Station project in Westwood will include a Wegman’s Supermarket, a Target store, and Nordstrom Rack. The stores are expected to open in 2015. A second phase will bring 350,000 square feet of office space, a 150-room hotel, and additional residences and stores. The state is also planning to reconstruct the interchange at interstates 93 and 95 in Canton to help alleviate the traffic problems that now exist at those interchanges.

The University Station development will also include 18 acres of open space and a village green. It is estimated that it will take eight to ten years to complete construction of the project, which is among the biggest in the state.

The developers of University Station have agreed that the main entrance to the project will be off Blue Hill Drive in Westwood and not off Dedham Street in Canton and will include a new exit ramp off I-95 to University Avenue.

The Canton High School Alumni Association will hold its sixth annual Trivia Night with Gary Titus on Friday, March 28, from 7-11 p.m. at the Canton Town Club. The cost is $10 per person and refreshments will be served. There is a cash prize for the winning team, a 50/50 raffle, and raffle prizes including Red Sox tickets. The Red Sox raffle tickets will be sold in advance. For further information, call 781-341-0935.

According to a story in the Boston Globe, Sharon Memorial Park on the Canton/Sharon town line at the end of High Street will be constructing a new 7,000-square-foot administration building that will include a 100-seat chapel providing families the opportunity to hold indoor funeral services on the property. The park, founded in 1948, is the largest Jewish cemetery in New England. It has 750 to 800 annual burials. Sharon Memorial Park and the adjacent nondenominational Knollwood Memorial Park encompass 320 acres. About 170 acres have been developed as cemetery property with 110 acres used for Sharon Memorial and the remainder for Knollwood, leaving nearly half of the parcel still available.

The chairman of the board of the Knollwood Cemetery Corporation is Louis Grossman, the grandson of one of the original founders. Fred Lappin is the president of Sharon Memorial Park and the president elect of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, an industry group based outside of Washington, D.C.

In Massachusetts, the maximum weekly unemployment benefit for an individual with no dependents is $679. Now why would you want to work when you can collect that much money weekly for up to 52 weeks?

The office of Canton’s town clerk will be mailing out Canton’s 2014 Census forms to all households, and residents are asked to return completed forms within 10 days of receiving them. MAC, in an interview with the town clerk employees, was told that the primary reason for residents to complete the census is to maintain their active voter status, and it is also used by the state for funding based on a town’s total population when they apply for state and federal grants.

The census mailing also includes 2014 dog license forms. Dog owners must purchase a license for their dogs by April 1 to avoid a late fee of $25. Over 1,900 dogs were licensed in 2013, but it is estimated that 1,000 or more remain unlicensed. The fee for a “fixed” dog is $15 while it is $20 for a “non-fixed” dog. Other reasons to return the census form are that it is also needed for residents to qualify for veteran’s and housing benefits and for in-state tuition at state colleges and universities. So it is important to complete the forms and send them to the town clerk’s office.

On March 15 (the Ides of March) in 44 BC, most of us know that Marcus Junius Brutus and his brother-in-law, Gaius Cassius Longinus, assassinated Julies Caesar. But what you probably didn’t know was that Brutus’s mother was Caesar’s mistress and the mother-in-law to Cassius. MAC thought you would enjoy a little bit of ancient history during the month of March.

Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark.

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=24648

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Mar 13 2014. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.