Man About Canton: Rink Repairs Update

Did you know …

According to a consultant’s recent report, the cost to reconstruct the Metropolis Skating Rink has increased to $10 million. The town has $3.2 million in insurance proceeds, which must be spent by February 2019. If it isn’t, then it goes back to the state. According to Town Administrator Charlie Aspinwall, the town may be eligible for federal funding covering 75 percent of the structural repair cost for damages incurred during the February 2015 winter storms. The town may also be in line for state funding with the request currently pending in the state legislature. As you can see, there are a lot of “ifs” and “maybes” in completing repairs to the Canton rink.

There are more single-family dwellings being razed to make room for new two- (or more) family dwellings. For example, a single-family home at 5 Valley Street will be razed to make room for a new two-family dwelling, while the home at 3 Tracywood Road will be razed for construction of two two-family dwellings. Then there is the owner of the home at 305 Walpole Street looking for dimensional relief to construct two additions to the pre-existing, non-conforming dwelling.

The Canton High School girls softball team was able to compete in the Division 2 south sectional tournament with a sub-.500 record by virtue of the Sullivan Rule, which enables teams that play a majority of their games against higher division opponents to reach the postseason on the strength of their own division record only, winning at least half of the games against D2 teams. This year, the team finished at 8-12, up from 1-18 a year ago. In the preliminary round, Canton lost 7-0 as Dighton-Rehoboth pitcher Emily Reid spun a no-hitter.

Talking about high school girls softball, Norton High School senior pitcher Kelly Nelson was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year. She holds the state record with 1,245 strikeouts, has 18 no-hitters, and 10 perfect games.

The Canton High School Class of 2018 graduated 255 students. The valedictorian was Christopher Milne and the salutatorian was Shreyas Risbud.

This year’s Massachusetts State Primary Election has been set for Tuesday, September 4, the day after Labor Day. The winners will then have only nine weeks until the final election on Tuesday, November 6. Seventeen states have moved their primary vote to the month of June, which provides primary winners more than 22 weeks to campaign until the November election.

The Boston City Council voted to approve raising parking fines in the Hub. All tickets for parking meter violations will increase from $25 to $40 and no-parking tickets will jump from $55 to $90. Resident parking violations were hiked from $40 to $60. The increases were approved by Mayor Martin Walsh with the council voting 12-1. Only Back Bay councilor Josh Zakim voted against the increases. Thanks for trying, Josh.

The town of Canton will receive $158,315 as a Green Community Designation Grant from the Department of Energy Resources. To earn the grant money, Canton must pledge to cut municipal energy use by 20 percent over five years and meet several other criteria established in the Green Communities Act.

Not too many people know the name Gerald Marenghi from Roxbury, but many people may know Jerry Maren, the last surviving munchkin from the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Mr. Maren was the member of the “lollipop guild” who handed an oversized lollipop to Judy Garland’s Dorothy in the movie. Maren recently died at the age of 98. He appeared in more than 60 films and television series and was the last survivor of the more than 100 little people who performed as munchkins that welcome Dorothy to Munchkinland.

One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in, and where you want to go.

This is all for now folks; see you next week.

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

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