A tale of two hearings
This week, residents were silenced at a city council hearing but allowed to speak at a community meeting about the future of Granite Links Golf Club
Greetings, AJQ!
It was an eventful week. On Monday night, the city council raised property tax rates for 2025 after a heated public hearing that focused on one aspect of the tax rate: whether the city should continue its 40-year practice of taxing residential and commercial properties at different rates in order to reduce the tax burden on residents.
Residents who tried to speak out about other factors affecting the tax rate, such as city spending, were silenced by Council President Ian Cain, who sometimes cut power to their microphone.
A resident who respectfully asked for clarification about the hearing’s topic was not answered.
Police officers appeared in the back of the room.
Granite Links lease
Happily, on Tuesday night, residents were given the opportunity to speak without interruption at a community meeting about a proposed lease extension of city land by Granite Links Golf Club. The meeting was organized by Scott Campbell, an at-large city councilor filling in for Ward 4 representative James Devine, who has had to recuse himself on the issue because he works for Granite Links (a fact he did not disclose before he was elected in 2023).
After a presentation by the club’s director of operations, residents lined up to speak. Many acknowledged that the golf course was beautiful, and an improvement over the land’s use decades ago as a dump. But most raised concerns about various aspects of the lease extension, including the length of the lease, the lack of public access to the land, the lack of oversight by the city to date, the financial terms of the lease extension, the “stacked” makeup of a proposed advisory committee, and the rushed nature of the council’s vote on the matter, which may take place on December 16. You can watch the community meeting here – and you can officially comment on the issue on Monday, December 9, at 6:35 pm at an ordinance committee meeting in the council chambers on the second floor of Old Town Hall.
For more information, please see the message below from a group of residents who have been painstakingly researching the lease issue – most of whom are members of A Just Quincy.
Note also that Diana DiZoglio, the state auditor, will be at a fundraiser in Quincy this weekend (Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 pm) for Act on Mass, a nonprofit fighting corruption and advocating for transparency at the State House. More info here.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: QH Citizen Advocates <qhcitizenadvocates@gmail.com>
WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE DEC 3RD - COMMUNITY MEETING
Big thanks to all of the brave souls that joined us Tuesday night at the Community Meeting for the proposed Quarry Hills Lease Extension. Despite the busy holidays, about 80 folks came out for the event and provided a huge assortment of challenging questions and thoughtful comments. Bravo!
CITIZENS' QUESTION LIST
Our advocacy at the Community Meeting was a good start, but we have more work to do to educate our Councillors about the facts. Please continue to add your questions/comments to this form. We will publish and share them with Councillors.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
PUBLIC HEARING DECEMBER 9TH- 6:30 pm- QUINCY CITY HALL
We are looking for several folks to either testify in-person (most effective) or write a letter to Councillors to be read out loud during the upcoming hearing in opposition to this Order.
(See the suggested template below the signature line or write one in your own words!)
--
Thanks for your interest!
Best,
Quarry Hills Citizen Advocates
Citizens seeking open and transparent government that secures the best use of our public open and recreational space on Quarry Hills now and for the future of Quincy residents.
FIND us on facebook at "Quarry Hills Citizen Advocates, Quincy"
JOIN our email list, send an email with "I WANT TO JOIN" in the subject to "qhcitizenadvocates@gmail.com"
Suggested - Email Template (Copy/paste the following into the body of your email to the City Councillors)
Re: Vote NO on Order 2024-139: Home Rule Petition-QHA 50-Year Lease Extension
Dear Councillors:
I, the undersigned, OPPOSE the above referenced Order and respectfully request that you vote NO on my behalf because it is excessive in length and favors a single family for multiple generations, contains less favorable rent and control terms than the current lease, and it limits the public’s access, control and recreational opportunities on OUR open and recreational space at Granite Links Golf Course.
Quincy MUST put the taxpayer first! Let the current lease expire! (Letting the current term expire will allow Quincy to take full control of the property with its improvements, collect the ‘lionshare’ of the profits and become an asset for all residents to enjoy!)
Below is some additional content you may choose to include at your option or describe in your own words.
Before leasing OUR public open space to any developer, Quincy MUST,
perform due diligence evaluations of QHA’s current lease obligations,
hire an experienced commercial real estate law firm to negotiation more favorable rent and usage benefits for Quincy residents, engage independent accountants to audit past /current finances,
re-establish the Oversight Advisory Committee in accordance with the current lease, and
conduct a holistic Master Planning Process to RESTORE public walking trail access to Blue Hills, ENHANCE the sport fields, RESOLVE traffic issues and link all the public open spaces on Quarry Hills engaging a Steering Committee that includes Quarry Hill’s Citizen Advocates, planners and city officials.
Kindly acknowledge that you have received this letter, if I am not able to attend the hearing on December 9th, please read this letter out loud into the record on my behalf.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address
Email ALL Councillors: scampbell@quincyma.gov, nliang@quincyma.gov, dmccarthy@quincyma.gov, rcash@quincyma.gov, icain@quincyma.gov, jdevine@quincyma.gov, djminton@quincyma.gov, wharris@quincyma.gov, jmanning@quincyma.gov, ndibona@quincyma.gov, qhcitizenadvocates@gmail.com.