STOP THE OUT-OF-CONTROL STERLING D.P.W.’S PROPOSITION 2 ½ PROPERTY TAX OVERRIDES—VOTE DOWN 2025 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT ARTICLES 25 AND 26 AND NIP THIS CRAP IN THE BUD

Folks, there will be TWO (2) Proposition 2 ½ property tax override votes as part of the Town of Sterling’s 12 May 2025 TOWN ELECTION—

Click to access 2025_ate_ballot_sample_1_0.pdf

—UNLESS STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING VOTERS SHOOT DOWN WARRANT ARTICLES 25 AND 26 FIRST IN ORDER TO PRESERVE SOME OF THEIR HARD-EARNED MONEY FROM STERLING D.P.W. DEPREDATIONS.

Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 25 requests Proposition 2 ½ property tax override for $500,000 in seed money the D.P.W. wants first towards its absolutely absurd, batshit-crazy proposed new $33 Million building for which it has no architectural drawings and about which the JACKASSES running the D.P.W., apparently, have sought NO designs or estimates for a much cheaper steel building or steel buildings from the MULTIPLE steel building fabricators and suppliers doing business in New England. A Thirty-three million dollar ($33 million)-in-borrowing bond issue FOR THAT F#@%ING BOONDOGGLE would raise Sterling property tax rates 11% FOR YEARS TO COME.

AND WHILE the Chamberlain Road, Newell Hill Road, Redstone Hill Road, Rugg Road, and westerly Beaman Road surfaces, as examples, HAVE GONE TO ABSOLUTE SHIT, do you really want to screw yourselves with a Proposition 2 ½ override for $800,000 in drainage and erosion control work along Swett Hill Road? I didn’t think so.

SEE WARRANT ARTICLES 25 and 26:  https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/news/05_05_2025_atm_warrant.pdf

The Sterling Select Board has never possessed the honesty and integrity (NO surprise there!) required to place Proposition 2 ½ written explanation on the Town of Sterling website. BUT other towns have them. Here is the one from West Boylston—  https://www.westboylston-ma.gov/home/pages/proposition-2-12-override-questions-and-answers

YOU CAN NIP THIS CRAP IN THE BUD AND SAVE YOURSELVES A LOT OF MONEY. VOTE DOWN 2025 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT ARTICLES 25 AND 26.

J.G.

STERLING AND PAXTON VOTERS, COMBINED, CAN VOTE TO DEFEAT THE WACHUSETT REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT’S OUTRAGEOUS, UNCONSCIONABLE 2025-2026 BUDGET. LET’S DO IT!!! COME OUT AND SUPPORT STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT ARTICLE 43

Folks, under the Wachusett Regional School District Agreement if TWO (2) of the 5 member Towns vote down the WRSD’s FY 2025-2026 outrageous, unconscionable, out-of-control BUDGET, THEN the extravagant, incompetent, gutless WRSD Committee will forced to re-submit a SMALLER BUDGET for a re-vote.

WE HAVE A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO DEFEAT THE WRSD FY 2025-2026 BUDGET BECAUSE THE TOWN OF PAXTON HAS DECIDED TO MAKE ITS WRSD BUDGET PORTION SUBJECT TO A PROPOSITION 2 ½ OVERRIDE VOTE. YAY!!!

SEE:  https://www.townofpaxton.net/home/news/fy26-budget-and-override-overview

Since that Paxton announcement was made the Paxton Select Board voted to push back the Paxton Annual Town Meeting to 16 June 2025.

https://www.townofpaxton.net/home/news/annual-town-meeting-june-16th

AS FOR STERLING PROPERTY TAXPAYERS, THE EXTRAVAGANT, INCOMPETENT, GUTLESS WRSD COMMITTEE AND SUPERINTENDENT WANT TO SCREW US WITH A DISCRETIONARY (ABOVE THE STATE-REQUIRED ‘MINIMUM NET CONTRIBUTION’ AMOUNT) ASSESSMENT TOTALLING $3,348,824—UP 15% FROM LAST YEAR!

SEE Page 6– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/news/05_05_2025_atm_warrant.pdf

REMINDER: The Social Security cost of living increase this year is 2.5%.

REFRESHER: WRSD total student enrollment has fallen by 936, from 7493 to 6557, since Fiscal Year 2010-2011, 119 in just the last year, or 12.5% per cent, WHILE the WRSD total budget increased 50%, from $81.3 million in FY 2015-2016 to $121.9 million THIS Fiscal Year 2024-2025.

THE PROPOSED WRSD TOTAL PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FY 2025-2026 IS AN ABSOLUTE INSULT AND OUTRAGE—UP MORE THAN $7 MILLION FROM LAST YEAR, TOPPING $129 MILLION.

MEANWHILE, THE TEACHERS’ UNION AND OTHER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNIT ASS-KISSING SUPERINTENDENT AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS, GUTLESS, VAPID, VIRTUE SIGNALLING POSEURS ALL, REFUSE TO CUT ANY OF THE WRSD’S BLOATED PAYROLL TOTALLING 1040, AND, IN FACT, PROPOSE TO HIRE 17 MORE TEACHERS NEXT YEAR!

They lack the integrity and fortitude to implement Reductions in Force (RIFS), corresponding with the 12.5 % student enrollment drop-off, as authorized by Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 71, Sec. 42—

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71/Section42

For them it is easier to screw us property taxpayers than to confront their unionized employees. They are abject cowards bereft of ethical standards.

And while we’ve been paying for all of this USELESS BLOAT–

https://sterlingmassachusettsoverwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/employee_salaries_022425-2.pdf —

the posing, posturing Superintendent and WRSD Committee ADMITTED to the 5-Town Select Board Chairs, Finance Committees, and Town Administrators, on 4 February 2025, THIS, as reported by a source:

“-all 13 WRSD buildings are falling apart, have been for years. Cited “lack of planning and deferred maintenance”
-Student reading levels are THREE YEARS BEHIND (9th graders reading at 6th grade levels).
-Student assessments are far below average across the board in all subjects.”

YA,YA, Folks, we District-wide property taxpayers are supposed to pony up $7 million more for this total, ongoing incompetence and unaccountability.

WELL, if, like me, you’ve had waaaaay more than enough of pissing your hard-earned money down the WRSD rat hole, PLEASE come out to the 2025 Sterling Annual Town Meeting and vote in favor of Warrant Article 43 –

Click to access 05_05_2025_atm_warrant.pdf

–so we can then vote down the WRSD FY 2025-2026 discretionary budget request that is over and above Sterling’s state-required net minimum contribution.

See you there.

J.G.

STOP THE STERLING PLANNING BOARD’S BRAZEN, DISHONEST, MALICIOUS, DANGEROUS POWER GRAB—VOTE DOWN 2025 STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT ARTICLE 40

Under existing Sterling Zoning By-Laws governing “Site Plan Review” is this sub-section:

 § 301-6.4.8. 

Regulations. The Planning Board may adopt and from time to time amend reasonable regulations for the administration of these site plan guidelines.

THAT SUB-SECTION PROVIDES THAT THE PLANNING BOARD MAY, ON ITS OWN, ADOPT REASONABLE, INTERNAL, HOUSEKEEPING REGULATIONS FOR HANDLING SITE PLAN PAPERWORK, AND FOR IMPLEMENTING SITE PLAN REVIEW PROCEDURES, CONSISTENT WITH EXISTING ZONING BY-LAWS, WITHOUT THE NEED TO AMEND EXISTING STERLING ZONING BY-LAWS AT ANY TOWN MEETING.

USING THAT SUB-SECTION AS A SMOKESCREEN, THE BRAZENLY DISHONEST, MALICIOUS, DECEPTIVE, AND DANGEROUS STERLING PLANNING BOARD, A COLLECTION OF ASSHOLES CHAIRED BY SELF-DEALING DEVELOPER WEASEL CARL CORRINNE, ACTING IN CONCERT WITH ITS USELESSS, MAKE-WORK, TALKING SOCK PUPPET, STEPHEN WALLACE, THE TOWN PLANNER, HAS SHAMELESSLY WARPED AND REVERSED THE MEANING OF THAT SUB-SECTION BY DRAFTING AND PLACING ARTICLE 40 ON THE 2025 STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT AS A BLATANT POWER GRAB THAT, SIMULTANEOUSLY, WOULD REVOKE SITE PLAN REVIEW REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN CURRENT PROTECTIVE (ZONING) BY-LAW PROVISIONS APPROVED BY STERLING VOTERS AT PREVIOUS TOWN MEETINGS, AND TRANSFER THEIR WATERED-DOWN REPLACEMENT GUIDELINES TO ENTIRELY INTERNAL PLANNING BOARD CONTROL WHERE, AS INTERNAL PLANNING BOARD SO-CALLED ‘REGULATIONS,’ THEY CAN BE GUTTED OR IGNORED LATER. HENCE, FOR EXAMPLE, THE ELIMINATION OF THE WORD “CONDITIONS” AND ITS REPLACEMENT BY THE WORD “STANDARDS.”

“Conditions” are required pre-conditions or prerequisites. “Standards” are mere guidelines that can be ignored. That dilution by our corrupt Planning Board is transparently intentional.

The corrupt Planning Board’s REAL AIM is set forth at the end of its own deceptive, deliberately misleading Article 40 “Summary”—

Summary: The Zoning Bylaw’s current Site Plan provision authorizes the Planning Board to adopt Site Plan Regulations, which the Board has not done to this point. Revising the Site Plan section of the  Zoning Bylaw will enable the Planning Board to include design guidelines in its new set of Site Plan Regulations. Further, much of the content of the existing bylaw can be moved into the [Planning Board internal] regulations (emphasis added).

Here is the 2025 Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant—

Click to access 05_05_2025_atm_warrant.pdf

Scroll down to read Article 40 in its ENTIRETY. Article 40, as set forth, is very long, technical, and misleading.  Obviously the OUTRIGHT ASSHOLES constituting the Sterling Planning hope you won’t study it, BUT YOU NEED TO STUDY IT CAREFULLY TO GET ITS FULL, MALICIOUS, DANGEROUS IMPORT. The ‘strikethrough’ provisions are ALL current PROTECTIONS approved by Sterling voters at PREVIOUS Annual Town Meetings. The corrupt Planning Board wants to eliminate them so it can ram through pro-development guidelines and development proposals.

THE MOST DISHONEST, MALICIOUS, AND DANGEROUS PROPOSED NEW Sub-Section is THIS:

§ 301-6.4.4. Relationship to Building Permits and Special Permits

….

2.  The Planning Board shall act as the Special Permit Granting Authority (SPGA) for all projects requiring site plan approval as determined by the Building Commissioner acting in his capacity as Zoning Enforcement Officer.

…

THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS—THE CORRUPT STERLING PLANNING BOARD, PLAYING FOOTSIE WITH A BENT BUILDING COMMISSIONER, UNDER THAT LANGUAGE, CAN STEAL ALL SPECIAL PERMIT GRANTING AUTHORITY FROM THE STERLING ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS, THEREBY ENABLING THE PLANNING BOARD TO RAM THROUGH DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, IN THE PROCESS DEGRADING THE TOWN OF STERLING’S SEMI-RURAL CHARACTER.

Under Sterling’s current Protective (Zoning) By-Laws the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals is the primary Special Permit Granting Authority.

Combined, the malicious, pernicious, misleading, deceptive, dishonest, dangerous provisions set forth in Article 40 are too extensive to brief here, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE.

AT THE 5 MAY 2025 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING VOTE DOWN WARRANT ARTICLE 40 IN ORDER TO RESTRICT THE CORRUPT PLANNING BOARD’S AUTHORITY AND THEREBY PRESERVE STERLING’S SEMI-RURAL CHARACTER!

J.G.

COME ON OUT TO THE 5 MAY 2025 STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING AND VOTE DOWN WARRANT ARTICLE 39, THE PLANNING BOARD’S DELIBERATE, PERNICIOUS, ASS-BACKWARDS POWER GRAB

The Sterling Planning Board, Chaired by self-dealing developer weasel Carl Corrinne, has put Article 39 on the 2025 Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant.

ARTICLE 39 IS A NAKED POWER GRAB INTENDED TO REVERSE THE CURRENT PLANNING BOARD SITE PLAN APPROVAL AND ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS SPECIAL PERMIT APPROVAL PROCESS/ORDER BY FORCING THE ZBA TO APPROVE SPECIAL PERMITS BEFORE THE PLANNING BOARD RENDERS A SITE PLAN DECISION/REPORT. THAT CHANGE WOULD ENABLE THE PLANNING BOARD TO THEN GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS AND RENDER TOTALLY BULLSHIT, PRO-DEVELOPER SITE PLAN APPROVALS.

HERE IS THE PROPOSED ARTICLE 39–

ARTICLE 39:  AUTHORIZE JOINT MEETINGS/HEARINGS FOR PROJECTS NEEDING SPECIAL PERMIT AND SITE PLAN REVIEW

To see if the Town will vote to amend its Protective Bylaws, Chapter 301, Article 6 – Administration and Procedures, by amending §301-6.3 – Special Permits to allow for a joint public hearing for those projects requiring both a special permit and site plan review, by adding a new §301-6.3.4 with the text to be inserted underlined below, and renumbering subsequent paragraphs accordingly, or take any other action relative thereto,

§ 301-6.3.4 Special Permits that require Site Plan review.

For development projects that require a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals and Site Plan approval from the Planning Board, the applicant may apply for both concurrently and request a joint public hearing by both Boards. When a joint public hearing is requested, both boards will coordinate a public hearing date and provide proper public notice per MGL Chapter 40A, Section 11. The procedural order shall be that the Zoning Board of Appeals shall issue its Special Permit decision first, followed by the Planning Board issuing its Site Plan decision (emphasis original and added).

2/3rd vote required for passage.

Motion: Move that the Town vote to amend the Protective Bylaws, Chapter 301, Article 6 – Administration and Procedures as presented in the article.

Submitted by: Planning Board

Recommendations: Select Board recommends approval

Planning Board recommends approval

Summary: This article will update the bylaw to allow for an applicant to file for both a special permit from the ZBA and Site Plan Review from the Planning Board simultaneously and hold a joint hearing.

As you can see the “Summary” is deliberately deceptive because THE FOLLOWING sets forth the CURRENT  procedural order involving Special Permit applications under consideration by the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals:

§ 301-6.3Special permits.

§ 301-6.3.1. 

Special permit granting authority. Unless specifically designated otherwise, the Board of Appeals shall act as the special permit granting authority.

§ 301-6.3.2. 

Criteria. Special permits shall be granted by the special permit granting authority, unless otherwise specified herein, only upon its written determination that the adverse effects of the proposed use will not outweigh its beneficial impacts to the Town or the neighborhood, in view of the particular characteristics of the site, and of the proposal in relation to that site. In addition to any other specific factors that may be set forth in this bylaw, the determination shall include evaluations of the adverse effects and beneficial impacts of each of the following factors:

1. 

Social, economic, or community needs which are served by the proposal;

2. 

Traffic flow and safety, including parking and loading;

3. 

Adequacy of utilities and other public services;

4. 

Neighborhood character and social structures;

5. 

Impacts on the natural environment; and

6. 

Potential fiscal impact, including impact on Town services, tax base and employment.

§ 301-6.3.3. 

Procedures. Whenever an application for a special permit is filed with a special permit granting authority, the applicant shall also file, within five working days of the filing of the completed application with said authority, copies of the application, accompanying site plan, and other documentation, to the Planning Board, Board of Health, Conservation Commission, Building Inspector, Director of Public Works, Police Chief, and Fire Chief for their consideration, review, and report. The copies necessary to fulfill this requirement shall be furnished by the applicant. An application shall not be deemed complete until all copies of required information and documentation have been filed with the special permit granting authority. Said authority shall notify applicants by registered or certified mail, within 14 days of submittal, of incomplete application status, and the applicant shall have 14 days from the mailing of such notice to complete an application. Failure to complete an application within such time shall result in a return of all materials to the applicant, without prejudice. Reports from other boards and officials shall be submitted to the special permit granting authority by the date of the public hearing, but in any case within 35 days of receipt of the reviewing party of all of the required materials; failure of these reviewing parties to make recommendations after having received copies of all such required materials shall be deemed a lack of opposition thereto. In the event that the public hearing by the special permit granting authority is held prior to the expiration of the thirty-five-day period, said authority shall continue the public hearing to permit the formal submission of reports and recommendations within that thirty-five-day period. The decision/findings of the special permit granting authority shall contain, in writing, an explanation for any departures from the recommendations of any reviewing party (emphasis added).

§ 301-6.3.4. 

Conditions. Special permits may be granted with such reasonable conditions, safeguards, or limitations on time or use, including performance guarantees, as the special permit granting authority may deem necessary to serve the purposes of this bylaw.

§ 301-6.3.5. 

Plans. An applicant for a special permit shall submit a plan in substantial conformance with the requirements of § 301-6.4.4 herein.

SO, under the current ZBA Special Permit process the Planning Board is required to submit ITS report to the ZBA so that the ZBA can make an informed decision in granting or denying a Special Permit application. That process makes sense, is entirely reasonable, and should be retained.

So come out to the 5 May 2025 Sterling Annual Town Meeting and vote down Article 39, a pernicious, ass-backward Planning Board power grab.

IN MY NEXT BLOG POST I WILL DISCUSS THE PLANNING BOARD’S OUTRIGHT PERVERSE, MALICIOUS PROPOSED WARRANT ARTICLE 40.

Stay tuned.

J.G.

COME ON OUT TO THE 5 MAY 2025 STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING AND VOTE DOWN WARRANT ARTICLE 36, THE THIRD ATTEMPT IN 5 YEARS TO RE-ZONE ‘PERFORMANCE ZONE 1’ TO COMMERCIAL

It is abundantly clear that the Sterling Planning Board, chaired by self-dealing developer weasel Carl Corrinne; their out-of-town, carpetbagging, utterly useless, make-work talking-sock-puppet ‘Town Planner’ Stephen Wallace; and the crony-zoning Packards, have utter contempt for Sterling Town Meeting voters because, for the third time in 5 years, following TWO (2) previous Sterling Annual Town Meeting REJECTIONS, they are attempting to re-zone ‘Performance Zone 1’ to COMMERCIAL by means of 2025 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 36, in conjunction with a proposed new ‘Table of Uses’ set forth in Warrant Article 37.

SEE  https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/news/05_05_2025_atm_warrant.pdf

HISTORY OF PERFORMANCE ZONE 1 AND REASONS THEREFOR:

In 1992 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act was passed. It protects the Boston metro water supply watershed, including the Stillwater River, running through Sterling, its tributaries, associated wetlands, and associated aquifers.

SEE  https://www.mass.gov/info-details/watershed-protection-act

Regulations were promulgated thereunder.

SEE  https://www.mass.gov/regulations/313-CMR-1100-watershed-protection

THEREAFTER, AT AN ANNUAL TOWN MEETING MANY YEARS AGO, STERLING VOTERS, IN THEIR WISDOM, APPROVED THE ‘PERFORMANCE ZONE 1’ ZONING DISTRICT TO PROTECT THE NEARBY STILLWATER RIVER, ITS NEARBY TRIBUTARY STREAMS, AND ITS NEARBY ASSOCIATED WETLANDS AND AQUIFER FROM POLLUTANTS AND EXCESSIVE RUNOFF, INCLUDING HEATED RUNOFF AND POLLUTANTS FROM LARGE ROOFS AND PARKING LOTS.

Performance Zone 1 is located around Route 140, Dana Hill Road, and John Dee Road. Don’t be fooled by the deceptive euphemism ‘Gateway Enterprise District’ set forth in 2025 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles 36 and 37. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT— IF APPROVED AT TOWN MEETING THAT AREA WILL BECOME A COMMERCIAL DISTRICT.

To see those sensitive resources for yourselves go to Sterling GIS mapping and ZOOM in on that area—

https://next.axisgis.com/SterlingMA/

Next, click on “Layers” then “Conservation 2.” Also, click on “State Data” then on “Aquifers,” “DEP Wetlands,” “Drainage Basins,” “Outstanding Resource Waters,” “Public Water Supply Map,” and “Surface Water Supply Watersheds.”

Do the Packards, the Planning Board, and Town Planner Wallace want you to know about all those sensitive areas??? OF COURSE NOT. They don’t give a rat’s ass about protecting sensitive environmental resources.

MOREOVER, check out ALL the abutting homes—

Click to access sterling_gatewayenterprisedistrict_2024_11x17p.pdf

The Planning Board, Wallace, and the Packards don’t give a rat’s ass about the abutting property owners or their families either.

SCROLL DOWN AND READ THE PERMITTED USES TABLE SET FORTH IN ARTICLE 37, INCLUDING “MAJOR COMMERCIAL PROJECT[S]” that would be permitted in the euphemistically named ‘Gateway Enterprise District.’

IF ARTICLE 36 PASSES, MULTIPLE MAJOR COMMERCIAL PROJECTS COULD BE LOCATED IN THAT NEW COMMERCIAL DISTRICT.

By the way, the crony-zoning Packards’ Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) own ALMOST ALL of the parcels in Performance Zone 1 easterly of Dana Hill Road. No self-dealing there folks, NOOOOO SIRREEE…

To continue protecting the Stillwater River watershed, AND in solidarity with all those abutting homeowners and their families who would be affected adversely by the proposed new COMMERCIAL zone, it behooves the rest of us to teach the Packards, the Planning Board, and Wallace an EMPHATIC LESSON– YET AGAIN–AT THE 5 MAY 2025 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING BY VOTING DOWN WARRANT ARTICLE 36. LET’S DO IT!

Stay Tuned.

J.G.

STOP THE STERLING D.P.W. ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ BOONDOGGLE PROJECTED TO COST US $33 MILLION AND INCREASE OUR PROPERTY TAX RATE BY 11%—VOTE DOWN WARRANT ARTICLE 25 AT THE 5 MAY 2025 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING

Folks, the absolutely insane, out-of-control JACKASSES running the Sterling D.P.W. want us Sterling property taxpayers to cough up $33 million for their proposed new facility, the ‘Garage Mahal,’ and drive up our property tax rate by 11% for years to come.

SEE  https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/minutes/11-13-2024_dpw_facility_committee_minutes.pdf

According to an article in the latest Sterling Meetinghouse News, “The new DPW building will not be a simple ‘town barn.’ It will feature a full-service diesel and gasoline fuel island, a heavy truck repair shop, a vehicle wash bay, and climate-controlled storage for DPW emergency response vehicles. The facility will also include offices, a training room, and other amenities for employees—facilities the current building lacks (emphasis added).”

So there you have it all of you very silly Sterling property taxpayers— FOR $33 MILLION OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS THE JACKASSES RUNNING THE STERLING D.P.W. ARE OF THE OPINION THAT THEIR TRUCKS AND EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE HOUSED IN BETTER CONDITIONS THAN ARE MANY HUMANS IN TOWN! YA, BABY, THE STERLING D.P.W. NEEDS ITS  VERY OWN, EXQUISITE ‘GARAGE MAHAL.’

Ya’ think the Sterling D.P.W. officials possess enough common sense to have stopped by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts D.P.W. facility on Chocksett Road, and ALL the other properties with STEEL BUILDINGS along Chocksett Road and Pratts Junction Road, to determine what type of FAR CHEAPER steel building(s) the D.P.W. could design and buy instead of their proposed $33 Million ‘Garage Mahal’? NAH! Steel buildings are too practical, too utilitarian, too prosaic for the Sterling D.P.W.! I mean, why contact steel building suppliers such as those listed below when you can hose Sterling property taxpayers for $33 Million?

https://www.steelmasterusa.com/industries/government/

https://www.americanmetalbuildings.com/metal-buildings/commercial-metal-buildings/

https://construxinc.com/

https://www.qualitysteelbuildings.com/industrial-buildings/

https://packagesteelsystem.com/building-solutions

Home

According to that same Sterling Meetinghouse News article, those Sterling D.P.W. BUFFOONS “issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to select a designer for the new facility… The selected designer will…evaluate potential sites within Sterling and review the feasibility study, current fleet, and space needs… At the Annual Town Meeting on May 5, 2025 the [Sterling D.P.W.] is requesting $500,000 to advance the project through schematic design and hire an owner’s project manager (OPM).”

That’s right folks, at this year’s Annual Town Meeting the Sterling D.P.W. wants us to pony up $500,000 for a total shot in the dark and several layers of unnecessary bullshit.

By the way, the Sterling D.P.W. already has/uses several parcels in Town. Who says that it needs ONE BIG NEW SPECIALLY DESIGNED/CONSTRUCTED BUILDING RATHER THAN 2-3 SMALLER STEEL BUILDINGS SPREAD AROUND?

That $500,000 spending request is set forth in 2025 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 25.

SEE  https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/news/05_05_2025_atm_warrant.pdf

PLEASE SHOW UP AND VOTE IT DOWN. STOP THE ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ BOONDOGGLE.

MAKE THE STERLING D.P.W. START DEALING WITH COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL/GOVERNMENT STEEL BUILDING SUPPLIERS INSTEAD.

J.G.

ELECT JOE KING TO THE STERLING SELECT BOARD ON 12 MAY 2025


Joseph P. King Jr. for Sterling Select Board

Vote May 12, 2025, Noon to 7PM at Houghton Elementary School

Committed to Responsible Leadership & Sustainable Growth

✅ A Proven Leader Who Listens and Acts

38-year Sterling resident, proud father and grandfather.

Chair of Sterling Finance Committee; member of Capital Budget Committee.

53+ years of engineering and operations experience.

Senior Engineering Technologist at Dell Technologies (Sustainability Architecture).

Small business owner – White Oak Audio Design.

💰 Fiscal Conservative – Strong on Public Safety

Focuses spending on public safety, infrastructure, and essential services.

Opposes tax overrides and unnecessary spending.

Returned $500K in Free Cash to reduce FY26 property taxes.

🏗️ Pro-Growth with Environmental Responsibility

Supports smart development that expands the tax base without hurting Sterling’s character.

Advocates for sustainable building and green infrastructure.

Prioritizes affordability for seniors and working families.

🎓 Education That Delivers Results

Supports schools with a focus on student achievement and career readiness.

Demands accountability for taxpayer dollars.

👂 Always Listening. Always Accountable.

Believes leadership starts with respect and listening.

Will work to take key issues to a town vote when in doubt.

Refuses Select Board stipend as a commitment to public service.


Vote Joseph P. King Jr. – May 12, 2025, 2025, Noon to 7PM at Houghton Elementary School

Responsible. Respectful. Results-Driven.

J.G.

WE NEED TO START A REVOLUTION IN EVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT!

FOLKS, READ THIS COMPELLING ARTICLE BY MASSACHUSETTS-BASED BRIAN CAMENKER, FOUNDER OF MassResistance—

We need to start a revolution in every school district!

Our schools have hit rock-bottom, and the children are the victims. It must be completely changed. This situation must be completely reversed.

By Brian Camenker

April 14, 2025

Public school enrollment across the country is going down. Families are leaving their local schools by the thousands. They’ve had enough. They are paying to send their children to private schools or taking on the burdens of homeschooling.

It’s not hard to see why. By virtually every metric, public school education in America is worse than ever before in history. High percentages of children in every grade are reading below their expected grade point level. They can’t do complex (or even easy) math problems. Their knowledge of civics, American government, and history is abysmal. They can’t write coherent paragraphs.

As a result, when students graduate, their reading levels, critical thinking ability, and general knowledge are far below those of a few decades ago. Most colleges must now require remedial classes in basic subjects for students to catch up. Even Stanford, Harvard, and MIT are offering remedial math classes.

But there are some things that the public schools seem to excel at. Most parents are just becoming aware of how thoroughly dominated their schools are by leftist ideology, radical indoctrination, and other toxic non-academic materials and activities. Homosexuality, secret transgender grooming, gender ideology, Planned Parenthood-style sex-ed, pornographic books, anti-Americanism, and far-left political fads (anti-Semitism, “climate change,” etc.) have become standard fare. LGBT “GSA” clubs are in most high schools and many middle schools. There is even a push to start “rainbow clubs” in elementary schools!

Students go through school embracing a range of destructive ideas. And their mental health issues have skyrocketed.

Not surprisingly, good teachers are also leaving the schools. They’ve had enough of the radicalism, the absurd non-learning atmosphere, and the horrible discipline problems caused by “woke” policies imposed by administrators.

It’s not just children who are being irreparably harmed. It’s their families and all of society.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Children are capable of great learning. Public school students used to study (and appreciate) Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, and other great authors. They learned algebra, calculus, and trigonometry. They studied chemistry and physics. They knew geography, history, civics, and astronomy as well as most adults. They could debate and write well (with very good penmanship) and had a larger vocabulary. They learned musical instruments, sang in chorus, and learned to appreciate classical music and even opera.

And beyond that: When Winston Churchill was a boy, his classmates could compose poetry in ancient Greek and Latin. He sometimes reminisced about reading Thucydides in the original Greek in high school.

We can restore education in America! Public schools should be uplifting beacons of learning instead of cesspools of ignorance, propaganda, and perversion.

Parents should want to send their children to the local public schools. Teachers should want to teach at them.

President Trump has opened the door to positive change. His Executive Orders require that school systems that receive federal funding (i.e., all of them) abandon illegal and discriminatory DEI policies and teaching, identity propaganda, destructive gender ideology, and boys in girls’ sports—and implement pro-America courses of study for students.

That is a great start. For the first time in memory, parents have a friend—not an enemy—in their federal government in this regard.

This is an incredible opportunity. It’s a time for parents across the country to jump in and use that starting momentum from the top to force the entire change on the local level. An American revolution in education: All the bad curriculum (and methods) must go. All the radical perversion must go. It must be replaced with true quality.

But in every community, there are big obstacles to making this vision happen. Special interests, big money, and children are a dangerous combination. The national LGBT groups, the teachers’ unions, radical teachers, woke administrators, leftist school committees, and local unhinged leftist activists are all strongly against the reforms that parents want.

In most communities in America, the public schools take up over half of the town’s entire operating budget. Taxpayers—everyone’s taxes—are paying many times the per-pupil cost at similar private schools. We must insist on getting our money’s worth at the public schools.

Like every revolution that’s worth fighting, this will be a very nasty battle. Unfortunately, the conservative movement is not stepping up in any forceful way. But MassResistance has aggressively geared up to help parents make this happen in their communities. The only requirement is that the parents must want this change. It’s not a fight for cowards. But it will be worth it.

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Brian Camenker is the Director of MassResistance, a leading pro-family activist that provides the information and guidance people need to confront assaults on the traditional family, school children, and the moral foundation of society.

J.G.

HERE IS THE ENTIRE WACHUSETT REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT PAYROLL ROSTER. READ IT AND GAG. WE DISTRICT PROPERTY TAXPAYERS ARE GETTING HOSED BIG TIME

SO, WRSD total student enrollment has dropped by 12.5% over the past 15 Fiscal Years whereas the total WRSD budget has increased 50% over the past 10 Fiscal Years. The WRSD Committee and successive Superintendents have refused to implement ANY Reductions In Force (RIFs), as authorized by Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 71, Section 42, corresponding with the drop-off in total student enrollment. In fairness to District property taxpayers 12.5% of WRSD employees should be cut. If you aren’t already enraged, it gets even worse– the WRSD proposes, as of right now, A TOTAL BUDGET INCREASE FOR NEXT FISCAL OF 6.18%, FROM $121,979,287 THIS YEAR TO $129,515,225 NEXT FISCAL YEAR. IN ADDITION, THE WRSD PROPOSES TO HIRE 17 NEW TEACHERS. AT THIS YEAR’S STERLING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING VOTE TO SHOOT DOWN THE WRSD’s REQUEST TO STERLING FOR THE ENTIRE AMOUNT ABOVE STERLING’S STATE-REQUIRED NET MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION TO THE WRSD.

Here is entire, current WRSD payroll roster. Read it and gag–

Click to access employee_salaries_022425-2.pdf

J.G.