Come join the North Suburban Planning Council as we talk about Arts and Culture activity and planning around the subregion. We will hear from Jenn Erickson, MAPC’s Arts and Culture Manager, Amanda Maher from MassDevelopment, and have an opportunity to network with local folks working in the arts and planning across the subregion.

NSPC’s March meeting has been moved to March 19th due to snow. We will hear from Chris Kluchman about the State’s Housing Choice Initiative.

We will be joined by Francis Goyes, MAPC’s Regional Housing and Land Use Planner, to hear about her “Living Little” work that takes a look at smaller housing typologies and how they may be translated into the NSPC region. We’ll also be joined by Sharon Ron, MAPC’s Public Health Research Analyst to discuss what it means to plan for healthy living and healthy housing.

The North Suburban Planning Council invites you to an Economic Development Breakfast

Please RSVP at the link provided in this email invitation: https://conta.cc/2HOLhH2

How do monuments and memorials shape our understanding of place—and what we choose to forget? And how might we reframe public memory to address the harmful legacy of colonialism in our region? This artist panel will consider how remembering and forgetting of Indigenous peoples and colonial history shaped the landscape and collective consciousness of Greater Boston—and the necessary role of Indigenous artists in shaping more just public spaces.

Reclaim? Recontextualize? Relocate? Remove? What should we do with monuments that no longer reflect our shared history and collective values (or never did to begin with)? This conversation among artists, designers, and educators will explore how creative commemoration can help us see the past and present in a new light—and chart a path toward more just futures. 

Register Here

We invite you to join the MetroWest Collaborative at MAPC for our annual trails forum. Our host this year is the City of Framingham. The forum will provide an update of regional trail accomplishments and share progress in Framingham for linking the downtown, Farm Pond, Cushing Park and other City destinations with a connected trail network.

The event includes breakfast, a welcome by Mayor Sisitsky, several presentations, and a walking tour of trail projects adjacent.

Specific milestones to be celebrated this year:

• The City recently completed the purchase of the CSX right-of-way to extend the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail into Framingham
• Purchase agreement for ~50 acres of conservation land on the Framingham/Sherborn line that will provide key trail connections
• The East Coast Greenway has relocated their route in 2023 to pass through Framingham

Optional afternoon walking tours look at two additional locations in Framingham where we are looking to create a continuous shared use path between the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and the Upper Charles Trail

Agenda:

8:15 a.m. – Breakfast and mingling

9:00 a.m. –  Welcome and Introductions

9:15 a.m. –  Metrowest Greenway status report from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council

10:00 a.m. –  Framingham Trails Focus

11:00 a.m. –  Walking Tour of current and proposed trail projects (about 2 miles long adjacent to Cushing Park). The tour will include the following projects or trails:

• Sudbury Aqueduct
• Chris Walsh Trail
• Framingham Station Access
• Development projects and trail potential

12:30 p.m. –  Formal event ends with additional optional walking tours after lunch

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break for those continuing the afternoon tours

Afternoon Walking Tours:

Walking Tour #1 at 1:30 p.m. –  South Framingham to Sherborn (Meet at Bates Park on Bates Road)

Walking Tour #2 at 3:00 p.m. – Bruce Freeman across Route 9 to Framingham State University (Meet at Oak St in front of Village Hall)