Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Start Worrying
There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact. — Sir Arthur Conan DoyleTime is an independent measuring device that cannot be reversed, slowed down nor sped up, yet anyone with children would agree that twenty years goes by in a flash. When my son went off to college I told him that four years really wasn’t a long time. He didn’t agree, for him, it was an eternity away. My father thinks that it was only yesterday that the federal government came to Weymouth and took a large chunk of land and turned it into an Air Station. He says some people probably got paid, but for the most part they took what they wanted and used it for about 50 years and now they want big bucks to sell it back to us. I guess everyone around here benefitted by having the Air Station in our town. It seems like just a short time ago we’d have to stop playing in order to hear the sonic boom of the jets flying over, and it seemed just moments ago I had my college bound son on my shoulders watching the Blue Angels from our back yard.
However, our perception of time is dependent on the subject matter. It seems like a very long time ago the Air Station closed for good and Weymouth prepared for a brief economic void left by the Base’s absence, followed by a new era of prosperity at what was to be called Southfield. In fact it has been over ten years since the Tri-Town Development Corporation took over the old Air Base. If you had ever visited the South Weymouth Naval Air Station prior to its closing and were to take a ride down Shea Boulevard today, it will leave you wondering just exactly what Southfield is supposed to be. To find out the answer to that question you’ll have to visit the Southfield web site because nothing at the old Air Station even closely resembles what the web site describes.
As you enter Southfield from Route 18 and head down Commander Shea Boulevard you’ll notice a neatly kept roadway and new landscaping. Approximately a ½ mile down this road is Shea Memorial Grove, where the 
familiar jet airplane from the Air Base days sits. If you take a right just after the plane, there are a couple of new residential type buildings on the left. These buildings are used by Tri-Town Development, the overseers of Southfield construction, as offices and conference rooms. Passing these two small buildings, you will be entering Memorial Grove Boulevard which runs somewhat parallel to Route 18 all the way to where the Train Station is. This is probably about two miles. It is a wonderful, landscaped road, newly painted and curbed, with fancy old style street lighting. There is also a bike path and we’ll assume underground utilities. There are no buildings but there is a long, expensive looking, sturdy white fence, around ten feet high that runs the entire length of this parkway. Access to the road is blocked where the plane sits and security guards keep watch to make sure no one enters this area presumably to keep it undamaged and safe. That’s it. That’s Southfield. That’s what has taken ten years and 70 million dollars worth of investment. The Memorial Grove was built and is maintained by donations, so the work completed to date is the main entrance, new roadways totaling maybe four miles, two new residential structures, and the utilities running along the roads.
If you go straight at the plane memorial, continuing down Shea Boulevard you will see the same Air Station buildings that have been there for years, including the water tower and two airplane hangars. These buildings are not being properly maintained, some are being used, and non
e are boarded up or secured. The roofing and siding on the buildings are beginning to blow away, some windows are broken and the grass is growing long. On the left side of the Boulevard are the Coast Guard housing units which appear to be maintained and landscaped but do not have many tenants. It appears that a small amount of income is being attained from the likes of South Shore Hospital and some driver education companies.
So the hard reality of Southfield is that a whole lotta money has been spent on marketing, design, and preparation. There’s been ten years of meetings covering topics such as regulations, zoning, permitting and what to build and where. Yet, never at any time has anyone stated the obvious, which is, how do we make money? How do we get some buildings up with businesses in them that will generate revenue for the town? How do we get going on producing jobs for the people of Weymouth?
Conversely, right down the street, the South Shore Hospital has invested roughly the same amount of money ($90 million) in a new building at the corner of Route 18 and Columbian Street. This building, once completed will have taken approximately 1 ½ years to construct. If you add another year of planning to that, it is more than obvious that something could have been built at Southfield that could be producing income by now. Lastly, the best example of a company or plan in trouble is when those in charge start deflecting blame to others and try to allay fear by reassuring us there is no cause for concern. Whenever I hear someone repeatedly telling me “not to worry”, I start worrying.
POSTED BY STAN at June 3, 2009
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