Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

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Natick Election 2023, political candidates advertising

Natick Report does not endorse candidates for political office. We do accept political advertising, as a business transaction, from all candidates for any office, as well as related organizations, or organizations involved with ballot initiatives. We accept these not to express the views of Natick Report, but to help pay the costs of publishing. Natick Report recognizes that political advertising can and does inform voters, and our editors are committed to fairness and freedom of expression. We follow generally accepted journalistic policies, and all candidates have equal opportunities to advertise. Any advertisement is considered political if it involves a political figure, party or government issue, regardless of whether an election is taking place. Natick Report reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement. Natick Report will decline advertisements that it knows or believes to be misleading, inaccurate, fraudulent or illegal, or that fail to comply, in Natick Report’s sole discretion, with its standards of decency, taste or dignity. Natick Report reserves the right to remove any messages that we deem are inflammatory, libelous or in bad taste. Like all quality publishers of original journalism, Natick Report maintains a clear separation between news and advertising content. Advertising that attempts to blur this distinction in a manner that, in Natick Report‘s sole judgment, confuses readers will be rejected. Stating disagreement with or campaigning against a candidate for public office, a political party, or public administration is generally permissible. Natick Report reserves the right to ask for verification of claims made in political advertising. Political ads must not include accusations or attacks relating to an individual’s personal life. The distinction and decision will be made solely by the management of Natick Report. All political advertisements must include all information required by local, state and federal law, and the advertiser is solely responsible for compliance. An advertiser will not be permitted to buy up all or excessive inventory (ad spaces).

Space availability and rates for 2022 election, front page

Political advertising, Town election 2023

Details here

2023 political ad rates and space availability:

Flat fee of $200 for an ad to appear under news story #1 through Tuesday, March 28, 2023. All political ads will run in a single space, and ads will rotate approximately every five seconds. To run a political ad, please email an ad image in jpeg format with dimensions of 540 x 150. Payment is online at this link. Please hit the yellow “donate” button and follow the prompts. Once payment is received, the ad will be put up by 5pm of the day it is received. For payment received after 5pm, the ad will appear the next day by 5pm. Contact Deborah Brown with questions at deborahcb100@gmail.com or 508-397-4394.

Advertise on Natick Report

Natick Report is an online news site that tells you “more than you really need to know about Natick, Massachusetts.” We cover whatever is going on in the community from school news to everyday occurrences, always in our inimitable Natick Report style. Our readers are smart, active and want to know about the best that’s out there for themselves and their families.

We appreciate all of our advertising support. It helps cover the cost of running Natick Report and providing an independent and community-focused news source for the town.

According to the US Census, Natick residents are college educated, with 67% holding a bachelor’s degree. The median household income is $148,000.

The best way by far to reach Natick’s 36,000 residents is to advertise on Natick Report.

Email deborahcb100@gmail.com to learn more about becoming one of our advertising partners.

Thanks,

Bob and Deborah Brown

Payments

You can pay via Paypal or credit card, via Venmo, or by check.

(While button says “donate,” you can use it to pay for ads.)

In addition to paying by PayPal or credit card, you can pay via Venmo: @swellesleyreport-natickreport

Sponsor our Restaurants page

Natick Report’s Restaurants Page lists more than 70 dining options in town. Our restaurants page is wildly popular, generating more than 13K page views in 2022.

We also cross-reference Natick Report’s Restaurants Page every chance we get on our other local news site, The Swellesley Report. That’s a lot of potential visibility for YOUR restaurant. 

Advertise on our Summer Camps page:

Your summer camp featured at the top of our Natick Summer Camps (and Beyond) page: $300/month

Basic camp listings on the page are free. We charge $300/year to include an image with your listing ($500 to promote your listing on both the Natick and Swellesley Report camp pages).

General ad placement areas

  • Ad to the right of our masthead on homepage
  • Ad spaces above our top post
  • Ad spaces under Post #1
  • Ad spaces under Post #2
  • Ad spaces under Post #3
  • Right hand side of site, ad space #1 – #3
  • Right hand side of site, ad space #4 – #6
  • Right hand side of site, ad space #7 and down

Daily Email Newsletter Ad Rates

We have more than 1,400 subscribers to our daily email newsletter.
Advertise to them for $150/month

Sponsored Posts

250 words, two pictures. Written by Natick Report to the advertiser’s specifications. Advertiser sees and comments on post before it goes live. We generally go back and forth a couple of times with Sponsored Posts. Ad is sticky as our top post for one day, then drops down the site as we get new stories, however, ad stays on the front page for its entire one-week run.
Rate: $300/week

Recent examples of Sponsored Posts:

Political advertising, Town election 2023

Details here

Ad Rates:

Flat fee of $200 for an ad to appear under news story #1 through Tuesday, March 28.

All political ads will run in a single space, and ads will rotate approximately every five seconds.

To run a political ad, please email an ad image in jpeg format with dimensions of 540 x 150.

Payment is online at this link. Please hit the yellow “donate” button and follow the prompts. Once payment is received, the ad will be put up by 5pm of the day it is received. For payment received after 5pm, the ad will appear the next day by 5pm.

Contact Deborah Brown with questions at deborahcb100@gmail.com or 508-397-4394.

Your summer camp featured at the top of our Natick Summer Camps (and Beyond) page: $300/month

Basic camp listings on the page are free. We charge $300/year to include an image with your listing ($500 to promote your listing on both the Natick and Swellesley Report camp pages).

General ad placement areas

  • Ad to the right of our masthead on homepage
  • Ad spaces above our top post
  • Ad spaces under Post #1
  • Ad spaces under Post #2
  • Ad spaces under Post #3
  • Right hand side of site, ad space #1 – #3
  • Right hand side of site, ad space #4 – #6
  • Right hand side of site, ad space #7 and down

Daily Email Newsletter Ad Rates

We have more than 1,400 subscribers to our daily email newsletter.
Advertise to them for $150/month

Sponsored Posts

250 words, two pictures. Written by Natick Report to the advertiser’s specifications. Advertiser sees and comments on post before it goes live. We generally go back and forth a couple of times with Sponsored Posts. Ad is sticky as our top post for one day, then drops down the site as we get new stories, however, ad stays on the front page for its entire one-week run.
Rate: $300/week

Recent examples of Sponsored Posts:

Political advertising, Town election 2023

Details here

Ad Rates:

Flat fee of $200 for an ad to appear under news story #1 through Tuesday, March 28.

All political ads will run in a single space, and ads will rotate approximately every five seconds.

To run a political ad, please email an ad image in jpeg format with dimensions of 540 x 150.

Payment is online at this link. Please hit the yellow “donate” button and follow the prompts. Once payment is received, the ad will be put up by 5pm of the day it is received. For payment received after 5pm, the ad will appear the next day by 5pm.

Contact Deborah Brown with questions at deborahcb100@gmail.com or 508-397-4394.

Lots of chances to meet Natick election candidates

by Leave a Comment

You’re going to know Natick’s candidates for town-wide office better than you know your own family members (well, unless the candidates are family) if you watch all the different forums leading to the March 28 election.

Candidates are also reaching out to voters through websites, social media, and other means, hosting informal get-togethers at coffee shops, the rail trail, and you-name-it.

Coffee with a Purpose

This group has been meeting with candidates on Monday at 9am.

Catch up on past meetings with Library Board of Trustees and School Committee candidates on Youtube.

Select Board candidates are scheduled as follows.

Feb 27: Kristen Pope
Mar 6: Kat Monahan
Mar 13: Rich Sidney

Select Board Candidates Forum (organized by Natick Democratic Town Committee)

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 7 – 8:30 pm

This online event has been organized by the Natick Democratic Town Committee. Register in advance to attend.

Four candidates are running for two open positions on the Natick Select Board.

Climate Conversations with the Candidates (organized by EcoNatick)

Moderators will ask Select Board and School Committee candidates questions about how they will help lead Natick toward 2030 Net Zero goals.

Climate Conversations with Select Board Candidates – Tuesday, March 7, 7:00-8:15pm,
moderated by Pat Conaway.

Topics to be addressed by all candidates include:
– New ’Specialized Stretch Code’ Adoption for new construction, large renovations
– Flooding and Storm Water Management
        – Expanding Safe Transportation and Climate Resilience Options for All in Natick
  (with an emphasis on Environmental Justice Communities)

– Increasing Natick’s Tree Canopy, Open Space protection, Recreational facilities

          (Natick’s CPA Commission will have recommend investments for CPA funds)

Climate Conversations with School Committee Candidates – Tuesday March 21, 7:00-8:15pm, moderated by Ian Mevorach.

Register is open to get zoom links for these forums.If you’d like to offer input on  topics for the candidates to address, contact Rick Devereux at erdevereux@gmail.com.  Please use the subject heading: “Select Board Topic,” or “School Committee Topic.”

Questions can be also be submitted during the forum using the zoom chat box.  They will be added as time allows.

EcoNatick-highRes

Select Board candidates forum with Natick for Black Lives Matter

Saturday, March 11, online (link to come)

The session will be moderated by Marie Younger Blackburn, who will interview the candidates.

Natick 2023 Candidate Forum (organized by Yes for Natick, a political action committee)

Monday, March 13 at 7pm
The forum will be moderated by Deborah and Bob Brown of Natick Report. Oh, we know them.

Register for this online event.

Submit your questions for the candidates at YesForNatick@gmail.com.

This Yes for Natick forum will be recorded for telecast by Natick Pegasus.

yesfornatick

Ask about Advertising on Natick Report.

Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

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Natick senior wins $6K water bill abatement appeal

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Here’s a heartwarming tale to take you into the holidays: A Natick senior recently appealed her unusually high water and sewer bill, and the Select Board couldn’t deny the longtime resident’s compelling story.

Rita Aude, who her son Robert Audi described as being widowed and disabled, is a 30-year resident of the town living on a fixed income (Note: their last names are spelled slightly differently). When she received a shockingly high water and sewer bill in $4,745 in February she soon after contacted the town, which visited the property and determined a toilet was constantly running. Aude had a plumber fix the problem the next day.

Unfortunately, the new quarter was already underway, so the bill for that period came in high, too, at $1,490. Aude’s typical bills were for $90-$150 per quarter, and her water usage returned to the normal level once the plumbing issue was fixed. The overall bill for the 2 quarters would have accounted for about 25% of her yearly income from social security.

It turns out that the running toilet was in a seldom-used half bathroom attached to Aude’s bedroom. “Had we known we would of course repaired the toilet right away, knowing that it was putting out close to 1,500 gallons of water every day at its peak,” Audi said. His mother uses the main bathroom, which is outfitted with handrails, not the half-bath, described by the son as being akin to an airplane restroom in size.

The town issued what Town Administrator Jamie Errickson termed a “tighter” water and sewer abatement/adjustment policy effective in mid-2021. It was designed to make decisions for town officials less subjective and more clear, which among other things helped the Natick shrink its backlog of abatement requests.

The town rejected Aude’s initial request for abatement for not meeting its criteria, but steered an appeal of that decision to the Select Board, which serves as Natick’s water and sewer commissioners and can use its discretion in deciding on such matters. That’s what brought Robert Audi all the way from Sturbridge to Natick for a nighttime Select Board meeting on Nov. 16. (view discussion about 45 minutes into the Pegasus recording).

The Select Board considers the case

Following Audi’s statement, which included his mention of joining the Natick WaterSmart Program to get alerted if his mom’s water or sewage usage spikes, the Select Board members mulled the issue. Errickson explained that 1 option would be charging a resident whose case is legit a lower rate similar to their usual rate. In Aude’s case, that would have reduced her bill by a couple thousand dollars, and a motion was made to do that.

But then another motion was made to abate a full $6,000, leaving Aude to pay her usual amount.

Select Board member Michael Hickey said he’s always been sympathetic to this sort of situation. After hearing about the circumstances and that Audi had traveled east to help his mother (“what a nice son”), Hickey said: “I could not in good conscience expect this resident to pay anything approaching anything with four figures…”

Board member Rich Sidney, who made the motion to abate $6,000, said “We have here an elderly person who is trying desperately to stay in her house. This is something we’ve called our values for years, and we want to support her ability to stay in town and live her life. I think this is an unusual situation—she fixed the problem as soon as she knew about it, it’s not like she let it go for months. That would change my mind. I’m very empathetic to the circumstances.”

Board member Kathryn Coughlin, also in support, said “It’s really good to have anchoring values in… a political philosophy. But when it comes to applying that in a very specific situation with human beings and real world circumstances, it’s good to be able to reconsider.”

Bruce Evans, another board member in support of the big abatement, said “Policies are pieces of paper, people are people.”

Chair Paul Joseph made the decision unanimous, though acknowledged he’s previously voted against abatements, citing homeowner responsibility

“Consider this your compensation for advertising the WaterSmart Program on behalf of our community,” he quipped.

(In fact, I signed up the day after I heard this session.)

Natick WaterSmart Program logo

Fall in Natick: Signs of the season

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We’ve reached peak color in Natick this fall. The yellows and oranges, the reds and browns. The blacks and blues, the purples and greens. Yes, lawn signs are everywhere, both on private property and on public land, where they shouldn’t be.

You know the hot spots, along the stretch of Rte. 135 near the dog park, in South Natick at the intersection of Union/Pleasant/Eliot, and even on school grounds.  The offenders are many, from political campaigns to private schools to realtors to companies that yes, sell yard signs. Extreme signage displays have been seen in town of late, such as those urging people to slow the @!(#% down, but hey, do what you will on your own property.

 

wilson school sign and yard signs

 

Section 6               Signs in Public Ways or on Public Property

No person shall place any unauthorized or non-conforming sign within the right-of-way of any street or on public property. The Building Commissioner is authorized to take down and remove such an unauthorized or non-conforming sign. Such sign shall be retained by the Building Commissioner for a period of thirty days after its removal. The owner of such sign may reclaim it within thirty days of its removal by submitting satisfactory proof of ownership to the Building Commissioner. If such sign is not claimed within such thirty day period, the Building Commissioner may cause such sign to be destroyed without incurring any liability to the Town or any of its Agents.

The issue even came up during the South Natick dam discussion at the Oct. 3 Select Board meeting (about 1 hour and 24 minutes) when a Save Natick Dam proponent said that some of their signs had been removed. That led to a brief discussion about when the town will take down signs put up on public land. We’ve heard Select Board pleas to the public in the past to at least remember to remove such yard signs after events being promoted have taken place.

yard signs

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