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Mailing lists keep up the chatter

You don't have to be an elected town official to have an impact on how the community is run. Hundreds of residents let their fingers do the talking through a handful of mailing lists that are generating plenty of buzz.

More than 700 residents sound off on everything from problems with their neighborhoods to proposed new developments, through a server open to Town Meeting members, town officials, residents and those with general interest.

The mailing lists - headquartered at frambors.syslang.net - have made for a strong sounding board since Steve Orr of Wayside Inn Road started them about two years ago.

"It's a wonderful tool for me to get a sense of what's important to the public," said Planning Board Chairwoman Helen Lemoine. "It's another way to hear what's out there in terms of concerns.

"It's nice that people can make their feelings known without having to pick up the phone, because a lot of residents are hesitant to call us at home. It alerts us to an issue we may not have been aware of, and encourages us to look into it and put our staff on it right away," she said.

Orr, a Precinct 1 Town Meeting member for three years, started the mailing list about two years ago, going door to door complaining about what he viewed as shoddy work being done by Doeskin Estates developer Chris Kotsiopoulis.

"It started out being just the neighborhood, then eventually it grew to all of Precinct 1," said Orr. "Now the whole town is involved. The thing just kind of took off."

There are now four lists through Orr's portal: Frambors (which is short for Framingham neighbors), which is open to the public; Precinct 1 Town Meeting members, which maxes out at 12 people; Danforth Farms, a discussion group on the Planned Unit Development project in Saxonville; and Town Meeting members, which also includes all elected and appointed town officials.

A fledgling list focused on anything but government - FramCom, or Framingham community - has more than 60 members who recommended places to eat, get a haircut or walk your pets.

"The trick is to find more channels for people to find out what's going on in the town," said Orr. "I expect (the lists) to get much bigger. Word of mouth is slowly spreading. It's just going to continue to grow."

The e-mail exchanges are monitored but not moderated, said Orr. One woman was thrown off the list for making personal attacks, and a Town Meeting member was on the verge of being booted before losing his spot on the floor.

"Most people are fairly civilized," said Orr. "Still, it's not for everybody."

Orr spends about 15 minutes a day doing administrative work on the lists, and also researches some of the topics posted by other residents and getting more information for his own contributions.

He has saved all e-mails since January on the site, which also features a photo album of some of the town's newsmakers and noteworthy events that often spin off into townwide chats.

"It's an extremely beneficial information exchange," said Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Joel Winett. "You can learn about the articles that are coming up or other things you might not have known otherwise."

Winett would like to see all Town Meeting members sign up for that list.

"I'm an active responder," he said. "But I think there's more we can do about it."

Orr sees the site as an important way to get people talking about the town.

"Historically lots of towns have operated by keeping things quiet," he said. "This is kind of a flashlight to eliminate things being kept in the dark. Now people hear about things that don't always make it to print or are in another part of town.

"If someone has a complaint about something, a lot of times the response time is cut down because of what we're doing here. It's happening pretty regularly and it's going to become a lot more common," he said.

More than 100 people turned out for the most recent meeting of the rail trail task force, said Orr, largely because the issue was debated through the Frambors portal.

Other hot topics have included the failed Morency Woods land deal with Natick, and the trials and tribulations in Doeskin Estates, including a mudslide, a wall that was too high, and illegal tree cutting, said Orr.

Selectman Chris Ross is on the Frambors and TMM lists. He has not yet sent any e-mails, but reads them regularly.

"It's a bit like talk radio," he said. "People are free to express their opinions. I'm not sure there's always full discussion on things, but it's a free form way of getting information.

"Steve Orr has done us all a favor. I know a few people have even gotten their dogs back," said Ross with a laugh.

One thing Orr wants made clear: "This is not a chat line. We want people discussing whatever issue is relevant. If it's government, it's fair game."

Selectmen Chairman Charles Sisitsky is a regular reader and occasional contributor to the e-mail discussions. He has noticed a lot of attention paid to Doeskin, Framingham Community Charter School and downtown mixed-use zones.

"I think it's pretty neat," he said. "A lot of people put their two cents in and we can get a sense of what people are feeling on various topics. You can also nip it in the bud if there's some misinformation out there.

"There are some interesting observations, some interesting comments. You see a lot of different people talking after a while, so you know a lot of people are reading it and are interested," he said.

Users need not worry about being sent e-mails outside of the exchanges with other residents, said Orr. Only subscribers can post to the message board and the archive is private, so e-mail addresses can't be accessed there, he said.

"It's physically impossible for anyone to get any spam in any way," said Orr.

More lists could be on the horizon, including one for neighborhood topics, such as skunks on the south side of town. Another possible list would give residents a wrapup of actions taken by various boards and committees.

"The ultimate goal is to increase public involvement," said Orr. He has adopted the philosophy made famous by Arlo Guthrie in "Alice's Restaurant": If four guys do it, then you've got a movement.

"We've definitely made an impact," he said. "The ability to bring me up to speed on things that happened before I came here is a valuable tool. Even people who don't speak are still learning."