Tells Board Eight Houses In Construction; Asks Board’s Attitude
George F. Willett, in a discussion of a residential program with the Norwood selectmen on Tuesday night, told the Board that it was essential to the carrying through of the Westover program that he have some indication of the Board’s attitude toward building of the higher type of house. The Massachusetts Housing Association, he said, had lent their aid to the maintenance of the Westover program with the understanding that some definite answer to the question of local cooperation would be given by the first of the year, and while he asked nothing specific of the Board he would like to know how they intended to deal with the problem.
Mr. Willett said that the desire was to preserve the Westover area for homes from $10,000 to $15,000 which in the course of ten to fifteen years would make the difference of $100,000 or $150,000 to the town in revenue. He reminded the selectmen that a pledge had been “of agreeing to face the facts and accept the facts as represented by the best housing experts.”
Referring to the threat of increased expenditures for the town Mr. Willett said that the town should spend money only where it can see a tax return, and also that Norwood was efficiently and economically run at the present and could look for little saving in th, ordinary process of government “Our housekeeping here,” he said, “is as good as Brookline’s or Newton’s or as any town in the state. The only hope, he said, to a tax rate reduction lay in putting houses on vacant land in the townhouses which would bring a return to the town. He suggested that the selectmen appoint a committee of citizens to study the problem and evolve methods to get building in the town underway.
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)