http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/dis ... 0228e2b428

Framingham compared to Hadley
By Dan O'Brien, a Collegian editor.

February 01, 2006

With all the recent talk about expanding the Route 9 area of Hadley - to include building a "SuperCenter" Wal-Mart, a Home Depot and a Lowe's - local officials should examine the effects that retail expansion had on one town at the other end of Route 9.

If you live in Eastern Massachusetts, like I do, then you probably understand the nightmare that comes with shopping along Route 9 in Natick or Framingham on a given weekend. My trip to buy a shirt at the Natick Mall on a recent Saturday afternoon turned into utter dread.

Maybe I should have known better, not to drive to the mall in the middle of the weekend. Unfortunately, my friend just moved to Framingham and I was driving back from her house when I needed to buy the shirt.

Why should Natick/Framingham be avoided? Because on a typical Saturday afternoon, traffic jams stretch for miles. These towns have virtually turned into shopping malls. (Sorry if you live in Framingham, but you know it's true).

If you are from the metro-west area of Boston, which I know a lot of UMass Amherst students are, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. Route 9 from Natick through Framingham is a wasteland of corporate America. Chain stores as far as the eye can see. Truly a depressing sight.

I'm not anti-business. Hey, people need to buy stuff, and retailers need to make a living, right? However, the problem with the Framingham retail district is that it isn't located somewhere on the outskirts of town, for example, in some area that needed to be revitalized. Rather, it has literally taken over the town.

Looking around Framingham, it's not all bad. There are some nice houses in quiet neighborhoods away from the malls. But to live and work in the town is likely a nightmare due to traffic alone. The road that connects the rest of the world to all the major retailers - Route 9 - isn't just a road; it's a major highway, which runs right through the center of town. You have to take it to get just about anywhere.

From a business perspective, Framingham is a gold mine for retailers. Over the years, the town has grown into the retail center of the Metropolitan Boston area at the unfortunate expense of the town's people.

I recently talked to a real estate broker from the town of Southboro, which is located next to Framingham. The broker told me that Framingham property values are down, crime is up and he would "never buy a home there."

The low costs of rent undoubtedly attracted certain aspects of the population to live in Framingham, specifically, Brazilian immigrants. This has been met with both good and bad results.

One good thing that's happened: Framingham's recent Brazilian renaissance in the town center. In the past 10 years, these immigrants have truly revitalized Framingham Center for the better, with an array of Brazilian restaurants and shops.

On the flip side, there are many more Brazilian immigrants who don't work in these fancy shops, and many of these immigrants are illegal. Who do you think works all these low-paying, retail jobs at stores like Wal-Mart? You guessed it.

We all know that low property values and higher crime rates go hand-in-hand. To add to the town's demise, a recent article in the MetroWest Daily News pointed out that the number of level three sex offenders moving into Framingham has gone up, even though the offenders have no prior ties to the town.

In a high-profile news story, on Dec. 17, 2005, Evandro Doirado allegedly kidnapped a 25-year-old woman and her two-year-old son from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Framingham. Doirado had just allegedly stabbed a fellow drug dealer in nearby Natick and thought he killed him (the drug dealer survived).

Fearing that he would go to jail for murder, Doirado hid in the Wal-Mart parking lot, waiting for a nice-looking female to have one last "fling," police said. After he abducted the woman and her son, he allegedly raped her in a local parking lot, then forced her to drive about 60 miles to Plymouth, where he continually raped her in a hotel room for over 48 hours. As all of this was happening, her young son watched in horror. To make matters worse, police now believe that Doirado has the HIV virus. Doirado is an illegal Brazilian immigrant that has lived in the United States for nine years.

Now we must ask ourselves, is Framingham the kind of town we want Hadley to become?