Four Columns Realty Blog

Athol Bird and Nature Club 2010 Calendar

When was the last time you sat down and read a calendar?

The Athol Bird and Nature Club 2010 Calendar celebrates what's special about the North Quabbin Region with hundreds of nature notes (January 3: "Last Black bears go into hibernation"), a monthly quiz ("If you traveled at a snail's pace, how much ground would you cover in one hour?") and local photos. GREAT local photos!

If I had to choose a favorite photo, it would be July's pair of young loons riding on their mother's back. But it's tough to choose just one. Each month displays another captivating close-up of birds or other wildlife in the North Quabbin Region. Orange, Athol, Royalston, New Salem, Phillipston, Warwick and the Quabbin itself are all represented.

Collect all 12 months.... Buy the calendar for $9.95. The price is reasonable for all you get and, besides, the profits go to local environmental groups. The calendars make great gifts. Paul Riendeau bought ten.

(Full disclosure: Four Columns Realty likes the calendar so much that we purchased ads in it. Please see our ads on the March and August pages.)

Quiz Answer - According to September's quiz, a snail's pace is about 25 feet per hour. Sounds like a Boston traffic jam. Living is better in the North Quabbin Region.

Teaching Tech Skills in Athol MA

In my last post of 2008, I pointed out how Athol High School students are learning about technology from Chris Dawson, a respected authority on education technology who is the Technology Director of the Athol-Royalston Regional School District.

Take a look at the revamped technology curriculum that Chris is proposing for the Athol MA High School.  From Microsoft office to Google Docs, from web design basics to Web 2.0, CSS and XML, from programming to database design, these Athol courses will teach students up-to-date technology skills. Students who graduate from Athol schools will be prepared for today's careers.

I wish I were back in high school.

Starrett Cuts Its Work Week

L.S. Starrett Company, Athol's biggest employer, "will reduce its work week for most of the 600 workers at its Athol factory and offices," according to today's Greenfield Recorder.

Ouch! While Starrett deserves credit for keeping everyone on board (although with less hours) instead of socking some of its workers with layoffs, the cutbacks are going to hurt.

The ups and downs of Starrett have been intertwined with the prosperity of Athol for more than a century. Starrett's web site says "it is not uncommon to see devoted generations of toolmakers with 30 or more years of experience" employed in its Athol MA facility. Those of us who have lived here a while know this is true.

Will the big stimulus bill coming out of Washington produce a rebound for companies like Starrett and towns like Athol? Probably not as much as all of us would like. The bill is bloated with wasteful spending, like 200 million dollars for grass replacement on the National Mall.

For so much money, we deserve better.

CSI Athol

Athol law enforcement is up to date. Last week, Athol MA Police Officer Todd Neale and Athol MA Deputy Fire Chief Tom Lozier used satellite technology to track down an allegedly abducted Athol girl.

Using GPS coordinates obtained through the girl's cell phone, they traced the girl to a highway intersection in Virginia. From Athol, Massachusetts, they used Google Street View to scan around the intersection and identify the motel where the girl was being secluded. The Athol police then contacted Virginia police, who went to the motel and found the girl.

Good work, guys!

Read more here, here, here and here.

Athol Ranks #16 in Technology

The Town of Athol ranks #16 in the state in its support for technology development and growth, according the Massachusetts High Technology Council's latest MassTrack municipal rankings.

The High Tech Council ranks all 351 Massachusetts towns "to measure the support of state and local officials for the priorities of the technology economy."

While Athol slipped a bit, from #8 last year, Athol stayed in the top 5% of all Massachusetts towns. Neighboring Orange ranks #32, placing it in this year's top 10%.

Our friends in Somerville (#73) are astonished. Noting that Cambridge ranks #213, they ask, "How is the home of MIT behind Athol?"

A long time ago, I lived in Somerville. My home was in the Winter Hill section, a gritty neighborhood where they understood towns like Athol. For the benefit of those who have forgotten that there's intelligent life beyond Route 495, let me help you:

• Do you know which of the 3 towns has the highest percentage of its workforce engaged in technology? If you guessed "the home of MIT", you blew it. According to MassTrack, over 28% of Athol's workforce works in technology, compared to a bit more than 22% in Cambridge and less than 10% in Somerville.  

• The tech jobs are close to home, too. According to MassTrack again, the typical Athol worker spends 24.2 minutes commuting to work, only slightly more than the typical Cambridge worker (22.5 minutes) and less than the typical Somerville worker (27.1 minutes).
  

• Athol High School's most recent MCAS scores were 77% in reading proficiency and 72% in math proficiency, comparable to Cambridge Rindge and Latin and 10 points above Somerville High.  

• Athol High students are learning about technology, not just testing. Chris Dawson, the Technology Director of the Athol-Royalston Regional School District, is a nationally respected authority on education technology.   

• Athol gives you something Cambridge and Somerville lack: sensible real estate values. Just take a look at Athol real estate prices, Orange real estate prices and similar deals in other North Quabbin Region towns.
  

Hey Somerville - Athol is just 86 minutes away. Come on out.