The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 29

DECEMBER 21, 1997 0 4 Opinion 2 Letters 3 Around the Towns 9 People Places 10 Sports 13 Home Garden 14 1 Wanted: Rivals for cable TV i Taxation without collection Condo owners protest lack of waste pickup services roviders By Alexander Reid GLOBE STAFF With rates going up again, communities seek salvation by pursuing competition By Robert Preer GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Randolph has invited outside cable television companies to propose competing service for the town. Brain-tree's municipal electric light department is considering building a town-owned cable TV system. Several communities south of Boston have had talks with RCN-Boston Edison, a fledgling Boston-based cable business looking to expand into the suburbs. Following a new round of hefty cable rate hikes, officials in the south suburbs are searching for ways to introduce competition to their cable providers, which function now as local monopolies. The Jan.

1 price increases, which range from 10 to 15 percent in most communi- Town trash collection policy has stoked fires of revolt among members of Braintree's condominium community, who say they are being taxed for a service they don't receive. Under a longstanding policy, the town provides no trash pickup in condo developments even though owners pay property taxes for municipal services. The upshot is that condo owners must buy private trash service while other local households get town-funded curbside pickups. Similar policies in other towns are also under fire from angry condo owners. "We pay taxes just like everybody else, why shouldn't we get the same services?" said Braintree condo owner Jack Phillips, with a question being raised by his many of neighbors in the Devon Woods development in south Braintree near the Holbrook line.

"It's blatantly unfair." Phillips, who has emerged as spokesman for a new group called Braintree Alliance for Trash Service, said, "We're not asking the town to give us anything we're not entitled to. This is a service we're paying for every time we pay our tax bill, and we're not getting it." While Braintree grapples with the issue, Quincy city councilors are poised to vote on condominium trash service next month after officials study the cost of changing the city's policy. Quincy's manager for municipal solid wastes and recycling, Michael Wheelwright, said the city will solicit bids for the service from waste-hauling companies. Action on the issue follows weeks of pressure from condominium groups in the city. TRASH, Page 7 i i Following a new round of hefty cable rate hikes, officials in the south suburbs are searching for ways to introduce competition to their cable providers, which function now as local monopolies.

ties, are the third cable rate hike in three years in many Massachusetts communities. "It's our opinion that the only way to contain these rate increases is through the introduction of competition," said Paul Dupuis, a member of the Randolph Cable Advisory Committee. "People are unhappy with the service and the cost," said Braintree Selectman Carl R. Vitag-liano. "It seems to be going up all of the time.

Maybe competition is the answer." Local and state officials have no power to regulate rates, which are set by the Federal Communications Commission using a formula that calculates the companies' costs. Cable companies say Norwood chief is off to chase new challenge GLOBE STAFF PHOTO JUSTINE EUEMENT Bernie Gilmetti of Whitman adjusts the lights on the family's Christmas tree, which seems to have burst through the roof seems it is; the tree, topped by a star, is a clever illusion. Winter's dark dawn brings holiday lights, a shift in life By Karen Hayes GLOBE CORRESPONDENT By Lisa Brems GLOBE CORRESPONDENT NORWOOD George DiBlasi is wrapping up a 16-year career as Norwood's police chief in which he carved out a reputation as a no-nonsense administrator who talks police work nonstop and takes community policing so seriously he rides his bike through neighborhoods chatting with passersby. But instead of reminiscing, he is impatient to start his new job as executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. The wait to take on a new challenge is made harder by the fact that for the past month he has been at home with a cast on a broken ankle and cannot drive.

But, as always, he can talk a mile a minute into a telephone. "It's a major league challenge," DiBlasi, 56, said of his upcoming job running the association that lobbies for the interests of police chiefs throughout the state. But, CHIEF, Page 6 they are not afraid of competition and to some extent are already facing it, from the increasingly popular satellite dish services. Satellite dishes offer similar programming to cable at comparable monthly prices but cost several hundred dollars to purchase and install. Because the dishes do not receive local over the air channels, users often subscribe to cable to get those stations.

About 6 million people nationwide have the dishes. "We expect competition, and we welcome it," said Rick Jenkinson, spokesman for MediaOne, which is the state's largest cable provider and serves 24 communities in the South Weekly circulation area. "We think we will CABLE, Page 7 morning and will beat a hasty retreat at 4:14 this afternoon. That means street lights, and any other dusk-to-dawn lighting run on photoelectric cells, will stay on longer today than any other day of the year, said David Jacobs, a spokesman for Eastern Edison, which provides electricity to Brockton and surrounding communities. But more electricity is used during the summer, when air conditioners run, than in winter, he said.

"What concerns us even more in the winter is it's a lot more uncomfortable to be without power when it's cold than it is when it's warm," he said. WINTER, Page 4 It's back. Flying in the face of last week's brief balmy break, with temperatures flirting with the 50s in most communities south of Boston, winter officially begins today at 3:07 p.m. The winter solstice means different things to different people. Today's season opener happens to be the shortest day of the year, with the least amount of daylight a gloomy prospect for those susceptible to seasonal affective disorder or cabin fever.

The sluggish sun did not rise until 7:10 this 'vhif hes it have to feel so urban and industrial so cold and hard? You need to design things according to their use. This is a suburban bcation. GBX RGE COMEAU, Canton Planning Board member, on plans for a new $1,3.2 million station and parking garage Rail station plan gives towns pause By Lisa Brems GLOBE CORRESPONDENT rage are drawing many local complaints. Critics say the design is too urban and worry more parking will mean more cars clogging local streets and nearby office parks. And after more than a decade of planning by Amtrak and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, some question the speed of the project timetable, which calls for completion by late 1999, when highspeed electrified Amtrak trains are due.

"This is their chance to build rage, he said. "Why does it have to feel so urban and industrial, so cold and hard? You need to design things according to their use. This is a suburban location," said Comeau. Use of natural materials other than concrete slabs would help, he said. At an informal regional meeting called by Westwood planners last month to review plans for the station project, "The listened and wrote things down, but they answered no questions," said Comeau, who was among attending officials STATION, Page 6 something that communities can be proud of, something that feels like a community asset," said Canton Planning Board member George Comeau.

He is not opposed to the garage per se, but since local boards have no jurisdiction over the state project, he questions whether local suggestions about design will carry much weight. Among Comeau's complaints about the projX'sed garage, which would entirely cover the 6-acre existing parking lot, it that it looks too much like the Quincy Adams ga On typical weekday mornings, all 850 legal parking spaces at the Route 128 Railroad Station are taken by 7 a.m. In addition, between 100 and 200 cars squeeze in illegally near the periphery of the lot, which straddles Dedham and Westwood near the Canton line. While few dispute the parking shortage and the woeful state of the station, plans for a new $43.2 million station and multistory parking ga (ass RENDERING COURTESY FREDERICK R. HARRIS CO.

A preliminary rendering shows the proposed Route 128 station and garage, which is sited at the junction of University Av enue and Green Lodge Street (split by rail tracks). Route 128 is in the background. Reporting on: Abington Avon Braintree Bridgewater Brockton Canton Carver Cohasset Dedham Duxbury East Bridgewater Easton Foxborough Halifax Hanover Hanson Hingham Holbrook Hull Kingston Lakeville Mansfield Marshfield Middleborough Milton Norton Norwell Norwood Pembroke Plymouth Plvmpton Quincy Randolph Ravnham Rockland Scituate Sharon Stoughton Walpole West Bridgewater Wesjwood Weymouth Whitman.