u/rocketwidget

> The original 2018 proposal, a $938,000 appropriation requestapproved by Town Meeting in a 563-35 vote, included a 5-foot-wide sidewalk along the entire corridor. An additional $600,000 request was brought forward at the 2024 Annual Town Meeting to advance the design, but the design had been changed to include the shared-use path, or buffered bicycle lanes, as required by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s “Healthy Design Standards” to keep the project on the state- and federal-funded Transportation Improvement Plan, according to language on the warrant.

> “When we had those town meetings, everybody wanted sidewalks,” resident Barbara Fullerton said at May 14’s session. “I think sidewalks implies a 3-foot-wide or 4-foot-wide space where you can walk and maybe bike, but not a 10-foot-wide or 15-foot-wide space that is going to disrupt the front of your house.”

> The 2024 appropriation was approved by a 285-203 margin.

> To remain eligible for state funding, Mark Gravallese, a principal and manager of public infrastructure with HSH, said Weston must adhere to MassDOT’s guidelines, otherwise the state will allocate the money elsewhere.

If built, this shared use path would be: https://masstrailtracker.com/map?segment=360

The 2026 MassTrails10 include: Shining Sea Bikeway, MCRT: Wachusett Greenways Section, Alewife Brook Greenway to Mystic River Greenway, MCRT: Sudbury to Hudson Section, Marblehead Rail Trail, Manhan Rail Trail, Battle Road Trail, Twin Cities Rail Trail, World War II Veterans Memorial Trail, and Silvio O’Conte: Fort River Trail.

2025 MassTrails10: https://www.masstrails10.org/2025-trails.html

Brensley, a former Wayland Select Board member, won the MA Republican State Convention endorsement for Lt. Governor, receiving 56% of that vote.

Brensley’s campaign manager, Jason Ross, blamed the signature shortfall on a consultant she had hired, Republican Joe Bronske, to help her gather the 10,000 signatures she needed to get on the fall ballot.

As of Thursday, Brensley had no plans to suspend her campaign.

Edit: WBUR has significantly more details: https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/05/13/gop-lieutenant-governor-brensley-minogue

>Three different town clerks contacted the Secretary of State's office to flag forgery concerns, Brensley said. Deb O’Malley, a spokesperson for Secretary of State William Galvin, confirmed that “a few local clerks” had contacted the secretary’s Elections Division with concerns surrounding the signatures they received.

>Brensley's campaign collected 7,500 signatures before paying Bronske for services, said Jason Ross, Brensley’s campaign manager. Bronske was hired to collect 6,500 signatures at $5 per signature, Ross said. Bronske delivered less than 1,000 signatures and it’s not clear how many signatures were fraudulent, he added.

>Bronske told Brensley’s campaign that he collected 6,203 signatures and was on track to reach 7,000, according to an April 30 email obtained by the State House News Service that he sent to Brensley and Ross. In the email, Bronske also said he had collected $15,000 from the campaign. Brensley’s campaign finance filings through April don’t indicate her campaign has paid Bronske.

>Brensley has filed 4,058 signatures with the Secretary of State’s office as of Wednesday afternoon, O’Malley said. The Wayland Republican says she plans to file about 4,000 more.

>Candidates for statewide office had a May 5 deadline to file signatures with local election offices. Then, campaigns have until June 2 at 5 p.m. to bring them to the Secretary of State’s office, according to O’Malley.

>Brensley, a Wayland selectwoman and business executive, said her campaign is petitioning Galvin to give her and other campaigns who used Bronkse an additional two weeks to collect signatures. O’Malley said the secretary of state's office does not have the authority to alter or extend deadlines, as they are set by state law.