Category: YourArlington

  • As solar advocates push for streamlined permitting, installer claims Arlington remains ahead of the curve 

    In the face of federal attacks on the clean energy movement, players in the Massachusetts solar industry are pushing for state reforms to smooth out bumps in the solar installation process. And one particular barrier is weighing heavy on the minds of installers and advocacy groups alike. 

    “Permitting is the state’s biggest blocker when it comes to residential installation,” said David Bridge, president of Great Sky Solar, a local installer based in Lexington. “Arlington is easily the best town to operate in in the state. The main problems the state has are problems that Arlington has solved.”

    Each of Massachusetts’ 351 municipalities require different permits, installers say. Some claim the decentralized system entangles installers in red tape, exacerbating delays, costs and administrative burdens. 

    On Thursday, advocates urged Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a slew of clean energy bills directed at expanding and improving the state’s solar sector during a meeting held by the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. 

    A bill pushing for the statewide introduction of an online permitting software drew support from an array of industry figures advocating for expedited permit applications. 

    “This legislation would modernize and streamline residential solar permitting,” said Trish Fields, executive director of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England, during her testimony. “It seeks to make solar easier to deploy, more affordable and more equitable across the commonwealth.” 

    If passed, the bill, an act to facilitate distributed energy resources in the commonwealth, would implement the Smart Residential Solar Permitting Platform, an online software that issues permits instantly for residential solar photovoltaic systems. 

    As of July, 125 jurisdictions in Massachusetts still required in-person permitting. 

    Arlington employs an online system which enhances efficiency, said Bridge. Great Sky Solar completes 20 to 30 projects in the town each year. 

    “Arlington uses permitting portal OpenGov, which is the easiest permitting portal to navigate through,” said Byron Johnson, a project manager at Great Sky Solar. “Other towns use more challenging permitting portals that make it hard to have an open communication with the administrators and inspectors.” 

    When applying for a permit in Arlington, the average turnaround from submission to issuance is typically a week, said Johnson. In other jurisdictions, it can sometimes take months.

    James Manzer, senior solar designer at regional installer ReVision Energy, said streamlining permitting in the commonwealth would reduce non-hardware expenses, which include labor and administrative costs. 

    “If you want to decrease the costs of solar, lower the soft costs of permitting,” he said. 

    Advocates asserted that lightening the bureaucratic load lugged by installers will help mitigate the impact of federal actions aimed at dismantling the clean energy industry. 

    “Federal rollbacks and declining tax incentives threaten local companies’ clean energy jobs and progress toward the state’s climate goals,” said Fields. “That’s why state leadership is essential.” 

    The passage of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July cut the lifespan of residential solar tax incentives short, leaving residents across the country scrambling to panel their roofs before the 30 percent tax credit expires on Dec. 31. 

    Bridge said Great Sky Solar has seen a 250 percent spike in interest since the legislation was passed.  

    “We’ve seen some concerns increase, with people trying to access the credits before they expire,” said Talia Fox, sustainability manager for the town of Arlington. “It’s something on people’s minds.” 

    After the credit is slashed, installers expect customer interest to initially wane, before eventually bouncing back. 

    “The tax credit was nice to have, but it wasn’t necessary to have for the adoption of solar, because unfortunately our electricity costs are so high,” said Bridge. 

    Eversource, the provider supplying approximately 640,000 Massachusetts residents with energy, has announced customers will face a 13% price increase this winter. The average bill is set to rise by about $41. 

    An aging grid, influx of power-hungry data centers and increased demand for energy will likely cause electricity costs to continue climbing, according to clean energy advocates. 

    Installers and activists believe solar, a quickly accessible and readily available energy source, will play a significant role in meeting the skyrocketing demand. 

    “Renewables are as powerful as they’ve ever been,” said Manzer. “We plan to be here for a long time.”

  • Arlington students, teachers advocate for mandatory financial education

    How do you set up a long-term financial plan? How do you tackle credit card debt? How do you pay off your student loans? 

    These questions left over 100 students at Arlington High School stumped. 

    Yaxin Zhang, a senior at Arlington High and founder of financial literacy nonprofit Project 57, surveyed around 300 of her peers on their basic financial knowledge earlier this year. 

    She found that nearly all surveyed students felt financial education was important, around 30% were confident in their financial literacy skills and roughly 20% were actually financially literate. 

    Zhang presented her findings to the Legislature’s Committee of Education during a Sept. 16 hearing on a bill to require financial education in schools, backed by nonprofits, students and educators concerned young people are entering adult life financially ill-prepared. 

    “These survey results are symptoms, not the diagnosis,” said Zhang during her testimony. “The financial illiteracy epidemic will continue to spread across our districts if we continue to stagnate.” 

    The proposed legislation calls for the establishment of a financial literacy trust fund, fed by private and public sources, which would support mandatory financial literacy courses in elementary, middle and high schools across the state. 

    “Massachusetts prides themselves on having a strong educational system, yet we fail in this area.” Ian MacKay, personal finance teacher at AHS

    “It’s been a long-time coming,” said Cedric Turner, founder of financial education nonprofit Empower Yourself LTD. “There have been people pushing this for years.” 

    A slew of bills focused on ramping up youth financial education have been pitched in the past decade, but none have successfully instituted a financial literacy requirement. 

    While 35 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance to graduate, Massachusetts is not one of them. 

    “[We are] behind the eight ball on this,” said Ian MacKay, a personal finance teacher at Arlington High. “Massachusetts prides themselves on having a strong educational system, yet we fail in this area.” 

    If passed, the legislation would likely impel schools to funnel resources into recruiting and training finance and economic teachers. 

    “There is a financial cost to it, but most states do it,” said MacKay. “Massachusetts can do it too, if they so choose.” 

    Squeezing another mandatory course into tightly packed student schedules may prove to be a challenge, said Michael Kozuch, director of history and social studies at Arlington High. 

    “If this bill was to pass, the question would become what would we give up?” said Kozuch.

    Despite potential obstacles, both Kozuch and MacKay believe financial education will help reduce the number of students tangled up in financial distress and crime. 

    In 2024, New Englanders lost over $446 million to internet crime, a 43% rise from 2023, with investment fraud responsible for the largest chunk of the losses, according to the 2024 FBI internet crime report. Massachusetts residents alone reported more than $338 million in losses. 

    “[Students] need to understand how the system works, so they are not vulnerable to corporations that want to take advantage of them,” said Kozuch. 

    Arlington High currently offers two personal finance courses, Introduction to Personal Finance and The Economics of Personal Finance. The latter is a Syracuse University Dual Enrollment course introduced to the school by MacKay around seven years ago. 

    Between 25 to 75 students typically take a personal finance course each year, said MacKay. This year, roughly 100 students enrolled. 

    Zhang said she has noticed an uptick in the number of young people seeking to understand financial systems. 

    “[Covid-19] exposed a lot of the economic weaknesses in our system, and the financial vulnerability of many families,” she said. “As we move into the Trump administration, there’s been a lot of confusion over student loans, tariffs, inflation, and the economy.” 

    When students do not elect to take an economics or finance class, they are left to learn about money from their parents. 

    MacKay said this can lead to significant equity issues, as children with financially irresponsible parents and no access to a basic financial education tend to inherit poor money habits. 

    “It’s the students who don’t think about money, who don’t care about money, they are more likely to find themselves in financial distress in their lives,” said MacKay. “I need to reach the students who aren’t being taught at home.”  

  • Tonight: Wildlife advocates want to pause fishing at Menotomy Rocks Park

    Fishing line and gear collected by Ellen and Kevin Kravitz.

    Wildlife advocates are asking the town to temporarily prohibit fishing at Hill’s Pond in Menotomy Rocks Park after a great blue heron was found dead and entangled in fishing gear there.

    The dead heron was discovered in April with a hook in its wing and line wrapped around its legs, months after two herons were injured at the pond last fall, both entangled in fishing gear.

    The heron’s death prompted Save Arlington Wildlife to call for an immediate pause on recreational fishing at the pond. Laura Kiesel, founder of the wildlife advocacy group, will present its proposed restrictions tonight, April 29,  to Arlington’s Parks and Recreation Commission. This meeting was rescheduled from April 22.

    Town’s response to date

    Natasha Waden, Arlington’s recreation director, said she could not speak with YourArlington about Save Arlington Wildlife’s proposal and referred a reporter to the town’s public information officer, Joan Roman. In an emailed response, Roman said the town has not seen the proposal, and she did not answer a question about the feasibility of prohibiting fishing.

    A temporary ban on fishing at the 3-acre pond would give the town time to assess fishing waste and injured animals there, Kiesel said. Depending on the outcome, it could lead advocates to push for a permanent ban.

    “If it eradicates the fishing line issue, I’d like to see it permanent,” Kiesel said.

    The injuries to wildlife are obvious, but the clear fishing line, which can take up to 600 years to decompose, hides in plain sight.

    Amid the green foliage surrounding Hill’s Pond, vibrant pops of color reveal a hidden danger: discarded fishing bobbers. Less noticeable are the monofilament fishing lines that dangle from them. The seemingly harmless waste is capable of ensnaring wildlife.

    Options to address the problem are limited in a pond so small, Kiesel said. Trimming branches to clear areas for open fishing ruins animal habits and removes shading for areas susceptible to drought, she said.

    Kiesel will also propose measures to minimize fishing waste, increase pond cleanup, install signs and promote recycling spots along Spy Pond Park.

    Wildlife can’t get debris off themselves once entangled, requiring human assistance if they are fortunate enough to be seen struggling. Catching an entangled wild animal can take weeks.

    Advocates of fishing regulations say that while wildlife dies all the time from natural causes, they argue that it’s rarely in the slow, torturous manner that entangled lines and hooks cause.

    “This is like putting 1,000 leg-hole traps in a pond,” said resident Ellen Kravitz, referring to the snares that have been banned in Massachusetts since 1975.

    Kravitz and other residents have taken it upon themselves to clean up fishing lines and tackle debris whenever they come across it.

    She developed an eye for spotting neglected fishing equipment after her dog collapsed while on a walk. Thinking her dog had suffered a stroke, she picked him up only to realize that his paws were tangled in a fishing line.

    Along with Kiesel, Kravitz said the town is in error thinking this can be handled by volunteers.

    “Doing this work is time-consuming and requires equipment like waders, tree pruners and kayaks,” Kravitz said. “Also, the need for fishing line and tackle removal is continuous, which puts an extreme burden on volunteers.”

    Dead heron at Hill’s Pond, Menotmy Rocks Park.

    While members and supporters of Save Arlington Wildlife are personally opposed to fishing, the organization itself isn’t. Kiesel said that Save Arlington Wildlife is open to finding compromise with recreational fishers.

    Tim Keefe, a recreational Arlington fisherman, said he would be fine with a fishing ban at Hill’s Pond.

    “It’s kind of annoying, your line gets snagged here all the time,” Keefe said while pointing to the overhanging trees. “But just not every pond. I need to have another spot I can go to. That’s very important.”

    Keefe suggested starting a service that could be messaged when fishermen snag their lines in trees and can’t retrieve them. Kravitz said she already tried to propose that to the town.

    “I had talked to the town about putting tags at fishing spots to take a picture of it so that the Department of Public Works knew where [the waste] was, but I was shot down, every suggestion that I came up with,” Kravitz said.

    Save Arlington Wildlife will present its proposal to the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting tonight, April 29, at 7 at 17 Irving St. in the fourth-floor Main Hall.

    This story is part of a partnership between YourArlington and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • MBTA seeks a new business for Arlington Heights bus depot

    A coffee cup hints at how much time has passed since the Arlington Heights bus depot’s last occupancy.

    Sitting at the edge of the checkout counter, the disposable takeout cup has faded from vibrant red to pink thanks to years of sunlight that has streamed in from the building’s tall, rectangular windows.

    Soon this cup will find its resting spot in the trash.

    The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is seeking bids for a retail lease of the depot at 1389 Mass. Ave. The MBTA has suggested a minimum annual lease fee of $24,000 for the 800-square-foot space. (Bids were due on April 25.)

    On 3 bus routes

    The building is on three bus routes, with the Route 77 now running every 15 minutes, making it an attractive spot for a business.

    The simple utilitarian building, which houses a lounge and restrooms for bus drivers, doesn’t have any historical significance. The site has been called the turnaround and bus barn over the years, locals say, because of how the area was used in the past.

    It was built around 1955 – no one seems quite sure of the exact date – and has long served as a place to buy food, drinks and find shelter from the weather. A small lunch counter was the main event under the original tenants.

    “They served hot dogs, burgers, sodas and ice cream. Root beer float,” one person wrote on Facebook in response to a post asking for memories of 1389 Mass. Ave. “I miss it.”

    Not much more is known about the original tenant, including when the business shut down

    The depot’s recorded history picks back up again in September 2008, when over two dozen students from Dearborn Academy designed and painted Arlington’s first mural there. Under the direction of artist Tova Speter, the mural celebrated the town’s past and present, with images of Paul Revere’s ride, Old Schwamb Mill, the Minuteman Bike Path and Spy Pond.

    The mural met its demise less than five years later. Thanks to miscommunications and a failure to recognize its importance, the mural was destroyed during renovations for The Right Stop, a convenience store that was moving in.

    Right Stop, mural

    A contractor created holes in the back entrance for four windows and a door. The Right Stop’s owner, Kevin E. Foreman, who is blind, told YourArlington in 2013 that he couldn’t see the mural and no one brought it to his attention.

    Foreman said his shop was the first to open under a state program aimed at aiding disabled people. Foreman, who lost 90 percent of his sight after a building accident over two decades ago, made his store accessible by featuring equipment that digitally translated product codes into audible words.

    Eventually, The Right Stop closed, too.

    The retail side of the building has since remained untouched. Mismatched curtains of different patterns and shades conceal the movements of MBTA bus drivers as they use the bathroom and break room.

    Call for artists

    Last fall, the MBTA put out a call for artists to revitalize the building with a mural, but the project was paused after lead was discovered in paint peeling off the roof.

    Now the community is eager to see a new business move in.

    “From the town’s point of view, anything would be great,” said Katie Luczai, Arlington’s economic development coordinator. “We’d really just like to see some TLC be put back into that space, since it’s been a while and it’s not looking the best.”

    Some Arlington residents had more specific ideas.

    A store of things for left-handed people, a dog training center, an ice cream parlor and a rotation of food trucks are a few suggestions made by residents in Facebook posts.

    Despite the enthusiasm for a new business there, the cost of renovating the space could prove challenging. Luczai said she believes that construction and rehabilitation will take more than the $50,000 allowance that the MBTA is offering.

    “It would be a huge challenge for a very local, small business,” Luczai said. “That’s why you see a lot of them being filled by Dunkin’ and CVS, because they have capital resources.”

    The MBTA plans to select the winning bidder within 30 days after April 25. Once the lease is executed, the MBTA expects renovations to take up to six months.

    This story, published April 25, 2025, is part of a partnership between YourArlington and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Arlington art installation commemorates 250 years through a timeline of plants

    Art installation at Town Hall. / Carol Beggy photo

    Arlington’s gone green — and red, white and blue – for a multimedia art installation focused on the relationship between plants and people for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. 

    “People, Plants & Revolution,” organized by Arts Arlington, explores Colonial life and revolutionary events through a botanical lens. Clamped onto light poles starting at Arlington Town Hall and heading southeast along Mass. Ave. 13 banners call attention to colorful plant illustrations.

    The installation’s audio tour – which you can access here and download in text format – links the banner imagery to Menotomy’s agricultural history before and after the 1775 Colonial settlement of what is now Arlington. 

    The banners – designed by a team of four artists, Liz Shepherd, Suzanne Moseley, Lily McDonald and Andrew Palladino – combine Colonial-style images with plant illustrations from the Harvard University Herbaria. All of the banners are set against a distinctive blue background inspired by cyanotype chemistry, used since the 1840s for botanical illustration. 

    ‘What I learned …”


    “People, Plants & Revolution” transformed my understanding of Arlington, reporter Kara Mihm writes. Here are five things she took away from the audio tour while walking down Mass. Ave.

    The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were written with ink from oak galls, abnormal plant growths on oak trees. This permanent ink was a historically dominant choice for significant documents.

    Apples were arguably the most successful fruit in the New World. New varieties emerged rapidly because of apple seeds’ genetic diversity. Popular varieties were distributed throughout New England by sharing cuttings of the original trees.

    Many plants, including clover, were commercially available in the 1760s to remind English settlers of the meadows back home. While we might perceive these plants as native now, they are an invasive species.

    The spinning wheel became a symbol of freedom from the British after Colonial women made homespun linen from locally grown flax to replace boycotted textiles. Outdoor public spinning protests became popular among women throughout the Colonies.

    Colonists saw wasted land – any land that remained unplanted – as a Christian sin. Puritan founders believed that planting a field was a virtuous way to establish ownership of land. This was a contributing factor of forced displacement of indigenous people.

    ‘Lexington and Concord, everyone knows about those battles, but the battles in Arlington were just as significant.’
    – Cecily Miller, public art curator at Arts Arlington and the developer of the audio tour.

    “The Town of Arlington really wanted to make this anniversary visible and show their pride in having been part of the founding of our nation,” said Cecily Miller, public art curator at Arts Arlington and the developer of the audio tour. “Lexington and Concord, everyone knows about those battles, but the battles in Arlington were just as significant. We came up with the idea of talking about the evolution of Arlington in terms of what were the most important plants for people.” 

    The narration contrasts eras: While natural plants are often taken for granted today, they were essential for survival 250 years ago – for food, clothing and homes.

    By importing plants from England, the farming village of Menotomy altered the landscape, often causing dramatic ecological change. Colonists’ success at farming added to their confidence that they could live without British rule, but the rush to cultivate open land carried environmental impacts.

    Once settlers arrived in the New World, they began extracting natural resources and clearing forests for crops, livestock and lumber. They physically transformed their new home, inspiring future generations to follow this strategy westward. 

    The narration does not shy away from acknowledging the Colonists’ forceful removal of the land’s original people, the Massachusett. To honor the indigenous people who are still living in the state, Faries Gray, the war chief of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, shared his perspective on his peoples’ history and their relationship to plants.

    The installation is on display through May. The original silkscreen artwork is on exhibit at 13Forest Gallery (April 5 to May 23) and at Old Schwamb Mill (April 1 to May 31).

    This news sumnmary and sidebar, published April 18, 2025, are part of a partnership between YourArlington and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Superintendent proposes $103.6m school budget that prioritizes staff wages, special education

    Superintendent Elizabeth Homan is proposing a 7.3-percent increase in next year’s school budget, which she said prioritizes an increase in employee wages and more support for students with individualized education plans.

    The $103.6 million budget is $7.1 million higher than this year’s $96.5 million budget. About $460,000 of that would be offset by an increase in state aid that Arlington expects next year.

    Overall, the budget would result in roughly a 30-cent increase in the school portion of the property tax rate, adding about $240 to the annual tax bill for a house assessed at $800,000. The budget requires approval by the Arlington School Committee and Town Meeting voters.

    The school district has scheduled a special public hearing with a vote possible for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, in person and on Zoom. Details here >>

    With this budget proposal, the Arlington School Department is following its strategic planning promises of increased compensation for teachers and paraprofessionals and high-priority teaching for special-education students, Homan said.

    “We’ve talked to the community about doing a better job of closing achievement gaps among various focal groups,” said Paul Schlichtman, chair of the Arlington School Committee.

    The first step toward addressing this divide is bridging the wage gap between Arlington and comparable communities, Homan said.

    “When we compare ourselves to other tax-based similar communities, we have consistently been lower in pay for those two groups of paraprofessionals and teachers,” Homan said.

    The average Arlington teacher salary is $83,466; the state average was $86,118 when it was last calculated in 2022 according to state data.

    The budget would add a net total of 33.5 positions, which includes 8.5 new librarians in the elementary schools.

    “We’re organizing the libraries to have licensed professionals in every library,” Homan said. “Overall, it’s more dollars in the next year’s budget, but eliminating some of the paraprofessional support offsets the increase.”

    Schlichtman said Arlington’s restoration of school librarians in elementary schools is a long time coming.

    “People have wanted us to increase the number of librarians for the longest time,” he said. “We’ve done it gradually, and right now we’re at the point where we can finish the job.”

    This addition in staffing is one step in combating Arlington’s decadelong enrollment bulge.

    “Starting around 2012, we had a huge increase in enrollment, particularly the elementary level, and that surge is coming through over the course of time,” Schlichtman said.

    Arlington’s enrollment has jumped from 4,858 in 2012 to 6,113 this year.

    “You’re looking around at the housing in the community and you’re saying, ‘How can that be? There’s not a lot of new housing in Arlington,’” Schlichtman said. “But what’s happening is it’s being repurposed.”

    Two-family homes are shifting from multigenerational occupants, a growing family on one floor and grandparents on the other, to rental units or condos.

    The school system also plans to increase special education support that doesn’t exclude students from core classes.

    “A lot of what we’re adding is in an attempt to make sure these students can get support from a special educator without being pulled out of other things,” Homan said. “It’s better if they are in a classroom where they can get some support from a special educator and from a general education math teacher.”

    Arlington Public Schools’ strategic plan took effect July 1, 2024, thanks to a Proposition 2½ override voters approved in November 2023. An override vote allows municipalities to increase the property tax rate by more than 2.5 percent a year. The increased funding that results from the tax increase allows the school department to spend more money to implement its strategic plan.

  • Dozens protest at Whole Foods over rat poison use

    Kara Mihm

    Protest at Arlington Whole Foods on Feb. 22. / Kara Mihm photos

    Dozens of people crowded the sidewalk next to the Whole Foods Market in Arlington on Saturday, Feb. 22, to protest what they say is the company’s continued use of rodenticides at the store and parking lot, despite the discovery of two dead hawks there in the past several weeks.

    Protesters, bundled in warm layers, hoisted signs for passing motorists and visiting shoppers to see. Customers engaged with the protesters, expressing curiosity about the movement. Drivers added noise to the chatter among protesters and patrons as they beeped while driving along Mass. Ave.

    Laura Kiesel, the founder of Save Arlington Wildlife, said that while other businesses in Arlington also use harmful rodenticides, the contrast between Whole Foods’ proclaimed dedication to environmental causes and its actions is what raises concern. 

    ‘Hypocrisy’ cited

    “The problem with Whole Foods is that their whole mission is about environmental sustainability and humane treatment of animals,” Kiesel said. “So I think it’s the hypocrisy that really gets people.”

    A Whole Foods manager declined to discuss the protest or rodenticide use with YourArlington.

    The call to action, which took place on National Wildlife Day, started almost two years ago after Arlington lost a family of great horned owls to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGARs, Kiesel said. The owls’ deaths – discovered at nearby Menotomy Rocks Park – likely occurred after the owls ate rats that had ingested SGARs.

    Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides are a class of rat poison that stops the blood from clotting by blocking Vitamin K from curdling blood. When ingested, it causes the animal to bleed from its mouth, feathers and rear.

    Finds rat bait

    After discovering that Whole Foods hides rat bait in gray, rock-shaped boxes around its property, Kiesel said she asked the company, which is owned by Amazon, for a discussion. Calls to Whole Foods’ national headquarters went unanswered, and local management didn’t have answers, she said, so Save Arlington Wildlife, among other wildlife advocacy groups, turned to protests.

    On Jan. 4, a hawk was found dead in the Whole Foods parking lot, reigniting the discussion.

    The juvenile Cooper’s hawk was found with a bloody mouth and nostrils, a sign indicating rodenticide poisoning. The necropsy on the bird’s liver revealed SGARs exposure, the same poison used on Whole Foods property.

    A second dead hawk was found this month across the street from the Whole Foods, next to a house and church.

    “They don’t use poisons,” Kiesel said, referring to the buildings across the street from Whole Foods. “It could be someone else. I’m not saying it’s Whole Foods alone. They’re getting poison from other sources, too.”

    Race against clock

    Marci Cemenska, the organizer of Saturday’s protest and founder of Save Lexington Wildlife, said it’s a race against the clock when animals ingest SGARs.

    “If [the animal] gets to rehab fast enough, they go through around-the-clock care for a day or weeks to heal them,” she said.

    Patricia Sears-Joyce, a founder of Operation Woburn Wildlife, said she protested on Feb. 22 because of her experience rescuing animals.

    “We rescue and transport owls and hawks so when I see what I see, it’s awful,” she said. “They’re bleeding from the inside out.”

    These images don’t haunt the general public, however, so Jim Joyce, a member of the Woburn Conservation Commission, said that most people are unaware of the consequences of rodenticides.

    “I don’t think there is anywhere near enough public outreach,” he said. “I don’t think that overall people really understand the way to actually get rid of [rats] the right way.”

    Rodenticide research

    After a rodent infestation during Covid, Arlington resident Lynne Eisenburg panicked and turned to pest control instead of relying solely on her snap traps. She started researching rodenticides after hearing about their dangers. Even though she had signed a contract with the pest company, she demanded they stop using the product.

    “I researched what the guy from the company told me, and he was lying,” she said. “He said ‘Oh, I’m a wildlife lover, too. The poison is so little, it doesn’t even bother the coyotes.’ He lied.”

    The protesters stayed outside Whole Foods for almost two hours Saturday. Joyce said he believes that the fight will be hard-fought.

    “We’re fighting against one of the largest corporations in the world,” he said. “You’re going to find [rodenticides] in every Whole Foods across the country.”

    Communication noted

    Kiesel said Whole Foods’ lack of clear communication has given her mixed information.

    “I called the national headquarters – the woman kept putting me on pause – she said that it’s decided at the local level,” Kiesel said. “But first they said it’s a national thing, so their story keeps changing.”

    Asked how the store is responding to the protest, Arlington’s Whole Foods manager, who would not give his name, said “no comment.”

    Some communities have begun to ban the use of SGARs. On Feb. 8, the Lowell City Council voted unanimously to prohibit their use on city-owned property.

    Andrew Joslin, a tree climber who rescues wild animals, summed up the wildlife organization’s motive for holding Saturday’s protest.

    “This is all about awareness raising. We’re not here to block anyone,” he said. “The idea is to get people to think, ‘What was that about?’”

    This story, published Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, is part of a partnership between YourArlington and the Boston University Department of Journalism.