Map depicting proposed expansion of hangars at Hanscom Field
Figure 1.5 Proposed Conditions Site Plan Hanscom North Airfield. (Source: vhb via MEPA, 2022)

Hello, Lexington!

Good morning and welcome to LexObserver’s Friday news roundup!

Thank you so much to everyone who has already filled out our six-minute anonymous reader survey — it’s a massive help to us in finding ways to be a better and more useful news source for you. If you haven’t had the chance to get to it yet, it’ll stay open until next Tuesday, Feb. 21, so you still have time and can take it here.

In other updates, if you missed last week’s community conversation, thanks to LexMedia you can watch the recording here! Below is a note from Erin Sandler-Rathe about how it went — and another event to look out for next month:

​The first collaboration between the LexObserver and the Lexington Lyceum Advocates was a huge success! On Feb. 9 about 50 attendees participated in our first Community Conversation. After listening to our panel of experts lay a foundation for discussion, everyone broke into small groups and shared ideas about how to include racial justice in Lexington Public Schools’ curriculum. The next Community Conversation — regarding civic engagement and community building — will take place March 7; we hope you can join us.

Erin’s second organizational update for today: We have a new team member to introduce!

We’re excited to welcome Julie McCay Turner as a Community Editor as of this week. Turner was one of three founders of The Bedford Citizen, a daily online community newspaper, where she served as Managing Editor for 10 years. We’re grateful to have her wealth of experience as we grow and bring you more community news and events.

Thanks so much for reading, and here’s this week’s news.

In this issue:


Select Board unanimously approves recommended FY24 budget, includes funding for one-year composting pilot

Select Board also approved additional expenditure to maintain level service for Lexpress; members finalized list of 13 community-submitted projects residents will vote on through participatory budgeting

The Select Board approved allocating $216,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to finance a composting pilot program, which will cover the $108 cost of Black Earth Compost for 2,000 households for one year.

Keep reading

Real Estate Sales

Editor’s Note: We’re introducing a new feature this week — the weekly home sales in Lexington with data provided by special arrangement from Banker & Tradesman. Please send us any suggestions about how we can better provide this data.


Community Submissions

To submit a community announcement, please contact community@lexobserver.org. Thank you!


That’s a wrap for today. Was this roundup useful to you? What do you want to see in this email next week? Let us know, and please ask your friends to sign up and DONATE too! Reach out to sophie@lexobserver.org with tips and questions anytime. As always, you can also check out and share our websiteTwitterInstagram and Facebook pages. Thanks so much for reading and have a great weekend!


Nicco Mele, Sophie Culpepper, Erin Sandler-Rathe, Susanne Beck and the LexObserver Team

Edited by Lauren Feeney and Nicco Mele

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