| I live in Leominster, and moved from Fitchburg.
School systems: Avoid Fitchburg High School. I'm told Leominster
has a better school, but it's not wonderful. The best school system
in the area (by reputation) is Lunenburg's. Lunenburg abuts both
Fitchburg and Leominster, and you should consider it.
My taxes have been very low since I moved to the area. Both towns
charge 2.5% of assessed value, but my assessments have been lenient.
The two major shopping malls in the area are the Searstown mall
and the John Fitch Highway area. Searstown has Sears, Bradlees,
DeMoulas (groceries), an 8 or 10 film movie theatre (I forget),
and a host of small stores in the mall. John Fitch Highway is a
road populated with three malls and many other stores along the
road, all clustered together. There is also the K-Mart shopping
plaza in Leominster.
Both towns have town water and sewer, garbage collection and the usual
Fire, Police etc. services. Leominster uses Mass. Electric. Fitchburg
has Fitchburg Gas and Electric, which is known for the highest prices
and worst service in the state. Cable for both towns is Adams-Russell;
they don't have many channels, but the signal is O.K. If you are
wondering about a specific service, let me know and i'll find out for
you. Gasoline prices tend to be lower than anywhere else i've seen
in Mass. or N.H.
For adult education, I think Fitchburg State College has programs,
but you'll probably wind up in Worcester.
There are two synagogues in the area. Fitchburg has a small schul
on Boutelle St. It's in a deteriorating neighborhood, and there
are very few active members. However, the people there are very
nice, and could use the support. The schul is conservative in
orientation. Leominster has a large 'Long Island' type of synagogue.
I believe Leominster has about 300 active families in the congregation.
The services are not reform, but the synagogue looks like they should
be. I suspect, especially if you're looking for family activities,
that you'll wind up joining Leominster.
Having lived in both towns (since 1981), I'd urge you to look in North
Leominster. Leominster has, in my opinion, better services (notably
Gas and Electric), and better people. Stay away from the Leominster
downtown area. You'll know when you're there; houses are crowded
almost on top of each other. Also, you should look at Lunenburg.
If you're interested, someone is building some very nice houses
across the street from me.
Good Luck,
Harris.
|
| I, too, live in Leominster, but on a different side of town.
I live near the Sterling side, off Route 12, in a new subdivi-
sion called 'Olde Jamestown Common'. I can't say anything about
the schools (my future step-daughters live in Worcester, so don't
go to school there), nor the Jewish community (we've only been in
town for 5 weeks --- my fiance is not Jewishs --- neither of us
attends religious services --- yet...).
My neighborhood currently has 40 completed houses, with ~60 more
going up. The neighborhood kids are really nice (compared with
where we came from in a rural part of N.E. Connecticut, where the
kids were rowdy, destructive and unsupervised). The "neighborli-
ness" I've come to miss is definitely in full swing in my neigh-
borhood. People make it a point to come over and introduce them-
selves.
Foster-Healey R.E. of Leominster sells the properties at Olde James-
town Common. Of the existing 40 houses, 11 are owned by DEC people.
Our neighbors on 3 sides all work for DEC. Old Jamestown is conven-
ient to Route 117 (1 mile away via Willard Street), to Route 12
(1/2 mile away), I-190 (1.5 miles away via Willard and Route 12)
and Route 2 (4? miles away via Willard, Route 12, I-190).
That's all the information I can give you.
dlr
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