Letter to the Editor: Morse Ave. Fence Only Lacks Razor Wire

Editor's Note: The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by Dedham resident Margaret Matthews.

Dear Dedham:

One of the healthiest signs of a vibrant community is the sight of school children walking home at the end of their day. After my own children hit school age, one of my favorite parts of the day was the 15 minutes spent walking the dog up to meet my children as they returned from Oakdale, then the Middle School, and finally the High School. 

Once they attended the High School, the path was always up Morse Avenue to the end waiting for my kids while the dog sniffed all the other children heading home. In nine years of meeting my kids this way, I saw all kinds of kids using the same pathway home — either to homes in the immediate neighborhood or as the most direct route to Oakdale Square and beyond.  Were all these kids perfectly rosy cheeked, well-dressed cherubs cheerfully and respectfully saying hello as they made their ways home?  Truthfully, no. But I never witnessed any type of serious behavioral incident.  

A month ago, a fence was erected at the end of Morse Avenue and on Whiting Avenue with an undeniable message to high school children. This severe, imposing fence lacks only the razor wire at the top to form the exclamation point to the implicit message aimed directly at high schoolers who have used this route to walk home for years. Not content with the implicit message, quotes in the papers have made the message explicit —that the literal “Keep Out” message is indeed aimed directly at high school kids. Since walking this route was a longstanding practice, I have to ask, what changed? 

The only answers I can come up with make me sad. Sad that a handful of neighbors who, just because they perhaps could legally make such a unilateral decision, chose to do so over consideration of what impacts their other neighbors. Sad that these few feel they are preserving their property values when an ugly fence, No Trespassing signs and a police cruiser exiting the neighborhood on a regular basis render exactly the opposite effect.  Sad for what this represents for Dedham, where “Keep Out” signs directed specifically at school-aged children walking to and from school limit our ability to tolerate differences of all kinds.

The final irony of this situation was that the fence was erected during Martin Luther King Jr’s holiday weekend. In the midst of a holiday honoring a man who spent his entire life breaking down barriers, a small group of neighbors made sure that this very pointed, public, and ugly barrier was established.   

Quotes in the paper argue that this is a “private matter.”  It may be considered private in a legal context, but the message behind this act is unavoidably public. I hope this engenders more public discussion.

Sincerely,

Margaret Matthews