Lexington Minuteman
Thursday, August 7, 2003

Town boycotts Federal Express

By Brian Kelly/Staff Writer

Federal Express is running into hurdles in its latest attempt to set up shop at Hanscom Field.

Earlier this summer, the international delivery service giant inquired with Massport on possible operations out of Hanscom Field. Massport approved five-day, one-flight-a-day before 11 p.m. schedule for the company, angering residents, business owners and activists.

Lexington's representative to HATS and Selectman Jeanne Krieger, made the motion to the Board of Selectmen to halt use of FedEx as a carrier until they pulled out of Hanscom. And on July 30, the Board of Selectmen and Town Manager Richard White agreed to make a "symbolic" gesture to show Lexington's opposition FedEx at Hanscom. White then sent a letter to all town employees explaining the decision.

"Effective Aug. 1, the town of Lexington will no longer be conducting, supporting or engaging in any business activities with FedEx," wrote White. "Any charges for services placed for processing for any service from Aug. 1, and beyond will be returned and the responsibility for payment will be incurred by the initiator. This administrative directive will remain in effect until FedEx decides to abandon its plan for use of Hanscom Airfield."

White said the letter was sent as a direct result of a vote by the Board of Selectmen.

"The board voted four to one in public session at their last meeting to instruct me to prohibit the town from engaging in any business with FedEx until they decide not to locate their operations at Hanscom Air Force Base" [mpa correction: Hanscom Field civilian airport], said White. "Given their vote, I issued an administrative order effective August first, basically saying that if they submit invoices for payments for August first and beyond, it will come out of their own pocket."

Asked if he felt this embargo would make a difference to FedEx, White said the move was largely symbolic.

"I think the town has always been concerned about activity at Hanscom and I think the FedEx operation represents a type of business and activity that has traditionally not occupied itself at Hansom. The board and a large segment of the community are concerned about it, and the ramifications it would have on future activities at the base are significant," said White. "I think this is largely symbolic. It's much more like throwing tea in the harbor than it is a significant economic embargo. The town doesn't want this, that's the clear message."

Board of Selectmen Chairman Leo McSweeney said he voted in favor of the move because of the importance of Hanscom to the town.

"It was basically prompted by Jeanne Krieger, who is the town representative to HATS," he said. "She is close to the situation, and she felt this was appropriate and I agreed and [most of] the board agreed. We wanted to try to send a message to FedEx that we would prefer they didn't set up shop at Hanscom. Hopefully this will be a little bit of a message to them as to how serious everyone is."

Lexington resident Carolyn Tiffany, a member of ShhAir (Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Areas Irreplaceable Resources), has been working for 13 years to contain commercial expansion at Hanscom.

"I think it's a wonderful step they took, and I hope the other towns and the businesses in the area follow the lead in telling FedEx this is not something the communities want," she said. "This is just a good example of the town following the will of the people, and I'm very pleased that the selectmen and my town are taking the lead on this."

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