This reminds me of my Ryan Estate manager days.
Early on, at a Board meeting I proposed that we get a flat screen TV to try to bring folks together and to improve the toxic culture. In those early days, a majority of Unit Owner would attend our announced and open Board meetings. One of them, one of the most depressed people I’ve ever met—depression oozed from every pore—spoke up and opposed the idea. When I asked her why, she explained to all at that very well-attended meeting, “Because I (I.e. she) wouldn’t watch it!” [We did buy the TV, by the way.] A walking bitch, defined. Regards, Steve Low From: Lincoln <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Sara Mattes Sent: November 10, 2025 3:12 PM To: Lincoln Talk <[email protected]> Cc: Esta Rogen <[email protected]>; Sara Mattes <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Replacing the Bank of America The most recent post highlights our need to be more sensitive. We should not be so dismissive. There are a variety of reasons people cannot do online banking, or travel to another town. Just because others, including myself, can do the above, it does not mean all can. This does not mean we will be able to attract another bank, but we might try if we are to live up to our claim to be inclusive. On Nov 10, 2025, at 3:01 PM, Rachel Marie Schachter <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I’m not being ageist, I’m talking about myself and my experience with banking. I’m 34 and often get paid in cash that I need to deposit, and making the kind of money I do make, driving somewhere to make that deposit or paying a fee legitimately makes a difference to whether I have time to make more money, care for myself, or pay my bills. Rachel On Mon, Nov 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM Jennifer Saffran <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I am now officially “elderly” and I do online banking. IMO, ideas about tech and “old” people that might have been relevant 20 years ago, are no longer true. I keep hearing these ideas, and frankly, they are agist. Sure, I can’t keep up with my MIT grad engineer husband, or my Millenial daughter, but this argument about “needing” a bank is irrelevant. If I think about it, I’ve only gotten cash out of a machine a few times a year for the past several years. Nearly all of my transactions are electronic for everything, even at something as retro as the Codman Farm. On Nov 10, 2025, at 2:38 PM, Esta Rogen <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Hi everyone & if I'm reading this somewhat disjointed thread hierarchy correctly:I'm seeing the following: 1) Lincoln can't get by w/o a bank? 2) Because of the need for safe deposit boxes? Is that really a 'thing' anymore? If so, what percentage of Lincoln'ites believe they are a must? 10%? 20%? more? 3) Many people don't have cars so there 'has to' be bank representation within walking distance (?) - Folks can;'t get a ride these days? Perhaps take that 'wonderful' commuter rail to COncord center to execute banking? Has anyone heard of online banking? OK, the elderly don't know how to use it? Find the nearest 10 year old & you're now online banking. The following sky is falling excerpt is a peach - my goodness, seriously?: "That is why I urge serious town-wide conversation of what is needed and what is wanted, and what it might take to get it. We need a clear-eyed approach to the realities of the market place. If we are not proactive and let the free market dictate, there will, most likely, be no more commerce. If the town chooses to allow that to happen, so be it. But, we should have a conversation-what would it take to keep commerce? What kind of public investment?" Can we get back to conversing about the mess that is the overflowing auto mechanic establishments in this 'rural' town? There are three eyesores at the moment..... Esta On Mon, Nov 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM Vkram Saleme <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Lis Herbert <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Date: Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 9:11 PM Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Replacing the Bank of America To: Rachel Marie Schachter <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > CC: Lincoln Talk <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > It’s odd (in my admittedly under-informed opinion) to lament the closure of a multinational bank while saying it means the end of a village… what if this is just an incredibly boring leasing decision, for all the reasons Nick Gardner stated, and a small locally owned business moves in? Why, apart from the closure of a bank branch (which it seems people are somehow attached to as a fixture of village life??) is this reason to say the sky is falling? And why would the maneuvers of a bank with (let’s at least be honest) zero physical investment in town, trump the needs/opinions (and as yet totally nonexistent maneuvering) of the non-profit organization that is largely if not entirely — and I mean no offense to past town officials — responsible for Lincoln looking and feeling so rural, expansive, and wonderful as it does today? Lis Sent from my iPhone On Nov 9, 2025, at 7:42 PM, Rachel Marie Schachter <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Didn't expect to be chiming in here, but for some of us in a lower income bracket, the fee for depositing cash at the ATM if you don't bank there really does affect our bottom line. I don't expect anyone to rally for East Cambridge Savings Bank (or have any idea what rallying would actually do), but I do happen to be a customer and a fan. Rachel On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 7:35 PM Nick Gardner <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I think the broad issue is that even for good banks, there's less and less reason to use in person branches. I can deposit cash into the ATM, deposit checks on my phone, open and close accounts on my phone, and even get loans on my laptop. I've probably had to use a physical bank branch half a dozen times in the last decade, and it's why so many physical branches are closing. I would love to see a good bank or credit union come to Lincoln but it's an uphill battle these days. -Nick On Sun, Nov 9, 2025, 19:31 JMG at Lincolntalk <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I upvote DCU also. Great rates, plus staff in Lexington, online app, all good. Jennie On Nov 8, 2025, at 3:26 PM, Jennifer Saffran <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: We have been using DCU—Digital Federal Credit Union—for many years. On Nov 8, 2025, at 1:22 PM, Bob Kupperstein <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: IMO everyone should consider using a credit union rather than a bank - lower or no fees, lower penalties and charges, better service, etc. There are a number of excellent ones in the area and they use convenient ATM networks with no fees. -Bob On Saturday, November 8, 2025, nbergen--- via Lincoln <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I also use Middlesex Saving Bank and have for years. They are small and personable and I love it. Nan B. _____ From: Lincoln <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > on behalf of Anna Lombroso <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, November 8, 2025 11:07 AM To: Anne Sobol <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Replacing the Bank of America Another very satisfied Middlesex Savings Bank customer here, for 30 years. Close branches in Wayland, W. Concord, Concord and Sudbury. ACL Sent from my iPad On Nov 8, 2025, at 10:31 AM, Anne Sobol <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I also use Middlesex Savings Bank, it has lots of branches, and it is a small bank which doesn't lend to fossil fuel projects, I think it mostly lends for residential mortgages. On Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 4:38 PM Jeff Eaton via Lincoln <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Hello Steve- For what it's worth, I have been a customer of the Middlesex Savings Bank (nee "Middlesex Institution for Savings") for over sixty years. Likely that's more akin to an indication of inertia, but when I've needed their services they have done well. I also have maintained a Safe Deposit Box with them for all these years... at their Main Street building, Concord Village. --- Jeff Jeff Eaton 8 Storey Drive <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8%0D%0A+Storey+Drive+%0D%0ALincoln+MA+01773-2109?entry=gmail&source=g> Lincoln MA 01773-2109 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8%0D%0A+Storey+Drive+%0D%0ALincoln+MA+01773-2109?entry=gmail&source=g> Covid booster: October 17, 2025 cell: (781) 686-8120 Land line: (781) 259-0321 Permanent email address: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] We are on a highway to climate hell ... with our foot still on the accelerator.” - António Guterres, 11-7-2022 In a message dated 11/7/2025 3:17:33 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> writes: Many of us have been notified of the BofA’s plans to leave Lincoln. For some of us, it’s good riddance! Terrible hours, horrible customer service (I was on hold for 40 minutes today waiting to ask a simple question of the BofA’s national customer service team), interest rates on deposits that sucked, and fees charged to customers that “blew” (the opposite of sucked when money flows in the opposite direction!). Obviously, the Rural Land Foundation will be working hard to find a new bank, a better bank—one that is not just “here,” but one that is here for its customers. Right now, there is one thing that all current customers of the Lincoln BofA branch can do to help the RLF attract a top-notch replacement: We can continue to rely on Lincoln’s BofA branch for safe deposit box services. Think of that not as maintaining a relationship with the BofA, but rather a relationship with the Lincoln Mall and the replacement bank that the RLF secures. In evaluating the desirability of establishing a new branch in Lincoln, the existence of our large safe deposit box base will be an important inducement to open a branch here because it means not building a customer base from scratch. For Lincolnites, maintaining a safe deposit box in Lincoln will be an inducement to keep the rest of our banking business in Lincoln, and that will help our new bank to succeed here. Regards, Steve Low -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]. <mailto:[email protected].> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. <https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/> Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
-- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
