Halloween 2013 was a spooky one. It was raining and very, very dark on Cedar Street. The power went out just before 6 p.m. leaving every house without light.
And out of the darkness they came. First small and alone, then in increasing numbers. By our count, 196 goblins came out of the darkness in search of treats.
Here is the official 2013 Halloween costume list. Forgive us for any errors.
Tiny Batman
Thing 1
Thing 2
The Cat in the Hat
is an anonymous statewide survey of licensed school-based educators. This includes full and part-time teachers, administrators, media coordinators, counselors, classroom assistants, and clerical support staff. Sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont NEA, the goal is to assess teaching conditions at the school, district and state level.
The 2013 survey was taken in March and April. A VEA representative in each school was to receive instructions to work with administrators to set up a faculty meeting to distribute letters with anonymous survey access codes. Teachers were allowed to switch letters in the same school to further randomize their response codes. Anyone not in attendance was to have been met with personally to explain the process.
This week’s concert takes us to Los Angeles in 1983 for a performance by Midnight Star.
This show has everything you need to get your funk on. Shiny suits, bright colors, Jheri curls, sunglasses, robot voices, and nightclub floor-fillers. If you listen to the Chocolate City show on WVEW Saturdays, these songs should sound familiar.
They got started at Kentucky State University in 1976, had a few under-the-radar albums, then broke out big with No Parking On The Dance Floor. The music video featured a classic dancing in the streets scene. with both Prince and Michael Jackson impersonators and dancing police, cowgirls, and construction workers. If they are at this LA show, however, they are watching from the audience.
Courtesy of Paul Gardner:
A trio of Brattleboro Selectboard members kept town business flowing while simultaneously monitoring the scores of a Red Sox game Tuesday night.
The board heard that liquidated damages might be considered for the Waste Water Treatment Plant project delays, the proposed PACE program guidelines have lingering legal and accounting questions, and signs of climate change might be showing up during public participation.
This plus the latest scores and more, below.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will have another discussion about the PACE program with at their next regular Tuesday meeting. This discussion will focus on adopting the program guidelines.
The board will continue their discussions about negotiations with the Waste Water Treatment Plant contractor, PC, over unapproved change orders, and will hear about the results of the environmental review of the plans for the Black Mountain gravity sewer.
A number of grants will be approved and/or accepted and spent, including a Windham and Windsor Housing Trust grant, and funds for fixing the retaining wall on Washington Street. The Police would also like to apply for a last-minute grant to help prevent terrorism – by getting new radio and dispatch equipment. There will also be second readings of ordinance changes to parking on Elliot and Linden Streets.
You can attend in person or watch on BCTV. If you go, you can speak to any issue, and bring up other topics not on the agenda during public participation. Full coverage here, too, the very next day.
This weekend’s concert takes us to Atlanta, Georgia in May of 1978 for a club show with a new band you might like called the B-52’s.
This is a grainy black and white video that captures the weirdness and wonderfulness of an early B-52’s performance. I started listening to them around 1980 or so, and was able to see them at a show in Tampa for their Mesopotamia tour.
The show was at a Jai Alai facility, which was a bit weird, but we had traveled almost 3 hours to get there and didn’t care. I was in high school and got to hear Ring My Bell by Anita Ward played loudly over the sound system before the show – a formative experience for a rock lover in learning to like funk.
The Brattleboro Selectboard is working at a steady pace to hire a new Town Manager for Brattleboro. The list of applicants has been narrowed over the last month or so, and we’re approaching time for final interviews and a decision. We could be welcoming someone on board within a month.
What skills and attributes do we want in our next Town Manager? What could we do without?
The Brattleboro team that our new Town Manager would be joining is at the top of their proverbial game, having dealt with major infrastructure improvements, fires, floods, and FEMA in recent years. They are very capable, well-trained, and will be an excellent resource for whomever is hired. It takes a bit of the pressure off the new recruit.
The sound of chainsaws
Breaks silence of the Tree Streets.
What is in a name?
The Brattleboro Selectboard showed signs of revisiting the location of the skatepark, but no firm decision was made. Tuesday evening’s meeting saw opponents of the Crowell location pledging fundraising support for a different location, while BASIC petitioned to make the Crowell skatepark smaller and more in line with their expected funds.
The board also heard of changes in plans for the West Brattleboro Fire Station. It turns out that building a new wooden structure in line with the surrounding area would give the Fire Department a brand new station at a lower cost than repairing the current one. This and other money-saving ideas will be explored.
The town got an update on the solar installation planned for Technology Drive, and considered options for encouraging public hearings on the matter before the Public Service Board.
All this and more in an animated Selectboard meeting in Brattleboro.
Organist Hans U. Hielscher will perform on the Estey pipe organ at First Baptist Church in Brattleboro on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 7:00 pm. The concert is a collaboration between the Estey Organ Museum and the Brattleboro Historical Society and will include works by Groom, Rawsthorne, Guilmant, Pasini, Ketèlbey, Goemanne and von Suppé.
Mr. Hielscher currently serves as Director of Music at the Wiesbaden Marktkirche in Germany and was Municipal Organist at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus Concert Hall from 1979 to 2004. Since 1962, he has presented more than 2,800 organ recitals throughout the world in such venues as Paris, Milano, London, Liverpool, Ely, Salisbury, Norwich, Wells, Canterbury, Prague, Budapest, Bern, Zürich, Oslo, and Stockholm.
The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate change report is out and .
According to, a child born today could see temperature rises of up to 6.3°C in its lifetime – enough to bring catastrophic impacts to the planet if he or she lives to be in their mid 90’s.
They report that we have major changes to go through, as “humans cannot burn all of the coal, oil and gas reserves that countries and companies possess” without causing significant damage to the habitability of the planet.
West Brattleboro Fire Station will be knocked down and a new building built to replace it if the Brattleboro Selectboard accepts the recommendations of the Police-Fire Facility Project committee at next Tuesday’s regular meeting at the Municipal Center.
Also on the agenda: BASIC is returning to to ask for a new conceptual design to reduce the size and scope of the planned skatepark at the Crowell location, the ad hoc citizen Town Manager Search Committee will be appointed, firefighters will apply for a big, capital-saving grant to replace aging radios and breathing apparati, and the board will take a look at two suggested ordinance amendments.
You can attend in person or watch on TV. If you’d like to bring something up that isn’t on the agenda, there is time for that, too. You can read all about it here the morning after, too.
The government may shut down in a few days.
Unlike previous almost-shut-downs, this time no one seems to care.
Perhaps The White House and Congress have cried “wolf” too many times. It could be that the fear has worn off. (“Yawn.”)
Perchance we’ve been taken to the edge of the fiscal cliff too many times. It’s possible that we used to worry that we could go over, but now the edge doesn’t bother us. (“Oh, you again.”)
The night belonged to the Department of Public Works. From project updates and truck purchases to the spotlight of a departmental presentation, Steve Barrett and Hannah O’Connell had their hands full with budgets, outlines, explanations, and answers.
The Selectboard was informed that Brattleboro’s FY13 budget has been completed and the town ended up with a small surplus in the General Fund.
And of over 60 applications received, we learn that only four women applied for the job of Brattleboro Town Manager. A new citizen committee of an indeterminate number of members will help with the second round of interviews.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hear the year end financial report for FY13 at their next Tuesday meeting at the Municipal Center oin Main Street. You are welcome to attend in person or watch on BCTV.
If you do, you’ll hear an update on work at the Waste Water Treatment Plant and pump stations, learn of new fees for mobile food carts, get a departmental report from the Department of Public Works, watch as grants and bids are approved, hear an update on the search for a new Town Manager, and more. You can bring up other issues that aren’t on the agenda during public participation.
We’re going to begin publishing the I-91 Bridge Replacement Project updates here each week. They come from Cindy Cooke, who is acting as Public Relations Officer for the project.
Week of September 15, 2013
I-91 – On Thursday, September 19th and Friday, September 20th , there will short duration lane closures on I-91 Northbound and I-91 Southbound while work zone signs are installed.
Route 30 – No impacts anticipated for the week of September 15.
Upper Dummerston Road – No impacts anticipated for the week of September 15.
I have heard quite a few numbers thrown around regarding the eventual closing of VY. Will Brattleboro really have 630 homes on the market, and lose an equal number of well-paid residents?
I decided to ask Jeff Lewis of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation. He, along with Pat Moutlon Powden, Director of Workplace Development, answered questions about what they currently know and don’t know about the impact on Brattleboro.
They said that the data that BDCC and SeVEDS has thus far is somewhat limited.
I want to send a shout out and note of appreciation to Twisted Soul Sista, host of the fabulous WVEW 107.7 FM show called Chocolate City. I discovered this show this summer and have fallen in love. If you are a fan of old school funky tunes you should be tuning in each Saturday from noon to 2 pm.
Chocolate City show takes me back and reminds me of hot summers in the city in the 1980’s. I feel like I’ve tuned in one of the great, big R&B stations in NYC, DC, Cleveland or Detroit. It is non-stop funky fun and perfect for dancing around while doing Saturday chores.
The Brattleboro History Center invites everyone to come see new exhibits during Gallery Walk this Friday evening and throughout the month of September.
One new exhibit is a collaboration with the Brattleboro Planning Services called “What If” Brattleboro – An Exhibit of Unfinished Plans” and shows a collection of planning documents for Brattleboro projects that were never built or only partially completed.
