What have you noticed? Little things matter.
Add any items that have caught your eye recently… such as:
- The Estey Organ Museum is featured in the AAA Explorer magazine. They got a nice photo, a few paragraphs of praise and even a mention of their program to give away organs.
- The yellow ‘home’ on Main Street between Stone Church and the Library is for sale. A lot of Main Street seems empty or for sale at the moment.
- Potholes are eating vehicles.
- Ice fishing huts finally down last week. Might have been the best season in many years, hut-wise.
- It was spring the other day but it is winter again. (More snow and ice after it had melted.)
3, 2, 1
The Brattleboro Selectboard has begun using a large, red countdown clock to put pressure on the public to limit their participation at meetings.
It’s ugly, in design and in spirit. This isn’t a sporting match.
Off-putting and unnecessary, especially in an era when democracy is under attack. Sends the wrong message at the wrong time to send it. : )
Unlicensed kitten
Not sure how long this has been going on but I saw a cute black cat in the window of Brown and Roberts the other day pouncing on bugs.
Bodega Cats
Interesting story about “Bodega Cats” on NPR yesterday; many small stores and businesses have resident cats, for rodent control and companionship, despite it being illegal. Many inspectors understand and pretend not to see them. There is actually a law proposed to allow the cats to stay. And there is a charity that helps pay for veterinary care. Meanwhile, store owners often choose to pay the fine for the cat because it’s lower than the expense of having a rodent problem.
Edit: This was about NYC
New York City laws and inspectors. Not sure what the laws are for VT or Bratt.
Cats
Brown and Roberts or Ace and Blue Seal, the old Agway both keep store cats. Both cats also friendly. The employees seem to like them.
Fun!
Rec & Parks announced Adult Kickball registration.
(This is how grown ups can practice for the major leagues…)
New sidewalk going in...
.. at the edge of the common, on the Retreat side.
The Train Station Frame
The new ADA accessible train station and affirm are really taking shape. If you haven’t been down there recently you may not know that it is starting to look like a new station. The platforms are starting to be filled in. so you can get a sense of how tall and how long it will be ( about the same length as the current “platform” that goes from the street down to the end of the asphalt.)
There is rebar installed everywhere, dump trucks are hauling dirt, fill is going in where needed, cement has been and will continue to be poured, and trains still operate.
One of the more eye-catching items is the steel frame for the station building itself. It is built on top of the new platform and is pretty much complete. There are no walls yet, but you can see the frame and a basic roof – which means you can really “see” the new station shape now.
One thing that will be different for passengers on the future platform is that the view will be the other way around. Instead of looking at the mountain while waiting for trains, you’ll be facing the back of the art museum (the old station) most of the time.
Rt 5 pull-offs now blocked off
The pull-offs on Rt 5 near the Guilford and Dummerston town lines have been (mostly) cleaned out and blocked off with rows of those reflector posts like on the edges of I-91. The northern one is indeed fully cleaned up. The southern one had left a gap in the posts like they were waiting for someone to tow the disabled RV away (it caught fire last weekend), but then they just went ahead and enclosed the RV behind the fence. This morning, someone had affixed a handmade sign to it saying something like “Really? Permanent dump now?”
Downtown Gas
Brattleboro’s final service station in the downtown area appears to be closed.