Town News

The benefits of local food go well beyond energy savings and local economics, say organizers of the fifth annual Slow Living Summit, a unique conference taking place June 3-5 in Brattleboro, Vermont.

“When people connect with healthy local food and with farmers and food producers, they also build stronger, more resilient communities.” says Shanta L. Evans-Crowley, the conference coordinator. “It’s about being mindful, and strengthening the connections between food, body, mind, spirit, and community.” 

Subtitled “Food, Mindfully,” the Summit will explore “the journey of food”, with topics including nourishment and wellness, food entrepreneurship, food systems, food justice and food policy.

Evans-Crowley said “the Summit aims to bring together experts, policymakers, entrepreneurs, educators, students, farmers, artists and concerned citizens, in order to foster cross-sector conversations and collaborations.”

The Brattleboro Parking Department would like to announce the lifting of the winter parking ban. Starting 04/14/15, at midnight, overnight parking will be allowed on all streets EXCEPT in the downtown area. The following streets are never available for overnight parking:

Main Street
High Street
Elliot Street (from School St to Main St)
Flat Street
Canal Street (from the Plaza to #63)

The Brattleboro Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) Advisory Committee/Working Group will meet on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 5:00pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 4:00pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

Brattleboro Comedy Duo Performs Benefit for Local Radio Station

Brattleboro comedians Jay Gelter and Ben Stockman are taking their radio show,REAL PEOPLE with Jay and Ben, out of the recording studio and onto the stage on April 24, 8:00 pm at the Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro, VT to benefit Brattleboro Community Radio.

Inspired by comedy podcasts like Comedy Bang! Bang! and The Dead Author’s Podcast, the show features Gelter and Stockman interviewing the “real people” of Brattleboro, who aren’t real at all, but rather one of them or a special guest playing a bizarre character in a weekly improv tour-de-force. The show airs every Thursday at 10 pm on WVEW-LP 107.7 FM and is posted as a podcast the next day on their website and iTunes.

One of the shortest and more convoluted Brattleboro Selectboard meetings in recent memory took place Tuesday night. Board members came and went, the agenda was trimmed and re-arranged, and some major discussion were postponed. Despite the obstacles, over a million dollars worth of projects were set in motion.

Liquor licenses were approved, bids awarded, grants applied for, and the board took their first steps down the path of repairs and renovations to the Municipal Center.

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast Invitation

Municipal Philanthropy *
changing the taxation paradigm

* philanthropy –  the disposition or active effort to promote the happiness and well-being of others; practical benevolence, now esp. as expressed by the generous donation of money to good causes.  O.E.D. 

The next Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast is planned for Friday, April 17, 2015 at the Gibson Aiken Center, downstairs, hosted by Senior Meals. Doors open at 7:30am.

The Brattleboro Selectboard begins April with quite a few large projects which will, of course, be discussed at their next regular Tuesday meeting at the Municipal Center on Main Street. You can participate in person, or follow along via you favorite forms of local media.

If you do, you’ll be treated to discussions of a new fire alarm system for the Municipal Center, an overview of newly proposed zoning districts, insight into a comprehensive review of town operations and long term financial planning project, sewer contracts, Selectboard goals and rules of conduct, the probability of a potential PACE program, and more. You can also bring up other itmes not on the agenda during public participation.

The Brattleboro Energy Committee will meet on Monday, April 6, 2015 at 5:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 7, 2015 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, April 10, 2015 at 10:00am at Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL Conference Room.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

On Thursday, April 9^th at 7:00 PM the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) is hosting a meeting to discuss ways to spruce up the West Brattleboro village streetscape. Called a Charrette, this meeting will provide a forum in which stakeholders collaborate in a creative design process. It will be held  in the Melrose Terrace
Community Room.

All residents are invited to talk about such topics as where to place new plantings, whether to place public sculpture and/or book exchange boxes, and a multitude of other street enhancing ideas. Representatives from
the Brattleboro Planning Services Department, Windham Regional Commission and Brattleboro Department of Public Works will help facilitate the meeting. For more information on this meeting, call Michael Bosworth at 258-6475.

Please see the notes of the March 20th Breakfast below. 

Also, note this week:  

• The next meeting place for “Coffee with a Cop” will be at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, 2 Main St., on Thursday, April 2, from 8 to 10 a.m. Residents are invited to stop by and learn more about what the department is doing in Brattleboro’s neighborhoods. Officers Ryan Washburn and Adam Pelock are scheduled to attend. Those with questions in advance may reach them at 802-257-7950.
  

We’re just about ready to put a town-wide mailing out on the new PAYT program  — which will start June 29th.  The guide will have a ton of information about all aspects of the residential waste stream — Pay-As-You-Throw; curbside compost; recycling; hazardous waste, leaf and yard debris and bulky waste.  Also included will be dates of four public meetings to inform our residents about PAYT and two curbside cart distribution days.

Brattleboro dog and wolf-hybrid licenses are due on or before April 1. Vermont dogs and wolf-hybrids 6 months of age and older must be licensed on or before April 1. For dogs not previously licensed in Brattleboro, a first-time license must be obtained in person from the Town Clerk’s office. Licenses being renewed may be processed in the Town Clerk’s office, through the mail or online at www.brattleboro.org.

Vaccination against rabies is required by Vermont Statutes before licensing. A current vaccination means:

Welcome. It’s a lovely March 21st, 2015. It’s grey, cold, and snowing. Town Meeting Representatives have made their way to the south end of town for the annual Representative Town Meeting.

We’ll be doing ongoing updates throughout the day. As they begin, Moderator Lawrin Crispe is going through rules and some announcements, including a moment of silence for Dick Guthrie and Jesse Corum.

Schools goes first. We’ll have more for you soon.

(Apologies in advance for typing errors and spelling mistakes.)

On Thursday, March 26^th, the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) is hosting a discussion with the Brattleboro Police Department about recent property break-ins. It will be held at 7:00 PM, in the Hayes Court Community Room on Garfield Drive.

All residents are invited to pose questions to the police and get pointers on how best to avoid future break-ins. This will also be an opportunity for neighbors to suggest ideas to other neighbors and/or to ask questions of or get clarifications from the Police Department. It is important to understand that the police in attendance will not be able to report on any ongoing investigations other than in very general terms.

In preparation for Brattleboro’s Representative Town Meeting, here is the officially warned agenda for said meeting. The amounts in Article 23 has been changing, and the text of the currently expected motion is also included below.

Each year the schedule alternates, and this year the schools will have the first items up for discussion and vote.

You can watch on BCTV. As per the poll results, you can also tune in here for a live blog of the day’s events. The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. We’ll get going here shortly thereafter, once the opening ceremonies and reminder of rules is out of the way.

The Brattleboro Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, March 23, 2015 at 5:30pm at Brooks Memorial Library in the community room

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100