Survey: Your Wishes for Reps Voting at Brattleboro 2020 Annual Representative Town Meeting

You are invited to fill a survey to help Brattleboro town reps know what people want for voting by reps at the March 21 Brattleboro annual town meeting. This survey is for people who are NOT Brattleboro town reps.

The survey is here: http://bit.ly/townarticles2020

The survey asks your opinion on each article that will be voted on. Results will be shared with town reps, and also available to anyone.


Seeking Moving Advice or Recommendations

Hello friends,

I’m moving the contents of my apartment into a storage space here in Brattleboro in about a month.

In 2012, I hired Crofter’s to move me, and their rates seemed fair. Now, they’ve been bought by a company in Lebanon, NH, and their minimum is $800. That’s more than my monthly rent. My stuff can easily fit into a small rental truck. $800 is ridiculous.


Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Emerging Artist Joel Ross “Good Vibes”

The Vermont Jazz Center presents Downbeat Rising Star Award-winning vibraphonist Ross in concert on Saturday, March 14th.  Ross, a 24 year-old Blue Note recording artist, is making the “vibes” a more familiar and accessible sound to audience members of his generation. For listeners familiar with the impact of the vibes in bebop and swing, Ross’ dynamic sound and virtuosity brings back memories of its judicious use by jazz legends Red Norvo, Lionel Hampton, Bobby Hutcherson, Milt Jackson and Gary Burton. Ross’ approach is both modern and steeped in the tradition. JazzTimes Magazine claims “Not since Stefon Harris’ arrival 20 years ago has the jazz world heard a young vibraphonist intent on exploring so many dimensions.”

Ross will be performing selections from his highly acclaimed Blue Note album, KingMaker, a musical tribute to his family. Joining him at the Jazz Center will be other mid-20s artists  including Immanuel Wilkens on saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendelhall on bass, and Jeremy Dutton on the drums. All except Mendelhall can be heard on Ross’ recent release. Downbeat Magazine gave KingMaker a 4 star review, noting that “Ross’ playing erupts through the layers of lush arrangements like consistent currents of electricity, high-powered and full of luminous energy. These bright bursts of solos and melodic lines surprise, excite and stretch…”


BCTV Schedules – Week of 3/9/20

BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 3/9/20

Monday, March 9, 2020

5:00 am Landmark College Presents – William Edelglass – The Genealogy of Happiness: From Aristotle to Positive Psychology
6:25 am Northeast Sled Hockey League AD Tournament – Gaylord Wolfpack vs Central Vermont Pioneers
7:30 am The World Fusion Show – EP 68 – Sampler #6
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Daily Episode
9:00 am Slow Living Summit – Place-Based Food Business Creation and Investing


Brattleboro VFW $6.50 Lunch Specials Open to the Public 3-9 to 3-13

The Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 – 1:30. Specials listed below are only $6.50 a plate. Hand made burger, fries, sweet potato fries, wings, onion rings, soups and sandwiches are also available. Take outs available by calling 257-0438

Mon – Salisbury steak, mashed potato, gravy & veg


Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney Residents Invited to WSESD Annual Meeting at BUHS

The Windham Southeast School District (“WSESD”) will hold its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 at 7 p.m., in the gymnasium at Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS). BUHS is located at 131 Fairground Road, Brattleboro, Vermont. Childcare will be provided.

Warned items for the meeting include election of district officers, and a vote to approve the FY2020 budget, in the amount of $51,171,300. Your opinion matters, but you can only vote if you are present on the floor of the Annual Meeting.


Windham Southeast School District Board Encourages Action to Change Student Weighting Formula

On February 26th, 2020, the Windham Southeast School District school board (hereafter, “The Board”) unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Vermont Legislature to implement changes to the weighting formula used by the state to determine a district’s equalized pupil count, as recommended by a state-commissioned study. The equalized pupil count is used by the state to set education tax rates.

In December, 2019, a study group commissioned by the Vermont Agency of Education submitted a report to the House and Senate Education Committees (among other committees) examining the formula used by the state to determine per pupil spending. The formula gave varying weight to different types of students (e.g. a Pre-K student is counted as 0.46, a High School Student as 1.13). The report recommended a number of changes to the formula to reflect higher educational costs associated with English Language Learners, schools with higher poverty rates, and schools in rural communities.


Trump Wins Democratic Primary

The national Democratic party machine has once again managed to set up its circular firing squad as the bullets started flying. Instead of developing a comprehensive strategy to use the presidential primary as a way to unify Democrats, they have created chaos while allowing Trump to set the agenda for just about everything they do.

The grand obsession is to focus almost all of their messaging and energy on their anointed candidate who they believe has the best chance of beating Trump in November. Debate over the issues important to voters has been tainted by the obsession.


Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Informational Forum and District Caucuses

Brattleboro Town Selectboard will hold a pre-town meeting information forum on Wednesday, March 11 at Academy School beginning at 7:00 PM. Representative Town Meeting articles will be discussed, including the budget.  At 6:30 p.m., town meeting members of each district will be available to meet with constituents to offer residents an opportunity to share their views and discuss articles to be voted on at the annual meeting.  Also, at that time, all three districts will be accepting nominations to fill town meeting member vacancies for 1 year.District 1 has eleven seats to appoint, District 2 has one seat to appoint, and District 3 has four seats to appoint.


Windham Region Broadband Project Information and Survey

The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) and its partners, ValleyNet and Rural Innovation Strategies Inc. (RISI) were awarded a Broadband Innovation Grant (BIG) from the state’s Department of Public Service in late December 2019. The resulting Windham Region Broadband Project was informed by the hard work of many town broadband committees and other volunteer efforts, as well as education and outreach organized by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation.

WRC understands the importance of high-quality, high-speed and reliable internet access to our communities for many reasons – connecting students with teachers and online education resources, connecting patients with medical providers, connecting rural businesses with clients and employers with employees, as well as for entertainment and news. Broadband can provide that level of service to Windham Region communities that are currently unserved and underserved.


The Disappointments of Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday is over and the air waves are quiet. As you can imagine, I was very disappointed with the results; both with Bernie’s unexpected losses in Texas and here in New England but also when Pete And Amy precipitously threw their support to Biden along with Betto O’ Rourke. And even more when I heard that there had been a meeting of the party leaders before all that where I’m sure they pressured the moderate candidates to give their support to Biden. And Obama weighed in and Harry Reid and others. Then, in the “unkindest cut of all” Bloomberg bows out and moves to give Biden the use of his money! And now I here that the party is pressuring Warren to stay in to take votes away from Bernie. What kind of an election is this?


WSESD Meeting Agendas

The Windham Southeast School District Board will hold a Public Information Meeting on the Proposed FY ’21 Budget at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 in the Brattleboro Area Middle School’s Multi-Purpose Room, 109 Sunny Acres, Brattleboro. (Note: Childcare will be provided)


Brattleboro Unofficial Election Results March 3, 2020

Please see the attached for the “unofficial results” for Brattleboro Town Meeting, WSESU School Board, & Presidential Primary Elections. These are the results from the ballot tallies, not including write-in votes, and not including other towns’ results for the WSESD or Primary races. The projected winners are in bold in each race.


Vermont Town Meeting – Direct Participatory Democracy – Bernie Sanders – Power to the People

Being the first Tuesday in March, it is Town Meeting Day in Vermont. Here, unlike much of the world, there are only two layers of government; state & local. And for the vast majority of our 246 towns & cities, local government is composed of a legislative branch that includes EVERY citizen as may gather at an annual (and special) Town Meeting. Most communities introduce, amend, and pass all agenda items (like the town budget, tax rates, election of officers, ordinances, etc.) through a (public) floor vote by all the assembled citizens. This is our traditional Town Meeting system. And having ALL the citizens included in the legislative branch of local government lends itself to working people (who are the great majority) being more informed and more thoughtful about the positions they take (as their opinions, under such a system, very much matter). Vermont is a better place for it.


Announcing The 2020 Brattleboro Town Arts Fund Grantees

ACWC is pleased to announce the award of $15,000 through the Brattleboro Town Arts Fund to support six community-focused creative initiatives. The six grantees were selected from a competitive field of 39 proposals received in this first year of the Town Arts Fund (TAF) program. View the full press release.

The 2020 TAF grantees are: