REVISED SCHEDULING FOR THE UPPER DUMMERSTON CLOSURE: The closing of Upper Dummerston Road will not start until this Thursday, May 1. The road will closed from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on May 1 and 2. The road will be reopened for the weekend, then will be closed again from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily Monday, May 5 through Friday, May 9. We do not anticipate any night work during the closure.
In a wonderfully weird and short special meeting on the FY15 town budget, the number of attendees exceeded expectations causing the meeting to be delayed until a later date and bigger location. Possibly Thursday, and possibly at a school.
The large turnout for a budget discussion seemed to take the board by pleasant surprise, though there was minor disagreement over what to do about it.
Tonight I attended both the library trustee meeting regarding the proposed budget cuts and the Selectboard meeting.
Well, I tried to attend the Selectboard meeting but apparently -even though the 2015 budget and the proposed cuts to the library and parks and recreation -not to mention the police/fire bond- have been discussed endlessly and passionately and even though ibrattleboro and the Reformer FB page have been filled with discussions and comments for 2 weeks and even though the Selectboard has received numerous letters from voters wanting to share their opinions and displeasure…even with all of that going on-the Selectboard apparently never concluded that perhaps there would be a larger than usual crowd at the meeting tonight.
To the Brattleboro Selectboard:
This is to express my strong concern that it would be a serious mistake to cut library or parks and recreation services from the town budget. It would be a false economy, rendering Brattleboro far less attractive to both existing and potential homeowners, at a time when we do not want to see our grand list shrinking.
Police and fire facilities and well-maintained roads are crucial town services. A library, a parks and rec department, good public education, and other “quality of life” expenditures are also crucial. These expenditures go a long way to attracting good citizensand sustaining community strength. A strong community will weather hard economic times relatively intact.
When the eighth annual Way to Go! Commuter Challenge kicks off on May 12th, the Brattleboro Smart Commute team will be ready. Members of the Brattleboro Transportation Roundtable will participate with businesses, communities, and schools across the state to reduce commuting costs, pollution, and traffic. Roundtable members include Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, Brattleboro Retreat, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Vermont Department of Health, Grace Cottage Hospital, Landmark College, Omega Optical Co., World Learning, Brattleboro Food Co-op, and Marlboro College Graduate Center.
BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us
NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The BAMS Committee will meet at 7:45 a.m. on Monday, May 5 in the BAMS Conference Room.
The BUHS Teacher Curriculum Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 5 in the Cusick Conference Room.
Here’s something people interested in GMOs and Vermont farming might want to take note of – an open source seed intiative.
You might be familiar with free and open source software. Coders give away the program and underlying source code with the stipulation that others using it do the same. The open source seed initiative is similar. They are releasing seeds in such a way to “make sure that the genes in at least some seed can never be locked away from use by intellectual property rights.”
The Skatepark Site Selection Committee has the last on site visits TODAY Tuesday April 29 (rain or shine). Here’s the agenda; come to part or all.
1. 5:15 P.M. Site Visit – Living Memorial Park (61 Guilford St)
2. Recess
3. 6:10 P.M. Site Visit – Crowell Lot (Intersection of Western Ave & Union St/Cedar St)
4. Recess
I participated in a Maker Faire on Cape Cod this weekend – wondering if anyone has tried to get a group going in Brattleboro? Seems like we have a lot of people around here who could contribute awesome exhibits and it’s a nice family-friendly attraction. The small Faire last weekend drew about 1000 people.
Anyone know a place, preferably in town or not very far off, to pick unsprayed dandelion leaves? Thanks!
May Day Celebration
May 1, 2014 marks the 128th anniversary of a rally for the eight-hour day in Chicago’s Haymarket Square that ended with a police riot that left over a dozen dead. The political trial and hanging of four anarchists that followed sparked protests around the world and the designation by the Second International of May 1 as International Workers’ Day, more commonly known as May Day.
There is a health care records concern I have about “global consent” — whereby your records are stored in one big state file, to which, if you sign a release, any health care provider may have access. This story was on Vermont Public Radio — link to it http://digital.vpr.net/post/new-patient-information-system-sparks-privacy-debate . For information on the information exchange, see vitl.net .
This is what I sent to my legislators regarding this issue:
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 6:30 pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
Legislation increases tax credit and removes barrier for purchasers
Montpelier, VT (April 28th) – At a charging station in Montpelier this morning, Rep. Peter Welch unveiled new legislation that makes electric vehicles more affordable for middle-income Vermonters and easier to purchase. Welch arrived at a Statehouse electric vehicle charging station driving a 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid Energi provided by Lamoille Valley Ford.
BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 4/28/14
Monday April 28
1:00 am The Climate Show – Vermont Gas Pipline 3/6/14
2:00 am FSTV Overnight
4:00 am Organic Politics – The Answer is Blowing in the Wind
5:00 am Green Mtn. Vets for Peace – Ep.131 – Military Sexual Harrassment
6:05 am The Folklorist – Ep.7
In reviewing the vote at Representative Town Meeting, the results of the Australian ballot and the April 22 Selectboard meeting, a fair conclusion so far might be that there needs be a process to ensure the broadest possible input on those budget items on which there is some discretionary judgment.
To that end, I propose to the Selectboard that, in drafting the the Article for the the next Representative Town Meeting, that information be inserted in the warned Article which lists:
The amount of the budget that constitutes other than fixed expenditures (i.e. negotiated items, debt service, etc.)
The Administration of our town presented the Town Meeting Reps with a very large project. The Reps accepted the project, in 2012, though for many Reps it never sat well. There are more than a few reasons for that. Since that time the economy and financial problems of the town have continued to worsen. Many Town Reps, talking to friends and neighbors, came to believe that that the town as a whole was not in favor of this project. 56 Town Reps signed a petition to allow the citizens themselves to weigh in. More might have signed had they all been contacted. Only four days were left when organizing began.
I taught my child, who is 7, how to take pictures of UFOs, or UFAUXs. Get them started early, and they will have a craft that can support them for a lifetime.
Anyways, I did teach him this week, and he took this photo today. What more can I say ?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88361661@N00/14016111666/
Dear Library User: As many of you heard or read last week, because of the Town-wide vote rejecting the Representative Town Meeting approved budget, the Selectboard has directed the Interim Town Manager and staff to provide impacts of various budget reduction scenarios affecting each Town department. The Library Board of Trustees will consider the impacts of these historic budget reductions at a meeting on Tuesday, April 29, 5:30 PM, in the Library’s meeting room on the 2nd floor. The meeting is open to the public.The Selectboard will meet at 6:30 PM in the Municipal Center’s Selectboard meeting room to consider the impacts. If you are interested in the outcome for the future of library services to the Brattleboro community, you should plan to attend these meetings.
I posted on ibratt, a couple days ago under the title “Taking a Deep Breath” a recommendation to the Selectboard that it might be wiser and simpler, and probably get their budget passed at this point, to remove the $261,000 for the project and let it go at that. Altho, to be sure, it is the project that has pushed the budget over the top and catalyzed the vote the overarching issue is the full spectrum of low income, high taxes, insufficient livable wage jobs…the stress and strains of a bad economy with a bleak future. Slicing and dicing the budget may save a hundred or hundred and fifty bucks a year but worsens our daily living experience without at all addressing the underlying causes. The defeat of the first budget has made a very loud noise.
