BCTV Schedules – Week of 9/23/19

Monday, September 23, 2019

4:30 am RAD-TV Presents – Working Towards a Zero Waste Society
5:00 am Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce – The Growing Business of Cannabis 9/5/19
6:39 am Doing Life – 167 – Is God Your Handler?
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast
9:00 am Community Forum – With VT Commerce Secretary Michael Schirling


Richard Davis Leaves Reformer

After 25 years of writing a weekly column for the Brattleboro Reformer I am severing my relationship with the newspaper. Over the past two years I have had to fight a constant battle to receive timely payment for the meager forty dollars per column. It has been common for them to pay me up to six to eight weeks after submission of invoices and then after constant reminders for payment.


Epiphany!

I spent all of yesterday devouring UFO stuff. In this morning’s reverie, it all came together.

Why have governments devoted enormous resources to denying their existence?
They are afraid that we’d “panic”. Yeah, right!


The Kids Are Alright!

The Climate Strike. What an incredible outpouring of commitment, community, passion and determination.

Hundreds of people-( some counts are as many as 1000!) many of them elementary and high school students took to the streets to voice their fears and anger about the mess adults have made of this earth and the terrible legacy they are left with.


VFW $6.50 Lunch Specials Open to the Public 8-23 to 8-27

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 – chicken fried steak, mashed potato, gravy & veg


Blues & BBQ with Danny Brooks and Li’l Miss Debi plus Sunny Lowdown at Next Stage on Saturday, September 21

Next Stage Arts Project presents Blues & BBQ with Texassippi Soul Man Danny Brooks and Li’l Miss Debi and Blues Blast Music Award nominee Sunny Lowdown at the Next Stage Café, on Saturday, September 21. BBQ by Top of the Hill Grill will be for sale starting at 6 pm, with music starting at 7 pm. Admission is $10 in advance available online at nextstagearts.org or at the door. Next Stage offers a beer and wine cash bar, and there will be a dance floor.  Next Stage is located at 15 Kimball Hill, Putney, VT. For more information, visitinfo@nextstagearts.org.


Sept. 29: The Classical Guitar’s the Star!

West Brattleboro, Vt. — As a musical treat for local residents and foliage visitors alike, Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) is presenting “A Celebration of the Classical Guitar” at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 29, at All Souls UU Church in West Brattleboro. Featured performers include David William Ross and the Procter/Hale duo of Steve Procter, guitar, and Alison Hale, flute.

Vocalist Jessica Gelter introduced FOMAG to Keene-based guitarist Ross in February 2018, when he was a member of the instrumental trio for her performance of David Lang’s “Death Speaks,” the centerpiece of FOMAG’s musicale “The Last Dance.” Soon afterward, Ross queried whether FOMAG would host a solo guitar concert connected with his next recording project. This expanded celebration of the guitar evolved from that proposal.


Fix Or Tear Down The Parking Garage

Hopefully more and more people will join the growing movement to have Brattleboro either step up or tear down the parking garage. A huge number of people no longer park there because The Town of Brattleboro has abdicated its basic duty to taxpayers and citizens to upkeep the garage. Let’s go through some basic undisputed facts about the current state of the garage:

Trash and stains punctuate the parking garage. Parking Enforcement told me there used to be a full time caretaker of the garage and now that person was cut to only 4 hours. Everyone feels this is unacceptable; there needs to be a full-time caretaker.


Brattleboro Committee Meeting Warnings

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Human Services Review Committee will meet on Monday, September 23, 2019, at 1:00pm, in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center.

The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Monday, September 23, 2019, at 5:00pm, in the Mezzanine Meeting Room at the Brooks Memorial Library.

The Brattleboro Citizens Police Communications Committee (CPCC) will meet on Monday, September 23, 2019, at 5:30pm, in the Community Meeting Room at the Brooks Memorial Library.


Some Thoughts On Climate Strike Day

Today there is a world Climate Strike. It is amazing, and amazing that it took this long.

As kids almost 50 years ago, we were already concerned about the environment. Earth Day got started, we read Ranger Rick and National Geographic World, and we knew that littering made an old Native American by the side of the road cry. We knew about animals going extinct from hunting and pollution. We used to plant trees on Arbor Day each June. We read the Lorax.


Disability Justice Advocate Lydia X.Z. Brown Speaks at Landmark College, October 1

The Fall 2019 Landmark College Academic Speaker Series opens with disability justice advocate Lydia X.Z. Brown on Tuesday, October 1 at 7 p.m. in the Brooks M. O’Brien Auditorium, located in the East Academic Building.

The talk, entitled “Cripping Intersectionality: Neurodiversity and Disability Justice” will focus on how disabled people’s cultural work, community building, and leadership offer necessary interventions for liberation work everywhere, from the streets to the ivory tower, grounded in intersectional theory and practice.


Selectboard Meeting Notes – Climate Still Not An Emergency

Brattleboro Selectboard meeting

The Brattleboro Selectboard decided once again that there is no climate emergency worth declaring. The proposed declaration was “a mess” and existing efforts were deemed ample.

The board had their expectations managed about possibilities of self governing anytime soon, budget season is lurking, and the possibility of a bike lane on Western Ave will be further investigated.


Brattleboro Water Main Flushing Schedule Fall 2019

Utilities Division crews will start Fall Flushing of the Town water mains on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 10:00 p.m. and continue through Saturday, October 12, 2019

NOTE: Some daytime flushing will continue throughout the weeks of October 15th and 21st

Customers are asked to check the flushing schedule closely as flushing causes water discoloration, low water pressure and in some areas, intervals of no water.


Brattleboro Paving Schedule

Starting Tuesday, September 17, Northeast Paving (a contractor of the Town) will begin the paving portion of our annual capital paving project. Weather permitting, the following schedule is anticipated:

Tuesday, September 17
Old Guilford Road – One-way alternating traffic. Expect traffic disturbances.


VT AFL-CIO Turns Left: Van Deusen Elected President, Adie Vice President

South Burlington, VT— This weekend, in its largest convention in two decades, the Vermont AFL-CIO elected a progressive reform leadership for its approximately 10,000 members statewide. The fourteen newly elected members of the slate aim to revitalize Vermont’s labor movement through organizing new unions, promoting activism among rank-and-file workers, and championing a Green New Deal to combat environmental crisis and economic inequality.

Said Liz Medina of UAW Local 2322 and new District Vice President for Washington/Orange Counties, “I am excited to be part of a rank-and-file slate that has a bold vision for the future of the labor movement.”
Asserting that they are not afraid of strikes, the newly elected members to the AFL-CIO state leadership pledge not to support political candidates in Montpelier who do not fight for union and social-justice interests.


Brattleboro Conservation Commission hosts Source to Sea Cleanup in the West River Park on September 24

Join the Brattleboro Conservation Commission on Tuesday, September 24 from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. to clean up trash along the West River as part of the annual Source to Sea Cleanup of the Connecticut River system. Volunteers of all ages are welcome and should meet in the West River Park at the entrance of the trail to down to the West River.


What’s Popping Up in Downtown Brattleboro?

Brattleboro’s Better Block Challenge will be held this weekend (September 20-22). Debuting on Friday night and running through Sunday, residents and visitors to downtown can check out temporary installations that are designed to transform spaces in downtown into active, vibrant and safer public spaces.

Better Block activities will take place on Friday from 5 to 8, Saturday 9 to 3, and Sunday, 10 to 2. Stop by the orientation booth in the Latchis Gallery at 50 Main Street as you visit the three pop-up Better Block projects installed around downtown.


Putney’s New Jetport for the Elite

putney planes ad

Don’t you just love ‘personalized’ ads? I came across this one today and it made me laugh. It’s for reduced-price private personal planes in [location] and that location is Putney, VT.

Just look at the gorgeous plane parked in [Putney]. It certainly looks like [Putney] to all of us who live around here, right?