CHAPTER 17
“The people in Building 27 are scared!”
OK, let’s calm down, let’s relax. Let us put aside fear, as we have nothing to fear, anyway.
For here is a story from grandpa’s owns memories:
My family lived in Beach Haven Apartments from when I was five until we moved out from there to our own, 3-bedroom, semi-attached, cookie-cutter home located at 46-05 216th Street, Bayside 61 – Queens, NYC, NYS.
Montpelier, VT – Governor Phil Scott and Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) Commissioner Michael Pieciak today announced that more than forty additional auto insurance companies have filed plans to return premiums or reduce their rates for Vermont policyholders. DFR has moved quickly to approve these plans which amount to over $14.6 million in savings for Vermonters to date.
All Vermont-based auto insurance companies, along with most major out-of-state insurers, have developed refund plans for Vermonters, which combined, represent approximately 90% of all personal auto policies in Vermont. Each of these insurers has seen a reduction in claims as Vermonters do their part to stay home to comply with the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe directive.
Hello Dosa Lovers,
We are now offering CONTACTLESS CURBSIDE PICKUP AT DOSA KITCHEN with an abbreviated menu plus an opportunity to purchase prepared food and grocery items from dosa batter and sambar to ghee, fermentation crocks, and Dosa Kitchen T-shirts from our store.
When: SATURDAYS + SUNDAYS 12-5
Where: Dosa Kitchen at 34 Elliot Street in downtown Brattleboro
Gardens provide continuity and hope every year, and the Brattleboro Floral Arts & Garden Club shines as a happy reminder that natural beauty continues in our community.
New president (and local mystery writer) Lynne Kennedy is the club’s new president. As the annual April meeting was cancelled this year, and in response to social distancing requirements, outgoing Co-Presidents Lynn Kuralt and Melissa Kuralt passed the keys “on a ten-foot pole”. Other new officers include Vice President Shelia Kinnare, Recording Secretary Frankie Knibb, Corresponding Secretary Judith Wagenbach, Treasurer Libby Lafland and Librarian Carlene McCarty.
The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the largest funding source for home mortgages in the United States, has published special underwriting guidelines for the Covid-19 crisis.
Plain English explanation of how the current guidelines will affect home financing appear on Fannie’s website as FAQs:
The Brattleboro Selectboard discussed COVID-19, manholes, electricians, monthly finances, emergency management plans, roads & bridges, and the library’s Board of Trustees.
The virtual selectboard meeting is becoming more routine. Read on to see just how smooth everyone is now.
The Vermont Jazz Center is proud to present its 4th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival the weekend of April 24-25th in live streaming format. Each of the artists will be performing from the comfort of their own home or a close-by piano studio using digital streaming technology to present their sets live, directly on the Vermont Jazz Center’s webpage. The Festival will be run using the same format as past years: Friday and Saturday evening feature concerts, Saturday daytime classes and emerging artist concerts, and a late afternoon panel discussion amongst all the artists. The performers will be NEA Jazz Master Toshiko Akiyoshi, Manuel Valera, Orrin Evans, and Shamie Royston as headliners as well as emerging artists Franz Robert, Maya Keren and Matt Twaddle. Helen Sung will moderate Saturday afternoon’s panel discussion.
The event will be free and open to the public, donations are encouraged and can be made on line via the VJC’s website.
Let’s get concrete. One aspect. Food security. There was a suggestion, a well worn mantra but nonetheless very true, to buy local. We’ll keep that narrowed to food. The presumption is that the more local food we buy the more local growers will be inclined to raise. Each additional pound of food gets us one pound closer to security. But there is another factor. The food has to be affordable.
Small farms, especially the organic farms and it would be ideal if all were organic, can’t get food to the market at the same price as agribiz. Agribiz doesn’t care about or thus factor in the external costs of pollution (and resulting health issues) from chemicals or gmo’s or any such thing. On top of that they get huge subsidies. The subsidies are added to everyone else’s tax bill.
Stay Home Stay Safe Sector Specific Guidance
New Rules effective April 20 for various occupations:
https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/business/stay-home-stay-safe-sector-specific-guidance
Guidance specifically for Real Estate
NOTICE OF MEETING
The Windham Southeast School District Programmatic and Performance Equity Committee will meet remotely at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 via Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 4/20/20
Monday, April 20, 2020
4:54 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Ben Cosgrove – Composer, Pianist, Author
5:00 am UVM Larner Medical School Coronavirus Webinar – The Science of Social Distancing
5:50 am Waking Up With Ami – A New Relationship in the Pandemic
6:00 am Waking Up With Ami – Ami’s Morning Routine: Part 1 Warm-up to Yoga
6:29 am Waking Up With Ami – Monday Morning Yoga
There is a lot of solid science to help us understand how to deal with COVID 19, the disease caused by SARS-Cov 2. Keep in mind that this disease is related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that occurred in 2002-2003, but experts believe that COVID 19 has somehow become more pathogenic.
We want to trust the experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, because he has become a prominent spokesman for delivering news that seems based in science and not politics.
But even Fauci and many other equally reputable scientists admit they wish they knew more about this new disease outbreak to provide guidance about the safest way for societies to proceed. Politics is clouding the picture and erring on the side of caution is the best advice for now. We need to move slowly while using the best available scientific information.
True Bipartisan
For the good of all…
We ride together
But first, we must agree on the vehicle.
And then…
our destination!
The Brattleboro VFW Post #1034 and the Brattleboro Elks #1499 is banding together with the guidance of the Brattleboro Fire Department to buy groceries and other essential items for those who cannot and should not venture out. Volunteers will be purchasing items, bagging or boxing them, and delivering them to homes where needed in the Brattleboro area.
WHAT IS NEW TODAY
There is no change in the status of Town operations today.
The Selectboard will meet on Tuesday, April 21, beginning at 6:15pm on GoToMeeting.
Use these links to view the agenda and other documents for that meeting:
Brattleboro Senior Meals Menu April 20 to April 24
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MENU
Apr. 20 Quiche Lorranie
Roasted Potatoes
Brussel Sprouts
Roll
Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott today outlined an approach for the phased restart of Vermont’s economy, emphasizing the state’s modeling indicates initial steps can be taken while the Stay Home, Stay Safe order remains in effect.
To begin to execute this strategy, Governor Scott today signed an addendum to Executive Order 01-20, which – in order to start getting more Vermonters back to work – institutes new health and safety requirements and encourages the public to wear cloth face coverings.
It also directs the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) to issue guidance authorizing outdoor businesses and construction operations with crews of two or less and some single-person low contact professional services, such as appraisers, attorneys, realtors and others, to operate if specified safety requirements can be met. These openings are effective April 20.
COVID-19 has brought on an economic crisis not seen in the US since the Great Depression. And as with all historic financial disasters, it is far from inevitable that the working class-left will emerge from the chaos with a progressive agenda moving forward. Another competing force is the far right. Such reactionaries will use the crisis to seek to implement privatizations, cuts to social services, elimination of environmental regulations, and even more tax cuts for the rich. There will also be those on the extreme right who will use the crisis to argue for a neo-fascist re-ordering of society.
We, the Labor Movement, must recognize the opportunities and dangers the crisis presents. We must also be sober in our analysis that the future is unwritten, and the outcome undecided. And here, we shall only emerge as the victors and we shall only have the ability to move a progressive program forward if we are able to build the power required to overcome the other. And right now, the battle over the United States Postal Service is the front that has been opened by the Trump Administration, and therefore constitutes one of the major fights we must engage in.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a virtual regular meeting on Tuesday to discuss COVID-19, manholes, electricians, finances, emergency management , roads and bridges, and library trustees. You can signal your intention to discuss something else during the public participation part of the agenda.
WHAT IS NEW TODAY
• There is no change in the status of Town operations today.
• Wi-fi is available near the Main Street entrance to Brooks Memorial Library and can be accessed from cars parked in front of the building.
