Proposed Town Charter Amendments

by tomaidh | Op/Ed

I just received an email from the selectboard about town meeting.

“Town Meeting Representatives:  —  As you may know, the March 3 ballot contains three proposed Charter amendments.  Attached for your information is the “Proposed Brattleboro Charter Amendment Information Sheet” that was prepared and endorsed by the Selectboard.”

Well, it was not “Information”, it was “Propaganda”. It was telling us to vote the way the Selectboard wanted us to.

I guess they have a right to do that, but we have an equal right to ignore it.

For the record, here are the 3 proposed amendments:

Happy 12th Birthday, iBrattleboro

by cgrotke | iBrattleboro

Twelve years ago, Lise and I flipped the proverbial switch and turned on iBrattleboro.com, a new type of web site. It used the world wide web to communicate hyper-locally, and gave everyone in town who cared to register a platform for sharing news, events, stories, and opinions of all things Brattleboro.

Since then, we’ve worked to keep things up and running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round, even on holidays. That’s 4015 days without much of a break, something I’m not sure I would have agreed to up front had I known what was involved, but now I can’t really imagine things without it. That will come someday, but not now. Now we are twelve.

That’s 12 years of non-professional, un-edited, real-community local information. You’ve done a spectacular job.

Write Action Radio Hour: Mary Wilkins Freeman’s The Revolt of Mother, on WVEW 107.7 FM

by Rolf | Arts

Mary Wilkins Freeman is one of Brattleboro’s “lost treasures” and on the third and fourth Sundays of each month,

Write Action will be featuring some of her best stories, as well as biographical and historical information.

This Sunday, February 22,  at from 5 -6 PM, the Write Action Radio Hour will offer a reading of “The Revolt of Mother”, one of her most anthologized and critically acclaimed stories. Freeman’s story, The Revolt of Mother, is one told with both humor, anger, compassion and detail. It’s a small masterpiece. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Meeting Thursday Night

by LRW137 | Op/Ed

I hope all of you will turn out for the sole meeting the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold for public feedback on the proposed Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) Entergy hastily submitted to the NRC in December 2014. NRC meeting is February 19, 6 to 9 pm. Address and NRC notice is here: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2015/15-004.i.pdf

Official “Proposed Brattleboro Charter Amendment Information Sheet”

by Not Signed In | Politics

PROPOSED BRATTLEBORO CHARTER AMENDMENT INFORMATION SHEET 

Proposed amendments to Brattleboro’s Charter are on the March 3, 2015 ballot. The Brattleboro Selectboard asks you to consider the following when voting. 

TOWN MEETING TERM LIMITS 

Brattleboro’s Town Meeting is both participatory and representative democracy. Up to 155 residents get elected and gather annually to make budget and policy decisions for the Town. It is anti-democratic to ban Brattleboro residents from Town Meeting because they have attended 6 years in a row. Term limits would bar many residents who now attend Town Meeting, and the institutional memory they bring with them would be lost. Right now there are 25 open Town Meeting slots, so anyone interested in joining already can. Term limits actually could empty out Town Meeting so there would not even be a quorum. 

New! Tech Tips Program at Brooks LIbrary

by Brooks Memorial Library | Sci-Tech

Library technology: All Your Questions Answered! Join Reference Librarian Jeanne Walsh on the first Tuesday (4 PM to 6 PM) and first Friday (11 AM to 1 PM) of the month for one-on-one help on the various aspects of library technology, such as downloading e-books and e-audio; accessing your library account to place holds, renew your items, suggest new titles for the collection, make lists of your favorite titles to share with your fellow library users.

Get help with online tasks like filling out forms and emailing attachments.…and more. NO QUESTIONS ARE TOO SMALL OR TOO SILLY! Bring your devices if you have them: iPads, smartphones, laptops, etc.

How Hard Is It To Find 100,000 People To Sign A White House Petition, To Qualify For An Official Response?

by CrisEricson2016 | Activism

It is extremely hard to find 100,000 people to sign a White House “We the People” petition, in order to qualify for an Official White House response.   There have been a lot of marijuana, cannabis, hemp, and medical marijuana White House petitions.   None of them have received the response the petitioners want to hear, so we all just keep filing more petitions, hoping that attitudes up on The Hill will change.  This new 2015 Make Marijuana Legal! petition is really dragging its feet, averaging only 100 signatures a day.  This petition needs help!

I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of February 22

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

UPCOMING I-91 CLOSURE NORTHBOUND & SOUTHBOUND: Wednesday Night (2/18) 7:00 pm – 6:00 am and Thursday Night (2/19) 7:00 pm – 6:00 am.

Night work on the new bridge will continue at Route 30. Night work will be conducted Sunday night, February 22nd thru Friday night, February 27th (weather dependent).

I-91

Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge. The new bridge will be 104’ wide and is designed to carry all four lanes of traffic –two northbound and two southbound.

On Exhibit at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Arts

ON EXHIBIT at Brooks Library in February:

MAIN FLOOR: Sequencing paintings by local artists and students River Gallery School of Art. The RGS is a vibrant hub for Brattleboro’s artistic community, with bright, spacious studios on Main Street overlooking the Whetstone Brook.

Founded in 1976, RGS offers classes, community workshops, and summer and school vacation programs for students of all ages.  Our core faculty members are all professional working artists, and teach a wide range of visual media including all types of painting, drawing, printmaking, and encaustics. RGS also partners with community organizations to offer classes to seniors and adults with physical and cognitive challenges

Handed Down from the Trade: A Story of a Slave-holding Past

by Brooks Memorial Library | History

Join independent scholar, David Mulholland, in his talk Handed Down from the Trade, Wednesday, February 18, 7:00 PM, in the library’s meeting room.

Imagine growing up in an America grasping with the horrors and social havoc of its slavery past that you personally despise. Then imagine discovering that your ancestors participated extensively in slavery, prospered from it, and influenced public policy to set people, states, and a nation on a path to spread slavery, to engage in a Civil War, and to undertake an arduous Civil Rights struggle.

Qigong and Healing – Taming the Monkey Mind

by Not Signed In | Health

Quieting one’s mind can often feel like an overwhelming task. During this half-day workshop, participants will learn simple yet effective ways to quiet the busy mind, also known as the “Monkey Mind”. Through the practice of Qigong we will gradually let go of the limits of our acquired self and open up to the infinite experience of our true nature. Participants will leave with a renewed and empowered sense of health and well-being.

Qigong consists of simple movements and breathing practices that relax the physical body, calm the mind and raise the spirit. It is an excellent form of preventative healthcare, and also used in treating major illnesses and minor ailments.

Rescheduled West Brattleboro Economic Development Forum, February 23rd

by WBA | Economics

On Monday, February 23rd, at 5:00 PM, all West Brattleboro businesses are invited to discuss business and economic development ideas with Brattleboro and Windham County development organizations.  Representatives will be present from Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce, Windham Regional Commission and the Town of Brattleboro.

The meeting (which was postponed from the original date two weeks ago due to a snowstorm) will take
place in the central conference room at the 55 Marlboro Road building and is being organized by the West Brattleboro Association.  (55 Marlboro Rd. is the long building with Central Appliance at its right corner.  Use the front center door and head to the back.) Light refreshments will be provided.

Selectboard Meeting Notes: PAYT, Union Hill, Low Bids, And The End Of An Era

by cgrotke | Town News

There will be no mailing of Selectboard concerns regarding the Charter change proposals. The media, it was deemed, will be enough of a loudspeaker for the board’s concerns.

Much of the upcoming Pay As You Throw system was voted into being, though the issue of who will be educating the public remains to be decided, while Moss Kahler and Waste Zero discuss the possibility working together.  

The Department of Public Works has a plan to save significant funds by doing the Union Hill intersection improvements in-house, a question of local-but-not-lowest bids delayed the awarding of a bid for a snack bar, and the calendar of events will no longer be read by the board.

Winterpills and Rusty Belle at Next Stage on Saturday, February 21

by Not Signed In | Music

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present indie/folk/chamber-pop quintet Winterpills, plus roots-rock/junk-folk trio Rusty Belle at Next Stage on Saturday, February 21 at 7:30 pm.

One of the most exciting bands to emerge from Northampton, MA in recent years, Winterpills plays haunting, delicate, dynamic music with shimmering melodies and aching lyrics. Critically praised as a mirror of sorrows and a beacon of hope, the music of Winterpills – true to the band’s name – is medicine for weary hearts.

Come to the Write Action Open Read, Third Friday at 7:30

by Rolf | Arts

Do you write poetry?  Or perhaps you write prose ? Either way this Friday you will have a chance to read your work in front of an audience. 

This Friday, February 20th, is the third Friday of the month, and at 7:30 PM on every third Friday, Write Action hosts the Open Reading.

We meet at the Blue Dot Studio, in the Hooker Dunham Building to share our poems and stories. Each person gets about 7 minutes

Seminar Series About Money

by tomaidh | Education

What: Arriving Together At the Power of Mutual Credit – offered by John Root jr of Just Abundance, Common Good Finance and rCredits.

Where: 15 Grove St, Brattleboro, VT 05301 (Behind the Stone Church)

When: Wednesday night, Jan 18, 6:30-9pm and subsequent Wednesday eves.

The first two sessions are historical and conceptual: First, the history of money and control of the banksters, with the emphasis on American history of money.  “Why is the almighty dollar the basis for the American Empire?”

Proposed Charter Amendment Fact Sheet

by cgrotke | Politics

The Brattleboro Selectboard has drafted and is considering adopting and mailing the following “Fact Sheet” related to the proposed Charter changes on the upcoming March ballot. The mailing to all residences will cost under $3000.

Below you’ll find an attachment that included the draft text being considered, as it appeared in the Selectboard meeting materials for their February 17 meeting, to be held later tonight. If approved, you will also get a copy in the mail.

Sandglass Theater Presents Do Elephants Dream of Eclectic Sheep?

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

PUTNEY- On February 20th and 21st Sandglass welcomes the puppet artist, Amanda Maddock, with a new collaborative work, Do Elephants Dream of Eclectic Sheep? In this piece the audience is invited to visit the bedroom and mind of a slumbering elephant whose dreams are just beginning to unfold. The elephant begins to question her fate as the contents of her room and mind reveal messages either fraught with meaning or frivolous…or perhaps both…or neither? Time, scale, character transformation, creatures and objects will be awakened, unpacked, and opened to interpretation.

This piece will be presented as part of Sandglass Theater’s New Visions Series, which serves as a laboratory for new works by artist in the field of puppetry and movement-based theater.

Welch Announces Legislation To Spur Use of Modern Wood Heating Systems

by Not Signed In | Politics

Bipartisan initiative would boost Vermont’s biomass industry

Burlington, VT—This afternoon in Montpelier, Rep. Peter Welch announced bipartisan legislation that would make it more affordable for Vermonters to install wood heating systems in their homes or businesses.

The Biomass Thermal Utilization(BTU) Act would expand the existing renewable energy tax credit to include wood, or “biomass thermal,” heating systems. Welch made the announcement at National Life Group’s Montpelier campus. The company installed a wood heating system in 2010 that has reduced its carbon footprint by 45 percent and heating costs by 50 percent.

Public Invited to “Trail Talk” to be held for I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Project

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

The PCL+FIGG Team will conduct the next on-site “trail talk” for the Public on Saturday, February 21, 2015. There has been a lot of progress at the I-91 Brattleboro Bridge project site, which will be shared with attendees. The talks will originate at the West River Trail near the marina. The trail talk will be led by Caleb Linn, Project Manager for PCL (lead contractor) and Garrett Hoffman, Design Manager for FIGG (bridge designer).