News and information sections, from near to far
The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 8:00am in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. (NOTE the new day and time)
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
The Brattleboro Selectboard is accepting applications for interested people to become a part of an ad hoc Selection Committee to review the final proposals submitted by artists in conjunction with funding through the Town’s NEA “Our Town” grant. The Selection Committee will consist of several local residents and other members with expertise in the arts.
The Selectboard has approved a group of 13 proposals for final consideration. The artists have been asked to refine their proposals and will submit a final proposal for the Selection Committee to review. It is anticipated that the Selection Committee’s work will occur between September 14 and September 25. It will make a recommendation to the Selectboard regarding which project(s) should be selected for implementation.
Blasting operations on the north side of the new bridge will continue this week, and for approx the following two weeks. The target time for the blasts is weekdays between 1:30-2:00 pm. To ensure travelers’ safety, rolling roadblocks will be implemented on I-91, and the Exit 2 northbound on-ramp and the Exit 3 on-ramps in both directions will be closed for approximately 15 minutes. Sound impacts associated with the blasting will be minimal.
I-91
See above re blasting scheduled for this week.
When Tower One and Tower Two stood in the same location for nearly thirty years the immensity of them was palpable, in height and breadth. In 2001 several months before 911 my sister-in-law and I were riding in a moving van on a June night on the highway on the New Jersey shoreline of the Hudson River when lower Manhattan came into view. She exclaimed, “My God, look at those two buildings. What are they for?” I told her they were the World Trade Center Towers. She couldn’t take her eyes off of them until they were no longer in view. I too took a long look at them wondering when I would see them again.
The Brattleboro Selectboard held a special meeting Tuesday evening to consider and endorse the work of the NEA Our Town Arts Screening Committee, as well as to award a bid for the Green Street retaining wall work to be done.
The meeting wasn’t televised, though, so your report is based on their meeting materials.
According to meeting materials…
This is the third project update for the Town of Brattleboro’s Main Street Sidewalk Reconstruction Project. This update is getting sent out a little bit early this week to let you all know that on Wednesday, August 12, 2015, there will be a little bit of sawcutting taking place in the area near the Grove Street intersection (but still on the east side of Main Street).
The first installment of the 2015 Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due on August 17th, 2015 by 5:00 PM. Payments made after August 17th, 2015 will have an additional 1% interest added to the unpaid balance.
The utility billing is also due on August 17th, 2015 by 5:00 PM. Payments made after August 17th, 2015 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance.
Payments can be mailed to the Town of Brattleboro, 230 Main Street, Suite 111, Brattleboro VT 05301. An official postmark of August 17th, 2015 will be considered as an on time payment. Please include the quarterly payment stub to ensure your payment is applied properly.
Blasting Today
· The first blast will be at approximately 1:30 today.
· To ensure travelers’ safety, rolling roadblocks will be implemented on I-91 in each direction, and the on-ramps at Exits 2 Northbound and 3 in both directions will be closed for approximately 15 minutes.
· Traffic attempting to use Exits 2 and 3 on-ramps will be detoured to VT Route 5.
· Sound impacts associated with the blasting will be minimal.
The Vermont BENE Group (Better Economics for Neighbors Everywhere) has been meeting in Brattleboro since January to discuss and plan for bringing the rCredits alternative currency to Vermont.rCredits is an online exchange of credits that can be spent instead of dollars at participating businesses or for making payments to other participating individuals. It has been operating successfully in the Greenfield Massachusetts area since the Fall of 2013.
The credits can be earned and spent locally, which encourages local circulation thus stimulating the local economy. In addition, both businesses and individuals receive incentive bonuses rewarding use of the system.
Reminder: To help reduce congestion on I-91 during high traffic periods, VTrans will close both the Exit 3 on-ramps next three Sundays from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM: August 9, August 16, and August 23. Southbound traffic will be routed to Exit 1, and northbound traffic attempting to use the Exit 3 on ramp will be routed north on Route 5 to Exit 4. Officers will be on hand to control traffic. I-91 will remain open.
Cindy Cook
Principal, Adamant Accord, Inc.
Past Vice President, Association for Conflict Resolution
The Vermont Workers’ Center would like to thank the following businesses and individuals for their generous food and resource donations to support the Solidarity School held on July 26th & 27th 2015 in Brattleboro: Against the Grain Gourmet, Mocha Joe’s Roasting Company, Amy’s Bakery Arts Cafe, the Brattleboro Food Co-op, the Vermont Country Deli, The Works Bakery Cafe, Brattleboro Time Trade, Price Chopper, Subway, Top of the Hill Grill, Superfresh! Organic Cafe, The Root Social Justice Center, Ellen Schwartz, and Spoon Agave. Special thanks to Kipton Tewksbury for his generous logistical support and and help in keeping the workshop running seamlessly.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 5:30pm in the Selectboard meeting room at the Municipal Center. It is anticipated that the Board will enter into executive session immediately following the business meeting to discuss contracts and the negotiating or securing of real estate purchase or lease options.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
This is the second update for the Main Street Sidewalk Reconstruction Project. This week we continued preparatory work for the major construction by installing advanced warning signage around town and also by sawcutting the roadway and sidewalk. Although this may seem like a noisy and messy operation, it actually allows the contractor to remove the sidewalk in a much neater fashion. This will really help get those big slabs of concrete out smoothly in the tight locations.
The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
The Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 7:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Wednesday, August 12, 2015 at 4:00pm in the Hanna Cosman meeting room at the Municipal Center.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
The Brattleboro ADA Advisory Committee will meet on Friday, August 14, 2015 at 10:00am at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in the VCIL conference room.
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100
Artists wondering if they are finalists in the Our Town selection process will be waiting one more week for the final decision of the board, pending the review of one more legit-but-overlooked proposal. The Brattleboro Selectboard will approve the list of finalists at a meeting next week.
Instead, the board was given an overview of the selection process thus far, and a glimpse of the work of the Screening Committee. They approved the Brooks Memorial Library Trustees request to restore lost library hours on Thursdays and Saturdays, approved of a plan to fine local businesses, and accepted what is likely to be the last in a series of radiologically-related grants funded by Entergy.
The PCL+FIGG Team will conduct the next on-site “trail talk” for the Public on Saturday, August 8, 2015. There has been a lot of exciting 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).
Interested participants should meet the PCL+FIGG Team at the West River Trail trailhead on Saturday, August 8, 2015, at 8 a.m. and the talk will begin at 8:15 a.m. Participants will walk the trail to the I-91 bridge site, so please wear appropriate clothing and footwear.
To help reduce congestion on I-91 during high traffic periods, VTrans will close both the Exit 3 on-ramps on the next three Sundays:August 9, August 16, and August 23 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Southbound traffic will be routed to Exit 1, and northbound traffic attempting to use the Exit 3 on ramp will be routed north on Route 5 to Exit 4. Officers will be on hand to control traffic. I-91 will remain open.
Cindy Cook
Public Information Officer
Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project
