Westwood Ho!

Finally, a bit of good news for New England Development. This Globe article says its Westwood project is moving forward, althought its traffic troubles with Canton seem considerable.

Breaking News

If the police escort-led school bus filled with screaming high school girls that I just saw on High Street is any indication, Newburyport Girls Soccer team won yet another championship.

Congratulations!

IMPORTANT UPDATE

And great news. Plum Island Roasters is not moving to Amesbury as was reported. Instead, they're opening a new location in Amesbury. But they'll remain in the boatyard.

Very important distinction and a welcome one!

Another Take on P-Town

This is the Cape Cod Times' take on the Deal or No Deal in Provincetown. 

A few interesting points (interesting to me, anyway):

* Note the Cape Cod Times article makes no mention of the article being previously reported by another newspapers. That's how things were done in the old days. Now, the code of honor crafted by all these bloggers and web sites and such, demand that credit be given credit to the first reporting party. Took me a while to get used to that.

* It should be noted that while the death of this deal is probably due most to the difficulty of developing property in this new and miserable age, there is another factor as well. The decreased demand for boats and boating. It'll be interesting to see if the hard economic times trickle down to our own marinas next year.

* Finally, the Cape Cod Times mistakenly gives Chuck and Ann Lagasse credit for renovating Newburyport's downtown. It no doubt got the information from an earlier Provincetown Banner article that provided the same incorrect information. This is one of the strengths of electronic media, if you make an error you can correct it more easily.

* Okay,this is finally, I wonder how the "real people" of Provincetown feel about the deal. Are they as excited as our local "real folk" who are excited to see any plans for Waterfront West go on the back, back burner?

Bummer

I missed this item in the paper this morning. Plum Island Roasters is indeed moving to Amesbury to the former J. Bucks spot. (Thanks to Gillian Swart for catching it for me.)

Well, let me be the first to wish them well. The J. Bucks spot is a nice one although it obviously didn't serve the previous tenant too well.  But perhaps a fresh face will help, and Amesbury's downtown seems to be drawing an increasing amount of attention.

I, for one, won't be following PIR to Amesbury. I might stop by to pick up some Sumatra French Roast from time-to-time, or I'll grab a cup of coffee if I'm in the neighborhood. But daily coffee trips are out of the question.

It's a shame they couldn't stay at the current location. It's perfect and I doubt there will be much else going on down there for several years given the state of the economy. Too bad something couldn't be worked out.

Normally, this would have hit me pretty hard, but I knew they were shopping around. Plus, I've gained some new perspective on life. Part of the perspective came from a dream that I had last night--and I swear I'm not making this up--that Plum Island Roasters was moving to New Hampshire, so this doesn't seem so bad in comparison.

Perhaps a dream about a coffee shop is a sign that I need a change.

Good luck to Sam and Joyce.  Can't wait to see the new place.

 

No Nantucket NorthEast

Looks like Karp has pulled out of the Provincetown deal.

Solar Deal in Trouble?

Coincidentally, a friend of the Posts attended a business breakfast type meeting yesterday where an alternative energy type gave the keynote.

He told the crowd of bankers, private equity folks and the like that the ongoing credit crisis was killing solar panel and other green energy projects. So the news about our own city project wasn't surprising.

But the problems surrounding EyeOn sound a little more extensive. From the Daily News article:

Beyond the financing hurdles, EyeOn, an upstart company from out of state with few clients to its credit, could be facing other problems, as well.

Boulder County records show the building owned by EyeOn owner and President Alex Kramarchuk — the company's official address, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's Web site — is slated for foreclosure due to mortgage default. It's the fifth time Kramarchuk's residential property has been threatened with foreclosure for nonpayment since 1996. Kramarchuk did not return a call for comment yesterday.

We'll see how this plays out, but this certainly doesn't instill one with a great deal of faith going forward. Isn't the city supposed to be part of a long-term partnership with this company? If I recall correctly, they're not just installing the solar panels. They're also going to be selling us energy for the foreseeable future and maintaining the panels if I remember correctly.

From an earlier article:

In exchange, the city will agree to purchase back energy created from the panels from EyeOn at a cost of 14 cents per kilowatt, escalating 4 percent per year for the next 20 years, until it can purchase the system back and reap the 34 percent cost savings themselves.

But the article leaves me with a few questions:

1. Was the commercial bank--probably Morgan Stanley, according to the mayor--going to invest in the project or was it merely providing financing. Big difference. If it was the former I'd say the deal could be in big trouble. If it's the latter there may be a sniff of hope, but not much.

2. Have we given any money to EyeOn? If so can we get it back?

3. Who filed the complaint with the ethics commission? Check the last graph.

Question 1 Belated Postscript

Did that get its ass kicked or what?


I'm just saying.

Bridge to Somewhere

I'm sure state officials are thinking, "If the bridge is so damn vital why didn't you use it when we had the meeting in Amesbury?"

That being said, three years does seem like an exceptionally long time.

Did we lose any credibility in the fight over the Route 1A bridge, which is opening next month? I was actually heartened to read a few positive reader comments. I assumed people would just grumble.

Recycling Deal

Congrats to the city for pairing with Amesbury to get us a better recycling deal. I'm happy about the savings, but I'm even more thrilled by the notion of mixing my recycled goods together.

Too bad this news didn't come out a week earlier. It might have been worth 62 votes on the debt exclusion.

Now, here's my question. Are the blue bins recyclable?

Comments

BTW, it looks as if Blogger doesn't pass along your comments until the next morning. So if you don't see them posted right away that's why.

Belated Thanks

Well, I didn't make the ceremony nor the parade. So let me take this opportunity to publicly thank any Veterans who might be reading. I'm sure we're huge amongst the armed forces.

I'd also like to defend one member of our armed forces who wrote this post in the Daily News. I enjoyed the piece yesterday morning when I read it.

I thought it conveyed a simple but important message: You don't need a big dramatic moment to be a hero. You can be a hero every day by showing kindness, courage, compassion and some common sense. Perhaps the message is a bit trite, but folks absolutely need to hear it every single day.

I was shocked when people started slamming the guy for diminishing the word hero, as if it can only be applied to those people who risk their lives for others. (A friend noted the delicious irony that most of these critics--the folks who supposedly know what heroism is--don't assign their real names to their comments.)

I'll tell you what folks. If I had a teenaged kid who, after hearing this speech, thought twice about getting into a car with a drunk friend or doing something equally wreckless than I'd be counting the author as one of my heroes.

I don't see how that takes away from those soldiers who risked their lives or made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Courage or heroism isn't finite. It can be demonstrated by many, albeit in varying degrees.

That said, our veterans do have an overabundance of it, and I'm grateful for that.

So thanks to our veterans. Thanks to Joshua Potts. Thanks to Staff Sgt. Desire Wilfred "Sweets" Chatigny Jr. and the folks who are looking for his remains.

And thank you Tim Hanke.

Veterans Day

The soldier in the Daily News has a point. I'm not the kind of fellow to shake hands of strangers at airports, uniform or no uniform, but perhaps I should try harder.

Either way I don't give the day enough attention. I also don't get the day off, but that's not necessarily the point.

I know this is late in the game, but here are the details on the city's ceremony. I'm going to try to bring The Boy. (As you'll see I lifted the graphic from the city's web site.)

Debt

I'm trying to make some sense of the 61-vote defeat of the debt exclusion.

But I really can't see blaming the state.

I wouldn't want the city sending out any material explaining the tax increase. I'd rather my tax dollars go toward city services, not campaign literature. Furthermore, do we really want to count on the votes of people who close the voting booth curtain without even knowing the particulars of the tax increase?

That's why we needed to have a citizen group spearhead this thing. Yes, that likely would have invited opposition, but that's the point. Let's argue the merits of this thing, take a vote and move forward.

I do not know if this is the case, but it's been suggested the mayor felt a full-scale confrontation would doom the measure. It might have, but at least we'd know for sure what the people wanted.

Now we have no clue. The mayor seems to think a summary on the ballot or mailing would have given 62 people enough information to support the measure. Maybe so.

Maybe this low-key campaign--during which the mayor met with many groups--got closer to passage than frontal attack. But one could argue just as easily that a clear picture would have driven more people to vote against the proposal, particularly in this economic climate.

I guess the 61-vote defeat is an appropriate ending to this weird campaign.

X Unmasked?

We've put this through the Post Computer 12 times,and our analysis suggests there is a 9999.999999.99999.5% chance this is X

Or not. Just kidding X.

Crab Rangoon anyone?

One Big Step

Last night was my kid's moon landing.

 

Barack Obama's voice woke both the wife and The Boy last night. No doubt, the energy of the spirited oratatory and the promise to lead (but not deliver by himself) change shook the floorboards upstairs, forcing them both to wake.

 

Or I had the volume a wee bit to high.

 

In any case, thanks to the power of DVR, we sat on the sofa watching all of Obama's brilliant acceptance speech. While the Mrs. and I were moved more than we'd expected, The Boy was attentive but drowsy and indifferent.

 

Still, I sat there knowing this is an historic night. Not only did I finally get the president that I actually wanted rather than the president I merely wanted more than the other guy, but we elected a man who isn't white isn't and protestant and doesn't look like most of us.

 

That isn't why I voted for him, but it's definitely a welcome by product.

 

One day I'll prod my kid, ask him if he remembers the night we sat on the couch and listened to the historic speech. I'm sure he'll smile a bit, humor me by telling me he does even though he was only three, and then think, "What's the big deal? Of course anyone can be president," just as I grew up three decades ago wondering, why the heck shouldn't we have been able to land on the moon.

Ugh

I could have taken a whupping, but this one just hurts.

But tonight is for celebrating.

What Debt Exclusion?

SO this is it. Tomorrow is the big day we'll finally get answers to so many questions (except perhaps why the schools are closed on election day when the kids don't even have to vote. Anyone?)

But one question that we'll never really know is what the heck happened the the debt exclusion campaign. For those who don't know, there is a question on tomorrow's ballot asking voters to permit the city to borrow up to $7.8 million. This money will be used to pay off some long-term debt and enable the city to actually prepare for unavoidable capital and budget expenses.

But where was the great debate? No doubt this was one of the weakest campaigns for a debt exclusion that I've ever witnessed, which is disappointing because I don't see how anyone who sees the question for the first time tomorrow will vote for a tax increase, even a temporary one.

To his credit, John Moak was out there. He held several meetings and hearings meeting with this group or that. By his estimation he spoke to 400-450 people, according to today's piece in the Daily News. But I'm not sure his time was well spent. He might have been well served to employ a bit of political might to assemble some allies who could speak to the question with a bit more passion. As he told the News today (can't find the link) he sought only to inform, not to sway.

That's too bad. The casual voter--who will likely be among those voting against this question tomorrow--doesn't attend hearings at the Firehouse. If we're lucky, they read the paper, and the coverage of this question has been weak. Today's paper contains only one of two longer articles on the debt exclusion question. I would have liked a little more coverage on what's a very important question.

(I also didn't post on this issue much at all, so I'll take a wee, wee bit of the blame.)

A few public officials have written letters to the editors arguing in favor of the question, but I would have hope the news would have done a little bit of polling of city council and school committee so we knew where our elected officials stand. (If that's been done let me know, perhaps I've just missed it.) But without the push of community groups--be it parents, business folk or even anti-tax types--the public dialog over these questions never gets off the ground.

What a shame. I thought the question was well thought out and presented the city with a nice opportunity to take a small short-term hit for a long-term gain.

I'm not ignorant to the financial mess around us, and I sympathize with those folks who feel they couldn't handle the $100-$150 a year in additional taxes. But I don't necessarily buy into the "now isn't a good time for a tax hike" argument put forth by the Daily News and others. In all my years of covering town politics, I've never heard anyone say "Now is a good time for a tax hike."

Bottom line, the proposal makes sense. Read the Daily News today. Go on the city's web site to review the material. Do a little research.

It's easy to assign the blame to public officials, the media, and community groups but the ultimate responsibility falls upon the voters. It's really up to us to hunt out the facts that tell us whether or not we think this is a good idea. We're the ones who will have to deal with the consequences in either case.

I'm voting for the debt exclusion, btw.