Marquand rules

I've become a John P. Marquand fan since returning to Newburyport.

Point of No Return quickly became a favorite. Marquand's depiction of early 20th Century Newburyport--or Clyde, as he calls it--is striking, a vivid portrayal of what this city was like when it was largely free from Boston's gravitational pull. It helped me understand what our long-time natives miss so much.

But I also related directly to the protagonist Charles Gray, who, despite creating a successful life for himself by every measure, still couldn't escape some of the questions and decisions of childhood.

I enjoyed the Pulitzer Prize winning The Late George Apley as well,  but not as much as Point.

So I'm certainly looking forward to participating in the club created by Marquand's granddaughter, Beth Welch. (Read Victor Tine's Daily News article here .)

I, unfortunately, can't make the first session. I haven't read Wickford Point yet so it's just as well. But I did try to secure the book locally over the past week and I didn't realized all his works are out-of-print.

I'm sure I'll track down a used copy somewhere, or someone will return Wickford to the library after the March 4 discussion. But I find it disappointing that the works of Newburyport's most notable author are so hard to come by. If I'm missing something please let me know.

Couldn't have said it better

I'm having a bit of trouble generating posts these days. It's not that there isn't anything to write about, or that I don't have opinions on issues like the landfill, wind turbine or the downtown. I do.

But I've been overthinking things lately, turning what might be a simple post into a raging debate of sorts in my head. As a result, I'm faced with the prospect of writing a lengthy blog post that gives voice to every perspective being considered in my tiny brain.

So when I'm pressed for time I opt to punt, to not write anything rather than make he effort to edit myself.

This is a long-winded way of telling you that I appreciate it when others offer thoughts as well, particularly when they articulate questions or concerns I share. Below is one of those instances. I wish the author left a name, but I won't look an anonymous horse in the mouth.

From a commenter:

I guess the major issue facing the local economy for the next year or two is the fact that not only do a vast number of local businesses depend on consumer discretionary spending, but the targeted consumer demographic aren't people who earn $12/hr but folks on the higher end of the income scale...the same folks who have been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn (if you work at Mcdonald's your job is fairly secure whereas if you work at AIG...).

It will be most interesting to see how the 'port weathers the storm. From my perspective I've already seen both fees and occupancy rates dropping at the local marinas...in my experience a good barometer of a slower summer.

Bored Yet?

I'm reading an interesting online article from The Atlantic. Titled, "How the Crash will Shape America ."

The writer, Richard Florida, offers how the ongoining financial collapse will affect certain regions within the country.

His first stop is NY. He suggests the collapse of the financial sector--which once accounted for 22% of New York's jobs--might actually benefit the city, even if that percentage drops below 5%.

Why?

In this sense, the financial crisis may ultimately help New York by reenergizing its creative economy. The extraordinary income gains of investment bankers, traders, and hedge-fund managers over the past two decades skewed the city’s economy in some unhealthy ways. In 2005, I asked a top-ranking official at a major investment bank whether the city’s rising real-estate prices were affecting his company’s ability to attract global talent. He responded simply: “We are the cause, not the effect, of the real-estate bubble.” (As it turns out, he was only half right.) Stratospheric real-estate prices have made New York less diverse over time, and arguably less stimulating. When I asked Jacobs some years ago about the effects of escalating real-estate prices on creativity, she told me, “When a place gets boring, even the rich people leave.” With the hegemony of the investment bankers over, New York now stands a better chance of avoiding that sterile fate.

The quote led me to think about Newburyport. What can we do to keep it from getting boring? Some, no doubt, will say we've already passed that point.

Still a great idea

Everyone else is opining on the Farmer's market, so I figured I should too. But I'm doing it Feb. 29, 2008-style:

But this talk of local farms got me thinking--why don't we have a Farmer's Market in town.

I know there was talk of this last summer, but it seemed to die on the vine. I know one City Councilor questioned whether such an event would compete against in-city business--I think the new Woodman Stand was the one in question. I have to admit, I still don't get the rationale.

How great would it be to have all the area farms congregate their goods a few hours every Saturday? This not only would be an event to draw people downtown, but it would also serve as free marketing for those farms, particularly if the market were held at the Mall. I see stands like Tendercrop and Woodman's benefiting from such an event.

I recall this idea getting dismissed as something yuppie dream. Fine, we get resort to name calling I suppose. But for the life of me I don't see a single good reason for it not to happen, other than it hasn't been done before.

Thanks to all those who made it happen. I'm sure it wasn't easy.

Congrats to the Daily News

All right, enough of this.

I've been holding onto this post for a week. I wanted to congratulate the Daily News for coming home with a string of awards at the New England Press Association, but I also wanted to take a few minutes to state, without hesitation, that I enjoy reading the Daily News.

This isn't the boldest of admissions, I know. But it seems like the favorite past time around these parts is kicking at our local daily. I might have applied a shod foot once or twice myself, but I've been fairer than most. (For example, I don't resort to using the tired cliche of a nickname offered regularly around these parts by many online and printed publications. Yes, Snooze rhymes with News and it suggests the inducement of sleep. We get it. Enough. It's not clever.)

I'm telling you a community this size is blessed to have a daily newspaper. There are countless communities, much larger than this one, that rely only upon a free weekly for their news. We're lucky to have both. In fact, I'll broaden my thanksgiving for living in a two-newspaper (at minimum) town.

Yes, the Daily News occasionally drops the ball and misses a story.  But I'll let you in on a little secret. Newspaper work ain't as easy at it looks.

I had designs on going into a point-by-point argument as to why this is so, but I'm going to let my argument end with this: anyone who wants our city governments to do more with less resources should point to the Daily News as a case study of how that's done. These people, at least the folks I know, work incredibly hard.

Bottom line to me, the first thing I do in the morning is check the front stoop for the paper. That says something.

For those who missed it, the paper picked up:

1st place: Newburyport Magazine, Staff, in the Niche Publication category for highest achievement in a publication distributed outside the newspaper, with comments by the judges: "Classy design and beautiful color reproduction. Love the layout, especially the spreads. Type and images work well together. Clever headlines add a spark to this fun and sophisticated piece." The magazine is the creation of The Daily News staff and is edited by Features Editor Sonya Vartabedian.
1st place: The Daily News, staff, in the Environmental Reporting category for the Plum Island erosion series called Fighting the Tide, which offered a historical look at the problem and explained the scientific and environmental impact.
1st place: The Daily News, Stephen Tait, in the Business/Economic Reporting category, for the series called Nantucket North, describing the parallels between downtown Newburyport and Nantucket, due to significant investment by developer Steven Karp.
2nd place: The Daily News, Katie Farrell, in the Transportation/Commuter Reporting category for the Whittier Bridge story about the rusty braces that had fallen off, and how state officials responded.
3rd place: The Daily News, Sonya Vartabedian, in the Arts & Entertainment Section category for the weekly Do North section, which is published on Thursdays.

Revere Rules

Nice to see Revere sporting a decent hockey team. I don't think they won more than one game during my four years at RHS.

Sorry Vikings fans.

Thanks

For the kind words from Mary Baker Eaton on her Newburport Blog.

For the record, I think her concerns about comments are legitimate. I just derive great pleasure from interacting with readers, even in this limited format. I don't think I'd be blogging as much if this were a megaphone rather than a telephone.

But that's me.

The Importance of Plum Island

Here's an interesting point about Plum Island's erosion that I rarely see made, and if it's been made I think the general population has missed it.

In discussing the erosion and the washing away of the island, we tend to focus all our attention on the million dollar homes and multi-million sewer systems. Why try to save these homes that shouldn't be built on a barrier beach anyway, the argument goes. Let nature take its course.

But there's more to the story.

From my perspective, Plum Island would appear to be the only thing standing between the open ocean and the Great Salt marsh. It's impossible to overstate how important the salt marsh is, not only to Newburyport, but to the entire ecosystem.

I'm no expert, but I imagine the lost of the salt marsh would doom Newburyport's downtown at the very least. And this doesn't address the lost of one of the ocean's most important fish nurseries.

The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that more than two dozen homes would be lost on Plum Island over the next 10 years if nothing is done. I wonder what what damage the ocean might deliver in 50 to 100 years. I find the idea frightening.

I'm certain someone will let me know if I'm being an alarmist. But I don't think I can accept the all too convenient "let Nature do her thing" argument any longer. We're fighting nature every day. I'd like those who offer the argument to be consistent and renounce modern medicine.

Why take antibiotics? You're going to die someday anyway.


"the marsh" image from flickr user garden beth used under creative commons license.

Preservationist Alert

I don't agree with every post or point, but I do enjoy reading the P. Preservationist blog. And I'd like to tip a tri-corned cap his way for including Preservationist alerts to the top of his blog.

In this case, he's alerting readers to the Planning Board's discussion of the Toppans Lane project. It's tonight at 7 p.m., btw.

Solar Answer

Well, we got out answer. The city will indeed save some serious dough on energy in the new solar deal, according to Lynne Hendricks' article in the Daily News

Truth be told, the Daily News was kind with the headline. It could have easily read, "No Bid Solar Deal Would have Cost the City Thousands."

You may recall the mayor rushed through a controversial, no-bid process to secure a deal with a vendor EyeOn. The agreement fell through when EyeOn lost its investors.

At the time, the mayor said we shouldn't expect any real savings from the EyeOn deal. Now, it sounds like we'll save hundreds of thousands over the life of this new contract.

Bottom line, the new deal is better than the old deal. And, by my reading, the city still will receive the precious rebate that drove the mayor to bypass the no-bid deal at the start.

Looks like things worked out of the best.

The school committee still needs to vote on the arrangement at its Feb. 23 meeting.

The View from Boat Camp

For those weather weary Newburyport folks or those expats who miss watching the ice flow down the Mother Merrimack, our pals at Boat Camp are running a river web cam.

For those from away, that's the Gillis (Route 1) Bridge to the left, and the piles of floats to to the right.

Just a month or two before they start hauling those floats into the river into the river and rolling out the boats, can't wait.

Blog Freeze

Work's been a bear, so it's been difficult to find time to steer these talented little fingers over to my non-paying gig. So please bear with the silence just a little bit longer.

If you need a fix, please do visit the blog roll. Gillian Swart is going bananas over the landfill. Tip of the cap to her, and I'll try to offer my thoughts in the next few days.

Meanwhile, let's also give a big Newburyport Posts welcome to the Newburyport's Voice blog and blogger Larry Giunta. Gosh, it's refreshing to have a blogger who actuallys signs his name to things.

Larry promises and delivers a conservative's take on all matters Newburyport. I anticipate disagreeing with most of his posts, but I welcome them warmly. Here's hoping we have a few blog fights.

Open Access

Kudos to the Port Media and the City Council for getting the council meetings online. In this On Demand world, I always had a difficult time setting aside the time to watch the council meetings, and recording them always seemed to be a hassle.

So, if you're reading this post you no longer have an excuse to now watch the council.

Ahoy

In today's News, Katie FarrellCurley talks with one of the owners of the Black Dog shops and provides a little more information on the Tall Ships.

Left me wondering what these ships actually looked like. You can find that here.

I'll admit, my sense of protectionism kicked in a bit. Not only will the Black Dog store compete with many of the offerings already downtown, but the ships might do the same for our existing marine-based businesses, many of which also rent from New England Development.

But I'm holding onto the general theory that these shops and ships could be a large enough draw to, if you'll pardon the cliche, raise the tide for all the downtown boats, land-based or otherwise.

It certainly beats an empty storefront.

Photo taken from the web site for the Black Dog ships.

The Big Picture

Just wanted to provide the link to the Daily News report on the mayor's speech. Katie Farrell does a nice job capturing the dismalness.

Are there solar savings?

Mayor Moak touched upon the solar panel project in his address to the council last night. 

I was happy to hear the solar panel project is moving forward. Last I read in The Daily News, the mayor still hadn't selected a vendor. But he was supposed to do one a few weeks ago, so perhaps he hasn't announced it yet.

But one line of his speech caught my ear.

"We will continue to work on green initatives. The solar panel project at  the middle school and the DPW has been retooled and is in final stages of the contracts. There will be 500 kilowatts of solar panel being produced on our roofs this summer, which will lower the costs of powering the middle school and the DPW building."

This runs counter to my understanding of the project. I thought the city basically was looking to break even on the deal, paying out to the solar panel company roughly the same amount we're paying to National Grid. In fact, I found this excerpt from a Daily News article published in September. 

Since the city pays about 15 cents per kilowatt now, Moak said the $3.6 million solar panel system that would be installed atop the Nock wouldn't generate cost savings as much as take pressure off the grid.

"(The cost) is very similar to what we're paying now," said Moak. "We don't expect to save a lot of money. What we expect to do is provide alternative energy — that's a huge factor that we're looking for. Some people pay more than they have to. We're not doing that."

So which is it? Are we saving money? I certainly hope so, and kudos to the mayor if that's the case. But if we are, what changed? Did the collapse of Eyeon--and the competitive bidding that followed--actually help the city?

No Buskers Festival?

I'm still not sure what a Busker is, but apparently we won't be hosting their festival this year. At least that's what Ann Ormond of the Chamber told the Council.

I think this was the street festival with the various street performers.

Catching Up

A few quick items to start a Monday

• As I said last week, I'm not a raging anti-tax guy, and I generally don't begrudge public employees for the benefits they receive, although some are excessive. Perhaps I'm naive or foolish, but I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. But even I found today's Daily News article on cell phone policy in Amesbury to be a bit startling. If I lived in that town, I'd be upset. I understand why some of these folks need a cell phone, but iPhones and the such seem a bit excessive. Maybe more information will come to light.
• I failed to commend the mayor last week for his tourism initiative, as reported in the Daily News. I think the shuttle bus is a terrific idea, and perhaps we could partner with the Joppa and Refuge Nature centers to include those as stops. And who can argue with the bringing a Tall Ship to the city.
• Speaking of Tall Ships, Jerry Mullins makes a very good point in a letter to the Editor about the arrival of the Black Dog shop in Newburyport. It's a point I glossed over in my quick post when the first was first announced so it's worth revisiting. The Black Dog, apparently, will bring its Tall Ship to Newburyport, which can only bolster the city's tourism. 

PSA: Earth Day

Great things happen when people come together to share ideas.
Within the greater context of energy and the environment, please consider joining me and Linda Guthrie, co-chairs of the Newburyport Earth Day Celebration, on February 11, 2009 for a townhall-style chat to brainstorm ideas and kickoff this year's Earth Day festivities.
Tentatively planned for the week of April 20 - 26, 2009, this year's celebration is produced by the Newburyport Eco Collaborative, a community organization representing the City of Newburyport, the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and the Greater Newburyport Environmental Network.
Linda and I seek your participation and collaboration to make this year's events the best in the Merrimack Valley–and beyond!
This community-wide meeting is open to business owners, elected officials, public and private school students, teachers and faculty members, community organizers, and other interested citizens of Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, and West Newbury. Pretend you're coming to a meeting with a presidential candidate; it will be less about what we have to say and more about what YOU want to share.
The meeting will occur on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the First Parish Church of Newbury, located at 20 High Road (Route 1A).
If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to be involved in planning, participating, or otherwise volunteering, please visithttp://newburyportearthday.info to contact us today!
Thanks a lot,
Ari Herzog, co-chair

Congrats to Atticus

I shall send along a www.NewburyportPosts.com doggie cap for him to wear.

From Tom Ryan

Hello all,

Last night I received an email from an associate producer for the Dogs 101 television show on Animal Planet. The show is produced by Powderhouse Productions out of Somerville, MA and they had heard about Atticus' exploits in the mountains. After they Googled the heck out of us and we had several conversations with the people them, their many visits to my website and their reading my writing, it is definite - Atticus is to be make his national television debut. He (and our relationship) will be featured on one of the upcoming Dogs 101 shows.

Earlier tonight, Ann MacMullen, senior producer of the Dogs 101, emailed the following good words:

"We are very inspired by you and Mr. Finch and hope to bring your story to wide audience of dog lovers! In addition, having worked with Angell, we're very happy to give them any positive press possible. They are truly angels over there. Thank you so much for your time - this story is very important to us and we want to do it justice!

Powderhouse Productions will be sending a crew to the White Mountains in about two weeks. They will spend the day with Atticus and me and they plan on climbing a mountain with us. (The mountain has yet to be determined, as does the rest of the filming itinerary.) I'm not sure when the show will air but rest assured I will announce it in email updates and on our blog.

Onward, by all means,
Tom (& Atticus)

Is there a Disconnect?

I can't seem to reconcile this in my mind.

The lead article in the Daily News tells us local police face $400,000 in state cuts, specifically the community police grants.

Then a separate article inside reports on the ongoing efforts to build a senior center in Newburyport. And that includes this tidbit:

The Friends of the Council on Aging and other groups must now secure $5 million in funding, the estimated cost of the center. So far, the city is not providing any funding, but the state is expected to contribute funds.

Is that still the case?

Speaking of the senior center, would the former Carlson office on Green Street make any sense as a sight? Parking is limited, but the location is ideal.

You think this is cold?

A great piece by local amateur historian Joe Callahan in the Daily News today. I always enjoy his work.

He writes about winters past when people would walk to Salisbury and Plum Island on the frozen Merrimack.

Speaking of great pieces, this is a great move by Jay Gould, owner of Flatbreads Pizza in Amesbury. I'll definitely take the Boy to see these.

Wow

So a whopping 85% of people polled either liked or didn't mind the wind turbine. Given the reach and influence of this blog, this HAS to be taken as the final, definitive word.

These 35 or so people--representing one-fifth of one percent of the city's population--clearly is a large enough sample size to be representative of the entire city.

The people have spoken.

Phew, glad that's settled.

Rae Wilcox

I really enjoy these pieces, a fresh look at Newburyport.

Tax Free No More

Bean suggested I toss this up there, and he's correct. This is an interesting development, and one I don't completely understand.

Here's what I don't get. Why should I pay Massachusetts a sales tax for an item I bought in New Hampshire?

I'm not an anti-tax guy, I get that we need to pay taxes in order to maintain society and all that. But I think the government needs to give in order to get. And what exactly does Massachusetts state government give me to warrant taxing my NH purchases?

It provides no infrastructure to support the NH stores, no police or fire protection. It doesn't educate the sales force or perform any related function at all. So what justifies the tax? Is this simply a case of tax because it can?

I'm sure this is driven partly by the desire to level the playing field between the two states. No doubt, Mass is trying to grab at ever dollar it can. I hate the notion of taxing online sales, but I can understand that Mass and the city maintain the roads for the trucks that delivers the package. The delivery truck could be seen as an extension of the store.

But what right does it have to tax the dollars I spend in NH? Is this based upon my use of the road to get to those stores? If that's the case, maybe the state should grab a piece of the action when The Boy goes to visit his grandparents in Maine. Perhaps I should mail a piece of his chocolate turkey to DOR.

Thoughts?

Lordy this is depressing.

This will be a rough month.

Last Day to Vote

Once again I'm a bit surprised by the tallies of the poll to my right. I thought eyesore would garner more support, but a wide majority of poll responders don't have an issue--or actually like--the wind turbine.