It’s time for your chance to make note of small things you’ve seen around town recently that might not warrant a full story but are interesting nonetheless. Add your observations below.
- Rt 30 second course paving ALMOST made it to the finish line during summer, but there was a tiny bit of the final piece of the hill into Newfane that they didn’t quite get to.
- New comics? store on Main Street near Zephyr.
Sam's leaving town
VT Digger says Sam’s leaving town at end of lease in the spring. (reasons cited: sales tax in VT; lagging sales)
https://vtdigger.org/2023/09/25/brattleboros-largest-longest-operating-downtown-store-plans-to-close-next-year/
Exit 2 mansion
This has been going on for a while but no one has mentioned it… the “mansion” by Exit 2 has both fallen into disrepair and is seemingly being cleaned up? or torn down? or redone?
The Whetstone Station & brewery is for sale
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/36-Bridge-Brattleboro-VT/29702715/
A cool $2,499,000 and it’s yours!
Rt 30.
Second pass of paving on Rt 30 is complete end to end. Guardrails, signs, shoulders are still in progress. It is mostly smooth sailing, but amazingly, after all this work, there are a few places along the route that still have noticeable bumps – asphalt layers not quite level.
RT 30 Vandals : )
Someone vandalized all of the RT 30 work. They drove down the middle of the road and scraped away a foot-wide path of asphalt the entire length, except for intersections.
Just kidding – it’s the rumble strip down the middle, added for your driving safety!
…
Brattleboro is getting new sidewalks near Retreat Farm, and Retreat Farm is getting a new roof on a large barn.
Motel being taken down
In West Brattleboro the old “sleep with us’ motel being torn down.
Noticed several days ago so it may be completely gone by now.
Nov 9
Rt 30 is very almost done, but not quite. They’ve been waiting the final line markings – including cool new bike lanes from Brattleboro to West River Park – and were driving and walking around today scooping up the temporary plastic reflectors. The regular speed limit should be restored almost any moment now.
Everyone’s Books changing hands…
Cor stepping down at BCTV…
End of November
WVEW’s move to the new studio space on ground level is pretty much complete. Easy access! Roll right in. Get a show!
New types of ice formations in the rock work they changed along Rt 30.
….
This isn’t really new but the old home depot space near Hannaford remains empty which makes me think it might be nice to have some sort of fee imposed for owners of properties that remain empty yet take up valuable space in Brattleboro, which has limited space to work with. Each year the fee could go up just a bit more, until it becomes too costly to keep it empty anymore. This would similarly apply to empty houses/storefronts, etc around town.
Maybe the way to do it is to require a permit to keep a building empty, and the fee for that permit would continue to rise. It would work the similar to the way the Brattleboro business tax isn’t really a tax, so the Town can get away with collecting it. : ) Say the same tall-truth we were told when that got started: we just want to register everyone and this covers the cost of us doing it.
You said it!
Thanks for thinking, Chris. Every time I see Home Depot (and some of the other similar corpses), it sets my teeth on edge. There’s gotta be a way…..
Not much snow, but...
Holiday lights, decorations, menorahs, window decorations for businesses, inflatable yard creatures…. all over town.
plus
I almost forgot this one… Brattleboro Savings and Loan is switching their bank cards from Discover to MasterCard in January.
SMCSB - Stupid Municipal Center Speed Bumps
Woohoo!
The stupid municipal center speed bumps have been removed. Probably just for winter plowing purposes, but they are down and should remain down forever, in my view. The crappy parking lot with enormous potholes acts as their own “natural” speed bumps.