Opinion

DESCRIPTION:

On TV, the week-end before the MKJjr’ birthday holiday, see all the celebrities, black, white, asian, latino. They will come to praise King and bury again King’s condemnation of US atrocity “wars meant to maintain unjust predatory investments on three continents.” They will hail King to heaven, loudly, to drown out anyone whispering that King called their dirty government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”

The town of Brattleboro seems to be reaching a point where we can barely afford our expenses. Much like a person who has fallen behind, Brattleboro must now make decisions in a different way.

When there is money, something broken gets fixed. When there is money, it is easy to go to the store to get a new widget if the old one fails. It’s easy to go buy a new time-saving accessory like a snowblower, or install energy-saving devices like new windows or more efficient appliances. It’s not a problem if someone stops over for dinner, and it is easy to part with some extra food, beverage or even cash.

New Jersey has been known for its culture of mobsters, hooligans, and political dirty tricks for many decades. When I was a kid, anytime the topic of New Jersey was discussed, my Dad would smile and say – “Yep, that’s where all the crooks are”. He always had a twinkle in his eye when he said that. Naturally, it made me want to move to New Jersey as soon as I was old enough. New Jersey sounded really cool, like a land of fun and excitement…especially, while growing up in the coal mine region of Pennsylvania.

I dropped by the new ALDI supermarket on Putney Road today. The place was buzzing with people checking out products and prices, and staff were getting used to working in a new building. I had two immediate impressions of the supermarket.

First, the prices were low. Very low. Other supermarkets in the area should be worried about losing people looking for lowest prices. ALDI means business and appears ready to compete.

How low? Can of black beans was 59 cents. Bottles of wine under $5. Chicken breasts for $2.69 a pound. Pineapples for $1.29 each. Milk was $2.29 a gallon. And so on. Anyone looking to pay less will be in here.

Was it natural selection, maladaptation, or human greed that killed-off the woolly pachyderm? It’s not critical now because the species is gone, and I bring it up only as a metaphor to set the stage for this article.

I don’t like to explain an analogy in advance. There may be implications or reverberations from the imagery that might trump the reference. Suffice it to say, this great and noble beast, who roamed these very hills and valleys is no longer around to give direct evidence of what went wrong.

Which brings me to the topic at hand. Lately I’ve been wondering about the predicament of our elected officials. To whom are they ultimately accountable? Whether the scale is the local school board, or Congress, we see without any deep investigation, affinities to the establishment, or private interests, or the sitting administration, that conflict with those of the voter or constituents.

If you asked me at any point during 2013 what kind of year I thought it was, I would have said lousy.  From a personal perspective it was trying to say the least.  Perhaps the brightest spot for me was fulfilling my 2012 New Year’s resolution of launching the new, improved iBrattleboro site on schedule in February 2013 thus marking the site’s 10th anniversary with a decided upgrade.  That felt good.   But personal issues aside, 2013 was an unusually mixed year with surprising news both good and bad.  First the bad.

The Boston Marathon bombing was a depressing incident through and through and while we may never know what really happened there, we can be sure that things like that will happen again. This year saw a continuation of random shootings, in malls, workplaces, and other typically safe places that seemed to pick up steam last year with the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.  Perhaps in time we’ll become desensitized to such events but not yet.

Since the Selectboard supervened in the matter of the skatepark location, reversing their previous commitment, annulling the vote of town meeting, backing-up their resolve by forming a skatepark search committee, all in the name of a solution, I’ll take this as the price of progress. But a few lingering questions continue to puzzle me.

That there are no skaters on the committee, although peculiar, this is not my primary concern. There is a stalwart member of BASIC, and a longtime Rec. Advocate aboard, this brings some consolation in that regard. But I do find it bizarre; would a golf course be sited without a golfer, or outdoor musical venue without the ear of a musician?

I don’t think I ever agreed with anything U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas) has said. But this time he hit the nail on the head:

“Friday, December 20, 2013 3:55 pm WASHINGTON, D.C. —,”Today I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act. I am deeply concerned that Congress still has not prohibited President Obama’s ability to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens arrested on American soil without trial or due process.

Of course I have been reading the latest opinion letters about Brattleboro finances and taxes. I agree there is a fair bit of sentiment being expressed about this issue, with most of it against higher property taxes.

There is, however, another side of the story. The major reason for tax increases coming over the next two years is that Representative Town Meeting approved the bonding of the Police & Fire Station improvements, which bonds may reach about $14.1 Million. The full weight of this bonding will be phased into our tax rates over two years’ time, because of the Selectboard’s decision to apply for the bonds in two stages: $5 Million initially to fund the planning phases of the project, and the rest the following year.