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Brattleboro’s Charter Revision Commission to Meet, Discuss Forms of Town Meeting

Brattleboro, VT – Brattleboro’s Charter Revision Commission will meet on Thursday, February 15, at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room in the Municipal Center, 230 Main Street.

The meeting agenda includes a discussion of Representative Town Meeting and the open town meeting form of government. The commission will also review the Powers of the People, including those outlined in Article III of the Town Charter.

All commission meetings are open to the public.


Brattleboro Taxes and Utilities Due February 15, 2024

The third installment of the 2023 Brattleboro Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due by 5 p.m. on February 15, 2024. Payments made after February 15, 2024, will have an additional 1% interest added to the unpaid balance.

The Town of Brattleboro utility bills are also due by 5 p.m. on February 15, 2024. Payments made after February 15, 2024 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance.


Windham Southeast School District Board Meeting Agenda + Annual Meeting Warning

The legal voters of the Windham Southeast School District (the “District”), comprising the voters of the Towns of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney are hereby notified and warned to meet at Brattleboro Union High School in Brattleboro, Vermont on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in the gymnasium at 7:00 p.m. to conduct the following business:


Construction Update Brattleboro-Hinsdale Bridge – February 8, 2024

The Pier 1 cofferdam has maintained a de-watered state with manageable flows. The pipe piles have been cut to grade with steel reinforcement and concrete placed. The top of the concrete tremie is currently being cleaned to prepare for footing forms and rebar. Forms should begin to be placed today and tomorrow with rebar placed and tied beginning next week. Welding of studs is expected to be complete by this week’s end. The first concrete placement for the footing is scheduled for Tuesday, February 20th.


New Program to Support the Seriously Ill Needs Volunteers

Brattleboro Area Hospice will be offering a new program that will help to support people with a recently diagnosed, serious but treatable illness.

This is a wonderful opportunity to work with clients who are learning to live and thrive while they adjust to the changes that a serious illness brings. 

We need volunteers in place before we can launch! 


Selectboard Meeting Notes – Some Interesting Updates

A possibly short meeting with potentially interesting topics ahead was actually not so short due to technical difficulties, but it certainly was interesting. A respite from budgets, for sure.

Sustainability, food security, downtown safety, bridge fixing, and more were all discussed. Some with slide presentations!


Western Avenue Traffic Change

Due to emergency work, Western Avenue between the two ends of Meadowbrook Road will have alternating one-way traffic with flaggers tomorrow, February 6, 2024 starting at 8:15am and going on for most of the day.


Brattleboro Presidential Primary, Town Meeting Day and WSESD Absentee Ballots Available

Absentee ballots for the Presidential Primary, Brattleboro Annual Town Meeting and Windham Southeast School District School Board vote to be held March 5 are now available by request. Absentee ballots for this election must be requested.

Anyone wishing to vote absentee may apply for an absentee ballot until 5 p.m. on Monday, March 4, although we recommend doing so as soon as possible to account for mail delivery time. All voted ballots must be received by the Clerk before the polls close on Election Day, March 5, to be counted.


Brattleboro and VT COVID-19 Regional Dashboard Summary – February 2024

Here’s the February 2024 dashboard summary. We continue semi-regular COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro, as long as they continue providing them. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.

VT, NH and MA do weekly updates, near the end of the week, so we update on Fridays usually. All three have changed their dashboards since the start, so it is now tough to easily compare how things have changed. Variant updates are every two weeks.


BCTV Schedules – Week of February 5, 2024

BCTV Channel 1078 Weekly Listing for 2/5/24

Monday, February 5, 2024

5:30 am Red Newt Productions – Whimsical Tour of Artful Ice Shanties 2022

6:00 am At BMAC – Artist Talk: Aurora Robson

7:15 am Stained Glass Windows of St. Michaels – Week 10: St. Raphael

7:50 am Juno Orchestra – Heaven’s Border – Organum Light

8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast


Brian Cohen on “Here We Are”

“Art is long, life is short”. Whether with ink, paint, or words, Brian Cohen goes deeply into expressing his ideas and experiences; mark-making on canvas, metal and paper. He has visions to share and stories to tell.


“The ‘Reality’ Around Us Is Constructed By Liars “Journalists are War Criminals” Julian Assange Explains 

Albert Einstein argued that 

“private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands”, resulting in “an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organised political society”.

Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education).

It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.” [May 1949 edition of socialist magazine Monthly Review]


Recipe: Banana Smoothie

required:

blender, I use a cheap Hamilton Beach item I got on amazon for about $25
4 medium sized bananas
1 heaping tablespoon wheat germ (on the lowest shelf @Market32)
1 cup Stonyfield vanilla yogurt
1 cup orange juice
1 cup milk
drizzle with honey


Never Forget

Should we continue to remind people of what an evil, manipulating and dangerous sociopath Donald Trump is? His followers will never accept any form of truth and the rest of us are living in fear of him becoming President again.

I was reminded of the statement by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller. At first he sympathized with many of the ideas in Nazi Germany, but when Hitler came to power he became a critic and ended up in prison. His words are as relevant today as they were in Nazi Germany.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”


Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – February 6, 2024

Flood Plain Restoration is more expensive than originally thought. By hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s part of what the Brattleboro Selectboard will hear at the first regular meeting of February 2024.

The board will also create a new road for the Town to take care of, hear updates on town safety, sustainability, food, farms, and vacant buildings. You can bring up other items not on the agenda during public participation, if the Chair allows.