Middletown Council Meets Monday & Fog
There is a fun-filled prelim meeting at 6 for the "Tax Assessor Report on Town Revaluation and matters related there to." So did you get your assessment recently? The ones that I've seen from Newport & Middletown all went down. I think that my home decreased by $90,000. But that's the good news.
The bad news is that odds are your taxes will not go down. Heck, they'll go up. They'll discuss the recent ev-al & it's relevancy to the tax rate at this meeting, I would think. Awfully difficult to present a bill to the public when your home is worth less, but you're paying more. Please, kick us while we're down.
Then there is the regular agenda at 7, also fun-filled. I'll try & get some video up by Wed. Unless the weather is good & I'm actually out having fun.
The Middletown Economic Advisory Committee recently was awarded a private grant from the Michael & Kitty Dukakis Center at Northeaster Univ. for the Economic Development Assessment tool worth $5000. This is the correct link. "This on-going research collaboration between the Dukakis Center, the private sector and municipal governments uses a web-based self-assessment test to determine how capable a municipality is when competing for development." Good stuff**
The Planning Board is recommending that the entire town ordinance on senior housing be stricken while the town's solicitor is remmending just deleting the offending age phrase. One might ask the two recusing Council members to actually get Ethics Board decisions regarding this. Voting on important matters now & in the future is... well, important. Otherwise, it may appear that the weasel factor plays a role in the decision. This is still an open public hearing. If this ordinance becomes history, then another one will have to be written.
They also will again have an open hearing regarding new harbor mooring fees & windmills.
There is a proposed ordinance on requiring alcohol training certification for all liquor store owners and employees. Jeez, endless rules. All, of course, involving fees. Nickel & dimed to death. A property owner wants two "No Parking" signs on Fenner Ave. (my family's old stomping grounds) removed & once again the Council will address the request of the Schools for $ assistance with moving playground equipment from Kennedy to Gaudet.
The Dem. Town Committee Chair recommends his niece for the town's Personnel Review Board. This is a partisan board. Is it legal to recommend your niece? Sometimes, I just get plain silly, I know. It's the fog that has spread into my brain.
You know, for the first 10 yrs. or so that I lived here, I though that incoming land fog was strange smoke with no smell. I'd always seen fog when it was already in or coming off the water. I never actually saw it creep in over land like a low flying cloud. Hey, I was a city girl, after all. Where were all those fires coming from as I walked by Vernon Park off of Fenner Ave.? Oddly, it happened about the same time every night. It would slowly roll in with soft puffs of land-hugging odorless smoke. It took me awhile to figure it out. The fog really does come in on "little cat feet" when it claims the land. Hey, I never claimed to be the brightest bulb.
The bad news is that odds are your taxes will not go down. Heck, they'll go up. They'll discuss the recent ev-al & it's relevancy to the tax rate at this meeting, I would think. Awfully difficult to present a bill to the public when your home is worth less, but you're paying more. Please, kick us while we're down.
Then there is the regular agenda at 7, also fun-filled. I'll try & get some video up by Wed. Unless the weather is good & I'm actually out having fun.
The Middletown Economic Advisory Committee recently was awarded a private grant from the Michael & Kitty Dukakis Center at Northeaster Univ. for the Economic Development Assessment tool worth $5000. This is the correct link. "This on-going research collaboration between the Dukakis Center, the private sector and municipal governments uses a web-based self-assessment test to determine how capable a municipality is when competing for development." Good stuff**
The Planning Board is recommending that the entire town ordinance on senior housing be stricken while the town's solicitor is remmending just deleting the offending age phrase. One might ask the two recusing Council members to actually get Ethics Board decisions regarding this. Voting on important matters now & in the future is... well, important. Otherwise, it may appear that the weasel factor plays a role in the decision. This is still an open public hearing. If this ordinance becomes history, then another one will have to be written.
They also will again have an open hearing regarding new harbor mooring fees & windmills.
There is a proposed ordinance on requiring alcohol training certification for all liquor store owners and employees. Jeez, endless rules. All, of course, involving fees. Nickel & dimed to death. A property owner wants two "No Parking" signs on Fenner Ave. (my family's old stomping grounds) removed & once again the Council will address the request of the Schools for $ assistance with moving playground equipment from Kennedy to Gaudet.
The Dem. Town Committee Chair recommends his niece for the town's Personnel Review Board. This is a partisan board. Is it legal to recommend your niece? Sometimes, I just get plain silly, I know. It's the fog that has spread into my brain.
You know, for the first 10 yrs. or so that I lived here, I though that incoming land fog was strange smoke with no smell. I'd always seen fog when it was already in or coming off the water. I never actually saw it creep in over land like a low flying cloud. Hey, I was a city girl, after all. Where were all those fires coming from as I walked by Vernon Park off of Fenner Ave.? Oddly, it happened about the same time every night. It would slowly roll in with soft puffs of land-hugging odorless smoke. It took me awhile to figure it out. The fog really does come in on "little cat feet" when it claims the land. Hey, I never claimed to be the brightest bulb.
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