BRATTLEBORO — I'm hoping to see more opportunities to explore and find ways to fine tune how we carry out the fire and police project. We all know that it is underway, but I hear more people who continue to think a correction is needed - that the cost is too high, and that we should be smarter than to stay handcuffed to such a harmful project.
The way the project stands is directly affecting my desire to buy a house in Brattleboro; that decision will be based on better evidence that our vision of the future is to choose enterprises we can afford and that we keep sharpening our focus on things that are excluded.
The pressing issues about being able to afford living here are large in scale: the budget, taxes, housing, the grand list, jobs... and I can't hide the feeling that a lot more planning for the Representative Town Meeting is needed. How are we able to talk about economic development when a development is passed without an economic basis?
I am writing this while my plan to reconvene the Community Conversation is still getting organized. If you are also seeking a higher level of active participation in the public sphere, on these and other matters, I hope you will also go to iBrattleboro to discuss how to create a number of these gatherings.