Well, the Mystick Maidens of the Marsh had their annual summer kick-off at the Sandy Pernt bogs, keeping well away from the Piping Plover nests. The last thing we gals need is the EPA on our backs for disrupting the gestation o’ boids. As yew know, some o’ my best friends are boids The parade went off perty much as planned, and havin’ the many bands was a good thing. Tina “Devil with the Blue Dress” Peckingham presided over the MMMs’ gala, and she made sure that we all knew that Merlie Mae Stevens was doin’ OK as she recovers from that fire she was in last summer.
As I told yew last week, the MARB – the review board in charge of city finances – met and considered alternatives to the budget it rejected – the one passed by the City Council. As I scribe this week’s missive, we still ain’t sure what the vig is gonna be concerning the tax increase. As I said, the lending institutions need to amend their payment schedules to reflect the new taxes. Until that happens, homeowners are in the dark as to how much more they’re gonna hafta fork over to the city.
And like I told yew, the thing is a win-win fer Nancy Rossi as she heads into this year’s election season.
She put out a budget in an election year with no increase due to the surpluses expected in this year’s budget linked with the surplus from last year’s plan. The MARB wants the city to sock that away, and use it as a contingency. Sooooo, taxes are gonna increase by way of the MARB and herroner has insulation from the fack cuz she was forced to do it.
Meanwhile, effen yew look at our editorial page, the editor has a letter to the MARB, hopin’ that they will stop just being bean counters and know that for each “bean” they ask for, that’s one more outta the pockets o’ real people.
The problem with the board is that it has forgotten that real people are involved in every decision they make and that those decisions have real consequences. Havin’ fewer people in town and more vacant property ain’t gonna help us git outta the hole any faster. In fack, it’s gonna muck up the woiks. We wonder effen they realize that some times.
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Speakin’ o the election, Nelly Nuthatch had an interestin’ take on the entire matter. Ya see, the city’s Demmies have been a tripartite organization for more years than yew or I have been scribing these notes. Like I sez before, where once there was Johnson, Allen and Roper, there is now Morrissey, Borer and Picard. The interesting thing about the latter two is the namesakes of those two factions no longer live in town. H. Richard Borer, Jr. took up stakes a while back as did John Picard. Still, the names continue cuz no one else seems to have the juice those guys did.
Tennyrate, with the summer coming around it’s gonna be interesting to see jest who incestuous – politically speaking – the race gits. Effen Deb Collins finally sez “yes” and runs, who will be on her team of candidates. The under-ballot is sometimes as important as the top of the ticket. Are there gonna be any new names associated with Collins, who is more associated with the Morrissey faction than any other? Or, are we gonna see the same-old same old. My kopecks are on the latter. There ain’t too much upward mobility in the party.
Meanwhile, Edward O’Brien, deciding to go the independent route is gonna be lookin’ for an underticket one could presume. Who is gonna buck the party bosses and decide to go solo with O’Brien? Setch questions hafta be answered and in the course of the summer, we think things will get even more interesting.
Finally, now that Steve Mullins has announced a run, the place where there might be new and exciting faces to ponder will be the GOP. After all, it’s been a while since the city went R, and it would be a good thing effen things were mixed up a bit – not that we or Nelly are expecting the voters to really go that route. Of course, effen they git made enough who knows?
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Iva Lootey came by and Carousel Committee is working to do something with the new and improved Savin Rock. Mikey Mercuriano had an idea that he proposed during the George Bush ’43 era wherein he proposed a pavilion at the top of Savin Rock. At one time at the turn of the last century there was a “belvedere” up on the Rock for lookin’ over Long Island Sound.
When the amusement park began to get into its Golden Age betwixt 1900-1930, the thing was a big attraction. Now the committee is hoping the fack that the Rock has been cleaned up and looks pertier than it’s looked in decades, it’ll be time to allow people up there. Walkers already go up there now that things are cleaner and there is a rock formation that has natural steps on the eastern face that make it easy.
The committee is gonna have its plan announced, and might even have done so by the time this missive is in yore hands.
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Effen yew’ve looked at Eleanore Turkington’s colyume it seems that the big complaint around the berg is potholes. And, we are not surprised. Given the fack that our little corner of the planet is not exactly flush with cash, maintenance gits deferred a lot. That means that things like potholes, when they are repaired, are meant to be temporary fixes. Given the wet and the snow and nasty weather we’ve had over the last couple o’ years, particularly snow and rain, those “fixes” don’t last long, and the pavement breaks up even more.
Cobina was out in her gassamobuggy a few weeks back, and she had to watch it very carefully. She hit one pothole and thought her fillings were gonna pop. There is some paving going on, for example Kelsey Avenue finally was fixed. But there are miles and miles of roads that hafta be done, and we won’t hold our breath hoping it’ll happen.
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Madame Olga was by, and she’s been hearing that the developers over at the Haven were gonna have some big news comin’ down the pike. Of course, getting something outta the developer to find out what exactly is going on is a losing proposition. You wouldn’t wanna hang that long, that’s fer sure. But, here we are some three months after a letter was sent to area businesses on Elm Street, letting them know work was gonna start, and it hasn’t.
Somebody mentioned June 1. Well, that’s this Saturday, so that’s a non-starter. Can we hope things will percolate on June 3? Again, no one is holding their breath. Sooooo, effen something comes from the developer, or work does, in fack, commence, things will be very interesting around here during the summer.
Given that we are constantly waiting around here for something, I have a feeling we’ll be doing more of the same. Call it a hunch.
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All in all it seems that things are going according to schedule. The entire thing is supposed to be done in a little more than two years. We shall see.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,