It’s been quite somethin’ this month here in the Asylum by the Sea, at least weather-wise, hon. When they said we were gonna have a cold January, the weather guys and gals weren’t kidding. Getting the ole gassamobuggy to start on any morning – heck, trying to get Cobina to start on any given morning – has been quite a task. Whilst we ain’t had any significant snow an inch here, a couple there, we had our first tetch of the white stuff Christmas Even, and a couple times after that, including this past weekend.
Tennyrate, things in the burg, while on the chilly side are still moving along as yew’d expeck them to do at this time o’ the year. Once the lights were down and the tinsel was put away for another year, things got back to normal PDQ.
As we told yew last time, Herronner has a plan for the city’s center section and we see that a new request went out over the Masonic Temple on Center Street. Now I don’t hafta tell you that it’s been almost 20 years since the idea of an arts center was put forward, and whilst some work was done, not much really happened after the Masons sold it, and moved down the block.
But the move on the city website – yep they do everything electronically nowadays – shows that a new request went out for proposal an “RFP” oddly enuff. So, the idea of moving from an arts space to a meeting space seems to be in the works. And when yew think about it, a lotta towns our size have old buildings that serve as public meeting spaces that can be used by locals by appointment.
So ,we shall see what happens with this idea. One hopes it gets off the ground soon enough. We don’t need any new snags or stalls. Over the years “Snags and Stalls” has been like a recurring comedy team in this burg.
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Sammy Bluejay came by t’other day and wondered what was going on with the bridge reconstruction on the highway that was announced last summer. As yew might remember, we tetched on that in our last missive, and we still ain’t heard exactly what is going on schedule-wise.. The Dept. of Transportation in charge of the projeck made it sound like things were gonna be started toot sweet. But, as Sammy sez, when it comes to state or federal projects, it’s like the army, “Hurry up and wait.”
The reason Sammy was wondering was the accident that happened with the pedestrian on the roadway that was, unfortunately, fatal. Cobina had to get herself outta the city and it took 25 minutes cuz of the traffic being rerouted off the road and through town around the accident. Luckily, I was going south, rather than north, and didn’t git stuck in all that, but it extended all the way back to the Milford Mall.
Tennyrate, Sammy was wondering if that was what we had to look forward to in the coming couple o’ years if and when that start the reconstruction. Remember, the estimated time of completion is 27 months – two years, three months. That’s a lotta backed-up traffic, and yew know it’s gonna make travel in and about the city a recurring nightmare.
And, in case yew have forgotten, it’s not only one bridge, but two. The Foist Avenue Bridge is up for reconstruction and the long stretch of bridge just a few hundred feet from that spanning the railroad tracks is also up for reconstruction. Sammy seems to think the traffic snarl we saw with that accident might be an inkling of what will be experienced in the next little while. Or the little while that starts when the DOT starts the projeck!
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So, the city got a lit’le Christmas present we are told with the hacking of the municipal computers. One only knows what shenanigans are gonna be the fall out of that! We had almost forgotten about the time the city had to pay a ransom to get its computers back about six or seven years ago, but it all come flootding back with this latest revelation. Iyam sure that things are gonna be done through the computer gurus that work in and about City Hall, but let’s face it, the bad people seem to be ahead of the good ones. Cobina has had to pay for service to protect her own meager stuff on the web jest to make sure new accounts aren’t opened in her name. Yup, identity theft., and it ain’t nice and it ain’t an easy fix.
We know what we hafta do, so one wonders how in blazes all these big corporations and governments are able to do it, and even they get hacked. Wasn’t the Treasury Department invaded jest before Christmas?
The fact is the bad guys, whoever they are, seem to be a couple steps ahead of the good guys. Let’s hope the damage done to the city’s intel is minimal. There’s a lotta info on those servers and we probably won’t know the effect of it, if there is any, for a while.
It almost makes paper and pencil sound like the way to go to protect yoreself from the people who wanna get your info. We can hope this was a little blip on the radar.
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Here we have another missive and another two weeks have gone by since the Haven property was cleared and nothing has been accomplished. And in October of this year it will be 11 years since the project was announced as an “upscale shopping mall” with not a whole lot done since.
The Wag mentioned it when he was in t’other afternoon, and wondered if the city has any way to force the isshew. Cobina said to him effen there was a way, one would think it would be attempted by now. Still, here we are, about two years since the demolition of that area started and, whilst we have a grat view of the harbor, there’s not much else.
It’s gotta be frustrating for those in the Actors Colony to see it like that with no word from the developers on any…developments! Still, I guess as long as they pay the taxes on the land, there ain’t much that can be done. What a mess.
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Nelly Nuthatch visited and reminded Cobina that with the turn of the calendar, the annual rite of budget making is underway. With all the festivities around the holidays, we almost forgot. Yup, January is the month that the department heads put out their wish lists, or as Nelly likes to call them “their creative writing assignments.”
This means that they put together a request list for all the things they’d like to see included in the budget. Every department does it – including the Board of Education. The wish list is usually millions of kopecks over what the final product will be when presented in March, but the boys and girls in the offices are able to get creative, knowing full well much of what they want ain’t gonna be in the final document.
Once that is done the Board of Finance is supposed to look over the wish list and question some of the department heads if there is a query or two. But this has been eschewed a few times in the last decade with the Finance Board given minimal roles in some of the discussions.
Then the work of cobbling together the document goes ahead with weeks of looking over things and seeing what was spent the years before, and then come late March, Herroner will hafta propose a new budget as per the charter.
The City Council then takes the entire Month of April to look over the proposal, and can make changes effen a supermajority of nine (outta 13) can be mustered.
Come the foist Thursday in May, the budget is finalized and voted on by simple majority. There is talke the MARB (Municipal Accountability Review Board) is getting ready to fully exit the city, so one wonders how much they will take part in this year’s process. They may or may not have veto power as they have had in the past. So, we shall see how that goes. It’s always a fun time effen yew like that sort of low-level anxiety.
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We see the city is looking to get some upgrades on the choo-choo station and seeing that put Cobina in a nostalgic mood. Hard to believe that we are so many years out since the train station was opened, and it’s proven to be one of the best things for local travelers.
One remembers the Train Station Committee begun by Michael Mercuriano and others. Mike took the yeoman’s part o’ the issue, fighting with state and city officials, who determined to refuse the project. Then came the groundswell o’ support, and the petitions for the station that took city officials and state brahmans by surprise.
Needless to say, that work was successful, and now we want upgrades. Not a bad thing, all in all.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next mitt luff und kizzez,
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