Howdy do, sweets. It’s been quite something since we last exchanged missives, and there is more to tell you about as we ended January and move into the shortest month of the calendar. As yew know, we had a massive snowstorm hereabouts, but one would be kinda silly to say it was one we ain’t seen before, or like the Blizzards of 1888 or 1978. Nope, not even close. It was massive cuz it covered about two-thirds of the map, but we didn’t git the full brunt of it.
And whilst we were supposed to be watchful of another Nor’easter comin’ up the coast last weekend, we were able to see that one skirt us a bit. But as far as the big stor, yup we got about a foot or so of the white stuff. I know cuz despite my being a bit ancient of days, I still had to cart m’self down to the place where I parked the gassamobuggy and shovel out the thing.
It wasn’t bad excep’ for the fack that we had some freezing rain on top o’ things, which made the piles a bit heavier than we were hopin’.
Tennyrate, we do hafta agree with our editorial this week, the boys and girls of the city departments were able to keep things ahead during the storm, and the main drags were perty clear when all was said and done. We’re sure some people aren’t happy about one or t’other that might have happened, but overall kudos to those in charge.
Meanwhile, February is usually the stormiest month we have, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
Now to more informative items. It seems the Bored of Ed handed in its proposed budget of about $97.7 million, with a $4 million increase over the current fiscal year. The obvious thing to glean from this is next year we will go over the century million mark for sure.
Now, Sammy Bluejay happened to perch his persona at the presentation and Superintendent Neil Cavallaro couched his request in the hope that more grants and outside money will be forthcoming and the final number of his request to the city coffers might be somewhat under the total. Outside money is always the hope of politcos and bureaucrats. Get money from outside sources and you can git the dollars you need without putting your handout to the taxpayer. Or, so they think.
Sammy said that it was not a surprise that the request came in that high, and Neil has become a master of tempering the shock with some “but if this happens” talk over the years. He has seen his request torpedoed, especially in the years when the city as a whole had its collective hand out to “outside sources.”
What happens next will unfold in the coming weeks. Grant notices and the like usually come in about this time, and municipalities get a sense of what to expect and build their budgets accordingly.
Of course, we all remember about a decade ago when the state had its own problems and the municipalities had to pass their budgets blind, only to have the state pass a budget well under expectations. The chaos that ensued was….something. We don’t see that happening, but Cobina has seen this dependence on outside sources before, and it did not turn out well on more than one occasion. Stay tuned.
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Nelly Nuthatch sez the buzzing or humming sound people are hearing in some parts of the city is still being heard by people in some parts of the city. When last we left this issue, the city had earmarked some kopecks to investigate the problem. So far, and it might change by the time yew git this missive, the source of the annoyance has not been identified.
City officials are still workin’ on it, and as a gal who constantly has to work around tinnitus, we can well imagine the way people are handling this. Sometimes yew don’t hear it, and then it’s constant. And this could help people’s mental health and physical health.
I reminded you the last time it was like the protest that was going on in Allingtown a while back when microwave towers were installed. People insisted they heard something. That has gone away, but with technology one wonders effen people aren’t being told the whole story.
Effen the Covid debacle has taught us anything, it taught us that “the science” ain’t the last word on any subjeck. People with letters after their names are jest as tempted to fudge as the rest of us for any number of reasons – usually self-interested ones.
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Well, Cobina did not see this on her 2026 bingo card. Herronner has determined that a Charter Revision Commish should be established to review the city’s mandated outline of operation. It’s been six years since the last revision went to the voters, and that failed by a small margin. It was the foist time in mem’ry that a charter revision attempt was in toto nixed by the voters.
It’ll be too long to rehearse the reasons for that, but let’s jest say that the commish at the time made some very interesting alteration proposals, including completely changing the mayor-council form of government to a manager-council form.
That was after two years of work, more meetings than one could count, and hundreds of hours of research and writing so every jot an tittle was correck. It fell to defeat cuz the document would have changed the way the city does business, and the way the politicos do theirs. Soooo, it was fought against and, like I said above, lost by a close margin.
Now, Herronner wants to wade into that mire. We shall see what happens, but we doubt there will be too much of an overhaul. Now that things have settled regarding the fiscal mess the city was in – the reason the previous commish decided to go the way it did – this new endeavor is probably going to nibble around the edges, make a few changes, and call it a day.
The indication will be – as always – who is put on the commish, both the chairman and the members. That will be an indication as to jest how serious this go-round will be. Cobina expecks it will be rawther conservative, and jest make some minimal changes. The Wag thinks so, too. He don’t see any big alterations.
But we shall see. The next few weeks should be interesting as this starts to flesh out as a possibility.
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Cobina noted there have been some watermain problems in the West Shore and some homes had damage. It seems that those century-old pipes that have been there since at least Woodrow Wilson’s era are starting to show their age. And, the fack that we have had temperatures that haven’t even flirted with the freezing pernt hasn’t helped.
Let’s hope as the weather gits a bit colder – always something to fear in February, we don’t see more of this type of difficulty.
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Iva Lootey came in a few days back and we got to talking about the current Allingtown Library situation (back to square one as yew remember), and we started talking about the old Forest Theater site. David Beckerman, who almost single-handedly transformed the Allingtown gateway to what it is today, owns that property, jest as he owned all the rest of it.
Despite all the work that has been done, the former movie house site is still undeveloped and has kind of fallen off the table of discussion. So, we put it back. Iva sez that he ain’t heard about any plans for the property, and with other things going on with the former North End Field and Railroad Salvage property adjacent to it, maybe the developer is keeping his cards close to his vest.
Still, one wonders after all the work he’s done over there, it would be surprising to see that one tract left undone. There is a sense of incompleteness about the whole thing. Iva sez he is trying to git more scuttlebutt, but not a whole lotta talk is out there about the site – something we both found very usual.
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Jest to remind yew that we ain’t forgot about it. While we haven’t discussed it in the foist two missives of the new year, Cobina is still counting the weeks that the former Haven property is serving as a nice little window for those lining First Avenue betwixt Elm and Main streets. Two months have passed since we talked about it, so add another eight weeks to the total since the projeck was announced, finally abandoned, and seemingly forgotten by the developers. The tally goes all the way back to 2014.
As we have stated before, the Haven Group, the land developer hasn’t let anyone know what in Hades is going on, not even city officials and the thoid floor of the Actors Colony. We know that grated on previous chief execs, and knowing Herronner, we can’t see her just smiling approvingly at this slight.
Sooooo, what is going on? We dunno. Nobody knows, hope does spring eternal, and maybe 2026 will be the year something happens. A surveyer was out there late last summer, so we shall see.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,