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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Branchville Parking, a beauracratic boondoggle & an eyesore.
It seems to me there are far too many man hours required by both town employees & residents involved in the present Branchville parking setup with little return.
Too many people have to jump through too many hoops to simply park at our run-down train station which will never be improved at the rate we are going.
So why is it so complicated? Simply because it wasn't thoroughly thought through by the Board of Selectmen before it was implemented.
To understand the parking regulations for the Branchville station you have to read a full page of instructions on the town website, download an application, pour through the tier 1, tier 2 & tier 3 commuter definitions, understand the deadlines, mailing instructions, penalties, re-application requirements, how and when you can get various permits, i.e. town hall office hours, etc.
If you want to read this mish mash go to URL http://goo.gl/EOgDj titled "BRANCHVILLE PARKING PERMIT INFORMATION" or you can check out my common sense solution below:
Create a detailed proposal for improving the station including all actual costs for the project. Lay out a time line for all improvements to kick in. Work with the Parking Authority to determine pricing to support the plan in a reasonable way.
Make every spot daily, put in a parking kiosk, qualified commuters get a yearly $200-$300 permit. Others pay for what they use. Make a deal with a local towing company. Scofflaws are towed.
End of story.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Schlumberger: Another IBM fiasco waiting in the wings?
Let's put the question of whether buying the Schlumberger property is a good or bad idea aside for a moment and look at the methodology with which our town leaders approached this expensive proposition.
Eighteen months before Schlumberger was to leave Ridgefield, the town was notified of their intentions.
Those eighteen months plus three and a half years later, we are told that we must make a deal to preserve Ridgefield's destiny and it has to be done NOW at a 'guestimated' cost of $4 million without a completed plan in place.
That's exactly what happened at a Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, September 7, 2011 with only a few days notice to the public when the agenda was published on the town's website.
Rather than starting this process 60 months ago, or taking another few months to get it right, our reaction to the IBM fiasco is to put the town in the awkward position of making what might be another bad decision.
So on September 7th, the Board of Selectmen -- with one dissenting vote -- rushed through a proposal to put a $4 million dollar bond to the voters on November 8th to buy 'about' 35 acres of the Schlumberger property, peeling off the other acreage for town and private development with an un-named developer. And what are we going to do with this property? Who knows?
There are all kinds of questions to be asked and answered but as usual we are going forward half cocked.
The First Selectman stated that this deal would not increase our overall debt -- a statement that is just plain wrong.
(1) First, the obvious point: borrowing $4 million dollars is just that, borrowing $4 million dollars. That increases debt by $4 million dollars.
(2) Then there is the issue of paying down the bundle. We are currently doing that in an orderly fashion which is only possible so long as we don't increase our capital borrowing by more than $8 million in any given year.
So let's look at that number.
In a 'normal' year we borrow between $3-4 million in capital to finance the purchase of yet more trucks, fire engines, plows, boilers, complete roof repairs, replace school doors and asbestos tiles and begin energy saving projects, etc.
Already announced will be a fall request by the library -- as a separate referendum -- for a reported $5 million dollars to help build a $20 million dollar library.
As a separate issue the schools want a gas line installed to the High School in order to save energy costs, an admirable goal, but timing is everything in life.
By my calculation, we are looking at borrowing at least $12 million for capital projects which does not allow for the same orderly pay down of Ridgefield's overall debt, currently $95 million, at the current rate, in other words the debt curve changes. We will have more debt longer.
Now I have only the information that is public. Somebody please correct my assumptions with some facts, if I am wrong.
Lest we forget, the town of Ridgefield is currently the most indebted town in CT and Ridgefielders are its most indedebted citizens. So proposing that we spend another $4,000,000 for a half cooked idea is a stunning proposal to say the least.
I ask: is this good management?
Now, as a separate matter, let's look at 'controlling our destiny' by buying the Schlumberger property. An argument could be made that it is a good idea if we know how it is going to be paid for going forward.
It is said that any boat owner -- except perhaps the most wealthy amongst us -- claims the two best days of boat ownership are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it.
That could be said about buying the Schlumberger property as well. While it may feel good to buy it, how are we going to maintain it going forward? It costs Schlumberger a reported $1 million dollars annually to do that. Wouldn't we have to spend a similar amount? I don't know but one thing for sure: there was no plan put forth by the Board of Selectmen to deal with this question amongst others. And if there is no plan, there will be unforeseen consequences. Maybe to schools, to roads, who knows?
I submit there are more followers than thinkers on the current Board or Selectmen. And we, the residents of Ridgefield, will bear the brunt -- yet again -- of their lackadaisical thinking
Buying Schlumberger, controlling our destiny, may well be a good idea but is it, the way it is currently structured?
Eighteen months before Schlumberger was to leave Ridgefield, the town was notified of their intentions.
Those eighteen months plus three and a half years later, we are told that we must make a deal to preserve Ridgefield's destiny and it has to be done NOW at a 'guestimated' cost of $4 million without a completed plan in place.
That's exactly what happened at a Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, September 7, 2011 with only a few days notice to the public when the agenda was published on the town's website.
Rather than starting this process 60 months ago, or taking another few months to get it right, our reaction to the IBM fiasco is to put the town in the awkward position of making what might be another bad decision.
So on September 7th, the Board of Selectmen -- with one dissenting vote -- rushed through a proposal to put a $4 million dollar bond to the voters on November 8th to buy 'about' 35 acres of the Schlumberger property, peeling off the other acreage for town and private development with an un-named developer. And what are we going to do with this property? Who knows?
There are all kinds of questions to be asked and answered but as usual we are going forward half cocked.
The First Selectman stated that this deal would not increase our overall debt -- a statement that is just plain wrong.
(1) First, the obvious point: borrowing $4 million dollars is just that, borrowing $4 million dollars. That increases debt by $4 million dollars.
(2) Then there is the issue of paying down the bundle. We are currently doing that in an orderly fashion which is only possible so long as we don't increase our capital borrowing by more than $8 million in any given year.
So let's look at that number.
In a 'normal' year we borrow between $3-4 million in capital to finance the purchase of yet more trucks, fire engines, plows, boilers, complete roof repairs, replace school doors and asbestos tiles and begin energy saving projects, etc.
Already announced will be a fall request by the library -- as a separate referendum -- for a reported $5 million dollars to help build a $20 million dollar library.
As a separate issue the schools want a gas line installed to the High School in order to save energy costs, an admirable goal, but timing is everything in life.
By my calculation, we are looking at borrowing at least $12 million for capital projects which does not allow for the same orderly pay down of Ridgefield's overall debt, currently $95 million, at the current rate, in other words the debt curve changes. We will have more debt longer.
Now I have only the information that is public. Somebody please correct my assumptions with some facts, if I am wrong.
Lest we forget, the town of Ridgefield is currently the most indebted town in CT and Ridgefielders are its most indedebted citizens. So proposing that we spend another $4,000,000 for a half cooked idea is a stunning proposal to say the least.
I ask: is this good management?
Now, as a separate matter, let's look at 'controlling our destiny' by buying the Schlumberger property. An argument could be made that it is a good idea if we know how it is going to be paid for going forward.
It is said that any boat owner -- except perhaps the most wealthy amongst us -- claims the two best days of boat ownership are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it.
That could be said about buying the Schlumberger property as well. While it may feel good to buy it, how are we going to maintain it going forward? It costs Schlumberger a reported $1 million dollars annually to do that. Wouldn't we have to spend a similar amount? I don't know but one thing for sure: there was no plan put forth by the Board of Selectmen to deal with this question amongst others. And if there is no plan, there will be unforeseen consequences. Maybe to schools, to roads, who knows?
I submit there are more followers than thinkers on the current Board or Selectmen. And we, the residents of Ridgefield, will bear the brunt -- yet again -- of their lackadaisical thinking
Buying Schlumberger, controlling our destiny, may well be a good idea but is it, the way it is currently structured?
Monday, September 5, 2011
09/01/2011 Hurricane Irene > Danbury News Times
RIDGEFIELD -- Tree by tree, downed pole by downed pole, road by road, the U.S. National Guard took back the town.
When troops arrived Tuesday afternoon, there were about 125 roads in town blocked by trees downed by Tropical Storm Irene.
When they left Thursday afternoon, they'd reversed that.
"All our roads are deemed passable,'' First Selectman Rudy Marconi said Thursday afternoon.
"I'm so happy,'' said Jean O'Connor, as the Guard arrived to cut apart the felled maple that was blocking Fire Hill Road, along with the utility pole it took down with it. "They're here. They'll get it done."
The Guard unit -- the 192nd Multi-Functional Engineer Battalion -- is based in Stratford. Since there's no record of the guard being deployed in town in the 1955 flood, this might have been its first Ridgefield deployment in town history (It may be argued that since the guard's lineage goes back to the Colonial militia, it made an earlier appearance here, fighting the British in the Battle of Ridgefield in 1777).
But history mattered less to town residents than the boots on the ground and the chain saws in tree limbs this week.
"It's the first sign of progress,'' said Gene Gaisser, of Topstone Road, who watched with his family as the guard cleared a huge fallen locust tree from the road in front of their house. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without them,'' said Lanny Byers, who lives across Topstone Road from the Gaissers. Both families have been without power since 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
Maj. Charles Jaworski Jr., the battalion's executive officer, said working to help communities is one of the guard's two tasks -- serving overseas is the other. "We have a federal and a state mission,'' Jaworski said. "The state mission is to respond to help communities after a natural disaster.''
So that while guard members get trained for combat, they also are up on tree removal -- all guard members are licensed chain saw operators, Jaworski said.
And since all the guard members on duty are young, none served during Hurricane Gloria in 1985, not to mention the flood of 1955.
Irene's damage came as a bit of a revelation. Before arriving here, the unit had gone to flood-damaged Bristol and the storm-beaten town of East Haven.
In Ridgefield, Jaworski said, seeing the number of utility poles and lines and trees down was depressing as it was impressive.
"I've never seen this level of destruction,'' he said.
But the two-and-a-half days the guard spent in town made an "incredible'' difference. Marconi said.
"They allowed us to clear roads that were still blocked,'' he said. "We'll be forever thankful to each and every one of them.''
But what Irene wrought, Marconi said, also showed the failure of Connecticut Light & Power Co., and its parent company, Northeast Utilities, in its ability to respond to a crisis. Although the roads are now cleared, Marconi said the town -- which had no power Sunday -- was still is 60 percent in the dark. That meant about 18,000 residents were without electricity for a fifth day.
"We need to think about this,'' Marconi said. "We don't have a plan to deal with a disaster like this. We need to put words into action.''
Contact Robert Miller
at bmiller@newstimes.com
or at 203-731-3345.
When troops arrived Tuesday afternoon, there were about 125 roads in town blocked by trees downed by Tropical Storm Irene.
When they left Thursday afternoon, they'd reversed that.
"All our roads are deemed passable,'' First Selectman Rudy Marconi said Thursday afternoon.
"I'm so happy,'' said Jean O'Connor, as the Guard arrived to cut apart the felled maple that was blocking Fire Hill Road, along with the utility pole it took down with it. "They're here. They'll get it done."
The Guard unit -- the 192nd Multi-Functional Engineer Battalion -- is based in Stratford. Since there's no record of the guard being deployed in town in the 1955 flood, this might have been its first Ridgefield deployment in town history (It may be argued that since the guard's lineage goes back to the Colonial militia, it made an earlier appearance here, fighting the British in the Battle of Ridgefield in 1777).
But history mattered less to town residents than the boots on the ground and the chain saws in tree limbs this week.
"It's the first sign of progress,'' said Gene Gaisser, of Topstone Road, who watched with his family as the guard cleared a huge fallen locust tree from the road in front of their house. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without them,'' said Lanny Byers, who lives across Topstone Road from the Gaissers. Both families have been without power since 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
Maj. Charles Jaworski Jr., the battalion's executive officer, said working to help communities is one of the guard's two tasks -- serving overseas is the other. "We have a federal and a state mission,'' Jaworski said. "The state mission is to respond to help communities after a natural disaster.''
So that while guard members get trained for combat, they also are up on tree removal -- all guard members are licensed chain saw operators, Jaworski said.
And since all the guard members on duty are young, none served during Hurricane Gloria in 1985, not to mention the flood of 1955.
Irene's damage came as a bit of a revelation. Before arriving here, the unit had gone to flood-damaged Bristol and the storm-beaten town of East Haven.
In Ridgefield, Jaworski said, seeing the number of utility poles and lines and trees down was depressing as it was impressive.
"I've never seen this level of destruction,'' he said.
But the two-and-a-half days the guard spent in town made an "incredible'' difference. Marconi said.
"They allowed us to clear roads that were still blocked,'' he said. "We'll be forever thankful to each and every one of them.''
But what Irene wrought, Marconi said, also showed the failure of Connecticut Light & Power Co., and its parent company, Northeast Utilities, in its ability to respond to a crisis. Although the roads are now cleared, Marconi said the town -- which had no power Sunday -- was still is 60 percent in the dark. That meant about 18,000 residents were without electricity for a fifth day.
"We need to think about this,'' Marconi said. "We don't have a plan to deal with a disaster like this. We need to put words into action.''
Contact Robert Miller
at bmiller@newstimes.com
or at 203-731-3345.
AP > Tablets are coming to a classroom near you
By STEPHANIE REITZ
HARTFORD, Conn. — For incoming freshmen at western
Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down
with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic
pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.
A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near
Boston will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with
electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky
texts.While iPads have rocketed to popularity on many college campuses since Apple Inc. introduced the device in spring 2010, many public secondary schools this fall will move away from textbooks in favor of the lightweight tablet computers.
Apple officials say they know of more than 600 districts that have launched what are called "one-to-one" programs, in which at least one classroom of students is getting iPads for each student to use throughout the school day.
Nearly two-thirds of them have begun since July, according to Apple.
New programs are being announced on a regular basis, too. As recently as Wednesday, Kentucky's education commissioner and the superintendent of schools in Woodford County, Ky., said that Woodford County High will become the state's first public high school to give each of its 1,250 students an iPad.
At Burlington High in suburban Boston, principal Patrick Larkin calls the $500 iPads a better long-term investment than textbooks, though he said the school will still use traditional texts in some courses if suitable electronic programs aren't yet available.
"I don't want to generalize because I don't want to insult people who are working hard to make those resources," Larkin said of textbooks, "but they're pretty much outdated the minute they're printed and certainly by the time they're delivered. The bottom line is that the iPads will give our kids a chance to use much more relevant materials."
The trend has not been limited to wealthy suburban districts. New York City, Chicago and many other urban districts also are buying large numbers of iPads.
The iPads generally cost districts between $500 and $600, depending on what accessories and service plans are purchased.
By comparison, Brookfield High in Connecticut estimates it spends at least that much yearly on every student's textbooks, not including graphing calculators, dictionaries and other accessories they can get on the iPads.
Educators say the sleek, flat tablet computers offer a variety of benefits.
They include interactive programs to demonstrate problem-solving in math, scratchpad features for note-taking and bookmarking, the ability to immediately send quizzes and homework to teachers, and the chance to view videos or tutorials on everything from important historical events to learning foreign languages.
They're especially popular in special education services, for children with autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities, and for those who learn best when something is explained with visual images, not just through talking.
Some advocates also say the interactive nature of learning on an iPad comes naturally to many of today's students, who've grown up with electronic devices as part of their everyday world.
But for all of the excitement surrounding the growth of iPads in public secondary schools, some experts watching the trend warn that the districts need to ensure they can support the wireless infrastructure, repairs and other costs that accompany a switch to such a tech-heavy approach.
And even with the most modern device in hand, students still need the basics of a solid curriculum and skilled teachers.
"There's a saying that the music is not in the piano and, in the same way, the learning is not in the device," said Mark Warschauer, an education and informatics professor at the University of California-Irvine whose specialties include research on the intersection of technology and education.
"I don't want to oversell these things or present the idea that these devices are miraculous, but they have some benefits and that's why so many people outside of schools are using them so much," he said.
One such iPad devotee is 15-year-old Christian Woods, who starts his sophomore year at Burlington, Mass., High School on a special student support team to help about 1,000 other teens adjust to their new tablets.
"I think people will like it. I really don't know anybody in high school that wouldn't want to get an iPad," he said. "We're always using technology at home, then when you're at school it's textbooks, so it's a good way to put all of that together."
Districts are varied in their policies on how they police students' use.
Many have filtering programs to keep students off websites that have not been pre-approved, and some require the students to turn in the iPads during vacation breaks and at the end of the school year. Others hold the reins a little more loosely.
"If we truly consider this a learning device, we don't want to take it away and say, 'Leaning stops in the summertime.' " said Larkin, the Burlington principal.
And the nation's domestic textbook publishing industry, accounting for $5.5 billion in yearly sales to secondary schools, is taking notice of the trend with its own shift in a competitive race toward developing curriculum specifically for iPads.
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