Good Morning- I'll be in Augusta today, (February 26) Live Blogging and Tweeting and Facebooking.
Please join us. We will be there in support of the courageous legislators in Wisconsin, and the thousands upon thousands of people who are demonstrating in that state in support of public workers.
This is not about overpaid public workers. This is about a governor copying the bad behavior of corporate America: they offshored what jobs they could in order to increase their profits, but they can't offshore teachers. So what do they do? They try to turn us against each other, rather than face their own greed.
We can't let a governor in Wisconsin erase a proud history of worker's rights: it's what our nation is built on.
Please join me by signing up here: http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=238
Or, just show up. We'll be on the State Capitol steps. Be sure to wear Wisconsin Badger colors—red and white—to show your solidarity.
RSU 13 School Board Meeting, 6.30 PM, Thursday March 3, at the McLain School, Lincoln Street, Rockland.
Download the agenda HERE
Budget Season is Coming...Check out City Manager Rosemary Kulow's Letter. It says it all.
And it's even worse this year. Which is one of the reasons I am going to Augusta today.
I want to share with you a letter that our city manager, Rosemary Kulow, wrote to our state representative, Ed Mazurek, and our state senator, Chris Rector. The letter sets the stage for what we municipal officials are about to have to contend with. We can't continue to try to balance the state budget on the backs of municipalities. We can't balance the budget on the backs of teachers and public workers. We have to be more courageous than this. So- Read Rosi's letter for yourself to see what we are about to be up against.
Good Afternoon,
Today I am writing to impart that the City of Rockland is vehemently opposed to the proposal in the Governor’s budget to limit Revenue Sharing funding to municipalities to $94 million for the next biennium, as it represents a large cut in revenue sharing compared to what would be provided under current law. $94 million is more than $42 million short of what would be provided for property tax relief under current law, and would therefore, place an even higher tax burden on property owners in Maine municipalities.
We also strongly oppose the Governor’s intention to discontinue the municipal revenue sharing program as an actual sharing program and replace it as a year-to-year appropriation. This tenuous position would make it extremely difficult for municipalities to plan its revenue base from year to year and cause greater distress on the financial condition of all Maine municipalities.
We hope that you will support our position and urge you to vote against this devastating change in long-standing policy. Municipalities are already the most efficiently operated governmental units in the state, and to further slash their resources would be extremely hurtful to Maine people and the state’s economy.
We appreciate your time, service, and consideration of Rockland’s position on this issue and trust that you will support the position of the people of Maine.
- Sincerely,
- Rosemary E. Kulow, City Manager
- City of Rockland
- 270 Pleasant St.
- Rockland, Maine 04841
- (207) 594-0300
- rkulow@ci.rockland.me.us
Yes, the dump fire that started February 5, 2011 is now out.
Drill Baby Drill? How About Dig Baby Dig?
How can we make lemonade out of lemons in this situation? Is there a way that we could tap into the heat in the middle of this pile and use it for something constructive? Certainly a commentary on our culture, this continuing pile of refuse that we toss into a hole in the ground is also quite hot, as evidenced by the continuing fires this month. But what if we could figure out how to do something with that heat? What if we could bury water circulating pipes that carried the heat OUT of the landfill, thereby reducing the risks of fire, and pulling out the heat to use?
Maybe it sounds crazy, but I watched someone draw that plan out for me on a piece of scrap paper the other day. He said, look, it's a good thing it's hot inside that pile. You could actually DO something with that heat. You could heat something. Grow something with the heat.
The plan involved sinking in vertical coils of piping that circulated water. The water would conduct the heat away, and not only would it keep the dump from getting too hot, it would give us heat.
What are we going to do about this situation? Really, this sounds like about the most sane thing I have heard. It isn't sane to be piling up garbage and construction demolition debris, and burying it, and thinking that we aren't going to suffer some sort of continued environmental damage, either through poor air quality due to fires, or ground water contamination. But, we continue to do this, and we don't question our sanity.
What else can we do? Well, that is exactly the question. What else, indeed.
The Marsars Sled...A Reality.
This moment makes me very, very happy, and I thank the community members who pitched in financially and physically with all my heart. I felt very proud of our fire and EMS department, watching this training, because our women and men are simply the best they can be. I am sitting here in my warm house typing this, while Public Works is out there YET AGAIN in another snowstorm, plowing. It makes me really proud to be a Rockland City Councilor.
Today, 20 or so of our public safety employees trained with a professional who trains the Coast Guards, Navy Seals, and Navy pilots: meaning, the service women and men who go in the water in all weather to rescue those in need. In the morning, there was a classroom training, and then in the afternoon, they hit the- well- beach.
Thank you to all those who made this possible financially, spiritually, and physically. Big Love.
