Feb 21 Website Archive, Homepage

Yes, the dump fire that started February 5, 2011 continues to burn off and on.

I'm putting this picture here as a reflection on us, as a culture. This is OUR garbage. This is us, deciding to let outside companies bring huge trucks full of garbage to our land, and dump it in. This isn't a reflection on the workers who struggled to contain the fire. This is me saying the responsibility is with us. Will we choose to change? We can do it. It's not easy, but we have to try.

  An underground fire started in the quarry, below the bridge. By noon today, Rockland FD and the Solid Waste Staff had it out. If you tried to do your Saturday errands, you found out that there was the ladder truck, on the bridge, and you had to go around and into town, and come back up Limerock Street. The main inconvenience to people seemed to be the fact that we only have one "Detour" sign. At least, that was the complaint that was heard, standing on the bridge. It's true. We only had one. However, that was the smaller of the problems, and I am happy to report that the fire is now out, and our staff did a great job dealing with it. I'm not going to editorialize here about my feelings concerning our throw-away society, and the fact that I still don't believe it's a good idea or proven safe to be rapid filling with demolition debris. This morning, I felt angry, because I thought I was about to encounter another Cayahoga River. (If you know what that is.) But, I am every bit as responsible for the mess this planet is in as anyone else. I'm trying, but, is it enough? No, probably not. What would we, as a society, DO with all the stuff in the quarry, if we couldn't throw it in there? What would we do as a city if we did not have the revenue from the quarry?- a question that you have all heard me blaze away on many may times. I've attacked it politically, I've stood on the bridge and cried, and armed with spreadsheets have tried to convince it doesn't make financial sense in the long term. However, today, we had our city workers in that pit with all that filth, putting ou a fire. Now, what can we do so that they never have to do it again? What could we do as a community to make a new commitment to a world without waste?

 In the meantime, thank you once again, Rockland FD and Solid Waste. But let's not forget, people, what that stuff looked like when they dug it out to put out the fire, and what it smelled like.

 
   

Regular Council Meeting

Monday, February 7, 7 P.M.
If you would like to look at the materials for the meeting, you can download them HERE.

We will again take up the Bartlett Woods addition, and the questions I have about that project are, again, whether the two parcels have been joined together to make the setbacks legal yet, how the project affects the drainage in the area, and the effects the project will have on the residents.

At a joint Planning Board and Comprehensive Panning Committee meeting on January 18, Kyle Swan, a member of the board, made the excellent suggestion that a noise and impact plan be put together for the protection of the residents, considering that the noise of construction could better be managed. Planning Board indeed made that recommendation, and you can read a draft copy of the minutes from the meeting HERE

I can't believe how many of you are telling me you can't wait to get chickens...

Another item of note is the Chicken Ordinance. When I first got on council, I was asked by a constituent to consider drafting an ordinance that would make it reasonable and possible for people to have chickens in Residential A and AA zones. With our current trend toward the local food movement, and people getting involved in the production of their own food, it makes all kinds of sense. There are many well-thought out provisions to make it all work, which you can find in the agenda setting materials. Kevin Beal, our city attorney, helped out with the drafting. We both found existing ordinances, since several towns have been changing rules to allow fowl. We thought about what would work for Rockland, and if you have any feedback, by all means, step over to city council chambers Monday night.

Where Do I Go Now Teen Homeless Awareness Project

This group will be applying for a permit for an event in Chapman Park (next to the Rite Aid in March. Their application will b reviewed at council tonight.
If you are interested in teen advocacy, or want to know more, please attend. Contact information is Tracey Rescigno at
wheredoigonowmaine@gmail.com

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.