Letters to the editor - January 29, 2015

What are the future job opportunities for young people?

Practically every Salisbury restaurant, school, real estate agency, inn and business has a website. Salisbury has at least three computer consulting and maintenance businesses; there are innumerable web entrepreneurs developing websites and providing web marketing services. Thanks to the Internet, there are countless independent entrepreneurs scattered throughout Salisbury earning a living running full- and part-time Internet businesses from their homes. I wonder how many more businesses — dependent upon the Internet — are hidden in these hills?

Of course we all shop locally, but for both buying and selling products and services, the Internet reaches customers globally. This is one reason local retailers often struggle. There is almost nothing you can’t buy on Amazon.com, and Amazon Prime shipping is free. More appealing, sales tax on Internet sales is often not required.

So let’s create a FREE Salisbury-Lakeville Website Business Directory for all of the town’s existing businesses with websites. This could be accommodated on the town website with little to no cost. Such a registry would assist not only Internet businesses, but potential clients. 

While one of Salisbury’s main assets to attract future residents is its beauty and quality of life, it is the Internet which allows “tech business” people to live and work here. Of course, there are the traditional local jobs for young people (i.e. schools, local businesses and support services for weekenders). Yet my kids, nieces and nephews all departed for NYC, Washington, D.C., and NJ to pursue careers, expressing little to no interest in living in the “boonies.” Nonetheless, Salisbury still attracts people, often graduates of our local schools, who appreciate the quality of life in Salisbury. But one has to be able to afford to live here, and that is the hitch. Is “affordable workforce housing” the solution for attracting and retaining young people? Will Salisbury’s younger workforce use this housing as it is being proposed? Time will tell.

In my opinion, to attract and retain young people, Salisbury must have a “business development strategy” which incorporates and leverages the Internet while supporting organizations and businesses that depend upon the Internet. These are the businesses that will both be started by and employ younger people who are more focused on technology and its integration into all facets of life. Whether in finance, healthcare or commerce, the Internet must be a primary focus for any Salisbury business development strategy.

The Center for Canine Behavior Studies (.org), based in Salisbury, is an “Internet enabled” global animal welfare collaboration driven by Tufts and UPenn researchers. Currently, it provides employment for several young local programmers. If it is successful, it could potentially provide many more jobs, thus helping to retain and even attract young people to our town. 

Without incorporating an Internet strategy into the town’s business development plan, the future for young people will remain bleak and Salisbury will continue to become an aging “retirement” community. I would look forward to the new Salisbury-Lakeville Website Business Directory while embracing our younger generation and technological advances. 

Chris P. Janelli

Executive Director, Center for Canine Behavior Studies

Salisbury

Don’t fix it if it’s not broken

Following the meeting at HVRHS last Wednesday concerning the proposal to change the formula by which the superintendent of Region One is compensated, too many questions/issues remain unresolved. First, if Region One is not in compliance with state statute, as suggested, but has yet to be forced into compliance by the state, is it because ours was the first sanctioned region in Connecticut and as such created the template for similar organizations? We were told at the meeting that legislation in the 1950s to 1970s codified how regional educational organizations would be formed and conducted; our organization was up and operating long before these acts were drafted. Are we grandfathered if we continue to do what we “have always done?”

The ABC committee shared the dais with the Regional Board at the meeting. What is the ABC: board or committee? It is referenced both ways by some and at times even in the same sentence. Has the Region One Board abnegated its authority to the ABC on some issues, and if so, what are they? Was/is the process that established the ABC legal; are all its current functions legal? 

I don’t appreciate having my right to direct representation withheld. This is done twice in Cornwall. The BOE selects their own chair who automatically serves on the ABC; the BOE also appoints the representative to the Regional Board. The last cord of direct representation was severed in Cornwall when in December the BOE chose a town resident (who by his own admission during the “interview” process stated he had never attended a Regional Board meeting) over an elected BOE member who had been serving as the Region One alternate representative for Cornwall for more than two years and had been attending all the meetings.

Finally, there’s the elephant in the room. What is this controversy about — how the superintendent is compensated or how that compensation is defined? The formula for participants in teachers’ retirement uses a “basis,” a figure that represents the individual’s earned income over the three highest years of income during employment. Are there negotiations, anticipated or ongoing, about what constitutes the superintendent’s earned income? Which board will make these decisions? 

Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of the superintendent. Three resignations by building administrators, hiring an assistant who was under scrutiny at the time of employment and whose specialty (special education) was not what Region One needed at the time (curricular expertise, given the NEASC findings), two lawsuits — one versus the assistant superintendent, the second against the superintendent, seven referendum votes. Chaos under this watch has been epic. And the superintendent claims her time and effort are equally distributed among the seven schools she serves. Really? To say she works as hard for one school as another during a time of crisis is one thing, and laudable; to say she does so on a continuing basis defies common sense. 

Two things apply here: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Second, transparency matters. 

Brian Kavanagh

West Cornwall

Global climate change is no joke

The new Republican leadership of the U.S. Senate has made a pact with the devil — sort of.

Sen. Mitch McConnell and his colleagues plan to undo the little the U.S. has done so far to counteract global climate change. They want to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, approve the Keystone XL pipeline, cancel the proposed but not yet implemented rules on carbon dioxide emissions and undo the historic climate accord with China. They have appointed Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, author of “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming  Conspiracy Threatens Your Future,” as chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee. All this is a payoff to continue getting big campaign money from Big Oil and the Koch Brothers. It might be laughable if the future of the planet were not at stake.

Human-caused climate change is a fact. The evidence has been creeping up on us for more than a century. In 1827, the French scientist Joseph Fourier identified the warming effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. John Tyndall, an Englishman, measured the absorption of infrared energy by carbon dioxide in 1860. Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius calculated the effect of an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases on the earth’s temperature. Later, our own Scripps Institute of Oceanography published a paper which pointed out that with the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, human beings were carrying out a great experiment. (Look it up on Wikipedia.) In recent times, thousands of scientists have added to our knowledge, yet we keep dumping vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.  

Is the global future dependent on a Republican leadership? Is that what the people voted for, a pact with big money?

Jack Ritchie

Salisbury

Please don’t erase my stars

These are my concerns about the proposed 30 housing units off Railroad Street in Salisbury. 

I am worried about the hundreds of walkers, bikers, children and pets who use the rail trail each year. 

I am angry that the lighting at this project would erase the night stars from the sky that I have been enjoying for almost 45 years.

I estimate that at least 50 percent of the people in favor of this project have no idea of its location. And, since it’s not in their backyard, don’t care. This also means they have no consideration or concern for the abutting property owners who purchased their homes years ago and have lived in sylvan peace. Now this area could become building and living chaos. Cars will be driving by their bedrooms. Doesn’t anyone have compassion for them?

I cringe at the thought of increased vehicles on Academy and Library streets, which are already overly congested — especially in the summer.

Just because the land has been donated doesn’t mean it has to be developed. There are other places to build.

Jane McGarry

Salisbury

A change at Region One that could be both costly and unnecessary

The Region One Board of Education is proposing to move from the current apportionment of the superintendent’s salary in Region One to an equal-pay plan. They are also proposing to shift the responsibility of negotiating and implementing the salary agreement to the so-called A.B.C. Committee.

Initially, my objection was a monetary one. I feel strongly that the town of Cornwall need not spend an additional $12,000 for services already rendered, and that moving from the current system to a “one size fits all” scheme discriminates against the smaller towns.

After attending the A.B.C. Committee Meeting and the Regional School District One Board Meeting on Jan. 21, I see it as an issue made infinitely more complex and confusing because of the proposal itself. The current configuration of the Region One Board of Education negotiating the superintendent’s salary does not, in the words of the board’s attorney, Gary Brochu, “conform to state statutes” because each of the seven boards shares the services of the superintendent, but we do not have a Joint Employment Agreement signed by board representatives from each of the six towns and the high school board to document this arrangement.

If we drew up such an agreement, we would then be able to address the policy issues: how we pay, what we pay, etc., in any way that we wish. Simply put, we could create and sign the agreement and then proceed to do exactly as we have done since 1936: keep the power with the Regional Board of Education and pay the superintendent by apportionment. Why it took from 2012 until 2015, the length of time Chairman Andrea Downs says the Board has been working on this issue, and who knows at what cost, to reach this conclusion, I can only wonder. Why the board wants to muddy the waters by abnegating this responsibility to the A.B.C. Committee, an action that could raise further legal and financial issues if it were deemed to be a separate governing body, is also baffling.

Many see this as a step toward greater regionalization resulting in a loss of local control. It would certainly be increasingly more expensive for the smaller towns while not necessarily giving them an equal vote. It is hard to tell what the people of our six towns are really getting out of this proposal except another round of litigation.

Isn’t it time to focus on the education of our children? Drawing up this joint agreement is a clear solution to compliance. Neither the State of Connecticut nor the people of Region One have ever been critical of our current governing and financial structure. I think the Board of Education is creating this issue and that it may be far more costly than in just dollars.

Pamela P. Wilson

West Cornwall

Makerspace at Science and Technology Center

First, I’d like to thank Patrick Sullivan for covering the “makerspace” we are creating at the Mahoney-Hewat Science & Technology Center (STC). If you are unfamiliar with makerspaces, maker faires, fab labs or tinkering studios, they are facilities stocked with tools and materials for people to build and make things. They cross educational disciplines and age groups but share the goal of fostering creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Makerspaces are dedicated to the belief that if you can imagine it, you can make it. Experimenting, building new skills, collaborating, thinking “outside the box” and celebrating one another’s talents are their core values. 

At the STC, we hope to launch with six to 10 stations that will be open to students and faculty during the day and after school. We’re currently working on the logistics, and our final plan will depend on the interest, support and response we receive from the community. Some stations will utilize what we already own or can easily acquire, e.g. introductory robotic kits and old computers. Others will need equipment, such as high-end computers that can support graphic-intense software. Our goal is to create a comfortable space that appeals to the inventor/creator within us all and becomes a well utilized community resource. 

If you have any unused items that are in good condition, such as LEGOS, shop tools, craft items, balsa wood, model kits, sewing machines, digital cameras, casters, comfortable chairs or magazine racks, please contact me.

Having the right mentors will also be an important part of our success. If you’re interested, please let me know and don’t let a lack of technical expertise stop you. While we would greatly appreciate having the help of experienced technophiles, the most important qualification is a willingness to push boundaries and support another person’s discovery path. 

Financial donations for the STC can be sent to my attention at the address below; checks should be made payable to the 21st Century Fund for HVRHS with “makerspace” in the memo line. 

If you have any questions, suggestions, items or interest in helping, please let me know. The center’s Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of the 21st Century Fund for HVRHS wish to thank the community for all its support throughout our development. 

Nancy Hegy Martin

Director, Mahoney-Hewat Science & Technology Center

Falls Village

Give thanks to our road crews

Our local road crews need commendation and thanks for the job they do to keep our roads as clear as possible. As we face another major storm, we will be depending on them again. Ice has almost done some of us in. Those who plow and sand our driveways make access to our home literally possible. On our unexpected way to Hartford Hospital last night, the ambulance driver had cleared roads to follow all the way. What an incredible safety measure these people perform to the benefit of us all.

Sunny Kuskin

Lakeville

Architectural criticisms would be premature

In his article, “Questions, answers on affordable housing,” (Lakeville Journal, Jan. 22, 2015) reporter Patrick Sullivan incorrectly states that I called the architectural design of proposed affordable housing in Salisbury “unfortunate” and “bland,” and also that I raised questions regarding prospective ownership of the development. I think he may have confused me with another speaker. 

I said nothing of the sort. What I did say was that I thought the project was too large for the site and that the site planning might be improved by providing additional access to the housing from Route 44 as well as just from Railroad Street, thereby reducing potential congestion. 

As an architect, I would be loath to make negative offhand comments of another architect’s designs at a public meeting; if I had criticisms to make I would probably take them up directly, and privately, with the project architect. Although the overhead rendering of the project may have suggested that the housing was thoroughly designed, Mr. Arcari said many times during his presentation that at this point the design was merely conceptual. 

Architectural criticisms at this point would be premature at best. Furthermore, as one who has made no secret of his wish to be considered as a prospective architect for affordable housing projects in the Northwest Corner, it would have been particularly inappropriate for me to have spoken out against the design of this project. 

Mac Gordon

Lakeville

We all depend on Mutual Aid Services for coverage

The editorial page of last week’s issue — “We’ve got this” — is quite timely for this note. Many of our area ambulance squads have ONE ambulance. When it requires service, parts, maintenance or repairs, 911 calls can be delayed while Mutual Aid Companies are called to respond. Goshen Fire Department is fortunate to have two fully stocked and certified ambulances. Sharon has had to call them several times to borrow Goshen 8 — and each time the answer is “of course,” and they allow us to keep it as long as we may need it. Other squads, too, have taken advantage of their generosity. 

It is difficult enough to maintain one ambulance with mounting costs, insurance and manpower. Thanks to the foresight of the Goshen members, Sharon has been able to continue to serve our residents even when our ambulance is out of service. In order to cover all of our Northwest Corner towns, we all depend on Mutual Aid Services for coverage and assistance. 

Please remember all our area departments and squads with your appreciation and donations. 

Jamie Casey

Ambulance Captain

Sharon Fire Dept. 

Sharon