OPINION: The Great Saturday That Was
by Jules Rabin, Plainfield There was a 17-year-old high school kid at the table last night, along with half a dozen of us from the larger family; some young, some wizened. It was the kid’s birthday,...
View ArticleOPINION: Modeling a Local and Vibrant Climate Economy
by Jon Copans of the Vermont Council on Rural Development With a national political conversation that seems to become more divisive and fragmented with each passing day, engaging locally to create...
View ArticleOPINION: Creative Placemaking in Montpelier – what’s Next?
by Ward Joyce, East Montpelier The Pocket Park next to Splash and Langdon Street Alive are “tactical placemaking” projects because they have a specific goal: to test ways to make Montpelier a better...
View ArticleOPINION: Decommissioning Vermont Yankee Means Benefits Sooner Rather Than Later
by Guy Page The advantage to Vermonters of the sale of Vermont Yankee to NorthStar can be summed up this way: sooner rather than later. As early as 2021 NorthStar would begin a decade’s worth of...
View ArticleOPINION: Strengthen The Local Economy with Time Banking
by Dan Towle and Edisa Muller Onion River Exchange, Central Vermont’s community timebank, is ready for the tumultuous times ahead. What is a timebank? It’s a complementary currency in which the...
View ArticleOPINION: Mayor Clarifies Council Process on Manager’s Contract
by Mayor John Hollar, Montpelier There appears to be a great deal of misunderstanding about the Montpelier City Council’s deliberations regarding the city manager’s employment contract. I have been...
View ArticleOPINION: Racial Justice
by Madeline Sharrow, Northfield Central Vermont chapter of the national group, Showing Up for Racial Justice came out in support this week of new racial justice reform bills H.492 and S.116. Showing Up...
View ArticleOPINION: Extend the Right to a Free Press to Student Journalists
by Robbie Maher, St. Albans The rights of a free press are questioned daily in tweets and from the podium in the White House briefing room. Concern about First Amendment rights is nothing new inside...
View ArticleOPINION: Zoning on Steroids
by Joe Castellano, Montpelier The planning commission has been working on adopting a new zoning proposal that will affect every neighborhood in Montpelier. While we understand that this has been a...
View ArticleOPINION: Streams of Justice
by Margaret Blanchard Like folks flowing from every direction into Montpelier for the Women’s March, a web of visionary/moral/environmental/educational strands is manifesting in Central Vermont around...
View ArticleOPINION: Release Tax Returns: For God and Country … and Clarity’s Sake
by Steve May, Richmond Bob Dole, Mitt Romney, George H. W. Bush, hell … even Nixon and Goldwater did it. They all released a financial disclosure of one kind or another when they ran for President....
View ArticleOPINION: Conserve Upper Sabin’s Pasture
by Carolyn Grodinsky, member of the Parks Commission and former member of the Planning Commission. Leigh Seddon, former chairman of the Parks Commission. Montpelier City Council is reviewing and taking...
View ArticleOPINION: It’s Time for ‘Green Burials’ in Vermont
by Claudia Ines Pringles, attorney, Montpelier Did you know that Tony Soprano has a better chance at a green burial than we do here in Vermont? It’s time for Vermont to catch up to New Jersey on the...
View ArticleOPINION: Three Menus and a Maybe: Comparing Film Festival Documentaries
by Gerard Renfro There are two laws that must be obeyed: that of nature and that of human dignity — Vandana Shiva (paraphrased). As always the Green Mountian Film Festival had some great...
View ArticleOPINION: Student Voices
Montpelier High School Social Studies Teacher Heather McLane assigned her students to write paragraphs sharing their opinion about an issue that they have studied, support their opinion with a bit of...
View ArticleOPINION: Make Montpelier A Coherent, Uncluttered Community
by Brenda Thow, Montpelier The last issue’s opinion piece on “Place Making” by Ward Joyce was very informative. It has given me the opportunity to express ideas I’ve had for a long time about...
View ArticleOPINION: The Walking City
by Michael Badamo, Montpelier In 1910 Montpelier actually was a walking city, a description today’s planners and developers claim as a goal. In 1910 horses still plodded down State Street, while a few...
View ArticleOPINION: Kudos to Legislature for Passing Shield Law for Journalists
by Michael Donoghue, executive director of the Vermont Press Association The Vermont Press Association praises and thanks the Vermont Legislature for approving a shield law designed to protect...
View ArticleOPINION: Support Affordable Housing
by Eileen Peltier, executive director, Downstreet Housing and Community Development Two weeks ago I testified at the State House to ask the legislature to support the governor’s proposed $35 million...
View ArticleOPINION: The Winds of Woe
by Annette Smith, Danby Prospective neighbors of wind turbines heard all the promises: “Quiet as a library. The same decibel-level as a refrigerator.” More brazen wind developers claimed “you will not...
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