Just in time for Small Business Saturday, the Holiday Guide spotlights all things Franklin making it easy to “keep it local” for shopping this winter season.
Find the full guide online -> https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Franklin-Holiday-Happenings---Gift-Guide-2024.html?soid=1120641810412&aid=-tD8KZw1HyI
Or download a PDF version here -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GUFd2T05Hsqb9wKckwE4ajO63AKVnCUw/view?usp=drive_link
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| Franklin’s Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide |
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| Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide |
The Franklin Downtown Partnership is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization made up of more than 350 business owners, residents, and community leaders working to revitalize downtown Franklin. Residents can join the Downtown Partnership for $25. The Partnership manages events like the Strawberry Stroll and the Harvest Festival, and initiatives such as beautification, streetscape design, greenspace, alley murals, and sculpture projects. For more information go to www.franklindowntownpartnership.org
Join the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) for an informative presentation on the Property Owner Guide to Managing Stormwater on Commercial and Industrial Properties (aka, the Guide, scheduled for public release on September 30, 2024).
The purpose of the Guide is to provide a high-level explanation of the problems associated with uncontrolled stormwater and what private property owners can do to reduce these impacts by improving site operations and making simple changes to the physical layout of their sites to reduce stormwater volume and pollutants. The audience for the Guide is property owners and managers of commercial, industrial and institutional properties who are responsible for making decisions regarding site improvements to manage stormwater.
Entities (including consultants and state, regional and/or local agencies and organizations) who work with property owners in developing stormwater plans will also find the guide useful. This guidance is timely in that it will help support compliance with stormwater permits issued under the Clean Water Act's Residual Designation Authority (RDA) affecting property owners having larger impervious surfaces including the anticipated permit in the Mashapaug Pond watershed in Rhode Island and permits in Massachusetts and New Hampshire coming in 2024, and one issued in Vermont in 2020.
The impact of polluted stormwater from impervious surfaces on receiving water quality is well known, as are its contributions to localized flooding. Commercial, industrial and institutional properties have unique challenges, constraints and goals for their properties that must be considered for successfully incorporating pollutant reduction and stormwater treatment measures.
The Guide builds upon the design guidance in the New England Stormwater Retrofit Manual but is customized to be more accessible to a non-technical audience by providing illustrative case examples of options for managing stormwater and presenting guidance that is easily understood by a non-technical reader.
The Guide's focus is on operational best management practices and physical improvements known as Green Stormwater Infrastructure ("GSI") to manage and improve water quality at its source. The guide was developed by VHB for the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Network with support from an ad hoc committee comprised of members from the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, the Rhode Island Stormwater Innovation Center, the New England Environmental Finance Center, and RIDEM's Office of Water Resources.
Presenters:
Theresa McGovern, VHB
Anna Keimel, VHB
Online Webinar: Register Here!
<Text copied from "The SNEP Network">
Read more -> https://www.franklinma.gov/conservation/news/webinar-introducing-property-owner-guide-managing-stormwater
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| Property Owner Guide to Managing Stormwater on Commercial and Industrial Properties |
MacKid Franklin's Central MA Playground Guide has all the best deets re: local ways to play!
From #grafton to #blackstone and in between, we rate and review the local parks and playgrounds so you can 'know before you go'!
Check it out here: https://t.co/P7juShHQ0P
Shared from -> https://t.co/kO1PVMYZFO
Note: It doesn't actually include a Franklin playgroundSelected artists would receive a stipend between $500-$1,000 (dependent upon location) to cover time, transportation, supplies, artistic development and labor.
Submissions will be reviewed and accepted until February 15 at 3 PM. Please follow this Artsy Box link to review the submission guidelines. We look forward to receiving your submissions.
Three of the boxes are shown here:
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| An Artsy Box Project comes to Franklin |
The Artsy Box Project guidelines & submission form -> https://drive.google.
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The Baker-Polito Administration recently announced final guidelines outlining how MBTA communities can comply with the new multifamily zoning requirement. Learn more and register for an informational webinar on September 8: mass.gov/MBTAcommunities
Register for the webinar -> https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KBSNAXLuR9yrnmklDPFx-g
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| Franklin's statistics per MA EOHED calculation |
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| MBTA Communities Zoning Guidelines Webinar - Sep 8 at 1 PM |
Via the Massachusetts Housing Partnership @mhphousing:
"Our webinar series on new MBTA community guidelines features experts on topics ranging from infrastructure basics to community engagement to messaging strategies. Sept. 21 kickoff: 9 consecutive Wednesdays.
Registration is open. bit.ly/3T7Mfiz #HousingCrisis #housing"
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| Massachusetts Housing Partnership schedules webinar series on MBTA community housing guidelines |
"State drops quarantine for close COVID contacts in schools, childcare"
"IN A SIGN of the continually evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Public Health on Wednesday quietly updated its guidelines for educational settings to no longer require children to quarantine if they are asymptomatic but exposed to COVID, even if they are unvaccinated.
The change in guidance will affect schools, camps, and daycares, but will have particular relevance for parents of children too young to be vaccinated, who have until now been subject to frequent quarantines."
The weekly FPS COVID-19 Dashboard is now available to view here: buff.ly/3pQh91e
Shared from Twitter -> https://twitter.com/FranklinPSNews/status/1529940196778819605
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| FPS COVID dashboard |
MBTA Communities Upzoning Guidelines, ExplainedGuidelines -> https://t.co/RVtXX3zeBW
@BosIndicators @bostonfdn
"This law represents an important shift, with the state taking action to ensure that most eastern Mass. cities and town contribute to addressing our regional housing shortage."
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| MBTA Communities Upzoning Guidelines, Explained (and yes, Franklin is one) |
"The Franklin Area Voting Guide is intended to be a non-partisan resource created by private individuals to allow the people of Franklin, Massachusetts, and surrounding communities to cast an educated vote on issues that impact our community.
Information contained in this guide is provided by candidates and taken verbatim from their survey responses, or sourced from candidate websites/social media accounts, public statements, town halls, and past achievements."
It is a collaborative effort:
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| The Franklin Voters Guide is available |
SENATOR RAUSCH'S STATEMENT ON DESE/DPH MASK WEARING GUIDANCE
"Today, Governor Baker and his administration failed our Commonwealth's children and families. The DESE/DPH masking guidance falls far short of the data-driven recommendations of the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and hundreds of Massachusetts medical and public health experts: everyone age 2 and up in every school setting – from childcare through grade 12 – must wear masks indoors. Kids, parents, teachers, and school committees have been through enough; they deserve better than weak, unenforceable, non-binding guidelines that further endanger their health and safety."
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| Sen. Rausch slams DESE/DPH non-binding masking recommendations |
"Just released fall guidance from the @MASchoolsK12.
Please note:"Today's guidance is a recommendation for districts, and individual districts should make decisions based on their own particular circumstances."
https://t.co/w4lpqGbr1v"
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| https://twitter.com/MASchoolsK12 |
"All coronavirus-related protocols, including social distancing, will be lifted at schools for the start of the 2021-22 academic year, and every school will be required to be back fully in person, state education officials told superintendents on Thursday.School districts will not be allowed to offer remote learning as a standard learning model, according to the new guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.“Pathways that existed prior to the pandemic for offering virtual learning to individual students in limited cases will remain available to districts and schools,” including single-district virtual schools or home- or hospital-based tutoring programs for documented medical conditions, the state education agency said."
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ATTN fellow confused parents! Wondering how to keep our younger, not-yet-#vaccine-eligible children safe? Me too. I've got a team of experts to help give us some answers. Join me, Dr. @bethlinas @DrNataliaLinos + Dr. Lael Yanger. Drop your Qs in the replies!
#MApoli #COVID19 -BR https://t.co/FTSaJU33FX
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| Senator Becca Rausch: Navigating the mask guidelines for Families |
"Americans got their first peek Monday at what life may be like in a post-vaccinated world with new federal guidelines that say people who are fully vaccinated can gather privately indoors without masks and without physical distancing.
The much-anticipated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, described as a first step toward returning to everyday activities, identify someone as fully vaccinated two weeks after their final shot. The timing of the announcement — just weeks before the beginning of spring — comes as many people are tempted to visit family or interact with friends after months of careful isolation."
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| CDC guidance summary table |
