Franklin Matters: trust

Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts

Friday, February 6, 2026

Trust Fall Writing workshop scheduled for Feb 22, 2026

Shared from -> https://www.understoryyogatherapy.com/tfwevents

In our recent recording session, Brittany talked about her "trust fall writing" method - https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/12/brittany-capozzi-talks-of-her-journey.html

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

What's happening in Franklin, MA: Tuesday, July 1, 2025 ???

Tuesday, July 1

Library & Senior Center events

12:00pm Community Closet (Franklin United Methodist Church)

6:00pm Table Top (Franklin Public Library)

7:30pm Smart Phone Trivia (Teddy Gallagher's Irish Pub)

For additional details on Library & Senior Center events ->

https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar.aspx?CID=37,24&showPastEvents=false

** Town Meetings today **

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meeting

Tuesday, July 1 Time: 2:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/437?fileID=5188

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What's happening today in Franklin?

Find the full Community event calendar https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication: https://bit.ly/Submit2Calendar

The Town meeting calendar is found https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx
The School district calendar is found https://franklinpublicschooldistrictma.sites.thrillshare.com/o/fpsd/page/school-calendar

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Voices of Franklin: Jane Callaway-Tripp "The Cost of Silence: A Town at a Crossroads"

Franklin is more than streets, buildings, and budget line items. It is history, families, and generations woven into a fabric that once felt unbreakable. It is the town where neighbors looked out for each other, where voices carried weight, where integrity mattered. But something has shifted. The foundation is cracking, and the people who call this town home are standing at a crossroads—one that demands hard truths and honest conversations.

Decisions are being made that do not match the words spoken to justify them. A fiscal cliff, they say. Yet raises far beyond the standard cost-of-living adjustment are handed out—without hesitation, without sustainable planning. How does that add up? Strip away the rhetoric, take away the partisan noise, and one question remains: Is this responsible?

Too often, dissent is met not with discussion but with cruelty. Franklin has shown, time and time again, that politics is not just about governance—it is about power. It is about who gets to speak, whose voice is drowned out, who faces ridicule for daring to stand alone. In an ideal world, people would disagree with respect, with a willingness to listen, with an understanding that opposition is not the enemy—it is balance. But that is not what is happening here.

Mockery replaces debate. Personal attacks replace understanding. State representatives endorse a full panel of candidates in a local nonpartisan election—making it clear that the system is anything but neutral. And as people watch this unfold, they wonder: Where do we go from here? I ask you how Can we remove partisanship when it is prevalently clear it is staring us in the face every day?

The Weight of a Dollar

It is easy to say, “It’s only $300 a year.” But to who? Not everyone lives in comfort. Not everyone has an extra $10 a month. There are people—good, hard-working people—who see their bank accounts already at zero, who know the weight of an unpaid bill sitting in the back of their mind. And yet, they are told to tighten their belts once more, told to make sacrifices for decisions they had no hand in making.

And what happens when someone speaks up, when they say no? They are labeled cheap, claims that a NO voter is nothing more than a “Professional Againsters”, would it then be fair to say a YES voters are nothing more than “Professional Yesman”? Neither is a fair statement and quite insulting to either side. They are dismissed as obstacles in the way of progress. But fiscal responsibility is not selfishness—it is survival. It is about trust, and trust cannot exist where accountability is lacking.

The Numbers Do Not Lie

For years, residents have heard the same argument: We need more people, more development, more revenue. They have watched the approval of apartment projects, the bending of zoning regulations, the granting of variances and waivers that reshaped Franklin’s landscape. But there was an opportunity—a rare moment where the town could have stood up for its people. A 40B project that could have been rejected, with legal justification under safe harbor, but instead? Silence. Indifference. A clear message: Your voices do not matter.

Breaking the Pattern

Franklin’s residents are exhausted—not just by taxes and budget concerns, but division has replaced community. It does not have to be this way. It should not be.

Maybe the solution is not another override. Maybe it is not another fight over partisan alliances or social media insults. Maybe, just maybe, the answer lies in listening. In remembering that the town does not belong to politicians and those who run it—it belongs to the people.

We will not all agree. We are not supposed to. But if Franklin is to stand strong, if its future is to be more than just a history written by those in power, then residents must demand better.

Because the Foundation of Franklin is cracked, we as residents are that foundation remember without the people, there is no Town of Franklin.

Independent voter

Jane Callaway-Tripp

If you have something to say, you can find the guidelines here
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html

Voices of Franklin: Jane Callaway-Tripp "The Cost of Silence: A Town at a Crossroads"

Thursday, April 10, 2025

What's happening in Franklin, MA: Thursday, April 10, 2025 ???

Thursday, April 10

* Franklin Art Association Art Show and Sale Exhibit (Norfolk Public Library)

5:00pm Board Game Night (Pete's Nerd Emporium)

6:30pm Open Mic Night (Birchwood Bakery)

For additional details on Library & Senior Center events ->

https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar.aspx?CID=37,24&showPastEvents=false

** Town Meetings today **

Charles River Pollution Control Meeting

April 10, 2025, 3:00 PM https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04102025-1664

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meetings

April 10, 2025, 2:00 PM https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/5145/April-10-2025---Agenda?bidId=

Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Meeting

April 10, 2025, 7:30 PM = No meeting, next meeting is April 24

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What's happening today in Franklin?

Find the full Community event calendar https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication: https://bit.ly/Submit2Calendar

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

“The path back to trust is going to happen at the local level”

"At a time when public trust in every major institution except local public libraries is below 50%, local television news has some advantages that other forms of media lack.

That was the message from Seth Geiger, president and co-founder of SmithGeiger Group, a consulting firm that works with media organizations. Geiger spoke Friday at “Reinvent: A Video Innovation Summit” at Northeastern University.

According to survey data that Geiger presented, local television news is trusted by about 41% of the public — lower than in previous years, but far ahead of the 29% who say they trust national television news. Ironically, he added that social media is the most used platform for news even though it is the least trusted.

“The path back to trust is going to happen at the local level”
“Usually if you don’t trust something, you don’t use it. But that’s not how this functions. That may feel like a woe-the-republic moment for you,” he said, observing that social media is the top go-to for news among every age group except those between 55 and 64. (Presumably that would hold true for those older than 64 as well, but that demographic was not included in his charts.)"

Continue reading the article online ->

https://dankennedy.net/2025/03/24/with-trust-tanking-local-tv-news-has-an-advantage-over-other-forms-of-media/?

You can find the survey presentation -> https://www.rtdna.org/news/rtdna-publishes-study-on-trust-in-local-news-elections-coverage

Thursday, March 13, 2025

What's happening in Franklin, MA: Thursday, March 13, 2025 ???

Thursday, March 13

"Look Up" Gallery (Franklin Public Library during open hours)

5:00pm Board Game Night (Pete's Nerd Emporium)

6:30pm Open Mic & Spoken Word (Birchwood Bakery & Kitchen)

7:00pm Franklin Cultural Council Grant Awards (Dean College Guidry Center)

For additional details on Senior Center & Library events ->

https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar.aspx?CID=37,24&showPastEvents=false

** Town Meetings today **

Bi-County Collaborative Board of Directors Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2025 9:00 AM https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03132025-1631

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meetings

Thursday, March 13th Time: 2:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/318?fileID=4197

Charles River Pollution Control District

Thursday, March 13th 3:00 PM

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03132025-1623

Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School

Thursday, March 13th Time: 7:00 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03132025-1626

Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) Meeting

Thursday, March 13th Time: 7:30 PM

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/Zoning-Board-of-Appeals-31/?#_03132025-1615

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Why are there multiple calendars?

What's happening today in Franklin?

Respectfully, the Library and Senior Center calendars are too full of events to include all their events so we tend to focus on the major events. Town and School meetings are also kept separate. Links for all the calendars are shared here:

Find the full Community event calendar https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication: https://bit.ly/Submit2Calendar

The Library calendar of events -> calendar link

The Senior Center calendar of events -> https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar.aspx?CID=37&showPastEvents=false

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

MassBudget: "Local Revenue is a Key Tool to Advance Housing Affordability"

via MassBudget:

"All residents of Massachusetts deserve access to affordable, safe, and stable housing. However, the Commonwealth currently faces a severe shortage of housing that is affordable to households earning lower incomes. Additionally, home prices have dramatically outpaced inflation, while renters, especially renters of color, continue to face high housing cost burdens.

Cities and towns have the potential to make significant contributions toward meeting affordable housing needs, but they need the resources to do it. Real estate transfer fees, which assess a fee on specific real estate sales, can create or preserve thousands of affordable housing units. Transfer fee revenue from high-end sales could fund local affordable housing trusts, which are often underfunded.

Transfer fees direct some of the economic gains from those who have most benefited from real estate appreciation to those who have most acutely felt the negative impacts of the housing affordability and displacement crises. In doing so, they are a tool for economic and racial equity.

In a new report, MassBudget Housing Analyst Victoria DiLorenzo discusses how municipal affordable housing trusts create and preserve affordable housing locally, and how local revenue can be a key tool in addressing the Commonwealth’s housing affordability crisis. The report focuses on the 19 communities that have filed home rule petitions seeking state permission to enact a real estate transfer fee."

Read the report -> https://massbudget.org/2025/02/13/local-revenue-affordable-housing/