Sunday, June 14, 2009

Items of interest; ethics reform, farmer's markets, union givebacks

By Staff reports

GHS

Posted Jun 13, 2009 @ 11:11 PM

BOSTON —

Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has appointed his chief advocate, Majority Leader Rep. James E. Vallee, D- Franklin, Majority as the principal House member of the legislative conference committee on ethics reform.

DeLeo credited Vallee with being the drafter of the stringent, far-reaching ethics and lobbying reform bill recently passed by the House and strongly applauded by government reform advocates.

The conference committee, consisting of three House members and three Senate members, is charged with resolving the differences between each chamber's versions of ethics reform legislation.

"I am honored to be part of crafting such an important piece of legislation," said Vallee. "Only when the citizens of Massachusetts see their legislators making bold moves to change the public perception will we prove that we are acting with nothing but the public interest at heart. I look forward to working with my House and Senate colleagues to negotiate a bill that will represent the strongest, most comprehensive, and meaningful overhaul of the way our government does business."

Read the full article about Rep Vallee and the ethics reform efforts in the Milford Daily News here

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By Whitney Segel, Daily News correspondent

GHS

Posted Jun 13, 2009 @ 11:01 PM

Farmers already depend on the unpredictability of weather and nature each year so it was with some trepidation given the faltering economy that organizers of local farmers markets opened for business last week.

For now, farmers and organizers are optimistic for their harvest sales.

Framingham farmer Tom Hanson said the poor economy in an indirect fashion is fueling farmers markets. He believes people are slowing down, eating at home, and taking the time to come out to the market, while before they were too busy.

Jeff Cole, executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, said the downturn in the economy and a declining restaurant industry "leads us to conclude that folks are taking limited resources and making different choices on how they are going to spend, which seems to be in the direction of the markets."

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here. Note: there is no reference to Franklin in this article.

Did you know Franklin has a farmer's market? On the Town Common, Friday afternoons. You can visit the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets website to sign up and receive an email alert to remind you of the market.

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Unions mixed on givebacks

Officials lobbying for budget relief

By Connie Paige Globe Correspondent / June 14, 2009

Several area communities and school districts have asked employees to break existing contracts and accept wage freezes, salary-increase deferrals, or other givebacks in the coming fiscal year to help prop up wobbly municipal finances.
With the stakes high for both communities and public employees, municipal and school unions have generally turned down the requests, with reactions ranging from respectful mutual understanding on both sides to acrimony and suspicion.
In Franklin, the School Committee's chairman, fearing that the teachers union had not adequately briefed its members about the town's financial plight, used the online site YouTube to make a direct appeal to teachers. In a virtual Internet duel, the union used its own website to respond.
Whatever the relationship between employers and employees, there is a shared understanding of the need to save cash, as municipal revenues and local aid from the state go into freefall, according to local officials.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here

The Franklin teachers are scheduled to vote on their latest negotiated agreement with the School Committee on Monday, June 15th.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

McGovern running late

The good news is that there are people out to meet and talk With Congressman Jim McGovern today.

The bad news is that this has him running vary late. He arrived Franklin Library at 10:10 (not the 9:30 he was scheduled for).

I left after talking with him about 11:10. He is due in Wrentham at 11:30. Given the number of folks remaining to talk with him in Franklin, I would estimate that he would not arrive before noon time maybe not before 12:30. Note: these are my estimates.

As for my time with the Congressman:

I talked with Congressman McGovern about collaborating with communications on his various issues and initiatives. You, the readers of Franklin Matters, should hear what he has to say in the matters that affect us. And given the current state of affairs, there is little that doesn't affect us. He listened, he liked to offer and claimed to follow up.
I also talked about No Child Left Behind and other Federal unfunded mandates upon education. I pressed him that if the government is going to require something to be done, then fund it appropriately. Or take away the requirements. There are sufficient requirements at the state and local level to provide a good quality education to all the children of Franklin.
After my time with the Congressman, I stayed to provide morale support for Ted McIntyre of the Franklin Area Climate Team. Ted wanted to invited the Congressman to participate in the Franklin event being put together for 350.org on October 24th. He also wanted to discuss the pending legislation on carbon trading. We were also joined by Steve Deredarian in this effort. Steve also took the opportunity to talk with the Congressman on the health care issue.

Congressman Jim McGovern - Office hours today

Friendly reminder that today, Saturday, June 13th, Congressman Jim McGovern will hold local office hours to meet and talk with us at the following places:

Medway: Coffee Sensations, 116 Main St, 8:00 - 9:00 AM
Franklin: Franklin Public Library, 118 Main St, 9:30 - 10:30 AM
Wrentham: Public Safety Bldg, 89 South St, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Plainville: Fire Station, 157 South St, 1:00 - 2:00 PM
North Attleborough: Richards Memorial Library, 2:30 - 3:30 PM

This is your chance to talk with Congressman McGovern.

Sign up for his newsletter on his web site here

teachers = "are expert learners first"

... I also wonder if we can actually make something new out of something old in this case. Without remaking the system, is it reasonable to expect that we can systemically move toward inquiry based, self-directed, networked learning spaces that focus on the learning that Carroll describes in the essay?

Thoughtful posting by Wil Richardson on the idea that if we could start over and create schools, what would we do?

I highly recommend clicking through to read the full posting here

Given the cost pressures affecting school districts here and elsewhere, how should schools operate? What do you think?

"The objective is economic development"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Jun 12, 2009 @ 11:40 PM

FRANKLIN —

Even in the midst of a recession, state Rep. James E. Vallee, D-Franklin, knows how to secure money for his towns: "persistence and tenacity."

"You wear them down. Essentially, you just keep running at them, and hopefully you can convince them," said Vallee, the new House majority leader.

After five years of pushing, Vallee said Franklin has been awarded $1 million in state funds for improvements to downtown. That money is separate from a $5 million federal grant.

The $1 million, available through a public works economic development grant, will pay for improvements to Main Street, Dean Avenue, Depot Street to Ray Street, and a municipal parking lot on Depot Street, Vallee said.

Read the full article about this state grant in the Milford Daily News here

The grant will help economic development efforts downtown. It will allow Franklin to spend less of its own money to do the work required. While the grant can not be used to offset our operational budget problems, the grant will help the overall budget by avoiding the expense of additional debt. Our debt to operations ratio will remain low.