Franklin Matters

Friday, April 13, 2012

"recommended dietary allowance"

On Friday the 13th, let's do a little video. No, not the slasher kind. Too bloody. Let's go the other end of the spectrum and watch as Billy Collins gives us our "recommended dietary allowance of poetry". After all, this is April and April is National Poetry Month.

The Mass Poetry Festival will be held in Salem and more info can be found here
http://masspoetry2012.crowdvine.com/

Note: Billy Collins was part of the inspiration to develop sherku, my own form of haiku. The story of sherku is here and the verse I wrote can be found here http://www.quietpoet.com/

Milford section of I-495 to be resurfaced

The trip to Walmart, Staples or Whole Foods or the cinema could take a little longer in the near future as the paving work gets underway on i495

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Milford section of I-495 to be resurfaced

via The Milford Daily News News RSS by Brian Benson/Daily News staff on 4/12/12

A six-mile stretch of Interstate 495 is slated to be resurfaced in the coming months at a cost of $12 million. Dracut-based Brox Industries submitted the lowest of five bids at $12.1 million. The work will involve resurfacing a 5.9-mile stretch of the highway from just north of Rte. 85 in Milford through Medway and Bellingham to the Bellingham-Franklin town line.

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

“Another citizen will step up and serve the district"

Rep Jim Vallee surprised some folks yesterday:

The longtime lawmaker announced yesterday he won’t seek re-election for his House seat in the fall.

“I was a very young guy when I started,” said the Franklin Democrat, first elected in 1994 when he was 27. “Now, I have three little kids.”

“That really was my driving factor (in resigning),” said Vallee, referring to Lucy, 5, Beatrice, 3, and Sam, 8 months. “I’d like to be able to spend time with them on the weekends and be home at night to be able to read with them.”

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x403921504/State-Rep-Jim-Vallee-not-seeking-re-election#ixzz1role676x

Rep Vallee has accomplished a whole lot for Franklin and the Commonwealth of MA. He'll be missed.

Massbudget First Look: The House Ways and Means Budget

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First Look: The House Ways and Means Budget

Early this afternoon, the House Ways and Means Committee finalised its budget proposal for FY 2013. MassBudget's First Look provides a preliminary analysis of the major initiatives along with the effects on core programs.

To address the state's budget deficit, the House Ways and Means budget relies heavily on:

Cuts and savings, including reduced funding for Early Education & Care and Public Health.
One-time revenue, drawn mostly from the "rainy day" fund.

In contrast to the Governor's proposal, which introduced some modest tax initiatives, the House Ways and Means budget does not include any revenue from new taxes.

Read A FIRST LOOK: THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS FY 2013 BUDGET

MassBudget provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies--with particular attention to the effects on low- and moderate-income people.

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Franklin Food Pantry: Current Needs

The current needs list of food and non-food items for the Franklin Food Pantry can be found in the document shown here:

You can also view the doc online here
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0wjbnXDBhczWHRQNUo1YzRZTmM

Note: I am on the Board of Directors for the Franklin Food Pantry.

New Feature at Franklin Downtown Partnership web page

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

New Feature

via Franklin Downtown Partnership by noreply@blogger.com (Franklin Downtown Partnership) on 4/11/12

We are introducing a new feature on our website -- we have created a space for our members to advertise downtown retail and office space they have available. We have called it simply "Office and Retail Space Available" and you can find it on the right-hand side of the page under the Downtown Partnership Calendar and next to the Downtown Partners' Links.

We start this feature off with a listing from Joseph Byrne of Byrne Financial Freedom, LLC.

Do you have property you'd like us to list? Contact Lisa at Downtown.Franklin@yahoo.com with the pertinent information. We will list your property for one month.

Looking for more properties? Please feel free to contact one of our many member realtors via their link on the right side of this page for more information.