"It will give us a major studio"

An article in the Milford Daily News gets into how Franklin TV has the money to purchase a new building to create a studio. Franklin is not alone in setting up cable access in this manner.

Public access stations such as Milford TV and Franklin TV get their funding from residents’ cable bills. The towns’ two cable providers - Comcast and Verizon - pay about 4 percent of the revenues generated from an access fee to fund the station, equating to about $300,000 to $350,000 a year. 

"The access fees are collected by the carriers and turned over to the town," Fasciano said. "In the past four years, the town has spent less money than the fees that were taken in." 

Franklin TV purchased the 3,500-square-foot building at 23 Hutchinson St. for $400,000. It’s a significant expansion for the company, as its Main Street studio is a mere 620 square feet.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1783185244/Franklin-TV-station-plans-move-to-new-studio#ixzz2FUbK0ua1

Notes from the Planning Board discussion on the site plan can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/12/real-time-reporting-franklin-tv.html

Franklin Downtown Partnership - 2013 UPDATES

Happy Holidays.... Get ready for a Great New Year! FDP General Meeting Thursday, January 3rd 8:30 am Dean College, Campus Center-Golder Room Agenda will be posted on website prior to meeting FDP "After the Holiday" PARTY Thursday, January 17th  Evening More details to follow...you won't want to miss this one! FOOD ELVES and "12 Days of Donating" The Food Elves brought in 2 TONS of food donations for the Food Pantry and $5,700. A BIG THANK YOU TO All of you who participated...including... *  Berry Insurance, 9 Main St. *  Chestnut Dental Associates, 38 Pond St. *  Dean Bank, 21 Main St. *  Dean College, Campus Center *  DCU, 500 West Central St. *  East Coast Driving School, 25 East Central St. *  Emma's Quilt Cupboard, 12 Main St. *  Franklin Downtown Partnership Office, 9 East Central St. *  Jane's Frames, 11 East Central St. *  Murphy Business, 15 East Central St. *  RE/MAX Executive Realty, 445 Franklin Village Dr.   Strategic Planning We welcome input from all of our members as to what projects you would like us to focus in in 2013.  Please call or e-mail us soon.   Event Coordinators Needed If you would like to volunteer to be an Event Coordinator for one of the FDP events please contact the FDP office by January 4th.  We could really use your assistance.   Have a Happy Holiday....and Healthy New Year!

In the News: Tri-County, robbery charges

Doing a good deed!

Tri-County student to collect jeans for homeless teenagers

by Staff reports

The justice system at work

Couple indicted on robbery charges

by Matt Tota/Daily News staff

DelCarte swans

The two swans that have made a home on the DelCarte property were visible when I stopped by Sunday morning on my run along Pleasant St.

Swans at the DelCarte Property, Franklin, MA

With the rain we have had recently, the water level may show some signs of rising.

Planning Board - 12/17/12

What happened at the Planning Board meeting on Monday?

• The proposal for the Stop & Shop gas station was continued to Jan 7, 2013 without discussion per request of the applicant.
• The proposal for the Uncas Ave Extension was continued to Dec 2013 per request of the applicant.
• The proposal for Franklin TV addressed some questions from the neighbors and the Board and will proceed with the next step in plan development to be reviewed at the Jan 7, 2013 meeting.
• The proposal for Hoffman Farms addressed some questions from the Board and will proceed with the next step in plan development to be reviewed at the Jan 7, 2013 meeting.
• The proposal for Robin's Nest is working through some communication issues, what is required of the applicant is apparently not fully understood and creating some problems with submission of the required forms and details.
• Inspections this week for the new Taco Bell and 14 Grove St (liquor store) work scheduled and assuming the inspections are successful, occupancy permits will be granted.

The collection of real time reporting for the Planning Board meeting on Monday, Dec 17, 2012 can be found here:

• Real time reporting: Planning Board to closing
• Real time reporting: Hoffman Farms
• Real time reporting: Franklin TV
• Real time reporting: Planning Board
• 
  
• Franklin, MA: Planning Board - Agenda - Dec 17, 20...

Note: Real time reporting are posts created while watching the meeting live via the cable or internet feed as opposed to Live reporting when I am in the room when the meeting is being conducted.

"I think it's a matter of staying alert"

In the round up of areas schools on the first day back after the Newtown, CT tragedy, the Milford Daily News writes in part:

Franklin Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski said district administrators worked through the weekend on safety procedures. 

"Our target was to return to business as usual," she said. "We did not have any memorials or school-wide announcements about it." 

The district, Sabolinski said, regularly re-evaluates safety. 

"We work very closely with the Police Department - we met just a month ago to review protocol and do lockdown drills," she said. 

Sabolinski said school doors are always locked, and the schools have cameras. 

"We did have an additional police presence," she said. "We have resource officers, and requested additional officers to reassure the parents."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1107423287/Schools-evaluate-safety-after-Connecticut-shooting#ixzz2FOnscwEu

MassDOT Goal: Triple Bicycling, Transit, Walking

I was curious to see what the percentages worked out to be as the numbers shown in the table below were quite large. The percents don't really change a great deal.

            Biking %      Transit %       Walking %
2010       7.2%           87.9%            4.9%
2020       7.3%           87.8%            4.9%
2030       7.6%           87.5%            4.9%

Granted that even a tiny percentage change requires a change in habit, I was surprised to see that the program would NOT increase the overall amount of walking being done.

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

MassDOT Goal: Triple Bicycling, Transit, Walking

via Commonwealth Conversations: Transportation by Klark Jessen on 12/17/12

Secretary and CEO Richard Davey in October announced MassDOTs mode shift goal to triple the distance traveled by our customers through bicycling, transit and walking.  That goal now joins other goals incorporated into MassDOTs GreenDOT Implementation Plan with tasks and indicators.   

MassDOT established the goal to build a more efficient transportation system where fewer of our customers depend on driving alone to get where they are going.  We want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation system and support better public health outcomes by working to give our customers more healthy travel options.

MassDOT will measure our progress on this ambitious mode shift goal using Personal Miles Traveled-distances traveled by all our customers for bicycling, driving, transit and walking in a one year period.  It also measures all the trips taken by our customers, not just work trips which are often the focus in transportation planning.  Measuring the distance traveled by each mode allows MassDOT to see strategic opportunities to improve the travel options for our customers, strengthen the relationship between land use and transportation planning, and draw a link to greenhouse gas emissions.  Goal numbers are listed below.

Year                    Bicycling PMT    Transit PMT    Walking PMT    Total
2010 (baseline)         150.4m                1.83b                101.1m            2.08b
2020 (benchmark)    330.0m                3.99b                223.9m            4.55b
2030 (goal year)        516.m                 5.93b                333.6m            6.78b

Personal Miles Traveled as the goal measurement is effective and maximizes resources available to MassDOT by using data that is already collected from the Federal Highway Administration's Highway Performance Management System, Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database, and an estimation of bicycling and walking using data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey. 
Check out MassDOT's GreenDOT web page for the Implementation Plan and more information.

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