In the News: Kennedy at business roundtable, tours Franklin High

The Milford Daily News reports on two of the stops US Rep Joe Kennedy III made in Franklin on Friday.

The roundtable, held at the Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, was attended by a number of legislators and officials, including U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, D-4th., state Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D- Franklin, state Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash, state Rep. John Fernandes, D-Milford, and Richard Lord, president of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. 

One topic on the agenda was energy costs, and National Grid program manager Sneha Sachar spoke about the factors that drove up electrical supply rates 30 percent over the winter. 

"The crux of the challenge is natural gas pipelines - there's a limited volume of gas we can bring into the state," she said, noting that the state had an increased reliance on natural gas for electrical generation. "Some of our old generating plants are retired - they ran on coal and gas. Massachusetts has a commitment to clean energy, so there's a little bit of price volatility associated with that as well."

Continue reading the article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150328/NEWS/150326295/1994/NEWS


He also took a tour of Franklin High School

Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat who won re-election to a second term last November, also spent time marveling at Franklin’s new high school, calling its resources “truly unparalleled.” 

He passed through the school’s cavernous auditorium and poked around its high-tech science labs, where students build robots or study crime scenes. Every so often he paused to admire the student drawings and paintings that adorn most hallways. 

“This school represents an incredible sign of commitment from the community to the education of the next generation,” Kennedy said as the tour wrapped up.

Continue reading the article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150327/NEWS/150326414/1994/NEWS

Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA Area: FRI 3/27/15 - THU 4/2/15

FRI 3/27   9am-1pm   Tri-County Regional Children’s Center Open House and Registration
FRI 3/27   6-9pm   Daddy Daughter Dance (gardes K-4) at Annie Sullivan MS
FRI 3/27   7 and 9pm   Electric Youth at The Black Box
FRI 3/27   8-9:50pm   Frozen Friday DJ Public Skate at Pirelli Arena

SAT 3/28   3:30pm   iStories at Franklin Public Library
SAT 3/28   8pm   Peter Yarrow Concert at Circle of Friends Coffee House

SUN 3/29   3pm   Broadway in Franklin at The Black Box

MON 3/30   7pm-8:30pm   Small Business Round Table with Jeff Roy, location TBD, follow this Facebook link to join #ShopFranklin community

TUE 3/31   7pm   Music and Art Appreciation Night at Franklin HS, presented by Lifelong Learning

WED 4/1   12-2pm   Adult Painting at Franklin Art Center
WED 4/1   6:30pm   Franklin Art Association Public Meeting with Oil Stick Demonstration, Franklin Senior Center

THU 4/2   8:30am   Franklin Downtown Partnership Meeting - public welcome! Golder Room, Dean College Campus

For all the Town of Franklin Public Meetings click HERE.

For event details click HERE.

*If you have any suggestions or events for the calendar, please email Renata@BetterLivingRE.com

FM #110 - Audio recording of the Economic Development Committee meeting Mar 25

The audio recording from the Economic Development Committee meeting held Wednesday, March 25, 2015.

The meeting runs just about 1 hour.






The traffic report can be viewed here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/03/economic-development-committee-meeting.html

My set of notes reported live during the meeting can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/03/live-reporting-economic-development.html

----

As I close this special session, let me remind you that

• If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don’t like something, please tell me

It is through this feedback loop that you can help me improve the information I provide for you.

Thank you for listening!

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!

You can also subscribe and listen to the audio on iTunes = search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters on iTunes

Teen Movie at the Library "If I Stay' - Fri 5:00 PM

Friday evening at 5:00 PM teens are invited to view the movie "If I Stay" at the Franklin Library.

If I Stay - Teen movie at 5:00 PM Fri 3/27

This was shared from the Franklin Library webpage here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/03/teen-movie-if-i-stay.html


The movie trailer:

MassBudget: The Massachusetts Film Tax Credit - Is it worth it?

MassBudget    Information.    Participation.  Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center    Democracy. The Massachusetts Film Tax Credit State policy can help build an economy that works for everyone. With high quality education and training opportunities for all, and with functioning core public structures like a reliable transportation system, our entire economy grows stronger. States can also support families across the Commonwealth by setting a fair minimum wage and establishing other policies that improve working conditions and help ensure that everyone who works for a living can afford to pay for life's basic necessities. As part of our efforts to grow the economy, our state spends close to a billion dollars a year on special business tax breaks. We have no process, however, for systematically assessing this type of economic development spending against our goals. Special business tax breaks apply to specific industries or reward specific activities. In many cases there is no evidence that they are a cost effective way to achieve legitimate public purposes. Yet these tax breaks live on from year to year, partly because - unlike items in the state budget - they are not subject to regular scrutiny through the annual budget process. Our new factsheet, The Massachusetts Film Tax Credit, describes one of the state's most generous tax breaks. This program provides movie producers with a tax credit of 25% of the cost of making a movie in Massachusetts, meaning that if a company spends $20 million shooting a movie here, it receives a tax credit of $5 million. If a movie star is paid $10 million, the state reimburses $2.5 million of that cost through our tax code - even though most of that $10 million in salary will likely leave the state economy and be spent where the star lives. Studies by the state's Department of Revenue have detailed the results of providing film tax credits: The economic activity generated by film tax credits between 2006 and 2012 led to $55.1 million in tax revenue for the state. But that is substantially less than the $411 million cost of credits the state issued in those years. Almost two thirds of the wages paid in connection with the film tax credits went to people who are not Massachusetts residents - including large salaries to movie stars from other states. The cost per Massachusetts job created was about $119,000 a year. To read the report, please click HERE.   The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts. MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER 15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700 BOSTON, MA 02108

Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | 15 Court Square | Suite 700 | Boston | MA | 02108

Charter School News: Support Music Merit award, Science Fair awards

Support Music - 2015 Merit Award

The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School has been honored once again with the SupportMusic Merit Award from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. BFCCPS joins 120 schools across the country in receiving the prestigious award in 2015. 

The SupportMusic Merit Award is awarded to individual schools that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.

Continue reading about the award on the BFCCPS  webpage here
http://bfccps.org/benjamin-franklin-classical-charter-public-schools-music-education-program-receives-national-recognition/

Science Fair

Four students recently represented BFCCPS during this year’s Regional Science Fair. We are thrilled to share the results with you today! All four of the students who participated in the event are now eligible to participate in the upcoming middle school Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair (MSSEF) which will be held on June 6th at the Worcester Technical High School in Worcester, MA.

Continue reading about the Science Fair recognition here
http://bfccps.org/2015-regional-science-fair-results/

Broadway In Franklin - : A Weekend with the Stars at THE BLACK BOX

Franklin Performing Arts Company (FPAC) presents Broadway In Franklin: A Weekend with the Stars on March 27-29, featuring Broadway headliners Sara Jean Ford and Tyler Hanes in a Broadway Revue of show-stopping numbers from the Great White Way. Bringing the magic of 42nd Street to Boston's MetroWest suburbs, the Broadway Revue will be presented at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 29, at THE BLACK BOX, FPAC’s new theater, music, and event venue, located at 15 West Central Street in downtown Franklin. The show also features appearances by young musical theater students and by Electric Youth. 

Electric Youth (EY), a dynamic ensemble of talented singer-dancers trained at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts, will kick off the weekend with two performances on Friday evening, March 27, at THE BLACK BOX. Backed by an eight-piece band of Boston musicians who’ve performed with music legends Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Diana Ross and many others, EY delivers high-energy music, including contemporary pop, classic rock, Broadway and country hits. The two shows, at 7 and 9 p.m., will feature fully choreographed performances of Adele, The Beatles, Imagine Dragons, Jason Mraz, Frank Sinatra, Styx and more.

Guest artists Ford and Hanes will lead a series of musical theater master classes at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) on Saturday, March 28, that will include dance workshops and coaching on song interpretation. Rehearsals for Sunday’s revue will round out the weekend programming with the Broadway performers.

Sara Jean Ford

Sara Jean Ford starred as Christine Daaé in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera, with additional Broadway credits including How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Little Night Music and Finian's Rainbow. She starred off Broadway as Luisa in The Fantasticks. National tours include Wicked (Glinda/Nessarose cover) and The Phantom of the Opera (Christine Daaé). Sara Jean Ford can be heard on Michael Jackson’s HIStory album, Harry Connick Jr.’s When My Heart Finds Christmas, and the revival cast recordings of Finian’s Rainbow and The Fantasticks.

Tyler Hanes

Tyler Hanes' numerous Broadway credits include A Chorus Line (Larry), Hairspray (Fender, Link Larkin), Sweet Charity (Charlie), The Frogs with Nathan Lane, The Boy from Oz with Hugh Jackman, Urban Cowboy and Oklahoma! (Jake). National tours include Fosse (first national) and The Will Rogers’ Follies (Will Rogers, Jr.). Broadway cast recordings include The Boy from Oz, The Frogs, Sweet Charity and A Chorus Line.

Electric Youth has released six professional albums and toured Europe 11 times, with performances at England’s Arundel Festival, Disneyland Paris, professional theaters in Bristol, London and Windsor, and such renowned venues as Sanremo’s Ariston Theatre and Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Musikverein and Schonbrunn Palace. EY has also headlined Fourth of July shows for U.S. troops and their families stationed in Italy at Camp Ederle, Camp Darby, and Aviano Air Force Base. The ensemble has performed on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, on Fox-TV and WBZ Radio, and at Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, Mechanics Hall, the Smithsonian Museum Theater and the United Nations. EY’s music, including the 2014 album, Power Chord, is available at amazon.com and iTunes. Electric Youth 2015 will tour England and France this summer.

Proceeds from Broadway In Franklin weekend support Electric Youth’s 2015 European summer concert tour and EY’s mission to give back through musical performance, education and ambassadorship. For additional event information about Broadway In Franklin or to purchase tickets for Friday’s Electric Youth shows or Sunday’s Broadway Revue, call (508) 528-3370 or visit www.THEBLACKBOXonline.com.