Have you checked out the Coronavirus Information Portal Updates

Have you visited the Town of Franklin portal to see the updates?

In the Current News & Alerts section

• COVID-19 MEMA Update for April 16, 2020 - Updated Daily M-F NEW
• DPH COVID-19 Count and Rate by Town - Updated weekly on Wednesdays NEW 
• MEMA COVID-19 Response Dashboard and Interactive Map NEW 

  
In the Town of Franklin News section

• Important Notice to Taxpayers (April 15, 2020) NEW

In the Community Resources and Support section

• Department of Children and Families guidance for reporting abuse and neglect NEW
• Families with loved ones in nursing homes in Massachusetts can use this new hotline to get information and resources, coordinated across state agencies. Call anytime, 9am-5pm, 7 days a week at 617-660-5399 NEW

https://memamaps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=9ef7ef55e4644af29e9ca07bfe6a509f

Visit the Town of Franklin portal:

https://www.franklinma.gov/home/pages/coronavirus-information-portal

Once Upon A Town: Gas Stations & Dealers - Franklin MA

Join Eamon McCarthy Earls and Joe Landry to learn about Gas Stations and Dealers   Video link:  https://youtu.be/EyVswPKw7Lk

Visit the Franklin Business Gift Card portal

The Franklin Downtown Partnership is inviting residents to visit the FDP website to buy gift cards and to view updates from our local businesses. 

We have set up a special portal for residents to easily purchase gift cards.
https://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/p/gift-card-portal.html

 

Gift Card Portal

“We’re hoping this underlines a strong recovery, but that recovery remains uncertain”

From the Mass Municipal Association we share this:

"State budget writers today (Tuesday, Apr 14, 2020) held an economic roundtable with key experts to discuss the economic disruption and fiscal implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Commonwealth.

One of the panelists, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, projected that tax collections in fiscal 2021 will drop by $4.4 billion, or 14.1 percent below the benchmark that top budget officials agreed to back in January.

The report from the foundation states that sudden and massive layoffs are pushing the unemployment rate up to nearly 18 percent in the current quarter, with 570,000 jobs expected to be lost in just three months, including many in the leisure and hospitality sectors."

Continue reading the article online
https://www.mma.org/state-budget-writers-hear-dire-forecasts-during-economic-roundtable-with-key-experts/

• Link to the Legislature’s website for a recording of the hearing
• Mass. Taxpayers Foundation Revised FY21 Tax Revenue Forecast – COVID-19 Pandemic (1.3M PDF)

Rep. Michlewitz, Sen. Rodrigues and Administration and Finance Sec. Heffernan during a virtual budget hearing on April 14. (Photo: State House News Service)

In the News: MA is now at center of national coronavirus outbreak; spring real estate market slows

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

MA is now at center of national coronavirus outbreak

"On the heels of the two deadliest days so far in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker said Sunday morning that “we’re right in the middle of the surge now” and a top White House official highlighted the state as an area where the continued spread of COVID-19 is a concern.

Massachusetts reported 156 deaths on Saturday and a single-day high of 159 fatalities on Friday, bringing the COVID-19 death toll here to 1,560 people. Nearly 2,000 new cases of infection reported Saturday brought the total number of cases in Massachusetts to 36,372 as the state continues to deal with an influx of cases.

“We’re still very much focused on Boston and across Massachusetts where the epidemic continues to spread across Massachusetts as well as in Boston, and we’re watching very closely Chicago,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “And then we watch every single outbreak that occurs in different states around the Untied States including the most recent one in Ohio.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200419/massachusetts-is-now-at-center-of-national-coronavirus-outbreak-gov-baker-appears-on-cbss-face-nation

Coronavirus outbreak slows typically robust spring real estate market

"Real estate agents are turning to virutal showings of homes to ensure social distancing practices and prevent the spread of the virus.

Ashley Levitre and her husband spent the winter months preparing to put their Hudson condo up for sale in time for the normally robust spring real estate market.

The couple – expecting their first child in July – has wanted to sell their third-floor garden-style condo and purchase a home for a while.

“We wanted to find something that was more homey,” said Levitre."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200419/coronavirus-outbreak-slows-typically-robust-spring-real-estate-market

FM #250 - Talk Franklin with Jamie Hellen, Anne Marie Tracey - 4/17/20 (audio)

FM #250 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 250 in the series.

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Town Administrator Jamie Hellen and Marketing and Communications Specialist Anne Marie Tracey. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

We talk about how the Town Administrator exercised two of the ‘local options’ permitted under the State of Emergency previously issued by the Governor. Real estate and personal excise tax payments have been extended until June 1, penalties on the enterprise payments (water, sewer, etc.) are not to be applied for payments through June 30.

We talk about the local pandemic number now published weekly by the MA DPH. The issue we have discussed is that this number paints an incomplete picture of the pandemic as it is a total only of those tested, and the number of confirmed cases since day 1. This doesn’t show how many active cases there are.

We talk about the 50th anniversary of Earth Day coming up April 22, that it will be celebrated virtually, and over more than the one day (Wednesday). Additional info will be coming from the Recreation Dept.

The Franklin Downtown Partnership is helping Franklin businesses share their hours, gift card options,etc. This is also available for the residents so we can in turn help support the local businesses.

If a business believes they should be considered one of the ‘essential categories’, there is a form now posted on the Town coronavirus portal page to submit a request for reconsideration of their status.

The recording runs about 50 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jamie and Anne Marie

https://anchor.fm/letstalkfranklin/episodes/Current-Events-in-Franklin-41720-ecv057



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Franklin Downtown Partnership
https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/uploads/fdp_press_release_4.15.pdf

Essential Service Designation Request form https://www.mass.gov/forms/essential-service-designation-request

Town of Franklin portal https://www.franklinma.gov/home/pages/coronavirus-information-portal

Franklin Public Schools portal https://www.franklinps.net/district/pages/franklin-public-schools-covid-19-closure-information-portal

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

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 & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

FM #250 Talk Franklin with Jamie Hellen, Anne Marie Tracey - 4/17/20 (audio)

Reminder: LiveARTS a free concert - Apr 19 - 3 PM

Don't miss the final concert of our 2019-20 season! Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Michael Lewin has graciously agreed to perform  from his home on Zoom! Sunday April 19 at 3 p.m. Please join us for this free online concert using this link: Michael Lewin Concert You can download Zoom using this link: Download Zoom Pianist Michael Lewin brings his artistry to our LiveARTS audience in a SPECIAL ZOOM EVENT. Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, he will perform that composers's Variations in C Minor. He will also perform music of Chopin and Debussy. He will share his insights into the music he plays, and will open up the event to a Q & A with audience members. Michael Lewin Michael Lewin is one of America's most active and popular concert pianists, having played for audiences in more than 30 countries. His career was launched with victories in several international piano competitions. His numerous recordings have won a Grammy Award and a Round Glass Music Award. Mr. Lewin is Professor and Head of Piano at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Director of Classical Music for Ethos Music in China. He is a Julliard School graduate. His teachers included Leon Fleisher, Yvonne Lefebure, Adele Marcus and Irwin Freundlich. This is a free concert. If you have bought a ticket for the concert on April 19, please consider making a gift of the purchase price to LiveARTS. If you would like a refund, please call 774-571-7920 to make arrangements. Thank you! Copyright © 2020 LiveARTS, Franklin, Massachusetts, All rights reserved.