Brief thoughts on some of the events making news from around Franklin County and the North Quabbin area:
A tip of the hat to Greenfield Mayor William Martin for riding the Franklin Regional Transit Authority’s Route 21 bus that travels around Greenfield. It provided regular riders and others a chance to talk to the mayor about the service and changes they would like to see. One message given to Martin involved having a bus on weekends, particularly Saturday. That’s been an issue with the service for some time now, and the answer has always been the financing doesn’t exist. What’s it going to take to persuade the state or feds to provide additional funding?
Penny Ricketts’ decision to step down from the Greenfield Human Rights Commission after 20 years may have caught some residents by surprise. But it’s understandable given her busy schedule, including one as an at-large town councilor. And as Ricketts said, “I know I can still attend those (commission) meetings on the other side of the table to get my point across.” Anyone who knows Ricketts and her desire to see Greenfield be at its best, also is aware that she will speak out if there’s something that isn’t right.
People in the business world often say you have to spend money to make money. Orange residents who plan to attend the special town meeting scheduled for Dec. 28 have that concept to consider. The town received a $50,000 state grant, one officials want to use to rehabilitate the Butterfield Park playground. But to get the money, Orange must kick in a 30 percent match, thus spending money to make money. Another way to look at the required match is that it tells the state the community is willing to make an investment in the project. Whatever the case, we would like to think that the necessary 75 residents will show up at the meeting to make a quorum and approve the motion to accept the grant.
Although we don’t always have the greatest crystal ball, we’re willing to predict that the coming budget season for the Mohawk Trail Regional School District is going to be tense. Buckland town officials are already letting the School Committee know they want as tight a budget as possible.
“There needs to be savings this year on the budget, with at least no increases,” Karen Bloom, Finance Committee chairwoman, said. “This year, I would like to start at zero increase and see what we can do with that, rather than starting with a 10 percent increase and working down.” Buckland is unlikely to be the only district town thinking this way. Either way residents are thinking about school spending, they should make sure to be heard on the issue.
Wednesday marks the winter solstice, the official start of winter, and the darkest day of the year. While there are plenty of people who look forward to the day, there are others who bemoan the amount of darkness that accompanies it. But everyone should take heart: it’s actually the start of adding more minutes of sunshine to the day. That may not do much for additional winter weather and frigid temperatures, but knowing that every day we’re adding light has to provide some comfort.