Tasting My Own Medicine

I recently blogged about the benefits of communities merging, so in a similar light I am merging my two blogs. More on that later.

First, it is worth noting that Newburyport's 17,000 population live on 8.4 square miles of land, compared to Boca Raton, Florida's 86,000 residents on 27.2 square miles.

This is a useful comparison, considering an article in today's Boca Raton News that government leaders are seeking ways to reduce the number of boards and commissions in the name of seat vacancies, absenteeism, and concluded tasks.

Boca Raton has about two dozen such boards, says the paper. Newburyport has more.

I respect Newburyporters' sense of volunteerism but that should go so far. Is it truly necessary to have a different group of volunteer commissioners to manage different city parks? Why must Bartlet Mall, Atkinson Common, and Moseley Woods have their own commissioners, when park management could be more efficient with one group?

I've spoken to others about this duplication of effort for multiple parks and there is consensus that this is an issue that should be reviewed. Of course, who reviews it? Create an ad-hoc taskforce, or assign the duties to the City Council's Neighborhoods and City Services subcommittee?

Tomorrow morning I am flying to Florida and will visit Boca Raton, albeit for different reasons.

When I return, one will notice slight changes at the Newburyport Report.

Explained here, I will cease maintaining two blogs but will have one. Newburyport-centric posts will be marked by a Newburyport label as seen on this link which is where readers may wish to update their bookmarks.

Journalism is Not What it Seems

This is too funny not to mention:

In today's Newburyport Daily News, there is an editorial praising Salem State College becoming a university.

It is a misnomer to assume a Newburyport editor wrote it as the time stamp is 3:20 a.m.

The Salem News, owned by the same parent publishing house, ran the same editorial three hours earlier.

Moreover, people can comment on one editorial or the other, but because of different sources the comments are not seen by all. I ask the editors: why?

Police Energy

Interesting data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on the real and nominal prices of gasoline. Click the image to see more detail, as well as data on the cyclical histories of gasoline and diesel.



During last night's City Council meeting, Police Marshal Tom Howard said he does not foresee gas prices to increase beyond $4 a gallon through the end of this fiscal year and therefore doesn't expect to ask for additional contingency funds.

He's probably right.

So here's a suggestion: Stop using police cruisers immediately when responding to 911 calls that don't require them.

Instead, use the motorcycles already in the fleet. Buy other scooters, electric or not, if you must.

Or forget the motor or electric bike and go with a trike.

Here's an old 1965 Harley-Davidson police model:



And here's a newer version, modeled after the Segway, that some U.S. and British police forces use:



When you consider a car averages 21 miles per gallon to a 2-wheeler's 75 to 100 mpg, it's a no-brainer what to do. Save on gas, improve fuel efficiency, and save on automobile depreciation...and be greener with bikes and trikes.

OUI

William White got off with a light sentence in 2003. If he committed vehicular homicide today, he'd serve a minimum five years in state prison. Fortunate for him, Melanie's Law wasn't around then.

The West Newbury teens issued summons for underage drinking last week don't have it so easy if, say, after several red plastic cups' worth of beer, someone got behind the wheel, drove away, and killed an innocent person. Any teen, heck, any adult, can say he or she is responsible and would never be caught in that situation. But if it happened to Billy White, it can happen to anyone with stiffer punishment today.

Newburyport police arrested 42 individuals for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor in calendar year 2005, the most recent time period I could find online. Six people were also arrested for a second offense the same year. [Source]

I don't think, though am not entirely sure, if any of the OUI drivers engaged in vehicular homicide or manslaughter.

Reacting to recent comments from Daily News readers about alcohol-related stories, such as 200-or-so comments responding to White's parole violation sentencing, may I suggest that the paper follow an example set by Quincy-based daily newspaper, The Patriot Ledger, with their column, The Drunken Driver Record which highlights the names of individuals charged with operating under the influence. Considering the numerous communities published by the Eagle Tribune Publishing Co., I can see the usefulness of such a column on whichever frequency works best.

How come none of those 199 comments mention Melanie's Law? This year marks the 3-year anniversary of the landmark legislation; Fox25 viewers respond.

On a happier note, check out Northampton resident F. Alex Johnson's blog, Fearless by Default. He began the blog on January 1, 2008, four days after he was arrested, at the age of 37, for his second OUI since 1989. He's off to a good start.

HST Forgets MVRTA; IT Needs Increase

An agency of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Massachusetts Human Service Transportation Office website categorizes 351 communities into nine regions.

Note that Newburyport is considered part of the Cape Ann Transportation Authority, which only serves Gloucester, Essex, Ipswich, and Rockport.

The Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority is conspicuously absent from the HST provider listings. Then again, so is the MBTA.

When you consider Gov. Deval Patrick is asking for a 80 percent budget hike for his office staff, can't he include money to beef up the state IT infrastructure?

Don't get me started on the city's IT infrastructure.

Lag at Daily News?

Is anyone else experiencing significant lag connecting to the Daily News website?

I sense it's related to the onslaught of recent comments.

On that note, I wonder how many people subscribe to the paper's RSS feed.

Memorial Day, Park Exploration, and Biking

"How can you ride a bike in this hot weather?" the 7-year-old girl asked me after I gave her and her friend a dollar for a Dixie cup of cold lemonade and a small macadamia nut cookie.

The money was to help one of the girls' fathers who is raising money for the Pan-Mass Challenge.

The girls had set up a stand at the bottom of their driveway, asking for donations across from Maudslay State Park. The parking lot was nearly-full to capacity at 3 p.m.

I thought for a moment before answering, tasting the cookie and wondering if it was really a nut or a melted white chocolate chip.

"Riding my bike, with the wind in my hair, it doesn't feel as hot out."

In retrospect, I must have sounded nuts.

After watching the Memorial Day parade march up State Street from the saddle of my bike, I followed the participants to the the Veterans Cemetery and shot some pictures.



I noticed Ed Cameron, Tom Jones, Steve Hutcheson, and Kathleen O'Connor Ives among the marching troupes. Where were the other councilors? I didn't see the mayor either.





Before riding to the cemetery, I knew I would continue biking around town. The only question was to where?

First stop: Atkinson Common. I'd driven by the city park dozens of times but never ventured inside.



Newburyport's Civil War soldiers and sailors are remembered here, but where are they buried? The Old Hill?

I walked around, peered inside the no-longer-functioning tower, gazed at appreciation tablets, and spied a girls' softball team from high above the Pioneer League field.



Leaving Atkinson Common, I headed toward Maudslay. That was another place I'd driven past but never seen up close.

At one point, I saw Tom O'Brien walking.



I didn't look at any maps of the Maudslay property so was completely lost. I have a good sense of direction, though, and after exploring the eastern paths I found myself at a rear entrance to Arrowhead Farm.

I spied pigs there.



Biking through the farm's grounds, I chatted briefly with Dick Chase. I don't know if he remembered me, but he was focused on some flowers. Apparently, the farm was selling flowers at Market Square today I later learned.

After exploring the western part of the park, I met the girls at a time when my water bottle was empty. The lemonade quenched my thirst...until I arrived at the Mobil gas station on Storey Avenue when I learned, to my joy, that a 2-for-1 Poland Spring bottled water sale was ongoing.

Over the coming weeks, I'll return to Maudslay, though maybe by car next time. I need to figure out what these triangular objects are.

"Roadside America" is Recommended

In Portsmouth tonight, I sat enthralled at a performance of "Roadside America," a play produced by a community theatre troupe called The Players' Ring.

Maine playwright Susan Morse's debut work, "Roadside America" follows the up-and-down emotions of Maggie, a woman in a troubled marriage, who befriends Sam, a tomboyish 9-year-old girl.

Morse based her script on a news story of a child found living alone in a house. To say more may give away the plot...which was spellbinding for me as I wanted more when the cast bowed.

Set in present-day New England, the Portsmouth Herald News recently previewed the play and interviewed Morse.

The play opened last weekend and ends next weekend, with performances next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

GPP Comes to Maudslay

Yesterday afternoon, while I socialized with friends down in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, dozens of families descended upon the grounds of Maudslay State Park as part of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation's Great Parks Pursuit.

I never heard of this program before but it sounds like a great way to bring children and their parents into the outdoors to appreciate natural resources.

The Wysocki Family from parts unknown blogged about yesterday at Maudslay.

I haven't been to the park yet. Maybe I'll head there today...

Potential Solution for Beach Erosion: WhisprWave

Plum Island beaches are eroding at a rate of approximately 1.3 to 1.6 feet per year, according to an online mapping tool at the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.

Numerous photographs of the ongoing erosion are at Port Reporter Unlimited.

I've never lived on a beach and have only basic knowledge of beach (or any other type of) erosion, but I am a quick study and a fairly good researcher.

What I've quickly learned over the past hour or two is that the problem with Plum Island and hundreds of other barrier islands around the world is officials build breakwaters, seawalls, or jetties to reflect or direct waves. But because the wave energy is typically misdirected, coastlines are regressed and land destruction leads to structure failure.

Groins, like the one in the aforementioned photos, are built with a different purpose, but they also cause destruction by interrupting the littoral flow of sand, causing more sand to accumulate on one side of the groin than on the other.

According to an environmental consultant living on San Padre Island, a barrier island like Plum Island but off the coast of Texas:

I could NOT find a single peer-reviewed study of any man-made devices that would slow or stop beach erosion in the US. This includes jetties, groins, geo-tubes, offshore artificial reefs, or even continuous dune systems. My conclusion is that none of them work...

Enter WhisprWave, a man-made floating breakwater designed by NJ-based Wave Dispersion Technologies. The system is comprised of interlocking plastic modules that disperse up to 90% of the energy from pounding waves.

If you agree that Lake Ontario with its 12-foot waves is comparable to the Merrimack River and the Atlantic Ocean (or the part that reaches the shoreline and beach), consider that a US Army Corps of Engineers-designed rubble breakwall costs about $4.7 million contrasted with the $1.5 million cost of the WhisprWave system. The local paper reported the facts here.

I don't know if WhisprWave can work for Plum Island, but can it hurt to contact the company and determine if it's even viable? My bet is yes and perhaps at a fraction of the cost of Marlowe & Co.

To Merge?

Newburyport blogger Tom Salemi argues that regionalization of city/town services is "difficult" and "tough." Not to sound cliche, but such is life if you sit on your pansy and don't stand up, walk beyond your backyard, and make things happen.

Travel south of Boston to the Plymouth County communities of Abington and Rockland and observe how life appears to be separate but equal in both towns. They each have their parades, festivals, libraries, and government boards that operate and exist in a unitary fashion. Dig a little deeper and you will find an entity called the Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works.

In the late 1800s, the two towns (along with neighboring Whitman) were once consolidated, but during the industrial revolution the three towns split off and incorporated as unique entities. The Joint Water Works remains a symbol of the former consolidation and a sign that communities can and do work together successfully in the name of commonality.

If you attend a Rockland Board of Water Commissioners meeting, you will observe a strange phenomenon: the board will sit and discuss for about 15-30 minutes the needs of its residents, and then they adjourn and the Abington commissioners meet. Then, both sets of commissioners re-form as a joint board. Any resident of either town who has a gripe or a complaint brings that issue before the joint board.

Travel farther south and a tad west to York County, Pennsylvania and observe the York Area Regional Police, formed in July 2000, by the merger of the York and Windsor township police departments. The regional police department serves five communities.

The police merger was so successful that earlier this month, two York County fire departments merged, as explained here.

Closer to home, the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce and the Haverhill Downtown Association merged two months ago.

Mergers happen all the time, whether you look at the 1955 merger of the AFL and CIO, the 1996 merger of Boston City Hospital and the Boston University Medical Center, or the 2005 merger of Gillette and P&G. Exxon and Mobil, Daimler-Benz and Chrysler, Worldcom and MCI, the list goes on. Don't forget the 2003 merger of the City of Louisville, Kentucky and Jefferson County as explained in depth by the Brookings Institution.

What's the difference between regionalization and a merger, you ask?

According to this source, a northern New York blog post from two years ago, regionalization and consolidation are the same, which he defines as taking from one community to give to another, with the decisions of who wins and who loses left to an elite group of insiders. Contrast that with a merger when different localities are expected to share in the costs of services [and] in the benefits, and the decision-making.

Lastly, consider that the City of Boston and Suffolk County (except Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop) were consolidated as one government for most of the 20th century. The partnership only disbanded in 1999 with the dissolution of county governments in Massachusetts.

Instead of Newburyport and neighboring communities fighting with the state over local aid distributions and funding mechanisms, wouldn't a merger help?

Instead of Newburyport arguing over water consumption with proposed Newbury developments, wouldn't a merger help?

Instead of Newburyport sharing its ladder truck with neighboring communities every time they don't have the height, wouldn't a merger help?

Instead of Newburyport sharing the Merrimack River with communities on the opposite bank, wouldn't a merger help?

Instead of Plum Island concerns over beach erosion, river dredging, and limited access to police, fire, and health services be an issue of two communities, wouldn't a merger help?

I'm not suggesting that Newburyport straight out merge with another community, though I'm not opposed to that either down the road. Rather, let's follow the examples of the Abington-Rockland Joint Water Works, the York Area Regional Police, and Boston Medical Center, among countless other examples, and make something happen so the outcome is better than the status quo.

With all of the talk about the necessity for increased collaboration and coordination among state, regional, local, and business interests, let's stop brainstorming ideas, admit life is difficult, and start doing something.

6 Electric Cars For Sale Today

Here is a list of 6 electric cars you can buy right now.

Here is a longer list of 30 electric cars either available now or in development for next year.

Electric cars and trucks are great for short distance driving: from your North End home to the bank or the post office or Shaws. These vehicles have a top speed of 20-25 miles per hour (or approximately the fastest a bicycle can go) and last about 30-40 miles on a single battery charge.

If you do a lot of highway driving, you don't want an electric car. A hybrid would make sense in that situation. But don't take my word for it; ask City Council President James Shanley who drives a Toyota Prius, one of the most energy efficient vehicles on the market due to its hybrid status.

Once my Subaru Forester dies (it's eight years old and has over 140,000 miles on it so far), I'll be going hybrid if not electric.

Why do I bring this up now? I stumbled across this story in Thursday's Boston Globe about a Durham, New Hampshire family of three who are dishing their cars and keeping to bicycles and buses for the month of May.

It's a noble concept, and for a Newburyporter it supports the Buy Local movement. But here's the nub: if the Durham family can get by without cars and without any real hardship, can't we all?

Can't Port Turn Its Shit into Juice?

You gotta hand it to the Governator and his band of cronies up and down the Golden State who are saluting environmental stewardship and spearheading green justice programs to research, innovate, and implement ways for residents and communities to save money in a struggling economy.

Last fall, Orange County began constructing a desalinization plant to convert sewage into potable water. Fast forward to this month, and Los Angeles now wants to recycle its own municipal sewage into drinking water.

Fresno and Seal Beach trap methane gas and convert it &mdash at the wastewater plants into compressed natural gas that their municipal fleet uses at a far-reduced cost than gasoline.

Denver and Grand Junction are each intending to follow the California cities to convert sewage gas into CNG, reports yesterday's Rocky Mountain News.

With all of the talented minds living and working in Newburyport and throughout the Merrimack Valley, with the creative economy that we are always praising each other about possessing, can't we use our raw talents and imaginations to build something, anything, to put us on the international map of economic innovation?

I'll start with this not-so-new-at-all idea: Now that the city is investing millions of dollars to overhaul its wastewater treatment plant, can we follow California and Colorado and Washington and countless other communities to similarly trap the methane and convert it into electricity?

On guns

I am not surprised that the Daily News of Newburyport is subjecting itself to the centuries-old debate over the merits of the 2nd Amendment: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

What does surprise me is in the wake of three opinions that the Daily News published over the past two months, is nobody is connecting a common element that everyone is talking about but only insular to their own arguments.

First, though, it's important to trace the history:

---

The series, if I may, began on March 25, 2008 in an op-ed written by Amesbury resident Robert McGlew.

Titled "Guns, gumption and government," McGlew argues that an armed professor at Virginia Tech would have, or at the least, could have, prevented many more deaths by shooting the shooter.

The best defense against a gun is a gun! One armed professor at Virginia Tech would have saved many lives. Sounds radical but we are in a crisis because of loose laws on gun ownership, and the easy availability of all kinds of guns and ammunition.

To me, it doesn't sound radical at all. Rather, it is reminiscent of the Hammurabi Code of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Surely, McGlew isn't suggesting society regress to Babylonian law?

He goes on and says evil is a reality and we are feeding the evil among us with music, movies, TV and the ever-expanding world of pornography. Without the stabilizing influence of faith in the one true God, people are spinning out of control.

I saw this one coming, as the op-ed's byline indicates McGlew is a semi-retired minister, so God forbid, of course mass media and porn are to blame for gun-crazy individuals.

---

Next up in the series is Amesbury resident Andrew Shirshac who wrote this letter to the editor on May 7, 2008 with the title, "Guns are not the answer."

Shirshac directly responds to the former minister and says, Evil is certainly a fair description of certain acts, but they are committed by people, just people. People shaped by experience, other people, and sometimes mental illness. Massacre-scale violence is often committed by very sick people. Shooting them would end the specific situation, but is that the best general prescription?

This reads like a lot of fluff without any substance. People beget people and people's experience beget other experiences. I get it. Why doesn't Shirshac respond to the notion of faith in the one true God as McGlew suggested? No response necessary.

---

The latest letter to the editor is published today, May 21, 2008, by Newburyport resident William Emmith, titled "Armed citizens best way to stop crime," cites studies by criminologists Gary Kleck and John R. Lott and suggests an armed citizen is the solution to crime.

In recent years the right to carry a firearm has been made law in over 38 states. The blood path feared by such as Mr. Shirshac did not occur. Indeed, the opposite was the result: Crime declined. The fact is you are 1,000 times more likely to be killed by your doctor than by an accident with a firearm. Do the research.

I'll give you research.

Between July 1995 and April 1997, gun homicides in Boston dropped 70 percent for males under 27 and 50 percent for males 25 and over, according to the April 4, 1997 issue of The CQ Researcher.

The reason for the homicidal decrease is because Boston police teamed up with federal law enforcers and targeted urban gangs; in one instance, a gang member with 15 prior convictions was sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison for carrying a single bullet in his pocket.

If you want to carry a gun, Bill, I have no problem with that. But should any person, at any age or any mental capacity, be able to similarly possess a firearm? Should the ability to fire a gun be no more limiting than the ability to tie one's shoelaces? That's how your letter reads.

And why do you mention the death-by-doctor angle? Are you implying if doctors are eliminated there would be less medical deaths? More people die every year from motor vehicle accidents than gun shootings; so do we ban cars?

---

The common element that everyone mentions but doesn't relate to each other is that society must cleanse itself. McGlew and Shirshac come closest to agreeing on this by talking about the evil in society.

For clarification, I point you to an April 2007 article in the Anchorage Daily News by staff writer Craig Medred.

Medred talks about the Virginia Tech tragedy and concludes that regardless if an armed citizen duked it out with the killer or if gun control laws were tougher, the controversy is moot.

Both arguments are as valid as they are invalid, writes Medred.

Medred insists the problem is not gun control or lack of gun control, but there is a national epidemic of rage.

He goes on and says that guns are part of the problem that also include knives and baseball bats. Do we arm, as McGlew suggests for guns, every citizen with knives and bats too? Neither Kleck nor Lott, based on my cursory research, talk about knives and bats, let alone rage. Response, Emmith?

Guns aren't bad things or good things, Medred writes. They're things, inanimate objects, chunks of metal with no will of their own. They're really not the problem. We are.

Amen.

Should fire trucks be in parades?

In the wake of a recent City Council vote to approve a $500,000 bond order to purchase a new fire engine, and considering the skyrocketing costs of fuel, should fire engines continue to be used in parades?

This is a question asked by a Frederick County commissioner in Maryland.

Frederick County uses $1.1 million gallons of fuel a year. It includes gasoline for dumptrucks, cruisers, fire trucks and snow plows. Fifty-six percent of the fuel is diesel, ran The Frederick News-Post in this story yesterday.

Every morning I receive an email digest from the International City/County Management Association with snippets from domestic news outlets about municipal issues. The Frederick story was in today's digest.

The story goes on and mentions a county-wide "fuel conservation policy" is in the works for every county department, not just fire and rescue. Once the policy is complete, the county will ask each department to develop conservation strategies and send them back for review and adoption.

Granted, Newburyport's costs are miniscule compared to an entire county but the point remains valid: Should fire trucks (or any other city vehicles that drain financial resources) be used in parades or other extraneous circumstances? If so, who pays for the gas and depreciation?

Energy Star Challenge: Dead in the Water?

Two years ago, Newburyport and Amesbury heeded the suggestion of Congressman John Tierney and squared off in an Energy Star campaign to see which community could pledge the most amount of light bulbs to be converted into Energy Star-rated bulbs.

The Amesbury government website archived the 2006 press release.

Neither Newburyport nor Amesbury are participating in the 2007-08 campaign despite both communities listed in the master list for new pledges.

How successful was the friendly competition two years ago? I can't find online hits, other than the above link.

Why can't this be an ongoing campaign?

Hutcheson's child day

Daily News reporter Steven Tait writes about Councilor Steven Hutcheson's desire for a national day of honor for children of American soldiers.

Please help to make February 20th a day that the country can remember and acknowledge both the large and small sacrifices that children endure while their parents serve our country, Hutcheson wrote in letters to Senator John Kerry, Congressman John Tierney, and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton.

President Abraham Lincoln's son, Willie, died of typhoid fever on February 20, 1862.

Hutcheson had listened to an audio book on President Lincoln and was moved by Willie's 11-year life.

It's a noble idea but short-sighted.

I have some questions for Councilor Hutcheson:

First, for the past eight years, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have proclaimed an "National Child's Day" to occur the first Monday in June. Here is a link to last year's proclamation when Bush said we underscore our commitment to our children and pledge to provide them with the care, protection, and education they deserve. How is your proposed day of honor different than this?

Second, do you care whether this "national day of honor" is a new federal holiday declared by Congress, an observance proclaimed by the President, or a national day observed by some association (such as National Teacher Day by the NEA)?

Third, the idea of a national day to honor children of parents who serve the country is vague. How do you define serving the country? If Willie Lincoln is the inspiration, you are not singling out those whose parents are "warfighters" in your words, but also children of parents who are elected or appointed officials in the federal government, right? What about kids of people who never joined the military or worked for the federal government? What about a woman who seams American flags; is she serving the country?

I can go on. Your idea is noble, but solely based on what I read in the newspaper today, I feel it could use some fleshing out.

For instance, more power is in numbers so why not approach a group of national associations with your idea for a solid backing and a more streamlined campaign? Approach the likes of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the Child Welfare League of America, and the Military Child Education Coalition, explain your proposal, ask the PIRGs to enlist college students to take to the streets to get signatures, and so forth.

Do you recycle your newspaper?

The MBTA, in partnership with The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, metro, The Phoenix, and Stuff@Night, recently launched a paper recycling campaign.

Located at every train and subway station in Boston and the immediate vicinity are trashcans that are specifically marked for disposal of newspapers, magazines, and other papers.

At Boston's North Station, for instance, the receptacles are on each commuter train platform and also downstairs in the subway terminal.

The participating newspapers and magazines are also printing full-color advertisements like the one here I photographed in the latest issue of Stuff@Night:


(You can click the photo to see it blown-up.)

Imagine if the Daily News, Newburyport Current, Port Planet, The Town Common, Merrimack Valley Magazine, and the like came together for a similar paper recycling campaign. Work it with the MBTA and the MVRTA, and the communities' recycling pickup routes, and we can easily mimic what's happening in big city Boston.

...and God rested

I just stumbled upon this 1970 excerpt from Art Buchwald...and while omitting the concluding sentence with reason, I like the symbolism.

In the beginning God created Man, which, according to all the latest birth control statistics, was a big mistake.

And Man said, "Let there be light," and there was light, and Man called this light fire, and at first it was used to warm him and let him cook his food and protect him from the wild animals. But Man discovered fire could be used to burn down a forest or burn someone else's hut or tree house or a witch at the stake or soft coal or oil, which made the air turn dark gray and black. And this made Man start to cough and his eyes to run and his sinuses to hurt. And Man finally said. "God, what are You doing to me?"

And after God made the rivers and lakes and streams and oceans, Man dumped all the refuse from the earth into the waters, and it killed the fish and the plants and even the oxygen, and the waters turned muddy and brown and smelled, and no one could drink from them or bathe in them or even sail on them. And finally Man shook his fist at the heavens and said, "For God's sake, knock it off."

And Man created the wheel, and this was good because Man no longer had to walk through the forests or up and down the mountains or to school. And then Man created the engine which turned the wheels, and Man no longer had to depend on animals to pull him on the roads and paths. And Man called the new creature automobile, and it changed the face of the earth, for Man was forced to cut down the trees and flowers and pour concrete on the land to accommodate the automobile, and drill into the earth and the sea to fuel it, and sometimes the ocean turned black and the air turned brown, and as the automobile multiplied there was less space to park it, and it was unable to move any faster than a horse, and Man behind the wheel screamed, "Good God, am I ever going to get home?"

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate and the disposable bottle, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy his food all in one place and he could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And pretty soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles, and there was nowhere left to sit down or to walk. And Man shook his head and cried, "Look at all this God-awful litter."

And Man learned to split the atom, and then he took what he learned and he put it in a bomb to defend himself from other men, and he set off the bomb to see if it would work, and it did. And Man was very pleased with himself because he was safe from other men, and this was good. But other men learned to split the atom, too, and they put it in their bombs, and so Man had to make bigger bombs, and the other men had to make bigger bombs, and the explosions put radioactive material in the air which got into Man's food and water and made that which was nourishing inedible and that which would quench thirst undrinkable. And again Man became very frightened and said, "God help us all."

Have a good weekend.

Daily News slacking on bicycle stories

At Monday night's City Council meeting, the mayor and council president read a proclamation celebrating national bike week. I thank them for this.

However, I haven't seen the paper of record, the Daily News, follow-up with a story. Maybe one is planned.

Earlier this month, the Daily News reported on the rising cost of gas, then at $3.60, and how businesses such as Port Taxi, Volpone Towing Service, and Pizza Factory II are feeling the pinch.

One sentence in the article stands alone:

Be it car pooling, riding a bicycle, walking or taking another form of transportation, many drivers are conserving.

Despite being the second sentence in the article, this notion of a consumer's choice to not drive a car but ride a bike, walk, or use public transit is not elaborated.

What's the point of the sentence?

Last October, the Daily News published this article about the initial erection of three bike racks downtown in an effort to cut down on the number of cars in the downtown district and increase the number of bicycles.

I don't recall subsequent stories on whether more people are riding their bikes downtown. Granted, the weather is only getting warm so maybe a story is planned.

Officials hope the racks will encourage people to ride bikes to the city rather than drive their vehicles, wrote reporter Stephen Tait in the above article. There are many benefits, they say, including helping to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases and helping to fix the parking and traffic congestion problems downtown.

I've seen subsequent stories on parking and traffic congestion, but not anything on whether more people are riding their bikes to the city. I know of many people who ride their bikes from their homes to downtown locations and would be more than willing to talk about it.

In an effort to give the DN an idea of the type of story I'd like to see, take a look at this article in today's issue of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, about the benefits of bicycle commuters.

I'll soon join the bandwagon, as I filled my tank yesterday at $3.67 for regular unleaded gas. My bike is in the shop for a tune-up; and I anticipate 2-wheeling around the area more than 4-wheeling.

Tsk tsk, the soul cries

I plead ignorance over who is responsible for clearing (and cleaning) dead leaves from the Old Hill Cemetery, but when a grave is overgrown like this, it's a shame.

Urgent need for health care professionals

Between now and three years from now, the city must invest (and support regional and state investment) in health care professionals to meet the needs of 78 million baby boomers who will turn 65 between 2011 and 2030.

I elaborated about this and a new federal report on my other blog.

Police Academy is cancelled

After a six-year hiatus and despite numerous attempts to recruit residents (see Daily News stories one and two, for instance), the Newburyport Citizen Police Academy is cancelled.

Eager to expand my knowledge of the behind-the-scenes work of a police officer, I submitted an application earlier this month.

The police conveyed a message to me today that it will be offered again in the fall. I can only presume not enough people signed up to warrant the sessions.

That's a shame.

On Newburyport churches

With faith congregations of the Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, Christian, Church of Christ, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Baptist, Methodist, Jehovah Witness, and Assemblies of God dotting the Newburyport landscape, it's a wonder there is no Church of Jediism.

I wish I was joking.

The "under construction" website of the Jedi Order of America does lead to disbelief seeing George Lucas is called a "Profit" and not a "Prophet," but I'm still not joking.

It all makes sense when you consider this very real story from the Associated Press about a man dressed up as Darth Vader who was given a lighter sentence when his victim, the founder of a Jedi Church, opted not to press charges.

Thanks to Coyote Blog for this hilarious inspiration.

Wait. There isn't a Jedi Church in Newburyport, is there? This post would be even funnier if there was one.

Energy musings of Newburyport and beyond

I shot this photo last summer in a north Jerusalem neighborhood while visiting my cousins.

Note the rooftop infrastructure. Israeli law requires every household to erect on their roof two photovoltaic panels and a water heater. Companies compete for installation and service.

I can't put a number to how many years and how many dollars, let alone how many millions of carbon dioxide emissions, the United States trails Israel.

It's no surprise the American media never shows these images. Sadly, because of the preponderance of suicide bombing explosions and missile attacks, most American citizens can't appreciate life in Israel &mdash which is no different than life in the States.

As proof, how many of my photos would typically be seen in the U.S. mainsteam media?

Over on Port Reporter Unlimited, Gillian Swart asks why Flint, and not Newburyport, is taking the lead on a public-private partnership with a Swedish firm to create a biogenic fuel.

If the United States falling behind other industrialized nations isn't an eyesore, how's Massachusetts falling behind California, Oregon, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina in R&D ingenuity? There's a reason why the first desalinization plant that can convert human urine into water opened in California.

Clearly, Michigan is more forward-thinking than Massachusetts in these terms.

But all is not lost. Massachusetts is taking the national lead on life science design and development (biotechnology, pharmacology, and medical devices), not to mention higher education, plastics manufacturing, the so-called creative cluster, and more.

Governor Deval Patrick is no Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mayor John Moak is no Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Newsom, San Francisco's mayor, recently met with Israeli startup Project Better Place to replace CO2 cars with electric cars. In Israel, the group is working with Renault-Nissan in a quest to replace every Israeli car with an electric one.

Here's a video of Newsom in Israel:


In the coming weeks, if everything goes according to plan, Newburyport will purchase its first electric vehicle, in the form of a emissions-free dump truck, for DPW operations intended solely for travel on downtown vehicular and pedestrian ways, parks, and the boardwalk for collection of recycled material.

This material is currently collected by diesel emission trucks.

Stay tuned.

2 oddities at Council meeting

I'll rely on the press to report and follow-up on issues raised at tonight's City Council meeting, but I noticed two oddities:

• Councilor Steve Hutcheson, who owns Off the Wall with his wife Vicki, abstained from voting (known locally as a voice vote of "present") when the Council was asked to approve a chocolate tour next weekend as their business will participate; but Councilor James Shanley did not specify any abstention when reading and approving a proclamation to celebrate Newburyport Preservation Week despite his wife, Karen Battles, being the "vice president of the Newburyport Preservation Trust" &mdash if this Newburyport Current story from March is to be believed.
  
  
• What's with the entire School Committee attending this meeting when they weren't included in this week's schedule of public meetings?

Rosie's is closed again

Nearly two months after Newburyport Irish pub Rosie O'Shea's was closed for half a day due to seizure by the state Department of Revenue for failure to pay their taxes (see here and here), the bar is closed again.

I just walked by it, trailing two other guys, and we noticed the lights were out with no signs indicating a reason. Maybe an extended Mother's Day holiday?

Related, the bar's website domain, rosieosheas.com, expired on May 9 and was not renewed.

Buy Local awareness is needed

I entered a local bookstore today and asked if they stocked a new nonfiction essay book I'd taken out from the library and enjoyed so much I wanted to add to my own library.

The bookstore clerk typed in the title and author and informed me the store did not have any copies but she could order me one. I told her I'd think about it.

Amazon.com can sell me the same book at a 32% discount off the local bookstore's list price. If I buy two more books with a similar online discount, I'd be eligible for free shipping.

Bottom line: With the financially tight economy we're in, and observant that independent bookstores are trying to make ends meet as much as me, do I buy three books at the bookstore and theoretically pump money into the community or do I buy the books online and save $12? Why bicker over $12?

The notion of shopping locally does not require 100% of one's disposable income to be spent on local procurement options. All that's required, if anything, is a mindset. How one uses that mind is up to each person.

Perhaps Newburyport should organize a Buy Local Day to build awareness.

Newburyport and its sisters

Photo source: Maria Campanita

This beach is not located in Newburyport.

Golden Beach is within the city limits of Zelenogorsk, Newburyport's Russian sister along the Gulf of Finland.

Newburyport has a second sister in Bura, within the Taita-Taveta district of Kenya. The MassKenya.org site is down.

This makes me ask two questions:

1. I know Zelenogorsk residents have visited Newburyport; a book of their visit is chronicled in City Hall. I also know Newburyport residents have visited Bura; newspaper clippings of their visit are in the library's lobby. But have residents from both Zelenogorsk and Bura visited Newburyport at the same time?

2. As Newburyport is a sister to both, would both be sisters to each other?

Route 1A bridge work continues

I shot this photo last weekend looking north at the Route 1A bridge construction project over the Parker River. (I had just eaten at the American Barbecue in Rowley; my review is here.)

As of this week, the project is 45% complete. Status updates may be viewed here.

Best in Country?

After reading Gillian Swart's love of lattes at Greta's Great Grains on her blog here and here, I realized I didn't have this link to the bakery on my online restaurant list over on the right. I'll add that shortly.

Last updated two years ago, Greta's website claims, After 14 years in business, three generations of Austrian and German bakers now make this family-owned bakery one of the best in the country.

Best in the country? I never knew this. Maybe I should visit the downtown bakery more often.

It's all about tourism and Starbucks

I just arrived at an epiphany: No discussion about Newburyport (re)development or chain store bans is complete without talking about Plum Island Coffee Roasters.

Say what?

First, you have to admit that PI Coffee Roasters is a successful business and is part of the "buy local" movement.

Second, you have to understand that PI Coffee Roasters would not be here if it wasn't for Starbucks. More on that later.

I previously wrote about the 18 or so establishments around downtown Newburyport that either market themselves as coffeehouses or sell cups of Joe. Considering Starbucks arrived here nearly 10 years ago, and most of their competitors are still around, something's going right.

The answer is tourism. Newburyport is not just a place to live, work, and play, but it's a destination for historical preservation, ecotourism, land and marine conservation, art studios and author readings, and, yes, shopping. Who's shopping? No one knows for sure but clearly a mix of residents and tourists, coming here by bus or train or car. Once the bike trail is complete, they'll arrive by bike.

Local blogger Tom Salemi recently wrote this about Starbucks' arrival causing "a bit of a furor."

I wasn't around here 10 years ago, but while I can understand initial disagreement, why is there still fury? In the wake of a Daily News article about the alleged arrival of an Upper Crust pizzeria chain, some comments consider this is an invasion of the once quaint Newburyport into Anytown USA.

That's not a fair description because if it wasn't for tourists, we'd have no vibrant downtown. The businesses make it vibrant, and the tourists come to shop when they're killing time between whale watches, Plum Island refuge hikes, and High Street mansion drive-bys.

It's already been proven that the majority of Port residents don't do their holiday shopping downtown or at the Tannery, but go outlet shopping in Kittery or head to Wal-Mart or Target. No?

Which brings me back to the 3-year-old Plum Island Coffee Roasters, in particular to this printed profile of the business two years ago.

"If there wasn’t a Starbucks here, we wouldn’t have done it," says [owner Joyce] Coady. "Wherever there’s a Starbucks location, there is a select clientele for specialty coffee."

I'll paraphrase that again. If Starbucks wasn't here, PI Coffee Roasters wouldn't be here either. Nor would many other independent retailers over the past 10 years it is fair to surmise.

Do you disagree?

On chain stores

Local blogger Tom Salemi wrote about chain stores 25 times over the past seven months. (And I only refer to those times he labeled his post "chain store.") Click here to read them in reverse chronological order.

Salemi cites the rise of chain stores in Portsmouth as a success story and one that Newburyport should emulate. On the flip side, he doesn't want Newburyport to follow the way of a Newington, Kittery, or Danvers.

I couldn't agree more.

But there's an angle Salemi is missing in his 25 posts, and that's something written in this January 2008 article in the liberal Reason Magazine about the clash between independent retailers and big box retailers.

Take independent retailer Newbury Comics, for instance, which 20 years ago stocked about 12,000 CDs and 13,000 cassettes at its flagship Newbury Street location in Boston's Back Bay when behemoth big box retailer Tower Records opened down the block with 50,000 CDs and 60,000 cassettes.

The market believed that Newbury Comics would fold under pressure from Tower, Virgin, HMV, Strawberries, Coconuts, Recordtown, Sam Goody, etc.

Fast forward to today, and only Newbury Comics remains.

While big-box retailers have enormous competitive advantages—sui generis leverage with distributors and manufacturers, unparalleled capital resources, immense political influence—they also face a distinct disadvantage in adjusting themselves to local preferences.

Or, look at Starbucks which opened in N