Spoon Agave
A civil and friendly debate avoided the root causes of our problems
To watch the debate, visit bit.ly/774-debate.
Compared to homelessness, an RV was a godsend
Kurt Daims was in for it - he was bringing homeless people into a residential neighborhood. We all talk a great community line until it comes time to act like one.
Spoon Agave, a former member of the Selectboard and Development Review Board in Brattleboro, serves as a Representative Town Meeting member for District 8. Having known Kurt Daims and his organization Brattleboro Common Sense for many years, I have followed with interest the brouhaha he created when he bought,
The bigger picture: Racism is the source of poverty, instability and, often, homelessness
Gee. Who would have thought? A better headline for Joyce Marcel's thorough and revealing story on homelessness might have pointed to the actual conclusion of the studies of researchers Colburn and Aldern: Homelessness is one of the consequences of institutional racism. "Systemic discrimination across multiple systems, education, housing, criminal...
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Spoon Agave: ‘We must raise the value of community’
I take a humanist or human rights approach to what I believe is a genuine and appropriate framework for community planning and problem solving. In this light, assistance goes first to those who need the most help. As I was taught when I was a kid: Everyone gets firsts before anyone gets seconds. Nobody asks to be born. But we're here and we are all entitled to a long, healthy and fulfilling life. This is the nature of being human...
It’s time for Brattleboro to stop subsidizing suburbs with Rescue Inc.
The Selectboard made the correct decision to jettison Rescue Inc. Brattleboro is spending far more than it should on an ambulance service. Nor are there really, in fact, many people challenging it and of those almost none who offered any reason other than feeling offended by the way Town Manager Yoshi Manale handled the controversy. Manale may or may not have employed sufficient tact in his interactions with Rescue management, but his information and analysis was sound, and he exercised...
Heller, Schoales: intelligence, knowledge, and capacity for leadership
There is an old saying about how, when asked to explain what one means by what one says, nine out of ten people will become angry or silent. The one who does not become offended or feel attacked but, rather, becomes stimulated and eager for an opportunity to learn would be a person like Oscar Heller, candidate for a one-year Selectboard seat. The desire and ability to listen and learn is also a strong indicator of self-confidence and thoughtfulness, both...
Sweetness and light — and well-executed disruption
I suspect that if someone suggested at any time in the past that the Strolling of the Heifers Expo would be better if it were all squeezed onto the Town Common, such a notion would have been instantly and summarily dismissed with a great guffaw. It would have been considered next to impossible and not worth the effort to even think about. Then the Brattleboro Retreat decided that it could no longer tolerate an entire day of tumult on its...
Spoon Agave: Brattleboro Town School Board (incumbent)
Upon joining the Brattleboro Town School Board two years ago, my first question was: Why do we educate children? That question needs to be asked because the education we provide our children is the most important factor, outside of the home, that determines the decisions they will make as adults. The country we have today closely reflects the education that U.S. schools have poured into children for generations. Our country today reflects what our public schools have been teaching for...