At the recent meeting where the Selectboard discussed the proposed changes to the rental housing inspection program, Sally Fegley raised a great point: “Good landlords are integral to the fabric of a healthy community.”
Good landlords, like those who run any good business, keep their properties in good condition without cost to the town. It is about having checks and balances for business. It should not cost the town when people do business.
Inspections have to be done for inns, motels, and other commercial lodgings, and these enterprises pay for these inspections as part of doing business.
Some landlords have gotten away with too much in many ways. The question is why inspections of the sort that have been proposed have not been done for the long-term rental properties where many senior citizens, low-income families, and working-class people live?...
A recent Brattleboro Selectboard meeting was a safety-common-sense shocker. Board members were discussing how to spend the taxpayers' money. It is imperative that the emergency vehicles be kept in good operational condition. The rotation of two vehicles keeps the mileage at a maximum of about 100,000 miles or five...
Traffic safety is a major concern of and for the people of Brattleboro. The Traffic Safety Committee meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 8:30 a.m. At these meetings, the committee and citizens work to find remedies for traffic issues the public have voiced concerns about. The public...
I believe Daniel Cohen had good intentions in his letter, yet he used a disrespectful phrase - “mindless caution” - to describe Interim Town Manager Patrick Moreland's caution about lumping all the accidents of the last two years. Patrick Moreland and the Brattleboro Police Department have been working daily with traffic safety and other folks. Traffic safety is a legally complicated subject, and there isn't anything mindless about it. There are three things the police department can do once they...
Recently, as I was standing at my window on Western Avenue, a white SUV-like vehicle was stopped by the police. I saw three town police officers side by side and a sheriff's vehicle behind them. All the police had gotten out of their cars. They positioned themselves and had guns drawn. The officer in the town police car on the far left heading toward the Interstate had a weapon that looked like a submachine gun. He was standing by the...
Prejudice is something we all live with and have dealt with in some way. If people aren't prejudiced about one's race, they might be about one's religion, ethnicity, social standing, or something else. It doesn't matter: it's all prejudice, and prejudice is ignorance. Most people try to hide their prejudices, but here in Brattleboro, we pride ourselves on dealing with it in subtle ways. One biker club, for example, seems to have prided itself in not having any black members,
The public has been frequently locked out of the Transportation Center's waiting area for town buses after 4 p.m. on weekdays and all day on Saturdays. The waiting area isn't heated during the winter months, either. Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland has tried to keep it open for the hours that the buses are open, but he isn't sure how much longer the town can keep it open. During the cold snap at the beginning of this month, I saw...