Claps and slaps

This entry provides a "bulletin board" for quick notes ranging from one sentence to one paragraph on notable events of recent days and weeks.

Added June 25, 2009
Claps for Governor Baldacci, who has decided to declare the entire state a "Pine Tree Zone." It isn't easy for me to post this, but you gotta give credit where credit is due, even if this is a concept that has been begging for implementation for a very long time. My skeptical side says there's something out of the ordinary here, but right now, I can't put my finger on it.

Claps for the Brunswick Planning Board, which recently approved Bill Moore's plan to develop his own private property for commercial use. It should be fun watching how long it takes the CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) to demonize Moore and obstruct his efforts with everything in their bag of tricks. We may even hear of some previously unknown subspecies of the fauna and flora kingdoms that are threatened with extinction. Never mind that the species of self-supporting humans is already endangered here in Gaia's little half acre.

Slaps overall for the Town Council, which steadfastly refuses to take the budget bull by the tail and face the situation. They could easily lead and establish upper limits for both sides of the budget early in the year, before budget preparation even begins. But no, they'd rather be backed into a corner and made out the ogres during the crunch of the last few weeks. How many times do you have to suffer such predictable behavior before you realize it's time to do something else?

Claps for Brunswick Town Councilor-at-Large Joanne King, who during the current budget deliberations, had the gumption to speak frankly about the tiresome demagoguery employed by the schools contingent over the slightest change to their requested budget amounts. As if there is not a dollar's worth of wiggle room (or banked amounts) in a $30 million plus budget. Does anyone really believe they don't enter the cycle with a built in amount they are prepared to "leave on the table?" If they don't, perhaps they aren't as bright as we might have hoped.