Other Side scoop: establishing an on-line candidate forum, with no holds barred. And no bars held, either.

Having heard nothing so far about a public forum in which Brunswick Town Council and School Board candidates can be asked to state their positions on a variety of important issues facing our perfect little town, Other Side has decided that we need to fill a vacuum that probably no one has noticed.  Some folks just can’t hear a sucking sound.

To do so, we put forth below a series of questions for the candidates, and we look forward to receiving and publishing their answers here on a timely basis.  While we have no space restrictions per se, we ask that they limit their answers to reasonable and customary lengths.

According to our Town Clerk, these are the candidates:

CANDIDATES FOR NOVEMBER 5, 2013 MUNICIPAL ELECTION

Council District 1:  W. David Watson (unopposed incumbent)

Council District 2:  Stephen S. Walker (unopposed)

Council District 6:  Alison Harris; Jane F. Millett

School Board District 1:  Richard P. Ellis (incumbent); Byron D. Watson

School Board District 2:  Brenda D. Clough (unopposed incumbent)

School Board District 6:  Janet C. Connors (incumbent); Daniel R. Hammond, Jr.

So lets begin.

Questions for Town Council Candidates:

1.  Do you think an Amtrak Maintenance and Layover Facility should be built at the Brunswick West location, adjacent to the Bouchard Drive neighborhood, and if so, why?

2. If not, where do you think it should be built?

3. Do  you believe the Amtrak train, all things considered, has provided an economic benefit to Brunswick?  Please explain your reasons for your position.

4. Who do you think the assets held and dispensed by the Brunswick Development Corporation belong to?  Are these funds private or public?

5.  Do you think the BDC’s grant of $247,000 to the Brunswick Taxi Company was a legitimate use of their assets, and that local businesses should expect such preferential treatment?

6.  Do you believe there is an upper limit to the tax rate that residents should be expected to pay, and if so, what is that limit?  If not, how do you explain that?

7.  What is the primary responsibility of a town councilor?

8.  Describe how the town is governed, with particular focus on the relationship between town staff and the town council.

9.  If you are not a native of Brunswick, why did you move to town?

10.  What do you consider to be the greatest strength of Brunswick?

11.   What do you consider to be the greatest challenge facing Brunswick?

12.  What do you consider to be the greatest weakness of Brunswick?

13.  Do you think Brunswick collects enough from taxes and other sources to cover legitimate town expenses?  If not, how much more do you think would be enough?

14.  Is there any question we didn’t ask that you think or wish we would have?

15.  Please consider this item a ‘clean sheet of paper’ to make any statement you would like to voters.

Questions for School Board Candidates:

1.  Do you think the Brunswick School Department exercises responsible stewardship of our physical building assets?

2.  Do you think the School Department should institute a merit based pay system for the teaching corps, or retain the current automatic increase, one size fits all pay scale system?

3.  How should the School Department evaluate its performance?

4.  How should the School Department plan for and implement continuously improving student achievement?

5.  Should the tax rate for School finances be capped to an upper limit, or allowed to increase continually? And how much per year is a reasonable increase?

6.  Do you think recruiting students from Asia and other distant lands is a legitimate function of the Brunswick public school system?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

7.  Do you think the virtual doubling in per student budgetary costs in recent years is justified?   Do you think $15,000 per year per student is not enough, just right, or too much?  If not enough, how much should that increase?

8.  Do you think children are the first priority of the Brunswick School Department?

9.  Describe the primary responsibilities of a school board member.  Emphasize the relationship between the board and the department.

10.  Did we miss any questions you wish we had asked, or that we should have asked?

11.  This item is a place for you to make any statement you wish to town voters.

==============================================

We hope these questions spur a lively exchange among readers, and more importantly, an open and forthright response from the candidates in the upcoming election.

Lord knows we could use some straight talk around here.  We’ve seen precious little of it in recent years.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,candidates,elections,town council,school board

Amtrak MLF Caption Contest

We’re known for a certain whimsical streak, and deservedly so, we suppose.

You may recall that several days ago, in this post, we included a graphic of the scene from Apocalypse Now:

        

It’s been said that the only difference between the men and the boys is in the price of their toys, and we’ve opined that Train Riders Northeast, ardent supporters of all things Amtrak, including an MLF in the Bouchard Drive neighborhood, are behaving like little boys who never got the model trains they wanted, so now they’re going for toys with adult sized prices.

Like Amtrak trains, MLF’s, and established Brunswick neighborhoods to play around with.  With life-sized, moving residents.

So when we saw this picture of Wayne Davis, head of TRN, talking to NNEPRA officials at the so-called public hearing of September 26th, we immediately thought of having a caption contest.

Whimsically speaking, we call it a scene from “Amtrocolypse Now,” currently playing in Brunswick.

To get things started, here’s our entry:

“Jeez, I love the smell of diesel fumes in the morning.  Or in the afternoon, or in the evening, or in the middle of the night.”

Now it’s up to our readers to one up us.  Start your imaginations, and get those entries submitted.  We can’t wait to post them for others to inhale and enjoy.

Technorati Tags: Amtrak,MLF,TRN,Brunswick,Amtrocolyse Now

“Just the facts,” please, on NNEPRA and the Amtrak MLF

     

You might recognize that look on Joe Friday’s face….it’s his stony look when he thinks he’s being fed a bill of goods.

And he is.  But that’s why you have us to follow up for you.

What follows is a slightly edited version of an item we composed for use elsewhere; we’d like to think it cuts directly to the chase.

=================================================

Introduction:

The circumstances surrounding the construction of an Amtrak Maintenance and Layover Facility (MLF) adjacent to an established, in town Brunswick residential neighborhood are reaching an irreversible and highly troubling stage. The current plan threatens the domestic tranquility and property values of hundreds of Brunswick families, and precludes larger economic development opportunities that other locations would provide. As such, if unchecked, the plan will be an environmental and socio-economic failure of major proportions.

The Particulars:

• The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), created by Maine Statute, exhibits all the operational & accountability shortcomings that became apparent at the Maine State Housing Authority and the Maine Turnpike Authority after the most recent gubernatorial election.

  • Juxtaposed in the midst of municipal, state, and federal governments, NNEPRA is leveraging the confusion and muddled roles to avoid responsible oversight, and effectively skirt around a number of established regulations and processes.

  • They have created a straw-man argument that unless the MLF is constructed as planned, in the in-town neighborhood, Amtrak Downeaster service to Freeport and Brunswick will necessarily die. Anxious locals, convinced that the Downeaster is a miracle of government investment, are therefore circling the wagons to ensure that this plan is not jeopardized by citizens opposed to the proposed location.

• Notwithstanding the poor business case for Amtrak extension to Brunswick, and the doomsday narrative fabricated by NNEPRA, there is no compelling case and there are no other imperatives to locate the MLF where currently planned.

  • The rationale put forth about 'historic use,' availability, cost, and proximity to the Brunswick passenger depot are soft, easily countered, and completely devoid of singular merit.

  • Conversely, there is a compelling case for not locating the MLF in the Bouchard Drive neighborhood, and it is a socio-economic and environmental impact case of solid virtue.

  • If one accepts that the MLF should be in Brunswick, two other available sites in east Brunswick are far more suitable, and in fact advantageous. Each is clearly superior to the current plan, and most importantly, offers multi-modal economic growth potential, lower overall cost and complexity, and substantially reduced environmental impact. Neither will disrupt the domestic tranquility of established middle class neighborhoods in the heart of town.  Since trains already travel east of Maine Street Station, grade crossings are in place.

• To summarize, the current MLF siting proposal is not good for the town of Brunswick, the region, or the State of Maine, and there are clear and well-known alternatives that would be beneficial to all. Future growth of any sort is not feasible with the current plan.

Action Needed:

Responsible stewardship of the public trust requires that at the very least, a full FRA Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be required before current plans are implemented, irreversible damage is done, and greater benefits are lost forever. This normally mandatory step has been circumvented by a highly flawed and much less demanding Environmental Assessment (EA) that was used to gain an exemption from the FRA (Federal Railroad Authority.)

This abuse of the normal process is at the very heart of neighborhood opposition, and they have copious hard data to substantiate their case. Regrettably, both NNEPRA and Brunswick town officials have done everything in their power to keep this professionally collected and analyzed evidence from seeing the light of day in an open and public forum.

Additionally, all sources of funding for NNEPRA MLF activity should be immediately frozen, and remain suspended until rigorous and independent evaluation of alternate sites has been completed.

=====================================================

There’s a whole lot of things about and in Brunswick that we just don’t understand.

 

Why elected officials, and especially the town manager, are so adamantly resisting a full scale evaluation of MLF siting is at the very top of that list.  All the maneuvering, distracting, and downright refusal to openly explore and discuss the details of the current situation clearly suggests that something is very, very wrong here.

We can’t quite put our finger on what it is, but we’re making progress.  And when we reach an inflection point, you’ll be the first to know. 

Until then, remember how much fun it is to watch Brunswick Sausage being made.

            

And be sure to watch tonight’s council meeting, at which a new variety of local sausage may be introduced.

Technorati Tags: Amtrak,MLF,Brunswick,town council,town manager

Yikes! Brunswick School Department has a yen for yuans!

We open with a simple question: what do you get when you combine a lust for unlimited school funding with an outsized ego about the merit of the local government education system?  Keep reading to find out.

We really should give up on the “you just can’t make this stuff up” opening for some of our posts.  And give up as well on thanking local officials for providing a target rich environment for our editorial plinking.  They’re both becoming a bit shop-worn, and as you should know by now, amount to comments from Captain Obvious.

That said, today we come to you from the perspective of ‘The Peoples’ Republic of Brunswick.’  Admittedly, between Cape Brunswick, Lake Basebegone, The Town of Perfect, and the Richest Little Town in America, we’re in the midst of a community identity crisis.  We’re hoping to get ‘municipal multiple personality disorder’ recognized as a diagnosis worthy of disability funding, but we’re not sure who to approach for consideration.  So we’ll just move on to the news of the moment.

This week’s Forecaster has an article that leaves us a bit breathless.  Shortly after reading it, we found ourselves hungry for more articles of the same sort, though we can’t explain why.

In short, the news item makes it clear that Brunswick School Department officials are desperate to find new sources of revenue, no matter where they might come from.  A few years back, Superintendent Perzanoski wanted to put ‘spare change’ jars around town.  Many of us found the very idea insulting, since we pay thousands in property taxes to fund our schools.

In the linked article, we find that you guessed it – a consultant – has come up with the idea of recruiting students in the Peoples’ Republic of China (PROC), and charging them more than three times what it costs to educate one of our own children.  What a novel idea!

So we’re sending a School Department official to China to market the proposal.  To make it more palatable to locals, the ‘sister city’ idea is being touted.  Looks like the Trinidad, Cuba sister city relationship has withered.  At least for the schools, which have not netted a single dollar from that lofty ‘we are the world’ relationship.

And in case you forgot, dollars are what this is about.  “The children?”  Are you kidding?

We expect that the first thing Assistant Superintendent Greg Bartlett will do when he gets to the PROC is to contact the local BDC.  Otherwise known as the Beijing Development Collective, he’s hoping he can convince them to make a completely forgivable loan to the Brunswick School Department.  Six, seven million….pick a good number.  And they can hire John “Johnny Protocols” Richardson as a consultant to convince their peasantry that doing so is legitimate and for the ‘common good.’

We suspect Bartlett considered taking along a current or past member of the Brunswick Town Council because of their expertise in arranging such sweetheart deals, but was dissuaded by the possibility that even the Chinese have some egg rolls they won’t swallow.

"It's just that you agree to take steps to try to communicate with each other," Bartlett said on Monday. "There are no guarantees or liability on either side ... . It's a goodwill ambassadorial agreement with each other."

Yup; this is what we think we’re paying property taxes for, and we trust you feel the same way.  We expect our School Department to focus on diplomacy and ambassadorial ‘agreements,’ instead of educating our kids.  Distractions; that’s the name of the game.

Be advised, however, that you shouldn’t worry your pretty little head about this initiative.  The consultant has told us that the outcome will pay a handsome return on our investment.  And he won’t do so bad himself.

Bartlett said the tuition for a single student to attend Brunswick High School next year would be $30,000, which would more than cover the cost of the trip and an additional $5,000 consultation fee the School Board paid last this year (sic) to sign the sister school agreement.

The $30,000 tuition – more than three times the amount charged Maine students who don't live in Brunswick – was suggested by Fox, Superintendent of Schools Paul Perzanoski said. The consultant will receive 10 percent of every tuition as part of the agreement.

Great!  Besides all the whining we hear about the challenges and inequities involved in educating the children of a socio-economically ‘diverse’ town like ours, we’re going to start teaching Chinese children imported from their homeland for our own purposes?  What will this bring in the way of regulatory and staff nightmares?  And food service and counseling issues?  Will we need to set up a boarding school?  And deal with other ‘unforeseen expenses?’

How many staff will we need to add?  Oh wait…that’s the point, right?

Our town is overflowing with good business sense and those who  selflessly offer it to us.  First the BDC, and now the School Department.  Consultants everywhere.  How did Scott Howard miss out on this opportunity?  Did he get ‘out-Foxed?’

Where will we find the land to build our very own high rise center of economic and ambassadorial excellence?  We’re fast becoming the envy of every other state, and we need to erect a symbol of our community pride for all the world to see.

We suggest the first tower be named “Self-Absorption,” in keeping with the defining virtue embodied in this passage:

Despite the board's last-minute maneuver to approve the trip, board Chairman Jim Grant said it was an easy decision for him to support.

"I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is to show how good we are competing against private schools and charter schools," Grant said. "I hope to show that we are an educational leader throughout the world. ... It's a price Brunswick should be willing to pay for this kind of cultural exchange and educational experience."

Not bad for someone who, we understand, doesn’t even own property in town.  So when he says he wants to put HIS money where his mouth is, what he really means is he wants to put YOUR money where his mouth is.

And he’s one-upping Sally Sellit’s view of things; she simply claims people move here because of our schools.  He trumps that all to hell by calling us ‘an educational leader throughout the world.’

Must be because he’s the School Board Chair.  Megalomania anyone?  Self-esteem gone amuck?

All from someone, who we’ve heard, doesn’t even make a point of residing here in town.  If Brunswick ‘should be willing to pay (the price) for this kind of cultural exchange and educational experience,’ shouldn’t School Board Chair Jim Grant be ‘willing to pay’ the price of owning property and living here in town with the rest of us?

On the other hand, we’re a town that finds inspiration in luminaries such as these:

     

and in comparison to Grant, Professor Plunger-Head seems almost quaint.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,School Department

Heads Up: Council Meeting Monday, October 7.

We don’t feel obligated to alert you to such things as a matter of course, but the upcoming council meeting agenda includes two items that should grab your interest far more than the usual administrivia.

The first item is this:

ACTION

106. The Town Council will discuss holding a workshop, with NNEPRA making a presentation, and allowing the Brunswick West group to also make a presentation, and will take any appropriate action. (Councilor Perreault)

This item may seem benign, but it is anything but.  What the council says, and decides, will make it clear whether the fix is in on construction of the MLF in Brunswick West, or instead, that the council has an open mind In the matter.  Councilor Perreault represents the Brunswick West neighborhood, and the discussion will provide a telling glimpse into council integrity.

Place your bets now.  And plan on being there or watching it live, if possible, because we have no reason to believe that ex post facto video on demand will be available.

The second item of interest is this:

ACTION

109. The Town Council will discuss the design and timeline for the new town hall, and will take any appropriate action. (Councilor Knight, Councilor Watson, Councilor Favreau)

Color us hyper-reactionary, but the use of the words ‘design’ and ‘new’ in the context of the McClellan Building, accepted in a deal with Bowdoin College, make us feel like we need to work on our flexibility.

To understand why, you should go back and review this post of a few months ago: http://othersideofbrunswick.blogspot.com/2013/08/ok-lt-dover-time-to-come-back-from-your.html

The very visible condition of the building, before the forces of the coming winter can make things worse, should be a cause of concern for all who will  have to finance the ‘design’ and other surprises of the “new” town headquarters.

In a related matter, just how long do you think you can grab and hold your toes?

Put another way, if it was up to you, and you were a BDC director, would you have chosen to spend a quarter of a million dollars on McClellan renovation, or on free vehicles for a local taxi company?

Alright; that was a silly and irrelevant question.  Such a choice would never occur in a sensible town like Cape Brunswick.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,town council,NNEPRA,MLF,McClellan Building

In case you wondered: “State Tax Expenditure”

Over the years, we’ve been flabbergasted by the proclivity of our ‘public servants’ for referring to those things excluded from taxation as ‘tax expenditures.’

The foundational principle, of course, is that EVERYTHING should be subject to taxation, WITHOUT EXCLUSION, and that government needs come first, others’ come second, and yours come third.

Therefore, we often hear our elected betters say “we can’t afford these tax expenditures,” which a sensible person might interpret as the cost of a government program.

Studio audience says XXXXX!  Wrong!!!!

Our benefactors in the ruling aristocracy mean just the opposite; they consider a ‘tax expenditure’ to be any amount that they assumed they should collect from us as a matter of course, but which has been snatched from their grasp by a specific passage in tax law.  Which they passed, oddly enough, and almost always in response to lobbying pressure (plus who knows what goodies) from special interests.

When you hear the term ‘loophole,’ or ‘tax breaks,’ you should always assume that the subject is a consequence of tax law  passed by the geniuses who govern our lives.  And for most of them, they mean the deductions you take, like mortgage interest, charitable donations, property tax payments, medical expenses, etc.  These are, in the current day vernacular of big government, ‘loopholes.’

Which makes you all sneaky, conniving, calculating, law-abiding tax cheats.

Never, though, had we realized that the concept of “tax expenditure” had been memorialized in statute.   We were wrong.

As we’ve often said, the older we get, the more naïve we realize we are.  So here for your reading pleasure, if you don’t otherwise have a life, is this document:

http://www.maine.gov/revenue/research/tax_expenditure_report_13.pdf

The key passage is this, which makes it very clear EXACTLY what a ‘tax expenditure’ is in formal legislative terms:

I. Introduction

State law requires Maine Revenue Services to provide two tax expenditure reports in January of every odd-numbered year. The first report must be included in the state budget document.
5 M.R.S.A. §1664 provides that the document specifically include

. . . the estimated loss in revenue during the last completed fiscal year and the fiscal year in progress, and the anticipated loss in revenue for each fiscal year of the ensuing biennium, caused by the tax expenditures provided in Maine statutes;

the term "tax expenditures" means those State tax revenue losses attributable to provisions of Maine tax laws which allow a special exclusion, exemption or deduction or which provide a specific credit, a preferential rate of tax or a deferral of tax liability.

Wow; you could take this language and jump all over TIFs, MRRA ‘development initiatives,’ Amtrak, and any number of other things, including non-profit organization tax exemptions.  Like Bowdoin College, for example.

As an acquaintance pointed out elsewhere, the passage above is the secret behind being able to claim “I didn’t raise any taxes,” while increasing tax revenues substantially.

He said this:

That is how they hijacked non-resident private airplane pilots, who landed in the state with a plane bought elsewhere, with sales aka 'use' taxes; meals taxes on the elderly in assisted living homes and on restaurants who gave food to their employees for free; and a variety of "lodging taxes" for previously exempt "casual" vacation rentals and on realtors and others who were not renting but who were "estimated" to owe taxes on non-existent rentals. They rationalize the brutal shakedowns with the mentality that you owe them whatever they demand and don't you dare question it.

Perhaps you could get Johnny Protocols to explain the finer points of this subterfuge, since his years in power in Augusta have given him a finely honed ability to prove that up is down, and black is white.  It’s why his explanation that BDC money given to Brunswick Taxi is not public money has been so convincing.

Not to mention his statements on what happened to the dozen or more Fortune 500 companies that were beating his door down to come to Brunswick’s one of a kind plot of land.

Thank goodness we have such dedicated public servants, acting with our interests in mind, enforcing carefully crafted law.

Who knows where we’d be if this was not the case.

Technorati Tags: Taxes,politicians,loopholes

Classical Education: another dimension

Just a few days ago, we posted here on “Classical Education.”

In a strange turn of fate, we subsequently ran across another item that talks about education, and in a different sense of ‘classical.’

The original item, as we told you, addressed a formal concept we had not come across before, at least in such a concise and condensed form.

This new item, which you can find here, is exactly the opposite: it harkens back to our very own experiences in education.  As a student, that is.

            

The article seems very well argued, and since Michelle Small is fond of quoting the Wall Street Journal to make her points, we’re confident that those of all stripes interested in education will consider this a solid foundation for reforming our current day methods.

Here’s a passage:

We're in the midst of a national wave of self-recrimination over the U.S. education system. Every day there is hand-wringing over our students falling behind the rest of the world. Fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. trail students in 12 other nations in science and 17 in math, bested by their counterparts not just in Asia but in Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands, too.

We can’t wait to read about the enthusiastic replanning that should flow from our own Education Department once they reach the stage of enlightenment reflected in this article.

All in due time, we suppose.

Technorati Tags: Education,old-school,Brunswick

Local Hero Makes Bad: says those who disagree ‘are guilty of murder.’

Well, it hasn’t taken Senator King, Angus to show the true color of his velvet robes of office.  And the crown apparently doesn’t rest too heavily upon his head.  Nor hold his tongue in check.

Brunswick’s ‘favorite son’ former Governor and Bowdoin visiting faculty is fond of cloaking himself in the Lilly-white, ‘no-labels’ garb of the genuine, truly independent, non-partisan, social justice public servant.

You know: ‘can’t we all just get along?’; ‘building bridges across the partisan divide’; and ‘getting something done for the people of Maine.’  And all the other hornswoggle favored by such devoted, self-sacrificing common men.  The kind that could live just around the corner from you.  Literally, for many in Cape Brunswick.

Whatever ‘something’ is.  Every time we hear that phrase, and we heard it from Happy Harry just the other day, we wretch.  Getting something done, as in anything, is exactly what we don’t want.  “Do something, do anything” is all too frequent a battle cry among the ruling class.  We have very few things we want done, other than attending to the basic management of the government enterprise, seeing that we are protected, and otherwise leaving us alone.

A. King’s independence lasted about the length of one held breath; he immediately became a member of Happy Harry’s Senate Club.  This Harry, in case you haven’t figured it out:

Now it turns out that Mr. ‘just get along and be civil and respectful of all positions’ seems to have lost control of his tongue.  And you know how the people and the Maine media just despise politicians who engage in “sensational, bombastic, and outrageous comments” as mentioned in this report. 

Funny how you wouldn’t know that from the media outlets here on the home front.  Even though saying “hell” is more than enough, it seems, to ignite at least a week or two of print and TV coverage of other well-known government officials in this state.

Keep this in mind the next time you think, or hear someone else say that the notion of media political bias is a ‘made up tin hat theory’ from the Republicans, or others on the right side of the political spectrum.

And please send us a tip when you read about or hear about King’s charges of murder making it into local ‘mainstream media’ coverage.  Which certainly doesn’t include the link we provided.

If we were a more determined journalist, we might send the I Senator a question or two about his thoughts on murder in another domain, whether he supports that, and if he plans to accuse the perpetrators.  Some of you might even be able to guess what we’re talking about.

But we’ve already got a corral full of oxen to gore, and we need to keep our edges sharp and finely honed.  No use blunting them on hardened ideological concrete.

If you should be in Washington in the future, be careful not to trip over A. King’s outstretched arm as he reaches across the aisle.

Technorati Tags: King,Angus,Brunswick,Media,bias

Hoist High the BS Flag – atop the House of Cards

          

Something is very rotten around here, and we’re not referring to eggs.  The editorial in The Ostrich on Friday, September 27th hammers that home in an unmistakable and concise way.  We’ll get to that in a moment or two.

Given the title of this post, and the opening artwork, some of you probably thing we’ve lost our savoir faire and our finely honed sense of decorum.  But as many of you are wont to do, you’ve jumped to unwarranted conclusions.

Shame on you. 

You’ve probably heard the old saw that says “those who love sausage and the law should never watch either being made.”We’ve always been fond of it. 

It occurred to us that one could take “B” for Brunswick, and “S” for Sausage, and abbreviate the pairing with “BS.”  So unless otherwise stated, when you see the BS Flag on Side, you can cure your pretty little self of the vapors, knowing we would never stoop so low.

           

Why do we think something smells rotten in Cape Brunswick?  Well for one thing, because of the near panic about closing the deal on locating the MLF adjacent to the Bouchard Drive neighborhood.  Local officials, train zealots, and others not so local, urged on by NNEPRA doomsday scenarios, are rushing to judgment before any more sleeping dogs cause problems.  They’re also making sure to squelch any meaningful public disclosures.

Adding to the rotten smell are a number of glaring falsehoods that are repeated over and over again in various discussions.  As if saying them often enough will change them from false to true.

What are they?

1) “The trains only have to idle while stopped in temperatures below the mid-40’s,” and it’s corollary, “that if the MLF is built, trains won’t have to idle inside it.”  Who you gonna believe?  NNEPRA or your lying eyes, olfactory passages, and ears?

2) “There is absolutely no other site that is workable or acceptable for the MLF.”  Poppycock.

3) “Without the MLF at the proposed location, train service to Brunswick is a dead letter.”   Horse feathers.  Amtrak, which contracted the passenger service to NNEPRA, does not own the land. Amtrak is not insisting on the Brunswick West site, nor is it threatening to end passenger service if the layover facility is not built.  Amtrak could be happy with various other alternatives between Boston and Brunswick.

4) “The train is a socio-economic boon for Brunswick and the region,” and it’s corollary, “that the MLF is an economic benefit to us.”  Balderdash.

As we watch the hair on fire crowd, we begin to sense that this whole caboodle is a house of cards, and that those who have cards in play are afraid they’re about to lose them.

Truth be told, given federal fiscal circumstances, where the only money we have to spend on such things is borrowed or newly printed and created out of thin air, the cards of which the ‘house’ is constructed are credit cards like the photo above, rather than old-fashioned playing cards.

Now, about that editorial we linked to above.

The paper writes with smug conviction that Amtrak service to Brunswick is our very own community entitlement program, paid for by the Federal Government because, well, we deserve it, and how dare anyone threaten to question it?  As they see it, taxpayers should pay more than half the cost of the operation, even if the government is in a spending death spiral. 

We are Brunswick, aren’t we?, and we’re special.  Economic common sense is for the little people, not for us.  The tooth fairy lives somewhere ‘over there’ on McKeen, and the free lunch truck shows up at Maine Street Station every day.

Something else about the editorial grabs our attention.  It suggests making impact payments to residents in the area of the MLF, which as we understand things, is out of the Federal Railroad Authority handbook for dealing with such matters.

We doubt that any members of the town council have looked into the handbook, because they’re trying their very best to stiff-arm any discussion of the issue.  And we have a very hard time believing that The Ostrich has suddenly decided to become an expert in such arcane regulatory issues.  So we’re left to believe that the editorial is largely, if not completely, a plant, and more than likely from NNEPRA.

If we’re right, it just adds to the overwhelming sense that the fix is in big time, and it’s going to take a brace of steam engines and a team of Budweiser Clydesdales to move things off the current course.  And that The Ostrich, in keeping with its rich traditions, is anything but a ‘government watchdog,’ as they have historically anointed themself. 

Read the editorial, and you’ll see what we mean.  It fairly oozes with the sanctimony of faux righteousness.  Let’s take a look at some of the points made:

“That the facility will be built between Stanwood Street and Church Road is not credibly in dispute.”

Well excuse us, but that is the core of the very dispute, and we don’t think it’s credible for the editor to make that decision, or to portray otherwise.

Having walked Maine Street on a recent Saturday when Amtrak was offering a special $5 fare from Haverhill, Mass., we can report there are literally dozens of new customers coming to the Mid-coast using the luxury and convenience of passenger rail.

Do the editors really think that a $5 fare for a ride like that is sustainable?  Hell, why not make it free!  We’d also like to know how they could tell which ‘customers’ on Maine Street came on the train.  And one more thing – did editors walk the streets of Portland, Boston, and other points south of Brunswick to see how many ‘new customers’ (Brunswick area residents) are roaming those environs with discretionary dollars that could have been spent locally?  We think not.

And expansion is exactly what officials say the layover facility will help them do.

We’re not sure we accept the premise that the layover facility will drive expansion to begin with, but the LOCATION of the facility certainly has nothing to do with expansion.  Do the editors really believe that a few miles to the east would change anything in this regard?  This is journalistic round-heelism of the highest order.

NNEPRA has gone the extra mile to bridge that gap.

There is no ‘credible’ proof to substantiate that claim, but there is a history of NNEPRA skirting procedures and regulations, and playing loosey-goosey with the facts.  They haven’t gone the extra mile, they’ve taken every short cut they could, travelled in some off-road gullies, and then some.  The only extra distance they’ve gone is to create the illusion they’ve welcomed public involvement of the deepest and broadest sort.  Oh yeah?  Did you see the meeting last Thursday  night?  Don’t bother trying to watch it now; for some reason, the town’s Cable 3 system is having ‘problems’ with video-on-demand replays.

An assessment has been completed, finding no significant impact.

Then the editors have not been paying attention and doing due diligence.  And they don’t begin to understand the specific processes involved here.

We’re not sure residents will be able to find the scientific footing to rebut these claims definitively.

The problem isn’t finding ‘the footing;’ it’s getting the authorities involved to listen to the copious information collected, well beyond what NNEPRA has collected to prove the opposite.  But we appreciate the ‘not sure.’  A real confidence builder there.

What cannot happen is a scuttling of the facility where it is proposed, nor any further delay in the timetable for construction.

Why exactly is that timetable, dear editors, and what does the proposed location have to do with viability?  Why the rush to break ground before ALL the facts are known and public?  Is there fear that further examination could reveal errors in fact, process, and judgment?  How could that be possible; we’re talking about the government!

But our communities’ place in the world is far too enhanced by our new regional transportation links to go backward now.

Oh, please!!  Would it be too much to ask that you get real?  Our ’place in the world?’  Engage in hyperbole much?  And what enhanced links does the train provide that buses didn’t already provide, and more?  Have you looked at routes and fares and schedules?  Not to mention the horseless carriage.  And flying machines.

Like we said at the start; something is rotten around here, and the stink is getting worse by the day.  Let’s hope we can find where it’s coming from, so we can make sure it doesn’t smell up the town forever.

And while we’re at it, lets ask the local ‘press’ to stop believing their own made up stories, and those handed to them by others without benefit of any credible journalistic diligence.

Or are we supposed to make believe that we’re just a hit TV show of the moment, as in House of Cards?

BAD, FOR THE

GREATER GOOD

And just let the cards fall where they may?

           

Like we said; something smells rotten around here.  And it ain’t just diesel fumes, thank you.

       

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,NNEPRA,The Ostrich,Amtrak,MLF

Strong Commentary on the BDC and Brunswick Taxi

The following commentary appeared in The Ostrich on Friday, 27 September.  We have not yet met the author, but he has kindly agreed to let us run the item here on our little publication, and we hope to meet him soon.

Meanwhile, we welcome him to the handful of local residents who are ‘not going to take it anymore.’  He certainly minces no onions, celery, or words in his essay.

=======================================================

Putting the BDC on the up and up

BY DANIEL FORD

GUEST COLUMN

I attended last week’s meeting of the Brunswick Development Corporation to learn more about how this entity works and to ask questions about its operation. I remain skeptical the town’s best interests are being served by this board under its current bylaws, and I have to seriously question the validity of its most recent loan to Brunswick Taxi.

As a matter of background, I have over twenty years’ experience in a similar position for another quasi-public development corporation in Massachusetts- so I know from whence I speak. In my experience at the Lawrence (Mass) Economic Development and Industrial Corporation we managed loans ranging from $50,000.00 up to $300,000. We reported to the City Council through the Mayor and Community Development Director so as to assure the City’s economic development goals are being met. In addition to this volunteer position, I was employed as an analyst and capital markets trader for such firms as Lehman Brothers and EF Hutton.

In my career, I have never seen a forgivable loan from any source-either public or private. Indeed I was reasonably satisfied with the answers Board members provided another concerned citizen the BDC board members about their qualifications. One member said they were in banking, another is a CPA, yet another is a local businessman. So let me ask you this: With the seemingly varied and well-rounded backgrounds of the aforementioned individuals, have any of you ever seen a bank make a forgivable loan? Or even loan into a company that has a negative net worth? I think not- which brings me to one of many points I would like to raise- Why would Brunswick Taxi get such a forgivable loan? Why would the BDC commit nearly 10% of its net worth to one entity without any type of return?

Is this sound business? Not in any of my textbooks.

I had a number of questions when the chair called for one more and adjourned the meeting, so I will ask now:

What is the BDC policy on loans? What are the underwriting standards? Who reviews the terms and conditions of the loans? How does the BDC develop minimum performance standards? Who writes the loan documents? Do the documents have negative covenants? How does the BDC get leads? What is the relationship between the town and the BDC? Does the BDC employ outside counsel? If so, who and how much?. Are there other relationships between the BDC members and the Town Council? When was the last time the BDC called for outside candidates (not former elected politicians) to fill vacancies?

The business of the public should be seen and held in full view of the public, with public input. The fact that the BDC recommends its own members to the Town Council is stunning. It would be more seamless if the Town Council called for and interviewed candidates, thus securing a more representative body, rather than the current composition, which has led some to feel the BDC is an incestuous collection of political retreads.

This loan, and the BDC’s inattention to detail proves to me the banker, the economic development expert, the town manager, the CPA and the lawyer were a lot more than remiss in their duties. They are derelict in their duty to protect BDC from default.

Kudos to Bill Morrell whose refusal to support this boondoggle demonstrates his and his family’s sense of honor and commitment to the town.

Rather than call this a forgivable loan, why not identify it for exactly what it is: a sweetheart deal. The frustrating part is there is nothing we can do about it.

Meanwhile, Dale King is sitting behind his desk lighting cigars with our money while we have legitimate businesses that also need our help (i.e., the gluten-free bakery burned out 16 months ago).

If BDC members can look in the mirror and believe in their hearts the Brunswick Taxi Loan was a legitimate business deal, so be it.

If not then you have irreparably violated the public trust and should resign.

DANIEL FORD is a Brunswick resident and retired financial services executive.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,BDC,Brunswick Taxi