You told Brandt on the phone. He told me. I know what happened. Yes? Yes?

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This is not the news I want on this cloudy Friday afternoon. I think it’s fair to say the Beastie Boys touched my life in a significant way, and of the three of them I have always most identified with MCA. Click the picture to read about Adam Yauch at the New York Times blog.

Thanks as always to senator Jim Webb of Virginia for waking me up to what’s going on in Burlington. The Burlington Free Press’s Joel Banner Baird reports today that mayor Weinberger has nominated Ian Carleton to be the new city attorney, and that Ian Carlton wants more money to do it because he went to Yale.

Good story, but I have to question the way Baird charactarizes Carleton’s city council experience…

“He served as a Democratic councilor 10 years ago and later was the Vermont Democratic Party chairman. The possibility of re-entering public service prompted him to seek the job in Weinberger’s administration, Carleton said, adding that the salary boost would give “some recognition to my compensation level over the past decade.” “

Now if memory serves Ian Carleton was the city council president as recently as five years ago, so to say he served 10 years ago is a little weird. It doesn’t tell us how long he served for, or that he was president.

But whatever. Miro’s first big scandal. It doesn’t look great to be citing Yale for more money, and I would not encourage Miro to copy Ian in this regard. Is Carleton worth it? Probably. But he also probably isn’t going to starve if he gets 105K vs the 112K he wants.

The mayor takes responsibility for the PR failure of agreeing to ask the council for the extra money for someone who is also his personal friend… I imagine Miro and Ian had the conversation about Ian skipping a pay step. Unfortunately Joel Banner Baird doesn’t have a quote from Miro in the story. That’s weird too.  Like a honeymoon preservative.

More than any of his recent predecessors, Miro has to be very careful to avoid any conflict of interest, or the appearance of any conflict of interest like padding a friend’s salary. For instance, people might question what he’s going to do with April Cornell’s old warehouse on North Avenue and whether he’ll give himself the permits to do it (!) (cymbal crash) … Well I heard he own it and was going to develop the property, but that’s unconfirmed. But you see my point. The public loves a fresh face, but we are also fickle. Oh so fickle.

I’m hopeful the mayor is successful in improving the infrastructure and the economy and contributing to the culture of the city, so I hope we don’t see too many stories like this one.

I have some acute emotions today on Easter.  Poopsie did a great job creating an egg hunt for our kids and her sister’s kid’s in the backyard this morning.  Now they’re all at her parents’ house in Cochester having Easter lunch.  I stayed home.  Earlier I brought the kids over to say happy Easter to my father.  My Dad, who is several years older than one hundred,  insisted on boiling a few eggs with some onion skins to send home with us.

When I was a kid, I probably perceived Christmas as the biggest deal of the year, but in retrospect I’d have to say it was Easter because we travelled every year to Springfield Massachusetts where we dressed up and went to services at the Armenian Church where I was baptized.  I cherish those memories.  As I write I can recall staring at the ceiling fan during a long, boring service that I didn’t understand at all because it was conducted in Armenian.  The priest shaking his incense thing and the smell of it.

And I woke up to an Easter email from my sister’s granddaughter Tatevik in Yerevan who was my main translator when I visited in 2009.   And I’m reminded from that trip, about how so much of Armenian Christianity is based  on healing.  From my father’s grandfather- a priest who would heal the sick and lame on an island in Lake Sevan, to St. Gregory himself, who was released from a 13 year captivity at the bottom of a well, to heal and illuminate the Pagan king in 301 AD… To my father drawing on the strength of our family’s bible, to help him survive a Nazi death march to Mariupol Ukraine.

So I don’t know how long I’ll have my dad, but every day with him, and everybody, is a gift.  It’s been four years since my mom died.  Nobody’s got a lot of time.  Just believe in something.  Resurrect yourself in some way.  Do like Miro and make a “fresh start.”  I think I’m going to do something different with the look and feel of this blog pretty soon.  Don’t stop reinventing yourself, and never give up.

Happy Easter.

Here is Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger being sworn in and making his inaugural speech.  Video courtesy of Greg Guma.

Oh!  And just in from WCAX, Joan Shannon is the new City Council President.  Congratulations Joan!

Obama is coming to Burlington today.  By the time I’d learned about the visit, all of the affordable tickets were sold out.  I feel a little bad that my kids won’t go, but I don’t really care for myself.  I met Bill Clinton when he came.  How many presidents is somebody supposed to meet in a lifetime?  One’s probably good enough.  It is a little weird Obama won’t be meeting anyone for free.  Maybe that will turn out to be wrong.  I will vote for Barack Obama in the general election in November, unless Ron Paul somehow becomes the Republican nominee.

I hope Ed Adrian gets a good picture today.  Good luck Ed.

Malletts Bay

Breaking News:

I received a fundraising email from Ed Adrian two hours ago:

From: Ed Adrian eadrian@comcast.net 
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 10:28 PM
Subject: Exploratory Senate Run

“Dear Friends…
…I am exploring a run for Vermont Senate.  I wanted you to hear it from me first.  That path will be a very short one without your help.  Right now I am trying to raise enough money to begin the journey.  Please consider a small donation in the amount of $10, $25 or $50 to help me prepare.

You can use this link – https://secure.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/29389

As always please do not hesitate to call 233-2131 if you have any questions or concerns.
Best, Ed

Miro… if you’re reading… I pretty much just have one request. Right about now with the leaves off the trees you can get a fairly clear view from the base of Pearl Street where the fountain is, straight down to the waterfront. There’s even something of a path on the hill there etched by folks seeking a short cut.

Take a walk down there sometime before the bloom and try to envision what it would be like to transplant the Spanish steps of Rome to that spot. That’s a grand vision, but even a wooden staircase and/or ramp system would tremendously enhance the synergy between the Battery Park and the Waterfront by proving a direct pedestrian link between them.

If you do build a permanent stair and ramp structure in that spot, with benches, landscaping, fountains and amenities, it would be an instant tourist attraction. A vantage for sunset watchers, and a treasure that would last centuries, not decades.

In a hundred years nobody will remember if you fixed Burlington Telecom or fired Larry Kupferman, but if you give the city a grand public work made of stone and iron, then you do have a shot at immortality. As a developer, perhaps you can figure out how to do this project. I hope you can see it. I hope you can do it.