Synchronicity II

So in my last post, I resigned from the school board.  For very personal and painful reasons I am living in ward 3 as part of trial separation from ward seven, and can’t hold the office anymore legally.  There are a number of other reasons.  My father, God bless him, is like 103 years old or something.  I’m sensing I need to clear the decks to be with him as much as I can.  My job, whatever it is, is mentally taxing and emotionally draining and now- separation.  And when I say separation from ward seven- that’s obviously a euphemism.  It’s hard for me to talk about my personal life but suffice it to say that in recent weeks events therein have overhelmed my ability to vigorously represent my constituency and so it would have been wrong of me not to resign even if I hadn’t left the ward.  There will be a special election this year in Ward 7 this year to fill at least one school board seat.  As there will be in ward 1 to fill the city council vacancy left by Ed Adrian’s departure September 30.  Miro was promoting Kevin P. Worden on Twitter tonight.  Oh…  that’s the other thing.  Maybe I can blog a little more too now that I’m off the school board.  I am sorry I didn’t cover the AG primary better.  I’ve just felt blown apart this month and I could barely write at all.  A lot has happened that I’ve missed.

August 24, 2012

Dear Chairman Pillsbury,

For personal and family reasons, I am resigning the position of Burlington School Commissioner effective September 1, 2012.

It has been one of the great honors of my life to represent the people of Ward Seven on the Board these past 29 months, but it’s time for me to step aside. I’m confident a special election will choose a successor with new energy and dedication to the job.  The people of Ward Seven and the children of Burlington deserve nothing less.

With gratitude,

Haik Bedrosian

cc Jeanne Collins, Superintendent

Joseph McNeil, Attorney

Wow.  Dead air.  Dead…air.  So much radio silence.  Just fuzzy static on waves.  No signal.  No beep beep.  Nothing to distract from your own existential humming noise.  Louder and louder with no stories about local politics or nuthin’ to help with that at all.  Not here anyway.  Not lately.  But Seven Days is trying something new along those lines with a purely politcal blog called “off messsage.”

Thanks for forwading the information George.

Personally and as a school board rep, I think it would probably be better to have the F35 at BTV than not, for economic and security reasons- but then again I haven’t heard them. If they are ridiculously much louder than the F16 then my mind could be changed. I like George’s idea of a trial run so people can hear it before deciding.

Brochure and Public Forum Message sponsered by the “Stop the F-35 Coalition” below the row of stars to follow…

*****

Click here for informational PDF brochure about the F35

Public Forum: ” F-35s in Burlington?”

Wednesday, August 8 6:00 PM Burlington City Hall Auditorium

Decreased property values?
Destruction of affordable housing?
New level of air & noise pollution?
Militarization of the region?

Speakers: Jared Carter Esq., Vermont Community Law Center, Teacher * Maggie Frye, Esq. Lawline of Vermont * Suzi Wizowaty, State Representative * Nora Kell, Realtor * Michael Mahoney, Real Estate Appraiser

Moderator:  Sandy Baird Esq., Teacher, Lawyer, Activist

Sponsored by the Institute for Civic Engagement, Burlington College
For information call Sandy Baird at 862-9616

Message sponsored by the
Stop the F-35 Coalition info@stopthef35.com www.stopthef35.com

11:17am- Kristen Kristin Carlson and Cheryl Hanna grilling TJ Donovan and Bill Sorrell…

on prostests, police actions, etc…

BS- make grand jury invesigation facts open…
TD- Federal law presumes investigations open…

Oh… and it’s over…good show…

Ed Adrian announced he is dropping out of the Democratic primary race for state senate, citing family reasons, and saying he would decline nomination should he win one of six party slots on the ballot.

Politics are that much harder when you have kids to take care of, so I totally understand Ed’s decision.

The following was written by guest blogger: George C. Cross of Winooski…

*****

SIMPLE SOLUTION – THE CROSS PLAN

Here are three easy steps the Air Force, the Vermont Air National Guard, the Vermont Congressional delegation, the Governor of Vermont and the Mayor of Burlington can collectively take in relation to the F-35. These steps will assure the good people who live in the flight path of the Burlington International Airport that bringing the F-35 to Vermont is the right thing to do.

First, they can all collaborate to release in full the rating scale and scoring for the Air Force’s environmental impact study related to the “bedding down” of the F-35 in Burlington and ensures the authors will be available to respond to local citizens’ questions.

Second, they can agree that the Air Force must bring the plane to Burlington for at least a two week period and fly it daily, prior to any final decision, so that all can judge for themselves whether it is a good fit with Vermont.

Third, in the case the decision is made to deploy the planes in Vermont, they can agree that the Air Force or some agency of the federal government will be required:
a. To hold property owners in and near the flight paths harmless in terms of any depreciation in the value of their properties caused by the intrusion of the F-35 in these “green mountains.”
b. To hold Vermont communities and the State of Vermont Education Fund harmless in terms of any loss of tax revenue caused by depreciated property values created by the F-35.

If there are no significant issues related to assigning the F-35s to the Vermont Air National Guard, as some of the above have stated, then meeting these three conditions should be a piece-of-cake. In the absence of a collaborative agreement on the above, all the parties have failed to take reasonable action to ensure Vermonters that deploying the F-35 in Vermont is a wise decision. It is not up to the local citizens to prove that this plane should not be here. It is required that the military/industrial complex and the politicians prove that it is compatible with our state; or, at least agree that Vermonters and Vermont will be held harmless in case that turns out not to be true.

George C. Cross
Winooski, VT