I was waiting for inspiration, but I waited in vain. It was a very long meeting with very little meaningful content.
The Village agreed to join forces with Bay Harbor and up to five other municipalities in creating an energy conservation zone. The result of this is that homeowners who want to make improvements that will increase energy efficiency can get 20 year loans for the work, which will be overseen and approved by the organizer, and those loans would be at 6.9% interest (if taken today) and would be repaid through an addition to property taxes. The selling points are the oversight provided by the organizing agency (private), and that people who could not necessarily get a bank loan, for one reason or another, will much more easily get the loan from this group.
The Commission agreed to review the Charter, but not for a while. The next review will not commence until 2014, and reviews will occur every eight years. This did not suit Bryan Cooper, who is trying desperately to figure out how to oust Bob Anderson, and is promoting term limits to get Bob out. BP residents are apparently way too pleased with Bob for Bryan's liking.
We're getting a pre-school at the church. Barbara Watts figured we would wait and see if we were satisfied. She didn't make clear how she thought we would get rid of such a school if we weren't pleased, once it was there.
Noah Jacobs decided he was a little gun shy after all about challenging Linda Dillon on his new pet, the weapons ban, so the matter was postponed, or something.
The crew approved most of the State Legislature's relevant initiatives, except the one that Noah didn't understand. Roxy tried to explain it to him, but he still didn't get it. So he pulled out his good stuff, and he agreed to vote for the Resolution, but only if Roxy took out the item that scared him.
There was discussion about the mural many of us would like for the raquetball court wall at the recreation center. Barbara Watts was all excited about something, but what it was seemed to get lost in a haze of red tape. We can have a mural, but it's not clear who's going to pay for it, and only on condition that some unidentified group of people, considered by someone or other to be "experts" in art, like it.
Noah got the crew to agree with him to install a computer station or something at the recreation center. The station is to be outfitted with donated computers, beginning with what would otherwise be Village throw-aways. There was some varying theory about who would use such a station. First, it was people who are interested in using computers, but don't have one. Right, I don't know of any such people either. Then, it was kids, who were fantasized as using the computer to do their homework. During their after school recreation activities. I guess if Issa Thornell thinks these kids are going to learn team sports or fitness, he can think again. The discussion dissolved when there was talk of who was going to pay for toner, paper, and repairs. But the idea passed anyway. The last time someone had an idea this good, there was a fantasy that someone in the Village might be a shut-in, because they had no transportation. So the Village bought a van that no one rode, and then we sold it. But kids are known for the care they take of equipment that isn't theirs, so it'll all probably work out well.
We're going to have a celebration for Earth Hour, which will occur on a coming Saturday at 8:30. I can't remember which Saturday. Barbara Watts would like to see us whoop it up a bit, with folk music or some other acoustic sounds. She suggested we find money, to pay the band, and we had to arrange to plug in the amps and mikes. Now Earth Hour is a celebration for an hour starting at 8:30 PM, and the idea is to turn off all your power for the hour. Amps and mikes? Oh, corrected Barbara, the music will be acoustic. (It seems she's already chosen the performers.) But we can make an exception for the mike and amp. Oh, you made that rule, did you? OK.
Noah, in an act of extreme decency and respect, took Dale Blanton, a long time and very dedicated resident and member of Code Compliance, off that Board (one of our two most important Boards), and he replaced Dale with Carmen DeBernardi. The last time Noah appointed Carmen to a Board was his appointment of her as an alternate to this same Board. She'd had an established pattern of not attending meetings before, and she continued that pattern on Code Compliance. Noah had been advised publicly, by me, not to appoint Carmen, because we needed reliable members on Code Compliance. But he went ahead anyway, and Carmen didn't attend. Some people, though apparently not necessarily Noah Jacobs, would learn something from that. Now, Noah has elevated Carmen, who he says told him she wants to be on Code Compliance (what more impressive qualification could there be than that?), at the expense of the very reliable Dale. It's almost a curiosity what goes on in Noah's head, but I don't think I want to know. Gary Kuhl wanted to know, though. He asked Noah if he really intended to dump Dale for Carmen. Yup, said Noah. But Carmen doesn't come to meetings, Gary cautioned. So, replied Noah. As I said, extreme decency and respect. And the highest regard for the Village and its functioning.
The only other interesting issue, for me personally, was Bryan Cooper's assertion that in comments I made about the school in the church, I "stretched the truth." I don't think that's a particularly subtle way of calling me a liar. Well, the school's attorney wasn't there to cross-examine me (this was "quasi-judicial," and I was under oath,) so I offered to submit myself to cross-examination by Bryan, since he seemed to be sitting on some pretty hot material. But damned if he didn't completely lose interest. I figured if he was going to call me a liar in public, during a Commission meeting, while I was under oath, he'd have something killer incriminating to make good on. Nope. It was very unsatisfying. It's enough to make you lose faith in the genius of Bryan Cooper.
There was good news about the meeting, though. Rosemary Wais made her special crumb cake (great, as always), and someone else, whose identity wasn't revealed, made a terrific dish with stewed pears and a crusty sugar and cinnamon topping. Spectacular. The trick was eating it, and not throwing up from the meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment