No "Adult" zone on the Middleton Peabody border

Middleton voted tonight to NOT have their adult entertainment zone be at the end of Russell Street next to the Peabody City line.

Salem News: Locals opposed to Middleton adult district
Salem News: Hearing on adult district rescheduled
Salem News: PDF of the proposed areas and amendment

I hope to add just a little bit to this discussion here.

First two images showing the locations (proposed on the Peabody line, and as adopted off Rt. 114)
(PLEASE NOTE: THE AREA SHOWN AS ADOPTED IS MUCH SMALLER THAN DRAWN HERE - I WAS SHOWING THE WHOLE ROAD AND IT IS ONLY THE AREA NEAR RT. 114)

~~click on images for larger view~~

Now I got upset when I first heard about this proposal in Middleton just like many other Peabody folks. But, as I later learned, it is important to note that this was not intended to actually prepare one of these location for adult zoned businesses... in fact NO SUCH BUSINESSES ARE CURRENTLY PLANNED.

The intent of this action by the Town of Middleton was to PREVENT any adult businesses from being able to locate in their community anywhere they wanted to do so! Since Middleton DID NOT HAVE an adult zoned area, that would permit these businesses to open ANYWHERE in the town they desired.

The only way to prevent this from happening was for them to designate some area of the town as Adult Zoned so that they could limit all such development to those areas.

The town NEVER planned to have adult businesses open in these areas... in fact, these areas were chosen BECAUSE they would most likely NEVER BE DEVELOPED for such businesses.

Now, I applaud Middleton for thinking ahead and attempting to make their town better for their citizens... they really should have thought through the backlash that was sure to follow when they tried to foist their 'adult' areas onto the backs of folks in Peabody.

I am glad they finally saw the light and voted responsibly tonight.

Thanks to the Peabody Patriot for first alerting us all to the outcome of the meeting tonight

Peabody: A MOST LIVABLE CITY!

Peabody is named one of the top 15 most livable cities in America!
Well, at least Forbes Magazine thinks so!

Forbes Magazine: America's Most Livable Cities 2009
Salem News: Forbes: Peabody one of the country's 'most livable' cities

Now I have been reading some of the comments at the Salem News... and they are really quite ill informed.

To start with, Forbes defines the Greater Peabody area as having 700,000+ people. This is explained in the article quite well. They were using US Census Metropolitan Statistical Areas which include a larger area than simply the named location. So, as the article states, this is more of an honor for the North Shore in total rather than just Peabody alone.

Here is the explanatory paragraph from the article which explains exactly what is included in the rankings...

Behind the Numbers
To form our list, we looked at quality of life measures in the nation's largest continental U.S. metropolitan statistical areas--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics. We eliminated areas with populations smaller than 500,000 and assigned points to the remaining metro regions across five data sets:

1. Five-year income growth per household (Moody's)
2. Cost of living (Moody's)
3. Crime data (Sperling's Best Places)
4. Leisure index (Sperling's Best Places)
5. Annual unemployment statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Any way you wish to cut this, it is a big plus for our City. Of course the easy jokes have already been made (I guess the Forbes people didn't visit!) but a little fun never hurts.

I think most people are rather proud of Peabody and like the community feel of the City. I have been getting emails from several friends around the US saying "Congrats!" for living in such a good place! Of course, some of these same folks emailed me a few months back to laugh at our 9/11 police contract... but that is a different topic!

New Blog on Peabody Politics

A group of citizens led by Keith Doucette has opened up a new blog to focus specifically on the next elections here in Peabody.

2009 Peabody Elections

As is usually the case, Keith has interesting things to add to the blog-o-sphere. Check it out.

Fate of the Higgins is tied to new "Mega" Voc

It seems that the fate of a new or renovated Higgins Middle School rests entirely on whether or not the City of Peabody joins in on the new mega vocational school (North Shore Technical High School) that is going forward on the site of Essex-Aggie.

Salem News: Treasurer: Schools to be built

Here is a quote from the article by Massachusetts School Building Authority executive director Kathleen Craven... (my emphasis in green)

The MSBA has pledged to pay 60 percent of the project, or $75 million, said the agency's executive director Kathleen Craven, who was also on hand for the breakfast. The state has also passed a $60 million earmark in a state bond bill for the project, but Craven said she has not seen any "relief from the state on that."

At this point, without that state bond money, the communities would be on the hook for the remaining 40 percent of the project, Craven said.

The vocational school project is also key to renovating Higgins Middle School in Peabody, Craven said, because that is where Peabody's high school vocational programs are located.

"If Peabody comes into the district, we will be able to start work on the Higgins Middle School. ... It's a domino effect," Craven said.

Cahill said money for local school projects already in the pipeline will be there.

So there you have it. The real reason that the Higgins Middle School in Peabody is on the back burner for State funded projects. We had been told that the delay was partly due to "indecision" on the fate of the Voc at the Higgins... but now we see that the State is unwilling to fund the Higgins IF we do not join in the consolidated North Shore Technical High School (NSTHS).

While I don't like the State telling local communities what to do and how to do it... this one seems to be a fair request. Join in to become part of the 16-community NSTHS and we can then move onto the problems at the Higgins.

There are many good reasons to consider joining in such a collaborative school - one being that because of the numbers of students involved, more programs with more limited interest can be offered - resulting in more highly trained and skilled workers entering our local workforce. It also will allow the local communities and the State to save money by combining separate programs that only can offer limited services right now.

So... let's stop talking about it and debating it and putting it off for someone else to decide AND VOTE TO JOIN THE REGIONAL VOC.

It will benefit our current vocational students AND it will move us closer to a renewed Higgins Middle School.

Some "Green" greenbacks for Peabody

The City of Peabody just received almost $500,000 in blockgrant money for use in creating jobs that reduce energy use or promote green technologies. This is money from the Federal stimulus plan and distributed by the state.

The Salem News: 3 communities get greenbacks for 'green' jobs

I have not heard anything about such a program here in Peabody but think that this is a great move forward! The future is going to be more reliant on renewable energy resources and getting a foot-in-the-door by promoting these new ideas, experiments and business ventures here in the City of Peabody is a big step in the right direction!

Now if only the City Council will get off their collective duffs and begin to tackle the hard job of re-thinking the way we all want Peabody to be like in the next 25 years... think rezoning, planning, infrastructure, etc., then maybe we can become a center for innovation and creativity that will allow us to lead the region into the next decades and beyond.

Time to REZONE the Entire City!

Since the City Council has been reluctant to do their jobs and serve the City residents, it seems some land owners (both residents and big time developers) have decided to take matters into their own hands and ACT to get what THEY desire (in terms of land use - zoning) in the City of Peabody.

These actions are SELDOM, IF EVER, in the best interest of the City... they, instead, are targeting individual concerns or needs over the needs of the entire City. And, of course, all too often our less than courageous Councils and Boards are happy to give them whatever they want.

IT IS TIME TO STOP THIS MADNESS AND REZONE THE ENTIRE CITY OF PEABODY TO A MODERN STANDARD - INCLUDING DOWNTOWN

The City Council is REMISS in their duties on this most important of issues. This should now become the NUMBER ONE PRIORITY of every single member of the City Council. To NOT ADDRESS THIS ISSUE is COWARDLY at best and FRAUDULENT at worst!

Read more at The Salem News: Peabody takes piece-by-piece approach to development

If this City Council is not up to the task that their positions require... they should ALL be voted out of office.

The Meadow at Peabody: OPEN

Just a quick note to all of you craving the return of spring as much as I am...
The Meadow at Peabody Golf Course is open! This is the earliest it has ever opened and, despite the hard winter, the recent good weather has allowed the crews to have it ready to go! After my recent vacation (and taste of weather to come) I am ALL READY FOR THIS! Perhaps all this talk of Global Warming isn't so bad after all? (just kidding about that)

The Salem News: Public golf courses opening early, planning for more business

Should a 9-1-1 call bring ALL the rescuers all the time?

This question arose during a discussion on the Peabody Patriot concerning the purchase (or refurbishing) of a Peabody Fire engine.

Currently (I believe) when someone calls the 9-1-1 Emergency line the operator dispatches all three help and rescue groups to the location - Police, Fire and Ambulance.
Please correct me if I am wrong on this point.

So the question for discussion is...
Does it make sense to send all three responders to each call for help?

I would say that I can easily make a case for both sides in this case.

1) ASSESS THE SITUATION AND SEND ONLY WHAT IS NECESSARY:
This is called triage in the emergency rooms of every hospital (or if you remember that TV show M.A.S.H.) - where by someone listens to the person making call for help, asks questions to determine the need and then they send those services that they see as being necessary to solve the problem.

This would probably work in 99% of the cases involving a call for help to 9-1-1. A professional who is trained in emergency triage would need to be on duty 24/7... and maybe not just one. This might be yet another good reason to consider regional 9-1-1 emergency call centers (but that is yet another debate/discussion topic).

The worry is in that 1%... nobody is willing to have the dropped ball happen when it is your spouse or child's life on the line. In that case... send them all... send the Marines too!

However, as a cost saving move it might end up reducing the need for so much redundancy as well as reducing the load on all members of the 'rescue' teams (only sending 1 or 2 when needed, instead of all 3 all the time.)

2) SEND ALL THREE ALL THE TIME:
When someone calls 9-1-1 it is usually in an emotionally charged state. Something is very wrong, someone is hurt or dying, someone just crashed into their car, the house is on fire, etc. etc. etc. They may or may not be fully aware of the severity of the situation... they may be confused or simply not know how good or bad the situation is.

Also, there might be a large time delay if the wrong rescuer is sent when another is needed. What if the car accident simply looks minor, but in fact, someone is hurt badly or fuel is leaking out in an obscure location that no one sees... until it is too late? Or a smell of smoke in an apartment might bring the fire fighters, only to discover the apartment next door has an unconscious occupant due to smoke inhalation.

Lives are precious and can not be replaced. Vehicle engines, transmissions, tires... these can be repaired or replaced.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Perhaps the best solution is a middle ground... where we do some minor level of triage in order to reduce the time, effort and expense on all three groups... but we also lean towards sending MORE rather than less in any case that possibly warrants it. This would probably only reduce the number of responders in 10-20% of the cases... so the question is would this small savings be worth the additional risk of harm to the public in need?

And... what happens when a call is made and someone later sues the City for not sending all 3 in the first place and they suffer some horrible loss?

I look forward to your comments and thoughts.

School Enrollments Shrinking

There has been much discussion on the streets and the blogs about the possibility of a school closure. But now we finally get the first professional analysis (preliminary report) of the enrollment situation.

~~click image for a larger version~~

It shows a 14.39% decline in the student enrollments within the next 10 years time. If these numbers have validity, and I do not doubt that they are indeed accurate, then it seems to only make sense to discuss the possibility of closing one of the elementary schools here in Peabody.

BUT ONLY IF THE EDUCATIONAL INTEGRITY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IS MAINTAINED!

Rico Mello Needs to GET IT

* * U P D A T E D * *

** I re-read my original post and felt that I went too far into a personal attack. You may judge for yourself - here is the original. I have modified this post to be more in line with what I would like to see in a political blog.

What exactly is the reason that City Councilor Rico Mello has for wishing to be a representative of the citizens of Ward 3 and the rest of the City of Peabody?

He seems to have a desperate need to be constantly the center of attention in any City Council meeting, which (frankly) isn't the worst thing in the world... but only IF you actually do some work to UNDERSTAND the complex issues facing the City... and not just spout off about whatever pops into your head!?

Councilor Mello considers himself a PROTECTOR of the people and frankly... but this is not what I see. He is often vocal, which is fine, but mostly the result is bluster and grandstanding... and what has he actually got to to show for all these antics?

We have heard all this before... why is it that Ward 3 seems to have such unhappy leaders? It has been said that this has to do with a mindset that is based on an earlier way of life - one that sadly is long gone and will never return. OK. I can accept that it is difficult for some folks to see the old ways passing on. But they do... and they are gone.

Ward 3, and the entire City of Peabody, need leaders who will look beyond petty grievances and differences and embrace the needs of ALL Peabody citizens.

If Councilor Mello (or any civic leader) is NOT a person who can understand the difficult times we live in AND act as an advocate for the citizens... they need to reconsider their role in our government.

Just standing up and saying "NO!" all the time is NOT leadership... it is the easiest of actions - one that seem to be the nervous reaction of a people who simply do not understand the complexities of modern government.

Councilor Mello...

NO! To turning a haz-mat site into a City park for his Ward?????
NO! To the Portuguese-American War Veterans (and the citizens of Peabody)?????

I could go on but you all know it as well as I do...

WHY are you voting against the projects that will be beneficial to the citizens of our community?

So I really hope that if Councilor Mello decides to run again in this years race he will decide to be a LEADER, he will take the time to UNDERSTAND the complexities of city government and be willing to GOVERN with the needs of ALL the Citizens of Peabody in mind.