Open forum 12/15

Bethany's Veterans Memorial Park (off Rte 42, Beacon Road) is being flooded by beavers. (NHR, by Abram Katz). And here is the Amity Observer's take (by Terri Miles).

The Sox have signed Matsuzaka! (AP)

There were concerns voiced about CTs economic outlook at yesterday's 2007 Regional Economic Outlook Breakfast at the New Haven Lawn Club, sponsored by the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. Along with some strengths, the keynote speaker, conomist Todd P. Martin said Connecticut's

economy will be negatively affected by higher energy costs, high taxes, transportation woes and higher costs of doing business.The most obvious area where the state lags the nation is in job growth: While every other state has gained back the jobs lost to the 2001 recession, Connecticut remains 23,300 jobs behind its mid-2000 high point. Connecticut is the only state that has not seen job growth from 1989 levels.

And CTs high rental costs (NHR, by Angela Carter) certainly don't help our situation. You'd have to earn over $20/hr to be able to afford a two bedroom unit in the NH-Meriden area. And while most college students may not need that much space, there probably are a good number of single moms who end up in a bind because of the high rental costs. I know some of them who live in Cheshire.

Here (by Leslie Hutchison) is the Herald's take on the Council meeting with the state delegation.

As I allude to in my following post, I think this whole CT State Police scandal is, very unfortunately, going to blow over without holding all wrong-doers to account. Heads should roll though. A house cleaning is in order.

Tuesday's meeting to discuss the possibility of Cheshire using biodiesel in our various diesel vehicles went well. I'll update more on that when I can, but I'm not expecting that to be for another few months. A few interesting points though on possible costs:

Estimated capital conversion costs: could be as low as $0, probably no more than $2k.
Estimated annual operating costs: DPW $2k, schools $8k (based on current fuel costs which fluctuate... my feeling is that, going forward, biodiesel will probably have less pricing volatility. And that's a good thing from a budgetary perspective.)

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District