Saturday, October 18, 2008

Artificial Turf meeting on Monday Oct 20

For those of you want to watch the Rubber Stamp "democracy" in action, there will be a meeting of the Turf Committee on Monday:Tim White

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although it doesn't say the location, I believe they're held at the Humiston Building. Doubt they video tape meetings either. So far, as Behrer reported at the last BOE meeting, they've had supposed "experts" in - which include a rep from FieldTurf (company that makes turf) and an engineer from Milone & McBroom (company that has helped with installation). Some experts, huh? As if either of these two would present anything negative about the turf. Wonder who they think they're kidding? They plan on going to different turf fields to see which one they want. When asked if they've done any survey of who and how they'll raise the balance of funds, Behrer basically said "no." They supposedly have up to 10 years to use the State funds (our tax dollars), and he said it could be a few years before donations would make up the balance.
There was no mention of calling in the experts from EHHI (a group of professionals who have factual info on the toxic risks involved with turf and environmental risks).

This turf committee is quite artificial, I'd say.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone at the BOE spell the word "recession"?

There's rampant insanity for us to buy toys when the global financial system teeters on the verge of collapse

Anonymous said...

The fix is in. Forget about the conversation in which a member of the artificial committee said the turf needed to be "substantiated" with appropriate experts... anyone can see it for what it is.

November 2009 can't come soon enough.

Btw, at this point... I'm actually beginning to wonder if referenda pass. I'm guessing they will, but I'm not so certain at this point.

Anonymous said...

"November 2009 can't come soon enough"
Tim, does the Republican part have people in line to run against the dems yet?
Who?
We need good, honest people who know that the reality is we are on the verge of depression here and can't waste any more money.

Anonymous said...

We need people to run that have common sense approaches to everyday problems and that are not ties to special interests in this Town. It is difficult for an unafilliated or independent to run. Try to find somebody in this town that does not have a relative working in real estate, a legal firm, the school system.

Anonymous said...

Tim, does the Republican part have people in line to run against the dems yet? Who?

The nominating committee (a subcommittee of the Republican Town Committee) probably has ideas. But I'm not a member of the nominating committee.

Additionally, the Cheshire GOP has an unwritten rule that Council members do not serve on the nominating committee.

I'm not sure that rule is always enforced, but it's generally been the case. So probably no point in asking Tim S, Jim S or Tom R either.

Anonymous said...

This turf grant of $525,000 supposedly has to be used at the CHS fields. Why not remove from the capital budget the amount set aside for replacing the track (believe it was $190,000 in year 2009)and use $190,000 of the grant money to replace the track. The remaining $335,000 can be used to replace the deteriorating concession and bathroom building and for paving of the sidewalk along side the softball fields. The result - improvements to the CHS fields and no additional taxpayer funds needed.
What do you say, Tim? Can we bury this turf idea and do what makes the most sense?

Anonymous said...

A few years ago, the town got money to build a shed for the pool bubble storage during summer. Ever see the shed?

The skate park grant was $100,000. The skate park was designed to cost $84,000.

Conclusion?

After government (legislature, Council, high level staff) take your money... they'll do whatever they please with it.

So yes, I know this money could be spent on anything. Either Jim "Crusher" Amann could redirect it (if Altieri / Fritz would request it) or it could simply be spent on anything.

Per my reading of the "turf grant," it simply requires that some of the money be used on turf. It doesn't require a complete turf field. So you could probably install one square inch of turf and satisfy the requirements of the grant.

But Altieri / Ecke / Fritz won't allow that. They want their turf... and have shown no interest in energy conservation at the pool.