Blood clot

As I tried to get into the parking deck this morning, I found my way blocked by a mini-traffic jam of Red Cross vans.

The following exchange happened:

Red Cross Guy: We keep pushing the button to get the ticket to pay later, but nothing happens!

Me: You have to pay up front.

Red Cross Guy: That's stupid!

Apparently, the folks arriving for the Gift of Life summer mini-marathon blood drive had all been told to park in the deck, but nobody told them it was pay-as-you-enter and none of them had the right cash.

So, I got out of my car and let a bunch of them in with my pass.

If Buildings and General Services Commissioner Michael Obuchowski is reading this, that's why my pass just got used eight times in about five minutes.

In other news, go to the Paramount and give some blood or something!

For the architecture geeks - a look inside the Chaffee

Executive Director Margaret Barros took me into the Chaffee's attic yesterday as we discussed the upcoming reopening of the main building.

I've never been past the second floor, and I loved a lot of what I saw, especially when we got inside one of the turret-thingies. I just had to take this photo:

Barros said they hope to put in some sort of clear plexiglass-type cover, so the area can be protected but still viewed.

Tonight's meetings

The aldermen are almost double-booked tonight.

The Public Safety Committee meets at 5:30 to discuss buying a new fire truck. Following hot on their heels at 5:45, the Charter and Ordinance Committee looks at the ordinance dealing with fire alarm notification.

Public Safety Chairman Ed Larson said 15 minutes should be plenty of time for his meeting, which would tend to imply there won't be much controversy around the fire truck.

To Rule or to Serve?

At the end of yesterday's big flower-planting announcement, I asked Mayor Louras his thoughts on my question in yesterday's column, about whether the number of fomer elected officials now working for the city indicates one role is better than the other.

He pointed out that I missed one. City Clerk Henry Heck quit the Board of Aldermen to take up that post. That makes four, so now it's definitely a trend!

However, Louras rejected my premise.

"I think it is a recognition that individuals who get involved in public service want to serve in their highest and best capacity," he said.

For himself, Louras said he believed he was in his highest and best capacity as mayor. I asked him if that meant he would not be applying to be, say, RRA executive director once he was no longer in office.

Probably not, he said, but he did quip that he might not mind following in Jeff Wennberg's footsteps and running DPW if he can convince a later mayor to give him the job.

Could Rutland need more bars?

Matthew Yglesias is discussing much larger cities in this piece in Slate, but a number of his arguments sure sound like they could apply to downtown Rutland.

For example:

Providing these kinds of dense networks of related but independent small undertakings is exactly what cities are good at.

What they’re not so good at is playing host to modern retailers. Traditional urban neighborhoods feature old buildings with small, often irregularly shaped spaces that are ill-suited to the needs of contemporary retail chains.

Yglesias goes on to suggest that "development and expansion of nightlife hubs should be a key economic development priority for cities." This does seem to line up with the talk last week at the Rutland Business Summit about the potential of a larger cluster of restaurants in downtown.

Town Meeting Predictions - 2013 Edition

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't posted here in, like, forever, so what better way to start again with my annual town meeting predictions! Remember folks, these are gambling picks and not endorsements.

For mayor, my completely unscientific exit polling of voters indicates a dead heat, but I'd have to put my fiver on Louras. My impression is that he hasn't made any enemies who didn't already dislike him. (Do you think there were enough negatives in that sentence?)

For the Board of Aldermen, there are six seats, four incumbents and two names so familiar they might as well be incumbents. It is very tempting to bet on Cassarino, DePoy, Kiernan, Larson, Romeo, and Wallstrom. I was hearing some solid buzz around Diane Alberts not long ago, and today a number of people have remarked on the presence of young newcomers on the ballot, specifically mentioning Melinda Humphrey.

I want to hedge the living bejeezus out of this one, but I'm going to say Alberts, DePoy, Kiernan, Larson, Romeo and Wallstrom.

I'm skipping the rest of the ballot this year. See you folks on the flip side.

Wallstrom steps up

Alderman David Wallstrom wants another term on the board after all.

The freshman alderman had been among those up for re-election this year who were on the fence about running, but Tuesday he was circulating a petition to get his name on the March ballot.

Wallstrom joins fellow-incumbents Tom DePoy (who also spent some time in limbo), Charles Romeo and Jon Kiernan in seeking new terms.

Aldermanic round-up

Aldermen Christopher Robinson and Sean Sargeant were absent tonight, but the board still got a few things done, including:

• Authorizing an RFP for engineering on the Crescent Street Bridge project
• Authorizing the DPW commissioner to sell the information booth at Main Street Park
• Putting an item on residential tax stabilization on the March ballot
• Authorizing the mayor to sign contracts with three firms that will work with the city on its appeal of the new stormwater regulations dealing with the Moon Brook watershed

I'll be delving into these in more detail in upcoming issues of the print edition.

And the budget is set.

The Aldermen just finalized the 2013-14 budget, which will go on the ballot at $18,66,507. That's still up about $700,000 from last year, but down almost a half-million from what the mayor proposed, according to the end-of-evening tally by treasurer Wendy Wilton.

There were few cuts that had not been recommended in committee. While the city forester is going to have to wait at least another year for a new truck, none of the debated cuts in personnel from the DPW administration fund or in vehicles from the DPW streets fund came to pass.

The Board also found a way to restore the part-time auditor the mayor cut from the treasurer's office. They voted to direct the mayor to leave the new human resources position, which is under the treasurer's budget, vacant for three months and use the savings to fund the auditor.

I'll get a fuller account of the debate and of what happened with water and sewer -- there's some prickly bits, there -- up some time Thursday.

Holding out hope #golm12

Red Cross regional CEO Michael Kempesty said that while the 1951 number won't come up by more than one or two tonight, it might come up a bunch more later this week.

The official number will be determined when all the donated blood is typed and tested at a lab later this week. Kempesty said that in drives of this size, it is common for several previously unaccounted for pints to turn up.

We'll have to see.

That's it for me, tonight. Everybody have a nice evening.