Can't Help It, I Fell Asleep Watching Kung Fu Panda

This is going to sound really mystical, but it's really not, it just good advise.

Divert negative energy to positive, and productive work.

Work can be a deed, words, love, a task, or just work.  The thought one has, the plan one conceives, how one shares words, or lifts a shovel is energy.  Energy is either positive or negative.  Good advise is positive. Yelling expletives is not.

Building is positive.  Tearing down is not.

Acknowledging a mistake, or a need for a correction can be positive if accompanied by a solution, or a willingness to find one.  Acknowledging a mistake, or a need for a correction accompanied by insults, expletives, or no possible solutions, is obviously not very positive.  

Yep.  Deep, maybe, mystical, no.  

However, if an oversight, or mistake is acknowledged, and is not addressed further with some form of correction, or just blown off, then after a reasonable waiting period all bets are off, and it's dope slaps all around.

We've learned some hard lessons here in town since the summer.  We learned that when there are issues that need input of residents, or residents questions answered, it is not handled well.  We are still waiting for those questions to be answered honestly, and for the input of the residents of our town to be respected enough to ask for it by having a special town meeting when a project is being changed, redesigned, or funded differently.

So, as this year creeps to a close in the next seven weeks, let's readjust our shorts a bit, and start the new year with our energy flowing in a positive direction.  There will be challenges to come in 2011, and they will be addressed, ignored, , grappled, overlooked, taken on, filed away, changed, and reinvented as something else.  How we respond to them, and how we assist in making them better by listening, questioning, and helping will determine just how many challenges go down as defeats, or as victories for our town.

Vigilance.  We need to keep our ears up, our eyes open, and our spirit calm in order to be effective.

So, Grasshopper, snatch the pebble from my hand, and rise above the storm of dissent, and anger, and if the selectmen do not respond as one would like this coming year, use the pebble to get their attention.

It may take more than one.

BOS Meeting Minutes From Sept 20 Available Now

Today I received an email from the Town of Sturbridge with the September 20, 2010 Board of Selectman's Meeting Minutes attached.  The link for the meeting minutes are posted in the right hand margin, or you can click here to access them.

Getting the minutes in chronological order would be a good thing, but I am sure there was a reason for the big delay in making them available.

Now, We Wait

They get it, or should I say, he gets it.  Board of Selectman Chairman Tom Creamer was recently quoted in the Sturbridge Villager in which he spoke about the front door snafu at the recently restored historic town hall.  In order to comply with the American with Disabilities Law, the front doors of the building, the historic, and traditional entrance can not, currently,  be used.  All pedestrian traffic is directed to the back door since the front door does not meet ADA requirements for equal access.  What's more is that the pedestrian traffic must walk to the back door along Maple Street, and there is not a sidewalk in place for pedestrians to do so safely.

" Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Thomas Creamer said opening the front door is a matter of safety as well as convenience. He pointed out there is no sidewalk from the front of the building to the rear and that people have to walk down a street to get to the back.  "What we are doing with this setup is encouraging people to walk down a street used by people coming to Town Hall and it is the main access for people who live in the neighborhood back there,” he said. “That increases the chances of having a conflict between pedestrians and vehicles.”

Creamer said he would like to get the issue resolved quickly and was disappointed that the issue was not raised during the planning stages of the project. “It is mind-boggling we just got this information in September when we started asking questions,” he said. “This is something that should have been anticipated in the design phase and incorporated into the plan for the building. I am embarrassed because I can’t give residents an explanation. Ultimately this is the responsibility of the board and I am not looking to shift blame, other than the fact that there was a lack of communication." 

              --  THE STURBRIDGE VILLAGER 11/5/10  BY RICH HOSFORD STURBRIDGE VILLAGER STAFF WRITER

Now we wait.  

Tom is aware, as is everyone in town government that has a stake in this situation.  What happens next is entirely dependent upon how soon they want the fix to occur, and who is taking the lead in making sure it happens.  If the Chairman takes this current episode of "As Sturbridge Turns" as seriously as he taken other issues, then I feel we can rest easy.  Unless, of course, we have to spend $100,000 for a ramp for the front door.  If that happens, I'll meet you at the doors with my Skill saw, and hammer.

Really?

On July 26, 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law.  Every project manager, designer, builder,  and architect knows the law very well, otherwise they would not be in business.

Simple.

Now, when an architect is designing a new building, or drawing up a new design for an old building they are doing it with the input of the client, and there is a back and forth between the two.  This is how a good end result is achieved.  There may be issues along the way, such as a foundation too old, and weak to support a wall, and that information is acted on, and plans are changed accordingly.  More cost, more work, but the challenge is taken, and overcome.  The end result will show the attention to the detail.

Or not.

Then there are times when the best made plans are shared, used, and completed, but it is not until the end user finds that there is a problem.

Now what?  Well, a fix is needed, obviously, but why did the problem occur in the first place?

Some problems aren't noticed for a very long time, others are more obvious.  Not being able to use the front door of a newly rehabed town building would fall into the latter category.

So, as I initially said, project managers, designers, builders, and architects know the ADA law, and part of their job is to advise the client, along the way, in order make sure that the law is followed, and the client is happy with the plans in order to comply with the law.

Communication.  Oversight.  Two essential ingredients in any undertaking, but for the second time in recent months we are discovering that there was not adequate communication, and most obviously, very little oversight on the town hall rehab project, and the Haynes and Main Street intersection construction.

There is a common theme here.

This is not a silly mistake.  This is the front door to a $4.2 million restoration of a public building that cannot be used.  The architects know the ADA law, and the architects knew which door was the front door, as did the project manager.  Did they screw up, or did the town not respond appropriately?

We can only guess as to what happened next.  Did the architect inform the town that using the front door would be an issue without redesign?  Was the town told, but blew it off?  Soon we will know what exactly transpired, and who was told what, and when.  Even the current Chairman of the BOS is a bit taken back by this SNAFU.

In the end it will come down to oversight.  Who has it? Was it done well enough?  If not, then why not?  One thing is very clear, we need more intense oversight here in town.  We have a waste water treatment plant to be built, an elementary currently being built, and other projects that will follow in the coming years.  Do we have individuals knowledgeable enough to catch the issues before we sign off on a project?

One more thing, $50,000 to $100,000 for a ramp at the front door?  Really?


Click here for the web site for the project manager of the Town Hall and Center School Project.

And, We'll Save Exactly How Much?

I don't pretend to have a crystal ball, or to be "all knowing".  Nope.  Most of the time it is just common sense, and common sense will tell you what is a good move, or a lame move, if you are willing to listen.

I learned a very long time ago that the it was less taxing to my spirit, and my wallet, to listen to that little voice.  I believe the Town of Sturbridge will find this out as well, eventually.

The new sidewalk snow removal policy enforcing an old bylaw for property owners to clear the sidewalks of snow in front of their property is going to haunt the town.  Regardless of the fact, that the bylaw that has been ignored for fifteen years, and the town cleared the sidewalks during that time, a precedent has been set.  A ten dollar fine for not removing snow will inspire few landowners to comply, especially if no foot traffic that use their property actually use the sidewalk.

This new policy, or should I say, this re-adoption of an old, intact, bylaw is designed to decrease the towns liability, and costs.  Costs to clear the sidewalks here in town would be less if there were not telephone poles in the middle of the sidewalks along Route 20 in Fiskdale.  A small sidewalk tractor would then be able to clear the sidewalk in no time, but that is not our case, still the cost devoted to clearing the sidewalks would be less than if the town was sued.

Basically, if the town decides to have sidewalks they are choosing so to offer a safe pedestrian walking zone out of the way of vehicular traffic.  By planning, then building such a sidewalk the town is saying that it wants the pedestrians in our town to be safe, and is offering them a safe path.  To abandon that thought on a seasonal basis, based on costs, will come back, and bite our little town right on its backside sometime in the future.

It's a Municipal Gamble.  Some towns play the odds more than others.  What are the chances of being sued by an individual, and for how much, versus how much could we save in snow removal costs?  Every town plays the odds in some form, or another, and so are we.

I totally understand where the town is coming from on its desire to save money.  I really do.  It just seems there are good ways to do some things, and there are better ways.  I don't think this is one of the better ways.