BOO!

Happy Halloween... Today's topic is...Condo or Time Share? From what I have seen most Condo projects that go sour usually end up in the time share market. That would bring the Family tourist to North Adams...Whats your opinion? It's Your Dime!... Be cautious this evening people, there will be a lot of our youngins runnin around tonight...Happy Halloween.

BLOG POLITICS

Sorry for my missing a day, but the old puter decided to throw a hissy fit..."User Friendly"...I don't think soooooo!...Anyway, I'm back! So what interesting topic can we discuss today that will generate a response, from all those people that just sit in the shadows and read but don't participate?.....(have to find a nifty name for them...any ideas, it's your dime?)...Today's blog is about Blog Politics and the North Adams City (town) council!...I believe what most people get frustrated about is the council's total lack of open discussion, hence...the term...bobbleheads. The council should be an open forum where the city openly and with the public watching, discuss the Cities (towns) business. The behind closed doors in a smoke filled room full of politico power brokers is not what we want in this city. They are doing the peoples business so the people should know. Yah...Yah...I know the different committee's give their reports and the mayor gives his report...and that's all folks! No input, Pro or Con...Why?...because it has already been decided upon behind closed doors. With this type of politics why even bother...just put a sticky note on a blackboard and show that on TV. ...,Hell, there may even be some infringements of the "Open Meeting Law"? ...What does all this have to do with Blog Politics...not a damn thing, but I hope it got your attention! These are my views...What are yours?...It's Your Dime!

"RESPONSIBILITY"

today's thought is on "Personal Responsibility". In today's world it seems that no one is responsible for any thing they do..."the devil made me do it"! It is a cancer that has silently pervaded our society over the years. When people see government officials avoiding responsibility for their actions, big corporations trying to blame someone else for shoddy products, and the ever present INSURANCE INDUSTRY, no wonder no one feels responsible for what they do. The cure is simple....teach responsibility in the home! Our children learn from our actions and our words. Teach them that they and they alone are responsible for their actions. What's your opinion? It's Your Dime!

LONG COLD WINTER

If the winter turns out to be as severe as is predicted in the almanac, are we prepared? With the cost of everything on the rise, a bad winter could bury the city literally. Fuel for the city vehicles, cost of salt, cost of man hours, cost of everything. Is there a looming crises or are we prepared? The city coffers only have a limited and set amount in them and as far as the state lending a hand...need I say more. The only option left will be a cut in services, less plowing, less sanding, less overtime for city employees.
What do you think? It's Your Dime!

WINTER IS HERE...HEATING vs EATING

It looks like it is going to be long winter. With the fuel prices being on the border of thiefery a lot of people living in our City are in real trouble. I'm not just talking about people that need assistance, but all of us. Are we looking into the face of disaster this winter, where you will have to make a decision whether to spend your money on food or fuel? What's your opinion?...IT's YOUR DIME!

IT KEEPS ON GOING AND GOING AND GOING!

Well so far we have covered a lot of ground. It seems to boil down to two camps of thought, one that wants to maintain the status quo and let one person run the whole show....and the second, that is progressive thinking and believes that it should be a cooperative effort involving all elected officials. So far Chris Tremblay has been the only person that has offered any realistic alternatives. He has a genuine desire to work with all the members of the council and the Mayors Office, to bring forth fresh initiatives and new ideas as well as revisiting some old ones whose time has come. I expect...no I DEMAND... that my elected officials work together...no matter which Charter, A,B,C,D,E or F...they hide behind. The People of this City don't want negativism that keeps on going and going and going, they want cooperation!... So all that being said...Chris Tremblay deserves your vote! What's your opinion...It's Your Dime!

PAY AS YOU GO vs TAXES

Sorry about yesterday my friends, but Adelphia High Speed, again decided to take a vacation? I had Adelphia No Speed all day yesterday....Ok, Anyway...Let me ask all you aspiring governmentos this!...Why is it when you go to city hall for anything, on personal matters not business matters, you have to PAY! Each department has a budget that is paid for with TAX monies...Salaries, supplies, etc, But every little piece of paper you get they want 5$ or more. Every permit you ask for they have there hand out...WHY ? Don't give me that lame excuse that it is to help pay the expenses of the department...Hog Snot...as Joe Smuck private citizen these services should be FREE. What do you think? Is City Hall a STORE or a SERVICE?...southview

"Freedom Fighter" Uncovered!

Being that I was in PSYOPs during WWVietnam, I learned how to find the skinny on anyone. So using my Army taught skills I went a huntin! Guess what I found...."Freedom Fighters" real identy!

What's Your Opinion?

Being that it is Sunday, I thought we could get away from the campain trail for a day and just Blog about what in the City (town) bugs you! We arn't looking for resolutions here, just some dialog. Maybe you feel telephone poles are the wrong color, or we should build a landing pad for flying sausers at Noel Feld? Whatever turns your crank...Remember, "IT"S YOUR DIME"

"OLD COOT"

When I was bringing up my youngins...many years ago...I liked to tell them of the GHOST that lives in our back yard woods...being that I live near The Bellows Pipe Trail. I delighted in the fact that the Transcript would run a story about "OLD COOT" and had pictures taken by Randy Trabold,1939, to back up the story. Well time passes and old news just goes by the way side. I happened to mention "OLD COOT" to someone the other day and their response was..."OLD WHO?"... {they may have thought I was referring to chbpod... :~) }... So I got out my SURFboard (an intentional pun) and went a surfing the net. All I could find was an article in...http://www. iberkshire.com/...written by Joe Durwin last year on Oct. 27. I couldn't find the Photo taken by Randy Trabold. Anyway, Pass this on to your youngins... TIS THE SEASON TO BE SPOOKY...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mt. Greylock's Bellows Pipe Trail - The Old Coot As the Civil War began, a North Adams farmer named William Saunders left home in 1861 to fight for the Union. About a year later, his wife, Belle, received a report that her husband had been gravely wounded and was in a military hospital. That was the last she heard of him. Alone and in need of help, she hired a local man to work the farm with her; later she married the man and he adopted her children. In 1865, a bearded, ragged man, wearing a Union blue uniform, stepped off the train in North Adams. You can guess who had finally returned home. Saunders walked to his farm, and while standing outside he saw his wife and happy family, his children calling another man "daddy." Crushed, he turned on his heels and walked away, heading toward Mt. Greylock, where he built a shack in the remote Bellows Pipe. He lived the rest of his days there, almost a hermit, hiring himself out occasionally to farms, known to locals only as the "Old Coot." War and time had ravaged his appearance and no one recognized him. It's said that he even worked his old spread on occasion, perhaps sitting down to meals with his family, only he knowing the truth. Folks say the Old Coot was insane, but whether it was caused by the horrors of war or grief at losing his family, no one knows. One winter's day, hunters came upon the shack to find the Old Coot cold dead. But they were startled to see his spirit fly from his body and head up the mountain. That was the first sighting of the Ghost of the Old Coot, but certainly not the last. To this day, his bedraggled spirit is sometimes seen on Mt. Greylock, always heading up the mountain, but never coming down. You might say you don't believe it, but are you brave enough to walk the Bellows Pipe Trail after dark? ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Mount Greylock, it seems, may be home to an even more esoteric entity. He is known as the “Old Coot,” and is sometimes seen wandering up the mountain near the trail that runs through the Bellows Pipe area. As the story goes, the ‘Coot’ is the astral remnant (or should I say revenant?) of a man named Bill Saunders, who lived in Adams nearly a century and a half ago. Saunders left his wife and child to fight in the Union Army. A year later, his wife received word that he had been badly wounded and was in a field hospital. When, after many months passed, she heard nothing more of him, she assumed him to be lost. She hired a local man to help work the farm. Eventually they married. Then, after the war had ended, Saunders returned, only to find another man had taken his place. Devastated, he spent the rest of his life living as a hermit in a small shack in Bellows Pipe. Many years later, hunters discovered him dead in his cabin but were mystified to see a strange man-shaped shadow dart out of the shack and into the woods, heading up the mountain. Ever since, hunters and hikers have reported seeing a shadowy, bedraggled form walking through the woods up Mount Greylock. Twice, the North Adams Transcript has published photographs alleged to be of the “Coot,” one by Randy Trabold, in 1939, the second by Richard Lodge in 1979. The Lodge photograph seems to depict a tall, dark, man-like form walking through the woods with his head hung low. Was this the ghost of Bill Saunders?

CHRIS TREMBLAY for CITY COUNCIL

If you want a councilman that will ask questions:
If you want a councilman that is knowledgeable and forward thinking:
If you want a councilman that is interested in your needs:
If you want a councilman that isn't afraid to present new ideas:
If you want a councilman that can work hand -in -hand with all departments of the City:
If you want a councilman that you can depend on to answer your questions truthfully:
If you want a councilman that is responsive to your needs:
If you want real representation from within your City Government:
If you want a councilman that isn't tied to any "Special interest Group":
THAN YOU ONLY HAVE ONE CHOICE.........CHRIS TREMBLAY

Rome Revisited

If it is true that history repeats itself, which it does if the past is ignored, then I believe we are in deep shit. Are we going the way of the Great Roman Empire? A Government more concerned with perpetuating itself than the needs of the people. I'm not just talking about our Federal Government, which we know is out of control and the hands of the People, but even our own little insignifent City (town) Government. I have not heard anyone, newbees or oldbees, say anything about what they will do for the PEOPLE of North Adams. Remember the PEOPLE are the reason that there is a Government in the first place. Not to enhance the bottom line of business or The City Government, but to provide the needs of the Residents. All I have heard is MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! What's your opinion?

A City? or a Town?

This is the question for today. Are we really a City? What's your opinion? If we discount the transient students, who don't have a permanent address within the city ( are not native to North Adams ) should we in reality call ourselves a CITY?

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

A unique concept in Government... "Special interest Groups". Actually that is the dumbest argument any politico can use. Every one in politics is un to them selves a "Special interest Group". They all have their own agenda, their personal reason for being, or wanting to be, involved in the process. Each has his own idea as to how things should be...and if others share their vision....we have a "Special interest Group". Hmm, doesn't that sound familiar! The Mayor likes to throw around that term as a derogatory jab at anyone he feels threatened by. He should look in the mirror....he may see Joe Thompson looking back at him. (southview)

It's Your Dime!

Welcome! A Blog site where we can talk about our City. To get us started let me pose the first question. "Should the City encourage a more diverse business base or continue to only encourage "Art" related businesses?"