By Lani Duke
posted
May 30, 2012
Congratulations St. Joe grads
The College of St. Joseph graduated nearly 100 students this
spring, awarding Associate in Arts and Associate in Science,
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, Master of Business
Administration, Master of Education, and Master of Science degrees.
Although many of the new graduates came from Vermont and New York
state, some came from as far as Alaska and Florida.
Solar MOU approved
Rutland City is officially "interested" in a proposal to install a
solar collector facility on the site of the city's old poor farm
off Woodstock Avenue. The aldermen recently voted to authorize
mayor Chris Louras to sign a memorandum of understanding to that
end with proposing companies AllEarth Renewables and Green Lantern
Development.
The MOU is a preliminary device and, understanding aside, is
non-binding. Under the MOU, the city may buy the project at several
points in its timeline. The aldermen debated whether the project
would be exempt from personal property taxes; whether or not to not
impose the taxes on new businesses is a discussion likely to come
before the board soon. Recently, the board also discussed whether
or not to levy taxes on Keith's II Printing Company when it
completes its move to the former West Street Armory.
Underage bar parties under consideration
The Charter and Ordinance Committee will have a third discussion
about who should be allowed into bars and when. Charles Greeno,
owner of Merchants Row bar The Local, has asked permission to hold
parties for the 18-and-over age group, but Rutland city ordinances
restrict under-21s from bars with public music and
performances.
The committee has already considered but did not approve a motion
to have the city attorney draw up draft language for a
permit-issuing process. The new proposal to be weighed comes from
Greeno and the city attorney; it calls for applications to be
vetted by both the Special Liquor Committee and the full board of
aldermen, with final veto power in the chief of police. Each
application must describe security against underage
drinking.
Friday night live 2012 taking shape
Friday Night Live begins its 2012 activities June 22 with a promise
of easier navigation along Center Street. Restaurants and bars
placing a serving area on the street will have more restrictions in
where they place outdoor temporary fencing, no more than 14 feet
out from the curb (halfway to the center line). Nor can they place
alcohol advertising on the external fencing, or leave barriers and
other gear on the street after 11 p.m.
Organizer Downtown Rutland Partnership sees the new limits as
eliminating bottlenecks in the traffic flow through the summertime
event.
City eyeing water technologies
Rutland's Public Works Committee is weighing a pair of water
treatment technologies, either of which would meet recently changed
federal standards for haloacetic acids. Under consideration are a
filtration system known as MIEX (Magnetic Ion EXchange resin) and
an alternate disinfectant, chloramine, to the current
product.
Both have drawbacks. MIEX is available only from an Australian
company and carries a price tag of $3.3 million. The composition of
the resin is a proprietary secret and could conceivably leach some
substance into the water. All information on MIEX is only available
from its manufacturer - no large water system in the U.S. uses it,
nor does any other system in Vermont.
Chloramine is used by many municipalities in the U.S. and is
approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (and the national
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Vermont
Department of Health), but some people are sensitive to it. There
is no known way to filter it out of the water thoroughly enough to
guard sensitive individuals. Cost to switch over to chloramine
treatment is far less than MIEX, an estimated $200,000.
The committee meets again in mid-June. The EPA has indicated
Rutland should adopt and install the new system by autumn of 2013.
To make that requirement, the city needs to make a decision this
summer.
Holiday Inn - No new owner
The much touted auction of the Holiday Inn was a washout. It looked
good; you would have thought someone walked home with a real
bargain, having placed a winning bid of $2.8 million on the
151-room hotel sited on 14 acres and assessed at $5.6
million.
However, the minimum reserve was not met. There was no sale.
Dismas House reaches benchmark
Dismas House reached the benchmark of serving 500 former prison
inmates in January. At the organization's recent annual meeting,
Joan and Tom Sonneborn, former president and treasurer of its board
of directors, received the Father Jack Hickey, O.P., Award.
Return of The Machine
The Paramount Theatre recently announced the third appearance of
The Machine, widely recognized as the country's top Pink Floyd
tribute group. Both the 2008 and 2010 performances were near
sell-outs.
Local food news
The Downtown farmers market's vendors offer a growing number of
locally grown foods- radishes, Swiss chard, sprouts, lettuce, baby
pac choi, cilantro, scallions, rhubarb, arugula, and baby spinach -
right now plus a surprising variety of baked goods, jams and
jellies, handicrafts, jewelry, and more.
Pick up your copy of the 2012 Locally Grown Guide, now up to 48
pages of great information on where to obtain locally grown and
produced foodstuffs. This is the seventh year for the guide,
produced by the Rutland Area Farm & Food Link, your portal to
locally-based producers and service providers.
LANI'S PICKS
Thursday, May 31 - Farmer gathering dinner and survey results
discussion, Chaffee Art Center. Call 417-1528.
Saturday, June 2 - It's time for dance and music recitals. This
week, the children (and adults) from Miss Jackie's Studio of Dance
strut their stuff on the Paramount Theatre stage at 1 and 7 p.m.
This year is the studio's 55th annual presentation.
Tagged:
rutland report, Rutland news
