Let's spend about ten minutes to find out what matters in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close March 13, 2011.
Time: 10 minutes 6 seconds
MP3 File
Show Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 89 in the series for Franklin Matters.
We'll look back at the week that was as it comes to a close Sunday March 13. Then we will look at what is scheduled for the week ahead.
The Financial Planning Committee met on Wednesday. They completed their review of the prior report and are now busy working on the list of questions that they think should be answered.
The Town Council is one of two stakeholders for this committee. They will reach out to the Council to get their input on the questions to answer to help the Council make their decisions during the budget cycle.
The citizens (and voters) of Franklin are the second of two key stakeholders for the committee. Respectfully, there are some who don't care and there are some who have already made up their minds. Those two groups should not be a primary concern for the committee. The committee should address the needs of those who are looking for information. Those who are looking for accurate information have the interest to listen and make a decision. Providing information that is accurate and reasonably understood is the goal of the committee.
My notes from the meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-reporting-long-range-financial.html
I wrote about these three type of audience in what I called my “fire circle story” back in 2005. You have a choice to listen to the audio recording here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2006/10/fire-circle-story.html
or read the text here http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2005/11/fire-circle-story.html
The week ahead of is Sunshine Week. a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Coinciding with sunshine week and building upon the PEW Internet study reported on here last week, I have begun a couple of new avenues.
One – There is a form for you to ask a question about the Franklin budget. Frequent commenters on the Milford Daily News articles about Franklin reference reading the Annual Report and suffering from a heart ache or some other physical malady. They rarely provide specifics as to what in the report is what cased this reaction.
If you have a similar question, you can ask it, and I'll get an answer. If you provide your email address, I'll be able to follow up to ask any clarifying questions as well as provide a direct answer. It is your choice. If you do provide your email, you get the response. If you don't, I can't guarantee a response.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/citizens-against-waste.html
Two – Many of you have a voice on the budget or any number of topics that matter to Franklin. You may not have the time to create your own blog. If you do have time to write a couple of paragraphs, and access to email, your voice can be published on Franklin Matters in a new “Voices of Franklin” section. Your written submission will need to abide by the editorial guidelines found below. You'll also need to be aware that anything published on Franklin Matters is subject to the Creative Commons License 3.0 for USA. Specifically, what is published can be shared with attribution but not for profit. More information about the editorial guidelines and creative commons license are found in the links below. If you would like to clarify something before sending your writing in, you can reach out to me (shersteve at gmail dot com).
Email address to send to franklinmatters.ma.myvoice@blogger.com
Editorial guidelines http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2007/12/comment-policy.html
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Three – This is an election year. November 2011 will see an election of the the Town Council, School Committee, and other town positions. I will make the offer now to all candidates for election to have an interview published in Franklin Matters. I did this in 2007 and 2009. The format of the interview preferably would be in text or audio. If you want to do video, I'll consider it as well. Let me know if and when you are interested and we can schedule a mutually convenient time.
2009 offer http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-offer-to-franklins-candidates-for.html
2007 offer http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/09/franklin-open-invitation-to-franklins.html
As for town meetings this week
The School Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. Amongst the agenda items are presentations on the FHS visioning process, program of study, and summer reading. There is also the first reading on the bullying policy.
The Town Council is scheduled to meet on Weds. Amongst the agenda items they have are an action item to put the four utility poles on Main St located between Depot and the Triangle underground.
Coincidentally, on Monday, Mar 21 is a workshop to discuss the proposed zoning bylaw changes for the signs and other building restrictions in the downtown area. This is an outcome of the proposals brought before the Council on Oct/Nov that were not well received. There was too much to cover and it was not clearly presented. The Dept of Planning and Community Development has gone back to the 'drawing board' so to speak, and this workshop should help address some of the issues around the proposals before they are brought forward once more.
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This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin. I can use your help.
How can you help, you ask?
If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.
We have gradually been expanding the input here to include other contributors in Franklin and will have another announcement soon. There is still room for more, if you have something of interest to share, please let me know.
As always -
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.
This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Franklin, MA
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