Franklin MAtters Weekly

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Franklin MAtters Weekly resumes after a long hiatus

Yes, dear neighbor, back in the early days of my reporting journey I had experimented with a weekly audio summary. At the time, the effort for the gain was more than I could afford time wise so it stopped.

Spin forward to the present day, my reporting and audio 'machine' is well oiled, having retired from the corporate payday (in 2019), I have the time for a resumption of the weekly summary.

As you may be aware, Franklin TV, Radio, and Franklin Matters conducted a survey of how and where folks get their news. The results closed out at the end of December 2024. The results were sobering but not unsurprising given the current circumstances of news and social media.

Inside the data, there seems to be a glimmer of hope in that rather than the daily dose of what's happening, some folks may be interested in a weekly version.

So here we go.

You can join us to subscribe to both the daily and weekly, or just one or the other, or NOT, and continue to visit the regular page or come to the weekly page to see what is happening.

Your Choice

We are here to "amplify the public good."

Our ears (and inbox) is also open for feedback, questions, suggestions. You can email me at sgsherlock @ franklinmatters dot org

Franklin MAtters Weekly resumes after a long hiatus

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Happy New Year Franklin, MA - What's happening this week ?? Dec 30, 2024 to Jan 5, 2025

No school until Thursday, Jan 2
very limited Town meetings
lots of closures for the holiday period
trash and recycle pickup delays one day from regular schedule for the holiday, etc.

Check out the Noon Year's Eve Party at Franklin Public Library for families and young at heart on Tuesday, Dec 31. Fun things to do and then the balloon drop happens at noon time for yes, noon year's eve. The Library closes at 2 for the holiday

Take in the Polar Plunge on New Year's Day. 10 AM at Beaver Pond. The weather seems to be forecast to be rather warm for this time of year so it might be a good intro to this event.

Electric Youth 2025 give their debut concert on Friday, Jan 3 at THE BLACK BOX. Tickets are on sale (this usually sells out). https://theblackboxonline.com/

Looking BACK

The last 2 significant meetings were the Town Council on Dec 18 and the Joint Budget Subcommittee on Dec 17.

The Recap (including links to the audio & video for each)

Town Council on Dec 18

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/12/town-council-recognizes-youth-football_23.html

Joint Budget Subcommittee on Dec 17

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/12/joint-budget-gets-updates-sets_20.html

Check out the meeting archives for other meetings during 2024 (all the way back to 2008) https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/meeting-notes.html

** Check the Community Calendar for updates -> https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

Happy New Year Franklin, MA - What's happening this week ??

Monday, January 21, 2013

Martin and Ben in Franklin

Martin Luther King Day today and a holiday for most. School is out here in Franklin and elsewhere.

Benjamin Franklin's birthday was celebrated with a party at the Historical Museum on Sunday. A good crowd gathered to hear Vera Meyer's play the glass harmonica, one of Ben's many inventions.

The Town Council meets on Wednesday. Among the items on the agenda:
1 - Treasurer/Collector, Jim Dacey apparently will talk about a section of the Home Rule process
2 - DPW Director, Brutus Cantoreggi will provide an update on the DPW snow plowing process.

In the action items, one key piece is the first part of the capital budget is scheduled for approval.

TOTAL REQUESTED: $ 1,598,000
PURPOSE: To transfer/appropriate funds for the 2013 Capital Improvement Plan:

Dept Type Amount
Fire Equipment $215,000
Police Equipment $ 92,000
Police Vehicles $ 71,000
Town Technology Equipment $ 97,500
School Vehicles $ 63,000
School Technology $233,000
DPW Vehicles & Equipment $193,500
DPW Street/Sidewalk/Drainage $500,000
Facilities – School Equipment $133,000

If you missed anything from the past week, these links can help you catch up!

Jan 20

Jan 19

Jan 18

Jan 17

Jan 16

Jan 15

Jan 14

Monday, January 14, 2013

New England winter weather changes

Chilson Beach in winter

This week the snow is gone, the ice is melting.

Ice fishing on Beaver Pond

Last week, the snow still provided a cover and ice fishing at Beaver Pond was a viable activity.

As many of you may recall, the Parmenter School Tour was scheduled for Thursday Jan 10th. Prior school tours have had minimal attendance by the general public. As we approach this weeks tour, I checked the school websites, newsletters, etc. and offered the following to the School Committee and Central Office.

The Parmenter PCC has no notification on its webpage or weekly update.
The Parmenter School newsletter has no notification of this event
The Parmenter School sign has no mention of the event.
The School Committee blog last update was for the overall tour schedule as published in Sep 2012.
The Schools website has no mention of the event (this one or past, or future tours).

Not one to just raise an issue without providing some solutions, I also offered some suggestions on what could be done to help spread the word.

Could there be an update on the School Committee blog?
Could there be an update on the community event calendar with the cable channels?
Could there be a press release touting the tour and showing off the only school installation of solar panels, or even of the rain gardens in the front, or of the modulars removed from the property?
Could some one use a couple of minutes of the Citizens Comments at the beginning of the Town Council meeting on Wednesday to spread the word?
Could some one think of some other way to help spread the word about this free yet valuable opportunity to meet with School Administration, School Committee and local school principals?

Note: The Parmenter sign was updated to tout the tour. The one set of parents that did show up for the tour heard about it via a ConnectED notification sent to all the school families that chose to register. But what about the non-school families? Were they notified in some way? Unless they heard about the tour via Franklin Matters, or perhaps the school sign and chose not to attend, they may not have known.

The choice is with the School Committee and Central Office. They all do an awful lot of good work and could do a better job of sharing information about the work they do. I do my part on here on Franklin Matters and the Facebook page, but I wish they would do a little better in the communication area. A little bit of work can go a long way!

If you think the School Committee and Central Office can do a better job of communicating, then you should let them know. Email addresses for the School Committee can be found here
http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinCom_About/members

Jan 13

Jan 12

Jan 11

Jan 10

Jan 9

Jan 8

Jan 7