Editorial Roundup: New England
Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus. August 16, 2023.
Editorial: Leading for the future
On Tuesday, about 500 Vermonters came together for a discussion about tomorrow. The summit, hosted by the Vermont Council on Rural Development, covered a lot of territory.
The “2023 Vermont Community Leadership Summit” was a brain trust of sorts. It brought together state leaders across sectors, and it allowed for dialogue on some of the most pressing issues facing Vermont.
It’s what is needed right now. There were politicians and policy wonks in attendance, but there were everyday Vermonters who care deeply about their hometown and state. What’s more, the daylong summit held in Randolph at Vermont State University (formerly known as Vermont Tech) was aimed at using community to problem-solve.
This is not the first summit put on by VCRD. And, like previous summits, it was well-attended. But there was a visible shift to this year’s summit: There were many young faces.
Perhaps the state’s youth were represented in the past, but at Tuesday’s conference, those young people made their voices heard. What’s more, it was inspiring to hear panelists and speakers go out of their way not only to address the young people in the audience, they strove to encourage the state’s youth to do more, push harder and “think outside the box.” Some panelists — longtime experts in their field or municipal officials who have been “at it” for decades — instructed their colleagues to yield to youth, and let them be a guiding hand in decision-making.
As one panelist noted, “They know what they want. They know what they want their future to look like. They know what they want from Vermont.”
The breakout sessions were not self-important re-hashings of the state’s shortcomings. By design, they were aimed at solutions-based results. They sought skills, and how those skills could be applied to moving discussions forward in meaningful ways — not for the sake of constituencies.
A leadership summit would not be effective without discussing traits and skills toward being a better leader. Interestingly, one theme emerged — again, providing a nod to the next generation of movers and shakers: Do something different. Many of the problems — whether it was a discussion about health care, housing, day care, economic development or infrastructure — appeared to be mired in “this is the way we have always done it” or “there aren’t a lot of options.” In the spirit of good leadership, the discussions were not facilitated to focus on the complexities of a problem, but rather on methods to provide support to tackle the problems head-on, or to build partnerships that will support finding real solutions.
It was refreshing to hear profound conversations that peeled back the onion to get to the heart of issues ranging from the “brain drain” (and conversely the “graying of Vermont”), to diversity and equity work, to housing solutions and climate resilience.
The summer’s floods permeated many of the discussions, exposing the critical mass of issues (housing stock; serving vulnerable populations; aging infrastructure; economic impacts on the business community, as well as grand lists). What came out of those discussions were heartbreaking stories of tragedy mixed with inspiring anecdotes about support and care — sometimes communities and organizations reaching out across miles and mountain ranges.
The discussions yielded pressing concerns as well. Some attendees voiced lack of faith in the systems already in place, in the politicians at the local and state levels, and the media. These trust issues manifested in overarching concerns about effectiveness.
Harkening back to the younger generation, they did not seem to allow panelists to hide behind shortcomings. Their questions were pointed — seeking accountability. In one session, a young person who got a vague answer spoke up and said, “If you are not the person, who do we need to talk to then?”
Vermont needs those kinds of questions. There are plenty of armchair leaders who sit back and pontificate and bloviate about “what needs to happen.”
This year’s leadership summit provided inspiration and hope that Vermonters of all ages are no longer comfortable with the policies and attitudes that have broken our state.
Hopefully, in the months and years to come, we will see the right questions being asked.
We will no longer allow for “the way we have always done it.”
And we will be led to some real solutions (which will likely be really painful solutions) that can move us away from waiting in place and unify Vermont in ways it did not even know it could come together.
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Boston Herald. August 12, 2023.
Editorial: At $181K, Massachusetts pot boss no bargain
Cannabis board boss Shannon O’Brien is paid $181,722 to oversee the state’s weed rollout.
Losing her cool and needing to apologize for it because a key staffer is leaving is unprofessional.
It comes as the latest tally shows the Bay State has hit a new one-month high in legal weed sales — $136 million in July. The previous record was set in June when $132.9 million in sales was recorded. That’s a lot of gummies.
It’s clear that in Massachusetts, Democrats take care of their own. O’Brien was a failed Democratic candidate for governor and has landed on her feet with this job. Her outburst just adds more questions than answers.
It’s clear she was overreacting to the departure of the agency’s long-serving executive director, Shawn Collins. He earns $201,879 and even if he’s the reincarnation of Steve Jobs, a suitable replacement can be found at that hefty salary.
So declaring we’re in a “crisis” is far from reality. Maybe O’Brien should earn some of her salary and take over until a replacement is found. Try working, we’d say.
“I want to begin by apologizing to my fellow commissioners regarding the way I made an announcement before I left our July 28th meeting,” O’Brien said Thursday. “I was not graceful in doing it. I apologize for what I did.”
Taxpayers shouldn’t need to watch a career politician prove what we’ve known for a long time — most of the executives in the state could go and we wouldn’t miss them.
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Hearst Connecticut Media. August 11, 2023.
Editorial: Horseshoe crab fate is all of ours
The horseshoe crab has a longer history on this planet than anything else you’re likely to come across. You may not even notice it’s there, but the humble horseshoe crab has been living in our coastal waters for more than 400 million years.
Thanks to human activity, its remarkable longevity is now threatened. Horseshoe crab populations have been on the decline in Connecticut, with fishermen using them as bait and the pharmaceutical industry harvesting them for medications. Without action to stop the decline, we could see them disappear from our shores, with wide implications up the food chain.
Connecticut has wisely taken steps to stop the decline. Thanks to legislation signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont this week, a ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs is in effect in Connecticut to allow the species to regenerate itself. It’s a welcome move toward a more balanced ecosystem, with humans recognizing their role in the potential harm to other species and our responsibility to act on nature’s behalf.
The horseshoe crabs, after all, can’t speak for themselves.
Like people anyplace else, Connecticut residents have a give-and-take relationship with the natural world. Our pastoral setting is part of what makes our state appealing, from the shores of Long Island Sound to the forests that make up so much of our landscape. But there is a price to being one with nature, as the recent increase in human-bear encounters has shown.
Not long ago, it was rare to see wild turkeys, bobcats or moose in Connecticut. Now such sightings are almost routine. Coyotes can be seen and heard even in densely populated areas, and people know to keep their pets under close watch in certain conditions.
We haven’t as a state figured out how to handle this new balance, which continues to change. Even as some promote solutions like increased hunting, others say it’s on us to adapt to the animals’ ways, which works right up until there’s a bear trying to enter your screened-in porch. There’s a balance to be found, but we’re not there yet.
Luckily, horseshoe crabs offer no such obstacles. They merely exist, and as such rely on us not to overharvest them. They’re not even crabs, at all, and are more closely related to spiders and ticks, which maybe doesn’t speak well to their chances of earning public sympathy, even as their role in the ecosystem is an important as any other animals’.
The changing climate of Connecticut is a reality, and it’s already had an effect on our natural world. Lobsters, for example, used to be a major catch in Long Island Sound waters, but rising temperatures have devastated their numbers. They won’t be the only species to feel those effects, and while it’s important to slow climate change, it’s also necessary to adapt.
That means protecting the species we have. Unless you spend time at the beach, you may have never seen a horseshoe crab. That doesn’t make them any less important. It was the right move to protect their numbers.
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Boston Globe. August 14, 2023.
Editorial: East-West rail: The state and feds both need to chip in
Massachusetts can’t rely solely on federal aid to pay for the proposed passenger rail service between Worcester and Springfield. The state needs to put its money where its mouth is, too.
After months of hemming and hawing, legislators on Beacon Hill finally delivered a budget to Governor Maura Healey’s desk, which she signed last week. And though there’s much to celebrate in the deal — Boston is getting a seat on the MBTA board of directors; tenants across the state will get to keep an important pandemic-era eviction protection; and prisoners will no longer have to pay steep fees for phone calls — lawmakers also missed some opportunities, including one to start putting the East-West rail proposal on track.
Healey had requested that the Legislature set aside $12.5 million for the decades-old idea of connecting Boston with western Massachusetts through frequent, reliable, and fast passenger rail service. The governor’s request wasn’t an impressive sum by any means — a drop in the bucket for what a project of that scale would ultimately cost. But it was promising seed money to get the proposal chugging along again by funding initiatives like designing a new rail station in Palmer and improving tracks in Pittsfield. More importantly, it would have shown that the state is actually committed to realizing the East-West rail dream. And yet lawmakers chose to drop that line item from the final budget.
That doesn’t mean the East-West rail project is dead. Healey’s administration still managed to find money for these initiatives through a separate funding source, and the budget allocated $650,000 for staff support that includes an East-West rail director. And late last year, the Baker administration applied for a $108 million grant from the US Department of Transportation, which, as a result of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Biden signed into law in 2021, has tripled its budget for its program funding rail improvement and modernization projects across the country. If approved, the grant would help alleviate the passenger rail bottleneck between Worcester and Springfield — which currently only serves a single daily roundtrip for Amtrak riders — by revamping a 54-mile stretch of tracks, owned by the freight railroad company CSX, and building an additional set of tracks along part of that corridor in order to accommodate more passenger trains while maintaining freight capacity.
There are many reasons the federal government should approve those funds. It would, for example, strengthen Amtrak’s Inland Route connecting Boston to New Haven via Springfield, which would provide both a climate-resilient alternative to the coastal route and a boon for the cities along the way. It would also add two more daily passenger roundtrips and shave 20 minutes off the time it takes to get from Springfield to Boston by train, making rail a more competitive transportation option for people who would otherwise drive. And it would contribute to Amtrak’s long-term ambitions by laying the groundwork for a superior Boston-Albany route.
There would also be an added benefit to the state’s rail aspirations. By improving passenger capacity along a major stretch between Worcester and Springfield, the project would breathe new life into plans for an East-West rail line that would operate along that route.
That would certainly be a welcome development, but for state lawmakers, it would also underscore a key failure: their foot dragging and overreliance on federal funding to get this and other transportation projects off the ground. That’s why the Legislature’s failure to meet Healey’s request for some East-West rail funding is disappointing, and it’s why Massachusetts has to start putting more of its money where its mouth is when it comes to improving public transportation across the state.
It’s undeniable that major transit expansion projects will require assistance from the feds. But as one of the country’s wealthiest states, Massachusetts shouldn’t keep waiting around for the federal government to jumpstart transportation projects. (That’s at least one lesson from the federal government’s decision to deny funding for replacing the Cape Cod Canal bridges earlier this year.) Thankfully, there have been signs of progress, and lawmakers have been able to invest more in transportation since voters passed the new millionaires tax, whose proceeds are specifically earmarked for transportation and education, last year. The new budget, for example, includes using $477 million of that new tax revenue on transportation projects.
Still, with the resources it has, the state must be a visionary when it comes to investing in modernizing public transportation, especially as lawmakers keep talking about the need to reduce carbon emissions. It would be great for the federal government to give Massachusetts a boost with this grant, but the Legislature shouldn’t wait to invest in the East-West rail until then. Because if the grant is ultimately approved — and hopefully it will be — the Legislature should be ready to capitalize on it.
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Portland Press Herald. August 15, 2023.
Editorial: Federal funding reminds us of Maine public libraries’ potential
A shot in the arm for libraries across the state rightly focuses on the expanded role that they’re playing in our communities.
Maine’s libraries are evolving for the better.
We learned last week that 39 of Maine’s 255 public libraries are in line to receive a tranche of $1.7 million in COVID-19 relief, funding mostly geared at creating space that can be used for remote work. The smallest of the grants paid out will be $5,000, the largest $100,000.
These aren’t monumental sums of money. But when it comes to updating seating, adding partitions for better privacy and buying laptops for in-library use, even $7,934 can go a long way. Just ask Bucksport’s Buck Memorial Library, which received just that amount (and has committed to doing all of that with the grant while investing in new outdoor benches and a projector for events).
The decision to fund libraries in this way should remind us that they are more valuable than ever to a rapidly changing Maine.
Reporting by the Kennebec Journal last week did a very good job of setting out the new status quo: Representatives of three of the recipient libraries in central Maine – Gardiner Public Library, Vassalboro Public Library and Readfield Community Library – each said the average number of daily visitors to their libraries was up this year compared to before the pandemic.
They noted that, whether they choose to or they have no choice but to, an increasing number of people have been using the libraries as places to work remotely. We suspect that if you were to poll the other 36 libraries that have been identified for this funding, their officials would offer similar reports.
Brooks Rainwater, CEO and president of the Urban Libraries Council, told The Washington Post in June that one of the contemporary library’s biggest challenges was to dislodge the stereotype of being “musty, strict and focused solely on books.”
A busy, visible city-center library – the kind of place that was being used for remote work long before remote work became the fact of life it is today – might find this type of reputation management an easier task. Which is why it’s so important that the libraries dotted throughout Maine’s rural communities are getting a future-focused leg up, too.
“Our libraries routinely assist patrons with filling out unemployment forms, organizing and carrying out job searches, and digital skills building,” Maine State Librarian Lori Fisher said in a statement last week. “The projects funded through this initiative will take this core work to the next level and enable expanded services that meet the unique needs of remote or hybrid workers.”
It’s not just the classical remote or hybrid worker who stands to benefit from this focused infusion to libraries; the list of library users is long and growing all the time.
Your local library can be as much a hub for the worker needing to work from somewhere else as it can for older people getting online, parents with young children attending readings or new Mainers getting their bearings with the help of library connectivity and staff support. Keeping in mind the many social-infrastructure benefits like this, it stands to reason that even the town resident who doesn’t set foot in the library benefits from the library’s presence.
A modernized, thoughtfully equipped library that caters to the needs of a diverse cross-section of local people becomes a gift that keeps on giving. It supports individuals and families in their education and their work; provides invaluable services and support; militates against isolation and contributes to a greatly strengthened community fabric.
Long may these unique places of connection, collaboration, learning – and work! – thrive.
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