Friday
Jan222010
Welcome to a new chapter
Friday, January 22, 2010 at 03:16PM I've decided to turn my former campaign website into a community blog for discussion policy issues facing Newton and beyond. Please email me at ken@kenparker.org if you would like to blog on our site. Also, please let us know what you think of the new look. Thanks to Shawn for making the changes!
Reader Comments (7)
Please feel free to comment on our new site here. What would you like discussed?
I've heard of going green, but recycling web sites! :-) You've set the bar high for the rest of us with obsolete campaign sites!
So what to talk about? How about revisiting the Blueprint and identifying ways that ordinary citizens can champion and contribute to turning the parts that are most important to them into reality?
Dan Proskauer
Private Citizen - not running for anything
Dan,
Great ideas! It would be great to continue the conversation about the ideas raised in our Blueprint. I think we can blend that with local news and state and national developments that affect Newton.
Some things I think we might talk about:
- how the new education reform law recently passed on Beacon Hill will affect Newton;
- health insurance and the health care debate and their effects on our community;
- economic and policy developments affecting Newton; and
- Apple tablets (not sure why, but everyone else is talking about them)
Ken
I'm really concerned about the drift in our government toward state/national/international issues vs. looking inward and solving problems that only Newton leaders can. I think the Gitmo detainee welcome resolution was the epitome of that. The way that the vote was changed was like they weren't admitting that they shouldn't have brought the issue up in the first place. (You needed to know the number of the resolution to even know that it was brought up.) Now, the BOA is discussing the texting ban. It's not as though I'm pro-distracted driving or anything. I just think that the way to go is through our state reps and state senator -- not Alderman THM.
Ken, great idea making your site over into a blog. Good luck with it. I hope it starts many great discussions.
I have one question that I haven't had time to call the city about but you or one of your readers may know the answer. Is the City of Newton participating in the energy audit program that tracks energy usage in municipal buildings? The program just received federal stimulus money this week and is being offered to cities and towns across the state.
Jim, from what I have been able to gather, we are not participating.
We are getting a stimulus block grant that is being used for some energy-related purposes, but I believe we are not participating in the energy audit program you reference. I'm sure someone will correct me if my information is out of date.
There are numerous, significant stimulus grants for which Newton would be eligible, but have yet to apply, including many environmental ones. For example, we could be getting grant money to buy new, low-pollution trucks for our Department of Public Works.
... boring policy
We can find most interesting discussion like on Animal Planet and not policy:)