Of course tropical storm Irene and our recovery from it dominated the news and conversation during the week. Now the ubiquitous "do you have power yet?" has evolved into "when did you get power back?" I'll be glad, and I suppose you will be too, when this entire topic fades away. Certainly there should be a period of reflection, puzzling about what could be done differently, but I'm not sure there is a lot we could have done better. It just makes me worry more about the aftermath of that inevitable category 1 or 2 hurricane that we will see someday.
I see signs around town thanking National Grid and their workers for getting our power back. I wish that I could feel the same sense of appreciation, but I just don't. I did not see any over-the-top effort; and I hardly saw any National Grid presence in town during the recovery. Perhaps I'm wrong but I'm convinced there was no problem with the wiring feeding several roads in my area but they just left the electricity off for several extra days until they found time to send a pickup truck down the roads to check. I can understand a shortage of skilled linemen but not the people to check the lines from a truck.
And of course the workers and National Grid are being paid for this out of a state fund for such weather-related destruction. And if that money isn't sufficient then rates will be raised to make it up. So is someone overseeing the spending from the fund to ensure it's spent effectively? it's great that they did their job, but it's their job and I only give them an "average" rating from what I saw. Other stories would be appreciated.
I would like to thank the individuals who went well out of their way to help their neighbors by helping to clear downed trees, running extension cords from house to house to keep refrigerators cold, checking on elderly neighbors, etc. This sense of community is vitally important and is something to cherish and nurture.
This event proved the value of the town's new One Call Now system to get information to residents. If you have not signed up you should do it now. Sign up both cellphones and land lines if you have both. I was surprised that the town did not seem to use their Constant Contact email service in parallel with the phone calls.
We posted quite a few articles on Irene and the recovery when we saw that our readership did not drop as much as we expected after Irene hit. Perhaps many, like this "bureau office", were able to get Internet access while the generator was running or by going to coffee shops and such.
At the national level this country is hot into election politics, as if we ever leave it. Of course at Progressive Charlestown we believe that government, well run, can serve the people well and especially provide support to those among us who are struggling. You can see some of that theme in our recent selections from national media, especially our Labor Day articles here, here, here and here.
We would like to thank everyone who turned out for the Democratic Town Committee tag sale yesterday. You made it a great success and I hope you picked up some bargains. I know a lot of stuff that wasn't being used went to new owners and that's a good thing in itself.
Some interviews with farmers at the Friday Farmers' Market indicates that sales are down this year. I cannot think it's because of competition from the Saturday market down the road because that one has not done well at all. And I hear that the Richmond market has been a big success this year. Maybe it's something about Charlestown or maybe something is needed to better draw people in. I believe that farms are an essential part of the culture of our town and we need mechanisms to help them succeed.
Darn Irene put your dedicated Progressive Charlestown staff far behind on some articles we are working on including a multi-part investigative series that should be, ahhh, interesting. It also increased our pesky backlog of work not related to Progressive Charlestown. (Yes, we do other things...)
Sign up for one of our notification services (right sidebar) if you haven't or check back often. Have a great Labor Day weekend and week ahead.
Author: Tom Ferrio
