Monday, November 12, 2012

Next up: high school project status

Franklin voted on Tuesday, Nov 6th at the high school field house. 17,500 voters came out to cast their ballots an impressive turnout! While the parking lot may have been hectic, there were minimal to no lines inside as things moved smoothly. Debbie Pellegri, the Town Clerk, reported that the machine for Precinct 7 was sticking on some votes but other than that, no issues.

The results were already report here and here so we won't spend more time on those now. I updated the chart to depict the voter turnout for the elections from 2003 through to the most recent Nov 2012 results.


One of the minor complications to the parking lot situation on Tuesday was that the contractor closed off the second entrance to the parking lot during the day. I had parked at Horace Mann/Oak St and walked over to save time going through the parking lot. As I came back in the evening to get the results, I noticed that the entrance had been fenced off.

Awareness of the high school building project schedule is on tap for this week. Wednesday at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers, the project status and construction phases will be reviewed. Building Committee Chair Tom Mercer has stated that the project manager, the contractor, the architect and the Building Committee will be present for this meeting.

Tuesday evening, you can take in the hunger experience at Dean College. Additional details ate found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/dean-college-hunger-awareness-banquet.html

Thursday evening, the Downtown Partnership is holding a networking event at the Six One Seven Studios. They are located at 25 Kenwood Circle. If you have not been to view their production studios, this is a good time to do that and network with other business folks in Franklin at the same time.

Other items posted in the past week include:

Nov 11





Nov 10





Nov 9





Nov 8





Nov 7





Nov 6





Nov 5





Sunday, November 4, 2012

It's time to vote - Nov 6th

Last week the summary was all about preparations for Hurricane Sandy. Franklin was spared considering how hard the folks in NY, NJ and other central Atlantic states fared  Granted nationalGrid still needs to improve on how they provide support during the storm and immediate response, but this is nothing like the recovery that will take weeks in sections of NY and NJ.

As one who lived in NJ and worked in NYC for some period of time, to see the devastation there is heart rending.

I do want to shift gears to focus on the election Nov 6th. You are likely as sick as I am of the bombardment of robocalls and incessant ads that this campaign season has brought to us. The point of it all is that we do have choices to make on Tuesday, November 6th. To help summarize the information available to us on the candidates and their positions, I have the following to offer:






Voting for all of Franklin is at Franklin High School.


View Larger Map

The polls will open at 6:00 AM and close at 8:00 PM.


Monday, October 29, 2012

It's all about Sandy!

As much as there is scheduled for the coming week, all depends upon Hurricane Sandy. What track will it take? How much wind and rain will we get? Will our power hold out?

If you haven't subscribed to the alerts provided by Franklin, now would be a great time to do so. They send about one a day with significant updates each time. You are not going to get anything like 's*p*a*m' messages from the this service.

You can subscribe to the news alerts on the Franklin webpage here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/subscriber-news


As for what the past week brought to us and what we may have learned?

I had a bunch of conversations at the Taste of the Region on Tuesday night. Some of them will lead to posts in the coming days. Some of them will lead to additional opportunities for the Food Pantry. There are a couple of networking opportunities coming up. Both happen to be sponsored by the Downtown Partnership, consider going!


The tour of the Horace Mann, Oak St and ECDC complex on Thursday evening was interesting. Unfortunately, only two citizens took advantages of this chance to see inside three schools. I'll have my pictures from the tour later this week.

Friday, the Franklin High School girls soccer team beat Mansfield to remain undefeated. They lead at the half, 1-0 and scored three more goals in the second half to finish 4-0. I wrote about how impressed I was with their play. It is no wonder why they are undefeated when they pass like they exhibited on Friday. It was great to see a good turn out. According to a reliable source, the crowd Friday night was a couple of hundred more than normally shows up to the girls games.

The stores were busy on Saturday and Sunday as everyone heeded to warnings about the approaching storm. School is out on Monday. Most Town facilities are closed. The Food Pantry is normally closed on Monday and the pick up from BJ Warehouse will be rescheduled.

Stay tuned into the alerts and weather.
Stay safe!
Help your neighbors!



10/28




10/27


10/26


10/25


10/24


10/23


10/22


Monday, October 22, 2012

Busyness time of year

Middle of October, things are getting busy now. Only a few weeks left in the campaign before the Nov 6th election. The last date to register to vote has passed. Voters can still get absentee ballots from the Town Clerk's office. The candidates have their final days to continue to get their word out. Voters also have their final chances to obtain the information needed to cast an informed ballot.

The week ahead is busy. Tuesday has a number of events happening:

  1. The YMCA is getting 5% from the purchases at the Whole Foods Market in Bellingham.
  2. The School Committee meeting Tuesday evening reviews the school improvement plans for the elementary schools among other items on their agenda.
  3. The second 10th Norfolk candidate debate occurs at the Horace Mann Middle School
  4. The Taste of the Region is held at Tri-county Regional Vocational Technical High School.


Wednesday is an early dismissal day for the schools.

Thursday has the second in the series of school tours scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM. This tour will cover the three schools in the complex of Oak St Elementary, Horace Mann Middle School and the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC).

Friday has the next to last Farmers Market at the Town Common from noon to 6:00 PM.


10/21/12





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10/19/12





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10/17/12





10/16/12





10/15/12