Re: State of the Town Message Monday, May 8, 2017 From: eprisby@gmail.com To: Tim McInerney Cc: Anita Patel Guys, I just took a look at the “goal” scenario. I’m not comfortable teling the town that this is realistic. Not only are we assuming $1M in new growth in 2020 and 2021, but we’re also […]
I Need Your Help
In the end, the record will reflect that the math showed us this outcome may well have been inevitable. We were another exurban town without enough commercial revenue to pad the good times, to say nothing of the bad times. We relied on our residential tax base in Trump’s era of “ENOUGH”, all the while […]
The Ed Prisby Interview
In a Planet Grafton exclusive, we have secured this publication’s very first interview with a sitting elected official – new Selectman Ed Prisby. Ed was kind enough to sit down with us and discuss his first 60 days in office. PG: Ed, thanks for agreeing to sit down and talk. EP: No problem, I […]
You Can’t.
“You can’t,” they said. You can’t say that. You can’t start a blog about Grafton and expect people to take you seriously. You can’t fight town hall. You can’t promote affordable housing and have people like you. You can’t speak truth to power around here. You can’t argue facts and expect to win. You can’t […]
The Roadmap, Part 6: Restoring Accountability
There was a subtly important moment this evening at Town Meeting that I think exemplifies the difference between this administration’s approach and how I think things ought to be run. At one point, Donna Girouard, Grafton resident and former Town Clerk questioned the Town Administrator as to why funding was not being proposed for an […]
The Roadmap, Part 5: Economic Development
Question: What do quality schools and affordable housing have in common? Answer: economic development. Wait, what? At first blush, those sentences make no sense. Subjects like education, affordable housing and economic development seem like totally disparate topics. But as community after community feels the pinch of declining state aid and a frustrated local residential tax […]
The Roadmap Part 4: You don’t know anything until you know where your capital money is spent.
It’s almost crazy that I’m getting to the capital platform fourth. Really, it should be first. You can’t tell me about your spending priorities in your community before you can tell me what your capital obligations are in the next five years. The goal of any capital improvement plan is to create a logical, data-driven, […]
