Local voices chime in on a variety of topics.
For starters, there’s nothing worse than being trite, or predictable. I understand that it makes the costume arrangements easier for The Blonde Woman and The Gray-Haired Man: They can simply wear black suits and ties and sunglasses, then use me as the centerpiece for their ridiculous couple’s costume.
The new position did raise a few eyebrows at home. Most of the kids that I work with at the course, two I nicknamed “The Pope” and “The Pilot,” are about 35 years younger than me and in high school. They’re also classmates of my son at Pembroke Academy. “That’s just weird, Dadda,” my boy would say to me. “You work with kids from my school. You’re like 50-something. I bet they think we’re broke. Do you really make $8 an hour?” I really do, son, I told him.
We are extremely concerned that a failure to fund PREP would have an immeasurable harmful impact on our organization, our community, and – most of all – the 975 adolescents this program would serve for the next three years.
Let’s be clear in saying that there is absolutely no harm done at all to anyone when someone goes into a park with a shopping cart, a tarp, a large umbrella, or a pair of bicycles. Nobody is being harmed from the use of these items, even when they’re used to create some form of temporary “privacy barriers,” for the people who have absolutely no private places of their own.
What we have here is a moral and civic good. The humans who learn and work in this bright new building cannot help but absorb the message that their community respects and values what happens there.
I have a simple request for the Leaf Peepers inundating New Hampshire and clogging every road and highway in the state like plaque in an artery.
With media setting popular narratives, representation matters.
The readily apparent solution is also a three-part remedy: house, counsel, fund. Unfortunately, there has been historic highly effective community pushback: NIMBY, complete misunderstanding and fear, and “tax payer” opposition. It is ironic that the word “revolting” pertains to that of people resisting change, and also of the public attitude towards the homeless.
If just 10 percent of homeowners in the city built an ADU tomorrow, it would virtually eliminate the housing shortage in the city. Your action on this can make a dramatic impact is housing for years to come.
I was very disappointed and sad that Schonna Green left working for the city. During my time in elected office, I found Schonna to be hard-working, dedicated to her efforts and innovative, such as the HOPE program she had presented back in 2021. What I didn’t expect during my time working with her was the amount of pushback she received in the community on trying to bring positive change.