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IN THIS ISSUE:

B a r r e H e r i t a g e F e s t i v a l t o r u n f r o m J u l y 2 3 r d - 2 7 t h

July 17 August 7, 2014

BARRE HERITAGE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

THE CASE AGAINST TECHNOLOGY

MONTPELIER CASE TO SUPREME COURT? ji t

Its not about being green, but that is an important aspect of life. It is not about living self-sufficiently, but thats cool, too. Its more about living a satisfying life, accord-ing to Ben Hewitt, 42, who has lived with his family completely off the grid for over 15 years in the backwoods of Cabot and has only just recently hooked up his household to the grid. The home is nestled a mile or so from the cen-ter of town, in a hidden patch of land among extensive vegetable gardens, forest and pasture. A windmill whooshes and a solar panel sits on a hill above the house.

The reason we got grid-connected is that we would have to replace two storage batteries

every 10 years at a cost of $5,000 per decade. Getting grid-connected cost $10,000. But there is not a huge difference from a resource standpoint, Hewitt said. Not much in their lifestyle changed, either, when they went from being completely off the grid to 90 percent off the grid, he said.

Until last summer his family relied solely on a solar panel that generates 1.8 kilowatts of power and a windmill that generates 900 watts. But the familys story is as much about consuming less energy as it is about consum-ing energy from a particular source. Its about their LED light bulbs, about their stovetop espresso machine, about habits and routines that veer away from the consumption hyste-ria towards simpler, homegrown solutions. All told, the family consumes an average of 4 kilo-watt hours per day; the average Vermont home uses approximately 19, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. Half of the power they use is to run four chest freezers. The other half is used for lighting, a laptop computer (for writing Bens profes-sion), a desktop computer (for music and mov-ies), a washing machine, a blender and a food processor. They dry clothes on a clothesline. For refrigeration, they use an electric fridge in the summer, but it is replaced by an icebox in winter. Heat comes from wood.

We feel this is a much richer lifestyle as op-posed to having endless amounts of cheap energy at our disposal, Hewitt said. Because they produce most of their own food with an extensive vegetable garden, berry patches, cows, pigs and poultry, his family only goes to town for provisions, such as animal feed and flour, about once a month.

The Hewitts dont have a television. So what do they do for entertainment?

We live for entertainment, Hewitt said, not-ing that his sons, Fin, 12, and Rye, 9, are more interested in hunting, fishing and trap-ping than anything else. They also play music togetherguitar and banjo. They have no interest in TV and no interest in video games. They think [video games] are a waste of time. Our whole life is geared toward being outside. Were not a screen-oriented family.

We simply find this way of life more fulfill-ing; we do not want to be captive to a bunch of power-consuming devices. We'd rather be out-doors in nice weather, and when the weather isn't nice, we choose to read or play music and games. In other words, we're not forcing our-selves to live like this just so we can lower our carbon footprint.

The Hewitts did not connect themselves to the grid out of disillusionment with the green ideal any more than they chose to live off the grid to pursue that idea. The grid connection was a practical decision, born of a desire not to have to deal with a generator during the winter, when solar energy, so to speak, heads south and storage batteries get depleted.

With the grid connection, Hewitt wrote in a follow-up email, life is definitely easier There's little question in my mind that grid-connected solar power consumes fewer re-sources than off-grid solar power. People tend to conveniently forget that solar storage batter-ies are full of all sorts of toxic materials that are industrially mined.

In addition to his work as a husband, father

and homesteader, Ben works as a writer. He keeps a blog at benhewitt.net, which gives some insight into his lifestyle choice. "Every so often, a July 9 blog entry reads, some-thing reminds me of how small my world has become, how its triumphs and failures have come to hinge almost exclusively on the mi-nutia [sic] of our life on this scrappy little rise of field and forest. Theres a whole big world out there, where people are getting rich and flying over oceans and curing diseases and starting businesses and Im sitting here feel-ing smug for not killing pigs the day before company? For filling the woodshed by the first of June? For clearing up Apples mastitis? For getting a new blade on the sawmill and the oil changed, too?"

Hewitt also contributes to Yankee and Out-side magazines. His bibliography even includes a 2009 contribution to Popular Mechanics on the generator-to-outlet details of off-grid power. In addition, this September, he will release his latest book, Homegrown: Adventures in Parenting off the Beaten Track, Unschool-ing and Reconnecting with Nature. He has al-ready authored two books: The Town that Food Saved (2010) and Making Supper Safe (2011).

It is hard to imagine something the Hewitts need that they do not have at their home in Cabot; still, most Americans no longer live this way. According to curiosity.discov-ery.com, no one knows exactly how many Americans live off the grid. A 2006 estimate put the number of people who produce their own electrical power at 180,000,--making the Hewitts members of a small but very interesting minority.

Off the Grid: Cabot Family Eschews Television, Video Games and Supermarkets by Carla Occaso

ENERGY

PAGE 2 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

Public Lectures

Saturday, July 26Vit L, artist in residence, presents Returns and Global Turns: The Traumas of (Art) History and Modernity in Cambodia, Vit Nam and Beyond.

Vit Ls work examines modernity, popular culture, and trauma in contemporary art in Southeast Asia and Asian America.9:0010:30 amCollege Hall, Chapel

Wednesday, July 30Program Symposium with visiting artists Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro and Beatriz Santiago Muoz.

The 2014 Symposium will explore how these lecturers engage the historical frameworks of trauma and their roles as artists and cultural producers in locating personal experience in a social and political context.9:00 am12:00 pmCollege Hall, Chapel

Exhibitions

July 27August 1New/Returning Student Exhibitions10:00 am6:00 pmAlumni Hall

July 29August 1Graduating Student Exhibition Opening Monday, July 28, 7:30 pmOpen to the public starting Tuesday10:00 am6:00 pmVCFA Gallery

Summer Residency 2014 Exhibitions and lectures, free & open to the public

MFAin visual art/presents

Vermont College of Fine Arts, 36 College Street, Montpelier, VT 05602802.828.8839

For more information,visit vcfa.edu/visual-art/summer2014

Vit L / Vit L: Charlies Angels (of History) / Beatriz Santiago Muoz: Ojos para mis enemigos / Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro

Save Money, Meet New People, Help Your Community

Join the Time Bank!

Exchange Time Instead of Money

Stop by @ 46 Barre St, Montpelier

Open Office W, Th 10-4

802.552.3040 info@orexchange.org

www.orexchange.org

Please vote and join the discussion at www.montpelierbridge.com/co-op (or use the QR code to the right). Or send us a letter about it! This is your newspaper and we value what youve got to say.

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Should The Bridge become a cooperative?

THE BR IDGE JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 PAGE 3

P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601Phone: 802-223-5112 | Fax: 802-223-7852 montpelierbridge.com; facebook.com/montpelierbridge

Published twice a month except July

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Subscriptions: You can receive The Bridge by mail for $50 a year. Make out your check to The Bridge, and mail to The Bridge, PO Box 1143, Montpelier VT 05601.

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HEARD ON THE

STREET

The midpoint of July. The trees are lush, and there's lots of evidence this year of successful broods. We hear and see four broad-winged hawkstwo adults and two youngin the sky here most clear days now, calling and soaring. That means there are plenty of amphibians and, yes, smaller birds available, and still the fields and woods are alive with new fledglings. This is the silver lining of a buggy year, wet enough, but not too wet. Down at the farm, we occasionally see "the Merlins of Montpelier" on a short foray into the surrounding countryside to pick off a pigeon or two. I think their brood must have been successful too. Or, could there now be two merlin families in town?Nona Estrin

Nature Watch

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Health Care Costs Leveling Out?

The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB), which exercises authority over budgets at Vermonts 14 hospitals, has announced that preliminary 2015 budgets submitted by the hospitals reflect only a 2.6 percent increase in net patient revenue in the coming year. Final budgetary figures will be resolved by the end of September, on the basis of GMCBs analysis and regulations, as well as input from public hearings.The hospitals budgets for the current 2014, fiscal year reflect a 2.7 percent increase in net patient revenue from 2013. While both years numbers suggest a flattening of the inflationary curve for health care costs, they only represent total revenue for the caregovernment and insurance payments, in addition to what the patients themselves pay. According to GMCB spokesman Mike Davis, theres no obvious, easy correlation between the net patient rev-enue trend and where health care consumers costs are headed.

Unadilla Adds Two Encore Performances of Pinafore

This summers regularly scheduled performances of Gilbert and Sullivans H.M.S. Pinafore at Unadilla Theatre in East Calais have sold out. Because of disappointed regular patrons, Unadillas owner and Artistic Director Bill Blachly has decided to add two encore performances of the classic light opera on Saturday and Sun-day, July 26 and 27. Curtain for both shows is at 7:30 p.m.Unadilla has a long tradition of staging Gilbert and Sullivan, but despite the popularity these productions, Unadilla has never before offered encore performances. Blachly said that it was asking a lot from cast members to put on the extra shows, but that this summers Pinafore is a stand-out production. It is probably the best Gilbert and Sullivan we have done in the last 31 years.

For further information, phone the Unadilla box office at 456-8968 or go online to unadilla.org.

Pie in Your Face

In early August, Plainfield resident Lea Ann Cone will be launching Papa Toms Meat Pies, a new food enterprise featuring traditional British-style frozen meat pies.

Papa Tom refers to Cones father, the ongoing inspiration for her new undertaking. As a 12-year-old, growing up in her home country of South Africa, she cooked nightly meals for her family, with her dads encouragement. My dad ate it all, she recalled. No matter how undercooked, underproofed, over-salted or just downright strange looking or tasting, he didnt flinch.

Cone went on to develop her cooking skills by taking a course in high school and has been cooking ever since. Her meat pies will be made from locally-sourced food, from family farms such as Plainfields Hollister Hill Farm and Cabots Maple Lane Farm. She will be using King Arthur flour and Cabot butter for her savory pastries. To begin, Papa Toms will offer four original meat pie recipes: coconut chicken curry, smoked ham and cheddar, spicy South African sausage, and spinach and feta (for vegetarian meat pie enthusiasts.)

To start out, Cone will be placing Papa Toms meat pies in the frozen food aisle of local co-ops. In due course she will also be offering fresh-baked, ready-to-eat meat pies hot at selected locations. Anyone who would like to place a meat pie order can go online to: Papatomsmeat-pies@gmail.com

East Montpelier Painting

On June 28, local artist Jessica Neary, shown here, completed her restora-tion of a historic painting of two Percheron horses on a barn on East Mont-peliers Sparrow Farm Road. According to the propertys former owner, David Sparrow, the original painting was done by Harold Miles in the 1950s, and was then affixed to the barn.

"Miles was an itinerant barn painter who died at 30 from a fall off scaffolding while painting a barn, Neary relates. He did many murals of horses, mostly on barn doors,

most of which have been lost or destroyed by weather."

Another East Montpelier artist, Caroline Shapiro, contributed the painting on the left, her own original work.

Buttercup revealing her darkest secret to the crew of the HMS Pinafore.

PAGE 4 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

Plans for the transit-oriented development at 1 Taylor Street, Montpelier, remain half-formed in the wake of the City Councils July 9 deci-sion to delay a final decision on the use of the transit centers upper floors. Developer Red-stone Commercial Properties has yet to com-plete an analysis of the relative feasibility of the two remaining optionsresidential housing and office space. A third option, favored by Redstone but rejected under the terms of an agreement with owners of the Capitol Plaza Hotel, adjacent to the development, would have put a new hotel on the upper stories.

At the July 9 session, every member of the council expressed a preference for housing, or possibly a mix of housing and offices, as did the members of the public who offered com-ments. Council members felt, however, that not all the compara-tive data were in, and declined to upstage Redstone by making a final decision before the developer could submit its suggestions, based on the results of the feasibility analysis.

Either [housing or offices] could work, 1 Taylor Street De-sign Committee member John Snell told The Bridge.

I think theres some distinct advantages to housing if [the units] fit the need of a certain group of people in Montpelier, he elaborated, referring to aging middle-income residents.

Under the agreement between Redstone and the city, Montpelier will own and manage the transit center portion of the building on the ground floor, while Redstone will build, own and manage the upper floors. At the July 9 meeting, Redstones Erik Hoekstra explained that the company is working to address and resolve competing ideasincluding new sug-gestions for condominiums rather than rented apartments. He asked for scheduling flexibil-ity to "sort through all the moving parts" and come back to the city with what would work best on the site. Indicating the complexity of Redstones task, he noted that determining parking requirements involved market per-spectives as well as lenders and appraisers, rather than simply zoning ordinances.

It adds up to a slowing of the projects pace. A public roll-out of the design had been sched-uled for July 30, at the last of the four public participation events on the project, with the assumption that a final decision on the upper stories would be reached July 9. Now, however, the citys website says the July 30 presentation

will offer initial design ideas, with one more chance for public feedback.

Addressing the July 9 council meeting, Hoekstra anticipated that Redstones July 30 presentation would encompass the building footprint, the transit plan, green space, and a rough "massing" of the building, but he didnt expect to have any finalized recommendation on the use of the upper floors by that date.

Hoekstra emphasized that the transit center will drive the basic design of the space, given the imperatives of the federal funding avail-able for the project. One of those impera-tives appears to be bus circulation through the property, which according to City Manager Bill Fraser has been a requirement of the Chit-tenden County Transportation Authority and

the Green Mountain Transit Agency since 2002, when discussion of the prospective tran-sit center began. The federal requirements will govern the num-ber of on-site parking spaces, which will, in turn, limit what can be done upstairs and the amount of green space on the site.

An economic analysis by Westfords Northern Economic Consulting, commissioned by the city to help guide its decision making, indi-cated no clear economic advantage for either the office complex or residential apartment options. Those who support housing or mixed use argue that the space would be occupied and alive at night, rather than becoming a dead zone after business hours, as office prop-erties on Stonecutters Way do. Redstones analysis, however, may argue otherwise on the basis of the dollars-and-cents details.

Hoekstra told The Bridge on July 14 that Red-stone is now talking with real estate agents to gauge the demand for a residential condo project, and with businesses who might be interested in buying office spacein contrast to Redstones earlier assumption that it would remain the spaces owner, and rent it to ten-ants. A couple of the strongest potential users of office space, he reported, are only interested in buying space, not renting. The developer is also still pursuing rental options, however.

Clearly, theres strong public support for the housing option, Mayor John Hollar told The Bridge. I agree with that. I think theres also a possibility for some mixed use on the site. Theres certainly going to be a housing component.

Decision on One Taylor Streets Upper Floors Still Unresolved by The Bridge StaffJuly 15 Cavatina Duo, the best flute and guitar duo in the world today,

EugeniaMoliner,flute,andDenisAzabagic,guitar,playingBachsSonatainEmajor forfluteandcontinuo;IvanovicsCafPieces,DebussysSyrinxforsoloflute,and PiazzollasAdiosNonino.

July 22 Dmitry Kouzov, cello, with Julia Kouzova, piano, willperformnineteenthcenturyRomanticmusicbySchumann,BrahmsandChopin.

Aug.5 Poulenc Trio,IrinaKaplan,piano,VladimirLande,oboe,andBryanYoung, bassoon,performworksbyGlinka,Shostakovich,RossiniandPrevin,andconclude withPoulencsTrioforPiano,OboeandBassoon.

Aug.12 The St. Petersburg String Quartet,willperform BartoksRomanianDances,BorodinsStringQuartetNo.2inDmajor,and DvorksStringQuintetinE-flat,Op.97,B.180,American. WithguestviolistRicardoCavalcantedeOliveira.

Four Tuesday Evenings: July 15 & 22 and August 5 & 128:00 pm in the Greensboro United Church of Christ

Concert-goersareencouragedtobringpicnicsuppersorpurchaselocally-producedfoodaspartoftheeveningsfunSeasonticketholderswillenjoypriorityseatingatthisconcertandacomplimentaryboxedpicnicsupper.

Individual tickets are $20 for adults* $70 for Season SubscriptionsJuly 29th concert is FREE TO ALL

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FREE...onJuly29that8pmAppearingintheArtsAlliancetent ontheTownGreenLewis FrancoandtheMissing Cats, ajazzquartetfromtheNortheastKingdom

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Please, if you can, weigh in with a financial contribution. Please send us a check made payable to The Bridge to this address: The Bridge, P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601. Please feel free to drop off a check at our office. We are located on the lower level of Schulmaier Hall on the campus of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Thank you in advance for considering this request for needed financial help.

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THE BR IDGE JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 PAGE 5

In a victory for the regulation of money in politics, a federal court has ruled that the Montpe-lier-based Vermont Right to Life Committee (VRLC) and its Fund for Independent Political Expenditures (FIPE), a super PAC or political action committee that makes independent expenditures, will have to adhere to existing state disclosure laws on political donations. VRLC has decided to appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on July 2 that FIPE is not independent, and that both it and its parent organization VRLCwill not receive any relief from Vermont laws on political donations. The court found that FIPE and VRLC's Political Committee are not functionally separate, but rather enmeshed financially and organizationally, essentially as two accounts under VRLCs control.

VRLC and FIPE had brought the case against the state in the person of Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell. He was joined as co-defendants by attorneys general from nine other states, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.

The decision upheld the constitutionality of Vermonts law on political contributions. VRLC and FIPE had asked the court to find that donations to FIPE were not subject to the statutory limit of $2,000 per two-year election cycle; that political advertisements did not have to identify their sponsors; that political advertisements costing more than $1,000 and published within 30 days of an election should not be subject to special reporting requirements; that VRLC could

commence making contributions to political candidates without identifying who its own con-tributors were; and that, if identifying those donors was required, the Vermont statute's $100 threshold for naming them should be raised. VRLC and FIPE lost on all points.

Representing the plaintiffs, Indiana attorney James Bopp told The Bridge, Theres two as-pects to the case. The first is where, if an organization does even a minor amount of political activity under Vermont law, they have to ... suffer the burden of more reporting. The other is, the Second Circuit goes against all the other circuits and requires that super PACsin other words, independent expenditure committees, independent of other PACshave con-tribution limits. Theres just a ton of national groups that have independent expenditure PACs and PACs that contribute to candidates, that go together, and the Second Circuit seems to think thats improper."

Asked if VRLC would be appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, Bopp said, "Yes, our client has decided to do that. The Second Circuit has decided to be a lone ranger.

VRLC and FIPE had challenged the law on the grounds that it violated their free speech rights. While the circuit court affirmed those provisions propriety, the Supreme Court has in recent decisions taken a very broad view of what free speech will allow in the political sphere. It re-mains uncertain, however, if the high court will agree to consider the VRLC case.

Court May Hear Montpelier Group's Case by C.B. Hall

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Got a news tip? We want to know! Send it in to The Bridge at: editorial@montpelierbridge.com

PAGE 6 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

For city government, summertime is very busy. With the arrival of good weather, we begin work in earnest on the many projects and programs that have been in the pipeline or approved through the completed budget process. Our ongoing work includes very visible construction, groundwork for upcoming projects and a constant effort to improve our internal operations.

Major Projects:District Heat: We are gearing up for the first full season of operation using the states new heating plant and having all customers connected to the system. Work in various parts of downtown will be happening for short stints as minor corrections are made to last summers installation. Building owners are com-pleting their internal work in order to connect. Full operations will begin on Oct. 1.River Street Sewer Reconstruction: This reconstruction of a failing sewer line began in the spring and is finishing up on schedule.Montpelier Bike Path: This project is not so far along in the development stage as other projects. This project (not to be confused with the bike path segment in the One Taylor Street project) extends the bike path from Granite Street/Stonecutters Way to Gallison Hill Road and Route 2 near Casellas. This path has been in planning for a long time; however, recent changes in projected rail use have caused a complete revisiting of the project. The result is that the town of Berlin segment has been separated from the Montpelier segment and each community is pursuing its leg of the path at different paces. The change in scope has required new surveys, new designs and new right-of-way acquisition. Current schedules call for the development work (presently under way) to occur in 2014 and construction to begin in 2015.One Taylor Street Transit Center and Downtown Redevelopment Project: This is the biggest project in active development. The multi-faceted project includes a new transit center/welcome center with a private development partner. It will link the bike path which presently ends at Taylor Street with Main Street, a new bike-pedestrian bridge next to the rail bridge in downtown, redevelopment of the rail bridge area and all new landscaping in the Taylor Street area, as well as improvement of the area near the Main Street-Barre Street intersection.The city has conducted a public process for the private development concurrently with the site design. Redstone has been selected as the private developer and is pursuing a housing project and/or an office project on the site. Current schedules still anticipate a 2015 start to construction.

Regular Projects: In addition to the above major projects, the city is very busy with an enhanced slate of maintenance and improvement projects throughout the city.

A Message From City HallThis page was paid for by the City of Montpelier.

Other City Initiatives:In addition to infrastructure improvements, many city initiatives are happening in programs and policies as well.

Parking Garage The City Council recently authorized city staff to begin studying the feasi-bility of constructing a parking garage on the North Branch parking lot. More information on this effort will be forthcoming in the future.

Zoning The Planning Commission is steadily working through a redraft of the zoning regu-lations. These decisions will have impact on land use and development policy throughout the city. Interested people may wish to monitor this process.

Public Safety We are beginning discussions about initial implementation of the regional pub-lic safety authority approved by Barre City and Montpelier voters in March. In the meantime, our local police and fire departments continue to do excellent work.

Economic Development In keeping with the councils goals and priorities, city staff are preparing an initial economic development strategy. The focus will be on grand list growth, new housing and jobs.

Activities: Come to downtown Montpelier and experience many great events now through the fall. Check MontpelierAlive.org for up-to-date information.

Saturday, July 19, 1-9 p.m. - National Life Groups Do Good Fest: Music, food, beer, kids' games, nonprofit village and fun! Admission is free with a $20/carload parking fee.

Saturday, July 19 and 26, and August 2, 5:30-9 p.m. ArtsRiots Montpelier Truck Stop: Come down and try diverse foods from barbecue to fish tacos and live music. Fiddlehead Brewing, Citizen Cider, and wine available, too! In the 60 Main Street parking lot behind Positive Pie, near the corner of State and Main. Family-friendly. Artists welcome.

Friday, August 1, 4-8 p.m. Summer Art Walk: View works by Vermont artists at many downtown venues, including fine art, photography, sculptures, and more.

Saturday and Sunday, August 9 and 10, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Montpelier Sidewalk Sales: Montpeliers retail stores and boutiques will have big summer sales all day.

Saturday, September 6 Montpelier Alives 15th Anniversary Party: Stay tuned for more details.

Thursday, October 16, 6-9 p.m. Moonlight Madness: Blowout clearance and discount sales throughout downtown plus stargazing and moon watch at the North Branch Nature Center. Organized by the Montpelier Business Association.

Friday, October 17, 4-8 p.m. Fall Art Walk: View works by Vermont artists at many downtown venues, including fine art, photography, sculptures, and more.

Saturday, October 18, 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Montpeliers Art Festival: Stay tuned for more details.

Saturday, October 25, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Pumpkin-Carving Contest and Pie Sale: Join us at City Hall Plaza and show off your familys pumpkin-carving skills and buy a pie for a good cause.

Thank you for reading this article and for your interest in city government. Please feel free to contact me at wfraser@montpelier-vt.org or 802-223-9502 with any questions or comments. You may obtain more information about the city at www.montpelier-vt.org, on Twitter @vtmontpelier or Facebook City of Montpelier, Vermont.

DPW Construction Project List (2014 Construction Season)

Project Candidates Expected SchedulePaving August-October 2014 Baldwin St Barre St Emmons St Freedom Dr Gould Hill Rd Greenock Rd & Dyer Ave Heaton St & Woodrow Ave Judson Rd Main St (Murray Hill Town Line) Main St (Spot Repairs) Witt Place Putnam St Sidewalks Elm/Court/ School: VTrans (ADA) Postponed- Building concern Baldwin St, Emmons St & Heaton St With Paving projects above Bailey Ave DPW forces (Terrace Clarendon) October 2014 State St temp repairs at Capitol lawn July 2014

Slopes Cherry Avenue and Hill Street August- October 2014 Old Country Club Rd (rip-rap river bank reinforcement) September 2014

Storm Isabel Circle: replace culvert, new DI, modify ditch September 2014 Bailey Ave Storm Drain Replacement w/ sidewalk October 2014 North St: stream channel stone lining October 2014 Harrison Ave / Loomis St ditch improvements November 2014

CSO Towne Street: New storm drain August 2014

Waste Water River Street Sewer July 2014 Terrace St (above Dairy Lane) September 2014

Water Supply Guernsey Ave Upper October 2014

Bridges Granite St: Vtrans Painting & Deck 2014 Closure- End of August 2014 Bridge Inspection Report Clean, lube, paint spring 2015Crosswalks Inlaid crosswalk markings September- October 2014 Striping July 2014Ongoing Projects District Heat July- August 2014 Sharrows- State St July 2014

City Projects Under Way By William Fraser, City Manager

THE BR IDGE JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 PAGE 7

Brown Bag CONCERT SERIES j 2014Free concerts every Thursday at noon Christ Church Courtyard, 64 State St., MontpelierMontpelierAlive.org/brownbag | This is a smoke-free event

JUL 24 Dave Keller Bandsponsored by Montpelier Pharmacy and Bear Pond Books

JUL 31 Woodchuck Revenges ponsored by Formula Nissan and Sarduccis

AUG 7 Rusty Romancesponsored by Birchgrove Baking and Pinkys on State

SERIES SPONSOR: MEDIA SPONSOR:

Blanchard Park Development: Another View by Mason SingerIn our last issue, Montpelier city councilman Thierry Guerlain presented a proposal for the development of a parking garage and housing in the Blanchard Park neighborhood of the city, in back of the Pitkin Building. Below, Calais resident and Montpelier property owner Mason Singer presents an opposing viewpoint.

I read Thierry Guerlain's June 26 op-ed piece, "Proposed Project a Possible Solution for Many City Needs," with particular interest.

Very briefly, Mr. Guerlain proposes gouging out the hill behind the Montpelier police station, building an enormous retaining wall and a six story structure (a three-story, 210-car parking garage topped by a three-story apartment complex). Access to the park-ing garage would come from three different points: the existing city lot behind City Hall and the Blanchard Block, East State Street, and Downing Street. Approximately 70 cars would use each of three access ramps, one ramp going to each f loor of the garage.

His op-ed piece spends around 1,000 words extolling the project's advantages, and then dismisses any disadvantages with a breezy five words, "We'd see change in Montpe-lier." Putting aside the snarky dig at the apparently recalcitrant people of Montpe-lier, Mr. Guerlain must certainly know that change is, in and of itself, neither an ad-vantage nor a disadvantage. But he doesn't bother to detail the "changes" Montpelier would see with his plan.

I support big thinking for Montpelier and believe that discussing innovative ideasno matter how fancifulis an important part of the process. However, there is no point in glossing over the impact change has, good or bad.

While Mr. Guerlain's plan has a number of interesting and positive points, he has appar-ently not spent much time thinking about Downing Street, a neighborhood that would be greatly affected by his scheme.

I can't speak in detail about the other access points he suggests (although, at a glance, it does seem that the parking area behind City Hall, the Blanchard Block, VCIL, etc. is already confused, and that his plan certainly appears to add to the congestion), but I have spent a great deal of time on Downing Street and own some property there.

Here are a few facts he should know about the Downing Street neighborhood and Blanchard Park as he advances his plan:

- Downing Street is a very short (about the length of a football field) and narrow cul-de-sac ending abruptly at the base of a steep hill, which is called Blanchard Park;

- the hillwhich is clayis a muddy, shift-ing morass when wet;

- a big chunk of the existing park space would have to disappear with the construc-tion and grading of access ramps;

- most of the buildings on Downing Street

house apartments, and their front steps open right onto the street;

- there are no sidewalks and all foot traffic is, of necessity, in the street;

- two cars cannot pass one another going in different directions;

- there is no room to build sidewalks or widen the street without acquiring private property and an expensive top-to-bottom reconfiguring of the street;

- the entire street has parking for 20 cars at most, almost all of the parking being on pri-vately owned property (five public spaces, 20 private);

- parking for the existing apartments opens immediately into the street with curb cuts for about twenty cars, requiring much ma-neuvering to get in and out;

- even now, visibility at the mouth of the street is very limited and dangerous for pe-destrians walking along Barre Street;

- access to and from Barre Street is blocked most workday afternoons by traffic backed up trying to get onto Main Street;

- tractor trailers and other trucks often make deliveries to businesses on Downing Street, impeding traffic f low;

- churchgoers and their vehicles f lood the street on Sundays, church holidays and fu-nerals;

- snow removal is difficult due to the street's configuration and in the winter all of the above points are compounded; and

- the area is a real, small neighborhood, not a pass-through street.

Mr. Guerlain's proposal is simply a pro-posalan entertaining jumping-off point, not likely to take f light. It is very mislead-ing, however, to suggest as he does, that a 70-car influx would have little effect on the street and the neighborhood. And it is naive to believe that those cars will be used only rarely. Dismissing the disadvantages of an additional 70 vehicles driving up and down Downing Street every day is not a good indicator of the thought given to this idea.

I am not opposed to his overall concept and would need to know more before making a judgment, but it is important to be honest about the impact of change. An interesting idea is not necessarily a good idea.

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On Friday evening, Au. 1, at 7 p.m., at Mont-peliers Bear Pond Books, Montpelier writer Gary Lee Miller will be reading from his new book of short stories, Museum of the Americas.

These are stories that I have written over a number of years, Miller said, describing his new opus. Most of them have been published in literary magazines. He mentioned a num-ber of magazines where his stories have been publishedChicago Quarterly Review, Hun-ger Mountain, The Florida Review and Green Mountains Review.

Millers reading will coincide with downtown Montpeliers Art Walk, held the first Friday of the month from 4 to 7 p.m. The Art Walk provides a chance for anyone who likes visual art to stroll around downtown and visit a number of artists studios, gal-leries and other locations where art is hung, exhibited or shared.

To celebrate the publication of Millers new book and com-memorate the museum theme of its title story, Bear Pond will be opening a Pop-Up Museum on Aug. 1. The museum will consist of mementos, artifacts and saved and treasured objects from people who live in this part of Vermont. Bear Pond is inviting contributions from all who would like to display items of interest from their lives.

When asked about the sorts of things that the museum might exhibit, Miller talked about a friend who is a baseball fan. That

friend is bringing in an autographed baseball for display. Miller himself has a collection of toothbrushes. Im going to bring in a couple, maybe a few, he said.

These objects dont have to have any stunning relevance, Miller said. But objects in our lives reveal something about usstamps from a personal stamp collection, a piece of sheet music with an all-time-favorite popular song, a harmonica that you used to play, a family photo that shows what you were like as kid, or as a kid with your sister, or shows brother and sister with mother, or depicts your favorite grandparentanything that tells a story and

reveals something from your life.

I will give [exhibitors] a museum card, Miller said. They can write what they choose about that object. At the end of the night you can take back what you brought. When you leave, it leaves.

Millers Museum of the Americas was published July 2, 2014, by Fomite Press in Burlington. In ad-dition to writing himself, Miller teaches writing and is currently of-fering a program called Writers

for Recovery for people who are struggling with addiction. The program, which is free and open to anyone who is in recovery or has a relative who is dealing with addiction, is being held on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Burlingtons Turning Point Center, a drop-in center for people struggling with addiction.

Bear Pond to Create a Pop-Up Museum to Celebrate Gary Lee Millers New Book by Nat Frothingham

PAGE 8 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

The Case Against Technology by Jeremy Lesniak

Whats this? The technology columnist is writing a piece against technology? Surely thats a typo.No, it isnt. In my role as consultant on all things that plug into other things, Im con-stantly looking for places that technology can make lives better, easier or less expensive. My job is not to find the best piece of technology for the job, but to find the best solution to the problem. Its true that the solution is usu-ally a piece of technology. On rare occasions, though, Im actually trying to talk someone out of a technological solution.

I have a saying I often share with clients: Paper doesnt break. Lots of offices want to be paperlessa concept that means you dont have to save any paper or print any-thing. Once you start looking at the cost of scanning in paper from the outside, backing up the files, making them easily searchable and organized it becomes really expensive and complicated. At least, it does compared to a few file boxes and color-coded tabs.

My often-used example of solving a problem without technology is using a notebook for storing Internet passwords. Yes, there are ex-cellent technical solutions to this challenge: lastpass.com, for example. However, some people need a low-tech solution. Whats more low-tech than a pen and paper? (Oh, if you do this, make sure to store it someplace safe.)

The point is that technology is not always better.

Theres a principle used in science and phi-losophy that you may have heard of: Ock-hams razor. If youre unfamiliar, the short version is that when you have competing theories, the simpler one is better. I find the same holds true with technologythe less complicated something can be, the better. Or, to say it another way, pick the simpler path. Why? Because there are always un-knowns when it comes to technology, and the more complicated you make a system, the more you compound the problem of

unknowns.

The Spread of WiFi

From your television, to your phone, to your video game system, many of the devices that traditionally connected with a wire have shed their tether. Many of the devices that never carried a cord can now connect wire-lesslybathroom scales, thermostats and picture frames to name a few. As this trend continues, wireless networks become more important. What happens, then, when you find your devices out of reach? Well, you have a few options

Wireless range expanders take an existing wireless network signal and rebroadcast it. You can use multiple expanders and each is under $100. Best yet, they're very simple to configure, often requiring little more than the press of a single button.

More powerful routers and access points can be had for varying costs. Sure, that $30 wireless router seems like a good deal, and it may work well. If you have a large

home or thick walls to send that signal through, though, having a router pushing a stronger signal can make a big difference. These better devices usually cost more, but it can often be better to have a single device to manage than putting a number of range expanders about.

Additional access points can be an easy way to bring a wireless signal to a specific location. By plugging in a standard net-work cable to your current router, you can put your new access point up to 300 feet away. Then you can connect to the new ac-cess point, rather than hoping that you can squeeze a decent signal out of the current far-away one.

There are other ways to spread your wire-less signal, but they're more complicated or costly. These three methods are fairly easy and relatively inexpensive. Enjoy!

TECHCHECK

Assistant city manager Jessie Baker says Montpeliers district heat project is, for now, sold out of energy capacity. The project contracted with the state for a fixed supply of heat back in 2012. The project temporarily supplied City Hall, Union El-ementary School, Fairpoint Communications, Union Mutual Mutual of Vermont, and the police and fire stations with heat from City Halls boilers last heating season, and the proj-ect is now heading for its next stage.

For those customers, testing occurred when they finally obtained heat this last spring from the heat plant as the new system fired up. That was a really useful process to go through. We could experience bringing on customers, Baker says, More or less, it worked ... There were no leaks, no failures. Last winters occa-sional load sharing, on cold days, between the customers' own systems and the city boilers was unsurprising, given that the latter were heating six buildings. Peak demand has not yet been tested for any customers: The sys-tem has been inaugurated under partial load. Baker was glad for the opportunity to test the system and practice bringing on customers.

The balance of customers are completing connections this summer, at which time the system will serve 15 customers and 20 buildings. The new arrivals will include the Federal Building (General Services Admin-istration), Christ Church, Julios, Everett Insurance, Capital Grounds (Everett In-surance), Washington County Courthouse and the sheriff s offices, 15 and 17 State St. (River Street Associates), City Center, 118 Main St. (NECI/N&M Real Estate),

Bethany Church, 15 East State St. (the Beard Building), and the Kellogg-Hubbard Li-brary. Training will take place in September. Consultants from Ever-Green Energy, an af-filiate of St. Paul, Minnesotas 40-year-old district heat system, will advise customers on how to get the most out of their heat ex-changers, what to watch for and what to do if theres trouble.

New hookup inquiries continue, and Baker says that Montpelier can consider new cus-tomers, but system operators first want a cou-ple of heating systems to understand baseline operation. The citys contract with the state allows the eventual purchase of more energy. New building hookups will be easier than those in existing structures, Baker notes. She mentions for example the proximity of the planned 1 Taylor Street development to the plant as an attractive possibility.

The city has a 20-year contract with the state for the purchase of energy. Similar time frames apply to the citys customer agreements. The rate for the next heating season will be set by City Council July 30. Customers can expect two charges: a capacity charge for the con-nection itself and an energy charge, reflect-ing actual energy use. The annual rate-setting process is detailed in the contract with build-ing owners. A sample contract is on the citys website by this path: Departments & Services > Planning & Community Development > Current Projects > District Energy Project > Information for Customers > Model Cus-tomer Agreement.

District Heat Project Moving to Next Phase by Bob Nuner

Middlesex Vehicle Charging Station Inaugurated by C.B. hall

On July 7, dignitaries including Gov.Peter Shumlin and Sen. Patrick Leahy came to Middlesex for the official in-auguration of Vermonts 33rd electric vehicle charging station, located at the MiddleGround complex on Route 2. The station will include both level 2 and level 3 chargers; the former provides 20 miles of charge in an hour for $2, while the latter, which uses a higher amperage and voltage, will deliver 80 percent of a full battery charge in 45 minutes, ac-cording to a Green Moun-tain Power press release. Credit cards may be used.

The location, at a retail center with several stores, including Red Hen Bak-ery and Nutty Steph's facilitates shopping while vehicles charge. Strider Development, which owns the complex, worked with GMP in develop-ing the station. The twin chargers actually began operation on June 10. As of July 16, they had provided 12 charges, ac-cording to GMP.

The GMP release stated that 33 charging stations now dot the state map. The website www.driveelectricvt.com notes a relatively high concentrationeight stationsin Washington County.

The relative scarcity of charging stations rep-resents part of what Leahy has termed the

chicken-and-egg problem that hinders the in-troduction of electric vehicles: to make charg-ing stations a worthwhile investment, there have to be vehicles to use them, but people wont buy electric vehicles unless a network of charging stations already exists. Vermonts rural character, coupled with the impractical-ity of waiting an hour for a charge that will

get one 20 miles down the road, compounds the challenge of getting peo-ple to buy the cars, which continue to be a novelty in most parts of the state. One obvious solution to the waiting problemstations which replace depleted batteries with charged ones, rather than recharging the formerfailed in a trial venture in Israel in 2013, when a chain of such stations there went bankrupt.

Aside from their direct benefits, the charging stations also provide an important boost to the

states economy by saving money on gas and keeping dollars that would have been spent on imported oil right here in Vermont, Shumlin said at the inaugural.

GMP supplies the electricity for nine of the states charging stations and expects to supply six more stations now in the planning stage. Sixty-eight percent of the utilitys electricity comes from non-carbon-based sources such as hydroelectric generators.

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A Note to Our ReadersWe do not typically mail our first monthly issue. Instead, we distribute that paper in racks at locations throughout Washington County. But we do mail our second monthly issue: the paper that is published on the third Thursday of the month. Find us in your mailbox or at a drop site near you!

THE BR IDGE JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 PAGE 9

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Air source heat pumps are one of the most efficient and effective home heating and cooling technologies on the market. Based on the same simple heat exchange system that has cooled refrigerators and freezers for years, air source heat pump technology has improved to the point that the pumps can now effectively and efficiently heat and cool homes.

Companies like SunCommon in Waterbury Center and Green Mountain Power (GMP) are piloting air source heat pump installation and financing programs (or in the case of GMP, rental) with the goal of bringing the technology to the wider public soon. While the technology isnt new and the systems are widely available through most HVAC install-ers, air source heat pumps havent caught on with the average homeowner yet. Who wouldnt want a quiet, ductless heating and cooling unit in their living space that uses no fossil fuels and has the potential to reduce oil propane heating bills by up to one-third?

Cost has certainly been one factor, says Jessica Edgerly Walsh, organizing manager at SunCommon, which is rolling out its pro-gram to communities where the firm operates this October just in time for the heating sea-son. Both SunCommon and GMP have fig-ured out how to make air source heat pumps a financially viable solution for the average Vermonter by offering financing or by rent-ing units to households. And, when bundled

with SunCommons solar power program, air source heat pumps are even more financially feasible.

With cost taken care of, Edgerly Walsh explains that the barriers are just a mat-ter of educating people. Its new, first of all, she says. Vermont-ers just need to see the technol-ogy and un-derstand it well enough to seize the opportunity before their fur-nace croaks. Part of the issue is explaining ex-actly what a heat pump is and does. The term can mean dif-ferent things to different people. Most people are talking now about heat pump technol-ogy that heats using air to air, says Edgerly Walsh. But there are also ground-source heat pumps that take the heat from under-ground water and convert it to heat the air in the home. And, a slightly less developed technology that is nearing perfection is hot

water heat pumps which use water.

Transitioning home heating systems to in-clude air source heat pumps is a process that SunCommon has been perfecting through a pilot program with 30 households in 10

different com-munities across the state. Be-fore we do any installation, we do a home as-sessment which helps us figure out how much power the home-owner needs to heat their home, what tempera-ture they prefer, and whether they want it cool in the summer, she explains. Sun-Common can customize the system to heat

and/or cool part of the house or the entire house. You want to leave your central heat-ing source intact as a backup, she explains. A well-designed ductless system can heat a house down to outside temperatures of -18 degrees. Below that, the homeowners central heating system kicks in. SunCommons pilot

households reported only counting a handful of times that their furnaces kicked in last winter, proving that these systems can truly heat an entire home.

Air source heat pump systems provide warm and cool air directly to the living space in-stead of through heat ducts. A large system is usually installed on the first floor while one or more smaller systems are installed on the second floor depending upon the configura-tion of the house and other factors. The sec-ond part of the system, which looks like a box fan, is installed on the outside utility wall of the house at least two feet above the ground.

SunCommon commonly refers to its program as solar heat because they are encouraging people to power their air source heat pumps with renewable solar energy. We want to move as many households as possible towards these systems to help achieve the State of Ver-monts renewable energy goal. The 2011 Ver-mont Comprehensive Energy Plan sets out a pathway for Vermont to obtain 90 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2050.

Air source heat pumps work regardless of the energy source. They generate significant sav-ings even if a household cant go with solar energy. SunCommon and other providers can install heat pumps and hook them up to the households utility power to operate them.

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PAGE 10 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

Teaching Program Dramatizes Energy Efficiency for Vermont Students by Nat FrothinghamThe Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP) has its office address and headquar-ters in Montpelier, but its outreach is state-wide. VEEP works with teachers, schools and students across Vermont to help them under-stand what energy is, how it is produced and how it can be used efficiently. VEEP also helps students understand the logic of renew-able energy resources in a world thats facing a glut of greenhouse gases, the immediate and long-term prospect of melting ice caps and glaciers, climate disruption, warming ocean waters and rising sea levels, and the serious threat of coastal flooding.

VEEP got its start about 35 years ago in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, when the Vermont Department of Educa-tion found itself inundated with requests from teachers and schools for materials and information about energy-related matters.

According to VEEPs Executive Director Cara Robechek, the past five years have been a particularly dynamic period in the organizations history. Talking by phone to The Bridge, Robechek said, Weve grown a lot over the past five years.

This growth reflects itself in a number of developments.

In 2012, VEEP reached 2,700 schoolchil-dren with programs. In 2013, five VEEP educators visiting schools across the state worked with about 5,500 schoolchildren. All told, during the first six months of 2014, VEEP has had programs in 71 schools across the state and has already reached 4,500 stu-dents. And about a year ago, VEEP became an IRS-approved not-for-profit organiza-tion. Said Robechek, Weve just gotten a grant to partially fund a climate change cur-riculum for middle school students.

A visit to the organizations website (VEEP.org) explains the VEEP educational ap-proach. VEEP educators draw their inspi-ration from 20th-century educational re-former John Dewey, who wrote, We learn by doing, but only if we reflect on what we have done.

At VEEP, learning by doing is one thing, but, in the words of the VEEP website, Hands-on is good. But its not enough. In order for students to retain concepts, especially in science and math, they must do something, and they must reflect on what they do.

In one popular educational ac-tivity, VEEP educators take a bi-cycle and generator into Vermont classrooms. A student gets on the bike and pedals hard. The harder and faster the student pedals, the brighter the light from the light bulb.

They have to work really hard to make that light bulb light up, said Robechek.

Then the conventional light bulb is removed and an energy-efficient LED light bulb re-places it. The student pedals again and the LED light bulb lights up, but more easily. That makes efficiency real for kids, Ro-bechek said.

Theres another curriculum called the

Solar Challenge. Schoolchildren design and build their own solar collectors to heat up water. The student-designed collectors differ from one another, and the students try to heat up water with varying results. Said Robechek, Many of the students get their water boiling.

As part of VEEPs work in Montpelier, a group of Main Street Middle School stu-dents visited Union Elementary School and taught six different lessons to three second-grade classes about solar and wind power. One activity involved building and testing pinwheels. Second-grade students got to de-sign and build their own sails for boats to see which design worked best to propel their boat along a track in front of a fan.

Through these activities the second-graders learned about energy and energy genera-tion. There was also an added thrill. Said Robechek, The little kids were excited to be taught by teens who were not that much older than they were. And there was an educational gain for the middle school teens who discovered they could teach second-grade students. What they got out of it was so rich in leadership and learning, Ro-bechek said.

Last year, in quite a different educational ac-tivity, VEEP worked with 13 Vermont schools as part of a Whole School Energy Chal-lenge. The participating schools in central Vermont were Main Street Middle School in Montpelier, Twinfield School in Marshfield, Harwood Union High School in Duxbury and Northfield Middle/High School.

At each of these schools an energy chal-lenge team consisting of teachers, students, a facility manager and, often, community volunteers worked together to drive down building energy use. According to VEEP, the energy savings from the participating schools averaged 6 percent.

Fostering Transition, Creating Jobs, Saving Money by Bob NunerSarah Galbraith manages the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative (VBI) of the Ver-mont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF), known for sustainable agriculture programs such as Farm to Plate. The initiative was funded through a United States Department of Energy appropriation, secured by Sen. Pat-rick Leahy in 2005. It expires at the end of 2015. Its goal is to create jobs in sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy, investigat-ing new frontiers in bioenergy.

Currently, VBI is focusing on three areas of biofuels: oilseeds, grass and algae. Galbraith notes that while plenty happens in Vermont in sustainable energy, e.g., using anaerobic digestion or landfill methane to generate power, there are areas of market uncertainty where VBI can help reduce risk. Opportuni-ties may be evident, but obstacles bedevil market development.

VBIs most successful project involves oil-seeds. About 16 Vermont farms make their own biodiesel from sunflowers, soybeans or canola. Ten growers near Alburgh are making their own fuel for their operations. This will be their fourth year, growing oil crops and processing seeds into oil and meal at UVM Extensions affiliate, Alburgh's Borderview Farm. One 800-cow dairy, Galbraith says, has slashed its fuel bill using oilseed-sourced biodiesel, and the farm also uses the leftover pressed seed meal as a nutritious, protein-rich feed ration. Alternatively, she notes, Jon Satz of Woods Market Garden in southern Vermont uses the leftover pressings from his 40 acres of sunflowers to build soil nutrients.

When petroleum prices spike, biodiesel makes particular sense, especially when its not a product of monocropping but an in-tegrated element in farm activity. Vermont farms moving to home-grown biodiesel for their tractors pay about $2.50$2.60 a gallon for their fuel, a cost savings, especially when fossil fuel prices climb.

Galbraith notes hopeful signs of large-scale customers getting on the biodiesel bandwagon. VBIs intention is to help local entities, such as government or larger businesses, switch to biodiesel for both transportation and heating. Supplies would come from local farmers, keep-ing dollars in the local economy. Signs are

good that thats going to happen in the next couple of years, based on whos interested and whos talking about it, she says.

Another example of VBIs market-risk re-duction work is its research in grass as fuel. Galbraith remembers her years with the Bio-mass Energy Resource Center (BERC), when, hardly a week went by that someone didnt ask, What about grass? given the many small plots of land that folks hate to see turning to brush. These gears have been turning all along. At BERC, we didnt have the answers, and its really neat to be in this role now, where I can put the answers together, and see, does that work?

VBI works with the Vermont Grass Energy Partnership, of which BERC, Vermont Tech-nical College, VSJF and UVM are members. That partnership has been looking at grass energy since 2007 or 2008, getting all the experts in the same room to start to ask the right questions, she says. Is the com-bustion technology available? There was a partnership on the combustion technology back then. Now, the VSJF is partnering with an engineering firm to question what sort of model works well for the resource, looking at the state of the science, creating a language around the technology. Then, the next step is to do some economic feasibility work. Does it make financial sense?

The signs seem hopeful: The thing around grass that we have going for us is that we know how to grow grass very well here. We have the know-how. We also have researchers in Vermont whove been doing it for years, and can tell you exactly how to do it well, which species to seed, how to prepare the land, how to treat the crop, when to harvest, all that kind of stuff. We have the know-how; we have the resources and infrastructure.

Galbraith notes that it takes three years to establish grass stands, and there are specific strategies for growing grass as fuelamong them, not over-supplying nutrients to the crop. At the same time, one needs to have appropri-ate technologies to handle grass pellet fuels. The market will have to do both simultane-ously. VBIs role is to work both sides of the equation, facilitating contracts so farmers can rest assured theyll have customers for their crops as well as technical support, and poten-tial grass fuel users can be assured of their fuel supplies through long-term contracts.

Finally, in algae, VBI is working with UVM and the private firm GSR Solutions, LLC, supporting lab-scale efforts to identify oil-pro-ducing algae strains.

The entire crux of what we do here," Gal-braith emphasizes, "is to showcase that on-farm or local biodiesel production can happen in conjunction with sustainable agriculture. The approach is a long way from the oft-criticized industrial ethanol industry and its attendant food-versus-fuel controversies. The production model promoted and pursued by VBI, Galbraith notes, is an operation on a very different scale with a very different impact on the local economyone that encourages crop rotation, builds healthy soils, and focuses on on-farm energy production and use.

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THE BR IDGE JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 PAGE 11

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We convert old windows into energy-efficient ones!A new system of adding glass to old double-hung windows gives you the look and function for less than the cost of replacement windows.

Every little bit helps when it comes to reduc-ing energy use, or so it seems if you look at the pioneering efforts of two Vermont companies.

In the grand scheme of things it doesnt move the dial hugely, but it is one element, said Jed Davis, sustainability director for Cabot Creamery, of the companys solar-powered trash compactor. Davis spoke of implementing green energy to power the compactor as an experiment between two companies that have an ongoing partnership in sustainability technology. The two com-panies are Cabot and Rutland-based Casella Resource Solutions.

Exhibiting a sense of whimsy, Casella deco-rated the unit with what Davis called a "Holstein-colored" covering, referring to the big black-and-white bovines common to Vermont pastures. This is almost an inside joke because the unit is not visible to any-one except when it is transported by truck on Route 2 to Montpelier, Davis said. The unit was a prototype for Casella, which got it up and running in 2012and two years

of operation have proven the unit's energy conservation.

The two companies are also working on ways to convert waste material to methane gas power. They have been developing a test site at a farm in Massachusetts where cow manure and whey buttermilk are converted into electricity. The whey buttermilk would otherwise go into the waste stream, rather than becoming power, as it does when it is put in an anaerobic digester with cow manure. This pilot project creates more elec-tricity than when manure is used alone. It's a great example, Davis said, of a technology that takes what would otherwise be waste and repurposes it into electricity. The test site generates enough energy to power the farm, with enough left over to help power Cabots creamery in West Springfield, Mass. Given Vermont's extensive dairy industry, the nascent technology shows plenty of po-tential for application in Cabot's home state too.

Trash Power: Cabot and Casella Wed Alternative Energy and Waste By Carla Occaso

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Photo Courtesy of Cabot Creamery

PAGE 12 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

For four years between 1978 and 1982 and again in 1984, Barre celebrated its rich ethnic heritage with a festival full of live music and dance performances, crafts, games, a parade and food. Dubbed the Barre Ethnic Heritage Festival, it drew thousands of visitors to Barre each year but was discon-tinued when a murder occurred during the festival in 1982. Revived again in the mid-90s as the Barre Homecoming Celebration and then renamed the Barre Heritage Festival and Homecoming Days in recent years, the festival has been the pinnacle summer event of Barre ever since. Run primarily by a vol-unteer committee of the city for most of its history, the festival is now presented by the Barre Partnership, Barres downtown Main Street organization.

The festivals roots can be traced back to 1975 when the Friends of the Aldrich Library pub-lished Barre in Retrospect (1776-1976) in celebration of the United States Bicentennial. That publication apparently led to the renewal of local interest in Barres ethnic heritage and history. The creation of the Barre Eth-nic Heritage Studies Project followed in 1977. That project, directed by Karen Lane, who has been the Aldrich Public Librarys director since 1989, received a grant that year from the United States Department of Education to trace the genealogical roots of Barres citizenry, publish a fantastic timeline of Barres history called Barre, Vermont: An Ethnic Bouilla-baisse, open up a genealogical archive in the basement of the Aldrich Public Librarythe Roots Cellarand celebrate with an in-ternational festival to showcase and celebrate Barres heritage in July 1978.

That first year, a flier promoting the event read Barre is having a Party! An International Festival Sponsored by the Barre Ethnic Heri-tage Studies Project. A promotional T-shirt underscored the focal point of the celebration: From Many Lands, One Community. Six city blocks were shut down for two days. By all accounts, the event was a hit despite some rain. Residents and visitors congregated for food; participants dressed in the garb of their forebears; there were musical and dance per-formances, and a parade.

The history that they were celebrating, and that we celebrate at this years Barre Heritage Festival and Homecoming Days, was incred-ibly rich and unique to Barre. While Barre began like many Vermont towns, with a char-ter in 1780 and settlements by Yankees, it was home for French-Canadian farmers and then Irish immigrants following the 1845 potato famine. However, it wasnt until the Central Vermont Railway was completed in 1875, linking Barre to Montpelier, that the nascent granite industry began to kick into high gear and attract immigrants from all over the world. Scottish stone cutters were the first to arrive in 1880, followed by Swedes and Jews. In 1888, the Granite Railway Company opened the Sky Route from Barre Village to the quarries. Business boomed, attracting another influx of immigrants. Between 1880 to 1890, the population tripled from 2,000 to just under 7,000, with one-third of the popu-lace being foreign-born. By 1894, the popula-tion had swelled to 10,000. Six neighborhood elementary schools had been built, North Barre being the last, in 1914.

By 1939, a survey showed 50 percent of fathers and 42 percent of the mothers of Spaulding

High Schools graduating class were foreign-born. They came from 14 different countries, including Italy, Spain, Poland, Finland, Swit-zerland, Germany and Lebanon. While many of the children of these families stayed in Barre to raise their families, many others left and now return to Barre annually on the last weekend of July for the Barre Heritage Festival and Homecoming Days, to join their alumni celebrations and to visit with family.

This years Barre Heritage Festival and Home-coming Days takes place over five days start-ing Wednesday, July 23, and ending on Sun-day, July 27, with the bulk of the activities downtown concentrated on Friday afternoon through Saturday evening. This years festival is, in a way, a tribute to the two people who played a lead role in the festival from the very beginning: Karen Lane and her husband, Chet Briggs, who passed away this January. To honor Briggs, festival organizers have cre-ated, in his name, a heritage stage that will be located at Depot Square. Dance and musical performances will take place mostly on Satur-day the 26th, and include Irish music with Hi-lari Farrington and Benedict Koehler, Italian village dance, Celtic Company, Robert Resnik with Marty Morrisey, Michele Choiniere fea-turing Franco-American and Quebecois folk music, and Grup Anwar, playing classical and popular music of the Middle East.

Also honoring Briggs this year is the third annual fundraiser soiree on Thursday, July 24, at the Old Labor Hall. Called La Soi-ree Sucree (the sweet evening), this ticketed event promises to delight the taste buds with a French dessert tasting and competition from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Professional and amateur con-noisseurs of sweet treats are invited to enter the competition.

A wide variety of other activities are scheduled. The main stage at City Hall Park will feature a German oompah band, Prydein (American Celtic rock), the Tim Brick Band, the Nisht Geferlach Klezmer Band and Native Tongue Street Dance. Other highlights this year in-clude the 58th annual Paletteers Art Show and reception, open house activities and demos at Studio Place Arts, the hipster dance party at Espresso Bueno, the 31st annual Barre Ro-tary Breakfast, the Barre Farmers Market, the Cody Chevrolet and Cadillac Heritage Car Show, the Great American Fiddle Show, the first annual chili eating competition at Morse Block Deli, vendors and sidewalk sales, a parade on Saturday followed by a bathtub race, and the Barre heritage ethnic food tent, presented this year by the New England Culi-nary Institute.

With events and activities too numerous to list here, organizers encourage visitors to review the schedule online at www.barreheritagefesti-val.org. Barrethis bouillabaisse of a commu-nityis ready to have another international party, and you are invited!

From Many Lands, One Community: Celebrating Barres Ethnic Heritage by Emily Kaminsky

Barre has a long, storied history as a working-class town, playing host to legions of men and women who upheld the local economy by working the local stone. This granite has served not only as the building material for the Vermont State Capitol, but also for countless buildings and monu-ments around the country and even the world. As do its granite exports themselves, Barres immigrant tradition holds a powerful place in our states history. Douglas Glad-stone, with his new book Carving a Niche for Himself: The Untold Story of Luigi Del Bianco, introduces us to one such immigranta fascinating man who helped to build one of the nations most recognizable monuments.

In addition to being an Italian immigrant who lived for a time in Barre before heading west, Luigi Del Bianco was a family man and father of three sons. He was also a master stone carver who could coax the most lifelike of faces out of a cold, hard rock, a skill that served him well in his years as chief carver of Mount Rush-more. Unfortunately for such a fascinating individual, his important work on the memorial remains largely forgotten and his contributions generally overlooked. Since its creation, the seminal works of literature dealing with Mount Rushmore, as well as the National Park Service itself, have failed to so much as mention the man. Gladstones work, in examining Del Biancos life, aims not only to change this oversight, but to diagnose its cause.

Gladstones claim is that Del Biancos absence from the hallowed annals of Mount Rush-more history is due to his Italian-American identity. In fact, the book itself centers more around this idea, and the crusade by Del Biancos grandson, to gain recognition for his grandfather, than it does the actual recounting of Del Biancos life and career, although the authors stated desire is to give Del Bianco the recognition he has been denied so long. In addition, Carving a Niche for Himself gives a detailed overview of racism in America through the years, particularly racism directed at the Native Americans residing in the Black Hills, as well as discrimination historically facing Italian-Americans.

Carving a Niche for Himself certainly makes an excellent point in describing the irony of a memorial to some of Americas most illustrious white men inscribed in the stone of land stolen from the native peoples who lived there, and its no great secret that our nation has something of a checkered history when it comes to racial tolerance. Gladstone brings to light a fascinating man whose life, from the Italian village of Medora to the Black Hills of South Dakota, warrants recognition. Despite these virtues, Carving a Niche for Himself reaches too far in asserting that Del Bianco was deleted from history on the basis of his heri-tage. The book falls short, ultimately failing to argue its core premise in any persuasive way.

We can perhaps understand this overreach, given that the book is published by Bordighera Press, a nonprofit whose website states that it is dedicated to the culture of Italians in North America. Gladstone is trying to prove a point, a point in keeping with the focus and values of his publisher; but his efforts, in falling short, only undermine and fatally distract from what has the potential to be an interesting story.

A Barre Stonecutters Story reviewed by Lindsey Grutchfield

Book Review

just imagine...

ccv.edu/imagine

BARRE

Barre Heritage Festival andHomecoming Days Celebration.

THE BR IDGE JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 PAGE 13

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!

The Barre Heritage Festival and Homecoming Days (July 23July 27) is just around the corner and promises to be full of a family-friendly va-riety of danceable live music, delicious food and other fun. Organizers continue to look for volunteers, as well as parade entries and dessert submissions for La Soire Sucre (The Sweet Evening) at the Old Labor Hall, a French dessert tasting and competition. Get the full festival schedule online at www.barreheritagefestival.org.

Downtown Barre will become a whole lot hotter thanks to a new free downtown Wi-Fi zone which will be launched July 23 just in time for the Barre Heritage Festi-val. Through the Vermont Digital Economy Project and Vermont Council on Rural De-velopment, Barre City was one of many flood-impacted communities chosen to re-ceive six installations of wireless devices to create a Wi-Fi network within the down-town. What makes this project free is the sponsorship from local businesses of both bandwidth for the Internet connection and electricity to run the devices. The partici-pating local businesses are the Cornerstone Pub & Kitchen, Bob's Camera & Video, Goodfellows Fine Jewelers, Nelson's ACE Hardware, L&M Diner, and the Old Labor Hall. This partnership allows for a virtu-ally seamless network to allow Barre City visitors to access the Internet while visiting, shopping and dining in the downtown area. The launch event at City Hall Park on July 23 will be from 5:30 to 6 p.m. and will be immediately followed by the Author's at the Aldrich event at the Aldrich Library.

The Barre Farmers Market at the Granite Museum is in full swing with 20 vendors present each Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 pm. Market Manager Maayan Kasimov says the market has quite a few young new farmers and small-scale boutique food producers. The support from the people that come to the market has been wonderful, she says. So much enthusiasm and good cheer in the air every Saturday makes us all feel like we're on the right path. Kasimov reports that the market still has to work hard to make it a sustainable venture for the participating farmers and craft people. The market partic-ipates in food security programs and accepts EBT tokens, Harvest Health and Farm to Family coupons that can easily be redeemed toward healthy, local food choices. They hosted Childrens Day on July 12 and their next event will be Pet Appreciation Day in August (date to be announced soon).

Speaking of the growing season, more than a half dozen citizen-supported community gardening projects have begun reaping the fruits of their labor in more ways than one. Thanks to a Vermont Community Garden Network sponsored Grow It! workshop held in Barre in April, community garden-ers from all over Barre have created the Barre Community Gardeners Alliance to share resources and ideas and create a space for ongoing networking and collaboration. Members of the alliance include the Gardens

at Metro Way, the Barre City Elementary & Middle School Garden, gardens at Highgate and Green Acres, as well as gardens located at downtown churches and private homes that donate produce for senior meals. The newly formed alliance looks forward to an-nouncing their formation formally by enter-ing a f loat in the Barre Heritage Parade on Saturday, July 26. For more information about community gardens in Barre, visit www.bcgalliance.net.

Gardening has also taken hold of some members of Barres youngest generation. Sa-mantha Deans story is particularly unique. As a 4-year old, she took a little bag of quarters to her neighbors and asked to pur-chase their used f lower vases. She ended up with 86 vases. Then, for only $1 per vase, she began delivering weekly f lowers to those same neighbors. Six years later, Sa-manthas garden on Perry Street is known as Barre Blooms, and she delivers to her busi-ness accounts weekly. Samanthas family is also well-known for regular contributions of their own vegetables and gleanings from community gardens to The Galley, a senior meal program owned and operated by the Barre Housing Authority that provides nu-tritious meals to seniors 60 and over and other qualifying individuals.

Do you have some news fit for the Barre Beat? Contact us here at The Bridge to share your stories of goings-on in Barre at 223-5112 or editorial@montpelierbridge.com

Barre Beat by Emily Kaminsky

FOREST SCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!Mission: To connect young children to the natural world through nature immersion programs.

Forest SchoolSeptember 12th - June 5thFridays 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.Forest PreschoolSeptember 2nd - November 25thTues., Wed., Thurs. 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.single day or two day options.

Contact @ (802)229-6206 www.northbranchnaturecenter.org

DA

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BARREPhoto courtesy of Emily Kaminsky

PAGE 14 JULY 17 - AUGUST 6 , 2014 THE BR IDGE

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Barre Implements New Energy Efficiency Projects by Emily KaminskyIn-vault view of the 12 kW Rentricity Flow-to-Wire system which is con-nected to Green Mountain Powers grid. Photo courtesy of the city of Barre

BARRE BARRE

With its newly appro