Granby01033

Benefit concert
September 18
7 p.m.
All Saints Church
7 Woodbridge Street
South Hadley. 01075

Tickets are $5 at the door.
The Colgate Thirteen, America’s most widely heard touring all male Collegiate A Cappella group, will be perform at All Saints Church in South Hadley. I was there last year. In fact, I did the videotaping for Channel 15. Granby alumnus Neil Krulewitz [...] Read more »

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I was very fond of Pat Curran, the former Granby selectman and all-around good guy.  His premature death saddened me and a lot of people, He had big heart and always brightened my day. He was the son of Kathy Curran.
His aunt, Jennifer Curran, has founded The Patrick Curran Project in his honor. The Project [...] Read more »

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Benefit concert
September 18
7 p.m.
All Saints Church
7 Woodbridge Street
South Hadley. 01075

Tickets are $5 at the door.
The Colgate Thirteen, America’s most widely heard touring all male Collegiate A Cappella group, will be perform at All Saints Church in South Hadley. I was there last year. In fact, I did the videotaping for Channel 15. Granby alumnus [...] Read more »

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It's been hard for people not involved in government to see the effects of federal stimulus. Most folks see things not changing, they don't see the sources for the money that pays for them. But Granby school children are benefiting from the money coming into the schools. The DHG reports:
 GRANBY - Granby teachers and administrators [...] Read more »

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The previous design of an educational complex is by far the most confusing aspect of the whole school buildings process.  To complicate matters, the state evidently approved the existing complex in June. I was told as much at my select board meeting, and as Notameany points out on Masslive, it was mentioned at annual town [...] Read more »

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The Republican has an article on the Friends of the Educational Complex petition submitted at our select board meeting last Monday.  The title, which is not usually written by the reporter, has nothing to do with the article, which contains a notable error: there is no proposed building project. 

GRANBY - More than 400 signatures have been garnered on a [...] Read more »

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What's informative about the Republican's article on Minnechaug Regional High School's replacement? A lot, actually.
Minnechaug is a larger than both East Longmeadow and Longmeadow High Schools, much larger the Granby High School. I can't find the statistics, but if my recollections are correct, Minnechaug has over 300 students per grade,  about the total number of high school [...] Read more »

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Athletic Director Tom Ford was not only appreciated in Granby, but regionally. In a career that spanned 42 years, Ford left his mark on Western Massachusetts basketball.  Here's a snippet from the DHG:
Nobody ran a high school tournament quite like Ford. From scheduling games, tickets sellers, venues and organizing officials and staff, Ford did it [...] Read more »

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Building Inspector Don Demers gave me some information on bringing buildings up to code. I don't have all the documentation yet. I don't know what qualifies as a building system, and I don't have a list of what all the school building deficiencies, though a portion of them are listed here. Anyway, here's what I have so far:
Making Buildings Handicap [...] Read more »

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I read Masslive daily. I don't post much anymore. The comments concerning the feasibility study were very enlightening, and though I can't prove it, a cross-section of public opinion.
I was, however, surprised to learn that Granby was scheduled to implode last night. As a selectman, I wasn't aware of anything scheduled for the meeting that [...] Read more »

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I'm one or two posts away from having all the pertinent facts about building codes. At some point, I will produce a report that should answer almost all the questions people have. In that report, I will also offer my reasoning for funding the feasibility study.
 
The 4th Edition (1984) states that if a building was [...] Read more »

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With help, I've finally located some of the laws that pertain to our school buildings deficiencies. As a section of the Massachusetts General Laws, it's not easy reading. You really need to be an expert to understand the process. When I'm done with my research, I hope to be educated enough to understand the experts. [...] Read more »

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This is a long post with God knows how many proofreading errors. I've done my best to present our building problems without raising undue alarm. I like to know everything I can before offering my opinion. Right now, I'm frustrated because I can't find the Department of Environmental Protection regulations, and I haven't found the Massachusetts [...] Read more »

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Although I think a successful override yesterday would have been the best outcome, I don't find myself blaming the voters. Since being elected selectman, my "theory" of democracy and the role of elected officials has grown. Without knowing how things should work, it's hard to evaluate why things fail. My theory has the following beliefs:

1. The outcome of a [...] Read more »

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When I voted today at 12:30, 250 people had voted. That's not a lot. I expect a lot more people have voted since they started getting out of work.
I don't have a crystal ball, but a low turnout is probably means the vote will go in favor of the override. The "Yes" side is organized, [...] Read more »

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The $60-80 million estimate was based on the escalated construction costs for the original, now defunct, school design.
Our project manager Paul Kneedler of Skanska posted the answer to the following question on our project manager's website, which originally appeared on Granby's Masslive forum:
 18. Is the $60 to $80 million figure based on the original school complex [...] Read more »

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Average cost to tax payers: $35 a year for 5 years
If you've been following my blog posts, you've read about the school building process and the feasibility study. I've read through the MSBA website including the Massachusetts regulations. I also read through our project manager's site, where people can post questions and receive answers. I've also [...] Read more »

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For the record, I see my job as selectman to set part of the agenda for the rest of the town. 80-90% of the my job is decide what needs to be decided and make sure voters have the information to decide what they think is best (not necessarily what I think is best). 10-20% [...] Read more »

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I was talking to one Granby citizen who asked great questions at last night's forum on the feasibility study. Instead of assuming everyone knew what all the acronyms stood for that people were throwing around, she bravely raised her hand and asked, "What's the MSBA?"
Sometimes when we're involved in complex projects, we forget that not [...] Read more »

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Our school department has been diligently pursuing a solution to our school building problems for almost ten years. The real monkey wrench in the process is the fact that the Massachusetts School Building Authority was created, put a termporary stop to school building, and then changed the rules on us. As Massachusetts taxpayers, we should [...] Read more »

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