Green Mountain Meandering Missives

Photo: Selfie, taken in front of Montpelier City Hall (circa: 10/6/2022). During the most recent regular Montpelier City Council meeting, held on the evening of Wednesday, August 28, 2024, the potential sale and development of the 12 - 16 Main Street lot came up for discussion ( agenda item 11 ). This had previously been the site of the former Guertin Parklet structure , which the city had removed over two years ago, amidst the height of controversy and NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) or, rather, NOPE (Not On Planet Earth) concerning people living unhoused outdoors who were often occupying the small gazebo because they had nowhere else to go. My personal dream, hope and vision for the currently vacant property would be to have a four and possibly up to six story structure designed, developed and built that would house a bottle and can redemption center as well as a community center located on a lower floor, an emergency shelter with single rooms for people living unhoused outdoors above...

  According to a recent Seven Days article, here , the City of Montpelier is currently seeking to have the lot, which formerly hosted the Guertin Parklet structure (before the city had it removed in early May of 2022), developed; ironically, potentially, for housing: The Montpelier City Council is seeking developers’ proposals for a half-acre downtown lot that drew locals' complaints and repeated visits from police in recent years after its gazebo became a gathering place for people experiencing homelessness. [...] “It’s one of the pieces of the housing puzzle that the city can help with,” said Josh Jerome, Montpelier’s community and economic development specialist. The gazebo that previously occupied the city-owned lot had become a shelter of sorts, and bad behavior there promoted complaints to the city and calls for emergency services. People who lived in apartments next door reported finding syringes and   sleeping strangers in their halls and stairways; merchants sai...

  Mountains and Valleys of Hope Why are hopes merely lofty mountains, otherwise, far-off beautiful scenic valleys, somewhere in the distant and hazy horizon, only to be gazed upon, be dreamed about or imagined by those  who have the faith or vision to do so, elsewise eventually scaled or ventured toward by those few souls daring to risk the arduous, lengthy, trek or otherwise be left to either  artists to draw, paint or sketch panoramics, as well as poets and writers to pen and publish flowery sonnets, prose, articles, novels or books, never to be truly experienced and lived by most, save by those willing to make their hopes reality for both themselves as well as others, dreaming, envisioning and seeking something much better and different for all of humanity. This has been a question, among others, too often gone unanswered, through the ages, at least until a future generation finally does so. Morgan W. Brown Monday, March 4, 2024 Montpelier, Vermont, USA Photo: Camel's ...

First photo taken by a neighbor last weekend. For those who might have missed it, after posting the previous days reports and updates (12/22nd and 12/23rd), there was a follow-up update posted and also later edited, regarding Saturday’s events and related matters, as well, here . As had been previously mentioned in yesterday’s report and update, tentative plans for today (Sunday, December 24th), Christmas Eve Day, are yet to be determined, however Roaming Santa does plan to get out and about when he is able to do so. Second photo (taken by Ken Russell; shared with permission): Roaming Santa out front of the Vermont State House on Thursday evening. Roaming Santa’s Wish List : Recently, during one of the greet and waves in downtown Montpelier, Santa had asked someone what they wanted for Christmas and, after answering, the person asked him what he wanted as well. After pausing to think about it for several seconds, the reply was that what the person had mentioned sounded good to him too....