Increasingly people use FPF to tackle some of the tougher challenges faced by their communities… street crime, school and town budgets, disaster recovery… and currently in Burlington, illegal drug use…

Hello Neighbors – Over the last few months, everyone in our household and that of our downstairs neighbors’ (and landlord’s) had noticed certain vehicles consistently parking on the quiet side street next to our house, and just sitting there for a long time. Of course, this sort of thing makes you wary, but we had not seen or experienced anything overtly suspicious or criminal… until yesterday, when I found two used needles and bloodied alcohol swabs discarded curbside, right next to our house…

Last night, after dark, a cherry red car with a loud muffler pulled up to the same spot and sat. Our downstairs neighbor noticed this, and after a few minutes walked out to have a look/be a presence. The car quickly pulled away, turned around and took off toward North Ave. Sure enough, another pair of used needles and dirty swabs were found on the street. We called the cops, and an officer was sent over to have a look; we described the vehicle to him, and he collected one of the syringes. His idea is that people are buying on North St and then pulling back into our relatively quiet, not-much-patrolled neighborhood to shoot up.

Needless to say, this is disturbing and disheartening, and we’re hoping to help bring a stop to it ASAP. Be aware of stopped vehicles lingering at the curbside in your neighborhood, and be very careful to watch out for discarded needles, especially for the sake of children in your area (“luckily”, the needles that we have found have bright orange plastic components and are easy to spot; also, the idiot users have been thoughtful enough to cap them before dumping). Obviously, direct confrontation is not encouraged, but notice patterns and take down license plates of repeat visitors. And, of course, be very careful and wear gloves when cleaning up after these losers (the cops will come to pick them up if you’re not comfortable doing it, but they do not want them as evidence unless they are still loaded).

Be careful out there, and teach your kids the same!

After midnight last night, I observed a very large bright red light in the sky traveling north away from Smugglers’ Notch ski area. It appeared to be quite high in the sky, above the mountains and traveling slow. It was not a plane. There was no sound. I ran outside and watched as it traveled over my house. It appeared to go higher as it continued, in straight line path in the sky. I watched until it disappeared over the mountain behind us. I was hoping someone else observed this unusual phenomenon. I would also appreciate any reasonable explanation as to what this could have been.

Posted by Karen on the Cambridge Front Porch Forumtoday!

FOLLOW UP POSTINGS…

• I am very intrigued by your sighting… I’ve visited the crop circles in England and I do think that we have neighbors… Thank you for sharing your experience.
• It was most likely a Flying Sky Lantern.  We have sent those into the sky many times and had neighbors comment on seeing a UFO.
• What you saw may have been a satellite.  I’ve watched them in the past.  Check out the web site stellarium.org for real time satellite and star locations, it’s an amazing site!
• I don’t know how bright or how fast your object was but Mars is a very bright red right now and would be about where you described it at midnight. Planets, especially Mars and Venus are often mistaken for UFOs, especially if scudding clouds give them a sense of greater movement in the sky.  By the way there is a spectacular dance going on between the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter in the western sky right now during the evening and early night hours. Here’s some info.
• I live just down the road from Smuggler’s View, and although I did not see the large, bright, red light, we now live in unusual times.  With last week’s unseasonable heat wave and the strange behavior of my two pups, I feel inclined to paraphrase Carl Sagan’s epitaph to astronomer Johannes Kepler: I prefer the hard truth to my dearest illusions.  Go with your gut on this one.
• The UFO sighting thread included a comment by a neighbor about sending “flying sky lanterns” “into the sky many times” which were mistaken for UFOs. Please reassure me than nobody would release a balloon or other device with an open flame, combustible materials, or any other hazard that could cause a fire. We’ve just had a period of high risk of brush fires due to dry weather. I’d like to think that everyone who lives in this area is aware of the danger and would not send anything “into the sky” without considering the potential for setting fire to the woods.  Probably unnecessary to point out the obvious, but the concept of a “flying sky lantern” caught my eye. Hopefully this was just a joke, a bit early for April Fools. If I saw my neighbor releasing a balloon-borne candle or such, I’d certainly have a discussion with them, but not about UFOs!

• I want to thank all of my Front Porch Forum neighbors for all of the emails and posts, in their efforts to solve my UFO mystery! I now believe it was indeed a sky lantern. After doing some research and checking out some images on Google, it seems to match what I saw. My guess is the lantern was launched at Smuggs.  Looking forward to a special occasion to launch one myself some night!

#VT - I thought it was pretty neat that at 15 minutes into the Starksboro Town Meeting, Front Porch Forum had been mentioned 3 times by town officials (Town Clerk, Selectboard Chair, and I think also by the Moderator), with things like, “Watch for updates on Front Porch Forum.”

And the thing that struck me, was that it was always said like everyone would know what they were talking about. Here we are three years after start up there, and it’s a fully integrated part of the way the community interacts (and has been for some time). Pretty cool…

That note arrived today from an observer of Starksboro’s March 3rd Town Meeting… and we’re hearing the same from other towns who met prior to Tuesday’s official Town Meeting Day in Vermont.

#VT -

Vermonters have so many digital media tools in the toolbox from which to choose.  That said, I’m partial to our Front Porch Forum for many applications.  Apparently Doris in Argyle, NY feels the same way (from her current posting)…

Thanks to everyone who posted or emailed info about the Pleasant Valley public hearings, which my husband will attend tonight.  I was pleased to see that Front Porch Forum published the info in a timely manner.

It  occurs to me that one week of following FPF has given me more positive information and ideas than several years of trying to negotiate Facebook.  With Facebook I have struggled to figure out who is seeing what information and I have not gleaned much of anything from a world of “friends” except for gossip and a lot of negative interaction.  So, goodbye Facebook, and hello Front Porch Forum!

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this bit about Twitter… just in fun, of course…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Update:  And from Carrie in Argyle…

Doris, I agree…been thinking the same thing about getting rid of facebook. I love that the FPF news I hear is local!!! I feel so much more connected.

While each place is different, they all get more value out of Front Porch Forum as more neighbors sign up.

Recruiting new FPF members on Town Meeting Day has proven a great way to boost your own FPF.  Handing out flyers, passing around a sign-up sheet, speaking from the floor about your FPF during the meeting itself… we’ve heard of lots of successful approaches.  In fact, Jeff just sent this note in today…

I would say FPF in Richmond has been a smashing success.  My Town Energy Committee will have a table set up on Town Meeting Day.  While FPF is a little off topic for our group, I see no reason why we can’t have flyers on our table…  FPF has been a wonderful addition to our town and to the state.

Dear Friends and Neighbors: I have lived in this wonderful community of Richmond for the past twenty seven years. It’s been a wonderful place to raise my two children Adam and Beth. Beth is now grown, a college student, and I continue to partially support her during her college years.

As most of you know, I lost Adam in Iraq four years ago and the town was wonderful. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the support and kind words, especially allowing me to place a bench at the Round Church Park in remembrance of him, which will bring me back to visit often. I hope that when soccer and little league season starts, you will all remember that Adam played soccer and baseball here in Richmond. I hope that when you see a log drifting down the Winooski River on a hot summer day, you will remember that Adam, Anthony  and Dylan would float down the Winooski River. I hope that on the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, when you see all the flags, it’s because of Adam that they can be replaced at no cost to the town.

Beth and I must leave this wonderful community now. I have sold my home and will move to a place that is almost as peaceful. Everyone say’s that I raised two wonderful children but the fact is, the families of Richmond also helped. This is truly a wonderful community, Beth and I will miss this place immensely.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Kathrine

PS: To Bridge Street Café, could you please bring back the messy whessy? That was Adam’s favorite meal just because he liked to say Messy Whessy.

And more evidence of Vermonters’ capacity to support their neighbors was shared on the Charlotte FPF…

I noticed a very kind comment from someone in Charlotte (who I can only hope is on Front Porch Forum) posted about an essay I wrote for Salon.com.

It brought up a nagging guilt over the fact that I never said anything close to a proper thank you for everything so many people in our town — those who know me and those who don’t — did for our family when my husband was dying of cancer. I can only plead overwhelming grief, exhaustion and the fact that every resource I could summon was directed at keeping our teetering little boat afloat. And then so much time passed.

But I was raised with better manners. So I hope you’ll now accept my utter gratitude for the meals, the shoveled steps, incredibly, the beautiful bulbs planted in our yard so that we would have a bright memory of Kevin in spring. For that and so much of the organization of these things I especially thank my dear friends Liza and Tom Wright. But there are so many more. We do, as the commenter noted, live in a loving community and I feel enormously lucky for that.

The feelings expressed in the essay were never meant to ignore or diminish any of these considerable gifts. There are clearly things the best intentioned neighbors cannot fix.

Warmly,

Lee Ann

Thanks to the work of many in our community, Free Speech TV is bringing its 24/7 independent news, analysis and documentaries to Burlington Telecom. Starting March 1st, we’ll be able to tune in to FSTV on BT’s newest channel (122) on its “basic tier.”

But first, we need to rally to finish the task of making Burlington the first city in the country to offer a fulltime FSTV channel on cable. FSTV has until the end of February to raise a one-time $10,000 to cover its start-up costs.

Here’s some more good news: We raised half the money before we even launched this page.

A group of us founded the Friends of Free Speech TV in Burlington, and we’ve already pledged $5,000 as a Founding Friends Challenge Fund. That means that for every dollar you pledge here, we’ll kick in another dollar to match you. If we can raise just $5,000 by the end of February, FSTV will receive the full $10,000 it needs to launch its new channel in our community.

When: Thursday, February 16, 2012: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center
Register: Visit http://evermontworkshop.org for details and to register

Join community leaders from around the state to share ideas and learn how online tools are being used to create jobs, reinvent schools, attract visitors, improve civic involvement, and enliven Vermont communities. The workshop is sponsored by the e-Vermont Community Broadband Project.

Anne Galloway of VtDigger.org will be the keynote speaker. Session topics include mobilizing community resources for emergencies, a hands-on lab exploring online tools for business, a showcase of how technology is expanding the classroom for 4-6th graders, a look at conducting town meetings in the digital age, and ways to increase public Internet access in your town (and why).

Registration is $20 and includes course offerings, refreshments, lunch and the chance to win a Kindle reader and other prizes in our raffle drawing.

For more information about the day go to evermontworkshop.org. Pre-register online, by phone 802-859-3090, or by e-mail joanna@snellingcenter.org.

As America’s cities become larger and life gets more complicated, some long for a return to a small-town lifestyle, where they are greeted by name, and the front porch — overlooking a picture-postcard main street — is a place to talk to neighbors. While this rosy view of rural living may not exactly square with reality — especially in hard economic times with high unemployment — the urge to enjoy a more rural lifestyle is attractive to many.

e-Vermont, a consortium of seven different organizations, has come together to improve the economic outlook of rural Vermont through technology, while at the same time preserving what’s most attractive about a region better known for its maple syrup, skiing and mountain vistas than Internet connectivity and job growth…

As for those conversations on the front porch, there’s a forum for that called “Front Porch Forum.” … “it’s a platform for neighborhood conversations, with the goal of things spilling over from online conversations to in-person conversations. Needless to say, public officials take a keen interest in that, not just to follow what’s going on but to have an engaged citizenry.”

Typical items on the forum might be someone selling firewood, eggs or a canoe. Missing pets are frequent items, as well as local government issues such as a proposed tax hike to pay for heating repairs at the school, which may be on the agenda for the next town meeting…

Susan Clark, a resident of Middlesex, is a sixth-generation Vermonter who co-authored All Those in Favor: Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting and Community. She wanted more frequent connections with her community than the once-yearly town meetings. So when she heard about Front Porch Forum, she became a community volunteer…

Clark said that in keeping with the benefits of face-to-face meetings, Front Porch Forum isn’t anonymous, and the person’s street… is also listed… And unlike social networking sites like Facebook, she said, “Front Porch Forum wants you to know what’s going on in your community so you’ll get out from behind your computer and go out and go to the yard sale or the town meeting or the school play or the concert or any of those things.”

Clark said that the forum helps connect the public with local government, but she cautions against loading a forum with such things as planning commission documents at first. Wait until they are hooked on community events and items of personal interest, she said.

When Duane Sorrel, of Middlesex, moved to town he found out about Front Porch Forum at a town meeting. Sorrel, in a YouTube video, said that when he posted his information, he got a dozen customers for his automotive business in the first two days. “My favorite post,” he says in the video, “is ‘lately there’s been bears eating chickens.’ That’s been pretty interesting.”

“… without a diary, their travels would ‘be no better than a flight of birds through the air,’ leaving no trace.” John Adams to his grand sons, George (14) & John (12), as they sailed for London 1815 – John Adams – David McCullough p. 617-4

I woke up this morning thinking about FPF and its predecessor maplecorner.com, seeing these as our collective community diaries that record where we have been and help us work together where we are going. Thank you everyone for broadening our community, giving us a way to better understand each other.