Lebanon residents who are concerned about the character of the downtown need to be aware of the Planning Board meeting scheduled for April 13 at 6:30 p.m. The location of this project is 8-10 and 14 Bank St. and the owner is Jolin Salazar-Kish.
This plan seeks an increase in multi-family density from 16 units to 47 units, a three-fold increase. The height of the proposed rear structure of 36 units will be three floors over two in-ground levels of parking. This part of the development will be taller than the Lebanon Library and the post office and will be distinctly visible from Colburn Park.
In this time of the coronavirus, with no public gatherings, it is important to have your voice and opinion heard. This is not a proposal that should be accepted blindly by the Planning Board without public attendance and with no public input. Given the potential of such an extreme visual change to the Bank Street area, the Planning Board should consider postponing any decision until public hearings with public attendance are possible.
In the interim, there are two ways to make your concerns known. The agenda will be posted online by Tuesday or Wednesday, along with an online link to listen to and speak on the project. This link, I am told, can manage up to 250 people. You can also email your concerns to the Planning Department at planning@lebanonnh.gov. To contact the Planning Department directly, call 603-448-1457.
Do not let the virus silence us. Make your concerns known. Downtown Lebanon has a unique charm. Let’s keep it.
MARY ANN MASTRO
Lebanon
This is in response to John Freitag’s recent Forum letter (“Local wood environmentally better,” March 22). The choice of fuel for Dartmouth College’s heat source should consider both the environment and the respiratory health of the local community.
Biomass combustion is no better than fossil fuels for the environment. Wood is less energy-dense than coal, oil or natural gas. On a per megawatt basis, carbon dioxide emissions from burning wood will initially be higher compared with burning other carbon-based fuels. Although some carbon dioxide is reabsorbed by forests, this absorption process can take decades that we do not have in the fight against climate change. Fifteen experts from the European Academies Science Advisory Council published a paper last year in GCB Bioenergy, “Serious mismatches continue between science and policy in forest bioenergy,” outlining why this initial increase in emissions from burning wood is “incompatible with the urgency of reducing emissions.”
Biomass combustion also carries a significant risk to local respiratory health due to particulate matter emissions. Larger particles are generally easier to remove using electrostatic precipitators and cyclone separators, while fine particles (diameter less than 2.5 microns) and ultrafine particles (diameter less than 0.1 microns) are much harder to remove. Fine particles are so small that they can enter the deep lung when inhaled. Ultrafine particles are so small that they can cross from the lungs into the bloostream. Because they get into the deep lung, fine and ultrafine particles are deleterious to respiratory health, causing decreases in lung function, increases in asthma attacks, and increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations. It is therefore no surprise that the American Lung Association “does not support biomass combustion.”
As someone with asthma living in Hanover, the respiratory health of the Upper Valley is important to me. Our respiratory health is already at risk with the outbreak of COVID-19, and biomass combustion would only make things worse. For the sake of the environment and the Upper Valley community, Dartmouth should say no to biomass combustion.
DANIEL GILMORE
Hanover
The writer is a member of the Upper Valley Clean Air Committee.
The evidence is clear: We must drastically reduce our use of pesticides in Vermont. Pesticides threaten our health, exacerbate the climate crisis and provide profit for corporations that benefit from widespread damage to our communities and ecosystems. Our agricultural system is structured to benefit from these chemicals, but we know from millennia of growing without them that there is another way. We know we can phase out our use of pesticides. What we need is for our legislation to reflect this necessity.
Act 141, signed in 2000, created the Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council to monitor the use of pesticides in Vermont, recommend targets for pesticide reduction and file an annual report to document its progress. However, since its conception, the council has failed to meet its legislative mandates. It is no longer required to provide annual reports to the Vermont Legislature, has not yet made any suggestions for policy change, and has barely assessed pesticide use in Vermont.
The most recent report by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets, in 2018, states that total pesticide use (in pounds) in Vermont increased by 45% between 2013 and 2018. It is evident that without substantive changes to legislation, pesticides use will continue, and potentially increase.
Senate Bill 272, currently referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee, proposes reforming the pesticide advisory council by changing its membership structure and reaffirming its purpose in advancing health- and environment-focused legislation. Changing the council’s membership would increase the number of health experts as well as create a greater diversity of perspectives from which we can address this urgent issue. Additionally, stricter mandates would make it more effective.
It is critical that we support this legislation to transform the operations of the Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council to fulfill its original purpose and reduce our state’s pesticide use. We must all act now, in all manners possible, to transform our agricultural systems away from harmful chemical inputs to more ecologically based operations. By reforming the Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council, we can have experts positioned to support policy changes that facilitate this transformation.
EMMA BAUER
White River Junction
These are challenging and uncertain times. We are all dealing with struggles that we never could have anticipated. It is more important than ever that we are here for each other, that we step up to help if we are able, and that we show compassion for our neighbors. We need each other for support and to feel less alone during a time that can feel quite scary. We can get through this together.
Over the last few weeks, a group of dedicated town volunteers has been working to ensure coordination among organizations responsible for food access, health access, emergency services, schools, town government and more. We are calling this group Bradford Resilience.
We will be sharing information and resources in a number of different formats to help navigate the uncertainty that all of us are facing. A townwide mailing will be sent to all residents. Please do not throw this away. It will include important links, communication channels and critical phone numbers. We will post a copy to the town website, https://bradford-vt.us/covid19. Please visit there to sign up as a volunteer. If you need assistance, we will have a needs survey released shortly.
It is more important than ever to engage with your community. We look forward to sharing resources with you over the weeks to come. We are all in this together and we will make it through, but it is going to take time and frustrate many of us.
Keep calm, check on friends and neighbors, and practice physical distancing. Stop hoarding, as this prevents others from getting the things they need. If we can all take a moment to allow the supply chains to catch up, there will be plenty for everyone. Those of us in emergency management have always said you should have two weeks of food, water and supplies, but more than that is unnecessary.
It may feel like it, but the world is not coming to an end. Most important, try to relax, take a deep breath and practice self-care. Hang in there.
GARY MOORE and MONIQUE PRIESTLEY
Bradford, Vt.
The writers serve as Bradford’s emergency management director and Bradford Resilience coordinator, respectively.
Well, here we are. Our president fancies himself a wartime president. Does he lead like Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley or MacArthur? Does he listen to the experts in the field of battle in order to have the real-time information needed to make informed and intelligent decisions? Does he provide his soldiers with all the weapons they need to do battle? Does he dare don a garage bag, ski goggles, nitrile gloves from the local hardware store and a week-old surgical mask and visit the front lines?
Yes, George Custer deemed himself great also. Not a happy ending. At least he was big enough to do battle with the men he was responsible for and thus risk the same fate.
The current president should be removed from office. He is clearly unfit in every conceivable way. His lack of competency, intellect, maturity and moral compass is endangering all of our citizens. Tens of thousands may die. Health care workers and governors and mayors are the true leaders and heroes. The Donald is truly dangerous.
May God be with us all.
JACK H. WEAVER
Windsor
Trump’s only care is himself
These are awful and scary times. I feel beyond heartbroken and disoriented. And yet we still do have an election looming in the not-too-distant future.
Recently it was revealed that President Donald Trump told his vice president not to reach out to state governors who did not show their appreciation. Translation: If they don’t demonstrate loyalty and fealty, let them (and their citizens) suffer. Look, I am no fan of Joe Biden. He’s part of a white patriarchal establishment and his election will represent an obstacle to real equity. But I believe that he has a soul.
Donald Trump doesn’t care about any of us. He only cares about himself. He is the lord of the manor, and he will pillage the coffers and save himself (and his image) before he will lift an earnest and loving finger to save any of us.
Every day I try to stay busy and to care for my family as best I can. I watch members of my family and community struggle with the fear and anxiety, with the loss of so much, that this pandemic has loosed upon us. And while the election feels like but an afterthought, I cannot help but continue to puzzle at people’s support for the man in office. He is everything we don’t need from a leader.
DAN WEINTRAUB
Quechee
While out for a walk on this bright sunny day, I was reminded of the Blizzard of ’78. Not of the feet of wind-driven snow, or the state of emergency that shut down Boston and my college for a week. (Our street remained unplowed for seven days.)
What prompted my epiphany were the dozens of people I encountered during this day’s walk.
Nothing unusual perhaps, but one singular observation: Almost without exception, we strangers exchanged greetings and sometimes even stopped to chat. How counterintuitive to the “social distancing” — which we all performed perfectly, by the way — that most of us have been so consciously observing.
I was raised in a small New Hampshire town where such greetings were second nature to us, and for one short week in the aftermath of that 1978 blizzard, Boston was like that. I guess, on some level, we’d shed suspicion and fear of each other. One small blessing and a bright spot in otherwise stressful times.
JOHN BRIGHTON
Hanover
Pray tell what are the president and Dr. Anthony Fauci doing, along with all the others, shoulder to shoulder during news presentations as viewed on TV? Doesn’t look like personal distancing to me.
Actions speak much louder than words. Be leaders, folks.
BOB KEENE
Hanover
The photograph of two young people walking on an athletic track on page A7 of the March 29 Sunday Valley News stopped me cold in my tracks.
When we are being urged to come together to fight such a formidable enemy, everyone’s behavior counts. Please remember what seems like an innocent encounter can have widespread ramifications. Walk together, but keep your distance.
With so few people out and about, conversations can be carried on from the recommended safe distance. A weak link in the front may cause an irreparable hole in our defense.
NORINE HOPEWELL
Woodstock
As two seniors living in retirement in Eastman, where national papers do not deliver, we have always appreciated the Valley News arriving every morning.
This is especially true at the moment, when we are spending so much time on virtual media.
Reading and sharing the physical paper at breakfast is both easier than searching on our devices and sets us up for the day with information on what is going on in our state, our nation and the world.
We send our thanks to all the staff of the Valley News — you do a fantastic job.
ELIZABETH and TIMOTHY KNOX
Grantham