VC last Monday (delayed all around) and My Band Tomorrow Night!

< -- a kitten in the wilderness. Well, our backyard.

Dear People: I know we are up against some heavy hitters over there in Clifton tomorrow night, but my band, Mack and the Rockets are playing tomorrow night at the Emporium (with possibly a surprising little extra women's trio that I'm part of for a little a capella song during the break....think Leadbelly, 3 part harmony...) 7-10 pm. (AND yes, we Mack and Rockets will be singing "Please, Daddy Don't Get Drunk this Christmas," for those of you who really like the traditional Christmas carols.)

Linda Fischer will be there collecting signatures against the hideous Republican-favoring redistricting that Kasich is proposing. So it would be great if a bunch of you would be willing to sign that.

MONDAY'S MEETING: (Here's the link to the packet). If you've seen this week's paper you know that last Monday we discussed the special revenues portion of the budget, including issues like the Green Space Fund, which has been serving a key goal of our village of protecting green space on our Western side, and which we had only recently decided to support with estate tax monies (which have just been taken away by Kasich and his awful, hideous cronies), and the overall bleak picture for the budget primarily due to the budget cuts at the State level (again, do blame Kasich and Co.).

We also really need your feedback about the water situation: Do read the article in this week's YS News. The bottom line: we have to decide whether to try to find grants, loans, etc. to upgrade our system OR we need to build a pipeline to the edge of Clark County, and let Springfield supply us. Springfield has water that is pre-softened with lime, not salt. The pertinent background info is on pp. 29-30 of the packet.

Here's my take: while it is at least initially probably cheaper to simply upgrade our current system (although there are significant unknowns there), doing so could be, will likely be?, more expensive over the long term. Additionally, the benefits of non-salt, softened water are, actually, somewhat significant, given that our water is so hard and when we soften it, all those salts go basically right into the Glen. I am leaning toward simply upgrading our plant and maintaining control, but I would like to hear from you.

POEM:

Chaplinesque
by Hart Crane
We make our meek adjustments, Contented with such random consolations As the wind deposits In slithered and too ample pockets. For we can still love the world, who find A famished kitten on the step, and know Recesses for it from the fury of the street, Or warm torn elbow coverts. We will sidestep, and to the final smirk Dally the doom of that inevitable thumb That slowly chafes its puckered index toward us, Facing the dull squint with what innocence And what surprise! And yet these fine collapses are not lies More than the pirouettes of any pliant cane; Our obsequies are, in a way, no enterprise. We can evade you, and all else but the heart: What blame to us if the heart live on. The game enforces smirks; but we have seen The moon in lonely alleys make A grail of laughter of an empty ash can, And through all sound of gaiety and quest Have heard a kitten in the wilderness.