Budget Passage

Okay, here it is.

I am asking that you vote to pass the budget coming up next month on referendum.

Here's why: it is my understanding that the next item on the educational chopping block is all-day kindergarten.  I have a pre-school age child.  I need to be able to send my child to school next year, all day.  Early childhood education is critical both to brain and social development.  It's also necessary to the schedules and professional needs of many parents.

Vote "yes" to save full day kindergarten.  That's the crux of where I stand.  Yes, it is selfish, but it is also practical on behalf of the town.  Where will these children be in their skills and abilities if they are robbed of fully HALF of their instructional time at this crucial age?

Bulk Pickup

I have nothing but the greatest respect for the men and women who serve the town side of the budget, but perhaps it is time we re-visited the necessity of bulk trash pick up occuring EVERY WEEK in North Haven.

Now, I don't want anyone to lose his/her job, and I have nothing but sympathy for the fact that town side sanitation workers have not received a raise since 2006, but for the entire time I've lived here I have felt that being able to have a refrigerator picked up from my front lawn each and every week was excessive.  It should be more than possible that each of the four regions of the town (Green Acres, Montowese, Clintonville, Ridge Road) could be assigned a week in the month - first, second, third, fourth.

I have no idea how much money this would save the town, but it would be a start toward tightening our collective belts, maintaining great benefits of living here, and easing budget tensions.

Or am I entirely off track?