Everything passes ...

Sometimes you have a town meeting and it's almost a formality.

Such was the case last night.

Everything the town leaders wanted they got including the meal tax, which to my dismay will raise the price of a Bud Light and a mai tai by ... oh a several tenths of a percent. But the point is it's the principle of a tax on restaurants and bars which will hurt the servers (in theory) more than anyone. The amount is a pittance, but then again it opens the door.

The hotel tax I voted for and believe in. To put it nicely additional "services" are required for the many transient residents of town recently. Umm ... ya. Get a police scanner or ask around at the barbershop and you'll understand what's going on there - it's the seedy underbelly of town really at this point and of some concern for residents. I wouldn't let your kids have parties at the motel if you care about them IMO. Not to mention additional emergency services needed.

I suppose the argument can be made given the disproportionate number of DUIs the town gives out that serving in restaurants needs to be offset for the dangers that are presented by those under the influence on our roadways. But to me there's less of a case there because those costs are borne in large part by those who get caught.

The other motions all passed too.

Nick made some good points that we have the money. Of course this is a bit duplicitous when the alarm cry comes (every year it seems) that we need spending freezes and the like that we're in dire fiscal emergency. Then again that seems to be the MO for keeping costs in line in the local government. Otherwise as mentioned all this money gets set aside for months or even years without positions being filled. This whole business needs to be streamlined and I think my hope is the eventual town manager will reorchestrate some of it.

I mean we have $1.2M in the reserve account. And open positions etc. The budgets have ballooned in the past 5 or so years and we need to appreciate the facts there that the cost of doing government here locally is growing way faster than income required to pay for it.

Then again on the other side, given the hurt in the real estate market I'd imagine collections may suffer for it. Although according to the TA collections are actually ahead by $25K locally. Here we go again - the little town that could is overacheiving expectations.

Some more stuff - Google's foreclosure maps

Check this out - Google has foreclosure maps now. Why buy from a Realtor ...

auburn ma - Google Maps http://bit.ly/3yhZzK

Prices look like the late 90s - ranging from $75K to $250K.

We're hurtin

Mass is a high state when it comes to foreclosures, particularly Worcester county

See this map for state and this one for Worcester County, which has a total of almost 1600 bank-owned properties featured.

Auburn is on page 153 or so if you sort by name reverse alphabetically (if that makes sense). See if this link works. Many properties under $100K in town, one on school st for $1 (must have some liens on it or something).

On the upside if you have some money, given low interest rates you could pick up some properties for depressed prices!

btw there's probably a way to get this list or if you know what you're doing just investigate on your own to get around the commission they likely charge. Although I'm not sure of the details ...

Charter change with no ch 43B or elected charter commission

Yes we did it. It's not illegal. We petitioned the legislature for a special act and they did it.

go here: http://bit.ly/TOwO8

City and Town Charters - Adoption, Revision and Amendments "Under the Home Rule Amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution (Amendment Article 89) and the Home Rule Procedures Act (MGL Ch. 43B), cities and towns can form a charter commission to adopt a new charter; entirely revise an existing charter, or amend selected charter provisions. As an option to the Home Rule Charter process under Ch. 43B, communities can also adopt, revise or amend a charter by a special act of the State Legislature with approval by the Governor (See Special Acts ). "

Tesla gets funding for an awesome Li-ion car

This is a company that produces an electric supercar. It's a plug-in, not a hybrid and can go 0-60 in about 3.9 seconds. This is a $100K car we're talking about here.

It uses a large Lithium ion battery, the same technology that Boston Power wants to manufacture here in town.

Anyway yesterday they got a nice loan under the stimulus package to continue and expand their work, for a more modest car called the S. Programs like this can use federal funding as many times the technology isn't going to provide a return quick enough or is considered too risky for private money.

"We have a historic opportunity to help ensure that the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks are made in America," the president said in a statement. "These loans -- and the additional support we will provide through the Section 136 programs -- will create good jobs and help the auto industry to meet and even exceed the tough fuel-economy standards we've set while helping retain our competitive edge in the world market."

on the road by the end of 2011.

"We are honored to receive one of the first loan awards in this program," company CEO Elon Musk said. "I'm confident we'll put the money to very productive use. We look forward to producing the Model S."

Tesla has long been counting on the loan to help it build the sedan it unveiled in March and had been in discussions with the agency for about nine months. It had sought $350 million to retool a factory to build the car and $100 million to manufacture battery packs and drivetrain components. Those packs and components will be used in vehicles built by Tesla and other automakers  most notably Daimler, which recently bought nearly 10 percent of Tesla to jump-start development of the Smart EV.

Some of the other front runners - got this tweet from CR

consumerreports Green carmakers may emerge as next U.S. car industry http://tinyurl.com/ms6u3d

The program is not the same as the grant that Boston Power wants to get, I believe that one is here

But it's just a reminder that good things are happening in this technological area, that will extend to things like the power plant (the batteries) and hopefully we'll in this geographic area be one of the beneficiaries of it, so long as the town handles things properly.

Hospital medical costs

More good data from Consumer Reports on medical costs analysis. McAllen Texas, a border town, has the most expensive average care (that they have data for, they need more for instance Med city isn't on there - we've got so many hospitals in the area... probably a good thing)

Overtreatment: The lesson of McAllen, Texas : Consumer Reports Health Blog http://bit.ly/4RVOX

some parts of the country spend a lot more on health care than other parts—but don’t get better results. John E. Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., Elliott Fisher, M.D., M.P.H., and their colleagues at the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, who have spent several decades documenting and researching this issue, have estimated that if every place in the U.S. practiced the same kind of medicine as the most frugal places, we could cut costs by as much as 30 percent and still end up just as healthy.

Hospital cost comparison tool here - somewhat useful but they need more data/hospitals (we've got so many around here)

Your Hospital Stay - Compare Hospitals for Chronic Care http://bit.ly/109nNk

Umass medical comes in right about the middle, others in the area are way high like Mass General, Clinton; Harrington in Southbridge a bit too conservative probably. Don't get sick on the Cape either- way low.

Fast food convenience costs a lot

Got this interesting tweet (which I'm addicted to btw it's awesome ;)

Fast-food nearby: Convenience, but at what cost?: Consumer Reports Health Blog
http://bit.ly/kE61k

The study looked at how fast-food influences the overall quality of people's diets, particularly when these restaurants are plentiful nearby. Researchers pulled data from a survey of more than 5,600 adults ages 45 to 84 who lived in six urban areas. They used two scales to rate the quality of people's diets, looking at both positive factors (e.g., eating fruits and vegetables, fiber, and good fats) and negative (e.g., eating fatty and processed meats, fried potatoes, salty snacks, and desserts). People were also asked how often they ate fast-food in a week, and whether they had many fast-food restaurants within a mile of where they lived. For an objective measure of fast-food availability, the researchers also mapped the locations of fast-food chains nearby.

People who consumed fast-food at least once a week were two to three times more likely to have a poorer-quality diet than those who didn't eat any fast-food. And having more fast-food options close by decreased the odds of having a healthy diet by up to 17 percent. When working out these results, the researchers took into account factors known to influence what we eat, such as age, sex, race, education, and income. Doing this makes the link between fast-food and diet all the stronger.

Apparently the proximity of fast food has a health cost on the surrounding population. I can't help but wonder over the years the overweight, diabetes and high blood pressure caused as a side effect in our little town from all we have around ...