Thursday, June 13, 2013

Essex Happenings May 31, 2013

Truncated Edition of Essex Happenings
Last week, Marge and I went to a most entertaining and informative Annual Meeting dinner of The Salem Five Bank at Salem’s Historic Hawthorne Hotel, listening to noted author American James Bradley speak about the exploits of this Father and his companions as they were the flag raisers featured in the famous Joe Rosenthal photos of US Marines raising an American Flag after victory over the defeated Japanese on the Pacific Island of Iwo Jima.  The dinner, the companionship and pleasantries with members of the Clarke family, were great and we enjoyed the evening.  After arriving home, I experienced a speed bump in my recovery process.    As I am occasionally impatient and tackle things that I shouldn’t do, I took a fall in my home reaching for my jacket which fell on the floor.   I did not wait for help picking it up and suffered a fall to the floor of our bedroom.   The fall seemed modest at the time, but I did some damage that required an eventual trip to the local hospital Emergency Room and the prescription of drugs for damages done to my back.  For this, I apologize and hope you will still enjoy the shortened presentation. 

Essex Heritage Events and Activities
Featured Partner Event: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Giles Laroche
June 19, 2013 • The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Salem’s noted children’s author and illustrator will delight the audience (young and old) with a demo of his art form, discussion and reading of his latest book “If You Lived Here - Houses of the World."

Salem Maritime Festival
August 3, 2013 • Salem Maritime National Historic Site, 193 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
Celebrate Four Centuries of Salem's Maritime Heritage!

Featured Partner Event: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Seven Lectures at The Seven Gables: Hank Phillipi Ryan
August 21, 2013 • The House of the Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA, 01970
How does an Emmy winning reporter become a best-selling author of fast-paced murder mysteries? Hank will share how she went from a reporter at Rolling Stone Magazine to the US Senate and then to under-cover investigations for NBC to following her dreams.

National Park Service Replica Sailing Ship Restoration
We in this region and particularly those of us at Essex Heritage Commission have such a wonderful and longstanding relationship with the National Park Service sites in Salem and Saugus and remember the creation of the Heritage Area.  The Essex National Heritage Area and the Commission that manages the region was and still is a cooperative partnership between the National Park Service and the numerous founding members of Essex Heritage that saw the creation of Essex Heritage as a method to include many in the region that could grow together.  That premise then as now is as valid in 2013 as it was in the 1990’s.

Clearly at its inception, and even today, the creation of a replica sailing ship to be used as an icon to represent the region was essential.  In my very brief exposure to ships and the sea, I have come to fully understand that particularly wooden ships are a “hole in the water into which money is poured into”.   That has been the case with the replica ship that has been created to serve as both an icon for the National Park Service, the Salem Maritime Historic Site and their primary partner Essex Heritage.  Now we understand that more work will be required to keep ahead of marine decay and rot.  It is even more likely that our favorite ship may need to move again shortly to a dry dock facility to complete needed repairs.  Theses repairs will keep FRIENDSHIP away from the site and will more than likely curtail its sailing schedule until 2014.   These are repairs that are needed and must be accomplished.   Let’s view a schedule for all of the work that needs to be done and then we can decide how to deal with the ships absence.  While this project was being considered and then built, it was the sailing ship that first brought the positive attention to the project and after repairs will once again bring the proper attention to the site in the future.   The ship was what sold Senators Kennedy and Kerry on all the projects at Salem Maritime.   

Regional Matters

MBTA ADOPTS NEW BIKE RULES
The MBTA has authorized changes to allow bicycles to be loaded on commuter trains along with their owners.  This is very good news for the bicyclists who use the trains to commute to work in this region.   Anything that can be done in this region to make the daily commutes around this region more efficient should be considered very positive.

St. John’s Prep Graduation 2013 and Expansion Plans
Last weekend, the Danvers private school added 300 new members to their growing list of Alumni and at the same time recognized the Class of 1963 with golden Diplomas for their work a half a century ago. 

Until my recent back injury, my wife and I were planning to attend a session at the school that was to provide more information on the additional plans concerning all aspects of their expansion plans to include a middle school.   I would have received more information in some other ways and report same to all of you that have interests in those plans.

Medical, Seniors and Disability Matters

News from North Shore Elder Services
This week we (NSES) submitted a proposal to Massachusetts Elder Affairs in response to a call for proposal regarding congregate housing coordination contracting.

We proposed to provide congregate housing coordination services in three locations.  We are presently providing services at two of the locations.  The Peabody Council of Aging has been providing coordination services at the other and has opted not to submit a proposal.  At the request of the Peabody Housing Authority, which controls the building, we have included the site in this response.

Site                                          Number of Units           Building Owner

4 Broad Street, Salem                     14                        Salem Housing Authority

75 Central Street, Peabody            12                        Peabody Housing Authority

103 Central Street, Peabody          12                        Peabody Housing Authority

Many thanks to Diane Fischer, Director of Quality Assurance and Contract Management, who was the primary author of the proposal.  She was assisted by Cheryl Krisko and Elaine McCormack.  Paul
  
People in the News

Diane Langlais Named Selectperson for Danvers
My contemporary from the Danvers Finance Committee, Diane Langlais has been named a selectperson for the Town of Danvers replacing retiring selectman Michael Powers from the Board.   Congratulations!!!!  They have made a wonderful choice and I am certain that she will do an exemplary job as a selectperson.  If she brings the same level of preparation to her new role that she did to the FinCom the Town of Danvers will be extremely well served.

Lt Governor Murray Resign
In a bit of a political surprise, Lt Governor Tim Murray has resigned his post effective in June.    He has accepted the post of Executive Director of the Worcester Chamber of Commerce.     The Position of Lt Governor will remain vacant until the next election when both positions, that post and the Governor’s seat will be filled in the election. 

Personal Observations

New recently read book about the different opinions held between President FDR and US AIR Force Hero and Leader Charles Lindberg Prior to this countries entry into the World War.
The latest book that I have read is a wonderful presentation on a period of time just after the famous aviator who completed a solo flight across the Atlantic from the east coast of America to Paris, France.  Lindberg offered his opinion that America should stay out of the war in Europe.  He presented options that the United States should remain an isolation country.  The book covered the incredibly contentious relationship over the proposed entry of the United States into the War in Europe.  This was a very important part of World War ll that I had not been exposed to previously and learned a great deal from this publication with the general and wise spread opposition to the War in Europe.

The Long Awaited Dan Brown Follow up book hits the street
After a long wait for the latest work by Dan Brown, Inferno, he thrilled us all with his observations on the work of the Catholic Church and its Cardinals in Vatican City in Italy has arrived.  The new book is also set in Italy has just arrived and I have not started reading the new offering as of yet.

Boston Bruins on the Verge of Participating for the NFL Eastern Conference Title
One more win in either of the next two games at Madison Square Garden in New York or back home in Boston late this week the Bruins will advance the Boston Hockey team deep into the NFL playoffs for The Stanley Cup.
Tom Leonard


No comments:

Post a Comment