Essex Happenings October 18 2011

Essex Happenings 10/18/11

Important Fall Essex Heritage Meeting


The Essex National Heritage Commission
Invites You to Attend the

Annual Fall Meeting
Tuesday, October 25,2011
The Great House, Castle Hill on the Crane Estate
290 Argilla Road, Ipswich, MA 01938.
Click here for driving directions.

8:00 AM: Continental Breakfast Reception
8:30-10:00 AM: Business Meeting

Join us for a morning of engagement at a National Historic Landmark! Participate in this FREE, valuable networking opportunity that will further connect you with the work of Essex Heritage and that of our partners.

The agenda will include updates on Essex Heritage activities and initiatives, an introduction to new Commissioners and the presentation of Essex Heritage's Pioneers in Partnership Awards.

IF You have an interest in attending this meeting contact Essex Heritage at www.essexheritage.org or at 978 740 0444 to secure a reservation.


Salem Wind Turbine Group to Visit Hull

Today a group of local Salem officials led by Mayor Driscoll, along with several local proponents and opponents of the proposed wind turbine, that is being considered for the old U S Coast Guard base on Winter Island, embarked on a field trip on the Salem Ferry to view a similar in size turbine operating in the Town of Hull south of the City of Boston. The trip was designed to offer residents and opponents, who live near where the turbine might be located, to attend the trip as there will be ample opportunity to ask any questions that might be pertinent to this proposed project. The city has also made a frequently asked question and answer survey available on the city’s web site. In addition to the trip and the opportunity to visit the city website, the city is also planning a balloon test to simulate a turbine Saturday at the site. The city seems to handling this issue in a most open manner and encouraging questions, opinions and discussions of all kinds before a coming to a final decision on this issue


Second Wind Turbine in Ipswich Questioned

Continuing on the wind turbine theme, the good folks in Ipswich are currently engaged in a thought provoking public debate on the decision to authorize a second wind turbine for that community. They appear to be approaching this issue in a most comprehensive manner while they consider financial, environmental and other pertinent
concerns before reaching a conclusion. The Town and its leadership appear to be taking the right and proper approach to this issue and we hope that when they have completed their evaluation, if the decision to build a second turbine is positive, then they will move swiftly to add such an asset to the town and the region


Proposal on Power Station

A preliminary report was provided by a group of consultants recently relative to the possible re-use of the sixty-two acre site at the Power Station on Fort Avenue in Salem, owned by Dominion. The observations offered included the conversion of the site to a natural gas power station, a wind turbine and a solar panel “farm”, a deep water port with the capacity to handle cruise ships and some new light industrial uses. All of the proposals are very preliminary and a more complete proposal will be presented in about one months time. One issue that still needs additional consideration is the continuing need for the site to develop activities that would produce a level of income that would produce tax revenues comparable to the level of revenues currently being produced by the power station. There will certainly be more information to be released in the future on these issues.

Peabody Looking To Develop Efficient methods of Municipal Operations

The City of Peabody council will receive a report in the near term that they commissioned to look at the possible consolidation of city departments and other related initiatives to determine if efficiencies and cost savings might be possible. The study has been undertaken by Financial Advisory Associates of Buzzards Bay. The study included the school District and the municipal Electric Company. This study appears to be a positive approach to consolidation efforts and seems to be a worthy use of municipal funds. If the efforts provide positive recommendations that would impact municipal budgets in either the short or long term, then the efforts and the funds expended would be even more worthwhile. I would certainly hope that if there were positive recommendations that would be offered and the employees considered fairly that other local communities might review the findings to learn if these recommendations, best practices could be applied to other communities in this region.

Message from North Shore Elder Services regarding a special award

The following message was received from NSES regarding their Executive director, Paul Lanzikos

The North Shore Chamber of Commerce has just let us know that Executive Director Paul Lanzikos has been chosen as one of the top 5 Distinguished Leaders for this year! He will be recognized at the dinner at CoCo Keys on October 26th. I know that you will join me in congratulating Paul for receiving this prestigious award!


Danvers Archival Center on-line Annual Report

For those with an interest, the following e-mail from Dick Trask, the Town of Danvers Archivist has provided instructions on how to access an on-line version of the Danvers Archival Center’s Annual Report

Hi Folks:

For those of you who have been waiting with much anticipation, my
illustrated FY 2011 Danvers Archival Center Annual Report is now on-line
and ready for careful perusal.

Though the text is pretty dry, the illustrations are quite nice. Thanks
to Jen McGeorge of the Library Reference Department.

The report may be seen at DanversLibrary.org. Just click onto “Archives”
and hit the FY 2011 Report menu item.

Richard Trask, Archivist
Peabody Institute Library, Danvers Massachusetts
trask@noblenet.org
North of Boston Library Exchange

Town of Danvers Hazardous Waste Disposal Day

It must be the time of the year as another local community is providing a day when hazardous materials can be disposed of at the local transfer station. This session will be offered by the Town of Danvers at their facility on East Coast Road on October 22, 2011, That day, from 8:00 until noon many items such as art supplies, fertilizers, pool chemicals, photography chemicals, antifreeze, household cleaning supplies, oil bases paints, propane tanks, and other materials those items can be dropped off at the transfer station. Electronics picked up a curbside will be handled at a subsequent event at the Elm Street Parking lot in early November, \for more detailed information on this day that helps keep Our environment safe can be found at www.danvers.govoffice.com. and click on the public works tab.