Berlin Community News

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Sent by Corinne Stridsberg and also posted at: http://socialenergy.blogspot.com
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NOTE:
I'd like to have a News to Know be just about food that is produced locally here in Berlin - what do you offer, or buy from, folks here in Berlin?   Some of these products may be found at the Farmer's Market (does everybody know which vendors are Berlin folks?) and what other foods can be found in Berlin?



CATE FARM SEEDLING SALE - FINAL DAY!
VERMONT OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND OVER MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
WALK FOR ANIMALS
PANERA BREAD EXPANDS IN REGION, MORE EATERIES PLANNED
BERLIN LOOKS TO BILL FOR FALSE ALARMS

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BERLIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY FEATURING HOWARD COFFIN 5/22
This event will be held at the Congregational Church Parish Hall on Scott Hill Road in Berlin.  Potluck is at 6pm.  At 7pm Howard Coffin will talk about his book, "Something Abides" which describes hundreds of Civil War related sites in Vermont, including Berlin. 

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CATE FARM SEEDLING SALE - FINAL DAY!
Final day of Cate Farm Seedling sale - May 26th 9am - 2pm Lots of annual and perennial flowers, vegetables galore, culinary and medicinal herbs, something for everyone!! catefarm@gmail.com; http://catefarm.com  Cate Farm; 135 Cate Farm Road; Plainfield, VT 05667 

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Open Studio Weekend is a statewide celebration of the visual arts and creative process, offering a unique opportunity for visitors to meet a wide variety of artists and craftspeople in their studios, some of which are only open to the public during this event.  It's a self-guided tour.  Be sure to pick up a map, or find one on line http://www.vermontcrafts.com (look for Spring Open Studio Weekend, Map & Directions).  On the website you can also find some assistance in making plans "Ten Ways to Plan Your Open Studio Tour".

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The Central Vermont Humane Society Walk for Animals is on June 1st.  Register for the walk and then collect pledges to help the animals.  At the event walkers will check in at 9:30am and the walk begins at 10am. Check out complete details including a map of the route at: http://cvhumane.com/news/walk-for-animals

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Pub 5/21/13 Times Argus by Joyce L. Carroll
   Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) is expanding its foothold in the Green Mountain State. Following openings in Burlington and Rutland, the chain has opened a South Burlington location.
   “Business has been good . . . We’re beginning to see a lot of regulars, which we love,” said Travis Williams, general manager of the South Burlington eatery.
   Meanwhile, Berlin-area residents can look forward to a Panera Bread opening this month in the Central Vermont Shopping Center. A café in Williston will follow shortly thereafter. The Berlin Panera will be 3,800 square feet, with Williston slightly larger at 4,600 square feet. The chain is also looking to expand into southern Vermont.
   The stores in Rutland, Berlin, and Williston are all newly constructed, while the Burlington and South Burlington eateries found homes in existing commercial properties. Panera opened its first eatery in Vermont on Church Street in Burlington almost two years ago.
   Between the recent opening of the South Burlington eatery and the upcoming openings in Berlin and Williston, the regional work force will have increased by 142 people.
   “We began looking [in the area] over three years ago. Our plan has always been to open these cafés as soon as we can get the permitting,” said district manager David Almond. “[Regarding] the Burlington area, and Vermont as a whole, Panera fits the culture and social responsibility of the state.”
   Almond pointed to Panera’s annual recognition of breast-cancer awareness in October with the sale of pink ribbon bagels. The company is a partner with Feeding America; donates leftover baked goods to charity; and supports Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a camp in South Hero for children with cancer.
   Panera takes pride in being ahead of the curve with regard to healthier dining, said Almond. Calorie counts were publicly available long before the federal government mandated access to the information. The use of free-range chicken and local ingredients further exemplify its conscientious effort to support the farm-to-table movement. Aside from baked goods, the café chain features a variety of sandwiches and soups.
   Panera Bread was founded in 1981 and has since opened 1,652 cafés in 44 states.

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BERLIN LOOKS TO BILL FOR FALSE ALARMS
Pub. 5/22/13 Times Argus  by David Delcore
   BERLIN — The Select Board is considering letting the town’s police and volunteer fire departments charge an escalating fee for responding to calls that turn out to be nothing.
   In a move designed to recover the expenses of dealing with what they described as an inordinate number of false alarms, Fire Chief Miles Silk Jr. and Police Chief Bill Wolfe both urged the board to enact an ordinance similar to those in some surrounding communities.
   If approved as presented to the board at its Monday night meeting, the ordinance would create a mechanism for both departments to recoup costs associated with alarms that go off when they shouldn’t.
   Silk told the board that volunteer firefighters respond to hundreds of false alarms a year. The proposed ordinance, he said, could begin to take some of the financial sting out of an all-too-familiar sequence of events that begins when an alarm sounds.
   “We have a lot of commercial fire alarms … and we’re burning a lot of fuel every time we run out to these,” Silk said.
   Wolfe echoed that, suggesting the proposed ordinance would help offset the expense of responding to security alarms at commercial establishments.
   “As much as we welcome the commercial segment in Berlin, they do drain (our) resources,” he said.
   Under the proposed ordinance, businesses would be entitled to two false alarms per calendar year — one between January and July and the other from July to December. A second alarm during either of those six-month spans would trigger a $100 fee, and any subsequent alarm in that same time frame would cost $200 each.
   By way of example Silk said there were more than 30 alarm activations at the Price Chopper Plaza on the Barre-Montpelier Road during renovations last year in the space now occupied by Staples. Those alarms alone could have generated in excess of $5,500 in revenue under the proposed ordinance.
   According to Silk, that money would be both billed and collected by the chiefs of both departments.
   At least with respect to the Volunteer Fire Department that arrangement would funnel the new revenue away from the general fund and directly to the autonomous department that incurred the expense.
   The town would have no role in collecting or accounting for that money, and the Select Board’s only responsibility under the proposed ordinance would be to entertain appeals and consider requests for waivers.
   Though the Volunteer Fire Department is partly subsidized with local tax dollars, it is an independent organization, unlike the Police Department. For the past two years the volunteer firefighters have tried but failed to persuade voters to appropriate an additional $180,000 to the department to allow round-the-clock staffing at the Four Corners Station.
   Silk said some central Vermont communities — Barre, Waterbury and Stowe among them — have alarm ordinances and that given the concentration of large commercial buildings in Berlin adopting one makes sense.
   Town Administrator Jeff Schulz said that will first require scheduling a public hearing on the proposed ordinance — something the board agreed to consider at its next meeting.
   The proposed ordinance includes a couple of other requirements and allows for a fine of up to $500 for violating any of them. Failure to pay the proposed “service fee” within 30 days would be a violation.
   Silk said one advantage of the proposed ordinance is that it could prompt property owners to take better care of their alarm systems to avoid fees. Town-owned properties and the Volunteer Fire Department would be exempt from the ordinance, he said.
   david.delcore @timesargus.com

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