Montpelier Alive?-Montpelier Dead? (Commentary)

Two interesting looks at Montpelier, starting first with yesterday’s online New York Times article called 36 Hours In Montpelier, Vt:

The Times people were in Montpelier from late Friday afternoon to late Sunday morning, covering a lot of ground, including the Capital, Kellogg-Hubbard Park, the Mountaineers‘ game, various restaurants, stores, and our Greenwich Village-like Friday night nightlife (The Black Door & Charlie Os), and our ‘special’ drawing cards--The Farmers’ Market and The Three Penny Taproom.

The article will appear in this Sunday’s TRAVEL SECTION of the Times, along with color photos, and all-in-all makes Montpelier look like the coolest State Capital (and the smallest and quaintest) in the country to visit.  Hopefully, this article will give Montpelier a much needed boost (or kick in the ass) as Times readers across the World plan their vacations around a trip to the town that hosts Three Penny’s eclectic line of 24 draft beers and Charlie Os cheap $2.00 pint Pabst drafts.  God, let us hope so, because Montpelier definitely needs a boost (and a kick).

Now I come to the kick part:

I called Montpelier Alive this morning and the woman there knew of no contact the Times people had with Montpelier Alive relating to their visit to town.  She hadn’t read the article online, and even asked me if Montpelier Alive had been mentioned in it.  ???  Hmmm…not good, Montpelier Alive.  Too bad the Times people didn’t come on a Thursday during lunch time to see your great work in discouraging and marginalizing people with your HUGE Smoke Free Event signs.  Perhaps the Times folks would have snapped a photo of your Smoke Free signs, and, oops, cancel those vacation plans, Roseanne!  And wouldn’t it have been a pisser if they got wind that downtown Montpelier was in danger of losing The Capital City FarmersMarket to Vermont College?  Hey, Roseanne, tell Cindy Sheehan to cancel her vacation plans too!

Well, thank God the regulars were open for business–they carried the town.  No thanks to the Montpelier City Council or Montpelier Alive.

Now, speaking of the Montpelier City Council, did you see that those nitwits voted 4 to 2 to withdraw from the District Energy Project.*  Guess the Yuppies up around Vermont College and their other upscale enclaves–the people who really run this town (into the ground)–don’t want biomass soot on their SUVs or in their swimming pools.  Wouldn’t want riff-raffy energy projects also creating a revitalized town–people would be parking all over the place, doncha-know?

This means also, and most importantly, that the Montpelier City Council just possibly blew off the 8 MILLION $$$ Federal GRANT for the town’s participation in the project.  And yes, the Montpelier School District would have been linked-up to the District Energy Project.  Well, shucks…what’s 8 million bucks?  We’re not gonna let them goddamn smokers have their own big biomass puffer polluting our nice peaceful, pure, quiet, and almost Dead environment.

Great work, Montpelier Alive and Montpelier City Council!  Good thing those Times people came on a weekend.  (You didn’t have a clue, did you?)  In fairness, City Manager Frazer and Mayor Hollar were in favor of Montpelier’s participation in the District Energy Project, but they didn’t get to vote on it.  A Special Meeting MAY be held on this next week, but don’t hold your breath (especially if you’re smoking).  

Folks, do you think something’s just maybe more than a little F’d-Up about how Montpelier is run?

Well, at least the Times piece focuses a lot on some unique specifics that Montpelier downtown merchants have to offer.  Did you know that Fred Wilber at Buch Spieler has copies of the very first FUGS album?  And that Pamela Root, owner of That’s Life Soup, uses 500 different recipes for her four soups per day?  Yes.  It’s true.  Montpelier IS COOL.  Too bad the COOL FOLKS don’t run things.

I’m going to go to Three Penny Taproom this afternoon for a nice cold dry white wine, then to Buch Spieler and look into this FUGS album, then to Charlie Os where I will be joined by Roseanne In 2012 for a $2.00 Pabst.  And take a few smoke breaks.

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

(*If any of you Little Dems defend this atrocity, well, I guess we’ll know who your friends are.)