One of my readers had an idea, and I thought I’d try it out. Given Vermont’s sadly diminished and atomized news media, would it be worthwhile to monitor our various news outlets and regularly provide a sampling of worthwhile items that might not have gotten much attention?

I thought about it, and put together a pretty lengthy list of news/commentary outlets in our state. And now I’m giving this thing a test drive. Let me know what you think. In no particular order, here’s a bit of an honor roll of stories from the past week.

Montpelier Council continues to dither over Country Club Road housing. The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus reports that city officials had hoped to gain “nice, clear direction” from City Council over how to redevelop the former Elks Club property east of town. Those hopes were dashed by a Council who ought to remember the old maxim, “The best is the enemy of the good.” Councilors approved a concept plan to build significant new housing on the site two years ago, but still can’t bring themselves to provide anything like nice, clear direction. And you wonder why we have a housing shortage.

Sewer work to clog downtown Montpelier. The Montpelier Bridge reports that a major improvement on a sewer line will hamper traffic on State Street for the next three months or more, starting on St. Patrick’s Day. Merchants, already suffering through a post-epidemic decline in office occupancy and foot traffic, are “concerned about the potential for economic disruption.” For most of the time, traffic on State between Main and Elm will be westbound only. You have been warned.

Milton housing prices through the roof. The Milton Independent reports that local housing supplies are very tight and prices are skyrocketing. The median home price in Milton has hit the $400,000 mark, which means you’d better be making six figures if you want to buy an average home there. And if you want to rent an apartment, make sure you’ve got a job paying at least $30 an hour. One effect: the school district is dealing with far more homeless children than it used to.

Continue reading →