Reinventing Maine Government - Envision Maine

Reinventing Maine Government - Envision Maine

Mission Statement for The Rumford Reporter Fan Page on Facebook

Welcome to the official Rumford Reporter website owned and operated by Jennifer Norris of Rumford, Maine. Since we are stuck with the same ole, same ole from current newspapers, I have decided to create a site that clarifies the issues, gives you other perspectives, and markets Maine for the beauty and quality of life we all so treasure. If you are a public official in a public position, I will allow our readers to voice their opinion on your performance and character but if anyone attacks another fan or the admin, then your irrelevant attacks designed to hurt anothers character will be deleted. I ask that there be no name calling or character attacks. I don't like the trashy comment sections in the Lewiston Sun Journal. They let people say and do whatever they want despite the fact that the commenters are literally kicking people while they are down. Well that ain't happening here so let's have some great discussion and know that you will be protected and allowed the freedom of speech our Founding Fathers gave us without retaliation.

If you would like to become a fan of the Rumford Reporter Facebook page and chime in on the issues, please click here.

What is Envision Maine?

Envision Maine is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank that was created in the fall of 2009 by Alan Caron, the founder and past-President of GrowSmart Maine, who was responsible for enlisting the Brookings Institution to come to Maine and to produce their landmark report Charting Maine's Future, in 2006.

Alan is a Maine native with over 30 years of experience as a small business owner, community volunteer, consultant, strategist and writer who has worked on many issues facing Maine.

Envision Maine is building a network of advisers and leaders, researchers and associates. They represent a full spectrum of ideas, backgrounds and experiences, from business, government, academia and the non-profit world. Their common thread is a sense of vision and hope for what Maine can become, a willingness to think in new ways, a respect for different views and an appreciation of the practical realities and difficulties of managing change. (see the adviser list under the REINVENTING MAINE GOVERNMENT section for the beginnings of that list.)

Mostly, they share a love of Maine and a desire to see the state, and its people, advance.

The 1957 Allen Hershel Carousel in Boston, Mass

Maine Development Foundation Launches a New Website

"The Maine Development Foundation (MDF) drives sustainable, long-term economic growth for Maine. MDF stimulates new ideas, develops leaders, and provides common ground for solving problems and advancing issues."

The Maine Development Foundation (MDF) drives sustainable, long-term economic growth for Maine. MDF stimulates new ideas, develops leaders, and provides common ground for solving problems and advancing issues. To accomplish this mission, MDF, through it programs and research:

Empowers leaders
Strengthens communities
Guides public policy

MDF is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation with a membership of 250. MDF was created by the Governor and Legislature in 1978 with a broad mandate to promote the economy. Funding comes from a variety of sources including fee-for-service, private contributions, memberships, foundations and state government contracts.

MDF is non-partisan and delivers the highest quality fact-driven work through its programs and through economic research conducted by professional staff. MDF oversees seven programs with a variety focuses ranging from community development, to leadership training, to workforce development. MDF staff members conduct a range of economic research analysis for public and private interests on issues across the economy. All work serves as the basis for extensive and ongoing educational and outreach efforts.

Elements of a Vibrant Community

GrowSmart's Survey Ends Tomorrow

GrowSmart's priorities survey has generated a tremendous response, and is giving us a much clearer idea of which programs and projects we should be focusing on in the months ahead.

We're closing the survey tomorrow afternoon, so if you haven't had a chance to give your feedback yet, please do. It only takes 5 minutes, and we need your advice and guidance as we set our agenda for the coming year.

Follow this link to take the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oUHnyFuojzr065It8mI88w_3d_3d

Your comments are, of course, confidential. Thanks for your input and involvement!

Alan Caron,
President and CEO, GrowSmart Maine

Survey: Help Us Chart GrowSmart's Future

In the face of this unprecedented economic downturn and shrinking resources for almost every non-profit, we are reviewing and evaluating our priorities and programs, to ensure that our work is as effective as possible and focused in the areas where GrowSmart Maine can have the greatest impact.

We need your advice and guidance as we decide which activities to continue, which to put on hold, and which to move out of altogether.

Please take five minutes to share your thoughts with us. Your comments are, of course, confidential.

Alan Caron,
President and CEO, GrowSmart Maine

Rumford Planning Board Public Hearing Notice for January 7th at 7 p.m.

The Town of Rumford Planning Board will hold a Public Hearing on January 7, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Building Conference Room to discuss acceptance of a 2009 Housing Assistance Program CDBG Grant.

The purpose of the grant is to rehabilitate housing stock in the core districts of Rumford and to make structurally critical repairs to historic brick and mortar duplexes in Strathglass Park for the benefit of low to moderate income residents in that area. Public comments will be solicited at this Hearing and will be submitted as part of the Project Development Phase. All persons wishing to make comments or ask questions about the acceptance of these funds are invited to attend this Public Hearing. Comments may be submitted in writing to: Leonard Greaney or Philip Blampied, 145 Congress Street, Rumford, ME 04276 prior to the Public Hearing. TDD/TYY users may call 711. If you are physically unable to access any of the Town's program or services, please call 364-4576, extension 212, so that accommodation can be made.

Gary Casey, Chairman
Planning Board

The Social Security Debate: State or Family Responsibility?

By Jennifer Norris

As a person reaches old age and becomes infirm, should their family be expected to care for them as long as possible or is it primarily the state’s responsibility to provide for its elderly citizens in various institutions?

It is my belief that we should approach all public policy issues, especially the care of our elderly family, from the Communitarian perspective. The Communitarian preamble states a community cannot survive unless its members dedicate some of their attention, energy, and resources to shared projects and that we need to learn to serve others not just ourselves. The preamble also states that the best place to start is where each new generation acquires its moral anchoring: at home, in the family. It is the Communitarian belief that some measure of caring, sharing, and being our brother’s and sister’s keeper, is essential if we want to avoid a more expansive government, bureaucratized welfare agencies, and swollen regulations, police, courts, and jails. No social task should be assigned to an institution that is larger than necessary to do the job, i.e. what can be done by families should not be assigned to an intermediate group and what can be done at the local level should not be passed on to the state or federal level. This principle holds for duties including attending to the sick, troubled, delinquent, homeless, and new immigrants. We should expect one another to attend to our children, and vulnerable community members. Members of the community have a responsibility, to the greatest extent possible, to provide for themselves and their families. Responsive communities should praise citizens who accept these responsibilities and frown upon them when they do not. The government should step in only to the extent that other social subsystems fail, rather than seek to replace them. The government should empower these social networks with strategies of support. There is a great need for study and experimentation with creative use of the structures of civil society, and public-private cooperation, especially where the delivery of health, educational and social services are concerned.

The Communitarians believe that we can physically create a “sense of community”. For example, building communities and neighborhoods similar to a traditional New England village. In these settings, civic buildings, the church, and residential facilities are close in proximity. This kind of setting reduces the dependence Americans have on automobiles and creates a more walkable community where people have the opportunity to “run” into people on the street more often. As a result of these interactions, people become closer to the people in their neighborhoods and are then more willing to look out for one another. Families who choose to care for their elderly family would not feel so isolated in the process if they felt more connected to their surrounding community. Their elderly family could provide them and their neighborhood with an invaluable service as well, i.e. care for the children after school and a watchful eye for any suspicious activity in the neighborhood. It can be turned into something positive.

As for elderly who do not have family to care for them, it would not be outside the scope of the Communitarian philosophy to build a residential facility that supports their autonomy while providing them with services difficult to attain on their own. Building an apartment complex that provides the elderly with everything they may need as far as the basics are concerned, i.e. groceries, transportation services, etc., is an option. These apartment complexes can be built in a way that fosters community, i.e. elderly can care for other elderly. This kind of a setting also makes the volunteer experience far less overwhelming because volunteers can concentrate their efforts on more than one person in a given location. Businesses, located on or near the site, can also cater to their elderly customers by delivering goods and services. Elderly who do not have family can turn to each other. This, too, would be a very positive experience for everyone involved.

LUOC Mulls Land Uses

The Land Use Ordinance Committee met last night to begin the process of specifying what should be allowed in the various areas of our town. While it might seem strange, our current rules don't prohibit someone from placing a run down trailer on Congress Street. Last night the group decided by consensus that single family homes should not be permitted in the industrial areas of town. The rationale stated was that the town is spending big money to develop areas such as the business park, and those areas should be used for businesses, not bought up by a developer and made into private homes. The key to the planning process is to manage use without being too restrictive. There are also rules that must be followed to comply with watershed and wellhead protection that need to be taken into account. If this group does its job properly, and the people approve the ordinance as proposed, you will never see a trailer park on Congress Street, and you will never have a noisy factory in a quiet residential neighborhood. Putting the ordinance together takes a great deal of work and discussion, but the LUOC works well together under the leadership of committee Chairman Joe Roberts.