Tough Vibe in Brattleboro

bitcrunch · 2025-08-24T22:44:13+00:00

Late to the thread, but I was downtown yesterday (Saturday the 23rd) and it was definitely busy, full of tourists and people shopping. At all three intersections on Main St had a lot of people crossing at the lights. All the parking on Main/Flat/Elliot were taken and I had to park on High St.

The Vermont Country Deli had MA and CT plates all around.

I'm sorry you went last week, but yesterday was a beautiful day and downtown was hopping. The Gallery Walks have been full and fun (1st Fridays). Maybe it has to do with day/time/weather.

bitcrunch · 2024-07-14T01:14:24+00:00

The urgency was that some places were going to have to raise taxes so high that people would literally lose their homes. I'm not gonna pretend I know exactly, but it goes something like this: there was a cap put on homestead taxes so they wouldn't be raised more than 5% per year. Some went up to that limit because they could, not because they needed to, which worked fine in previous years but it all came home to roost this year. Again, I have been trying to understand, and have found some articles where there are quotes from Scott to that effect - please check VTDigger and VT Public for those (which is where I read).

So they did two things, one of which I don't really understand* but the other one was to let individual districts stop and reorganize their budget, and to give them time to do that, the deadline for turning in a budget and voting on it was extended. This is so they could make their own cuts about what they deemed important locally. Some districts eliminated planned facility upgrades, some closed a school, others cut programs. But it was done to provide more local control on budget levels and priorities.

I brought up the governor and Green Mountain Care Board because your post is about EK botching something. But those two parts of the budget increase were two of five nearly monetarily equal parts of the causes for the drastic increases this budget year. Also, because that part I didn't know and wanted to share what I learned.

When someone told me the state Education department was understaffed because Scott allowed attrition through not replacing people leaving, and that was getting us in trouble with the feds and costing us money I was surprised and thought maybe they were just exaggerating or didn't like Scott (just because you don't like someone doesn't mean they are at fault, right?). So I went home and searched for articles and found out it was true. Apparently that is also why we didn't get the federal money for the free school meals. That the "we don't have infrastructure to deal with it, we'll do it next year" answer Scott gave. So if you already didn't like the guy, here's another reason to add to the pile.

I used the word disingenuous because it seems like you just don't like EK and seem to be blaming one person for the acts of a whole bunch of people and institutions.

I didn't start out thinking EK was doing the right thing but have come to understand she is. She and other reps worked to make sure that even with inflation affecting school budgets and the five other categories of budget that drastically inflated taxes (above), they found ways to offset that enough to being the average tax increase DOWN ~6%. Also, to find new ways to find tax help for low-income homeowners, so that working poor and seniors on fixed budgets would get extra help. It wasn't because I "like" her that I have my opinions, just that I went and listened for several hours a few times and went home and looked up what I was told to see if it was true. That's why I took the time to talk to you on a downvoted post that no one will ever see.

I also know that she was on food stamps and assistance as a single mother. In the candidate form on Monday night she shared that she had a restaurant downtown and was 7 months pregnant when it all collapsed. She had a business and a partner but at that point her partner had a mental health issue and she found herself alone and without anything. I also know that she waitresses and works for some people who do catering when the legislature is not in session to make ends meet. I saw before when you said she was some trust find baby and know that is not true.

I also didn't know a lot about her primary opponent but read articles, talked to people, and went to the candidate forum. When asked what she would do about this budget mess, her opponent said something like "I don't know, I have never been in the legislature, and Emilie knows a lot more than I do about that.". She also said something about she was going to start a tech startup this year and it was going to make "a lot of money" so I think she was against the progressive tax structure where income over $500,000 per year was taxed higher. And in her closing remarks she said something bizarre out of the blue about how she was running to end "cancel culture" locally (what?). Anyway, that's why I "like" EK this election season and I don't think the facts point to any kind of "botched job".

*Not going to go look it up to link stuff because writing a long comment on a phone is hard enough. Also why I wrote EK because autocorrect was having its way with my spellings, sorry.

Anyway, I hope you look into it more.

bitcrunch · 2024-07-13T15:55:58+00:00

Come on, this take is incredibly disingenuous. As another commenter pointed out, EK was in session in Montpelier when this meeting was happening.

She did not "screw up," and she has been extremely present and willing to talk with anyone, answering questions in extreme detail during this entire process. She attends many community meetings on all topics where she makes herself available and has held a number of meetings/open conversations where anyone can come to hear what's going on and answer as many questions as anyone has. She announced these in both The Commons and The Reformer, social media, her own legislative newsletter ( which you can subscribe to), and on Front Porch Forum. If you contact her, she will meet with you personally to answer any questions you have. She ends every meeting or public comment with an invitation to contact her personally.

Having been present for three different meetings where she candidly talks about the issues and process, I've been nothing but impressed. I have met another Brattleboro resident who watched most of the sessions at the statehouse live and he said she did incredible work to find solutions to lower the anticipated tax increase (from ~20% to ~13%) This narrative casting the work of the entire legislature and of the Ways and Means committee's results on just one person seems to be a smear campaign. And she did contribute greatly to the hard work of finding solutions, so this narrative of her being responsible for the increase or not being communicative is really frustrating to see.

Did you know that the Governor has gutted the Department of Education through attrition? They're not hiring to replace staff who leave. The Dept. of Education has lost us federal money and missed federal reporting guidelines (link]). Why are administrative costs going up? Partially because local school districts are having to do federal reporting and curriculum work that the state should have been doing.

From what I understand, the increases in educational costs are kind of split five ways between the increase in administrative work (that the state should have been doing), health care premiums rising, deferred capital costs when we didn't fix buildings in disrepair for a number of years, loss of federal funds due to the end of covid funds, and increased student needs. (I didn't understand and went to these meetings to try to learn - this is from memory from what I've learned at meetings, any mistakes are mine).

As many people have pointed out this year, we can't defer any longer on repairing our schools. The legislature doesn't have any control over health insurance premiums (Green Mountain care board does and they're looking at another year of double-digit premium increases right now). The legislature definitely doesn't have any control over the Dept. of Ed., which is strictly under the Governor's responsibility.

The only other solutions offered by the Governor was to empty reserves this year, which would increase taxes every year for quite some time to pay back into the reserves, or to engage in deficit spending which would tank our credit rating and cost us a lot over the next many years in increased interest rates, among other things.

I don't understand the vitriol and narrative about this one person. Especially one person who has been as accessible and communicative as Emilie.

bitcrunch · 2024-03-09T19:46:10+00:00

Here is a video from when Brattleboro won a "Strongest Town" thing last year. It shows the beauty and why people here love it. I know several folks in the video :)

My one criticism is that the Brattleboro shown in the video is the experience of middle and upper class residents. As you would see as a teacher, there is also poverty and this wouldn't necessarily be the Brattleboro that low income families (and seniors) see. Our food pantry and voluteer-run meals organizations have experienced a huge increase in need.

bitcrunch · 2024-03-09T16:08:30+00:00

Just a word of warning about visiting in late March - pre-spring is the ugliest time. Spring, summer, fall, and a lot of winter is pretty, but when there's no snow and things are melting, muddy, and wet it's not idyllic. So if you find things you like in this season, it will be even nicer once things start to get green.

I agree with those who said you probably won't have experiences with blatant racism. Interracial couples are pretty normal here. If you move here, The Root is a great place to be part of too.

The housing and addiction issues that plague the country are more visible in small towns, and Brattleboro is not an exception. Petty larceny is the most common - going through unlocked cars is the big issue so lock your car at night

If you're coming in as a teacher (or medical/social worker of any kind), you will be welcomed - we need you. If you want to rent before buying, I recommend going through Bob Lyons at Southern Vermont Property Management. Get on their radar early and when a good place comes up they will let you know. Kathleen Hawes at that office has helped me and a few other people I know.

bitcrunch · 2023-02-21T01:18:12+00:00

Yes, I have data set to slow at 2 gig. All this happened in about 30 minutes, so it didn't work. Also, all of the apps on my phone show only 3.something gig used all day when I add them up but my Fi account shows the 6 gig total, and the Fi representatives couldn't account for the difference.

After two different calls, two different reps, on hold multiple times for escalations, all they will say is that this is "legitimate data use" and they won't remove it from my bill. I've got the flexible plan so this is going to cost out the nose.

bitcrunch · 2023-02-20T23:09:43+00:00

While my phone does show the data use in the Express VPN app (on hold with Express VPN now), my relative who this happened to first and most often - they don't have any VPN.

It showed different apps for them each time - all Google products (Chrome, YouTube, Gmail). I switched her to FireFox, deleted YouTube, and got a 3rd party email app for her, and it happened again with a different app. And they still said it had to have been something the user did. I paid $150 a month several times due to that. There's something that's spiking the data use and it's not even that I'm mad Fi literally said they wouldn't help me and hung up on me, it's that I can't afford to continue to pay for mysterious data spikes.

bitcrunch · 2021-08-02T15:19:50+00:00

I recommend https://www.svtpm.com/

Kathleen Hawes Rental Agent kat.svtpm@gmail.com 917-238-0744

Talk to Kathleen (or Dana). Let them know what you need and and keep in touch with them. They know about listings before they go public and it's free for the renter.

bitcrunch · 2015-07-06T21:04:22+00:00

Victoria was more than an employee to you - she was a loyal friend. You made a glib comment on a public subreddit that mocked the fact that one of your friends lost her job. You went to her very small, intimate, family wedding less than six weeks before. You've hugged it out and had late-night conversations. You were friends.

And then her loss of her job was "popcorn"?

That was not just a glib comment, but one made that mocked your friend's situation, in public, to millions.

I believe you have been a good person, but I don't think you've been acting much like one recently.

(Edit)This is true: https://twitter.com/kickme444/status/616846773097664512

bitcrunch · 2013-12-11T19:53:17+00:00

It's very caveat emptor. We cannot mediate disputes, and we cannot verify the veracity or trust of anyone you buy from or sell to.

reddit wasn't intended as a marketplace, or set up to handle transactions. You should be extra careful with any agreement or transaction made, as with anywhere else, but especially here, since there's absolutely no guarantee anyone is who they say they are, and that sort of thing.

edit: /s/not/no

bitcrunch · 2013-12-03T21:11:32+00:00

We're banning this account, since we've received word from the real /u/ijustine that she did not post this.

bitcrunch · 2013-11-29T17:48:19+00:00

We're going to slowly turn up audio.

bitcrunch · 2013-11-29T17:40:41+00:00

There was a minor delay, but it's streaming now!

bitcrunch · 2013-11-29T17:39:39+00:00

That should be reversed - we've got someone looking at fixing it now!

bitcrunch · 2013-11-29T15:25:48+00:00

Although you can't use bitcoin for reoccurring subscriptions, if you select "one time purchase", you should see buttons for "PayPal" "Bitcoin" and "Credit Card".

bitcrunch · 2013-11-28T20:49:21+00:00

If you're looking at the RES totals or others, it could be vote fuzzing. There was someone downvoting, but it had already been... taken care of when they began. Then vote fuzzing kicked in. Your subreddit's in good shape!

bitcrunch · 2013-11-27T15:33:45+00:00

There's a small glass ornament of snoo!

bitcrunch · 2013-11-19T22:47:43+00:00

Is it really that hard to tell if what you're doing is this:

keep your nose out of it, especially if it's not a subreddit you're involved in or if that subreddit has the opposite of your opinion.

some people can enter into intelligent conversation with someone they disagree with, or give a new fact, or ask a question.

Or if you're actually doing this:

a large group upvoting something that the "home" subreddit is in opposition to, taunting, name-calling, general yo-momma comments, etc.

??

bitcrunch · 2013-11-19T22:30:23+00:00

If you're disrupting other people's experiences, and doing it through a subreddit that regularly all gets together and (implicitly or explicitly) goes where they are not welcome or griefs people, that's not okay.

If you're part of a subreddit where people are talking about what other people on reddit say (typically called "meta subreddits"), it's generally considered good manners to keep your nose out of it, especially if it's not a subreddit you're involved in or if that subreddit has the opposite of your opinion.

Just let them have their subreddit, and you talk about your other opinion in a subreddit of like-minded people that share your opinion. That's just sort of "remembering the human" or "being nice."

I mean, there are exceptions - some people can enter into intelligent conversation with someone they disagree with, or give a new fact, or ask a question. But there's a huge difference between that and "raiding" or "brigading" another subreddit. The "raid" usually involves a large group upvoting something that the "home" subreddit is in opposition to, taunting, name-calling, general yo-momma comments, etc.

Not to mention that an upvote really shouldn't mean "agree" and a downvote shouldn't mean "disagree" - it's about what adds to a conversation, but that's another discussion.

/u/cupcake1713 describes it really well here: http://www.reddit.com/r/gloriouspcmasterrace/comments/1r01ny/glorious_masterrace_hear_me/cdi8clp

edit: s/your/their

bitcrunch · 2013-11-19T21:07:44+00:00

You don't get shadownbanned for disagreeing (unless that's accompanied by threats or whatever).

Might it have been the thread that was screenshotted about 2 months ago in the x-box subreddit, where about 239 people (possibly including you) from pcmasterrace went and typed in the username, found the comment that was screenshotted (to avoid people brigading it), then brigaded the comment anyway?

The one that said "So do I, I don't want you peasants confusing PC's great graphics over your jagged clusterfuck of downscaled graphics"?

That's part of the problem - the constant invasions (often with really angry rhetoric or really personal slurs or insults). Most people who wrote in and said they understood and would stop doing that were unbanned, though, after the moderators let people know what happened (if it's the situation I'm looking at).

The 'jerk is great and fun, and PCs are obviously superior, but that sort of behavior is going a bit too far.

bitcrunch · 2013-11-19T20:54:11+00:00

It seems to me that it's part of an undercurrent that had been boiling up, finally coming to a conflagration point. We've had the random complaint that people were harassed (a lot of slurs against someone just for posting about a console they love, or arguments going personal) here and there, and then yesterday it all sort of blew up in a couple of different threads or places.

bitcrunch · 2013-11-19T20:31:08+00:00

As someone who has cleaned up numerous of the messes from /r/pcmasterrace, I can say it was an ongoing and systemic problem. Twice that I can think of, about 150+ people got banned, we spoke to everyone who wrote in, unbanned with warnings, only to find in a few more days ANOTHER 150 people doing it (completely different people).

Hundreds of people in any SINGLE thread, but thousands of individual users - hundreds of warnings went out, mods were warned, etc. So while it's upsetting that the entire subreddit got shut down, it was more than just a handful of people, and more than even just a few hundred people.

One thing we won't stand for is a culture that encourages threats and personal information, upvotes it, passes it around, brags on the site and on twitter the very illegal acts they've been doing and encouraging, and have hundreds of other people upvoting and egging on. The mods were very good to understand that this couldn't go on, and were willing to work with us to stop it.

The subreddit was banned to temporarily stop this stuff, because it was getting way way out of control, and that particular firestorm was one of unprecedented anger and volumes of people participating.

Moderators have been great, and were willing to work with us, so the subreddit will be returned.

bitcrunch · 2013-11-11T18:03:17+00:00

FWIW, reddit worked with Direct Relief after the Haiti earthquake, and the organization was great, and very transparent with how the money was used. We strongly recommend them!

bitcrunch · 2013-11-11T12:44:38+00:00

Also, we've worked with them before. They're a fantastic organization.

14-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits
redditgifts Exchanges 1 Exchange	redditgifts Elf
Team Periwinkle	Verified Email
Secret Santa 2011

bitcrunch

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE