By Lani Duke
posted
Mar 7, 2013
AIRPORT GROWTH
Of the 10 state controlled airports in Vermont, the
Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport in North Clarendon is the
fastest growing and the second busiest. It has recently acquired
airfield lighting and instrument guided landing system, making
landing and takeoff times more reliable, and allowing the number of
flights in and out to increase.
The state recently paid more than $15 million for safety
upgrades and other projects. If the airport can grow beyond its
8,000 to 8,500 embarkations a year to 10,000 a year, it would
qualify for a major increase in its federal funding, from its
current $210,000 to $1 million annually. RSVRA may reach that level
by the end of the year, according to projections from the state
Agency of Transportation. Along with that growth, the airport will
see $12.7 million in runway safety improvements during the next two
years, bringing it into compliance with a Federal Aviation
Administration mandate. On the project list is a redesign and
relocation for the terminal used by Cape Air commuter flights and
chartered flights. Also, plans are underway to install a
48-kilowatt solar array, a project intended to chop some 80 percent
off the airport's $24,000 electric bill.
With all this growth, the airport is also in the market for a
new manager. After a successful three-and-a-half years, manager
Dave Carman abruptly resigned. Once chosen, the new manager will be
responsible for not only overseeing the improvements but also
cutting costs, increasing fuel sales, signing new leases, expanding
the aircraft maintenance facility as he brings revenue and
expenses.
DANA BUILDING OFFER
The Giancola Family of Companies recently offered to buy the Dana
Building, 41 E. Center St., for $50,000. The two-story,
27,000-square-foot building had been a neighborhood school, then
home to the Rutland County Head Start program and the city
Recreation and Parks Department. Fire-code violations forced
closing the 1927 structure.
The school district had put the building on the market for
$290,000 in June, but Giancola's is the first and only offer for
the former school and its 1.79-acre lot. The city assessed the lot
alone at $84,900, and the entire property at $257,400. The school
district considered demolishing the structure to sell the lot
alone, but balked at paying $250,000 for demolition in order to
sell the lot alone for a lot that would yield only $85,000 to
$100,000.
The Giancola company intends to put offices and apartments in
the building while retaining its historic character, a specialty
for the company that owns the Howe Center and the Himolene
complex.
There may be tension between the city and the school
district over which entity will receive any moneys from the sale of
the old school, though. The city believes all school buildings are
the property of the city with the capacity to use sale moneys for
capital improvements. The school board also wants the funds for
capital improvements - but for educational facilities. The public
may chime in on the proposed sale at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19,
in the Longfellow Administration Building, 6 Church St.
PERSONNEL
Rutland Fire Chief Robert Schlachter is off duty for some two
months after a mild heart attack. Deputy Bradley LaFaso is acting
chief while Schlachter is out.
WALKING ALONG
The Vermont Farmers Food Center has been talking to the city about
formalizing a pathway that connects Baxter and West streets. Known
locally as Burns Alley, the walkway may become a vigorously used
access between the Northwest neighborhood and Rutland's
downtown.
The folks at the Food Center have already begun opening up the
passage, finding glass, needles, plants gone wild, and even a tent
in the overgrown strip. Food Center leader Greg Cox says that he
has applied for formal permission from right-of-way owner Vermont
Railway; he envisions a trail similar to the developing Creek Path,
with lighting, a paved walkway, and uprights that block vehicle
traffic. Some 100 walkers utilize the path each day now, he
estimates.
GLODZIK GAMES
The West Rutland Booster Club is working with PEGTV, Rutland
County's public access television station, to sponsor the 54th
annual West Rutland Glodzik Basketball Tournament beginning
Saturday, March 9, and continuing through Friday, March 15. The
invitational tournament is for both boys and girls play at the 5/6
grade age level.
The Glodzik tournament began as a boys' event 25 years ago to
honor the late coach Ed Glodzik. Girls' basketball was added last
year. PEGTV is filming the games on the opening weekend, some games
during the week, and the March 15 championship game, and
broadcasting them on PEGTV channel 15. DVDs of the games will be
available for purchase, with the money donated to the West Rutland
Booster Club to help support next year's tournament. Games will
also be available through PEGTV's video on demand portal.
West Rutland School plans a sports banquet for Wednesday, March
20.
WEST RUTLAND MARSH
As springtime looms, put the West Rutland marsh on your must-visit
list. Formed when marble processing shops dumped sand that had been
used in the marble finishing process into the Castleton River, the
marsh is the result of the water flow being plugged up. Colonized
by water-loving plants, the marsh soon became home to least
bitterns and 135 other species logged by Rutland County Audubon.
More than 900 participants have taken part in the group's monthly
bird monitoring walks.
In addition to its bird species, the marsh is also a place for
quiet recreation and meditation. Cyclists, runners, walkers, and
horseback riders use the dirt roads surrounding the main
marsh.
REHABBING PEOPLE
A new residential rehab program for women at the VAC complex on
Park Street is in the planning stages. The 10-bed facility will
house women nearing the end of their prison sentences and eligible
for furlough release if only they did not have behavioral, mental
health and substance abuse problems.
The residents will receive counseling, therapy and treatment for
drug addiction, while also learning life skills for independent
living and a range of job skills as diverse as accounting,
jewelry-making, marketing, woodworking and website building. Named
Mandala (the Sanskrit word for unified living) House, the
residence/program strives to develop a sense of accountability in
its registrants. Director for the program is Cheryl MacKenzie,
holder of a Ph.D. in psychology and a license in addiction
counseling, overseeing a 10-person staff. Together with the
enrollees, they will create a family environment with 24-hour-a-day
supervision to help the women improve decision-making skills and
earn their independence.
Corrections officials estimate residents will live at Mandala
House no less than six months, but with an average occupancy of
about a year.
Renovations to a building where the women will take classes are
currently underway.
METHADONE CLINIC
The proposed methadone clinic in Building 10 of the Howe Center is
apparently being pushed further into the future. Officials had
anticipated opening the clinic before Halloween last fall, but the
state and service provider Rutland Mental Health Services continue
to disagree over its financing. If those differences could be
reconciled, the clinic's opening would still be at least five
months after the agreement; time has to be built in for staff
finding and training, space renovation, and organization.
LANI'S PICKS
Sunday, March 10 - Vermont Symphony Orchestra performs "Three for
Two" - Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, Philip Glass's Echorus for
2 Violins and String Orchestra, and David Ludwig's Seasons,
Concerto for Two Violins. The 3 p.m. concert at the Paramount
Theatre concludes with Mozart's Symphony No. 40.
Sunday, March 10 - The Italian American Club, 73 Grove St.,
hosts the food and music sampler Beat the Winter Blues Fest, an
evening of live music, complimentary beer and wine and delicious
hors d'oeuvres and desserts. 4 to 7 p.m. The concert benefits
Dinners with Love, taking free, high quality restaurant meals of
their choice to hospice patients and their families. No reservation
necessary.
Wednesday, March 13 - Rutland Free Library's 2nd Wednesday
Community Cinema presents Wonder Women! The Untold Story of
American Superheroines, looking at heroines from the comic books of
the 1940s to the on-screen superwomen, and how their
representations often reflect society's anxieties about women's
liberation. 7 - 8:45 p.m., 773-1860.
Tagged:
News Briefs, Rutland Region
