May 20, 6:30-8:30 PM

Do you have gently used or never used items that you would like to donate to the Children’s Holiday Boutique? Perhaps it is a gift that never got used in your home or an item that was only worn or used once or twice.

Now is the time, and the Bennington Museum’s Children’s Holiday Gift Boutique is the perfect place for those items to be put to good use. Those earrings, scarves, gloves, kitchen utensils, books, figurines, cds, could be the perfect gift for someone on a child’s list.

Please consider donating them. They can be brought to the Bennington Museum between now and November 21 any weekday between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. and on the weekend between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

It’s this time of year in the Bennington VT real estate market that our thoughts go to helping others. RE/MAX Maple Leaf Realty participates in Warm The Children program this time of year too.

July 7, 2010 — The Vermont Association of REALTORS® is once again sponsoring the VT-NH Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Saturday, July 17th at Hildene Meadows, Manchester, Vermont. It’s the 9th year that Team REALTOR® will be participating.

The Vermont Association of REALTORS® has a long history of giving back to the community and this annual event garners enthusiastic participation among the REALTOR® community. This year Team REALTOR® is on track to increase the size of the team and is expecting 45 -50 supporters from across the state. They’ve made a $10,000 goal and are currently in second place for pledges made. See www.vtREALTOR.com for more about joining Team REALTOR® or making a pledge.

“Race for the Cure is all about community and hope,” says Team REALTOR® co-chair Mark Linton. “The events are amazing reminders about the power we have to make a big impact when we come together to tackle problems. It’s really moving to see so many neighbors and colleagues working to change the face of breast cancer – a disease that effects too many of our wives, mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters and friends.”

Last year the Vermont-New Hampshire Affiliate of Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure awarded $464,690 to 19 community-based programs for breast cancer education, screening and treatment.

Since 1993 the organization has raised more than $6.7 million, of which $5 million (75% of funds raised) was devoted to breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs in Vermont and New Hampshire. The remaining $1.7 million went to support the Susan G. Komen national research program.

Grant recipients in Southern Vermont include the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center for education, screenings and care services; and Forest Moon’s Renewing the Spirit Retreats for breast cancer survivors.

“This is one of the most uplifting events you could participate in and I am really excited for this year’s race,” says Betty McEnaney, Team REALTOR® co-chair. “The whole event highlights the best of Vermont – neighbors helping neighbors and supporting a great cause. My REALTOR® colleagues are so generous with their time and commitment to this event.”

This year’s Race for the Cure has lots of new ways to get involved and even has a new race day. It will be the first time that the race will be held on a Saturday. Other changes include Sleep in for the Cure, for people who can’t race but want to collect pledges and the Power of Ten, a fundraising incentive to have each team member ask ten people for a pledge of $10 each.
More information on the Vermont- New Hampshire Affiliate of Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is at www.vtnhcure.org.

BENNINGTON — The Friends of the Bennington Battle Monument have invited the public to the monument on Saturday, July 3, for a climb to the top.

The 417 steps of the monument were closed to the public in the 1970s. All climbs will be escorted and narrated. The tours start at 10 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m. The cost for the escorted tour of the steps will be $3 for an adult and $2 for children.

The 306-foot monument, a Vermont state owned historic site, opened to the public in 1891, to commemorate the Aug. 16, 1777, Revolutionary War battle fought over the military storehouse located on the site where the monument now stands.

The steps were the only method of reaching the top until 1953 when the Otis elevator was installed. Thousands of visitors ride the elevator each year for the scenic vistas of Vermont, Massachusetts and New York, seen from the observation level high within the monument. The monument and gift shop located in Old Bennington are open daily from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. through Oct. 31.

For more information, visit www.historicvermont.com or call 802-447-0550.

Reprinted with permission from The Bennington Banner, Monday June 28, 2010

While this event does not have any impact on the Bennington VT real estate market, it’s a great way to see behind the scenes of the Bennington Battle Monument.

BENNINGTON — The book sale is back, and it’s twice as big as last year’s.

That’s the estimate of Leslie Noyes, a member of the board of the Friends of the Bennington Free Library, the organization which runs the popular annual benefit event.

“We’re very excited this year, because usually we have 15,000 to 20,000 books, and I believe this year we have 30 or more thousand,” Noyes said. “Usually, a truck and three-quarters of books is moved from the library to the church, but this year, it’s three and three-quarters trucks.”

(more…)

BENNINGTON — While student enrollment in Vermont’s public schools has been steadily declining for years, the local technical center is reporting more students have been choosing its services in recent years.

According to numbers shared with the school board last week, this school year the CDC has 232 students enrolled in introductory 50- to 60-minute courses, a figure that has increased each year since 2007, when 123 students were enrolled in these courses.

In the CDC’s 90- to 150-minute courses, which generally include laboratory work, there are 386 students this year, up two years in a row from 284 in 2008.

The adult education program has also been growing, with 839 adults enrolled in 2009.

Because the students are not at the center the full day, the school’s most important number, the full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment, which calculates the percentage of the school day students are at CDC, is 438, up over two consecutive years from 324 in 2008.

The increased FTE has increased the amount of state aid the school receives, which in turn lowered the tuition rate more than $300 to $12,332 next school year.

CDC Director Frank Barone said no one factor can be credited for the boost in enrollment, but he said the school has worked hard to recruit students by spreading information about its courses. “We make a conscious effort to get our good name out there,” Barone said. “We live and die by enrollment. We do, we’re a school of choice. If the kid decides not to sign up for a course, why run it?”
Barone said the school’s outreach coordinator has done a good job promoting the school, but it’s the students who are the most effective recruiters when they talk about the unique learning opportunities.

“Our number one ambassadors are our kids, who go back to their home schools and say ‘man … I had a great morning at the CDC,’” Barone said.

Another reason enrollment has likely grown, Barone said, is because of popular new programs, including cosmetology, which has grown from 10 students in its first year in 2007 to 31 students this year.

Another growing program has been the forestry program, which has increased from about 10 students in 2008 to 30 this year.

Keeping an open mind on adding new courses, and changing or eliminating courses that aren’t drawing many students, has helped keep the technical center a good choice for students, Barone said.

There are some programs Barone and the Education Committee have mentioned changing, primarily those that compete with courses taught at public schools, such as business, accounting and pre-law.

Enrollment in the accounting and financing program has shrunk each of the last five years, from about 25 students in 2006 to five this year.

“There is some competition. Kids can take business courses at their home school; why should they come here? So what we need to begin looking at is what can we offer here (to separate CDC programs from other schools)?” Barone said at Monday’s Education Committee meeting.

One way to make the CDC programs stand out, Barone suggested, is to incorporate additional credentials or specific training students couldn’t receive at a traditional school, which many programs already do.

The CDC is also attempting to start a culinary program by next spring and is considering changes to the building trades program to incorporate plumbing. “We just need to stay active,” Barone said.

Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at draspuzzi@benningtonbanner.com

Reprinted with permission from The Bennington Banner, written by DAWSON RASPUZZI, Tuesday April 27, 2010

Troy Richardson is a Board Member of the Building Trades Department of the Career Development Center, which works to educated students in the building trades by building a home in the Bennington area from the ground up.  This education allows students to enter the workforce trained to build, and exposed to the various skilled trades involved in building a house in the Bennington VT real estate market.

BENNINGTON — Volunteers will take to the streets and back roads Saturday to pick up roadside litter as part of Vermont’s annual Green Up Day.

At Bennington Subaru on North Bennington Road, volunteers will be asked to give their names so they can be directed to a stretch of road, said Bennington SubaruBusinessManager Tommy Lions. He said the dealership has 500 bags to give out, along with a dumpster for people to deposit them in, should they opt not to leave them on the side of the road to be picked up.

Volunteers wanted
Lions said Subaru of New England is a sponsor of Green Up Day for the Bennington region. From noon to about 3 p.m., he said, a cookout will be in progress for volunteers at the dealership.

Kelly Lemieux, administrative assistant at the Bennington Town Office, said the office has already given out 250 bags to Green Up volunteers.

In Manchester, volunteers are asked to show up at the Northshire Bookstore parking lot at 9 a.m., according to a release from the town offices. About 15 cleanup routes have been identified, in addition to projects at the Town Green and Recreation Area.

The routes will be “salted” with colored blocks, which children can exchange for prizes that have been donated by local businesses. There will also be a trash sculpture contest with the theme “Make Music with Trash.” The sculptures will be made of garbage collected along routes.

At noon, hot dogs and ice cream will be served at the garden area near the bookstore, courtesy of the Spiral Press Café. According to the release, with the help of Casella Waste Management, tires will be accepted at the Merchant’s Bank parking lot between 9 a.m. and noon. Tires will be taken at the rate of $3 for a regular car or truck tire and $5 for a large truck tire.

Should rain cancel the event, cleanup will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Similar prizes are being offered in Shaftsbury, said Karen Mellinger,a member of the SelectBoard. Toy lady bugs will be scattered among the roadside trash and canbe exchangedfor prizes. She said every year the town receives 200 Green Up bags and uses them all up. She said about 100 people participate.

Volunteers should gather at Cole Hall between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Trash can be dropped off there or at the transfer station, in addition to other sites around town.

For Pownal Green Up volunteers, trash can be taken to the Pownal Transfer Station between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Bags will be at the Town Offices or the station. There will be no roadside pick up. Select Board Administrative Assistant Linda Sciarappa said it would be helpful if people called the Town Offices or transfer station to sign up ahead of time, although it is not necessary.

In Sunderland, volunteers are asked to be at the Town Garage between 7 a.m. and noon. Select Board member and Road Foreman James Ennis said coffee, tea, lemonade and doughnuts will be available at the garage. Ennis said about 25 people usually participate, but the Orvis Co. in Manchester generally funnels about 70 volunteers to the town.

In Sandgate, Green Up bags will be available at Town Hall starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, along with coffee and doughnuts. The town trucks will be loading all trash collected and leaving for the transfer station at 2 p.m. Anyone with questions, call Jack Quinn, Sandgate Green Up Day coordinator, at 375-9655.

According to www.greenupvermont.org, the first Green Up Day was held April 18, 1970. It was suggested to then-Gov. Deane C. Davis by Burlington Free Press reporter Robert S. Babcock, who was appalled by the amount of litter he saw on the side of the highway while driving from his home in Waterbury to the Statehouse in Montpelier.

Reprinted with permission from The Bennington Banner, written by KEITH WHITCOMB JR., Tuesday April 27, 2010

BENNINGTON — Local officials say the number of construction permits issued indicates a robust construction season ahead, a clear indication that the economy is on the mend.

Several large construction projects have been approved by the town and will break ground soon, said Daniel Monks, the town’s planning director and zoning administrator. Among the projects are:

* A new state office building, $17 million

* Construction of a Carbone Hyundai and Ford dealership, $5 million to $8 million

* A new Bank of Bennington branch, $1 million

* Bennington Rescue, $600,000 to $700,000

* Plasan North America, constructing a 4,000-square-foot addition, $800,000

Meanwhile, some projects have already been completed, including the renovation of the Aubuchon Plaza, which now houses the Department of Motor Vehicles and a fitness center, and the rebuilding of Martin’s Mini Mart, which burned last year.

“The summer is looking good for construction projects, both in number and in terms of investment. It’s a good turnaround from last year. The last couple of years have been slower than we’d seen,” Monks said. “Some of these were definitely put off because of the economy. You can definitely say that investment in construction in Bennington is increasing from last year to this year by a significant margin. That’s a good thing to see.”
The total number of permits granted by the town began to dip in 2007. In 2006, the town approved 348 permits, but it has dropped steadily in subsequent years, with 315 in 2007, 272 in 2008 and 265 in 2009. The number of permits issued in 2008 and 2008 was below the level in 1997.

The number of residential permits sought by local property owners remained relatively steady throughout the prolonged recession, according to Larry McLeod, the town’s building inspector. However, the permits sought were smaller in scope, he said.

“Last year was definitely a drop. People weren’t putting in the pools or decks or garages or the extra things,” McLeod said.

Monks said he expected an increase in the value of residential renovation projects this year. “It probably got down, if we had to grade it on A to F, to about a C-minus. Now we’re heading into the B range, which is good to see, and we’re hoping that it will continue to improve.”

The housing market is showing signs of life, too, according to town assessor John Antognioni. Local Realtors are seeing more leads and have more properties under contract. However, it hasn’t yet translated into an increase in closed sales, he said.

The local housing market did not experience drastic fluctuation in property values as other parts of the country did, Antognioni said.

“The houses that are selling certainly are at or above what we have them assessed for,” he said. “Here in town we really didn’t see houses selling for 75 cents on the dollar or markedly less than they were.”

Contact Neal P. Goswami at ngoswami@benningtonbanner.com, reprinted with permission from The Bennington Banner, Tuesday April 27, 2010

Troy Richardson and Re/MAX Maple Leaf Realty are active in the revitalization efforts with many new and expanding businesses leasing and buying property in the Bennington VT real estate market.

BENNINGTON — The region’s technical center is in the process of bringing a culinary program to Bennington, but whether that will happen depends heavily on support from the state.

The Southwest Vermont Career Development Center has applied for approval of the culinary program from the state Department of Education, as well as for a grant to help get the program started.

Following an Education Committee meeting Monday, CDC Director Frank Barone said he believes it’s likely the center will receive the needed approval and startup money, and expects to get confirmation by the end of the school year.

The grant would give the CDC $50,000 in the first year and another $20,000 in each of the following two years, Barone said.

“For the full-blown program, we really need the grant to be able to do it,” Barone said. “We will have to buy everything for the program and undergo major renovations of space.”

If the program and grant are approved, Barone said the space used as a greenhouse for the agriculture and horticulture programs at the CDC would be turned into a restaurant, and the current agriculture and horticulture classroom would be transformed into a kitchen.

“That was never intended to be a greenhouse anyway,” Barone said.

The agriculture and horticulture programs would be moved to an underutilized classroom and use the Mount Anthony Union High School greenhouse, Barone said.

Barone said he believes there is a need for a culinary program in the area and said it would help the school by likely attracting students interested in working in the culinary industry who otherwise would not attend the CDC.
New England Culinary Institute has agreed to be a post-secondary partner, Barone said.

The committee also brought up the idea of adding other programs, including a welding course, which it has discussed numerous times over the last year, but Barone said Monday it is more likely welding will be included as part of another related program. “The issue is finding the space for the lab,” Barone said.

There was talk of increasing classroom space on the second floor where original building plans included two more classrooms that were never finished because of cost.

Barone said more space is not critical at this point, but if enrollment continues to grow, as it has in recent years, it may be needed down the line.

The board received a quote of $4,500 from Black River Design, which designed the original building, to provide a feasibility report and estimated cost of the project, and the committee voted to have the Facilities Committee consider the project.

The committee also discussed the possibility of incorporating education around plumbing, electrical and masonry into the building trades program next year when the school hires a new teacher for the program that currently has a focus on carpentry.

“We have an opportunity, if we believe that there’s a need for licensed electricians in Bennington and in the area, that the program changes to meet that need,” Barone said.

Another option could be collaborating with another technical center.

“The time may come when we may partner with Stafford, in Rutland, to share a teacher, where a teacher works three days a week there, two days a week here, lives somewhere in the middle, so that we can run a program. Maybe a half-day program in plumbing,” Barone said.

Barone said the CDC is not large enough at this time to have an independent program in plumbing, electrical or masonry.

Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at draspuzzi@benningtonbanner.com

Reprinted with permission from The Bennington Banner, written by DAWSON RASPUZZI, Monday April 26, 2010

BENNINGTON — The Green Mountain Community Network received approval from the Select Board Monday to utilize a town parking lot, allowing the group’s plan to create a transportation hub to proceed.

The nonprofit group that runs public transportation in the area has developed a plan to utilize a $328,000 federal earmark secured by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The plan will allow for a hub at the organization’s existing property on Pleasant Street by constructing a bay to house up to 12 small buses and six cars.

Additionally, a new driveway will be constructed to allow for the GMCN’s buses, as well as coach buses that pass through town twice a day, to loop around the facility to pick up and drop off customers, according to Executive Director Donna Baker.

The Select Board granted unanimous approval for GMCN to use part of a municipal parking lot adjacent to the group’s property, so long as the town is not liable for any mishaps.

Baker said the approval will alleviate a backup of traffic. “We need to make it safer and we need to make it less congested,” she said.

The town has sought a facility that could serve as a hub for buses, taxis and pedestrians for a number of years. Original ideas in 2001 included a parking garage. While the current plan less ambitious, town officials said it will help increase the use of public transportation.

GMCN is expected to seek local permits from the Development Review Board next month. Bennington Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Daniel Monks said he does not foresee any issues that would prevent the board from issuing a permit.

Reprinted with permission from The Bennington Banner, written by NEAL P. GOSWAMI, Monday April 26, 2010