Good thing we did that, because the very next day, the entire thing split vertically, leaving a single "stile" (the name of a vertical member of a panel door) at the left, still on the hinges.  The rest of it, with the doorknob still attached (at left, in the photo), almost tumbled down the basement stairs!
Now I have to hang the new one, after removing the remnants of the old one.  If anyone wants to drop by to help me do this, I'd love it.
Suffice to say, I have material for a number of stories yet to publish, including a few videos to edit and post, so the sooner I can get back to working on all that, the better.  I was at the Tri-Board meeting last night and took copious notes.  It was quite an historic event, in its own way!

Then, on Saturday, 3 June, they plan to hold a Grand Opening celebration, with live music, food samples and what they're calling a "shopping party."
Over ten years in the planning, the announcement of the opening was delayed until the last minute, due to final permit requirements.
Further details are available on the organization's web site:
https://assabetmarket.coop/
The organization will be operating a community-owned, full-service grocery store in Maynard, intended to serve the entire Metro West region. Their stated mission includes support of the regional food system; strengthening the local economy; and promoting the well-being of its members, the community at large, and the environment.  They hope also to serve as a center for community activity.

Maynard, MA - It's the season for local political committees to prepare for their conventions later on in the fall.  I just received a release from the Maynard Democratic Town Committee via the "Contact Us" feature on this web site.  I did not receive one from the Maynard Republican Town committee by the same method, but I am including some information based on their announcement that appears in The Action Unlimited paper.

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Maynard MA - The Maynard Republican Town Committee will meet on Tuesday, June 6, at 7 PM in the Maynard Public Library at 77 Nason Street in Maynard.
(Note:  This information was published in the Action Unliminted paper in the May 26 2023 issue, on page 19.  I do not have any information regarding an upcoming convention or selection of delegates for the Republicans.  I am attempting to contact someone from the committee and will add to this story when more information is available).

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If any other political party wishes to provide me with information on meetings, please use the Contact Us page.

After some delay, I have now revised my report on Maynard's Town Meeting to correct some errors and add some information originally omitted.
The presentation, discussion, and votes on Articles 4, 6 and 7 was unusually complex, when compared to town meetings of the recent past, thus preparing my report was especially difficult.  I want to thank the variety of individuals who commented on the report, both here and on social media, or answered my questions in telephone conversations and e-mail messages later on, in helping me to update the original story posted back then.

Legislatures (of which town meeting is one) typically do not do well with long term planning.  This is no ones fault, exactly.  Instead, it's largely the result of what the representatives (or voters who participate) are asked to do: focus just on the budget for the next year ahead, and make all the decisions in a rather short time frame.
By law, except for bond issues and certain other specific actions, town meetings are not allowed to "bind" or restrict the actions of future meetings.  You vote with the future in mind, perhaps, but you cannot actually set down what it will be after the end of the next fiscal year (July of 2024, as I write this).

And yet, the complexity of the recent town meeting seems to indicate that we need to face important questions regarding our plans for the next few years, at least, lest contention at town meeting becomes more intense.

One major long term decision is now front and center for the town:  The prospect of building an entire new elementary school, to be paid for by an increase in property taxes that will continue for the next 20 years.  In October, the Town Meeting will likely be presented with a vote on whether to go ahead with the project.  If that passes, then the question moves on to the entire voting public in town, who will be asked to cast ballots in November on whether to approve or disapprove the borrowing of the funds (known as a "bond issue") and the tax increase that will be needed to pay it all back over the 20 year period.

There are other questions regarding long term planning that don't have as well defined time limits, yet are easily just as important for the proper functioning of the town's other services, and quality of life here, in general.

Unfortunately, there isn't much time for most of us to dig into the issues involved.  In July and August, many people are away on vacation, so very few meetings are held and often very little gets done.  After all, who wants to sit indoors for hours when the weather is warm and various recreational activities are available for just two months?

By September, there won't be much time left for voters to catch up on what they may want to know before making these decisions.  For many people, spreadsheets full of numbers take too much time to process.  What's needed it a clear overview that lays out in plain language and simple graphics what's at stake, at least financially.

This is the challenge for those on committees and people deep into the financial details.  How do we step back from the details and provide a good summary?  I hope to help in this process here at Town Wide Mall, however, I can only do so much. Many aspects of taxes and public policy are highly controversial, so presenting this information responsibly presents a delicate challenge.

Long term planning is especially difficult in these times of rapid change and unexpected events. The pandemic is a recent example.  And yet, we cannot sit by and do nothing, or expect that business as usual will suffice.  We must do what we can to prepare for and make reasonable decisions.

After a steady stream of news stories published here, below, visitors to this site may have noticed an unusual gap in reports: An entire week!
There are multiple reasons for this:
1.  I took time out to add a means to support my work on this web site through donations; please see details on the About page here on this site.
2.  I also added a better description of the nature of this web site, and who I am as I manage it.  This includes some legal information and a privacy statement to clarify things for everyone.  All this is now also on the About page.
3.  I took some time to do some research for some stories that I've been working on but I have not finalized for publication as of yet.  A few of these involve video recordings I made but are not yet edited or for which editing has not been completed.
4.  Finally, I discovered that I was working too hard!  I was up late at night, working on stories, not getting enough sleep, and beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by what I had started.  As a self employed person, I must find my own balance in life, between my ambitions and my personal resources, including my time, my financial reserves, and my health.  There is no "boss" to complain to, ask for a raise, or unionize in opposition to; ... I'm it!
Taking "time off" feels risky because I become concerned that others may lose faith in me or what I'm doing, based on the "silence" I left here, for a period of days or week or more.  Please rest assured that I am dedicated to make this work and will need to adjust my schedule for a variety of needs and life events from time to time.
To help with this, I plan to continue to publish the series of articles that I call "Citizen Journalism" in hopes to build a group of colleagues working together in a network to provide a stream of news and other information of benefit to the community, on an ongoing basis.  I envision hosting a public gathering of folks interested in Citizen Journalism soon, to meet in person.  But rest assured, I don't intend to pressure anybody; just come to see what's happening and learn something or contribute ideas.  I will post dates, times, and locations here when I get this organized.

I appreciate your patience in this process and I hope you can stick with me as I continue.

COURSE - I’m starting these posts about Citizen Journalism right here in the news feed because I want everyone to have easy access to them.

Before we get started with the first installment, here are some specifics:
• this “course” is simply a series of articles for your to read, or videos to watch
• I may convene some in-person meetings because some people learn better that way and some things are better done, or are more fun to do, in a group
• this information is free to anyone, of any age.
• I offer no assignments, no grades, no exams, no papers to write, no time limits
• I’m not taking attendance (!)
• I invite you to learn at your own pace
• I have a bachelor’s degree only.  There were no majors at Goddard College when I graduated, in 1975, so my B.A. is not “in” anything.  I’m essentially a “generalist,” which is exactly how I like it.
• I have no institution nor any accreditation or certification, so I cannot award any credits or degrees.
• the goal is that you learn what you want and do with it whatever you please
• my other goal is that at least a few people are interested enough in journalism as a practice, that they start working on stories here in Maynard.  Perhaps they contribute them here, to my Town Wide Mall web site, or post them on their own web sites, on paper, or however they think is appropriate.  I'm happy either way.
• I happen to think most education should work this way, but that’s a topic for another time.

OK, so let’s get started:

When something disappointing happens, it’s tempting to point the finger of blame at some particular person or company.  For example, when the Beacon Villager stopped printing a newspaper for Maynard, last May, who was to blame?  Was it the Gannett Company (publisher of USA Today) who owned it at the time?  Or was it Gatehouse Media, who owned it before that?

As it turns out, blaming either of them won’t do us much good.  The problem began long before they were in charge. Just this weekend, I happened upon an article "The Decline of Big Media ..." that tells the amazing story of what really happened:

https://journalistsresource.org/media/covering-america-journalism-professor-christopher-daly/

I read this entire story and I was fascinated. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in journalism today.  Yes, it was published almost 10 years ago, but I think it is still highly relevant today.  By the way if you don't know who William Paley or Henry Luce were (they are mentioned in the story), you can just look them up (or use the handy links I've provided here – just click on their names, in this sentence).

When I was in school, I thought I hated history.  Later on after school was over, I realized that I actually love history!  The problem was that history taught in school was largely about war and politics and not nearly enough about innovation, technology, culture, art, and love (love in the broader spiritual sense, not just romantic love) and the amazing interactions between all of those things.
I also didn’t really care for literature.  I don’t remember names very well, so I got very lost when trying to read novels.  Which character was whom, again?  Ugh.  Early on, I discovered that I could learn all the same things about the humanities (ethics, culture, human relations, psychology, etc.) from non-fiction that I could have learned from fiction, so I walked away from fiction and really never looked back.  After all, literature is art and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say.  In my eye, most fiction was just not that beautiful, so I never much cared for it.
It turns out that I’m more of a visual person than just a reader.  Although I was born in the 1950s, I'm really a child of the electronic media age.
I found the story at the link I referenced above easily as intriguing as any fictional story.  I know it's long, but if you read the whole thing, I'd be interested to know what you think.
Oh, and one more thing. When I said, "... anyone, of any age," I meant it.  You never know what a child is capable of.  I know someone who could read pretty much anything at age 2 without ever spending time in a classroom.  There is a wide variety of learning styles and capabilities out there.  So if your 9 year old wants to try reading this stuff, or you want to read it to them, give it a try. You might be surprised.  If a 9 year old submits a story to me and I think it is well enough written and of interest to readers, I'll run it here on Town Wide Mall.  I promise.

EDITORIAL - After the Beacon Villager newspaper ceased printing an actual newspaper a year ago, it took me until recently before I decided to start an online news feed for Maynard.  Back when the Beacon Villager was still being printed, I think they had one reporter covering perhaps 2 or 3 towns.  So effectively, we in Maynard jumped from a local paper with 1/3 of a reporter, to me, a self-appointed reporter devoted to just this town.

I refer to myself as a "citizen journalist" because I'm working independently, rather than as part of a news organization.  Also, I live and work right here in Maynard rather than somewhere else.

To better serve the needs (or at least the desire) in Maynard for news, perhaps we could have more than one reporter working on stories.  In fact, each reporter might set up their own news feed, then we each provide links to the other’s web sites. That way, readers might pick and choose among them.

The question then is, where are these additional reporters going to come from?  They could come from all walks of life, potentially.  I mean anyone from age 9 to 90 (or beyond) knows how to tell a story.  Quality journalism is essentially storytelling, enhanced with a few other skills that make it good readable news.  News is essentially stories based on actual events or research, rather than fiction.  Now, freed from the printed page, news can also be listenable (radio or podcast), or even watchable (video segments), all available through the web.

I’m more of a self starter than most people, it seems.  Other people often need a little more foundation, and perhaps a little boost, in order to get going on something.

So, let’s try this:  I publish a series of articles under the title of “Citizen Journalism.”  In each, I offer some of my experience in doing this, and some of my thinking behind what I’m doing.  You read them, then give me some feedback on what you think.  This could be via comments on each one I publish (where others can see what you’ve said), or by direct message to me, via the “Contact” page on this web site.

I could even set up a face to face meeting for a small group of those interested, perhaps on an weekday evening or some time on the weekend.  This might be in a public place, such as at the Maynard Public Library.

After I publish a number of these Citizen Journalism editorials, we might even gather for a practice session.  We could tell each other stories, while those listening take notes and then write up something about what they heard and see how it comes out.  That might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but if it intrigues you, I’d like to know.  Remember, this is for all ages, from 9 to 90, as I said.  I think anyone of any age could get some benefit from experimenting with this, even if they're not quite ready to start up their own news feed!  I think the best learning comes from play, so that’s the spirit in which I offer this.

Maynard, MA - The Town Clerk has now posted the results of all votes taken at Town Meeting Monday night.  They are available on the Town's web site here:
Annual-Town-Meeting-results-51523 (townofmaynard-ma.gov)
( The actual URL is: https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1893/Annual-Town-Meeting-results-51523)
Note: I am still receiving feedback on my report on Town Meeting published yesterday (Tuesday, 16 May 2023).  I plan to continue to revise that story until I make all corrections I'm aware of.

The "Contact Us" function (under the CONTACT heading above) is now functioning.  You can use the form to send a message directly to the webmaster.  We will reply using the e-mail address you enter.  It may take a few days before we respond, so please be patient.