My suggestion about the cuts

MJ O'Connor says she "is trying to be as creative as possible." Why is there even mention of arts cuts when there is a 500,000 dollar cut proposed by the city? The very program that stresses the creative process most are the arts. If she really was being creative she would see this and value the creative process enough to not dampen it being tought in our schools. Portland schools need to reflect Portland's value for the arts. By always targeting programs where creativity is fostered we are threatening our young citizen's ability to be creative citizens in the future.
Every time a school committee member or superintendant says they may have to cut programs they are sending a clear message to their constituents and children. That message is, "We value everything else more than your art, music, fitness, and reproductive health." Even threats like this are dangerous to a creative economy. Portland is an example to communities everywhere. We should take our role as leaders seriously. If we threaten to cut the budget of non mandated classes like the ones mentioned how will our leadership be percieved? It is time for our city council to reflect our beliefs as a communtiy. They can do this by not making our children sacrifice their creativity to save 500,000.

This taxpayer would love to see a unified appoach to education

There are some things that just do not work. After studying psychology at USM I took a liking to the cognitive behavioral model. This model of teaching and learning works. It laid out in plain simple language with scientific backing what would and would not effect human behavior. Recently in a attempt to change alcohol consuption by minors the city of portland funded a study by Erica Shmidz. The study confirmed that doing something was in the best interest of our city. Just what exactly should be done is where folks tend to differ. The study by Schmidz targeted the drinking behavior of adults and sought to impose more strict sentinces to people providing youngsters with booze.
I do not have a hard time with either of these ideas. I do have a hard time with how the city goes about doing this. The goal is to have kids not get hurt ultimately. I would argue we could kill a number of birds with one stone by approaching this with the Cognitive behavioral approach. Teaching kids more adaptive, alternative behaviors aimed at achieving the same rewards will encourage them to be more creative when they fraternise with thier peers.
We should concentrate on empowering adults who are around kids and the kids themselves. Right now the council is going after adults at bars with city permits raised. They are looking to teach adults who drink a lesson in prohibition. They want them to get the message, drink up so we can pay for our budget. Our city council needs to stop wasting our time. They need to stop being reactive when they are over budget. Proactive plans to help kids develop healthy attitudes around drinking are the answer.

What I Stand For and What I Just Can't Stand

As of late I have been working on a project to make access more accessible. It is somewhat of a de-handicapping. To explain this I first have to explain what I do for a living. To explain this I must first explain this chair.
This chair is very old, so old in fact it has a seat that is noticably closer to the floor than its contemporaries. It supports the population of people I work for. They have some great stories. The population is of course the eXtremely aged. They are both cool and hip so I have worked a number of years for them.
I get to hear stories that even the children and grand children haven't. There are three reasons for this truthfulness in the face of a stranger.
1) The amount of time young people spend interacting with the geriatric community.
2) The nature of the relationship a grandparent is expected to have with their children.
3) Young people sometimes don't feel comfortable out of their social context.
Hopefully this project will work to capture video of old people talking about their lives candidly. The idea is to have people sit down and have a marvelous time talking about their human experiance. The programs that result will be for public access should the person choose to make it so. This will give the aged free speech within familys over time and over the airwaves. It will make the hubris of the hindsighted a thing of the past. No more regretting that we did not catch Uncle Hodjins on video telling us that story about the young man he cared for during the war. We will be able to see the delighted look on ma's face as she reminisces about what her and her sisters used to do for fun.
The second phase of this is to involve youths in the area in the interviewing process. They will learn to use the equiptment then learn how to make a good documentary film. The real skills they learn pertain to interactions with people from a different generation. Once they have this mastered they will learn to listen and hear the messages these people have to send an avid listener.
It is just a small project that I am trying to make sustainable. This is more of a creative expression than a business proposal. The goals I have are finite and should take only a year or two at the most. I want to do one video for each resident in the facility I work for, then I will start outreaching to the community. I will seek to network with community access and various neighborhood organizations. Preference will be given to organizations that involve parents in projects. Oppertunities for supervised kids will be made too. The residents of my facility will each get a DVD and streamable copy for their use. They will also be given the option to air the movie they made on public access.

What I would suggest for the city council in Portland

On Channel 6 News last night there was a story on the trash issues facing Portland. We need to pull together as a community and find a solution. The facts are as follow:
* The city council has recently called for an increase in the price of the infamous blue bags;
* Revenue from this program will enable the city to expand hours and services of the city waste management station;
* Residents who are using blue bags are angry because they feel the increase in price is not justified. They also have complained the bags are not good quality.
* Councilors maintain the recycling program has worked, and an increase in price will encourage people to recycle even more.
Increasing prices of bags has been effective in encouraging recycling behavior. The city however, has stopped short in its responsibility to come up with a working solution to the trash problem. Shifting the responsibility of reducing the strain on landfills to blue bag users alone does not solve the problem. It allows businesses to go another year without recycling. Portland is a city that should be an example to other cities. The way we address the problem of waste management does not just effect Portlanders, it also can serve as a model for other cities in Maine and the U.S. It is for this reason the city needs to come up with a sustainable plan that will encourage all waste producers to recycle all the time.
The good behaviors recycling Portlanders have are use of recycle bins, waste management stations, and generally reducing waste. These are behaviors our city leaders need to support. Blue bag users have responded well to the program in place. We have adapted to recycling and made it part of our weekly budgeting. I know if I take the time to recycle I will save money on blue bags each week.
The waste management program has likewise supported people who are interested in taking care of their larger items in an environmentally sensible way. Their friendly, courteous staff has always been helpful out at Riverside. The large- item trash days are another example of an excellent initiative. It serves not just as a way of getting cellars cleaned out but also as a means of shopping for cheap items to adorn our homes with. These are three of the excellent things the city and consumers in Portland are doing to curb the number of trash bags that get to the landfill.
Logically we can encourage this kind of smart consumerism by trying to get all of Portland to the point blue baggers are at now. We should reward effective recyclers with added support of their efforts to reduce, renew, and recycle. This means getting our entire city on board -- especially the larger businesses. Many large businesses just pay to have their dumpsters emptied. They have not integrated recycling into their business plans. We need to encourage them with the same logic the City Council used to approach the people who now use blue bags. Just because it is not efficient for a business to adopt a recycling program does not mean they should not adopt one. Businesses need to adhere to the same rules of their community as we do. If I bought black bags and put them out in front of my house, I would be penalized by city ordinance. This ordinance was made to reduce the strain on landfills.
Businesses and apartment buildings too large for the blue bag initiative are getting away with not adopting sustainable recycling habits because it is not cost effective. We need to make it so. By increasing the amount of money businesses have to pay to throw out their waste, we can encourage them to create less strain on our cities landfills. Both of these special groups of Portland consumers have been less accountable for their waste than blue baggers. Recycling will have to be done by all to keep Portland a sustainable community.
We should reward effective recyclers with added support of their efforts to reduce, renew, and recycle. Community gardens are a viable source of sustenance for many gardeners in Portland. Just a small garden can produce enough nutritious food to give a small family a good varied diet come harvest time. These gardens should be encouraged by public works. A compost initiative in Portland would help people cover the 'renew' part of the slogan. Apartment dwellers do not have access to green space needed for this but should. This year I propose we try to have a composting initiative to better serve our city of Portland. There are many foods that could easily be used as assets in gardens around the city instead of expensive store-bought compost.
Lastly the subject of incentives for business to create less post-consumer waste comes into focus. In the long term we need to examine the behavior of businesses we have allowed into Portland, or that have grown up here, to test their sustainability. If a business is producing a product with lots of excess non-recyclable packaging, we should be in touch with its owners, managers, and staff as a community. We can encourage their good behavior with our consumer habits. We can curb their bad behaviors by evaluating them on a post-consumer waste scale rather than taxing them.

A New Candidate

My campaign to become Portland's new at large school committee member has officilaly begun. The Bollard printed "Gardella, 28, is an artist who works at a senior living facility in the West End." This really is only the beginning. Look for the following editorial in this week's Portland Press Herald.

Friday Portland Metro officials had a public meeting to discuss the future of the Metro in Portland. Their interest in public opinion however is questionable. The meeting was not widely advertised not even a sign in front of the library (as is customary for public meetings). They did not advertise on their busses or at any of the stops either. They have chosen to limit the amount of public debate by scheduling only four meetings so far. The amount of debate at this first meeting made it clear four will not be enough. Half of the meeting was spent explaining statistics about riding populations in Portland. Not anywhere in their stats are public surveys. I was not certain they want to know what their riders think about their service. How can Portland become an efficient city when members of the public are discouraged from participating in public transit meetings? Oil prices will keep rising. We all should be served by the bus service if we are to use it. The bus routes need to make this feasible. The best possible routes and structure for the busses will come not from metro boardrooms but from members of the public. They are the ones who still use the bus.