Portsmouth 375th Anniversary Planning Moves Ahead
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The Portsmouth 375th Anniversary planning committee met at the public library tonight, and as with previous sessions, the group of about 20 residents, business people, and town officials dug right in to the work of planning next year's events and activities.
But the first order of business was a big "thank you" to Tom Roskelly, who developed a beautiful logo for the celebration — you can pop over to the Portsmouth 375 web site to take a peek. Committee chair Doug Smith said, "We owe him a big debt of thanks."
There were reports from the co-chairs with significant updates on fundraising where co-chair Jane Roggero reported on progress toward a first round of t-shirts (if you're a local business and want your name on the back, drop her an e-mail), finance co-chairs Molly Magee reported that there have already been more than $2,800 in donations, and parade co-chair John Lane McMahon reported on the broad outreach effort to round up bands from across the state. The thinking at this point is that it may be possible to combine the Portsmouth High School Homecoming parade with a 375th celebration to anchor a key weekend of events.
Also on hand were Town representatives. Portsmouth school Supt. Lynn Krizic, who said that she was talking with staff in the district to explore speakers, writing contests, and other ideas. "We're committed to helping celebrate this significant milestone," said Krizic. "We're very excited about it."
Town Administrator John Klimm said that he and the staff at Town Hall are working to raise awareness. "I don't think an hour passes on any day that i don't mention the Portsmouth 375th," he said, noting that he's asking every committee and department how they might participate. He even pitched the idea of creating a volunteer delegation to travel to Portsmouth, England (at their own expense, of course) to invite the Lord Mayor personally to a major event.
Dr. Kathy Abbass of the RI Marine Archaeology Project shared with the group some of their work on Fort Butts that might dovetail with the 375th celebration. They've kicked off a five-year effort to fund a major cleanup of the location with an eye to making it an active tourist attraction.
Next meeting (which is of the smaller steering committee, but anyone is welcome to come) will be October 4, 5pm in the Portsmouth public library. "Our job is not just to celebrate," said Smith, "Our job is to get everyone in Portsmouth involved."
Feel free to stop by, visit the Web site or Facebook page, or, if you have a suggestion or want to volunteer, drop an e-mail to the committee.
Full disclosure: I am a member of the steering committee.
Portsmouth for 43 years and counting
11:32 am on Friday, September 21, 2012
I remember the fireworks for the 350th celebration and those were very cool. A nice family day/night at the Glen.
Carrol Goetzinger
7:41 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
What if?......to celebrate 375 years we installed limited Historic Zoning...to preserve the physical history of one of America's oldest towns? (Beverly Hills has declared the Beverly Hills hotel historic and it is only 100 years old!) Just think.... no parades, no patches, no raffles, no fireworks, no face painting, no parades! We could get done what we should have done 100 years ago.
Where is the oldest house in Portsmouth? When was it built? It is certainly not at the Glen, that house is barely older than the Beverly Hills Hotel.
OldTownie
11:55 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
So, you want to tell other people what they can and cannot do with their house?
Doug Smith
6:47 pm on Saturday, September 22, 2012
There are many great ideas floating around about what we can do for Portsmouth's 375th year, but we are still in need of citizen volunteers to step up and join the us by planning or helping to plan events. The 375th Parade alone will require many people to work on it. Check out the Portsmouthri375th website above and contact anyone on the 375th Steering Committee if you would like to be part of our efforts.
Carrol Goetzinger
10:19 am on Sunday, September 23, 2012
You are correct "Old Townie". Historic zoning means someone telling you what to do with your property. Of course they do that now. Trying putting up a 6' fence, or an apartment over your garage, or a deck, or a 26' observation tower.
Historic Zoning is a pain, and it complicates things. But it is an economic advantage to all home owners. Towns that have historic zoning look better and have higher real estate values. Simply said, it puts money in your pocket.
Incidenlty, we are talking about historic zoning for buildings very old...not your 1961 ranch house.
Any day you can drive down East Main Road (the town's front door) and look at the mess we have made of it. Historic zoning would preserve the old buildings we have and prevent further commercial development.
The town is 375 years old, and the only building we preserve is a 20th century house at the Glen?
OldTownie
10:30 am on Sunday, September 23, 2012
This was tried once before. It was a dismal failure.
You do understand that preventing further commercial development is the single fastest way to guarantee property tax increases, right?
Carrol Goetzinger
8:45 pm on Sunday, September 23, 2012
It was never tried before (historic zoning)....it was defeated by a large number of residents who would never have been directly effected.
I do not see a direct connection with commercial development and tax rates. Little Compton and Jamestown have very little commercial development but very low tax rates. Portsmouth probably has one of the most significant commercial developmens in the state (Raytheon), but a tax rate little different from Tiverton, Middletown, Bristol, etc.
If business is the golden goose that lays the golden egg I do not see that on East Main Road.
Would you pay $ 2,000. more in property taxes if the value of your home went up 1% more than the state average?.Historic zoning could do that.
J. Lane McMahon
12:03 am on Monday, September 24, 2012
Carrol,
I would be happy to explain the correlation between commercial development and tax rates. Residential properties actually cost the town more than the taxes that they pay. Example, a family (2 children) with an average value home pay about 4000 a year in taxes. But, it costs the town more than 18000 a educate these children. Since the school deptartments fund comes from property taxes, that makes this residential property revenue negative. Commercial properties have a positive revenue impact. Pretty simple.
J. Lane McMahon
12:09 am on Monday, September 24, 2012
To continue, comapring the towns you have listed is like compairing apples and oranges. The tax rate is not the only number in the equation. You must also look at property valuations. Both Jamestown and Little Compton have a higher average property value.
And, the average home value in Portsmouth is already 31% above the state average, so the answer to your $2000 question is NO!
If it costs me 2000 for a 1% increase because of historic zoning, then I think everyone would tell you to keep it out of here.