The End

Dear Reader:

Mr. Madley and I moved to Hadley six years ago, and in the time that has passed, we have grown to love our little town.  We have discovered many wonderful places and people, and hope that you, through this blog, have, too.
Now, sadly, it is time to bid you adieu and close the Madley Hadley blog.  But fear not!  I have a new set of blogging adventures at Toad in the Garlic.  I hope to see you there!

~Emily

PS -- as a final piece of Hadley-related information, I encourage you to get to Town Meeting in May to vote to allow the library to apply for a construction grant and to vote for investigating new space for a senior center.  Both of these are important to the town, and the timing is as close to right as it can be.

The Town Meeting is on May 5.  (The warrant was posted in January, but the meeting has not made it onto the town's "upcoming meetings" calendar.)

New Library Building Updates

The Goodwin Memorial Library Planning & Design Committee and the Goodwin Memorial Library Trustees will host two public information sessions to explain the two Town Warrant articles, 20 & 21, that pertain to the library construction proposal.

Information Session #1:  April 21st, 2016 7:00P-8:30PM Town Hall Second Floor Meeting Room

Information Session #2:  April 27st, 2016 7:00P-8:30PM Goodwin Memorial Library

You can find the agendas for these meetings on the Goodwin Memorial Library blog here: https://goodwinmemoriallibrary.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/public-information-sessions/

If you can't make it to information sessions, there is an informative Q&A section here: https://goodwinmemoriallibrary.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/q-a-on-the-library-town-warrant-articles/

Master Plan Meeting -- this week!

Here's an announcement, from the Town, regarding the updating of the Master Plan.

Thursday night, 6:30, Hadley Senior Center

Be there, and let your voice be heard!

Upcoming Events to Be Aware Of

It's the holiday season, as I'm sure you can tell by the amount of catalogs in your mailbox.  Here are some important dates to look forward to this season:

Nov. 23-24: Monte's March, benefiting the Western Massachusetts Food Bank

Dec. 3: Hadley Master Plan Forum, 6:30pm, Hadley Senior Center
Dec. 6: Amherst College Vespers and Smith College Vespers @4pm & 730pm
Dec.13: Mount Holyoke College Vespers @ 4pm & 730pm

I was saddened to learn that Valley Gives Day is on hiatus until 2016 -- I look forward to that every year!  Not that that means I won't be giving during this season of gratitude giving and remembering, but VGD made it just a little more fun.

Get Involved

It is SO easy to lament the state of the world, the nation, and even our little town sometimes (think even-more construction and demolition of wooded areas), but lamenting, on its own, will not make any changes.  If you want to effect change and don't know where to start, here are some ideas for you:

Go to Town Meeting -- and town meetings.
Town Meeting and Special Fall Town Meeting each happen once a year (total: 2 meetings), and allow residents to voice opinions and vote on important agenda items and on the town budget.
Other meetings through the year include informational meetings and town department meetings.  Just recently, there were meetings for the library (new building construction) and for MassDOT (expansion and improvement of Rt. 9) and for the Select Board.
You can find information about these meetings on the Town of Hadley website and the associated calendar.

Volunteer for the Town
Hadley often has vacancies on various boards and committees -- join one!  You can find out about these vacancies on the Select Board's page of the town website.
(I recently wrote my letter of interest to become a member of the Cemetery Committee!)

Volunteer Somewhere Else
There are many organizations that could use a helping hand.  A couple that come to mind are the Boys and Girls Club of Amherst and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
Find more opportunities at VolunteerMatch. or Volunteer.gov.
You can also join a choir, join a church, join a library (Friends).

Find a Campaign
It's political season and the perfect time to get involved in a political campaign.  Those running for office always need people on the ground and in the ranks.  Find the contact information of a candidate you like and make a request for information on how to help.

Write a Letter
If there is something that you think needs changed, write a letter to one of your elected representatives.  You can information on our United States senators and representatives here: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/MA, or you can check on the House of Representatives site here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/, or on the Senate site here: http://www.senate.gov/index.htm. 

For state leaders, visit the MA Legislature site here: https://malegislature.gov/People/Search.


Donate
Don't have time to volunteer, join a committee, or otherwise get involved?  Mr. Madley and I try to make a small donation each month to an organization that we believe in.  Sometimes the organization is world- or nation-wide; sometimes (usually) it is much more local.  Find great places in need of help on the Valley Gives website (but don't just give on Valley Gives day!) or on Charity Navigator.


And there you have it -- ways to make a difference.  This list is not comprehensive, but it's a good jumping off place.  Go forth and make some positive change (and I don't mean in dimes and nickels!).  Good luck & have fun!

Library Building Forum

I probably should have come up with a catchy title for this blog post, but catchy isn't coming to me this evening, so I'll have to settle for practical.

The library is looking ahead to the future!  A forum to discuss building plans is coming to a Town Hall near you -- the Hadley Town Hall is hosting a library planning and building design forum on Monday, September 28, at 7pm, sponsored by the library trustees and the library design committee.  This is an opportunity for residents ask questions, voice opinions, and hear the pros and cons of various site options for a new library.

The voice of the community is a necessary part of the library building project -- add your voice to the others' and let it be heard!

Circulation is increasing, patronage is increasing, general usage is increasing -- and town population is increasing! -- but the library has not been able to increase in proportion.  For more information about the building program and why it's important, read (or skim) the Goodwin Memorial Library Building Program.  In it you will find community comparisons, space usage, collection information, public input from surveys and forums, and more!  (It's a large file, so it might take a minute or two to load into your browser.)

Click on the picture below for a few of the important statistics.

Hadley Residents: Important Input on Master Plan

UPDATE (Aug 15): Surveys must be completed by August 28.  Survey results will be presented in a town meeting in the autumn, when residents will have the opportunity to make comments.
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Perhaps this week you received your water bill, and enclosed in that bill was a yellow slip of paper advertising a Hadley community survey.  This survey is asking residents of Hadley to share opinions about what the town should be focused on for the next 10-20 years; these opinions will be taken into account as the town's Master Plan gets updated.

You can find the survey online here, and paper copies can be found at the Town Clerk's and Collector's offices, the Senior Center, and the library.

Please, please make sure to take a few minutes to fill out the survey and share your thoughts -- on schools, the library, historic buildings, development, communities, housing, open space, recreation opportunities, preservation, and so on....

Hadley's Master Plan Survey

Opportunities to Get Involved!

There are currently many opportunities to get involved with town committees.  Check out the following vacancies:

Board of Assessors, 3yr term, 1 vacancy
Board of Health, 3yr term, 1 vacancy
Board of Health, 1yr term, 1 vacancy
Library Trustees, 3yr term, 2 vacancies
Town Moderator, 1yr term, 1 vacancy
Park Commission, 3yr term, 1 vacancy
Planning Board, 5yr term, 1 vacancy
Planning Board, 2yr term, 1 vacancy
School Committee, 3yr term, 2 vacancies
Selectmen, 3yr term, 1 vacancy
Elector Under Oliver Will Trust, 1yr term, 1 vacancy

These are all elected positions.  If you are interested in running, the last day to pick up nomination papers is Thursday, February 13, with a deadline of Tuesday, February 18, to submit nomination papers with Registrars for certification.  All nomination papers must be filed by Tuesday, March 4.

There are also openings in the following advisory committees:

TV-5 Advisory Committee
Council on Aging
Finance Committee (no official business can be conducted until at least one new member is appointed)
Future Uses of Hadley Town-Owned Buildings Committee (February 7 deadline; contact Select Board)
Zoning Board of Appeals
Historical Commission

For more information, visit the Town of Hadley Website, watch TV-5 Community Bulletin Board, or contact the Town.

The Hadley Town Election will be held Tuesday, April 8. 
The Town Meeting Warrant for the May 1 meeting is open until February 19 at 4pm.

What Will the Library Be in the Future?

As part of the long-range planning process the Goodwin Library is currently participating in, it is conducting a community survey.   This survey is being sent out with the quarterly tax statements (I just got mine today -- on the salmon-coloured paper), but can also be found online at  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Goodwin2013.

Survey respondents will be eligible to win a gift card to Barnes & Noble -- but more importantly, respondents will provide information that will influence the direction of and goals for the library in the coming years. 

The survey is not very long and shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to complete.  Please fill out either the paper survey or the online survey -- whether you are a regular library user or not -- and encourage your friends and neighbours to do the same!

Open Space & Recreation Plan Survey

The meeting tonight is being shown live on Channel 5, and I'm learning all kinds of interesting things -- and some things I'm glad to know about.  (I'm really looking forward to some of the mentioned projects finishing up, so there are more trail markers and maps and such to designate open space.)
I did find a link to the Open Space & Recreation Plan Survey that I mentioned before.  You can find copies at the Senior Center, Town Hall, or the Library, and you can also print it out and mail it in.
The link to the survey is found here, or you can click here to open the PDF directly.

This Nemo Was Not a Little Clown Fish

I suppose I should post a little storm stuff, even though I haven't yet been outside (stuck inside with the flu this week).  Therefore, everything you see here is seen through windows.  The videos show the gusty blowing snow, not during the gustiest part of the storm (Saturday morning, in fact), and some of the big machinery that came down our street (I am feeling grateful to still have an upright mailbox).

I'm skipping the before and after pictures for now, though getting some pics of the huge snow piles lining streets and driveways would be somewhat impressive.  (A BIG thanks to the Hadley DPW for working so hard and keeping our streets clear -- we appreciate it!  Also, thanks for the phone updates on the storm and the driving bans.)
I know they say there hasn't been a storm like this since 1978, but I think that is more true for Boston and the coast than for us; I could swear there was a storm here recently that gave us this much snow, though perhaps not as much wind.  Plus, this time we got to keep our electricity.
Get out and enjoy -- ski, sled, make snow angels.  Tomorrow we get rain and ice....

This Week's News

A few recent news articles for your perusal:

The Hadley Schools Superintendent Search
Report on the Hadley Town Meeting
US Wildlife Service Buys Hadley Conservation Land

I alluded to the new town website on the previous post.  While I like the sharp, clean look of the old website better, the new website has much more functionality.  And though not all the pages are populated yet, there is much more available information than there had been previously.
The library has its own site-within-a-site with links to the catalogs, databases, events, and more; the town by-laws are accessible from the town's homepage; minutes and agendas are available for viewing; bills can be paid online; and there's now a comment form.  You can also sign up for email alerts from the town here: http://www.hadleyma.org/Subscriber
I'm sure more information will be added to the website over the next few months, filling in some of the blank spaces and making it even more useful.

Were you at the Town Meeting Thursday night?  If you weren't, I encourage you to make space in your schedule for the November meeting; if you were, keep up the good work and come back to the next one!  (One of my favourite parts of this year's meeting was picking up my very own copy of the Annual Town Report, in which there is plenty of useful information and one of my photos.)

The Endangered Hadley Park

Town officials are considering selling Zatyrka Park (on the corner of Breckenridge and Huntington) in order to make money for a new community center.
Read the article from the Gazette here: http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/03/20/sale-of-hadley-park-could-fund-community-center

I used a picture of that park for the Hadley Heritage "Entrusting the Commons" project for the theme "Endangered."  Looks like I was more right than I knew....

 

The proposal to sell the park might end up on the spring Town Meeting warrant.  What do you think?  Share your thoughts with other MH readers by posting a comment below.

Hadley Buildings -- To-Do

This article, Other Jobs on the Hadley To-Do List, was posted in the Gazette yesterday online (but dated tomorrow for print).  Take a look at the recommended repairs for our town buildings.

Farewell, Superintendent Young

In case you haven't yet heard, Hadley's Superintendent of Schools, Nick Young, has been chosen to succeed Superintendent Gus Sayer in South Hadley.  Young was one of five finalists for the position (all of whom had school tours over the last week and a half), and was voted in unanimously last night by the school committee. 
For more information, see the stories on MassLive or GazetteNet.

Alexandra Dawson: Tree of the Community

I was saddened to read on MassLive an article on the death of Alexandra Dawson last Friday.  Mr. Madley and I have only been part of town a short time, and we had not yet had to opportunity to meet her (we definitely wanted to), but her name was already famous around our dinner table.  When thinking of her today, the phrase "pillar of the community" came to mind; but, in view of her neverending work on conservation, "tree of the community" sounded just a little more appropriate.  Alexandra chaired the Conservation Committee in town, and it was always her we waited to hear from at Town Meeting when discussing home building or the conservation of farmland-- her insightful comments served with a bit of wit -- something to make you chuckle *and* think.  She was one of Hadley's treasures, and I know I am not the only one who will miss her and her smart, feisty presence and her important work.

According to the article, a memorial service is in the works, probably to be held in the spring.

For more information on her life, see the MassLive article.  I'll try to keep my eyes open for any other articles that may arise in the next couple of weeks and add them here.

A comment from the Conservation Law Foundation (what is this "ghastly" municipal development she was fighting? -- perhaps we should rally).
From GazetteNet: Alexandra Dawson
From GazetteNet: Alexandra Dawson, Called Conservation Giant...

Town Meeting -- a Go

According to signs around town, the town meeting is still a go tonight (the listing on the page linked below says the town meeting will go ahead despite the state of emergency) -- 7pm, Hopkins Academy.
For more information, visit this advisory page.

Scenes from the Cookoff and Fire Safety Demos

If you didn't make it out for the Chili/Golumpki Cookoff and Fire Prevention Week Open House on Saturday, this is some of what you missed (click on the images to enlarge):

1926 REO Speedwagon -- Hadley's first motorized pumper; put into commission after the flood of 1927 and retired in 1955.

Home sprinkler and firefighter demonstration (those were REAL flames).

Firefighting gear on display.

Hadley's firefighters.

Hadley's manifold hose truck.

Of course,there were animals and food and music and games and raffles and souvenirs there, too -- we pet the cow and the darling little goats, had some of those wonderful firefighter fries, and picked up an informational magnet.  We missed the fireworks that night, but we sure had a good time.

Chili/Golumpki Cook-off, 2011

I've been hearing about this cookoff for a few weeks now and just started seeing signs for it last week, but I can never read small, heavily-worded signs while I'm driving down the road....  This morning I finally had the camera in the car and enough spare time to stop and take the picture of the Hadley Firemen's Association's Chili/Golumpki Cook-off sign:

Sounds like a good time.  Hope to see you there!

Also coming up this weekend -- the 5K for Farmland.  Sunday, Hadley Common, 10 am.  For more information, visit the Kestrel Land Trust site.

Public Discussion: Rt 47+

On Wednesday, September 14, there will a public discussion at the Senior Center (46 Middle Street) concerning Rt 47, which is part of the Connecticut River Scenic Byway.  According to the notice written by Nick Grabbe in the Sept 9 edition of the Amherst Bulletin, the meeting will be moderated by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and will invite Hadley residents and business owners to identify distinguishing characteristics of the region, other possible uses (i.e. recreation, tourism) for the area, and land protection.

Update 9/17:  MassLive published an article about the meeting.  Read it here.