2011 Town Meeting Roundup - Video links, pictures, coloring books and more

Jess Wilson

What will be on your Ballot?  All towns vote by Australian ballot on Tuesday March 1. Here are links to the election pages of the towns we cover.

• Burlington 
• Essex Town  Essex has a town meeting on Monday, February 28 at 7:30pm in the High School Auditorium.  Voting by Australian ballot will happen on Tuesday, March 1.
• South Burlington
• Winooski
• Williston Williston has a town meeting on Monday February 28 at 7 p.m. at Williston Central School.  Voting by Australian ballot happens Tuesday March 1.

Watch Channel 17 election forums to understand the ballot questions and meet the candidates. 

Choose your town from the drop down menu.

The Vermont Movie Project and Town Meeting
Freedom & Unity: The Vermont Movie is a collaborative film, currently in post-production, involving over 20 Vermont filmmakers. It explores the history of Vermont's independent spirit and activism, from the past to the present (www.thevermontmovie.com). One of the film's themes is grassroots democracy, as embodied by Vermont's town meeting tradition, which predates Vermont's statehood and the Vermont Republic (1777-1791). Vermont's motto Freedom and Unity is pertinent here; town residents have to work out a balance at town meetings between individual liberty and rights and the needs and welfare of their community. Vermont Movie filmmakers fanned out across the state in March over the past three years, videotaping over 20 town meetings - with particular focus on resolutions calling for shutting down Vermont Yankee - and this footage is being incorporated into the film. A work-in-progress of The Vermont Movie, Part 1 will be screened at Green Mountain Film Festival on Friday, March 25 at 11:00 am at Montpelier City Hall; the film will premiere later this year.

From the Library of Congress

Townspeople going to vote by ballot on whether or not pinball machines should be allowed. Town meeting, Woodstock, Vermont
Creator(s): Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1940 Mar.

"Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. The structure may be flexible; it may vary over time; it may evenly or unevenly distribute tasks, power and resources over the members of the group. But it will be formed regardless of the abilities, personalities, or intentions of the people involved. The very fact that we are individuals, with different talents, predispositions, and backgrounds makes this inevitable. Only if we refused to relate or interact on any basis whatsoever could we approximate structurelessness -- and that is not the nature of a human group." from Jo Freeman's Tyranny of Structurelessness

A Vermont Town Solves a Problem

Scripted film of a 1947 small town meeting in Pittsford, Vermont, produced by the US Army to advance democracy post-war occupied countries. Winter scenes, one-room school house, rural living, snow shoveling, gas station, balloting.

This movie is part of the collection: Community Video

Producer: U.S. Army
Contact Information: Vermont Historical Society 60 Washington Street Barre, Vermont 05641 vhs-info [at] state [dot] vt [dot] us 802 479 8509
Creative Commons license: Public Domain

The Vermont Secretary of State's office has great Town Meeting Day resources, guides for the young and old alike.

Vermont Town Meeting Coloring & Activity Book

From the Secretary of State Website:
Click here for a PDF of Vermont Town Meeting Coloring & Activity Book or click on the book.

"You are never too young to learn about Town Meeting! This activity-packed workbook will teach our youngest Vermonters all about this unique day. The booklet also includes suggestions for classroom activities to help students experience the concepts addressed in the coloring book. "

What else is happening at the Center for Media and Democracy?

Upcoming Common Good Vermont Skills Building:

March 8th – Nonprofit Maven with Marlboro College: Redirecting Boards: A New Vision of Governance with Jim Lefevre. As organizations face the financial turbulence of our times, nonprofit boards are becoming more critical. Good boards have always been sought after, but great boards may be the new reality if you are to survive and even think about thriving. Studio, Live Webcast & Chat. Noon. 75 Minutes

April 14th – Annual Vermont Statewide Nonprofit Conference is back! This year it will be hosted by Common Good VT on Thursday, April 14, 2011. The theme is “Measuring, Message and Money” and will take place at several Vermont Interactive TV sites across the state, featuring useful and engaging panels, presentations and unique opportunity for regional nonprofits to network with each other. For More Information: http://bit.ly/npvt11

Vermont Nonprofit Legislative Day

Thanks to everyone who made Vermont Nonprofit Legislative Day 2011 an exciting and worthwhile event! Dozens of nonprofit leaders joined us “under the golden dome” to meet with each other, speak with legislators, sit-in on committee hearings and learn how to be effective advocates for the issues facing our organizations and sector.
You can watch the program here and here.

Report on the Future of Community Media from the New America Foundation
"Community media's transition to a multi-platform world means the cable access community must move from a focus on a fairly specific slice of media policy – cable franchising – to a near-boundless concern for issues affecting not just broadband, but also wireless, spectrum licensing, and communication standards. In order to prioritize limited resources, we have broken the policy review into four sections:"  read more

CCTV Productions
Video is a great tool to rally people to your cause! Maybe you’re thinking about a video project but you don’t know where to begin? CCTV Productions will help you through the entire process of making a high-quality, creative, affordable video that will help you make a difference. Check out what Pam Greene of Mercy Connections has to say about the power of video and working with CCTV: http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/pam-greene-cctv-productions. Call Jess Wilson at (802) 862.1654 x15 to talk about your video project. 

Homeless Radio Marathon 14th Annual
The Homelessness Marathon is an annual 14-hour radio broadcast featuring the voices and stories of homeless people from around the United States The Homelessness Marathon features live call-ins all night long via a national toll-free number. The Homelessness Marathon is available for free to all non-commercial radio stations.  This will air on Burlington Telecom channel 317. The broadcast starts at 7pm on Wednesday 2/23 and ends 9am on Thursday 2/24.

Under the Dome - Montpelier programming
This year, CCTV Channel 17/Town Meeting TV teams up with ORCA Media in Montpelier to bring you even more legislative programming from Montpelier.  In addition to regular updates from Chittenden County legislators recorded every Monday morning here at the Channel 17 studios, ORCA is recording committee hearings, floor debate and public events related to the legislature.  Check out the full complement of legislative programming available here: http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/vt-legislature

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