Welcome -
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The Forum is co-moderated by Karl Fink and John Hansen.
If you wish to be added to the Forum mailing list just send a request to RepHansen@aol.com. or KarlVFink@gmail.com You will get meeting reminders, meeting notes and nothing else. -Meeting Dates- The next meeting of the Dexter Forum will be on Saturday, August 18, 2019 at 8:30 AM The group meets on the first and third Saturdays of the month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <<< The "Stump" >>> Expect more Stump activity as we approach 2020 elections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***. Karl and I have recorded an interview about the Forum for the local component of All Things Considered on WEMU 89.1 radio that will be broadcast on Monday, December 3 during both the 4:00 and 6:00 versions of the show. Many of the questions were about why you keep coming and why you don't yell and argue. You can also hear the segment by getting on the WEMU website and clicking on the podcast after Monday. **** https://www.wemu.org/post/public-interest-focus-community-forum-dexter-where-participants-listen-and-learn |
....About "The Dexter Forum" from other Sources:
http://annarborobserver.com/articles/_we_can_help_dexter__full_article.html
http://annarborobserver.com/articles/_we_can_help_dexter__full_article.html
Who We Are |
The Dexter Forum is supported by the Dexter Wellness Coalition as part of the 5 Healthy Towns initiative to "help connect with others in healthy ways". The purpose of the Forum is to create an opportunity for interested women and men to gather to discuss important issues facing our community. All are welcome on a drop-in basis. The group meets on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
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The Forum in action-
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"We make the agenda at the meeting so you never know what's on peoples' minds until you ask." ================================================== Notes - August 03, 2019 Often times people leaving the Forum are excited to have learned something brand new or have enjoyed listening to a stiring cry to action by a candidate for office. This was not one of those days. It is the middle of summer and the livin' is easy except for a few detours. The City of Dexter had another community meeting about fire, police and administrative facilities. Yes, they did. There is an election in three days regarding facilities at High Point - our regional school for kids with serious disabilities. Most of us have already voted by absentee ballot. Tom Drinkwater, from the Sun Times News, noted that over 2,000 community newspapers have closed in the last decade or so creating an information void in our little towns. The Sun Times News is filling that void for us and he thanked us for our support. City projects this summer include sidewalks on Forest Street as part of the safe route to schools program and a total rebuild of Central Street between the Dexter Mill and downtown. Commissioner Maciejewski let us know about a proposed change in the funding for our Meals on Wheels program that he is trying to prevent. Our senior center is like the little engine that could. Board member Joanne Westman pointed out that they accomplish daily miracles on a tiny budget. If you are reading these notes on the OnMain.Today site or from Facebook and you used to get them directly or you just want to be added to the Dexter Forum mailing list just send me a note at - RepHansen@aol.com I know a few folks got lost in the transition to SimpleLists. Unsubscribing is easier now, too. Just hit unsubscribe when you open the item and it is automatic from there. The next meeting of the Dexter Forum will be on Saturday, August 17 at 8:30 AM at the Dexter Wellness Center. The Dexter Forum is supported by the Dexter Wellness Coalition as part of the 5 Healthy Towns initiative to "help connect with others in healthy ways". The purpose of the Forum is to create an opportunity for interested women and men to gather to discuss important issues facing our community. All are welcome on a drop-in basis. The group meets on the first and third Saturdays of the month. To unsubscribe from this Dexter Forum mail list ...please go to http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=pc7UuZ8YL3Jx6avRAXRbncFLbAuIB8lK ========================================================= Notes - July 20, 2019 We began with a lesson in collective adjectives - you know, like a flock of pigeons or a herd of deer - since three of Karl's brothers joined us thereby constituting an argument of Finks. We confirmed that the spraying of herbicides along our country roads will not happen - now or in the future. As a side issue we also learned that the road right-of-way is typically 66 feet wide because that is the length of a surveyor's chain that is made up of four 16.5 foot rods which all goes back to something like the length of the kings foot. Twenty-four units of affordable (subsidized, supportive, low income, workforce) housing are coming to Dexter on Dan Hoey Road. A recent open house to explain the project showed broad community approval with some concerns about whether the project was intended to serve existing residents or attract new folks. Sara Schugart and Doug Smith (2/3ds of the staff at Faith in Action) were present to help us understand the situation. They see and serve the needy folks of Dexter and Chelsea and assure us they are amongst us. The lack of beggers on the street masks the number of folks doubled up in friend's homes and couch surfing. Half of the residents are likely to be children who will certainly benefit from being so close to the schools. And yet another topic about roads. In one of those, Oh, by the way moments, the County Commission learned that there is a window of opportunity to reorganize the structure of the road commission if they do it by the end of the year. Our three road commissioners are appointed by the county commission but the agency operates mostly independent of county oversight. This can be changed by adding commissioners or by the county just taking over and running the show themselves. Given how many players we have at a typical Dexter Forum I am sure we will have a front row seat as this issue unfolds. We ended with a brief discussion about pay-to-play athletics in the Dexter Schools. Something about core mission and budget conflicts. This will be a topic worth a little follow up at a future session. ALERT When you receive your next meeting reminder it will (hopefully) be through some new form of list management service. There are about 400 of you now and AOL is not letting me maintain one simple list (for free) so I am about to make a leap to something else. I am not an expert in these things so there is a chance I might get caught in your spam filter. ============================================================ July 06, 2019 We were happy to have a couple of new women join our group and one of them, Sue Waters, led off our session with concerns about the herbicide spraying program being conducted by the Washtenaw Road Commission. The short version of the story is that the Road Commission has allowed all of Lodi Township to opt out, Webster Township has requested to be opted out and the County Commission is considering stopping the whole program. Lets keep in mind that this program was about safety for drivers not just intended to irritate the residents. Folks used data from the MSDS sheets to justify their concern about the chemicals so we had to learn what MSDS sheets are all about. There is always someone at the Forum who knows what we need to know so we turned to John Scharf, our resident chemical engineer for an explanation. All chemicals come with a Materials Safety Data Sheet that explains their proper usage and the risks involved. This is helpful information if there is a spill or fire or accidental consumption. Caryl (get your Gordon Hall raffle tickets) Burke called our attention to the fuss surrounding Scio Townships switch to a mandatory single hauler for solid waste disposal. It is happening. Not everybody likes it. But, it is happening. Newly elected Lion's Club President Rex Reeve wanted to know who was responsible for maintenance of the border-to-border trail. It turns out that the trail is composed of segments that are the responsibility of the unit that built them be it the Metro Park Authority, a city or a township. Enthusiastic Infomercials were presented about an event for veterans at the Methodist church and a fund raiser for Habitat for Humanity. We heard about a new twist in robo calls that show a caller ID for a local business name and a local number. It is called spoofing. We don't like it. We heard concerns about parking in downtown Dexter. Councilperson Zach Michels referred us back to a recent study done by the city on this subject. While things can get plenty crowded downtown the 'availability' of parking is closely tied to a persons perception of how far they are willing to walk after parking to get to their destination. We ended with a brief discussion about the 'affordable' housing project on Dan Hoey Road that is the result of the collaboration of Avalon Housing, Faith in Action and the City of Dexter. There will be an open house at the Senior Center on Tuesday, July 16 at 5:00 PM to review the plan. ========================================================= |
