Don’t watch this if you want to know what Carla thinks about the massive proposed West Side “community” center. No really, this show is about cops in NH.
This RTK request was sent to the following email addresses and submitted via the Mayor’s online form this morning: “Jeanine@jeanineandcompany.com, smacleod@manchesternh.gov, mayor@manchesternh.gov, PCD-ARPA@manchesternh.gov”
July 19, 2022
Dear Mayor Joyce Craig, et al (also submitted via the online form for the Mayor’s office):
RE: Right to Know Request per RSA-91A for West Side “Mark Stebbins Community Center” Project
Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A), I am requesting public access, within 5 business days, to the governmental records reasonably described as follows:
All records, no matter what form, including but not limited to, printed documents, electronic documents, e-mails, or any other form of records regarding the “Mark Stebbins Community Center” Project for the period from the initiation of the project or 07/01/21, whichever first occurred, up to and including 07/19/2022, the date of today’s Board of Alderman meeting.
In your record disclosures, please include all information relating to this project, even if it was known as something else prior to being designated the “Mark Stebbins Community Center,” including all the partners involved.
Please also include all information about alternative West Side properties considered and rejected.
Please also include any relevant federal or local grant applications submitted regarding this project.
Please also include any environmental impact studies done.
Please include information provided to abutters of the proposed “Mark Stebbins Community Center” property, including when they were informed and the opportunities, including length of time, provided to the abutting tax-paying property owners to discuss the proposal.
Please include a proposed budget and tax assessment for the services to be provided at this site.
Please also include the committee report from Lands & Buildings regarding Lot 318-3, including the criteria used to deem a property as “surplus” to City needs.
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the records to me at: carla@carlagericke.com.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Carla Gericke
XX Durette Court
Manchester, NH 03102
Cell: 917-607-4X5X
Email: carla@carlagericke.com
Per RSA 91-A, governmental records means “any information created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of, any public body, or a quorum or majority thereof, or any public agency in furtherance of its official function. Without limiting the foregoing, the term “governmental records” includes any written communication or other information, whether in paper, electronic, or other physical form, received by a quorum or majority of a public body in furtherance of its official function, whether at a meeting or outside a meeting of the body. The term “governmental records” shall also include the term “public records.””
Wednesday night in Vegas, the Libertarian Party held an event in the Arts District for #FreeRoss , which his mother and staunchest advocate, Lyn Ulbricht, attended. If YOU haven’t signed the petition to free Ross Ulbricht, please do so NOW.
At ReBAR, I got to hang out with Scott Horton of the Libertarian Institute, Michael Heise of LP Mises Caucus, Flote, and met some wonderful new people, including Yaakov Markel’s girlfriend who took me on a side quest to a super funky little art gallery, Recycled Propaganda, that was already closed (it was after 9p) but magically opened up for us, and I got to snap some pics (see above).
I also experienced my first ever drive-thru dispensary, strongly resisted the urge to get a $10 tattoo, and accidentally ordered an egg white omelet (wtaf? this is most certainly a Crime Against Culinary, as in, genuinely, whyyyyy?). I had to laugh when my $15+ box of coffee this morning came with a warning to keep the box upright when removing the lid to pour. Umm, you would clearly burn otherwise, doh!
Safetyism is going to kill us all if we don’t stop. It’s supposed to be “survival of the fittest” not “incentivize moronic weakness.”
Speaking of safetyism: Whenever I travel, I’m struck by how much noise pollution exists out there, beyond the borders of the Free State. What if we demanded that the noise trucks make when backing up be banned nationwide? Isn’t it worth at least a study to determine how much less crazy people would be if they weren’t constantly bombarded by unnecessary noise pollution? What if reducing just these extra beeps and sirens from our daily lives remarkably improved, say by 2-5%, mental health? Wouldn’t that be a boon to mankind? Small incremental steps to make everyone a little less cray-cray?
This is just one example of the fascinating conversations you can expect at “Freedom Fest 2022: Turning the Tide,” where the schedule is, frankly, overwhelming. There are simply too many events I want to attend, and I’m torn between the curated documentary films, fascinating smaller breakout sessions, and the impressive Main Stage draws.
I do manage to catch: Mark Skousen interviewing Rand Paul and showing clips of the Senator from Kentucky taking on Fauci’s lies–heroic!; Justin Amash telling us, “DC is worse than you can imagine”; Fox’s Kennedy in her white “Taxation is Theft” dress; and Reason’s Nick Gillespie interviewing a personal hero of mine, comedian John Cleese.
Del Bigtree moderates a panel with Dr. Malone, Dr. Richard Ursa, and Dr. Pierre Kory about “The Long Haul: Ongoing Effects From the Medical Response to Covid,” where these brave gents tell it like it is, including that the mRNA vaccines are leaky, and NOT, statistically-speaking, “safe and effective.”
At the start of this talk, the audience of hundreds is asked who has been vaccinated, and I am genuinely surprised to see more than 3/4 of the room raise their hands. I appreciate the question, because it influences how one should talk to people about forced vaccinations. We need to be mindful that for some, this is an irreversible medical decision that may have led, or may lead, to serious negative health outcomes, which is a stressful position to find oneself in.
Sadly, as I often say: Bad government decisions are good for the liberty business. Every time the government oversteps its bounds, new people enter the greater liberty community. These new folks may have been mentally and/or physically harmed by the government, like our veterans, and the victims of the military-industrial complex, the Pizza-to-Pills-Pipeline, and those hurt by the destructive crony capitalism we now suffer under.
We must show compassion while teaching the most important lesson: Trust government at your literal peril.
This is a lesson independent media outlets are also now learning. Watching the First Amendment panel discussion about press freedom moderated by James O’Keefe, I feel somewhat frustrated because this panel of legal experts is missing one thing… moi!
My widely-cited 2014 First Amendment case, Gericke vs. Begin et al, should be better known in libertarian circles. This landmark First Circuit case affirmed the right to record police officers in public–on the job; on the record!–and was foundational in the resulting nationwide calls for police accountability and police reform.
Why? Because for the first time in human history, thanks to the low cost and ubiquitousness of technology in the hands of “We, The People,” we can finally prove that cops lie. (They hate this.)
During Bigtree’s panel, I was again struck by this feeling of now being part of the vanguard of a growing movement, when Del said, “One night, we went to bed as physicians and woke up as ‘domestic terrorists’.” James O’Keefe said something similar about becoming an “enemy of the state” overnight. I know the feeling. Back in 2013, Free Staters like me were called “domestic terrorists” in a Concord Police Department federal grant application for a militarized BEARCAT.
Back in 2013.
I emphasize this point, because while I am thrilled we keep attracting more freedom fighters in to the greater liberty movement, we must also acknowledge that people like me, inspired by people like Ron Paul, have been warning people like you for decades.
In fact, hanging out at his booth, Ben Swann and I were lamenting this, reminiscing about an event we did together in Concord in 2013 called “Liberty is Rising, “which I write about in my book, The Ecstatic Pessimist: Stories of Hope (Mostly).
My prescient track record–moving to New Hampshire in 2008; fighting police militarization, unlawful surveillance and medical tyranny; adopting Bitcoin and crypto early; promoting free speech; running for office; suing the state–means YOU should seriously consider moving to the Free State. If the past few years taught us anything it is this: Where you live and who you are surrounded by matters A LOT. Choose your neighbors carefully!
As the rest of the world becomes less free, Free Staters are continuing to expand personal and economic liberties in New Hampshire. For example, in addition to being rated #1 in Overall Freedom by Cato and having no state income tax, our Interest and Dividends tax will taper to zero by 2026.
This trip to Vegas was the most I have ever been “ma’am-ed” in my life. Waiting at LAS Starbucks for my flight back to the Free State, I have to remind myself: Growing old, as the saying goes, is better than the alternative, and, at 50, I’m just entering my prime, so stand-the-f-back and get ready for what’s next! (Which is me in the state house!)
I kept a pretty low profile this year at Freedom Fest, only participating on one panel discussion about “Startup Nations,” moderated by Max Borders. I find the glitz and glam of Vegas exhausting when not fueled by booze (which I quit in 2017), and preferred low-key, intimate meals and meetings, spending quality time with friends.
One quick but meaningful connection was with Nick Gillespie, Reason’s Editor-at-Large. We’ve known each other for years, and have both quit alcohol, putting us in a small but growing “pick your poisons/good habit” club. Many of us have discovered alcohol is a neurotoxin and depressant, and, as society liberalizes alternative substances, and as we gain better scientific understanding of “our poisons,” more and more people are eschewing alcohol.
Vegas is about vices and escapism, so when you are striving for balance, Sin City can be a challenge. Instead of alcohol or gambling or party favors, I did indulge in ALL THE CARBS for one meal, a classic favorite of mine, fish and chips followed by bread pudding. Nom!
And guilt-free too! I usually follow a keto diet, but as I was chowing down on my fries, I reveled in all the progress I have made with my physical and mental health. Old Carla might have felt guilty but done it anyway or pretended it wasn’t “bad” <—- applies to all bad habits or behaviors not just “having pudding” naughtiness. New Carla was able to just eat the damn food and write an entire blog post about it later. (Heh.)
My point is this: good habits are hard-earned and worth keeping. Habits, ultimately, are your life, because developing habits is how you are spending your time. The Good Life exists only when practiced in the ever-constant now, but now and then, indulge in a pinch of sugar, and, for a moment, savor its lingering sweetness, too.
Last night, West Siders attended an informational meeting about a proposed new community center… that would rip out the community garden we’ve built, replace it with parking and a giant building the size of a football field, taking out the only green space in the area.
The mayor, alderman, consultants, architects, planners, etc. about 15-20 City operatives were there, including Senator Lou. Everyone else, mostly abutters who have finally been informed, about 40-50 of us, all appeared to be against the proposal.
From Manchester Ink Link, READ FULL ARTICLE:
“’I think we should stop and sit at the ‘If’ question, not the ‘when’ question,’ said neighborhood resident Carla Gericke. Mark Degrossiliers, a direct abutter to the proposed site, shared Gericke’s concerns. “It feels a little bit like the train has left the station, and we’re being asked to jump on as it goes down the railroad,” he said.”
Manchester Ink Link
What the article fails to mention is:
1. The project is ongoing since last November but they only informed the abutters last week and scheduled ONE 1 hour session to discuss, used up 20 of those minutes talking at us, and then ended the session when they realized that other than the city operatives there, the 40+ neighbors and property owners weren’t happy.
2. They are claiming they want to “build a community center” BY RIPPING OUT THE WORK BUILT BY… THE… COMMUNITY… It’s pretty insulting!
3. They said “trust us,” after telling us it’s a done deal (it isn’t) and that “they don’t legally have to inform” abutters. As one of my neighbors, a direct abutter (I share one post/cnr) said; “What is legal is not the same as what is right.”
4. Several schools on the West Side are underutilized. Why not start there instead of destroying our green space and garden?
5. The property will be “tax free,” so they will downshift the tax burden ONTO THE SURROUNDING PROPERTY OWNERS WHO CATEGORICALLY SAY THEY DON’T WANT THIS.
6. Where is the money coming from? Other than a contribution by the Stebbins family, sounds like a lot of it is Federal Rescue Plan funds washed through non-profits which makes me wonder who pays when that dries up? (Us, the neighborhood residents.)
7. When you plan a “community center” in secret and then tell the literal people in that community who own the properties and pay the taxes that THEIR OPINION DOESN’T MATTER, you are NOT building “a community center.”
Next meeting is 7/19 at City Hall. More to come.
This is how stupid the Establishment thinks you are. Australia was highly, highly vaccinated, with mandated boosters. The science is clear. Mysterious? Fuck these monsters.
BTW, the first psyops I am now aware of, looking back, was in the Eighties when the local South African rags started publishing stories about “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” now known as “SIDS.”
Know WHY the government is the insurer of last resort? Because in the 80s, yes, the same time when SIDS started, Pharma submitted their data for childhood vaccines to the insurance industry, and they took a look and said, HELL NO.
Think about that… the balancing market forces that are supposed to function to ensure that safe products are provided to customers at a reasonable price by companies that stand behind their products… was eliminated.
This same model was now repeated, and now, added to SIDS, we have “Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.” Mysterious??? FFS.
Look, it is annoying AF to have to be all “Told You So,” especially as I see the harm unfolding around me, but YOU CANNOT TRUST GOVERNMENT, and if you’re a libertarian, you should know better.
I cannot believe they are going to try to persuade the world that young people dying from shaking out their duvets is a MYSTERY after mandating experimental gene therapy jabs for jobs, censoring dissenting voices, and suppressing data showing vaccine harm. The CDC recently admitted it is not even consulting the VAERS system.
Please, please, please, do not fall for this bullshit, and lay the blame squarely where it belongs: the crony crapitalistic fascist system that is trying to take out as many people as it can in its dying days.
We are at war with people who are either too stupid to be in charge, or genuinely EVIL. You pick the reason, but the outcome is the same.
DO NOT GET BOOSTED. And try to get as healthy as possible ASAP. I did. Ask me how. HERE is a good place to start.
So… Biden just signed an Executive Order “protecting access to abortion and contraception after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision last month. The White House said the president will direct the Health and Human Services Department to take action to protect and expand access to medication abortion approved by the Food and Drug Administration and to ensure access to emergency medical care, family planning services and contraception.”
I’m so confused…
When did we become a country with a king?
How is this vaguely constitutional? (It’s not.)
Remember when libertarians warned that once you allow the abuse of power through executive orders, it will get worse and worse? Here we are.
This post has NOTHING to do with abortion.
Just finished walking Obi at Heritage Trail and on my way to grab thong flip-flops for Louis at Target.
I have a cramp in my ass. Literally.
I pulled something doing laundry earlier. Soon after, I was limping from our bedroom just after Louis hopalonged from his office. We met each other’s eyes in the hallway and laughed at our crip sitch.
I’m on point with Obi until after Louis’s surgery (scheduled for next Thursday when I’ll be at FreedomFest in Vegas) and so despite the cramp, the show must go on.
I’d planned to cheat with a dog park visit this morning but it was Louis’s father, Chris Calitz’s funeral, which we were grateful technology allowed us to observe. Of course, it’s not the same as being there to celebrate and mourn a life, but I’m glad we got the chance to participate remotely. When the Psalm was sung in Afrikaans, Louis and I held hands and, with tears in our eyes, sang with gusto, something we have rarely done in our almost 30 years together.
Trying to power through the pain on my walk, I decided to focus on the natural beauty surrounding me. Types of birds: Cardinals, sparrows, a flock of geese bouncing in the river. Colors of butterflies: gold, orange, lilac, mauve, grey, black, brown, and yellow. It occurs to me, because Ma is an artist, I know colors like Louis knows the periodic table.
There is a moment on every walk with Obi when she just loses her shit for a moment from pure puppy joy. Euphoric. I call it “going dilly.” I can sense the moment it is going to happen because I feel it too. The sunlight just right on the wildflowers, the breeze rustling the leaves, the chirps and bird songs.
Embrace those moments, embrace the euphoria, love the world, and all who are in it. We only get one chance, and it passes fast, like that tangerine butterfly floating away on the wind.
Pretty chuffed with myself! A few months ago, I was invited to contribute an essay to an anthology, “Libertarian Autobiographies: Journeys to the Freedom Philosophy in Today’s World,” under contract with Palgrave Macmillan, edited Jo Ann Cavallo and Walter Block.
The deadline was today. I just eked in– honestly, because of PorcFest, I more so “eeked in” (as in I squeaked in in a last minute hysterical panic)–but it is done. Daaaayum, I have had a weird and wonderful life!
Publication timeline is a year from now. I’ll keep y’all posted. Proud moment for me. Huzzah!
The Ombudsman Bill for RSA 91A Right-to-Know requests was signed into law. TBH, I was ambivalent about this one, HB481, because, on the one hand, it helps citizens with a cheaper, faster alternative to get access to information, but on the other, it grows government.
Read more about it HERE, from the former president of RTKNH and an activist instrumental in its passing, David Saad. Thanks to him for all the work he did!
We will need to be vigilant about who is appointed as the Ombudsman, otherwise this could easily become a way to quash transparency. That said, recourse in the courts–i.e. business as usual–always remains an option regardless of who is appointed as the Ombudsman.
Going forward, I am very interested in creating a repository of “open government requests,” meaning every time a RTK request is fulfilled, we add it to a searchable database, so that over time, we are simply creating open and transparent government by default, in keeping with Article 8, which expressly states that government officials ARE OUR AGENTS, and therefore cannot to things we are not allowed to do (booyah!).
My goal is to turn the Free State of NH into the most transparent and accountable government in the world.
ARTICLE 8 [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.]:
“All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted.”
One of my regrets is that I haven’t indulged my artistic side enough to develop any real talent, but with the tools available today, you can have a lot of fun playing around!
I also got it in my head that these indulgences are “vain,” and that I shouldn’t share them, but then I reminded myself, most artists “indulge” in self-portraits during their careers, and, since I have one life to live and one chance to make myself happy, I’m allowed to pretend to be an artist all I want! What are YOU doing today to feed your sense of self?