These two subjects may seem like strange bedfellows. Read why I think they just may be connected...
Newport Hole in the Ground Possibilities
We can fill the hole in Newport without using any Vermont tax money. We agreed to a plan in the beginning that made a lot of sense and would have opened Newport up to all sorts of opportunities. My plan is to go ahead with a similar project.
The building I see occupying the hole in Newport will start out in the basement with an Olympic size pool, gym, old school arcade, and a parking garage. This will give us a YMCA type facility that will also be used for the school's new swim team. It will also give us an area for our youth to congregate, safely. It will offer them opportunities to help, work, play, exercise, and grow socially. The results might just lead to a lot less drug activity in the community.
On the street level we will have a lobby with small, one room businesses like natural-path health care, salons, gift shops, in the back of the lobby. I can see a very inviting room with glass elevators, fireplaces, fish ponds, and opulence that adds value to our waterfront town.
On the second and third levels will be hotel rooms and a banquet hall, that can be used as a Senior Center for social activities and meals. Hotel rates being reasonably priced in order to make it possible for our families and friends to stay in a nice place without breaking the bank. And it will also afford our tourists quality rooms making it possible for them to extend their stays in our happening community.
And the fourth level will be a 750+ seat performing arts center encased in almost entirely glass for beautiful views of our town and lake. It will have quality entertainment that will bring people from Montreal as well as Boston, and beyond.
A facility like this will open the area up to new small businesses. It will give transportation companies a reason to expand to the NEK. Bus, Rail, And Air!
This will take grant money from a variety of sources. It will take suing Quiros for money and dreams stolen from Newport. The World Bank money should be available to this project. Mainly it will take the Federal Government to release some of the Quiros money that was seized, something that is in the works, so that the land can be bought from the Receivership and the building can be built. The project will be either owned by the state or Newport and run as a not-for-profit organization. All the profits will roll back into the town for future development.
A facility like this will open up job possibilities, new small business opportunities, beautification of the town, amenities tourists are used to finding when they vacation, and will provide a source of tremendous pride in our part of the NEK. It will also bring more traffic through our, soon to be, public, commercial airport.
Here's how I view Drug Problems. (Three basic levels)
Current users:
Potential users, due to their environment:
Kids who have not even considered drugs yet:
This facility is a real possibility. It will take, however, for Newport to truly want to thrive, grow, and become more affordable. If things continue to be done the way things have always been done, then the town is destined to fail. If the thought process is that of “we’ve already tried that and it didn’t work,” or, “we’ve always done it that way so we’re not changing now,” then the town will fail.
Thomas Edison didn’t quit trying an idea just because it didn’t work. He tweaked it and changed it and revised his thought process until he invented the light bulb. NASA didn’t say, after their first rocket blew up, “well, rockets sure aren’t the way to get into space.” Progress takes blood, sweat, and tears, and I'm not talking about the great band. It also takes a political leader who is willing to stick his neck out and suffer ribbing on the way to success. I'm that leader who will follow through.
Newport Hole in the Ground Possibilities
We can fill the hole in Newport without using any Vermont tax money. We agreed to a plan in the beginning that made a lot of sense and would have opened Newport up to all sorts of opportunities. My plan is to go ahead with a similar project.
The building I see occupying the hole in Newport will start out in the basement with an Olympic size pool, gym, old school arcade, and a parking garage. This will give us a YMCA type facility that will also be used for the school's new swim team. It will also give us an area for our youth to congregate, safely. It will offer them opportunities to help, work, play, exercise, and grow socially. The results might just lead to a lot less drug activity in the community.
On the street level we will have a lobby with small, one room businesses like natural-path health care, salons, gift shops, in the back of the lobby. I can see a very inviting room with glass elevators, fireplaces, fish ponds, and opulence that adds value to our waterfront town.
On the second and third levels will be hotel rooms and a banquet hall, that can be used as a Senior Center for social activities and meals. Hotel rates being reasonably priced in order to make it possible for our families and friends to stay in a nice place without breaking the bank. And it will also afford our tourists quality rooms making it possible for them to extend their stays in our happening community.
And the fourth level will be a 750+ seat performing arts center encased in almost entirely glass for beautiful views of our town and lake. It will have quality entertainment that will bring people from Montreal as well as Boston, and beyond.
A facility like this will open the area up to new small businesses. It will give transportation companies a reason to expand to the NEK. Bus, Rail, And Air!
This will take grant money from a variety of sources. It will take suing Quiros for money and dreams stolen from Newport. The World Bank money should be available to this project. Mainly it will take the Federal Government to release some of the Quiros money that was seized, something that is in the works, so that the land can be bought from the Receivership and the building can be built. The project will be either owned by the state or Newport and run as a not-for-profit organization. All the profits will roll back into the town for future development.
A facility like this will open up job possibilities, new small business opportunities, beautification of the town, amenities tourists are used to finding when they vacation, and will provide a source of tremendous pride in our part of the NEK. It will also bring more traffic through our, soon to be, public, commercial airport.
Here's how I view Drug Problems. (Three basic levels)
Current users:
- These people require a different kind of intervention than those who are just in line to fall into this category.
- Professional treatment centers are needed over correctional facilities.
- Those in this group need extreme supervision to monitor against criminal activity. Unless they are a non-using Dealer their crimes tend to be “needs based” to help support their addiction.
Potential users, due to their environment:
- There may be numerous reasons kids in this category fall into drug abuse. However, a big reason is the lack of things for them to be involved in. This is where the YMCA facility will come into play. It will offer a multitude of opportunities for them and will be geared toward their financial ability to attend, with no-one ever being denied.
- Another reason is that they live in a household that uses drugs on a daily basis. This is where the Professional Treatment Centers come in. Getting the adults clean and then making sure they are seriously monitored so that they stay off the drugs will help insure these kids are saved.
Kids who have not even considered drugs yet:
- This should be the easiest group to help. They will walk into a town life that offers numerous opportunities to have fun, and to serve their community.
- Serving their community is huge here. Showing how rewarding it is to be a giver rather than a taker will set the moral compass in these kids that is so drastically needed in this day and age.
This facility is a real possibility. It will take, however, for Newport to truly want to thrive, grow, and become more affordable. If things continue to be done the way things have always been done, then the town is destined to fail. If the thought process is that of “we’ve already tried that and it didn’t work,” or, “we’ve always done it that way so we’re not changing now,” then the town will fail.
Thomas Edison didn’t quit trying an idea just because it didn’t work. He tweaked it and changed it and revised his thought process until he invented the light bulb. NASA didn’t say, after their first rocket blew up, “well, rockets sure aren’t the way to get into space.” Progress takes blood, sweat, and tears, and I'm not talking about the great band. It also takes a political leader who is willing to stick his neck out and suffer ribbing on the way to success. I'm that leader who will follow through.