Federal officials on Friday launched a formal safety defect investigation into GM's plug-in hybrid vehicle after crash tests on several Volts and their batteries resulted in fires. In one case, a fire that started in one of the test vehicles consumed three others parked nearby.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationuggs in maine uggs boots in miami ugg maryland said it was "concerned" that damage to the Volt's batteries sustained in tests designed to replicate real-world crash scenarios resulted in the vehicles' catching fire.
The agency said it was too soon to say whether the probe would lead to a recall of the vehicle or any of its parts but vowed to "take immediate action" if it foundugg winnipeg ugg ottawa ugg long island any unreasonable safety risk. Measures would include notifying consumers and ensuring that GM communicates with Volt owners.
The investigation comes as GM has pushed for wider adoption of the plug-in hybrid, which according to the Environmental Protection Agency gets an equivalent of 93 miles per gallon. GM has sold more than 6,000 Volts since the car was rolled out in December 2010. The Volt, which won the Green Car of the Year award at the Los Angeles Auto Show last year, is designed to run off its batteries for about 40 miles. When the batteries run low, a gasoline engine kicks in and functions as a generator, powering electric motors and extending the range of the sedan to more than 300 miles.
Analysts said that the investigation could lead to increased consumer skepticism about electric vehicles, which have been slow to catch on in the mainstream because of concerns about cost-effectiveness, and how far the vehicles can travel before recharging.
"It's a technology-laden car, and there are still issues with batteries," said Dave Sullivan, an analyst at consulting firm AutoPacific, noting that the Volt uses the same type of lithium-ion batteries found in consumer electronics products such as laptops that have been known to overheat. "GM's going to have to reopen their safety book to prove that these vehicles are indeed safe."
GM acknowledged the investigation, saying it was "not unexpected" and that the company had been working with NHTSA to reproduce the problem for months. The company said that Volt owners who have not been involved in a severe accident have nothing to worry about.
"The Volt is a safe car," said Greg Martin, a spokesman for GM. "What occurred was what all parties set out to do, and that was to subject the battery in a laboratory setting to some of the most extreme circumstances to get it to fail."
GM and NHTSA will examine data from the tests to attempt to determine the precise cause of the fires.
The latest tests were part of an initial probe begun after NHTSA found a Volt it had crash-tested in May caught fire three weeks later.
In a series of follow-up tests, NHTSA subjected three ugg indianapolis uggs in winnipeg uggs in ottawaadditional Volt batteries to a crash simulation last week, intentionally damaging the cars' battery compartment and rupturing their coolant lines. One battery caught fire about a week after the test. A second vehicle's battery "began to smoke and emit sparks" just hours after the impact, the agency said.
2011年11月25日星期五
Tom Wicker, Times Journalist, Dies at 85 cheapugg-aus.com
Tom Wicker, one of postwar America’s most distinguished journalists, who wrote 20 books, covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for The New York Times and became the paper’s Washington bureau chief and an iconoclastic political columnist for 25 years, died on Friday at his home near Rochester, Vt. He was 85.
Enlarge This Image
George Tames/The New York Times
Mr. Wicker in 1963. More Photos »
Multimedia
Slide Show
Tom Wicker, a Columnist Not Afraid of Controversy
National Twitter Logo.
Connect With Us on Twitter
Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines.
Twitter List: Reporters and Editors
The cause was apparently a heart attack,ugg boots texas ugg boots philadelphia ugg boots in texas said his wife, Pamela Wicker.
On Nov. 22, 1963, Mr. Wicker, a brilliant but relatively unknown White House correspondent who had worked at four smaller papers, written several novels under a pen name and, at 37, had established himself as a workhorse of The Times’s Washington bureau, was riding in the presidential motorcade as it wound through downtown Dallas, the lone Times reporter on a routine political trip to Texas.
The searing images of that day — the rifleman’s shots cracking across Dealey Plaza, the wounded president lurching forward in the open limousine, the blur of speed ugg boots edmonton uggs outlet buffalo ugg st louisto Parkland Memorial Hospital and the nation’s anguish as the doctors gave way to the priests and a new era — were dictated by Mr. Wicker from a phone booth in stark, detailed prose drawn from notes scribbled on a White House itinerary sheet. It filled two front-page columns and the entire second page, and vaulted the writer to journalistic prominence overnight.
Nine months later, Mr. Wicker, the son of a small-town North Carolina railroad conductor, succeeded the legendary James B. Reston as chief of The Times’s 48-member Washington bureau, and two years later he inherited the column — although hardly the mantle — of the retiring Arthur Krock, the dean of Washington pundits, who had covered every president since Calvin Coolidge.
In contrast to the conservative pontificating of Mr. Krock and the genteel journalism of Mr. Reston, Mr. Wicker brought a hard-hitting Southern liberal/civil libertarian’s perspective to his column, “In the Nation,” which appeared on the editorial page and then on the Op-Ed Page two or three times a week from 1966 until his retirement in 1991. It was also syndicated to scores of newspapers.
Riding waves of change as the effects of the divisive war in Vietnam and America’s civil rights struggle swept the country, Mr. Wicker applauded President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but took the president to task for deepening the American involvement in Southeast Asia.
He denounced President Richard M. Nixon for covertly bombing Cambodia, and in the Watergate scandal accused him of creating the “beginnings of a police state.” Nixon put Mr. Wicker on his “enemies list,” but resigned in disgrace over the Watergate cover-up. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew upbraided Mr. Wicker for “irresponsibility and thoughtlessness,” but he, too, resigned after pleading no contest to evading taxes on bribes he had taken while he was governor of Maryland.
The Wicker judgments fell like a hard rain upon all the presidents: Gerald R. Ford, for continuing the war in Vietnam; Jimmy Carter, for “temporizing” in the face of soaring inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis; Ronald Reagan, for dozing through the Iran-contra scandal, and the elder George Bush, for letting the Persian Gulf war outweigh educational and health care needs at home. Mr. Wicker’s targets also included members of Congress, government secrecy, big business, corrupt labor leaders, racial bigots, prison conditions, television and the news media.
In the 1970s, Mr. Wicker, whose status as a columnist put him outside the customary journalistic restrictions on advocacy, became a fixture on current-events ugg sale toronto ugg queens ugg fresnotelevision shows and addressed gatherings on college campuses and in other forums. Speaking at a 1971 “teach-in” at Harvard, he urged students to “engage in civil disobedience” in protesting the war in Vietnam. “We got one president out,” he told the cheering crowd, “and perhaps we can do it again.”
A Prison Uprising
Mr. Wicker had many detractors. He was attacked by conservatives and liberals, by politicians high and low, by business interests, labor leaders and others, and for a time his activism — crossing the line from observer to participant in news events — put him in disfavor with many mainstream journalists. But his speeches and columns continued unabated.
His most notable involvement took place during the uprising by 1,300 inmates who seized 38 guards and workers at the Attica prison in upstate New York in September 1971. Having written a sympathetic column on the death of the black militant George Jackson at San Quentin, Mr. Wicker was asked by Attica’s rebels to join a group of outsiders to inspect prison conditions and monitor negotiations between inmates and officials. The radical lawyer William M. Kunstler and Bobby Seale, chairman of the Black Panther Party, also went in, and the observers took on the role of mediators.
Enlarge This Image
George Tames/The New York Times
Mr. Wicker in 1963. More Photos »
Multimedia
Slide Show
Tom Wicker, a Columnist Not Afraid of Controversy
National Twitter Logo.
Connect With Us on Twitter
Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines.
Twitter List: Reporters and Editors
The cause was apparently a heart attack,ugg boots texas ugg boots philadelphia ugg boots in texas said his wife, Pamela Wicker.
On Nov. 22, 1963, Mr. Wicker, a brilliant but relatively unknown White House correspondent who had worked at four smaller papers, written several novels under a pen name and, at 37, had established himself as a workhorse of The Times’s Washington bureau, was riding in the presidential motorcade as it wound through downtown Dallas, the lone Times reporter on a routine political trip to Texas.
The searing images of that day — the rifleman’s shots cracking across Dealey Plaza, the wounded president lurching forward in the open limousine, the blur of speed ugg boots edmonton uggs outlet buffalo ugg st louisto Parkland Memorial Hospital and the nation’s anguish as the doctors gave way to the priests and a new era — were dictated by Mr. Wicker from a phone booth in stark, detailed prose drawn from notes scribbled on a White House itinerary sheet. It filled two front-page columns and the entire second page, and vaulted the writer to journalistic prominence overnight.
Nine months later, Mr. Wicker, the son of a small-town North Carolina railroad conductor, succeeded the legendary James B. Reston as chief of The Times’s 48-member Washington bureau, and two years later he inherited the column — although hardly the mantle — of the retiring Arthur Krock, the dean of Washington pundits, who had covered every president since Calvin Coolidge.
In contrast to the conservative pontificating of Mr. Krock and the genteel journalism of Mr. Reston, Mr. Wicker brought a hard-hitting Southern liberal/civil libertarian’s perspective to his column, “In the Nation,” which appeared on the editorial page and then on the Op-Ed Page two or three times a week from 1966 until his retirement in 1991. It was also syndicated to scores of newspapers.
Riding waves of change as the effects of the divisive war in Vietnam and America’s civil rights struggle swept the country, Mr. Wicker applauded President Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but took the president to task for deepening the American involvement in Southeast Asia.
He denounced President Richard M. Nixon for covertly bombing Cambodia, and in the Watergate scandal accused him of creating the “beginnings of a police state.” Nixon put Mr. Wicker on his “enemies list,” but resigned in disgrace over the Watergate cover-up. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew upbraided Mr. Wicker for “irresponsibility and thoughtlessness,” but he, too, resigned after pleading no contest to evading taxes on bribes he had taken while he was governor of Maryland.
The Wicker judgments fell like a hard rain upon all the presidents: Gerald R. Ford, for continuing the war in Vietnam; Jimmy Carter, for “temporizing” in the face of soaring inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis; Ronald Reagan, for dozing through the Iran-contra scandal, and the elder George Bush, for letting the Persian Gulf war outweigh educational and health care needs at home. Mr. Wicker’s targets also included members of Congress, government secrecy, big business, corrupt labor leaders, racial bigots, prison conditions, television and the news media.
In the 1970s, Mr. Wicker, whose status as a columnist put him outside the customary journalistic restrictions on advocacy, became a fixture on current-events ugg sale toronto ugg queens ugg fresnotelevision shows and addressed gatherings on college campuses and in other forums. Speaking at a 1971 “teach-in” at Harvard, he urged students to “engage in civil disobedience” in protesting the war in Vietnam. “We got one president out,” he told the cheering crowd, “and perhaps we can do it again.”
A Prison Uprising
Mr. Wicker had many detractors. He was attacked by conservatives and liberals, by politicians high and low, by business interests, labor leaders and others, and for a time his activism — crossing the line from observer to participant in news events — put him in disfavor with many mainstream journalists. But his speeches and columns continued unabated.
His most notable involvement took place during the uprising by 1,300 inmates who seized 38 guards and workers at the Attica prison in upstate New York in September 1971. Having written a sympathetic column on the death of the black militant George Jackson at San Quentin, Mr. Wicker was asked by Attica’s rebels to join a group of outsiders to inspect prison conditions and monitor negotiations between inmates and officials. The radical lawyer William M. Kunstler and Bobby Seale, chairman of the Black Panther Party, also went in, and the observers took on the role of mediators.
2011年11月21日星期一
Curb the references to Jesus
Pining for your daily Tim Tebow fix after a four-day hiatus? Former Broncos QB Jake Plummer has delivered the latest sound byte to chew on in regards to his polarizing Rocky Mountain successor.
CAPTIONBy Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY
"I'm telling you I came in at the wrong time down there," Plummer, who was pretty mobile himself while winning 39 of 54 starts in Denver, told XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix on Monday. "(Tebow) is a winner, though. I like that because I think the town and the fans and everybody there -- they are craving a winner. They lost one when I was run out of town.
"They have a belief in the kid. That's really special because they make such a big deal about intangibles and height and arm strength and leaping ability and bench press and 40-time and all this crap that really means nothing when it is crunch time."
Then Plummer decided to weigh in on Tebow's faith ... which is doubtless where most of you will weigh in.
"Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he'd just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he's a winner and I respect that about him," said Plummer. "I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ, then I think I'll like him a little better. I don't hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff.
CAPTIONBy Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY
"I'm telling you I came in at the wrong time down there," Plummer, who was pretty mobile himself while winning 39 of 54 starts in Denver, told XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix on Monday. "(Tebow) is a winner, though. I like that because I think the town and the fans and everybody there -- they are craving a winner. They lost one when I was run out of town.
"They have a belief in the kid. That's really special because they make such a big deal about intangibles and height and arm strength and leaping ability and bench press and 40-time and all this crap that really means nothing when it is crunch time."
Then Plummer decided to weigh in on Tebow's faith ... which is doubtless where most of you will weigh in.
"Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he'd just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he's a winner and I respect that about him," said Plummer. "I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ, then I think I'll like him a little better. I don't hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff.
2011年11月17日星期四
Just enough NBA guys to make it interesting
Just enough NBA guys to make it interesting
Updated : 2011- 11- 18 07:41
By Dusty Lane (China Daily )
| |||||||||
2011年11月13日星期日
Box Office: Sandler, DiCaprio can't beat No. 1 'Immortals' [Updated]
"Immortals" fought off the competition at the box office this weekend, emerging victorious with the No. 1 title.
The film, an expensive 3-D sword-and-sandals epic, claimed the top spot with a solid $32 million, according to an estimate from distributor Relativity Media. That was enough to fend off Adam Sandler's cross-dressing comedy "Jack and Jill," which took in a decent $26 million. The Clint Eastwood-directed "J. Edgar" biopic, meanwhile, collected a modest $11.5 million.
"Immortals" marks Relativity's biggest self-released opening ever. That's welcome news for the independent studio, many of whose films -- including "Machine Gun Preacher" and "Take Me Home Tonight" -- have failed to resonate with audiences in recent months. The company made a big bet on "Immortals," spending about $80 million to produce the Tarsem Singh-directed picture and at least $50 million more to market it.
The audience for "Immortals" was composed largely of young males, a demographic that has proved difficult to lure into theaters in recent months. About 66% of the audience -- 75% of which was younger than 35, and 60% of which was male -- opted to shell out a few extra bucks to watch the movie in 3-D. The film attracted a diverse crowd, as roughly 35% of the audience was Hispanic. Moviegoers assigned "Immortals" an average grade of B, according to market research firm CinemaScore -- the same score that both "Jack and Jill" and "J. Edgar" received this weekend.
"Immortals," set in ancient Greece and starring future "Superman" Henry Cavill, was produced by the filmmakers behind the 2006 blockbuster "300."
"Immortals" will fail to generate the kind of revenues that film did, however," as "300" ended up raking in more than $450 million worldwide. This weekend, "Immortals" opened internationally in 35 foreign markets, collecting an estimated $36 million. The film performed especially well in the United Kingdom, Russia and Greece, claiming the No. 1 spot in each country. Relativity is not self-releasing the film overseas, however -- the company presold the film to a number of foreign distributors, minimizing the upside if "Immortals" is successful abroad.
"Jack and Jill" is one of the lowest debuts Sandler has had with a broad commercial comedy. In the last decade, most of the actor's similarly themed films have started off with between $30 million and $40 million. The opening for "Jack and Jill" is only slightly higher than that of 2009's "Funny People," the Judd Apatow-directed comedy about cancer that premiered with about $22 million.
Sony Pictures spent about $79 million to make "Jack and Jill," which appealed to a 53% family audience this weekend. While Sandler's films typically maintain strong holds at the box office, a number of kid-centric pictures are opening around Thanksgiving and will present some serious competition.
The film could make up some ground overseas, where Sandler's big comedies have crossed the $100-million milestone in recent years. The movie -- which received a dismal 3% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- grossed $2.7 million from Mexico and Colombia this weekend.
Eastwood's film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, appealed largely to an older crowd this weekend. About 66% of those who saw the picture were older than 50.
While "J. Edgar" earned the best reviews of any new film released this weekend, critics did not like it nearly as much as some of Eastwood's other recent movies. In an effort to spread positive word-of-mouth about the picture, Warner Bros. released the movie in seven theaters on Wednesday. Including those midweek grosses, the film has now made $11.6 million.
"J. Edgar," which was produced for about $35 million, opened to slightly less than Eastwood's last film, "Hereafter." That movie also earned middling reviews, debuting last year with $12 million and ultimately collecting $32.7 million domestically. The film did far better abroad, however, where it grossed $72.5 million. It remains to be seen how "J. Edgar" -- which has far more American themes than the supernatural "Hereafter" -- will fare internationally.
2011年11月11日星期五
Wade itching to start NBA season
MIAMI - The Miami Heat's seven-time All Star Dwyane Wade has travelled the world during the NBA lockout but says he cannot wait to return to the court and get the lingering 'itch' of his team's defeat in last season's finals out of his system.
Wade got back from a business trip to Australia on Thursday after spending time in Milan and Paris and touring China -- all of which he found rewarding.
However, nothing would please him more than a trip back to the court at the Heat's American Airlines Arena, especially with last year's loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the championship finals still burning.
"No one knows if you are going to be successful, that is part of being an athlete, getting so high and going so down and trying to get back up, that is part of it," Wade told Reuters.
"That burning desire to get back and to try and compete, that itch that's inside of us, is still there.
"On the outside of the flesh, yes (it eases), but on the inside it never goes away. You have to move on, you have to continue to do different things."
"But on the inside it burns you, at least until you get the opportunity to do it again," said Wade, who was speaking at the launch of his new 'Hublot King Power Dwyane Wade' watch.
That opportunity -- for the big three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh -- to get back on court and start their second bid for an NBA title, has been delayed by the protracted labour dispute between the players' union and the league's owners.
"It's frustrating," Wade said. "Every player wants to get back on the court and play, for whatever reasons they have.
"I am sure that every player on the Miami Heat can't wait to get back and try to get back to the place where we were last year, have success and hopefully get back to the finals where we can better ourselves -- that is our goal and I am sure every player has been thinking that all summer.
"We got this close and couldn't pull it out and that makes you hungry, it makes you want to get back out there again."
The lockout has already led to all of November's regular season games being wiped out and there is the risk of further cancellations.
Wade sees one positive in the prolonged negotiations between the two sides -- at least they are still talking.
"I can't say I'm optimistic, I can't say I'm down on it, I am kind of even-keel with it," the 29-year-old said. "Sometimes it goes up and it seems we might have a deal and then it blows up and it seems far away.
"When they are talking till one in the morning or whatever it is and then meeting the next day, that's always a positive. At least we are getting face to face and trying to hash out a deal and hopefully the fans see that and appreciate that."
As well as having even longer to stew over the way last season ended, Wade has had to work out away from the team set-up just like other NBA players.
While the 2006 championship winner has no trouble motivating himself, he says nothing beats the feeling of working with team mates.
"I prefer being around them," Wade added. "We can all work out on our own but nothing is like playing with the talent that there is in the NBA, nothing is like playing in an NBA game.
"I don't care how much you train before the season starts, you aren't going to be NBA ready.
"That has been one of the unfortunate things that we have had to deal with throughout this whole lockout, not being around the team, not being able to train with the people that we are used to and trying to figure it out on your own."
Wade got back from a business trip to Australia on Thursday after spending time in Milan and Paris and touring China -- all of which he found rewarding.
However, nothing would please him more than a trip back to the court at the Heat's American Airlines Arena, especially with last year's loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the championship finals still burning.
"No one knows if you are going to be successful, that is part of being an athlete, getting so high and going so down and trying to get back up, that is part of it," Wade told Reuters.
"That burning desire to get back and to try and compete, that itch that's inside of us, is still there.
"On the outside of the flesh, yes (it eases), but on the inside it never goes away. You have to move on, you have to continue to do different things."
"But on the inside it burns you, at least until you get the opportunity to do it again," said Wade, who was speaking at the launch of his new 'Hublot King Power Dwyane Wade' watch.
That opportunity -- for the big three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh -- to get back on court and start their second bid for an NBA title, has been delayed by the protracted labour dispute between the players' union and the league's owners.
"It's frustrating," Wade said. "Every player wants to get back on the court and play, for whatever reasons they have.
"I am sure that every player on the Miami Heat can't wait to get back and try to get back to the place where we were last year, have success and hopefully get back to the finals where we can better ourselves -- that is our goal and I am sure every player has been thinking that all summer.
"We got this close and couldn't pull it out and that makes you hungry, it makes you want to get back out there again."
The lockout has already led to all of November's regular season games being wiped out and there is the risk of further cancellations.
Wade sees one positive in the prolonged negotiations between the two sides -- at least they are still talking.
"I can't say I'm optimistic, I can't say I'm down on it, I am kind of even-keel with it," the 29-year-old said. "Sometimes it goes up and it seems we might have a deal and then it blows up and it seems far away.
"When they are talking till one in the morning or whatever it is and then meeting the next day, that's always a positive. At least we are getting face to face and trying to hash out a deal and hopefully the fans see that and appreciate that."
As well as having even longer to stew over the way last season ended, Wade has had to work out away from the team set-up just like other NBA players.
While the 2006 championship winner has no trouble motivating himself, he says nothing beats the feeling of working with team mates.
"I prefer being around them," Wade added. "We can all work out on our own but nothing is like playing with the talent that there is in the NBA, nothing is like playing in an NBA game.
"I don't care how much you train before the season starts, you aren't going to be NBA ready.
"That has been one of the unfortunate things that we have had to deal with throughout this whole lockout, not being around the team, not being able to train with the people that we are used to and trying to figure it out on your own."
2011年11月9日星期三
Demolition site to be home to Christmas tree
SKOWHEGAN -- A big Christmas tree will be going up where the former Skowhegan Electronics building and two others came down last month.
click image to enlarge
Open space replaces the spot where three buildings stood recently in downtown Skowhegan.
Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans
Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store
"I got the green light for the red and green lights," Main Street Skowhegan Executive Director Jennifer Olsen said. "I want a big one, just like Rockefeller Center."
Olsen said Jim Batey, executive director of Somerset Economic Development Corp., which owns the downtown property at the corner of Madison Avenue and Commercial Street, agreed to put up the tree just in time for Skowhegan's Holiday Stroll, Dec. 2-4.
The electronics building, which became known as Skowhegan's eyesore, along with two other attached buildings, was demolished Oct. 22-23 and the debris hauled away. Crews from McCarthy Enterprises of Skowhegan, which did the demolition work, back-filled the open space, graded it and seeded it for a possible park next spring and summer.
Olsen and Batey said Main Street Skowhegan's Design Committee will work with the community through public forums to determine plans for the space.
"We're really excited to be at the table about all this," Olsen said. "Short term, we'll put a Christmas tree up. Boy, wouldn't that be a beautiful spot for a great big tree."
Some of the long-term ideas for the space could ultimately include turning it over to the town of Skowhegan, but acceptance of the lot would have to be approved by a vote at a town meeting, Town Manager John Doucette Jr. said. The next special town meeting has been set for Feb. 14.
Other ideas for the corner have included possibly moving the iconic Skowhegan Indian to the site. The Indian, a towering, 62-foot wooden statue by artist Bernard Langlais, is owned by the Chamber of Commerce.
Continued use of the site as a green pocket park with benches and art work, possibly a sculpture, also is possible, Olson said.
"Because it's such a gateway location, some kind of 'welcome to Skowhegan' message would be nice, too," she said.
Batey said development corporation membership will discuss options for the site during the winter and get the public involved in plans.
"I think it would look nice coming down over the hill to see a nice green space with maybe a monument, park benches, a flower garden," he said.
Doucette said the loss of tax revenue of about $1,530 the town received annually from the building owners before demolition will be missed, but the demolition is worth the loss.
"I think what we gain, as far as aesthetics there, offsets the taxes from the building," he said.
click image to enlarge
Open space replaces the spot where three buildings stood recently in downtown Skowhegan.
Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans
Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store
"I got the green light for the red and green lights," Main Street Skowhegan Executive Director Jennifer Olsen said. "I want a big one, just like Rockefeller Center."
Olsen said Jim Batey, executive director of Somerset Economic Development Corp., which owns the downtown property at the corner of Madison Avenue and Commercial Street, agreed to put up the tree just in time for Skowhegan's Holiday Stroll, Dec. 2-4.
The electronics building, which became known as Skowhegan's eyesore, along with two other attached buildings, was demolished Oct. 22-23 and the debris hauled away. Crews from McCarthy Enterprises of Skowhegan, which did the demolition work, back-filled the open space, graded it and seeded it for a possible park next spring and summer.
Olsen and Batey said Main Street Skowhegan's Design Committee will work with the community through public forums to determine plans for the space.
"We're really excited to be at the table about all this," Olsen said. "Short term, we'll put a Christmas tree up. Boy, wouldn't that be a beautiful spot for a great big tree."
Some of the long-term ideas for the space could ultimately include turning it over to the town of Skowhegan, but acceptance of the lot would have to be approved by a vote at a town meeting, Town Manager John Doucette Jr. said. The next special town meeting has been set for Feb. 14.
Other ideas for the corner have included possibly moving the iconic Skowhegan Indian to the site. The Indian, a towering, 62-foot wooden statue by artist Bernard Langlais, is owned by the Chamber of Commerce.
Continued use of the site as a green pocket park with benches and art work, possibly a sculpture, also is possible, Olson said.
"Because it's such a gateway location, some kind of 'welcome to Skowhegan' message would be nice, too," she said.
Batey said development corporation membership will discuss options for the site during the winter and get the public involved in plans.
"I think it would look nice coming down over the hill to see a nice green space with maybe a monument, park benches, a flower garden," he said.
Doucette said the loss of tax revenue of about $1,530 the town received annually from the building owners before demolition will be missed, but the demolition is worth the loss.
"I think what we gain, as far as aesthetics there, offsets the taxes from the building," he said.
订阅：
博文 (Atom)