Community Preservation Act Funding Improved

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's FY13 Budget includes increased funding for the CPA.    Not only will more state matching money be available to towns that have adopted the CPA, changes permit money to be used on repairs to parks and recreation facilities.

We all know that in poor economies, parks are often the first to see decreased funding.  Park managers are hard pressed when money needs to go to schools, police and fire protection.

Since the poor economy has meant fewer home sales, and more and more communities have adopted the CPA, what little money the Commonwealth may have is being stretched to the limit.  This change by Gov. Patrick is an improvement and will help "preserve" Massachusetts' communities into our future.

See this previous Blog.

I am feeling very Olympic today, how about you?

Sanka said this in one of my favorite movies, Cool Runnings.  If you have not seen it, order it on Netflix.  It is a wonderful film and a beautiful story.

Watching the Olympics on TV is inspirational.  I always root for the underdogs.  I like it when the US wins of course, but when a first time athlete arrives on the floor, I can feel proud for the Olympic Athlete.

A truly remarkable experience!

BTW: Sanka was played by Doug E. Doug.

When both political parties object to a tourism project ...

it must be bad.

According to a report in the Turks and Caicos Sun both PNP and PDM object to the proposed construction of a 28 story skyscraper in the Grace Bay area of Providenciales.

"The Progressive National Party (PNP) and the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) have both registered their objection to the proposed 28-storey hotel in Grace Bay, Providenciales. "

Probably an attempt to rejuvenate the sagging economy, this building may increase the capacity to recieve tourists but will redefine the characteristics of the Caribbean island.

Last Chance Tourism

I got a news feed this morning from CNN stating a huge chunk of ice broke off a glacier in Greenland.  See this link for details.

It reminded me of a trip to Alaska in 2006 where we travelled by boat to Glacier Bay.  We wanted to see the glaciers before they were gone, gone forever!

There is a balancing act tourist must follow.  How do we visit these "last chance" destinations to see glaciers, or wolves, or polar bears or what ever is disappearing from our planet with out contributing to the loss.

Yeah, you got it: climate change.

We want to return to Glacier Bay in 2016, to see if this glacier is still there.  Oh and to rad about last chance tourism, see this paper titled "Last-chance tourism: the boom, doom, and gloom of visiting vanishing destinations" at this link.

been quiet the last week or so ...

but I still get feeds and emails from various recreation and tourism sources.  The latest is from Tourism Management Perspectives that has several good articles to check out.  See this link.  More and more journals are making their content freely available on the web and that is a good thing.