Before coming to New Hampshire, Gotbaum was at at WBUR Boston and at KQED-FM in San Francisco. She has also worked as a correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle. Gotbaum has filed stories for NPR, The New York Times, Marketplace, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She is an adjunct professor at Emerson College in Boston.
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Gotbaum earned her Masters in Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley. She is an avid fan of food and cooking.
The New Hampshire Ski Industry Reports Lower Revenues
New Hampshire ski area operators are trying to keep up a hopeful message about this year’s season, but there is a lot less snow this year than last.
Ski areas are able to make snow, but as the Union Leader reports, Cannon Mountain had 70 trails open this time last year. This year, the mountain has only 17 trails open. Other resorts also have a diminished list of open trails.
“From a business standpoint, the next few days will be crucial days,” said Karl Stone, spokesman for Ski NH, the statewide organization representing most ski areas in the state.
He said this week [and] the Martin Luther King-Civil Rights long weekend in January and February vacation, represent 30 percent of annual business for ski areas.
A New Hampshire developer plans to renovate two mostly-abandoned apartment buildings in Franklin and turn them into affordable housing for working class families. The company, New England Family Housing, plans to buy the 30-unit building for $615,000.
Kevin Lacasse, who owns the company, told the Concord Monitor that the he buildings, which were constructed in the 1970s, have not had any major improvements for several decades.
“It’s been severely run down and kind of deteriorating,” he said of the buildings, full of avocado green countertops and blue shag rugs.
But the problems are more than cosmetic: faulty electrical outlets, inadequate smoke and carbon monoxide detection, mold, broken doors, a failing roof and a crumbling parking lot. Material from unoccupied units has been ripped out and used to maintain occupied ones, and water damage has forced gutting some walls down to the studs, Lacasse said.
“The cost to rehabilitate the buildings could be as high as $650,000. That, plus the cost to buy, would exceed the property’s value, Lacasse said.”
“It’s just continued to decline and . . . (has become) a last-resort place to live,” Lacasse said. Only eight of the 30 units – 15 per building – are occupied, he said, and crime has filled the vacuum.”
Lacasse is applying for a $500,000 federal block grant to help pay for the renovation. Franklin Police told the Monitor that the blighted buildings have been an active area for drug dealing and other crime. Once the buildings are completed, they are to remain affordable for 20 years.
As NHPR’s Dan Gorenstein reports, despite the fact that New Hampshire’s economy is stronger than most of the country’s and has an unemployment rate well below the national average, Republican voters are still worried about their future. As New Hampshire economist Ross Gittell puts it: “It’s all relative.”
For the towns and businesses along the I-93 corridor, the state’s unfinished major road expansion project means more time in limbo. The town of Windham has been enduring major construction delays and changes for several years. Several roads in town are supposed to be moved and the new I-93 exit is only half finished.
The state of New Hampshire needs $365 million to finish its ambitious plan to widen Interstate 93 in the southern part of the state, just as lawmakers in Congress vow to cut state transportation funding, which could reduce the state’s road project funding by $40 million a year.
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation says much of what has already been started on I-93 is now on hold because of the uncertainty over funding.
DOT Commissioner Chris Clement surveying storm damage
I recently spoke with newly confirmed commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Christopher Clement, about the current budget constraints at the DOT and also his plan on how to finish the $800 million expansion of Interstate 93 without federal dollars. The project, which began in 2007, is an expansion of I-93 from a four-lane highway to an eight-lane highway. Supporters say the expansion will make it easier for commuters to go in and out of Massachusetts, as well as bring needed tourism dollars into New Hampshire’s North Country.
Q: What are some are greatest challenges currently with funding at the DOT?
A: In the last biennium, we had about $124 million cut from our $568 million budget. There was about $90 million cut from a registration surcharge that went away. That’s about $45 million less per year. We at the Department of Transportation eliminated 68 positions or about 19 percent of our workforce. We’re working on our 10-year transportation plan. Our 10-year plan is predicated the majority on federal funding. We heard when I first came on board that all states had to plan on a 35 percent cut from the feds. We cut that $140 million plan down to $100 million plan. That made our 10-year plan much more thin than in years past. Those projects that don’t meet the $100 million on the 10-year plan go on a deferred list.
The road back from the recession for some towns in New Hampshire could be slowed due to deep budget cuts affecting highway expansion and bridge maintenance.
The state Department of Transportation is grappling with budget cuts of $30 million in motor vehicle fees and a likely $40 million cut in federal highway funds each year.
“Our $140 million 10-year plan is now a $100 million plan,” says Transportation Commissioner Christopher Clement. “The document is a lot slimmer than it was five years ago.”
What that means is that some parts of the $800 million Interstate 93 expansion may be delayed. Clement says the state will not be able to address as many “red list” bridges which call for renovation or replacement. And for many towns throughout the state, the budget cuts mean their road projects have been put on hold indefinitely.
Ed. Note: Yesterday, we posted a piece headlined: “Why One New Hampshire Town Voted To Raise Its Own Tax.” In that story, we inadvertently identified Andover, Massachusetts as Andover, New Hampshire. Additionally, it’s important to note that unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire residents cannot actually vote to raise their local taxes.
New Hampshire may lose millions In vital infrastructure money.
A recent failure to pass a bill that would have provided states with federal highway money is making New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen nervous. Congress has not yet reauthorized the federal highway bill and House Republicans want to cut funds by 35 percent.
For New Hampshire that would be a loss of at least $115 million. The uncertainty about the future of the funding means New Hampshire and other states cannot move forward with their major transportation projects.
For New Hampshire, not being able to count on those funds could mean a halt to the widening of Interstate 93 — a highway some officials say has the potential to bring in big money to the state and is “paved with gold.” Continue Reading →
This weekend's snow storm did some serious damage across New Hampshire.
Governor John Lynch is asking President Obama to declare an emergency for all New Hampshire counties as a result of last weekend’s severe snow storm. If the request is granted FEMA would give the state federal disaster aid to help deal with storm with damage. Continue Reading →
Democrat Maggie Hassan, 53, who recently announced her candidacy for governor, said one of her major goals is to focus on creating jobs in New Hampshire, and suggested that gambling in the state ought to be expanded in order to boost state revenue.
The former Democratic Senate majority leader spoke to the Portsmouth Press Herald:
“We will be developing more policy proposals as the campaign proceeds, but what we do know is that the best way to attract businesses to a state is to have a work force that is well-educated and ready with the skill sets that businesses need,” she said. “What we need to do is create jobs and to be innovative, both in terms of job creation and in terms of how we run state government and the best way to approach that is to come together with people and find out what they need to create jobs.”
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