City of Keene Parks and Rec. Department

[Russell Kanning]

First email from the helpful folks down at the parks and rec department:

Subject: Flag Burning - Robin Hood Park
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 13:18:38 -0500
From: "Brian Mattson" <bmattson@ci.keene.nh.us>
To: <russellkanning@porcupinepartners.com>
Cc: "Gary Lamoureux" <glamoureux@ci.keene.nh.us>, "Art Walker" <awalker@ci.keene.nh.us>, "John Maclean" <jmaclean@ci.keene.nh.us>

Mr. Kanning,
   We have learned through a local "Letter to the Editor" that you plan another flag burning event in Robin Hood Park.  Last year, after the event, I was informed by the Keene Fire Department that burning in a park picnic area requires a fire permit.  The reason is that the burning is purely for burning and not for cooking food as the fire pits were and are intended for.  I was told that you, or someone in your organization was informed of this last year.   
   You will need a fire permit from the Keene Fire Department and they tell me the permit requires the permission of the land owner.  In this situation I would be signing off as the land owner.  If presented with signing off, I will refuse.  This use of a picnic area in a park is not appropriate in my view.  They were created and funded by citizens with the intent that people would have cookouts there.   Open burning for the sake of open burning can be done somewhere else.                                                      Brian Mattson
                                                      Director, Keene Parks, Recreation and Facilities Department

[Russell Kanning]

I will be posting info here in our investigation into the parks department and creating articles often for the Keene Free Press.

Brian Mattson makes $77,000 a year plus benefits to make sure that people do not have fun in our city parks.
His department spent $9,000 last year on a line item labeled "Telephone". I wonder what that can be.
I will be asking him questions by email so he can check on the details at his leisure.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Is this the guy?

Brian Mattson
30 Page St.
Keene, NH 03431-3121
(603) 357-0579

[Russell Kanning]

Sent back to him:

On Tue, 6 Dec 2005 13:18:38 -0500, Brian Mattson <bmattson@ci.keene.nh.us> wrote:

> Mr. Kanning,
>    We have learned through a local "Letter to the Editor" that you plan
> another flag burning event in Robin Hood Park.

I will be attending the 2nd Annual Free State UN Flag Burn.

> Last year, after the
> event, I was informed by the Keene Fire Department that burning in a
> park picnic area requires a fire permit.  The reason is that the burning
> is purely for burning and not for cooking food as the fire pits were and
> are intended for.  I was told that you, or someone in your organization
> was informed of this last year.

Yes. They called and threatened my wife last year. I find this behavior unbecoming, but very usual for a public official. Last year we made use of one of the fire pits for marshmellow melting and flag burning. Fun was had by all and we left no mess behind. The event was a success.

>    You will need a fire permit from the Keene Fire Department and they
> tell me the permit requires the permission of the land owner.  In this
> situation I would be signing off as the land owner.  If presented with
> signing off, I will refuse.  This use of a picnic area in a park is not
> appropriate in my view.  They were created and funded by citizens with
> the intent that people would have cookouts there.   Open burning for the
> sake of open burning can be done somewhere else.
>                                                       Brian Mattson

The people of Keene are the owners of the park. Since we will not be hurting anyone or damaging the property we all share, then I don't think it is any of your business to impede us.

I was looking over the budget numbers for your department and was curious what the line item "Telephone" meant. It says that you spent about $9,000 in this category last year. Since many citizens of our town are complaining about ever increasing property taxes, I would like to know if we could trim this expenditure significantly.

I would like to interview you next week sometime and take some photos of you and your office. Until then, I will just ask you a few questions by email so you can look up the info at your leisure.


--
Russell Kanning
Keene Free Press

[Russell Kanning]

Is this the guy?

Brian Mattson
30 Page St.
Keene, NH 03431-3121
(603) 357-0579

Not sure .... probably.

I noticed in the city office yesterday that they have the voter registry and property tax assessment books in the lobbie. It was kindof distrubing to be able to find out who owns what land and how much it is appraised at.

[Lloyd Danforth]

The assesment stuff  has, probably, always been public record. I would think the voting stuff wouldn't be, except that this allows one to compare the votes cast against the total numbers of voters, so that people in the cemeteries don't sway the vote.
My grandmother was Asst. voter registar in Hartford.  They printed the names of the registered voters on these big sheets of paper. One for each ward.  They used these to check people voting were in the right ward and would cross a name off after voting.  Gramma would bring piles of this paper home.  Did some of my earliest artwork on that paper.  We lined our drawers with the stuff.

[Fluff and Stuff]

I noticed in the city office yesterday that they have the voter registry and property tax assessment books in the lobbie. It was kindof distrubing to be able to find out who owns what land and how much it is appraised at.

Yeah, I just found out about this, myself.
My dad is in real estate and I just found out about this. ?You can find out the entire history of a property online (at least where I live). ?It has all owners, when the property changed hands, how much they bought it for, and more.

[Russell Kanning]

Mr. Kanning,
   The fact remains that you need a fire permit for what you plan to do
in Robin Hood Park.  If you disagree with my decision, you may appeal to
the Mayor and City Council.
                                                        Brian Mattson

[Fluff and Stuff]

Mr. Kanning,
? ?The fact remains that you need a fire permit for what you plan to do
in Robin Hood Park.? If you disagree with my decision, you may appeal to
the Mayor and City Council.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Brian Mattson

No, you don't.  Bring the same food that you brought last year.  Whenever you see the cops, start cooking some.

Also, this Brian guy is an A-hole.  Like, I could at least understand his arguement if you were just burning flags and it was on the 4th of July when most of the cooking pits were in use, but noone uses them in the middle of Dec. except Russell.

[Kat Kanning]

Last year the park was cleaner when we left than when we got there.  We picked up some garbage that the Keene Parks Department had neglected.

[Russell Kanning]

> Mr. Kanning,
> ? ?The fact remains that you need a fire permit for what you plan to do
> in Robin Hood Park. ?If you disagree with my decision, you may appeal to
> the Mayor and City Council.
> ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Brian Mattson

The fact is that you work for us not the other way around. I will not be appealing. I will ignore your rules. I think you have forgotten that you are a public servant not a master. If you do not like that position, then quit your job.
Do I need to give you more time on the spending issues I was asking about?
--
Russell Kanning
Keene Free Press

[Russell Kanning]

No, you don't. Bring the same food that you brought last year. Whenever you see the cops, start cooking some.

The guy doesn't seem to understand that you are allowed to burn for the fun of it. People can sit around a fire drink and laugh. That is not a criminal act.

[AlanM]

The simple fact remains that they have fire pits in the park for public use.

[Kat Kanning]

This is just like them not allowing Maynard to use the Rec. Center...it's all political.

[AlanM]

Mr. Watson,
  Please advise me as to whether you intend to prevent residents of Keene from excercising their Free Speech rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Alan Milner
Keene Free Press
Columnist

Try sending this to him.