Keene City Council meeting regarding building of a new jail

[Kat Kanning]

 Notice is hereby given a special meeting of the Keene City Council will be held on Friday, March 11, 2005 at 7:00 PM in the Kay Fox Room at the Keene Public Library. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss, with the members of the Cheshire County Delegation, the county jail construction project currently slated to be built in the City of Keene.

[GT]

Vote for a big jail. There are lots of politicians

[Kat Kanning]

LOL.  I don't want a new jail, in that case.  More like the old Bastille with rats and all 

[Pat K]

Can't they just deport the criminals to Mass. were they can run for office ?

[Kat Kanning]

If the jail is overcrowded, how about letting out the people convicted of victimless crimes, rather than building a bigger more expensive jail??


Commission: Put new county jail in Westmoreland
   
BENJAMIN YELLE
Sentinel Staff

Westmoreland is the best place for a new county jail, the Cheshire County Commission reiterated Wednesday, saying it will be quicker and easier to build there than to fight the political battle required to put it in Keene.

Commission Chairman Roger T. Zerba, D-Keene, said no vote was taken on the recommendation, which came up at a commission meeting Wednesday, but he and Commissioners Jonathan B. Sistare, R-Dublin, and Robert W. Moore, R-Westmoreland, are unanimous.

Zerba said the endorsement was issued to coincide with a meeting Friday between the Cheshire County Legislative Delegation and the Keene City Council about plans to put the jail off Route 12 in Keene.

The delegation, made up of the 24 state representatives from Cheshire County, voted 15-1 in October to build the jail in Keene.   

The commissioners are ultimately responsible for where the jail is built, but the delegation controls financing for the $29 million project.

The delegation voted last month in favor of a $29 million loan, but the majority fell one vote short of the two-thirds needed to pass.

Zerba said the commissioners will go along with the delegation?s decision to build in Keene, if that decision holds up after Friday?s meeting.

But overcrowding at the current jail has reached an all-time high, and a new jail has to be built as soon as possible, he said.

The commissioners think Westmoreland is an easier sell.

?We always felt that was the (easiest) site to develop,? Zerba said.

The commissioners recommend building on what?s called the ?plateau? land in Westmoreland, already owned by the county government.

They think a jail can be built faster there than if they have to continue negotiating with the four landowners whose property makes up the proposed jail location in Keene, and also deal with the political pressures of building on the edge of the city?s Black Brook Corporate Park.

Monadnock Economic Development Corp. is one of the four landowners, but its director, John G. Dugan, says he has not been negotiating with the county to sell the property. That property is inside the corporate park.

Keene Mayor Michael E.J. Blastos has asked business leaders in the corporate park to write letters explaining what impact a new jail would have on them. One of them ? C&S Wholesale Grocers, one of the city?s largest employers ? has hinted it may reconsider plans to build new corporate headquarters in the park if the jail goes there.

?We are writing to express our extreme concern over the proposal? to place the jail there, wrote William C. Hamlin, senior vice president of strategic planning for the company. ?We feel this decision significantly diminishes the value of this location not only in terms of property values, but more significantly, in terms of this location as our corporate offices.?

The joint city council-county delegation meeting is Friday at 7 p.m. at the Keene Public Library. It is open to the public, but no public comment will be taken.

[LiveFreeOrDie]

Sorry, I just can't get past that $29 million price tag.  Who came up with that?  It's a freakin' JAIL!  It's not going to be built on hot property, eh?  Come on...

[jgmaynard]

Can't they just deport the criminals to Mass. were they can run for office ?

I dare you to ask that to the City Council tonight... I DOUBLE dare ya!

JM

[Lloyd Danforth]

Can't they just deport the criminals to Mass. were they can run for office ?

I dare you to ask that to the City Council tonight... I DOUBLE dare ya!

JM

I'll give ya 5 Bucks!

[Russell Kanning]

Can't they just deport the criminals to Mass. were they can run for office ?

I dare you to ask that to the City Council tonight... I DOUBLE dare ya!

JM

Are you going to be there tonight?
I wasn't planning on it.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Well, Russell, now you have to go.  Ther could be 5$ in it for you!

[Kat Kanning]

I say it, but they aren't allowing any comments from the public tonight.

[Russell Kanning]

I say it, but they aren't allowing any comments from the public tonight.

"allowing".....hmmmm

[FTL_Ian]

I say it, but they aren't allowing any comments from the public tonight.

"allowing".....hmmmm

I don't like being told to keep my mouth shut... don't know about you... hope you guys managed something?  Any news from the meeting?

[Russell Kanning]

None of us where there.