copyright the Chronicle December 20, 2017
by Joseph Gresser
NEWPORT — The Newport City Council found it much easier Monday to agree to a moderate increase in charges for Newport Ambulance’s services, and to pass a budget, than to decide whether to allow snowmobiles to use a residential street to reach downtown merchants. But after a couple of hours of discussion, council members heeded the urging of merchants and gave the green light to the snow travelers.
Council members seemed torn Monday between their desire to help boost business during the winter months and their sympathy for residents of Broadview Avenue who complained their peaceful lives are being sacrificed to enhance economic development.
Even Gillian Staniforth, the most outspoken of Broadview’s residents, expressed support for the idea of promoting commerce by allowing winter travelers to drive their snowmobiles downtown. Her objection, she said, was only to the route chosen by Roger Gosselin, the representative of the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) who brought the idea of easing access to downtown Newport to the council early this month.
…To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle‘s stories, subscribe to the online edition below:
Annual online subscription
Short-term online subscription
Print subscription
(To find a particular article, search for the corresponding edition of the newspaper)