Just google "Mike Mulligan, Hinsdale NH-Brattleboro route 119 bridge". The Hinsdale bridge committee worked on this for decades and got nothing done. I came on the scene in and about 2012 with my "build new bridge" poster antics taped to the Hinsdale side of the
Hinsdale owes me my court fine of fine of $1500 dollars.
bridge and within just a few years it galvanized my community into complaining to the politicians, that we are in dire need of getting it replaced. I even engineered my own arrest over loose boards on the bridge as a tool to boost public interest in the terrible conditions of the bridge. I don't give a shit about my reputation. That is the difference between me and you. I soon got the bridge walkway boards replaced in a $28,000 job and my fine for pulling up the boards was about $1500. I spent $1500 dollars and turned my wife's hair grey, in order to get a $50 million dollar bridge for my community.
If all the players were really truthful, they would all admit my antics got them thinking of the terrible conditions of the bridge and imagining/anticipating if the bridge collapsed or the NHDOT declared it unsafe...our community would be devastated by it. I certainly thought the poor condition of bridge was severely limiting the economical growth for decades before I taped my first "build new bridge" poster to the bridge in 2013.
"Bringing big business to the border in Hinsdale"
By Sierra Hubbard Sentinel Staff
May 12, 20
HINSDALE — A national farming and outdoor retailer chose a border town of 4,000 residents for its second pin on the Granite State map, joining other major chain stores to settle in Hinsdale in recent years.
Runnings sells a wide variety of goods, from larger items like lawnmowers to home decor, pet products, power tools and outdoor apparel.
The store opened for business at 18 Georges Field Road in Hinsdale on April 19, but it’s celebrating a grand opening May 16 to 20. The event will stretch over several days and include product demonstrations, a petting zoo and more than $25,000 in prizes, according to Dennis A. Jensen, the company’s director of marketing and advertising.
This marks the second Runnings store in the state; one opened in Claremont three years ago. Jensen said the Hinsdale location is part of the Minnesota-based company’s expansion into the Northeast, which began in 2014 with store openings in New York, along with later additions in Claremont and Putnam, Conn. The retailer has more than 40 stores in six states.
As of the end of April, Jensen said the Hinsdale stored had hired 58 employees, half of whom are part time. He noted that many were hired locally and said more positions will be added as needed.
But the benefits of Runnings opening in town extend beyond the workforce, according to Hinsdale Selectman Mike Darcy.
“It is filling in a previously vacant storefront, which is nice because the building’s not just sitting there rotting ... ,” Darcy said. “It’s going to get the care and maintenance that it deserves.”
The building housed a Walmart until it moved out in 2011 to open a larger supercenter 3 miles away.
Jensen said the location was ideal, but not solely because of the physical space. He said the company looks specifically for customers with lifestyles that fit the profile of a Runnings shopper, which encompasses a love for pets, the outdoors, hobbies and working with one’s hands.
“We will not open a store if we don’t feel like there’s a demand for what we’re trying to sell,” Jensen said. “When we looked in the area, there really was that need we felt that we could meet with the store.”
But Runnings isn’t the only big-box company to take root in Hinsdale. In 2013, Tractor Supply Co. built a store on Brattleboro Road, also called Route 119. Based in Brentwood, Tenn., Tractor Supply operates 21 stores in New Hampshire, according to its website.
Walmart, which came to Georges Field Road in 1993, opened its supercenter in April 2011, also on Brattleboro Road.
Darcy said the town of about 4,000 people is prime real estate for national chains and larger companies.
“We’re right at the meeting of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts,” he said.
It’s an attractive location because the Granite State has no sales tax, he said, unlike its neighbors.
State Sen. Jay V. Kahn, D-Keene, represents District 10, which includes Hinsdale. Because of the tax incentive and proximity, he said residents have a close relationship with cross-border towns.
“What you find in Hinsdale is that the state border is very fluid,” Kahn said. “People in Hinsdale work in Brattleboro, Vermont, and vice versa.”
Businesses in Hinsdale, he said, have the advantage of access to pools of residents from several area towns, including those in nearby states. Kahn said this advantage applies to both workforce and customer base.
And officials with the town are planning more improvements to an area that’s already appealing to outside companies.
“If you look just a few years out, the Hinsdale bridge will be replaced, which will facilitate even more traffic,” Kahn said.
Two bridges connect the town to Brattleboro over the Connecticut River, both Pennsylvania truss-style spans built in 1920 and rehabilitated in 1988. Officials with the N.H. Department of Transportation classify the narrow bridges as functionally obsolete, which means the outdated structures don’t meet current design standards and have height and weight restrictions.
Hinsdale has worked for decades to replace the bridges, and state highway officials held public hearings in January outlining plans to build a new span across the border. Construction is expected to begin spring 2020 and continue into 2023, according to state officials.
“If there’s going to be any large retail or any large commercial expansion in Hinsdale, the new bridge will play a big role in that,” Darcy said, adding that it will offer travelers better access to Interstate 91.
Phil Suter, president and CEO of the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, said efforts to replace the bridges are part of attempts by town officials to make Hinsdale more attractive to businesses.
Suter said the communities along the border have struggled since the sale of Vermont Yankee, a prominent nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., that employed as many as 650 people in its prime.
Built in 1972, the plant’s owner announced in 2013 that the facility planned to shut down its reactor by the end of 2014. The sale and transfer of the plant’s spent nuclear fuel to dry-cask storage is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
When the facility’s owner made the announcement, Vernon and the surrounding communities suddenly faced what many towns across the country have encountered as nuclear power plants cease their operations: Residents and families with high incomes packed up and left.
“That cost the area a number of jobs,” Suter said, noting that many were higher skilled positions. “... Anything that comes back into that area is good. It’s good for the tax base; it’s good for the real estate market.”
And in a region that emphasizes the importance of supporting local businesses, Suter quelled concerns about big-box retailers moving in and said there’s room for businesses of all sizes. Ultimately, he said the residents will choose the establishments that are fair, have good customer service and take part in the community.
“People will vote with their dollars,” Suter said. “They’ll vote with their feet.”
With the potential to generate jobs, revenue and maybe even new residents in Hinsdale, Suter said it’s a “really big deal” that the company chose the town for its second location in New Hampshire.
“This opening of this store, Runnings, is a really big deal,” Suter said. “They don’t casually open a store like that if they don’t think there’s a market for what they do.”
