The Rethink Local Podcast

Today I want to talk about public records requests — not from an abstract legal perspective, but from the ground level of actually working in towns across Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. I believe public records access is essential. But things are getting more challenging and we are having the wrong conversation in some key areas, falling into an overly binary debate that do...

In this quicker update type episode, I share a bit about the contract that Rethink Local just started over the last couple weeks in Randolph Vermont, where my company was brought in to provide planning and zoning services, as well explore some opportunities for shared services in the future. I'll be serving as Randolph's Zoning Administrator under the title of Director of Planning, Zoning, and Reg...

In this episode of Upper Valley Vibes, we're going to talk about community nursing - the program mostly centered in small rural communities in the northeast US, get to know some of the folks who helped drive the adoption of these programs in the Upper Valley and hear from several nurses in different towns about what it's like and why this healthcare service is so valuable.   Part of what I'd like...

Last month, millions of people turned out to vote in the 2024 elections.  I voted stickers made their way across social media, ads and signs littered our internet and streets for weeks and months leading up to it, and billions was spent on the whole thing. But, the truth is that voting for president is only a drop in the bucket compared to the number of opportunities that our system of government...

In this episode of Upper Valley Vibes we took another visit to Norwich over the summer where I sit down with Greg Prince.   Greg has been an educator for the bulk of life - teaching English oversees in the 60s, administering and overseeing program at various schools and colleges, which brought him to Dartmouth as the first Dean of Summer Programs in 1970 and of course where I learned of him, his t...

Hi everyone, Alex Torpey here, your host of Upper Valley Vibes.   In this episode, I invited some VIPs from outside the Upper Valley up to Junction Arts Media's (Formerly CATV) podcast recording studio in White River Junction. (Which by the way, JAM is a partner on this podcast and that podcast recording studio can be used by anyone! There are some links in the show notes with more info if you're...

Hi Alex Torpey here, your host of Upper Valley Vibes. In this episode, I take a walk on the rail trail in Lebanon with Josh Crane of Norwich, Vermont. Josh is the Senior Producer and Managing Editor of the really great podcast Brave Little State that many of you have probably heard of, published by Vermont Public. Before joining Brave Little State and moving to the Upper Valley in 2021, Josh spent...

Hi everyone my name is Alex Torpey, your host of the new Upper Valley Vibes podcast. As we get this thing going I wanted to share a little bit about my goals for the podcast, and first, share a little of my background so you all can get to know where I’m coming from and the perspective that will be part of this podcast. I think it's important to know about the context of people who we listen to, r...