Thumbs Up — A voice for teens

Using the search engine of your choice, survey what’s said and written about teens in America these days. What you’ll find — most likely, and sadly — is that grownups rarely have nice things to say about teenagers.

Teen crime draws a lot of attention. Coaxing the “teen market” to spend disposable cash generates fervent activity. Adults say and write a lot about what’s wrong with today’s teens — the ones who aren’t criminals. It’s mostly bad.

Other than defending their offspring, adults rarely advocate for adolescents. When it comes to teens, adults regularly reverse the old adage: If they don’t have something bad to say, they don’t say anything at all.

That’s what makes Jordan Cardone such an asset to this community. Cardone, who will step down soon as coordinator of the Brunswick Teen Center, has for years served as a persistent, forceful voice on behalf of local teens — and by extension, parents who can’t afford to occupy their adolescent children with music lessons, sports or other enrichment activities.

Cardone kept pressure on town officials to establish a teen center, took part in the nuts-and-bolts work to open its doors, kept the center in one piece during its relocation, and continued to remind doubters that a safe place for teens to congregate adds immeasurably to our community.

During her years of advocating for the teen center, Cardone worked with other visionaries, including the late Sig Knudsen of People Plus, to include teens as participating members — not just a free source of labor — in promoting a community for all ages.

What makes Cardone extraordinary is that she spoke with teens, not just for them. As she moves on to new challenges, let’s hope that her generationally inclusive approach will carry forward — and that other adults will step into the breach to ensure that teens always occupy a valued place in this community.

Thumbs Up & Down — Twice burned

After originally rejecting the proposal, the Legislature’s Taxation Committee on Thursday endorsed LD 1878, a bill that would allow fire victims to receive property tax reimbursements or abatements for the time that they could not live in their damaged homes.

“There is one simple reason for presenting this bill, no one should have to pay property taxes on a home that does not exist or is uninhabitable,” the bill’s sponsor, Anne Graham, D-North Yarmouth, said in her testimony before the Taxation Committee. “ This bill preserves municipalities’ home rule to allow a reimbursement or abatement.”

Republicans who had originally opposed the bill reversed their position Thursday, after Democrats offered amendments, the most important being a wording change from “ infirmity” to “hardship,” which addressed the Maine Municipal Association’s concern that the bill would expose towns to legal liability.

“Let’s err on the side of the taxpayer and not the tax collector, please,” said Sen. Doug Thomas of Ripley, a Republican who testified on behalf of the bill.

We couldn’t agree more.

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