Mayor Blastos hobnobs with famous people!

From New Hampshire Public Radio here:

The mayor uses first names when he speaks to former Vice President, and Nobel Laureat Al Gore. During his term in office, Keene has become the first New Hampshire city to join an international climate pact. And as Keene’s Mayor, Blastos has made more than one trip to Sundance, Utah for climate change talks.
There, he exchanged ideas with the likes of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and actor and environmental activist Robert Redford.

Note that Keene has a population of about 23,000 people.

From the November 1, 2007 minutes of the Keene City Council:

Finance, Organization and Personnel Committee report read recommending that the Keene City Council authorize a contribution of $1,000 to the Sundance Preserve to put toward the cost of producing the film, Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars, with funding coming from the Mayor’s Official Business Expense account and the Planning Department’s Technical Service account. On motion by Councilor Georgina, voted unanimously to carry out the intent of the report.. The Mayor commented that he feels very passionately about this film and expressed how important it is to be distributed around the country.

A related Boston Globe story is here.

Excerpt:

Officials in Keene, NH are finding it more difficult than expected to get people to change their behavior to help the environment. Despite a local "no-idling" ordinance, many of the cars lined up outside Keene High School on a recent school day were running despite several signs asking them to turn off their cars while waiting.