Yeah they can have Anne Awad, Barry Del Castilho (is he still acting Town Manager?) and School Superintendent Gus Sayer; but one of Amherst’s venerable founding families? Say it isn’t so!
And of course, that is a major problem with our fair town: Even multi-generational townies like Curt Shumway get fed up and move away.
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13 comments:
Larry,
I am afraid you are right with a lot of families saying goodbye to Amherst, I think about it weekly. Soon the thinking will turn into being and we will move away.
Cheers
-Ryan
We ARE going to retake this town!
Maybe not tomorrow,next week or next month--but rest assured: 'The Surge' will happen.
And at that point, like Swallows of Capistrano, the fine folks who built Amherst and made it work (back in the days with it actually did work) will return.
Must have been the failure of the micro wheat crop.
The change in this town has made me ill. The people that have taken over do not care about the folks who founded it, or have lived here, since the beginning of their lives. All they care about is making it livable for themselves, with their 400 thousand dollar houses, their big Lexus and mocking the private citizens and their beliefs. I am glad that they are happy, as I am not. I cannot keep up with the Jonses, as far as taxes, but I refuse to leave this town. Sixty-five and still going, I will stand up and fight. How about a Mayor???????????
Until later.............
I'd vote for a change! I tried last time...maybe this fiscal crisis will open people's eyes.
I also voted for change in town government the last time and will again if asked.
-Ryan
I've gotta ask, what makes any of you think a Mayor would be better? Look at the people who have been elected and driven the town to where it is today: Gerry Weiss, Robie Hubley, Anne Awad, Rob Kusner, even now Diana Stein. There is no gurantee that if you move to a Mayor/Council form that these people or people like them wouldn't be in controll still. I think its a fantasy to assume that just because you get rid of Town Meeting/Select Board, you get rid of the wakos that are there now.
We've had good luck getting rational people in to Town Meeting recently and its taken a lot of work to recruit new people. But, Town Meeting is going faster, we're less likely to spend hours on subjects, we've passed new zoning to help development. Maybe instead of sitting on Larry's blog and whining about how town government is bad, you should get of your ass and run. Run for Select Board or Town Meeting, instead of sitting on the sidelines. It's easy to criticize from the outside, it's a lot harder to try to change a culture from within like we are doing. At least when Larry says something here, I know that I'll see him at Town Meeting working to advance his views, unlike many of the people on this website.
Come on Grumpy, don't mess with my demographic.
Yeah, somebody said to me a few years back: what if Anne Awad became the Mayor? (Of course the counter to that now would be what if Stephanie became mayor).
When I first won my Town Meeting seat in 1991 with seven votes a reporter asked why since I was already back then a consistent critic of this antiquated form of government: and my analogy still holds
When asked we he played in a crooked game the gambler responded because it's the only game in town."
Town Meeting blames the Select Board, the Select Board blames Republicans and nobody (but irate citizens) blames the Town Manager.
Just WAYYYYYY to many places for people to hide (even with the occasional glare of blog-light)
As one of my sagacious commenters said, maybe this economic meltdown will make folks see the light.
Bravo to "whining about how town government is bad"!
If you don't like the changes in Amherst, SHUT UP and do something about it. Run for Select Board or at least support someone who you feel represents the best interests of Amherst.
"The Surge" will happen is a bunch of crap. The only way change comes about is participation. Give the ego-blogging B.S. a rest, put your mouth to good use and RUN FOR SELECT BOARD.
Do you honestly believe Curt was "fed up" with Amherst and that's why he left?
Grumpy and Larry...
I think you both have good points. Grumpy, you are right that we don't know if the "same old people" would end up elected mayor, but I agree with Larry that if they were mayor/council, they would be held to a higher standard of accountability.
And Grumpy, some of us who read Larry's blog are both willing to vote for a new form of government and are also willing to help work for changes within the government structure that we currently have. Probably even some of the people who don't sign their names.
...Alison Donta-Venman, member FCCC
www.amherstchoices.org
Grumpy, Also be thoughtful that being a select person takes a lot of time out of ones life, time many of us cannot afford. Accountability is perhaps the best argument to change to a Mayor/Council form.
-Ryan
Maybe Curt saw this coming from President Marx: "As always, the College has a fiduciary responsibility to exercise fiscal restraint, to monitor external economic conditions and to take the measures necessary to maintain our core values and principles over the long term...The College will also postpone one major non-core investment: the renovation and expansion of the Lord Jeffery Inn. The Board of Trustees will continue to review the inn investment as part of the normal capital budgeting process at future board meetings, and we expect to revisit this decision by June 2009."
I don't think Curt really wants to leave Amherst. Maybe he just wanted a good view ???
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