So yeah, venerable Amherst Town Meeting--250 years plus--commences this evening and for only the second time since 1991 I will not be present.
After being elected with 3 or 4 write-in votes in 91' I took a brief hiatus during the 2004 Mayor/Council Charter battle (to replace Town Meeting) but have been an active participant ever since.
Not that I think I've made a difference per say. I always figured myself as the "loyal opposition," saying or doing things that lots of people think but don't have the guts to state publicly.
Stan Gawle, about the only other conservative in town, also resigned his Town Meeting position (I simply did not run for reelection) after the $1.68 million Override passed rather handily, also concerned that he was just whistling in the wind.
So Town Meeting will drone on over the next month or two without two fiscally conservative watchdogs--an endangered species in that body now bordering on extinction.
I think that you've done your part, Larry, and (gasp) I would vote for you if you were in my district. What continues to mystify me are those who argued zealously and publicly for the survival of Town Meeting several years ago who cannot seem to come forward to serve even once, some of whom live in my neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteSo we get a slowly dwindling number of the same folks serving year after year, including, after a year's hiatus, me. We have no tradition of each citizen (or household) taking a relatively short turn in Town Meeting, which is too bad.
Rich Morse
Ha! Ha! I love the illegal use of a copyrighted painting to promote yourself as the Mr. Smith of Amherst.
ReplyDeleteIt's called stealing, Larry.
Actually I ran it through Google images advanced search under "labeled for reuse."
ReplyDeleteand when slamfirst spends themselves into potholed road oblivion, larry can claim it was because he was not there.
ReplyDeleteThe picture is great because it shows just how distorted your self-image is. You're just the mirror image of Vince O'Connor. Another blowhard in love with his own voice.
ReplyDeleteKind of reminds me of the time 15 years ago when I was one of only two who stood on the floor of town meeting (against over 150 Yes votes) to vote No to the $2.7 million Town Hall renovation Override.
ReplyDeleteHill Boss was the only other, but he changed his mind in a letter to the Amherst Bulletin a week later thus making me the only person in Amherst to vote against it on the floor of Town Meeting AND at the ballot box.
The voters agreed with me and it went down in flames. Town Meeting tried again (I think the next time maybe 4 other voted No along with me) and again it failed at the ballot box.
Your story makes it sound like it was your impassioned speech before town meeting that persuaded the town's voters. I've lived here a long time and voted in a lot of elections. I've never once paid any attention to anything said at town meeting and I'm sure that goes for most Amherst voters.
ReplyDeleteYep!
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm no longer in Town meeting.
Um, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
ReplyDeleteIt's per se, not per say.
ReplyDelete