The red hot issue of a sparkling new solar farm on a dreary old abandoned landfill certainly arouses passion and, as such, folks--especially NIMBYs--tend to shoot from the hip...usually folks who are lousy shots to begin with.
And never is it more evident then those hilarious occasions when they accidentally fire off an email to an entire listserve thinking it was a private response to only one individual.
Gavin Andresen had strongly defended the town's wish to enter a contract with Blue Wave Capital to construct a solar farm generating electricity and a cool million per year in payments and savings on land now sitting empty, costing the town tens of thousands per year in maintenance overhead.
Mr. Andresen even had the gall to publish a GIS photo showing one of the prominent NIMBYs who posts sky-is-falling rhetoric has a backyard touching the landfill.
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From: DBryne@...
To: amhersttownmeeting@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 2:17:28 PMGerry:
Is Gavin Andresen an 'inheiritance case? I met him once for a few minutes and he struck me as 'one of those' BY the way the solar thing will be somewhat close to where I live but I am not an abutter or even close. It's just that I no longer trust Musante-Okeffee,et. al. As far as I can tell they're working for Maroulis. The unanimity of the boards is a tad frightening.
Yes it tends to get me down
when I see folks with shirts of Brown.
David
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Actually Mr. Byrne is fairly close to the old landfill, but considering he paid $359,000 for his unit five years ago and it's currently valued at only $215,300, he probably does not have to worry about a Solar Farm reducing the value any further.
Of course Mother Mary was informed and took down the offending post and even warned not to "reply all" to the original message as that would resend the string with the offending remarks, but I notice Mr. Bryne still did so last night in an attack on the Gateway Project and as a result resent the original ad hominem attack on Mr. Andresen.
Since Gavin also has a blog I'm sure he has thick enough skin to withstand such biting commentary from the peanut gallery. And (Princess) Stephanie O'Keeffe used to have one.
Hi Folks,
I have just been informed that a message was posted to this group that was intended to be a private message. This haas happened to others and can be embarrassing for all involved. Group members are advised that replying to any message from this listserv that has [AmhTownMtg] in the subject line will go the the WHOLE LISTSERV and not just the person who wrote the message you are replying to. Please be careful when replying!
Please DO NOT reply via the group to the message titled "my objection last night" as that might resend the message sent by mistake. Thank you all for your cooperation on this.
Mary Streeter
TM Discussion Group Moderator
How I was banned from the private Town Meeting listserve without really trying
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22 comments:
It is interesting to see people who have been on opposite sides of the NIMBY debate essentially reversing positions.
They will talk this to death.
Well Town Meeting on Monday is not really the major hurdle as article 24 only requires a simply majority vote, unlike the Gateway Project (that Mr. Bryne also opposes) that will require a daunting two-thirds vote.
The real hurdle for the Solar Farm will come down the dirt road when the town has to get ZBA approval--and that requires a unanimous vote of all three sitting members.
And if Hilda Greenbaum happens to be sitting in on that hearing...
It isn't this way now, but UMass email used to be user@localhost -- the @student.umass.edu or @department.umass.edu being just a pointer to the specific user's mailspool.
If you were on the local system, you could send an email with just the user name -- and the system would sometimes guess whom you intended this to go to. And a comma means "second address."
when people used a comma rather than period between "umass" and "edu", the "umass" bounced and the "edu" came to me. Larry, you would be AMAZED at some of the stuff I got....
Too many political obstacles.
This is not going to happen right away.
That's what they said about the Parking Garage ten years ago (although that did take 20-25 years total to happen)
Once again, with both Gateway and the solar farm, the inherent systemic flaws of this town government will be laid out for all fair and unbiased observers to see and discuss. It's not the people involved; it's the way it's constructed.
Nobody has been a bigger critic over the past 25 years of our current antiquated form of government.
But on occasion (like a stopped clock) it happens to be correct.
These are two such occasions.
Hey, Ed, congratulations! You must finally have graduated yesterday, right? Ed? Ed?
Or is The Man still keeping you down?
When will you start running things around here, just like you promised?
Its amazing how the anti-solar NIMBYs are twisting facts. I hope their "throw as much crap against the wall and hope something sticks" strategy doesn't fool town meeting members monday night.
I'm wondering how many times over the years their friends have asked them if they were concerned living next to an old landfill and they replied... "Oh its fine! Its strictly monitored and its really not bad..."
Faced with the break-up of their "sustainable property values" social circle over this issue of the solar farm, the Tierkel Troika has now pronounced that "we are all NIMBYs."
No, we're not.
Re the parking garage -
I parked there once. Silly me. I didn't read the signs indicating when the meters went off and I stupidly assumed they were like most other meters that allowed free parking after 6:00 pm. No, Amherst parking garage meters go off at 8:00. I got a ticket. That was the first and last time I used the parking garage. End of story.
Expect a lot of "what's good for me and my property is good for Amherst" arguments tomorrow night.
How many ways can you alarm people to get what you want? Let us count the ways.
Yeah and don't forget the "safety of the children."
It's sooooooo richly ironic, that Terkel, who poo-pood the home owners wanting to protect themselves against a restaurant and bar moving in RIGHT next door to their houses, is now up in arms about the right to protect against the solar farm!
Larry, now that you are moderating this blog, why do you continue to let Ed post his drivel and very thinly veiled obscenties? I think many will agree we have all had enough of Ed. Or do you continue to let him post because for the entertainment value?
No, Larry! Please don't cancel the Ed Show!
Where else can we find paranoia, impotence, delusions of grandeur, and an utter lack of self-awareness, all stuffed into one untidy package?
No, actually the people in Amherst Woods want important information and the ability to participate in deciding what happens in their neighborhood. Who doesn't? People want this everywhere.
Why doesn't the town recognize this instead of springing development projects on neighborhoods, then justifying their decision not to work with neighbors by the negative reponse they get?
How can you justify involving neighbors in the Gateway, Atkins Corner, Pomeroy, etc. and not doing it here and other projects in town? It makes no sense.
Town meeting should vote this down and force the town to do it the right way. The town can't pen a binding contract and say we'll sort out the issues and decide afterward. Have some respect for people.
One giant step for Amherst... one small step for mankind!!
Tonight the Spurgins argued eloquently in Town Meeting against complacency about the landfill and the solar farm. Mr. Spurgin proposed constructive amendments that were resoundingly voted down. It was unfortunate that at least one speaker questioned his real intent in bringing the second amendment, suggesting that he was simply trying to kill the whole project.
Over the past few years, several School Committee members have argued against what they saw as another form of complacency, this one about our public schools. The motives of these members (and the motives of their supporters) were repeatedly called into question by self-described "centrists" in Amherst, suggesting that they had some other agenda than the one that they claimed for themselves. And very recently, Mr. and Mrs. Spurgin were right out front, carrying on the public hue and cry against these elected officials, including the repeated letters to the Bulletin.
Now some people could say that the connecting thread between these two very public positions, on the solar farm and on the public schools, is a crass self-interest in simply preserving the value of a residential property in Amherst Woods. And that would be unfair.
But there is, however, a rather conspicous symmetry, a closing of the circle, tonight in seeing Mr. and Mrs. Spurgin outmanned, outargued, and outvoted by their fellow Town Meeting members. Those of us who supported Catherine Sanderson and Steve Rivkin over the years and who watched the steady, systematic, and ultimately successful (this spring) marginalizing of them politically and the concerns we shared with them about the education of the children of the Town; yes, we know this feeling very well.
Perhaps it's time to see Town Meeting for what it really is? An avenue for folks trying to turn it into their bully pulpit?
Why so many married couples on town meeting?
Why do couples seem to run when issues regarding their particular neighborhood are coming up?
If we are so desperately seeking candidates for TM that there are empty seats in many precincts or seats with no competition then that is a demonstration that the representational form of town meeting has run its course.
I do not believe in representational town meeting: it turns into just what we have.
Either revert to true town meeting....we have spaces accessible that could host (mullins ctr) or have a town/city government with elected officials and make it true majority rule.
I vote the latter.
Interestingly the technology revolution known as the Internet has actually helped out antiquated Town Meeting a bit by bringing a much greater transparency to the process, but even these improvements are not enough.
The town needs full time professional stewardship.
Amen to 6:51 am.
But here's the problem: the people who have become perpetual political bosses in Town Meeting, who have created their little fiefdoms, are the ones who care the most about maintaining their personal power trip. Some even have their own special seat in the auditorium. They are the ones who will mobilize the votes to defeat change.
The last attempt was supported by a majority of all current and former Select Board
members, who understand first-hand the limitations of what we have. And it still lost! There are people in town who simply cannot imagine life without their little Town Meeting seat.
It has become pseudo-democracy.
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