Tuesday, February 14, 2012

When products compete


For the third year in a row there will be no competition for Amherst Select Board, the highest elected office in town, as incumbent Aaron Hayden was the only one to return nomination papers with 50+ signatures.  Definitely shows the 5-member board, unlike a few years ago when ideological zealots ruled the day, has become normalized.  Not a bad thing I guess.

Half the ten town meeting precincts do not have the full complement of candidates needed to fill 24 seats--even with the bar set frightfully low at only one signature required on the nomination paper (and that signature could be your own).

The School Committee race promises to be the most interesting with four contenders--two black (Irv Rhodes and Amilcar Shabazz), two white (Michael Aronson, Lawrence O'Brien), all male--vying for two seats.

Race became an issue last week when Mr. Shabazz was passed over by the Select Board and School Committee, who jointly voted to fill a vacant seat up till this April 3 election by choosing a white high school student over Shabazz, creating a backlash of disappointment.

In the venerable Amherst schools, children of color are disciplined more often than their white counterparts while the vast majority of teachers and administrators are white, although the superintendent is a woman.

I am not rerunning for the Amherst Redevelopment Authority, a position held since 1997, as I believe the ARA will not be a major player over the next few years, therefor, I suppose, it's safe even for anti-development queen Pat Holland, the lone candidate, to get on board.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The crazies will return to Select Board.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to do a primal scream if I hear another "I run for this committee with no agenda".

Translation: "I'm going to sit here with my very large butt and my empty head, feel the power flow through me, be really polite, and keep this seat really warm."

Anonymous said...

Larry,

Do you know which precincts have at least 24 people running and which do not. Thanks

Larry Kelley said...

Precincts that actually have a race include 1,2,7,8 and 9.

Those that don't: 3,4,5,6, and 10.

Anonymous said...

Why does anyone care?

Look at what happened to Catherine Sanderson.

Enough said?

Nothing is ever going to change in Amherst -- nothing until the entire town dries up and blows away.

Anonymous said...

Larry, I hope you'll talk about the library contests, which are contested. Your favorite, Carol Gray, is running again.

Anonymous said...

No ideological zealots here on this blog.... Whew!

- Proven not to be a robot