What if they gave a meeting...

7:45 PM
So the Facilitation of Community Choices Committee’s last public forum occurred this evening…errrrrr, sort of. Scheduled for 7-9 PM in Town Hall’s Town Room--the ultra prime location (where the venerable Select Board meets no less) tonight’s extravaganza attracted five committee members (of 10), one spouse, and zero members of the general public.

Considering just over 5,000 residents voted in the May 1’st, 2007 Override (that failed 2,650 to 2,383) you must wonder if maybe everybody is suffering from election fatigue.

Or maybe the failure of the CPA tax increase (a thinly veiled perpetual Override) on November 4’Th sent a message. Let’s hope.

Next week under Article 1: ‘Reports of Boards and Committees’ the FCCC gets to present their report/update to Amherst Town Meeting, a large captive --although clueless-- audience. But I’m told the grumpy Moderator is only allowing them a total of five minutes.

So...these folks have been meeting weekly since May 15, and they are charged with laying out a FIVE-YEAR economic strategy for our $65+ million dollar Ship of State, and they only get five minutes.

Yet we have a plethora of Town Meeting members that will drone on all by themselves for over five minutes about world peace, saving the whales, or taking public transportation.

Post Mortem

The only thing that surprised me about the Amherst results in this Mother of All election was the razor thin defeat of the CPA tax increase doubling to a plush 3%. I thought in this trying economic time and with "sensible center” types like O’Keeffe and Brewer campaigning against it (while simultaneously promoting an Override) that it stood about as much chance of passing as Question 1.

But if you asked me three months ago I would have predicted it to pass handily. I guess politics is like New England weather…

With Hayden’s hands-down, slam-dunk victory for the Select Board that body now tilts towards the center (about as center as you can get in the People’s Republic.) So His Lordship Gerry Weiss, although still Chair, will have to start reigning in his socialistic ways.

He already telegraphed that recently with his “compromise” edict on flying the flags on 9/11 (as idiotic as that compromise was but at least they flew this year.) He knew a head-to-head vote such as I have requested annually over the past five years (although once or twice I believe Czar Awad did not even allow the Select Board to formally vote on it) would have resulted in a 2-2 tie. And they were already getting hammered in the mainstream media.

Of course now you also have an entire Select Board that is overly fond of Overrides. And they do not need Town Meeting approval to place an Override on this coming Spring election ballot for any amount they choose.

So our wallets and purses are, barely, safe from the plundering of a CPA tax increase for now; but we better watch out for the shirts on our backs this coming Spring

And now, the end is near...

7:40 PM
So the wait in line for free ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s was way longer than my wait to vote just now. Can you imagine if Amherst Brewing Company across the street was giving away a free pint to everyone who voted?

Hey maybe that is how we can increase turnout for the local town election this spring, when the winner of today’s Select Board contest has to run again. And rather than the 85% turnout we get for the Presidential election the usual 15% trudge to the polls to vote for the local hands-on government that has WAY more impact on everyday life here in the People’s Republic of Amherst.

But still, I savor this election turnout: God bless America!

Amherst Town Center: a tad later

3:15 PM
Kind of the "low rent" time period, with a little less traffic flow. The favored candidates are off sucking down cappuccinos at Starbucks bolstering themselves for the busier after-5:00 PM time (although visibility becomes a factor)

High Noon Amherst Town Center

Actually a tad after 1:00 PM so they are packing it in until the 5:00 PM rush
I wonder how the dog would vote?

Even in Amherst

10:30 AM
Of course if McCain wins somebody will need to call out the National Guard for this Amherst abode.

And the winner is...

(8:50 AM) Unidentified Pilot: “Anybody know what that smoke is in lower Manhattan?”

Yeah, I know many weeks back I predicted a McCain victory on Mary Carey’s About Amherst blog but a week later kind of wanted to take it back. Not that I changed my mind about voting for him, only that a majority of Americans would not follow suit.

But now with the bewitching hour fast approaching I will go on record on my own blog about who will tomorrow’s epic contest. McCain.

Not that Obama made any major screw-ups over the last month (that I was anticipating) although a few smaller gaffs BUT one big one from his running mate. By saying that President Obama “would be tested” in his first few months in office by folks who want us all dead Biden returned the focus to the one issue that makes all the difference in the world to me: the safety of my family.

And yeah I do think race, unfortunately, will play a role. In the privacy of the voting booth you can do things you don’t confess to for any reason at all, even a bad one. But I think safety is the crucial deciding factor --and that’s a good one.

Springfield Republican‘s stunning Sunday editorial