Six of one, A half dozen of the other

The Facilitation of Community Choices Committee meeting this morning attracted the same seven-of-ten members who attended Tuesday’s meeting. Thus nothing changed. The declarative statement essentially saying no way in Hell attempt an Override this coming year has been watered down like cheap wine.

The Committee, however, voted 6-1 to support “Level Funding” as opposed to “Level Services,” with Level Funding meaning what you see is what you get: state aid plus regular property tax revenues that stay within the limits of Proposition 2.5.

Level Services of course would require an Override.

So why they would not underscore the “Level Funding" recommendation by spelling out the obvious—No Override—is a mystery.

The Committee also agreed that sometime over the next five years an Override would be necessary, BUT they endorse the use of a “Menu Override” where each item or department is individually spelled out so a voter can support some but not all the expenditures.

Call it a private sector concept: when products compete they get better.

And he's in charge of the People's Republic?

Amherst Bulletin
Letters
Published on November 14, 2008

Filled with pride

To the Bulletin: I know that the flying of the American flag in downtown Amherst has been a controversial subject; I confess that I have not paid that much attention to the issue.

On Monday, Nov. 10, I drove into town and was struck by the beauty of all the flags flying to commemorate Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

The sight filled me with pride and love for my country, which has just achieved the amazing feat of electing Barack Hussein Obama president.

Our country is an ongoing endeavor but on Nov. 4 we progressed farther than I would ever have thought possible.

Let us hope, pray, and work for such progress to continue throughout the-hopefully-eight years of the Obama administration.

Amy Mittelman
Amherst


Reader comments :

I’m glad somebody gets it! Actually, I honestly believe the vast majority of Amherst citizenry also gets it; unfortunately it’s our exalted leaders the former-Czar and now thankfully former-resident Anne Awad and her understudy Gerry Weiss that do not.

That American flag can represent whatever you want it to. Like you, I prefer to see it as indeed representing our "ongoing endeavor."

And yes, 'Only in America' would the Horatio Alger story of Barack Obama come true.

God bless him, our great country and all who serve her.
Larry Kelley Friday, Nov 14, 2008 at 03:15 PM

How about we fly the flags on inauguration day?
Gerry Weiss Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008 at 07:56 AM

Well if you did your homework there 'Your Lordship', you would know that the Select Board of 9/10/01 voted the six "holidays" AND Inauguration Day.

So yeah--you damn well better fly them!
Larry Kelley Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 at 10:37 AM

Wolves in the fold

UPDATE: 9:00 PM

So Kathy Feldman has now wimped out and decided not to “shut the door” on an Override this coming year. Looks like that’s a tiebreaker--and this Committee’s ticket to oblivion.

----- Original Message -----
From: Joan Golowich
To: msh_jwh@yahoo.com ; adonta@mtholyoke.edu ; bob.saul@gmo.com ; gawles@verizon.net ; isaacbenezra@yahoo.com ; jerryjolly@comcast.net ; kvorwerk@psych.umass.edu ; musantej@amherstma.gov ; rhodesamherst@aol.com ; RSPURGIN@CLARKU.EDU ; 'Andrew Steinberg' ; stephanie@okeeffe.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 10:56 AM
Subject: RE: inputs for Thursday

Hi All:
I started with the four paragraphs we discussed last night and made some changes based on what I heard then and inserted some other changes of my own. I still do not want to completely shut the door on a possible override for FY10. That decision is for the elected officials.
Joan

----- Original Message -----
From: Katherine E. Vorwerk
To: Joan Golowich ; msh_jwh@yahoo.com ; adonta@mtholyoke.edu ; bob.saul@gmo.com ; gawles@verizon.net ; isaacbenezra@yahoo.com ; jerryjolly@comcast.net ; musantej@amherstma.gov ; rhodesamherst@aol.com ; RSPURGIN@CLARKU.EDU ; 'Andrew Steinberg' ; stephanie@okeeffe.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: inputs for Thursday

Joan.

I really like what you, and the Committee, have done. It is strong and direct. It must have been a fruitful meeting.
And I agree with your position on an FY10 override.
Kathy
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ORIGINAL POST 11:30 AM
They were supposed to be the Leading Edge, Vanguard, Tip of the Spear--the opening salvo in a campaign of Shock-and-Awe to pummel taxpayers and make them surrender to yet another Proposition 2.5 Override this coming year.

Ah, but as the Chinese would say, “be careful what you wish for” or better yet a British take: create a Frankenstein and it could turn against you.

The Facilitation of Community Choices Committee
Summary Findings and Recommendations

Override, Short Term: The Facilitation of Community Choices Committee does not recommend that the Select Board seek an override vote for FY 2010. In the current fiscal climate, the feedback from our outreach efforts indicates that there is little support for higher property taxes at this juncture. It is the opinion of the Committee that a general override for FY2010 is likely to be defeated.

Kind of says it all (lead paragraph no less), eh?

But, like most boards and committees, they had second thoughts about the, errrrrr, directness of the lead bullet for their Final Report, due December 1. Mainly because they know it will be a bullet to the back of the head for next year's Override.

And at last night’s sometimes heated meeting where 7-of-10 members attended, three members strongly agreed to keep in the succinct statements (Irv Rhodes, Stan Gawle, Alison Donta-Venman) and another three strongly wanted it out (Richard Spurgin, Joan Golowich, Gerry Jolly).

Co-chair Martha Hanner sounded like she could go either way. So we had a tie. Members Katherine Feldman (who at a previous meeting said she would not support an Override this coming year) was not present and neither was Isaac BenEzra, who probably never met an Override he did not embrace. So again we’re tied.

Co-Chair Bob Saul also was not present, but in written comments for the meeting suggested: “We blame the public (or at least our perception of the public sentiment). This wording avoids having the committee take a specific stand.”

Yeah, the old blame the public routine.

The Facilitation of the Community Choices Committee meets again Thursday morning for a final crack at the most important paragraph in their entire report. Will it stay or will it go? Stay tuned!

Much Ado...

Click photo to read

UPDATE: 9:00 AM
So our anonymous friend seems to have targeted at least one other Town Meeting—Brookline, so I guess it wasn’t John Calipari. Now I’m thinking Elvis.
Springfield Republican scoops the Gazette (again)
Brookline Tab scoops the Gazette
The watchdog who did not do it

Original Post 10:00 PM (yeah, I left early)
So the buzz on the floor of Town Meeting this evening was not the usual microphone feedback, or the snide murmurs one sometimes hears when certain speakers stroll to the microphone: everybody was all a twitter tonight about a “mysterious” anonymous post card that arrived in the mail today with a Tennessee postmark (pretty good timing.)

Apparently two versions exist (I received the longer version) one stating Town Meeting attendance would be recorded and mailed to all of Amherst and the longer one where “vote positions” would get the same treatment (and obviously you have to be in attendance to vote).

The Moderator asked for a show of hands and a little over half the members present confirmed receiving one version or the other. Amherst has 247 Town Meeting members so even at 100% saturation the weirdo would spend $67.

But sending the voting or attendance results to all of Amherst with about 7,000 mailboxes (and another 1,500 PO Boxes) would be over $2,000. Hell, I’ll publish it all here for half that.

From: "Town Meeting Coordinating Committee"
Subject: Peculiar Postcard
Date: November 17, 2008 4:31:01 PM EST

A Message from the Moderator: Many, if not all, Town Meeting Members have received a peculiar postcard postmarked Nashville Tennessee. The writer voices an intention to attend Town Meeting this week, record everyone’s votes, and “mail your vote positions to all citizens in town of Amherst.” Nothing illegal or violent is threatened in this message and I don’t believe there is any reason for members to be alarmed. But I have informed the Amherst Police and they are looking into the matter. I look forward to seeing all of you tonight.

Harrison L. Gregg

Town Moderator, Amherst

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Unfortunately today’s Gazette Internet edition completely buries one of the more interesting Amherst articles by not providing a link on the main page, although the print edition gives it prominent placement.

Besides the usual gloom-and-doom hand wringing and whining the Town Manager telegraphs his feelings about that quick and easy budget balancer, every bureaucrats favorite fall back: the BIG O—as in Override.

“The point is, we won’t be able to fund everything we’re currently funding without an Override,” declared the Town Manager; now that it’s starting to dawn on him the Facilitation Committee is not going to be the Poster Kids for an Override, so he will simply have to lead the charge himself.

And we saw how well that went two years go.

And so it grows

So you know how that concealed area of your humble abode tends to attract clutter --that then exponentially increases the rate of accumulated crap? Or that tucked away inner city open lot where a midnight dumper unloads their crap and the city does nothing about it, and soon thereafter others pile on and it looks like the local landfill?

Yeah, well the People’s Republic of Amherst decided that the DPW would be the bone yard for dead carbon producing internal combustion vehicles –at least until they can sell them off as scrap for pennies on the dollar.

Now if this were a bedroom neighborhood (and since there are three private homes within sight lines, it is) you just know a NIMBY neighbor would complain to the Planning Board, or Zoning Board who would then sick their enforcer—the Building Inspector—on the offender for storing unregistered vehicles without a junk-yard or used-car sales permit.

And yeah, I just happen to be one of those homes. And no, this really doesn’t offend me in the least…on most levels (as the DPW is as good a neighbor as you could ask for). I just don’t like the “Do as I say, not as I do” aspect (which comes from 'Powers That Be' slightly higher than the DPW)

Thursday, 11/13/08

Figures don't lie...

So the crusty Gazette did an interesting “investigative” article yesterday about the salary woes at our favorite flagship University after requesting the documentation from Umass, presumably under Public Documents Law--or maybe they just said please.

Of course all they needed to do is surf to their competition the Springfield Republican, who put this nifty data base on MassLive of not only all Umass salaries (including “pot washers”) but another database as well of all state employees.

Umass payroll database

I hope somebody can do that for all employees in the town and schools of Amherst someday.

What’s interesting about Umass is not the salary of the average professor--either $83,477 according to the Gazette or $112,000 according to Chronicle of Higher Education--who presumably does a fair amount of actual teaching.

Just scroll around the database for any job title with the term “provost” in it:
Vice Provost (2) at an average of $200,000 each
Associate Vice Provost (1) at $202,389
Provost for Academic Affairs at $272,595
Associate Provost (six) at an average of $157,689

And of course my favorite Associate Provost is Bryan Harvey, former Amherst town government superstar (and State Rep wannabe) who comes in at only $144,000 --slightly below average--but more than made up for by having his wife Lynn Griesemer pull down $172,934 as a “Staff Administrator” for the Donahue Institute, which describes itself as “the public service, outreach, and economic development unit of the University of Massachusetts President's Office."

Curiously none of their employees show up on the Umass database, so you have to go the other web database of all state employees to find any of the salaries of the 99 Donahue Institute staff (yes I said 99…yikes.)
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And yeah, you just gotta love the Gazette's artsy photo of the guy working on the UMass $50 million Recreation Center at sunset, soooooo he's getting time-and-a-half at prevailing wage...Safe bet the Center will come in a tad over budget.