Yup, Done!

After four nights, we're done with the 2009 Annual Town Meeting. I suspect we'll be back in the fall for a special town meeting, but we're burn that bridge when we come to it.

The only notable discussion was on the rezoning of the Sumner house's back half from residential to commercial. I supported it, and there was a lot of oppositional discussion. But it passed roughly 77%-23%. It made the Sumner House (currently run as a B&B) more marketable to future owners while keeping its status under the Historic District Commission the same. Win-win.

Done and done.

Night Four - Done?

I'm very proud of my election predictions, and they're reasonably close. But my Town Meeting predictions are usually way off. For that reason, I haven't publicly predicted how Town Meeting would go.

But here's my prediction for tonight: we will be done between 9:30 and 10:00 and that'll be it for the Annual Town Meeting.

Please keep comments limited to this prediction. I won't be able to moderate any comments during Town Meeting, as I'll be busy at Town Meeting. Think about it. I'll post more either later tonight or early tomorrow and I'll allow the usual range of comments then.

Day Three And More To Go

The Holiday Inn zoning change passed tonight. I voted "no" because at the very last minute I realized I had to vote with the interests of so many of my vocal constituents in my precinct who opposed it. But I'm actually not disappointed that it passed, because the Holiday Inn Express will be a good project there and it will be good for the town. I'm sorry that sounds contradictory.

We cruised through the petition articles put forward by Ben Tartaglia and SRT. He almost never explained why the articles were worth considering. All he told us were reasons to consider them, but no good reasons to pass them. A waste of time, frankly. If he'd perhaps crafted practical articles with actual purpose, then I might have been sympathetic. He hurts his constituents and his cause by being so ineffective.

We're going on to day 4, which will be next Wednesday. That should get the job done.

Off to bed.

Garden Party For The Schools

To the Editor:-

On Saturday June 13th, from 6:30-8:30pm, the fundraiser “A Celebration in the Garden” will be held to benefit the Shrewsbury Public Schools. All proceeds raised from this event – hosted by local citizens – will be dispersed to the schools to purchase textbooks and materials, and to support innovative programs and activities.


The Fallon House, 4 Prospect Street

This event, at the beautiful and historic Fallon House, 4 Prospect Street, will feature food catered by Peppers, a wine and beer tasting by Renaissance Wine and Spirits, a silent auction, a chance to win a Lexus provided by Lexus of Northborough and music by Elana Arian (courtesy of the Polito Development Corporation).

The cost is $50 per ticket and the RSVP date is May 31st. The invitation is here, as is the Sponsorship form in case you are interested. Donations in any amount are welcome if you are unable to attend but wish to support the fundraiser.

We hope you will consider it if your evening is free.

Thank you, from the host committee:
Heather Logrippo,
Hannah Kane,
Steve Levine,
Debra Page Mooney,
Beth McCollum, and
Melanie Petrucci

I Found An Undecided Voter — Me!

I can't settle on Articles 22-24. Those are the rezoning articles for the Holiday Inn Express.

Both sides say it's just a zoning issue, and we shouldn't consider the specific plan proposed by the owners. And, to some extent, I think they're right. If this proposal is approved, I'll let the Planning Board, Engineering Department, Highway Department, and Zoning Board of Appeals do their jobs in micromanaging the rules that we've asked them to manage.

I still have two outstanding problems with the proposed articles, on the purely zoning level:

1. The increased traffic on Main Street; and
2. The idea that western Main Street is already commercial.

I'm waffling, clearly. I started this thinking I was reluctant to support, but was willing to consider all the facts. Then, up through this past weekend, I was a YES voter, albeit not beating the brush to get other folks behind me. But now I think I'm leaning towards NO.

1. Traffic is a zoning issue. There is no doubt that a commercial development of any kind will increase traffic at a sensitive place. Vehicles coming from the highway will have a hard time turning left into the zone because they will have to cross westbound traffic and will hold up the cars coming off the highway behind them. The owner has not performed a traffic study. This, I repeat, is regardless of what would be built in that zone.
2. Main Street is not already commercial. From east of Lake Quinsigamond all the way to Colton Lane, Main Street is residentially zoned. This has still allowed business development with ZBA (or Planning Board?) permits. The India Center, the now-closed dairy, the daycare school are all in residential zones.

A smaller business could still be opened at 151-155 Main Street which would still bring in plenty of tax revenue, although perhaps not as much as a hotel. Such a business could still be profitable for the owner. Such a business would not have a bar. Such a business would not have traffic at all hours of the day and night.

Two-thirds of TMM will have to vote YES to approve. That means twice as many people voting YES as voting NO, regardless of attendance (assuming we have quorum, which is 121). As a 2/3rds vote, the moderator may accept a voice vote if it's overwhelming either way. But if he has sufficient doubt as to the passage or failure of the vote, he can require a standing vote. Seven TMM may also require a standing vote. That said, I think it's very likely we will have a standing vote. So look around and see what we do. If I had my way, we'd have a written ballot so there would be no doubt in the future as to how we all voted this week.

I think we'll be getting to this either late tonight or early tomorrow night. So make your pitch now and sway my vote!

The Curtain Goes Up On Opening Night

Sorry this is so late. I've got excuses, but I won't bore you with them.

Last night was the opening of the Annual Town Meeting. Night two will be Wednesday. (Will we get a quorum when the American Idol finale is on??) Further nights, if necessary, will be Thursday, and then next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The show had some notable highlights. The new moderator, Chris Mehne, kept his predecessor's methods and formats. He suggested at last week's pre-town Meeting, however, that starting at the next Town Meeting he would begin to make his changes. Mehne honored our longest-serving Town Meeting Member ("TMM"), Bob Lutz. Lutz left early in the night, which might explain how he keeps his record going.

He's still rusty on procedure, notably flubbing which motions we were considering when there was a motion to end debate or a motion to amend. That, I suspect, was just opening night jitters.

I'm seriously worried that we won't get all of our business done in three nights. Last week I was telling friends that I thought we'd be OK, but now I'm not so sure. We spend an especially long time on the budget last night and we have a lot of contentious items on tap. I think we should suspend the 10:30pm adjournment time (or make it later), and just entertain a motion to adjourn naturally. What do you think?

Mehne abruptly asserted his authority by reining in TMM John Lukach who had tried to hold onto the microphone and engage in a conversation with the town officials he was questioning. Mehne stated that other TMM must have opportunities to speak and the rules discourage multiple questions by the same person.

As I've written many times in the past, the Town is addicted to State Aid. Compared to other towns, Shrewsbury gets a disproportionately large share of its budget from the Commonwealth. This has become even more evident this year because Boston has taken so long to flesh out its budget. The latest proposal, from the Senate Ways and Means Committee, was a stark reduction from the House numbers, the House Ways and Means Committee numbers, and the Governor's proposed budget. These rapidly changing figures lead the Selectmen and FinComm to release a joint statement last week telling TMMs that they had enough confidence in the current state figures that Town Meeting could proceed to consider the town budget without fear of State Aid dropping drastically in later Beacon Hill negotiations.

TMM John Martin moved to restore crossing guards at the schools back to the police budget instead of the proposal to fund them in the schools. His proposal was backed by rogue Selectman Ben Tartaglia. This lead to an angry statement from FinComm chairman Gene Buddenhagen. He said that there was a lot of discussion on this already and that they had made an agreement to move the crossing guards from the PD budget to the School budget; but he bemoaned the apparent "back sliding" on that budget agreement.

Actually, Gene, there had been no discussion at Town Meeting about this. All the discussion was made by the School and Police Departments, Selectmen and FinComm. I was glad to vote against this move, but I liked to have the choice. Are we the legislature? Do we get to make our own decisions? Why does the FinComm chairman think that we are rubber stamps?

What is our role in this play? Are we the audience or the performers?

Update (9:45am): I added a sentence to the first full paragraph.

SRT's Petition Articles Going Nowhere

Articles 15-19 on the Town Meeting Warrant would change how our government works.  They are all proposed by Seniors for Responsible Taxation, and barely deserve this brief discussion I provide here.

Here they are:

• 15: Term limits
• 16: Vacancies filled by the runner-up
• 17: Town Meeting Members must reveal if they or their families are town employees
• 18: Limit on holding multiple offices
• 19: Panel to consider an "alternate form of government"
• 20: Elect FinCom

I'll take these backwards, just to confuse you.

Electing the FinCom was considered last year and rejected overwhelmingly.  Nothing has happened in the past 6 months to change my mind and I still oppose it.  And when asked why he brought this up again, Ben Tartaglia claimed he was just the messenger.  He'd signed the petition and is the chief proponent.

The "Alt. Form Of Govt" article makes no direction as to what the panel should do.  It just has a name.  Let SRT do the work and then tell us all about it.  What's the point of this article?  It's useless.

A ban on holding multiple offices would only increase the fiefdoms that current boards exercise.  If a member of the Planning Board were banned from being on the Parks & Cemetery Commission, then those individuals would only feel a stronger mission to protect their own little authority.

Requiring candidates for Town Meeting to declare if they or their relatives are town employees is just an attempt to smear town employees.  It's based on conspiracy theories and innuendo.  What other scarlet letters should be on the ballot: age?  gender? own or rent? Voters get to choose their preferences and they are allowed to contact candidates to ask their pertinent questions.  Likewise, candidates can brag about whatever qualification they believe are relevant.  I've never received a mailing from a candidate bragging that they aren't a town employee.  And if a voter is so lazy that they vote based only on what they see at the last minute on the ballot, then there's no getting through to them otherwise.

The Runner Up article was tried in this country from 1789 to 1804.  In those days, the Vice President was the guy who took second place in the Presidential election.  It was changed by the 12th Amendment.  But can you imagine a person being unwilling to resign for personal reasons because they would be succeeded by the guy they beat?  And, look at last week's Selectman's election, in which runner-up Rashid, couldn't even get a quarter of the votes?  Isn't it fair to assume that 76% of the voters didn't want Rashid?  And there are elections that have been even more lopsided than that.

Term Limits is only supported by people who can't get elected.  The Republicans had it as part of the "Contract for America" back in 1994, and most of them abandoned it once they got into office.  Term-limited politicians can just move into a different office or get their friends elected instead.  We don't have term limits for town employees, so we should not weaken the elected people who oversee them.  The best term limit in a democracy is voting.

There are two other petition-driven articles, but they are somewhat different from these six, and I'm limiting this story to articles 15-20.  I've got lots of other reasons to oppose these six, but I'm leaving room for your comments.

Holiday Inn Express To Be Debated

Next week, Town Meeting will consider zoning changes that would allow a project to build a Holiday Inn Express at the intersection of I-290 and Main Street.

I have heard so many emotional arguments on both sides, and I've flopped back and forth in my opinion about what should happen. But right now, I support the project.

The proposal makes sense. It does little harm to the town and to the abutters. It will generate tax dollars (up to $200,000 to $250,000 a year) but cost little to the town infrastructure.

There are, however, plenty of wrong reasons on both sides of the debate.

Here are some wrong reasons in support:

• "We need commercial development in Shrewsbury."  There are plenty of unused or underused commercial zones that aren't being applied to their potential.
• "If we don't support this, then future businesses will give up on Shrewsbury."  That's wrong.  Our tax rate is low; our location is good; and our government is pro-development.  This one case would not be seen as an omen for the future.  
• "The abutters already live next to the Interstate highway, they can't complain." Living near one pre-existing nuisance is not license to be screwed.

Here are some wrong reasons in opposition:

• "We will be able to see it from our house." and/or "They will be able to see us from their hotel rooms."  The same could be said of residential development.  Plenty of people live happily with rear neighbors.
• "There are other commercial zones in town. Why don't they go there?"  The developer owns this property and it's a very good location for this hotel.
• "Value Place! What if they don't actually build a Holiday Inn Express, and something else goes in there?"  Yup, that could happen.  But if it complies with the zoning law, then that's OK.
• "You wouldn't want this to happen to you!" (a.k.a. NIMBY). Actually, that's always true and it's hard to refute. It needs to be addressed as a relative proposition. How much is it really a problem to these abutters?

I hope that we will have a rational discussion at Town Meeting and that debate will last long enough so that all positions are heard.

I will be writing about other articles on the warrant in the next few days, but this is the hottest item and I wanted it to go first to give it the most time for discussion.

WARNING: Comments will be screened in favor of a cool-headed discussion.

Annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive

To the Editor:—

St. Anne’s Church and the Shrewsbury Letter Carriers announce the Annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive

When: Saturday, May 9th from 1-6PM
Where: Fr. Smith Center next to St. Anne’s Church on Rt. 9 in Shrewsbury

Volunteers sort food delivered to the Fr. Smith Center by the Shrewsbury Letter Carriers; move food over to St. Anne’s Food Pantry. This annual food drive is truly a community effort. All donations on this day help to stock St. Anne’s Food Pantry and are for the benefit of our local Shrewsbury residents in need.

Our busiest period is from 2-5:30 so we would appreciate your help during that time. We would like people to commit to a 2-hour shift but are grateful for any help we receive on this day.

For more information, please call Bridgid Rubin at 508.845.8966 or email at rubin@townisp.com. Thank you.
a
Dina Nichols

Candidate Thanks Voters

To the Editor:—

Dear Shrewsbury Voters,

I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to compete for the open seat on the Board of Selectman. While the results may not have been what I hoped for, I am very upbeat about the outcome because I think my campaign had a positive impact on the process. We brought about discussions on the need for more green practices in town government including a plan for energy conservation to save money. We also raised ideas around the better use of technology to improve operational efficiency including reducing the use of the paper based process for mailing town bills.

I want to congratulate Jim Kane and thank both him and Rashid Shaikh for a very positive campaign process. Both, like myself are very dedicated family men and both gave up a lot over the past few months for the opportunity to serve the people of Shrewsbury.

I learned a lot during this campaign, but what I am most thankful for was the opportunity to meet and talk to so many great people within the community. I am especially thankful for some of the new friendships that were formed.

I am looking forward to the return of a normal schedule and spending some down time with my family.

I will not be going away completely as I was elected as a new Town Meeting Member from Precinct 8 and I am very thankful for that show of support. I look forward to serving our community in this capacity for the next 3 years.

Will I run again? I am sure I will but I have no idea when or in what capacity. All I can say is that we live in a great county and in a great community. I will continue to look for opportunities where as a private citizen and maybe in the future as a public servant I can make additional contributions to keeping Shrewsbury a great place to live, work raise and educate our children.

Thank you and see you around town.

Andy MacIsaac

Election Results

Here are results of the 2009 Shrewsbury Annual Town Election. (Along with my predictions.)

Turnout:
23% Overall (I had predicted 23.5%)

Town Moderator:
36.4%: Tom Fiore (predicted 44%)
63.6%: Chris Mehne (predicted 56%)
97.9% of ballots cast - which means that 2.1% of the voters left this race blank (predicted 88%)

Selectman:
58.5%: Jim Kane (predicted 45%)
17.5%: Andy MacIsaac (predicted 27%)
24.0%: Rashid Shaikh (predicted 28%)
98.9% of ballots cast (predicted 92%)

School Committee:
52.3%: Steve Levine (predicted 47%)
47.7%: Robin Snyder (predicted 53%)
95.3% of ballots cast (predicted 73%)

Library Trustee:
(Elect three)
65.1% Laurie Hogan (incumbent) (predicted 85%)
57.0% Carl Larson (incumbent) (predicted 93%)
55.8% Walter Avis (predicted 75%)
65.8% of ballots cast (predicted 66%)

Housing Authority:
99.5%: Paul Campaniello (predicted 100% - what was I thinking?!)
78.4% of ballots cast (predicted 53%)

Town Meeting
(Incomplete)

Some new members:

• Matthew Beaton, Pr. 1
• Kevin Byrne, Pr. 6
• Dana Canzano, Pr. 8
• Jim Kane, Pr. 5
• Andy MacIsaac, Pr. 8
• Christina Manos, Pr. 1
• Debra Page Mooney, Pr. 7
  
• David Musselman, Pr. 8
• Jason Palitsch, Pr. 9
• Maria Sheehan, Pr. 2
• Nick Smyrnios, Pr .7

Some incumbents lost:

• John King, Pr. 1
• Tim Swiss, Pr. 8
  
• Bill Yeomans, Pr. 8
  
• John DelPo, Pr. 7
  
• H. Bradford White, Jr. , Pr. 7

Live Blog: Annual Town Election

I'll be blogging most of the day. I'll be very busy today, so don't expect too much here.

How's it been for you, today? Have you voted - what number voter were you (at what time; at which precinct)? Are you holding signs? How many people were there with you? Comments may take a while to clear. Please keep comments limited to your experiences today.

Read from the bottom to the top.

---

7:03pm

Rain on again; maybe I wasn't looking close enough.  I'm home for dinner.  I went through two pairs of socks while standing outside today.  I'll admit the truth now: I'm a fair-weather-campaigner.  That's why I always lose.

6:55pm

Rain stopped, for now.  One hour to go.  Polls close at 8.

5:18pm

I voted and, would you know it, I forgot to check what my voter number was at my precinct. I still think turnout is low, but not too bad. Let's say 19.8%.

I asked Tom Fiore this afternoon what affect the low turn out would be on the races themselves. He thought it wouldn't have much effect at all. I think that Rashid will be the only candidate hurt by the weather, which will help Jim Kane and Andy MacIsaac. The other races won't be affected much if at all.

1:44pm

Off to get wet in front of Town Hall. I think we'll get low turnout between 15-18%. Those low numbers will skew my predictions somewhat. I'm not sure which candidates will benefit from the weather.

11:53am

Just finished 2+ hours standing in the cold rain & wind. It's May, right? Lots of camaraderie among opponents at the South Street Garage.

7:43am
Because of the rainy weather (which is supposed to be the worst between 9a & 1p), turnout will be even lower than I earlier predicted. Let's hope for 15-20%.

6:45am
I placed signs at 6 of the 7 polling locations for nice people to hold. It's going to be a long day. Polls are about to open and will remain open until 8pm. Home for coffee, breakfast, newspapers, and get the boy off to school.

Snyder Responds

(Editor's note: In a previous article, many comments were directed at emails sent out this past weekend by a candidate for School Committee in tomorrow's election. I received this letter in response.)

To the Editor:—

I am saddened and irritated to be in the position of having to correct the record one day before the closing of an otherwise respectful race for School Committee.

During two candidate debates (including one hosted by the League of Women Voters and one hosted by the Shrewsbury Republican Town Committee), I was asked "What would you cut?" in the event of budget constraints. Because I felt the question deserved a straight answer, I indicated that we should consider the reduction of bus services. While this is a very unpalatable concept, I believe that when we are facing such tight restrictions on educational spending, we need to ensure that we are addressing classroom needs as our highest priority. I also clarified in my responses that the schools are required by law to provide busing to certain students. At no time did I suggest that Shrewsbury "eliminate bus service." I encourage you to watch the rebroadcast of the League of Women Voters debate tonight at 7:30, so that you can view my comments, as well as Steve's own response to that question, in context.

I believe that as a School Committee, we should empower our administrators to make adjustments to serve the students that may have greater need, rather than making a response that is mandated but not as critical. I am also concerned that unfunded mandates, make it difficult to control costs that must be addressed on a local level. I further believe that we haven't been actively involved in the regulatory process itself, which affects us so tremendously. The list goes on.

However, in no way are the above concerns related to the need for or appropriateness of SPED services. The specifics of student services deemed necessary by parents, teachers, and administrators, are quite frankly none of my business, and are determined on an individual level. As a community, we are legally and morally obligated to provide the best education possible to ALL of our students, regardless of the level of need.

I am happy to discuss any questions or concerns with interested parents or residents. You can reach me at robinsnyder@townisp.com.

My Predictions

Hold me to it!

Here are my predictions for the election. They do not constitute an endorsement. It's not necessarily who I'm voting for; nor are they necessarily whom I'm advising you to vote for. I think that by this late date, all of you readers have probably already picked your candidates. So the purpose of this article is just for me to guess at the results and the numbers.

I do have one endorsement, however:

I am voting for (and encourage your support for) Robin Snyder for School Committee. The other nominee, Steve Levine, cares about the schools but doesn't have the requisite skills to keep our schools at the highest possible level of achievement. Robin does, and she will make a great member of that committee.

I will be blogging, as best I can, on election night and you can learn the results here!

Again, here are my predictions. They are listed as they will appear on the ballot.

Turnout:
23.5% Overall

Town Moderator:
44%: Tom Fiore
√ 56%: Chris Mehne
(88% of ballots cast - which means that 12% of the voters will leave this race blank)

Selectman:
√ 45%: Jim Kane
27%: Andy MacIsaac
28%: Rashid Shaikh
(92% of ballots cast)

School Committee:
47%: Steve Levine
√ 53%: Robin Snyder
(73% of ballots cast)

Library Trustee:
(Elect three)
√ 85% Laurie Hogan (incumbent)
√ 93% Carl Larson (incumbent)
√ 75% Walter Avis
(66% of ballots cast)

Housing Authority:
√ 100%: Paul Campaniello
(53% of ballots cast)

Town Meeting:
Sorry, I have no idea. Good luck to you all.

(Update on 4 May at 11:45am: I added my predictions above for Library Trustees.)

Off And On

What an embarrassment!  ShrewsBuried was off-line for five crucial hours this morning, and I can't explain why it happened.  Frankly, I'm not even sure what it was all about.  So I thank you all for your patience.  I mean four days before the big election and the political blog has gone kablooey.  Really crazy-making.  I was not a happy man this morning.

If you went to ShrewsBuried.blogspot.com, you would have gotten a generic Google-driven error message with no explanation.  However, the best I could do is to post a brief personalized message at www.ShrewsBuried.com.  That is the url (website for you non-techies) that you ought to use when regularly trying to access the blog.

And I have no idea if it could happen again.  If you ever get a weird message when trying to access ShrewsBuried, please email me (markles "at" ShrewsBuried.com) to let me know.  If the site is off-line in the future, I will try to post something to ShrewsBuried's facebook page.

A big thank you to the fan who contacted me via email, who will remain anonymous. You know who you are and you'll get a ShrewsBuried t-shirt if ever I make some.