Around Natick

Well, the election is over, and things turned out about the way I wanted them to. I’m glad the vote was so overwhelming to ask the School Committee to reconsider their decision. I’m half glad the override passed. In one way we can thank the voters for allowing Patrick Reffert to hire another assistant, and the School Department will now have enough money to get the network up and running the way it’s supposed to. We now have enough to pay the unionized clerks in Town Hall a salary competitive with towns around us, and there’ll be plenty of money to pay landscaping fees at the golf course. I’m sure they were planning on trimming that budget drastically.

In the Selectman’s race, we got back John Connolly, and this time revenge was sweet because he won’t have to watch Mr Hughes give him the old “eye-roll” every week. The only one left with an attitude is Josh Ostroff, and I think next year will be his time to go too. At least he was always smart enough to hold back the public display of arrogance. Imagine the sniping he did behind the back though.

And speaking of sniping, the next School Committee race should be interesting. We know Fred Coburn’s opinion, having read his comments written to the New York Times nearly 2 years ago. Fred got a reprieve this time. I’ll be sure to remind the voters next time his slot comes up. Many didn’t pay attention before it was too late to file this time. I’ll stand corrected on how Karen Adelman Foster voted. I think the position she and Fred Coburn took, was the safe bet, pandering to voters on both sides.

Yes, we expect human decency and honesty in the behaviors of our elected officials, both as displayed on TV at meetings, as well as in person, and in writing, and when their actions becomes questionable, it’s time to make a change.

I wonder if they’ll cut some of the after school programs if the override doesn’t pass. It looks like there’s a lot of fun in these activities, so I guess we should vote Yes on 2.

To all of those new to the town, and new to this blog, thanks in part to the Boston Globe for pointing folks in the right direction, WELCOME. Thursday marked a milestone in individual hits to this site, and a remarkable number of people browsing the various articles. There’s lots of history to browse through, from photos of the past, to some not so long ago.

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…the better, some would say. I find it interesting that there are people in position who would be concerned that the public discusses and learns more facts that those which are handed out by their particular special interests. Imagine a town where the Selectmen complain about residents who have opinions contrary to theirs?  That’s what happened at the last Selectman’s meeting.

What a bunch!

Last night, I got a phone call from someone asking me if my TV Guide had been arriving on time. I said, “gee, I don’t have a subscription to TV Guide. ” They said, Oh, our records indicate that you do.  I said, no I don’t subscribe. The person on the line said their records showed me as a subscriber, but if I wasn’t getting the magazine, would I like to?

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Tony Lista wrote a letter to the Newspaper last week, which deserves some major attention. It was so honest, so telling, that it got the Selectmen into a bit of a frenzy of defensive chatter at their recent meeting. You might say he’s got the incumbents circling their wagons.

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Here’s the link to a letter, important reading for the voters.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/letters/x774061967

And for those who may not wish to click on links, here’s the text of it.

The following letter appeared in the Metrowest Daily News a few weeks ago and it may be a good time to review it:
Posted Mar 11, 2008 @ 12:09 AM

Your town officials show you a budget and cite rising costs to state a simple case: “We need more money to balance the budget.” The pro-override groups, including the “mommy activists,” want to protect programs that are important to them, so they back the town officials, using figures provided by the town. They earnestly educate the opponents: “Don’t you understand the importance of school programs, how a town has obligations, etc. Don’t you understand budgets have already been cut to the bone?”

This is nothing new. I’m old enough to remember when Prop. 2-1/2 was first put to the ballot. I heard people say how finally the towns would have to trim the bureaucracies, stop hiring relatives, and at last run your town like a business. I remember the scare tactics used by the people in power, warning how it would be the end of the world if the proposition passed.

Twenty-five years later the supporters say your town’s budget problems are a direct result of a flawed law. There’s so much more to it than that. The current mess is also a result of how the state and your town reacted to Prop. 2-1/2. Neither acted to change the system. We still have the so-called prevailing wage law, the paid-detail law, and a host of other “protect my turf” rules and laws that together make Massachusetts one of the most expensive states in which to live.

No bureaucracies were closed; no one forced the people in your quiet little town hall to run it as a business. It was so much easier for the state and towns to cut your services than to change the system.

What has been done instead of changing the system? Your income tax rate was lowered a little bit. Business taxes were lowered. Costly state initiatives, such as the mandatory health care system, were launched. Various public worker unions successfully improved benefits for their members.

All these things put more pressure on you, the taxpayer. Now, with inflation rising, a mortgage crisis, no money in your savings, maxxed-out credit cards, and a flat paycheck, they want just a couple of hundred dollars more - this year. And they’ll want more next year for something new.

I feel sort of like Ayn Rand. While l don’t simplistically believe in survival of the fittest and don’t want the system to fail (as some claimed she did), I do believe the system is broken. I refuse to believe Massachusetts is expensive because “that’s the way it’s always been.” I refuse to put a Band-aid on a dying patient and urge you to join me: Vote NO on the override and instead demand real change.

ED LAWRENCE, Natick Resident

Click on this link to read the story in the Metrowest Daily News: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1915944994

The town administrator said they’re not allowed to explain the details on the ballot.

That’s enought to make you trust them, isn’t it?

Just wondering if Patrick Reffert will get to hire that assistant he’s asked for, if the override passes? Or will the Town Administration try not to spend the money that’ll be burning a hole in their pockets?

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March 6, 2008

To The Editor:

      Here we go again! The good people of Natick are being brainwashed into believing that we are on the brink of fiscal disaster. Property owners in town will be asked to bear the brunt of the proposed remedy in the form of the ominous override ballot question.

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