Letters! We get letters! Ok, it's email, but that's the modern letter. Here are some of the letters we have received, and our responses. If you'd like to let us know what you think, just click the "contact" button at the bottom.
Our esteemed reader writes...
I'm a teacher at Amherst High, a parent, an ARHS grade of 1987, who has traveled and lived all over the world but came back to Amherst for all its strengths. I have a similar interest in sustaining the qualities that are Amherst while keeping it affordable for those of us who are public servants. I so appreciate your thoughtful and direct information and interest in accountablilty. I'll be a regular visitor to your site and of course, I'll vote! Thanks for the time and effort you put into this.
Another esteemed reader writes...
Thank you for what you are doing. I am in complete agreement that we need to increase revenues in Amherst in a balanced and planned way. As a Town Meeting member and someone with a two rating on your site (which I love by the way) I am very interested in helping in any way possible. Please let me know how I can help and how we can organize other Town Meeting members to help our town.
Another esteemed reader writes...
Bravo Baer/Clare/Andy!!! What a great idea. FYI, word already spreading. This morning my officemate was notified of the site by a friend and he forwarded the note on to me. Ahh the power of email.
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Another esteemed reader writes...
I love this website. It's great info!
Another esteemed reader writes...
THANK GOD!!!!
I do not really have the right to complain about the government in this town because I do not participate in it. I get too frustrated just reading the paper about all the ridiculous things that go on here. I was born in Northampton and grew up in Amherst (I did move away for a sum of about 10 years) but moved back to raise my children here. I love this town. But as a single mom and homeowner, I am being squeezed and taxed out. I have started looking at houses in Hadley. I don't want to move, but I can not condone (or afford) the behavior of this government any longer........
THANK YOU for trying to change things. I will make sure I vote in the upcoming election........maybe there is hope yet.......
The sustainamherst.com website is a terrific effort. You can agree or disagree with it, but town residents have taken a common strategy, used by many national and regional organizations, to explain what being "in their camp" looks like. Liberals do it, conservatives do it, the National Journal does it (see for yourself at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0204/022704nj1.htm).Fact is, reasonable people can agree on a value (support our schools) but disagree on the means of reaching it. Sustainamherst.com is saying they believe the votes they've earmarked indicate agreement with their values and their means of reaching those values. Again, it's up to each of us to agree or disagree or put on display our own, different vision of a solution.
Bottom line, what's divisive is not putting proposals and means of talking about them out there for all to see and consider; what's divisive is arguing that people shouldn't be sharing their differences as is our obligation in a democractic society.
Your website looks great and I have already printed out my "election guide!" I think your plan is very reasonable and attainable if enough people get on board. Thank you for all the work you do.
Another esteemed reader writes...
This web-site, and it's evaluation of the many people in this town who volunteer their time, to help out Amherst, given the constraints that everyone has on their life, is hooey. Their web site is a political advertisement.Our response...
If you mean by political advertisement, are we promoting an alternative to the policies that have been guiding the past few years and communicating this to the voters? Yes, it is 100% a political advertisement for a new set of policies to guide Amherst out of the incredible fiscal crisis we are in. Absolutely.
This crisis has your neighborhood school, Wildwood, with 24 kids in 1st grade classes next year. That’s in the year of development that every professional says is one of the most critical for success for the rest of a kids life – when you learn to read. Where the accepted range is 15-20 kids/class (California has a state law against more than 20 kids in 1st grade – that’s right, in the most downtrodden schools in Oakland they only have 20 kids in a 1st grade class). The kids that will be hurt by that are not yours and mine, but the kids from low incomes households, broken-up families, and language challenges.
I honestly don’t think people understand that this is a *crisis*, that urgency and focus is required. Yet the only solutions other than tax hikes are being *voted down* in Town Meeting by slim margins (2 and 3 votes).
I think this is the case because Town Meeting is a black box. Voters do not know where Town Meeting candidates stand on the issues – do you? Most parents do not, and have been asking for an assessment of the candidates in their precincts so they can make better decisions. Yes, we are working to make Town Meeting members accountable for their votes. From your email below, it sounds to me that the only requirement you have for a vote is that someone volunteered their time to run for public office. I don’t agree. Town Meeting is making decisions that are impacting our town for the next 30 years. The impacts of our decisions are raising people’s taxes, cutting their services, and yes, making it more difficult for that 6-year old to learn to read.
Our information does not single out any single member of this community. It is a review of *every* person who is voting on these decisions. Yes, it does represent one point of view – that of a fiscally sustainable AmherstThis is all public information. I hope folks of every different point of view promote theirs in an effort to improve Amherst. The folks who are rated with very negative scores in our point of view seem to be against any economic development in town, I would love for them to get that point of view out into the public discussion – and rate my votes from that perspective. Sunlight is always the answer. I’m accountable for my vote, everyone who holds public office should be.
I have full and absolute respect for everyone who volunteers their time in our town government and the service they provide all of us. But that does not mean I have to agree with everyone’s policies just because they have volunteered their time. I do not expect to folks to agree with me because of the time I put in. Town Meeting is not a game, these are important decisions – ones that impact people’s lives and futures. When I think about Town Meeting and the Select Board, I think of that 6-year old trying to learn to read at Wildwood next year, I think of the elderly couple that now has to move out of town because of the taxes we were forced to raise due to a lack of real economic development, and yes, I think there are better policies that are needed than the ones that have been voted (or not voted) into place. We all need to be accountable.
Another esteemed reader writes...
First rate! Right on!! Please let me know how I might help,not including running for TM. (I was a TM member from l954-77).
Another esteemed reader writes...
Great Job! I expect you'll take some flak for this,but many applaud your efforts. Including me! Keep it up!
Another esteemed reader writes...
The rating system actually seems to work. If you guys are the "Centrists," and the score represents Centrism, the extreme Leftists should be at the bottom. As you thumb through the precincts, that is very clearly the case. Rightists (if there were any in town) should, being extreme, also end up at the bottom. I checked out my own name in Precinct 1, and found my own rating was about neutral. Being in the center of a Centrist table... I wonder what that makes me?
Another esteemed reader writes...
This is amazing!!!! thanks so much for doing this!!! Your work is
turning this town around, and i am soooo appreciative!
Another esteemed reader writes...
And I thought this was the crew that was bringing Amherst together! So that was a bunch of unsustainable phony baloney.
Our response:
We title our column "Amherst Center." It is our view of a moderate, centrist approach to fiscal sustainability. We thought about calling it Amherst Common," but decided against it because we don't think that EVERYONE will agree on a common course of action. We've tried to lay out some key goals--good schools, green/open space, cultural diversity, not overburdening the taxpayers, etc.--that we believe are broadly shared, and then we've thought about what we need to do to sustain these goals.
You may not agree, for example, with the idea that economic development can help. That doesn't mean that we are being "phony" by saying that we do, that we think it's an important part of a broader plan, and that to accomplish this we need some elected officials who will focus on this.
On the other hand, I think we do agree on the need for a local meals and hotel tax option, so we're not completely at loggerheads.
As we head into another year of budget cutting and fiddling and waiting for the state to save us, it has become apparent that we need some action and leadership if we are to solve the problems that face us. No, these problems are not all of our making, but we need to solve them. We need to start taking some baby steps that will get us going in the direction of fiscal solvency, so that we don't dismantle our quality of life while we wait for the state to hear our pleas.
We have therefore offered a home at sustainableamherst.org for some useful data for voters who share this perspective, so that they can vote, if they like, for people who also share this perspective. We think it's a pretty broad slice of Amherst.
I think there are plenty of areas where we can work together in the future. I look forward to figuring out where those areas are.
Another esteemed reader writes...
The scoreboards certainly are interesting, with scores more or less matching my informal sense of the different TM members. Good work!
Another esteemed reader writes...
Nice job on this site. It’s clean looking and well-organized. (and this, coming from a usability person, is a good thing!) It comes at a good time – I will use it to guide my vote. Thanks!
Another esteemed reader writes...
Can you possibly tell me who designed the Sustainable Amherst website? They've done a very nice job!