Here are some post-Town Meeting musings drafted during horrible Game 2 losses by the Bruins and Celtics. My goal is to not to repeat factual reporting, but to provide analysis, questioning and insight that goes beyond.
Marblehead’s 5% controls 100% of its future
You are all aware of the term “the 1%.” The 1% of Americans that possess 30% of America’s wealth. Marblehead has its “5%.” The 5% of Marblehead registered voters that attend Town Meeting and have 100% control of deciding its future. Not the democracy envisioned by our town’s founders when you think of it this way. Yes, any citizen registered to vote may attend and participate but not all in today’s world are able.
Town Meeting 2024 had around 800 voters depending upon the warrant article in discussion compared to some 16,300 registered voters. The six most contested articles (24, 25, 34, 35, 36, 38) had voter counts ranging from 718 to 864.
Our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives must cross a new frontier. We need to increase Town Meeting participation by enabling parents with school-aged children, traveling professionals, retirees, grandparents, college students, home-bound seniors, off-shore fisherman, merchant mariners and sailors, etc. to understand the issues and vote. This would require a two-pronged effort:
— Reduce the time required to attend Town Meeting by eliminating unnecessary articles and by considering only the critical ones.
— Use technology to enable hybrid meetings to allow all voters to understand the issues and vote while protecting against “voter fraud.”
For example, do we really need to vote on five separate articles,10% of the total, to adjust COLA and pay scales for different groups of non-union employees? This could be done in one article. But why do we even need to vote on this one article if it is in the town budget approved by the voters? There are other articles dealing with numerous accounting details reflected in the proposed operating or capital budgets that we could do without.
During the COVID pandemic we learned to conduct private and public meetings using Zoom and similar platforms. We continue to use these effectively for nearly all town meetings today. There are solutions that enable presentation, discussion, voting and meeting control today and they will only get better.
Marblehead, we are not in the 17th century anymore. We must do better to realize democracy in Marblehead Town Meetings in this decade of the 21st century.
MBTA Communities Act: Realists lose by pushing for immediate vote, Tea Party Idealists win
At the end of the second night, the Town Realists were outwitted by the Tea Party Idealists. See my April 29 musing on Article 36 that described their battlefield positioning.
Ahead of the battle at Town Meeting, the Idealists incessantly bombarded the town using “vote no” yard signs, postcards and letters to the editors. In contrast, the Realists simply sat in their bunker hoping and praying.
As the battle at Town Meeting started the Realists fired one impotent shot. They attempted to address one of my recommendations — quantify how much state funding is at risk in existing and potential projects. But this spanned three impossible-to-read slides that had no bottom-line sound bite like “$XXX million is at risk.”
The leader of the Idealists, lawyer John DiPiano, made a pragmatic, peremptory motion to postpone any decision until December 23, eight days before the state would require compliance. This time delay would allow more information to emerge, including a challenge to the legality of the act. This group was willing to postpone a vote to fight another day.
In contrast, the Realists kept insisting that citizens must vote now. This included pleas by the Housing Production Implementation Committee, Fair Housing Committee, League of Women Voters and the chairs of both the Select Board and School Committee.
Three separate subsidiary motions to postpone to various time frames were defeated. About 55% of nearly 800 citizens voted “no” each time. This forced the vote on the primary motion.
But the Realists read their audience wrong. Some 52% of the attendees voted “no.” So, Marblehead will be out of compliance by the end of the year.
It is interesting to note that some 200 voters, 25% of total, left Town Meeting after the Article 36 vote. Seven hundred eighty seven voted on Article 36; an average of 560 voted on the next six articles. A difference of 212. I bet most of the departed were Idealists who were easy to rally against the invasive, coercive, unconstitutional mandate of the state.
This battle in Marblehead is over for now. It is only one of many in the war between the state and its municipalities over this act. This war is far from over.
YGTBKM: Swampscott blue lanyard color?
Whoever selected Swampscott Blue for the color of the voting clicker lanyard should be tarred and feathered! Red or black next time, please.
Town Moderator changing attire for next Town Meeting?
With continuous shouting of “sham” in the background, Moderator Jack Attridge finally ended a vote which denied reconsideration of Article 36. In a momentary sign of frustration he declared, “Anyone can run to be a moderator if you want. Have at it.” There upon, a town rebel, Tom Peach, in his handsome scally cap, picked up an audience microphone and stormed the stage in a coup attempt to take over the meeting. When Jack failed to acquiesce, Tom threw the heavy mic across the stage and in retreat threw his voting clicker as well. I don’t think he did that because he hated the Swampscott Blue lanyard.
Upon reelection, Jack should consider new attire for his next Town Meeting. The town doesn’t have the money to buy him an expensive full-body protection suit. And Jack’s $100 town moderator expense account won’t do it either. Perhaps Jack could borrow mountain bike protection gear for the two-to-three days he needs it each year. I am sure Pat Milner or Rick Smyers who spearheaded the bike park at Green Street Woods could help him out.
Next up — town elections.
James (Seamus) Hourihan was born in Marblehead and is a MHS graduate. For 35 years, he worked in finance, marketing and executive management roles at high-tech companies. He has lived here full-time since 2009.
James (Seamus) Hourihan
