tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post1190846678557429528..comments2024-03-26T06:28:09.125-04:00Comments on GavinThink: 2009 Predictions RevisitedGavin Andresenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10105284501947275111noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-36364229742039723042010-01-10T08:12:16.088-05:002010-01-10T08:12:16.088-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-51134481489757266952010-01-05T20:49:06.482-05:002010-01-05T20:49:06.482-05:00I believe that TM reached what I thought was an un...I believe that TM reached what I thought was an unattainable ideal: no more than 8 sessions in the spring and no more than 4 sessions in the fall. Those ceilings, if maintained, go a long way to eliminate the "I don't have time, I have a family" excuse to not serve in Town Meeting.<br /><br />By the way, someone should note, before the blessed moment passes, how relatively sane the whole governmental picture is in Amherst, in terms of those folks elected and currently serving: School Committee, Select Board, Town Meeting. (Library Trustees? Maybe not.)<br /><br />I say this because I see a bad moon rising in town politics, especially for Select Board, a bad moon similar to the in-retrospect disastrous SB election of 2005, that added Greeney and Kusner to SB to form The Gang That Couldn't Get Out of Its Own Way. And then all the crazy stuff ensued for 2 solid years before Alisa showed up.<br /><br />The candidates crazy enough to run AND sane and judicious enough to serve well don't exist. The job is just too much. We owe the current crew a debt of gratitude, knowing that they are an endangered species.<br /> <br />Rich MorseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-16442398357430331682010-01-05T09:17:18.074-05:002010-01-05T09:17:18.074-05:00I admit it-- I grade myself on a curve.
And funny...I admit it-- I grade myself on a curve.<br /><br />And funny you should mention length of Town Meeting; one of the six predictions I've jotted down over the last couple of days is "Spring TM : 5 nights."Gavin Andresenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10105284501947275111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12429580.post-73044179706948504182010-01-05T01:20:16.347-05:002010-01-05T01:20:16.347-05:00Wow, Professor Gavin, where were you when I needed...Wow, Professor Gavin, where were you when I needed my termpapers graded?<br /><br />I'm with Jonathan on the "predictions" about progressives and conservatives and their claims: no credit. On the other hand, he's being stingy if he doesn't give you the point on Mark's Meadow. The heavy political lifting has been completed on that one, and I admit that I wouldn't have made that call last year at this time. I think that, love that decision or hate it, it was one of the more remarkable political feats we've seen in quite some time in these parts AND by a unanimous vote. And you called it early.<br /><br />So, on the business of predictions, will the trend line toward shorter spring Town Meeting sessions continue in '10? This is a development not being sufficiently trumpeted, a blow for democracy in Amherst. AND many more Town Meeting members are doing their homework BEFORE the actual meetings. There's a subterranean revolution of zealous moderates at work in Town Meeting, completely unreported by the local press. And the ringleaders know who they are, and deserve our thanks. <br /><br />Rich MorseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com