I will be speaking and taking questions at the Rotary Candidates night on Thursday at 7pm. It will be held in the Select Board meeting room at Town Hall. It will aso be televised on Channel 18 DCTV.
My fundraising dinner will be at the Dartmouth VFW on Cross Road from 5-8PM on Friday March 28th. I will be there to speak with those in attendance. Tickets are $20 and can be bought at the door or you can call 508-992-4343 or email pokanoketlax@hotmail.com
Look for my ads in Tuesday's Standard Times or Wednesday's Chronicle. Robert Barboza, the editor of the Chronicle, may also have a column on the positions taken by my opponent and me. He had emailed a questionnaire to me and I have returned it to him.
I will be on WBSM radio, AM 1420, on Saturday morning, March 29th, with Evan Rousseau from 9 to 10AM. We will be talking about my candidacy and he may take a few calls.
I will be attending the Grange Candidate chicken dinner on Sunday at 1 PM and will have some brief remarks.
I hope to meet and speak with some of you at these events. See you around!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Down to the wire
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22 comments:
I'm hoping to get to the March 27th event to hear what ALL the candidates have to say, since a few folks decided to boycott the event held at the Grange. I'll be amazed if the turnout is that large, however, since few parents bothered to attend the open house events held at the schools. The apathy regarding these events displayed by the parents of school children is staggering. One way or another, you think they'd at least show up!
Just got in from the select board meeting. There were very few people in attendance and only two people provided public input. One of them was a friend of mine named Joe Mello. He speaks with a thick Portuguese accent and you have to listen closely to understand him. I hope the select board listened closely. He spoke from his heart and is the kind of person that I'm not sure our town leaders often have a chance to hear from.
Barry, I know Joe well. He is the kindest, hardest working person you'd ever want to meet. He is also the kind of person anyone would be proud to have as a friend. Having said all this, he is not the person I would want my town to base fiscal policies on. For every Joe Mello in town, there is an equally passionate and hard working person that want a good school system, library and town government and is willing to pay for it.
I had two young men visiting at my home last night, a 19-year-old and 18-year-old. They asked to watch the Select Board meeting last night with me because they want to prepare for the vote April 1.
After watching the exchange with Mr. Mello, it was interesting to hear the 18-year-old say, "They aren't listening to that man, just yes-ing and nodding at him. If they would listen, they'd hear the fear in his voice. That is a lot of money for him, and it must hurt his pride to have to stand up there and say that!"
Financial decisions should be made based upon input from all taxpayers, not just the eloquent.
Anonymous, There is a clear difference between you and I in these two posts. You don't think that the kind-hearted, hard-working Mr. Mello should be considered when setting fiscal policy. I think EVERY citizen should be considered EQUALLY when setting fiscal policy.
Barry, if I thought the town was wasteful and extravagent in its spending practices I would agree with you. However it has been demonstrated over and over again that our town has been well managed and by and large frugal-as mentioned over and over again in the oft-cited DOR report and evidenced by our already low taxes. The days of growing up with a limited education and finding gainful employment with that limited education are long gone and while I sympathize with Mr. Mello's plight I do not want this town to be ruled by those among us with a limited appreciation of what a decent education should be-and I absolutely do not mean to impune Mr. Mello one bit, who as I have said is a very hard working and caring individual.
Dartmouth...no one can read someone’s mind to know if they are listening or not for nodding when someone is speaking to you is usually an indication of listening and truly being interested in what is being said. Could it be that those teenagers were repeating what you were saying or what they had heard you say previously?? My guess is yes...but it does make for a good post.
Regarding Mr. Mello and whether or not his input should be considered in setting fiscal policy, I know him also. He is a semi-retired custom home builder. If you check out the four candidates running for select board in Westport(today's S-T), you will find only one with a college degree. He is also a custom home builder. I find that ironic.
To the anonymous (10:10 a.m.) poster:
I did not say a word last night about what was happening on the screen because I wanted to hear what these two young men thought. I also have not attempted to influence their votes one way or the other, other than to send them email links to the Dartmouth Library site, Mr. Trimble's site (upon their request), and to the Department of Education site for MCAS information.
At this point, one young man is voting yes on some of the questions (the person making the comment last night) and the other is voting no on everything based upon what he feels will happen to his grandparents if the override passes.
I also understand "active listening" techniques and that is not what the Select Board Chair was doing last night as Mr. Mello was speaking. "Yes-ing" repeatedly and very loudly while accompanying it with overly exaggerated nodding is not the same as respectfully HEARING what is being said by the speaker. Don't try to pretend that Mr. Mello was given the same quiet respect as Mr. Gagne or Mr. Iacaponi - it does not fly.
I am curius what will happen to the young man's grandparents should the override pass?
Dartmouth - it is interesting that my wife made the exact same comment as that young man. She said that the gentleman was speaking from his heart and they were just "yes-ing" him, and didn't seem interested in digesting what he was saying.
His grandparents are cash strapped, but not below the poverty level so they do not qualify for an exemption. The combination of the trash fees, per bag fees, the proposed override amounts, and their current retiree financial condition (fixed income, escalating medical bills due to age, etc.) could cause them to lose their house.
Sounds like he would have been among those who may have benefitted from the revised guidelines proposed last year that Barry adamantly proposed.
Maybe they would have done better last year, but who knows if they would have qualified. (Like the large families that could be considered "working poor" but not quite enough poor to qualify for help. But wait a minute - did Barry write the guidelines last year, or even this year for that matter? Wasn't that be the responsibility of the select board?
The SB dropped the ball again on the senior exemptions. However you have to love the drama they present when discussing our beloved seniors. Too bad they weren't interested in getting them real help instead of orchestrating ingenious ways to pry a yes vote out of them.
When Ms. Gilbert was asked about senior tax exemptions in a recent email request 2 weeks ago her response was "The July override included funds to pay for senior exemptions but we didn’t discuss that aspect in our preparations for the April 1 override. Remember, the town now has the split tax rate. You can inquire at the Assessors Office (Paul Bergman) if you want more specifics about the current status of senior exemptions."
Then she went on to say, "seniors don’t want to be treated as charity cases and they don’t want to be used as pawns to get overrides passed. To do so is to show them disrespect and a failure to understand what’s truly on their minds.”
So interesting that Ms. Gilbert would be so disinterested in looking into making these exemptions available for seniors when it appears that you are all so in favor of it.
I know two families who have recently lost their homes through bankruptcy and they weren't senior citizens. They were young hard working parents with 2 children living in modest homes in ND but just couldn't make ends meet. So they are now living in rental properties struggling to pay the rent, utilities, insurance, trash fees, school fees for their older child and worried about the 1,000 children elementary school they are forced to send their younger children to.
Yes I have sympathy for our seniors but I truly don't see them losing their homes as many try to claim here like many young families in Dartmouth are. Where is the concern for them and their children??
Did I say anything about "write"? Barry used unrevised guideline information with seniors when approx. 1,000 would have benefitted far beyond the impact of an override and then bussed them to vote.
"Orchestrating ingenious ways to pry votes out of them" - now, if that isn't calling the kettle black! How many "alias's" do you think the Walkers have here!
Where was the concern last year when people were told if they couldn't afford the override they should move? My sympathies go out to all those who are suffering and struggling to get by. My concern is also for future generations who will be strapped with incredible debt because our town, state, & federal governments don't know the meaning of being responsible with our money.
Most seniors can get along just fine. There are those who are vulnerable though, just as some families with children are. I would have liked to see our select board implement the more favorable HUD guidelines. There are also exemptions for families with children when it comes to fees in the school system. They are based on the free-reduced lunch program guidelines. Hopefully, we as a community will be vigilant as to what the qualifications are and all come together to make sure that they are sufficient. I am willing to take the burden of a tax shift to ensure this going forward. Overrides in general have the most negative effect on seniors and struggling families and that is why I believe that they should be kept to a minimum.
I don't know how many alias they have. How many times do you post as anonymous?
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