We're able to predict accidents from the future!

Owen,

Thanks for covering this story, but you misrepresented me in your article. You say:

"The meeting also featured a presentation by Lilly Lombard, a member of Grow Food Northampton, a group dedicated to preserving local food security, who spoke in favor of preserving all 185 acres as community farmland."

In fact, I never spoke in favor of all 185 acres for farmland. First, there are not 185 acres of farmland; about 50 acres of the combined property are floodplain forest that must & should remain in conservation. Second, I am satisfied with the City obtaining 24 acres of this land for recreation, and another 10 acres for community gardens. The entire project is a huge win/win for Northampton.

The purpose of my presentation was to offer a vision for the use of the remaining tillable land (about 90 acres) that will be put into permanent Ag. Preservation Restriction (APR). The vision of a Community Farm, I argued, has been well articulated by citizens at other forums, and is one of the driving forces behind Grow Food Northampton's effort to save this farmland.

I want to have faith that the Gazette journalists are really listening to public discussions and capturing the nuance.

Lilly Lombard

I just randomly grabbed 3 names off the list of supporters for the override from their website. All 3 of the randomly grabbed names, after doing a google search, came up as state or municipal workers. Is it surprising that they want the override when it will mean large salary increases for them? Its money in their pocket (from someobody elses pocket). How surprising is it that most of the town employees want the override - but don't believe its about the quality of life in Amherst and the quality of the schools - its about them getting a salary increase - which nobody in America is getting. Its a question of fariness when everybody else is making do with less - 20% of Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Do they realize this? Do they care?

What we need is to cut spending and make Amherst a more affordable town. Do these people realize that when they increase taxes they make the town a mono community of upper middle class white people? Doesn't that figure into the equation? I want Amherst to be multicultural and to support many lifestyles which means keeping living in Amherst affordable as much as possible. THe override does not help.

Also - the override website wants us to think the recession is almost over so its OK to increase our taxes a little bit (I don't think of the little bit but think of the total taxes I pay). Who believes the recession is almost over? This is just the start of the slowdown. Most people I see on TV say this is a 10 year slowdown. It will only get worse with all the red ink coming out of Washington. Just this year the feds are borrowing $15,000 for each family in the country in their budget.

What we need are leaders in Amherst who will rationalize their expenditures, cut all fat, find novel ways to make savings (ie. - outsourse jobs to India and lower cost providers maybe??). Where is the leadership in Amherst - and Northampton for that matter?

Keep Amherst affordable for all people - please vote NO on the override.

Just curious - has anyone figured out the cost to the city to install the playing fields? And who would be responsible for that cost?

Nice double dip coming from state retirement and US Army retirement.

If the arrest was made via a "credible tip," with no mention of any further investigation, how exactly does Officer Parentela know that "The 'victim' did not know that he or she was being videotaped?" Did the officer even speak with the alleged victim before the arrest, or are we just to surmise that the answer to the unasked question is "yes" because, as we all know, there are never any shades of gray in a criminal investigation, and such investigations are led by officers with nothing to gain, or no axes to grind, and anyone arrested for such an egregious offense must be guilty. We as readers are treated to the juicy headline, barely able to contain our exurberance through the lead paragraph in the hope that the perpetrator's name and address will be listed. As usual, we are the lucky ones. The "credible" informant enjoys inanimity, the "victim" enjoys the same, and the defendant, when he's finally found to have been the real victim of an unretractable slander, will have to live with his reputation forever having been tarnished. When this happens, he will not receive the bold-typed headline proclaiming his innocence when the matter is quietly dismissed upon the its discovery that the "evidence" had been created personally by the "victim" who not only knew full well he/she had been recorded, but enthusiastically participated and that the defendant was the one who had no knowledge that such an unsavory activity was taking place in his home.
If you don't feel like putting yourself out to bother asking questions, you are not a reporter. You're nothing but a typist for the police department.

What is "14 positions", i.e., FTE's? What are the lives of fourteen people, your neighbors, your loyal employees who worked hard for you, who created value for your town, worth? How much thought and consideration have you given them? Do you even know who they are?

Pools Helper
Senior Center Asst
LSSE Registrar
Labor Relations Negotiator
Dispatcher
Customer Assistant
DPW Laborer
Parks & Rec Laborer
Animal Welfare Officer
Data Processing Specialist
Fire Fighter
EMT
Admin Asst
Inspection Services Clerk
Communications Director
Outreach Worker
Tree Maintenance Supervisor
Public Health Nurse
Aquatic Program Coordinator
Police Officer
Building Maint Supervisor
Associate Planner
Assistant Sanitarian

See anyone you know? Is this how we repay them, with a coin toss?
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