{"id":1605,"date":"2013-04-25T01:01:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T05:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/?p=1605"},"modified":"2013-04-25T09:22:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T13:22:03","slug":"town-meeting-13-session-2-special-town-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/town-meeting-13-session-2-special-town-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Town Meeting \u00e2\u20ac\u212213, Session 2; Special Town Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I take notes during Town Meeting. They are not official in any way. As I listen to people speak, I type notes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that, at times, I mishear or misunderstand the speaker, but my notes represent what I hear at the time. I try to publish the notes every night after the meeting,\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/town-meeting-notes-2013\/\">as time allows<\/a>. I do go back and make a few edits as errors are pointed out to me. \u00c2\u00a0<\/em><em>I do not try to reproduce my entire notes for this online version. Sometimes I relay a quote from a specific speaker. Most of the time I only summarize the discussion. At points I give a purely personal opinion; those are clearly labeled like this:\u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Personal note.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The regular Town Meeting was called to order, and we opened the Special Town Meeting. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00c2\u00a0I heard some question about why there was a special town meeting. \u00c2\u00a0The reason we did it this way is to make the leaf blower regulation changes as seamless as possible. \u00c2\u00a0Anything passed in a town meeting doesn&#8217;t take effect until some period of time after the meeting is completely dissolved. \u00c2\u00a0Regular town meeting sometimes extends into June. \u00c2\u00a0The special town meeting was dissolved tonight. \u00c2\u00a0Thus, the new leaf blower regulations will take effect much sooner, almost-but-not-quite before the May 15 when the seasonal ban will technically go into effect. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Arlington High School Madrigal Singers sang the national anthem. They performed three other songs.<\/p>\n<p>The moderator announced that precincts 1-7 were taking organizational votes today. He referred to a breakdown in civility on Monday. He gave the definition of an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ad_hominem\">ad hominem<\/a> attack.<\/p>\n<p>Since it&#8217;s the Special Town Meeting, we have to set our ground rules again. The basic motions about seating etc. were made.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Announcements<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Scott Smith of the Bicycle Advisory Committee announced a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.town.arlington.ma.us\/public_documents\/arlingtonma_calendar\/S01AAEBCC-01AAEBDB?formid=161\">bike path cleanup<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0for Saturday at 9:30<\/li>\n<li>Carol Kowalski made several announcements about the Master Plan process. \u00c2\u00a0She introduced the town&#8217;s consultants who outlined the 18-month process. \u00c2\u00a0Harry McCabe asked why we didn&#8217;t have a building moratorium during the process, and the answer was that the changes anticipated so far weren&#8217;t sweeping.<\/li>\n<li>Michelle Durocher announced <a href=\"http:\/\/www.town.arlington.ma.us\/public_documents\/arlingtonma_calendar\/S01A8676B-01A86775?formid=161\">Saturday&#8217;s cleanup of Meadowbrook Park<\/a> at 9am.<\/li>\n<li>Maya Ginns announced a town-wide cleanup on May 11.<\/li>\n<li>Jim O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Conor talked about joining\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/seven.pairlist.net\/mailman\/listinfo\/townmeeting\">town meeting member email list<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Chris Loreti \u00c2\u00a0found a pair of eyeglasses<\/li>\n<li>Lyman Judd announced that he was forced to apologize for his actions at the previous town meeting. \u00c2\u00a0He gave a meandering speech on various topics, some related to the incident on Monday. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">This was a spectacle, awkward, painful to watch, and a waste of the meeting&#8217;s time. \u00c2\u00a0It is not clear to me what the moderator was hoping for when he (apparently) required an apology from Judd. \u00c2\u00a0That said, I don&#8217;t have a easy alternative to recommend for dealing with misbehaving members.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article 1 &#8211; Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I gave the report of the Board of Selectmen.<\/li>\n<li>Al Tosti gave the report of FinComm.<\/li>\n<li>Michael Quinn moved that the\u00c2\u00a0Municipal\u00c2\u00a0Power Committee be dissolved. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">This was the first committee I joined in Arlington. \u00c2\u00a0It was a <a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/power2004.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">good group<\/span><\/a>, and I enjoyed the work we did.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Article 1 was tabled.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 2 &#8211; Leaf Blowers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Selectman Kevin Greeley recounted the history of the leaf blower debate in Arlington. He advocated support of the proposed compromise. \u00c2\u00a0Christopher Moore proposed an amendment to apply the bylaw to internal combustion, not just gasoline. Wes Beal made a substitute motion to &#8220;press the pause button&#8221; and send it back to a committee. Paul Schlictman said it was not a true compromise. There are real concerns on both sides, but we should vote this down. \u00c2\u00a0Landscaper Tibbets described the process of the compromise committee and advocated its support. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">He received applause and cheers, and the moderator asked them not too. \u00c2\u00a0I completely agree with him. \u00c2\u00a0Cheering only inflames and does not advance the debate.<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0Michael Ruderman gave a &#8220;minority opinion of one&#8221; from the committee. He said the committee was driven by people with a financial interest, and not enough input from non-landscaper experts. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">I think some people thought this was an attack, but I think Ruderman&#8217;s language was careful and quite appropriate. \u00c2\u00a0It is entirely reasonable to point out someone&#8217;s financial interest and how they affect a position being taken.<\/span> \u00c2\u00a0Carol Band asked Town Meeting to reject the compromise, and go with the compromise Town Meeting approved last year. Mark McCabe moved to terminate debate &#8211; failed. Andy O&#8217;Brien talked about emissions of gas and propane leaf blowers. Questions were asked and answered about the language. Bill Berkowitz described the question as one of balance of different people&#8217;s rights. \u00c2\u00a0Speakers were for and against the compromise.<\/p>\n<p>We took a 10 minute break<\/p>\n<p>After a couple more speakers, Jim Doherty move terminate debate, and it was terminated. Beal&#8217;s amendment went down by voice vote. Internal combustion amendment was approved: 125-74. \u00c2\u00a0The main motion was approved 113-95. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">So, the <a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/town-meeting-12-session-7\/\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">vote last year<\/span><\/a> was 95-85. \u00c2\u00a0After so much debate, a ballot question, public hearings, etc., it all came down to 20-odd town meeting members whose votes approved the new policy. \u00c2\u00a0Interesting to think about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 3 &#8211; Tourism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Angela Olszewski explained\u00c2\u00a0what the proposed building is for. Visitors come to Arlington &#8211; we need them to understand where they&#8217;re visiting and encourage them to stay. John Leonard is concerned about grafitti. \u00c2\u00a0Steve Harrington thinks it should be somewhere else. Ted Sharpe spoke in favor of busking. Chamber of Commerce is in favor. Sean Harrington moved to terminate debate. approved. \u00c2\u00a0Spending approved on voice vote.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 4 &#8211; Water Bottle Ban<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Harry McCabe with a substitute motion on behalf of Amy Currul. \u00c2\u00a0She spoke to explain the substitute motion. She spoke of the negative environmental effects of water bottle production and disposal. Diane Mahon spoke, opposed to the ban, and introduced the manager of Stop and Shop. \u00c2\u00a0Stop and Shop are opposed. \u00c2\u00a0A couple more speakers were\u00c2\u00a0opposed. \u00c2\u00a0Nathan Swilling moved to terminate debate. McCabe&#8217;s substitute went down by voice vote, and no action was approved.<\/p>\n<p>Article 1 taken from the table.<\/p>\n<p>Meeting was dissolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I take notes during Town Meeting. They are not official in any way. As I listen to people speak, I type notes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that, at times, I mishear or misunderstand the speaker, but my notes represent what I hear at the time. I try to publish the notes every night after the meeting,\u00c2\u00a0as time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arlington","category-town-meeting-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1605"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}