Welcome the "One Issue" Town Meeting Members

There has been plenty said about the work done by Herb Chasan to get a large number of new Town Meeting Members elected who support level funding of the schools, with many previous TMM's being upset about the influx of new people.

I was a Town Meeting Member for several years, and from the mid 90's to today Town Meeting has seen a number of issues that have spurred hordes of new members into action, some on issues I agree with, some not. This is not a bad thing, its just democracy in action.

Stapleton School was on the chopping block several years ago (twice actually). In an effort to get more support from Town Meeting to keep the school open, several Stapleton parents and supporters were talked into running for a seat, with many of them winning.  The outcome? Stapleton is still open, AND some of the hardest working, most intelligent people involved in local government today were in that group, including  Melanie Goddard and Andy Limeri. 

When the JCHE project in Nobscot was under early discussion there was outrage from many neighbors about the project (I disgreed with the outrage, and still do, but that is very much besides the point - maybe that will be a blog post topic in the future) and they quickly got organized by attending meetings and running for Town Meeting and Selectmen seats. The outcome? Laurie Lee and many others became involved and are still active today.

One final example. Long before the SMOC lawsuit, a neighborhood organization formed called STEPPS.  STEPPS got organized, very much like Herb Chasan did this year, and coordinated several people who agreed with their mission to run for Town Meeting. It worked, and again there are many hard working people like Peter Adams and Cynthia Laurora involved today because of a single issue. I might not agree with them on many issues, but you cannot argue with the fact that they show up and get involved and that is a major positive!

So what is my point? Don't complain about the new person sitting next to you at Town Meeting. Welcome them, help them understand a process that makes little to no sense at first. Most people get involved in politics because something ticked them off enough to get them into action. Chances are, many of them will be around for several years.