The post bringing us the Police/Fire survey begins by stating that the town is asking the public to weigh in on how to proceed. In actuality it is asking the public to choose between one of the projects they have chosen to put before us. Sort of like voting in the former Soviet Union. The state named the candidates from the Communist Party and the people got to decide which one they wanted. The citizens could theoretically vote them all down but there wasn’t any point. There would just be another slate of Communist Party members.
The Selectboard does not address affordability because it has expected that it will be decided by Town Meeting whose membership is, on average, significantly more affluent than the overall population. The Selectboard’s presentations offer no information on how the increased taxes will effect the large segment of the population living paycheck to paycheck. The bulk of the presentation was essentially fearmongering and guilt-tripping. That is: don’t you want to be good to your cops and firefighers that protect you? Don’t you want to be protected? What wasn’t entangled in these ploys was in the category of: what’s the matter with you voters? Are you so incompetent that you’ll vote this down a third time? Present bad projects until the voters are ground down to exhaustion and then blame them for creating the situation they’re in.
Affordability is roughly measurable. There is income data from the state and housing and economic data locally. There are official thresholds for how much a family can afford to spend on housing. If the Selectboard cared they could get a pretty good idea how many Brattleboro families will slip below the official thresholds from additional taxes.
One basic definition of community is a group of people who care about each other. Does that extend to caring how many families are forced to sell their homes and move into rentals or leave town altogether? (And how many families will be forced into no housing at all). How many families is it acceptable to let slip below the surface every year? Five? Ten? Twenty? More? Do we want a Selectboard that cares about these things and responds to them? If not, then who will?
So?
Everything I’ve voted on has always been a choice among things/people. This is an informal poll, and has a write-in option.
Your post should be directly addressed as criticism of the SB and the process, not passive-aggressively introduced as a criticism of an iBratt poll.
BTW, I absolutely agree with that part. Affordability by the poor is never seriously considered in town actions.
SB Polling
Pretty sure this is criticism of the Selectboard’s survey, not ours. But thanks for standing up for the site!
It is hard to write good polls that get good answers. Wording is crucial. Having a way to allow for all possible options is another hurdle to get over, and part of what Spoon seems to be getting at – the recent poll by the board is fine if one believes those are the options we have. But other options do exist, and other questions could be asked.
???!!!
There was a SB poll? I didn’t even hear of it, so that’s how well it was publicized. Typical.
In that case, sorry for the mix-up, Spoon. Give them hell.
I think it has been well
I think it has been well established – at least to those of us who live on fixed incomes; are elderly or disabled or all of those things- that the Selectboard does not care to know how many of the people that live in this town are negatively affected by the decisions they make. If they did they would actually know the numbers of households that live well below the poverty line. They would take into account how incredibly expensive it is to live in this town – whether you are a home owner or a renter. Current rents are- in many cases- equal to rents in Boston- which is absurd. Higher taxes means that home owners will be affected but it also means that home owners who have rental property will need to increase their rents to accomodate the higher taxes. And, yet, our services keep declining. Renters used to get trash pickup included in their rent – now we have to buy ridiculously priced PAYT bags. Trash is currently picked up weekly – in July it will go to every other week. This survey is another example of the SB assuming that everyone can and is willing to afford higher taxes. They have no clue how struggling families really get by and, more to the point, they don’t care.
Substantive Questions as well?
We’re not the only ones facing the fire station improvement issue; what has been learned,if anything?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/10/31/firehouses_are_needing_renovations_to_accommodate_bigger_heavier_trucks/
The alternative, refurbishing older engines takes considerable work around/ expertise and maybe self warranty.
http://www.firehouse.com/forums/t125288/
But, see: Bigger = not better?
http://abc7news.com/video/embed/?pid=474146
These services respond well from structures they're in now
I’m a supporter of our vital services for obvious reasons. But by the same time, I’ve never heard, or feel that the current fire and police services are lacking. Our EMS work very well.
Now, these services operate and respond from the very structures they are in now. I’m not saying these structures are the best, but this is the safest town I’ve been in and know of.