stoneham – My Truant Pen

Stoneham Town Election: April 2, 2024

Hello Stoneham voters! The daffodils are up, the sun is shining, and it’s time to go to Town Hall and elect our representatives for another year! I’ve been impressed at the transformation of the information available to voters in the 16 years since I first gazed in dismay at a local ballot with absolutely no idea who the candidates were or what they stood for. So much more is now available, mostly through the hard work of our local civil servants. But for those of you who still text me asking how I’m planning on voting, here’s the breakdown!

First some resources:
Election Tuesday April 2nd, 2024 7AM-8PM at Town Hall
Sample Ballot
Candidate Statements
Candidate forum
I also read the candidate statements in the Stoneham Independent.

Now for my picks:
YES:
Raymie Parker has been serving Stoneham for several years. It’s difficult, time consuming and thankless work that probably pays way less per hour than snow shoveling for the DPW. She’s always been thoughtful, prepared, present, hard working, honest – really everything you would ask for in a decision maker for the town. I appreciate that she continues to innovate and is very available to hear perspectives and concerns.

David Pignone is also a candidate for re-election. I have seen less of his work up front than I have Raymie’s, but his reputation and service in the community is deep, and with his work in the schools he has a front row seat in some of the big challenges facing our structures.

NO:
Stephen Ternullo (no publicly available site). I drive past his house regularly, and while I’m glad he recently took down the “F**K BIDEN” signs (note that his did not include asterisks) he still has up several similar signs using language I was not allowed to use growing up. His tag line on the yard signs is “I will be your voice” but I don’t have a potty mouth so I’m not sure that’s true. I do not want a town government that is uncivil, and the face he puts forward to his community is not one that speaks to collaboration or with whom I think it would be easy to work.

Robert Verner (no publicly available site). For this candidate, I rely on the information in the candidate statements. Our community will be opening a brand new high school in the fall, and a lot of his statements were around starving that school of resources – which is a bit like buying a new car and then not driving it because you don’t want to spend gas money. Cutting resources was pretty much the only thing he talked about, which actually seems wasteful to me given how much we’ve already invested.

I would love to be able to offer guidance on the Constable race, but I have no insights there. So if anyone has any thoughts, please drop a comment! See you at the ballot box on Tuesday!

Stoneham 2021 April Ballot

This year was particularly difficult, not just because of the pandemic but because all the candidates seem like excellent folks we should be pleased and proud to have serve our community. I hate to feel like I’m voting “against” any of them! May Stoneham always be so lucky to have this be our set of choices! That said, I think more than ever it’s tough to make a decision between folks so qualified, and I hope that the candidates not elected this time will consider serving again.

Here’s the sample ballot:
https://www.stoneham-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3242/Sample-Town-Election-Ballot

Select Board:
Raymie Parker
Robert Lawler

Rationale:
I have been impressed with Raymie’s work on the Selectboard since she was first elected. In a role like this, I think that a mix of experience in how to get things done and optimism things can change are an ideal mix for a board, and Raymie has both.

The choice between Robert Lawler and David Pignone was a harder one. In the end, it came down to access and communication. I strongly believe that Stoneham is best served by a Selectboard that serves all 20,000+ residents of the town, not just the few thousand who are already well connected. David’s communications to people outside the already well established channels weren’t as strong as Robert’s (Robert did a number of open Zoom forums). David also did not respond to my requests to talk to him about his candidacy, where Robert reached out to me several times. I think Robert’s background and experience are good and a good mix with the current board. I’m hopeful if elected he would continue to serve all the residents of the town well. So in my final decision, I give Robert Lawler the edge.

School Committee (full term)
Jaime Wallace
Melanie Fiore

I’m grateful for George Georgountzos for his continued interest in serving the town, but his educational experience and commitment is considerably less than Jaime (the incumbent) or Melanie Fiore (who has significant volunteering bona fides, and is serving an appointed role now).

School Committee (part term) – SUPER HARD CHOICE
Rati Chaudari-Murray

OK, this was by far the hardest choice! I want both Rati and Betty! They both have great backgrounds in education, and they both have a wonderful perspective to offer to Stoneham! Their outreach and platforms are similar. I really wrestled with this one! At the end, I finally leaned towards Rati, in part because of her experience with special needs kids, which is so important to vulnerable members of our community. Making sure our schools are addressing the needs of ALL our children is a critical contribution.

All other races are uncontested.

My ballot: Stoneham Election April 2, 2019

I regret that I have not had the time this year to write up an in-depth review of the candidates. But I’ve had a number of people asking who I’m voting for, and I’m generally excited and enthusiastic about the candidates for whom I’ll cast my vote on Tuesday (April 2nd at Town Hall in Stoneham!). So with no further ado…

Here’s the sample ballot, for your reference. I’m only highlighting my choices in contested races.

Select Board (pick two)
Heidi Bilbo (loved her “Hate has no home here” campaign)
George Seibold

School Committee
Rachel Meredith-Warren (I think she’s amazing)

Housing Authority
Michelle Meagher

Board of Assessors
Eric Josephson (I’ve seen his resume and he’s deeply qualified – we’ll be lucky to have him)

Question 1
Yes, I think if we want a thriving Main Street, we need to offer flexibility to proprietors

Can I do a tour without mentioning wolf attacks or naked sailors?

Come find out!

I’ve signed up to lead a historical tour of the nearly-open Tri-Community Greenway in Stoneham this on April 6th. Tragically the route does not take us past the location of the barbarous murder, wolf attack or naked sailor appearances. So I’ll have to work extra hard to sneak them in. But you can learn about the steam engine lazy-susan, our attempt to be the world’s center for automaking and why the old school is definitely haunted.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/health-wellness-expo-greenway-walk-historic-tour-tickets-59078408109

2018 Democratic Primary – Stoneham edition

Tuesday September 4th is primary day in Massachusetts, and there are some tough choices to be made. Stonehamites, you can find your ballots here. Primaries are hard, because they’re generally between people who you generally agree with, so you often have to figure out who you agree with more (and/or who you think will be most likely to get a chance to do those things you agree with).

I’m open to input if you have relevant information, but here’s my plan for my democrat ballot:

1) Gov – Jay Gonzalez. I’d rather have someone able to make incremental progress that someone who demands and doesn’t get massive change. This was a useful article.

2) Lt. Gov – Super close call here. I’m not sure I have a strong opinion. But if I’m picking a pragmatist for gubernatorial candidate, I might then lean idealist for Lt. Gov and go for Jimmy Tingle. I think both candidates sound like fine choices.

3) Secretary of State – my Facebook has been non-stop Josh Zakim ads for about two months now. I have to admit, I tend to be ornery about ads. I really dislike the tendency of our current form of government to assume that votes must be purchased with ads instead of earned with actions and statements. My vote is earned, not bought. Voting access is a passion of mine (and access to information to allow for those votes to be earned, not bought). Both men support it. Galvin has done real work to accomplish it, but I think the accusations of complacency and king-making ring true. On the other hand, I don’t love negative campaigns like Zakim’s been waging. Ugh. Talk about what you’ll do, don’t trash your opponent. This one may come down to a voting-box decision for me, but I think I’m leaning slightly towards Zakim, if only to keep Galvin on his toes. (And if Zakim wins, I trust he’d do the job he’s promising to do.) Here’s one article on background.

4) State Senator – Jason Lewis. I have been very supportive of the flowering of new candidates in the field, and so I was excited to see Samantha Hammar throw her hat in the ring for state senator. But I’ve really liked Jason Lewis’ work in the district and been impressed by his attitude and accomplishments. Reading through her statements, I didn’t see any specifics about how the people of the Commonwealth would actually be better off with her in the role instead of him. It also matters to me that several people I know and whose opinions I trust have been working hard to campaign for Jason. I sometimes think that the quality of person whose loyalty you win says a lot about a candidate. So while I’m excited and happy that Samantha’s running, I’m voting for Jason this time. Hopefully Samantha runs again against someone I like less. Here’s a useful series on the two.

5) District Attorney – Donna Patalano. I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how cash bail destroys the lives of innocent poor folks without any societal benefit. In fact, society is the loser when innocent people are jailed and can’t work or support their families. I’ve wondered what I could do about it (other than sending money to the Bronx Freedom Fund or others like it). Turns out this race is one way, since one candidate (Patalano) supports getting rid of it, and the other candidate’s office is getting quotes like this: “They said they left largely because they felt pressured to run nearly all matters by their supervisors, who often told them to seek higher bails and tougher sentences than they felt were justified.”

I’d love to hear who you’re voting for and why! Drop a comment and let me know. If you think I got it wrong, I probably won’t vote until after work tomorrow, so you have time to make your case!

Stoneham Town Meeting: Monday May 7th

Update : it was a packed and passionate house and a we’ll run debate. The vote was a close one. At the end, I’m glad to report that fiscal responsibility prevailed and the article was voted down. Phew! We heard from the town accountant that this might have made the high school three million dollars more expensive. Yikes!!!

Tomorrow is a big day in the town of Stoneham. We’ll gather in Town Hall, as we have for nearly 300 years in various buildings, and make decisions about our community. First, a few facts and links:

All voting citizens of Stoneham are welcome. Non-citizens may attend, but need to sit up on the stage, since most votes are voice/hand votes. The meeting is at 7 pm on Monday May 7th 2018 at Town Hall in Stoneham (tomorrow!)
If you’re wondering what we’ll be talking about, here are all the articles
Supplemental materials can currently be found on the Town News Page
If childcare is a problem, the fantastic Stoneham Rec Department is offering childcare during the meeting so all parents can attend!

The biggest question on the docket for our joint decision is whether to use our rainy day funds to temporarily cut our trash fee – Article 22. Here’s the text:

We’re likely to talk about this for an hour or two (these are not short meetings) and it’s almost certainly going to be one of the first things we talk about. I estimate we’ll probably vote on it between 8:30 and 9 pm. This is a complicated issue, so I wanted to provide my view (shared by every board in Stoneham) that we should VOTE NO ON 22.

Here are my key objections:
1) Using reserves to pay for recurring expenses may negatively affect our bond rating – which may make it more expensive or impossible to build a new high school.

2) Not having a rainy day fund may lead to nasty consequences for the town if there are any unexpected costs, or drops in revenue.

3) The downsides seem long term and serious. The upsides seem temporary and small. I’m afraid this will overall increase the financial burden on Stoneham residents, when effects on our bond rating are considered.

4) I’m unclear on who has provided the funding for the serious mailing and phone banking campaign in favor of this article. Does someone have something to gain? What and who?

Here are some more notes on those high level thoughts

1) Paying for recurring expenses with savings
State guidelines advise that the town should have 3% to 5% of our operating budget in Free cash each year. That is a target between $1.98m to $3.3m in free cash each year. If we were to approve this article, we would have only $328k. (See the analysis here.)

There are some real and serious consequences to this kind of budgetary move. Our neighbors over in Lynn just learned this the hard way. This proposal effectively makes the mistake that Lynn is trying to recover from, and may lead to statements like this “The negative outlooks reflects our expectation that the city will continue to be challenged to effectively match recurring revenues with recurring expenditures”. With this proposal we’re paying for recurring expenditures NOT with revenues but with savings.

2) Not having enough savings set aside for even a mild shower, never mind a rainy day
Selectman Colarusso’s previous actions have already dropped our safety net for any issues with water in sewer from 2.24 million dollars in 2014 to as low as
$23,955.72 on April 9th – a 10th of the recommended amount (and not nearly enough to pay to fix a water main break).

Currently our housing market is strong, and our tax revenues are strong along with it. The regional economy is doing well. I know many people’s well being has not risen with those macro trends, but there is every reason to believe that at some point in the future there may be a correction in the housing market, or a challenges in the larger economy. When that day comes, our town will have already frittered away our flexibility and savings. That may mean we would have to make immediate cuts in safety, education or critical services if at any point our revenues falter at all, or if there’s any unexpected costs. As any homeowner has experienced, if you don’t have a little extra set aside to fix a roof or a small leak, it can lead to much larger and more expensive long term consequences. The same is true for towns.

3) We want to build a new high school
There is a lot of serious discussion about building a new high school in town. Our existing building is profoundly challenged to meet the needs of our students and ensure that kids coming out of our town are well educated and ready for the world. We will need to borrow the money for such a major expenditure (especially if we spend all our savings). The cost of borrowing may go up if we are considered a poor credit risk (like Lynn). If we end up paying a higher interest rate because of our fiscal irresponsibility, the overall cost to the residents of the town of Stoneham may very well be far more than gets returned in trash fees, temporarily. It’s like going on “holiday” using a credit card with a 22% interest rate.

4) This just doesn’t make sense. So why did so many people get letters and phone calls supporting it?
I do not understand why so much money was sunk into campaigning for an article that I think will hurt this town. It makes no sense. If you want to help residents pay their bills, that money would seem much more useful in creating a fund to assist residents & help directly. I’m especially confused since Selectman Colarusso’s last campaign to cut water fees led to such a painful and negative outcome with our Water and Sewer board. That entire experience seemed really negative for the people of Stoneham, with unexpectedly huge bills taking people who plan carefully by surprise. I have not heard any discussion about why the outcome would be different this time.

Every single board in town (Finance Committee, School Committee & the other four selectmen) have taken votes recommending against this article. Across the 22 members on those resident board and committees, only one voted in favor of this article: Selectman Colarusso. Given that lack of widespread local support, I find it hard to believe that Stonehamites are making political donations to support a campaign to spend our reserves. If they are, let me recommend that a fund to help folks pay for their bills would be way more effective in supporting their neighbors.

So please, come tomorrow to Town Hall. Ask your questions. Read the materials. And come vote!!

In trying to be ready for this, I made a Freedom of Information act request for data on both the Trash Fund and Water and Sewer fund. There wasn’t as much information as I hoped, and it is a bit hard to understand, but here’s what was provided to me.

You can see all the documents I’ve been using in this Google Drive folder.

Hi Brenda,

The Town Accountant Dave Castellarin doesn’t have balances for the water & sewer enterprise funds. From what the Budget Analyst said to me it’s like taking a snapshot of a point in time and it wouldn’t be giving you a true balance. The Town Accountant told me that it’s something he calculates at the end of the year. I did ask them if they could write something up to explain it to you and hopefully they will get that done.

The first two attachments are the worksheets that the Town Accountant had shown the Board of Selectmen at their March 6th meeting. He also used them at the meeting the Water & Sewer Review Board held when they recommended the increase. He doesn’t have anything with projected balances for the water and sewer enterprise funds and it sounded like he wasn’t comfortable creating that. The Budget Analyst Al Rego emailed the trash balance to me this morning:

As of today, April 30th, the current balance of the trash fund is $144,861.86.

He also forwarded a spreadsheet which he said showed the impact of Article 22 to the free cash. Not sure if that was the type of impact you were looking for but it’s attached as copy of book 1.

I asked the Selectmen, Finance Board and School Committee if any presentations were done for them and the answer from all three boards was no. I have attached minutes that the School Committee gave me because they discussed it at their meeting in early April.

I will point out to you because I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned publicly that Town Meeting does not have the authority to grant a “Trash Fee Holiday”. This article would possibly pay 1.1 million for trash from free cash but it would not do away with the trash fee. The trash fee is by the vote of the Board of Selectmen. They are the only ones who can put it in place, take it away or change the amount raised.

Hopefully what I have sent will be helpful. If you have questions on what you are looking at you can try reaching out to the Town Accountant Dave Castellarin at dcastellarin@stoneham-ma.gov or Budget Analyst Al Rego arego@stoneham-ma.gov . The telephone number for accounting is 781.279.2690.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Maria

My Ballot – Stoneham Town Election: Tuesday April 3, 2018

Stoneham Town Election: Tuesday, April 3 2018
The Annual Town Election will be held on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. The polls will be open from 7AM-8PM at the Town Hall, 35 Central Street.

Ballot here
Board of Selectman Candidate Statements here

This election sort of snuck up on me. It’s in April. April is spring. It is snowing and cold. Therefore, the election is not soon. That was the subconscious process. But this year has been a year when lawn signs have been buried under snow mounds, and the election is only 10 days away. I have done less preparation for my vote this year than I did last year. I did not make time to interview the candidates myself, so much of my decision making comes from watching how these folks have acted in the past and interacted at town events.

Once again, I’m excited by the vibrant political life of our little town. I’m amazed at people’s willingness to work hard and put themselves out there for what is essentially a volunteer job. I’m grateful for all the candidates for offering to undertake the hard and often thankless work of making our town the best place it can be.

With no further ado, here are my selections. As always, I’m open to new information or to having my thinking changed. You can reach out to me at brenda.j.flynn@gmail.com with resources, polite comments or questions. I do moderate comments on the post, and consider rudeness or incivility of supporters a black mark against a candidate.

Selectman: (Pick Two)
Raymie Parker (strong recommendation)
John DePinto

School Committee: (Pick Two)
Thomas Dalton
Jaime Wallace

Constable: (Pick Three)
David Luciano
Robert Nardone
Brian Johnston

Selectmen
I’m looking at this election as an amazing opportunity to change the tone in our government, and return to civility and reasoned decision making. The two candidates up for re-election have deeply disappointed me with how they treat other elected officials, town employees, and people with whom they disagree. We are very fortunate that we have some excellent, collaborative choices instead!

Raymie Parker
Website
Facebook
Raymie is a consistent presence in the civic life of Stoneham. She is there at every Town Meeting, prepared to talk intelligently about the issues at hand. She spends generously of her time and energy on volunteer work, with a focus on our youth sports programs. I have found her thoughtful and independent, with a deep commitment to the well-being of our town and all its residents. I’m hopeful that on the board, she’ll turn her care for youth into making sure that we have a solvent, sensible budget plan and a focus on building a new high school. This post in particular speaks to that intention. I’m very excited to vote for Raymie!

John DePinto
Facebook
No website
I am voting for John, with some reservations. On the plus side, he has long experience on the Board of Selectmen from prior terms, and understands what needs to be done in the job. There have been times in his past service that he has not shown the level of respect and civility I expect from public servants. I’m hoping that given another chance, that’s something he’d work to rectify.

Thomas Boussy
Facebook
No website
Tom is a man with a lot of energy and passion, and when it’s directed towards bringing people together, that’s been a great asset to the town. But in the last few years, I’ve been saddened to see that Tom has sometimes directed that passion unkindly. His interactions with town employees has been that of a bully. The employees of the town of Stoneham are a huge part of the success (or not) of the town. If we have disengaged, fearful folks working on our behalf, we will never be able to do big things. I would not hire a bully to work on a team I led. And I won’t hire a bully to lead the town I live in, with my vote.

Caroline Colarusso
Facebook
When Caroline was running for State Rep, she sent out a mailing in which the face of her opponent had been photoshopped with zits. One of the groups supporting her sent out a mailing persecuting transgender people, which she is on tape supporting. She is unwilling to even be in the same room as people she disagrees with. I watched with my own eyes as one of her friends attended a charity event she had said she’d be at (although she did not actually pay for a ticket to that event) to watch and see when Mike Day left, so she wouldn’t have to be in the same room as him. She came just long enough to take pictures to post on social media, then left. It was childish behavior. More seriously, she has bankrupted our water and sewer system to the point where all our rainy day funds are gone, and you will see a 29% increase in your next bill. That’s an average of $75 a quarter this coming year PLUS we have no money in the rainy day fund now. Caroline led the charge, sending out flyers for the Water and Sewer policy that ran through the savings we’d put aside. She wants to bankrupt our trash system in the same way. (Mark your calendars for the Town Hall Meeting Monday, May 7, where we need to show up and fight this fiscally irresponsible plan.) (See more details in my subsequent post.) Speaking of responsible, I’ve never once seen her take responsibility for the consequences of her actions. For example, she and Tom opposed* the simple act of accepting almost half a million dollars from state to improve our sidewalks (Complete Streets). (Winchester got the grant, and is now getting over $800k). But instead of owning the consequences to the town about that decisions, she creates fear, uncertainty and doubt. Moreover, her ardent supporters have been known to create fake personas (especially on Facebook) She’s been a disastrous leader for Stoneham, and I cannot support her candidacy for any role.

*Selectman Wilson stated that his motion to accept the $50,000 grant from Mass DOT that will lead to the $400,000 Complete Streets funding still stands. Selectman Seibold seconded the motion.
Selectman Boussy moved to table this until the new TA is in place. Selectwoman Colarusso seconded the motion.
Voting in favor:
Chairwoman O’Neill
Vice Chairwoman Colarusso
Selectman Boussy
Voting against:
Secretary Wilson
Selectman Seibold”

School Committee
We’re spoiled for good choices with School Committee. We’re lucky to have dedicated, hard-working people willing to spend their free time ensuring our children are getting a great education. I had a tough time picking from the top three. That said, here are my choices.

Candidate Statements

Thomas Dalton
Facebook
Thomas is a relatively recent graduate of Stoneham Public Schools, and has been running an energetic and enthusiastic campaign to advocate for his alma mater. Despite being young, he’s no novice to Stoneham politics. He is serving capably and admirably on the Finance Committee now. I have had several conversations with him in other circumstances, and I really enjoy his energy, optimism and enthusiasm. If I’m thinking about who I want fighting for my kids’ education, I think Thomas is a great choice.

Jaime Wallace
Facebook
I don’t have any first person experience with Jaime, but she has an excellent reputation in town. She’s been the PTO president for Robin Hood Elementary School for several years, which I think points to a willingness to do hard (and thankless) work to benefit kids. It also speaks well to her organizational and coalition building skills. She seems like someone I’d be happy to vote for.

Cory Mashburn Updated
Facebook
Website
I have very little information on Cory. He might be a great choice, but it’s a crowded field. I feel like Thomas and Jaime both bring a balance of skills and experience which will be great, but can’t really spot from his public information what Cory would uniquely bring to the table. I’ve done some more research on Cory, directed there by many of his ardent and excellent supporters. He seems like a dedicated, intelligent and capable person who I think would do a fine job in the role. I sincerely hope he’ll choose to run again if he doesn’t make it this time, when I can give him my full support. He makes a focused case on social-emotional intelligence in the school curriculum. I personally am more concerned with a new high school, which wasn’t one of the things he focused most on. I think the current curriculum (as seen by my middle schooler) seems pretty darn good! I’m sure it could be better, though. I wish I could vote for three candidates!

George Georgountzos
Facebook
George has run for several local offices in the past, including State Rep (R). He might be fine in the School Committee (although his platform seems to be unarticulated and he doesn’t highlight what he would be able to contribute that others wouldn’t). But I have trouble getting past his support for Caroline. (Peak irony in this quote from his letter supporting her: She spearheaded efforts to reduce the trash fee for every resident.) That makes me wonder if he’d be fiscally responsible with our kids’ education.

Constable
This is another tough one. I have no data on most of the candidates. I would decline to vote for Robert Sweeney, based on how he comported himself in opposition to the Greenway. But I have no information on the other candidates.

All opinions expressed are soley those of Brenda, and do not reflect the official opinion of any group, including my employer.

Daydreams of time

What would you do if you had more leisure time? I’m sitting outside on a glorious Sunday afternoon, cool in the shade and warm in the sun, listening to the sort of rock music meant for summer. I’m edged in a short hour between my Pastor Nominating Committee meeting & follow up emails and when I need to leave to catch a plane for Chicago for work for the next few days.*

My life is filled with meaningful and joyful work, almost all of which requires me to sit at a computer. Funny that, isn’t it?

But I’ve lately been having fantasies of what I’d do if I actually had real blocks of unencumbered time in which to do stuff I wanted to do (as opposed to the stuff I already decided to do – I’m a lover of novelty!). I’m quite sure I’d end up filling those hours (if not quite a packed as they are now…)

Real life: Counting the proceeds from our “change drive” for Heifer in my Sunday School class

My fantasy life isn’t what it once was. This may be partially because so many fantasies of youth have come true. I am married to a guy I totally dig, and who seems happy with me. I have two happy, healthy children. I’m working my dream job. I have a D20 tea mug. Hard to improve on this.

But lately I’ve been daydreaming a lot about writing, and history.

Real Life Saturday: foraging in the Fells

Anyway, a recent fantasy has to do with being an author. I have wanted to be an author since I first realized that a) you had to have a job b) writing books was a job. Unfortunately, I have never written a book. This puts a damper on one’s authorship. But I’ve recently come to imagine what series of books I want to write. I always wanted to write fantasy novels a la Tolkien. But it turns out I’m terrible at it. As I’ve sunk into true belonging into this amazing town I live in, though, I’ve discovered all this phenomenal history, and remarkable stories. You’ve heard me talk about this before, but it seems like every few months I find out something new and amazing about the town.

The most recent discovery came when I did a tour of Lindenwood Cemetery only to learn that Stoneham was *apparently* a hotbed of the Spiritualist Movement.

Mind you, not everyone was a fan of spiritualism.

So my latest brilliant idea is to write a series of mystery novels, loosely set in the history of Stoneham. It would start with the naked sailors & wolf attacks of the early 1700s. It would wind it’s way through the blood and suffering of the Revolutionary War. We’d get Jacob Gould’s murder, of course. The Spiritualists would follow. Perhaps then the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. That would be followed by the pugilists on Spot Pond & the mysterious “Where Shute Fell” marker in the roaring 20s (even the cursory research for this post points out that the marker far predates the prohibition prize fights!). We’d dedicate time to the great Pan Pacific Race, where Stoneham was wrongfully denied it’s place in history by cheating.

I might stop there, coming at that point to close to living remembrance to steal so boldly. Or it might be, in doing the depth and research of learning I would have to do to write these books, I’d uncover even more rich stories in the interstices. I imagine the books being threaded together by the lives of the people who span them. Silas Dean would show up often, in fact or in memory. Elizur Wright might be the hero of the Civil War book. Maybe there’d be two Civil War books – same time, two perspectives. Honestly, I might be a happy woman for decades just doing research until I felt like I knew enough to start writing. (Although given my personality, I’d probably start writing and then get sidetracked on the research.)

Doesn’t that sound like fun? Can’t you see my notebooks spread out before me, a look of concentration on my face? Can’t you imagine me hovering over the library’s microfiche machine? I imagine falling into long digressions with Dolly in the library, following heretofore unknown threads of history. Consider the hikes in the Fells to see _that spot_. The joy of unearthing just the perfect picture from forgotten archives. The maps that would need to be made and adjusted for each one of these moments in time. The cast of characters set and threaded through books.

For example, while I was writing this, Dolly sent me this picture of my neighborhood (Nobility Hill) c. 1900

Then imagine the books actually get published, to some degree of success. (Let’s be clear, this falls well into the realm of utmost fantasy.) Imagine the sectional in the library touting the local author! The tour of local sites by the Historical Commission! A book signing at the Book Oasis (where the patrons thrill to imagine the courage of the Underground Railroad travelers and conductors on the very spot where they now stand)! Imagine my sleepy town rising from the backwater of history to claim its place next to Concord and Lexington. (OK, probably not that much, but maybe people would have heard of it?) Imagine citizens walking past Silas Dean’s house with a sense of awe and ownership.

It’s a pretty good fantasy, as fantasies go.

So, you ask, what would it take to do it? The reason it’s a fantasy is because I have some idea what it takes, and I don’t have it. I’d guess it would take an hour a day, four weekdays a week. Then probably a 3 hour research block + an hour a day writing time on weekends. Obviously there could be breaks & vacations, but I find the momentum & continuity pretty critical to writing a coherent work. That’s time I simply don’t have. Last time I did Nanowrimo, my whole family felt neglected and left out. They’re my first priority, so that just won’t work. Maybe someday I’ll have that extra hour a day I need, but I don’t see that day anytime soon.

Until then, you’ll just have to continue to be my writing outlet, dear friends!
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What about you? What daydreams do you hold on to? What mighta-coulda beens while away your pleasant thoughts?

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*A friend commented how remarkable it was that I always took precisely the 10 – 11 hour on Monday mornings to write my blog post. Let me clarify – I write the post over the weekend and schedule publication. The timing is so that people actually read it, since posting on a weekend is a great way to have a readership of 10.

Stoneham Town Election Results: April 4, 2017

I think this election cycle in Stoneham was remarkably awesome. We had many contested elections for important town roles. The candidates were all phenomenal. They debated issues, priorities and skills, but I didn’t see any meanness or personal attacks on display. Voters in town were engaged in thinking through the race and what it meant for the town (although I’d love to see higher turnout numbers next time!)

I’d like to offer my gratitude to all those who ran, who offered their perspective and who were willing to spend their time and energy making this town a better place. Thank you!

That said, here are the winners of the contested races!

Selectman: Shelly MacNeill
School Committee: David Maurer & Nicole Finocchi Nial
Planning Board: Augustus Niewenhous
Moderator: Jeanne Craigie

You can see the full vote tallies, including # of voters and margin of victory at this link.

Congrats, Stoneham, for being such an awesome place to live with so many amazing people willing to serve you!

My ballot – Stoneham Town Election: Tuesday April 4, 2017

Stoneham Town Election: Tuesday, April 4 2017

Ballot here
You can see the Candidate Statements here.

EDIT April 1, 2017 (but actual edit – not a joke)
One of the amazing things about being in a small town is that posts like this can create a dialogue. This election has been a remarkably productive and positive one.

There’s been some confusion, so let me reassure the audience that everyone I’ve talked to and have taken notes on has been aware that the purpose of the meeting was for me to get information on their candidacy, and I told them I’d be publishing the results.

Here’s some additional information I’ve gotten:

Planning Board –
Devon Manchester reached out to me to by phone to offer me some information on his candidacy, which I appreciated. We talked by phone for half an hour. You can read the transcript here. I liked some of his insights, but felt like he undervalued the work that the committee had already done on things like the sign law. This is a very difficult race to decide on the best candidate. I thought carefully about our conversation, but although a great dialogue, I don’t think our chat has changed my vote.

Moderator –
Larry Means – In response to questions that I and others have raised, Larry Means has posted an explanation on why he had the DPW worker removed. His explanation includes video of the event, so you can watch for yourself. I think it outlines the technical stance he took in the meeting. But especially in a role like Moderator, I would like to see a person who has the respect and admiration of the town employees, which is not demonstrated in the interaction he references.

I’d like to commend Jeanne for being very civil about me not endorsing her, although not all the conversations on Facebook have been quite as polite. She’s really taken the higher road in responding to me, which is actually quite reassuring.

This race is ALSO very difficult to call. I feel like the candidates have different qualifications that rather evenly offset each other.

It was my intention to make the hard voice to tell you who I was endorsing for all these races. I know as a newcomer to town, trying to stare down a ballot with positions you didn’t know existed and names you’ve never heard, it’s really demoralizing to realize that you can’t cast a meaningful vote because there is no public information for you to base a vote on – even if you look. I want to at least let people know what I’m doing and why, so they can agree or disagree with my thinking. But in this race, I suspect my decision will be made with a Sharpie hovering over an oval and a gut-check of what my heart says. Sorry theoretical newcomer to town.

Stoneham goes to the polls for a town election on Tuesday, April 4! I started preparing my selections back in January. I didn’t get to interview all the candidates I would’ve liked to (not their fault!) but still need to cast a ballot, so used publicly available information for the other candidates.

I’m pretty thrilled by the vibrancy of our small town democracy. We have legitimate, contested elections with qualified candidates in many of the critical town roles, including Selectman, School Committee, Moderator and Planning Board. This is a great thing for our town and our community. The really hard part about this election is that in general I think all the candidates are pretty qualified. I don’t think there’s anyone on the ballot I’ll be horrified to see in office.

I’ll be updating with new information right up to election day, so if you have more information or would like to talk with me, drop me a line at brenda.j.flynn@gmail.com!

With all that said, here are my picks. My reasoning is below.

SELECTMAN
Shelly MacNeill

SCHOOL COMMITTEE (pick two)
David Maurer
Nicole Fenocchi Nial

PLANNING BOARD
August S. Niewenhous (see update above)

MODERATOR
Tossup (see update above) – was previously Lawrence Means.

SELECTMAN
I had the opportunity to speak with both selectman candidates. I am no journalist, but I tried to ask them the same set of questions and give them similar opportunities to explain their positions. All the candidates I talked to discussed “healing of divisions” within our community. I find the divisiveness of Stoneham politics to be very odd indeed. It’s not Democrat/Republican (as far as I can tell). The division doesn’t seem to have a philosophical underpinning. It’s hard to reckon who’s on either side. (I’m pretty sure that not knowing which side I’m on means I’m not on a side? Right?) But this coming together is something I’m optimistic that whoever we elect will work hard to do. I will certainly be holding them accountable for doing so.

Shelly MacNeil
Webpage
Facebook
My Conversation with her

Shelly was the first of the candidates to reach out to me to ask to talk. I’d never met her before, and had no idea who I was going to vote for in this election. I was impressed with her. She seemed committed to running for all the best reasons, which she articulated well and passionately. She had clearly thought deeply about her reasons for running, and what she hoped to accomplish.

Her work on the Substance Abuse Coalition was top of mind for her, and I believe that if she is elected, she would take a well-planned, methodical approach to this crisis for our community. I also have high hopes that her intention to coordinate planning better across the town will result in better communication and outcomes for our community.

Shelly has my vote because I think she has the skills to be deeply effective, the willingness to do hard, unglamorous work, and a cooperative and pleasant personality which will allow her to work with people across Stoneham.

Christine Warren Linn
Webpage
Facebook
My Conversation with her

I was pretty excited when I heard Christine was running. My only experiences with her have been on Facebook where she’s organized a Couch to 5K, but she has been a high energy presence in the town. It took a long time for us to both find to get together, since we work opposite schedules.

Christine doesn’t think experience is necessary to run for selectman. She may be right. But I do want my selectman to think hard about the issues facing the town, and come with mature and well thought out positions. One of the first things Christine asked was for me to hold off posting this until after the candidates debate. When I asked why, she said it was because she didn’t want her opponent to know “where she was coming from”. I asked if she meant that she hadn’t been forthcoming about her platform to this point, she changed her mind and said I could publish whenever I liked. She changed her mind on the request twice more in our conversations.

I’m happy to listen and accommodate a reasonable request, but this tiny example showed me that Christine hadn’t really thought through her position on timing. I’m sure she’d be more thoughtful on things that really mattered, but it struck me that I prefer a selectman who thinks through their requests/positions BEFORE they make them.

Our conversation ended up being much less substantive than my conversation with Shelly. Christine had fewer specific plans and ideas and less insight into our current position and challenges.

Overall, I think Christine might do a great job as a selectman, but what I saw was not a compelling example. Given that Shelly was extremely well qualified, my decision for this race feels very clear.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE

I didn’t meet with any of the school committee candidates. (Honestly, when I started posting my ballots a few years ago, I didn’t realize it would end with me spending hours talking to candidates!) I have good information on two of them and no information on the third. This is obviously unfair to that third candidate (Elaine Trant Brown), so if you have good information you should a) share it with me b) choose to vote for her instead!

First choice – Dave Maurer
Dave and I have worked together on some technology initiatives, and had extensive conversations about the role of technology in education. He does this work because he’s passionate about the kids in this town and has tremendous technical experience to back it up. He has worked long and diligently, not really coveting the spotlight or attention. He’s got energy, background and a good track record with the Middle School and I’d like him to be continue on to the High School. I highly recommend his work.

Second choice – Nicole Fenocchi Nial
I’ve been lucky enough to have Nicole as one of the leads of the PTO in South School during both my sons’ tenure there. I’ve gotten to see her passion, diligence & organization in full swing. She does a great job of keeping things rolling and making things fun in what has to be one of the least glamorous jobs a town has to offer. I can attest that she will be a strong and capable presence on the School Board.

PLANNING BOARD

I have very little insight into this. Both candidates are known to me by reputation only. I think planning board is critical to our success as a town (can I suggest a moratorium on nail/hair salons?). I’m open to feedback on this one, but don’t have a strong or well formed opinion. In this case, I opted for the continuity of Mr. Niewenhous.

MODERATOR

So I saved the hardest race for last. In full disclosure, Jeanne reached out to me and we had a very productive hour long conversation. I reached out to Larry late, and haven’t been able to set up time as much for my schedule as anything. So there’s an information imbalance here.

In my opinion, the moderator role is one that would be best served by someone who’s primary skill was building relationship bridges and earning respect from everyone for their impartiality and calmness. The actual role of the moderator is to run the town meeting once a year (which has been contentious at times!) and also to make appointments to boards – an under appreciated responsibility. Both of these rely on reputation and relationship.

Over the few years I’ve been watching Stoneham town politics from the sidelines, I’ve seen passion and a willingness to invest time and energy from both candidates. But neither has struck me as a consensus builder.

My conversation with Jeanne (here) helped me understand her much better as a person. Her passion really came through. But I’ve seen a darker side of that passion on some of her interactions on town Facebook pages where her feelings were understandably hurt and she responded by removing people from the group. I get the hurt feelings, but that response doesn’t lead to that more civil society she spoke to. (FYI – in my humble opinion the amount of political decisions in this town which are made on Facebook is rather astonishing.)

I’m honestly really on the fence about this. Larry’s comparative lack of participation with social media does not necessarily mean he’s been more of a bridge builder – especially not if that’s where the engagement in our town is. There have been some times where it’s been hard to understand some of his moderation choices, such as when he had a DPW worker escorted out of a town meeting I attended. He’s generally run the meetings well, but there have been a few times when I wondered if the decisions were fully equitable, such as when the balcony wasn’t counted.

Both have been dedicated public servants in various roles. Both have experience and aptitude. I think either would do well in the role, but in this case I’m opting for the candidate with more experience in this particular role.

I’m finding my part to play in town to be a challenging one. I want to be engaged and well informed, but it’s remarkably difficult to gauge the effectiveness of a candidate even when you talk 1:1 with them. I had a particularly busy few months (as you can tell by the dropoff in blogging!) which made it difficult for me to be completely thorough.

So… share your ballot in the comments, along with your reasons for picking the candidates you’re passionate about! I’d love to learn more from your perspectives!