Andover voters rejected setting aside money to buy open space, after hearing the Finance Committee suggest the town must refrain from spending on "nice to have" items. Meanwhile, workers are digging holes into perfectly good downtown ways to create brick-patterned crosswalks on Chestnut and Whittier streets.
The work comes as part of the same project that brought Andover the "bump out" curbing on these streets that bumps out into the roadway, forcing cars to swerve around it. The idea is to promote "traffic calming."
Somehow both the bump-out curbing and the brick-style crosswalks were paid for with money approved at 2005 Town Meeting for "sidewalk reconstruction." Residents throughout the town complain about the condition of their sidewalks, and the $858,000 approved at 2005 Town Meeting was to make a small dent in a long list of cracked walkways. However, after several public meetings with Chestnut Street area neighbors about repairing the sidewalks in that part of town, Andover came up with a plan that included redesigning the road to include bump outs and resin crosswalks made to look like brick.
Andover does need to worry about its spending, given concerns about whether the town can continue supporting basic programs such as appropriate class sizes and high school athletics. The extra money spent on special curbing and crosswalks would have been better spent on what the town as a whole supported — repairing crumbling sidewalks. Brick-style crosswalks and serpentine roadways are the real "nice to haves" Andover can do without.
Discussion and democracy
Town Meeting is direct democracy, giving every voter in town not only the ability to decide what they want, but a brief opportunity to convince others to vote the same way. Usually.
But this year's Town Meeting offered less discussion than usual. Voters flew through the first 35 articles the first night, most with no real discussion. On the second night, even the controversial article about whether the town should have a bylaw concerning how properties should be maintained saw minimal discussion. Someone quickly yelled out that they wanted to move the question and a vote to do so was taken. The article was rejected without those in line to support the article having a chance to speak.
After that happened, several people spoke up at Town Meeting to suggest that people attending the event ought to have some right to discuss the articles before a vote is taken. The ideas make sense. That, after all, is the reason to have a Town Meeting, rather than an election. Town Meeting is a place for intelligent discussion.
If Town Meeting is to survive deep into the 21st century, it needs to honor people's time, but also honor people who have views to share. Each side of a controversial issue must be given some chance to speak before votes are cast.
