Once again the town is divided... and once again the battle does not seem to be Schools vs. Seniors but more "let's look at our situation now and plan from here forward" vs. "you can't trust them, they've always messed up and things will never change".

My hope is that North Andover residents will each take in as much information as they can and come to their own conclusions.    We have editorials that are about as shallow as a puddle after a light rain declaring North Andover leadership hasn't proven itself and can't be trusted.   You have other political newspapers shouting the same arguments as they have for the past 10 years without any adjustment for the possibility that things have changed.    We even have politicians from other towns chiming in on what we should do.   We have a lot of noise.

Things have changed.    There has been change at the leadership both in membership but also in approach.   There is actual cooperation and communication going on.   Not all override initiatives are the same.   The leadership of this particular override initiative is not a political organization but a group of people of all backgrounds and segments who have come together in the past month to try and make a positive change on the road to recovery for our community.   Far before the team came together the efforts were made by a few individuals (Sandy Gleed being a key participant) for a very long time to understand our town's revenue and cost structure to see if an override was even warranted.   These efforts by Sandy have been applauded by many people including those historically opposed to any override initiatives.    People see that there has been fact finding, research and actual analysis done.    There are signs around town of this road to recovery such as the Route 114 development and the Osgood Landings project.    The override amount is not random.   The purpose of the override is to address very specific gaps that we have that affect all segments of our community: young and senior.

People who support schools... you need to look at the bigger picture and understand that the school system is not the center of the universe for everyone.   North Andover is a diverse community and people do realize that being a suburb without a large commercial revenue base that education will take a large percentage of the budget.    People understand that the value of our community to people looking to purchase homes is heavily impacted by the educational system.   Understand that our community has a horrible reputation for mistakes in the past, especially relating to schools and education, and that it will take time and a lot of hard work to get over this.

Seniors... please do not blindly follow Ted Tripp and the North Andover Taxpayers Association.   You are being targeted with misinformation in the hope that enough 'fear, uncertainly and doubt' will sway you to 'stay the course' to reject the override effort.   Read the information that you get but question it.   Question its relevance today... in 2007 vs. 1940, 1960 or 2005 or whatever numbers are used in argument.    Strongly question where the underlying data comes from.   As Mark Twain said (and this relates to anything) "Statistics lie, and liars use statistics".    Balance what you read from the negative side with information being presented from the positive side.   www.northandover.org has been set up to present that side of the discussion.

In summary, whether you vote 'yes' or 'no' on the override... please make your decision based on proven facts and not emotion.   Decisions need to be made 'in the present' rather than in the past.   History does make a different when coming to decisions (it's called experience) but it should not be the driving factor when making a decision.  

Everyone needs to think for themselves and try to shut out the noise that is being blared at you from all sides.

Good luck to all of us.

Don Romano