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Dear Friends,
I am so thrilled that we were willing to vote for the override and renew the hope that, together, we can move our town forward. There are so many people who have emailed me [both before and after Town Meeting], or made a point of coming over to thank me, or sent me letters, both school parents and senior citizens alike, to tell me that they are onboard and ready to go to work. Please know that your support has been wonderful and I've read all of your words of encouragement. There's so many, I can't possibly keep up with them, so I'm hoping I'll get the chance to thank you in person!
I am grateful for both Gale Batsimm's and Mark Caggiano's reminders, on the floor of town meeting, that passing the article at Town Meeting is just the first step in an uphill battle. And several of you pointed out that Georgetown's override just lost by 17 votes. But if you stick with me, it really does feel like the stars have aligned and the timing is right. I'm not a particularly spiritual person, but here goes: we got a resolution that people thought they'd never see, we passed the override article overwhelmingly, Tuesday night NATA made a last-ditch desperate effort to toy with the ballot question and the BOS shot them down, town meeting will continue for two more Mondays before the election day which keeps the town's fiscal matters fresh on our minds, yesterday was my birthday - I'd already received my big present!, and the election date chosen by the BOS is June 19th. June 19th is graduation day for both the Middle School and Thomson 5th grade, perhaps other elementary schools as well. There certainly ought to be opportunities to remind large numbers of voters on that day to get themselves to the polls. And lastly, June 19th was my mother's birthday...I'm taking this as a sign that she's watching over me!!
I have reserved the large meeting room at the Stevens Memorial Library for this Tuesday, May 22nd, from 6 to 8 pm. I'm hoping that those of you interested in campaigning for this override will join me and help outline how next to proceed. I'll be perfectly honest - although I've helped push for overrides in the past, I've never coordinated one and I need help. I don't think my inexperience is a liability - I actually think it's an advantage. As a senior citizen sitting behind me said to me late Tuesday night, "this time, things are different."
I spent as much time as possible gardening yesterday [if you know me well, you know that I'm a compulsive gardener...I even have a small gardening business so I can work in other peoples' gardens too!]. I do my best thinking when I'm covered in dirt! I've been brainstorming for a catch-phrase. "It's Time to Support Us ALL ", "One Town, United", and "Leadership Starts at Home" were three possibilities that came to mind.
The tone I want to set is that we truly are in this all-together. The library is a good example. When we closed the school libraries, we shifted most of the burden onto the Stevens Memorial Library. The problem, however, was that we cut funding and staffing at the Stevens at the same time. So we gave the town library less resources but demanded more service. It has truly put a strain on their shoulders and it's showing. Our director is retiring, there's no assistant director [unless it's restored with an override], the technology is not only old, but deteriorating at a very fast pace because of the over-usage and lack of maintenance, and nobody oversees that technology adequately, because that's in the job description of the assistant director's slot that wasn't filled.
I'm willing to put every ounce of effort I have into making this override pass. I was told that I have to beat roughly 1300 negative votes already out there. We have 4,000 North Andover students, 3500 Youth Center patrons, 4,000 senior center patrons, and thousands using the library as well. And count in the total citizenry that relies on our public safety, general services, and DPW services on a daily basis. We have a wide range of supporters. WE CAN PASS THIS OVERRIDE.
Please join me Tuesday evening to make sure it does! And please feel free to forward this email to whomever you'd like. In the meantime, I'm brushing up on campaign finance law...
Thanks to you all! --Sandy |
