Looks like summer finally got here this week. Just in time for special town meeting (page 7).
Now, I know, I know….June 30 is the Thursday before a July 4th that is on a Monday, making for the possibility of a super-long weekend for some folks. But the sale of the Oxford School building is very important. The meeting itself could go on for a long time, sure, but there are only two other articles on the warrant.
Some people are wondering if there will even be a quorum. I think there will be. The room will be filled with people who really care about the issue. So, if you have an opinion on the proposal to turn the Oxford School into apartments and you’re a town meeting member, make it a point to go on Thursday.
Town Meeting in Fairhaven is not a big time commitment. In the 11 years I’ve been doing this, we’ve only had one meeting most years. A few of those years, we’ve had two. If you ran for Town Meeting, please remember that your neighbors are expecting you to fulfill your obligation to them. Yes, to them.
We have a representative town meeting in Fairhaven. That means that only TM members can vote. So if you are a town meeting member, go to the meeting. If you can’t make it to two meetings a year, then you shouldn’t have run and you should quit.
I’ll see you there, right?
The Selectboard held its hurricane preparedness meeting this week, too (see page 4). It was largely a routine rundown of what the plan is for big storms, especially if power goes out or the water will get shut down.
Council on Aging Director Anne Silvia suggested that the senior center would make a better shelter than the Hastings Middle School. Acushnet uses their senior center and it is a very different atmosphere than ours.
The HMS is a very big echo chamber. It’s cold, not just physically, but in an un-inviting way. I know that most people don’t want to leave during a storm anyway, so if they are leaving, they are just happy to be out of harm’s way, right? Wrong.
I think we could make our shelter an inviting, warm, welcoming place if we outfitted our senior center with the proper generator and whatever else they would need.
Anne is willing to do it. I think it makes a whole lot of sense. If there are too many people for the center to handle, then we could send them to the schools. The difference would be that it would be a group going, together, instead of one, lone person driving down that long road to HMS in two feet of snow, not even knowing for sure if anyone is there.
I know the schools are the traditional place to have shelters, but, clearly, they are not thrilled about it. They don’t even have food service anymore, they contract it out.
The senior center is a wonderful place, with a welcoming atmosphere, TV, games, and people who care about seniors.
What could be better?
Just because we’ve always done it that way is not a reason to keep doing it that way. Let’s think about this one.
Speaking of summer….
Next week is our last issue before our summer break. So, please, if you have any listings, get them in now.
Until next week then… see ya,
Click to download the 6/23/16 issue: 06-23-16 issueRoadRace
