This is one of the best election cycles in recent memory. The Mayor is up, there is talk of an override on the ballot, 3 school committee members, and a full slate of Alderman.
Last time this happened was the Balfour/Middle School Debt exclusion election in 2003...which if I recall was a complete rout by Dolan, the debt exclusion, and the SC and Aldermanic candidates that supported Dolan and the debt exclusion. Most board of alderman seats were contested, as were the SC seats.
Melrose chartered its course for the next 10 years in that election...which has led to a thriving down town, hot real estate markets, a great new school, fiscal stability and rising bond grades.
Most Melrosians would have a hard time envisioning a City run by Balfour and his hacks, a shuddered Middle School on the Fellsway, and the anti-tax crowd controlling the BOA and SC...but that was what was at stake in 2003.
The City will again make a statement in 2015 that will dictate the next 10 years. It will be fun to wait and see who the new opposition candidates will be, and will they fair better than Balfour and company.
Great post, Brigid. Glad you were able to get it written today because you do not work on Fridays.
"a shuddered Middle School"
shud·der
ˈSHədər/
verb
past tense: shuddered; past participle: shuddered
(of a person) tremble convulsively, typically as a result of fear or revulsion.
"I shuddered with horror"
synonyms: shake, shiver, tremble, quiver, vibrate, palpitate
"she shuddered at the thought"
(especially of a vehicle, machine, or building) shake or vibrate deeply.
"the train shuddered and edged forward"
(of a person's breathing) be unsteady, especially as a result of emotional disturbance.
"he drew a deep, shuddering breath"
Great job with the editing and spell check. Impressed? Not really, you should spend your time trying to line up some candidates for the election so you don't have the "Pauli's crowd" look on your face election night. I don't know what was better, the clean sweep, or the grim and despondent faces at the Balfour/anti-override victory headquarters. Your crowd is lined up for the same fate...hey, but at least your clever.
"hey, but at least your clever"
And you're not, you semi-literate moron. Ten more years of this and MHS graduates won't be able to spell their own names.
Shudder? Your clever? Hint - it's better to remain silent and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and confirm it.
The illiterate ignoramuses here who think the only opposition to the current regime comes from the "Pauli's crowd" (or Balfour) types are revealing how little they understand or perceive. There are many who might have once voted for those currently in power who are completely disenchanted, disenfranchised, and disgusted. But it's okay that this bunch so needs to believe this is like a silly sports match and that they are on top. It just means that they will be taken completely by surprise when more of their favorites go down in the next election, like Seaboyer and a bunch of the new Dem brownnoser candidates who did not succeed. It is so much worse even than things were two years ago in the schools under this awful superintendent and cronies, and BOA with water-sewer rates as high as the snowbanks. It's all leading to low support and morale like a spreading malignancy among what was the former stalwart constituency of Dolan and gang. There is no amount of propping up the toddler parents with pretty toddler parks, playgroups, mommy wine parties that will make up for the vastly increasing body of people who know first-hand just how miserable the schools are now or how the formerly hidden money messes are surfacing (like the continuing water and sewer rate debacle) like cancerous lesions that can't be disguised anymore. They'll flail around and blame the repugs for everything (earned scorn, to be fair), but they'll take zero responsibility for their own arrogance, failed practices, and outright corruption.
It will really cause havoc with all the mommies, out of work (and/or convicted felons) dads trying to set the stage for the future patronage easy district jobs because more of their favorites are likely to go down if anyone decent steps up. Then all the sucking up will have been for naught.
Aw well, the circle of politics. Hakuna Matata.
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Illiterate Buffoon, enough with the imagery and soliloquy. As clever as you are, and as well as you spell, that and a $1.00 still won't get you on the bus. Who is running for election to take out the establishment? It's a simple question that the MM crowd has no answer for. Never has. 2 election cycles have shown nothing but total defeat at the polling stations (for the two candidates with the guts to run, as misguided as they are).
I know that the crowd on this site likes to believe they are the intelligent minority and the Dolan supporters are ignorant and are getting the government they deserve...but really, ask yourself a question. Where are the voters that support your position? Where are the candidates? Are they all too ignorant to vote at all? Don't care? Lazy? Incapable of running and making a difference? Jealousy, animosity and envy make you a great anonymous poster, but useless as a community activist. Dolan's supporters vote. The parents you criticize vote, organize and get things done. 2015 is the MM's opportunity to get off your lazy @sses and make a difference...but behind your keyboard, banging away with your fancy prose and 3 syllable words, we both know you are just another coward without the real ability to make change. Hakuna Matata.
Watershed year? Nope - waterbill year is more like it.
Hey Watershed (WaterBills) aka Nice One,
Pretty pathetic and undignified that you have to reply to your own posts and amp up your tired rants about the Great and Wondrous Dolanites vs the "lazy assed" MMessages critics. But that's okay. That's about all you've got to show for yourself, so may as well go for it. You're certainly entitled to your opinion and your right to "bang away" on your keyboard, letting us all know that you think you've got it nailed with your winner, Mr. 26%. Good for you. Bad for us. But the First Amendment allows you to express your opinions, and that's good for all of us, even if a painful process sometimes.
Wow, it is impressive that you used the big word, "soliloquy," so maybe you didn't go to school in Melrose, or maybe you did back when there was still a halfway decent education system.
I'd agree with you, but apparently on here that makes me the same person as you! Heaven forbid two (or more) people agree with each other.
And I agree with you two.....now I have to figure out who I am....MFD or one of you two guys! This is getting too confusing. Who am I?
As Curly said, "Hey Moe, I'm not me!"