Hello,
The override is the talk of the town, it’s everywhere. I am new to town and this will be my one and only time posting. I am saddened by the things I have seen and heard. People on the Yes side insulted not just me and my family who had questions but others as well. I never said I was voting no I was just worried about certain things. Am I ignorant for worrying about my fiscal responsibilities, I have two young children. The reason my family and others like mine had questions was because it seems as if this town has its own agenda. The mayor won’t hear out anyone unless they are a definitive yes.. I noticed that the yes side seems to have unlimited access to city hall, the mayors office and elections office. The clerk is close friends with the yes side? Numerous community service members as well. Which is fine if this wasn’t leading to what we have seen. If there is going to be a vote let it be fair, let the information be proper. Let the people decide through their own opinions and thoughts. This isn’t about yes or no. I’m still not sure because I finally am getting what information I requested months ago. Im not saying the no people haven’t but I have no had such issues with them as I have had with the yes side. Like others have mentioned I worry about the police, fire, library. I was concerned that if this passes we would go up again when say the police needed a new station, I would be so far beyond my ability to afford melrose. What I thought was an innocent question turned into people telling me I am ignorant or I don’t care about the kids.. I care about mine first, what parent doesn’t and my kids do great. So yes I am concerned about being unable to afford melrose anymore. Dolan said the schools were great and Taymore backs it up but then he left an the schools were dying? We came kind of in the middle of it all so it is very strange to see city hall and especially Taymore jumping both ends. I am also concerned about the community ripping itself apart over this.. everyone is allowed an opinion and the right to ask questions. Yes or no.. will the community even be a community after this override or will it be a divided town or yes and no? Thank you for listening and I hope everyone can continue to provide information on both sides with courtesy and integrity.
"I noticed that the yes side seems to have unlimited access to city hall, the mayors office and elections office."
Good for you to notice that. It's part of a larger pattern. It's not a pattern I believe is unique to Melrose, but to places like Melrose that have a strong mayor for a relatively small demographic that makes groupthink easier to maintain its grip on establishment power without a critical local press than in a larger, more fractious place that attracts more critical media attention.
In Melrose, going against the establishment flow will eventually mean you will be (1) ignored, and (2) marginalized. This is true regardless of political party in power: it was true when Melrose was captive of a long-time GOP machine (back in the day, Melrose was a GOP-dominated town) that had more than its share of mismanagement and maladministration, and the eventual dominance of the Dolan machine under Democrats became more concerned about maintaining power than in accountability and transparency. In both, insiders protected and insulated insiders from meaningful accountability.
I question whether Melrose should be a city with a strong mayor charter. I certainly think that aspects of the charter reform by former Mayor Dolan deepened the problem (lack of term limits, 4-yr instead of 2-yr terms for mayors, and making it harder for people with current full-time work to compete against an incumbent mayor, the fiasco of mayoral control of the school committee, among others). Members of the BOA whine to constituents that they have little power in a strong mayor charter system (but what will they do to change that? Nada, because they love being able to disclaim accountability.)
You can’t even post a comment on the Melrose community Facebook page! Hush hush hush 🤫
Tracey Cruickshank posted this on Melrose Community Page:
"As a former School Committee member and School Building Committee member, I am committed to making sure our good schools not only to stay that way, but also improve."
This is a direct quote from the website of Melrose Alderman-at-Large, Monica Medeiros and yet I believe it's been months since we've heard her comment on the issue of the Override.
She is currently the Aldermanic liaison to the school committee according to this past week's Melrose Free Press. Shouldn't she have an opinion on the state of our city as related to the state of our schools? Ms. Medeiros also claims on her website that she believes in transparency, yet what have we heard from her regarding the issue of the Override? In the fall, Ms. Medeiros said she didn't have all the facts, all the numbers, but clearly that isn't the case currently. The facts are out there and the numbers are clear. Let's hear from the rest of our city leaders. Mayor Infurna, Mike Zwirko, Jen Lemmerman, Manisha Bewtra, Frank Wright, Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Peter Mortimer have all been transparent. Time to step up Monica Medeiros.
I find this type of "attack" post very disturbing particularly because the administrators permitted it to go up in the first place in violation of their own twisted, undemocratic policy, and refuse to permit rebuttals in response to this attack post. The irony is that Ms. Medeiros has been leading the battle for the current administration to start obeying the Mass Public Records laws.
Demand Truth and Accountability.