Town Meeting Tomorrow - Granite Grok

Town Meeting Tomorrow

Norman Rockwell - how it used to be....
Norman Rockwell – how it used to be….

For many, if not most of us, tomorrow is Town Meeting day where we vote on school and town budgets, local government officials, planning and zoning regulations.  Town meeting is government up-close and personal and is where of many us fail to effectively use our voices and our votes.  Town meeting is where things like Agenda 21 and Granite State Futures get approved, town meeting is where inflated school budgets get sanctioned.  In my town tomorrow, the selectboard has put a warrant article up that gives them the sole authority to enter into a 25 year lease to put a cell tower on land owned by the town (owed by me and my fellow citizens, more correctly!) and will only provide details after the ballot has closed.  Not that I would mind better cell phone coverage, but don’t presume you know what’s best for me, Mr. Selectman.

We are all busy working, raising children, providing for our families and we have too often simply trusted those we elect to work and vote in our best interests.  But increasingly, we find that it is not the case.  Sadly, we have only ourselves to blame…
So please, go to your town’s website, find the 2013 Warrant, read through it, make sure you know what is in it.  Your polls will open between 0700 and 0800 and close between 1900 and 2000.  Make sure you vote and, perhaps equally as important, sit through town meeting itself tomorrow night.  Ask questions. Like our good friend Ed Comeau, take a video camera.  Local government – like state and federal government – belongs to us but can have some of the most direct and immediate affects.

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