Folks,
Once again the small minority hijacked the Town Meeting and pushed up the spending. I can only conclude the majority of Westborough Voters are apathetic and ignorant of the bloated spending.

Where are the 11000 voters? It time to look at new forms of government because this Town does not have Democracy. It is tyranny of the minority.

Steve Faris

Mr. Faris, YOU are the "small minority." You just lost an election for the Board of Selectmen by a landslide. Every position you advocated for at Town Meeting yesterday lost (as they did at the last Town Meeting). Just because you -- like anyone else -- can post your uninformed ramblings on this free website does not make you "a leader." It just means you have too much time on your hands.

Please stop wasting working people's time, particularly our Town employees' time. Our taxpayer dollars pay Town employees' salaries so that they can deal with real issues facing our town -- not the ridiculous, time-sink nonsense you keep raising, like the silly citizen's petition that got struck down yesterday that would have had absolutely no legal effect even if it had gotten passed. STOP WASTING OTHER PEOPLE'S TIME.

If you are interested in making a difference in the world, please go volunteer somewhere. It would be a much better way to spend your time.

Dear Rubber Stampers (PART1),

Now we have some of the highest tax rates in the state of Massachusetts and what do we get for it? Is the education of the our kids in Westborough really any better than other towns?

Jennifer, you mentioned people don't want to "reduce town services." Are you kidding me!? What are you getting for your taxes? or More importantly what are you NOT getting from your taxes when compared to other towns?

Town Trash pickup? Fantastic Parks? I don't think so.

Let me guess, the quality of teachers must be far better than other towns too, right? I would hope the teachers get 'graded' on their performance as well. Far too often have I seen and heard teachers comments at a local bar, on Facebook, and other forums about the wariness of their job. Stop complaining, it is embarrassing. You are some of the highest paid teachers in the state with superior benefits as well. By the way, this is all public knowledge; I encourage everyone to look it up. You might be surprised at what some of "quality" teachers get paid. - people wake up!

How are raises evaluated for the school? By quality of work and merit or tenure?
How many kids are in a single class?
How many school administrators do we really need collectively?

Dear Rubber Stampers (PART2),

Let's look at town positions as well: Town Departments, DPW, etc. Stop complaining. How much do you pay for your medical insurance premiums? Co-pays, etc when compared to the people paying taxes in this town. Again, stop complaining.

A few meetings back after Ms. Emery and others decided condescend voters who were asking for more information and time to analyze other options to use the existing firehouse rather than build a new firehouse. The smartest thing I heard was when one man stood up asking the Selectmen, "You have known that a new firehouse would be needed over 15 years ago, what steps have you taken to save for this?"

I met a disabled veteran in town who is so distraught over our increased taxes, he may move from town. He told me he is considered 60% disabled by the Department of Veteran's Affairs after suffering injuries while serving our country. He informed me that the town allows only a $500 discount on his real estate tax bill. Why aren't we (the town) allowing disabled veteran's tax discounts commensurate with the disability they have incurred?

Do you see where things are backwards? I certainly do.

Dear Rubber Stampers (PART3),

So, Mr. Faris is angry, right? So what, right? Mr. Faris is ANGRY and I don't blame him...at least he is trying to do something different. Nobody seems to be looking for creative ways to ever save money, consolidate, or do more with less. It is more with more in this town...it's a joke...and YOU know it. This is why you have disparaging remarks and condescending cutdowns to Mr. Faris. It is so evident at the meetings and in this forum.

Keep voting without regard or better yet neglect to vote at all. The town loves mindless sheeple.

W.Z.

A request to the group: please stop the personal attacks, name calling, etc. Some great points have been made here that could've easily been made without the digs.

I've just deleted a comment that was off-topic.

I disagree that a few voters hijacked the meeting. If the 400 or so people who voted for Mr. Farris during the last election had all come to Town Meeting, the outcome perhaps might have been different on several issues. So the question I ask is why didn't the people who agreed with Mr. Farris' positions come to Town Meeting?

Westborough may have gotten too large for the current form of government but any form of government still requires informed voters and people interested enough to be part of the political process one way or another.

Let's say we go to a Town Council with members elected from our precincts. Voters still have to know which candidates represent their positions. Heck, there have to be enough candidates to fill the vacant positions. Elected members would have to take the time to keep their precincts informed and take input from them on various issues.

I would hazard a guess that the same people who show up to Town Meeting would be the same people who would either become candidates for Town Council or be the ones to consistently give feedback to their council members. The net result might not be any different than Town Meeting.

So the bottom line will be as it always is - if you have a position that you feel strongly about - it is incumbent upon you to rally like-minded people to get involved. Either get them to come to town meeting or get them to vote for you in Town Council or any other representative system that might be adopted.

Perfectly stated Andy

The meeting was hijacked by the voters that did not show up for the meeting. Fifty percent of the room leaving after the school vote probably had more impact on the remaining articles than the people who stayed and voted.

The final attendance numbers for town meeting were approximately ten percent of the number of people voting in the last election. Those election results may have been considered light but it shows a preference over a town meeting format by a substantial number.

A shift to an electronic ballot vote may be the change required to convince people to become more involved in the process and not just the final vote.

Saturday town meeting from 1 to 10:40 isn't appealing to most people. It's broken and there needs to be change.

I agree however a person that works 5-6 days a week just isn't going to show whereas a senior views a Saturday like every other day. If we had representative town meeting people may have a reason to become interested. Obviously this is far from changing. We New Englanders are a tough group to change tradition and the way things are done!

And I say to you "by any means necessary". Jean Paul Sartre

It is Sartre. You do not understand the quote which is generally considered to leave open all available tactics for the desired ends, with the "necessary" qualifier acting as a caveat. Expand your definition of class and then think of the societal (taxation) conflict in Westborough. Observe the behavior of others.
BTW - "Dirty Hands" is based mainly on the theme of existentialism. The plot is just a vehicle.

I've deleted a number of comments that were personal attacks, on both sides. If anyone feels I've missed some, e-mail me. Comments need to be about the issues discussed at town meeting, not the intelligence of the people discussing them.