Here are some important facts about Amherst’s charter efforts in advance of the town’s March 29 vote:
3,574 people signed a petition for the town of Amherst “to revise the present charter or adopt a new one.”
2,012 of those signing, or 56 percent, did not vote in the last three town elections and only 303 of them, or 8 percent, had voted three times in the last three years.
People under 40 make up 59 percent of Amherst registered voters but only 10 percent of petition signers were under 40. That’s not a very representative effort from the start.
What does this tell us? To me it suggests that the majority of petition signers are not interested in local politics, do not support the democratic process inherent in Town Meeting that has sustained the town for over 250 years and do not seem to realize the consequences of disengagement from the small civic responsibility of voting required to preserve government by, for and of the people.
I hope that those of you reading this will also read the web pages for Amherst for All at www.amherstforall.org, and Town Meeting Works at www.townmeetingworks.org. Then take note of who is running for the Charter Commission and their role in the Amherst community should Question 1 result in a “yes” vote.
Amherst is a unique town that by all accounts has been and still is a very desirable place to live because of or despite a Town Meeting government.
Question 1 on the ballot reads: “Shall a Commission be elected to frame a Charter for Amherst?”
My question is: Why turn over the apple cart, (Town Meeting) to discover the bruised ones, jeopardizing those that are good, when it is possible to move them around gently in the cart? Avoid the considerable expense of money, time, and goodwill that a charter revision will entail and vote no on Question 1.
Melissa Perot
Amherst
The author is an Amherst Town Meeting member.