Massachusetts First

At least in Marblehead, town meetings are not for the faint of heart. If you believe town politics is junior league. Think again. Are you all for lower taxes, better education, and seniors’ rights (I mean, who isn’t?) but won’t give up an evening (or two) to have your voice heard? Do you trust that your neighbors will vote your way? When they don’t, do you shrug and say, “Oh, well. bummer.” Perhaps you can afford the tax increase, you don’t have school-aged kids, and you’re not a senior – yet! As the adage goes, all politics is local, but local politics is not always local, and I have a cautionary tale to prove my point. 

Marblehead’s Town meetings are always scheduled for one evening, no matter how many articles are on the docket. This year’s meeting had 53 articles, including the contentious MBTA Overlay, Article 36. Around 9:15 and Article 27, the meeting was adjourned and scheduled for the next night. This left us Article 36 hardliners forced to return the next night. Many of us did, but how many couldn’t turn their schedules around on a dime? These folks had to forgo voting on an article that would forever change the profile of our lovely town and stress our infrastructure and other resources: think, our already tapped-out school system. Once Article 36 was voted down, we cheered, dusted off our hands, and bolted. Moments later, those who believed this was a righteous endeavor – not a blatant land grab – and those positioned for financial gain requested a revote. Sore losers much? Thankfully, we prevailed. Here’s what Marblehead narrowly escaped:

As an MBTA-adjacent community, Marblehead would be required to develop 897 new housing units. That’s approximately fifteen multi-unit buildings per acre across 3 parcels, totaling a whopping 58.4 acres packed to the gills with new residents. The State (just saying that chills me to the bone) says this is for the best. Best what? Best who? Ostensibly, to remedy our housing shortage and stem any loss of future jobs. Property owners and building developers have been jockeying for the payoffs being handed out like candy. There’s little room for the citizens of our fair town, but there is plenty of State and Federal – and let’s face it, this is coming directly from K Street – grift everyone else.

Zoom out and look at the bigger picture. The Paris Climate Accord’s 15-minute communities are popping up worldwide. Just think: We can walk, bicycle, or golf cart everywhere. Everything we need will be at our fingertips. We won’t need our gas-powered cars anymore. We’ll crush the Climate Crisis. When did this term become generally accepted, anyway? Perhaps each community will be contained under a Bill Gates-developed dome. 

Ok, so there’s that. Now zoom back in and tell me that town meetings aren’t important. I know I’ll never miss one again. 

Laura Tamagno, May 2024