The ayes have it. Though I'm a little disgusted that only ~17% of registered voters is considered a great turnout for the annual town meeting, I'm encouraged that there is some actual democracy to be had, at least at the local level.
That the moderator didn't call on a high school classmate's jerky older sibling, a couple of times before questions were called, driving her to constrained apoplexy was just a bonus. I guess I am capable of a little schadenfreude.
As much as I wanted the evening to go quickly, it was cool to be part of a standing ovation for my favorite English teacher who's retiring this year. Also retiring, my French and Earth Science/First Aid/Sex Ed teachers. That's enough to make me feel old.
The fire department also received a standing ovation; the chief presented four firefighters with awards for rescues in the past few months. These interludes helped break up the evening and gave some personal context to appropriations in the budget.
The main drag of the evening was people with rambling and often irrelevant questions or out-of-order proposals. A few I wanted to throttle, because had they been listening, they would've realized their question had already been answered. Even more irritating were the ones who just went on and on about their negative stances or with what ifs that can't be definitively answered until they come up, if they ever come up.
Despite much vocal opposition regarding a certain issue for several months, I was greatly pleased that those naysayers were firmly trounced when it came to the vote.
One year ago at TTaT: TODAY is Free Comic Book Day
Technorati tags: town meeting, democracy
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