Town Meeting should try to think big

By CAROL SHARICK

Published on November 02, 2007

Town Meeting is about to begin its fall session, where, among other things, we'll be voting on some important zoning issues for the town. Many of these will allow changes to be made to parts of town that could use a lift. Zoning issues require a two-thirds majority to pass. So even if a simple majority of members favor the change, we actually have to have many more votes. In my brief two years in Town Meeting, I've seen a number of these articles fail by just a handful of votes.

As we head into the new fall session, I'm afraid that this may happen again. A handful of votes will keep the town mired in the status quo. These are often emotion-filled debates, and it can be a difficult decision to vote for a change in zoning law. Change is hard, and so even though the changes may be needed, we all know that some folks are uncomfortable. What will happen if we go along and vote for this change? Will people be unhappy? Will things work out well? Will we be sorry? What should we do?

Whether it's the budget we voted on in the spring, or the zoning we'll vote on this fall, the story is the same. The committee or board that has spent months working on these issues presents us with a proposal to vote on. And then, predictably, some other member presents us with a proposal of his or her own. It's most often a change of a lesser degree. Sometimes it's well thought out, other times not so much. But it is change of a lesser degree nonetheless.

For those members who don't know what to do, this middle option is an easy solution. We're voting for change, but just for a very small change. Nothing serious, nothing drastic, nothing to worry about. No big deal.

Except the result is exactly that: no big deal. Half of what we need. And so we make very little progress. We never quite accomplish things that we need to accomplish. And we remain stagnant. The longer I'm in Town Meeting, and the more I watch various committee meetings on ACTV, the more clear the picture becomes to me. We don't move forward as a town, and we remain in the rut we're in, in large part because someone is always offering us an easier choice to make. I'm reminded of Congress when I think about this. Many of our Congress folks are afraid to go out and make a statement with their votes. They are afraid to be bold in their votes, often at the expense of doing what is needed. They take the easy way out, and as a result of their timidity, nothing gets done. In Amherst Town Meeting, the easy way out is the middle option. There's very little risk in that middle option.

We should not be fooled into thinking this happens by chance. These folks offering their own proposals are well aware of the power of the middle option. And they are eager to manipulate the members when it serves their purpose.

Growing up the daughter of a planner, I often heard a phrase tossed around in exasperated tones: Make no small plans. I never really knew what it meant, but as I watched a longtime Town Meeting member present his own middle-option zoning proposal in September, the phrase popped into my mind. It's a small plan. It's an incomplete plan. But it's one of those middle-of-the-road options that Town Meeting might just see as the easy way out.

I looked into that phrase I used to hear, and the following is the entire quote, by Daniel Burnham, well known for his work in rebuilding Chicago after the great fire:

"Make no small plans. They have no magic to stir the soul and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical plan once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence. Remember that our sons and daughters are going to do things that will stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon, beauty. Think big."

While the grandness of this statement may be more appropriate for a project the size of Chicago, the sentiment should be the same for us here in Amherst. Let's not settle for half a plan. Let's not improve one side of the road, while leaving the other side in shambles. Let's not take the easy way out, or the middle-of-the-road, no-risk option. Let's aim higher.

I urge my fellow Town Meeting members to think hard this season and to use your votes to effect real change this fall, to move us out of our rut. I urge you to be bold in your votes. I urge you to trust that the many hours put in by the members of the various committees are hours well spent, and to know that their opinions are educated ones.

I urge you to accept no small plans. I urge you to think big. Your town is counting on you.

Carol Sharick, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 2, works at Amherst College.