Time for change

Voting in Longmeadow is a learning experience. At our last town meeting, after voting for one of our articles, some people went home because it was late into the night about 11 p.m. When they left, the people knew the article was defeated. The next day the people that went home found out that the article was adopted. How did this happen?

It happened because I believe that our Moderator did not do the right thing. Someone called for a recount, which is their right. I believe that a recount is counting all the votes cast for that article all over again. You may come up with a different answer, but the number of votes should remain the same. My question is how do you have a recount if all the people that voted for that article are not present?

Our Moderator then called for another vote, which he called a recount. This is not a recount, but it is a second vote for the same article.

I believe that there are a lot of smart people sitting behind the Moderator on that stage, so why didn't one of all them inform the Moderator what was taking place?

Maybe these meetings with 40 plus articles make the meeting too long into the night, and every one is tired and not thinking clearly around midnight. So just maybe some changes should be made. Make the meeting into two sessions, so the people will not leave, and there will be a lot of clear heads.

I lived in the town of Longmeadow for 30 years and I'm not seeing much change in 30 years. It's about time that it does.



Lou Raschi

Longmeadow