Tuesday, June 8, 2010

More 'Yes' than 2008, but not enough

In comparison to the 2008 failed override, there was a gain in Yes votes and less No votes as the margin narrowed.

In 2008, the override failed by a vote of 4290 to 3382.
In 2010, the override failed by a vote of 4143 to 3820.



Precinct Yes Chg No Chg
1 103 -26
2 22 -27
3 74 -22
4 42 -23
5 58 -7
6 52 -33
7 60 -29
8 7 20

418 -147


A comparison of the 2010 to 2007 and 2010 to 2008 is shown below:


Franklin, MA

5 comments:

  1. Yes, it is but the majority rules.

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  2. It's amazing to me that Franklin puts far less than surrounding towns in to their schools and as a result we have some serious problems with our schools. It seems that it's only a matter of time before our schools lose their accreditation and when that happens our home values will plummet. We’re talking a hundred or two dollars a year versus losing 10’s or 100’s of thousands in home value. And yet we seem to have plenty of extra cash for all new Fire Houses, Police Station and a new Senior Center. How can there be a majority that just doesn’t see this. I guess people without kids that plan to live in Franklin the rest of their lives and don’t really care much about the long term stability of the town. Such a shame.

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  3. I suspect the silent majority (the 60% who didn't vote) don't regularly use Town services other than maybe get their trash picked up (and if they live in an appt or condo their association may do that). Reaching out to those folks is the challenge.

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  4. From conversations around town, I believe the override failed for 2 reasons.

    First, the economy has people financially stressed, so even $200 a year is another increase that's hard to swallow.

    Second, as for the spending of cash on firehouses, police stations, senior centers, and artificial playing fields, many feel they had no say in how this cash was spent on what can be perceived sometimes as "extras".

    When an override is then put forward, it can come across as a cynical political ploy to pay for "basics". It's one way people can have a say in controlling town spending.

    The problem is that it impacts schools without changing the mentality of town government and its priorities.

    ReplyDelete