[Town Meeting] Fwd: TMM Information on Article 42

[Rich Carreiro]

FYI...

-- 
Rich Carreiro                            rlcarr at rlcarr.com


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 12:46:54 EDT
From: AdvanEng at aol.com
To: townmeeting-owner at arlingtonlist.org
Subject: Fwd: TMM Information on Article 42

Dear List Owner:
As a novice to Town Meeting issues and procedures, would you please  
consider allowing the forwarding to town meeting members of the attached  
information email on Article 42?  Please call me if you have any  questions.  Thanks!
 

Dear Arlington Town Meeting Members:
 
As the proponent of Article 42, which requests that the Town consider  
modifying the Town Bylaws, and specifically Title IV, Article 1 "Use of Areas  
Under Control of the Park Department", to require that baseball games held on 
 lighted baseball fields conclude in sufficient time so that the lights may 
be  turned off and the fields and parking lots may be vacated before 10PM, 
I  regret that business conflicts will prevent me from attending Town 
Meeting (I  am self-employed) until after May 12th, and therefore I respectfully 
request  the postponement of that article until that time.
 
As I am not familiar with parliamentary procedure or with the rules of  
Arlington Town Meeting, (God bless you all for having the patience to learn  
this), I am not even certain whether the "No Action" vote of the Board of  
Selectmen will even allow the article to be heard. 
 
So, in the event that postponement is not feasible or possible, in the  
presence of some misinformation that you may have been given, I wish to  
provide you with the following major points in support of my article:
 
*  The Board of Selectmen has recommended "No Action" on Article 42,  and 
justifiably so, because the Board of Selectmen has urged the Recreation  
Commission and abutters such as myself to work out the details of a field  
permitting system that works for all parties.
*  I have attended one Recreation Commission meeting this spring,  and I 
have provided written input to other meetings.  I have discussed  some of the 
neighborhood issues with members of the baseball groups in open  public 
forums in prior years and, in general, I find the baseball user groups  to be 
sensitive to the interests of the abutters and to be willing to work  with us.
*  I have attempted to make constructive comments and suggestions on  the 
2010 Field User Policy through the established public process.
*  The final Field User Policy has largely ignored those comments  and 
suggestions, as it appears that the Recreation Commission perceives  
"restrictions" to be an intrusion on its charter.
*  As I have already stated, I find that most field users are more  than 
willing to work with the abutters but, as you all know, "it only takes  
one"......as in there only has to be one group that flaunts the regulations  and 
makes life miserable for the abutters, and the policy that has been  adopted 
by the Recreation Commission currently gives "that group" FOUR  STRIKES" 
before they lose any significant field time.
 
Therefore, since the Recreation Commission has chosen to avoid putting in  
place a policy that would give them the ability to control any one wayward  
group (the current policy does not eliminate inappropriate behavior until  
after four strikes), I respectfully request that the Town Meeting Members  
consider doing so.  DON'T LET ARLINGTON BECOME THE ONLY TOWN WHERE THERE  ARE 
FOUR STRIKES IN BASEBALL.  
 
We're not far off in agreement, but the Recreation Commission has refused  
to take that one final step that would achieve enforceability.  
 
And, let me address the possibility that someone may say, "you shouldn't  
have bought a house across from a sports center", I have owned my property  
since before any lights were installed at these fields and, as the  
recreational use intensity has grown, all I ask is that enforceable controls  be put 
on the use of these facilities which accommodate both the field  users and 
the abutters.  
 
The text below is taken verbatim from an email that I sent to Leslie  
Mayer, the Recreation Commission, and the Selectmen on April 28th.  I  have 
included the entire text in the attached pdf should you wish to read  further.
 
Again, thank you for your time as Town Meeting Members, and I appreciate  
your consideration.
 
Respectfully,
Joel Higginson
433 Summer Street
 
 
<<<April 28, 2010
 
Ms. Mayer,
The final form of the Field Policy betrays your words.  We, as  abutters, 
look for little signs of cooperation.  In your own words, "the  users 
repeatedly stated their willingness to comply with the policy and work  with the 
neighbors".  We look forward to that!   One of my  major concerns (expressed 
in my initial comments on the policy) was that,  under the policy you have 
adopted, there are four levels of action before  an offender loses privileges 
(note that the loss is only at that lighted  field--you could still move 
them to another field) for the remainder of the  season.  If, in fact, the 
field users are willing to help make  the system work, then demonstrate that to 
us by adopting a policy that has  some enforceability to it and some pain 
associated with the discipline!   Under the policy you have adopted, it could 
take virtually an entire season  before the abutters saw any "relief" from 
any one group that happened to not  care about the rules.  That, to me, does 
not look like a willingness to  cooperate, Ms. Mayer.  I attended meetings 
last year with "the baseball  people", and I found them easy to talk to and 
understanding of the situation,  so I do think that everybody is willing to 
work towards the common goal, but I  think that, for some reason, your 
commission has tended to dig in its heels  when it comes to discussions with those 
of us who abut the recreation  facilities on Summer Street.  Coming out 
with a policy with this many  steps in it doesn't make that situation any 
better.  
 
You've changed the rules for baseball field user groups in  Arlington--they 
now have four strikes before they're out!  
 
Regards,
Joel Higginson
433 Summer  Street
Arlington,  MA   02474
_advaneng at aol.com_ (mailto:advaneng at aol.com)    >>>




-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pdf
Size: 2682419 bytes
Desc: 
Url : <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/townmeeting/attachments/20100505/077c81f2/attachment.pdf>