By Mickey Friedman
October 20, 2014
I woke to learn from The Eagle that I’ve been instilling “anger and fear in the most financially vulnerable citizens of our community.” From the Berkshire Edge, I’m “short-sighted and selfish.” And “deceiving you.”
Mr. Bradway of Stockbridge, MA says I’ve been “conspicuously omitting data and facts that would provide for the opportunity of a circumspect and objective viewpoint.”
Quite the mouthful.
Of course, Mr. Bradway doesn’t mention me or anyone else by name. Neither does Ms. Erickson.
My misinformation “has no bearing on reality … a lie.” We critics of their $51.2 million renovation of Monument Mountain High School “all seem to employ an ultra-provocative rhetoric that has no place in public discourse.”
All this before my latte has had a chance to do its job.
Just last night I was thrilled to see Ian and Jade celebrate their years of love, their smiles illuminating such a very large barn, their joy shared by an extraordinarily diverse communion. Even my newly damaged friend Morven, farmer extraordinaire, managed to make it, stoic, eyes twinkling, neck-braced but determined that Ian and Jade know how happy he is for them. And I was lucky enough to accompany Arthur and Joanne, their union another wonderful example of love transcending distance, young Lio so delightfully adding his own still pure light.
Whenever I’m around Morven I daydream myself a farmer, tending to cows that exist only in my imagination. Comforting for the kid in me who grew up in a three-room apartment and knew milk only as something that came in bottles.
And so I confess I began the morning in the haze of that love and inspiration. But I really don’t like to be condemned for crimes I haven’t committed. Or be bullied.
I invented nothing; haven’t lied. Ironically I’m one of those “financially vulnerable citizens.” And I’m the last person I would want to scare. Born of financially vulnerable citizens, I’ve lived amongst them my whole life, and if truth be told, fought for them my entire life. I chose my life and I don’t complain about it.
But back to the annoyed Mr. Bradway:
“To be clear, there is no $0 option, but there is an alternative. That alternative is to do nothing and to fix things as they break.”
But Mr. Bradway, the hero of this tale, won’t let that happen: “Spending a lot more money to fix things as they break and putting our kids at risk is not an acceptable scenario for the School Committee.”
So we deceiving critics want to abandon the children, leave them while the boiler breaks, and the roof comes tumbling down. So selfish are we.
Really? I’ve voted for every single school budget that has come before me. Done my best to help teachers teach and kids to learn.
I’ve also done what students are supposed to do. Reading, research and analysis. But my conclusion disturbs Mr. Bradway so much he’s decided to do exactly what he accuses others of doing: spread misinformation and scare people.
But no amount of name-calling changes the reality that there is another option. It will take time, yes, but these things always take time. The MSBA, the same agency offering a 48% reimbursement for the $51.2 million renovation can in the future offer substantial reimbursement under its Core Program for Major Repairs. Repairing all the things that can possibly break and need fixing.
Members of the School Committee prefer to tell you about the Accelerated Repair Program which they very well know provides reimbursement only for the boiler, the roof, and windows. The pie chart you will soon see everywhere. So yes, that foolish option will ironically cost us more than the $51 million deal.
We critics want to repair what needs repairing but in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily burden the taxpayers. While the School Committee acknowledges for a moment that taxpayers are hurting, they are determined to name-call and bully enough people to pass a budget that puts enormous stress on them. Had they cared so much for the safety of the kids they could have chosen from the beginning to apply to the very program I’m suggesting now, then waited some years for the taxpayers to recover enough to fund the educational enhancements.
There’s no guarantee a new application to the MSBA will be successful. But there’s every reason to believe it will. Because such a proposal has merit. And most of the paperwork has already been done.
The critics of this $51.2 million plan care about education. I know I do.
Appreciate irony? The Great Barrington Selectmen voted unanimously to force us all into the disintegrating deathtrap that Mr. Bradway imagines Monument to be for our annual Town Meeting in May.
But enough of Mr. Bradway and Ms. Erickson. I want to rejoice in the glow of Ian and Jade and take care of my imaginary cows.
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