We rejoiced to learn late Tuesday afternoon that the City Manager withdrew the proposal. Although there is surely more to this story than is on the surface, one thing is clear: the voice of city residents, outraged and articulate, was heard by our elected representatives.
Props to one politician for a gracious and thoughtful remark made in private: “Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to find the solution that we don’t realize we’ve become the problem.”
We will never know how many thousands of emails and calls poured into City Hall, but we do know that one Councilman said that he’d never heard so much on a single issue–including the tax rate. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who took the time to make sure their voice was heard.
Those individuals who can’t be thanked publicly know who they are, and how grateful we are for their behind-the-scenes help. But our public gratitude goes (in no particular order) to Jonathan Hardy-Lavoie, Jamie Burke, Bill Holmes, Tom Caywood, Nicole Apostola, Tim Jubanville, Colin Novick, Alex Zequeria, Kenneth Peterson, Noelle Grahamm, Nicholas Bazoukas, Amy Kalogeropoulos, Lisa Miller Kapacziewski, Heather Posner, Zoe Black, Sarah Lange, and Margot Barnet.
Next steps: help the Chandler Magnet PTO get the schoolchildren a playground. Work with our friends at the REC, Greater Worcester Land Trust, and other organizations to figure out how to improve and protect this property; we’ll be forming Friends of Chandler Magnet as a neighborhood group to do just that. Email us if you’d like to be part of any of these efforts. And always remember how people all over this city stood up for the preservation of open space and transparency in their municipal government.
Play ball!
Save The Chandler Magnet Ball Fields 