As someone who, 8 years ago got 6,000+ votes from the good people of Westfield, and I know from our conversations as I walk Ollie, and from other encounters have a good degree of respect for my views on issues of governance. As such I would like to share my thoughts on the ballot questions.
1. Authorizing more Slots Parlors. I oppose it. I believe that the market is going to be saturated. One has already been operating under expectation. With casinos in most neighboring states and with the probable 3rd casino in Conn. Why, can’t we at least wait until the casinos are open and see the effects? Curiosity comment regarding Conn., if they create a new casino good enough to compete with MGM/Springfield, won’t that also take money from the other 2?
2. Charter Schools, again, no. According NECN we get 62% back, not 100%, so yes we are losing money. No one is opposing the existing ones. Their premise was the availability of more and better education options. I would like to see a real study of how this has worked out; who they will select; are they the more costly students that the tax payers will pay for out of our budgets? When there is so much money being spent to support a ballot question, WHY? And, wouldn’t that money be better put into education versus just the profiteer who can afford all of this? Come up with an alternative way to pay for it. They say these are “public” schools, but our school committees and superintendents, that we hire, have no say in them. So, Public Schools?
3. Farm animals and how they are maintained. Yes. You folks know me and animals, cruelty does not cut it. I am not an animal rights person, but I am very much a moral Human responsibility person. The bills asks for enough space for animals to sit down, move a bit, not defecate and urinate on one another. With these conditions is it no wonder why we have so many outbreaks of sicknesses. OK they are just going to die anyway. So too are we all, but how one lives till then should not be in suffering.
4. Marijuana for recreational use. Yes. With so many college students in this state and region; and how many older folks who used to smoke in their youth and will vote for it? This question will pass. Our war against drugs has worked as well as the prohibition on alcohol in the early 20th; a miserable failure; that has and still costs us too many live and billions of dollars. Also, just as with prohibition we have succeeded in making narco-terrorists rich. I do not see this as a solution, but an alternative to what we are doing. Stop making criminals out of people who just smoke. Stop making criminals and their financial networks rich. The real problem is how do we deal with it? When I was on the Council I brought this up it I believe has gone nowhere. We cannot wait until it is law. And, so much of that law, and enforcement is local. There are so many components to this as: can one walk down the street, or sit in a park and smoke. What happens when a minor is caught smoking? What about in your backyard? What about the neighbor who does not want to smell the smoke? How do our police if one is driving under the influence. What about brownies sold at a bake sale? Or, in foods? Colorado and other states have shown us the things we have to think about and plan for. Or, do we do nothing so those who oppose it can have an “I told you so” moment. So contact your counselors and get them moving on this. Undoing is much harder than doing it right in the first place.
Your former Ward 3 City Councilor, Brian Hoose. [email protected]
