Tell Us: Does The Town Meeting Still Work?
Election Day, 14,576 Wakefield residents voted. At town meeting less than two weeks later, 152 of them showed up to vote on the town budget, medical marijuana zoning, and more.
Town Meeting is one of the most time-tested and storied traditions in New England. That said, things aren't quite what they used to be for this venerable institution.
In Wakefield, as long as one resident apparently shows up at a town meeting, there's a quorum. At Thursday's Fall town meeting, approximately 152 of them showed up, based on the number of votes counted on the medical marijuana zoning bylaw. This is a stark contrast to the 14,576 people who showed up to cast ballots in Wakefield a couple of weeks ago on Election Night - which marked an 85% turnout. Granted, that was a presidential election that drew heavy interest from partisans and independents of all stripes.
A look at the calculator finds that there was about a 96-1 difference in the number of people who showed up on Election Night compared to Town Meeting night. And the situation does not affect just Wakefield. In neighboring Lynnfield, few enough residents showed up for the spring town meeting that it was canceled and its business put aside until the more attended fall one.
And to think that at least two of Norman Rockwell's iconic paintings were set at a New England town meeting. It's been called the purest form of democracy in some quarters, and it had its role in securing this nation's independence. But admittedly, that was more than 230 years ago.
Some may blame it on what these days seems to be a fairly arcane and obscure nature of the system, others perhaps on a decline in overall civic involvement in society.
That invites the question - From a practical standpoint, where do you stand on the tradition of town meeting in the year 2012? Vote in the poll below - or even better, share your thoughts in the comment box. For those who are really interested in the topic, this Wikipedia page has about all the info you will need.
Also - there's two polls on the website this morning - how would you have voted on the medical marijuana zoning bylaw that town meeting voters approved Thursday night?
Sharon
1:26 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Town meetings are a lovely, but old-fashion idea. Compared with election voting, that can be done anytime over a span of 12-13 hours, and it takes only a few minutes. A town meeting is held over a span of 3-4 hours (maybe days) and attendance is needed for that entire time in order to vote.
I think people don't attend for several reasons: it is a big time commitment, parents of young children need a sitter on a school night (difficult and inconvenient), it can run until late at night for people who work very early in the morning, some people work at night, families with children have other evening commitments.
I think now is a good time to look at other options for making decisions as a town. With technology, newspapers and word-of-mouth, the discussions heard at town meetings can be made known outside of/prior to the meeting. Then just a quick vote is needed. Or look at Reading, where elected town meeting representatives attend and represent others.
Personally, I am rarely able to attend. When I do attend, I find the meetings quite painful to sit through. I get up very early in the mornings, and have a two jobs and a family, so it is a hardship to get there most times. As I said in the beginning, it is a wonderful idea that anyone can attend, speak about issues that the town faces, and vote. But the idea and the reality no longer mesh.
Jeff Crump
1:37 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Town meeting is fine for a small town, but Wakefield isn't small anymore. With 25K people in town, the meetings are either a) perfunctory or b) packed by one side of an issue. It's a waste of time, really. Reading's model is great.