Plymouth In The Spotlight

Ordinarily, having one's home town featured on the front page of the Sunday Globe elicits civic pride among the townies. But when the story consists of a Spotlight Team report, all bets are off. Plymoutheans perusing this morning's edition, learned that the latest target of the spotlighters investigative zeal was none other than Plymouth Rock Studio, America's Home Town's favorite development project. Suffice it to say, the news, especially for those (and they are legion) who see the creation of a new movie studio on the fairways of Waverly Oaks, as town's primary future economic driver, is not encouraging. It appears that had anyone bothered to look beyond the glitzy front put up by David Kirpatrick and his posse of Hollywood poseurs, they would have found a financial house of cards kept alive only by questionable claims of industry experience and ephemeral financial backing. In case you missed it, click HERE to read the whole story


While the View has not been a strong supporter of the proposed studio, it has refrained from criticising the plan, primarily due to our lack of understanding of the studio's business model. But, we were led to believe, an experienced and well-financed team of Hollywooders were planning to create a movie studio in Plymouth that would provide jobs, tax revenues and career training to us locals. Most of the Town's political leaders swarmed to support the project, and why not. The benefits to the Town were not insignificant. But if a story sounds too good, maybe it is. Which brings up the need for a due-diligence investigation into the promoters' bona fides. Someone has to look behind the curtain.

What we now know, thanks to the Globe's Spotlight Team, is that there is a lot of sunshine in Kirkpatrick's resume and his mysterious sources of financial backing are linked to a number of shady investors with, apparently, more jail time than assets. Moreover, his personal record is fraught with a litany of law suits, unpaid bills and nasty disputes not to mention a career that has been in decline for the past eighteen years culminating in a personal bankruptcy that has had him hitting up his mother for pocket cash.

While clearly not the only local official with a seat on the studio bandwagon, the Globe came up with several quotes from Board of Selectmen Chair, Dick Quintal, who emerges from the story as the odds on favorite for designated goat. First off, he maintains that he sees his paving the way for the studio as his legacy. He then touts his business acumen:

“They’ve got a track record,’’ he said. “I can pretty much tell somebody the minute I meet them if they’re real.’’

Amazingly, Quintal was made aware of Kirkpatrick's bankruptcy and at least some of the lawsuits, to which Quintal replied:

“I didn’t pay no attention to that,’’ he said. “That’s none of my business.’’

Somehow we think that his legacy may not turn out to be as quite as positive as he had imagined.

Plymouth Tea Party ?

This just in.

Following the very narrow approval of the increase in the meals tax at the recent Plymouth Town Meeting, a small band of activists refused to stand by and watch another tax increase, especially in the face of a recession featuring, as we now know, 10%+ unemployment, be foisted on local taxpayers.

Working under a very tight time constraint, the required number of signatures have been gathered to ensure that the question be placed on the Spring Town ballot.

This not only speaks to the potential of a small, but determined, group of committed citizens, but also of the relative receptiveness of local government. We should be glad we didn't have to depend on Terry Murray and her Beacon Hill cronies to ignore the people's voice as they did with the petition to put the Gay Marriage issue on the ballot.

Stay tuned.

MassRoundUp.com

Thanks to EABO Clipper over at RMG for suggesting this new site that reports on Mass politics, ala Drudge.

Direct SITE Link

Last, But By No Means Least, A New Tax

As an example of the Commonwealth's effort to help the cities and towns deal with the property tax burden, a local option to the tax on restaurant meals has been instituted whereby the tax rate would increase from 6.25% to 7% on a local option basis, but the additional .75% would go to the municipality. This came up for a vote at the Plymouth Town Meeting last week and was passed by a three vote margin.

Supporters argued that the Town should take advantage of this option to help offset the dramatic decline in state aid. Hands were wrung as this was seen as a small bit of relief to the property tax burden. And while money is fungible, I suspect instead of keeping the lid on the growth of property taxes, the money raised will probably end up funding another parade, or perhaps buying a third big belly trash compactor. And,as one opposition speaker noted, perhaps paraphrasing Gertrude Stein, "a tax is a tax is a tax." Here we are in the middle of a recession-induced 10% unemployment rate and we are increasing taxes, again!

But the story doesn't end here. Tax opponents have hit the bricks with a a petition to send the decision to the voters for a second opinion. But time is short. Most of the local restaurants have the petitions, so drop by and add your signature. If you can't find one, drop me an email. The petitions have to be turned in within the next few days, so act now.

Sunday morning, we signed the petition at the Stop & Shop at Exit 6. Interestingly enough, there was also a second effort going on to petition the state to rollback the recent state sales tax on alcoholic beverages, which already carry an excise tax. In other words, a tax on a tax. Dueling petitions, right here in America's Home Town. I suspect that the local effort will stand a much better chance of achieving at least a small bit of tax relief.

The Morning After

Okay, it took me a few days, but here is the report from the Plymouth Town Meeting held last Monday Night at Plymouth North High School. After the colors were smartly presented by the police honor guard, and after the National Anthem was ably performed by the High School chorale, and after we all pledged allegiance to the U.S. Flag, America's Home Town took up the people's business, or at least that portion of the people's business as was properly included on the official Warrant.

Many of the articles dealt essentially with housekeeping matters and even some which involved significant sums of money were quickly passed without debate. A few of the Articles, however, precipitated spirited debate.

For a community being pressed financially by the weak economy and cut-backs in state aid, Article 7, involving a misplaced $190,000, brought the debaters to their feet. While it was stipulated by the chair that this money could not, under the law, be put back into the general fund, speaker after speaker insisted that the money could be better spent than the items included in the article. $10,000 each was allocated to the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving parades, respectively, apparently to pay for public safety (police details?) And while someone suggested that the Thanksgiving parade had its roots in a religious celebration, the use of the money was approved.

$45,000 was allocated to something called Plymouth 2020, the celebration of the Town's 400th anniversary tens years hence. It sounds like quite a party.

Why this article included $10,000 to pay for two trash containers sporting the unlikely name of "Big Belly Compacting Trash Receptacles", for use on the waterfront area, seemed highly incongruous, but passed handily. Go figure.

Articles 21 and 22 provided for the establishment of a Right To Farm Law and the establishment of an agricultural Committee. Throughout the extensive promotion of these proposals by the Right-To-Farm Steering Committee and the Open Space Committee, we were assured that the principal act was essentially a re-codification of existing state law into the local by-laws; as a result, no new laws were enacted. The Ag Committee would simply help existing Town Departments deal with agricultural and farming issues, thereby no new powers or responsibilities were created. And all of this would come at no cost to the Town! The only question remaining is then why do we need these two new by-laws in the first place? BTW, both passed unanimously. Stay tuned.

The final issue of the night, resolved just prior to 10:30 p.m., was the rejection of Article 24, aka the Sex Offender Residency Restrictions by-law. Originally intended to restrict Level 3 Sex Offenders from residing within a half mile of a school, park, playground or elderly housing facility, the proposal was amended to also restrict loitering by certain sex offenders in or around Town or state parks.
Moreover, an amendment was proposed and voted down to remove the residency restrictions from the act. This was a badly-written law which had been cobbled together in, frankly, an amateurish manner. The Town Meeting wisely voted against the proposal. This rejection should be in no way seen as support for sexual predators. The expectation is that the issue will be sent to an appointed committee where a carefully considered by-law will be drafted. Re-consideration of this highly-emotional issue is expected at a future Town Meeting.

Sex and The Town Meeting

Maybe the title of this post could be used by PR Studio should it decide to produce a Plymouth-based TV series similar to "Sex and the City". In the meantime, the title may have caught the attention of a few readers who might otherwise have passed on a posting about the upcoming Plymouth Town Meeting. Sorry folks, this isn't quite as exciting as you might have thought.

In a perfect world, or even a perfect town, we wouldn't have to worry about sexual predators, but in case you haven't noticed, we haven't quite achieved perfection. Currently ten registered Level 3 sex offenders reside in America's Home Town. Not to put too fine a point on it, the Level 3's are the worst of the worst, with a proclivity to re-offend. Not the kind of guys you want lurking about, especially near our schools.

The Plymouth Board of Selectmen, taking a page from several other Massachusetts Towns, have proposed a new By-law which is scheduled to come before the Annual Town Meeting, which starts October 26th. This proposal would prohibit registered Level 3 Sex Offenders from living within 2,500 feet, or half a mile, of a school, Day Care Center, Elderly Housing Complex or Park or Recreation facility located in the Town of Plymouth.

When, in due course, the proposal came before the Advisory and Finance Committee, testimony was received from, among others, Police Chief Michael Boteri and Retired Director of Operations of the Mass. Sex Offender registry, Robert Baker, where it was learned that the law might entail some unintended consequences and weak spots. For example, forcing Offenders out of housing might cause some of them to become homeless and therefore, harder for the police to monitor. Moreover, concern for where the offenders spend their days, might be more important than where they live. There was also some question as to whether the 2,500 foot restriction might be too wide an area and the suggestion that 1,500 feet might be more appropriate, especially given the fact that after all the 2,500 foot circles are drawn around the restricted facilities, precious little of the Town is left open. In the opinion of some, this result might be a good one as Offenders would find it extremely difficult to move into Town. What's more, if other Towns pass similar laws, any town without such a law might become a dumping ground. At the end of the day (or night, as it were) the Committee voted not to recommend the proposed by-law.

Subsequently, with the addition of non-loitering language, the Board of Selectmen voted to continue their support of the law. Other tweaks, such as the changing of the 2,500 foot radius to 1,500 feet, will have to come from the floor of the Town Meeting, where the final language of the by-law will be determined. And while the tenor of the debate might not be as spicy as the title suggests, it may just attract a few more viewers.

Town Meeting Time

Time to shinny down the political food chain in an attempt to reach the level of rational discussion that seems to be eluding the state, national, and, now we learn, the international wizards as well.

And be assured that we are not wallowing in sour grapes. If the Nobel Committee wants to give its Peace award to someone else, well that's their choice. I do think, however, that a personal note to those of us in the also-ran category would have been appropriate rather than us having to learn the results from the media. We include The View among the possible recipients, as this choice makes just about as much sense as does the guy they actually picked. And yes, this does imply a rather large number of possible recipients (how many people are there on earth at this point?). Of course that would mean a huge number of personal notes, but its not like they haven't had time to prepare given that they they made their first cut back around Inauguration Day.

So, for the moment, let's put aside the Afghan War, The Iraq war, The Iranian nuke threat and the Democrats on-going efforts at destroying the American Health Care system. Ditto for the state government's ongoing frenzy du jure, as we focus on the upcoming Plymouth Town Meeting.

It seems highly appropriate that America's Home Town, where is currently in the early stages of planning the Town's four hundredth anniversary in 2020, continues to utilize this definitive grass roots form of government where the town's people gather to directly resolve the issues of local governance. Due to the fact that our population is in the range of 55,000, we now must utilize a representative system where 126 representatives are elected to represent the Town's 14 precincts; otherwise, we would have to hold the meeting in Gillette Stadium, during Patriot away weeks. But this body is still much more representative of the town folk than the usual bevy of slick politicians that populate most legislatures (no offense, Vinny).

The Fall Annual Town Meeting will convene on Monday October 26, 2009. Of the 28 Articles, or proposals, on the warrant, 20 continue on track for consideration, the other eight having been withdrawn. Over the next several weeks, the View will provide ad hoc analysis of the proposals. In addition, the Moderator's Town Meeting Review will be held on Thursday, October 22 at 7:00 in the Town Hall. This event, which Will be carried on local cable TV, will include a full review of all of the Articles.

All Plymoutheans are encouraged to learn about the Town Meeting's agenda and make their feelings known to their Town Meeting Representatives. For a list of the Reps, click HERE.