(Not sure I’d be so critical of a “lack of confidence in future democracy.” Interesting stuff, though. – promoted by eli_beckerman)
A quorum of Lenox Green Rainbow Party committee members joined individual Lenox Dept of Public employees and others in opposition to a Conservation Restriction on Yokun Ridge, which was voted on and narrowly passed the required 2/3 vote vote at Lenox Town Meeting on May 2, 2013.
By having adopted the ill-conceived Consrvation Restriction, a super-majority in Lenox today has removed the ability for a future generation’s super-majority to make its own decisions on what to do on its land. Not only is the vote an arrogant lack of trust it may also be harmful.
Because the land is owned by the Town of Lenox, a 2/3 super-majority would always have been needed for any project. This fact, along with existing environmental laws, was strong and sufficient protection.
The opportunity costs of this vote will be revealed in the future and the next generations will resent this year’s town meeting action. There will be missed opportunities resulting from future technologies and future needs that we have removed from future generations’ town meeting supermajorities.
The momentum for adopting of the conservation restriction was fueled by those who last year opposed the development of any wind energy proposal whatsoever. With classic fear-mongering, it offered as examples many projects around the country that were harmful or had been approved by small boards. None of the ‘bad’ projects the group offered as evidence, though, had required the approval of a supermajority of a town meeting. They were private projects, not public ones, and not subject to the rigors and public vetting of a town meeting. None of the ‘bad’ projects that were included in the propaganda would have been accepted by a town meeting supermajority.
A two-third majority today effectively took away the rights of the next generations’ two-thirds majorities. What a travesty this is for grass-roots democracy.
The conservation restriction was unnecessary.
What follows is the prepared text of the speech I gave at Lenox Town Meeting. (It must be noted that some Green-Rainbow Party members whose opinion and activism I respect voted in favor of the restriction.)
There are ample federal and state provisions in place already for watershed and ridgeline protection in Lenox. The most important is our town meeting form of government and fact that we, the town, own the land.
When I say that I have trust in local government to protect public land that is not to mean that I always trust the Select Board or other elites in the world of officialdom [and the non-profit establishment] to make the decisions that Town Meeting simply rubber-stamps. We at town meeting can, we should, and we have in the past stood up as an open grassroots democratic body to reject ill-conceived recommendations like this, even those made in good faith.
Last year I joined many groups in opposition to the ‘wind energy siting reform act,’ gravely concerned that the act would have removed local control of wind energy siting by placing permitting authority into the hands of a small appointed board. While some fellow opponents of the bill never offered up their own definition of what ‘local control’ actually was, I asserted that ‘local control’ be defined as either a voter referendum or a town meeting vote for such larger-scale environmentally impactful permits.
This article is written to remove local control of public land from future town meeting voters and from the next generations in whom we have done so much to instill respect for the environment. I think the article displays an arrogant lack of confidence in future democracy and a lack of faith in the next generation of leaders. Lenox does not need a 35-page legal document, more bureaucracy, and a non-town entity to protect property that we publicly own.
Perhaps the town meeting form of government and town meeting authority itself, which our town manager praised earlier at this meeting, that is the institution in true need of protection.
Please vote no.