Medway Voices

Please take the poll and make your comments.

Note: Only registered users can take the poll however anyone can comment.  This is to protect against poll flooding.  A registered user can only vote once. Click Here to register.

I think the way you have worded your question is going to skew your results. You have excluded police and fire from the "better municipal service" aspect of the poll, thereby weeding out all those who may have chosen this answer because they are concerned about those areas. It would have been a more fair poll if you had simply offered the three choices without limited the respondents' options.

Aren't schools part of town services?

Anonymous,

You have a very good point.  I just wanted to eliminate the obvious.  That is that safety is an assumed number one priority.  Perhaps more clarity on what can be categorized as "Town Services" is required.  Some of the services I lump into this category are senior center, library, roads, sewage and water, etc...  I'm sure I'm missing more.  What are your thoughts?

Andy

I guess my thoughts are that it seems as though EVERYTHING in this town is about the schools. They have a very hard core group of supporters that are willing to push the issue to extreme lengths and are seen to be the cause of much of the dissention in town. The majority of citizens, from those I speak to in my neighborhood and at my children's activities, do not seem to be on board with the presentation being made that Medway schools are in dire straits and the perception being made that they are "bad". I am offended by this characterization, and feel that the antagonism in town and this perception created in media of our dying school system has done alot more to decrease our property values than any non-override ever could. The people I speak with are more concerned with the whole package - yes the schools but not exclusively. The people I speak with see the schools as more part of the problem than part of the solution. I don't know you and am aware you are running for BOS. I want to give every candidate a fair chance to convince me to vote for them, but I don't want any new officials who are going to look at our town's problems in this one-sided manner.

I guess my thoughts are that it seems as though EVERYTHING in this town is about the schools. They have a very hard core group of supporters that are willing to push the issue to extreme lengths and are seen to be the cause of much of the dissention in town. The majority of citizens, from those I speak to in my neighborhood and at my children's activities, do not seem to be on board with the presentation being made that Medway schools are in dire straits and the perception being made that they are "bad". I am offended by this characterization, and feel that the antagonism in town and this perception created in media of our dying school system has done alot more to decrease our property values than any non-override ever could. The people I speak with are more concerned with the whole package - yes the schools but not exclusively. The people I speak with see the schools as more part of the problem than part of the solution. I don't know you and am aware you are running for BOS. I want to give every candidate a fair chance to convince me to vote for them, but I don't want any new officials who are going to look at our town's problems in this one-sided manner.

Anonymous,

Very well put.  The key statement I see in your response is "The people I speak with are more concerned with the whole package..."  I believe we should solve our issues as a whole.  The question I have is; how we see our town as a whole in 1, 2, 5, and 10 years?  As such, we should base are financial decisions on that vision.  This is opposite of allowing the dollars to dictate our vision.  If the town's people believe our town should be "X" then we should fund to be "X".  If the town's people believe we should be "Y" then we should fund to "Y".  You are right about solving our issues as a whole.  My question is what does this town want to be like in the future?

Andy

I see we have another poll posted. Is this also designed to get a desired result? Last time I thought you gave too much information which impacted the result you would achieve. This time I think you have given too little information. The gut reaction to this poll is, Yes we should. On the other hand, many towns such as Lowell, Lawrence, Springfield, Holyoke, Orange, Boston, etc, etc, etc, spend more than Medway. Are their schools better based on this additional spending?? Also, other towns spend less than Medway - example Medfield. We can pretty factually say their schools are better. Therefore, how do we determine with clarity that simply spending more money is the answer to our school issues? Can we spend less and get the same results as Medfield? If so, I would take that option.

I agree.  I would be interested to see how much money the school budget is now as a percentage of the total, against what is was in say 1980. Incidentally they graduated approxiamtely 180 students in its Senior Class back then, very close to what is was last year.

Hi...

I believe you can have both quality town services and quality public schools so it should not be one or the other.  Bottom line is that Medway needs to decide what is want type of town it wants to be in the future.  The facts are that we are a small town with little infrastructure.  Yes, we can make it easier to promote new businesses to come to our town but at some point the townspeople will have to support an override to allow the town to move beyond level service funding.  From my perspective the next override on the ballot will be a watershed moment for our town.  That said, with a new town administrator in place, the town electing two new selectmen, and most importantly an accurate and up-to-date budget;  the time is ripe for an override to pass. 

Mark