Prediction
Joe Biden will pardon Donald Trump. Joe Biden will pardon Hunter Biden. Kamala Harris will pardon Joe Biden
Library to close?
One has to wonder why the library is open after public claims that it is a fire hazard. Then again, the Concord Ave re-striping is a hazard itself as emergency vehicles get delayed and motorists and pedestrians risk life and limb exiting vehicles and crossing streets, yet it remains.
FOR SALE…
I will happily accept selling my home for the same per sq ft amount as the new opulent library is going to cost. Make the offer… cash not bitcoin. Waltham is calling. Will even throw in the sno-blower but I will need to clean the carburetor first. I am a Townie, so I try to fix things before tossing them. Think about it… less opposition against the Blogging Belmont kumbaya vision. $1.7m and all 1,800 sf are yours. If no takers, then can we please sell the Town to Cambridge for a Taco and medium Pepsi.
Diderot Effect
The famous French philosopher, Denis Diderot, lived the first 50 years of his life in poverty even though he was well known for his work in producing one of the leading encyclopedias in the mid 1700’s.
In 1765, he sold his work, for a small fortune to Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia. His actions that followed became known as the “Diderot Effect”. The Diderot effect can be explained this way… You overspend to build a fancy single purpose Senior Center… when it comes time for a new pool you feel the need for a fancy double sized pool. Not to be outdone let’s go for a $300m mega high school/ middle school. Gee now the library just looks small comparatively… might as well go for an opulent mega library over repair. Diderot after realizing his newfound fortune did not lead to happiness became a critic of materialism.
“Let my example teach you a lesson. Poverty has its freedoms; opulence has its obstacles.”
Election #1
Winners: Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsome. Clear frontrunners for 2024.
Loser #1: The Donald… this loss is on you Donald and as you say America doesn’t like losers. Take the pardon and move on.
Loser #2: Hunter Biden. Daddy is going to need to bail you out again but this time only a pardon will work.
Loser #3 Joe “Big Guy” Biden. Even if he can get the DOJ to wrist slap his felon son. The optics of an 80 something barely cognitive Biden running against a 50 something energetic successful Florida Governor will not be allowed by the DNC.
The State Questions
56% of Belmont voters approve the progressive income tax. Wow. 69% supported driver licenses for illegal immigrants! My math would indicate Socialism is probably viewed favorably by more than half the Town. Next Robocall I will have my Venezuelan and Cuban friends knock some sense into them.
The Town Questions
The library passed by a large margin. While the more informed (day of) vote was closer in margin, it would not have mattered had the No campaign started earlier as the Diderot effect was clearly in play. Progressives coming out in droves, as shown with the passing of Q1 and Q4, sealed the vote easily.
The rink passed on the “day of” votes but was hit hard by the early voters leading to a rejection of the rink by 365 votes. Mr. Books and Blades didn’t deliver on the blades, but did he even try? (1,062 Yes Library voters ended up circling NO on the rink). Had they just blanked the question the rink would have passed. Not a surprise as the most vocal of the anti-rink crowd and the prior public/private rink plan have been vocal Library supporters. As seen on social media they argue that other Towns don’t have rinks (blah, blah, blah).
Was the vote sabotaged? Hard to say. Townie Talk was vocal in supporting the rink itself as a critical Town asset but also critical of the additions the committee felt they needed to make to get the rink on the ballot and to win. The $33m price tag even had rink supporters gasping. I wish they had designed the rink to allow adding the Harris Field locker rooms, Solar panels, and parking area sometime in the future. Would knocking $8-$10m off the price have switched 183 votes… maybe. Is it too late now… maybe. Now that the library has been approved Townie Talk has heard from reliable sources that the same crew is already talking up the Collins report (the one that says the Town has a huge structural deficit being funded by one-time funds) a tool they will now use to push for an Override but wanted hidden until the $39.5m library was cleared.
Which begs to ask… why do Belmont progressives love material things and higher taxes but when given the opportunity to stand up for Town employees on multiple occasions they go dark. Think about it…. The misogyny claim used to cover for demeaning treatment of Union Reps. Spray gate occurs and is met with silence from the left. The comment relayed to me at a Union rally that Belmont is a progressive Town, but the love stops at employee wages and benefits. The years working without contracts followed by leaders with the nerve to say the Town cares about the morale of public safety workers.
You get what you pay for. A nicely compensated worker will stay and can be counted on to do more with less when lean times require it. A disrespected workforce will not. It was said prior to the last failed override that the Town would look to negotiate employee concessions to help balance the budget. Imagine being a Town worker and seeing a $300m HS and now a $40m Library pass easily…and then having to pull teeth to get a 1.5-2% raise after working through Covid or worse be without a contract for 2+ years. Materialism has consequences. “Opulence has obstacles”.
The Town has shown a willingness to spend grotesquely on “opulent buildings”. As a result, the less affluent in Town have no choice but to reject any overrides because they quite frankly can’t afford the absurdly high taxes. The progressive thirst for more spending has reached “classism” levels in which economic diversity can no longer keep up with their spending habits. At the same time the excessive wants of the progressive voters is also being paid for on the back of the Town and School employees. People don’t like being called “Elitist” or “Classist”, but the end result is that. The Yankee Conservative Town that made it possible for all economic classes to co-exist is no longer. Legends like Bill Monahan and Angelo Firenze may have seen it as inevitable but fought hard to preserve it for one last generation. Now too many interlopers with visions of grandeur couldn’t see the forest for the trees. The oasis known as Belmont has passed away… Tuesday, Nov 8th 2022.