Your Opinions

Your opinions are welcome and appreciated. Please send your questions to opinions@westfordtaxpayers.org. Letters are printed at the discretion of the WTA and may be edited for length and content.

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4/30/2007

Dear WTA,

I only hope that this does not evolve into a mean-spirited group of "conspiracy theorists" who feed on one another's pessimism and distrust. People complain about a lack of confidence in local government - but it's a two way street. Some of the rancor in town is created by whiners and complainers who do not give the decent people volunteering their time to make this a good place a chance. Aha - we found a mis-spent nickel. Fie!!!!
— Kate

Dear Kate,

We all need to remember that with a Town Meeting government, and all-volunteer boards, we are all part of local government. It isn't a matter of "us" versus "them." It is all "us," plus a few important people we hire to help us run the day-to-day operations. But we are the government. We call the shots.

If people want to whine and complain, there are already ample outlets for such activities. The fact that we've created this organization at all shows that we're interested in going far beyond complaining. Complaining won't accomplish our goals, and we want to be effective.

There is no shortage of advocacy groups in town, environmental, educational, athletic, etc., each bringing their own unique perspective, expertise, resources and energy to the debate, in an attempt to educate the community and participate in the democratic process. We're doing no more and certainly no less.

But if you do know of some mis-spent nickels, please do let us know.

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4/30/2007

Dear WTA,

There seems to be an appalling lack of information on this year's candidates for election. I would like to be able to access candidate info on this site in the future, especially in the absence of published data in the local press. Last year there was an abundance of information available online and in all three papers but this year has been eerily quiet.

— Stunned by Silence

Dear Stunned,

With only one contested race and no ballot questions, it has indeed been a quiet campaign season. The low density of campaign signs is another indicator. Although our 501(c)(4) status does not allow us to directly or indirectly participate in any candidate's or ballot committee's campaign, we believe we have value to offer in other ways, such as:

• Sending candidates questionnaires related to their tax orientation and publishing the results of these surveys.

• Offering candidates the opportunity to publicly take a "No tax increase," "No override" or "No fee increase" pledge.

• Providing the community pertinent educational material related to fiscal topics and issues of current interest in Westford.

• Hosting documents received in public document requests, such as campaign committee finance documents.

Unfortunately it is too late to do any of these things for this year's elections. But now that we are set up and organized, you can count on hearing more from us come next April!