Quotes

Here’s what Arlington has to say about the override:

Tell us why YOU are voting Yes!

  • I want to see Arlington continue to grow as a strong community with services & infrastructure that supports all of its residents, regardless of age, background or beliefs. —Byron Delabarre
  • While I don’t have kids, I value education, and I don’t want the quality of Arlington’s schools to decline further on my watch. Arlington will stop being a desirable place to live unless we can keep up basic services. The reality is, Arlington’s funds from the state and federal governments have plummeted, and we taxpayers are the only other source. —Riley Hart
  • I support the override for the same reasons that I would replace an old roof at the first sign of a leak — because it’s cheaper to prevent a disaster than to clean up after it.
    If this override doesn’t pass, the damage to the town’s reputation, to the education of our students, and to our property values will greatly exceed the dollar value of the override. —Linda Katz
  • We simply cannot let support for the schools or libraries or snow removal fall any further.
    We need to keep our property values up as well as the ability to sell our homes in a declining town.
    I’m on unemployment, but I’m still going to vote YES !!!
    It is absolutely essential. —Meg Candilore
  • It is my belief our town officials and employees do the best they can without waste and it is time for us to show our support with this override. —Shirley Duggan
  • We need to keep our town services and schools from falling behind. —Wendy Richter
  • Our schools and public services are important to the future of our town. They need to be maintained properly for the well being of everyone. —Jeff Paykuss
  • I’ve raised three children who have attended Arlington public schools. I want to ensure that other students have the same great education. I have lived here over 20 years, and appreciate the wonderful community, parks, library, and services for seniors. I want Arlington to continue to have sufficient police, fire, and public works services. —Mona Zeftel
  • It is time to make a new fiscal plan for our community. I value our strong libraries, want good schools and parks, and hope for adequate fire and police protection. I hate to see Arlington not able to provide what our citizens need and value. —Judi Paradis
  • Arlington needs these services for everyone. —Shannon Knuth
  • I want my children to have the same opportunities and experiences in the Arlington Public Schools as I had as a student. The upcoming cuts will significantly diminish our system’s ability to deliver a sound and competitive education to the children of Arlington. —Gregg Malatesta
  • Guess I am just selfish. After 43 years at Arlington High School, I am watching the school and all of our programs being eliminated bit by bit. This is unprecedented. We’ve had hard times before, but this is more than just ‘hard times’. It’s the end of the town as we know it. —Nanci Ortwein
  • I want to keep Arlington a great place to live and raise a family! —Joel Olicker
  • The cuts have hurt every aspect of the town and every citizen of Arlington. Without this override, the entire community of Arlington will suffer–every one who lives or works here. I love Arlington and want it to remain a wonderful town that offers a high quality of life to all of us. —Emily Twaddell
  • Very important for our town’s future… —Gordon Jamieson
  • We need to support the excellent educational program that has evolved in Arlington. We have great schools and great leadership. We must financially support their efforts. —Henry Olds
  • I support the override because we need to keep as many teachers, police, firemen and public works workers employed so we can keep the services we expect in Arlington. If we let employees go, we will end up with more families in stress and we will start to see an erosion in our town. I am so glad our representatives passed the house bill so we can save health care costs and I am hoping the Senate will do the same before the override so we can make sure override revenue goes directly to personnel and not to the insurance companies! —Colleen Kirby
  • My children — ALL Arlington children — deserve the kind of excellent public education that has made Arlington a successful community over the past decade and longer.
    My neighbors — ALL of us — deserve the kind of safe and healthy community that can only be guaranteed by robust public services.
    Our teachers, firefighters, police officers — ALL our public servants — deserve to keep the jobs at which they excel.
    —Alison Frank
  • Education is our best investment. The extra expense of this proposed override on Arlington home and business owners presents an immediate hardship, however the cost of inadequate education is one that our children and community will carry forever. —Amy Bledsoe
  • We are at a crossroads. We can choose to support our public schools and other vital local services, or we can witness their steady decline.
    I choose the first path. — Joe Curro
  • There comes a time and place where you have to pay for what you receive. I want the best for my family, and supporting the services that bring value to Arlington is worth the cost of the override. The alternative could lead to a longer downward spiral where services disappear along with property values. YES is the way to go. —Christian Klein
  • In the short term, Arlington can’t do much to control the fact that state financial and federal funding to Arlington has been going down and that health care and other costs have been going up. 

    The town has responded responsibly to the financial pressures and made some really hard choices. Police officers, firefighters, and teachers have been laid off. The school system (one of the best in the state!) lost 32 teachers last year alone. Department of Public Works staff have been reduced by 2/3 since 1990. Senior and youth and library support programs have been cut. The Arlington teacher’s union recently voted to accept reduced health care benefits and zero to minimal (retroactive) raises for 2010-11. But we still face a deficit, and even more layoffs are looming. What else can we do?

    Well, we may not be able to control state and federal funding, but we can vote YES for Arlington. We can decide that public safety, education, social services, and public works are basic community NEEDS that we have to support. We have cut the town and school budgets to the bone and cutting further will negatively impact the quality of life of almost everyone in town, not to mention the chances of our kids (and our town!) to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. If you are not going to vote for public safety, education, and social services for your neighbors, what are you going to vote for? VOTE YES FOR ARLINGTON! Arlington is a great town – let’s keep it that way. —Deb Savage

  • It bothers me that our high schoolers have to pay exorbitant fees to play sports. Also, I think the Arlington High School music and drama programs are outstanding. I would hate to see them marginalized or discarded.
    I think the Town is pretty well run and that the Selectmen and Town Meeting are doing a good job keeping their eye on things. —Dick Terry
  • This override keeps things where they are at this point in time. But in an ideal world, if I had my druthers, we’d be reaching for the stars in this town. But we need at least the *platform* to reach. —Flynn Monks
  • In the absence of increased federal and state aid, I feel there is no choice but to support this override. Taxes are the price we pay for civilization, someone older and wiser once said. —Steven Delbanco
  • We are a community. It is up to us to take care of each other – our kids, our seniors our families. —Barbara Goodman
  • I support the override because I believe in Arlington and the community values the override will support: continued excellence in education, safe streets, quality public services, and sound fiscal management of the town’s resources. —Jennifer Norris
  • Good, strong schools are critical to the long-term viability of Arlington. —Colin Orians
  • Local taxes are where you get the highest return per dollar, when you expect funding to come from the federal government half of every dollar is sent to the military, raising our taxes in Arlington will mean that every penny will be spent in our community. —Frank Jackson
  • Simple: We need it – badly! —Dick Smith
  • I am primarily concerned about the quality of the school system and class sizes, but also concerned about the overall ability of the town to deliver baseline services (fire, police, public works). An override will help Arlington maintain these necessary services, and help the town retain its position as a coveted community in which to live. —Andrew Ward
  • For the last 8 years I have been watching the town cut budgets and therefore cut services, and leave an ever- increasing number of town positions unstaffed due to our financial crisis. We have been losing some of our best teaching staff, especially the last two years, in part because of the uncertainty from year to year of their contract details and their low job security. Plus, every year we have been asking more and more of all our town staff, without balance in compensation. I feel we are at the point of cuts to core services in all areas and that the current statis quo of 2.5 % increase in taxes just doesn’t match the town’s needs. —Gayle Namchuk

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