Like many, I\u2019ve been watching the Tea Party.
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\nAnthony, my Fuel Coffee Shop buddy and Republican counterpart, has been drinking tea for a while.
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\nI\u2019m not talking about the corporate funded Tea Party, but the grassroots populist and libertarian movement.
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\nAnd, I didn\u2019t quite get the anti-government annoyance that fuels the Tea Partiers until recently. Until I realized we\u2019re approaching our own Tea Party Moment here in Great Barrington.
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\nOf course, small-town politics is very different than national politics. Our Selectmen are our neighbors. They shop in the same stores we do. And the fact is, they\u2019re motivated by a desire to serve our community, not money and power. I voted for each and every member of the Board of Selectman. So what am I talking about?
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\nIt feels to me like we\u2019re approaching a fork in the road. The Selectmen, led by the Town Manager, are committed to a downtown Revitalization Program, funded by state money in accordance with Massachusetts Department of Transportation guidelines and regulations.
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\nMany of us, including large numbers of Great Barrington\u2019s merchants, are worried about the scope and timing of the project. There\u2019s a growing disconnect between the governors and the governed. It doesn\u2019t have to be. And, in fact, we would all be better served to avoid our Tea Party Moment.
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\nPart of the problem is how we solve problems. In my own life, I have several times tried to solve the problem of starving-artist-syndrome by funding my filmmaking projects with state and federal grant money. Grants are wonderful gifts but they are gifts with many strings attached. If you want money to make a documentary film you have to describe in excruciating detail what your film will look like, what it will say, why it will be important, and what it will cost to the penny. To win the grant, you are prompted to create an imaginary film \u2013 a film that your judges will love, that answers in advance their every concern. In a way you end up making their film not your own.
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\nWhile downtown reconstruction is quite different than filmmaking, I imagine the grant process isn\u2019t all that different.
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\nThe town wants $3.76 million from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Mass DOT wants bike lanes and bump outs and has lots of ideas about ideal road conditions. To win you\u2019ve got to employ engineers and consultants who not only understand what the DOT requires but can successfully argue that what we\u2019re living with now just doesn\u2019t meet DOT criteria. And that we really need the DOT\u2019s help.
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\nThe consultants and engineers who offered their power point presentation at the Senior Center did a good job of doing their job. Unfortunately, there\u2019s a disconnect between our life experience and DOT-world. The DOT believes our Main Street lanes are too narrow. But we have made our peace with our narrow road, and especially appreciate the ability to turn right coming north onto Bridge Street and turn right going south onto Taconic to go up to Fairview Hospital. Accepting the DOT requirements means losing some trees and parking spaces and adding some time to turn onto Taconic when we need to go to the Emergency Room.
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\nI have a modest proposal \u2013 let\u2019s for the moment put aside the grant requirements and think about the biggest challenges for downtown. I\u2019ll start with my list: use modern day electronics to synchronize our traffic lights so pedestrians can cross the street from the Mahaiwe to Subway without the light turning red. Synchronization would allow traffic to move more efficiently from the Taconic Street light through the light by Bridge Street. Decrease accidents by assigning police officers to downtown traffic duty on busy weekend and summer days.
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\nWe now have a complete catalogue of all our sidewalk cracks, so let\u2019s start to patch them. Let\u2019s accept the fact that our trees are made by Mother Nature not man, and as such are unruly. If hit by lightning or snow or windstorms they might fall down. Then replace them one at a time as they die.
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\nLet\u2019s reduce our dependence on individual autos and create a model of green small-scale transportation to move people through town \u2013 small buses or vans or how about a solar-powered trolley. We can employ young people and retired folks as drivers.
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\nHow about a bold redesign \u2013 turning the Triplex parking lot into a town green\/children\u2019s park with our gazebo, and building the town parking garage we so desperately need? I can think of several possible places for it: across the railroad tracks on the Culleton property; in back of Town Hall; on the old firehouse property; or in back of Wheeler & Taylor?
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\nWhat\u2019s on your list?
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\nLet\u2019s work together to help the Selectboard solve our real problems. Let\u2019s use our Tea Party Moment to make Great Barrington even greater.
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\nThe Berkshire Record, December 2, 2010. \u00a9 Mickey Friedman
\n<\/br>
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