I was curious about what the facts really are relative to how the Town of South Berwick has received and spent money over the last 10 years, and how this compares to the budget to be voted on at Town Meeting on June 2. People are saying a lot of things in this budget debate, and I wanted to see what the facts showed.

My questions included:
- What are the trends in the Town’s total spending?
- How does this compare to our non-property tax revenues? And importantly:
- What are the trends in our general fund balance (analogous in many ways to the Town’s “savings account”). (more…)

The following is a statement that South Berwick citizen Scott Landis recently made at an information meeting concerning the proposed recall amendment coming before voters on June 10.

I have stood up on various occasions in this room to express my misgivings about the political process here in town. In the past, I voiced my concern that our town council or the administration had failed to adequately invite or consider public opinion.

Tonight I’m raising my voice again about process, but my concern is not about the undemocratic tendencies of our government. It’s about the attempt by fellow citizens to undermine the most fundamental democratic process of that government: the right to vote. Here in South Berwick, we operate under a blended “Council—Town Meeting—Manager” form of government, in which “the town meeting [or citizens] vote on the budget and our [elected] council tends to all other legislative functions.” This is a close approximation of the republican form of government that applies at the national level, as well. (more…)

Note from Molly: Many are concerned about the hurtful words and accusations being used at public meetings and in this blog and want to encourage communication that builds our community instead of dividing it. South Berwick resident Scott Landis offers his thoughts here.

An 1833 book on population coined the term “tragedy of the commons” to describe a dynamic of medieval village life in which narrow self-interest was allowed to run amok. Over-grazing of the public commons by one individual’s sheep turned out to be a disaster for the herd and its owner as well as for the environment and the community at large. The farmer unwittingly became the agent of his own demise.

This 19th-century concept, which probably has much earlier roots, has been applied to many ecological disasters since. Indeed, it has become shorthand for any condition in which “free access, and unrestricted demand for a finite resource, ultimately dooms that resource to over-exploitation.” The phenomenon has been used to describe the decline of the world’s great forests and the decimation of the North Atlantic cod fishery.

Some might argue that the metaphor only applies to ecological relationships, but it seems to me we are suffering a parallel modern crisis in public communication that is every bit as tragic and perhaps even more dangerous than any environmental disaster we have faced. (more…)