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Showing posts from November, 2023

Enfield Can’t Outsource Its Conscience

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  Community Conversation forum May 7 2025 Sometimes you have to explain yourself. At the Community Conversations last night, I was slightly angry when speaking about the waste outsourcing issue—especially when I demanded the release of the “damn” consulting report. That was rude of me, and I felt bad afterward. Still, my anger over outsourcing comes from years of experience. I don’t fault the Council Republicans or Mayor Ken Nelson, who received my quiet anger, for investigating outsourcing. It’s the government's job to explore options. Many towns outsource; many reject it. But if this town thinks residents will approve it in a referendum, they’re not reading the room. Anyone who’s worked for a sizable company likely knows someone affected by outsourcing. Few speak well of it. As a former tech reporter at Computerworld, I covered IT management, which often meant reporting on outsourcing. Companies rarely wanted to talk. My job was to find the IT workers losing their jobs and repor...

Voter turnout will be crucial if Democrats hope to retain Enfield's Council majority

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  In the 2021 municipal election, Enfield Democrats won 7 out of the 11 council seats, helped by a voter turnout of about 7,850 -- a substantial 19% increase over the 2019 municipal election. To maintain a majority, the Democrats will likely need a similarly strong turnout on Nov. 7 But the Democrats face obstacles this time because of revaluation. Property taxes increased by around 10% for many.  Meanwhile, council Republicans are leveraging this increase in taxes. They've taken to their mailers, chastising Democrats as having "gone hog wild with taxes and spending." Aside from being false, this criticism overlooks Enfield's underlying issues — issues for which the Republicans, after 14 years at the helm, cannot evade responsibility. You can think about revaluation like Warren Buffett talks about stock market declines: "Only when the tide goes out do you learn who has been swimming naked." It means everything looked good until the market crashes, and then p...