Manchester School Renovation Decision Criticized

Michael Pohl, Democratic town chairman, said the Republican directors used stalling tactics to avoid addressing the need for town school renovations when the board voted last week to hold a workshop on the ...

[Roxanne]

Republicans don't care about our schools. Part of Verplanck's tax base is Squire Village and it's doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Republicans don't exactly live in fear of residents of Squire Village not backing them in the next election.

[Mike Farina]

In order to be thoughtful about town spending, we need to know how much renovations at Verplanck School are going to cost. And without that information for the workshop, we can't fully discuss how much our priorities are going to cost us, so I ask again: how can our schools really be "a priority" if the majority is still unwilling to learn how much the renovations will cost?

[bam bam]

Highland gets theirs, but not Verplank. Shoulda seen this one comin'. Verplank was definitely in worse shape than Highland, and should have been the higher priority.

[Remember in November]

Roxanne wrote:

Republicans don't care about our schools. Part of Verplanck's tax base is Squire Village and it's doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Republicans don't exactly live in fear of residents of Squire Village not backing them in the next election.

Seems pretty short sighted to this reader. And bad politics.

While some of the students are from the apartments in Squire Village, the majority of the school's population is comprised from the many neighborhoods of single family homes. Their home values are tied in part to the quality of the neighborhood school. With the state reimbursing for most of the renovations, the direct cost to the local taxpayer is relatively small.

In any event, the Board of Directors cannot make the decision to bond. It is for the voters to decide at referendum whether or not they want to incur this direct cost and take advantage of the state reimbursement. The Republicans have been clamoring for years about giving the voters the right to a referendum to approve or disapprove of the annual budget, so it seems curious they would deny the voters the right to a referendum this fall to see if they wanted to take advantage of the state's reimbursement. They are taking away your right to choose by maneuvering the question off the ballot.

Some message the Republican are sending to the families and property owners of the Verplanck school district!

But cheer up Verplanck voters. You can still have the last word of sorts. Verplanck is in the 13th Assembly district. One of the Republican directors, Cheri Pelletier, wants to represent this district in the House of Representatives and is running for election this fall.

While she and her friends can play games in the short run to prevent you from voting to improve your neighborhood school, you can return the favor by not voting for her to represent you in Hartford!

[Too much expense]

So we now see the paln. When the voters rejected the 200 million dollar request years ago, the school board decided to 6 and 8 million dollar us to death. First the priority was the high school, then the middle schools. Now lets forces votes in the middle of the year when people don't turn out to vote. Tax and Spend is alice and well in Manchester

[And Your Point Is]

Too much expense wrote:

So we now see the paln. When the voters rejected the 200 million dollar request years ago, the school board decided to 6 and 8 million dollar us to death. First the priority was the high school, then the middle schools. Now lets forces votes in the middle of the year when people don't turn out to vote. Tax and Spend is alice and well in Manchester

I miss your point. Buildings become obsolete. A 35 year old Hartford Civic Center is keeping the NHL from returning to Hartford. Homeowners take out home equity loans to upgrade their kitchens, bathrooms, new siding and to put on additions. Why should the schools be any different?

[House value in the tank]

Remember in November wrote:

<quoted text>
Seems pretty short sighted to this reader. And bad politics.
While some of the students are from the apartments in Squire Village, the majority of the school's population is comprised from the many neighborhoods of single family homes. Their home values are tied in part to the quality of the neighborhood school. With the state reimbursing for most of the renovations, the direct cost to the local taxpayer is relatively small.
In any event, the Board of Directors cannot make the decision to bond. It is for the voters to decide at referendum whether or not they want to incur this direct cost and take advantage of the state reimbursement. The Republicans have been clamoring for years about giving the voters the right to a referendum to approve or disapprove of the annual budget, so it seems curious they would deny the voters the right to a referendum this fall to see if they wanted to take advantage of the state's reimbursement. They are taking away your right to choose by maneuvering the question off the ballot.
Some message the Republican are sending to the families and property owners of the Verplanck school district!
But cheer up Verplanck voters. You can still have the last word of sorts. Verplanck is in the 13th Assembly district. One of the Republican directors, Cheri Pelletier, wants to represent this district in the House of Representatives and is running for election this fall.
While she and her friends can play games in the short run to prevent you from voting to improve your neighborhood school, you can return the favor by not voting for her to represent you in Hartford!

You can be assured that we will 'remember in November'.

What we will remember, though, is that prior to the Republicans gaining a majority, we had over two decades of the Democrat's abysmal mismanagement and leftist, socialist policy agenda that has now left us with $7,000 property tax bills on houses we can't sell for anywhere near the value of similar houses in surrounding communities.

The Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) results are horrible.

Manchester = 39.7% met the goal for math; 39.0% for science; 38.6% for reading.
Vernon = 45.3 math 47.0 science 38.7 reading
Bolton 74.2 math 63.1 science 65.2 reading
Hebron 71.0 math 69.6 science 63.4 reading

Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) third-grade statewide reading testing results for 2008:

"Early reading ability is a critical foundation for academic success"

Marlborough = 77.8% 3rd grade level
Glastonbury = 75.7
Bolton = 75.4
Hebron = 68.9
Coventry = 66.7
Tolland = 65.7
Andover = 64.3
South Windsor = 61.5
STATEWIDE AVE.= 52.1
Manchester = 49.0

Why would ANYBODY want to buy a home in this town and send their children to its public schools with the evidence of such abysmal test results, coupled with the out-of-control discipline issues throughout the system. The Democrats have long been enablers to a union-hack mentality, and we are now left with a school system that ranks with such intellectual giants as East Hartford and Bloomfield.

The issue is not to whine over repairs to one school -- i.e., in this case Verplanck -- when the entire system has had 20 years of Democrat-controlled leadership driving it into the ground.

Worrying now about refurbishments to one school -- Verplanck -- IS an example of the classic cliche of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Please ... no more Democrats!

[Remember in November]

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text>
You can be assured that we will 'remember in November'.
What we will remember, though, is that prior to the Republicans gaining a majority, we had over two decades of the Democrat's abysmal mismanagement and leftist, socialist policy agenda that has now left us with $7,000 property tax bills on houses we can't sell for anywhere near the value of similar houses in surrounding communities.

Worrying now about refurbishments to one school -- Verplanck -- IS an example of the classic cliche of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Please ... no more Democrats!

No more Democrats? Well based on the mess the Republicans made of this nation, state and town, starting with the Bush-Cheney White House, it is clear that the answer is NOT to elect anymore Republicans!

This truth is self evident at the local level. The Republicans produced a tax increase in their very first budget! They lied about the percentage, but it was a tax increase even greater than the minority Democrats proposed.

They claimed this was a "taxpayer's budget" because it had "No big tax hikes"! I thought Republicans stood for "No new taxes"! Oh well. I should have read their lips better I guess.
According to the mayor, the Republicans enacted this budget in May because "Manchester’s taxpayers are driving to work, they are paying higher prices at the gas pump as gasoline approaches $4/per gallon....". Well guess what? Gas has not only approached $4.00 per gallon, it has surpassed it and is approaching $4.50 per gallon! Guess their insight isn't too good. There goes the fuel budget for the town and school vehicle fleet. Can you spell "budget deficits"?

You can tell "House values in the tank" is a Manchester Republican because he/she is angry and raging like he/she just has been cut off in traffic and he/she addresses problems with rage against the Democrats instead of responsible stewardship.

Sadly, when you parse through the Republicans' angry rhetoric, it should be obvious to the voters in the Verplanck school neighborhood that the Republicans are well aware that Verplanck School needs fixing, there is a mechanism to allow it to be done where the state would pay most of the costs, but they don't want to let the voters decide in a referendum whether the school should be fixed. Perhaps they believe that letting the state pick up most of the tab for the school renovation is a "leftist, socialist policy agenda"; except of course when they spend our taxes for new schools for the oil rich Iraqi school kids.

So if you live in the Verplanck neighborhood, I guess the GOP's answer is to move either to Baghdad or the Highland School neighborhood if you want a good school building for your child.

[House value in the tank]

Remember in November wrote:

<quoted text>
No more Democrats? Well based on the mess the Republicans made of this nation, state and town, starting with the Bush-Cheney White House, it is clear that the answer is NOT to elect anymore Republicans!

It should have been obvious that his original post was a sham come-on post, ostensibly offered to 'inform' forum readers of his purported concerns regarding the physical conditions of Verplanck School.

But then in his follow-up post, he goes beserk -- citing the "Bush-Cheney White House", Iraq, gasoline, climate change, etc., etc.-- in other words, the tired leftist mantra playbook.

Strangely, though, he conventiently avoided any mention of the town's current dilemma regarding the atrocious CAPT and CMT student testing scores, and the fact that the aggregate and indexed scores for both tests are now solidly BELOW the statewide average. These testing failures can not be laid at the steps of The White House, The State Capitol, or attributed to George Bush or **** Cheney.

All politics are local. You want to talk about George Bush. I want to talk about Manchester; and the dilemma faced by my children, and especially my high-school-aged daughter who, despite being in the National Honor Society, struggles against an out-of-control disciplanary infrastructure which promotes an unsafe school environment.
I want to know why a 20-year, Democrat-controlled Board of Directors and Board of Education have left us firmly competing with Meriden, East Hartford, Bloomfield, Willimantic, and New Britain.

You insist that the issue in your mind is only about Verplanck School, but your obvious hidden agenda is the same worn-out, failed, 20-year-old, hack-infested slackarama that has now given us disproportionately exhorbitant property taxes on homes whose values and saleability are only marginal at best. And these conditions are now exascerbated by student performance scores that now rank the town in the bottom fifth of statewide testing levels.

While it would be wonderful to address the immediate physical wants and needs of all of our schools -- and especially Verplanck -- I, like a growing number of Manchester's voters, have awakened and we are more concerned with the badly needed performance improvements. These poor scores have already been widely discussed by real estate agents, appraisers, mortgage banking professionals -- AND POTENTIAL BUYERS!

The value of my property is not going to be based on the physical appearance or amenities of a school, but it will most definately be adversely affected by the published results of indexed scores of students' test scores -- especially given that only 39% of all students throughout the town met even the most minimal performance standards.

You don't get it. But that's OK, because the publishing of the CAPT and CMT scores, coupled with the huge undercurrent of parental discontent regarding parents' seeing an enabling and coddling disciplinary infrastructure will cause a tidal wave in November. And it won't be Democratic -- despite what happens on the national or state level.

[downeaster]

What Stinks wrote:

Manchester schools stink.

it isn't the physical plants, or the lack of qualified personnel. or a weak ciriculum in manchester that stinks, it's the stupidity of the parents that think more money will make their dumb children smart.

they need an emphasis on education and the importance of it in the home, they need to make sure thei children aren't carrying weapons, drugs etc to school, they need to learn to read and write so they can help with homework.

everyone is spouting statistics about squire village-what are the ed levels of the parents that are residents and trying to better the lives of their children. maybe some ed courses for them on a regular basis might improve the attitude they have and in turn impart on their children.

manchester needs to figure this out. it isn't the buildings.

[Eyes open in Manchester]

Time for a history lesson: Manchester's schools, scores and facilities were second to none in this state under Republican Leadership! Under the last two decades of Dem Leadership,schools were neglected, scores fell and now our facilities are tired and outdated. By the way, a new paint job and windows doesn't equal a new or even "like new" school. And lets review the recent expenditures for public schools--This year Manchester High had a new "wing", enrollment went down. Bennet received a $40 million rehab and guess what- private school enrollment numbers for the six grade this fall are through the roof. More students than slots; So much for the buildings make the difference... It's all about the demographic shift and the scores. Our surrounding communities have new schools, top scores and Republican Leadership! Ask yourself who's leading Hartford, East Hartford, Bloomfield and all the group G schools? Ans= Democrats. Yeah keep voting them in and keep watching enrollment drop as well as house values. At this point, Republicans are our only hope- Keep them local and send them to the State!

[Remember in November]

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text>

Man are you "in the tank" or just "tanked"? Before I school you, let me give you some non-partisan friendly advice. If you drink, you should not drive, call or text old girlfriends late at night, or post on the Courant about Manchester school issues. Doing any of the three is bad and you look like a fool in the morning.
Now down to business. You are going to get the abbreviated schooling because I don't have much time.
#1)

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text>
It should have been obvious that his original post was a sham come-on post, ostensibly offered to 'inform' forum readers of his purported concerns regarding the physical conditions of Verplanck School.
But then in his follow-up post, he goes beserk -- citing the "Bush-Cheney White House", Iraq, gasoline, climate change, etc., etc.-- in other words, the tired leftist mantra playbook.

I wasn't "coming-on" to you dude. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But I am very concerned about the physical condition of Verplanck. "Leftist mantra playbook"? Huh? I think W. is the worst president we ever had -- most Americans, a record number in fact, share that opinion. I am sure you do too. Like most Americans, I also think Iraq was a strategic and tactical mistake. Most everyone thinks gasoline prices are too high. If you refer to my prior post, you will read that our mayor thought prices were too high when gas was under $4.00 per gallon in May. Does that make him a leftist? I think climate change needs to be addressed rather than ignored as it threatens our country and world. Most Americans and Fortune 500 companies agree with me. John McCain agrees with me. Being green is cool. All of what I write about is shared by the vast majority of our citizens yet you call it leftist mantra. Well sir, I resent you branding me and the vast majority of Americans as communists!

2)

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text>
Strangely, though, he conventiently avoided any mention of the town's current dilemma regarding the atrocious CAPT and CMT student testing scores, and the fact that the aggregate and indexed scores for both tests are now solidly BELOW the statewide average. These testing failures can not be laid at the steps of The White House, The State Capitol, or attributed to George Bush or **** Cheney.
All politics are local. You want to talk about George Bush. I want to talk about Manchester; and the dilemma faced by my children, and especially my high-school-aged daughter who, despite being in the National Honor Society, struggles against an out-of-control disciplanary infrastructure which promotes an unsafe school environment.

I am not happy about the test scores either. But I do place the blame in great part on Bush and his "No Child Left Behind Act" and other federal mandates. Also, the State plays a great role in all the Connecticut school districts and imposes a significant amount of mandates on the school districts. A local school board's ability to be innovative is limited by federal and state law. I don't blame you for not wanting to talk about Bush or Cheney either. Remember Katrina?
Congratulations on your daughter's academic achievement. But I guess her success undercuts your argument about our schools being so bad.

[Remember in November]

-----CONTINUED ------

3)

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text>
I want to know why a 20-year, Democrat-controlled Board of Directors and Board of Education have left us firmly competing with Meriden, East Hartford, Bloomfield, Willimantic, and New Britain.

The Republicans have controlled the Board of Ed during this period and we had plenty of 5-4 boards. Plus, most of the votes are bipartisan. So go away and stop causing trouble where there is none.
4)

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text>
You insist that the issue in your mind is only about Verplanck School, but your obvious hidden agenda is the same worn-out, failed, 20-year-old, hack-infested slackarama that has now given us disproportionately exhorbitant property taxes on homes whose values and saleability are only marginal at best. And these conditions are now exascerbated by student performance scores that now rank the town in the bottom fifth of statewide testing levels.

Your poor spelling is unacceptable. I think I understand what you are writing and suffice it to say that I think you are nuts.
5)

House value in the tank wrote:

<quoted text> While it would be wonderful to address the immediate physical wants and needs of all of our schools -- and especially Verplanck -- I, like a growing number of Manchester's voters, have awakened and we are more concerned with the badly needed performance improvements. These poor scores have already been widely discussed by real estate agents, appraisers, mortgage banking professionals -- AND POTENTIAL BUYERS!
The value of my property is not going to be based on the physical appearance or amenities of a school, but it will most definately be adversely affected by the published results of indexed scores of students' test scores -- especially given that only 39% of all students throughout the town met even the most minimal performance standards.
You don't get it. But that's OK, because the publishing of the CAPT and CMT scores, coupled with the huge undercurrent of parental discontent regarding parents' seeing an enabling and coddling disciplinary infrastructure will cause a tidal wave in November. And it won't be Democratic -- despite what happens on the national or state level.

Well now you are repeating yourself, mis-spelling, slurring your words and boring me.
Suffice it to say that any solution to our academic performance issues will necessarily entail fixing our school buildings.
The Highland Park School was a disgrace. They were afforded the right to a referendum to fix it (financed mostly by the state) which 70% of the voters approved.
Verplanck is in even worse shape. Both schools should have been on the same ballot. The Verplanck community also deserves a referendum this November.

[Remember in November]

Eyes open in Manchester wrote:

Time for a history lesson: Manchester's schools, scores and facilities were second to none in this state under Republican Leadership! Under the last two decades of Dem Leadership,schools were neglected, scores fell and now our facilities are tired and outdated. By the way, a new paint job and windows doesn't equal a new or even "like new" school. And lets review the recent expenditures for public schools--This year Manchester High had a new "wing", enrollment went down. Bennet received a $40 million rehab and guess what- private school enrollment numbers for the six grade this fall are through the roof. More students than slots; So much for the buildings make the difference... It's all about the demographic shift and the scores. Our surrounding communities have new schools, top scores and Republican Leadership! Ask yourself who's leading Hartford, East Hartford, Bloomfield and all the group G schools? Ans= Democrats. Yeah keep voting them in and keep watching enrollment drop as well as house values. At this point, Republicans are our only hope- Keep them local and send them to the State!

History Lesson? I think not!

No boys and girls, it is time for an ethics lesson.

The name "Eyes open in Manchester" has been used by a regular Courant poster who offered thoughtful comment on stories and issues concerning Manchester.

"Eyes open in Manchester"'s best work and insight was done in exposing Cheri Pelletier and the lie she told concerning the filing of her nomination papers. "Eyes open in Manchester" caught her cold and she went undergound.

Now some Republican Kool-Aid drinker has misappropriated this good name and posts rubbish like you see above. The faux "Eyes open in Manchester" was even cautioned about it in the Pelletier scandal comment section on Friday by the real "Eyes open in Manchester".

Some pieces of work these Republican posters are. They defend Cheri for her shameless lies and false accusations against the Secretary of State and now condone Internet Posting Name Identity Theft.(Makes you wonder what their real motives were in enacting the Landlord registration ordinance which required the disclosure of so much personal info.)

But seriously, is the faux "Eyes open in Manchester" such a dullard that he/she can't think of an original name to post under? And they want to lead Manchester?

[House value in the tank]

I'm trying to understand the gist of your original protestations. Purportedly, it was as a parent ostensibly concerned over needed physical improvements to Verplanck School. But then you continually obsess over Cheri Pelletier. Face it, your the message of the circa-1980 Democrat machine. Are you a Teamsters organizer?

One would expect nothing more from a leftist loser than to see him confirm his self-view as being an elitist -- someone who feels he is ranked far superior to the rest of the townspeople.

That you would waste time chiding over misspellings on an anonymous forum helped to confirm your status as not just someone who is pompous, arrogant, and woefully immature; but who is someone that is a complete ****. I mean, really, have you looked at the writing styles and grammatical abuse on these forums? Please...I take immense pride in my writing.

I have to say, though, that the absolute confirmation of your status as a complete phony and a jerk was in your use of the term 'dude', while at the same time scolding on about meaningless drivel.

And may I add for the record: the word is 'misspelling', not 'mis-spelling', as you misspelled. There is no hyphen.

Sadly, your 6000-word attempt at rambling only confirms, once again, your coveted status as a pseudo-intellectual leftover from Manchester's bygone era.

A far-left Democrat who in 2008 says: "Suffice it to say that any solution to our academic performance issues will necessarily entail fixing our school buildings" could easily have been said 10, 15, or even 20 years ago. The Democrats have made these same statements for decades. The taxpayers are concerned about the BIG picture; the Democrats avoid it, as demonstrated by your obsession with one facility -- as the system crumbles.

Socialists love the endless process; it's just that they have difficulty effectively managing to the point where there are results -- which is precisely why we find ourselves with an embarassing and troubling townwide education system with a poor reputation.

Your decidedly effeminate emotions (Parenthetically, are you a man or a woman?)appear to get in the way of reason. You are either unable or unwilling to comprehend the simple gist of my original discussion topic -- i.e., that Manchester taxpayers pay disproportionately higher property taxes than taxpayers in surrounding communities pay, while receiving a marginal return in the way of education value -- as evidenced glowingly by the CAPT/CMT results.

Moreover, property values in Manchester are considerably LOWER than similar properties in surrounding communities. In short, we're paying for a Lexus and being provided with a Hyundai.

My position was clear, and the other posters understood the message. I stand by every word in post #11.

Your disdain expressed toward me can only be outdone by the absolute contempt I have for complete losers who masquerade as elitist intellectuals. I hate phonies.

You provide a perfect display of the leftist Democrat machine that has for years succeeded in eroding the town's property values, educatio reputation, and overall quality of life.

Whatever happens in November happens. Leave it at that.

[Remember in November]

House value in the tank wrote:

Whatever happens in November happens. Leave it at that.

Dude, why are you raving at 3 in the morning? Didn't you read my warning that you should never drive, call old girlfriends or post to the Hartford Courant about Manchester school issues? Why were you up at that hour? Last call so you had to come home? Or do you have a "going problem" and you decided afterward to check the computer to see if anyone is paying attention to you? I can see you don't like me but I like you so I am going to give you more friendly advice. Among all your nonsensical rantings, I sense from your use of the word "effeminate" that you don't like gays so I offer you the following friendly advice. If you have a "going problem" and you have "to go" and are at an airport, keep away from the public men's room as they are frequented by conservative Republican U.S. Senators that sit in wide stances in stalls for hours tapping their feet demanding man on man sex.

As far as November, tell your Republican friends to put a "like new" referendum on the ballot for Verplanck and let the people decide. Who knows? In their excitement to vote "yes" on such a referendum, the Verplanck homeowners might be so giddy that they forget to vote against Cheri.

[Manchester voter]

Wow!! This is so entertaining. How can you say the Democrats mismanaged the schools. I just want to remind everyone that late in the last century, I think it was 1998 or 1999, the Dems proposed and sent to the voters a comprehensive, 200 million, 10 year plan for "like new" renovations for all the schools. This proposal was rejected by the voters. If approved the project would have been completed by this year. Now the state reimbursements are much lower and construction costs are much higher and the taxpayers will be faced with higher tax bills for many years.

PS Why would anyone post with out using spell check??

[Interested party]

Times are tough and the residents are finding it hard to make ends meet. The town directors need to realize this and put some of the projects on hold. These June referendums cost money and could just as well be made part of the November general elections. It seems that when they have a pet project that they want to pass they hold it in the middle of the summer when people are away or unaware. It appears that less than 3000 people voted for the Highland project. In a town this size that is a very small number. There should be a law that a certain percentage of the voters need to vote in order for an question on a referendum to pass. Maybe then our town would not burdon the taxpayer the expense of holding a referendum for one question. When you have an open checkbook I guess you do not need to worry about the taxpayers when you can just charge them more and more and more. In these times maybe these officials should be a little more frugal. With the fuel costs, gas prices and everything else the taxpayers need a break right now.

[From Manchester]

Eyes open in Manchester wrote:

Time for a history lesson: Manchester's schools, scores and facilities were second to none in this state under Republican Leadership! Under the last two decades of Dem Leadership,schools were neglected, scores fell and now our facilities are tired and outdated. By the way, a new paint job and windows doesn't equal a new or even "like new" school. And lets review the recent expenditures for public schools--This year Manchester High had a new "wing", enrollment went down. Bennet received a $40 million rehab and guess what- private school enrollment numbers for the six grade this fall are through the roof. More students than slots; So much for the buildings make the difference... It's all about the demographic shift and the scores. Our surrounding communities have new schools, top scores and Republican Leadership! Ask yourself who's leading Hartford, East Hartford, Bloomfield and all the group G schools? Ans= Democrats. Yeah keep voting them in and keep watching enrollment drop as well as house values. At this point, Republicans are our only hope- Keep them local and send them to the State!

I grew up in Manchester, and it is a much different town now than it was. I think that you would have seen those changes regardless of who was in office. Poor town planning and blight are two huge causes for the change. It has nothing to do with the conditions of the schools, it has everything to do with the people living in the town.

[Wogdude]

Let me see if I can sum this up...

Republicans: "Everything wrong in Manchester was the Democrats fault because they were in control for the last 20 years. Vote for us because now we are going to fix what's 'wrong' in Manchester."

Democrats: "Everything that is going wrong now is the Republicans fault because they are in control. We have all these great ideas now, but because we don't have the majority, it's all the Republicans Fault."

I am really getting fed up with the political climate in the Town of Manchester. To be honest, I haven't gone to a meeting in the past two months because I'm beginning to wonder if it matters. I would much rather spend the time with my family.

Nine people sit in the Lincoln Center hearing room with appropriate levels of decorum, but that's it. Then, we get to read all this by the "operatives" in each party. Mr. Pohl, Mr. Irish, your parties aren't changing my mind on anything lately. All that I'm getting convinced of is, what's the point? Do I have more of this to look forward under your respective leaderships?