Connecting the dots to sustain Amherst

By CLARE BERTRAND, ANDY CHURCHILL & BAER TIERKEL

Published on March 31, 2006

What brought you to Amherst? Did you grow up here? Did you come for college or a job and never leave? Did the 'book and plow' lifestyle call you from afar? Do you love our particular combination of education, arts, fields, farms, and diversity? If so, then howdy, neighbor - that's our story, too!

We come from different backgrounds; Clare graduated from Amherst High School and works at a local business, Andy has lived here 10 years and works at UMass, and Baer is a recent arrival and works in the local 'hidden-tech' economy. As parents, we initially got involved in the schools. One thing led to another, and now Baer is a Town Meeting member, Andy is on the School Committee, and Clare has been to more budget meetings lately than birthday parties. The more we've gotten involved, the more we've gotten the feeling that most people in Amherst share some common interests.

We believe there are goals that most of our Amherst neighbors hold in common, and that these represent a potential common agenda: (1) good schools, (2) open space, (3) housing affordability, and (4) 'not soaking the taxpayers.' You can quibble about the details, but we believe most people in Amherst would support these as community goals.

But here's the challenge: these four goals are all connected. And they're hard to do all at once. Many times we find ourselves focused on a single issue. If we don't connect the dots, we may find that we've unwittingly sacrificed some key values as we've supported others.

A few months ago, we decided to road-test these ideas by forming a breakfast club. We invited a variety of local residents involved in our town to breakfast (or lunch, or the odd beer), and we talked about these issues and the need to connect them. It was interesting, and fun. And we found that just about everyone, from Anne Awad to Larry Kelley, seemed to agree that good schools, open space, housing affordability, and not soaking the taxpayers are key goals for Amherst!

To us, this means there may be a broad, future-focused agenda out there that most of us could support. We've started calling it Sustainable Amherst. The language of sustainability is appropriate. Like an ecosystem, we need to pay attention to interconnectedness and the big picture. Like a business, our town costs and revenues must add up. Two different meanings of sustainability, and both are relevant to the challenges we face.

As Town Meeting members and committee members, we can't keep considering issues in isolation (an apartment project here, an open space purchase there), or pitting them against each other in a zero-sum game ('we need to either cut schools or raise taxes'). We think we need to do a better job of connecting the dots if we are going to sustain the quality of life that brought us here and keeps us here.

This is the first column in what we hope will be a series, looking at the tradeoffs involved in current issues and proposals through the broader lens of sustainability. To head down this path, we offer the following starting points:

1. Clarify the current situation. What do the patterns in spending, revenues, open space, development, and population look like? If we are to make decisions with the broader context in mind, we need to make that context clearer and more explicit.

2. Expand the pie. We need to get beyond zero-sum, tax-or-cut conversations. What revenues could we generate from appropriate (non-big-box) commercial development that keeps our unique Amherst small-town feel? How can we make our downtown more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly? What about residential revenue strategies, such as elderly or student housing, that don't put additional costs on our schools? And so on.

3. Seek middle ground. We, the writers of this column, have differed in the past on particular issues, such as last year's charter proposal. We've moved on, and we're excited about the possibilities that life in the 'sensible center' may bring. We believe there's a vast middle ground out there that most Amherst residents could share, and we don't think we're alone in wishing that all the old combatants could put their heads together to help find it.

4. Vote for sustainability. As you walk into the voting booth on April 4, look for people with the broad viewpoint needed to make the Amherst ecosystem work. The Town Meeting ballot contains a number of new names, and many have useful perspectives to offer.

Sustainable Amherst: it's about connecting the dots to sustain our community - socially, economically, and environmentally. Not just for today, but for our children's children. We look forward to continuing this conversation - let's do breakfast!