Dear Mr. Shaffer...

By CLARE BERTRAND, ANDY CHURCHILL and BAER TIERKEL

Published on July 28, 2006

Amherst Center is a monthly column addressing local issues from a centrist point of view. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand and School Committee member Andy Churchill.

Dear Mr. Shaffer,

Welcome to Amherst! We would like to join the many who are welcoming you here to Amherst and wish you the best. This is a great town with history, beauty, diversity, culture and a whole lot of smart, caring people.

We're happy to hear of your excitement for our town, based on your years of experience in other communities, including other college towns. Your vast experience will be important as you navigate the tricky waters ahead.

Because, frankly, it seems we're a little stuck, here in Amherst. We've had a few high-profile battles in the past few years, most notably the parking garage and the charter vote, and we seem to be having trouble getting past them.

The Town feels polarized, divided into opposing camps whose decision-making process boils down to 'whatever they want, I'm against it!' Often it seems the loudest or most extreme views get the most attention.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of work to be done, if we could only agree on what it is. We struggle to coalesce around what should be done or how to go about it, and it's hard to do that when there's a fundamental lack of trust.

We here at Amherst Center would like to think differently, that there is actually less to these divisions than meets the eye. Perhaps some 'true believers' on both sides will never see eye to eye, but we believe that there is some common ground that most of us could share. With your experience and your fresh point of view, maybe you can help us find it.

We're sure a lot of people are telling you what you should do. We would like to encourage you to put forward your own ideas, to give us the benefit of your seasoned-yet-newcomer perspective.

Here are some of the questions that we think most of the town is grappling with. We're hoping that your leadership can help to bring consensus among the 'center' of Amherst as to the best ways to answer these questions.

* What are our options for improving our fiscal situation? How do successful college towns manage to balance their books?

* How can we make our downtown an attractive destination for parents, kids, elders, and college students? What have you seen in other college towns that we might try here?

* We have a number of friendly local businesses here, but is our town government business-friendly? Some of those friendly businesses seem to be heading out of town lately - what can we do about that?

* How do we protect our open spaces and our good schools and our diversity, without succumbing to the sprawl of Hadley or the exclusivity of Longmeadow?

* How can we strengthen the partnership between the town, public schools, and libraries, which has been strained during these challenging budget years?

* How do we ensure that our citizens who have families and work one or more jobs can participate in the decisions made by local government? If the approach to governing isn't efficient enough to allow broad participation, it isn't democratic either.

* We are going through a master plan process that is going to guide future decisions based on the values and priorities of the townspeople. How can we harness this process to build something real and useful while building more trust and common ground, rather than just hardening our areas of division?

* And finally, what strengths do you see about this town that you can help us see with fresh eyes?

In the end, the big job is fostering trust, in our town government and in each other. No doubt this is a number one goal for you. Truthfully, we've all got work to do in that area. You can certainly help us by bringing forward new ideas, modeling new behaviors, ensuring all viewpoints are represented, and helping us get focused on some common areas of need. Your common-sense approach to the present parking conundrum bodes well for us.

So welcome to Amherst, Mr. Shaffer. We may be a little out of practice at working with a new town manager, but we can sure use the help.