Town Council-

The 3 top vote-getters win seats. If you want change, 3 candidates must get more votes than June Speakman & Kate Weymouth.

Ann Strong, Don Nessing & Margaret Kane joining Ms. Coyne & Mr. DeWitt on the Town Council might result in a moderate Town Council that may better-represent Barrington constituents.

(No offense to Ms. Applegate-Lockridge, but she is more of an unknown & we still don’t know where she stands on the issues.)

School Committee –

We like Paula Dominguez, Patrick Guida, and Meaghan Ramsden.

District 66 –

We liked Joy Hearn until we heard her give the GA 12-step answer about the 38Studios debacle without any real counterbalancing factors. Manfred Diel seems to be saying the right things so we'll give him a chance. He gets our vote.

District 67 –

Rep. Malik has been in office a long time & we can certainly find fault. He, also, spouted the GA 12-step excuse on the 38Studios debacle. But, to his credit, Mr. Malik has begun to listen to his constituents as of late & that does count for something. Can Rep. Malik convince his constituents that he deserves another chance to show that he can represent their needs or is it time to give a fresh newcomer a chance to get to work? We're still weighing that question.

Thanks to all who have volunteered countless hours working and commenting on the issues.

Manifold, I would agree with you on everything except for the last race...District 67. That choice is about as simple as you can have. Peter Costa and Jan Malik are completely different people with two completely different visions for our State. I have met with both men and Peter is articulate, smart, and understands the bigger picture. Mr. Malik has been at the State House for 16 YEARS and has literally accomplished nothing. In the last 5 years he missed 876 votes and when I asked him whats the deal with all the missed votes he said his opponent (Costa) was to blame hahaha.

This State is in desperate need for new leadership and Mr. Costa actually gets it. I am a small business owner and when I asked Mr. Malik why he was ranked DEAD LAST by the National Federation of Small Businesses he said one again, it was his opponent (Costa) fault! Time to turn the page on an era of bad politics and move our state in a better, more prosperous direction. God Bless.

Thanks to all the candidates for service to the community.

Each candidate views service to the community through different eyes. A pressing issue for Barrington is the so called affordable housing state mandates, a definite negative for property taxes.

Candidates Speakman and Weymouth believe that affordable housing should be subsidized by local residents with higher local property taxes, and voted as such in Dec 2008 on property tax breaks for Sweetbriar.

Candidates Strong, Kane, and Nessing appear to believe the laws in this matter are vague, are environmentally destructive, and need to be challenged.

In an interview with Jim Hummel, candidate Speakman said of the affordable housing mandate:

Hummel: ``Is the 10 percent achievable?''
Speakman: ``I don't think it is, no. I think it's a noble goal..."
"I've spoken with our state legislators many times about possible ways of alleviating the burden on the town" "My understanding of the General Assembly's view of this legislation is that the suburban communities need to share in the housing of people of modest incomes."

http://hummelreport.com/10.25.2012.housing.html

I spoke with Senator Bates and Rep Malik at the Bristol Forum on Saturday. They both said they have never spoken to Councilor Speakman on this matter.

I disagree that it is "noble" to have many people in town with less subsidizing the lifestyles and property taxes for people with more, but that is what affordable housing delivers.

Elections involving incumbents is interesting - it means reviewing their real-time accountability on past issues as well examining their proposed vision. But few voters remember what some incumbents contribute, and many tend to go with familiar or easy. How do we get our state govt to get rid of the incredibly ridiculous single lever - only state in the nation that has this??

I know Shirley Applegate Lockhart personally and she will make an outstanding representative for Barrington! She is smart and a dedicated and diligent worker who also has high integrity! We need more like her on the Town Council.