Nathan: Elected public office holder.
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  Nathan: Elected public office holder.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #50 on: April 30, 2012, 01:17:26 AM »

There's actually a lot of zoning/development going on this year, most but certainly not all of which my traditionalist streak inclines me to oppose, as well as a nonbinding-to-protect-the-guilty order to the police department not to comply with certain areas of immigration policy (which order I haven't read yet).

But, no, no really huge drama at the local level here except for Article 25 and possibly parts of Article 26 (which I think does the same thing for Atkins Corner in South Amherst, I haven't read it all the way through just yet).
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« Reply #51 on: April 30, 2012, 01:28:54 AM »
« Edited: April 30, 2012, 01:33:30 AM by All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone »

That reminds me of this local Minneapolis forum I found last year and lurked on and basically found to be nothing more than people who wanted a soapbox to rant and whine about very unimportant things, such as that huge thread where someone was throwing a fit about a check cashing place opened up near them and how the zoning laws don't prevent that (I've actually read Minneapolis zoning ordinances, and they basically amount to "Open whatever business you want as long as it's not in a tourist-filled area or neighborhood where most people actually own houses.") Now yeah those check cashing businesses are pretty shady and exploitative (similar to all those "loan" places that are pretty common on Lake Street), but the implications in how they are so bad because of the "types" they'd bring to the neighborhood is pretty disgusting, plus I'd wonder how much the residents of places like Jordan, Hawthorne and Phillips or any property owned by Spiros Zorbalas would love it if their biggest problem and the primary focus of their complaining was a check cashing business. But I suppose Amherst doesn't have any areas where drive by shootings are a monthly occurrence (or many check cashing businesses for that matter.)
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #52 on: April 30, 2012, 01:32:34 AM »

Amherst doesn't have very much violent crime, no; the concern is more the noise levels that large student populations bring, which is genuinely problematic for many area families who live near student housing. That, and the simple fact of three-hundred-year-old buildings being allowed to get torn up for tract housing. There's a reactionary element to the rhetoric in my precinct but it's not vicious or malicious and I think it's understandable given how generally poorly thought out and deleterious to the community what's being proposed would be.
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« Reply #53 on: April 30, 2012, 04:32:16 PM »

You are a cool and smart guy, Nathan, I would proudly vote for you. That comes from a guy who does not vote all that often.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #54 on: April 30, 2012, 05:08:35 PM »

Nathan, doing college level work as a teenager is...did all the other people in your classes look at you in disbelief?
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #55 on: April 30, 2012, 11:55:08 PM »

Town Meeting was great up until we got to the annual budget (we accepted Town ownership of several new public works before that, and I took part in a genuinely interesting discussion about the sewage system. No lie). Even the library part of the budget wasn't at all bad. But as soon as we got to the elementary school budget something flipped in some people and--well, let me just say that I now have a greater understanding of who the krazens are, and it's not pretty. If it takes us this long to go through the rest of the budget I am not optimistic about our chances of getting to the zoning issue that really concerns me before I have to go home for a few weeks, and if I miss the debate on that and our side loses narrowly I'm going to be very angry at some people.

Me being who I am, this will I am sure just make me more committed to being a good Town Meeting member in the fall and into next year.

But aside from that, I met the Town Moderator again, as well as the Chairman of the Select Board, who's a lovely woman with a great sense of humor, and the Town Manager, who's a little stuffy but very lucid and helpful when Town Meeting members have questions. As soon as we get through this damnable budget I anticipate it becoming fun again, because we get to discuss things that interest me a lot, such as shade trees.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #56 on: May 05, 2012, 09:56:10 PM »

Ugh, sorry, I didn't even really want to get into what befell us on Wednesday.

Long story short, some of us tried to amend the town operating budget to restore a specific line item for Human Services. It was a really small amount of money relative to the whole budget but the actual amount wasn't why we cared; it was so that in the future this line item would be here so that we wouldn't have to rely on federal block grants for alms if we stopped having to. But then people started scaremongering about how 0.09% of the budget (about two dollars per capita per annum!) and it got voted down. It really upset me, more personally than I would have expected.

The vote was, however, narrower than expected considering opposition from the town committees, and I was one of the people who gave a podium speech in favor of it, which was the first time I've done something of the sort.
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Napoleon
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« Reply #57 on: May 05, 2012, 10:02:12 PM »

That is awesome man congrats!! I would have loved the chance to do something like this but I never really had my priorities in order. Sad
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Oakvale
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« Reply #58 on: May 05, 2012, 10:03:59 PM »

Should we make Nathan wear one of those Harrison Bergeron devices so he doesn't take over the world by the time he's twenty-four? This is crazy.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #59 on: May 09, 2012, 04:58:31 PM »

Okay. Not much happened Monday, but tonight's the night where we have to deal with the articles proposing that really bad set of new development. Wish me luck. I'm out to SAVE AMHERST.jpg
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #60 on: May 16, 2012, 11:48:06 PM »

We won. The first zoning package failed 130-78, the second 137-73 (a two-thirds majority was required, so these were really narrow votes).

I had to stay for three days longer than my academic and religious schedule would otherwise have called for to vote on the second package, during which time I couch-surfed with my political allies Janet Keller and Carol Gray. When it came time for the vote on Monday the way the debate was conducted was very blatantly lopsided; the Town Moderator at one point let the Town Manager keep talking for almost two minutes after his time was up, which would have been absolutely fine (the Town Manager, after all, deserves a certain measure of respect and deference, though we can argue about whether or not it's two minutes' worth) had he not explicitly decided to ignore a standing rule of Town Meeting while doing so. When I got up to speak I was disjointed, got ruled out of order for calling the way the debate was being run a snowjob, and called the Town Moderator unfair for gavelling me in the middle of a sentence. There was a shouting match of about five seconds and I was ordered to sit down.

We were convinced we'd lose the vote, and when we won by three votes there was such an immense relief and joy. A lot of people who had been concerned by the normally very fair-minded Town Moderator's behavior that night congratulated me (although everybody, including me, agreed that I need to work on toning it down a little at times like this), although I'm on his wife's sh**t-list now.

I took the train from Massachusetts to New Jersey yesterday to stay with my mother for the next few weeks and I'm finally on her couch with my cats right now. I made the Daily Hampshire Gazette for calling into question my university's decisions regarding how much off-campus housing to get itself involved in, how, why, and on whose behalf. It's actually the last line of the article on Monday's Town Meeting. I'm done with this now until the fall, although I'll probably want to just spend time with some of my political allies off-season when I'm back up there in June.
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« Reply #61 on: May 17, 2012, 12:23:04 AM »

This sounds fascinating. If only the tiny hamlet of Springfield Township adopted this system of government & let 16 year olds participate. Smiley
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #62 on: May 17, 2012, 12:37:00 AM »

You'd probably have Open Town Meeting if you were a tiny hamlet in Massachusetts, in which case you wouldn't even need to be elected.

ETA: Five thousand people is a tiny hamlet to you?! Wow, I grew up in a really rural area...
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« Reply #63 on: May 17, 2012, 12:52:30 AM »

Ha, 5000 people in my home state would be considered an notable city. There are only twelve in the entire state with more than 5000.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #64 on: May 17, 2012, 01:35:38 AM »

New England local democracy is so...quaint.
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Oakvale
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« Reply #65 on: May 17, 2012, 01:41:28 AM »

Again, Nathan, I fear for our safety.

Should we make Nathan wear one of those Harrison Bergeron devices so he doesn't take over the world by the time he's twenty-four? This is crazy.

Seriously, though, congratulations on the win! Unfortunate that you've made an enemy of the Moderator's wife - hopefully she isn't some kind of Lady Macbeth figure that will cause some kind of incident in the future which could ultimately lead to your political destruction. Wink

EDIT: Wow, that's a really rambling incoherent post I made. I've been up all night and my right eye is twitching.

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Marokai Backbeat
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« Reply #66 on: May 17, 2012, 01:45:06 AM »

I'm amazed that you're apparently such a forceful speaker in actual real-life politics, yet in Atlasia you never seemed to stand out in the Senate at all. Tongue
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #67 on: May 17, 2012, 01:49:41 AM »

I'm amazed that you're apparently such a forceful speaker in actual real-life politics, yet in Atlasia you never seemed to stand out in the Senate at all. Tongue

The Atlasian Senate was not, in the final analysis, a forum to which I was particularly well-suited.

Seriously, though, congratulations on the win! Unfortunate that you've made an enemy of the Moderator's wife - hopefully she isn't some kind of Lady Macbeth figure that will cause some kind of incident in the future which could ultimately lead to your political destruction. Wink

She'll probably forget about it within days if she hasn't already.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #68 on: November 15, 2012, 11:10:01 PM »

Last month I found out that people were talking sh**t about me on the Internet back in May because of the vituperative nature of some of my denunciations of the process used at the 254th Amherst Town Meeting. I had a minor nervous breakdown about this, particularly as it appeared they had stalked my mother on Facebook for some reason (my mother herself was unconcerned, mainly because my mother is the only five-foot-three white-collar Italian-American woman with white hair and severe arthritis I've ever met who has street cred). Among other things they said that I was only doing well in college because I'm a leftist hack, which Winfield has also called me in recent days. When Winfield said this it made me feel a lot less bad about when these other people did.

Today was the Precincts 1 and 3 precinct meeting for the Special Town Meeting for 2012, concerning a bunch of zoning articles aimed at making it harder to use single-family residences for things other than single families. Normally I would have concerns about this but I got my bike stolen near the frat houses a couple of months ago and have heard many other horror stories as well as ambulances going by for alcohol poisoning at all hours on Friday and Saturday nights so I support these efforts.

I talked to a few of the other people from my precinct and the one north of it before and after the meeting, and they all had more or less the same advice: Be completely unapologetic and don't even bring up the events of the spring, hope that everybody else will do the same, and if they don't it'll be them who end up looking like dicks. Personally I think they already look like dicks for Facebook-stalking my mom, but whatever.

The Special Town Meeting is on Monday evening and I don't plan to say much unless something really egregious happens. I'll let the Atlas Forum know if anything does, and of course I'll keep everybody abreast of the results.

Also, my mom wants me to intern for Elizabeth Warren either this coming summer or the one after, and I'm up for it, assuming it doesn't interfere with planned travel in East Asia. Apparently she has some angle for how we might make this happen, and I'm inclined to believe that she can get it done.
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« Reply #69 on: November 16, 2012, 07:10:40 AM »

Hoo boy. Elizabeth Warren. Tongue Well bust of luck with your precinct meeting & trips & whatnot.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #70 on: November 16, 2012, 03:34:36 PM »

Hoo boy. Elizabeth Warren. Tongue Well bust of luck with your precinct meeting & trips & whatnot.

One of the Massachusetts Congressmen could work if the Atlas Forum would approve of that better.

I don't have much else to do until Monday (other than homework and such obviously), but that might be mildly interesting when it comes.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #71 on: November 17, 2012, 09:43:18 AM »
« Edited: November 17, 2012, 09:44:53 AM by Senator Simfan34 »

I'm told I'm the youngest person to hold public office at any level in Massachusetts in some time, which is also exciting.

Oakvale, I'll see what I can do. I'm at the other end of the Commonwealth from the bogs, but we've got a lot of apple orchards and dairy farms if that helps, and I'm sure I can make a trip to the East if it's for Atlas Forum.
How old are you?  You could be a congressman one day.  Somebody from this forum needs to become a member of Congress in the future.

The first Congressional election I'll be eligible in will be 2018.

You're only 19? I had no clue you were that young. Wow that means you weren't even able to vote for Obama in 2008...

It's because I started college when I was 15.

!!! Very impressive! UMass Amherst or the college? Also, don't worry if people talk sh**t about you. It means you're getting things done.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #72 on: November 17, 2012, 09:20:30 PM »

I'm told I'm the youngest person to hold public office at any level in Massachusetts in some time, which is also exciting.

Oakvale, I'll see what I can do. I'm at the other end of the Commonwealth from the bogs, but we've got a lot of apple orchards and dairy farms if that helps, and I'm sure I can make a trip to the East if it's for Atlas Forum.
How old are you?  You could be a congressman one day.  Somebody from this forum needs to become a member of Congress in the future.

The first Congressional election I'll be eligible in will be 2018.

You're only 19? I had no clue you were that young. Wow that means you weren't even able to vote for Obama in 2008...

It's because I started college when I was 15.

!!! Very impressive! UMass Amherst or the college? Also, don't worry if people talk sh**t about you. It means you're getting things done.


Bard; I transferred to UMass at 17 for a variety of reasons.
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« Reply #73 on: November 17, 2012, 09:26:02 PM »

I'm told I'm the youngest person to hold public office at any level in Massachusetts in some time, which is also exciting.

Oakvale, I'll see what I can do. I'm at the other end of the Commonwealth from the bogs, but we've got a lot of apple orchards and dairy farms if that helps, and I'm sure I can make a trip to the East if it's for Atlas Forum.
How old are you?  You could be a congressman one day.  Somebody from this forum needs to become a member of Congress in the future.

The first Congressional election I'll be eligible in will be 2018.

You're only 19? I had no clue you were that young. Wow that means you weren't even able to vote for Obama in 2008...

It's because I started college when I was 15.

!!! Very impressive! UMass Amherst or the college? Also, don't worry if people talk sh**t about you. It means you're getting things done.


Bard; I transferred to UMass at 17 for a variety of reasons.

wtf, never knew this about you.  if you ever needed more encouragement to think of yourself at the other.. cannot be good for social development.  I was relatively young for my grades and was told it had effect on my experience, nothing like that, and I look older to begin with, now that I am old and downtrodden, alcoholic and overweight, long-since beat up.
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World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
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« Reply #74 on: November 17, 2012, 09:31:18 PM »

I'm told I'm the youngest person to hold public office at any level in Massachusetts in some time, which is also exciting.

Oakvale, I'll see what I can do. I'm at the other end of the Commonwealth from the bogs, but we've got a lot of apple orchards and dairy farms if that helps, and I'm sure I can make a trip to the East if it's for Atlas Forum.
How old are you?  You could be a congressman one day.  Somebody from this forum needs to become a member of Congress in the future.

The first Congressional election I'll be eligible in will be 2018.

You're only 19? I had no clue you were that young. Wow that means you weren't even able to vote for Obama in 2008...

It's because I started college when I was 15.

!!! Very impressive! UMass Amherst or the college? Also, don't worry if people talk sh**t about you. It means you're getting things done.


Bard; I transferred to UMass at 17 for a variety of reasons.

wtf, never knew this about you.  if you ever needed more encouragement to think of yourself at the other.. cannot be good for social development.  I was relatively young for my grades and was told it had effect on my experience, nothing like that, and I look older to begin with, now that I am old and downtrodden, alcoholic and overweight, long-since beat up.

Yeah, it's definitely taken a toll on me, and I'm still not sure and probably won't be for most of my life whether or not I'd really say it was worth it, but, you know, you make questionable life decisions and you learn how to deal with the consequences. I hope you do better too.
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