Monday, August 22, 2005
The scandal seekers come up empty
Three cheers to councilor Isaac Mass for his straightforward response to the supposed conflict-of-interest brouhaha. The ethical concerns raised by Al Norman are a transparent attempt to affect the outcome of this rezoning matter.
One could just as easily question Mr. Norman's motive, since any publicity he receives from blocking development will help him sell more books. Mr. Norman has two books for sale at Amazon.com, both drawing upon his credentials as an anti-development activist. One even has the subtitle, "How You Can Stop Superstore Sprawl In Your Hometown". Any new development project in Mr. Norman's hometown would be a strike against his credibility as an author; sales of his book sales would be likely to decline. Conversely, a well-publicized defeat of new development could help him sell a lot of books.
While I doubt that book sales are Mr. Norman's primary motivation in opposing the rezoning proposal, the possibility is at least as credible as the charges against Isaac Mass.
The ethics charge struck me as particularly strange because it goes against everything I know about Isaac. I worked with him at Channing Bete, and have been acquainted with him through mutual friends. He's a warm-hearted guy who genuinely cares about this town. I may not see eye to eye with him on every political issue, but the strength of his character has never been a concern of mine.
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UPDATE
I've been poking around Mr. Norman's web site. He doesn't just sell books, he offers anti-sprawl consulting services as well. That explains why his site is a dotcom, not dotorg. His site includes a "Victories" list, and I bet he'd like to see this zoning issue added to it.
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UPDATE 2
OK, I'm getting sucked in but this is just fascinating, and I'm home from work with nothing to do. I just want to pin down Norman's potential financial interest, since he brought it up.
Last year PBS Newshour reported, "His efforts have turned into a cottage industry for the 57-year-old Massachusetts native. His fees run anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000, but he says, 'My fees are a joke compared to what Wal-Mart pays their consultants.'"
Let's say this zoning issue means he'll gain a couple of clients if he wins, and loses a couple of clients if he loses (leaving book sales aside). At the high end of his rates that's $6k in either direction--a swing of $12k. Speculation, of course, but it's more concrete than his dirt-digging expedition against the council.
One could just as easily question Mr. Norman's motive, since any publicity he receives from blocking development will help him sell more books. Mr. Norman has two books for sale at Amazon.com, both drawing upon his credentials as an anti-development activist. One even has the subtitle, "How You Can Stop Superstore Sprawl In Your Hometown". Any new development project in Mr. Norman's hometown would be a strike against his credibility as an author; sales of his book sales would be likely to decline. Conversely, a well-publicized defeat of new development could help him sell a lot of books.
While I doubt that book sales are Mr. Norman's primary motivation in opposing the rezoning proposal, the possibility is at least as credible as the charges against Isaac Mass.
The ethics charge struck me as particularly strange because it goes against everything I know about Isaac. I worked with him at Channing Bete, and have been acquainted with him through mutual friends. He's a warm-hearted guy who genuinely cares about this town. I may not see eye to eye with him on every political issue, but the strength of his character has never been a concern of mine.
----------
UPDATE
I've been poking around Mr. Norman's web site. He doesn't just sell books, he offers anti-sprawl consulting services as well. That explains why his site is a dotcom, not dotorg. His site includes a "Victories" list, and I bet he'd like to see this zoning issue added to it.
----------
UPDATE 2
OK, I'm getting sucked in but this is just fascinating, and I'm home from work with nothing to do. I just want to pin down Norman's potential financial interest, since he brought it up.
Last year PBS Newshour reported, "His efforts have turned into a cottage industry for the 57-year-old Massachusetts native. His fees run anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000, but he says, 'My fees are a joke compared to what Wal-Mart pays their consultants.'"
Let's say this zoning issue means he'll gain a couple of clients if he wins, and loses a couple of clients if he loses (leaving book sales aside). At the high end of his rates that's $6k in either direction--a swing of $12k. Speculation, of course, but it's more concrete than his dirt-digging expedition against the council.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Pretty dogs, a covered bridge, and Lance
My Better Half and the Fractions are out of town. With no responsibilities at home, I decided to take a long bike ride. Too long, as it turned out; I'm expertly conditioned for sitting in the car and at a desk for long periods, but not for extended physical activity involving hills and sunlight.
I took a ride over to GCC, not for any particular reason, just that it seemed like a destination just far enough away that I could call the excursion "exercise". I got there and there were a ton of campers in the parking lot, and people were setting up tables and tents for some kind of event. Then I noticed that everyone walking around had one or more beautiful dogs with them. I saw a couple of Afghan hounds, a bunch of those big fluffy white dogs with curly tails, and various hunting breeds I recognize only from cartoons. A little web research tells me it was the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club's "All Breed Point and Obedience Show".
I must have been distracted by the dogs, because at this point I got the brilliant idea to keep riding instead of turning around and heading for home. I remembered a covered bridge across the Green River just a little ways away. So I rode up Colrain Road, uphill of course, and turned onto Log Plain Road, also uphill much of the way. And I kept going. And going. And stopped in the shade for some water and a breather. And kept going. I realized that my sense of distance unfortunately is calibrated to the effort of pushing the gas pedal, but this epiphany came at a time when it was utterly useless to me.
I should have known this would not be an easy trip when I started seeing, painted on the road, information for participants in tomorrow's triathlon. A particularly steep stretch (which I fortunately took downhill, as I was travelling in the opposite direction of tomorrow's triathletes) had the cryptic markings, "W.W.L.D.", explained a few yards later as "What Would Lance Do".
I finally did get to the bridge and was glad to see some kids and a dog swimming in the river. I sat on a rock for a while and took in the aural and visual gestalt of the water. Then it was back to the hills--mostly but not all downhill now. I was so spent I almost didn't make it up the little bump of a hill at the foot of my street.
I took a ride over to GCC, not for any particular reason, just that it seemed like a destination just far enough away that I could call the excursion "exercise". I got there and there were a ton of campers in the parking lot, and people were setting up tables and tents for some kind of event. Then I noticed that everyone walking around had one or more beautiful dogs with them. I saw a couple of Afghan hounds, a bunch of those big fluffy white dogs with curly tails, and various hunting breeds I recognize only from cartoons. A little web research tells me it was the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club's "All Breed Point and Obedience Show".
I must have been distracted by the dogs, because at this point I got the brilliant idea to keep riding instead of turning around and heading for home. I remembered a covered bridge across the Green River just a little ways away. So I rode up Colrain Road, uphill of course, and turned onto Log Plain Road, also uphill much of the way. And I kept going. And going. And stopped in the shade for some water and a breather. And kept going. I realized that my sense of distance unfortunately is calibrated to the effort of pushing the gas pedal, but this epiphany came at a time when it was utterly useless to me.
I should have known this would not be an easy trip when I started seeing, painted on the road, information for participants in tomorrow's triathlon. A particularly steep stretch (which I fortunately took downhill, as I was travelling in the opposite direction of tomorrow's triathletes) had the cryptic markings, "W.W.L.D.", explained a few yards later as "What Would Lance Do".
I finally did get to the bridge and was glad to see some kids and a dog swimming in the river. I sat on a rock for a while and took in the aural and visual gestalt of the water. Then it was back to the hills--mostly but not all downhill now. I was so spent I almost didn't make it up the little bump of a hill at the foot of my street.
