A Very Special Day, Update II

I'm the sweaty guy in the blue shirt hoisting a beer to celebrate the successful passing of a proposition override vote. I've never seen so many people so happy to have their taxes go up.

I may be indulging in hindsight, but during the day yesterday I had growing feelings that the election wouldn't be as close as it was in 2004 and that the YES votes would carry the day quite easily. I began to sense this yesterday afternoon as I drove to my sign holding spot at the intersection of North Maple and Main Streets in Florence and didn't see anyone holding any no signs at Smith Voke or at the intersection near the Academy of Music. And when I got to my spot, I found only a fellow yes sign holders and no sign of any no signs. I could chalk this up to a lack of organization and resources on the the part of the no people, but I think it also had to do with the general sense in Northampton that we needed an Override. And that showed in the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone who volunteered for the Yes campaign, including the woman who joined me with her daughter just because she wanted to hold a sign for a little bit longer yesterday.

And then there was the woman who was walking in Florence who thanked me for holding the sign, saying that she'd woken up and forgotten that the election was yesterday. She then told me that she'd voted yes. I also heard from one guy visiting from Alabama who wanted to know what the sign was all about. I explained to him how Proposition 2 1/2 worked, and he told me that in Alabama, there are no local property taxes. The towns raise money through a sales tax that goes on top of the state sales tax. This means that in some towns, you could be paying as much as 9.5% sales tax, and that includes clothing. And I thought Massachusetts' system was messed up.

As a testament to how high-tech the Yes campaign was, at Paradise City Tavern, where everyone gathered to hear the results, someone had hooked up a laptop to the big screen TV and projected a spreadsheet that had each ward and precinct broken out. As the results came in via cell phone, they were posted on the spreadsheet for everyone to see. Veteran poll watchers told me after seeing just a few wards' results that the override would pass, and they were, of course, right.



After that, it was time to celebrate not just the fact that the override had passed, but the fact that a dedicated group of people had achieved something important for the city they all love.

I only had two regrets as I went home last night. One was that we didn't ask for enough in the override. And the other is that if we don't do something to fix the situation on a much larger scale, we're going to be right back where we are now in a few years.