Let's move on. . .

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Satish Mohan, Shelly Schratz, Daniel Ward and Deborah Bucki on their victories in the recent election. I would also like to thank Susan Grelick and Jane Woodward for their service to the community and their participation in the political process. It is through the commitment and effort of all these individuals that we are afforded the opportunity to choose our elected officials by the exercise of our right to vote.

At this point, I believe it is incumbent upon all of us to continue our participation in the governing process and assist our current and newly elected representatives by expressing our views to them in a frank but hopefully, civil and courteous manner. I believe that the meaningful participation of an informed electorate is the best way to assist our elected representatives in moving the Town forward – maintaining what is good and improving what can be improved. Regardless of our specific views on specific topics, it seems to me that this is a mutual objective that we all share.

To my fellow posters on this discussion board, I share my concern about the personal attacks on our elected representatives as well as each other. While I defend your right to speak out and certainly understand that criticism is part of that process, it seems to me that the criticism should be constructive, informed and focus on the issues instead of the personalities. From a practical standpoint, it seems to me that personal attacks only serve to detract from the message or point you may be trying to make. I encourage all my fellow posters to refrain from such personal attacks and focus on the issues and I include myself in that admonition.

Finally, I want to thank the administrators and moderators of this discussion board for providing this resource so that we have the opportunity to exchange ideas and observations in this manner. I realize that it must be a significant commitment of time that you make to maintain this resource and I wanted to personally express my appreciation.

I look forward to the continuing opportunity to participate in these discussions.