Tonight was the annual organizational meeting of the Finance Committee.  It’s often an interesting meeting because you get to hear updates on everything that has happened since Town Meeting – a digest of the last 4 or 5 months.

Town Manager Brian Sullivan and Deputy Town Manager Nancy Galkowski reviewed the five-year budget projections.  The revenue for FY11 (the fiscal year that starts in July 2010) is projected to be $2 million (1.8%) lower than the current fiscal year. The biggest revenue decrease is the savings account from the 5-year plan.  The 5-year plan included $2.7 million from that savings account for FY10, the fifth year of the plan.  That’s a structural deficit that carries into FY11, and there’s only $1.3 million left in the bank, meaning a $1.4 million drop in revenue.the next biggest chunk is a forecasted decrease in state aid ($1.2 million).  This is an excellent time to remember that the town lost a million dollars from the savings account because the Treasurer invested the money in the stock market.  Wouldn’t it be nice if he’d followed basic financial prudence and invested that money in something safer?  Wouldn’t it be nice if the town’s revenue drop was 50% smaller?  I’m reminding you now, and I’ll keep reminding you all the way to Election Day.

The next biggest decrease is in unencumbered funds, aka free cash; that is a result of a tighter budget in FY09 that were spent to their max, leaving less money turned back to the town at the end of the year ($900,000).  The end of the federal stimulus money is the next biggest at $469,000.  The regular property tax increase of $2.1 million is not sufficient to cover all the decreases mentioned, and the result is $2.0 million in lower revenue.

We then reviewed the anticipated appropriations for FY11.  General expenses were anticipated to increase at 4%.  There was no general salary increase included, but there are the usual steps and longevity increases, for a 4% increase.  Insurance (including health care) is expected to increase 8% (the bids for half of the year are already in, so that’s a fairly solid number)  After a bunch of other relatively minor changes, the result is a 2.19% ($2.5 million) increase in expenses.

If you’re quick with the math, you can see that is a $4.5 million deficit.  The town has to balance the budget.  The manager also provided a version that closed the deficit by reducing the town and school budgets by 2.85% (a swing of 6.85%, from +4 to -2.85).  He took the money out of salaries, meaning layoffs.  The manager said that was a layoff of 100 people, but I think that is a bit exaggerated – by my math it’s closer to 70.  Still, a very big number.

Two key questions in the budget are pensions and the GIC.  The retirement board has seen huge losses in the fund; they could drastically increase the amount the town must pay and the town will have no choice but to pay.  The manager is waiting for a state commission’s report in November.  That will help the retirement board judge its options.  The GIC is the state health care system.  If the town and the unions can agree to enter the GIC, that could be a large decrease in health insurance ($2-3 million).  The deadline is December 1st.

After the budget, the manager answered a number of questions.

• The Symmes property may be sold shortly.  The deal involves both JPI and the bank taking losses and selling to Tremont Capital.  We should know in a month or so if that goes through, and maybe even some foundations being poured this year.
• The Brighams property is under study by a developer with an option to buy.  They are looking at residential uses.  The town initially wanted commercial, but they’ve since received advice that grouping commercial properties is best, and the Brighams property is too far from other commercial areas.
• CVS project is moving.
• The next step in the Mass Ave project is a state hearing.
• The Mugar property is being reviewed by a developer who has an option on it.  The developer is doing site study that might demonstrate that parts of the land are above the flood plain.  The plan might include putting some buildings on stilts.  The analysis is ongoing.
• There have been some regionalization talks, particularly around the health department.
• There is a draft report on the Parmenter and Crosby schools.  There should be more public information in a month.
• The police department is managing the 8 vacancies brought by the change in retirement plans.  The hiring freeze is still in effect.  The manager is considering hiring for 2 or so of the 8 vacancies.  The town did not get the federal grants hoped for during the spring budget meetings.

The manager left and we moved to the Special Town Meeting scheduled for November 16.

The first question is whether the town should accept the local option and increase the meals tax by .75%.  The result would be about $200,000 in revenue.  Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston have already done the increase and Winchester, Lexington, and Burlington are likely to do so.  Al Tosti strongly endorsed it, saying that state lawmakers were likely to not give more money if the towns don’t do the tax increase.  I argued against it, saying that the state has mis-managed the revenue from the beginning.  I did  not want to give those lawmakers the political cover they were looking for.  FinComm endorsed the new tax 14-1.

The hotel tax was next, an increase from 4% to 6% for $70k in revenue.  Also approved 14-1.

A few more items were discussed:

• The special town meeting has 2 alcohol votes and a change to the town reorganization committee.
• If there’s going to be an override, it has to come from the selectmen.  There is still information and outcomes to wait for (like the GIC). Pay-as-you-throw is also sure to come up when the DPW reports.  A five-year-plan style override would be more than $9 million, more than 50% bigger than the last one.
• Minuteman High wants renovation money.  I pointed out that we are at a key point to ask for changes to the organizational structure for the school.
• The schools will look at a draft budget in November, earlier than usual.
• The question of how to choose a new superintendent is in flux.
• With the pension reform bill, only assessors currently qualify for pension benefits.  If their pay is dropped from $5200 to $4999 they are no longer eligible.
• The town reorganization meeting was discussed.

The Finance Committee discussed changes to the vacation policy so that it can no longer be accumulated  indefinitely.

We re-elected our same officers, with Al Tosti as chair, Charlie Foskett, Alan Jones, and Dick Fanning as vice-chairs, and Pete Howard as secretary.

We have vacancies in Precincts 6 and 11.

Barack Obama’s amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Apparently this is a mash-up of a bunch of pictures from a single event.

Hattip to Whatever.

Today, the Globe got a pile of emails from the mayor’s office.  Kineavy had deleted emails, but the people he corresponded with hadn’t, and thus the emails came to light.  The Globe published a sample, and there’s a game-changer in that sample.  Kineavy sends an email saying “reminder. . .these are foiable.”  Foiable?  What’s foiable?  Foible?  Friable?  No – it’s FOIable.  As in “Freedom of Information Act”-able.  Suddenly Kineavy isn’t a naive, idiosyncratic geek.  Now, he’s someone with knowledge of the Freedom of Information Act who takes actions every day that violate state law about record retention.  This is no longer a “honest mistake” that Menino can just shrug off – it’s a deliberate attempt to hide the internal workings of government from the public.  This is no longer just smoke.  There’s fire.

There are three interesting question areas that I can think of:

1. The FBI already issued subpoenas, and they presumably didn’t get Kineavy’s email.  Now that the Globe is digging harder, will the FBI?  Is there a link between Kineavy, Wilkerson, and Turner?  When will we see those emails?
2. Will this issue mature quickly enough to affect Menino’s re-election chances?  That seems unlikely, given Boston’s history of re-electing candidates with ethical problems.  But one can hope.
3. Will Attorney General Coakley, a Menino supporter, regret her decision to ignore the issue? I’ve wondered for a while how someone can run as a law enforcement candidate in Massachusetts with such a thin record on rooting out corruption. In this case the violation was brought to her door, and she turned it away.  Will that affect her chances to replace Kennedy?

Bailey is 10 years old.  She’s mostly German Shepherd, but there’s something else there too.  She’s very friendly with people and children.  She’s not great with other dogs; she thinks that she’s the alpha dog.  She does fine with other submissive dogs.  She’s not good with cats, either – she thinks they are fun to chase.

As an older dog she’s content to sleep for much of the day.  I let her out in the morning and feed her.  A dog walker takes her for a stroll midday.  I come home in the evening and either walk her or let her out, and feed her again.  On weekends she goes on daytrips with me, or just stays at home while I’m getting work done.

She has excellent house training and has never once had an accident in my house. She can easily go 8 hours without needing to go outside.  She has no health problems and is an active companion.  She travels well in cars.

If you’re interested in meeting Bailey, please let me know.  If you’re interested in taking her for a few days to see if you get along, that is possible.  And, as I said before, if you take her full-time I’m very happy to be a regular dog sitter.

The last time the Republicans won a Senate seat in Massachusetts was 1972: Edward Brooke, the first popularly elected black Senator.  When Paul Tsongas unseated him in 1978, the Democrats spent the next 25+ years with two “safe” seats from Massachusetts.  In the summer of 2004, they were horrified to realize that their success might mean failure: Sen. John Kerry was running away with the presidential race, and Mitt Romney, Republican, was governor.  When Kerry won the presidency, Romney would get to appoint an interim replacement.  Failure.

In 2004, as today, the Democrats held more than 80% of the seats in the legislature.  They were losing the game, but they had the power to re-write the rules, so they did.  They proposed a law that would strip Romney of his power to appoint a Senator.  The Republicans offered an amendment to permit an interim appointment.  The amendment was shot down, the bill was approved, Romney vetoed, the veto was overridden, and on July 30, 2004, the law was passed.  Read some of the quotes from the debate, and keep the window open for re-reading in a couple paragraphs.  They’re funny, in a sad kind of way.

Fast forward to today.  The national Democrats desperately want another (D) in Washington, but the state legislature is hogtied by its past actions.  They could change the law again and let Gov. Patrick appoint an interim Senator, but that would expose them as partisan hacks.  Or, they could do nothing and watch health care reform founder – the signature priority of their party’s new President.  It’s really a no-win situation for them; no matter what they look like unprincipled partisan whores.  I think this conclusion is an accurate one. It’s nice to see it in black and white without much room for spinning, dodging, or blaming.

There are a couple winners here:

• Congratulations to the unnamed adviser to Gov. Patrick who convinced him to make a full-throated endorsement of interim appointments.  Patrick is one of the few statehouse figures that can distance himself from the 2004 power grab.  Everyone knows he wasn’t governor in 2004.  Either he gets to appoint the 60th vote in the health care cloture vote, or he gets to tell the legislature “I told you so.”  And with almost no political downside!
• Potentially, congratulations to the Republicans.  They made the right arguments in 2004.  It’s impossible to prove whether that was principle or luck, but they get to bask in it now.  If they’re smart, they’ll stick to the same tune, but quietly at first.  If the leaders on Beacon Hill bring the issue to a vote, they should support the vote, and then congratulate the Dems on correcting their error in 2004.  If the Dems don’t bring it to a vote, they get to make hay for each day the seat goes empty.  Every vote, health care and all, they issue a press release bemoaning the short-sightedness of the leadership.  Of course, they can still screw this up -  if they oppose the vote, they also look like partisan whores.  Think red clothing instead of blue.

I’m not a fan of appointments.  Senators should be elected, not appointed.  The counter-argument is that for 100+ days, the state will only have one Senator, that we’re under-represented.  I just don’t think that matters in a 3-4 month timeframe.  I just don’t feel shortchanged.

So here’s what I’d do:  Make the time frame shorter, and hold the election in Oct/Nov rather than Dec/Jan.  Change the electoral calendar from 145-160 days to something like 105-120 days.  Hold the elections in November, at the same time as many cities, and save them some money.  Seat the new guy (or gal) in time for the New Year.  This blunts the “under-represented” argument.  And for the people who want a longer campaign – do you think anyone’s going to vote during the holiday season?  Not too likely.

It’s a change based on calendar, not party.

First off, the melting bunny.  Weighing in at 2:36, it’s easily worth it.  My mother’s emailed comment is quite telling: “Although the net result was the same as my method, I found the actual dropping of the eyeballs quite distressing.”  I leave her personal bunny story to your collective, fervid imagination.

Second off, same source, “Revenge,” a quick 2:38.  I think it’s poorly titled.  To me, that’s a movie about tension and anticipation – I stared, unblinking and terrified that I’d miss the moment of climax.

Third link is a huge change of pace, so you might want to read your email for a minute to cleanse your visual palate.  Seasame Street sends us on a massive drug trip. I remember thinking this was pretty cool as a kid.  Now, I recognize this for what it really was: a 2:43-long advertisement for drug use.

The last link is for all three of my readers who share my love of all things Annie Lennox.  Evidently she handed the keys of her musical castle to DJEarworm, and the result is pretty impressive.  4:34 of Annie Lennox musical genius.

How is that related to this video?  Only tangentially.  I just liked the video, and my brother’s story. Five minute video, sound required, and hopefully you’ll smile like I did.

My father’s mother was next.  She died while I was in college, a few months after my father died.  I remember her quite clearly.  We were never particularly close, though.  We’d talk about things that were new in my life, she’d smile and say how nice that was.  I was sad when she died, but it was really just a small aftershock following my father.

My mother’s father died two years ago.  I still miss him.  He wasn’t a close friend, but we had real conversations about things that we both cared about.  I learned from him, and he learned from me.  I never understood his religious views, but they didn’t keep us from talking.  We shared attachments to Town Meeting, the Red Sox, and Massachusetts politics, and talked about them for hours over the years.

My mother’s mother died yesterday.  She’s been frail for a while and quite ill for the last two weeks, so it wasn’t a shock.  But it hurts like a bitch.  She’s my grandmother.  I’ve talked and joked and laughed and chatted with her for as long as I can remember.  And now she’s gone.  Some things that I remember:

I remember going on “Grandma-cations” when I was a kid, where my brothers and I would stay for a night or two with her in Dedham.

I remember, as a child, getting her very angry.  She said she was “very cross” with me, and I had no idea what that meant.

I remember her cajoling me into piano drills and conversations in French – all a waste of her time, I’m afraid.

I remember getting hand-written, 4-page letters from her while I was at college – and the first three pages were about the Red Sox.

I remember giving a presentation to the exec team at Abuzz in 1999 – and having to apologize because my 80+ year old grandmother was IM’ing me on AOL about whether or not Pedro Martinez was going to win the Cy Young.

I remember how she could press a button and make my mother and her siblings react like they’d been electrified.  But somehow grandchildren got a pass, and we never got that level of disapproval.

I remember when I was unemployed and rather than buy gifts for Christmas, I used my mother’s kitchen and made cookies as presents, and that made Grandma cry.

I remember the day of grandpa’s funeral, when she got all of her grandchildren together at a table and just talked – about us, about her, about her life, about grandpa.

Most of all I remember her stories.  I’ll never be able to reconstruct them.  Most of them died with her.  But I have snippets.

• Some pictures of her telling the story of the squirrel in the living room.
• My pictures and commentary from the 65th wedding anniversary celebration.
• A video of her telling the story of her wedding catering preparations, parts one and two.
• A montage including a wedding photo.  And a second and third montage, all related to my grandfather.

One last picture, from my Uncle John.  It’s not a picture of Grandma, but it’s a picture of what she was.  She was family, she was cake, she was Dedham, she was china, she was napkins, she was birthday, she was date keeper.  She was the last of her generation. She was family.

I miss her already.