I am not quite sure how my previous post on the New Hartford Bond situation went from an unbiased analysis of the situation to direct criticism of the the Concerned Citizens for Honest and Open Government. At no time did I applaud the New Hartford Town Officials or even suggest that the bonds should be passed. I believe I did say that New Hartford Online "deserves credit" and they were directly responsible for the bonds going down. I will not apologize for asking that now everyone comes to the table to find a solution. For that matter, I am impressed that their blog actually does have some common sense suggestions. I don't know how an honest assessment of the situation now makes me an arm of the Republican Machine.
As a disinterested third party, one who rather likes everyone involved, I think this boils down to a classic case of mis-communication. Joe's post here could be construed as being dismissive of the efforts of New Hartford Online. The "pages and pages of boring minutia" line caught my attention as being a tad over the top the first time I read it, but I happen to like minutia. I can understand why the people that invested a huge amount of work putting it all together would be offended by a comment that trivializes their efforts.
On the other hand, I think it's short sighted to ignore Joe's larger point about having a "Plan B" now that the town government's endorsed plan has gone down in flames. (Or maybe it hasn't, depending on how this whole "recount" thing plays out, but that's a whole other issue.) I haven't been impressed by Mr. Reed's governance, but even if he's a raging baboon the town still needs to come up with an effective plan for dealing with the runoff issues. I don't think Joe pointing that out should be taken as an attack, anymore than me pointing it out should. It's just the way things are.
Hopefully we can all move on from this and concentrate on what's really important- bitching and moaning about what a gang of crooks our local politicians are.
