Articles 5 and 6 are not done deals
Published on April 29th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - Residents are not yet in the free from the threat of businesses entering their neighborhoods due to the appearance of Articles 5 and 6 on Mondays Annual Town Meeting warrant.
Although the proponent of Articles 5 and 6 has expressed the desire to withdraw the matters from Monday's Town Meeting warrant, they will still appear and be voted upon, a fact which is of great concern to many town residents.
"The articles still appear on the warrant because the warrant is a legal document," said Rustic Road resident Jeanie Avola. "I think that in the future, all our neighborhoods are vulnerable to the encroachment of business."
Town Counsel William Solomon explained that withdrawing an article once it is placed on a town meeting warrant is impossible.
"You cannot make a withdrawal," he said. "A warrant article is simply notice."
He compared the appearance of articles on such warrants with games on a sports schedule: once they are posted, the game must take place. Someone must win and someone must lose.
"Every warrant article needs a motion," Solomon said. "If you're a deceitful type of person, you could say you're withdrawing an article and then pack the meeting."
Avola said that she will try to make sure such an occurrence does not take place.
"I can't really speak for everyone, but most of the people that we know about are against the articles," she said. "The majority of people on our street are concerned about this.
"It really would affect the whole town."
Solomon explained that, to defeat the articles, town meeting attendees must vote in favor of indefinite postponement.
"Indefinite postponement has the same result as saying no," Solomon said. "It's just one of those quirks that came up in town meetings."
What will likely happen on Monday, he explained, is that the proponent of the articles, Sheffield Road resident Steven Migliorini, will refuse his right to make the first motion on the articles and allow the Planning Board to recommend indefinite postponement.
"My suggestion to the voters is not to debate the issue for hours," Solomon said. "Just let it pass (with an IP vote).
"You don't want to debate it if it's not going to go through."
Avola said that she does not want the voters to take this matter lightly.
"All people really need to do is go and vote for the IP," she said.
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