Elected March 23, 2024

Unofficial election results came in, and I’ve been selected by the voters to serve after a rainy, cold, windy day of polling. It is gratifying that I received the most votes, but I don’t put too much credence into this because the “blank” candidate came in fourth. The total number of votes cast was 1,666 for two open seats. So apparently nobody received a majority, which is not surprising with six candidates in the running for two seats. (The results don’t tell us how many ballots had zero, one, or two votes cast.)

The editor of our local paper called to ask me how I felt. It is a complex mix of emotions. Of course, I’m excited, because this role could give me a chance to make a positive impact on the world, which is something I have always aspired to, but have felt my efforts fell short of the mark. It is also intimidating, because the zoning bylaws here are archaic and opaque, so there is a steep learning curve for a lay person without a legal background such as myself.

I’m up for it though. I can read English. I love words. I’ve been programming computers practically all my life so I get the distinctions between domain-specific languages.

I pick up jargon easily. I am familiarizing myself with Mass General Laws Chapter 41 Section 81A (thru Z) regarding Planning Boards. I also have an abiding obsession whereby I read the full text of every EULA, TOS, and Privacy Practices statement before I sign it or click “accept” (weird, right?) and so I reckon that if the bylaws don’t makes sense to me, then they need to be clearer.

If you voted – thank you for participating!

If you voted for me – thanks even more for your support!

Either way – leave a comment and share your thoughts on what our Town should act on regarding how we govern the use of property.

Thanks for reading.

What’s a Planner to do?

The Duxbury Planning Board is primarily responsible for approving subdivision plans, meaning that if someone wants to combine parcels, or split an existing parcel of land, the change must be reviewed at a public hearing, along with any construction plans for the new parcels.

The main other thing the Planning Board does is advise Town Meeting, about proposed changes to the zoning bylaws. Please review the Town’s web site linked above for more detail about the Planning Board’s full suite of responsibilities.

The Permitting Process

I’ve learned that many people don’t realize how “Building Permits” work. When construction plans are designed in compliance with both a) building codes and b) the Town’s zoning bylaws, the plans are never reviewed by the Planning Board or any other Town committee. This is referred to as “by-right” development.

Every property owner (whether a resident or not) has the legally protected right to utilize the land to which they hold title according to their own idea of the highest and best use. As long as the planned activity fits within the law, no public review or community notification is required. In most cases, the only review is essentially a private, administrative act by the Building Inspector’s staff to verify code compliance.

Some residents have proposed that a notification requirement be added for all types of permits. As with any desire for additional regulation, such a rule would come at a cost. The more we ask our government to do, the more expenses our government will incur, and the higher our taxes will rise. Therefore any change to the bylaws, and specifically to the requirements placed on the property owners and our municipal staff, must be carefully gauged as to the impact on our Town budget, and our rights.

Even with this in mind, the community must be satisfied that the rules we have in place are being followed, and the rights of residents to the peaceful enjoyment of their own home will not be unduly abrogated.

If we want to change the rules, we can, and we should – to protect our interests and defend our values.

Duxbury’s municipal government is one of the oldest around. We’ve been dedicated to our self-determination ever since the earliest residents submitted a petition to the Plymouth Colony to build our own church and hold our own Town Meetings. It is a little known fact that the Town’s municipal records – property tax assessments among them – have been destroyed in fire two or three times. The large, stout safe in the Town Hall is a testament to this history. I interpret these events as part of the long-running skirmish between individuals wishing to live free of State interference, and the community attempting to provide for its collective needs and to maintain order.

Our municipal government remains dedicated to what I understand to be a Libertarian principle of minimizing externally imposed order, valuing mutual concurrence and our collective will, and willingly adhering to – even joyfully celebrating – our shared community ideals.

“Principles over picayune rules.”

Who’s In Charge?

The Town Planner used to report to the Planning Board directly – focused squarely on Land Use and Bylaw issues – operating in parallel to the Town Administration and School administration, who are focused on their respective domains of infrastructure and education.

A few years ago, in order to relieve the Planning Board of the personnel oversight responsibility of supervising the Town Planner, the position was formally moved under the Town Manger. Duxbury began recruiting for a new Town Planner in Fall 2023 after our last Planner took a job closer to home.

With the position vacant, the volunteers on the Planning Board can potentially help to fill this labor gap, and continue to advance the Town’s planning goals until a new Town Planner is hired.

So, What’s The Plan?

We are in good shape. Much excellent work has been accomplished. Planning and development goals have been developed with tremendous community input, and formally identified in the Envision Duxbury Comprehensive Plan, completed in 2020.

The Planning Board is a major supporting actor for the implementation of this plan and the additional plans laid out on the web site above. The Board members form the majority of the team standing behind the “quarterback” that is our Town Planner.

Chief among the Envision Duxbury Comprehensive Plan’s goals are:

1. Village Life The improvement and optimization of mixed-use village districts, where people can live, work, play, and shop all within a comfortable walking distance. This ideal represents a return to Duxbury’s original way of life, when corner stores, blacksmiths, and provisions shops were present all over town.

2. Work Life Establishing programs and activities supporting workforce development and affordable workforce housing so that our Town, School, and local businesses can employ residents, keeping economic activity within the Town. Also, increasing support for in-home businesses of all types.

3. Farm Life Rural and agricultural economic development so that Duxbury retains its distinctive home-town character, sustains and improves the conditions of our ancient soils, retains the high water quality of our aquifer, and contributes to the well-being of our Commonwealth by supporting a local, healthy food supply.

4. Economic Growth Enabling and encouraging investment in the creation of business infrastructure, such as research and development parks, service businesses, and other clean and green businesses, that will employ a range of skills and activities to benefit our community by creating good jobs and diversifying the tax base, without placing our precious water supply and clean coastal air at undue risk.

How?

Duxbury is challenged by finances. We appear to have a great appetite, but a modest budget. There are many outside sources of funding including federal and state grants and programs. An experienced Town Planner and skilled professionals under contract are necessary to tap these sources.

Ultimately, it is private investment that drives Duxbury’s economic development. Tourism, maritime industry, and farming have all played a large role in our economic history. The residents must be prepared to see changes in our community that will support and enable a higher level of local economic activity. We should welcome businesses that express a desire to work in partnership with our government and our residents.

Our bylaws and policies must be updated to reflect current economic realities. I encourage our citizens to think creatively about how we can apply the great wealth and privilege we enjoy in this peaceful, verdant place to effect constructive, positive change that will bring our local economy to life and elevate our shared prosperity.

Tag the Planner

I’ve been asked to run for the Planning Board. I’m flattered!

I’m not much of a “campaigner” and frankly I find politics somewhat distasteful due to the use of emotional appeals, ideological disputes, and the simple demagoguery.

I’m a rationalist, a technologist, a pragmatist, so that political stuff just doesn’t float my boat.

The Town of Duxbury is under stress. We are all under increasing stress. An accelerating pace of change is actually, factually occurring now. Despite the 20th century rhetoric about “a speeding train appears faster up close” the evidence is clear that global forces are buffeting our Town, and our Commonwealth. As Beacon Hill legislators respond, so must we, in order to keep pace and stay abreast of emerging policy directives and events. The disruptive forces of global economics, the massive influence of our changing climate, and the emergent threats from accumulating pollution can no longer be ignored. These forces play an increasing role in our municipal planning and will drive our budgetary decisions.

I am eager to join the Planning Board because this body is instrumental in drafting, vetting, and approving bylaw changes through Town Meeting. To date, the volunteer members have supported the Town Planner, but not been called on to actively drive this process. The practice has been to allow the Town Planner and hired experts to come up with language under contract to the Town. Without a seated Town Planner, this strategy seems insufficient to meet the current need. So I am prepared to roll up my sleeves, do the homework, and propose draft language, based on working examples from other Towns, that we need to address problems of good governance at the local level. We can do this together.

Duxbury is one of the few remaining direct democracies. We know each other, we accommodate each other. I like to welcome new residents and visitors, and invite them to share in the joy and pleasure of our private, peaceful place. Folks who aren’t from here, whether “country” or “city” people, may be a little uncomfortable with this level of civic presence, of shared business. Let us all learn together how we support each other and protect each other’s interests, indeed, how we celebrate our differences and accommodate novel ways of life.

Issues that I understand are on the Planning Board agenda, in rough priority order:

1. Zoning Bylaw Recodification
2. Multifamily By-Right Zoning to comply with MBTA Communities
3. Accessory Dwelling Units
4. Short Term Rentals
5. All the Rest: Decarbonization, Coastal Resiliency, Water Supply Integrity, Fiscal Structure

As we go along I will post an article for each topic and provide what links and insight I can to assist the community in parsing and acting on these issues in preparation for Town Meeting votes.

We need to have the conversations, in detail, in person, well before the Town Meeting date rolls around, because these things are complex, and we are passionate, so the issues cannot be worked out “on the floor.”

In support of this, I plan to convene and host a series of Village Counsel discussions within each of the distinct local areas of town. If your house is big enough to hold a dozen or more people, and you would like to host a Village Counsel discussion, please reach out to me.

Way of Life

The art of words
the art of lines
the art of colors
the art of rhymes

the art of sound
the art of taste
the shining mind
the lack of waste

history is black and white
the colonies were built on might
we-story builds
day by day
the budding leaf
enters the fray

Inspiration drives the hand
faith proceeds without a plan
good will pulls the thread of life
the history of harm
drives the knife

Perspective shared is knowledge gained
sympathy dilutes the pain
we train ourselves to hold it in
construct our world to shelter our kin

It all comes down to way of life
we-story seeks to end the strife
what’s yours is wrong
what’s mine is right
we-story rebuts: what’s ours is life

The world is a giant
   washing machine
ideas circulate
   and come out clean

nations perseverate
   tyrants make war
the people suffer
   the profits soar

divisions are sewn
   by hoarding the land
these lines are not drawn
   by any divine hand

seems so clear
   from far away
we-story sees
   the truth today

life is precious
   life is good
war is not a livelihood
   animosity abounds
Overblown egos are taking us down

the collusion of capital driving events
the harm inflicted by rising rents
pretty soon they’ll outlaw tents
we-story sees the ill intent

the art of words, the art of lies
the art of truth is in the eyes
each mind filters what it sees
we cannot perceive
what we do not believe

It also works the other way
when thinking is broad
time falls away

we-story flies above the world
the tapestry of life unfurls
minds divided by the word
actions unify the herd

history is obsolete
our cultural bias lays at our feet
we-story makes the word complete
demystifying the elite

Threads of History, Wires of Demise

Storytelling in the New Millennium

We relate our stories through word of mouth.  We capture our stories in writing. When we have a particularly compelling story, we might go to the trouble of laboring over a book, developing a storyboard into a screenplay or a pilot, or even putting it to music in the form of an opera or a musical play.  In contrast, today we have so many “live feeds” that video cameras are now capturing extemporaneously unfolding stories which may inadvertently (and often intentionally) gain wide distribution through social media.  The gap between composed narrative and happenstance is a fertile ground for exploitation.

Regardless of origin, the story embodies a dynamic between individual attitudes and knowledge, personal decisions, social interactions, and in many cases, a larger body such as the state, an army, a gang, a school district, the medical establishment, or what have you.  The essential elements and composition are all still the same: some recognizable context grounded cultural assumptions of the reader/listener/watcher, a progress of events, some “surprise” or other emotional experience, and a conclusion (or lack thereof.) A story is a story is a story.

Technical Digression

Postulate: In this information age, all stories can be reduced to a mathematical expression of a sequence of human (and even animal) interactions.  The premise is that behaviors and interactions can be modeled using standardized words… a lexicon of behavioral vectors.

Has anyone actually done this?  I am sure that the major internet companies have.  What do you think a social network is, anyway?  Think about what happens when you click on that “share”, “plus 1” or “like” button.  You are feeding an algorithm that is modeling your behavior, along with everyone else’s.

(Setting aside the technical domain for the moment.)

Back to the Story

In this way, all human stories (whether fictional or factual) weave a fabric of human experience from the threads of history.  The stories we make up today through popular books, music, plays, and movies seem to me to be mostly re-hashing and recasting tales from the past.  There really doesn’t seem to be much innovation or foment in storytelling.

This phenomenon strikes me essentially as an attempt to repackage the canonical tales for consumption by our new society, which receives experiences much differently than any before us.  Recently I’ve seen the heavy commentary regarding the “millennial generation” as essentially being self-absorbed, to use a milder form of the many criticisms that have been leveled against this very technically fortunate, very socially unfortunate cohort. But this is an artifact of the environment of our rearing… heavily machine-driven, fragmented, and tenuous as it is.

Because information technology has simultaneously democratized information (witness wikis, blogging) and thoroughly balkanized knowledge (walled gardens, big data, artificial intelligence) we are living in a time where humankind is losing control of our narrative. In principle, this has always been the case… the victors write the history. The state controls the message. The schools propagate the banal rhetoric and the approved truths.  But now, we have trans-national, essentially anonymous, completely unsupervised entities controlling massive amounts of information.  This is unprecedented, unplanned, and… pretty unnoticed at this point.  The impact is unpredictable.  But I will give it a shot below.

Also, people forget. We rely on entertainment, commemoration, and social rituals as a form of collective memory, as a counter-weight to this institutionalization of our history.

We need stories to remind us of our mistakes, and what we have learned.

But – do people realize that there is now this other major force involved in the narrative?

Big Blind Eye

Who among us sees that we now have multiple massive, corporate-controlled and machine-driven shadow intelligences growing in our midst?  Do we realize that they are processing our every online move?   Do we remember that these machines are being continuously tuned and tweaked to find new ways to extract money from our livelihoods?

Everybody is a little paranoid, and perhaps me a bit more than most.  But still, it gives one pause.

Theory: Mechanization of society through computerized interactions institutionalizes social deficits. Machines only serve to enrich the owners of the machines, enabling the exploitation of everyone else.  This occurs on the personal level, and thus by extension on a larger scale, at the social sphere.

Prediction: If left unattended, commercial activity will demoralize society to the least common denominator of behavior and interaction. The higher forms of art will wither and die. Eventually some future generation will recognize that human value can only be created, recognized, and sustained in direct personal relations with another, or through production and exchange of handcrafted goods, without the involvement of machines.

Provocation

Do you see this?

Am I crazy?

If you agree… what will you do to counteract this trend, and preserve human history?