Letter: The Indispensable Indy

After my usual Saturday morning activity of reading the Indy, I feel moved to write a fan letter.  I remind myself never to take for granted Maura Keene’s amazing, detailed, and unbiased reporting of local governance meetings, Toni Cunningham’s expert analysis and explication of essential financial details underlying policy and regulatory decisions in front of town committees, and Marla Jamate Goldberg’s extensive coverage of our schools.  I remind myself that these are all volunteers who offer their services to support good and open governance in Amherst.  Of course there are others I could name whose bylines appear less regularly but represent the same level of dedication and expertise.

I look forward each week to Steve Braun’s pictures and commentaries about our natural world.  These are great gifts to an indoorsman like myself, and I regret that I was not able to read him seventy years ago.  Even the frightening can be beautiful, as this week’s photo of the boa constrictor plant attests.

I welcome the appearance of younger writers and hope that this increases.  I would love to hear their opinions on all the issues facing the town, not just school affairs.

I am especially happy with the comments, pro and con, following the report on efforts to have a referendum on the Town Council decision to fund the Jones Library expansion project.  This is the first time, I think, that a comments section has seen an extensive give-and-take among various points of view.  I hope it continues.

I would love to see more coverage of performance arts; while the Gazette is valiantly trying to maintain some semblance of arts coverage, there is still a need even in these times to call attention to both on-line events and this coming weekend’s open air downtown Bach Festival offerings.  And providing critical and supportive reviews of local theater and music is an essential part of helping them recover from this awful year.

Of course, none of this detracts from the Indy’s central role in providing an alternative viewpoint to sustain critical discussion and useful skepticism around public policy and the possible futures of our town.  For this service I remain grateful, and I hope that town residents, however they come down on issues, share this gratitude.

Michael Greenebaum

Michael Greenebaum was Principal of Mark’s Meadow School from 1970 to 1991, and from 1974 taught Organization Studies in the Higher Education Center at the UMass School of Education.  He served in Town Meeting from 1992, was on the first Charter Commission in 1993, and served on several town committees including the Town Commercial Relations Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee.