At last Thursday’s meeting of the Joint Boards of Selectmen, Harvard Selectmen Chairman Leo Blair proposed an unstructured, “no attribution from the press” meeting to brainstorm, to say “what we really feel,” about solving the problems of Devens disposition.
Blair suggested “that we come to the next meeting with no agenda, that at our next meeting we sit around this table and start talking about where we really think we want to end up and how we get there. Let everybody say what they really think.”
This statement was in response to earlier comments by other board members on further development of Devens success criteria.
“At some point we have to start talking things out,” Blair said.
No attributions, please
Blair spoke dramatically, arguing that to have this brainstorming conversation, the board needs to say to the press “just report on background on this. Don’t quote. Report the story but don’t attribute quotes. Because you don’t want to be divisive.”
Ayer Selectman Gary Luca replied immediately, “I have no problem being quoted.”
Tom Kinch of the Devens Committee followed Luca, saying, “What I have to say or what anyone has to say should stand up. I really don’t understand the risk we take by saying what we feel.”
Blair’s rationale
Blair continued, “We might say [for example] that, in order for Harvard to comply with success criteria, we would have to open up roads.”
Kinch replied, “That’s a fact.”
“It may be a fact,” Blair responded, “but it may be a political impossibility. It may be so galvanizing that the rest of this process can’t go anywhere because at every single meeting after that there would be 16 people from that area saying ‘no, no, no’.”
Kinch replied “That’s their right.”
“All of the process that we’ve engaged in so far has been trying to keep this an open and honest process. We don’t [want to] galvanize constituencies early, before we know what the options are or where we are going,” Blair said. “If this thing gets played out in the newspapers as us staking specific ground while we are still talking about concepts, it’s going to turn into 2B again.”
Kinch replied, “[The failure of ] 2B wasn’t because it was too informative; it’s because it was too closed. I would maintain to you that if we could put out inflammatory statements that would pack this place with 8,000 people, that’s what I would like to see.”
Others weigh in…
Phil Crosby of the Devens Committee agreed with Blair that a brainstorming session without the press would be beneficial. He suggested, “Whatever we say [at a brainstorm session ], don’t attribute to one person because it belongs to everybody. Stop looking through that spyglass from Harvard or Devens.”
Harvard Selectman Tim Clark said he didn’t think an unstructured meeting would have a lot of value. But his fellow Board member Lucy Wallace said she saw some benefit in having a brainstorming session, and was “not worried about attributing names. It might stimulate the town to thinking about this. I’m just wondering who would facilitate it.”
Blair said, “Glenn is welcome to come as long as he doesn’t charge us anything,” addressing Glenn Eaton of MRPC, who attended the meeting.
Eaton said, “I am happy to, it’s one of my strengths.”
A motion to have a brainstorm session at the next JBOS meeting was moved and seconded, but a vote was not taken.
