Living in Harvard can seem like life inside a snowglobe. No more so than on a snowy day like Thursday last week when the air filled with flakes, obscuring the world beyond our own backyards. And yet that world is real. Federal and state laws, regulations, and budgets as well as natural events inevitably affect the lives of our readers, as seen in the long lines to prepay third and fourth quarter taxes at Town Hall or the wintry blasts of “bomb cyclone” Grayson last week.
While these developments can’t be ignored, our focus in coming months will be to report on matters of particular consequence for Harvard citizens. Our open meeting form of government, which the town’s proposed charter preserves, gives every registered voter a say in town decisions, but that obliges us to understand what’s at stake, who wins and who loses, costs, and benefits. In the first half of 2018, Harvard voters will be asked to decide whether to approve a charter that alters the structure of town government, whether to replace Harvard’s elementary school, and whether to sell land adjacent to Hildreth House for senior housing. And with a renewed tax relief effort underway, residents might finally address the very real problem of income disparity in town? These are only the first four to come to mind.
Covering these issues as they make their way through town boards and committees and into community forums and conversations will be our job at the Press in the coming year. We welcome your suggestions. What have we overlooked? What can we do better? Send your suggestions to editor@harvardpress.net.
