The state legislature gives them 75 percent of the cost of building one. Tonight, however, insofar as the conference center is concerned, what has been done will be allowed to rest. At least for this week. None of those conditions pertained in this case, Friedman argues. Applause breaks out, which Gregg quells.
Town meeting is out of the starting gate.
While often irritating and apparently obstructive of the flow of civic business, such debates can be inspiring as well, says Gregg. And so it goes, for as many TM communities as you can name. Bucolic Pelham boasts the oldest continually-used meeting hall in existence. In South Hadley, citizens still repair together to a nearby church for lunch. Patricia Vinchesi '82, current director of community relations at UMass and a former town administrator in Whately, has also been to a number of town meetings across the state.