To my fellow citizens,
This weekend we are once again asked to fulfill our obligations as members of the Wilmington community and attend the Annual Town meeting. At this meeting there is one particular article being raised that directly effects the youth of Wilmington.
At a Special Town Meeting in December a vote was undertaken to allow our town leadership to pursue purchase of the Ristuccia Memorial Rink. That meeting and subsequent vote was a resounding notice to all interested parties that Wilmington WANTS to purchase the rink for the people and children of Wilmington. The town is adamant that the buying process should be concluded in a fiscally sound, common sense manner. By an avalanche of a margin Wilmington loudly stated, in a nearly unanimous voice, that we wanted to see Wilmington have the ability to provide a stable environment for our citizens to utilize for recreation and sport. That vote was 391 – 7 in the affirmative.
However, we are once again faced with a vote that will determine the future of a town owned rink. Mr. Kevin Macdonald, after gathering the standard 20 signatures on a petition, was able to pose a question to be voted on at Town Meeting that could potentially derail the Rink purchase effort; that same effort that the majority of Wilmington citizens clearly voted to proceed with back in December. Not one of the 20 signatures on his petition was the name of a person that attended the original vote other than himself. This is the same citizen who was able to delay the High School project and cost us all an extra $1.5 million as well as delays in construction.
Once again we, the citizens of Wilmington and our clearly stated will is being held hostage by those few in numbers that seem to only be interested in a personal agenda against town leadership. This is a travesty.
However, I ask you to join me in not allowing this travesty to turn into a tragedy. Don’t allow our will to be hijacked once again.
Please join me in attending the Annual Town Meeting to SUPPORT the purchase of Ristuccia Memorial rink once and for all.
Please vote YES on ARTICLE 33 which allows for the creation of an Enterprise Fund to operate the rink.
Please vote NO on ARTICLE 54 and ARTICLE 56 to prevent Mr. MacDonald from rescinding the December Special Town meeting results.
Thank you,
Tom Dalton
Wilmington Apple 