No, I’m not railing against the over-commercializing and the excessive hype nor against the silly movies & specials that wreak with ‘sentiment’.
I’m talking about those in government and in bureaucratic regulatory positions trying to get measures passed while everyone is busy concentrating on their families and out Christmas shopping.
These seven (7) ordinances have two ordinances (Three if the Storey Avenue Rezone is included) that are perfect examples of ‘sneaking’.
You’ve got an ordinance removing Smart Growth. Now the Smart Growth measure is to make sure that things are done to benefit our entire city and also that efforts comply with the City’s Master Plan. (Mayor Moak must have hated this ordinance.) When this ordinance was put in, it had a two-year term (with the intention of extending it.) Obviously, this is an excellent time to get rid of it instead of amending it for an extension! I’d like to see the reasoning behind its removal. Since the sponsor, Councilor Connell, has not had the courtesy to respond with an explanation, I’D SAY GET RID OF THIS ONE AND REPLACE IT WITH AN ORDINANCE AMENDMENT!!!!
Then there is number seven. If a traditional dark sider or some greasy-haired Libertarian were to propose this amendment, the outcry would be deafening. But because a pretty ward councilor bats her eyelids, who is a liberal; everyone gives her a pass. This ordinance is for the express purpose of allowing unbridled expansion of Plum Island housing and gives an inordinate power to the ZBA. (which is notorious for being pushovers.) It wouldn’t be so bad that a future storm will wipe out these houses and all of us as taxpayers will have to chip in via the Federal Government to pay out insurance, BUT SHE WANTS TO EXTEND THIS LIBERALITY TO THE REST OF THE CITY SO DEVELOPERS AND HOMEOWNERS CAN FURTHER DETERIORATE THE HISTORIC DISTRICT.
It is important that citizens make the time to show up at 6:00 tonight and express your desire to see thee last two ordinances defeated!
-P. Preservationist
www.ppreservationist.com
P. Preservationist 
I want to apologize to Councilor Heartquist for being demeaning in my comments. I am obviously not recanting on her being pretty and liberal. Of course, Barry Connell and Greg Earl are liberal and I would never put the word ‘pretty’ next to their names.
I also apologize for not understanding that this only applies to Plum Island – my temper flared and my hairs raised like an angry cat when even the glimmer of loosening restrictions on our beloved Newburyport Historic District would be a possibility. As it stands, this ordinance is still flawed in that it makes it easier not harder for development on Plum Island. We should make it more difficult – this is a sandy, barrier island. As Matthew 7:26-27 says, “a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came[in the next 30 years or less for Plum Island], and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”