Neighbor knowledge
If there’s a special place in your heart for that scene from “The Jerk” when Steve Martin’s character is all excited by the arrival of the new phone book, then this might be of interest to you.
The 2008 Street List is now available!
For $20, you get the complete list of names, addresses, birth
dates and occupations of everyone in the town of
For reasons I don’t understand, you need to sign a sheet of paper with your name and address when you buy it. I asked why. (I think I do this every year – kind of a passive-aggressive way of registering my annoyance. Dumb, of course, because it’s not as though the person at the counter makes the rules. I'll try not to do that anymore.) She told me she thought it was in case of a stalking incident, the records could be checked to see who bought it.
This is silly on so many levels, particularly in the
Internet age. I suspect it is part of
some archaic Mass General Law (but I’m too lazy to look it up) because it was
the same deal when I was buying them in
Helpful hint for the nosy but frugal: once the new ones come out, they typically sell off the remainder of the previous year’s version for a reduced price.
Indeed! Best stalking tool ever.
And it does make me a tad nervous they print DOB
From: "Shaffer, Larry"
Date: September 5, 2007 3:01:11 PM EDT
To: "Brewer, Alisa"
Subject: FW: Street List Furnished, free of charge, to all duly organized political committees and to all political candidates of the various districts in which the city or town is located.
Alisa,
Below is the answer to the street list question.
I think that this will work out for you.
Larry
From: Burgess, Sandra
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:56 AM
To: Shaffer, Larry
Subject: RE: Street List Furnished, free of charge, to all duly organized political committees and to all political candidates of the various districts in which the city or town is located.
The short answer is “Yes”.
However, the statute that provides for a qualified individual to receive a copy of the street list at no charge, also requires that the street list be furnished “upon request”, and it also requires that “. . . any such person . . . shall sign a log, maintained by the city or town clerk, placing in such log their names and addresses.”
If Alisa would like to receive a free copy of the street list, she need only come to the Town Clerk’s office and request it.
Sandra
-----Original Message-----
From: Shaffer, Larry
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 4:19 PM
To: Burgess, Sandra
Subject: FW: Street List Furnished, free of charge, to all duly organized political committees and to all political candidates of the various districts in which the city or town is located.
Importance: High
Sandra,
Do you have a response. Please don’t communicate with Alisa on this topic; I would prefer to handle it directly. Should she get the street list for free because of the registered political committee?
Thank you.
Larry
From: Alisa Brewer [mailto:avbrewer@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:31 PM
To: Shaffer, Larry
Subject: Street List Furnished, free of charge, to all duly organized political committees and to all political candidates of the various districts in which the city or town is located.
Hi Larry-
During the last campaign season, I noticed a section in the MGL (below) regarding the provision of street lists at no charge under some circumstances. For the past however many years I have always gone to the Central Services window and purchased the Street List for $20 and signed the log with my name (which never made sense to me -- why sign for something I am buying?). Now that I see from the Town website that the 2007 Street List is available, I would like to obtain it at no charge under this provision as I have a registered political committee (Alisa V. Brewer for Amherst Select Board) with the Town Clerk. However, since I never heard about this provision from our previous two Town Clerks (although I did know I could get one set of registered voter labels or something), and since the Central Services window where one purchases the Street List has never mentioned that some people/organizations get it at no charge, I am uncomfortable bringing this up to either of them directly, as I don't want to seem difficult (who, me?!?)
Would you please check to see if our current Town Clerk is aware of this provision and any other interpretation of it, and then let me know it's OK to go ask Central Services for my "free" copy? Do they want a note from the Town Clerk that I have a registered political committee, or will indicating such on the log I've signed in the past suffice?
There is no rush on this, of course. I'll just bug you in about a week to 10 days if I haven't heard anything:-)
Thanks for your help.
Take care,
Alisa
IN THE NEWS
8/30/2007
Town of Amherst Street Lists for 2007 Are Now Available
Town of Amherst Street Lists for 2007 are available at the Central Services Counter on the first floor of Town Hall. The cost for this publication which lists all residents 17 years of age or older as of January 1, 2006 is $20.00. The next annual Street List will be printed in the summer of 2008.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/51-6.htm
PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE VIII. ELECTIONS
CHAPTER 51. VOTERS
LISTING OF PERSONS SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR OVER
Chapter 51: Section 6. Street lists
Section 6. Except in any city or town as to which it is otherwise provided by special law, the registrars on or before April fifteenth in each year, shall prepare lists containing the names and addresses of all persons seventeen years of age or older listed by them under section four for the current year. Such lists shall be arranged in cities by streets, and in towns by streets or alphabetically by the names of the persons listed, and in cities and in towns of over five thousand inhabitants according to the latest national census, by the smallest subdivision of the city or town for the purpose of voting. On or before June fifteenth in each year, the registrars in all cities and towns shall cause a sufficient number of such lists to be printed, typed or mimeographed so as to furnish, free of charge, such lists, upon request, to all duly organized political committees and to all political candidates of the various districts in which the city or town is located. Such lists shall be made available by the registrars to business organizations and other nonpolitical committees and organizations at a fee to be determined by said registrars, and any such person or authorized representative of an organization or committee obtaining such list shall sign a log, maintained by the city or town clerk, placing in such log their names and addresses.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/51-7.htm
PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE VIII. ELECTIONS
CHAPTER 51. VOTERS
LISTING OF PERSONS SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR OVER
Chapter 51: Section 7. Form, contents and distribution of street lists
Section 7. On the lists prepared under section six for delivery to public officers, the registrars shall name or designate all buildings used as residences, in their order on the street where they are located, by giving the number or other definite description of each building so that it can be readily identified, and shall place opposite to or under each number or other description of a building the name, date of birth, occupation and nationality if not a citizen of the United States, of every person who is listed under section four, and his residence on January first of the preceding year and of the current year. Every person so listed shall, if he is a registered voter, be so designated by an asterisk or other symbol. A copy of said lists containing the information required by this section shall be made available to the chairman of each city and each town committee. In cities and towns where the information on such lists is compiled on computer tapes, a copy of the tape or a set of mailing labels shall be made available to the chairman of each city or town committee at a reasonable price to be determined by the state secretary
A small note of explanation about the posting the above email exchange regarding the street list, Larry Kelley and Alisa Brewer would be appreciated.
Stephanie: I assume you mean the list for 2007 (2008 not being over quite yet...).
Neil: The shorter comment above is from Larry Kelley. Alisa's exchange is with Larry Shaffer.
Oops, sorry Neil -- I was simply including the exchange to have it "advertised" that folks with duly organized political committees don't need to pay the $20 under Mass General Law. Sorry for being obscure.
Eva: actually, she does mean 2008, and yes 2008 isn't over yet:-)
Thanks Alisa. It was not so complicated as I imagined.
Alisa: Oops -- Sandra's message in that string is dated 2007. A little detail I missed.
Yeah, you gotta watch that Alisa--she saves EVERYTHING!