The stories and pictures tell the story: we’re in the midst of the lawmaking season. Congress may go year-round in Washington, but in a rural state like Maine where so many of the decisions are made at the local level, we do most our decision-making in the late winter and early spring. Most town meetings take place in March, where voters are busy choosing leaders, setting priorities, debating social questions — and if the reports can be believed, eating some fabulous pot-luck lunches and suppers.
At the State House in Augusta the story’s much the same: lawmakers jockeying for influence over the way we organize education, the size of the state budget, the amount of money the state will borrow through bonds for worthy projects, what’s to be done to make housing affordable, and of course how Maine will cut up its tax pie in the future. What’s fair, who pays, how much?
From the perspective of the towns on the working coast and the 15 year-round island communities offshore, there’s a palpable sense of progress. Residents of the region have made known their frustrations with school funding, tax policy, the lack of affordable housing and other things that threaten their way of life. When an entire region begins to speak with one voice — as the working coast has begun to do — there is reason for optimism.
And if pot-luck suppers can fuel town meetings, what might they accomplish in Augusta?