Why to Vote YES NOW for the HCA.
VOTE YES NOW because a healthy democracy sometimes has to make tough decisions.
There is no harder job as a voter than voting for an imperfect choice, especially when there are people that you respect on both sides.
Sometimes is proper and right to push for compromise, to ask each side to give up part of what they want so that a solution that satisfies both sides can be found. However, sometimes it just isn't possible to come up with something that both sides can agree on without one or the other giving up on their core values.
When that happens, the right response is for voters to vote for what they belive is the best choice at that moment. That is the fundamental purpose of our democratic process.
Delaying a decision is never neutral because action takes more work than inaction. Voting no makes it more likely that the side favoring the status quo will get the result that they want.
Vote YES or NO based on what you think is right, not based on a hope that may never materialize.
VOTE YES NOW if you want a proposal that includes the Village Center.
The group opposing the current bylaws proposed the plan in December which would have minimized the potential amount of new housing in the town and not included the Mall. This group will likely propose changes to exclude the Mall from a future proposal or to impose limits that would make new housing and retail impossible.
VOTE YES NOW to avoid wasting the Town's money and people’s time.
Coming back to Town Meeting with another proposal will requiring paying legal counsel, consultants, and staff to do the same work over again. It will also require the town’s volunteer board members to put in hundreds of additional hours, not to mention the thousands of hours of the town’s time and financial cost of holding another town meeting.
A delay is appropriate when a situation is materially different, but nothing significant has changed since the deadline was set in December. It is unfair to the town and the town’s volunteers to ask them to redo the process for any other reason.
VOTE YES NOW because the Town's values and vision won't change.
The current proposal reflects the town’s values and vision - more residential housing and better commercial space in the Village Center to support the local businesses and to keep Lincoln affordable. Vote YES NOW to show that you share those values and to make sure that this proposal passes NOW instead of being pushed off into the future.