The Daily News Transcript reports on last night's meeting. The high school auditorium was packed:

Over the past few weeks, we have had plenty of discussion here. I thought it would be helpful to describe how you can navigate this site to read more information about the issues to be discussed tonight.

• Each post/article has a "tag" associated with it; this appears as a small link under the title, such as town meeting, roche bros and wegmans or westwood station.  When you click those links, you will get a list of all the articles related to that topic. There is some overlap--the same items will appear in both lists sometimes. These tags also appear in the tag cloud in the right hand column, "Popular Topics," where the words are larger or smaller depending on the number of articles that have been tagged with the particular topic.
• Here is a link to an explanation about how to add your comments to an article. Links to the ten most recent comments appear in the right hand column.
• The full text of the meeting warrant and articles for consideration tonight can be downloaded from the Town of Westwood website.
• The box on the lower right hand side "Westwood Area News" is a compilation of all news articles from local media that mention Westwood. It is generated automatically and is the fastest way to see if anything new has been written about Westwood. Clicking on the link above takes you to the full list of all articles and summaries.

See you at Town Meeting tonight!

An article in the Sunday Globe summarized the months-long legislative saga of the Wegmans beer and wine license and how that relates to the special Town Meeting on Tuesday and quoted Town Administrator Michael Jaillet:

The truth is, we don't know how this will affect things," said Town Administrator Michael Jaillet. "We will need to explain in detail how [the Town Meeting and legislative debates] are interrelated.

I hope we do not spend hours at Town Meeting speculating about Wegmans, Westwood Station, and what Representative Galvin from Canton will do next or what other surprises might happen. For me, the bottom line is that what we voted on this spring was bad policy and I think Article 1 is good policy. If the Wegman's bill fails to get approved, then they can use one of the 3 licenses authorized by Article 1.

We can't control what is going on in the legislature, or in the minds of potential tenants of Westwood Station, or the financial markets. So I think we should make a clear statement, without equivocation, that we either support beer and wine sales in food stores, or we oppose it.

Nevertheless, I decided to make a "decision matrix" here of the possible outcomes:

I suppose there are some people who would only vote for Article 1 because they think Article 18 was unfair...but they would rather see no alcohol at all. So if you think Wegmans will ultimately fail, you might feel "safe" voting your true feelings. Even though I strongly support Article 1, I hope there are not many people who feel they are in that dilemma. If you really think the alcohol is so bad, then I'd say vote your conscience on that and let things sort themselves out.

We can't predict what future surprises await. We should answer the questions in front of us--not try to figure out the most strategic vote.

Dear Fellow Citizens of Westwood:

I am writing this letter to openly thank the members of both the Westwood Board of Selectmen and the Finance Commission for unanimously supporting passage of Article One on the Warrant for the Special Town Meeting scheduled for October 21, 2008 at 7:30 PM in the High School Auditorium.

I’d like to take this opportunity to explain why a vote in favor of Article One is good for all parties involved in this issue, good for the forward progress of Westwood Station, and good for fellow residents and neighbors in Westwood. I’d also like to briefly explain what brought about the need for this Special Town Meeting.  read more »

The Daily News Transcript reports progress from the meeting yesterday to discuss Canton's concerns with Westwood Station traffic. The meeting included Representatives McMurtry and Galvin, CC&F developer Jay Doherty, Canton Selectman Robert Burr Jr., and House Speaker Sal Dimasi. McMurtry concluded: "It's a truce almost." "Westwood and Canton have to partner in order for this to be successful," he said.

The Globe reports that Representaive Paul McMurtry will host a meeting today between Jay Doherty, Westwood Station developer, and Canton Representaive Galvin to attempt to address the concerns of Canton that have prompted Galvin to hold up the approval of the Wegmans beer and wine license.

Today's front page story in the Daily News Transcript details how Canton Representative William Galvin has now seized upon the controversy over the Westwood home rule petition to throw a new monkey wrench into the process. With Roche Bros and Scaccia now placated and the "fairness" issue close to remedy, the Canton Rep is now looking to use the same "doubting a quorum" maneuver to attempt a glancing blow against Westwood Station.

How did we get here? Why wasn't the home rule petition voted on when the legislature was in session? Why are "informal sessions" necessary? The system is working as "designed"--only matters bereft of controversy can be passed when the legislature is not in formal session. You can criticize the motives of all involved, but they are just zealously representing their constituent interests by exploiting the system.

As I have listened to people talk about the issues around the whole alcohol license controversy, I find the terms and procedures thoroughly confusing. I will try to summarize some of the key terms and procedural issues below:  read more »

More than 50 residents and town leaders attended tonight's Finance Commission public hearing on proposed articles for the special town meeting to be held October 21. After presentations and an hour and a half discussion by nearly everyone present, the commission unanimously recommended adopting Article 1 to authorize up to three licenses for off-premesis consumption of beer and wine. The comission voted 14-0 with one abstention to recommend indefinite postponement of the petition article to authorize two full liquor licenses.

In the video clip below (please forgive the unfortunate advertising; click the x to make it go away!), Selectman Pat Ahern summarizes the purpose of Article 1 and provides background on this story. The full recording of the meeting will be broadcast on Comcast cable channel 8 (Check back here for updated date/time.)

 read more »

A comprehensive article in the Boston Sunday Globe describes the current situation vis-a-vis the McMurtry / Scaccia standoff and the Special Town Meeting solution. However, based on the lack of any action or statements by Representative Scaccia, it appears the stalemate will continue a bit longer. The Globe also addresses concerns about Westwood Station that prompted an "emergency meeting" of the Board of Selectmen on September 4.