[Hidden-tech] Governor Patrick's New Grasroots Issues Web Site

[Joseph Conway]

Dear Fellow H-T Members,

Governor Deval Patrick has set up a website where citizens can post 
issues that they want to bring to his attention.  I created a "Western 
Massachusetts Economic Development" post.  It is intended to highlight 
some of what the creative and knowledge sectors (including small 
businesses, independent contractors and their advocates and community 
supporters) out here in Western Mass are trying to accomplish, and to 
remind him of the economic development commitments he made to the 
Berkshires and Pioneer Valley creative economies during the election 
campaign.

You can read more about the site in a recent Boston Globe article at: 
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/24/patrick_site_to_go_live____activists_cant_wait_to_log_on/ 
.

My aim is to use this web site post as one more venue for drumming up 
interest in Boston for the economic development and creative economy 
issues most important to us, such as:

   * Implementation of parts of the Berkshire Blueprint
   * Support for our local cultural and educational institutions
   * Support for the arts and tourism here in Western Mass
   * Improvements to our transportation infrastructure
   * Stronger protections for our environment and natural resources
   * More (and more effective) human services, etc.

Most of the people currently logging on and posting are professional 
lobbying organizations and interest groups who want a bigger piece of 
the state budget.  Fair enough, but I think that what many of us have 
been trying to accomplish through our different organizational and other 
informal efforts (i.e., Open Studios, Hidden-Tech, Drinking Liberally, 
BerkshireVisualArts.org, Bhip etc.) is a lot "truer" to the site's 
vision of soliciting information from the real grassroots.  If enough of 
us log on and vote to approve (or disapprove) my post, or (I hope) add 
comments to it or (even better) post their own issues, our collective 
economic development/creative sector issues can rise to the top of the 
site.  Because of the way politics works, we may be able to get a decent 
amount of attention to the Western Mass creative economy and small 
business causes dear to our hearts.

So I ask you to please go to the general website, at 
http://www.devalpatrick.com, or go directly to the Western Mass issue 
page I created, http://devalpatrick.com/issue.php?issue_id=7578254.  
Please log in, read my post, and consider adding your vote in support of 
what I have written.  I must admit that I know a lot more about the 
issues facing my part of the State, and not as much about specific 
issues of interest to the Pioneer Valley members of H-T, so please 
forgive me if I made any glaring omissions, and consider posting your 
own creative economy/arts-related issues, or adding a post on any other 
issue of importance to you.

If you do add comments in support of my post, I respectfully ask that 
you refrain from including any personal invectives or inflammatory 
remarks regarding specific public officials or community organizations.  
Please feel free to pass this email along to anyone else you think might 
be interested in supporting this effort.

Thank you,
Joe Conway
The Conway Law Group, Esq.
228 Main Street, #192
Williamstown, MA 01267
joe at conwaylawgroup.com