I'm sure you already know the bad news: The tax override failed to win a majority, and now Chelmsford will begin closing Westlands, the South fire station, and laying off police, firemen, and generally eroding the public infrastructure that makes Chelmsford one of the best places to live.

If there's any good news, maybe it's in discovering, again, how many people care enough about their neighbors and Chelmsford to work for it.

In just a few weeks, OneChelmsford was assembled and neighbors joined neighbors raising money, making endless phone calls, sorting out the facts, organizing forums, and doing everything they could think of to get the word out.

At the polls, 45% of Chelmsford voters, 4,545 people in all, stepped up and offered to open their wallets to invest in our town. It's not easy or obvious, on the verge of a recession, to decide to spend more.

In more than a few cases, override supporters were ridiculed and treated rudely, and some even had to endure intrusions like having signs stolen or trash thrown in their yards. I don't know how, but I hope we can put that behind us now.

One thing that became clear to me as I talked to people was just how much we need better communication, especially to people who are just too busy trying to make ends meet to get more involved. I hope PCF can be a part of solving that problem.