To the Professional Middleclass of Medford

Dear Neighbors,

If this city does not come together on a list of common causes, we will all lose.  To my middleclass professional neighbors, I lose more than you if you do not reach out to find common ground with me.  I hold you to a higher standard because you have more, more education, more money, more access to power.  I hold you accountable to come to city hall and start a conversation with the city establishment.  Show up and stand up for me.  Short of my house I would be considered the poor.  So to stand up for me you are standing up for the poor.

If you stand up for the working class - they may just return the favor and maybe - just maybe they will do you a favor in return.  Maybe when you want a bathroom fixed in the library they will put it in for you, but it is your responsibility to support something they value, that they can't get on their own. Believe it or not relieving stress in among the working middle and lower class relieves stress on the poor.  So take what they teach you in church and in college and apply it here. 

The blue and pink collar workers of Medford are feeling dumped on, that stress roles down hill.  What can you give the working class skilled and unskilled in this city so that they would feel generous enough in their hearts to pave a road to the Brooks Estate.  Maybe a transportation service can give a deal on starting a Historic Tour of Medford Houses.  You have to offer something substantial first for them to trust you.  What kind of a city do you want to live in?  We have all the ingredients for a reenactment of a Common Ground scenario - Yuppies, poor and squeezed resentful working class.  Let's learn from our history and not repeat it.

Should you fail to realize this process we lose - we all lose.  As for me, I will probably be getting my meals in jail if the stats for my street keep going as they are.  Just kidding. 

Seriously, it is really up to the professional middleclass to come together and offer the olive branch to the working class (again, not me) but what is left of those who do have employment. Don't squander your priviledge.  Come to the city hall and meet with councilors for hard targets like police, and parking enforcement.  If you do - the principle of giving will come back to you the fold without resentment.  All change is difficult.  For those of you who have already stepped forward God bless you.

Respectfully,

Jeanne Martin