Thumbs down to the Biddeford City Council for delaying approval of a 2012-13 school budget by sending the same budget figure back to voters this past Thursday. The previous vote, on Aug. 16, sent a clear message that voters did not approve of the $32.6 million budget, but the council refused to approve another $500,000 in cuts before sending it back to the voters.

Clearly, residents were angered that their previous vote was not recognized, and many felt they were being marginalized by the council’s decision to have a new vote on the same figure. If having a school budget in place was the priority of the council, they would have put forth the school committee’s budget of $500,000 less, but they instead decided to simply ignore the previous vote. Showing such disrespect to the voters who showed up at the Aug. 16 referendum did not play out well for the council, and unfortunately, it’s the school employees and students who are paying for this poor political decision.

Thumbs up to those who participated in the POW/MIA Recognition Weekend in Old Orchard Beach. Such high-profile events are effective ways to remind the general public that 559 Mainers are still missing in action and many also suffered torture and horrific living conditions as prisoners of war. While many of these MIA personnel are from wars long past, as a nation, we continue to send our men and women into war zones and put them at the same risk. The ongoing war in Afghanistan has its own hazards, with many service members returning home with missing limbs, and this event helped to raise money for the important cause of helping “wounded heroes” through dedicated charities.

Thumbs up to the proposed easement lease for the edge of Veterans Memorial Park in Old Orchard Beach, which would allow proper radius for delivery trucks to turn into the shopping center. It’s a good deal for both the town and the developer, Tom Ellis of Stillridge LLC. The town has nothing to lose by granting the easement, since it would still retain ownership of the land. In return for allowing the business to use that piece of land when needed, the developer has agreed to do about $50,000 worth of landscaping in that area of the park, give a $5,000 donation to the Veterans Memorial Park Committee and pay the town’s legal fees needed for the easement. Councilor Robin Dayton’s fears about the agreement are misplaced. An easement on a piece of land does not set a bad precedent, it simply allows use of the land as needed, and would not give another entity permission to build there. This seems like a good solution to help this business thrive and beautify the park.

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Thumbnails is a Monday feature of the Journal Tribune’s opinion pages. If you want to respond, feel free to write to the Readers’ Forum via email at jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or by dropping your letter off at our Biddeford office.