Friday, February 11, 2011

You're A Bad Neighbor -

Dear Winchester,

You’re being a bad neighbor.

I’m not sure how else to tell you this, but we really don’t want your stinky, noisy, toxic asphalt plant in our backyard on top of our water supply.

We’ve asked you repeatedly, but you’ve turned a deaf ear.

And what’s more, you are being completely irresponsible to allow this plant to be built on top of an aquifer and so very close to a protected river.

You’ve manipulated the environmental research to slant in your favor and turned a blind eye to wisdom and caution. That aquifer supplies water to the wells of this whole region! How could there be no risk of anything ever leaking into it?

We aren’t buying it. You are doing this for your own financial interest with no care for how it affects others.

Do you not care that you could be potentially poisoning the wells of many in your own town? If even one person gets cancer, and they find even a trace of any of your stuff in the river or in the wells, you’ll be sued.

If a whole town sees a spike in cancer rates, can you afford that nightmare lawsuit? Can you even afford the lawsuits of people who think they might possibly have had their wells contaminated?

And are you prepared to deal with the plummet of property values of all of the homes near the plant?

Have you taken that cost into consideration?

Those properties will become unmarketable — perhaps even abandoned. The property owners will demand a reduction in their taxes. And the unlucky souls who are trapped there will have the noise of the race track by night and the racket of the asphalt plant by day. (Swanzey should note this as well. A loss of property value is coming their way also. The peasants are furious.)

And so, Winchester Town, you have been very shortsighted in your eagerness to have this particular commercial business in your tax base.

But you’ve been unwise also — unwise, greedy and heartless.
J FINNAMORE
Westport Village Road
Swanzey

5 comments:

Mike Towne said...

Please don't blame all of Winchester for this problem. Many of us voiced our concerns and testified before our town boards as to why this should not be allowed; but our voices fell on deaf ears. I personally attempted, on behalf of all those who will be affected, to appeal to the ZBA on two different occasions and when denied a fair hearing, I filed a lawsuit seeking justice. The fault for all of this lies squarely on the shoulders of a dozen people and a Board of Selectmen who have also turned a blind eye to the proposed project; not the whole town. For some unfathomable reason our Land Use boards turned their backs on their fellow citizens and those residents of Swanzey and Hinsdale that will also be affected by their decisions. We have an uphill battle in front of us but we will continue the fight to stop this plant from ever getting off the ground and with support from people like yourself we will prevail. Not all of us are bad neighbors.

Anonymous said...

Blah blah blah. Liars liars liars. You did not want to hear the truth, and now spread fear with lies. Provide the evidence that shows this will pollute wells. Provide the evidence this is a water resource for others. Saying something repeatedly does not make it true. Pretty sad.

Chicken Little

fed up with fools said...

Looks like we have more than one village idiot in town. Pay no attention to this fool Mr. Towne, we know the facts and applaud your determination to right a wrong. Go away Chicken Little or is it little chicken, before the sky does fall on you.

Anonymous said...

Swanzey resident Jen is an angry person. We don't like your kind down here in Winchester. Just stay where you are and mind your own business in your own town... thank you very much.

The Quiet Majority

Anonymous said...

Get your facts straight stupid, the name is not Jen and you don't speak for anyone but yourself. This is why our town has such a bad reputation, it's idiots like you spouting crap like you just did. From now on you should just keep quiet.