Needs Change,

And So Should Priorities

To the Editor:

“Don’t Touch My Vote” wrote Carol Ross, human resources administrator for the Town of Newtown; however, she failed to mention that the vote she alludes to also rejected the master plan. Were some of the voters who approved the purchase of Fairfield Hills the same voters that rejected the master plan? I’d wager that many were because back when Ms Ross voted, there were no plans available to review. However, we do know that we paid Harrall-Michalowski Associates (HMA) handsomely to develop a “master plan,” which was subsequently rejected. Needs change and with them priorities, and that’s the message that the Legislative Council heard at the February 7 meeting. How, then, are we to determine which vote to disenfranchise? We can’t, and as a result we must deal with our current conditions and not conditions which existed in 2001 or any other year. We can’t change the past but we must plan the future wisely.

Joe Hemingway, who was appointed to the Charter Revision Commission by the Legislative Council and later appointed a member of the Economic Development Commission by the Board of Selectmen, failed to attend the Legislative Council meeting of February 7 because of prior commitments. Not letting his absence from the aforementioned meeting influence him, Mr Hemingway stated that “the majority of the people who spoke did not want to let the facts get in their way.” Of course, not having been at the meeting we couldn’t expect Mr. Hemingway to cite what facts he feels were so egregiously ignored. His second point, which was disturbing to him, was that the majority of the people who spoke left the meeting without hearing the other side. And the other side was: Mr. Harrall of HMA giving his well-known dissertation on the development process of the master plan; how many meetings were held, citizen participation etc, etc. What he does not tell you is that no one, and I mean no one, (which includes HMA and me because I attended that “planning/layout” meeting conducted by HMA) had any idea of what our longer-term needs were and so these sessions turned out to be nothing more than moving pieces on a monopoly board. Then Mr Rosenthal told us how he won reelection by 900-plus votes (839 to be exact) and that he was going forward with his plans. He ended his diatribe by stating if we didn’t like it, vote him out of office. These are the facts that those who left missed. Also, keep it mind that the Legislative Council pointed out many times during the course of the evening that no action would be taken that evening. They were there only to listen. Why then would anyone be inclined to stay to the end? I’m surprised that I stayed, because the only thing I learned after public participation was that Joe Borst and Keith Jacobs got the public’s message.

A.P. Roznicki

169 Hanover Road, Newtown                                  February 19, 2007