Town Is Moving In

The Wrong Direction

To the Editor:

After 43 years, my parents are leaving Newtown next week. And I don’t really blame them. Though we may be an old community, a palpable affliction of short-termism — political, economic, and cultural — threatens Newtown’s character in unprecedented ways:

Governance: The annual budget circus is a manifestation of democracy run amok, stymieing any meaningful long-term planning. We aren’t obliged to approve the yearly accounts of the federal government. We give our elected representatives the responsibility of managing fiscal affairs. When they fail we vote them out. Why should it be any different in municipal matters? Budgeting by referendum allows for tyranny by the minority. At the most recent vote, 13 percent of the electorate tanked the budget. And that’s after the legislative council clipped school spending by $1 million (a number whose precision sounds derived less from an assessment of fiscal priorities than it does an Austin Powers film). Until the town charter is revised to give elected officials the ability to plan beyond a year’s time, Newtown’s education system will suffer death by a thousand cuts. Property values will follow.

Community policing: While education budgets are routinely contested, there’s insufficient debate about the size, and emphasis, of the police force. Perhaps that reflects a fear of retribution given the menacing presence of patrol cars. Maybe I just cavort with the wrong people on lacrosse fields, at kids’ birthday parties, or in the Big Y cereal aisle. But the number of anecdotal complaints of gratuitous entrapment by local cops has reached a fever pitch. By all means, stop dangerous scofflaws — but have the good sense to avoid harassing law-abiding citizens getting their kids to school or themselves to work. Camping out at the bottoms of the steepest hills in town is simply a provocation to entrap. Such tactics may bring in revenue today, but for a police force already disgraced by scandal, it will over time ensure more bad blood.

Heritage: Physically, Newtown has changed dramatically in the four decades since my parents moved to Boggs Hill. Farms have been replaced by patchworks of McMansions (of varying taste). That’s a testament to the town’s attractions, including its schools. But teardowns like that of an 1840 farmhouse on Taunton Hill Road last week are sickening. I’m not suggesting we revoke private property rights, but zoning rules should ensure against willy-nilly degradation of the town’s character. The perpetrators of this shameful deed — owner, builder, and realtor alike — should be forced to make a public case before they go about destroying our New England heritage.

It’s sad to see my folks pack up their things. But not just because they won’t be around — rather the town they leave behind appears to be moving in the wrong direction. I know my parents are departing for different reasons, but if we continue to allow short-term exigencies to debase the educational values, physical charms, and sense of community that have taken centuries to build, others will soon follow in their footsteps.

Rob Cox

136 Castle Hill Road, Newtown                                                                     May 30, 2012