To the Editor:

I viewed the YouTube video of Mr Chow touring the bowels of closed, “sealed” and “secured” buildings at Fairfield Hills and better understood a recent letter to The Bee titled “A Tragedy Waiting to Happen at Fairfield Hills” [The Newtown Bee, October 9, 2020]. What was posited by the letter was the potential injuries or fatalities of curious youngsters discovering for themselves the dangerous interiors and underground passages of those unsafe buildings.

The potential for multimillion dollar lawsuits against the town if this occurred could be ruinous for the town and certainly tragic for its people.

The poor judgment and mendacity of those who were responsible for both the purchase and failure to create something more than a cemetery for dead and dangerously dilapidated buildings on the campus now has a viable and cost effective plan for rehabilitation of the campus.

Still, many residents decry the plan as soiling the “rural quality” of the town by creating a livable community on the site that already hosts a municipal center, a community center, a senior center, and a youth and sport center. And a brewery.

The Fairfield Hills Master Plan Review Committee last year recommended the razing of all unused buildings on the campus “as soon as possible” and for converting two buildings for rental apartment housing.

Some people bemoan the destruction of our “Central Park,” decry the potential of attracting “affordable housing people.” Others still talk about attracting corporate businesses, hospitals, colleges, as if the town hasn’t tried to do all this, without success.

Think about all the above and vote Yes to allow the town to consider housing and razing the remaining tombstone buildings at Fairfield Hills.

Steve Rosenblatt

50 Watkins Drive, Sandy Hook October 20, 2020