Are You Listening?

To the Editor:

The growing dissention in the ranks of Newtowners is akin to the concern among injured war casualties who have been mistreated by sublevel hospital conditions that our federal tax dollars are paying for. Doesn’t that just tick you off? Who knew until someone spoke up — to the media?

It only takes one call to stir up the troops to take action, like Matt DeAngelis, and now several other Newtowners who have taken notice. I know I am listening, are you?

Mr Geckle has had proposals on his desk for a variety of businesses and corporations (IBM to name one) who have expressed interest in the FFH property for development. I have learned that the asking price per acre is well over $400,000 — that’s four and the term is for a 30-year lease, without ever assuming ownership of the property — ever! No negotiating. What corporation would build on a property that costs two to three times the going local real estate market rate and sign a 30-year agreement never to own the property? This is a travesty of the trust we have put in our elected officials to appoint and assign certain townspeople and to entrust them as to the direction our town should take. Where is our “community development director”? Do they know what community development even means to us in Newtown? I know Mr Rosenthal does not. In addition, I have learned that this committee of which Geckle is only one, has hired an outside “consultant” at $300 per hour — burning up more taxpayer (our) dollars. Mr Geckle should be removed from this board.

This, my friends and neighbors, is a lesson we have learned the hard way. We had a referendum, our elected officials chose to violate our trust by ignoring this vote (dictators do this), spending in excess of $15 million to move ahead in a direction that we directed them not to move in. I believe that it is a violation of the Town Charter for a paid elected official to cause an expenditure that there are no funds earmarked for. A violation of this type typically leads one to a path toward the Board of Ethics, with the possibility of civil criminal charges or worse. What a disaster we are heading for in Newtown with the first selectman leading the way into the bottomless pit. The Newtown Bee’s editorial on February 9, 2007, indicated that “He [Mr Rosenthal] does bear a measure of responsibility … as a way to win support for the purchase of Fairfield Hills.” Yes, even more than that, his burden is also consistent with his desire to prepare for reelection in 2001. Sound like a self-fulfilling scenario?

Question is: will you follow him? Or will you choose to take Newtown in a positive direction seeking to attract businesses into Newtown instead of detracting business with unrealistic proposals? If you are like most who recently have realized this dictatorship that controls Newtown must be corrected, I challenge you to join in and make your voice known, now!

Marty Schertzer

24 Clear View Drive, Sandy Hook                                 March 6, 2007