To The Editor:
I attended the Lovett Park meeting on September 28 along with about 30 other residents. The project manager and the engineers presented all their fancy drawings and photos materials for different scenarios. There were two concepts – Concept A and Concept B. After answering numerous questions from the audience, we were finally informed that Concept A would not happen because of restrictions and constraints set forth by the state. Many of the folks there suggested to leave the area as is and do nothing. One gentleman asked the engineers,” If this .05 acre of land was in your own backyard, would you spend $150,000 on it? Of course you wouldn’t.” There was no comment from the engineers. People have managed to get to the river these past few years without any problems. Forget about all this grant money; what a waste! Why not just remove the cement slab, replace it with fieldstones and plant grass and flowers?
Now, how about the west side sidewalk project? Once again, grant money causes us to “bite off more than we can chew.” We would still have to pay over $90,000 for this project! Waitsfield already has many millions of dollars in outstanding debt! Even our select board is against many aspects of this project. Why not lower the speed limit through the village (25 or even 20 mph) and install more visible crosswalk signs? Let’s rethink all this wasteful spending. By the way, the crosswalk sign at Main Street and Old County Road has been down in the grass for about three weeks. I was informed that the state has to put it back up. So much for safety!
Larry Corthell
Waitsfield
