Letters to the Editor July 14

Ambulance squad turns 40 in grand style

The Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service’s (SVAS) 40th anniversary party at the Grove on Sunday afternoon crackled with the joy and munificence that so frequently defines this exceptional community.

Amidst spectacular weather, rousing music and a festive spirit, current, past and founding SVAS members were honored by scores of grateful citizens who, in turn, were humbly thanked by the squad for their 40 years of unstinting support.

As always in the town of Salisbury, generous benefactors provided the means to mount the anniversary celebration, and SVAS would like to thank the following businesses and individuals: The Hotchkiss School, Salisbury Bank, National Iron Bank, Sharon Hospital, Noble Horizons, Indian Mountain School, Salisbury School, Ghi Sign, Deano’s Pizza, ORF Cleaning, Lakeville Hose Company, Stadium Systems, Litchfield Bancorp, Harney & Sons Tea, C.A. Lindell & Son. Inc., Town of Salisbury, Swamp Yankee, First Selectman Curtis Rand, state Rep. Roberta Willis, and state Sen. Andrew Roraback. It is precisely this collaborative commitment to SVAS that makes possible their exceptional service to our community.

Salisbury is one of the very few communities in Connecticut to be served by volunteer emergency medical personnel who not only provide highly skilled, lifesaving services, but do so with the compassion and benevolence of a trusted neighbor and friend.

SVAS salutes and thanks the community of Salisbury for its support and for the privilege of serving you over the last 40 years.

Caroline Burchfield

SVAS Board Member

Salisbury

 

Like it or not, Flint is a town treasure

Yes Michael, I have read both affordable housing reports with much cross referencing to the Connecticut General Statutes, done my own research of pertinent town documents, plus looked at town and state demographics.  

I have had discussions with both Affordable Housing Commission (AH) chairman and fellow Salisbury Republican Town Committee (SRTC) member Selectman Robert Riva and commission member Selectman Jim Dresser about the Affordable Housing Commission and the affordable housing issue; we essentially agreed to disagree.

I have attended every single AH Commission meeting to date.

 Like too many in Salisbury, for decades I maintained my privacy, didn’t get involved and didn’t spend much time absorbing The Lakeville Journal’s weekly ration of local news.  In November 2010 that changed when I became SRTC chairman, replacing acting Chairman Bob Riva, who replaced you when you left the GOP to run unaffiliated for first selectman.  

As SRTC Vice Chairman Nasiatka pointed out, many residents — and many taxpaying non-residents who own upward of 50 percent of town properties — don’t read The Lakeville Journal; perhaps they listen to Straight Talk for their local news.

As regards your statement, “It also seems that your SRTC is actually supporting some of these officials [Democrats].  Can you explain that?”, it would be helpful if you were specific as to which Democrats.  

If you refer to my 30-plus year friendship with First Selectman Curtis Rand, then mea culpa. For the record, Curtis and I have very frank discussions and disagreements on issues.

If you mean Wendy Hamilton, then again mea culpa, as I believe she represents the real face of private philanthropic affordable housing in the face of local government acting the philanthropist with taxpayer money.  

Or did you see me recently sharing a plate of French fries with Salisbury Democratic Town Committee Chairman Charlie Kelly at Mizza’s?

As for NIMBY, soon the real “NIMBY roadblocks” will be exposed, and it isn’t the SRTC.

As for my “public welfare” statement, in the absence of full context, let me present a historic view and ask, what did “welfare” mean in the age of the founders?  

Forty years after it appeared in the Constitution, the 1828 edition of Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language defined “welfare” as: welfare, n. [well and fare, a good going]; 1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons. 2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applies to states.  

Affordable housing, as it pertains to the Salisbury public — or general — welfare, will be an issue as our local government plans to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in the years ahead to address this issue.

Salisbury’s affordable housing will be a campaign issue in the approaching 2011 municipal election; and be one that crosses party lines.  Agree with him or not, Michael Flint will be on top of the issue and making his opinions known. For that we should all thank him.

Chris P. Janelli, Chairman,

Salisbury Republican Town Committee

Salisbury

 

Approach to affordable housing misguided

The affordable housing (AH) issue is a complex one with a sad history.

Decades ago, the haves in Salisbury, of every political persuasion, instituted 3-acre zoning to eliminate construction of modest homes on smaller lots that would be affordable to our workforce.

The zoning regulations governing conversion of large older homes into multi-family apartments or condos were made so onerous as to virtually end private conversions.

Accessory apartments are also complicated to create.

We all know that behind such regulation was a desire to protect property values and to guard against lower-income workers or the poor increasing their presence in Salisbury.

Salisbury has paid lip service to AH for decades, effectively avoiding it. Most people fail to differentiate between “low-income” housing and “affordable workforce” housing. The nuances escape them. Or they mistrust that there is any difference at all.

 Now we have come to a point where the state has legislated the power to force whatever Hartford wants onto Connecticut towns.

The current AH Committee and our selectmen are ignoring the advice in the AH reports on where to locate affordable housing. The committee and selectmen want to put it by the new transfer station. I can see the occupants going to conveniently closer Millerton to access groceries, pharmacy, restaurants, etc., instead of spending their money in Salisbury.

May I remind the Board of Selectmen of their promises to householders living by the state line that a significant part of the Luke-Fitting land would be used as an attractive buffer zone to screen the transfer station operation from the neighbors’ homes? That must have just slipped your minds.

Wendy Hamilton’s private efforts for AH were commendable and intellectually honest. She still values the aspirations of free working men and women to improve their situation in life and provide decent homes for their families. It is from such people that our nation grew and thrived.

It appears that this year Salisbury will waste $50,000 through the AH Committee’s misguided efforts and another $25,000 on the Planning Collaborative agent they imprudently hired as another “consultant.”

That $75,000 would be better spent converting the old firehouse into a few condos, as illustrated at Mike Flint’s website, www.straighttalkmedia.com, and getting on with a plan that complies with the guidelines established in the aforementioned reports.

The location is in the town center with water and sewage lines readily available. Children can walk to school and the park/ballfield, and parents can access the post office, laundromat, stores and restaurants. The Grove is handy to the whole family.

Although private construction of affordable housing and individual achievement are preferable to anything the government can provide, Salisbury has painted itself into a corner. With the state now breathing down our necks, municipal and private efforts should be used to aggressively solve the problem without state or federal interference.

Besides converting the firehouse, we need to ease zoning regulation to allow for private development of less costly single workforce homes, condos and apartments.

Kathy Lauretano

Lakeville

 

Trail spiffed up

Thumbs up, a shout out and thank you to the Salisbury town crew and Don Reid Jr. for the restoration work done on the rail trail from the Route 44 entrance near Lower Cobble Road and Moore Brook bridge to just behind LaBonne’s Market.

Many folks from Noble Horizons, Lion’s Head, hikers and just plain walkers had not been using the trail because of the lack of upkeep, mud, long grass (think ticks), windfall and other such obstacles.

Well, the town crew got it really ship shape, and with continued mowing (think ticks) we all can use it and enjoy the beauty of our wonderful rail trail as we walk into town and beyond. Now it is up to us to keep it free from trash and litter.

Judi Gott

Salisbury
 

 

‘42nd Street’: Wow!

Thank you, TriArts, thank you! You set the clock back over half a century to let us “Hear that sound of dancin’ feet.” And what a sound it was!

A chorus line of beautiful girls whose big smiles were real. Not the “say cheese” variety but spontaneous from an inner joy of having as much fun performing as we did in watching. Their routines were precision classic tap at its best … a far cry from today’s group aerobic exercises.

The leads seized the audience in an immediate love affair. And everyone who had a song or two delighted us with a superb, well-styled voice, a far cry from rock or rap. It was “show biz” at its original best, before the desperate quest for innovation “improved” on the lullaby of Broadway.

To everyone of my generation, I hope you spent an evening of joyous rejuvenation. To the younger group, I hope you saw how much fun your parents and grandparents had despite the pressures of the Great Depression and World War II.

Don Buckley

Salisbury

 

Distressed by Compass review

I was distressed to read Marsden Epworth’s review in Compass of the current TriArts production of “42nd Street.”

Her thinly veiled disdain for the “spindly backstage drama” completely missed the point. No one in his right mind would ever claim that this is a drama at all; the plot exists merely as an excuse for a plethora of intricate tap dances executed to some of the finest songs penned in the confident Broadway style, which has kept that institution healthy for close to a century.

She is correct to say the show has “no bite … no surprises,” but, when she says it has “no joy,” I have to quibble that she has no understanding.

I relish and, yes, prefer performances of the greatest musical dramas ever written, i.e., Verdi’s “Don Carlos,” Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps,” Weill’s “Lost in the Stars,” but I would never dream of turning up my nose at a well-directed production of “42nd Street” such as TriArts has mounted, especially when its performers deliver joy so consistently.

Stephen S. Sechrist III

New York, N.Y.  and Sharon

 

We need open spaces

It was disheartening indeed to read in the June 30 Lakeville Journal that the owners of land that has been forever forest are contemplating selling to developers.

It’s natural for them to want to make money off the land, but how much more farsighted and generous it would be if they could be persuaded to put conservation easements on the land, thus preserving it in its unspoiled state forever, for the benefit of the wildlife that live there and future generations that could use it for hiking and camping, away from the increasing pressures of our overpopulated world.

I hope and pray that some happy solution can be found.

Charlotte H. Dallett

Taconic

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