Plow The Road, Or Reduce

The Tax Bill

To the Editor:

Today, January 18, I awoke to yet another onslaught of precipitation in the form of sleet/ice/rain. And for the second time in a week, I became irate.

No one can control the patterns of the weather; however, as a taxpaying citizen of Newtown, I can — and do — expect Newtown Public Works to plow more than one car’s width in my Dodgingtown neighborhood more than once since last week’s storm dumped 30 inches on my and my surrounding streets (Shut, Flat Swamp, and Cemetery Road). Since that storm, our local streets have been plowed once — once — and only wide enough to allow one small vehicle to pass in one direction at a time. As a dog owner, I worry that one or both of us will be injured or killed if I can’t jump into a snow bank (which I’ve been doing constantly) in time to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

Newtown Public Works director Fred Hurley’s comment in a recent Shannon Hicks’ article (“That was a major problem because we had plowed all over town and these guys had just pushed the snow out into the road. We had to go back and fix a lot of the roads”) was laughable, and would apply to me and my neighbors if NPW had plowed our street beyond one cursory time. And during today’s sleet/ice storm, as of this writing (3:24 pm), we have not had one sander/plow come by at all: the result is another day’s work missed because I can’t get to 302, fear of walking my dog, and rage.

If I, for whatever reason, am not going to reap the benefits of having a town plow clear my street, I respectfully request that my local taxes be reduced to reflect this hideously inadequate service (or wholesale lack thereof).

Respectfully,

Elissa Altman

13 Webster Place, Newtown                                    January 18, 2011