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A Town We Can Be Proud Of

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A Town We Can Be Proud Of

To the Editor:

Two weeks ago in The Newtown Bee [“Proposed Residential Development At FFH On Two Agendas This Week,” Bee, 1/21/11], [Legislative Council Vice Chairman Mary Ann] Jacob was quoted as saying she feels local residents need to know every available aspect of the one current plan being offered to jumpstart stalled economic development of the former state hospital site. On the same page as her quote, a half-page article [“Newtown Officials Invited To See Foxborough State Hospital Conversion,” Bee, 1/21/11] complete with four large pictures is Foxborough State Hospital conversion, located in a small town in Massachusetts, which she and Mr Struna are inviting Newtowners to visit and see what they have developed up there. Obviously this site was carefully chosen for the huge residential area it has become. They currently have 55 apartments completed and are planning townhouses and small and medium single- family homes which are slowly being added.

I looked up the demographics of Foxborough online. As of their year 2000 census there were 16,246 people, 6,141 households and 4,396 families residing in town. There were 6,299 housing units at an average density of 313.2 per square mile. The median income per household was $64,323 and the median income for a family was $78,000 with 3.1 percent of the population below the poverty line. This does not fit the demographics of Newtown. So this is the example of a solution to develop FFH into a viable residential area, that they have chosen to try to convince Newtowners that housing is the only solution. When there is a much better one. It is named Westmoor Park and is located in West Hartford on Flagg Road. It sits on 162 acres. It is a horticultural, environmental, and nature center. Operating as a nonprofit organization, it hosts a large selection of classes for school children and groups of interest. It has a greenhouse, a nature discovery room, and ever-changing exhibits. It has a wildflower garden and a small demo farm with farm animals, hiking trails, open land nature trails (one mile is for handicapped access), as well as many community events. It, too, was a mental hospital just like FFH. Why didn’t this one get chosen as an example to visit?

Ask Mr Struna. [As an October 1963 New York Times editorial observed:] “Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and ultimately deserves. … And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.”

Our beautiful town deserves something we can be proud of.

Rita Willie

51 Butterfield Road, Newtown                                January 26, 2011

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