Town Meeting Set-Up

To the Editor:

The so-called town meeting held on June 6, 2001, that was orchestrated by our first selectman exposed a serious flaw in the functioning of our town officials. We, the people, thought that we were invited to attend an open discussion on the merits of the Fairfield Hills purchase and were rudely dismissed and sent home. Instead of the meeting being the first real opportunity for residents to freely debate and discuss the issues, options, and related costs, our freedom of speech was stifled by the heavy hand of our politicians.

It is unfortunate that our first selectman, Herb Rosenthal, the chairman of the Legislative Council, Pierre Rochman, and the vice chairman Melissa Pilchard were so insecure about their Fairfield Hills proposal that they could not tolerate an honest difference of opinion. Mr Rosenthal’s lack of respect for the residents of Newtown and his obvious manipulation of his hand-picked moderator to abruptly shut down the debate showed his open disdain for meaningful dialog on an extremely important topic: how we manage the design and development of Fairfield Hills.

By presenting a different approach to planning the future of Fairfield Hills, I was attempting to explore an avenue to logically make the best use of our taxing and bonding resources. I proposed a plan designed to accomplish every single task that our selectman and Legislative Council members had itemized in their proposal and used exactly the same amount of money that they had requested.

I would have preferred to submit my amendment prior to the town meeting to allow people to study it. Since the rules only allow an amendment to be made “at” the town meeting, there was little time for the public to make comparisons. The only substantive difference between my amendment and their proposal was that my time line of events and expenditures would have reduced the initial bonding by $12,350,000 since it wasn’t needed for two to three years.

What is really happening here is that Mr Rosenthal knows full well that the Fairfield Hills cost estimates he presented are grossly unrealistic and deliberately underestimated. He wants the $12,350,000 as a backup to cover the anticipated huge cost overruns that will happen on this project as they have occurred on every project he has directed.

When Fairfield Hills was conceived in 1928 and completed in 1933, the people who created it spent six years in making their dream come true. Mr Rosenthal only spent one week in coming up with his vision of destroying half the buildings randomly and recklessly. Not a good comparison.

In his opening remarks, Mr Rosenthal said that he would be holding many meetings where the residents of Newtown could come and participate in the master plan for Fairfield Hills. Based on how he treated us at the town meeting, the only thing Herb wants to hear from us is how much money we will give him to burn.

Barry J. Piesner, Director

Newtown Property Owners Association

38 Underhill Road, Sandy Hook                                                                     June 11, 2001