Devastating News

To the Editor:

What devastating news to read about the Housatonic River Railroad Company’s plan for Hawleyville.

My family and I have lived in the Hawleyville area of Newtown for over 32 years. We live on the corner of Blackman and Tunnel Road.

Our kids grew up bicycling up Barnabas Road to mail letters for us at the Historic Hawleyville Post Office, always stopping off to get a treat from the deli. This little neighborhood, which used to be dotted with houses and families, capturing the history of the way Newtown used to be, was a part of their childhood, and is still important in our lives. Sadly, only one home remains.

Developers with grand ideas have always plagued Hawleyville. We had lived here only about a month when a developer had plans to put a huge mall that would have run up Route 25 at Exit 9. They got so far as clearing a large parcel of that land. Fortunately neighbors banded together to protest and we won.

Ideas have come and gone over our 32 years and Barnabas is no longer a country road. We fought the building of the CL&P headquarters on Barnabas Road — and lost. We hear their big utility trucks turning up our street at all hours of the day and night.

We did welcome the addition of Fairfield Equestrian Center. We fought the closing of the Hawleyville Post Office and are thrilled that it will be relocated in the same neighborhood. I think that this type of activism is the key to preserving the integrity of the Hawleyville neighborhood.

As for the latest outrage, I only knew about it from your editorial, which we sincerely thank you for. No one has asked us if we wanted to live near an industrial nightmare, and from what I know, many other residents have been uninformed until now.

It was encouraging to read in the June 12 Newtown Bee that a group has already formed called HEAT — an acronym that stands for Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team. I have already contacted them and hope that other homeowners will as well. There is power in numbers and I have always found that letters to The Newtown Bee are very effective.

This is surely the most destructive plan yet for Hawleyville. Let’s let the Housatonic Railroad Company know that they are facing a real fight.

Sincerely

Jane Cottingham

16 Blackman Road, Newtown                                         June 14, 2009