Punters, Bullies And

Backroom Dealers

To the Editor:

Eighteen months. That’s how long it will have taken to shut down the ill-conceived Newtown Hook and Ladder (NH&L) project to build a new firehouse at 12 Sugar Street. Eighteen months of town in-fighting.  Eighteen months of anxiety and significant legal and other expenses for abutters. Eighteen months wasted. And it’s now time for a post-mortem and, hopefully, some real leadership.

Politics, as defined by the ancient Greeks, is a public debate of opinions and ideas, designed to advance the public good.  Politics, as defined until now in this disastrous process, has been about backroom deals and bullying.  Instead of having an open and public debate about the location of a new firehouse for NH&L, the former first selectman punted. NH&L caught the ball, and thanks to the promise of land donation, they submitted applications to various committees in town, likely hoping that the nature of the applicant – Newtown Hook and Ladder – and some public sympathy, would be sufficient to get to the end zone.

And when the abutters started to mount a defense, a degree of bullying ensued. We were labeled as bad or selfish residents —“firehouse opponents” — against “neighborhood firehouses”, and accused of vastly exaggerating the impact of this project on the proposed site and neighborhood.  Those who criticized us should carefully read the motion denying the Hook and Ladder application that was unanimously adopted at the last Inland Wetlands Commission meeting. In that motion, the commissioners made it clear that there would be irreparable harm to wetlands and a watercourse. Are the commissioners guilty of exaggeration? Are they firehouse opponents? Of course not.

Close to 150 abutters and other Newtown residents filed a petition with, and voiced strong and unanimous opposition at, the Borough Zoning Commission during Monday’s meeting to stop the building of this firehouse.  Are we all now guilty of being firehouse haters? No. We’re simply exercising our civic rights to fight political bullying and protect our residential neighborhood from irreparable harm. Harm to wetlands – confirmed by the IWC; harm to property values – confirmed by four separate realtors in Newtown; and harm to those who already sit in too much traffic – confirmed by NH&L’s own traffic impact report.

And now it’s time to put an end to the backroom dealings, the town in-fighting, shut down this project for good, and get our political leaders to lead.

Herb Rosenthal punted when he should have led. Newtown Hook and Ladder needs a new firehouse and they pursued a bad project because they seemed to have no other choice. There are always alternatives when good people are willing to sit down and work together. In this instance it might mean redistricting the current fire districts.  Newtown has changed in the past 50 years, and what made sense then doesn’t anymore. It’s time for an open and honest public debate led by real leaders, not punters, bullies or backroom dealers.

Francois de Brantes

13 Sugar Street, Newtown                                     December 14, 2010