Town Offices Are The Last Thing We Need

To the Editor:

In response to the letter written by our First Selectman, Mr Rosenthal, I would like to make a few points. First, the way in which you respond to Mr Magnifico’s letter is quite smug and beneath the office to which you were elected. The small group of elected officials, represented most often by you, seems to act this way each time their motives are questioned regarding the Fairfield Hills campus or any other pet subject. Are we to breathe a sigh of relief that Ruby Johnson and the Friends of Fairfield Hills recognized the need for office space? Neither endorsement means anything to me as a taxpayer. Instead of picking apart Mr Magnifico’s letter, why not just answer with facts. The money you are using is his and mine and my neighbors, etc. We should care about and question how you spend it. By my math, a year of rent at the Kendro building costs less than an acre of worthless land along Lake Zoar. Maybe next time you plan on wasting our money on open space that will never be developed (this is a topic for a different letter), you should send it over to Kendro.

Second, one of the perceptions in town is that you and your small group of elected officials make many decisions behind closed doors. That it was “....spelled out in the budget books given to the finance and council members and discussed without opposition” is proof that our best interests are not always served. What exactly was spelled out? That the town borrow $7 million to begin construction on new town offices? I believe there is no taxpayer in town that sees a need for new town office space as our most pressing need. And please spare us the intellectual dishonesty of saying it was approved in a vote blah blah blah.... If you were to ask 100 citizens what is happening at the FFH campus, you get 100 blank stares in response. Consolidated town offices are the last thing we need and to think the citizens in town voted to build new governmental space first is absolutely ridiculous. We don’t need new town and school office space, we need new school space and new recreation space!

Lastly (for now), the most absurd comment in your letter really makes me wonder how you came to be the first selectman. Your position, based on “the advice we have received from planners, commercial real estate consultants and financiers is that by the town investing in office space at Fairfield Hills, with a town hall as a center piece, private investment will follow. This private investment will help us pay for senior, recreational, cultural and school needs there,” is foolhardy at best. This is an absolute dichotomy to the way our town became what it is. First class schools bring in private investment, first class recreational facilities bring in private investment, first class senior centers bring in private investment. These are revenue generators, not cost centers. Our school needs will be met if you build town office space that is so grand, private investment will follow? What if your unnamed planners, consultants, and financiers are wrong and private investment does not follow? At least you’ll have great view from your new office, right?

Sincerely,

Joe Duffy

5 Thomas Cir, Sandy Hook         December 20, 2006