The Asbestos Hills New Year’s Story

To the Editor:

In a sport like baseball, it is always the teams with the big bankrolls that win the big enchilada, the World Series. It seems that our town leaders and its First Superbman have come up with a new slant on that story.

The First Superbman’s concept is obviously to start out with a great idea and turn it into a disaster. Let’s look at the little devil at work.

When the State wanted to sell Asbestos Hills to three unsuspecting developers who didn’t know it would cost $30 million to clean up the environmental mess, our First Superbman slyly told everybody it was a good idea. Why not? Someone else pays the bill and our town gets buildings, ball fields, and open space. What a great idea!

When some people in town said that the town should buy Asbestos Hills, the First Superbman graciously agreed to change his mind except it had to be on “his terms.” Where the three developers were willing to negotiate completely in the open with full disclosure of information to the state and the townspeople, the First Superbman insisted on secret negotiations with the state for fear of tainting the negotiation process.

The First Superbman wanted to totally control all aspects of the purchase of Asbestos Hills so that it could be kept a big “secret” from the townspeople. All he had to do was to hire a friendly consultant who would agree to negotiate, on behalf of the town, for an incomplete environmental report from the state. Then when the consultant turned in his estimate on the cleanup which said that his estimate was worthless due to an incomplete environmental report, the First Superbman could blame it on the state.

The best part of the diabolical plan was that the First Superbman would buy Asbestos Hills from the state and have the townspeople pay for the cost of the property, the complete environmental report, the cost of the cleanup, and the cost of renovation. This would probably jack up tax rates through the roof and take 30 years to pay off (like a nightmare mortgage).

Once the Incredulislative Council rubber stamps its approval (which most members have said they will) of the First Superbman’s “secret” Request For Proposal (RFP), that would give him the right to hand-pick his personal choice for a developer. In this way, he would be assured to get his developer approved, having lined up the voteshe needed in advance (regardless of the facts), from the Incredulislative Council.

The big New Year’s present of Asbestos Hills for our town from the First Superbman will be a wonderful legacy of the many uses of the property and the decades of debt and insolvency the town will have to endure.

The end.

PS: The people of the town could always vote down the New Year’s present in a town referendum, for a real happy ending.

Barry J. Piesner, Director

Newtown Property Owners Association

38 Underhill Road, Sandy Hook                                   December 27, 2000