A senior/community center in Durham?
Posted July 2nd, 2008 by sue_vanderzee
Durham voters this week defeated a proposal to buy 7 acres of property on Route 17 for $395,000 for the construction of a senior/community center. Questions were raised about the price and the location. Very few people questioned the need.
What do you think town officials should do now? Look for a new site? Renogotiate with the owner of the property for a new price? Appoint a committee to decide on a site and plan a center? Forget this project and concentrate on the emergency services complex? Do both projects? All of the above? None of the above? Something else?
Despicable
As a non-senior citizen who was in favor of this purchase I would have to say that the actions of Sue VanDerzee (editor of the Town Times) and Michael Doyle (Durham Co Chair/Building Committee Farnam Neighborhood House Board of Directors) were of an unethical nature. I was at this public hearing aside from the senior citizens, selectmans, and EMT personal I could count on half of one hand the number of citizen involvement. I did not see either of you there and if you were I did not hear your opposition to this site when there was plenty of opportunity to voice your opinion. You talk above the need for entire community involvement, above. Well, you both had your chances to speak your mind at this appropriate forum and you did not. You decided instead to voice your opposition at the 11th hour without any opportunity of rebuttal and blow the whole deal out of the water.
Grow Up
There are so many things that come to mind in response, both in good taste and in the same spirit that you made your comments, that it is difficult to know where to begin. Here's a try:
You lost, get over it.
OK then. Every free citizen has a right to their own opinion. Newspaper editors have an opportunity to publish an editorial position for their newspaper or a personal opinion if labeled as an individual opinion. These positions do not need to be expressed in any forum other than their newspaper. Do I agree with all editorial opinions? Of course not, but I do recognize that it is my responsibility to defend the right to take positions even if I disagree with the opinion or I risk losing the right to my own opinion.
As far as raising objections, questions or concerns at the public hearing, that it not required nor necessarily a good practice especially since the anger in your message can be taken as, at the least, threating. By extension, are you saying that all 399 people who questioned the project must go to a public hearing in order to have voted one way or the other? Again, this position is not in keeping with the governmental methods that are a part of our culture.
Regarding "You decided instead to voice your opposition at the 11th hour without any opportunity of rebuttal and blow the whole deal out of the water", you give these individuals too much credit and citizens far too little credit. People can think for themselves and form their own opinions. I can speak for myself only, and I am against the project for reasons unrelated to the editorial position. I need not justify my position to you or anyone else except to say it is based on my judgement. You have no right to say my judgment, or that of any other person who voted, is correct or incorrect.
Accept that this proposal failed by a vote of 399-217; only 35% of those that voted were in favor of the purchase. Accept that others have opinions and those opinions are just as valid as yours. Accept that some of those that voted against the proposal are seniors .Finally, accept that the system works and you can start again. Accept your loss, don't blame others, get up and try again.
Senior center
NOw the seniors know how it feels to get a budget shot down with little public input. Maybe if they stop blindly rejecting the district budget year after year, the rest of the town can come to their aid!
Dollar For Dollar
The question is not whether or not to have a senior and/or community center. Doubtless, such a facility would be welcomed. The real question is whether, or how, our community can continue to spend ever-more money for amenities like a senior center, community center, open space land, athletic complex, public works facility, emergency operations center, school improvements, and other needs in the face of declining revenues and inclining reliance on residential property taxes. Some of our top taxpayers are already in jeopardy. What now?
To raise my standard of living I must raise my income. Our Town seems to mistakenly believe that its community standard of living can be raised without additional income. To afford these improvements means either higher taxes or new sources of revenue. Those are the only sources on the income side for the Town. Services have already been stripped over the years in order to keep millrates level, leaving little or no fat to cut from the expense side. Further increases in taxes drive out middle income families, those on fixed incomes, the young and single- incomes, our adult children hoping to stay in town-in short, those who give our community its color, viberancy, and appeal.
Advocacy for increasing the income side of the ledger is lacking; ideas for spending are not. Consider this challenge: for every dollar raised from new economic development, a dollar can be spent for new projects while keeping taxes relatively level. In effect, don't use the credit card;get a second job. Calll it "dollar for dollar."
Respect the Gap
In an April 9, 2008 article in the Hartford Courant, it is reported that the State's wealthiest families have seen their real, inflation-adjusted income grow by 45 percent over 20 years. Middle-class families have enjoyed only a 5.1 percent increase. Lower income families saw a decline of 17 percent. This gap has widened at a faster pace than in any other state in the US.
Durham clearly reflects this gap. It is incumbent on those with the economic and political power to recognize this severe disparity. Without this recognition, the town will become a monoculture of the wealthy, and what was once a beautiful balance will be forever lost.
Senior Center
In response to Anonymous1, can you honestly say how every senior citizen votes? Of course you can’t. In the same breath you can’t say how parents with kids in the school system vote. They may say they are for the new budget (especially when talking to you) but may do the opposite in the voting booth. To caste your vote based on a bad assumption and a policy of revenge is against all that is sacred with our democratic process. You should base your vote on what you think would be in the best interest for the town. Besides of the tens years I have been here, the budget has been voted down twice and that first time it was resubmitted again w/o change and passed (so that doesn’t count). Also you just got a multi-million dollar sports complex approved. So your complaints are unfounded.
The budget has been voted
The budget has been voted down five times in the past three years for the school budget. This was done many times. I am sure that a majority of parents with school age children voted for the budget all of those times, and many older voted against it due to their "fixed" incomes. People are more likely to vote for an amenity that will be of use to them. Your comment was that I had a vote of revenge. This is not true. My point is that another element of our population now knows the feeling of their wants and needs not being shared by all.
The budget has been voted
In response to Anonymous1 - Again you are making assumptions - You are just not getting it. Also stating that the budget has been voted down five times in the past three years is a categorical lie. Get the facts straight.
Senior Center/Durham budget
I am turning 60 this year, so approaching senior citizen status, and I voted "no" on the proposed purchase of land for a senior center. Our town government and most especially the Regional School District seem to think that the taxpayers' pockets are bottomless. It seems to me that all they want to do is spend, while doing everything possible to keep new businesses out of town (like a super market, perhaps) so that the full brunt of their spending must be borne by individual homeowners. A Senior Center is a nice-to-have, but with $4.30/gallon gasoline (wouldn't it be nice not to have to drive all the way to Middletown or Wallingford to get to a super market), likely $5+/gallon home heating oil this winter and a Board of Education that makes a bunch of merchant marines on shore leave for the first time in six months look like fiscal conservatives, I just can't vote for any "nice-to-haves". Build the grand list, then come talk to me about new spending initiatives.
I have found interesting
I have found interesting sources and would like to give the benefit of my experience to you.
I am tuning my pc by the best software for free, with the file search engine
DownLeZ
May be you have your own experience and could give some useful sites too. Because this social site help me much.
Post new comment