To the Editor:
At the March 9 Easton Board of Finance budget meeting it was clearly pointed out that we desperately need a new EMS building to protect all of our citizens, including our health-compromised seniors who are among the most frequent users of our Emergency Medical Services. You can hear the horror stories of our dilapidated 95-year-old EMS building in the video recording of this meeting.
Rather than strongly advocate for an updated EMS facility for the health and safety of our entire town, Dr. Bindelglass and the Board of Selectmen have chosen to immediately revisit the BOF’s two-day-old rejection of funds to build a sidewalk to the Village Store for Helen Keller students and called for a town-wide “advisory vote” on the matter. Nobody at the March 9 BOF budget meeting made a sufficiently compelling case that we need a sidewalk — and our Board of Finance justifiably denied funds for it.
All of our citizens, especially our seniors, badly need our help here. Today’s technology and social networking empower parents to easily generate support for issues like hefty school budgets, and parents understandably support their kids in droves — but our vulnerable seniors are pretty much left on their own. Seniors are not nearly as active or proficient in electronic media and social networking, and they are not as able or inclined to get out to the polls — especially in the dregs of March in the midst of this dangerous pandemic.
The Board of Finance was right in denying this unnecessary expenditure for a sidewalk, and I believe that the Board of Selectmen has chosen the wrong priority in its failure to advocate for a new, badly needed EMS building. Easton citizens should vote “No” on the sidewalk advisory question and implore our Board of Selectmen to push for what we REALLY need in Easton — a new EMS building.
Grant Monsarrat
Easton
