To the Editor:
This letter is not about the EMS Building Project. We support it, as do those who asked questions about how we are going about building it at public meetings in April and May.
This post is a plea for some of the Selectmen and their allies to stop dismissing citizens who bring forward concerns as “obstructionists.” In the EMS case, those concerns turned out to be justified, as the second soil test, the one we asked for, the one paid for by the town, showed some contamination issues on the land we are buying next to the EMS Building.
“Unnecessary Delays Could Jeopardize the Easton EMS Project” was the headline of Selectman D’Addario’s April 24 Op-Ed article in the Easton Courier.
“There are obstructionist forces in town working to unnecessarily delay this project.” D’Addario continued. “This vocal minority states they are not opposed to the project but are opposed to the process” (see the link to D’Addario’s article below.)
In response to citizen pressure, the town conducted its own test and found some contamination on the land. The seller’s original test showed no contamination.
Does discovering soil problems sound like an “unnecessary” reason to slow down a land purchase to you? Does getting the town to pay for its own test on land it’s buying sound a good idea?
This letter is not about the EMS Building project—we are for it—but about how elected officials talk to fellow citizens they disagree with.
Please don’t dismiss us as “obstructionists.” Please deal with the issues and concerns we raise. Please show us where our facts and interpretations are wrong and correct us.
Please stop calling us names. We are not “obstructionists,” we are concerned citizens. Calling us “obstructionists” is not true, it’s not fair, and it’s not good for Easton. Easton would be a better place if more of its citizens were involved in its government.
Dana Benson
Easton
