‘Why buy town vehicles now?’

Thank you so much for being a voice for the children in town!

I did vote and I have to say that as for [ the poll question] “No, because this just pushes the costs into a future budget,” in these economic times, maybe this IS the most appropriate time to push the costs off to a future budget!

Cut the $152,000 dump truck. This appears to be the same tri-axle vehicle that was shot down last year. There is no need for this vehicle by public Works.

And don’t forget, these teachers get summers off, spring and winter vacations, beaucoup holidays, etc. You do the math. And they are not willing to negotiate during an unprecedented economic crisis? Sounds to me like they want to see coworkers laid off.

I totally agree with Cleanhouse — that is exactly what is needed in this town, maybe then we can get on the right track.

So, people think teachers are overpaid and get all kinds of time off? Hmmm. Obviously then, you are not aware that the law now requires teachers to spent their summers taking mandated courses to keep their accreditation, let alone also all the ’social’ training to be prepared for those who blame the school system every time their kids do something stupid.

Of course, we could go back to the 70s, when I went through this system. Since the pay was so low then, and teachers truly did get the summer off, our High School was full of ‘professionals’ who couldn’t get a job in the profession they trained for, and settled on using their education to become a teacher, until something better came along.

So, not only did we have teachers who were not any good at their own professions, but they weren’t very good as teachers either. There were exceptions — those who truly cared about teaching — but they were far and few between.

Drug and alcohol use was high, so was the dropout rate, our school was on the verge of losing its accreditation, we had a Principal who couldn’t stay sober long enough to recite the Pledge of Allegiance (even when we wrote it down for him), and every day somebody got the daylights beaten out of them in one of the bathrooms. The place ran more like a juvenile detention center than an educational institution. Yeah, we really want to go back to those days.

I recently had children go through this same school system (20 years later), and the caliber of the school staff was like night and day compared to the animals that we had running loose in my day. They did an excellent job with my children, and I tip my hat to them.

If our school is lacking, it would be in facility updates. Unfortunately, our Town Council is dangling that carrot inside their little 57 million dollar ‘facilities’ scheme. If we want that new science wing, we have to let the council build their Taj Mahaj in the center of town and turn the old Town Hall into ’somebody’s’ strip mall.

Ironically, it will be the loss of Center School and ‘consolidating’ the remaining schools that will cause the next major school budget issue just a few years after. We may be in a population lull right now, but this town has nearly 500 new housing units in the works, just in the next year alone (on roads school buses can’t travel over). Where do we put those new students? Can you say another 50-70 million dollar project and eminent domain?

As far as balancing the current school budget, look at the hundreds of thousands of dollars the council has spent on consultants, legal analysis and marketing alone for their little whims over the past few years. If it wasn’t for this nonsense we wouldn’t have had to cut last year’s school budget in the first place.

So get real. It’s not teachers’ salaries that is the schools budget problem, it’s our council’s spending that is.

Can’t resist chimming in… love all the folks who spew false data under their alias and screenname. Hundred’s of thousands of dollars in consultants, legal analysis and marketing? You’re too funny. If you’re keeping score, don’t forget the $15,000 taxpayers spent defending 3 FOI complaints filed by the Chatham Party against Council members, that were all deemed baseless by the state. If I, or the Council as a group, have acted in a way you don’t approve, at least have the spine to use your name when you post your thoughts. That way you’ll get your concerns addressed.

Ms Stickler, I certainly didn’t mean to challenge you, or your facts. Thank you for using your name when you post your thoughts, you have my greatest respect for doing so.
It’s troubling how others use these forums to slander people and taint the facts behind the veil of a made-up screen name.
We’ll all be better served when sites such as this don’t post those comments.

Actually John, let’s do get the facts straight.

1. FOI Filing
The Chatham Party has never filed an FOI against the Town Council, an individual did.

2. Costs
As for the cost of $15,000 for FOI legal fees, it would have been far less expensive for the town to simply comply rather than take the issues to hearing in Hartford and incur your stated $15,000 in legal fees, which is a bit high even for an FOI complaint - time to get a new town attorney to save taxpayer dollars.

3. Housing and Teachers
There will be most certainly be large increases in our taxes due to the poor decisions and the legal positions held by the Town of East Hampton, the Town Council included, to allow 120+ units off of South Main Street as well as another recently applied for 253 units of affordable housing in the DD Zone (DD Zone meaning Design and Development Zone for business).

The DD zone was intended for (sustainable) economic development but is instead being largely consumed by residential housing that has little economic value to residents.

The town needs more affordable housing to get out from under the 8-30G statute, and it keeps getting more applications even as the surrounding towns do not. Why is that?

East Hampton has had YEARS to implement thoughtful, effective regulations to encourage economic development, mixed use, and to discourage sprawl, but it did not. Now taxpayers are going to pay the price.

Thanks largely due to Sue Weintraub, the town received a $50,000 grant to take control of affordable housing development in our town. Unfortunately, the new 8-30G application for 253 units in the DD Zone will be exempt. It’s my understanding that if the town had acted proactively when Sue, and others, first suggested it 4 years ago when she was on the P&Z, there would have been a moratorium on affordable housing development applications in East Hampton.

Rather than immediately dismiss all criticism off-hand, perhaps you should consider it first with an open mind. All citizens, whether they are posting anonymously or not, have a right to voice their opinions. People submit their opinions anonymously for a reason – to avoid retribution.

I hope that in signing my name, as I always have done, you will give me your “greatest respect” the next time I see you at a Town Council meeting. I stand up in meetings, in person and speak my mind, and yet I am still waiting to have issues resolved that I, and others, have personally raised. I agree with Nancy that town wide apathy is rampant, but unlike Nancy I haven’t quite given up on my attempts to get answers and to have issues resolved that have been lingering in the town for years.

Here’s to a New Year and a better future for the town…

First of all Mr. Tuttle, you are now asking independent news site to censor those who disagree with the Council? Thank you for reinforcing my point about losing one’s voice. A lot of people have a lot of questions, and want straight answers that they can’t get answered in their 3 minutes at a town meeting or anyplace else (I watched the chastise by the Board of a resident who was tired of being ignored over the noise issue. Funny that didn’t make the minutes).

And two, I find it ‘too funny’ that you think Mr. Dostaler is “theOwl”. Anytime someone disagrees it’s Chatham Party, right? I am not even a Chatham Party member. I am just another of the many citizens (remember you lost majority just two years ago) who are tired of a town council that is out of control. I only used the moniker “theOwl” because it represented a watchful entity.

To Brenda Sullivan, thank you for defending the right of anonymity. You are providing an opportunity to speak openly that would never be allowed to happen through ‘normal’ channels or without repercussion. As Editor, you get to read every letter posted, and have a pretty good gist of what politics in East Hampton is really all about.

As far as the ‘500’ units and whether there will be children in them? Last year P&Z (in a ‘closed to the public’ session) approved 120-plus, soon to be built units in Belltown Place alone. Go to P&Z and ask what’s now in the works. And this is only January.

When the water project kicks into full swing, watch the developers run to the trough. Build houses, people buy them. A certain percentage will inevitably bring kids with them. Another percentage will have children after moving here. It’s the law of nature. That how East Hampton grew from 5,000 people three decades ago to the 14,000 we have today, and the good ol’ USA recently flopped over the 300 million mark.

Concerning the size of our school budget, I’m sticking to my guns. In every municipality education is their largest expense. We are no different. The exception is Connecticut’s inner cities where law enforcement becomes the biggest expense. Why? Because money gets tight (due to low land values), school budgets are cut, schools get closed, the remaining schools overcrowded, facilities deteriorate, supplies become scarce, and they can no longer attract quality professionals to come work there.

Students fall through the cracks, drop out of school, don’t get an education, and end up on the streets. So now more police are needed to try to control the problem. Vicious circle.

Well I believe in fixing the problem before it is one. There’s the saying “You think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Intellectually stimulated kids usually do not end up on the police logs for disturbing the peace and partying. They have better things to do.

You want good teachers, you have to pay for them. And if the Board of Education is doing its job, we will get them. Well, right now the board’s job is pretty easy on that point because we’ve already got them. So, I still stand behind the current school staff. Now let’s concentrate on getting them the new science wing without having to build the ‘Taj Mahal’.

Well put Mr Dostaler! Let’s hope the proposal for more homes in the Rte.66/Bear Swamp Road area can be stopped! Now, I have a favor to ask? Can you and Mr Tuttle continue your argument on a newly posted article….I am growing weary of the back and forth comments reaching my mail box!