41°
To the Editor:
I don’t understand how Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace can call spending money on needed infrastructure projects “foolish.”
What’s foolish is not protecting the health and safety of town residents.
It's difficult to forget last year’s Baptist Church Road fiasco. After Grace failed to replace the culvert under the bridge in 2014, the culvert and bridge collapsed in 2015, forcing the road to be closed for nine months. And during the closure, it took a 10-minute detour for emergency vehicles to reach the area -- all because the supervisor didn’t want to spend money that was available in 2014.
What’s foolish is paying to replace three collapsed bridges in one year on a nonbid emergency basis instead of requesting cost-saving competitive bids to replace the bridges before they collapsed.
What’s foolish is doing nothing to alleviate neighborhood flooding and leaving homeowners to clean up flooded basements.
What’s foolish is forcing residents to spend hundreds of dollars in car repairs because available funds aren’t being spent to fix our roads.
What’s foolish is letting town buildings deteriorate to the point where it will end up costing taxpayers more to eventually replace what wasn’t properly maintained, (the roof over the Town Board meeting room has been leaking for over four years).
What’s foolish is borrowing and paying unnecessary interest charges when a $1.5 million one-time windfall is available and the town has a healthy rainy day fund even without the windfall.
What’s foolish is doing nothing.
Stephen Weintraub
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