Railroad bypass plan blocked, now the next stop is the budget

L ast week shoreline residents received great news that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) had pulled their proposal to build a highspeed railroad through our peaceful, quiet shoreline communities.

From the start, the creation of a new bypass was met with strong, local opposition. I recall a small neighborhood meeting at the Pawcatuck Fire Department to discuss the proposed bypass. I expected 20 people to attend. Upwards of 150 showed up. The department moved a fire truck so we could fit everyone.

The bypass proposal demonstrates what can happen when the people of southeastern Connecticut speak loud, speak clearly and most of all, speak out. One of the most effective ways to enact change is through grassroots advocacy. We were able to topple the bypass plan because everyday people picked up the phone, wrote an email or crafted letters demanding that this project come to a screeching halt.

Meanwhile, it is those everyday people, the hard-working families trying to make ends meet, the new and established business owners down the street, local municipalities, and those who are the most vulnerable who are feeling the strain of a no-budget Connecticut the most.

That is why I urge the citizenry to demonstrate the same advocacy used to stop the rail bypass and demand a Connecticut budget. Pick up the phone, plead that your legislators come back from vacation, return to Hartford and get to work and offer their constituents a balanced, line-by-line budget that is ready to be voted on. We cannot sit idly by and watch as families, businesses, nonprofits and the most vulnerable suffer at the hands of absentee lawmakers.

It is no longer just disappointing that we are budget-less, it is unacceptable. Connecticut’s people deserve much better. Our state faces a true crisis. I again plead for your support, this time in demanding that legislators do their jobs.

Unlike some of my fellow lawmakers, I take that responsibility very seriously. That is why I am proud to stand with my Senate Republican colleagues who have had a budget, that unlike the governor’s budget, unlike many caucuses’ budgets, is fully balanced and ready to be voted on. It has been ready for months.

If lawmakers are unhappy with portions of our budget, make amendments, debate it, but instead there has been a continuous refusal to even have it discussed. The opponents of the Senate Republican budget continue to criticize without offering a lineby-line, balanced budget alternative of their own.

Read the Senate Republicans’ detailed budget plan at www.NewDirectionCT.com.

Southeastern Connecticut residents, you can make a difference. Call your legislator, call the governor, and demand a balanced budget. Remind your legislators they need to get to work and ride the train back to reality.

State Sen. Heather Somers represents the 18th District. A Republican, she lives in Groton .