Roundabout a ripoff
Dear Editor:
The original estimate of $5 million for the new traffic roundabout Kingston is now $13 million-plus, and we have yet to put a shovel in the ground.
Ten lanes of vehicular traffic merging into a two-lane circle sharing space with a 10-footwide pedestrian/bicycle lane to eliminate “delay and confusion.” A $13 million-plus project to eliminate traffic congestion, a situation that occurs morning and evening for about 45 minutes. (By the way, “congestion” means having to possibly wait for the next traffic light change.) More than $13 million to inconvenience residents for two years.
You might recall the original justification for this project was to remove traffic congestion. The consultant who came up with the roundabout idea said the same end result could be achieved with new lane markings, new signage and new traffic lights at a cost of less than $1 million. Because no shovel has been put in the ground yet, it’s not to late to pull the plug on this roundabout idea and implement the $1 million suggestion. There are better uses for that $13 million.
Congressman Faso, Assemblyman Cahill, Mayor Noble, are you listening, and do you have the courage to say “let’s rethink this project”?
Ronald Dietl, Kingston
Reject library change
Dear Editor:
Woodstock doesn’t need a municipal library — it already has a great public district library that has provided our community with excellent service for years despite a substandard facility.
The anti-library folks writing to this paper continue to harp about wasted funds and forget that much of that waste was due to the opposition to any and all plans for improvements to the facility (never mind any investment or change in the town).
Spurious arguments — such as “the Library Board is dragging its feet,” or the board-appointed Facilities Task Force provided sufficient information to improve the facility (it actually recommended a master plan update and proposed just one possible solution), or consolidation of services will save taxpayers money (since the town is not responsible for any kind of library services now, it simply will shift the taxpayers burden from one public entity to another) — show themselves for what they really are: dissidents who cannot see the value of a functional and beautiful library to our community.
No, they want to dissolve the Special District Charter so they can reduce taxpayer funding to the library and be able to pressure the Town Board to do what they think is best. These folks believe they represent an overwhelming majority of residents, but that is not necessarily true. The Library Board understands there are real differences of opinion in the Woodstock community, but it has opted to be forward looking and make a hard decision that is fiscally sound.
The anti-library cadre could petition to bond for the renovation and addition they prefer, but they would rather try to dissolve the existing legal structure for this important community institution. That sounds a lot like the leadership we are experiencing at the federal level.
Jill Fisher, Woodstock
Because no shovel has been put in the ground yet, it’s not to late to pull the plug on this roundabout idea and implement the $1 million suggestion.