Dear Editor:
Daniel Tumpson makes a valid point regarding the encroachment of helicopters in his last letter. I realized this as I was shaken out of a sound sleep by just such a helicopter. Now, I hear them all the time. Truth is, I hadn’t really given it that much thought before; I’m sure not that many people have. Then I thought about the subtle incremental conditioning that Dan alludes to when he speaks of the impending police state that we are allowing to be established. It has to stop.
Then I started to wonder just how many ways are we being conditioned by events and people right here on the ground? Take for instance building on the piers. It’s not a big building is it? We all know that it would be better if there weren’t a building there; we all want to see the river and enjoy a park on the pier, but we are being asked to overlook just a little structure. If we do, what’s next? A slightly larger one on another pier? Then another structure, on another pier? More than likely.
Our mayor is an interesting example. It’s easy to see the over development around the city. It’s pretty much everywhere. He refers to it as “economic development. Economic development that every urban area strives for.” That was his quote in the Reporter. To what end? Certainly the past seven years of building should have provided funds to eat away at the deficit that he is constantly complaining the previous administration “left him” with. We certainly haven’t felt the benefit.
True, half of Washington Street is outfitted with those nice bricks and those imitation gas lamp streetlights. You know the ones that don’t light the street! As least the fact that the job hasn’t been completed is a small blessing to night vision in half the city. But let’s look at the mayor’s vision. What he calls economic development we know is a 30 minute trek just to drive across town. What he calls economic development we know is a two-hour search for a parking space. What he calls economic development we know is every increasing rent for basic living spaces. What the mayor calls economic development we know is an ever-diminishing quality of living. We are asked to endure these little inconveniences as the cost for a better environment. When will that be happening? Or will we be asked to endure even larger inconveniences in the future? At least by then as we live like rodents in our high walled maze, we’ll have the helicopters to keep us company.
Joseph A. Corrado