Lose-Lose: Lawsuit Could Stop Exposure

The residents of the Town are in a lose-lose position with Proposition #1, that was “passed” (albeit illegally) in Tuesday’s election. It didn’t matter whether the referendum was passed or defeated. If passed, the Town will wind up paying for the cleanup remediation necessary while losing more money than we are being told the Town will make. If it was defeated, it would cost the residents hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars to do the needed remediation. Either way, this should have been addressed when the Town acquired the property back in 2011. After all, we have a AAA Bond Rating that could have been used to finance the cleanup that would have cost less back then.

The lawsuit, while a regrettable but necessary action because of The Paul’s stubbornness and penchant for following wrong paths, will hopefully stop this illegal deal and give everyone some breathing room. We can revisit solutions and ideas for the property via a new and legitimate referendum asking the public what they would like to do with this property. It doesn’t need to only be offering a sports bubble or nothing. The lawsuit should also prove that the property needs to be sold or developed as a Town property, such as a soccer park, which The Paul, Commissioner Gerry Byrne and others claim we need so badly.

If a true referendum to decide what to do with the property were offered, there are several directions ABG would suggest. There may be others we’ve missed. First, clean up and “heal” the property so it can either be sold or utilized as a Town property. Second, offer a referendum with several options for the residents to vote on. Third, properly advertise the referendum and distribute unbiased information about the property and referendum. Fourth, do not sign an contracts or entertain any uses until a vote is tabulated after the referendum.

Here’s just a few options we believe should be on the referendum after full environmental remediation:

• Keep the property as open space.

• Keep the property and develop it as a ball field (sport to be determined at a later time).

• Keep the property and look to develop it for (i.e.) a police department station and/or court.

• Maintain the property as residential and develop more homes at the site.

• Sell the property for market value.

Regardless of the outcome, The Paul and his Board should simply follow the oath they took as public servants. If they would do the right thing, the right thing would happen and our Town would be much better off. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts. The Paul has had 21 unimpeded years to become corrupt. The press is complicit and has stopped exposing multiple wrongdoings for certain politicians. At the local level, we believe The Paul leads this list. We need the press to do their job and expose the wrongdoers. We need The Paul to resign. We need this corrupt Board to resign as well. We can only hope.