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Town Leaders Took Advantage Of Distraction
Letter to the Editor:
The day after the World Trade Center toppled, the world stood still. Wall Street closed. Schools closed. Broadway went dark. Everything stopped while the world came to grips with the terrorism that had struck our nation. Business ceased while people, worldwide, paid their respects to the victims of the attack on 9-11-01. But on 9-12-01, just sixty miles north of the smoldering World Trade Center, the Philipstown Town Board did not cancel their meeting. Instead, with no prior notice in the PCN&R, they held a lightly attended meeting and moved to vote on a highly controversial issue. They voted to pave all of the remaining dirt road on East Mountain Road North in the North Highlands. In an act of blacktop terrorism, the town is rushing get the paving done as soon as possible. In October they intend to pave eastern half of the road; in the Spring they intend to pave the western half. This will come at a cost of $350,000, according to the report in this paper. They plan to lay down four inches of compacted Item 4 and widen the country road to 18 feet in most sections, taking private property without the permission of landowners. Once the North road is thus paved, there is nothing to stop them from paving the remaining dirt road in front of my property on East Mountain Road South and as far as the Dutchess County line. In this nefarious manner, our town leaders took advantage of the distraction our community suffered. Unfortunately, the governor, a supporter of keeping dirt roads in Philipstown, remains pre-occupied with the World Trade Center disaster and is unavailable to intervene.
Out of respect for the victims of the international terrorism and out of respect for our local community, I demand that this vote be nullified. It is an act of destruction against the rural character of the Hudson Highlands. Sufficient public notice and community input should be given before anything so drastic occurs as pouring blacktop over our beautiful country roads.
Karen Kreps
East Mountain Road South
Cold Spring
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