Norton gains nothing under housing plan

To the editor:

I disagree with your editorial "Norton wins the right way." There are three reasons why Norton hasn't won anything by approving the 176-unit Turtle Crossing apartment complex.

First, are we so fooled by 40B that we really feel proud to have 176 units built in the name of affordable housing even though only 35 are considered affordable? Who cares if "they all count," if we're trying to improve affordable housing for our residents, why don't we build projects through alternative programs that are truly affordable?

Second, you incorrectly state that Norton will be able to tell 40B proposals "to go elsewhere" after this project. Legal challenges by developers and the newest 40B regulations allow 40B projects to be forced even in towns that are over the "10 percent" level. Did you really think these regulations were designed to help your community? Third, for every additional residential unit that is built in a community like Norton, the town will incur costs of about $30,000 in excess of what each unit generates in tax revenue. By approving a classic 40B project that has only 35 of 176 units considered affordable (and we know even that is a stretch), the town will still be subject to more unplanned development forced by 40B and the town has just created additional municipal costs of $5.28 million in an era of budget deficits and service cuts.

As a resident of Norton for seven years, I can say Norton definitely didn't win on this project.

Fred Marcks
Norton




City improving infrastructure while renewing downtown

To the editor:

Gary Johnson's letter of Dec. 31 contained a few inaccuracies about the funding of Attleboro's current projects.

Being an Attleboro city councilor on the budget and appropriations committee, I thought the average taxpayer might need a clarification of the funding for many on-going projects our city has been undertaking.

There are two on-going projects in the downtown. The first is the Intermodal Development and the other is the Streetscape Initiative.

The Intermodal Development is the project which was approved in the Urban Renewal Plan to improve our public transportation, make road and infrastructure changes, and add new housing and retail on the 26-acre site now mostly occupied by the MBTA commuter lot and the City DPW Yard. The money received by the city for this project is from the federal government, totaling $9.4 million. When finished, the project will ultimately make the city more functional as well as attractive. The Streetscape Initiative is the project in the center of downtown which includes installation of new curbing, sidewalks, crosswalks, trees, decorative street lighting, trash receptacles and benches. This is "the facelift" residents see occurring downtown which began last summer and will be completed in 2008; it is being paid for with grants and not the city budget.

Unlike Mr. Johnson supposed, Attleboro undertook the replacement of four bridges in the last four years: Thacher Street Bridge, County Street Culvert Bridge, County Street Railroad Bridge, and Tiffany Street Culvert Bridge. Prior to that, dangerous bridges were replaced on Lindsay Street, Pike Avenue and Thurber Avenue.

Other bridge repairs in the planning stages include: the dangerous Olive Street Railroad Bridge and the crumbling Newport Avenue Bridge on Route 1A.

Also, improvements will be made to the Blackinton Pond Bridge. Infrastructure is certainly being improved in this community, involving water transmission lines, sewers, sidewalks, street repaving, and intersection improvements. (Hats off to Public Works Superintendent John Clover and his dedicated staff!)

Brian F. Kirby
Attleboro

THIS WRITER is an at-large city councilor.




Visit to doctor's office produced wrong results

To the editor:

I was at my doctor's office. I felt good, just a scheduled visit was all. I was reading one of the health magazines, when suddenly I heard this gawdawful sound

At first it sounded strangely mechanical. Like an air compressor or steam valve that had unexpectedly opened I looked up and seated across from me, some 10 feet away, there's this 350-pound guy. He's got a trachea hole in his partially-covered neck that's conveying air from his larynx to his bronchi, his windpipe. He's coughing through it and the sound is a loud, sudden burst removing a buildup of phlegm.

I found it impossible to look away and I watched intensely. Every few minutes he made the sound, predictable as a train whistle.

I began thinking about all the germs he was spewing through the waiting room air.

"Could this guy cause an outbreak? An epidemic? He should be in isolation," I thought to myself.

Several minutes later my name was called and I thanked God I was upgraded to an examination room, nowhere near this unfortunate man Later that night, I felt a tightening in my chest, a slight burning in my own bronchial tubes. I got on my stationary bike and at first I was gassing, struggling to breathe, upset that something had settled in my chest After 15 minutes my lungs and nasal passages opened and I felt good, relieved that I had escaped the waiting room with my health.

The next day, while at work, I felt it come on just after lunch. Body aches, headache, warm forehead, chest congestion and overall fatigue. Even my eye sockets hurt! I hustled off for some pharmaceutical advice and over-the-counter remedies. That night, after loading up on the popular cough and cold remedies that had been recommended, I went to bed earlier than normal, cold and shivering like a lost dog caught in a December rain

I'm home now, with flu-like symptoms, coughing, with a forehead hot enough to melt chocolate, hoping this guy wasn't carrying the epidemic we all fear.

Vincent Levine
Norton