To the editor:
The petitioners against the Dummer Yard landfill proposal might want to hold off for more information before they nip it in the bud. I went to the March presentation ready to oppose the project, but since have backed off a bit the more I learn. I have family on the East side, concerned about all the same issues as petitioners, but I think we all should keep doing our homework before jumping the gun. Granted, it will put more undesirable material in the ground, but not at a hazardous level of toxicity, and with a final capping, environmental engineers agree that it will not leach. The added benefit of having the existing landfill remediated is huge, as it is presently poisoning the groundwater and river, avoiding capture by the system put in place to divert it. Believing that this state is ever going to spend the money to clean that up is not living in the real world. Anyone who doubts that need only look at the starvation biennial budget the state just issued last week.
The truck traffic, although heavy, is estimated to be the same as Berlin had when the mill was operating, and that appears to have been tolerated well enough. Moreover, it will all end in five to 10 years, during which time we will have $1 million a year, each year, of more revenue and be left with a permanent clean-up of the area. The mere fact of that inevitability, alone, increases, not decreases, property values, because home buyers look at the long run when purchasing, as well as the fiscal health of the city. It could well be the best opportunity Berlin will get to clean up the East side for good, and at the same time giving us all some much needed fiscal relief as this Free-stater Republican government of ours continues to downshift the cost of everything to local property taxes. Best to take another look.
Theodore Bosen
Berlin