GOOD CHANGE SHOULD MAKE COMMON SENSE

An excellent Letter to the Editor was titled "Insufferable amount of time to replace Route 35 bridge"

And this is the outfit we want to "improve" our little Main Street?

What for?

If you are one who is annoyed with the inconvenience of waiting a few minutes on Main Street while on your way to the Post Office, I say "beware".

All you will get is less sidewalk and more traffic. And if you are one who is worried about lack of parking space, you will have less.

If you are one who wants to straighten the intersection from Prospect Street to the CVS parking lot, I ask why? You will lose even more parking space and will end up with a traffic lane adjacent to a Ballard Park entrance instead of having a buffer.

And will all this speed Route 35 traffic along Main Street? Maybe. By 10 seconds? 20 seconds? 30 seconds? An entire minute? And the trade-off is?

Well, if the bridge on 35 is any guide, downtown interruption will last for who-knows-how-many-months, there will be less sidewalk, fewer parking spaces, replacement trees, more traffic traveling faster.

While further down 35 how many vehicles do you see just missing each other at the intersection with 116 or darting out of South Street or across double yellows coming out of Starbucks or Adam Broderick or pedestrians dodging traffic crossing 35? How about all the cars with children and seniors gauging their chances driving into and out of the Recreation Center & Founder's Hall?

What we really need are improved pedestrian crosswalks from Main Street to Farmingville, re-marking 35 so there are turning lanes to the strip mall businesses and a traffic light on 35 at the Recreation Center intersection.

I'm all for change but it should make common sense.

Published in The Ridgefield Press, April 27, 2017

THE BOTTOM LINE: LEADERSHIP MATTERS

It’ll be hard, tough — “devastating,” a couple of school officials called it but...

“From my perspective as a superintendent,” Baldwin said, keeping three elementary supervisors is a “non-negotiable” need.

 

“It’s a totally different environment,” Baldwin said. “The bottom line: Leadership matters.”

I agree 100%, Ms. Baldwin. "Leadership matters."

But just so I understand this: you are saying three administrators supersede improved curriculum? This really makes you sound more like a bureaucrat than a school superintendent whose priority should be focused on learning.

Despite fewer students, the reason we had a 5.5% increase in last year's school budget was -- according to you -- because we had to solve IEP inequities.

Well, this year IEP is still the problem. In fact, it has been a problem for every one of the 19 years I've lived in Ridgefield. Time to come up with something else, I think.

Naturally parents fall for your edu-speak because they want the best for their child. That's totally understandable but does it make sense?

Well, I'm one resident who is willing to spend more of my money on education BUT NOT ON MORE BUREAUCRACY. So I will vote 'no' on this budget especially when other towns in our DRG have requested far less.

For parents who, like me, want more dollars spent in the classroom: here's a thought.

1,262 kids are issued Chromebooks costing $189,300. How about you BUY that $150 Chromebook for your child; not a big deal for a wealthy community, right?

It would be a tiny bit of tax relief for your neighbors or it could mean more dollars for the classroom if you can make it clear to your superintendent that you want your tax dollars spent in the classroom, not for more administrative bureaucracy.

PTA, BoE & all voters, remember "the bottom line, leadership matters".

Published in the Ridgefield Press April 20, 2017