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To The Editor:
The Public Works Committee of the Common Council will be voting Tuesday night, Jan. 5, to spend $359,000 on engineering plans for changes to the East Avenue widening and lowering project. This project calls for lowering the roadway by 3 feet, and it calls for taking property from residents and homeowners called easements.
The East Avenue Widening and Lowering Project has been 17 years in the making. During that time, there have been only three public meetings to hear the concerns of the residents of East Norwalk.
Unfortunately, these new plans have largely been developed over the last 90 days, are significantly different from the plans the public saw five years ago, and they do nothing to address the major concerns expressed by the residents about increased truck traffic.
Despite the fact that the Common Council resolutions approving this project back in 2009 call for continued public input, and the fact that the Public Works Committee declined to approve the property takings associated with this project, department staff is asking the Common Council to spend over $300,000 to finalize the engineering plans.
Mayor Harry Rilling has been working on behalf of the neighborhood to secure another public meeting to discuss the substantial changes to this project (which include an additional traffic light on East Avenue and a parking lot where homes have been taken by eminent domain), but has met resistance from the state.
Please ask the Common Council to back the mayor in supporting our neighborhood by sticking to their previous votes and resolutions and delaying the vote on the engineering plans.
Please show up this Tuesday at 7 p.m., in Room 231 of City Hall and ask the Public Works Committee not to waste a third of a million dollars finalizing a project before the neighborhood and the Common Council gets to see the new plans.
Sincerely,
Debora Goldstein
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