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the Editor:
This is an open letter to Mr. Bill Barry, Town Councilor from District 6 in Weymouth. I attended a COMPARE meeting last Thursday evening, October, 2, at the Church of the Nazarene in South Weymouth. This was one of several public forums that have been held for the citizens of the South Shore who oppose the construction of the Mills Mega-Mall at the former Naval Air Station (NAS). As a resident of this town for 32 years, I have serious concerns about these short-sighted plans and the adverse impacts they will have on our communities in the years to come. Seth Kaplan from the Conservation Law Foundation was the featured speaker last week, and the room was filled with concerned residents anxious to learn how we, as citizens, can stop this tourist attraction which will bring in 15-24 million shoppers and visitors each year. Two Weymouth Town Councilors and a Rockland Selectman, who also have serious concerns, were in attendance as well. However, there was one individual walking around the parking lot under the cover of darkness placing flyers on the windshield of every car stating " 10percent mall? or 100 percent Logan Reliever Airport? Duh! ". No, this was not the action of an immature child. It was Bill Barry, Weymouth Town Councilor from my district (or one of his representatives), who did not have the courage to attend the meeting and voice an opposing view. Of course, it is Mr. Barry's prerogative to voice his personal opinion in any forum which he deems acceptable. And if he wants to spew inaccurate rhetoric to support his view, good luck to him. But, the bottom of the flyer states that it was published and paid for by the Committee to elect William B. Barry, Jr., my representative to the Town of Weymouth. Well, Mr. Barry, you certainly do not represent my views, the views of my family, nor the views of the citizens of the communities who will be impacted by the Mega-Mall. In fact, it is unnerving that, you, my elected representative, are so misinformed. Your flyer implies that there are only two choices for the former NAS site: a Mega-Mall or an airport. And not just any airport; a Logan Reliever Airport. I would like to ask you, Mr. Barry, to substantiate that this is so. What State or Federal authority has told you that a Logan Reliever Airport will happen? Have you polled your constituents to gauge our assessment of this massively intrusive Mills project? Furthermore, a simple phone call to the Massachusetts Port Authority would have revealed that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has no interest in the Naval Air Station as a reliever airport. Additional phone calls to companies such as UPS and Federal Express would also have revealed that they also have no interest in the NAS site. Perhaps, Mr. Barry, you should have done your homework- I would like to take this opportunity to educate you, Mr. Barry. COMPARE is not pro-airport. COMPARE is for a viable alternative to the Mills Mega-Mall. From the statistics provided by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD), the South Shore Tri-Town Development Corporation (SSTTDC), and the Mills Corporation, itself, it is clear that this plan will have enormous traffic, pollution, crime, and resource drain impacts on our communities Mr. Barry's "10 percent mall" rhetoric is designed to deceive the citizens of Weymouth into believing that the Mega-Mall constitutes only a minor portion of the reuse plan. In actuality, the MHD has determined that an estimated 78-93 percent of the increase in traffic traveling to the former NAS site will be due to the Mega-Mall alone. That's 50,000 extra vehicles per day on our roads. Our local and state roads are already bursting at the seams as it is. For those of us who travel routes 3 and 18 and sit in the interminable traffic on a daily basis, we haven't seen anything yet! Yes, proposals are on the table to widen both roadways and create an access road to the NAS site. Yet, many of the proposed improvements are years overdue to alleviate the current volume of traffic, not to accommodate 50,000 extra vehicles per day. And as an added bonus, Mills Corporation acknowledges a projected increase of 400 percent in petty crime activities. Interestingly, their definition of "petty" includes grand theft auto. Supporters of the Mills Mega-Mall project may argue that these issues are the price we all pay for progress; that with any development project, trade-offs must be made and they are a necessary evil. Well, they are half right. It is evil, but completely unnecessary. We need an alternative to the Mills Mega-Mall project. We need our elected representatives and the SSTTDC to provide us with a fresh start, a new strategy for the future economic viability of the NAS mindful of the potential impact any large project would have on our community.Roz Laprise
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
COMPARE (Citizens Opposing the
Megamall and Proposed Access Road Extension)
Box 890024 Weymouth, MA 02189
[email protected]
For related info, see http://www.geocities.com/nomegamall/ and http://www.rethinkthebase.com and http://hometown.aol.com/rethinkthebase/