East Longmeadow Arch St. Donation

To:  East Longmeadow Selectman

During the last town meeting the town of East Longmeadow unanimously voted down selling a piece of town-owned property on Arch Street, opening development up to a contractor, in favor of keeping that property natural and as-is. Selectman John Driscoll, ignoring that vote, found a way to bring that very same property up for development vote again by introducing it as a donation to a local vet for him to have a home built on it. While we are completely in favor of donating property to Mr. Eckert, not only was developing this particular property already voted down, there are a number of serious issues with this new proposal as a whole.

So, we, the undersigned, oppose the current agenda item on Arch Street as-is and call for further investigation into other town-owned properties we know exist. We reject Mr. Driscoll’s claim that “8 properties were considered but none were suitable” in that we know that the town owns more than 8 properties but were never considered. We feel the circumstances and intentions surrounding this choice of donation diminish and tarnish the gift.

We want Mr. Driscoll and all other selectman to know that we believe there are seriously questionable motivations in calling to donate the Arch Street property, that we oppose his dismissal and disregard for the previous vote, and while we all feel strongly about finding property to donate to Mr. Eckert and feel it is important that we make every effort to do so, we intend for it to be done in a more responsible, transparent, honest way and demand that other properties be looked at -- perhaps by an independent committee separate from the oversight of the selectman and their personal interests in the donation. We feel confident that in doing so another piece of property suitable for donation can be found that will also maintain treasured town property citizens have already voted to preserve.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The East Longmeadow Arch St. Donation Petition to East Longmeadow Selectman was created by and written by Melissa Volker (m3llex@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.