Protect the Partrick Wetlands
and our Community
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Letter to the Editor
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As the Town of Westport reviews the development of highly polluted wetlands
on Partick Road for 24 large homes, it is interesting to note how few people
involved in the process will have to live directly with the consequences of
their decisions. The houses themselves will be hooked up to town water and
a sewer system, so their owners will have no real stake in the quality of
the large aquifer beneath them or the highly questionable safety of runoff
from the disturbed surface lands. The developers, town insiders with more
connections than a Wall Street switchboard, will swear on a stack of Bibles
that the ground water will remain perfectly potable, but their children will
never wash in it or drink from private wells drawn from it. The Selectman
and town committees, including our First Selectman, bend obligingly to find
ways to help squeeze homes every way possible onto land so polluted that it
was considered unfit for a golf driving range and a nature center, not
thinking whether they would ever let their own children live in a home that
rested on land so contaminated from industrial pollutants and illegal
dumping that it was deemed unsafe to excavate a basement in it.
Hopefully further examination of this matter will reveal to the town
government and to the public judicious ways to use this land in ways that
will be safe for all involved and that represent good stewardship of the
public trust. But that stewardship is very much in question at this point.
We hear a lot of lip service to land conservation, especially when the lands
are pristine and far from most of our homes. But when it comes to the
less-than-perfect lot around the corner, stewardship falls to the wayside
time and time again in Westport. Stewardship then becomes not a circle of
trust and foresightfulness but a straight line to the largest dollar
almighty possible.
Westporters, wake up - this issue is not going away, and it is the kind of
issue that if handled carelessly could easily ruin our town's real estate
values and fine reputation. We ALL have a stake in making this issue the
litmus test for whether our town government really has our interests at
heart. Please make an effort to learn all you can about what ISN'T known
about the consequences of this development, and ask your Selectmen and Town
Representatives the tough questions that must be answered.
Sincerely,
John Blossom
4 Merritt Lane
Westport, CT 06880-1421
203.226.8658