Thank You Town of Sharon Voters!

DATELINE: The First Tuesday...November, 2009


The voters in the Town of Sharon, Connecticut elected Bob Loucks of Sharon as their First Selectman. In the late spring of 2010, the towns electorate overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bonding package which the Selectmen presented and The Board of Finance approved to improve drastically the quality of the crumbling roads on which we all travel on in and around Sharon. They didn't say they were going rebuild every single road totally, dig them all down, put in huge road bases, replace every single bridge and culvert and make them all as smooth as a babies behind. They did say they would address the worst, and try to fiscally fix and repair as much as they could. They wanted and tried to get as much "bang for the buck" as they possibly could. 


This week the work has started again, on Low, Murtagh, Lovers Lane and Dug Roads. The photos above are of just a few glimpses of the  reclaiming process (pulverizes down ten inches), then grading and compaction. Next week, weather permitting, paving will be soon to follow. Sharon is getting some real roads. Are they perfect? Maybe not. Nine thousand percent better than before? Not even close. More like Ninety-thousand.....


So why the spiel? Because I am just frustrated by some of my fellow towns-folks who suddenly are the experts on just about everything, so it seems to this observer. Did we not entrust our town to these elected officials just about a year and a half ago? Did we not, as a town, say yes to the project on the roads, just about a year ago? Are the town officials, the ones we all elected, all suddenly doing things that are contrary to what they said they would do? Are they suddenly corrupt? 


For years this town let its grammar school fall into a sad shape of disrepair. I served on a committee, which put together a workable, realistic package to repair and improve a facility which was in really sad shape. The town voted yes. The project was completed. We now have a building to take pride in. Is it perfect? No. Is it far better than it was? For certain.


Lets face it. We darn near let some roads and bridges go too far into disrepair. We could have kept them up far better but we were too cheap. We kept patching, never fixing. Now, finally, we are doing our best, as a town, with an allocated amount of funding, again, to get as much for the money as we can, to give us a network of passable, safe roads. Will they be perfect? No. There isn't enough money. Will there be things that happen we didn't count on, like a plugged culvert, causing a washout to something we just fixed? Sure? Was it preventable? Maybe. Perhaps not. At what cost? Cost is a huge word here. And I keep going back to the fact that we are not building super highways. The officials are trying their best to give us a quality product, that will serve us well. 


Judging by White Hollow, West Cornwall and Caulkinstown, I think, in MY OPINION, we are being served well by our officials and by the contractors. They had a concept, which became a plan, and is now being executed. I BELIEVE, that NOW is the time to stop hurling "you ought to do's" and start doing some "we can do's". It's time to stop the bickering and get back to helping. It's time to let the elected do what they are charged to do. 


But of course. This is just my opinion.