Many residents of downtown Lebanon enjoy their existing neighborhood. Comments by a Planning Board member that city officials have to accept higher density and taller buildings in order to achieve growth in the downtown area assume that residents have to accept in-filling every empty piece of grass for “a building that goes right up to the property line” (“Shorter building, higher praise,” Dec. 16).
This comment and attitude by the city are a dog whistle to every unscrupulous contractor or developer that the downtown area is fair game for their profit, and not for the benefit of residents. One tactic used by overeager developers is the waiver. The developer owns the property and outlines the proposal, which intentionally does not quite adhere to the city’s zoning regulations, whether it relates to parking or landscaping. The developer anticipates the granting of waivers by the city to allow the project. In some cases, by granting a waiver for the required landscaping, more parking spaces become available, which allows more units for the developers’ financial benefit, not necessarily for the neighborhood’s.
Waivers are supposedly allowed under certain criteria — conforming would pose a hardship, or because of specific circumstances relative to the site plan, or the condition of the land. In many cases, the “hardship” is created by the applicant. Thus, the waiver amounts to a form of “welfare” to the applicant, certainly not a benefit to the neighborhood or to its residents.
Another familiar tactic: a developer purchases an unmaintained single-family building in downtown, claims no other potential buyer is interested, requests approval for conversion to multiple apartments and states that sufficient grass exists for the required parking. It is a tight squeeze in the winter for parking; in the warmer weather the street is used as the parking area, and eventually a one-way street must be designated.
When granting approvals or waivers, city officials, including the Planning Board, must consider any negative long-term effects to neighborhoods or its residents. Neighborhoods and residents are the city.
MARY ANN MASTRO
Lebanon
The events since Jan. 6 have clarified and simplified the political decision before the citizenry. We will still argue gun control versus Second Amendment rights, fiscal responsibility versus deficit spending, DACA and immigration, abortion rights, tax rates, etc., etc. But the fundamental political decision before each citizen is now binary: Team Democracy or Team Sedition.
As we witnessed on Jan. 6, Team Sedition is composed of several parts: a cabal of feckless Republican officials who have forsaken their oath of office in their pursuit of authoritarian power; media interests that eviscerate truth and integrity; armed thugs who have invaded Capitol buildings in both Michigan and Washington, D.C., with the intent to kill people and who threaten to do so again; spewers of racial and misogynist hate; believers in magical thinking concerning liberals, progressives and Democrats; phony patriots who view the Constitution as an à la carte menu rather than a cohesive set of principles used to govern a pluralist, multicultural, geographically dispersed nation of 340 million citizens; and apologists who would excuse any insurrectionist act so long as their world view (“I’m in charge”) is ascendant.
And we have seen the apologists at work right here in the Valley News. A letter to the editor includes statements to the effect that there were bad people from both sides at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Nonsense: The FBI has stated unequivocally that “antifa” was nowhere to be found at the Capitol. And a letter to the editor equates the decisions to dissociate from Parler (a known fomenter and funder of insurrection) as a precursor act of totalitarianism. Both these letters use a tactic that is straight out of the Donald Trump playbook: falsely accuse the opposition of doing exactly what you are actually doing.
For the foreseeable future, the voting decision is pretty straight forward: Team Democracy — vote Democratic; Team Sedition — vote Republican.
Having taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, when I joined the Coast Guard in the 1970s, I am all in on Team Democracy.
PETER C. PAQUETTE
Hanover
For the opening prayer for the 117th Congress, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri was asked to do the honor. At the end of the prayer, he used the words “Amen and A-woman.” Rep. Cleaver is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church and has said and ended prayers often. So what was his motive?
The charitable side of me would like to believe that he was responding with a sort of “backhand” to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She recently issued a proposal to make House language “gender neutral.” My cynical side tells me that Rep. Cleaver’s action was “gender neutrality” run amok.
I have no idea why he did what he did. As I write this letter, his office hasn’t responded to my inquiry. However, I do know this: His action is a stark, clear reminder that votes have consequences. Readers should remember that whenever they go to the polls.
So be it.
ALAN TANENBAUM
Grantham