The rezoning of the Saunders Brothers mill from Industrial to Gateway Commercial to clear the way for Wal-Mart to possibly come to Westbrook (favored)
I am in favor of more economic development, which will bring more tax revenue and jobs to our city. However I believe that other things must be considered such as the livability of our neighborhoods. I think that a better place for a big box complex would be to place it out in the Route 302 area of Westbrook.
Pay-as-you-throw trash pickup and curbside recycling (favors)
I believe we should all recycle as much as we can, because this will or should help us as a city to control our costs for trash removal. While I would like to think that another solution could be found to control these costs and encourage us to increase the recycling within Westbrook another way, I do not know what that would be.
The city purchasing land on Saco Street to market it as the Westbrook Heights Business Park (favored)
I understand the need for the infrastructure necessary to allow for the development of the Westbrook Heights Business Park. Without the city getting involved to acquire the $900,000 grant from the federal government, the sewer line could not have been extended and the park would not have happened. Therefore this seems like a good move on the part of Westbrook to allow for more economic development within our city.
How would you have voted on this year’s school budget? (no answer)
I support good education at an economical price. However I don’t have enough information to determine what my vote would have been. However I do have some questions regarding the additional money that LD1 promised and apparently didn’t happen as it was stated.
The potential redevelopment of Saccarappa Park as a combination commercial building/public park (favors)
I think that development of that land on the west end of Main Street is imperative for the continued economic growth of our Main Street business area. I also think that the area just along the river should be developed into a terrific green space in keeping with the building up of the river boardwalk area which continues along to the east of Saccarappa Park.
Paper streets have been a major source of contention in the city recently. How would you have dealt with residents’ complaints about old paper streets being used for development?
Regarding paper streets, we need to be fair to both the residents and the developers that apparently had legal right to that land. I would also ask the question about how long everyone knew about this situation and what was City Hall’s involvement and was it done in a timely manner. Another question to be asked is, were the complaints made due to an unexpected change or did they regard legitimate concerns. Once these questions were determined, then one or more informational meetings could have been arranged to speak to everyone’s concerns.
What can be done to help lower Westbrook property taxes?
I’m told that some forms of construction allow for more net tax revenue than others. Therefore logic might tell us that a careful balance between the different types of construction would be a worthy goal for Westbrook to work towards. I believe that a list of priorities should be determined for our city, allowing us to gauge what we must spend taxpayer’s money on and what we can do without. I think that a prudent spending policy would help to reduce the need to raise our property taxes.
What do you want to see done to improve parking in the city?
As far as I am aware there are three different types of parking arrangements: streetscape, surface lots and parking garages. It seems obvious to me that Westbrook should look at all three possibilities, determine which can be added to or improved upon, develop a plan consistent with our financial capabilities and the projected needed increases and work towards these goals. I would think that to increase our effective parking over time would serve to increase Westbrook’s business sector ability to grow with the times.
Please comment on any other issues of importance to you.
A complete analysis of the increasing amounts of traffic through Westbrook must be looked at, with the effort being to allow for it to move along in a timely manner while allowing for more parking; so our businesses can benefit from the large number that travel through our city. I have learned that the Route 302 corridor would benefit greatly from the extension of the sewer line, which would allow for an increase of the infrastructure necessary to allow for business expansion there.
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