March 21, 2008
To the Editor:
My family has lived in Sparta for some 60 years and we have somehow survived the many missteps of our elected officials (some who have had good intentions).
The list of missteps is long and to mention a few: the proposed 600-foot telephone tower, the railroad depot, the convenience strip mall on the Route 517 bypass (on top of our cemetery) and the site of the new high school. If it weren’t for a few aware citizen who took up the cause, these proposals would have gone forward with great regret.
Not long ago, I personally experienced a nightmare trying to convert a useless garage into a needed useable room for my daughter and her family, always working within the rules. For six months, the building and zoning offices treated me like a criminal, calling me a liar, causing me to waste $5,000 in building and architectural expenses and finally turning me away based in a discriminatory law that could have been applied on day one. It constantly perplexes me as to how our elected officials are so easy to give away the store at the expense of the public, yet treat the public with disdain and arrogance.
Now we are faced with the garbage utility and the proposed waste-recycling facility for the construction business. It seems our elected officials think it’s a good idea for Sparta to be the garbage center of Sussex County with all the trappings of traffic and environmental problems. I question the sense of it all but also the agenda of some elected officials which is not considerate of the public agenda which they serve. It seems that Sparta is going the way of Washington politics.
It’s time our elected officials are accountable both from a fiduciary and monetary viewpoint. It’s time all Sparta citizens take a closer and informed look at the potential bottom line. Of everything. . .because exile wwe sleep, somebody may be letting the wolf into the chicken house.
Michael P. Tilton, Sparta
