HALIFAX — Country Roads, take me home - no longer in Halifax!
The roads look like they were made by the retreating Polish army in World War II: wide swatches dug through the hills without notice or concern for the trees or historic stone walls, wide enough for two tanks abreast.
The roads are layered on top with a scree of slippery small stones, sand, and pebbles. They are unsafe for small cars to stop adequately; rather, they slide on that scree. No bicycling on that stuff!
The roads are great for lumber trucks and the town trucks only! Oh, and of course, the roads are great for the “Halifax Road Club” members, and their families, who receive funds for their membership in this exclusive club! Huge weekly payments, a budget that has quadrupled, and now nearly equals the school budget. While the school budget lost a position this year, the Road Club continues their excessive spending on “salaries” and trucks and equipment large enough for a small metropolis.
And who controls this club? Why don't the Selectboard members rein in their poor judgment in ditch digging and stone wall destruction? Oh, the head of the club is a selectman himself! Good going there - great way to enrich your members.
The roads are the worst in 20 years for driving on, the charm of the roads has been destroyed, and thousands of feet of stone walls are collapsing into the “ditches” they claim will drain water and shorten our mud season. The club's tree-destruction efforts have not served to dry the roads out.
Are the roads safer? Wider roads encourage faster driving, and unpackable scree results in longer stopping distances - so clearly not.
I have met no one in town who thinks the roads are better, except for the families being enriched. Ask around to people not financially benefiting from this club: they say the roads are ugly and just as muddy as always (during mud season).
Halifax is a town proving the worst aspects of Populism vs. Democracy. Halifax should be ashamed that the Road Club receives all the funds they want, but the school falls short a position! Ain't gonna vote out these families, but maybe show them what they are doing is only in the club members' interest, not the interests of town residents.
Some of us live here because it used to be a town of country roads, affordable taxes, and nice town employees who would stop to help you out of a ditch. Now the road club helps only the other club members. (Yeah, I've seen you guys plowing out a town official's driveway last winter!)