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Land for the Beecher House
By Bruce Mason, Litchfield
Litchfield voters have a choice to make on November 5: whether to sell the town-owned plot of land (behind the Town Hall parking lot) to the Beecher Society, or not to sell it. That is the question!
There are, in this writer's opinion, two critical choices in making that decision. Do we join the world community, or do we keep ourselves strictly local? What do you and I really stand for? We have an opportunity for a jewel of a house to be placed in a park/ green-like setting (open space preservation at its best in the center of town). Or do we build another town hall or an annex behind the parking lot of the present town hall?
It sounds like some people can think of nothing on that piece of land other than a town hall building. That town land has been lying there fallow for some 15 years, save for a short ice skating season in 2002. It was land that was offered to the Beecher Society by the selectmen four years ago, and that was for good reason. The land was meant to be "for the benefit of the town." The selectmen could not have simply willed the land to the Society, but their vision was clear at that time. Perhaps they also knew, as do many others, that expansion of the present town hall could easily be accomplished on its present site.
So, please think about your decision—think critically. What is it that you really value most? Can I, can you, see fit to change opinions and values that we formerly held? Most of all, become an informed voter. Attend public meetings, watch Cable 5. You may call Dorthea DiCecco, Robert Doyle, Bruce Mason, Chandler Saint. We are in the telephone book, and we will be happy to speak to you, and also to meet with you personally if that is helpful. We'll show you plans, answer your questions—the whole nine yards.
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