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LETTERS FROM OUR READERS


Council members against sale displayed common sense

The Common Council members who voted against the state's "fire sale" of the J.N. Adam Developmental Center site in Cattaraugus County to Trathen Land Co. should be applauded for their common sense and vision.

Council President David Franczyk is right to call for a higher and better use for this land rich in natural resources and gifted to the people of Buffalo by former Mayor James Noble Adam. Plundering our natural resources should never be a solution for the failure of government to maintain fiscal responsibility. If that were the answer, imagine the wasteland we would inhabit in this region.

It says a lot about why Buffalo is in financial trouble when the mayor and some Council members don't understand why a property with more than $4 million in assets shouldn't be sold for $333,900. Let's keep the trees and get rid of the wasteful politicians.

Trathen promised to use sustainable forestry practices but refused the city's request to put this promise in writing. Trathen also acknowledged marking trees it doesn't own with paint, logging marks which revealed a plan for a near clear cut of untouched, mature forests set far back from roads and site lines where no one would have been the wiser. And Trathen's proposal had no specific plans for the historic buildings, only a brief mention of restoring them with tax dollar assistance that had not yet been obtained.

Instead of threatening the city with loss of state funding for refusing this bad deal, the state should focus on remedying the failures of its "stewardship" of this property -- allowing buildings to deteriorate, architectural treasures which are listed on the State Register of Historic Places and which the state was required by law to preserve; and hazardous dumping on the site -- toxic areas the state has failed for decades to clean up.

Julie Broyles

North Boston

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