The Road Traveled

It’s been a long arduous journey in the quest for drainage relief for the Masullo Estates subdivision. I’m reminded of this simple fact every time I take my dog for a walk and witness my neighbor’s sump pumps pumping furiously. I’m reminded again every time I leave for work and try unsuccessfully to navigate the ever-increasing number of potholes that unmercifully take their toll on my vehicle. And of course, I’m reminded every successive Spring that arrives without the associated previously promised relief. It’s frustrating.

With Spring once again approaching, I wonder if 2008 will be any different than the Spring of 2007, 2006, or 2005. The Town Board has been spending increasing amounts of money studying the potential fix. That’s good…and bad. Good because we hope we’re getting closer to actual relief. Bad because there still hasn’t been a shovel put in the ground to provide it. All the while, our roads continue to deteriorate. The logic is circular. We can’t fix the roads until we fix the drainage. We can’t fix the drainage because we need to study it further. And round and round we go.

To be fair, this administration has probably done the most to address the decades old problem. Unfortunately, they really haven’t done anything yet.

My personal stake is as it has always been. I’d like to see my road paved. It’s that simple for me. But many of my neighbor’s have serious drainage issues. As my knowledge of the problem increased, my outrage led me to believe we could get it fixed. NAG was born October 5, 2004 and its effectiveness has been mixed, as evidenced by the inability to force tangible relief.

http://www.nag12306.org/

At this stage, we’re effectively up against it, as they say. The nearby Helderberg Meadows is virtually approved and their required sewers are likely to become ours too. I fear that sewers will be offered as our drainage relief. It’s the groundwater, stupid. That’s the real problem. And it may get overlooked in the end. Right now, the Town is poised to repeat history with the approval of Helderberg Meadows.

In the end, I hope I at least get a road I can travel.