Yesterday we published an Opinion piece titled, “Let Your Presence Make a Difference (Since Your Voice Can’t be Heard) — Go to the FRA Meeting at 4:30pm This Afternoon!” Well, my goodness, you did — in droves! To have more than 500 — we’ll say that again, five hundred — people show up at a meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on the first day of school in our little town is nothing short of amazing. Moreover, it demonstrates beyond any shadow of a doubt our deep love for and pride in our town and community.
Our sincere thanks to all the town and political leaders who spoke in support of our town, to those who have worked ceaselessly behind the scenes in an incredible effort to find out the facts and focus attention in the right places, to every member of the public who attended the meeting and the hundreds, nay, thousands, more who were unable to attend due to reasons beyond their control, but were there in spirit. That latter group included the publishers of LymeLine.com — but we had a reporter there and look forward to publishing his article this evening.
It sounds like we did not receive all the answers we were seeking from the FRA yesterday, and the future is still uncertain — but today we can surely stand with our heads held high.
thats an amazing amount of people! To bad that many don’t show up for town meetings,
Until your meeting article is published, there is one on the CT Mirror site that provides some good information.
http://ctmirror.org/2016/08/31/federal-rail-official-no-elevated-track-in-old-lyme-spokesman-backpedals/
The meeting was a great success in terms of community presence and unified resistance of elected officials–nobody from Old Saybrook to New London wants to see the Kenyon Bypass. That the FRA was opaque neither surprised nor upset me, as it was to be expected. The real news was the determination of a senator, congressmen, mayors and the hundreds of people who filled the auditorium to oppose a plan that Senator Blumenthal called ‘harebrained and half-baked.’ He also reminded the FRA that he knows the law, sits on the Commerce committee, and will never allow for the proposed bypass to receive the required funding. There will probably be further tests, but given public outrage and pending studies to underscore the destruction that would be visited upon environmental and historical landmarks, one is hopeful. I’m proud of last night’s turnout, and of the community’s seriousness of purpose.