To the editor:
I have a couple issues I would like to address to our City Council and my community.
The first is the need the Council felt to charge admission to the Trash and Treasure Sale. As I understand it, the vendors pay for their space at the Forum. Charging people $2 to get in is wrong and only hurts those who need it the most.
I know many hardworking, low-paid families who get much-needed necessaries at the Trash and Treasure Sale — things they can’t get anywhere else: school clothes, shoes, household goods, tools and sometimes just that something special. I don’t understand how our City Council can’t see that people are hurting. Families are struggling to stay warm, to have gas to get to their low-paying jobs, to cover health insurance, not to mention medications, and taxes.
A family of four who always went to the Trash and Treasure Sale would have to pay $8 for nothing. That’s a lot for nothing. I did not attend the Trash and Treasure Sale for the first time ever! I hope others stayed away as well. I was hoping the outcry from others would be loud and long.
Come on, people, we need to stand up for what we need. Seems the City Council only wants to hurt the poor; trust me we are already hurting. I also must wonder why no admission for the Arts, Crafts and Collectibles sale, if you charge for one, why not the other?
The second issue is our pool or lack of one. Again, we let them take that away from the people who need it the most. Our children need a pool, a swim team, and most important, swimming lessons that families can afford. Lives depend on our children learning to swim. I grew up on Monson Pond and saw several times what drowning looks like. Not pretty, oh so sad, and so unnecessary.
Now as I understand it, if we get this high cost rec center, we will get a new pool. I guess I wonder how we will raise the funds needed for both pool and rec center, and once we have them, how will we afford to maintain them. We did not take care of the old rec center, or town office, indoor pool, or outdoor pool. And now they want a new town hall — please!
Yes, UMPI has a pool; I hear it’s not like the outdoor pool or even indoor pool. Our outdoor pool had lifeguards. A parent could let their children go and know they would be safe. I know many young people who earned money for school, college, and to help their families by being lifeguards. The cost again at UMPI is too high for most people, and not as friendly for children. Yes, I imagine Councilman Green could afford to take his family and even an extra child or two. He has it like that, most of the families I know don’t. I had great hope for Councilman Green — not so much now. He has sold out to the rest of them.
People of my generation stopped a war. We stood up for what is right and what we believed in. Please let’s call on that courage and strength and stand up for our neighbors, and our children, as well as our city.
Nancy Smith
Presque Isle
