Archive: Opinions

Last week's editorial about nasty politics in Lansing was clearly motivated by concern, but did not accurately capture the sentiments in the community.  Opposition to the sewer was not based on political party or gender differences.  Members of the Sewer Committee were led by Republicans, including Councilman LaVigne (until he suddenly became against it early this summer).  Opponents came from all parts of our community.

I have talked to dozens of progressives and Democrats who were opposed to the sewer project for a variety of reasons. Almost everyone objected to paying more taxes, especially if they were not receiving sewer service and/or had no need for sewer.  Others challenged the supposed environmental benefits - pointing out the lack of hard data for current lake pollution, and arguing that the lake would receive more phosphorus, pharmaceuticals, and other harmful outputs from a sewer plant than would reach the lake via dispersed septic fields. The energy costs are also much higher for sewer than the passive septic systems.

I talked to Councilwoman Hopkins about my concerns more than a year ago. My focus was on the rush to build senior housing on the town center land in order to enable the sewer project. The town center project needs an integrated and coherent plan linked to a reality-based market analysis.  Adopting a piecemeal approach would lead to potential failure of the overall project.  I also challenged the assumption that the sewer project would magically prevent sprawl in north Lansing, where landowners will still face economic pressures that result in the sale of lots to homebuyers seeking a rural lifestyle.

There may be a few people seeking to frame the sewer project as a political issue, but that is not our reality.  The divide is based on those who would benefit from the sewer and those who believe they would not benefit (and therefore don't want to pay for it). That's a reasonable divide and does not have to generate ongoing hostility.

Our task now is to figure out how to grow our local economy and responsibly deal with our wastes.  As we work on this together, we citizens need to take responsibility and participate in the process of research, analysis, and implementation.  Our local government does not have the staff to do this for us, and we can't expect the five members of the Town Board to do everything.  Lansing has plenty of skilled and knowledgeable residents.  I hope we can build a framework for working together to find solutions to the many challenges we face.

Gay Nicholson
Lansing
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