- By Hugh Bahar
- Opinions
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Second, I find it entertaining to watch how the members of the Lansing Sewer Committee are parading about the latest Cargill grant. $125,000 on an $18,000,000 project? That is a HUGE 0.7%, or $6 dollars off of your $850/yr sewer tax. I can hear my savings account overflowing. Ten more grants like that and you'll be saving $60 off your $850 sewer tax.
And now that the Sewer Committee knows the tax paying Lansing public isn't going to just roll over and play dumb, they are looking for any excuse to try to sell the project.The official Environmental Impact Statement didn't find that private septic systems were contributing worrisome amounts of pollution to the lake, so now the Committee is off to fly airplanes around to spot "leaking septic systems" to drum up support.
I am looking forward to the graphic infrared photos of leaking systems and dye-soaked hillsides. No doubt there will be a few. But a few photographs is not a scientific study, nor is it an Environmental Impact Statement.
It is, however, cheap sensationalism, used to sell a sewer that will subsidize high density development of the Portland Point Marina, and other developer-owned properties in Lansing.
This is NOT how I want my tax dollars spent. If Mr. Pinney and his partners want a marina, or if Mr. Sciarabba wants to develop the town center, let them build their own sewers. I am not going to subsidize them.
I didn't move to Lansing to be surrounded by strip malls and housing developments. And with NY property taxes the highest in the nation, I don't want another tax. We in Lansing are just fine with our NY Department of Environmental Conservation-approved private septic systems.
Get ready to sign petitions, I'll be knocking on your door with pen in-hand. And in the meantime, visit the NoLansingSewers.com website, and send me an email. There you will find all the contact information you need to take action, and I'll be updating it regularly as this fiasco comes to a vote.
From: Hugh Bahar
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