Letters to the editor - December 25, 2014

Housing organizations endorse rental project

The lack of adequate, affordable housing in Salisbury is an ongoing issue of serious concern. It significantly affects both the vitality and the sustainable growth of our town. Consequently, it impacts every resident, property owner, business, and volunteer organization.  This need has been documented in two housing reports commissioned by the town, the current Plan of Conservation and Development, and a recent inventory of rental units.

Our three organizations work to meet this challenge by building, renovating, selling, and renting affordable housing in Salisbury. 

The Salisbury Housing Committee (860-435-0049) provides 16 low-income rental units at Sarum Village on Cobble Road, built with federal funding in 1981, and 8 units at Faith House on Fowler Street, built with donations from local churches in the late 1970s.  An additional six-unit building at Sarum Village is in the planning stage.

The Salisbury Housing Trust (860-435-2173) builds and remodels single-family homes for sale to working families in Salisbury. The Housing Trust keeps the prices of its homes affordable through the donations of local individuals and businesses and by retaining ownership of the land, with the buyer paying only for the dwelling.  It has built or renovated 12 homes in Salisbury.

Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut (www.habitatnwct.org), both a builder and a lender, makes home ownership an attainable goal for local workforce families who find themselves priced out of the marketplace and unable to access conventional mortgage sources. With the indispensable support of both donors and volunteers and the “sweat equity” of its partner/homeowners, Habitat has built 10 homes in Salisbury and neighboring towns, and repaired many more, to provide quality, affordable home ownership, interest-free mortgages, as well as improved living conditions.

The 30 units of workforce rental housing proposed off East Railroad Street will not serve the same citizens as the types of housing that our three organizations provide. These workforce apartments will be complementary to our offerings.

Therefore, we welcome and endorse the latest initiative by the Salisbury Affordable Housing Commission to develop 30 units of workforce rentals near the center of the village of Salisbury.  

We commend Selectman Jim Dresser for donating the land.  We commend the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development for undertaking this sorely needed project. And, we commend the town’s Board of Selectmen for entertaining it.

We urge the town’s residents to support this proposal and see it to fruition. The town cannot afford to pass on this unique opportunity to ease the housing challenges of local, year-round residents who provide the work that makes our community “work.” 

Leo Gafney

Salisbury Housing Trust

Anne Kremer

Salisbury Housing Committee

John Pogue

Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut

Salisbury

Lack of housing for young workers in Salisbury

In recent years, citizen committees have documented the shortage of affordable housing for several segments of our population. We are writing to call attention to one of these with which we are personally familiar: rental housing for young adults working in Salisbury. 

The lack of workforce rental housing that young adults can afford, even when they have full-time jobs in town, forces them to delay beginning their adult lives by living at home, as one of our children does, or to settle somewhere other than Salisbury.  They cannot begin starting families in Salisbury and taking advantage of our excellent local schools.   

This lack of housing for young adults also affects the sustainability of our businesses and volunteer services.  The first housing committee interviewed the managers of businesses that employ almost 500 people in Salisbury. 

A major finding of these interviews was that their businesses are stable now, but their managers are concerned about where the next generation of workers will come from.  Notably, the average age of the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service is 56 years old. 

The work of those who have documented our housing needs has produced unassailable statistics, surveys, and interview results, but numbers and prose are cold.  The lack of workforce housing for the employees of the local businesses and schools is evidenced by the stream of traffic during the morning rush hour traveling west on Route 44 from the direction of Winsted.  A community needs the vitality, vibrancy and energy of the young adults and young families to be strong, healthy and thriving.

The Salisbury Affordable Housing Commission is sponsoring a proposed development of 30 units of workforce rental housing off East Railroad Street in the village of Salisbury by the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development, an affordable housing developer with experience in northwest Connecticut.

We urge you to learn more about the proposed development through the press and informational sessions hosted by the selectmen.  And we urge you to support the project as it moves through town approvals. 

Chris Brennan

Joe Brennan

Salisbury

Thanks to history (and fun) lovers

On behalf of the officers and trustees of the Kent Historical Society, I would like to thank everyone who made our 14th annual Colonial Christmas Celebration such a success. 

As in past years, the Swift House was thronged with great company and tasty food. Most of the goodies were brought by the party-goers — which has made the gathering a favorite among area holiday parties. In addition, our generous neighbors donated samples of their professional culinary treats: the Fife ‘n Drum Restaurant gave us platters of delicious hors d’oeuvres and cookies. J.P. Gifford Market & Catering also provided two platters of tasty food. The sparkling water and red and white wines were supplied by Kent Wine & Spirit. We hope you will reward them for their generosity and for the great contribution they make to the town’s life.

Our thanks to all the providers, as well as to the volunteer bartenders and food servers. The biggest thanks of all go to our guests, who make the party so much fun. We were told by many people that it is their favorite party, the kickoff to the holiday season. Special appreciation goes to everyone who tucked some money into our donation bowl to support the care of Seven Hearths!

Thank you all for joining us, and we hope to see you next year!

Brian Thomas

Executive Director

Kent Historical Society

Kent

​Thoughts on Ferguson

I have been reading and researching a great deal about the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, Mo., and wanted to be able to share it with others, so here are my thoughts. 

I think that the United States government should look into investigating police “justified homicides” (461 in 2013 across the nation), which are police shootings that involve a fatality, rebuild the police force so that officers work in environments that they know and understand, and work to find a system to help hold more fair and equal criminal trials. 

The police force in most neighborhoods is not made up of people who have originated from within there, or who know how the people in the town think.  Especially dealing with rough areas, it is important to find motivated police officers who are from that area. People would be less likely to protest, or assault an officer, whom they had respect for, or a personal relationship. Many times, when these violent altercations happen between the police force and a civilian, juries have a more unbiased opinion, and would be willing to indict a police officer, if they must, or find a suspect not guilty.

Finally, race seems to be the biggest issue sparking these protests, and just violent altercations between police officers. These seem to constantly be popping up across the nation. In California’s Bay Area, recent years have seen the police shooting of Oscar Grant, who was unarmed, and of course huge protests organized after the recent Ferguson incident. Here, there is a huge clash between races, however in different parts of northern California, the situation is very different. 

With many diverse towns crunched together, it is important that all races should act as one. None of them should act differently toward someone of a different race, otherwise major problems will continue to happen.

Parker Dotson, student

Salisbury School

Salisbury

Blame it on a gun, not race

Why do protesters blame it on helpless cops who did what they had to do? These cases of “justifiable homicides” by cops are occurring because they have been given the rights to take away one’s life. Protesters are also blaming cops for excessive force over civilians. So why not simply ban possession of ammunition? Cops can be forced to have small video cameras on them in order to record interactions with civilians, but there could be many problems such as malfunctions, mistakes (turning them off) and limited views.

With gun control, nothing like the Ferguson shooting will occur again. Cops can instead bring Tasers or self-defense clubs for their protections and arrests. 461 people got killed by cops and there must be cases where victims were innocent and were without ammunition. With gun control, this number would radically decrease and would not cause more suspicion toward police power.

Protesters rising from all over the country are blaming it on the issue of race that the Ferguson shooting occurred, because the victim was black. Yet, most of the justifiable homicides are not from racial issues, but from victims’ conducts. Therefore, ban of ammunition can prevent further improper force of the police since police would not have power to judge one’s life.

Do-Ill Chun, student

Salisbury School

Salisbury