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To: Editor – Sudbury Weekly
When I first encountered roadside bike paths was in Lincoln where I lived from 1969-1975 before moving to Sudbury. At that time people understood winter was a different: It was time to get out the cross-country skis and poles (or snowshoes) and use the abundant NE snow for winter appropriate recreation. Few thought it worthwhile to despoil nature’s winter playground to act like a summer walking trail.
Time has apparently transitioned the old values: suddenly it became Sudbury DPW’s responsibility to plow walkways even those so close to the road that doing so appears to have narrowed the practical plowable width of the road.
PRIORITIES
The fair priority for this DPW spending is to build more walkways rather than spend town raised money to plow existing walkways. Let each neighborhood choose and fund or implement that choice. The discriminatory priority is to tax those without walkways to plow snow off existing walkways.
For 50 years I’ve lived adjacent to increasingly busy Pantry RD waiting for our walkway. I’m tired of waiting! And I’m not alone! Together we can create the needed change in priorities!
To reduce the cost, the first task is to create roadside nature trails. By which I mean level surfaces cleared of small trees, brush, and Poison Ivy, mowed monthly by equipment that doesn’t leave sharp swords 3-5 inches tall as is the case with present DPW equipment being used for roadside mowing.
Instead of costing an estimated $27 Million increasing by $500,000 each year of delay. The cost of this approach would be a fraction of the $27+++ Million.
Next Steps:
A Warrant Article and how you can help will be explained in next week’s Sudbury Weekly. At my stage in life I simply can’t do this alone. But together we can create meaningful change this spring.