letter to the editor

MDOT lied

Tue, 02/20/2018 - 5:00pm

Dear Editor:

In response to two recent letters concerning Wiscasset, I would like to make some additional comments. This project isn’t about losing parking spaces and /or an old building. It's about making some very unwise decisions that will have a very high risk chance of putting many old established businesses out of business while destroying the town in the process.

Many local residents feel this project is long overdue and I would agree, however, spending $5 million to fix an age old traffic problem was misleading from the beginning by MDOT. If Option 2 would really work, every business person would accept it, but in reality, it won’t make a noticeable difference in moving traffic through Wiscasset and even MDOT has admitted that. Remember, that was the promise MDOT made originally to solve the traffic problem. They lied!

The bottom line here is MDOT wants to spend $5M taxpayers dollars on a project that simply will not improve a thing, traffic wise. If this materializes, Wiscasset stands a good chance of becoming the Prettiest Little Ghost Town in Maine with a beautiful sidewalk and still have a huge traffic problem.

As far this town accepting money, it is not a bribe. Mr. Doering is suing MDOT, not the town of Wiscasset. The money, $75,000, is being offered to help a money-strapped town continue fighting a project that has a very high chance of failing and make Wiscasset a ghost town.

Maybe we all should be asking why don’t we have a bypass? It's the only real sensible solution to this problem. It's been talked about since 1968. BTW, Wiscasset was offered a free bypass in 1968 and turned it down. I'd love knowing the real story behind that decision.

Dennis Raleigh

Wiscasset