So here we go right out of the gate. After years of watching Washington continue a holding pattern of stalemate due to both sides of the aisle being unwilling to compromise, it has now landed in Brunswick.

Mr. Harris has won the right to sit at the council chair for Brunswick; hats off to you Dan. My concern is basically the first words out of your mouth were “as far as I am concerned it’s dead” in regard to the proposed road connection in the Cook’s Corner area. That seems to represent what has locked up Washington for some time now, an unwillingness to compromise. Sounds more like a “my way or the highway approach.”

Since you’re from away, let me clue you in to what we over here, in this part of Brunswick are used to. We have been and seems like still we be overlooked and regarded as the red-headed step child for the foreseeable future. Some years ago, a member of the police station relocation committee made a statement to the effect that Cook’s Corner and this area isn’t really part of Brunswick. Now I realize that us over here on the wrong side of the tracks, may lack the refinement of some of our other citizens (in their eyes at least) plus, we lack sidewalks that blink, we may raise horses and chickens, while tending a garden or two, but we are one of the largest providers of taxes in the area. Now, I know I will get some folks who will cringe and say ‘That is just not true” but hey, I have 41 years here and can give you 1,000 more people who will back up my claim.

That access road can and would open immense benefits to our local youth as well as give people a chance to get of the racetrack called the Bath Road and have a safer route to access the Cook’s Corner Mall. As far as utilizing the buildings at Cook’s Corner, sorry my friend, but as long as the out of state company who owns it keeps using it as a tax write off, things are not going to change. They charge the highest rent in the town of Brunswick for what is offered and have zero inclination to change their minds on what they charge.

I hope that for the future you will look to compromise and look into everything before making a decision because the little birds in the neighborhood are pulling a NIMBY. We have enough of that already with the layover facility. By the way, since they call it a bastion of pollution that will ruin their homes and lives, did you catch where they wanted to put it? That’s right; ship it over to the “other side of the tracks.” Want another example: Find me one other intersection in the town of Brunswick with a six-way green light intersection, guess that’s one way to save taxes. I look forward to hearing what you have to say at the upcoming town meetings. Congratulations on the win.

Jason Coombs
Brunswick