Opinion

Letter to the editor: Boulevard rail, and other city hazards


Published: July 6, 2009

To the editor:

Why haven't the Stacy Boulevard rail and fences been scraped and painted?

Nobody seems to want to do them. In time, I'm afraid they will rot and fall into the ocean.

Then, the mayor will need more money, which the city doesn't have.

It's just another case that cries out for emergency funding, just like the condition of the football stadium at Gloucester High School. I'll bet the football team has made money for quite a few years now. Before a new season of games start, isn't there some money there to fix up the bleachers?

Now, the city wants the kids to pay more and more to play, or use the equipment. That just isn't fair.

The Boulevard wall should have been built with a slant or a curve so that the water simply hits the wall and goes back to the ocean. What happens now? Water hits the wall and, in some places, breaks onto the walkway — and in the winter, the water finds its way through the cracks and splits the walkway.

These are just of the things around town I think are dangerous.

At Shaw's on Railroad Avenue, for example, the new construction has made it very dangerous. I see people driving down Railroad Avenue at more than 20 mph, talking on their cell phones. But it's also dangerous now for people walking, or for people to cross, especially older people who don't have a chance to walk across safely — and don't have a chance to run or get out of the way.

These are just a few of the dangerous and unfair things I've noticed, and I can't believe we have to leave them be, because we don't have any money!

Walter Chianciola

Gloucester