Sudbury Town Crier
Thursday, April 5, 2007
TO THE EDITOR:
A few months ago I’ve started to attend meetings related to the construction of a multi-use trail in our town on the old rail bed that runs north – south from Concord to Framingham.
A few things prompted me to attend these meetings. First one was a bicycle trip last fall with my (7-year old) son from Loring School to the library, DPW and back. While most of the roads have sidewalks they are suitable just for walking and not other activities. Coming back from DPW on Union I’ve discovered that Union has no sidewalks. It was a very scary and dangerous trip back to Raymond Road, which has a sidewalk. I wish there was a bicycle trail.
After this trip I’ve decided that next weekend we’ll get in the car and drive to the closest bicycle trail, which happens to start in Marlborough and ends in Hudson. The trail was a blast and we’ve enjoyed coffee and ice cream in Hudson. Because of the trail, Hudson center has changed. It’s much cleaner and new shops opened doors. I wish we had trail like this in Sudbury and we did not have to drive. We, as a family, have traveled on many bicycle trails in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. I cannot remember any crime, litter and so forth.
We have friends that live on the Minuteman bicycle trail in Lexington, which has been in service for many years, and we’ve heard only good things about it. The reason I wrote this note is that I’ve seen misleading information being mailed to the residents of Sudbury and published in the local newspaper. Some people say that it’ll cost the town a fortune. If one does the math, the money spent so far amount to $1.47 / resident. The average annual tax bill per household in Sudbury is $9,200. The vast majority of the investment is paid by the state of Massachusetts not by Sudbury residents.
The same group of people is afraid of increased crime. This trail comes from Concord. I think this is an insult to our northern neighbors. Does anyone think that when the trail is ready the “criminal people” from Concord and other northern towns will pick up their high speed bicycles and come to rob the citizens of Sudbury?
The same people are afraid that animals will be hurt when the trail will be ready. I have yet to see a dead animal due to a bicycle accident. Every day we see unfortunate animals being hurt by cars on the roads.
I invite everyone that wants to see the bicycle trail project continue in Sudbury to come to the town meeting and cast their approval vote for articles 22, 23 and 24 and reject article 35.
Fred Floru
Alta Road
