To the editor:

I suppose that few citizens would now be unaware that the Brunswick Town Council has narrowly defeated a proposal to send a letter to the authority that controls the proposed maintenance facility for trains to Brunswick, (“Split Town Council nixes letter to NNEPRA,” Feb. 28).

The letter merely requested politely that the authority voluntarily abide by noise regulations to which the rest of us are bound by law. But it appears that it was still too strong to be acceptable to a majority of council members.

Presumably, then, those residents (of whom I am not one) who will be affected by lifestyle impairment and a major loss of their property values can be damned.

I suppose that it would be too much to ask for these residents to be compensated by the town for the large involuntary sacrifice that they are making for its benefit. But the vote indicates that they are not to receive even a simple gesture of support.

At least we as a community benefit in one respect: While other council votes have not been hard to interpret, this vote has made it particularly clear which councilors take most seriously their responsibility to those whom they were elected to represent and those who find other interests more compelling.

Edmund R. Peay,
Brunswick

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