Thanks to road crew

To the editor,

Black Point and Spurwink Roads have recently been beautifully improved by hard working employees from the DOT and Shaw Brothers Paving Co. Flag holders, big machine operators, ground crews all work together to create safe, smooth roads. Their work is so important and is often not adequately acknowledged.

Thank you to all who improve our roads working in all kinds of weather, working at night, working in the day with traffic moving around their work sites.

It is such a joy to drive on our roads that are so well maintained by excellent people from the DOT and Shaw’s Bros Co. Thank you so very much!

Nina T. McKee
Scarborough

Right Size It — Don’t Super-size It. Vote No!

To the editor,

We love our Scarborough Library. We need to expand it, not super-size it. If approved by the voters in November, the proposed expansion would result in one of the largest public libraries in the state, almost tripling its size, from a current 12,884 sq. ft. to 35,060 sq. ft. The voters just need to say “No! It is just too much and too expensive.”

The library’s primary argument for expansion is based on its claim that it is one of the “smallest libraries per capita in Maine.”

The state of Maine surveys libraries across the state and summarizes findings on its website. Among the largest cities and towns in Maine (29 towns over 10,000 population), there are only seven libraries larger than 20,000 sq. ft., including 6 over 30,000 sq ft. Five of those are in the cities of Portland, Bangor, Lewiston, Brunswick, and Auburn. Leaving off those large cities, just two libraries are over 20,000 sq. ft.

Some small towns have large libraries, and some large towns have small libraries. Libraries come in all sizes and making comparisons is tricky. Very few libraries in Maine however are larger than 20,000 sq. ft., and even fewer are over 30,000 sq. ft.

Simply put, this proposal is wrong for our town. The expansion is just too big and too expensive. We have other more critical, urgent needs. Voters should say “No” and send a message to right size this before bringing it back again.

Susan Hamill
Scarborough