NO SEWER FOR WINDHAM

I have certainly not studied the sewer proposal in the depth that others have but I have read both the Town of Windham's website and the nosewer.com website.  There seem to be many inconsistencies.  But my major concern at this point is how the sewer, if passed, will be paid for.
I lived in Cumberland when the sewer went in there and it was and still is paid for by the users and not the general taxpayers and I think  that is how it should be.  Why should someone who has frontage on Route  302 and will not be served by the sewer have to pay a betterment fee?  I believe this is a discriminatory fee.
I believe in a vibrant business community but in this case this and previous councils have allowed development where the comprehensive plan said there should be none.  Why would anyone in their right mind continue development over a major aquifer?  Route 302 is nothing but one great big strip mall.  There has been little apparent planning to make the area attractive and safe.  But we have to remember that money and power drive not only national and state politics but local as well and the realtors and some property owners who stand to make money have more power and say than you and I.  We are just thorns in their sides if we do not agree with them.
Now the citizens are being asked to foot the bill for a sewer that probably should have been put in years ago at a smaller cost and when federal monies were available.  We are being asked to pay for the mistakes of previous and present councils for not developing good zoning and community planning.  As usual elected officials do not think about the impact on the citizens.
Several years ago when there was a one million dollar bond to help save the largest contiguous piece of property left in Cumberland County at least two of the present councilors spoke about the burden that $10.00 a year on their tax bill would present and now these same men want to add an average of $200.00 a year to our tax bills plus charge folks a betterment fee if the line goes by their property.  Then there is the cost to hook up to the sewer which could be devastating to someone who lives a distance from the road.   And if you think $200.00 a year is the end of it you are mistaken.  The sewer opens up for more development which means more people, more schools, more services like police and fire personnel and we all know that one household with even one child does not pay enough in taxes to cover the cost of just educating that child not to mention other services that will be needed.
I urge you to vote NO on question 2.  NO Sewer for Windham.  Let the town come up with a model where only the users pay for the cost.

Money, Money, Money

I don't know about any of you but I am so sick and tired of the daily emails pleading for money for this campaign and that.  I am tired of feeling guilty when I delete it, thinking I am probably the cause of the defeat of one candidate or another.
I have given to candidates but I am retired and on a fixed income.  There is a limit to what I can give.  First it is Democracy for America, Obama/Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Alan Grayson, Maine Dems, Marriage Equality and about 30 others.  These are all people who I want to win but the amount of money it takes is obscene.
What has gone wrong with this country that political campaigns can raise millions and millions of dollars to put ads on TV that most people are just plain sick and tired of seeing but we can't raise money to feed hungry children or to make sure that the Native Americans have decent education and housing and electricity and clean water.  We have stuffed them off on reservations that don't even have arable land so they can grow their own food.
This country has its priorities wrong.  We used to care about the poor and hungry and homeless but we now don't even see it.  Our churches send young people off to Haiti and Guatemala to help the indigent and while that is worthy, we have poverty here that we ignore.  Jane Goodall said that there are places here in America that are worse off than a third world country and we do nothing about it but we can collect and raise over four billion dollars to spend on getting people elected.  Then these people get to Washington and forget who sent them there.
It is the same on the local and state level.  The elected officials feel they are gifted with power beyond reason and lose sight of the needs of the people who elected them.
We need to overturn Citizens United and get the big money out of the elections and make sure the campaigns only last 3 months or less.  Maybe if they have a shorter time they will tell less lies!  John McCain said it well.  Money is Money.  Money is not Free Speech!