In regard to the recent guest column “NIMBY obstruction threatens public good,” [Sept. 6], it is astonishing how supporters of the Jones expansion project react with petulance and name-calling to legitimate arguments against overspending for a space that the town does not need, forcing this massive expense on the backs on taxpayers and putting our roads, safety complex, fire station, and schools at risk.
NIMBY-ism? Sophistry? Disingenuous? Bad faith? This is pure projection. The fact of the matter is that voters approved a project that was never honestly characterized, and if supporters of the project had the guts to put it up for a vote again, it would surely not be approved.
This is not just a vocal minority. I applaud the public opponents of the expansion project for their diligence in finding the facts so assiduously buried and obfuscated, for opposing the corporate takeover by Amherst Forward, and for standing up for the wishes of the taxpayers, not a vocal minority but a silenced majority.
The column contains no critiques of arguments, only angry denials and name-calling, ultimately casting opponents of the project as the MAGA minority. Zing!
I applaud the dedicated vocal opponents of the majority for not stooping to this level, so I will lob one over to the snowflakes myself: deferred maintenance … or Munchausen by proxy? Unfair? Enraging? Emblematic of the country’s problems? Indeed. This kind of piety-fueled name-calling in the face of legitimate opposition is what threatens the public good here and everywhere.
Lou Downey
Amherst