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Defending
Methuen's Demolition Delay Ordinance
(04/04/07)
Joe Leone, Methuen City Council
 March is the
month that comes in like a lion and is supposed to leave
like a lamb.
I certainly hope so, because, just in this month of
March, Dan Gagnon of the Methuen Historical Commission
accused me of being “ignorant of the facts”
regarding the demolition delay, and the chairperson of
that same commission would have me re-sponsible for all
of Methuen’s traffic woes, real or imagined. The
Eagle Tribune editors have called me, and my council
colleagues, “precipitous,” and I was the focus
of one of Mayor Bill Manzi’s St. Patrick’s Day
jokes when he named me “Historic Preservationist of
the Year.”
Wow, talk about getting it from all sides. There is
one side, though, that didn’t complain or tease
me. One side that didn’t think I was “ignorant”
or “precipitous” or responsible for the “gridlock.”
One side actually approved of my actions and those of my
council colleagues. It just happens to be the one
side I listen to, the side I was elected to represent,
the side that pays the taxes and votes in the
elections. The side we hardly ever hear talked
about: my constituents and those of all 8 councilors who
voted to nix the demolition delay on March 5th. I’ve
been hearing plenty from that side. Things like “Good
job!” and “That’s why I voted for you”
and “Thanks for thinking of us for a change.”
Yes, March has been a lion of a month.
Mr. Gagnon, I don’t think I was ignorant of the
facts. Not then, and not now. Here is one
fact. The United States Constitution guaran-tees that
“private property shall not be taken for public use
without just compensation.” If you, or your
colleagues, want to have control over private property,
to the extent of delaying the inevitable and interfering
with legitimate real estate transactions, you should be
pre-pared to face the fact that compensation, in that
case, is justified. Shall we stay the collec-tion
of real estate taxes on the property and make the owner’s
mortgage payments while you debate the “historical
significance”? Shall we tax everyone else to
raise the money for that extravagance?
Mr. Gaudreau, I think you are on the wrong board. Your
letter clearly tells me that you have no understanding of
Chapters 40, 40B or 41 of our state’s General Laws,
yet you would have us believe that all of the problems at
the 93 rotary and Route 113 are the fault of “uncontrolled
development.” You should understand that development
of any sort, in Methuen and through-out the Commonwealth,
is controlled to a greater degree than almost everything
except brain surgery. Anything that gets built,
whether a single-family bungalow or a 240-unit affordable
project, is done with the full under-standing and
endorsement of either the Zoning Board or the Community
Development Board, both boards fully staffed by
com-petent city employees and conscientious
members.
Furthermore, a great deal of the traffic on Route 113 is
directly traceable to the industrial park on the
Methuen-Dracut line that is home to 5 large companies
that are transportation (as in “trucks”)
oriented. Several of those companies wanted to call
Methuen home, but we chased them away from a prime site
off Pelham Street straight into Dracut. The Pelham
Street site would have put them less than a mile from
Route 93, and we wouldn’t have no-ticed the traffic
at all, but now we live with it while Dracut collects the
taxes. And don’t forget the famous,
ill-conceived “rotary.” You know, the one
that backs up Route 113 for a mile or more in the
morning, just because no one from the Department of
Transportation can get the lights working right. How you
can make the jump from demolition delay to “rush
hour traffic on Pleasant Valley Street” is beyond my
comprehension.
What traffic? I’ve been driving Pleasant
Valley Street for 44 of my 60 years (yes, I’m old
… just not historically significant) and I don’t
ever recall “rush hour traffic” as a daily
occurrence. Your not-in-my-backyard attitude would be
better served on the Zoning Board or Community
Development Board. You would have a much better
venue to further your obvious goal of bringing Methuen to
a screeching halt.
Gentlemen, historic structures in Methuen will get the
protection they need, without anyone trampling on the
property rights of our citizens, in due time and after
open and honest debate. What will not happen is
more of the same old thing.
Joseph Leone is in his first term as a Methuen City
Councilor, he was elected last year to represent the East
End of Methuen. You can reach him via e-mail at joseph.leone@comcast.net
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The March 2007 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 12,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
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Salisbury Beach, and Lowell.
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