Time to take back our streets (and sidewalks)!

It is time that we take back our streets and sidewalks. With our real estate taxes constantly rising, and the economy meltdown, now is not the time to force an additional expense that could cost homeowners thousands of dollars.

CHECK OUT THIS UPDATE! 

The Town should serve us, not Vice Versa!

https://takeback-our-streets.angelfire.com/UPDATE-1.html

The Commissioner of Town of Amherst’s Building Department, Thomas C. Ketchum, sent out hundreds of nasty letters to Amherst homeowners on March 25^th, threatening them with a big fine and/or jail time if they didn’t immediately spend thousands of dollars to replace the sidewalks which happen to be on the Town’s property. 

With our streets crumbling, crime rising and Town services dwindling, it is the Town of Amherst that should be forced to make the repairs on their own property, not the homeowners that pay their salaries. Unfortunately, the town ordinances are set up so that the homeowners are responsible for the repair of their sidewalks, even though they are on land owned by the Town of Amherst.

However, there are things that we can do to curb the financial hit that every homeowner with future sidewalk repair will face. We are organizing a Taking Back Our Streets community action group that will explore all options, such as getting bids for concrete work at much lower rates with a group contract. Also, letters have been written to  Building Commissioner Thomas C. Ketchum complaining about the poor timing of forcing these repairs on homeowners who are struggling financially at this time.

After speaking to Amherst Building Department representative Joseph Frese, a list of concrete contractors has been obtained and we will actively get bids to get the best price along with the best possible quality of work. 

We have a message board now! Check it out and talk to your neighbors!

TAKE BACK OUR STREETS MESSAGE BOARD

http://takebackourstreets.proboards.com

What do high Amherst taxes provide?

With the town property taxes continuously going up, we are constantly asking ourselves what services we are getting from these taxes? Our neighborhood has many needs that are not being addressed.

There have been robberies in our neighborhood, cars have been torched, the roads need repair and street lights should be installed for our safety. Instead of making our streets safer and improving the conditions of our neighborhood with the high real estate taxes we pay, the Town of Amherst is forcing immediate repairs to the sidewalks that are on the Town's property. 

There should also be a stop light put on the corner of Fenwick and Sheridan Drive. There have been numerous accidents on that corner of Sheridan as cars attempt to make left hand turns onto Sheridan Drive which is heavily congested with traffic. There was a death at that corner a few years back and it is a hazardous intersection without a stop light.

How Can we fight back?

We need to take back our streets (and sidewalks) and force the Town government to work for us and not against us. There are several older property owners in our neighborhood that are on fixed incomes and are not in good general health. To threaten huge fines and/or jail time if we do not immediately make repairs to the sidewalks is downright criminal.

A neighborhood community group should be formed to fight this. Even if we eventually have to make the repairs, we might be able to get an extension of the deadline. Also, we could get quotes from contractors and get a group rate to help lighten the expense.

We can attend town board meetings and voice our displeasure of these mandated sidewalk repairs with letters, email addresses and phone calls. 

We could discuss a possible petition and/or attending Town Board meetings to voice our discontent over being forced to make expensive sidewalk repairs in just two months.

A letter has been composed and was sent to the Town's building commissioner,  Thomas C. Ketchum. The following is some of what was in that letter and discusses how we can contact Thomas Ketchum and voice our displeasure over these forced sidewalk repairs:

TOWN OF AMHERST SHOULD SHOW SOME COMPASSON

https://takeback-our-streets.angelfire.com/HOMEOWNERSPLIGHT.html

To discuss the sidewalk situation, we can be contacted at this email address:  

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