Gross Misdirection and Sheer Absence of Understanding

      Westfield Mayor Andrew Skibitsky responds to resident Greg Kasko's letter to the Mayor and Westfield Town Council that appeared in last weeks (1/20/11) The Westfield Leader newspaper. 

     Several residents have questioned Mayor Skibitsky and members of the Town Council about a pedestrian light installed on Central Ave. at the foot of a resident's driveway. 

     While they do not disagree with the necessity of a pedestrian light, the location of the device and the "bait and switch" tactic used to install the light at it's current location has come under fire.

The Mayor's response to Kasko can be found on page 5 of this weeks edition of The Westfield Leader or at the following link   http://www.goleader.com/11jan27/11jan27.pdf

Mayor Skibitsky's gross misdirection and sheer absence of understanding requires an immediate response.

Dear Mayor,

     I am glad you are faithful to the right of free speech. I just wish your defense was aimed more properly at the accusation rather than the evasion you attempt. 

     There is no doubt the town tried to alleviate certain traffic problems throughout the town. There is also no doubt you hired an expert, Mr Meth, and there is no doubt there were public meetings.  None of these are questioned. 

      My accusation to you concerns your treatment of Miss Enculescu. She came to you for help and was abused.  My recitation of the reports and the announcements was done to impress you and the Council with the fact that anyone who read those announcements and reports would understand that a traffic device was being considered for the corner of Central and Clover. No where is anyone warned in the announcements of a placement any where else.
     You  told this lady that she was in the wrong place, that she should complain to the county because it was a county road and the placement was a county decision. This was not correct. We now know the placement was the town's decision and the county would have opted for a different location.  There are two different points on which you mislead Ms. Enculescu and the public.

     There was never notice of the placement of any device anywhere but the intersection of Clover and Central. Therefore, Ms. Enculescu can not be blamed for not attending those meetings.  The decision on placement was the towns' not the county's and you told her otherwise.

     You go far to defend the actions of the town in planning this light. It would have been nice if we heard that Mr Meth was asked to produce a plan that was the safest for the children, and then work from there instead of having all of the non experts contributing their ideas concerning "Central and Clover " and then have Mr Meth be required to incorporate these into a report.

     No where does he attest to an opinion that this is the safest. He declines to critique the county's drawings but he also knows that the county engineer had to abide by the towns' placement requirement.  Whether the light is proper or not is as irrelevant as your defense of it. 

     My complaint to you, Sir, is not the propriety of the light but the propriety of the Mayor telling Ms. Enculescu that she is late in her complaints and in the wrong jurisdiction. 

     My complaints include the silence of the Council when they knew, or should have known, that the placement of that device was made by the Town and they sat there and allowed her to be mis-used. 

     You may wish to mis-direct the attention of the public as you do the Council by defending the Town's placement of the light rather than the Town's improper response to Ms. Enculescu.

     I hope the public understands that if Ms. Enculescu can be abused and be made to feel she was wrong, then so can they. 

     Mayor, the Town never warned anyone before the public meetings were finished that any location was to be considered other than the intersection. 

     Mayor, the Town decided on the placement of that device and insisted on that location to the County.
Stick to the accusations.  You are wrong on both counts.

Greg Kasko