Truth Prevailed with Defeat of Somers Sewer District
Somers Sewer District #2 was voted down on November 10th. I would like to thank the SomersSewers.com Group and all the residents in Shenorock and Lake Lincolndale who helped fight this battle. If it wasn’t for people getting involved, we would never have been able to do it.
Our Town Board put together two flawed Map, Plan & Reports that had errors and were very expensive, with no guarantees on how much this would have cost us in the future. I believe the Town Board rushed this Plan through because they didn’t want us to find out about the developer buying Lincoln Hall property. When a Town Board does not notify their constituents and doesn’t answer questions, there is usually a reason why.
The Lake Lincolndale Property Owners Association Chairman of the Board, who is pro-sewer, never disclosed that the Clubhouse wasn’t included in the Sewer District. In Shenorock, the Hebrew Congregation, the Somers Community Center, and the commercial building on Tighe Road were all included. We were told that the LLPOA could petition to join the district, so why didn’t all the residents have that option? The Town Board wouldn’t let my neighbors and me petition to take out our street when we asked, since we have larger lots and live a half a mile away from our lake. Why? The main reason is money! They wanted everyone who did not need sewers to pay for those who do. Strangely, this plan didn’t include Lake Road, Mancini Drive, Route 118, or Horton Estates, which are closer to Shenorock Lake than we are.
Residents think we’ll lose the $10 Million but that’s not true. That money was allocated to Shenorock 21 year ago and it’s been earning interest since. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon; that was a scare tactic. If there is anyone to blame if we ever lose the money – it will be the Town Board’s fault.
It would be far more important if the Town Board addressed our water main issues in Shenorock. We had yet another water main break last week. Our mains are rusting and their solution is to put phosphorus into the water to try and stop it. Not only is this phosphorus going into the ground and running off driveways and into our lake, but it’s going into our bodies. Nobody seems concerned about this except for us.
The sewer proponents created a website that included a Town Board Member, which just shows you how one sided this process was. Some vocal proponents attacked opponents on social media discussing our livelihoods, our businesses, and spoke negatively about us. Are they angry because we found the errors and they didn’t? Only we had the courage to call out the Town Board and Engineers on their incompetence.
For weeks I handed out information to anyone who wanted it. If they were for sewers, I didn’t yell at them or throw things at them, like some proponents did to us. We only wanted people to know the truth so they would know what they were voting on. Proponents and the Town Board accused our group of spreading propaganda and misinformation, when everything we talked about came right from the Map, Plan & Report. We told the truth – and the truth prevailed.
Linda Luciano
Shenorock Resident
