Brent, I heard that you are against...

A question from a resident: I heard that you are against paving the Heights parking lot, and I'm wondering what your reasons are?

My answer: It would be more accurate to say that I am against paving the Heights parking lot at this time.

As I said during the last meeting on this subject, I am in favor of the project. There are clear benefits - improving handicap access and drainage, controlling dust, etc. The problem is that Falmouth doesn't have the money for this at this time.

Last fall, I was one of 150 people laid off from my now former employer. My wife and I immediately made changes to our budget. We discontinued memberships, stopped automatic withdrawals from our accounts, turned down the thermostats, etc. We had no idea how long I would be out of work, but we took every precaution to make sure that our priorities - food, the mortgage, utilities, etc. - would be covered.

In contrast, when Falmouth was initially faced with the current economic downturn, we were repeatedly assured that everything was just fine. However, just a few months after passing the annual budget, we were informed that there was a $3 million shortfall. Now we're facing yet another potential shortfall.

The knee-jerk reaction to this is to increase taxes, furlough employees and grasp at "low hanging fruit" in order to make ends meet. The appropriate reaction would be (among other things) to cut unnecessary expenses, put a freeze on hiring, and halt projects which do not relate specifically to public health and welfare - projects such as paving parking lots.

I'd be happy to discuss this further over the phone or over a coffee.