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Health & Fitness

BLOG: Cafritz Boondoggle—What's In It for the Residents of Riverdale Park?

Satruday, May 11, 10 a.m., at a special legislative session, RP's Mayor and Council take up the new submission of the Cafritz plan.

This would be a good time for the town's elected officials to detail--even briefly--for the public what the exact financial benefits to the town will be and how much it will cost residents to pay for the Cafritz project. 

Many years ago, a young Mayor Archer told me that the problem with building a development of single-family homes on the Cafritz property was that it would cost the rest of the town too much to support; that the property tax revenues from such a development would not cover, for example, the cost of public safety protection or public works maintenance. I challenge the mayor and council now to explain exactly how the development will pay for itself. And to explain what possible benefit--other than paving the way for a suburban-style shopping center for the convenience of people who will drive there on the widened Route 1--it will bring to the people who live, for example, in Ward 4 or Ward 5. The taxes paid by the people in the rest of the town will pay for police and fire protection on the new property: There will be no property tax revenue for the town from the new development.

How can any member of our elected government support this development?

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