Dear Editor,
About a year ago the New York Sate Department of Transportation (DOT) presented to the Village a plan to ease the southbound traffic on North Avenue. The state’s plan was to turn Central Avenue into the main route to the expressway. North Avenue would continue to be the main route to downtown.
Any driver to either destination would immediately see the advantages. Because Central Avenue is a village street, the State DOT would have to get approval from the Village Board of Trustees.
The newspaper report, which I read, gave the Trustees’ vote as four against and three in favor. The report did not identify the Trustees by name, ward, party affiliation, or how each one voted.
With the 4-3 vote against the plan the State DOT did (is doing) what they could and had to do with North Avenue, which is a state highway. Of course by so doing they are spending the money and the construction season, which would have been available for Central Avenue.
Meanwhile, back at the Village Board Room, I believe that all but one of the trustees have been re-elected. If just one of them had switched his or her vote, then we might have had a different outcome.
Sincerely,
Karl Tiemann
Owego, N.Y.
