Letters to the Editor - June 25, 2010

Cos Cob `improvements' are hurting community

To the editor:

When I first moved to Cos Cob back in the early sixties, the Hub was a delightful place to shop with its variety of stores.

All of the buildings were of the same height, which of course added to its charm - and we only had two banks. Now with the passing of time things have drastically changed--and not for the better.

We have a huge building, which is most unattractive and towers above everything else. We are now flooded with banks--eight and counting-- and now have no grocery store. There is an unwanted CVS, when there is one just up the Post Road in Riverside. The whole feeling of the community has been noticably affected by these so- called improvements.

Without a grocery store, it is a chore and an inconvenience--to put it very mildly---for me and many others to have to drive in either direction from Cos Cob to other grocery stores, plus the fact we now have to deal with all the traffic, which has become an abomination! There is an empty building, which was the former Japanese Resturant "KU" with ample parking in the back, perfect for a much-needed grocery store.

I recently read in The Post "the reason banks are coming to Cos Cob is that the residents of the mid-country Greenwich don't want to go downtown (meaning Greenwich Ave.) anymore" to do their banking. Really!!!!

Should Cos Cob change its name to Banksville even though there is already a community of that name in the back country?

Many residents of Cos Cob are angered and fed up about what has been done to their wonderful community---which to me always seems to get stepped on for one reason or another.

Does anyone one in Town Hall or the Planning and Zoning Board really care about keeping communities together anymore--or is this all about money?

Peg Rogers

Cos Cob

Solutions for debt and taxes achievable

To the editor:

I was at a meeting last week and the speaker was a member of the Tea Party. He was angry about debt and taxes, but had no idea what to do about it. Everybody is concerned about debt and taxes. There are solutions but it will take a lot of political will to achieve them.

First, it is essential to grow the economy.

a. Most new jobs are created by small and medium-sized businesses, under $100 million of revenue. Therefore we should incentivize their growth by allowing rapid depreciation, including R & D (research and development), lower income tax rates and lower capital gains taxes for these small businesses.

b. Invest in elementary, secondary and college-level education to build a work force able to compete in a globalized world economy.

c. Keep entrepreneurial talent in this country by awarding a green card to every non-U.S. citizen upon graduating from college. Many of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs were not born in the U.S.

Second, we must reduce costs.

a. When Social Security was started, life expectancy at age 65 was 12 years; now it is 18 years.

It makes sense to increase the retirement age to 70, and raise the earnings cap on individual Social Security taxes to adjust for inflation.

b. A huge problem for state and municipal governments is underfunded pension liabilities. Payment of these retirement benefits should be deferred to age 70. This admittedly would be difficult politically.

c. Health care costs in our country are far higher than in any other country in the world. Costs could be dramatically reduced by implementing the comparative effectiveness features of the recent health care reform bill.

An article in Business Week (4/15/10) stated that "700 billion (that is not a typo) in annual savings could be achieved by eliminating wide discrepancies in the cost of similar procedures, especially those in which pricier options don't produce better outcomes."

d. Avoid all wars of choice and get out of Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as possible. These two wars have now cost us over $1 trillion.

e. Eliminate all government agriculture subsidies, including Ethanol, now costing us $20 to $25 billion a year.

There will be arguments against these suggestions, and maybe the crisis must become more acute before action will be taken. But it can be done if we have the political will to do it and stop the partisan bickering.

John B. Caron

Greenwich

Greenwich fortunate to have reps. Floren, Gibbons and Camillo

To the editor:

These days the public's frustration with elected officials is palpable. Random opinion polls, talk radio discourse and recent primary and special elections around the country bear this out. Without a closer look, it might be tempting to say, "We want change.''

For the town of Greenwich, this would be a terrible and unjust choice. Greenwich should be commended for sending three talented and effective public servants to the state House of Representatives: Livvy Floren, Lile Gibbons and Fred Camillo.

These three members of our Republican caucus spend more time on the road back and forth to the Hartford and work more tirelessly for the thousands of people they represent than anyone I know.

These three committed public servants are part of the long-term solution, not the problem, when it comes to Connecticut's fiscal woes, high taxes and high unemployment.

All three played vital roles this year during the legislative session making sure the voices of Greenwich and Stamford were heard. They fought the Democrats' largest tax increase hike in history, job-killing anti-business bills, such as mandatory sick leave, and $180 million in annual electric bill rate increases.

They championed business tax credits for new hires to create private sector jobs and pushed to shut off the spigot to grow government ever larger.

Both Livvy and Lile have played watchdog roles on the critical Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and Fred has emerged as an authority on Transportation Committee issues.

Connecticut last week had its bond rating downgraded by Fitch because the Democrat- controlled legislature decided to borrow its way out of the recession rather than exercise prudent fiscal measures.

Livvy Floren, Lile Gibbons and Fred Camillo have always been about honest budgeting, straight forward talk to their constituents and common sense for Connecticut.

We are lucky to have them in Hartford; Greenwich is blessed to claim them as friends and neighbors.

House Republican leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr. of Norwalk is a state representative.