Planning and Zoning Commission Approves Cherenzia Project

       On Tuesday, November 1, commissioners approved a special use permit to build 68 attached housing units on Mary Hall and Greenhaven roads.  The decision was unanimous.  
      Before announcing the decision, the chairman of the commission noted the amount of interest surrounding the project.  He then announced an opening on the commission and suggested that someone from the neighborhood might want to seek the appointment so they could "sit on this side of the desk and be present for the next big project."  He further noted that work will begin in early 2012 on Stonington's  new Plan of Conservation and Development.  Perhaps neighbors would like to join in this effort?
      Personally, I will not report for duty on either project.
      These past months have been a discouraging foray into civic practice.  I have watched the opinions of over 700 people dismissed as being unimportant.  I have watched attorneys strut and cajole and threaten.  I have watched the respect given to big interests and hollow expert testimony while honest concern about potential perils is discredited as being "something they'll get used to."
      "Occupy Wall Street" has identified the rift between the 1% and everyone else.  The same story has played out here in Stonington.  The people actually effected by the project, the 99%, appear to have a voice ... but they have no real influence.  A broken system is in place.  As Einstein said, it's a system where "reason conquers common sense."