Letter: Barrington Middle School land offers reason to worry

Posted 3/23/17

To the editor:

I was physically unable to be present at the special town financial meeting held at Barrington High School because I could not find a place to park. By the time I arrived at the …

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Letter: Barrington Middle School land offers reason to worry

Posted

To the editor:

I was physically unable to be present at the special town financial meeting held at Barrington High School because I could not find a place to park. By the time I arrived at the school, the line of people waiting to get in wrapped around the building and extended almost to the back door of the cafeteria.  

There is a plethora of “no parking” signs surrounding the school. It had snowed this week and it was dark. I wasn’t going to park streets away and walk back so I decided to leave. Once home, I texted a neighbor, who had gotten into the auditorium. She told me that Full Channel was present so after a quick search, I found the meeting on one of Full Channel’s government channels. The video and audio were great. I felt that I was present and I missed none of the meeting.

One of the last town residents to question the panel was a gentleman who asked about building, yet again, on swamp land. He related some of the endless water problems at the middle school that he gleaned from the memories of long-time town residents. (For the record, my family moved to Barrington in 1955. I, my three siblings, and my son all graduated from BHS. The first in 1960 and my son in 2011.)

In response to this gentleman’s comments, one of the contractors mentioned that when they took samples of the school’s land, it “wasn’t as bad as they had expected.” He admitted to finding some “concerns,” and actually smirked when he said that until they have completed their full investigation, they were not going to disclose their findings. Really? Why not?

My profession is quality assurance. Talk about a self-serving “spin.”  

There is nothing in an investigation that precludes revealing findings until an investigation is completed. Something dire can stop a study from going further. There is no point in continuing if a significant problem has been discovered or needs to be resolved.

I texted my friend and requested that she ask, “What did he mean, ‘Wasn’t as bad as they had expected?’ What exactly were they expecting – and why? Furthermore, why not disclose their findings since flooding has been a major problem for the school?” Unfortunately, the question period had closed.

I have photos of the streets surrounding the middle school taken on March 31, 2010, the day after the horrible rainstorm Rhode Island received that brought devastating flooding. Why does the town believe that the water levels won’t cause problems again? When it rains, these are the areas that flood.

The town has Knockum Hill. It’s a hill, not a swamp. Granted, there is a preserve there, but how many times is the town going to keep throwing money at a problem that is inherent to the property and will never go away? 

Sincerely,

Marcia M. Weeden

Barrington

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