Bond should be put to voters

The Citizens of Amherst deserve the right to vote in the proposed referendum on a $12 million dollar bond that would fund the acquisition of green space in their town. Clarence has set the example. Their citizens took that opportunity, and the runaway development that was splashing into them from Amherst shows signs of reigning in.

Amherst is choking to death on traffic. It is bulging with commercial buildings, in use and standing empty. Its buckling residential areas are sinking in the muck of ill-considered development. Yet it still harbors a few stretches of lovely undeveloped green space, farmland, wetlands and woods where you can catch a breath of fresh air.

Nearby Buffalo is starving for redevelopment.

The people of Amherst should not be denied this last gasp of a chance at reasoned community development; they should not be sacrificed to the infighting of political contenders, the greed of real estate developers or the peculiarly distorted Amherst Bee and Buffalo News coverage of the issue.

The purchase of green space is cheaper than the cost of infrastructure and support of residential development. Commercial development blacktops over drainage systems and floods us with cars.

Ducks don't cost money and only rarely do they cause traffic jams.

Let Amherst vote on the Bond.

Larry Beahan Darwin Drive

Snyder