Letters
Majority of town supports project

Benderson Development should be applauded for trying to do something new to enhance our quality of life in Amherst. The company should be further applauded for not seeking any public funding for its $44 million investment at the former Buffalo Gun Club. If that were not enough, the company deserves further praise for cleaning up a brownfield contaminated by years of dispensed munitions.

This project would generate significant revenues for the town as well as the Sweet Home School District and will dramatically improve a blighted section of Maple Road. It's amazing that some people want to keep this section of Maple Road in its current state.

Our Town Board members, specifically Deborah Bruch Bucki, who is known to be a swing vote for the necessary "super majority" that is needed for approval, should follow the lead of the majority of Amherst residents who wholeheartedly support this redevelopment project that will significantly benefit our community both economically and environmentally.

Michael Cryan

Darwin Drive

Amherst

State legislators don't need raises

They're at it again. Our 212 elected state legislators are trying to raise their salaries by more than 20 percent. Never mind that they are already the third-highest paid legislators in the United States and that these positions are considered part-time positions, and as such they are free to work at other occupations, which many of them do.

Never mind that on top of their existing salaries, most of them have additional stipends for extra tasks that they supposedly perform. Never mind that they have paid health care and pensions that you and I in the private sector can only fantasize about. And lastly, never mind that these individuals privately walk around pinching themselves almost every day in disbelief of their good fortune that they are where they are, doing what they do, and that you and I still continue to allow them to get away with it.

I do not know what is worse: the compensation package our legislators receive given their performance, or that we allow them to get away with it.

I will make a bet that not a one state legislator will resign or not seek re-election should their raises fail to occur.

Edward F. McKee

Hobnail Drive East Amherst