Shame on you, Green Springs village council and zoning board.
You have failed to protect the interest of the residents of Green Springs.
You've allowed one person to create a landfill inside the village of Green Springs. You've allowed him to do this in and on his residential property, more than 12 lots. This property is bordered by 10 residential homes.
You dragged your feet when you learned there might be a problem. Instead of acting on the side of caution, you decided to wait and see what might happen.
"There's nothing we can do," "there's nothing we can do," is a response I got often.
Shame on you.
In my opinion:
You have a zoning board that is not prepared and can't read a map.
You have council members who can't read a map.
But both are eager to spout information whether it's right or wrong.
Shame on you.
Now you say he can't dump anymore, but you couldn't tell him when to fix it and as of yesterday, he was still dumping.
"What should he do, what would make you happy, what would you like to see him create there instead?" you asked residents. If our opinion is so valuable now, why were our warnings and concerns not as valuable earlier?
Shame on you.
He made the mess illegally, it was premeditated; he said himself he had been planning this for a long time. Make him clean it up. Not just whenever he feels like it. He is a violator. Why let him decide the consequences of his actions?
These are our homes. We worked years to pay for them, invested in them, raised our families and hopefully get to end our days in our homes. We also go to work, pay taxes; even those of us lucky enough to retire pay taxes. Of the 10 properties directly affected by this disaster, I'm sure it's much more than he pays and I think, he expects special favors for his.
We just asked that our property be protected and to live in peace.
Shame on you for not validating this.
We were damaged. You should have had our backs.
You have a chance to right this wrong. Make it all better. Learn from this mistake and never, ever make a resident of Green Springs suffer again, as we have.
Jennera Ortiz,
Green Springs
