LETTER: Elected Officials Should Deal with Public 'With Integrity-based Information not Exploitive Political Gamesmanship'

Submitted on Nov. 21

Dear Editor,

I am writing to point out the clearly misleading information published in a press release by Senator Jason Lewis and Rep Mike Day in last week’s paper.

Residents concerned with the over development slated for Stoneham under MGL Chapter 40B were told in an self-serving announcement by our legislative delegation that the project was placed on hold. Even more disturbing was the headline implying that both Day and Lewis had sat in on a meeting during the first week of November with the developer leading residents to believe that their intervention prompted the developer to place the Chapter 40B application on hold.

Within 24 hours of this news release from Lewis and Day’s office, the developer refuted the claim made by Lewis and Day and stated that the reason the application was on hold had nothing to do with Day or Lewis but rather the structure of the development was being modified to several smaller scale buildings instead of a high rise.

We should be able to trust our elected officials to deal with the public with integrity based information not exploitive political gamesmanship. The ink isn’t dry of the November election ballots, and we experience a Jason Lewis let down and yet another disappointment from Mike Day.

Nancy Howard

Green St.

Stoneham

Editor's Note: The letter above was submitted by a community member. The views expressed above are those of the author's.