Reader Urges Residents to Vote Yes on Track, Field, Lot Project

To The Editor,

Next month when we all head to the polls, I will be voting yes to the track, multi purpose field and parking lot improvement at Canton High School. We moved to town 13 years ago when our oldest daughter was starting kindergarten. We thought surely by the time she reached high school, Canton would build a track and field like all the surrounding towns in the area.  Well, she started college this fall and clearly that never happened. I don't want to see the same thing happen to all the other families in town with younger children.   I have two other kids at at the high school now and hopefully they will get to see this proposal become a reality; even if they only get to use it for a year or two.  I would vote yes, even if all my children were already in college - it is what is right for ALL residents in the town of Canton.  The time to fund this project is now. Another opportunity may not happen again for years and years.

A track and field at the high school benefits all people in the town regardless of whether they have children or not, or if their children are grown.  It is a place that anyone can go for a safe place to walk or run.  Community events like The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, concerts, tournaments and sporting events all will bring in revenue dollars and are positive activities that anyone in town (as well as surrounding towns) can take part in.  It improves your home values - Canton is the only town in Farmington Valley and one of only four other districts in the entire state of Connecticut that does not have a track.  I personally know of people who have moved from Canton or chose not to move here because of the lack of facilities we offer.  

The cost of the track for the average homeowner in Canton (the average home is $360,000) will be $58 a year or approximately $750 over the financed time period. That is less than $5 a month. The increase in property values will surely outweigh that in the long run. I'm happy we live in a fiscally conservative town, but there are times when the purse strings need to be loosened so Canton can compete with the surrounding towns in the amenities and facilities it offers. That time is now. I urge you to vote "YES" on November 6th to the track and field proposal.