Kevin's thoughts on Groundwater

Kevin McCrea
218 West Springfield Street
Boston, MA 02118
617-267-2453
617-351-2453 (fax)

South End News

Dear Sirs:

This is in response to the letter to the editor “Where does Kevin McCrea stand on Groundwater” by Carter Jefferson.
When I saw the letter in the South End News the first thing I did was call information and get Mr. Jefferson's phone number. I called him and discussed the issue and where I stood. I referred him to my website www.electkevin.us and invited him to my open houses at 218 West Springfield Street the last friday of each month. I thought we had an excellent, open honest, discussion of the issue.
I explained that as a contractor who has renovated buildings in the Back Bay, South End and Beacon Hill I am very aware of the concern of the residents about this matter, and that I was at the Boston Public Library discussion of the topic as well to become more informed. I disagreed with him that it is the number one issue in the City of Boston, as I think housing and education are the most important issues, which concurs with the recent 48 page report by the non-profit Boston Foundation.
However, groundwater is a big issue that is not being addressed objectively by the city and state government. The reason for this is that local government is too often reactive and not proactive about problems. I call for the elimination of the BRA and the creation of a City Planning Agency that would be accountable to the voters. If we had a planning agency, we could plan ahead and have a blueprint to address development issues, zoning, roads and tranportation projects that affect the groundwater level. I feel that in this issue an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Certainly, I believe that this issue is important and if elected I look forward to working with the Groundwater Trust to keep it on the front burner. It certainly is more vital to the city than City Hall spending precious time and energy looking into whether or not local parking area owners display vibrant capitalism by price gouging suburbanites who drive to Red Sox games!
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Kevin McCrea