Don’t Build the Voke on Hilltop Site

An open letter to the members of the Northeast Metro Tech Building Committee,

  I am writing as a constituent in a Northeast Metro Tech sending community. I was at the Wakefield town meeting where the Town approved building the new Voke, and I proudly cast my vote in support at that time. I was entirely unaware in casting that vote that the siting had already been decided on by your committee in contradiction to the recommendations in the pre-feasibility study. I do everything I can to be an informed voter. I attend info sessions, read the materials that are made available, and am an active participant at Town Meetings. Yet despite all that I did not know that my vote was a vote in favor of building on the hilltop site.

  I believe that if voters, despite being earnestly involved and informed, were unable to tell that this siting was part and parcel of our vote to approve funding for the new NEMT, that vote should be considered illegitimate. This experience has genuinely damaged my trust in the NEMT Building Committee and in our legislative process.

  Regarding the siting itself I will say that my top two concerns are the preservation of habitat and the biosphere, and the protection of Native American land and history. Destroying a mature forest is irreparable. Destroying Native land and history is a facet of the ongoing genocide that is perpetrated against Native Americans to this day.

  Though I am guessing the decision making process thus far has followed the letter of the law and that the NEMT Building Committee can proceed with its plan to build on the hilltop site with impunity. I am picturing a lot of conversations or personal moments that include sentiments like “but we followed the procedures correctly. Each town voted yes.” Or “the decision is already made, the process has moved on, we can’t go back now.” While these things may be true, the decision to build on the hilltop site is nevertheless morally indefensible.

  I firmly believe that there is always more than one solution to a problem. So though it might be complicated, though it might require additional time or studies, whatever the challenges may be, it is possible to build on a different site.

  It is within your power to move the NEMT building project forward in a way that reflects the values of the sending communities. Please use your positions on the NEMT Building Committee to choose a different site for the new Voke, not the hilltop site.

Sincerely,

Benny Wheat

Wakefield