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Deal Is Not Done

I am deeply concerned about the lack of information available on the Tweed Airport expansion. Residents have attended Tweed-New Haven Airport Master Update meetings in December 2019, through the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and were surprised at the May 6 announcement of a 43-year lease contract.

We are missing the Supplement to the Master Plan titled “Community Benefits Plan” that can be done concurrently. We are missing the environmental assessment. Besides infrastructure, we are missing data on noise and air pollution, traffic congestion and safety zones, and flooding impact to area.

Residents have written letters to Mayor Joseph Carfora for months; we have attended orchestrated meetings with limited free speech. There was a secret meeting held May 10 proving that decisions made in a vacuum will hurt the town, quality of life and put us in a poor fiscal front if not confronted with due diligence. Town Hall has produced no primary documents. Residents and journalists have done Freedom of Information requests.

Tweed and development are the key election issues. The 43-year term benefits payback of investors’ private bonds, not our town residents. I encourage your readers to talk to their Town Council members, and vote out the silent and complicit in the November elections. Let’s not let outsiders dictate our lifestyle when the deal is not done.

Lorena Venegas

East Haven