As folks consider the Town Hall/Municipal Building bond revote issue, I would like to raise one important issue — the extent to which any plans for new buildings fail to adequately address the future home of the Teen Center.
I stress from the outset that, although I was formerly on the board of Addison Central Teens, I am no longer, and therefore am speaking solely for myself. My concern is for the siting of the Teen Center, when and if the current town building complex changes.
While the Warming Hut is a nice building, and was an adequate solution when the Rec Department was going to be in the general vicinity of Mary Hogan and the recreation fields, it is not a good solution now that the rest of the Rec Department may well be several miles to the south of town. The Warming Hut is not only isolated; it is also too small for the needs of the Teen Center, with no room for storage, and unable to accommodate the range of activities, and groups of teens, that the Center welcomes every week.
It seems outrageous to me that the current plans for the new Rec Department do not include room for the Teen Center. One way or the other, we owe it to our children to make a welcoming space for them in our community planning.
Emily Joselson
Middlebury