Having read about the plans for the much needed repairs that will cause upheaval in the center of Middlebury village, I have two comments.
If there is to be a 20-hour workday, the idea of a three- or four-hour “quiet work time” between 7 or 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. would permit the Town Hall Theater, which is one of the most important economic drivers of the downtown economy, not to mention the crown jewel of the area’s cultural and entertainment life, to continue to program in the evenings. It would be a terrible mistake to underestimate the damage that would ensue if the THT’s programming were to be crippled for two or three years. It could easily spell the doom of the entire THT enterprise. It would be criminal to permit that to happen, for any reason.
Also, I have to admit that the idea of taking the tracks apart and putting them back together each and every day for one train to pass through sounds to me like a gag from the Three Stooges. No wonder it would take three years to get this done. If the freight company is one of the main beneficiaries of the improvements, it can also bear some of the burden the rest of the community will have to shoulder. Surely for the duration of the construction season each year the company can find alternative means to transport the freight. More trucks on the road? So be it. An added cost? Join the club.
Jorge Martin
Middlebury