In response to Jon Isham’s generous offer to welcome Syrian refugees to Vermont, might I make a modest proposal.
1. Amend the Cornwall zoning regulations to accommodate more intense higher density land use development.
2. Remove the conservation easements on protected farmland.
3. Raise taxes to improve infrastructure (schools, places of religious worship, public transportation …).
4. Apply for grants to form NGO study groups staffed with intellectuals from local colleges to handle the social logistics.
5. Raze the Cornwall town hall and construct a 20-story apartment building to immediately house 1,000 refugees.
6. Lease (or take) the land to the east to provide jobs to farm and grow food (wheat, garbanzo beans …) for the community. (Hopefully, all of which will be easier than trying to site a solar array.)
7.  Convert the new Middlebury College athletic facility to a dormitory …
With millions of Syrian refugees and billions of others living in poverty planet-wide I like our chances.
John Burton
Cornwall