This letter is a result of an incident that happened in my neighborhood on Friday, Oct. 28.
Let me preface this by apologizing to Dave Delaney, Roger Salo, as well as the New York Mills firemen that responded to the call of a gas leak at 216 Nowell St.
Apparently they were unaware of the previous reports of a strong rotten odor emanating from this address. The neighbor on the other side of this unoccupied residence, as well as myself, had reported the smell before and I had personally reported it to the city clerk in late June.
We are now aware that the message did not get relayed to the proper department and, all this time, the lives of my wife, neighbors, and myself were put in danger. We believed that the problem was being investigated, but obviously was not. I have experienced numerous obstacles when expressing my concerns about safety and overall living conditions with our city officials, but none so blatant as this one.
NY Mills used to be a close-knit, vibrant community which took pride in its appearance, safety and well being of its residents. Now it has become filled with garbage-strewn residences with rat infestations.
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I have lived in my neighborhood for more than 25 years and it was once a well kept, "invested in the community" neighborhood.
Now when a citizen of this community raises a question about the safety and well-being of its residents, the response is, "Mr. Eklund, you don't seem to be happy living where you do. Have you ever considered moving out in the country?"
What should we citizens do, put on the blinders and ignore the safety hazards in our city, as our city officials do, or move and hope for the best for our neighbors?
In closing, I would again like to say "thank you" to Dave, Roger, and the firemen for getting the gas leak taken care of; and to those who choose not to listen when we, as citizens and taxpayers, report something as serious and potentially deadly as this could have been, I say, "Shame on you."
