Dear editor:

In your May 13 publication there was an article about a four-way stop sign to be added at the intersection of Garrison, Jordan and Perez, “Council cuts through red tape on four-way stop in Village.” 

I took umbrage to read the Village Community Association believes it represents nearly 100 per cent of all independent homeowners that have taken up residence in what has become known by the locals as the Village.  

To say the association polled 197 members, which may have included multiple members residing in the same household, and obtained 82 per cent approval for recommending four-way stop sign, is misleading.

In addition, association president Mona Babin states the group has signed up almost 50 per cent of the Village households as members and as such the organization represents the views and speaks on behalf of 100 per cent of all households. This is nothing more than projecting, flatly erroneous and, more importantly, over-reaching their social role within the Village.

The association merely anointed itself in an attempt to gain political clout with the town.

Let me be clear, I am not a resident nor a registered voter of the Village. While I live in the development, I am an independent homeowner and registered voter in NOTL. The Village Community Association has no legal authority or legal basis to state it represents the voices of those that have taken up residence in the Village.

This group should not be given a megaphone by your newspaper suggesting it speaks on behalf of all residents when dealing with town council and the lord mayor on public infrastructure matters.

The association was created to promote social community events within the Village, with like-minded homeowners paying an annual fee of $30 to attend such social gatherings throughout the year.  

In the past year it has attempted to broaden its scope, hoping to evolve into some political activist group with a goal to elect a board of directors and obtain a seat on town council. The association is trying to turn the Village into its own town, like Virgil, St. Davids and Queenston. 

This group does not have support of over 50 per cent of the residents in the new part of the Village and definitely have no support of those household residents in the older part of the Garrison Village.

The majority of the residents are independent, freehold homeowners that do not require nor want the association to speak on their behalf. 

We, like any other resident in NOTL, vote individually and independently to elect our town councillors to be our representatives as it relates to NOTL matters. 

Robert Murray
NOTL