This is to rectify the Viewpoint of Sept. 29 titled "Homelessness: Our problems, our concerns." In her introductory paragraph, the author of that letter avows that Lewes residents, presumably those whose neighborhood community directly abuts the Belltown site, are "concerned about traffic and the poor effect on their property values." While those concerns have real legitimacy, the greater concerns that the author fails to mention are security of the community and safety for the residents' children since the community is but a narrow road (not "a few blocks") across from the site and is open to all traffic, whether by car or by foot.
Anyone who knows the immediate vicinity to the proposed shelter can clearly see that it would be all too easy for shelter inhabitants to cross over into the community where neighborhood children play and are shuttled back and forth each day by a school bus. The fact that the shelter residents do not have cars would not prevent them from wandering into the neighborhood.
Perhaps the most galling thing that the author contends is the shame we should feel "for not caring about our less fortunate fellow men and women."
Shame on her for insinuating that we do not care for those less fortunate than ourselves. We are simply seeking a better location for the shelter - one that would serve the shelter residents better than the thin strip of land constrained by the overly congested Route 9 traffic and that would not diminish the security and quality of life that the neighboring community rightfully enjoys. With all of the land available in the greater Lewes-Rehoboth area, surely there is a location that is right for the shelter, with the potential for improvement and expansion as the need arises. Belltown is definitely not that location.
S. D. Lee
Lewes
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